ing,
by force of valour, the cane in its evolution has ever been the symbol
of a superior caste.

A man cannot do manual labour carrying a cane. And it would be a moral
impossibility for one of servile state--a butler, for instance, or a
ticket-chopper--to present himself in the role of his occupation
ornamented with a cane. One held in custody would not be permitted to
appear before a magistrate flaunting a cane. Until the stigma which
attaches to his position may be erased he would be shorn of this mark
of nobility, the cane.

Canes are now carried mostly by the very youthful and the very aged,
the powerful, the distinguished, the patrician, the self-important, and
those who fancy to exalt themselves. Some, to whom this privilege is
denied during the week by their fear of adverse public opinion, carry
canes only on Sundays and holidays. By this it is shown that on these
days they are their own masters.

Custom as to carrying canes varies widely in different parts of the
world; but it may be taken as a general maxim that the farther west you
go the less you see of canes. The instinct for carrying a cane is more
natural in old civilisations, where the tradition is of ancient growth,
than in newer ones, where frequently a cane is regarded as the sign of
an effete character. As we have been saying, canes, we all feel, have
an affinity with the idea of an aristocracy. If you do not admit that
the idea of an aristocracy is a good one, then doubtless you are down
on canes. It is interesting to observe that canes have flourished at
all especially chivalrous periods and in all especially chivalrous
communities. No illustrator would portray a young planter of the Old
South without his cane; and that fragrant old-school figure, a southern
"Colonel," without his cane is inconceivable. Canes connote more or
less leisure. They convey a subtle insinuation of some degree of
culture.

They always are a familiar article of a gentleman's dress in warm
climates. The cane, quite strictly speaking, in fact has its origin in
warm countries. For properly speaking, the word cane should be
restricted in its application to a peculiar class of palms, known as
ratans, included under the closely allied genera _Calamus_ and
_Daemonorops_, of which there are a large number of species. These
plants, the Encyclopedia tells us, are found widely extended throughout
the islands of the Indian Archipelago, the Malay Peninsula, China,
I