The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1916-02-12

| vi IL is lulSIeSllHS.
The stand ON North street now oc
cupied by John Allard has been a bar
ber stand since North street was in.
| vented. So too was the shop in the
Putnam House now sponsored by
| Lyons Brothers The latter is the
! successor of shop which has fol
lowed the yicissitudes of the Old
| Stark house when the hotel moved
across the street and took the name
| OF the Putnam House. 1t was origin
ally run by an old colored gentleman
| named Berry to which race the bar
| ber business has fallen as instructive
| ~ as the propensity for watermelon
or sleeping in the sun. "Old Man
| Berry" conducted the business for a
number of years until after a change
| in ownership, the present proprietors
began swinging the razor under the
sign.
Some of the shops on North street
are more recent arrivals. Coming up
Main street to the talk-shop of the
genial Charley Firth, one finds one
of the Oldest stands in the city, il not
the Oldest The shop has swung the
tonsorial sign at the same stand for
nearly fifty years without a break
Just who started the stand is some
what indefinite. but over 80 years ago
Edward Moon was footing up his cash
drawer evenings and giving sonorous
instructions to the present Charley
about building the fires the following
morning. The gentleman with the
pleasant smile who beckons you In at
this old stand was then working for
Moon learning how to chop off facial
scenery without nose being swept
up in the remains beneath the chair
afterward. Subsequently on the de
mise Of his proprietor Firth bought
the business and has been running ii
for the past 20 years
j. W. Farmer. whose model shop is
further up the street, is another old
timer at the business, having run
shop in several locations before get
ting his present location. Fred Hop
kinson, whose death occurred recent
ly, had been at his stand opposite the
Baptist church for number Of years
1t is remarkable how long most OF
the local BARRIERS have been doing
business. And in the time curious
changes have taken place in the
craft. Thirty years ago mankind ran
to whlskers. The wilder and more
fanciful the facial brush. the more OF,
man was the owner To grow set
OF whiskers was secondary only to
voting or perspiring over first cigar
Today the safety-ra2or people have
changed all this. The youngster con
siders himself eligible to mans estate
when he can muster a sufficient mum
Der of pinfeathers to have them re
moved, instead Of investing in a guar
anteed hair grower and having his
picture took" with the chin append
ages of a Henry Cabot Lodge. The
BARRIERS aver that regardless of tho
appetite for chin.streamers existing
in the eighties there is now less shay
ing being done in the barber shops
than then. Mankind can now slop
around a wet brush on his jaw after
greasing the same with shaving
stick and four minutes of frisking
Gem or Gillette over his countenance
makes him ready with the sun, his
daily stage of duty to -nn."
In the matter of hair-cuts, II used
to be the practice in Bennington
shops to open on Sunday. The Good
Book claiming it was permissible to
do good on the Sabbath, the tonsorial
crew extended the passage to making
Bennington men less barbaric in the
matter of hair. For years Mr. Moon
would not cut hair on Saturday
| nights. Shaving only, followed the
old fashioned weekly supper OF
baked-beans and brown-bread Z &
man wanted his head harvested, the
| job waited until Sunday or week
| day. And the price then was only
I zoe. Those were the days when man.
| kind did not live at a forty-horse-
| power speed. 1t was no uncommon
| sight in those days to see from doz-
en- to twenty men waiting in shear
shop while one man and boy gath
| cred in the ten and 20-cent pieces.
| Today more men are required be
| cause the moment man stumbles in
the door over growth of beard that
bothers his ankles, he wants the snip,
ping to start as soon as the barber
can reach for the clippers. Then he
sits down and reads Puck" for half
an hour or discusses the speed Of his
! Ford automobile.
a curious feature in the evolution
of the barber shop is the epitaph
tackled on the bay-rum bottle Once
we knew when man had been in a
barber's chair because he gave of
oders like a perfume factory The
hair-cut-and-shaver made a concoc
tion of bay-rum and oil that cost him