Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1872-10-05
SHAVING A MILLIONAIRE.

A1NoAy oONty WHO uVcS III N0W jersey
will recollect Billy Gibbons, the mil
lionaire. He was an eccentric man.
and numerous stories ore told of his
freaks. Here is one of them: ~
1t scents that Billy, while in coun-
try village, where he owned some prop
erty, stepped into a bnrber's shop to
get shaved. The shop was full of GUS
toners, and the old gentleman quietly
waited for his turn. '''-N' ~
A customer who was under the bar
ber's hands whenl the old gentleman
came in asked the "knight of the
razor" in an undertone,, if he knew
who that was, and, on receiving q neg
ative answer, he informed him in whis-
per it was "Old Billy Gibbons, the
richest man in the State" ! 20 ''.N
{" Cad, said the barber, (" I'll charge
him for his shave. "ll l.tt.lt rf0I
Accordingly, after the old man had
the operation performed, he was some
what surprised upon asking the price,
to be told " seventy-fve cents."t .rai1
"Seventy-five cents" said he quietly,
&C isn't that rather high price ?'',,,.,'D
Its my price" said he of the lather
brush, independently, "and as this is
the only BARRIERS shop in the place,
them as comes into it must pay what I
ask" ..lI I
To the old man this was evidently a
knock-down argument, for he drew
three quarters of dollar from his pock-
ct, paid them over to the barber, and
left the shop. .%rto7s. rnrf X
A short time after this he was in close
conversation with the landlord of o
tavern hard by, and the topic of the
conversation was barber shops. '' "
"Why is it," said he, 't there's only
one barber shop in town? there seems
to he nearly enough work for two /
Well, there used to be two," said
the landlord, "till last winter, when
this new man came up from the city and
opened new shop, and as everything
in it was fresh and new, folks sort of
deserted Bill Harrington's shop, which
had been going on for nigh fourteen
years. D. . '.''. ',' .'.... ~ 10
"But didn't this Bill do good work? !?
Didn't he shave we'll, and-cheap p. Z
Well, as for that" said the land
lord, "Bill did his work we'll enough,
but his shop wasn't on the main street
like the new one, and didn't have so
many pictures and handsome curtains,
and folks got in the way Of thinking
the chap was more scientific and
brought more city fashions with him,
though to tell the truth, said the land
lord, stroking chin sown with a beard
resembling screen wire, II never want
n lighter touch or keener razor than
Bill Hairington's." "5'.-. 'sa 1i''.'1 e'N
"City fashions-ell 2" growled the
old man. $50 the new mans city
fashions shut. up the other barber
shop?" '1 -.
"Well, not exactly" said the land
lord, " though things never did seem to
go we'll with Bill after the new shop
opened; first, one of his little children
died of fever; then his wife was sick q
long time, and Bill had a big bill to pay
at the doctors; then, as q last misfor-
tune, his shop was burned down, one
night, tools, brushes, furniture and all,
and no insurance. '"' i'''''. .'' ~"
-" Well, y suid the old man, pettishly,
"whyl don't he start again." ?"ioiy5 iyaI
Start again'?"' said the communica-
tive landlord; 'i'why, bless your soul,
he hasn't got anything to start with"
"H-m-ln!' Where does this man
live ?" askednthe old man. Nd 55'pJ
He was directed. and ere long was in
conversation with the unfortunate ton
sor, who corroborated the landlord 3
story. ' '''s 'l--'.. .'''''''' ". '' =
why don't you take q new shop?'
said the old man; /" theresa new one
in the block right opposite the other
barber shop" 7F'A a,7I, s,j' dM-oi4i
Whaty' said the other, g you must
be crazy Why, that block belongs TO
old Billy, Gibbons; he'd never let one
Of those stores for a barber-shop; they
are a mighty sight too good; besides
that, L haven't got twenty dollars in
the world to fit it up with. ."'iqq 81. ,a
f" You don't know old Billy Gibbons
as well as I do" said the other. "Now
listen. r. If you can! have that shop all
ftted-up, rent free, what will you work
in it for by the month? What is the
least you can live on?" "" I-'' u
% The proposition somewhat startled
the unfortunate hair-dresser, who fin
ally found words to stammer out that
he thought twelve OF, fifteen dollars a
month would be about enough. .-
&c Pshaw r. said the old man, that
won't do. Now, listen to me: Ill give
you that store, rent free for one year,
and engage your services six months,
all ON these conditions: You are to
shnve and cut hairfor everybody that
applies to you and take no pay; just
charge it to me; and for your services
I'll pay you twenty dollars a month,
payable ia advance pay to commence
now, continued he, placing two ton
dollar notes on. the table before the as
tonished barber who, it is almost
unnecessary to slate, accepted the pro-
position, and who was still more sur
prised, to learn that it was Billy Glib
txx.,, Is,,,so1f @bot ho1 hsroI htp,