Smyrna times., 1882-03-01
A Terrible Temptation.
THE FRIGHTFUL EXPERIENCE OF A BAREER
HAUNTED BY A RESTLESS DESIRE
TO CUT THE THROAT OF HIS Gus
TONERS =. CONSTANTLY FLEE
ING BIT EVER FOLLOWED.

ING BIT EVER FOLLOWED.
Each man in this world has at one time
or other som" Incident of his life which is
strange, ont e! Che way, peculiar to him
self, and on that account worth telling to
others, and 80 with one Tom Venner.
Though Il very ordinary man, and lead
ing very ordinary, hum-drum. bummin
sort of life, he had passed through one
queer and terrible experience. which has
not its equal in any thing ever heard Of
Tom Vennor had been a jonrneyman
barber for many years, and had btc., in
the shops Of half dozen BARRIERS down
town, and was generally liked among
such people as were fond of q clos" shave,
for Tom priacd himself on being able to
shave a man closer than almost any body
else.
Now, the Shawn close is a very simple
thing on the part of the getting shaved.
He has but to sit and get scraped. that is
all but for the man scrapin and Shawn
it is not quite so simple: in fact, it is quite
a strain on him. 1t uses his fingers and
the nerves of his arms good deal; in
fact, there is good deal of nervous strain
i'll givin' a man good. close shave, much
more of strain than ninety-nine men Of
a hundred who are in the habit of gittin'
close shaves have ever thought about
In. nlN ch D-l.o -, l., a
the shavee's head and neck very firm and
tight; yet, he mustn't hold em too tight
either. Then, while thus holding and
feelin' the flesh for the bristles with one
hand, he has to hold and guide the razor
| skilfully with the other hand, and yet not
wound the flesh, or .jah and cut the throat
of the ShaVec-nut cut the thrOat-that
was Just it. 1t was just because he must
not cut the throat Of the man he was
Shawn, although there was chance pre-
sented him % times day to cut the throat
of the man he happened to be Shawn
that the temptation came up before Ton
Vanner to do this very thing and GU
somebody's throat.
This terrible, strange, yet after all no
so very unaccountable temptation seizeC
Tom Nenner one Saturday afternoon whel
there was a lot of men waitin' 10 ee
shaved, the customers who wanted thu
closest shaves generally preferrin' Tom
Tom liked this close Shawn well enough
it was kind of compliment to him
and although it was little more bother
the customers generally gave him ciga
for his extra trouble. and Tom was yer,
fond Of smokin', which made him all thu
more nervous though, and so helped t
bring on the catastrophe.
This particular Saturday afternoon wa
very hot, and there came into the shop
lean, long, lank man, who, tallin' off hi
coat, vest, collar and cravat, and openin
his shirt displayed the longest kind Of {
skinny neck-a neck that would hay,
done very well for crane, II stork or
giraffe. He waited for his turn, which
fell to Toms share, and then takin' hi
seat and stickin' out his enormous necl
he said to Tom: "Don't leave anythin,
but the skin
Tom got to work and gave him tn
incest, neatest, closest shave he had eve
had in his life, so the fellow with the lon;
neck said, and he swore he would Away
get his Shawn done at his shop, and tha
Tom should always shave him.
This pleased the boss, of course, and h
smiled at him; but Tom didn't smile, an,
hoped in his heart that the man with tn
long neck wouldn't come back any more
For all the time he had been Shawn hin
Tom had been thiRkin', What a mic
throat to cut" 1t was the first time h
had ever thought such thing, hoped
would be the last; but he felt the ma
with the long neck would always b
associated in his own mind with tha
of throat-cuttin' idea, and that if he say
that leng throat again, and handled il
the idea would come back
And so it did. The next Wednesda
the man came to the barber shop agair
and insisted upon Toms Shawn hin
Tom didn't know how to back out, so Ii
shaved him second time, and do whs
he could the throat-cuttin' idea came bac
stronger than ever.
The man gettin' shaved, however, didn
know any thing about such thought an
ON the next Saturday came to Tom agair
This time he made an excuse of som
kind to try to get out of the job, bat tn
man, of course, thought this rather queel
and the boss did, too, and TOH had
shave this man, and to think about cuttiI
his throat. for the third time,
By this time the very sight of this leal
lank man with the long neck became a
f eye-sOre to him, a sort of nightmare, an
f at last Tom went up to his boss and nearl
f took the latter's breath away by tellil
/ him he was goin' to leave hiM. The bO'
!. tried to talk him out of the notion, b'
t cause he was one of the very best jou
a neymen, but Tom wouldn't give an
a reasons, but left, thinkin' that he woul
n leave the man with the long neck and a
{ the throat-cuttin' idea behind him, at IL
old shop.
But he was mistaken in this. tt
/ throat-cuttin' idea followed him to b
r new quarters-to the shop where he g.
: work then which was uptown, near Il
corner of Twenty-eighth street. Evel
time he shaved man he found himse
: .I-;,,, ,,,ortoIIx, b;,oSa1f fhe uuestioI