The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1906-02-24
Town. TALK

The late General Joe Wheeler was
here during the plague times, and had
a remarkable experience with the qua
rantine i'm those days maintained. The
general arrived on the transport War
ren.-I think it was the Warren, and
she anchored off port to await instruc-
tions. In the meantime an impatient
newspaperman who wanted to see the
general and had doubts about the YES
sci coming in, hired an ordinary shore
boat and proceeded through the chan
mel. 1t was fine day, and the row
boat was soon rising and falling at the
gangway of the Warren. The news
paperman jumped to the ladder and
went aboard. In a few minutes he was
seated in a comfortable steamer chair,
listening to the popular little general
The talk over, the Honolulu man hail
ed his boat and rowed back. Some
time later,-it may have been the next
day-the transport came into the har-
Dor, to the Pacific Mail wharf. She
was fastened six feet away from the
wharf and not a soul was allowed on
board from Honolulu. The newspaper
man was there and the general was
on deck He kindly consented to come
down the gangway and stand and
shout answers to a few questions.
Nothing was said about the previous
interview. Did the general know how
outrageously he had allowed our qua
rantine to be violated?
6 g g G
1 was walking up Fort street with
| a friend who is interested in all sorts
of odd things when we noticed some
men removing a BARRIERS pole.
"Stupid sort of thing that" 1 CHANGED
to remark 81 could never see in what
way a striped pole could be brought to
give the information that there was a
man inside willing to cut your hair or
shave you"
| There's nothing stupid about it, re-
piled my learned friend the barber S
pole is simply a survival one of the
| few survivals, of the days when few of
| our ancestors knew how to read. Then,
in order to tell the unlettered just what
business the occupant of tie house
piled, (for there were no shop win
dows), different trades had differ mt
signs. A butcher would hang out a
rudely carved joint, baker loaf and
so on"
But why did a barber put out a
striped pole? There's nothing sugges-
tive of barbering about that 1 urged.
"I was coming to that he said
you may not know that the BARRIERS
of the olden day were also the 1eeches'
or doctors, in fact they were known as
| BARRIERS and Outrageous which latter
word survives with us as Surgeon
Bleeding was the universal remedy for
every form of disease then and it was
the barber who did this when any UNI
fortunate person fell i'll. The opera
ton was generally performed on the
arm. After the bleeding, the arm had
to be bandaged, and so the sign of a
leech, or barber was a bandaged arm
Gradually, in order that the sign might
be more prominent, they took to paint
ing the bandages different colors, then
the necessity of carving out an arm
passed and the bandages were painted
on pole. See? The BARRIERS are sur
geons no longer but the old sign sur
wives. Just off-hand l cannot recall
any other trade except that of the
matchmaker in which the old sign is
retained"
@ G @ G
My friend Captain Drew has just re-
turned from visit to Maine, where he
has been visiting old relatives and
friends, and he is full of stories of the
way they do things down in Maine
Maine, as is well known, is an absolute
prohibition state and this fact brought
the captain into some queer experiences
It asked an old schoolboy friend who
runs a store to sell me some cider" said
the Captain, land he got insulted. He
is a good deacon, and wouldn't think
of selling such stuff. 1 said 1 couldn't
stand the soda he had, and finally he
agreed to get me something better,
though not for money He disappeared
into his cellar and came forth with
some amber coloTed stuff. He said
his grandmother had made it fifty years
ago, and when | took some he wanted
to know how l liked it. 1t was new
to me and | fear l didn't praise it very
warmly. What on earth is it?' ask
ed. When he told me it was rhubarb
brandy 1 felt like telling him l wasn't
looking for an emetic. But that wasn't
all, One night l went to a card party
and they proposed to serve me some
nice drink. 1t, also, was amber color
ed and new to me. I could feel that
it was far from a prohibition drink
but what it was l couldn't begin tc
guess. What do you suppose l found