THE LADY BARBERS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 550, 3 July 1909, Page 7

THE LADY BARBERS.

WHERE MAN HAS MANY A CLOSE SHAVE; GIRL TONSOMAL ARTISTS IN THIS city. . (By One or Tire Bailing Sex.) The abovo is not the nanio of a new musical comedy, though it is 'a theme on which a musical absurdity might easily bo bised.- It concerns tho establishment m Wellington of the Woman as tho Barber. She has been long in coming, for female barbers havo been operating in runs, Vienna, and America, for years past, and, as for lady hair-cuttots, they commenced with Delilah. Slowly and surely women are- invading those itrado territories th'at havo for ages been considered tie domain of man. They become doctors, dentists, .lawyers, chiropodists, complexion-preservers, and agodefying agents. They swarm in our factories and offices; they invado our council halh ; they have given the typewriter a sex; and there are now even lady commercial travellers. Does it mean that tho eternal feminine, by sheer pertinacity, will, as the world rolls on, becomo the dominating sex r Recent cablegrams told of a determined attack being made on the House of Commons by a crdwd of Suffragettes, in which several ladies' of social eminence participated. If woman had kept to what wo are ploaaed to call her "proper sphero — the one she occupied, say, 3U years ago— iho probability is that thoro would bo no unemployed men to-day. ' The writer had ,bccn informed that tne lady barbers had come to town to ,stay. A strong sense of duty dictated that these young kdios should be seen and possibly remonstrated with on their importinenco in invading tho profession that involves a life-long struggle against live hair. Informing my wife (on tho arrival of tho shaving water) that all my razors had de ; voloped edges as rough as a crosscut saw, I raado for'the street, never stopping until the sign "The Lady Shavers" arrested tho eye, and made each particular hair'to, stand on ! end "like quills upon the fretful porcupine." I I stepped inside a , nice clean three-chair saloon, two 'of the chairs being occupied 'by ■ gentlemen, whoso china wm being made presentaMo, by two young girls. When I say young girls I mean it. Both havo their hair down yet—a sure sign that they are under 21. t One was haircutting. Sho wa3 tall , and fair—golden hair and fair skin—iho Rossefcti typo. Tho other who was shaving, was plumper, ruddier, and darker. Thoro was np mistake about it— both know their business. . It was a cold morniDg, and the Bossetti'girl did, a sort of tonsorial ballet l as she neatly slipped round tho poll sho had in hand. 4 i "It is cold this morning—l'd liko 'to havo a danool" said Mise Itoesetti. ,"I would'nt mind obliging if there was any nrns'c," responded the gallant one in tho cHair as ho fumbled through the encompassing hair-cloth to scratch his nose. I was about to volunteer to whistle, when I recollected where I was. Fancy this kind of talk in a barber's saloon ? —it seemed mighty ridiculous after the recent ArnstWebb cackle of the barber's shop. ) ' Tho Rossotti one evidently thought that tho conversation was becoming too flippant, so she gavo the head- under treatment a final whisk and in a busincss-liko voico said, "Next!" I was next—next to 1 mining out of the shop. It was so ridiculous —to be sbaved by a girl, a girl with her hair down. Disguising my agitation, I slipped into tho chair prepared for anything. ■ ' In tho first mimito I was conscious that tho face above me had a pair of bluo eyes ihat looked right doun into" mine, as sho 'brushed in tho subtle-scented lather. It was embarrassing a little, but not unpleasant. Then laving her brush aside, sho continued tho application with soft, firm hands, which hadva very wothing effect, and encouraged one to look up at tho "typo" abovo.i i ,"I don't think I'vo shaved jon before, "have I?" the sweet barber asked. "Why, do you feel any particular exhilaration? I asked modestly, 'i "Oh, no, got over all that'sort of thing Jong ago." rlhon it used ." %"Yes, I was a bit nervous at , first, but it soon wore oif;" she said in an all-faoes-fcel-alike-to-rae sort of tone. In the meantime she shaved on with firm, clean strokes, a veritablo Diana of the liazor, chatting genially the while. No, sho did not come from Melbourne, or Paris/or anywhere Just from a littlo backblocks town in, the South Island. Sho had had,to assist .her father, who was a barber, gradually worked into taking 'a spoil at a ,chair. Her sisters had followed suit, and now all wero pretty competent with razor'i or scissors. It wasn't bad work for a girl,at all, and as a general rulo their cus> toitiors, were Jriud and respectful. , t By i this time I had completely forgotten my theories as to women's, commorcial'agcressiyeneiss—it's wonderful what a pair of toughing blue ejes will do. Indeed. I Caught myself thinking as I walked out— "PlufelijyVgirls I"