Haircuts 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...

January/February 2010:
Herb Waxes Profound

Paul Hafner

As I fumbled with my equipment there was a healthy conversation going on, so I announced, “I didn’t get that, we’ll have to start over again.” With his affable smile, Herb shot back, “Don’t worry about that, Ed, I’ve forgotten what I said, so it doesn’t matter.” The shop broke out in laughter.

For the next half hour or so the shop was in an uproar of laughter; I could not remember laughing so hard before, but I could not write about much of it; not because the stories were not fit for print, but because some of the characters’ surviving families could be embarrassed by the antics of their ancestors.

I find Herb an uncommon man. He’s a simple man who enjoys his life and gets a kick out of chatting with people. In a cabinet in his shop is a rather large stack of steno pads in which he has been recording daily diary accounts of his observations, especially about the Chesapeake Bay. I have walked into his otherwise empty shop to find him sitting alone in his barber chair reading Shakespeare. He often quotes Shakespeare to us if it happens to fit the topic of conversation: “Come what may – time and the hour passes through the roughest day,” he quoted the day of my visit, and followed up with, “When you think about it, it’s true, don’t you think?” We sat there like blank-faced like a bunch of country bumpkins and just stared at him.

The subject matter turned to drinking… alcohol that is. Paul Hafner, from North East, told the story of his great grandfather, Frank Conway, who was told by his doctor that if he had one more beer he was going to die. He went home and drank a six-pack. Having survived, the next day he phoned his doctor up and fired him. “And he went on to outlive his doctor,” Paul added. Herb injected, “Frank Conway was a barber in this town for over 50 years, I used to go to him as a kid.”

Mr. Walter Birney, with his dry, low-key sense of humor, topped that story with, “My doctor told me to stay away from doctors.” The room cracked up with laughter as Mr. Birney continued, “He said I was in too good a shape to hang around doctors.” The room was roaring with laughter as Herb dropped another Shakespeare bomb on us, “He would rather repair the ills he has, than fly to others he knows not of.” He then immediately added, “And those ‘others he knows not’ are the side effects of those prescriptions they’re giving you.”

Prodding Herb, I asked, “Isn’t there some kind of Shakespearean quote needed here now … ‘the world’s a stage,’ or something like that?”

His eyes sparkled, and I could almost see the lightbulb illumine over his head as Herb started, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages.”

Seventy-two year old retiree, Peter Furness from Chesapeake City, stopped in from the tackle shop for a quick visit, asked a few fishing questions, and took off for, hopefully, a successful fishing trip.

I don’t know whether I’m going a bit senile, or my pea-brain is just cluttered with too much information, but I’ve started forgetting things lately. One such case happened during this Herb’s segment; Bill Underwood stopped in and, though I’ve known him for some time, I had no idea who he was until he announced his name.

Bill grows Christmas trees on his 35-acre Pine Valley Christmas Tree Farm near Fair Hill, Maryland. He and other growers—Cherry Grove Tree Farm in Rising Sun, run by Paul & Richard Montgomery, and Maple Springs Farm in Elkton, run by Anthony & Cindy Timko—are all involved in a project called Trees for Troops.

“It’s a national program where over 700 growers throughout the country, donate Christmas trees to military families at 53 bases across the United States and two bases overseas,” Bill explained. “Last year 29 states contributed over 17,000 trees to this worthy cause. One hundred trees will be donated from these three local farms to our troops at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Harford County. Also, FedEx is donating their trucks and time so that we can say thank you to our troops and families, and hopefully make their holidays a little brighter.”

Bill, I wish my memory were half as good as yours. Thank you. —CSM

Publisher’s note: The continuation of William Ewing’s story, promised in our last issue, will be featured in a future issue of CSM. —ETB