The Walking-Stick

Cromwell Argus, Volume LXVIII, Issue 3482, 16 August 1937, Page 7

The Walking-Stick

ITS USE DECLINING. The walking-stick, wo are told, i 3 on its last legs, or ought we —more correctly—to say its "last leg"? It has gone out of fashion, and not many want it in Great Britain. A British century-old factory, renowned for the infinite variety of its walking-sticks, has just been forced to close down. Fashion has dictated to industry. The older ones among us learn this with a tinge of regret, for when we were young, not so long ago, we were inordinately proud of our walkingstick. It was a gleaming ebony beam surmounted by a near-gold harvest moon. The young bucks of the 'nineties would never dream of being seen about town without their stick.

But the new generation of men and women has little use for sticks, any more than it has for hats, boots, collars, ties, sleeves, skirts, or trousers It wants to be bare-headed, barelegged, bare-necked, and bare-armed, and as near* barefoot as the thickness of a sandal, at least in summer time. Yes, the great days of the walkingetick are over, for modern transport has killed its popularity. Yet one veteran workman, who with two relatives has a family record,of 140 years in the walking-stick industry, is optimistic enough to believe its popularity will experience a revival. He has handled half a million walk-ing-sticks of a marvellous variety, working in all kinds of materials, including ebony and shark's head. One of the most noted sticks he made was in ebony, and it was produced for Queen Victoria. In the days when walking-sticks were the fashion men would give as much as five poundb for a first-class stick. Undoubtedly the most magnificent this veteran produced had a negro's head, with real ivory teeth, and diamonds for eyes. It cost the purchaser £IBO. At one time no fewer than five million walking-sticks, valued at £25,000 or so, were imported into England annually. The commoner sticks, as those of ash, beech, thorn and hazel, were, and still are, to a large extent, grown In Britain. Gloucestershire at one time had a flourishing industry, many acres being devoted to no other purpose than the raising of wood for the walking-stick market. A peculiar phase of the business also flourished in the Channel Islands, where certain types of cabbages were trained with a view of being transformed into walk-ing-sticks by a proce&s of stripping off each leaf as it appeared, finally drying out and hardening the stems. Sticks made from these were extremely durable. A celebrated maker of walkingsticks in Kent was Mr. Boh Body, the "Walking-Stick Man." He was pursuing his trade up to a few years back, at least, after being in it for over 60 years. He was known far and wide as "Old Bob of Walking-Stick Farm," and buyers came to him from all over the country. He specialised in ash sticks, and gave each one his personal attention, watching its growth, eliminating weaknesses, and carefully strengthening it. At times he had queer orders. One very heavy stick with a special knob on top was grown for ah old lady who lived alone and who was mortally afraid of burglars. There is no doubt that as time goes on walking-sticks will become more valuable. Indeed, they are already attracting the attention of connoisseurs, and several notable collections are in existence. Lloyd's, the famous insurance firm, issues all kinds of queer policies, but none was more strange than that issued on a collection of walking-sticks, for a good many years The owner had seven walking-sticks, one for each day of the week, and they were worth over £SOO. The sticks, which were mostly made of rhinoceros horn, were valued at sums ranging from £2O to £2OO. The policy issued to the owner, a widely-travelled man, was described as almost a world-wide all-risks one.

George Arliss, the- eminent actor: possesses a very historic stick. Back, with blue porcelain head, gold band with inscription and loop hole for silken thread, he found it in the United States. In 1777 it belonged" to an English actor named King, who was the original Sir Peter Teazle, and who used the stick in the first production of "The School for Scandal." Over a century later the great English actor, Sir Henry Irving, presented it to Joseph Jefferson, the celebrated American actor, and after years of wandering it has come back to England.

Another actor, Roland Young, possesses one of the finest collections in existence. It includes a carved snake stick from S. Africa, a West African witch dpctor’s cane with “magic’’ carvings on the handle, a loaded knobkerry, an ivory cane carved out of narwhal’s horn, thought to be the per-‘ sonal workmanship of Louis XVI., the actual stick carried by John Wilkes Booth, the madman who assassinated Lincoln, sticks from India with handles of lapis-lazuli, and exquisite tall canes of the Regency bucks. The walking-stick is also in decline in France. The makers complain the reason is we are less individualistic than we were. Most of the great individualists, from Balzac, with his famous example, gold-knobbed and studded with turquoises, have carried walkingsticks.

“My dear chap, there’s a fortune in the stock market.” “I know. Mine’s there.”