Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1885-03-12
GRANDFATHER'S WALKING
STICK,

Yes, my boy, this is grandfather's
walking stick. 1t is not a walking
cane, mind you, or any ether kind of
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
DECENTRALIZATION. Those dainty little
rods that arc made for dudes 10 suck
and flourish in the air and twist around
their weak bodies, were not discovered
then, nor was the dude, either but
this is not applicable to the subject.
My grandfather cut this stick in the
wildwoods OF n great state OF the
American nation, fifty years ago. /
remember him as an old man with
stubble gray beard covering his face,
who used TO come and visit my 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
ed the popularity of wearing it while
eating. His eyes were weak, he said.
and it kept the light from them. He
never wore spectacles. When he took
his stick from its native soil and with
his knife shaped it so handsomely as YOU
see-gently tapering from its head TO
its foot he was as young as l now am,
and am ashamed TO say 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-stecl rifle 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 n baseball bat over yours and
swaggcr off to the old fair grounds.
Baseball, that modern means of put
ting muscle on the respectable portion
of the rising generation, was then hap
PLY pastime unborn.
He would no more have thought of
arraying his person in a blue cap,
white undershirt. and rcd knee brooches
and exhibiting him If TO the people of
the neighborhood tLin he would of 90
ing TO church with nothing covering
him but wool hat and cotton pair
of drawers. When his bone and sinew
needed extra toning up he would take
his aX and maui and wedge and 90 to
- the forest and split few hundred rails
Besides this exercise, which never fail
ed of its object, he thereby would have
plenty of handy material in the event
of his fences needing replenishing.
Or, he would rive boards with a froe
"a slow process, but capable of bring
: ing forth energy as well as boards
and spend what he called lazy day in
repairing the roofs of his stable and
corn-crib. These were, however,
amuscneats of small consequence.
When ne felt that some serious indis-
position threatened him, his unfailing
resort was to more Heroic treatment
one that brought forth the combined
yigor of both mind and matter. In
such condition he would repair to the
pasture and break q couple of calves to
the yoke. This was the acme of vio-
lent exercise and he never failed TO
come out of it completely cured. The
calves, too, were sure to be completely
cured. They may have Kicked him in
the stomach once or twice; run over
his face and left the mark of a hoof on
his forehead, and when his legs be-
came entangled with the rope, dragged
him in seeming triumph across the
, field; but all the shouts he made were
shouts of laughter and not of execra-
ton, for he knew that he would be VIC
tor in the end; and when he would
lead them back as docile as sheep he
always said he never had so much fun
in his life. nt" i'"
This stick was cut for purpose. He
did not get it to crack mems heads
with, still if it could speak expect it
would relate some tough experiences.
When he left one great state for a tract
of land he had purchased In the wilder
ness of an adjoining one, he put his
wife, daughters, and few personal eff
fects in wagon, his sons shredded the
horses, and he started ont afoot. This
stick is the only horse he rode. The
distance was two hundred miles-it is
much less now, because a railroad has
shortened it. He was in his prime
then; his face shone with health and a
steady resolve to win the battle of life.
The new home at first looked uninvit-
ing enough, and his family wore long
yisages when first domiciled there; but
he was always fresh and smiling as 9
May morning, when their depressed
spirits soon gave way to contentmen'
and their new home became home in
fact--one of lively industry and thai
comfort which such labor Away!
brings. tsH
1t was here l first knew him. III,
was fast growing old then, and thii
stick was his companion wherever HI
went. His surviving children hat
grown up and gone their ways into thu
world. Those who had given up lif'
at its threshold were buried in a corne
of the garden. Their graves were hi
daily care. He kept them clear o
weeds, while grandmother hant
planted flowers there. In the prope
seasons these brought forth their bios
SONS, and in the winter-timc she,
their leaves and petals upon the per
ennial moss beneath. The house wa
made of logs, and stood on q plan
near q creek that flowed through
Qulch one hundred feet below. Tw,
mulberry trees stood by the gate, AM
when their fruit was ripe, troops o
gray squirrels would enliven tn
branches with their chattering as the
reveled unrestrained In the luxury Q
stolen sweets. Althea bushes grew i
the front yard near the door, and whe
autumn came with its haze and dream
sunshine, and winds that whispered Q
winter behind them, often sat on tn
gallery and watched the leaves as tn
a 1xf ct.o