Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-09-28
StaDtoD's Poodoo ea7e.

StaDto2's Roodoo 9a7e.
1t was a demonstrating stick That
! it had been designed 70 hold a high
rank III the world of canes was evident
1T Il glance but somehow it gave the
impression that it had not been worthy
/ of the exalted estate to which it had
| been ordained. Though still young if
! had about it an exhausted air, as
| though premature old age was i'm
minent.
| Closely scrutinized it presented GER
tain features that might account for
al this. In the first place. its head was
too large. 1t looked as though it had
been swollen by repeated attacks of
cerebral Inflammation. Then, again,
it's underpinring was weak. The
veriest tyrO il caneology would have
| said at once that hero was a stick that
could not stand alone. 1t seemed to
! need sODething-a lamp post for in
stance-tO lean against. In short, it
was q dissipated-looking cane, a cane
with 4 history that could not reflect
credit on its kind, cane that knew
| more of night than day and had i'm
bibed Oftener the fumes of the Wassail-
cup than the incense of the sanctuary.
Whatever may have been its original
! color it had, during its reckless career,
taken on Il pale, yelloWish hue, as
though that fatal poison, nicotine, had
attacked it's very fiberS. Certain
! Jumps on its head and a few we'll
marked sears on its body suggested
midnight broils and a Quarrelsome dis
position.
| Taken altogether, it was a disOrdered
stick, cynical in its Worldliness, almost
desperately antagonistic to those social
! laws which less dissipated canes obey.
Something of all this was in the mind
of Jack Ashton as he looked at this
| ill-regulated staff on the morning after
| that famous stag party of his at his
bachelor apartments on Fifth avenue.
| II you are in the swim YOU must re-
member the function. 1t was a nine
days wonder at the timc, for Jack
had lust come into Il vast fortune, and
he celebrated the event in a manner
that his club crOnies will never forget
1t takes a genius TO make Il stag sup
per Il success. The great difficulty lies
in the fact that certain of the most
sociable and entertaining of the guests
are apt to give way too soon to the
stress Of the environment and become
mere wine rats Then those phlegma-
tic creatures who don't know Il bonm0t
from bOnbon have the field to them
selves and begin to bore each other.
And long before it has lived out half
its natural existence, the revel is as
dead as the wittieSt men are drunk
But Ashton's supper had not been
wrecked on the rocks that thus invest
the social channels. In the first place,
he had so arranged his guests that they
would react on one another. The
coarser- grained would serve as ballast
for the liveler but less seaworthy-or,
rather, wine worthy-craft, liable to 60
down before the voyage was half over,
while on the other hand the latter
would be able to make this Lucullan
cruise a pleasure to the heavyweights
He had been able to do this from the
fact that, thought a prominent clubman
: he had no bad habits and had kept his
brain in that clear and active cOndi
ton that results from total abstinence
He neither smoked nor drank and al
that he knew Of alcohol was that il
served as a pleasing external applica
ton after a bath or shave. Being
therefore, in perfect physical and men
tai condition, he had been able to solve
the problem Of making his banquet {
t success. This was partially due to the
: fact that he was clever chessplayer
' The man who gives a stag party mus
understand that the welfare of his
D game depends a good deal upon thu
4 manipulation of his pawns. Ashton
!, had so arranged his board that from
l. a winner.
0 The only feature of the affair tina
Y had marred its symmetry was tn
|. fact that one of the guests had COM
n to the revel in a maudlin condition
e a state that might be called chronic il
V his case-and had been obliged to g
It home in d cab early in the evening. FL
( lad left behind him the illbalance'
e cane before mentioned.
h 'I'n leave this at Stanton'S house o.
e my way downtown" said Ashton t
~ himself. IS he started down the ayCnu
L the next day carrying the greWsOm
Il stick. 1t was a beautiful morning. an
h to the young millionaire the WORT
n. seemed a most enhancing place. II
le had youth, wealth, good habits an
az good health. What wonder was it thu
Id his step was firm, his eyes bright. h
a heart joyous?
D. But as he approached one Of h
id clubs a peculiar feeling took control {
lc him. For the first time in his life
III craved a stimulant. Much to his a
40 constituent, an inordinate craving f
lie Il cocktail came over him. He smile
IL deriSively and walked rapidly past Il