BARBER POLES.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVII, Issue 38, 20 September 1900, Page 15

BARBER POLES.

In the olden days barbers were surgeons as well as hair-cutters, and one of their chief occupations was that ot blood-letting, a means of cure much indulged in by the good folks of a century or two ago. In this operation the patients grasped a small pole for the purpose of making his arm teubc. in order that the iucision in the arm might be more effective. When this pole was in use it was bet up in the window, entwined with a fresh bandage of cloth to be u^ed for wrapping about the arm after the next operation. This served the purpose of a sign to the public ; and afttr a while, instead of using the actual pole and bandage for advertising his business, the barber contented himself with a repre-entation of them by putting up at his door a red pole encircled with a spiral stripe of white paint and surmounted with a design of a basin.