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Anon, HIRSUTE VEIL CAMOUFLAGE IS FLU GERM DUPE, in Salt Lake Herald Republican, December 15, 1918, p. 48—
Further hint to the flu dodger—masquerade behind nature’s mask, the moustache. Or, as a further safeguard, raise whiskers.
’Tis thus some of the health authorities advise. A fuzzy growth, whether on lip or jowl, they explain, is a germ strainer. The burglarious bacillus, trying to break in, has about as much chance as a camel at the needle’s eye or a carrot in a colandar.
If the moustahe or whiskers prove to be real preventatives, lots of Salt Lake men who pine to retire from an ailing world will take the hirsute veil. Faces which would have been displayed merely as faces may take on the aspect of sylvan retreats and bosky dells. Razor and scythe will be laid away and phizes will be allowed to sprout in all their wild carefree abandon. Familiar countenances will be concealed behind an impenetrable camouflage and the only recognizable features when friend meets friend will be a pair of eyes, a twinkling nose and two untrammeled ears.
The local Adonis, whose finely-chiseled beauty won the hearts of all feminine beholders, will appear in his bewhiskered role as plain as a welcome mat. The homely citizen will resemble a discarded Christmas tree, which has reached a sere and yellow past. It will be a sad day for the barbers, but the hedge trimmers and landscape gardeners may build up a profitable business.
If Salt Lake men decide to go in for moustaches and whiskers, the caravan-series may become strangely quiet. For not a one of them will have the hardihood to order soup.
RELATED LINKS
Dazzle Camouflage: What is it and how did it work? / Nature, Art, and Camouflage / Art, Women's Rights, and Camouflage / Embedded Figures, Art, and Camouflage / Art, Gestalt, and Camouflage / Optical science meets visual art / Disruption versus dazzle / Chicanery and conspicuousness / Under the big top at Sims' circus
