The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1885-03-26
GRANDFATHEIs'S WALKING
STICK.

STICK.
Yes. my boy. this is grandfather's
walking stick. 1t is not a walking
cane. mind YOU, or any other kind of
4 cane, but a stout hickory walking
stick Canes were used in his day to
make into pipe-stems and fishing poles,
and never for the purpose of assisting
perambulation. Those dainty little
rods that are made for dudes 10 suck
and flourish in the air and twist around
their weak bodies, we're not discovered
then, nor was the dude, either.
this is not applicable to the subject.
My grandfather cut this stick in the
wi!dwOodS of a great state o the
American nation. fifty years ago. l
remember him as an old man with
stubblc gray beard covering his face,
who used To come and visit nv father
and mother and sit BY the fire with his
hat on. This hat was stiff of texture
and broad of rim. and he also possess
Ell the popularity OF wearing it while
eating. His ewes were weak. he said
and it kept the light from them. He
never wore -ppctacles. When he tool.
his stick from its native soil and with
his knife shaped it tsohandsomely AS you
see-gently tapering from its head to
its foot he was as young as l now am,
and | am ashamed to say i much bet
ter man.
He could not only with a certainty
kill deer every time he drew a bead
on one with his tlint-and-steel rife and
pulled the trigger, but he could put the
dead game on his shoulder and carry it
home with aS much ease as you can
swing a baseball bat over YOURS and
swag@er of to the old fair grounds
Baseball, that modern means nf put
ting muscle on the respectable portion
OF the rising generation, was then hap
PLY pastime unborn.
He would no more have thought OF
aTravin~ his person in a blue cap,
white underShirt, and red knee br"eches
aud exhibiting himself to the people OF
the neighbOrhODi than he would OF go
ing TO church with nothing covering
him but Il wool hat and q cotton pair
Of drawers, When his hone and sinew
needed extra tnning up he would take
his AK and maui and wedge and 90 to
the forest and split Il few hundred rails.
Besides this exercise, which never fail
ell of its object, he thereby would have
Of his fences need ng replenishing.
Or he would rive boards with a froe
4 slow process, but capable of bring
ing forth energy As we'll as boards
and spend what he called law dav in
| repairing the roais Of his stable and
| corr crib. These were, howsyer,
amusements of small consequence.
When ne felt that some serious indis-
position threatened him, his unfaiiing
! resort was to more heroic treatment
! one that brought forth the combined
yioor of both mind and matter. II
such condition he would repair To th'
| pasture and break couple of calves Il
| The woke. This was the acme CT Rio
| lent exercise and he never failed Il
come out OF it completely cured, Ih
| calves, TOO. were sure TO be completed,
cured. They may have kicked him il
the stomach once or twice: run owe
his face and left the mark of hoOf Ol
his forehead. and when his legs be
came entan~lcd with the rope, dragged
him in seeming triumph across tn
field: but all the shouts he made wer
shouts of laughter and not OF eNecra
ton. for he knew that he would be vic
Tor in the eni: and when he wOul
lead them back as dOcile as sheep b
ALWAYS said he meyer had so much tn
in his life.
This stick was cut for a purpose. III
did not get it to crack men head
with. still il il could speak | expect
would relate some tough experience;
When he left one great state for trat
o. land he had purchased III the wlldel
ness of an adjoining one, he put h
wife. daughters. and a few personal e
fccts in Il wagon, his sons straddlcd I'll
horses. and he started out afOot. 1h
stick is the only horse he rode. LII
distance was two hundred mileS-it
mnch less now, because Il railroad h;
shortened it. He was in his prim
then; his face shone with healt 1 and
steady resolve to win the battle OF lif
. The new home at first looked uninSi
ing enough, aud his family wore lot
f. yisages when first domiciled there; b
he was always fresh and smiling as
D Nav morning, when their depress,
} spirits soon gave way to contentme
and their new home nGame home
D fact-one of lively industry and tn
- comfort which such labor aiwa
. brings.
= was fast growing old then, and II
stick was his co rpanion wherever
went His surviving children hi
grown up and gone their ways into t
world Those who had given mp i
at its threshold were buried in a corn
-, of the garden Their graves We're
:. daily care. He kept them clear
weeds, while grandmother ha
Y planted flowers there. In the prop
seasons these brought forth their bl'
:, SONS, and in the winter-time sh
IL their leaves and petals upon the r
ennial moss beneath. The house W
made of logs, and stood on pla
a near creek that flowed through
puich one hundred feet below. L
"A mulberry trees stood by the gate, a
y when their fruit was ripe, troops
\ orav squirrels would enliven
bran hes with their chattering "a u
reycled unrestraincd in the luxury
stolen sweets. Althea bushes grew
- the front ward near the door, and WI
10 autumn came with its haze and drea
" sunshine, and winds that whispered
ce- winter behind them, often sat On
80. gallery and watched the leaves as
set Unseen hand of the breeze detacI
lies tneA r-,,,,,,,,-3
sell Lhem 10 tne Siouhu-
bile On the west side or the building
do weeping willow bowed its head
IA mourning, and beyond it, near the
- trance to the garden, a vine of ia
10D honeysuckle had taken possession @
peach tree, and wrapped it from tn
to topmost leaf in sweet. amorous 10
Here INV grandfather lived, and ten
his garden, while his hired help e'
D. vassd his fields thai SlEsad out