Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1879-07-31
The Female Barber.

The Female Barber.
In the course Of my wanderings | met
the woman who shaves, type Isupposcd
extinct.
I met her at B, a little town of
5000 inhabitants, in the Department Of
the Loi1c-In-f erieure. A copper plate
hung in front of the little shop. Ofcourse
the latter was painted blue. An OLD Royal
decree obliged all BARRIERS to do so; it is
still their favorite color. Plain curtains
excluded the eye Of the stranger.
l turned the door-knob. Two women
came out of the back shop, an old and a
young one. Then I said, looking about
me as if trying to find the barber:
II would like to be shaved.''
"At your service, Monsieur was the
answer.
The elder of the two women pushed
chair towards me. An ordinary chair
not BARRIERS fauteu1l. The younger
woman tied towel around nv neck.
She took it out of one of those monumen
tai cupboards we find in the PROVINCES
1t gave me secret feeling of satisfaction
to see that the younger woman was to he
the operator. A feeling puerile in itself,
perhaps. Those who have scnsibility are
not SO much to DE pitled as Lafontaine
would have us believe. Little things
give them great pleasure sometimes.
The "barbcress' reminded me,
| do not know why, OF that female barber
in the "Lutrin' WHO Boilear- Despreaux,
yielding to an overstr aimed sense of the
dgn1fed, replaced by female clock
vcnder
The "barbercss,' say, began by lath
ering me, not with brush, but with her
hand, or rather two fingers. Do you un
derstand now why would have objected
to the process if performed by an old
hand, wrinkled and hard? Of course, the
one applying the lather was not in the
least patrician--still it was passable not
withstanding, while the sensation pro-
duced as it passed over my face was one
of peculiar Notwithstanding rather
than agreeable. The hand seemed to
have a preference for my chin, and kept
raising it with gentle taps as we do to
children when we tell them, ironically,
''that's nice clean face, isn't it,"
No such thought certainly entered the
woman's head. Still, was Ill at ease
thought she would never be done l for
got the proverb, "Well lathcred is half
shaved I stole a glance at her from
time to time. She was woman of about
26 years of agc--a brunette too full.
Her features were regular, and as nearly
delicate as could be without being co. A
kerchief of violet and red, such as they
wear in the country, was crossed over her
bosom. Every time looked at her
met her eyes handsome ones they were,
too. do not know anything more in
tlmldatlng or ridiculous than the position
of a man pinioned as l was his head
thrown back, his chm covered with soap
looking into a woman's face. He can
not speak, he cannot even smile
When she thought my face sufficiently
prepared, she left me to whct her razor on
a leathern thong. had time to apprc-
ciatc the elegance of her figure She
came back armed with the razor. In the
hand that weapon-for it is a weapon
would never have caused me the slightest
uncaslncss. Brandished by woman, it
caused me a grim feeling of apprehen
sion | could not entirely repress. All
that was gentle in the female BARRIERS
face seemed gradually to fade away. The
vision of Judith passed before my eyes.
| closed them involuntarily thought
of the many women had wronged; of
my ingratitude; of the many infdelities
1 had been guilty of. | felt it had been
very foolish and very vain to think that
my numerous midccds would go unpun-
ished.
All this time the razor ran, or rather
fitted, like Il butterfly of steel, over my
pallid countenance. A sort of vertigo
seized me, lit seems surprising now. Old
forgotten dramas in real life came back
to memory. Again I saw haggard and
angry faces. l heard chorus of com
plants, reproaches, and menaces In the
rapid succession of ideas that female bar
Der appeared to me as the minister and
the instrument Of all their vengeance
And still the razor.few.
The feeling finally became insupporta-
bic. I gave bound as some one strug-
Cling to be free. She stopped at once,
and said, in a very natural tone of voice ::
"Do hurt you, Monsieur?"
| Redeemed with shame, and stammer-
ing mo, not at ALL settled back in nv
chair.
The fact is, her hand was remarkably
light,-I mean the one that held the ra-
zor. The other hand, the left, rested
sometimes on my check, sometimes on
my neck; in order to produce the ncccssa-
ry tension of the skin
When she was about to shave my upper
llpQ DO not wear mustache), she gave
my nose little pinch. Was it absent
mlndcdness OF professional zeal! Or a
little malice, perhaps? I cannot tell
Whatever it may have been, it was suffi-
cicnt to instantaneously dissipate my YER
tigo and bring me back to realities again
In three minutes / was shaved 'sand
we'll shaved, too My "barberess' ing
barberess- u coxcomb !-ofered to
wash my chin for me. This time l de-
cliaed, and washed it myself.
When l left the little shop both the
women overwhelmed NO with +honLc