By-Ways and Butterflies 



going down the road, and across open 

 country, it fits in with the scenery. 

 One thing I have learned: you can't 

 hike happily without a little some- 

 thing in your hand. When I was a 

 young savage this was commonly a 

 gun, with which I could shoot wood- 

 peckers and other useful forms of 

 animal life. Today I prefer a good 

 stout stick; not those fashionable 

 things they sell you, or your friends 

 give you, with curved or bent tops. 

 I have a collection of those; some of 

 them gifts that carry with them mem- 

 ories I hope to bear with me in my 

 latest steps. But I picked up some- 

 where a genuine walking stick for real 

 road service — a stout, straight one, an 

 inch-and-a-half thick at the top; not 

 worked down smoothly, but left more 

 or less in the rough, and tapering down 

 in unaltered natural proportion. It is 

 of solid wood, and of good weight, and 

 it is easy to understand why it feels 

 right in my hand as I take the road 



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