Images(22)

Temperance Walking Stick

Datelate 19th - early 20th century

Maker Robert Maxwell Foster (American, 1830 - 1909)

OriginAmerica, Missouri, Christian County, Sparta

MediumElm or hickory, metal tacks, ink, pigment, natural resin based varnish

DimensionsOH: 34 1/2"; OW at handle: 4 1/2"

Credit LineGift of Todd and Suzanne Dickel

Object number2016.708.1

DescriptionCarved and polychrome walking stick that reveals one man's demise through alcohol. The cane has a slight natural curvature which is capped by an integral handle carved from a burl in the form of a worn out boot, complete with an exposed big toe. Like many parts of the carving, the boot had painted areas that are now largely worn away. A wide band of vine, leaves, and grape clusters (the root of the man's woes), separated from the human figure by a wooden barrel. The bearded man stands in profile with his wine glass. His situation is explained by the text on a ribbon opposite, which reads "My first drink only wine/ poor drunk stop and think or/ when the seed was sown for hell." Various labeled bottles of spirited drinks appear below him, including "Holland Gin" and "Old Rye." After another barrel band inscribed "Old Crow Whiskey," additional bottles of liquor labeled "Old Peach," "Apple Jack," "Port Wine" and "All Sorts" are carved, accompanied now by a snake (who emerges from the barrel), a fully modeled sitting frog and lizard, hand with four cards, a funnel and mug. The man appears once more, this time inside of a coffin with small metal tack detail. A grotesque horned figure with long tail possessively clutches the coffin. The boot form handle appears again as a relief carving from which snakes emerge. Robert Foster's self-styled "trade mark" of an owl on a stump (sometimes called a coffeepot) is at the base. Remnant of text on the stump reads "R.M. Foster." There is no evidence of a ferrule.
Label TextThe temperance movement of the late 19th century inspired some craftsmen to create objects that explained the moral and physical dangers of alcohol consumption. Robert M. Foster's elaborately carved polychrome walking stick follows the descent of a man from his first sip of wine to his untimely death (and a fate quite literally in the hands of the devil). As you turn the shaft, labeled bottles of strong spirited beverages are rendered in low relief, accompanied by grape vines, barrels, drinking implements and even a hand holding cards, a reference to gambling. The final section of carving hammers home the message: our man is enclosed in a coffin, firmly held in the arms of a horned demonic creature. In an echo of the cane's shoe shaped handle, a small carved boot appears at the bottom with snakes spilling from its interior. Foster signed this work with his "trade mark," an owl perched atop a stump or coffeepot.
InscribedOn a ribbon in the upper third is inked "My first drink only wine/ poor drunk stop and think or/ when the seed was sown for hell." Various ink labeled bottles of spirited drinks appear below him, including "Holland Gin" and "Old Rye." After another barrel band, additional bottles of liquor labeled "Old Peach," "Apple Jack," "Port Wine" and "All Sorts" are carved.
MarkingsRobert M. Foster's "trade mark" owl on a stump (sometimes called a coffeepot) appears at the very bottom of the walking stick. Filtered photography revealed fragments of the original inscription on the stump, which reads "R.M. Foster" and possibly "Mo."
ProvenanceGiven to donor Todd Dickel as a young man in New York by Audrey Lang Argus Fairhurst of New Orleans, Louisiana. Audrey Fairhurst was the second wife of the donor's family friend, Harold Elston Fairhurst.