P. 100
Charles Dickens, born 1812, died 1870 106
THE BARBER'S POLE
In most instances the old signs which indicated the callings of
shopkeepers have been swept away. Indeed, the three brass balls of the
pawn-broker and the pole of the barber are all that are left of signs of
the olden time. Round the barber's pole gather much curious fact and
fiction. So many suggestions have been put forth as to its origin and
meaning that the student of history is puzzled to give a correct
solution. One circumstance is clear: its origin goes back to far distant
times. An attempt is made in "The Athenian Oracle" (i. 334), to trace
the remote origin of the pole. "The barber's art," says the book, "was
so beneficial to the publick, that he who first brought it up in Rome
had, as authors relate, a statue erected to his memory. In England they
were in some sort the surgeons of old times, into whose art those
beautiful leeches, [Footnote: This is the old word for doctors or
surgeons.
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