The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-07-12
IN 4 BARRIERS CHAIR
CHARACTERISTICS OF GREAT MEN
AS SEEN BY a TONSORIAL
ARTIST.
PERRY BELM0NT'S TRAITS.
NOT THE MOST ANGELIC, ACCORD
ING TO THE KNIGHT OF THE
RAZOR.
CZAR TOM REED A SOFT SNAP.
Razor Needs No HOninG After ~
Tour of His ROtund COunte-
PERRY BELMONT'S TRAITS.
GAR TOM REED A SOFT SNAP.

WASHINGTON, July 10.-The age OF
miracles has not yet passed away.
Wonders are all around us, and some
times they disclose themselves or are
discovered. Men of experience know
that the barber who chatters usually
does so with no more intelligence than
the chattering of monkey. BY sheer
accident l today dropped into the chair
OF a garrulous barber, who knew
enough to be interesting. He said:
Il used to shave Theodore Roose-
Welt. and l was always able to satisfy
him. because 1 always agreed with his
notional notions. He always paid me
a quarter for a shave. He sometimes
made me tired with his nervous ways,
but he is my friend today. 1 under
stand that he has a barber come to
his house now; for he hasn't been in
my shop since he came back to Wash
ington to live"
Gen. James S. Clarkson, the poll
tician, is the gentlest, mildest mall.
ever shaved. He quietly takes off his
necktie and collar, sits down in The
chair closes his eyes, and never says
a word. His skin is very tender, and
he cannot have a very close shave.
w HGtltN CT lie COIIlGS 10 w dSillIlS lOI LS
sends for me-"
Perry Belmont had a hard face to
shave [ ought to know, for l shaved
him three times week for 81 a month
for two years. He's a very queer man
with lots of rough edges"
Come. my good man, you are intel
ligent and a good talker. I'd like to
hear about Mr.. Belmont"
He shattered a big dash Of lather
across my mouth and commenced to
rub it into the skin, in fact into my
inner consciousness, and he said: Per
~ Belmont has turns. Sometimes he
Is as pleasant a gentleman as any man
1 ever saw, and again he is as notional
as a woman. He's good pay, though,
deed he tsp"
But You haven't told me about
shaving him."
We'll, L always had to be there be-
tween 7:30 and in the morning. You
know he lived in that big house out
On Seventeenth and Rhode Island ave-
hue. It was long walk for me, but 1
used to make 1t. Sometimes he
wasn't there, but L was paid by the
month, because it took me an hour to
go there, whether he was in or not
The first time L ever called I had a
hard time shaving him, for sure. You
see, he had every flour In, his house
waXed and polished, so that only them
that was used to it could stand on the
sliehery boards. Well, he got on the
chair, and / commenced; to shave him,
when my feet commenced to slip from
under NEIL told Mr.. Belmont I
couldn't stand on his floor cause I
wasn't used to it. He said I oughtn't
be such a ID fool, for any niger
ought to have sense enough to take a
rug and stand Oh it.. 1 took a rug, and
that slipped from under me, too; so I
took off my shoes and stood III my
socks while I shaved him. When I
done got through with him he was
mad cause I had taken off my shoes
in his house and been Shawn him
standing that way. But 1 just grin
ned and showed my teeth and told him
that was the only thing that saved
him from havin' his throat cut
Did Mr.. Belmont ever show any
especial temper to you?"
eve had a time of it one morning.
He had been to New York, and hadn't
been shaved for two days. You know
he wears Numbered shirts and high
collars Well, them high collars had
been rubin his neck, and made it
tender, but he didn't seem to realize
it. I Iathered him and rubbed the
lather in so to make his face Soft.
Then, when I put the razor on his
face and made it go slow and easy,
he jumped and looked into the glass
and said that [ had broken his skin.
When I tried to explain that 1 was
doing good work and had not broken
his skin, he told me to shut up my
black mouth. | got mad and told
him I wouldn't shut my mouth for
no man, and 1 slapped his head back
on the chair and commenced to scraoe
that whisker off in the most artistic
style, for 1 meant to do good job.
l think the young man was scared.
from the way he acted But, bless
you, I never thought of harming him.
At any rate, he said he guessed L was
all right, and smiled at me as 1 fixed
him UP. He's very good man, but
Oh! my, what a temper he's got. He
amt the pleasantest man in the world
to work for
''Who is the incest man you ever
shaved?"
Sunset Cox, by big odds. used to
shave him every morning for ST per
month He wa sthe most tincitange-
able, pleasant, always happy white
man l ever saw in my life. He never
complained about anything, and was
ALWAYS as nice as gentleman could
be Even when he was sick and felt
bad, he never said an unkind word to
me- Whenever 1 went into his room
he said good morning, as if [ was white
folks He used to tell me a funny
story while [ was shaving him, and it
seemed to make the razor do its work
better-it did, indeed. Besides, when
ever he talked to me l learned some
thing. That little man knowed all
about everything. l have seen lots OF
smart and big men, but none of them
ever made me like them as much as
Mr.. Sunset Cox did"
Are you shaving any public men
now?"
Not so many as when 1 was young
er, eXceptin' as they come In my shop
here, when they are in town. A cool
many Of them know me and like my
style, so they hunt me up. 1 used
to shave Mr. Dick Townsend and he
was a nice gentleman. He's gone now.
How those great men do die off, don't
they? There's Col. Burnes, of Mis-
souri,. He's gone too. What a great
big-hearted man he was. Nobody
ever heard a cross word out of him.
He was a gentleman, sure enough
Then there was Mr.. Conkling. He used
to let me trim his whiSkers and some
times touch his hair with scissors
But he had man he always got to
trim his hair, exceptin' occasionally
when ! did it for him. Mr.. Conkling
never talked any. But he would bow
and say good morning and good even
ing, same as if 1 was a gentleman of
his own kind. / never done much for
him, but ] always liked him. What?
Proud? Him? L never saw nothin'