Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-08-22
CANES POPULAR NOW
NEW YORK MEN SHOW A GROW
ING FANCY FOR THEM.
Sticks Are Carried Uptown, Though,
Rather Than in the Business DIS
tricts-Bamboos Most Modish.


necessity to an Englishman and luxury
to an American. However that. may De,
1t is nevertheless true that Americans carry
canes more than they did, at least New
Workers do.
Nowadays when the men who are lert
in town go home to dress before dinner
at a club or at one of the city restaurants,
they carry canes with them. If they go
down to one of the beaches, as many Of
them do. for the evening, they will take
the trouble to carry a cane with them.
1t can scarcely be said that carrying
a cane is just now fashion. But it Is in
the air, and men who once would not have
thought of such an accessory to dress I'M
less they were rugged up for a Sunday stroll
on the avenue with frock coat and high
hat now take stick with them.
There cannot be said to be any fashion
In sticks But there are two rules that
most careful men adopt when they go to
select cane.
They will pick out simple one, with
little silver or ornamentation Of any KIND.
And they will most probably select bam-
boo as this wood In its various forms ID
the most popular and the most modish.
Young men incline to the wangee bamboo.
the rough unpublished wood with crook at
the end.
A thin band of silver near the head OF
the stick about the end Is all the orna-
mont that the best models show Some
times, when the stick is straight and with
out a crook, the end is finished with a sill
yer cap.
Light Canes.
The wangee bamboo is adapted only to
small sticks and is favored most by young
men, who also carry frequently stick
of square malacca, pointed at the ferrule
and growing larger toward the head. These
canes are ornamented with plain sdl-
yer caps.
The light colored bambOos are less in
in summer than in winter. Some very
attractive light yellow bamboo sticks were
In the window of a Broadway haberdasher
yesterday.
best London makers" said the salesman,
land we meant that they should sell for 81.
You can buy one for 81 If you want it.
They are of fine Indian bamboo and
are as carefully made as a light stick could
be. But New Workers do not seem to want
them.
II can explain that only in one way.
They are finished, you see, with a small
ball of hammered silver gilt. l think that
gilt did the business.
Nowadays nobody wants gold on cane.
It's too much like the old-fashioned gold
headed cane of our grandfathers. So just
that little ball of silver gilt makes those
canes sell for one-fourth of their value
Another form Of bamboo cane which
has held 1t own in the fashion Is stick
surnounted by round carved silver head.
1t is dark brown and highly polished The
head Of silver is carved usually in Louis
XVI style or some rocco pattern.
These canes may be very expensive, cost
Ing from $50 to $40 II they are hand carved
by machinery. They too dressy to be
carried except with silk hat and frock
coat. but there is nothing handsomer to be
had. and they remain always In style.
The jewelry houses have the heads sepa-
rate, and they are fitted to the sticks after
ward. Many men who buy the silver heads
at q jewelers. prefer to buy the bamboo
from a cane umbrella dealer, as they
think that the woods are likely to be more
carefully selected and to be found in larger
variety.
Gold-Headed Sticks.
Although eold-headed canes may not be
much in demand among men who are
searching for the last word in smart dress.
there are still many of them manufactured
chiefly for the benefit of older men. who as
a rule receive them as presents. One of
the statesmen in a jewelry store that has
many handsome canes on exhibition told
tn, reporter that he could scarcely remem-
Der case in which a gold-headed cane had
been bought by the man who intended to
use 1t.
1t Is in most cases a gift from some Of
the women Of his family and sometimes
demand for gold-headed canes to be given
to Sunday school teachers and other re-
spected individuals But for general wear
tho gold headed cane is little sold.
large round malacca sticks with simple
gold caps are a staple model. Generally
they are ornamented with the monogram
OF the owner.
Ash sticks are sometimes decorated with
q design in color, the patterns being cut out
Of the bark. The colors used to outline
these designs are gray, green and brown.
Ebony sticks OF the kind our ancestors
priced which were finished In nearly every
case with the gold head, are rarely seen In
the shops
The very particular man who wants a
cane such as even the jewelers. do not pro-
vide seeks a silver head in the antique
shops These are not genuine antiques as
rule but they are likely to be copies OF
old canes, and are fashioned In accordance
with the styles OF the period In which the
men who carried them had also white
gloves and lace handkerchiefs. These sticks
are. of course, to be used only on special
occasions and are not adapted to general
use.
On the roof gardens. at the restaurants.
and at the theaters the increasing number
of men that carry sticks shows that there
may be a time when the cane. If 1t does
not become a necessity to the New Yorker,
will at all events be something more than
q luxury.