LADY BARBER TOLD HIM.
Inquisitive Man Asked Her a Pert
Question.
The lady barber removed a steaming towel from his face and fanned it gently to and fro. The inquisitive man gazed deep into the blue orbs looking down upon him.
"Why is the average man prejudiced against the lady barber?" he asked.
The fair tonsorial artist paused in her methodical swinging of the towel, the well formed hands rested on her hips and a smile that held much pity in it, slowly wreathed her lips. For once the ever ready, "Massage today? Your face needs it," was forgotten.
"So, you are one of that almost forgotten number who firmly believe that when a woman invades a sphere hitherto occupied only by man, she necessarily leaves her womanliness behind her. Not that such men consider work for a woman degrading. Oh! dear no. Their wives, mothers or sisters might take in washing or sewing. They might scrub until their back ached and their eyes swam, that is only the nobility of labor. But just let a girl, compelled by force of circumstances, to earn her own living, step into a barber shop where she has an opportunity to earn an independent livelihood and she will at once become a target for the shafts of some super-sensitive representative of the masculine sex, who sets himself up as a judge."
At this juncture the inquisitive man uttered an inarticulate protest, but was immediately silenced by a storm of sarcasm.
"No, no, I understand exactly. Once in a great while, but only in a great while, thank goodness, some stranger will walk into the shop with that old mistaken idea about lady barbers. Such persons are quickly disillusionized. Understand me now, I am not vouching for all barbers, any more than you could vouch for a particular class of men. If you will take the trouble of investigating, however, you will find that lady barbers receive the same degree of respect, and enjoy the esteem of their customers to the same extent as in any other business or professional life. Massage today? Your face needs it."
The inquisitive man submitted meekly.
