The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-12-06
somnrnINq Anour NlzoRs.
Certain Facts About Them Frankly Con
 filed by a Barber.

| filed by Barber.
 IL was a rainy day, and the barber was in a talkative mood, He opened the conversation by apologlzing for his razor, which seemed to pull The GUS toner replied, philosophioally, that, as he usually shaved himself, he was used to dull razor That was enough for the barber, and he went on to unfold the art and mystery of managing ra- zor.
 Some of his customers had occasional fits of economy and undertook to shave themselves. They usually came to hlm l for razor remarks the New York Sun. As for himself he never paid more than one dollar for a razor and he as often as not got the kind of razor he wanted for half dollar. He found 1t impossible to be sure of a good razor from its price or from the name of the maker What he did was to test the razor before buying, usually with his thumb nail. If the blade gave the pro- per sort of ring, an indetlnable thing indeed, he usually expected 1t to turn out 8 good article. He was sometimes disappointed in this, for the ring was not always to be depended upon. It sometimes happened that a razor turned out by manufacturer of no great fame proved to be of excellent quality.
 | When his patrons came to him for razors and announced their intention to economize in the matter of shaving, he always welcomed them and cheer l fully picked out razor. He made no concealment of the fact that he charged them two dollars for a razor that cost him one dollar. He believed it fair enough, and so did they. His knowledge and experience were worth something, and dollar razor that he guaranteed was certainly worth two dollars to the ordinary uninformed per- son. The great advantage that his customers found in paying him two dollars for one-dollar razor was that, whereas the razor they bought from a manufacturer or dealer would not be taken back, he himself would always take back a razor not satisfactory to the customer. Besides, the razor that cost him one dollar would cost the cus- toner at least one dollar and a half. Then, two, the dollar razor must al- ways be put in order, and his charge for putting a razor in good condition was twenty-five. cents, so that, all things considered, the guaranteed one dollar razor at two dollars was a good enough bargain for the customer.
 The barber lost little or nothing by his customers little fits of economy, for, between selling new razors and putting old ones in order, he got good deal out of such customers in the course of year. Nine men out of ten are quite incapable of keeping their own razors in order. Indeed. nine men out of ten should never attempt to strop a razor, for they usually make 1t worse rather than better. The sim plest thing was to shave with a razor so long as it shaved well, and then, without trying to improve it, let the barber strop it little when the cus- | toner needs to have his hair cut. The charge for this is a trifie or nothing, and the razor is not spoiled by awk- ward stropping. Every amateur should have piece of chamois skin to Keep ms fdZOT Qly. The layman, so to speak, should nev- CT attempt to hone his razor. That is thing for the professional. As to 1 hones the barber kept several kinds. What he liked best was petrified wood. He showed such a hone. It cost him ten dollars. It was smooth and hard and beautifully close grained, so that no razor was injured when honed upon | it by a skilful barber. Then the next was the oil stone. That was we'll enough, but it was likely to contain 1 bits of sand that would ruin a razor, and was perhaps the most dangerous hone for an amateur. After all the best thing was strip of plate glass slightly ground upon the upper surface. That the barber habitually used and found it excellent. Wisdom must be exercised in the choice of the glass, however, and he was not ready to rec ommend the plate-glass hone to every amateur.
 1 As to strops, the barber preferred Russia leather to anything else. It is rather difficult to get the right thing in Russia leather and the amateur would | not find it just what he wanted unless he knew how to treat 1t. The barber l himself smoothed his Russia leather to a hard, glossy surface with pumice stone and whetting. The result was a l perfectly smooth, adhesive strop Some folks like the canvas strop. The barber, for his part, did not, It, too, is the better for the treatment that will give it a smooth, glassy surface
 l The customer absorbed all this wis.
 dom with interest and hope of profit Then he asked the barber what became Of all the old razors The answer was
 effect that there are no old razors
 The razor that he used on the customer cost thirty cents, and was twenty years
 old. The barber never threw away z
 razor and was always ready to buy
 one if the price were low enough. Any
 razor of good quality, no matter how old, he could usually sell for half a doi
 lar after putting it in order. Some
 times old razors went for corn knives
 The proved razor is valuable thing
 because of the ignorance that prevail: -----==---=--=---====--==-= 1 MN MaFWnS E5ss9RfSasa