The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1909-07-22
IN HIS TIME DAVE:
SHAVED $4,000
Now When Tired Rests, No Mat
ter How Many Customers
Are Waiting for Him
OLDEST BARBER MAKES COMMENTS
ems Faces, He Says. Are Losing
Strong nsscUlinity that Formerly
msrses Them-ssys esrserins Is
not a Trade, is a Profession.

Cleveland. Ohio Right opposite
the Cuyahoga Falls Hotter is Dave
Berkheimer's barber shop. whose pro
prietor works when he fees like il and
at no other time. An evening or 10
ago. at an hour when business usually
gets brisk, he turned the lights low,
carried a chair out to the sidewalk.
and. seating himself. lighted a pipe
and vas putting away contentedly
when be had a call. II was Jake Bou-
ron. who came in from the farm with
a bunch Of hair on his face. the crop
Of full week. n his butionhole vas
a flower and he wore a pale blue neck.
tie. for it was the night be always set
apart for his girl:
Guess I'll try one Of your shayes,
pop" he remarked hesitating at the
doorstep.
Not this eyening. you won't" OBJ
served Dave.
WHAT'S the reason / won't? Amt
this a regular barber shop. and ain
you 4 regular barber. and amt YOU
gotta shave anybody that's got the
price? And If that's all that's wrong
OF you. ! kin show I've got that all
right"
My boy" said Dave, Il want to
work when want to and not when
other people want ne TO. I'll tell you
something. ! started in this business
when ] was thirteen years Uio I'm
seyenty-three now. That makes sixty
h1 81
barber in the United States. And all
this time I've been working. thinking
l had to- Well. I've just decided that
/ don't have to and | amt going to.
Good night"
Has Dave retired?
Not bit OF it. That's merely his
declaration OF Independence. Actual.
ly he's working harder than ever.
But" he says, I've saved bit OF
money. and I'm beholden to no man.
And from now on I'm going to work
- get tired. and when ! get tired
going to lay of If the whole shops
Of people.
les. you bet I've shaved some
en in my day. l figure that I've
iked on about 5000 faces and heads
year on an average for sixty years.
That makes it run upward 100000 for
my sixty years. don't it?
Has the human face undergone any
changes? Well. should say 1t has.
And not for the better. eithe., it seems
to me. You don't see any rugged,
strong faces any more, like you used
TO.
Mems faces used to be hard and
big. and the hair on the top OF the
head was as thick as IL was on the
chin and jaws. Men are getting to
be more like women. Their faces are
big enough sometimes. but they're soft
and kind Of flabby-that old hardness
isn't there any more. The hairs all
on the face and not on the head.
There has been a change in the
cheek bones. Most young fellows now.
sdays seem to have kind of high
cheek bones. They don't look no more
like their grandads than a cat does
like tiger.
I've figured that we can blame the
hats for the bald heads. Men didn't
used to be so careful about covering
their heads up with air-tight straw
and the like OF that in the hot sum.
mer. They used to wear hats that let
plenty OF air in. and that's what their
hair needs morn anything else Hairll
never come out if you keep it clean
and give 1t plenty OF air."
There's no unsteadiness about Dave
for all his sixty years at the strop.
One Of his favorite Jokes is to get a
man that he can not hold a pin in his
hand, arm stretched horizontally, for
ten minutes. II sounds easy, but did
yoI ever try it? Few men can do It
Dave can.
Dave smokes a good deal. Also he
drinks-two beers a day.
MY own idea about this drink bust.
ness" he says, ''is that the more you
say to man that he mustn't take It,
tho harder he'll go after 1t. Now-I
was going to say that I'd drink all my
life, but never had been drunk-but I
was once.
Let's sect was after Lincoln's
Hudson. ! went over there with q
lot Of other fellows to see Lincoln 70
through. And | recollect we took a
bottle along. Yes. was pretty well
corned up that time. | had the bottle
whom Lincoln came In.
How're ye, Abe yells, waving
both hands. one holding the bottle,
too.
"He waved back, laughed and said
something. don't know what, though
I've studied over 1t lots Of times. /
wish I'd heard it, for ! bet you
cookie 1t was something good. He
used to get on some pretty rich things.
"Barbering isn't trade-it's a pro
fssaion. | learned my trade in Ger.
many. and | can do surgery. Why, I
can bleed man with the best Of
doctors. And know all the diseases
OF the face and what's good for them.
How many BARRIERS do nowadays? But
they ought to-"