The morning times., 1896-06-19
HE SHAVED WAGNER.
The Barber Who Did 1t Living II
New York.

ne I1dEOch w hO OA0 - -
New York.
When Richard Wagner was living near
Lucerne, in lS6s-69, there was only one
barber in the town who could success
fully cope with the difficulties Of his pow
erful chin's wiry growth Of beard.
That barber, then young fellow. was
Eugene Wassmar, and today you VIII
fine him just as successfully and ueruy
giiding over all manner OF lesser chins
at the Gilsey House.
Wassmar is now about forty-five years
old, and If he were theosophist he might
have reason to speculate on certain coin
cidences that the Mahatmas might de-
clare still link the fates of him and his
with that of the great composer.
Wagner liked Wassmar's work so well
that none but the Swiss was ever per-
mitted to attend him.
Wassmar says that when the composer
could not come to him, he would take his
tools to Trubsche, where the masters villa
was-now the property of Nine. Pauline
Lucca land where he frequently saw King
Ludwig of Bavaria.
When the barber left Lucerne to become
one Of the ambulance corps on the French
side in the Franco-Prussian war, he lost
sight of his great patron.
Wagner died February 13. 1898. and on
the same day Wassmar's wife presented
him with his first child. girl He does
not regard this as anything but coinci-
dence. He admits being staggered. how
ever. when the second child, also girl,
arrived in this world on the same date,
February 13.
If either OF these children turns out to
he musical prodigy. the Theosophists will
doubtless lie able to explain the phenCme-
non.
wassmar says the composer came regu-
larly to his shop to be shaved on the
morning of every alternate day. He was
invariably accompanied by big st. Ber-
nard dog. named Sultan.
He would walk solemnly into the shop,
and call upon the harber's boy to bring a
basin of water for the deg: nor would he
get into the chair until Ne saw the dog
provided for He would then hand the boy
a fee. amounting in our money to about 10
cents.
He would never suffer Wassmar or any
one else in the shop to address him as
Herr Wagner He did not care to be
known to those around. and thus it was
that he was always greeted as ..Meinherr," :"
and nothing else.
On one point the great man was par
ticularly strict. He would tolerate no
conversation on the par of the man shaw
ing him. Wassmar never even dared to
comment on the weather. CT ask him If
the razor suited.
There was no need to ask.
Razors that sang harshly against the
| chin had way of dropping Of their own
voliton to the ground at a single furious
| glance from the masters eye.
HE had a tough beard-a very tough
| beand" said Wassmar, land his skin was
very tender. / had to be very careful, and
| sometimes I tell you / was very nervous.
| But he never said a harsh word. 1t was
| his eye that spoke. l should call him a
| very aristocratic man."
| For year and half or more the bar
| Der shaved the composer without inter-
| ruptioD. He is fond of telling his exper-
| fences at the villa. Whenever the kin e
i Of Bavaria paid one of his incognito visits
| to his friend wagner the barber was sum-
moDed for duties there. There he saw
| Frau Cosima, 1.-The lady with the big Dose,"
| as he calls her, and occasionally even the
| king himself
Wagner never forgot to '.tip" the bar-
| Der. He was punctiious on this point, and
| would as soon have forgotten to piy bis
| respects to the king himself. Wassmar
| invariably received franc piece after
| every shave, and he is sorry now that he
| didn't preserve string of them.
| wassmar has been in this country about
| twenty-five years. and during that time
| he has coped with a multitude of boards
but never has he encountered one so hard
/ and wiry as that which nature bestowed
| along with many other surprising gifts
| upon Richard Wagner.