The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-01-03

Minerals and Grasses Used In Shaw.
ing-Dellcate Singeing In Africa
What is Used Instead Of Razors.
Any traveller in Spain who steps off
the beaten path may, like Don
QuiXote, find Mambrino helmet for
himself, for it swings from a staff
over the door OF every wayside barber,
says the New York Sun. An old and
worn out basin does for signboard;
ore less old is necessary to the shay
er's art.
These barber basins of the peninsula
are always made of brass. Some of
the old ones are very fairly hammered,
but in all the shape Is the same
product Of public utility answering to
unvarying demand.
A half circle is cut out from one
rim large enough to accommodate the
patrons gullet and Adams apple. Seen
in profile the effect of man being
shaved Is as st. John, the Baptist,
whose head has partly slid off the
charger Thus is 1t adapted to the
tonsorial methods in vogue in Spain,
and with but slight variations prac-
tised in all of village Europe.
There are no joke weeklies to while
away the time Of waiting; there are
no chairs with complicated gear to
raise and lower the patient. to swing
him around into the light at his most
artistic angle. to tilt him back to q
mosotonous view of the ceiling. In
stead the sufferer is planted bolt up
right in a straight backed chair, and
throughout the operation he is the
sole responsibility of holding basin
of water at his throat, and If he spills
the suds down upon the front of his
shirt the blame is his alone
Nor does the difference cease here
The peasant barber of Europe regards
lather as merely an ornate incident. He
vets his patrons cheeks and smears
them with good hard soap, well
rubbed on. Then he uses his razor to
excavate this cement of stiffening
soap, moistening it only when it is
found too hard to work.
Their great rivals for the empire OF
the ancient world, the Assyrians, were
abundantly supplied with boards. That
they held them in high esteem may be
inferred from the fact that they
carved them on the efflgies of their
sacred bulls and other gods of long
forgotten theology.
If one may accept the statuary OF
Mesopotamia as a safe guide to the
fashions of those early Oriental times
it would appear that the Assyrian
beard was worn in long ringlets. That
MAJ, however, be no more than an
evidence of the limitations of the art
OF the ancient sculptor, who could not
carve hair positively unless he made
it look like rope. 1t seems hardly
conceivable that Nabuchaanezzar and
Assurbanipal would submit to a fash
ion that involved putting their heads
up in curl papers every night.
No modern race goes conspicuously
and completely unshorn except the
black fellows of the Australian bush.
Among the peoples of the earth who
shave wholly or in part the utensils
OF the barbers high calling widely
vary. Soap and shaving brush are a
triumph of advancing civilization, the
sybarite's effort to secure his ease.
Some of the lower races wet the
cheeks with water or the juices of
fruits or sap of trees, but for the most
part the savage shaves dry.
Such of the native tribes along the
Amazon as shave at all in preference
to plucking out their scanty boards
prepare their cheeks by swabbing with
the heavy sap of the tree which yields
the rubber. In tropical Africa the oil
Of the oil palm is used for the same
purpose.
In the East Indies generally the
| pulp of the ripe banana is rubbed to
cream on the cheeks and chin with
| the abundant juice which may be
| drawn from the leaf stem of the same
| plant Elsewhere in the same region
Of the Eastern seas the green orange
| is employed.
Many and various are the substi-
| tutes for the razor of steel. In the up
lands of Africa, where the natives
have developed no little skill as work
ers in metal and produce knives of
good temper, they seem not to have
hit upon the idea of true shaving by
the use of cutting edge. Their abun-
dant boards are removed and their
chaps kept smooth by singeing
plate of iron an inch in width,
three inches long and a quarter of an
inch thick is mounted in handle of
horn. This is brought to white heat
in the charcoal furnace and is passed
evenly over the face very close to the
skin. The glowing plate produces a
close shave effect with a luxury of
| comfort TO the most tender skin that
no razor yet forged could bring about.