CHAPTER IV.

DAVID CROCKETT being married, we have now to look upon him in a new light, but in one not less amusing. We will find in him no disposition to forego pleasure, or avoid a frolic; and will contemplate the outbreaking of that peculiarity of talent which has served to identify him with the country in which he lives.

I fear we shall not be able to relieve him from the poverty which was ever his attendant; for we find him for two years after his marriage living with his wife's mother, and making barely enough for a support. From this situation he removed and settled upon Elk River; when, the late war breaking out, he left home, and served as a volunteer in defence of his country. After serving several months, he obtained permission to return home; but having tasted the excitement of battle, the pleasure of company, etc., he became unhappy, and again sought the army.

He was in many skirmishes, and always bore among his comrades the reputation of a brave man. He was at Tallisahatchee, Talladago, and at Pensacola. Serving under General Jackson, he became personally acquainted with him, and was sincerely and devotedly his friend, until circum

stances connected with his political life, brought about a separation.

During his stay in the army, he found a field for the exercise of that talent with which nature had so eminently endowed him. Without education, without the refinement of good society, perfectly a child of nature, and thrown by accident among men raised, like himself, on the frontiers, and consequently uneducated, he was perfectly at home. Naturally of a fine person, with a goodness of heart rarely equalled, and a talent for humour never excelled, he soon found his way to the hearts of his messmates. No man ever enjoyed a greater degree of personal popularity, than did David Crockett while with the army; and his success in political life is mainly attributable to that fact. I have met with many of his messmates, who spoke of him with the affection of a brother, and from them have heard many anecdotes, which convince me how much goodness of heart he really possesses. He not unfrequently would lay out his own money to buy a blanket for a suffering soldier; and never did he own a dollar which was not at the service of the first friend who called for it. Blessed with a memory which never forgot any thing, he seemed merely a depository of anecdote: while, at the same time, to invent, when at a loss, was as easy as to narrate those which he had already heard. These qualities made him the rallying point for fun with all his messmates, and

served to give him that notoriety which he now possesses. Vanity or refinement were terms that he hardly knew the meaning of, and his mind, untaught by rigid rules, roved free as the wild beasts he hunted, and sometimes gave vent to expressions and to ideas, which could never have been conceived by any other individual. This slight sketch will perhaps be doubted. But to those who doubt, I would say, go and hunt with Colonel Crockett for a week, and you will then believe, and never regret the time spent.

While Mr. Crockett was absent, fighting in defence of his country, he met with a severe misfortune in the death of his wife, which rendered it necessary for him to return and take care of his children. This event served to wean him from all thoughts of the army, kept him closely at home, and for some time changed the general tenor of . his life.

Duty to his children required that he should seek a helpmate; and accordingly he selected for his companion the widow of a deceased friend. He then removed to Laurens county, where circumstances forced him to figure in a different sphere. Here his popularity secured him the office of justice of the peace. Soon after this he was elected colonel; and finally a representative in the state legislature. To fill these various of fices, he was invited by the partiality of his friends; but his success is mainly attributable to energy of

character, and to the possession of that talent, in an eminent degree, which enables a man to recognise every person he meets, whether he knows him or not; and to inquire, without being discomposed, after wives and children who have long since been swept from existence.

Colonel Crockett was flattered by being elected to the legislature; but, satisfied that he was called upon to discharge a duty for which his early life had rendered him unqualified, he felt awkward. However, he took his seat, and the preliminary business of electing door keepers, clerks, etc. having been gone through, he discovered many persons presenting what they termed "bills," and being fresh from the backwoods, and unacquainted with the rules of a deliberative body, took up an idea, that, as many others were presenting bills, he must do so too. So he got a friend to draft a bill, rose in his seat, and with much confidence presented it. The object of it I have now forgotten, though I was satisfied, at the time of his narration to me, of its propriety. The bill was opposed by Mr. M-1, who, during the discussion, thought proper to travel out of his way to allude to Colonel Crockett, as the gentleman from the cane, in rather disparaging terms.

The colonel's mettle began to rise: so that, when Mr. M-1 seated himself, upon many persons crying out, "Crockett, answer him-Crockett, answer him," he determined to do so. His diffi

dence for a time prevented him from rising-but his embarrassed situation is more happily described in his own language. "Well, I had never made a speech in my life. I did n't know whether I could speak or not; and they kept crying out to me, 'Crockett, answer him-Crockett, answer him-why the deuce don't you answer him?” So up I popped. I was as mad as fury and there I stood and not a word could I get out. Well, I bothered, and stammered, and looked foolish, and still there I stood; but after a while I began to talk. I don't know what I said about my bill, but I jerked it into him. I told him that he had got hold of the wrong man; that he didn't know who he was fooling with; that he reminded me of the meanest thing on God's earth, an old coon dog, barking up the wrong tree."

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But the colonel was not satisfied; for, says he, "After the house adjourned, seeing Mr. M walking off alone, I followed him and proposed a walk. He consented, and we went something like a mile, when I called a halt. Said I, 'Mdo you know what I brought you here for?' 'No.' Well, I brought you here for the express purpose of whipping you, and I mean to do it.' But the fellow said he did n't mean any thing, and kept 'pologising, till I got into a good humour. We then went back together; and I don't believe any body ever knew any thing about it."

"I'll tell you another story of this same man: