The professional world. (Columbia, Mo.) 1901-192?, 1902-10-10
THE E F CoRN-CoB.
Some Unique Household Furniture
Made of Corn-Cobs.

In the oldest town in Missouri, Set.
Genevieve, with one of the Oldest pos
sible materials, corncobs, o. w. Stacey
has developed "a brand new plan for
manufacturing walking canes and nov
elites in the line of light furniture.
Mr.. Stacey that anything
in the line of canes and light furniture
that other men make out of wood he
can make out of corn cobs.
AS angible evidence of the truth of
his assertion Mr.. Stacey presents a set
of canes, an umbrella stand, a hall tree,
a comfortable, a ia~rdiniere stand, an
easel, and even a baby buggy.
All of the unique and artistic prod
ucts decorate the Stacey home in
Ste. Genevieve, with the exception Of
two of the canes which he has presented
to President d. R. Francis and Treas
urer William H. Thompson of the Lou
isiana Purchase Exposition company.
Mr.. Stacey considered that a presenta-
ton of two of his best corncob canes
to these gentlemen would be appropri-
ate in view of the fact that it was in
searching for an idea for Worlds fair
novelty that he hit upon the plan Of the
corncob cane and the corncob furniture.
Inventor Stacey is AZ years old. He
Is married, and has four children. In
Ste Genevieve he is the town marshal.
For a year and three months he has held
that position. His term of ONCE has
yet nine months to run
Mr.. Stacey hopes he will not be n
candidate for reelection. 1t is his
ambition to organize r company for the
manufacture of corncob canes and fur
niture before the ides of April roll
around. He has already applied for a
patent on his cane.
Prior to his induction into the office
of town marshal Stacey was a foreman
for the MISSISSIPPI river commission on
work near his home.
81 had never made very much none
before | was town m" rshal. had never
had much time to think about it," he
told the Post-Dispatch. LAS town mar
shall l had a little more leisure time and
| began to think about some way that I
might employ it to the financial ad-
vantage of myself and my family.
Il thought if l could get up some nov
city that would sell at the worlds fair I
could make a stake
81 made that remark to my wife one
night and asked me what sort of q
novelty I thought of getting up.
II told her a corncob cane. She smil-
cd and said I must be joking. She said
people would laugh at me if | tried to
get up such a thing.
81 believed such a ane could be made,
though, and | got permission from Gus
A. Shoettler, a friend of mine who has
a furniture store in Ste. Genevieve. to
use his workshop for my experiments.
81 worked there for eight months be-
fore | perfected my first cane. Then I
took it home. My wife was delighted.
"She said If | could make a cant my
self | could make a piece of furniture
for her. She suggested that | make
her a dresser. couldn't do that | told
her, but would make her an easel. |
did it and | also make her other things,
including a baby carriage.
81 have a baby 2 months old and |
claim he will be the first baby that ever
rode in a corncob buggy.
II guess | am the first man that ever
used a corncob "a | never heard of
anybody making anything out of corn
cobs except pipes"
On recent visit to st. Louis Mr.. Sta
cey brought one of the canes and a
pnOtoSTdph VI inc edsei' papy pueSy,
etc. to the Post-Dispatch office.
The cane is of the regulation length
about AZ inches. It's coloring is
brown ard yellow, due to several coats
of shellac and varnish. This zane is
made of seven separate corn cobs. The
handle is one cob and the other six are
used in the stick.
The cane is almost an inch in dame
ter at the top, tapering to oalf an inch
at the base. It has a Enthusiastically
corncob appearance. 1t looks just as IL
1t was made of several sections of large
eorncob pipe bowls.
Mr.. Stacey explains the process of
manufacture as follows:
He bores a hole through the center of
each cob he uses and then shaves its