Hair Cuts with Herb by Ed Belote Sr.
Herb Benjamin has been cutting hair in the town of North East, Maryland for more than forty-five years. His barbershop
(just off the side of his tackle shop) has become a landmark, and all who visit appreciate Herb’s affable, witty personality.
Getting a cut at Herb’s is like stepping back in time; almost like being in Mayberry — the friendship and laughter beckon you
to come back for more. Push open that squeaky screen door — come on in and listen...
September/October 2007: The Amish Girl and the Englishman
As I stepped into Herb’s, an animated conversation was going on. 
“So when I started shooting, so did the guide; you don’t want to wound them and have to track’ em through the woods. They can kill you in there,” said Cooper Douglas, as Herb was finishing up his haircut.
Still expounding on his recent Kodiak brown bear hunt in Alaska, Cooper went on, “I feel fortunate to have put him down with one clean shot through the heart. A lot of times it takes six or seven shots.”
Before leaving the shop, Cooper stopped by Herb’s game board and pointed to a picture of himself with that huge animal. Not to be outdone (you know how hunters are), I proudly pointed to a nearby picture of my 13-year-old (at the time) granddaughter, Jessi Ritchie, posing with her nine-point Cecil County buck.
When Herb announced, “Next,” a petite lady named Nancy Boyd climbed into the chair. Her husband, Al, said, “She just needs a trim around the ears; my wife has been fighting lung cancer and her hair is just starting to come back. And if that wasn’t bad enough, she fell and injured her back. Two days ago she had to have injections of some type of epoxy in the spine.”
As I looked at this beautiful little lady I could see a steady smile play
across her face and a twinkle in her eyes.
“You are one tough lady, aren’t you, Nancy?” I said.
“No,” she replied, “I’m Amish.”
A mixed reaction filled the room; some customers chuckled, others looked perplexed at this surprising comment and, for the first time, Herb looked dumbfounded.
Nancy’s husband explained with a sly smile, “Yeah, she was an Amish
girl that came down to the city looking for something.”
At this statement Nancy sat bolt upright in the chair and in a very agitated voice yelled, “I did not!” You could see that Al knew how to get a rise out of this feisty wife of his. I’m willing to bet that was the reason he was initially attracted to her.
Ready to set the record straight, Nancy calmed down and continued, “The truth is, I was just a young Amish girl living in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on a farm. And one day this big, handsome Englishman came by and swept me off my feet. And I’ve never regretted marrying him. We’ve been happily married for 47 years.”
Nancy, her trim completed, gingerly left the chair and her husband took her place for his cut. Nancy’s parting shot was, “Now you’re all going to hear some real cow manure!”
Nancy was right. Al had quite a few stories and I thought the following was his best: “I remember the time an airline hostess dropped her van off for repair, said it needed a tune-up,” he began.
“First thing I did was pull the air cleaner lid off and found it was filled with dog food,” he 
said.
“I had this old cigar box handy, so I put all this dog food in it to show the lady. When she came back, I asked her if she kept dog food in her garage, and she replied that she did. I told her that most likely mice had dragged that dog food into the air cleaner.”
Up to this point, dear readers, I had been racking my brain, trying to figure out the punch line and what I got was the last thing I expected.
“She appeared very puzzled,” continued Al. “But she responded, ‘I can see how the dog food got in there, but how did they get that cigar box in?’”
The room burst into uncontrolled laughter and over the guffaws Al insisted in a loud voice, “Honest, this is a true story. I even had to explain for 10 minutes that it was my cigar box.”
Then he asked, “Is that the way you thought it would end up?”
Someone in the room contributed, “I thought I knew where you were headed, Al, but what a surprising ending.”
Finishing with Al’s hair, Herb asked Nancy how she liked his haircut. She replied, “It looks real nice.” Then Al said, “Herb, how come you didn’t ask me how Nancy’s cut looked?”
With a grin just like Al’s earlier one, Herb said, “Al, you think I’ve been around all these years just to get involved in your cow manure?”
Al said that he and Nancy are enjoying life, fishing and crabbing off the 165-foot pier near their home. Nancy and Al are such delightful people and I felt fortunate to have met them. Nancy has a spirit that can never be forgotten. —CSM
