The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1907-03-12
sUPERsT1TroNs OF B,ARBERss,.. i, !.
BARRIERS are Said to be the Most Sup.
erstitious People on Earth
Z, Some Of their PecuIiarities.
Chicago Record Herald.

Chicago Record Herald. 'le.@
"Superstitious9 I should say, yes
They wont admit it to any one except
members Of the craft, but BARRIERS are
the most superstitious people in the
world.' -.,'... 49,. g. +
The man in charge Of the second
chair at one Of the large hotel shops
stropped his razor and loquaciously
continued: ...." -.....7
"You see that new man down at
the end of the chair9 He just came to
work here this morning and he III
have nice large can tied to his coat
tonight. Why? Because he's left
handed. If he; remained here every
barber in the shop would quit before
the week was out.
GA left-handed barber is a hoodoo
to any shop, and there IS no getting
away from it. You may think that s
only prejudice that BARRIERS have
for left-handed knights of the razor,
hard luck if that fellow stayed here
amy length Of time. I once worked in
a New York shop where there was a
left-handed barber, and almost every
day all accident would happen to
some of the others. We told the pro-
prietor where the trouble lay, but as
he was not barber he couldn't un-
derstand what difference it made
whether man shaved with his left
or his right hand.
Gone day runaway horse plunged
through the plate glass window, ana
another day mad dog ran into the
shop, followed by a policeman, who
killed the beast under the left-han-
ed MANS chair. Without any appar-
ent reaS}on the hot water faucets
would get cold as ice, and the razors
would refuse to work properly. Gus
toners who for years had been in the
habit of getting shave three or four
times week stopped coming and it
was all due to that left-handed bar
Der. During all the while he stayed
there not one of us won a bet on pol
icy, although the porter used to dream
some of the best numbers | ever saw.
This fellow I speak of had red hair,
and that, of course, made it worse.
We finally induced the boss to fire
him, and just as soon as he was gone
things began to get good again.
"Now, this fellow on the end, who
drifted in this morning, looks to be a
pretty good barber, but just as soon
as the boss saw him strop a razor
with his left 'mitt' it was all for
julius. Tn most shops before a man
is hired he is asked whether The is
right or left handed.
"Lcft-handed men who learn the
trade get onto this after a while. and
then they switch to the right hand
that is, if they can make good with
the right. I'm scared to death that
somebody is going to get killed around
here before. 8 O'Clock tonight, when
his 'nibs' will take off lis coat and
take it away with him.
Another peculiarity about BARRIERS
bers is that they don't want to shave
the first customer that comes in on
Monday morning. That's sure sign
for poor business for the mlucly bar
ber all the week. Of course, some
body has got to shave the first man
in, but you don't see the BARRIERS
rushing madly up to the customer
and beckoning to the customer. You'll
see one Of them go for a drink Of wat
'er, another too busy rdading the
sporting pages to look up, AUD the
others are all doing something that
occupies their time. Whatever chair
the customer climbs into the barber
who runs it is hoodooed for the week.
"Another pecularity about BARRIERS
is that one Of the craft can tell a
fellowtradesman by shaving him, al