I remember a lesson in brevity I once received in a barber’s
shop. An Irishman came in, and the unsteady gait with which
he approached the chair showed that he had been imbibing of
the produce of the still run by North Carolina moonshiners.
He wanted his hair cut, and while the barber was getting him
ready, went off into a drunken sleep. His head got bobbing from
one side to the other, and at length the barber, in making a
snip, cut off the lower part of his ear. The barber jumped
about and howled, and a crowd of neighbors rushed in. Finally,
the demonstration became so great that it began to attract
the attention of the man in the chair, and he opened one eye
and said, “Wh-wh-at’s the matther wid yez?” “Good Lord!” said
the barber, “I’ve cut off the whole lower part of your ear.”
“Have yez? Ah, thin, go on wid yer bizness--it was too long,
anyhow!”--HORACE PORTER.
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