I think the cane represents C. HIS SELF-CONSCIOUS DISPLAYS OF AUTHORITY.
Notice that when people using canes are in public, people around them make it a point to make sure that they get out of the way to ensure that the person using a cane will not be hindered. People are more quick to react or help if they find that the person in need is using a cane or is in a wheelchair.
Majority of people using canes are those who are elderly, thus gaining immediate respect and subservience from others.
The appropriate response is unskilled apprentices. In " A Toast to the Oldest Inhabitant" Twain says the New England rain skirts his tin rooftop - deliberately. The human quality is the giving the climate is naughtiness.
I hope the answer will help you.
