The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1907-06-21
LEFT HANDED BARRIERS.
What One Of the Tonsorial Craft Has
to Say About Them.

"Snperstltious ! should say
7iyes They won't admit it to any
one except members Of the craft,
but BARRIERS are the most supersti-
lioUs people in the world"
The man in charge Of the second
chair at one Of the large hotel shops
.stroppcd his razor and loquaciously
continued:
"lou see that new man down at
ihc end chair? lie just came to
work hcic .his morning, and he'll
have q nice large can tied to his
.oat tonight. Why: Because he's
left handed. II he remained here
every barber in the shop would quit
lefore the weel, was out.
"a left handed barber is a hoodoo
.to any sho] and there's no getting
iway from 1t. You NAV think that's
)nly a pref ldice that BARRIERS have
% left handed knights OF the razor,
,It it'sawcll grounded superstition,
Iis Oil IA T. e trade Itself.
~ ed Lc apt to llyc al kinds Of
ard luck il that fellow STAYED here
I'ay len til Of time. ! once worko2
j q New FORK shop where there
vas a LEFT handed barber. and almost
every day an accident would happen
to soac Of the other7. We told the
proprietor where tire trouble Law,
i11t a5 he w7s not a arber he coulo
not rnders and what difference il
aade Whether q man shaved with
his ri~ht q. left hand.
One GAY a rlrawaT horso plung.
l2a through the plate rlcss window
ard anothc- day q laad dog ran into
Pie shop, followed BY a policeman
Tho killed the beast under the left
handed mans chair. Without any
lapparent reason the hot water fau-
els would get cold as ice and the
lrazors would refuse to work proper
lly. Customers who for years had
been in the habit Of getting SHAVED
three or four times a week stopped
coming. and it was all due TO that
left handed barber. During all tht
while he was there not one of u.
won a bet on policy, although the
porter used to dream some Of the
best numbers | ever saw. This fel-
low 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
i5f.od in this morning, looks to be
a pre- tty good barber, but just as
soon rs the boss saw him strop ra-
zor wth his left 'mitt' it was all of
for Julius. In most shops before a
new man is hired he is asked wheth-
er he is right or left handed.
Left handed men who learn the
trade get on to this after awhile,
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
ret killed around here before S
o'clock tonight, when his 'nibs' will
take of his coat and take it away
with him.
another superstition among bar
bers is that they don't want to
shave the first customer that comes
in on Monday morning. That's a
sure sign Of poor business all week
for the unlucky barber. OF course
somebody has goS to shave the first
man in, but you don't see the bar
Ders rushing madly up TO their
hairs and beckoning to the custom
n. You'll see one of them 60 for a
lrink of water, another is too busy
the sporting page TO look
lp, and the others are all doing
that occupies their time.
Whatever chair the customer climbs
nto the barber who runs it is hoo
looed for tie week.
"Another peculiarity about bar
,ers is that one Of the craft can tell
fellow tradesman by shaving him.
llthough he may never have seen
he man before. The way a barber
les in a chair when he is getting
haved ard the way he unconscious
y as lists the nan with the razor
ip him oil every time. He viii
urn his head from one side to the
'ther in a different way than other
zen who are not BARRIERS, and when
he razor is on his neck he'll raise
lis chin in a way that cannot be
| never missed out
N calling the turn on a barber in
~ IN n