Mexico weekly ledger., 1880-08-26
HINTS TO BARRIERS.
Suggestions by Mark Twain which will
Resolutionixe the Art of shaving.
From the Hartford Courant.

From the Hartford Couraht
1t is safe to say that nine out of ten
Of the men one meets on the streets
in our cities shave, or rather are
shaved. Some shave the moustache,
some shave the chin, some the cheeks.
Indeed. one must go into matheMst-
les to the tables of permutatioHs and
combinations to find how many varie-
ties of shaving are possible. Woman
is accused Of being the party who de-
votes her time to appearances and
frivolties of the mirror, but, after all,
man does his share of it. The reason
he escapes the charge is that he
blandly sets down his decorative work
as being as matter of necessity.
And it is true that shaving is a very
old custom, nor have we anything to
say against 1t, except that it is un-
natural, and is, and should be ac-
kncwledged'to be, a concession TO
the looking-glass and to vanity. But
the point is that old as is the art 1t is
a singular thing how few know how
to shave. ''Nearly all men shave in
the passive voice. This may be
taken as the grammatical phrase OF
as an acknowledgment of the voice o1
the barber which they have to endure.
Each Specification is true. And while
all men consent to refer their shav-
| ing to few who make it business,
only a fraction of that few understand
their art.
There is a financial blunder at the
bottom of it that makes trouble al
through. The dogma that a shave IL
a shave is a mistake. One man will
a stiff beard and a full face will
choose to have his whole expansive
countenance clean shorn; anothel
will shave on his upper lip. To eacl
it is "a shave and each is charged
alike. One may require thirty min
utes attention, the other ten minutes
The first will dull razor, the secont
not affect its edge. To each it is tel
cents. Now, a barber's working da,
we will assume, is ten hours long
If he is occupied three-quarters of tn
time, he must be buster than usual,
appears. This gives him seven hour
labor, and if he struck day of halt
hour faces his whole receipts woul'
be Sl.40. If his luck gave him ten
minute cases, he would take Ia 81. 1O
Even this would not pay were it nc
, for the seductive side issues-th
,, hair-cuts and shampoos of the trade
that bring in more per hour than tn
fundamental industry.
D Now, as the price and the circum
stance of shaving 60, it is constar
Q hurry to finish man, as Shawn
scarcely pays at the best, and If he
a one of the most absorbing subjects
. full shave and stiff beard-it is
loss to work upon him. To shaw
q him carefully takes too much tim
Q and costs the edge of the razor. 7
skim over his face, cutting off set
Q tons of beard here and there, an
leaving odd cases of hair along tt
y desert Of the cheek, saves the razt
9 and spoils the person who pays fl
" the operation, and who should not
2 entirely forgotten. Tue scale {
prices ought to be regulated by VIII
. one gets, and BARRIERS ought
9 have the courage to charge for VIII
. they do.
Ut This done, a revolution in the a
70 would follow. Speed would not
NJ the great aim. Attention could
% given to the removal Of the bear,
70 which, in old time, it was as impo
% tant to remove as the lather, and Il
man who went out Of the barber
shop would leave satisfied, instead
k hoping that the next time it would
better. We recommend these consi
erations 10 the trade without char
j. for the advice. Shaving is custo
Ir OF civilization; playing with So
d bubbles is game of childhood.
n is now a matter of luck which of the
i, operations falls to the BARRIERS patr'
to-day.