The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-02-07
E.x Tzs ASAnassw TyeSslev. oRANpFATHER'S WALKING
 STICK.
w PHI. pARRApAY.

ing stick. tt i& not awAlklng cane, mind vou. or any other kind of a cane, but stout hickory walking-stick. Canes were used in his day to make into pipe-stems and fishing poles, and never for the pur- nose of assisting perambulation. Those dainty little rods that are made for dudes to suck and flourish in the air and twist around their weak bodies, were not dis covered then, nor was the dude, either bu, .his is not applicable to the subject My grandfather cut this stick in the wild woods of 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 .ather and mother and sit by the fire with his hat on. This hat was stiff of texture and broad of rim, and he also possessed the peculiarity of wearing it while eatng. 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 ] nov am, and am ashamed to say a much better man. He could not only with certainty kill deer every time he drew bead on one with his fint-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 baseball bat over yours and swagger of to the old fair grounds
 Base ball, that modern means of putting muscle on the respectable portion of the rising generation, was then happily a pastime unborn. He would no more have thought of arraying his person in a blue cap, white undershirt and red knee brooches and exhibiting himself to the people of the neighborhood than he would of going to church with nothing covering him but wool hat and a cotton pair of drawers. When his bone and sinev needed extra toning up he would take his axe and maui and wedge and 20 to the forest and split few hundred rails. Besides this exercise, which never failed 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 bringing forth energy as well as boards-ani 1 spend what he called lazy day in re- pairing the roofs of his stable and corn crib. Theses were, however, amuse- ments of small consequence. When he felt that some serious indisposition threat ened him, his unfailing resort was to a more heroic treatment-onet that brought forth the combined vigor of both mind and matter. In such condition he would repair to the pasture and break couple of calves to the yoke. This was the acme of violent exercise and he never failed to come out lit completely cured. The calves, teo, were sure to be com pletely cured. They may have kicked him in the stomach once or t~ice; run over his face and left the mark of 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 execration, for he knew he would be victor in the end :; and when he would lead them back as docile as sheep he always said he never had SO much fun in all his life.
 This stick was cut for a purpose. He did not get 1t to crack mems heads with, still if it could speak l expect it would relate some tough experiences. When he left one great ssate for tract of land he had purchased in the wilderness of an adjoining enc, he put his wife, daughters and few personal effects in a wagon, his sons straddled the horses, and he started out afoot. This stick is the only horse he rode. The distance was two hundred miles-it is much less now, because railroad has shortened it. He was in his prime then; his face shone with health and steady resolve to win the battle of life. The new home at 6rss sight leoked uninviting enough, and his family wore long vi.ages when first domiciled there i; but he was always fresh and smiling as a May morning, when their depressed spirits soon gave way to conteatment and their new home became home in fact- one of lively industry and that comiort which such labor always brings.
 It WIS hae 6rst knew him. He vas fast growiag oid thea, and this stick vas his compsnioa vAaEesz he went His sur- viving caildrsa had srovn up and gone then vavs into the v0rld. Those vho