ing over me, vigorously mixing lather in a cup; which he evidently intended to apply to my face, notwithstanding that I had not the least sign of a beard. I was very much amused, but also a trifle frightened at this manoeuvre, for I really did not want to have my face scraped with a razor, and yet scarcely knew whether it would be the correct thing to decline going through the performance. My friend saw the dilemma I was in, and came to the rescue, by informing the barber that his young friend only wanted to have his hair trimmed in the latest style. The negro took the hint, but grinned a little as he put away the shaving apparatus, at which I was almost inclined to believe that he had suspicions with regard to me.
I was somewhat reassured, however, and at the same time gained a bit of information with regard to certain masculine traits, when, as he commenced to trim my hair, he said, "De young gemmen in de military always likes to be shaved, sah, even if dey hasn't any beard. Dey tinks dat it helps to make de beard grow, sah;" and then he laughed heartily, as if he thought he was getting off a first-rate joke at the expense of a large and important class of his customers. For my own part I appreciated the joke immensely, in spite of the embarrassment under which I labored, and assured my colored friend that I had no disposition to force my beard, but thought that it would come of itself in course of time without assistance. The barber took this view of the case himself, and intimated confidentially that in his opinion a good many young fellows in their haste to get beards before nature intended that they should have any, not only give themselves considerable unnecessary pain by hacking their chins with awkwardly handled razors, but interfered materially with the proper and graceful growth of the hirsute adornment when it did begin to make its appearance.
I was entertained, and not a little edified, by the talk with which the barber regaled me while he was cutting my hair; and, as it was evident from his manner that he took me for a young man, I was greatly reassured with regard to the success of my disguise, and left the shop with an increased confidence in my ability to play the part I had assumed. I was the more encouraged as my friend, when we were once more in the street, told me that I had conducted myself first rate, although he warned me that he was about to take me to a number of places with which I would not be so well pleased as I had been with the barber's shop, and in which I would be
