The oasis., 1896-01-04
NooALEs NOTES.
Torture vs. Pleasure.

and enjoy the luxury of shave with
 all the delightful trimmings an artist
 puts into it. Here at Nogales, or at
 Tucson, the victim is seated in tum-
 bledown old chair which certainly
 came into the country not later than
 the American occupation after the
 Gadsden purchase; and as the barber
 tilts back the seat one feels like
 clutching the air to save going over on
 his head backward, which acrobatic evolution seems imminent. Then a lot of cold father is rubbed on the face and usually it lies there while the
 barber gets out stone and homes his razor minute or two. Instead of hOning their raZ0rs while waiting for customers, as they should, they are
 standing on the street gossiping, and never think of the edges of their razors until they want to use them. With so hurried a honing, of course, the edge of the razor is not at the best, and it blows it's way over the face like a scraper digging ditch, while the victim is in doubt whether his beard is coming out by the roots or being sawed of.
 And the barber's fingers reek with the nauseating stench of cigarettes; during the entire operation they are close under the victims nose, and frequently clasp that seat of one of the most important of the five senses.
 Then when that torture is com pleted little bay rum and water are dabbed on the face with a towel-he ! don't wash the entire face, laying the eyes and forehead, as he should, but just rubs it on the part of the face which has been macerated. Drying | that he dusts on little powder, combs | the victims hair and turns him loose, | his face rough, his eyes dry and un- comfortable, and a general sense that the fellow should have paid him "dos reales" for misusing him, instead of | exacting that amount for his services. |
 How different in Phoenix barber shop. There one is seated in a new, elegant chair which tips back gently, without any sudden and frightening lurch. As soon as the lather is fairly laid on and we'll rubbed into the start ing beard it is deftly removed by razor as sharp as surgeons scalpel, which slips over the face almost with out being felt And the hands of the barber are sweet and clean, offending not the nostrils with the offensive odor of cigarettes nor other vile stench. When that operation is completed a cloth dipped in hot water Jas hot as the barber can bear to handle) is laid On the face, and when it has cooled a little it is again immersed and again applied. That leaves the skin as soft and velyety as the skin of a child and it remains so forty-eight hours, at the end of which time one wants another 1 shave. The eyes and forehead are thoroughly laved, plenty of bay rum applied, and little powder, and when one leaves the chair he feels that he has received full value for the money paid fifteen cents American money.
 Now there are sufficient men in No , gales who would appreciate that kind Of treatment by barber to give him a handsomely remunerative business. If the Phoenix barbers can give a man the service they do for fifteen cents Nogales barbers can do the same for twenty-five cents in Mexican money. There are many who now shave them l selves who would never do so If they [ COuld be shaved here as thav arc in I