The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1908-07-18
BARRIERS ALL SUPERsTITloUs.
Left Handed Man a Hoodco-First
Customer of the Week.

"Superstitious? l should say yes
They won't admit it to any one except
members Of the craft, but BARRIERS are
the most superstitious people in the
world
The man in charge of the second
chair at one of the large shops strop-
ped his razor and loquaciously contin-
ued, says the Chicago Record-Herald:
"YOu see that new man down at
the end of the chair He just came to
work here this morning, and he'll have
nice large can tied to his coat to-
night. Why? Because he's left hand
ed. If he remained here every barber
in the shop would quit before
the week was out
"A left handed barber is hoodoo
to any shop. and there's no getting
away from it. You may think that's
only prejudice that BARRIERS have for
left handed knights of the razor, but
it's a we'll grounded superstition, as
old as the trade itself.
Wed be apt to have all kinds OF
hard luck if that fellow stayed here
any length of time. l once worked in
a New York shop where there' was a
left handed barber, and almost every
day an accident would happen to some
of the Others We told the proprietor
where the trouble lay, but as he was
not a barber he couldn't understand
what difference it made whether a
ch Ii ;c1% HI 1nf
hand.
"One day runaway horse plunged
through the plate glass window, and
another day mad dog ran into the
shop, followed by policeman, wno
killed the beast under the left handed
mans chair. Without any apparent
reason the hot water faucets would get
as cold as ice, and the razors would re-
fuse to work properly. 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 the while he was there not
one of us won bet on policy, al
though the porter used to dream some
OF the best numbers l ever saw. This
fellow l 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 up for
julius. In most shops before new
man is hired he is asked. whether he
Is right or left handed.
Lett handed men who learn the
trade get on to this after 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 s o'clock tonight, when
his 'nibs' will take off his coat and
lake it away with him.
Another superstition among bar
Ders is that they don't want to shave
he first customer that comes in on
morning. That's a sure sign
If poor business all week for the I'M
lucky barber. OF course somebody
las got to shave the first man in.
tut you don't see the BARRIERS rush.
ng madly up to their chairs and
reckoning to the customer You'll
zee one of them go for drink Of wa
er, another is too busy reading the
porting page to look up, and the
'thers are all oding something that
occupies their time. Whatever saair
he customer climbs into the barber
Who runs it is hoodooed for the rest
# the week.
Another popularity about BARRIERS
5 that one of the craft can tell a
elbow tradesman by shaving him, al
hough he may never have seen the
nan before. The way a barber lies
chair when he is getting shaved
nd the way he unconsciously as
lists the man with the razor tips
i'm on every time. He will turn
is head from one side to the other in
different way than other men who
re not BARRIERS, and when the razor
on his neck he will raise his chin
way that cannot be counterfeited.
never missed out on calling the turn
n barber in my life"