RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32661, 17 July 1971, Page 8

RANDOM REMINDER

FIVE O’CLOCK SHADOW

An innocuous pastime favoured by our forebears when they were attending secondary school was to count the numbers of buns and beavers encountered on the way each morning. Occasionally some tallies would run into three figures. But as bun hats are now regarded as museum pieces the mental exercise would lose some of its lustre if the contests were to be revived by present day schoolboys. The fact that there appears to be an increasing number of bewhiskered gentlemen in our community holds out hope that perhaps it may. .It is stated, on reliable authority, that the sales manager of a firm marketing razor blades recently carried out a survey to determine the precise reason for lagging sales by standing at our busiest street intersections and counting the male faces adorned with hirsute growth. He was slightly startled to discover that in the

short period of one hour no less than 197 bearded individuals made their way towards him travelling in a southerly direction and 148 the Other. He was unable to tally those moving east and west. Beards come in many shapes, styles and sizes. One of the most popular perhaps is the casual type, a wild woolly appendage favoured by intellectuals and their pseudo counterparts, mountaineers and hill farmers. Usually, it seems these are left by their wearers to develop at random, are combed with the fingers, or brushed against the grain. They have an advantage over other types in that they serve a useful purpose in mopping up spilled gravy. Less popular and infrequently seen are the Van Dyke type favoured mostly by cultured men such as artists, poets, high pressure salesmen and confidence men. They, it seems, originated in Holland during the Dutch Famine of 1840.

They are invariably kept well trimmed and we understand, special maintenance kits Are available at most dairies and supermarkets. These consist of a pruning knife, scissors, mini - razor, sandpaper, tweezers, anti-deodorant spray and a straight-edged metal rule. It is further understood that the use of nail clippers is considered infra dig by the enthusiast. Then again, there is the Rasputin beard, invented by a Georgian trampolinist during the seventeenth century. It consists of a mop of unruly hair thickly dispersed around the entire race leaving room for a few things like eyes, nose and mouth. It gives the wearer a patriarchal appearance not unlike a gooseberry bush in a high wind. Perhaps, after all, the game of beavers may once again find popular acceptance with today’s youngsters. Competition could be much keener than it was when beards were a symbol of maturity and advancing years.