The fashion of the roll was of much importance in those days. A roll
frequently weighed fourteen ounces. We can well believe such a heavy
mass made poor Anna's head "ach and itch like anything." That same
year the _Boston Gazette_ had a laughable account of an accident to
a young woman on Boston streets. She was knocked down by a runaway,
and her headdress received the most serious damage. The outer
covering of hair was thrust aside, and cotton, tow, and false hair
were disgorged to the delight of jeering boys, who kicked the
various stuffings around the street. A Salem hair-dresser advertised
that he would "attend to the polite construction of rolls to raise
ladies heads to any pitch desired." The Abbé Robin, traveling
through Boston a few years later, found the hair of ladies' heads
"raised and supported upon rolls to an extravagant height."