Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-01-04
u BARBIERE PENsERoso.
The Tender Grace Of a Day that is Dead
win Never Come Back to Him.


A Worldrenortsr waited for shave
in s Cortlandt street barber shop. His
lot was cast with a tall, thin assistant,
who seemed bowed down Withs weight
of woe. The reporter laid his head
upon the rack, and the barber, steer
ingit into position by the nose, asked
in a melancholy voice:
You wis a close shave, sair2"
1.-TWO days below the surface" brief
ly answered the reporter.
"Itis what all the gentlemen cay"
sighed the barber, as he lathored his
customers face and rubbed tho soap
in with a knOtted forehnger. "It is
one sign that the barberins business is
all gone in pieces" he added as he re-
moved a dab ofsoap with his dry fore
finger from his patients lips, and the
reporter expressed his sympathy by
means of his eyes.
E"Ah r exclaimed the barber, look
ing 6reamily out into the street, as
BARRIERS will do when operating on a
customer. How different was it
when | was young Does the razor
take hold, sair? Then we we're sur
geon-barbers. learned my profession
with a prominent barber in Jersey
City. We cupped, leeched, bled, drew
teeth, dyed hair and whiskers, and
dressed and curled hair. In the win
dOws would you see the implements
used by the barber-surgeon, and teeth
arranged in rows and ornamental
forms. When | came to this city,
about fifteen years ago, | was mi of
the most skillful BARRIERS in the bust
ness. It's only a little scratch, sair.
1t will not bleed. My duties were
many. Almost every gentleman wore
a large mustache which he must have
dyed, and more, he must have his hair
curled or he would not present a good
appearance. 1t was the fashion. We
could produce any number of curls
arranged in any form, according to the
head and face. All of this [ did; and
l could curl hair beautifully and du-
rably in twenty minutes, besides the
cupping, leeching, drawing teeth,
cutting and dressing hair and shay
ing. Why, | did have one gentleman
whose hair | curled every day. 1t
cost him $1.75 &week. But now all
that is left is the hair cut and the
shave, and not much of that. Half
the gentlemen wear German boards.
You wish bay rum or tonic2"
The reporter answered thatit didn't
matter, and the barber, hopping his
face with a wet towel redolent Of
cloves and bergamot, gently raised him
by his ears to a sitting position, and
continued And we don't sell any
more hair restorers or fancy toilet ac-
cessories. You wis a hair cut; your
hair is very long?'
! f"No.7
"a shampoo2'
"No.7
you wis bay rum or tonic with po-
made or hair-oil on you hair?"
The reporter said he'd take a little
of each, and the barber, making a
comb of his fingers, went on with his
complaint
Although l was such a good bar
Der, see me now. / had a place of my
own, but because business got bad, ]
failed. Then | became assistant.
The reporter remarked that he
thought all BARRIERS were of one grade,
and cut hair and plastered it down
and shaved all in one way.
l1"No, sir" answered the barber.
resting the bristly side of the hair
brush against the victims tender
cheek and looking out of the window.
"A man to be accomplished must
have worked in many shops. There
are different customs, different
implements, different classes of gen
tlemen to be pleased. A barber must
know all this, and when to talk or be
still. If | had a shop to-day the first
question | would ask of an assistant
Is, How many shops have you been
in?"
do any BARRIERS know how not to
eat onions2" asked the reporter.
Tho ACCOMPLISHED barber disre-
garded this question and asked, "Do
you wish cosmetique on your hair or
mustache?"
The reporter didn't, and the barber.
putting up the reporters hair on the
sides with the teeth of his comb and
plastering it down in front with the
back of the same implement, elected
a cloud of %perfumed spray upon his
face and into his eyes from an atom
izer, dexterously withdrew the towel,
made a bow and said, Please pay at
the desk
HOW THE CHINESE MARX TINE