The Washington times., 1936-12-18

menC COSC OF around S0,UVV d SAAdA'
Business isn't more than halfway
back to the 1929 peak, and shaw
ing custom stays at the depression
low, but we are feeling our oats
again and going in for exotic fix
>ings that were unknown in 1929
when we all got clipped in one big
roundup.
There is a current tale about a
banquet given to a prominent real
estate man and financier. It hap
pened that he had started his
fortune with a string OF barber
shops years ago. He made an
eloquent speech, followed by tur1-
GUS applause. But seated across
from him at the speakers table
was an old friend who had lifted
many highballs in the course OF
the evening. Instead of applaud
ing tit-a-pat, he swept his right
palm back and forth across his
left as one would Strop a razor.
The guest was furious, and If he
had been DR.. Sargas, there would
have been a challenge to a duel
right there.
QUAINT YARN
And by way of a bit more me-
andering, one Of my friends, an
old time newspaperman, filled me
in the other day with a quaint
yarn about a barber shop-h1s
personal experience.
ut was in 1925" he said. 'T
went into one Of those big
chrOmium.plated barber shops
for q shave and q haircut.
There must have been about
twenty chairs in the place and
I had to walk to the far end Of
the line. There was a swarm
of fIunkieS-One for your hat,
one for your stick, another for
your coat, and a grand whOOp-
te-tO in wrapping up your col
lar and tie and putting them in
an antiseptic container. Heaven
knows what flummery they
didn't work in. Getting a shave
was more complicated than be-
coming . thirty-secOnd-degree
Mason.
"While the barber was shaw
ing me, he was talking out Of
the side Of his mouth to the
barber at the next chair about
q cheap this-and-that who had
$3.50 worth of work and had
given him a twenty.five-cent tip.
/ knew this was stock converse
ton among BARRIERS to throw a
scare into customers and shake
out an extra two bits. One Of
my ancestors fought at Bunker
Hill.
"As I lay in the chair, I got
alI-steamed up about being bull
lied by this barber. That stuff
was for yOkels and immigrants.
/ was an American citizen and
I knew my way around in the
big town.
''I made a resolve. / would
order everything they had, col
lect my check, look the barber
and the flunkies in the eye and
walk out without handing any
body so much as a plugged
nickel. This just to assert my
American manhood.
"The stretch in the chair
seemed endless, and finally,
after the various menials had
all done their stuff, tanning
and dusting and palm.rubbing
and genufIecting, I gave the
barber and the rest Of them
each q cold, hard look and
started walking slowly down the
line Of chairs.
"The line stretched out, /
think, for a distance Of several
miles. There was . look Of
cold, devastating contempt on
the face of each barber as I
passed. I could feel their looks
pricking in the small Of my
back, as, red-faced and angry,
I made home base at the cash.
ier's desk.
'T paid the check and stepped
out on the street, breathing
deeply and with a noble uplift
Of feeling as a worthy descend.
ant Of Eben Spinney, who fought
at Bunker Hill. But-there was
a drizZle Of rain, Whoops! had
left my new 81 silk umbrella in
the rack at the far end of the
long lane Of chairs. Seven dol
lars was no just pay at all for
running that gunfire of dirty