The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1917-11-16
French TonsoriaI Artists Don't
Know How to Clip Hair
or Shave Necks.
LONG LOCKS the FASHION
Soldier Boy Tells Of Sad Experience
in Paris-SmelIed Like 4 Soap
Counter When French Barber
Got Through With Him.

Field Headquarters, American Army
In France.-This is u special appeal to
BARRIERS and it comes straight from the
barracks and billets Of the boys over
here. Every hair Of their heads cries
out for the clippers and neck shave
that they left back bone and will not
be comforted.
The American soldier simply cannot
understand the French barber and 1t
doesn't look as If he ever would learn
how. When he gets his hair cut he
wants 1t cut short. he wants his neck
shaved, he doesn't want little lOvelocks
left hanging over his eyes and he
doesn't want "a lot O. muck rubbed on"
Add to that the difficulty of telling the
Frenchman all those things and the in
herent helplessness OF a man in a bar
ber's chair. and you have a truly tragic
situation.
He Looked Like q freddy Bear"
Here is the tale Of q yOungster In
the quartermaster's corps, who drives
one Of the trucks. His shaggy head
was mute evidence Of his earnestness.
There amt a barber In our outfit
he said. $50 by the time I got up to
Paris l looked like n Teddy bear. First
thing / did was to ask one of them
John Arms cops where can l get an
American haircut. He made out to tell
me about n place on a boulevard an l
made him tell it to a cOacher an the
cOacher drove me there. That's the
only way in Paris-make a John Arms
tell a coacher-then you can't get lost.
"Well. / walked up three flights to
reach that barber shop. I never cen
no American barber shop that wasn't
OF the first floor. Up came a big fat
guy an shook hands an took my Stet-
son an then took me into n big room,
an it really was full up with Ameri-
can barber chairs. l begun to feel at
home. specially when I stretched out
In n of them chairs with my feet on
the rest. Right away, though. a little
Frenchman up an ties n big
apron around my neck an puts my
use-that apron s%trangled ME when
ever | tried to nov or open my mouth.
swell. this guy says something. so
I says Haircut an he comes back.
'AircoOt? All. copper les cheveux.'
knew enough to say Wee, Vice. an
we started. He didn't have no clip
pers. an he kept nibblin' with a pair
! of nail scissors / guess. / didn't know
the French for short and there weren't
no real mirror there like there ought
to be, so I sat tight an hoped for the
best. Pretty 500 he discovered that
my hair was dry if he'd been drivin'
a truck for two weeks sod his been
dry, an after some talk that l couldn't
get-course / said wee t. be polite
all of q sudden he dumps Il whole pint
Of some kind of eau de cologne onto
my head.
SmeiIed Like a Soap Counter.
ut smelled like the soap counter ri
a drug store. When l revived he'd
rubbed 1t all In, nn' say, I went around
with that smell for days. Couldn't get
1t out. The bunch held their noses
when they seen me.
This barber went right on jabber.
ing an me saying Wee, Vice. even nf.
ter that dirty trick he done me, when
all Of a sudden he hands me q bottle
full of that cologne an says 'Decs
fronk.' l figured out that meant the
bottle cost 81 an he'd been sellin' me
one in French an I not known It