The American citizen. [volume] (Topeka, Kan.) 1888-1909, 1889-02-15
RARRERs IN EUROPE.
TIL cir PecAliarities Set Forth for the EdE
fication of the Reader.

French BARRIERS wrap the end OF . |
towel over the fingers ofthelr left hand, |
and when it is necessary to touch the
face at all it is the towel which comes |
into contact with it and not the bar
ber's hand. The main point about their
work is the extraordinary swlttness
and dexterity with which they shave.
In America q man usually reconclles
himself to be fifteen or twenty minutes
in the chair, and five minutes OF 1t Is
spent in lodging hair tonics, bay rum,
brilliantine, face lotions and powder
The French use none of these things.
Thew lather man S face very slightly,
run it over with a razor, sponge 1t OF,
and then the man dries it himself with
towel and leaves the shop five or SIX
minutes after he has entered it. Very
many Frenchmen shave twice day II
they are going out in the evening, and
it is the regular custom to step into q
BARRIERS on their way to dinner, and
get shaved after they have assumed
evening dress. There is no pomatum
or cosmetic of any sort used, so that
the ''barber's SMELL is agreeably lack
ing.
l am quite aware that | am running
in to the face of tradition in commend
ing French BARRIERS. The tradition is
false. That brilliant satirist and
master of grotesque lampooning, Mark
Twain, has built up reputation for
the French barber which he will never
| be able to shake off, as far as the be-
| liefs of Americans are concerned.
But the man is maligned, nevertheless,
as any old resident of Paris can testify.
But Mark Twain's sarcasm on the
barber of England is we'll bestowed.
He has even understated the case. A
distinguished American novelist whom
I met in London told me that he was
GLAD that he had come to England for
two reasons. In the first place he had
learned to battle every morning, and
in the second he had acquired the art
of shaving himself
1.-The first of these" he said, keeps
me free from colds in the head, and by
the second escape the horrors OF the
barber shop, and particularly OF the
British barber"
It is considered in England rather
common thing to go to barber shop
as all the toffs are shaved by thell
Wallets, and the men who initiate then
shave themselves, so as not to revea
the fact that they have no persona
} servants The few BARRIERS that exist
however, make up in crime for thi
! paucity of number. They are bruta
to a point never attained even by tn
J most gallus and snowy Southern negr
7 tonsorial artist. The familiarity of
London barber is almost as bad as hi
} brutality. He pulls his customer
around, jerks, scrapes, saws and tor
1 lures them, with endless enthusiasm.
Ihave never been able to understan
s why any man adopts the calling OF
C barber in Germany, for the pay is al
t surdly small. | don't remember tn
8 exact figures, but know that it neve
!, failed to startle me when reckonin
= day came. All over Germany they Civ
8 credit with degree of truthfulnes
= which the foreigner considers beaut
e full tribute to the general honesty {
y human nature, until he learns of til
= great strictness, power and almost IL
s defatigable work of the German polic'
It 1t is impossible for a debtor to g
8 across the border, and hence the trutl
It fulness.
/. The first barber / ever had in tt
German empire was the picture
Fritz Listz, the pianist, except that
was not gray. He charged abO1
: twenty cents a week for coming to Il
=, hotel and shaving me every mornin
q and it was two weeks before l got ov
- being abashed in his presence. He hi
a huge shock of blonde hair. while
was cOmbed back from a noble for
head and cut off square across the ne
a after the fashion of Able Listz, and
% invariably wore frock coat, button
we'll around his small waist. A flow
~ bloomed in his buttonhole, and
a. came with his lather all prepared in
~ little water-tight box. He usual
"a hummed an operate aria as he shaw
n me, and it was a long time before
y could summon up sufficient courage
"a interrupt him for the purpose of pr;
al ticing queer German upon him befo
"A breakfast. -Blakely Hall.
-