Taylor Montgomery's Walking Stick

Here is a reminiscence whose theme is my family. I try to discern something of the personalities of my ancestors along with the bare facts that I could uncover. It is a portrait of a river a great river of memory and its tributaries which lie in the imagination. What is a family anyway? It's a giant dream a mental conception that allows a person to be strengthened against the adverse tides of the present or to deepen present contentment and happiness. In either case I hope my descendants will find this dream this slice of their own history useful and entertaining. And I hope my great-grandfather will forgive me for turning his walking stick into a metaphor. It's still a walking stick believe me. I even use it sometimes when I'm out in the woods.