Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1893-02-18
A VARIETY OF CANES.
THEY INDICATE THE OHARAC 7 E[
OF THOSE WHO CARRY THEM.

Their Uses and Abuses for Utility and Ornn-
Offensive and Defensive Walk ::
Sticks Modes of Carr ing Them \
Senseless and Dangerous Custom.
A mans walking stick is almost a2
much an index of his character is M
physiognomy. Jtvaries with his = G.
his occupation, and his social position,
through all the gradations of utility ami
ornament, from a plaything to a blU,i.
geon. In gone days, says a writer
in the Chicago Inter- OceaD, when w.
were much more given to breaking eaci
others heads over every real or fanclcd
atlront mans walking stick was IL
keeping with the times The slender
cylinder inclosed rapier with point
like a stiletto. With such a weapon
Clarence De Montmorenci thrust ui4
rival thr, IL Ii and through, wiped t
dripping blade on his lace handkerch.e
and went mincing away on his high
heeled shoes.
The loaded cane as a weapon has be-
come historical, and was once wielde /
with deadly effect upon United States
Senator, who, it was thought, might ha
thus coerced into recognition of State
sovereignty. 1T did not work, and the
loaded cane in that especial case proved
to be the precursor of loaded cannon
and drawn bayonets.
The modes of carrying cane are in
dicatiye of varying individuality. Upon
the stage the irascible father, with a1
unreasonable and irreconcilable prejrl-
dice against the lover of his daughter,
brandishes his cane in the most threat.
ening manner, pounds it on the floor,
and lays it across the paddle shoulders
OF his valet. In certain realistic novels
the hero, in his moments of abstraction,
snaps off the heads Of daisies and clover
with his cane, harrassed with perplex,
tiles that certainly require superhuman
wisdom and patience for peaceful and
satisfactory adjustment
Other men go along pounding tho
sidewalk with resounding stroke Mt
every step. They can be heard block
away. Wives and children thus learn
of their approach, and the clever dog
crawls from under the sofa, pricks up
his ears, and stands with slowly wag
SlHS ttll Illo itOOl WHICH UD0 lONHj
hand will speedily open.
"Chappie' grabs his stick in the mid.
die and strides along with face as
nearly modelled after that of his Eng
lish cousin as his powers will enable
him to mimic
There is one mischevous and dam
Gerous mode OF carrying the cane. This
is parallel under the ar:1. The tiend
who is thus regardless of the eyesight
of his fellow-men usually selects the
crowd waiting in line before Il box Of
flee, the crush around the theater door,
the crowd coming out of churcn, or the
sidewalk jammed with shoppers. Ifho
is lost to all feeling, and has developed
the worst form of deprayity, he carries
1t thus hanging to strap in Il packed
street-car, and lurching with every
revolution of the wheels, to the con
steruation of all within reach.
Many mon have collections of walk
lnG-stlcks as souvenirs. There have
been enough made from the timbers of
the Constitution to build new navy, the
Charter Oak furnishes thousands more,
and various historical trees and editices
have served like purpose. In the
days Of public hangings bits of tie
hempen cord that swung the condemned
wretch into eternity We're not more in
demand by ghouIish people than were
pieces of the scatfold upon which the
sentence of the law was executed The
clergyman has an assortment of canes
made of olive from the Holy Land, OF
wood washed up by the waters of the
River Jordan. The doctors grateful
patient, whom he has fed upon bread
pills and soothed with sugar water fla
vored with aloes, presents to hin Il
cane over and above his bill as recog-
milton of his skill and care.