THE PROUD BARBER

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 2310, 1 December 1925, Page 2

THE PROUD BARBER

(By Rothay Reynolds in the Daily Mail.) “Sir,” said the barber of Cracow, as I held out a tip “we do not accept gratuities.” 1 probably looked as bewildered as I Iclt. for the barber seemed to feci that some explanation of his extraordinary conduct was needed. “We receive good wages,” he said, “and do not consider it is noble to take tips. A man who takes a tip acknowledges he is an inferior,” and with that aphorism he bowed me out of the shop. It was the same in Warsaw. In the cafes there is a charge of 15 per cent, for attendance on the little bill for a glass of beer or a cup of coffee, and in restaurants where one spends more than in cafes a charge of 10 per cent. • The charge for attendance, is on ihe bill,” said the waiter in a cafe firmly and pushed back the tip I had put on the little marble table. A friend of mine urged the waiter who had served him during a week’s stay in Warsaw to accept something and met with an obstinate refusal. ‘But you have looked after me so well,” said my friend. "If Ihe gentleman desire s to show his satisfaction,” said the waiter, “perhaps he will offer me a cigar,” You can level up or level down. In Russia they made everybody a proletarian and in Poland everybody is a gentleman. In Poland, as in Italy and Spain one talks in the third person, and oniy in the second when addressing relatives, inferiors, or, I may add, sweethearts. In the old times before the war one said; “Art thou free” to a cabman. Do not be so familiar now if you happen to go to Poland, or you may get as cheeky an answer as a Russian got from a Paris cabman when she called him “thou” instead of "you,” and only remembered that she was in a democratic and not an autocratic country when he said: “Alors tu m’aimes, ma petite mere!” To the Polish cabman you must say; “Is the. gentleman free ?” and to the Polish chambermaid: “I beg the lady to bring me hor water." > The change came in the moment when Freedom. who once looked on Poland and shrieked laughed with joy to see the White Eagle rising from the grave. It is a little thing this change from the ei •;> n a person to the third, but, like the proper pride of the barber of Cracow, It indicates that the resurrection of Poland involved a revolution.