The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-07-25
M E N, w O M FEN
 A ND T HIN C s

! TOT years l have been carrying a cane and it has gotten to be such a habit that if by chance I should start out without it in the morning t-would miss it as much as if l had left my coat at home.
 It has become second nature with me- and l am at a loss without it, and on the few occasions which I have walked the streets without it I have been held up by friends to know where it was. They seemed to think l did not look natural.
 It is really surprising how many facetiously ask me during a week If I am getting old enough to need a support" as if the sole use of a cane was to be an accompaniment of old age. do not, however, mind admit ting that on account of my eyes it is of real service at night and specially so in my trips to towns which are poorly lighted.
 got interested in the history of canes and made diligent search through encyclopedias. books of ref erence' and hand books on the quaint and,the curious, but my efforts were unrewarded. l may have been un- fortunate in my chase, but ran down all the articles on "canes,o walking sticks, and Pilgrim staffs but failed to dig up anything of interest or worth.
 Now, there may be some volume on the subject, and I have faint idea that one of the English essayists mad short article on canes, but | am writing away from my library and haven't chance to very my sus- plcion. l am sure that good story could be written around the use of canes if one had the assiduitv to start from the cave man with such eclat. It would not only be a history or fashlon, but commentary on the growth of culture from the time when the club was weapon to the day when it is largely for dress.
 But even so late as this present century, we had one red -blooded man who got fame by talking about the bis stick and there is good room to show that it was but twentieth cen tury substitute for the weapon of our forbears who sallied forth from their rocky fastnesses swinging club to fight against wild animals and hold their own with their fellows who were disposed to take more than their share at period before "co-opera- tion" had become a watch word.
 
 In speaking of a cane" I mean any kind of a walking stick" whether it be bamboo which bends at will, a gold headed abomination in ebony, polished Malacca, a stout hickory, curled maple, and orange. a twisted root Of thing like Harry Lauder and other Scotchmen sport, the oaken cudgel with which an Irishman sets out for Donny Brook fair, or even the great Danish club of Henry VIII shown in the armory of the Tower of London. A sticks a stick for a'N that.
 The word cane, however. was not applied to walking stick earlier than the sixteenth century. when they became~especially in fashion as the part ofla costume of man of ele- Gance toward the close of the seven teenth and eighteenth centuries. A cane-" garnished with gold and having perfume in the top" and other con veniences attached to it is also men toned in an inventory of Henry WITS time; but it was not until the reign of Louis XIV that the cane became almost Universal in the hands of quality.
 It is interesting to note at this time the canes were generally made of the length now common, that is, two feet ten inches to three feet; but in the eighteenth century it became usual to have them very long--four feet or more and ornamented with great bunch of ribbons tied near the top. Such canes were carried by women as well, as men, and the re- peated attempts to revive the custom among the ladies is but marking back to the fashon set at Versailles. The heads of such canes frequently contained perfume bottles or vinai- grettes and some were even fitted with eye glasses, a species of cane lorgnettes. Tie heads were porce- lain, enamel, metal, gold, silver or other rich material
 It seems passing strange that one of England's greatest statesmen, as well as dandies, should have been proud of the conquest he made on trip to Gibraltar where, as he re- cords with pleasure. he maintained his reputation of being great judge of costume" His victory being: II have the fame of being the first who ever passed the Straits with two canes. morning and an evening cane. I change my cane as the gun fires. and hope to carry them both to Cairo. It is wonderful tine effect these magical wands produce. owe to them even more attention than to being the supposed author of-what Is it? I forget" A perfect insight into the mystery of Disraeli, who for got the title of his book, but remem- bered when to change his cane.'