The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1903-01-14
A SCHOOL FOR BARRIERS.
WHERE "ToNsoRIAL ARTISTS" ARE
TAUGHT SECRETS OF THE CRAFT.


Strange Characters who Take Advan- |
tags of tho Opportunity of Having |
Their Hair Cut and Shave for Nothing. |
One of the most curious Of the many |
institutions of New York City
is a school established not long ago
on the East Side, where young men
and boys are taught to become skilled
BARRIERS. In this school long rows of
barber's apprentices are at work all
day throughout the course, scraping
diligently at sundry stolid counten-
ances provided for "clinic material"
When not working In this capacity,
the majority of the faces SO used
might be met on the Bowery or In
kindred regions, surmounting the
slouching frames typical of Americas
leisure class. Some are placid coun-
tenances. bearing evidence of a MI
cawber-like trust in potential good
luck others are sullen or tioubled,
with the hunted look that comes to
the face of a man out of a job; but
each and every one Is the better for
a free shave and haircut, even when
awkwardly done by unaccustomed
hands.
In order that material for practice
may be plentiful and at hand the
school is situated far down town,
where traffic of every sort Is thickest
and where the great city's voice takes
on its deepest and most insistent tone.
With the first drowsy growls of that
multiple voice at dawn, the men be-
gin to gather and form in line at the
entrance to the building. Many of
them have stood for hours In the mid
night bread line on Broadway that
they might break their fast at least
once in the "a hours, and now come
to be freshened up as much as possi-
BILE before starting forth again on the
weary quest for work; others, equally
alive to the advantages of being shaw
en- and shorn and made as presentable
as may be, come by way of living up
to their life principle of getting some
thing for nothing, and getting it be-
fore any one else.
At 9 o'clock the school Is opened
and work begins. Men come and go
all day, and the aspirants to barber
craft work like beavers, getting more
practice in one day than they would
get in a month under the old pethod
Of apprenticeship. All sorts and con-
ditions of men come under their hands
tramps, vagabonds, crooks, workmen
out of job, gentleman adventures
| down on their luck, fat men, shriv-
elled men, smooth men, gnarled men,
men with skins like rubber, and men
surfaced like nutmeg graters, downy
youth and stubbly eld-here is expe-
rience varied enough to qualify any
one. Only three kinds of men are
barred-the unclean, the intoxicated
and the men who have once stolen
begged or given any manner of trouble
in the school. One offence is sufficient
here. The master barber, quiet and
alert, has an unerring eye and 6
strong arm, and woe to the man who
sneaks in for shave after having
been forbidden the place.
This gray November morning, wher
the master barber told Of the teaching
and learning of his craft, saw abou
200 men sitting on benches in thu
darkest corner of the workroom, await
ing their turn. The big room was din
gy but clean, we'll lighted from on,
side, and sparsely furnished with tw'
long workstands running from wal
to wall and fianked by double rows o
we'll worn barber chairs. These wer
all filled, and the ranks Of busy bar
behring's were hard at work. Most o
them were boys, ranging in age fron
16 to 20 years, but here and there a.
older man stood by one Of the chairs
learning his trade at a time whe
most men are we'll established in life
One CHEEKY old fellow, with hair a
white as snow, worked patientl
among the students, though at bes
1t could be but a few years befor
hand and eye would fail, and dexterit
with the razor would be a thing Of tn
past Ali the students worked steadil
and conscientiously. aided now an
again by a hint from the master bal
ber as he strolled up and down tn
lines. Some OF the beginners attacke
the task before them with nervou
: painstaking care, each grasping tn
razor hatchetwise in tense 6ands an
dragging 1t like gravel crusht
across the unresisting jaw of his ei
, pecial segment of clinic materia
Others, presumably the born barber
or the more advanced students, worke
b. freely and confidently, wrist and e
a bow loose and the razor held ligh
/. Constantly from the waiting bench'
men went and came, and contrary
all traditions OF barbarian loquacit
the work was carried on in almo
i unbroken silence.
8 1--WE have students here from a
parts of the United States, Canada, Il
Q West Indies and even England" sa
o the master barber. There are frs
class BARRIERS among all nationalitie
OF course, but the men who take mo
r readily to the work are usually Ita
It ians or Germans. Italians are as liz