rican
soldiers, although forbidden to buy alcoholic liquors in America, were
permitted to buy them without restrictions in France, and it is only
telling the plain truth to say that many of them sampled the French
beers, wines and cognac.

I had an experience in a French barber shop that may be of interest,
as it shows the difference between French and American barbers. The
French barber does his work very rapidly, in fact so rapidly when he
is shaving that the patron wonders whether or not he is going to get
out of the chair uninjured. I ordered a haircut, a shave, a shampoo
and a face massage. I had much difficulty at first in making my wants
understood, particularly as to the manner in which I wanted my hair
cut. This finally made clear, I sat in the chair and the barber went
to work on me with his sharp shears. His hands moved like lightning
and it seemed like no more than two minutes that he had the job done.
It was the fastest hair cutting I ever witnessed and a good job, too.
He then proceeded to shave me, and for speed he exceeded his already
phenomenal record as a hair cutter. He put a thin lather on my face
and then with a thin razor--the thinnest I ever saw--he slashed off a
four days' growth with six strokes--one down the right cheek, one down
the left cheek, one across the entire upper lip, one--a fancy curved
stroke--across the chin, then up one side of the neck and a final
stroke up the other. In less time than it takes to tell, the job was
done, and it was a clean smooth shave too. But while he was slashing
that razor around I was uneasy. It was my first and last experience
with a French barber; thereafter, it was safety first. The massage was
excellent, but what impressed me about the shampoo was the small
amount of water used. Water must be costly in Langres from the way
that barber conserved it, but with no more than a handful of water, he
did his work well. The face waters used by French barbers are all
highly perfumed, in fact, too much so for the rough Westerner. When a
man leaves a barber shop he carries a sickening sweet aroma with him
and his friends know where he has been when he is as much as a hundred
yards away. It may be of interest to note that the shave, hair cut,
shampoo and massage cost me two and a half francs, or a little less
than 50 cents American money. The price of the same service in the
average American shop at the present time (August, 1919) would be
about $1.65.

The follow