DEATH OF A FAMOUS BARBER.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2325, 4 June 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

DEATH OF A FAMOUS BARBER.

A famous Parisian barber of the old school, named Lespus, has: just gone the way of all flesh. Like Nello's ?hop in Florence, the establishment directed by M. Lespei was once, the Telegraph, correspondent says, the matutinal resort of the literary and artistic celebritee of the day, as well as a local landmark for foreign tourists and provincials. The interior of the shop was not only decorated with sketches by well-known artists, but was also embellished with scraps of prose and verse, contributed by some of the leading literateurs of France, Lespe's, whose, reiil name was Raymoud, used to bonst in the heyday of his prosperity that, although he had come,to Paris in wooden shoes, he had succeeded so .well in trade that; he employed twenty assistants and paid taxes for fourteen windows on the Boulevard. It was Lespes who invented the famous Portugal decoction with which Fr.ench coiffeurs anoint the heads of their customers,, ai:d he actually received on this account the riband and cross of the Order of Christ from Dorn Luiz of Portugal. He was prosecuted, however, for wearing the riband, as it was like that of the Legion of Honour. Lespes retired from business some time ago.