EASY-CHAIR MEMORIES I 29 



operation I not unfrequently figure to myself 

 the possibility that I may be in the hands of 

 a maniac, who may take a sudden fancy to 

 cut my throat. See what an opportunity he 

 has ! There am I with my hands and arms 

 bound round with a napkin, my chin upraised, 

 my nose seized by the left hand of a ruthless 

 savage, my throat temptingly exposed, and with 

 a razor wielded in his right hand the temptation 

 to dash it through my windpipe must be quite 

 irresistible ! I don't like the idea at all. 



Again, if I don't shave, what a hope springs 

 up in my bosom that some day I may present 

 myself to my friends with a long white beard 

 flowing like Aaron's down my breast. What 

 dignity, what wisdom is there not conveyed by 

 a flowing white beard ! 



I have been an unwilling shaver for more 

 than sixty years ; for about forty of these years 

 I shaved both sides of my face (barring side 

 whiskers) with my right hand, whilst my left 

 hand knew nothing of what his brother was 

 doing. Then one morning I stumbled across 

 the word ambidexterity ; I said to myself, " Why 

 not apply it to thy chin ? " I tried it at once, 



and to my delight I found that my left hand 



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