Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-12-03
SOME SUPERSTlTIONS.
THOSE OF THE kNleHTa OF THE
RAZOR AND THEIR cus.
TONER'S.
Many Mon Dread the Barber's Chair
To Got Hair Cut BY Rcd Headed
ARTIST" ls sure Cure for Rheuma-
tIsm.

BARRIERS are superstitious and 30 are
the "barbered" It is nip and tuck as
to who has the most good and bad
luck omens. Many men who are per
fectly rational on most subjects have
a superstitious fear of the Ill luck OF
the BARRIERS chair, and they are set
In their beliefs and fears by the con-
slant good and bad luck ideas adj
vanced by the wielders Of the razor.
There's a reputable, front-seat,
water-wagon newspaper man, for in
stance, who sends out columns of
good stuff to an eastern paper, but
says whenever he permits freckled-
faced colored barber to shave him 1t
simply means the fellow on the opposi-
ton paper scoops him, And, strange,
too, the other newspaper man claims
bad luck follows him whenever any
barber other than his regular one
SLAVES him. To see hunchback In
mirror of barber shop indicates bad
luck for two weeks, while to go in a
shop just as the hunchback Genes out
means streak of the best kind of
luck the balance of the year. 1t is not
comforting to have the barber tell you
that to be cut twice on the same side
Of the face will bring good luck for
many months and that to fly off the
handle and abuse the barber kills all
chance for the good luck to hit your
pathway. A sure cure for rheumatism
Is to let red-headed barber cut your
hair and never speak word about
horse races or politics while the job
is being done. 1t is safe to say that no
cure will ever be made, for red-headed
BARRIERS are "conversationalists from
Conversationville." If you sit cross
legged in BARRIERS chair your hair
is liable to come out early in life, and
badness and gray hairs may be pre-
vented with every superstitious belief
advanced by the entertaining artist.
Shave Chin Before Mustache.
If you would guard against every
form of bad luck, never permit a bar
Der to shave your mustache before he
does your chin. Adherents of barber
shop omens say this is the very worst
thing which can befall a man. 1t is
also claimed that If the mustache Is
shaved first good crop of beard can
never be grown, no matter how much
tonic and hair producers the artist
may use at cents per use. Never
occupy chair just vacated by a pug
nosed man. Any barber will tell you
he dislikes to shave pug-nosed GUS
toner, and bootblacks will give them
wide berth. But the individual who
causes dead set balk on the part Of
| the razor wielder Is the stammerfng
man. BARRIERS declare 1T is almost i'm
possible to shave stammerer with
out nipping him with the razor STAN
mering simply gets a BARRIERS nerves
unstrung and he cannot handle his
razor.
|. Polish Shoes While Shaving.
Men thoroughly familiar with bar
bershop superstitions always have
their shoes polished while being
shaved. Most BARRIERS object to the an
noyance of the bootblack. but confess
| 1t means good luck to the customer.
No barber will make an attempt to use
a white.handled razor to shave a red.
headed man. He would never succeed
/ in doing more than making the fell
lows face look like porterhouse
steak. BARRIERS, however, claim that
red-headed men who do their own
work or keep individual razors nearly
always have white-handled razors. The
limit on razors for busy days work
is three for a barber. If they sharpen
and none more than this number, bad
luck will follow.
The man who gets shaved before
breakfast will run in luck the entire
day, but If he shaves himself before
his mornings meal bad luck will fol
low. The man who smokes during the
time he is getting shaved will never
suffer from a raw face. If you carry
a rabbits foot. don't show II to your
barber for it will take the charm
away. Nearly all BARRIERS are believers
in the efficacy of the rabbit foot, but
they never exhibit the foot, keeping II
always in the left pocket of his trous
ers. If barber makes lather mug
of your ear don't object, for your ear
may be more sanitary than the mug
which he uses to lather hundreds OF
customers.
4 Lac t,a