Getting a Good Walking Stick

At a certain dinner the host said that he would soon be going on a journey and therefore meant to lay his hands on a good walking stick.

A guest congratulated his host on his good luck.  By chance the guest was something of an expert on the subject of walking sticks and could put his host in the way of acquiring an excellent specimen.

The host asked the guest to go on.  The guest then gave and informed the fascinating impromptu lecture on the qualities of a good walking stick and the methods best calculated to find one.

At the end of the man’s talk, the host thanked him for the excellent discourse.  The host said that he himself had been both entertained and edified.  The other guests murmured their agreement.  However, the host said, it appeared from the man’s own discourse that the best chance at finding a superb walking stick this time of year lay in the woods at some 50 to 60 miles remove.  Since that was the length of the host’s planned journey, the host said he would procure a walking stick from a tree out back whose walking sticks had given him a good service in the past.

The guest suggested a location only some five or six miles away that would also likely give a walking stick of near the best quality but the host again smiled and demurred.

Moral: you don’t always have to follow the procedure that is most likely to result in the best outcome on average for all who pursue it.  You just need to do something that works for you.  In courtship and marriage for instance…