The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-08-16

il. When this has been done on one side,
'he razor should be turned. and the same
operation take place on the other side Of
1t. In this manner he may proceed till the
hone has produced the desired e6ect.n Nobody
does that. We write with the experience OF
crowded cabins in many voyages, and we say
deliberately that the majority of lay shagers
strop the razor on the hone the reverse way,
lifting the back till the edge IS turned They
have not the patience for the scientific process,
and trust to the strop to make all smooth.
This operation continued, as MIR. Kingsbury
says, till the edge of the razor looks "like
wire,o or, as we should say, till the operators
thumb refuses to be tortured any longer; 1t
should recommence on the strop. but In the
reverse way, namely, from the point to the
shoulder, the teeth of the razor thus receiv-
ing the direction in which they will perform
to most advantageous we should say, getting
their polish the better for being rubbed the
contrary way to the friction on the hone. The
stop itself should be- perfectly flat, not raised
in the centre, without elasticity, covered with
cal1skin, and, according to MIR. KingsburY,
ereat ed with "a composition upon which he is
very learned and absolutely unintelligible,
neither telling his readers what it ought to be
made OF nor explaining its use. We venture TO
submit, on the other hand, that that the only
strop worth using with a hone Is one OF very
smooth calfskin, that compositions are dirty
messes useful only to make strops dear, and
that halt minute of extra effort will, on the
plain broad stTop OF our fathers, sharpen
honed razor three times as well as twice the
time expended on some expensive imbecility.
The square strop, in particular is an instru-
ment specially designed to spoil razors,
the ''setting' side, as 1t is called, not being
a hone, but usually Bit OF uneven stone,
as suitable Tor the purpose as the front
doorstep or the street pavement. Use the
hone every two days, and the plain strop every
day properly, and ii the razor Is made of
decent steel and the operator will use his mag
niher when buying it, he will have no pain, If
his beard is the sttest IN Christendom. OF
course he may cut himself. 1t man VIII take
min nV,H .nLyn 4 gttH ~ foil fn hiu
children while shaving, Or use too much SOAP
the temptation, praised, we are sorry to see, by
our pamphleteer. of the effeminate shaver-or
keep razor with slippery handles, nothing can
keep the Iazor's edge from gong triie too
deep. 1t ought to go deep, as needtul form of
suasion, q distinct reminder that Providence has
placed us under laws great deal more rigid
than any legislators will ever make-laws which
compel hre TO burn, water TO drown, and shaky
rPzoTs to cut, whether the victim be man of
principle or no. There are. too, faces made 10
cut, faces over which no razor can 20 safely,
any more Than cab-horse can 30 over the
Strand when tie parish is mendmg If; but these
are exceptional circumstances. Wltn a razor
such as MIR. Kingsbury has described, and set as
we have said, in decently hrm hand, sh tvng
ought TO be nearly as pleasant and as profitable
the Infinitely wiser custom OF leaving 1t alone.
MIR. Kingsbury enters INTO some elaborate
and slightly comic considerations rs to the best
soap tor shaving and the best method of using
the razor, but the results of experience may in
both cases be somewhat more briefly stated.
COcoanut oil is better than any lather that ever
was or will be made if only Europeans would
consent to use 1t. As they will not, the best
soap is any soap made from oil, quite tree from
grit, nom the caustic OF which Naples soap is
Iull, and from ashes OF any kind. Shaving
powders arc all bad, the scent IN them not being
oily at all, and so are most OF the caked matters
sold as substitutes for SOAP. The best soap we
have ever met with has stamp "Unlted Service
Soap" on it, but we have not ali idea OF its COM
position, and MIR. Kingsbury gives in his
m mn lot q JUh iEh n
it is made of olive OIL seems reasonable but
which we imagine he Sells As to the use OF
the razor, on which he is great, three little
sentences contain, we imagine, the ultimate
sum of human wisdom, "Dont scrape, don't
cut yourself, and don't, if you have children,
leave your razors ahout."-Spectator.