The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1884-08-05
WHAT THE BARBER KNOWS,
Some Points in Human Nature
that Do Not Escape Their
Attention.

men. Like the average barber, b.
is voluble. / don't object to this. |
barber is a good talker, and hat
been student of the pages of hu
mainly, why not listen to him th,
same as you would your pastor, if you
have one. As | put my head bach
on the chair of this barber last he
said that he was afraid he Guild moi
give me as good a shave as he was in
the habit ofdoing. tits not necessary
to explain what led him to unravel
this story:
/ am going to get out of the bust.
ness pretty soon, hope. am get
ting tired of it; IN fact, it seems to
begetting tired of me. | used to be a
sailor, and | was a soldier in the
Indies, in her majesty's service q
knew this to be }. | make no pre-
tensions to courage, but [ never knew
what it was to falter, and as
for nervousness | never in my life
knew what that meant until began
handling a razor. Some BARRIERS will
tell you that it is the fault of the
barber himself if his hand is unsteady
Well. it isn't. Let me explain. 1t is
the kind of a customer a barber has
which creates that feeling. You
know | have had this chair in this
same place for seven years and more.
In that time | have acquired trade.
My customers are men whose business
keeps them on the strain. For the
most part they are members of the
board of trade, and bank cashiers,
and book-keepers. They come in
here out OF the excitement of their
business. They are in mental culver.
1t becomes contagious after you have
gone over dozen such faces and rub
bed dozen such heads in a day. /
have handled them so long that |
know when anything is unusal. A
member of the board of trade does
not have to tell me when he is long
or short. | don't read the paper to
find out whether there is a corner on
wheat or pork. Of course, l may
not know what the commodity is, but
/ do know whether it has been up or
down. The book-keeper of one of the
biggest banks on-street was In here
ahead of you. l knew something
was wrong with him, and he finally
told me that he had been bothered
all day over one of his accounts until
his head was like top.
Such faces, / ventured to remark,
must be difficult to shave.
Yes, they are. Now, ifa mechanic,
or anybody who does physical work,
comes in, it is sort of relief to shave
such face. Talking abou: relief re-
minds me of what man on the board
said to-day. He came over here after
the board had cleared, and 1 happen
ed to say that supposed he felt re-
leved that the days worry was over.
He looked at me and said: No; it
isn't that. The worry is to come,
says be. / asked how that was, and
he said: Well. as long as / am in
that noise and hurrah and excitement
1 live in tand enjoy it. When it is
over and walk away the stiffness
and quietude distracts me, and some
times it almost drives me mad.
Do you know any of the peculiari-
ties or traits of any of your customers
such as you have discovered from
coming in contact with them in your
business?
[ think so. After you have shaved
one face continuously for several
years there is a sort Of confidence
that springs up between the man and
the barber. The man who trusts his
throat in your hand three or four
times week for seven years had as
lief tell you his secrets as not. aud
some of them do it. But BARRIERS who
get such customers know enough t.
keep their mouths shut.
What becomes of the barber who
never gets shop of his own; he
grows old the same as other men. of
course, but he can't continue bis bust
ness, can he?
No, they go away from the place
where they have been known. /
have often thought of that myself. 1
am not a sentimentalist. you know,
but there is something sorrowful to
me in the last days of barber who
has not been thirty. He gets out of
the way of those whom he knew. He
goes off to himself and that is the last
you hear of him. He seldom gets
into any other business, and when he
loses a Job he is ofall men the most
miserable. There you are.
Clevelands Secretary.
Cleveland leader.