Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-05-19
IN THE BARBER SHOP
TonsoriaI Artist Tells About
His Customers.
SOME TRICKS or THE TRADE
Many Men Lake 10 Talk When in tho
Chair.
Have NO ORANGE AT HOME
Amusing Mistakes Made by BARRIERS
In Judging Patrons Business-
When silence Is Golden.
HAVE NO cHANcE AT HOME

| ZIG poss oarpes al the DOWNTOWN hotel
| 'nudged in on one Of those sticky after.
Moons last week and picked out with hi,
eye the last chair in the row because II
looked cool and dark down that way. He
wss tat. middle-agsd, and well dressed
ana he looked man who knew where q
piece Of cracking yellow money could BIZ
round almost any time he set out to looh
for Il.
But the gumminess Of the afternoon
had plainly given him a Crouch. He
slammed his hat on the hook az II hs
| wanted to pull the hook of, threw his coat
and vest at the boy as II the boy had
done something to him, yanked of his
collar and necktie as II he didn't intend
to use them any more In his business, and
pumped himself into that end chair.
Shave he growled. Not close. Just
clean. Yes. I know It's hot. No, I didn',
hear Tfllman's or Bailey.s speech, and
| I'm glad Of 1t. Yes, I have ridden on
tnose new i4th street cars, and we should
have had them years ago. Yes, I've been
to all Of The ball games. and / don't know
where the Washington club is going to
finish. II doesn't make a particle Of DIFF
ference to me where they finish. All that
| l want now, and the crouch man leaned
back In the chair as II he considered 1T all
and
Just at this stage of It," went on the
boss barber, II felt that 1t was about UP
to me to execute my little butt-in I
walked up behind the fat man with the
| Crouch. and 1 said to him:
Excuse me. sir. but this barber you
are addressing Is deaf mute'-which was
entirely true-'and he's not liable to bother
you In the least with conversation
i never saw man look so much like
| ten-cent base ball after the kids had
batted it around the lot on a drizzly after
q Nd boo y
slared at my mute barber. and then he
| settled back in the chair with a very
sheepish grin.
I" They're ON me- he said briefly, and
when the mute barber had finished shaw
Ing him he slipped the dummy a half and
pleasantly went through the motions of
pouring ono down. He's been back for q
shave every day since that afternoon. and
II my dummy razorman is busy he sits
| down and patiently waits for him.
Customers Like to Talk.
Nov that man." went on the boss bar
Der. "is really one Of the very few men
| who doesn't like to talk to his barber All
| of this humbug that you read in the funny
pages about the misery and grief OF barber
shop patrons who fall into the hands of
garrulous BARRIERS Is the purest hot air.
The real chinny barber passed out of ex-
fstence at least ten years ago. and he never
was so chinny as he was pictured.
Now, as strafghtout matter OF fact,
nine men out of ten who patronize barber
shops like to talk with, the barber. Most
men stick to the same barber: they get to
know his kinks. and they have a sort OF
line of talk all mapped out to work Off on
the barber when they climb into his chair.
Just keep your ears open In any big bar
Der shop any time all of the chairs are
occupied-in here, for example-and you'll
find out who's doing the bulk Of the talk
ing, the BARRIERS or the customers. AS q
cd mr. 10 moi Of 70
converse so much that 1t isn't easy to
shave them.
1.-THE natural inclination Of men visiting
a barber shop to talk Is 50 great that
can set almost any man that comes In here
to talking as soon as he hangs up his hat.
and he'll go right on talking till he climbs
out Of the chair, with me scracely ever
dipping in with more than a word or 30.
When he comes Unjust for an example
I'll say to him. 7 hear that Ed Such-and-
Such got pinched last night for running his
buzz wagon too fast or some common
place Of that kind, and, thus provided with
q topic, my man'u go right ahead talking
until he's prettied up with the powder and
has his mustache combed out. Or I'll SIM
ply drop some little question as to the way
things are going In his line, and he'll just
about swamp me with technical talk about
his business.
And. as often as not, the average barber
shop patron doesn't have to be wound up
at ALL He comes in full of piece Of
neighborhood or general news that he's just
heard. and he enjoys putting US next to
the tid-bit and mumbling on It while be-
ing shaved Very often we pretend that
we haven't heard their piece of news at
all. while we may really have been IA
miliar with 1t hours before, just because
We don't want to disappoint 'em. A lot Of
men visit barber shops whose wives and
families don't pay much attention to them
when they try to unreel their little accu-
mutation OF conversation at home, and
these somewhat stepped-on unfortunates
find It positive pleasure to get to a place
like barber shop, where they'll not only
be listened to, but encouraged to buzz.
Made Amusing Mistakes.
And the transients that the barber
doesn't know and has never seen before
are pretty nearly as much inclined to talk
with the razor wielders as the steady Gus
toners. Here In cosmopolitan Washing
ton, especially around the tourist season.
the BARRIERS who make 1t point to at
tempt to stick a pin in strange Gus
TONER'S business and to gently lead him
around to talking about 1t are liable to
make funny breaks sometimes
They land right once In while. but
then again they're likely 10 get ditched
IN an ODD way. One afternoon not long
walked In here and peeled for a shave He
was the sternest-faced Puritan-looking man
that ever ciapped an eye upon. He looked
to me as II he ought to have landed at
Plymouth rock with a conical SLOUGH hat
loose snuff-colored trousers, a f1arinR coat
with big buttons. and big bell-mouthed
blunderbuss slung over his shoulder by
strap
Here with one of those Boston educa
tional parties said to myself as soon as
I saw him. Just soaked and soused in
Boston, that one is.'
HE was about fifty. tain and angular
with mouth like iron. and long nose
that was reddish at the tip-not one of the
booze beaks. understand, but one of the
New Engiandish kind that looked as IL it
had been frest-bitten. Little scrasgy white
siders were tackled on in the brownish hoi-
lows of his. face, and his thin gray hair
was brushed severely back from his fore
head He was dressed In not-looking black
from top to bottom, with one of those
long. crumpled black sack coats, and when
he cooked his feet up on the foot rest In
front of my chair noticed that he wore
congress CATERS and white cotton socks.
We'll, tipped the wink to the barber at
the next chair. who was encouraging
racing man he was shaving to talk about
the horse that was liable to cop the Metro
politan handicap. You see, didn't want to
have anything happen that was liable to jar
on this witch burner who had found his
way to my chair.
Man Who Looked Like Puritan.