Camps and Firesides of the Revolution | ||
2. A Wig and a Conscience
BY SAMUEL SEWALL (1701)
HAVING last night heard that Josiah Willard had cut off his hair (a very full head of hair) and put on a wig, I went to him this morning.[4] When I told his mother what I came about, she called him. Whereupon I inquired of him what extreme need had forced him to put off his own hair and put on a wig? He answered, none at all; he said that his hair was straight, and that it parted behind.
He seemed to argue that men might as well shave their hair off
their head, as off their face. I answered
JOSHUA GREEN'S WIG.
[Description: Sketch of a rather disheveled-looking man's wig, circa 1749;
short and curled in the front with a long braid in the back.]
I told him that he must remember that wigs were condemned by a meeting of ministers at Northampton. I told him of the solemnity of the covenant which he and I had lately entered into, which put upon me the duty of discoursing to him.
He seemed to say that he would leave off his wig when his hair was grown again. I spoke to his father of it a day or two afterwards and he thanked me for reasoning with his son.
He told me his son had promised to leave off his wig when his hair was grown to cover his ears. If the father had known of it, he would have forbidden him to cut off his hair. His mother heard him talk of it; but was afraid to forbid him, for fear he should do it in spite of her, and so be more faulty than if she had let him go his own way.
Camps and Firesides of the Revolution | ||