In her diary for 1938 Nancie refers to a 'Mr Smith' who seems to play an important part in her employer, the wealthy Jean Ferris's life. I thought the chances of finding out any more about him were very slight but thanks to Ancestry.com I discovered quite a lot and even found a photograph.
Ernest Stanley Smith was an American citizen, born in New Jersey, who had originally come to France on business from New York.
He spent time in Spain, Switzerland and England and in 1917 was Acting American Consular Agent in Bayonne, near St Jean de Luz. He travelled back to the US most years, remaining a US citizen. He also had to visit England for 'medical reasons' he claimed, in 1920, by which time he had retired. His company was called 'The Rare Stick and Handle Company of New York City'. Apparently trade in walking sticks and canes was very lucrative. No fashionable gentleman wanted to be seen out and about without the very latest style of walking stick. Tiffany made them with china handles, Meissen with porcelain and Remington Rifles made them with weapons inside.
The handles were made of gold, silver, ivory, ebony and many other varieties of wood. You could get them with eagles' heads, dogs' heads, ducks' heads and so on. Some contained razor blades to be used as weapons and others writing material or bows to play a violin. Sir Harry Lauder and Salvador Dali both had large collections of walking sticks. The Great Gatsby always sported a walking cane.
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