At this period, Tennessee was nearly a wilderness8, and the forests were still, to a great extent, the dominion9 of the Indian and the wild beast. Brought up in this condition, his youthful imagination tinged10 by the tragic11 story of his ancestors, it was natural that our young hero should have become an early lover of those wild enterprises and hazardous12 adventures which belong to border life.
In the memoir with which Crockett has favored us, he gives an account of many events, some of which are not a little marvellous, though we have no reason to doubt their truth. The following will serve as a specimen13 of his style, as well as of the circumstances which attended his childhood. "Joseph Hawkins,[Pg 154] who was a brother to my mother, was in the woods hunting for deer. He was passing near a thicket14 of brush, in which one of our neighbors was gathering15 some grapes, as it was in the fall of the year, and the grape season. The body of the man was hid by the brush, and it was only as he would raise his hand to pull the bunches, that any part of him could be seen. It was a likely place for deer; and my uncle, having no suspicion that it was any human being, but supposing the raising of the hand to be the occasional twitch16 of a deer's ear, fired at the lump, and as the devil would have it, unfortunately shot the man through the body. I saw my father draw a silk handkerchief through the bullet hole, and entirely17 through his body; yet, after a little while, he got well, as little as any one would have thought it. What became of him, or whether he is dead or alive, I don't know; but I reckon he didn't fancy the business of gathering grapes in an out-of-the-way thicket again."
When David was about eight years old, his father settled in Jefferson county, Tennessee, and opened a small tavern18, chiefly for wagoners. He was poor, and his son says, "Here I remained with him, till I was twelve years old. About that time, you may guess, if you are a yankee, and reckon, if, like me, you belong to the backwoods, that I began to make my acquaintance with hard times, and plenty of them."
At this period, an old Dutchman, who was proceeding19 to Rockbridge, a distance of four hundred miles, stopped over night at his father's house. He had a large stock of cattle, and needing assistance, David was hired by him, and proceeded on foot the whole of[Pg 155] the journey. He was expected to continue with the Dutchman, but his love of home mastered him, and taking his clothes in a bundle on his back, he stole away one night, and begged his way among the straggling settlements, till he reached his father's residence.
David was now sent to school; but at the end of four days he had a quarrel with one of his mates, and having scratched his face badly, he did not dare to go again. He therefore spent several days in the woods, during school hours, leaving his father to suppose he was at his lessons. When he found out, from the master, what David had done, he cut a hickory stick, and approached him in great wrath20, intending to chastise21 him severely22. The boy saw the danger, and fled. It was a tight race, but youth had the advantage. David escaped, hid himself in the woods for a time, and then, bidding adieu to his home, set forth23 upon his adventures.
Passing through a great variety of conditions, he at last reached Baltimore, and for the first time looked forth upon the blue ocean and the ships that navigate24 it. He had heard of these things, but he tells us, that until he actually saw them, he did not in his heart believe in their existence. It seems that his first sight of the sea excited in his bosom25 those deep, yet indescribable emotions, known only to those who have had experience like his own.
He set out at length to return to his father's house; but, owing to a variety of causes, it was three years before he reached it. It was evening when he came to the tavern, and he concluded to ask for lodging,[Pg 156] and not make himself known, till he saw how the land lay. He gives an account of what followed, in these terms:—
"After a while, we were all called to supper: I went with the rest. We sat down to the table, and began to eat, when my eldest26 sister recollected27 me: she sprung up, ran and seized me around the neck, and exclaimed, 'Here is my lost brother!'
"My feelings at this time it would be vain and foolish for me to attempt to describe. I had often thought I felt before, and I suppose I had; but sure I am, I never had felt as I then did. The joy of my sisters, and my mother, and indeed of all the family, was such that it humbled28 me, and made me sorry that I hadn't submitted to a hundred whippings, sooner than cause so much affliction as they had suffered on my account. I found the family had never heard a word of me from the time my brother left me. I was now almost fifteen years old, and my increased age and size, together with the joy of my father, occasioned by my unexpected return, I was sure would secure me against my long-dreaded whipping; and so they did. But it will be a source of astonishment29 to many, who reflect that I am now a member of the American Congress—the most enlightened body of men in the world—that at so advanced an age, the age of fifteen, I did not know the first letter in the book."
The following passage, continuing the narrative30, evinces sense and feeling, which are honorable to our hero's head and heart. "I had remained for some short time at home with my father, when he informed[Pg 157] me that he owed a man, whose name was Abraham Wilson, the sum of thirty-six dollars; and that if I would set in and work out the note, so as to lift it for him, he would discharge me from his service, and I might go free. I agreed to do this, and went immediately to the man who held my father's note, and contracted with him to work six months for it. I set in, and worked with all my might, not losing a single day in the six months. When my time was out, I got my father's note, and then declined working with the man any longer, though he wanted to hire me mighty31 bad. The reason was, it was a place where a heap of bad company met to drink and gamble, and I wanted to get away from them, for I knowed very well if I staid there I should get a bad name, as nobody could be respectable that would live there. I therefore returned to my father, and gave him up his paper, which seemed to please him mightily32, for, though he was poor, he was an honest man, and always tried mighty hard to pay off his debts.
"I next went to the house of an honest old Quaker, by the name of John Kennedy, who had removed from North Carolina, and proposed to hire myself to him, at two shillings a day. He agreed to take me a week on trial, at the end of which he appeared pleased with my work, and informed me that he held a note on my father for forty dollars, and that he would give me that note if I would work for him six months. I was certain enough that I should never get any part of the note; but then I remembered it was my father that owed it, and I concluded it was my duty, as a child, to help him along, and ease his lot as much[Pg 158] as I could. I told the Quaker I would take him up at his offer, and immediately went to work. I never visited my father's house during the whole of this engagement, though he lived only fifteen miles off. But when it was finished, and I had got the note, I borrowed one of my employer's horses, and, on a Sunday evening, went to pay my parents a visit. Some time after I got there, I pulled out the note, and handed it to my father, who supposed Mr. Kennedy had sent it for collection. The old man looked mighty sorry, and said to me he had not the money to pay it, and didn't know what he should do. I then told him I had paid it for him, and it was then his own; that it was not presented for collection, but as a present from me. At this, he shed a heap of tears; and as soon as he got a little over it, he said he was sorry he couldn't give me anything, but he was not able, he was too poor."
David continued to work for the Quaker, during which time he became enamored of a girl in the vicinity, and when he was eighteen he engaged to marry her; she, however, proved faithless, and wedded33 another man. The youth took it much to heart, and observes, "I now began to think that in making me, it was entirely forgotten to make my mate; that I was born odd, and should always remain so." He, however, recovered, and paid his addresses to a little girl of the neighborhood, whom he met one day when he had got lost in the woods, and married her. She had for her marriage portion two cows and two calves34; and, with fifteen dollars' worth of furniture, they commenced house-keeping. He rented a small farm, and[Pg 159] went to work. After a few years, he removed to another part of the state, where there was plenty of game, in consequence of which he became a hunter. About the year 1810, he settled on Bear Creek, where he remained till after the war of 1812.
During the Creek war in Tennessee, in 1812, Crockett served as a private soldier under General Jackson, and displayed no small share of enterprise and daring. He also served in one of the expeditions to Florida, meeting with a great variety of adventures. Soon after the close of the war, in 1815, he lost his wife, but married again, and, as he says, "went ahead."
After a time, he removed, with his family, to Shoal Creek, where the settlers, living apart from the rest of the world, set up a government for themselves; they established certain laws, and Crockett was elected one of the magistrates36. The operations of this forest republic are thus described by our hero:—
"When a man owed a debt, and wouldn't pay it, I and my constable37 ordered our warrant, and then he would take the man, and bring him before me for trial. I would give judgment38 against him, and then an order for an execution would easily scare the debt out of him. If any one was charged with marking his neighbor's hogs39, or with stealing anything,—which happened pretty often in those days,—I would have him taken, and if there was tolerable grounds for the charge, I would have him well whipped, and cleared. We kept this up till our legislature added us to the white settlements in Giles county, and appointed magistrates by law, to organize matters in the parts where[Pg 160] I lived. They appointed every man a magistrate35 who had belonged to our corporation. I was then, of course, made a squire40 according to law, though now the honor rested more heavily on me than before. For, at first, whenever I told my constable, says I,—'Catch that fellow, and bring him up for trial,' away he went; and the fellow must come, dead or alive; for we considered this a good warrant, though it was only in verbal writings. But after I was appointed by the assembly, they told me my warrants must be in real writing, and signed; and that I must keep a book, and write my proceedings41 in it. This was a hard business on me, for I could just barely write my own name."
Crockett now rose rapidly; he was elected a colonel in the militia42, and, by request of his friends, became a candidate for the state legislature. He made an electioneering tour of nearly three months, addressing the voters at various points. His account of this part of his life is full of wit; and not only throws much light upon western manners, but suggests many keen and sagacious reflections upon the character and conduct of political leaders, seeking the suffrages43 of the people. His success upon the stump44 was great, though he confesses he knew nothing about government, and dared not even touch the subject. He told droll45 stories, however, which answered a better purpose, and in the result, was triumphantly46 elected. We must not omit to give Crockett's own account of himself at this period.
"A short time after this," says he, "I was in Pulaski, where I met with Colonel Polk, now a member[Pg 161] of Congress from Tennessee. He was at that time a member elected to the legislature, as well as myself; and in a large company he said to me, 'Well, Colonel, I suppose we shall have a radical47 change of the judiciary at the next session of the legislature.' 'Very likely, sir,' says I; and I put out quicker, for I was afraid some one would ask me what the judiciary was; and if I knowed, I wish I may be shot. I don't indeed believe I had ever before heard that there was any such thing in all nature; but still I was not willing that the people there should know how ignorant I was about it. When the time for meeting of the legislature arrived, I went on, and before I had been there long, I could have told what the judiciary was, and what the government was too; and many other things that I had known nothing about before."
Crockett now removed to the borders of the Obion, and settled in the woods, his nearest white neighbor being seven miles off. The country around gradually became peopled, and in the course of a few years he was again put in nomination48, without his own consent or knowledge, for the legislature. His antagonist49 was Dr. Butler, a relative of General Jackson's, and, as Crockett describes him, "a clever fellow, and the most talented man I ever run against, for any office." Two other candidates were in the field, but David beat them all by a handsome majority. This occurred in 1825. In 1827, he was elected to Congress, and re-elected in 1829, by a majority of 3500 votes. No man could at that time stand against him, with hopes of success. In 1831, however, he lost his election, but succeeded in 1833. He was defeated in 1835,[Pg 162] and, having gone to Texas, engaged in the defence of Bexar, and was slain50 in the storming of that place, March 6th, 1836.
The character of David Crockett is by no means to be set up as a model for imitation, yet he was a man of excellent traits of character. Brave, hospitable51, honest, patriotic52, and sincere, he was the representative of the hardy53 hunters of the west—a race of men fast fading away, or receding54 with the remote borders of our western settlements. Destitute55 of school education, he supplied the defect, in a great degree, by ready wit, and that talent which is developed strongly by the necessities of a hard and hazardous course of life. In civilized56 society, he retained the marks of his forest breeding, as well as the innate57 eccentricity58 of his character, and became conspicuous59 as one of those humorists, whom nothing can change from their original conformation.
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1
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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adventurous
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| adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的 | |
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paternal
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| adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的 | |
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4
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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captivity
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| n.囚禁；被俘；束缚 | |
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savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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memoir
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| n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录 | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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10
tinged
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| v.（使）发丁丁声( ting的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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hazardous
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| adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的 | |
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13
specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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thicket
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| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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twitch
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| v.急拉，抽动，痉挛，抽搐；n.扯，阵痛，痉挛 | |
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17
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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18
tavern
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| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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20
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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21
chastise
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| vt.责骂，严惩 | |
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severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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navigate
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| v.航行，飞行；导航，领航 | |
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25
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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recollected
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| adj.冷静的；镇定的；被回忆起的；沉思默想的v.记起，想起( recollect的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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humbled
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| adj. 卑下的，谦逊的，粗陋的 vt. 使 ... 卑下，贬低 | |
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29
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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30
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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31
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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mightily
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| ad.强烈地；非常地 | |
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33
wedded
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| adj.正式结婚的；渴望…的，执著于…的v.嫁，娶，（与…）结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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34
calves
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| n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解 | |
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35
magistrate
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| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
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magistrates
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| 地方法官，治安官( magistrate的名词复数 ) | |
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constable
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| n.(英国)警察，警官 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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39
hogs
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| n.（尤指喂肥供食用的）猪( hog的名词复数 )；（供食用的）阉公猪；彻底地做某事；自私的或贪婪的人 | |
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squire
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| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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42
militia
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| n.民兵，民兵组织 | |
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suffrages
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| （政治性选举的）选举权，投票权( suffrage的名词复数 ) | |
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44
stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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45
droll
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| adj.古怪的，好笑的 | |
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46
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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47
radical
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| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
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48
nomination
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| n.提名，任命，提名权 | |
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49
antagonist
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| n.敌人，对抗者，对手 | |
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50
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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51
hospitable
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| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
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52
patriotic
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| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
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53
hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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54
receding
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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55
destitute
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| adj.缺乏的；穷困的 | |
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56
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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57
innate
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| adj.天生的，固有的，天赋的 | |
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58
eccentricity
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| n.古怪，反常，怪癖 | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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