Democratic Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 February 1882 — Canes. [ARTICLE]

Canes.

The New York World interviewed a cane merchant, who said : “ Styles in canes ? Why, they change almost as often as the cut of women’s dresses do,” said a manufacturer of walking-sticks yesterday. ‘‘ I have been in this business since it was established by my father in 1841, and during that time I have learned that new shapes in sticks must be invented every year. A good cane is un old man’s friend, and a handsome one is a young man’s pride. One may as well be out of the world as out of the fashion, and the young man nowadays who doesn’t carry a ‘ crook ’ may as well go to the nearest dock and throw himself into the river. When I say crook, I mean the latest thing out in canes. It is in similiar shape to the curved-handle stick, which has always been in vogue, but generally carried by old gentlemen. There are two styles, the shepherd’s crook, shaped like a fishhook, and the Zulu crook, a plain curved handle. Both styles originated on the other side, as do most of the fashions in canes. The Zulu is from Paris, and the shepherd from London. They were introduced there last spring, and took the place of the crutch which was so popular last year. These new styles are made from natural woods with handles, and yet there are a great many made with chamois or buffalo-horn handles. When I was a young man, a whale-bone cane was the proper thing, and since then there have been the agate-topped Malacca, the bamboo and barked sticks of different shapes. The makers here get woods from all over the world, the most expensive being the Malacca, which comes from the swamps in the straits of Malacca, and the leopard wood, olive, and snake wood from Africa. America can supply the wants of the world for pretty barked wood. For canes, the ash plant, very popular among Englishmen, comes from Great Britain, where it is cultivated to a great extent for cane use alone. When used as a walking stick it is never varnished, but carried just as it was pulled. The fancy woods (such as Malacca, Penang and Waukee bamboos’) are generally mounted in gold or silver, with hammered heads, and often cost as much as $30.”

It’s a funny old world anyhow, and taste is only a matter of education. Your baby contentedly gums candy, the native African picaninny is joyous over a mouthful of salt, and the young Esquimaux cries for tallow candle ; we gorge ourselves with oysters, while the Digger Indian would not give you one long fat snake for all the oysters in Chesapeake Bay. We, or at least you, chew tobacco, the Hindoo lime, and the unostentatious and not over fastidious Patagonian, when he wants a chew of something real good, rolls a quid of guano into his cheek. That’s the kind of a gum-drop he is; and you could’t hire him to chew tobacco, unless, indeed, he may have learned the habit from the missionaries. —Burlington Hawkeye. We have heard both Democrats and RepubUoans say that there is nothing better for a Cough than Dr. Bull’s Cough Syrup ; this old reliable remedy never fails to cute a Cough or Ould at once, and may be obtained at any drug st/>re for 25 cents a bottle.