The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-11-21
HOW SHAVING
 BECAME POPULAR Barber Tells Story to Helpless
 Victim AN ANCIENT NARRATIVE Custom Was Originally Adopted as Strategy of War and Was So Sue cessfuI That 1t Has Been Gen.
 erally Adopted.
AN ANCIENT NARRATIVE

] From the Baltimore Sun.
 see you are in the habit of getting shaved every day" said the talkative tonsorlalist as he grabbed his helpless victim and sloshed the lather over his face
 Yet I venture to say that you know nothing of the reason you and your fel- lowmen have their boards removed as fast as they grow"
 The victim grunted and made feeble and intellectual attempt to wipe the father 1 from his eyes.
 | Shaving, however, Is the most ancient of arts" the talkatlye tonsorialist con i tinued, poising the razor above the vic- l tims face. "The ancient Greeks and [ Romans all removed their boards and as far back as the records of antiquity go 1t is shown that the tonsorialists art was i one of the most honored and widely prae- ticed. ], therefore, am 8 descendant Of tonsoralists whose line began back In the misty and shrouded beginnings of the human family.
 Some time has elapsed since I received my degree from the Hooking Valley uni versity and although l took post-gradu- ate course and in later life received the degree of bachelor of shampooing, I can not remember the names of the earliest originators of the shaving art. Oh, par don me, did stick you? You'll only lose a gill of blood, I assure you and if you brink plenty of milk you will speedily re- gain it.
 Well, as I was saying, shaving origl- mated in the olden days before you and l were born. Yes, quite naturally, before we were born. However, there was much fighting in those gay days and every man who did not carry sword and shield was very little respected by the other strong arms who were his neighbors.
 Now Epileptic the Bold. I think that was his name. though l cannot remem- Der enough of my early classical course to say with assurance, was a great leader in the times of antiquity, and he had as his army gang of long-wlls- ,kered fighters who were easily the cham pions over anything they had gone up against.
 That must have been somewhere around the Biblical times when all men let their boards grow. If a mans whis- kers got to his waistline he was much prouder than the man who only could get his belew his collar button. l believe that this is the basis of pride even now among some Mohammedan countries. The length of the beard, I am told, deter i mines responsibility.
 However that may be. General Epilep- 1 tic got mixed up in diplomatic argument with another ancient hero whose name i cannot at present recall. Perhaps when you come in tomorrow I will be able to tell you the real names of these fa- nous men, but l am now familiar with | the facts of the legends exclusive of the names and dates.
 But the result of the diplomatic squab- ble was the severance of relations and war was eagerly looked forward to by both tribes. The forces of the hero op- posed to Epileptic, as I understand, were somewhat superior to those of the latter leader, but that did not in any way feaze his brave followers, and they clamored eagerly for the strife. They offered to make any sacrifices and even the women i declared they would give up their chew i ing gum if only the general would give | them war.
 But Epileptic was strategist and he | had grave doubts about the prospects of | success. He considered long time be- fore he finally decided to send his ulti- matum, and this he did not do until he called all his warriors together and told them il was time to make good on their sac. flee talk.
 l Tn those days all the fighting, with the exception of bir of stone singing and arrow shooting, was done hand to hand. 1 The alchers and singers were in bad, as l it were, not having the same social posi- tcn and prestige as those who carried l swords and shields and mixed the fight. | The same relations existed as do today in our army, with the engineers looking | down on the infantry
 "Now, when two armies then met in a clash they clashed properly. All the men wore long boards, as you know, and the best mode of fighting was for one man to grab the other fighters beard, getting a good grip on it, and with this hand hold use his sword to good effect. Which, ever man got his fingers in beard first was most likely to be the winner.
 But a brilliant idea struck Epileptic, or whatever his name was. He proposed to eliminate all handholds on his men and in order to give the enemy nothing to