[figure description] Page 041.[end figure description]

BY WASHINGTON IRVING.

`I AM a Kentuckian by residence and choice, but
a Virginian by birth. The cause of my first leaving
the `Ancient Dominion,' and emigrating to Kentucky,
was a jackass! You stare, but have a little patience,
and I'll soon show you how it came to pass. My
father, who was of one of the old Virginian families,
resided in Richmond. He was a widower, and his
domestic affairs were managed by a house-keeper of
the old school, such as used to administer the concerns
of opulent Virginian households. She was a
dignitary that almost rivalled my father in importance,
and seemed to think every thing belonged to
her; in fact she was so considerate in her economy,
and so careful of expense, as sometimes to vex my

[figure description] Page 042.[end figure description]

father; who would swear she was disgracing him
by her meanness. She always appeared with that
ancient insignia of house-keeping trust and authority,
a great bunch of keys jingling at her girdle. She
superintended the arrangement of the table at every
meal, and saw that the dishes were all placed according
to her primitive notions of symmetry. In the
evening she took her stand and served out tea with
a mingled respectfulness and pride of station, truly
exemplary. Her great ambition was to have every
thing in order, and that the establishment under her
sway should be cited as a model of good house-keeping.
If any thing went wrong, poor old Barbara
would take it to heart, and sit in her room and cry;
until a few chapters in the Bible would quiet her
spirits, and make all calm again. The Bible, in fact,
was her constant resort in time of trouble. She
opened it indiscriminately, and whether she chanced
among the Lamentations of Jeremiah, the Canticles
of Solomon, or the rough enumeration of the tribes
in Deuteronomy, a chapter was a chapter, and operated
like balm to her soul. Such was our good old
housekeeper Barbara: who was destined, unwittingly,
to have a most important effect upon my destiny.

`It came to pass, during the days of my juvenility,
while I was yet what is termed `an unlucky boy,'
that a gentleman of our neighborhood, a great advocate
for experiments and improvements of all kinds,
took it into his head that it would be an immense
public advantage to introduce a breed of mules, and
accordingly imported three jacks to stock the neighborhood.
This in a part of the country where the

[figure description] Page 043.[end figure description]

people cared for nothing but blood horses! Why,
Sir! they would have considered their mares disgraced,
and their whole stud dishonored, by such a
misalliance. The whole matter was a town-talk, and
a town scandal. The worthy amalgamator of quadrupeds
found himself in a dismal scrape: so he
backed out in time, abjured the whole doctrine of
amalgamation, and turned his jacks loose to shift for
themselves upon the town common. There they
used to run about and lead an idle, good-for-nothing,
holiday life, the happiest animals in the country.

`It so happened, that my way to school lay across
this common. The first time that I saw one of these
animals, it set up a braying and frightened me confoundedly.
However, I soon got over my fright, and
seeing that it had something of a horse look, my
Virginian love for any thing of the equestrian species
predominated, and I determined to back it. I accordingly
applied at a grocer's shop, procured a cord that
had been round a loaf of sugar, and made a kind of
halter; then summoning some of my school-fellows,
we drove master Jack about the common until we
hemmed him in an angle of a `worm fence.' After
some difficulty, we fixed the halter round his muzzle,
and I mounted. Up flew his heels, away I went
over his head, and off he scampered. However, I
was on my legs in a twinkling, gave chase, caught
him and remounted. By dint of repeated tumbles, I
soon learned to stick to his back, so that he could no
more cast me than he could his own skin. From
that time, master Jack and his companions had a
scampering life of it, for we all rode them between
school hours, and on holiday afternoons; and you

[figure description] Page 044.[end figure description]

may be sure school boys' nags are never permitted
to suffer the grass to grow under their feet. They
soon became so knowing, that they took to their
heels at the very sight of a school-boy; and we
were generally much longer in chasing than we were
in riding them.

`Sunday approached, on which I projected an
equestrian excursion on one of these long-eared
steeds. As I knew the jacks would be in great demand
on Sunday morning, I secured one over night,
and conducted him home, to be ready for an early
outset. But where was I to quarter him for the
night? I could not put him in the stable: our old
black groom George was as absolute in that domain
as Barbara was within doors, and would have thought
his stable, his horses, and himself disgraced, by the
introduction of a jackass. I recollected the smoke-house;
an out-building appended to all Virginian
establishments for the smoking of hams, and other
kinds of meat. So I got the key, put master Jack in,
locked the door, returned the key to its place, and
went to bed, intending to release my prisoner at an
early hour, before any of the family were awake. I
was so tired, however, by the exertions I had made
in catching the donkey, that I fell into a sound sleep,
and the morning broke without my awaking.

`Not so with dame Barbara, the house-keeper. As
usual, to use her own phrase, `she was up before the
crow put his shoes on,' and bustled about to get
things in order for breakfast. Her first resort was
to the smoke-house. Scarce had she opened the door,
when master Jack, tired of his confinement, and glad
to be released from darkness, gave a loud bray, and

[figure description] Page 045.[end figure description]

rushed forth. Down dropped old Barbara; the animal
trampled over her, and made off for the common.
Poor Barbara! She had never before seen a donkey,
and having read in the Bible that the devil went
about like a roaring lion seeking whom he might devour,
she took it for granted that this was Beelzebub
himself. The kitchen was soon in a hubbub; the
servants hurried to the spot. There lay old Barbara
in fits; as fast as she got out of one, the thoughts
of the devil came over her, and she fell into another,
for the good soul was devoutly superstitious.

`As ill luck would have it, among those attracted
by the noise, was a little cursed fidgetty, crabbed
uncle of mine; one of those uneasy spirits, that
cannot rest quietly in their beds in the morning, but
must be up early to bother the household. He was
only a kind of half-uncle, after all, for he had married
my father's sister: yet he assumed great authority
on the strength of this left-handed relationship, and
was a universal intermeddler, and family pest. This
prying little busy-body soon ferreted out the truth of
the story and discovered, by hook and by crook, that
I was at the bottom of the affair, and had locked up
the donkey in the smoke-house. He stopped to inquire
no farther, for he was one of those testy curmudgeons,
with whom unlucky boys are always in
the wrong. Leaving old Barbara to wrestle in imagination
with the devil, he made for my bed-chamber,
where I still lay wrapped in rosy slumbers, little
dreaming of the mischief I had done, and the storm
about to break over me.

`In an instant, I was awakened by a shower of
thwacks, and started up in wild amazement. I

[figure description] Page 046.[end figure description]

demanded the meaning of this attack, but received no
other reply than that I had murdered the house-keeper;
while my uncle continued whacking away
during my confusion. I seized a poker, and put
myself on the defensive. I was a stout boy for my
years, while my uncle was a little wiffet of a man;
one that in Kentucky we would not call even an
`individual;' nothing more than a `remote circumstance.
' I soon, therefore, brought him to a parley,
and learned the whole extent of the charge brought
against me. I confessed to the donkey and the
smoke-house, but pleaded not guilty of the murder
of the house-keeper. I soon found out that old
Barbara was still alive. She continued under the
doctor's hands, however, for several days; and whenever
she had an ill turn, my uncle would seek to give
me another flogging. I appealed to my father, but
got no redress. I was considered an `unlucky boy.'
prone to all kinds of mischief; so that prepossessions
were against me, in all cases of appeal.

`I felt stung to the soul at all this. I had been
beaten, degraded, and treated with slighting when I
complained. I lost my usual good spirits and good
humor; and, being out of temper with every body,
fancied every body out of temper with me. A certain
wild, roving spirit of freedom, which I believe is as
inherent in me as it is in the partridge, was brought
into sudden activity by the checks and restraints I
suffered. `I'll go from home,' thought I, `and shift
for myself.' Perhaps this notion was quickened by
the rage for emigration to Kentucky, which was at
that time prevalent in Virginia. I had heard such
stories of the romantic beauties of the country; of the

[figure description] Page 047.[end figure description]

abundance of game of all kinds, and of the glorious
independent life of the hunters who ranged its noble
forests, and lived by the rifle; that I was as much
agog to get there, as boys who live in sea-ports are
to launch themselves among the wonders and adventures
of the ocean.

`After a time, old Barbara got better in mind and
body, and matters were explained to her; and she became
gradually convinced that it was not the devil
she had encountered. When she heard how harshly
I had been treated on her account, the good old soul
was extremely grieved, and spoke warmly to my father
in my behalf. He had himself remarked the
change in my behaviour, and thought punishment
might have been carried too far. He sought, therefore,
to have some conversation with me, and to soothe my
feelings; but it was too late. I frankly told him the
course of mortification that I had experienced, and
the fixed determination I had made to go from home.'

`And where do you mean to go?'

`To Kentucky.'

`To Kentucky! Why you know nobody there.'

`No matter; I can soon make acquaintances.'

`And what will you do when you get there?'

`Hunt!'

`My father gave a long, low whistle, and looked
in my face with a serio-comic expression. I was not
far in my teens, and to talk of setting off alone for
Kentucky, to turn hunter, seemed doubtless the idle
prattle of a boy. He was little aware of the dogged
resolution of my character; and his smile of incredulity
but fixed me more obstinately in my purpose.

[figure description] Page 048.[end figure description]

I assured him I was serious in what I said, and would
certainly set off for Kentucky in the Spring.

`Month after month passed away. My father now
and then adverted slightly to what had passed between
us; doubtless for the purpose of sounding me.
I always expressed the same grave and fixed determination.
By degrees he spoke to me more directly
on the subject; endeavoring earnestly but kindly to
dissuade me. My only reply was. `I had made up
my mind.'

`Accordingly, as soon as the Spring had fairly
opened, I sought him one day in his study, and informed
him I was about to set out for Kentucky,
and had come to take my leave. He made no objection,
for he had exhausted persuasion and remonstrance,
and doubtless thought it best to give way to
my humor, trusting that a little rough experience
would soon bring me home again. I asked money
for my journey. He went to a chest, took out a long
green silk purse, well filled and laid it on the table.
I now asked for a horse and a servant.

`A horse!' said my father, sneeringly: `why, you
would not go a mile without racing him, and breaking
your neck; and as to a servant, you cannot take
care of yourself, much less of him.'

`How am I to travel, then?'

`Why I suppose you are a man enough to travel
on foot.'

`He spoke jestingly, little thinking I would take
him at his word; but I was thoroughly piqued in
respect to my enterprise; so I pocketed the purse;
went to my room, tied up three or four shirts in a
pocket-handkerchief, put a dirk in my bosom, girt a

[figure description] Page 049.[end figure description]

couple of pistols round my waist, and felt like a knighterrant
armed cap-a-pie, and ready to rove the world
in quest of adventures.

`My sister (I had but one) hung round me and
wept, and entreated me to stay. I felt my heart swell
in my throat; but I gulped it back to its place, and
straightened myself up: I would not suffer myself to
cry. I at length disengaged myself from her, and got
to the door.'

`When will you come back?' cried she.

“Never, by heavens!' cried I, `until I come back
a member of congress from Kentucky. I am determined
to show that I am not the tail-end of the
family.'

`Such was my first out-set from home. You may
suppose what a green-horn I was, and how little I
knew of the world I was launching into.

`I do not recollect any incident of importance,
until I reached the borders of Pennsylvania. I had
stopped at an inn to get some refreshment; and as I
was eating in a back room, I overheard two men in
the bar-room conjecture who and what I could be.
One determined, at length, that I was a run-away apprentice,
and ought to be stopped, to which the other
assented. When I had finished my meal, and paid
for it, I went out at the back door, lest I should be
stopped by my supervisors. Scorning, however, to
steal off like a culprit, I walked round to the front of
the house. One of the men advanced to the front
door. He wore his hat on one side, and had a consequential
air that nettled me.

`Where are you going, youngster?' demanded he.

[figure description] Page 050.[end figure description]

`That's none of your business!' replied I, rather
pertly.

`Yes but it is, though! You have run away from
home, and must give an account of yourself.'

`He advanced to seize me, when I drew forth a
pistol. `If you advance another step, I'll shoot you!'

`He sprang back as if he had trodden upon a rattlesnake,
and his hat fell off in the movement.

`Let him alone!' cried his companion: `he's a
foolish, mad-headed boy, and don't know what he's
about. He'll shoot you, you may rely on it.'

`He did not need any caution in the matter; he was
afraid even to pick up his hat: so I pushed forward
on my way, without molestation. This incident,
however, had its effect upon me. I became fearful of
sleeping in any house at night, lest I should be stopped.
I took my meals in the houses, in the course of
the day, but would turn aside at night, into some
wood or ravine, make a fire, and sleep before it.
This I considered was true hunter's style, and I
wished to inure myself to it.

`At length I arrived at Brownsville, leg-weary and
way-worn, and in a shabby plight, as you may suppose,
having been `camping out' for some nights past.
I applied at some of the inferior inns, but could gain
no admission. I was regarded for a moment with a
dubious eye, and then informed they did not receive
foot-passengers. At last I went boldly to the principal
inn. The landlord appeared as unwilling as the
rest to receive a vagrant boy beneath his roof; but
his wife interfered, in the midst of his excuses, and
half elbowing him aside:

`Where are you going, my lad?' said she.

[figure description] Page 051.[end figure description]

`To Kentucky.'

`What are you going there for?'

`To hunt.'

`She looked earnestly at me for a moment or two.
`Have you a mother living?' said she, at length.

`No, madam: she has been dead for some time.'

`I thought so!' cried she, warmly. `I knew if
you had a mother living, you would not be here.'
From that moment the good woman treated me with
a mother's kindness.'

`I remained several days beneath her roof, recovering
from the fatigue of my journey. While here, I
purchased a rifle, and practised daily at a mark, to
prepare myself for a hunter's life. When sufficiently
recruited in strength, I took leave of my kind host
and hostess, and resumed my journey.

`At Wheeling I embarked in a flat-bottomed family
boat, technically called a broad-horn, a prime river
conveyance in those days. In this ark for two weeks
I floated down the Ohio. The river was as yet in
all its wild beauty. Its loftiest trees had not been
thinned out. The forest overhung the water's edge,
and was occasionally skirted by immense cane-brakes.
Wild animals of all kinds abounded. We heard them
rushing through the thickets, and plashing in the
water. Deer and bears would frequently swim
across the river; others would come down to the
bank, and gaze at the boat as it passed. I was incessantly
on the alert with my rifle; but some how
or other, the game was never within shot. Sometimes
I got a chance to land and try my skill on
shore. I shot squirrels, and small birds, and even
wild turkeys; but though I caught glimpses of deer

[figure description] Page 052.[end figure description]

bounding away through the woods, I never could
get a fair shot at them.

`In this way we glided in our broad-horn past
Cincinnati, the `Queen of the West' as she is now
called; then a mere group of log cabins; and the
site of the bustling city of Louisville, then designated
by a solitary house. As I said before, the Ohio was
as yet a wild river; all was forest, forest, forest!
Near the confluence of Green River with the Ohio, I
landed, bade adieu to the broad-horn, and struck for
the interior of Kentucky. I had no precise plan; my
only idea was to make for one of the wildest parts of
the country. I had relatives in Lexington, and other
settled places, to whom I thought it probable my father
would write concerning me: so as I was full of
manhood and independence, and resolutely bent on
making my way in the world without assistance or
control, I resolved to keep clear of them all.

`In the course of my first day's trudge, I shot a
wild-turkey, and slung it on my back for provisions.
The forest was open and clear from underwood. I
saw deer in abundance, but always running, running.
It seemed to me as if these animals never stood still.

`At length I came to where a gang of half-starved
wolves were feasting on the carcass of a deer which
they had run down; and snarling and snapping, and
fighting like so many dogs. They were all so ravenous
and intent upon their prey, that they did not
notice me, and I had time to make my observations.
One, larger and fiercer than the rest, seemed to claim
the larger share, and to keep the others in awe. If
any one came too near him while eating, he would
fly off, seize and shake him, and then return to his

[figure description] Page 053.[end figure description]

repast. `This,' thought I, `must be the captain; if I
can kill him, I shall defeat the whole army.' I accordingly
took aim, fired, and down dropped the old
fellow. He might be only shamming dead; so I
loaded and put a second ball through him. He never
budged; all the rest ran off, and my victory was
complete.

`It would not be easy to describe my triumphant
feelings on this great achievement. I marched on
with renovated spirit; regarding myself as absolute
lord of the forest. As night drew near, I prepared
for camping. My first care was to collect dry wood
and make a roaring fire to cook and sleep by, and to
frighten off wolves, and bears, and panthers. I then
began to pluck my turkey for supper. I had camped
out several times in the early part of my expedition;
but that was in comparatively more settled and civilized
regions; where there were no wild animals of
consequence in the forest. This was my first camping
out in the real wilderness; and I was soon made
sensible of the loneliness and wildness of my situation.

`In a little while, a concert of wolves commenced:
there might have been a dozen or two, but it seemed
to me as if there were thousands. I never heard
such howling and whining. Having prepared my
turkey, I divided it into two parts, thrust two sticks
into one of the halves, and planted them on end before
the fire, the hunter's mode of roasting. The
smell of roast meat quickened the appetites of the
wolves, and their concert became truly infernal. They
seemed to be all around me, but I could only now and

[figure description] Page 054.[end figure description]

then get a glimpse of one of them, as he came within
the glare of the light.

`I did not much care for the wolves, who I knew to
be a cowardly race, but I had heard terrible stories of
panthers, and began to fear their stealthy prowlings
in the surrounding darkness. I was thirsty, and
heard a brook bubbling and tinkling along at no great
distance, but absolutely dared not go there, lest some
panther might lie in wait, and spring upon me. By
and by a deer whistled. I had never heard one
before, and thought it must be a panther. I now felt
uneasy lest he might climb the trees, crawl along the
branches over head, and plump down upon me; so I
kept my eyes fixed on the branches, until my head
ached. I more than once thought I saw fiery eyes
glaring down from among the leaves. At length I
thought of my supper, and turned to see if my halfturkey
was cooked. In crowding so near the fire, I
had pressed the meat into the flames, and it was consumed.
I had nothing to do but toast the other half,
and take better care of it. On that half I made my
supper, without salt or bread. I was still so possessed
with the dread of panthers, that I could not close my
eyes all night, but lay watching the trees until daybreak,
when all my fears were dispelled with the
darkness; and as I saw the morning sun sparkling
down through the branches of the trees, I smiled to
think how I had suffered myself to be dismayed by
sounds and shadows: but I was a young woodsman,
and a stranger in Kentucky.

`Having breakfasted on the remainder of my turkey,
and slaked my thirst at the bubbling stream, without
farther dread of panthers, I resumed my wayfaring

[figure description] Page 055.[end figure description]

with buoyant feelings. I again saw a deer, but as
usual running, running! I tried in vain to get a shot
at them, and began to fear I never should. I was gazing
with vexation after a herd in full scamper, when
I was startled by a human voice. Turning round, I
saw a man at a short distance from me, in a hunting-dress.

`What are you after, my lad?' cried he.

`Those deer;' replied I, pettishly; `but it seems as
if they never stand still.'

`Upon that he burst out laughing. `Where are
you from?' said he.

`From Richmond.'

`What! In old Virginny?'

`The same.'

`And how on earth did you get here?'

`I landed at Green River from a broad-horn.'

`And where are your companions?'

`I have none.'

`What?—all alone?'

`Yes.'

`Where are you going?'

`Any where.'

`And what have you come here for?'

`To hunt.'

`Well,' said he, laughingly, `you'll make a real
hunter; there's no mistaking that!'

`Have you killed any thing?'

`Nothing but a turkey; I can't get within shot of
a deer: they are always running.'

`Oh, I'll tell you the secret of that. You're always
pushing forward and starting the deer at a distance,
and gazing at those that are scampering; but you

[figure description] Page 056.[end figure description]

must step as slow, and silent, and cautious as a cat,
and keep your eyes close around you, and lurk from
tree to tree, if you wish to get a chance at deer. But
come, go home with me. My name is Bill Smithers;
I live not far off: stay with me a little while, and
I'll teach you how to hunt.'

`I gladly accepted the invitation of honest Bill
Smithers. We soon reached his habitation; a mere
log hut, with as quare hole for a window, and a chimney
made of sticks and clay. Here he lived, with a
wife and child. He had `girdled' the trees for an
acre or two around, preparatory to clearing a space
for corn and potatoes. In the mean time he maintained
his family entirely by his rifle, and I soon found
him to be a first-rate huntsman. Under his tutelage
received my first effective lessons in `woodcraft.'

`The more I knew of a hunter's life, the more I relished
it. The country, too which had been the promised
land of my boyhood, did not, like most promised
lands, disappoint me. No wilderness could be more
beautiful than this part of Kentucky in those times.
The forests were open and spacious, with noble trees,
some of which looked as if they had stood for centuries.
There were beautiful prairies, too, diversified
with groves and clumps of trees, which looked like
vast parks, and in which you could see the deer running,
at a great distance. In the proper season, these
prairies would be covered in many places with wild
strawberries, where your horses' hoofs would be dyed
to the fet-lock. I thought there could not be another
place in the world equal to Kentucky—and I think
so still.

`After I had passed ten or twelve days with Bill

[figure description] Page 057.[end figure description]

Smithers, I thought it time to shift my quarters, for
his house was scarce large enough for his own family,
and I had no idea of being an incumbrance to any one.
I accordingly made up my bundle, shouldered my
rifle, took a friendly leave of Smithers and his wife,
and set out in quest of a Nimrod of the wilderness,
one John Miller, who lived alone, nearly forty miles
off, and who I hoped would be well pleased to have
a hunting companion.

`I soon found out that one of the most important
items in woodcraft, in a new country, was the skill
to find one's way in the wilderness. There were no
regular roads in the forests, but they were cut up
and perplexed by paths leading in all directions.
Some of these were made by the cattle of the settlers,
and were called `stock-tracks,' but others had been
made by the immense droves of buffaloes which
roamed about the country, from the flood until recent
times. These were called buffalo-tracks, and traversed
Kentucky from end to end, like high-ways. Traces
of them may still be seen in uncultivated parts, or
deeply worn in the rocks where they crossed the
mountains. I was a young woodman, and sorely
puzzled to distinguish one kind of track from the other,
or to make out my course through this tangled labyrinth.

While thus perplexed, I heard a distant roaring and
rushing sound; a gloom stole over the forest; on
looking up, when I could catch a stray glimpse of the
sky, I beheld the clouds rolled up like balls, the lower
parts as black as ink. There was now and then an
explosion, like a burst of cannonry afar off, and the
crash of a falling tree. I had heard of hurricanes in

[figure description] Page 058.[end figure description]

the woods, and surmised that one was at hand. It
soon came crashing its way; the forest writhing, and
twisting, and groaning before it. The hurricane did
not extend far on either side, but in a manner ploughed
a furrow through the woodland; snapping off or uprooting
trees that had stood for centuries, and filling
the air with whirling branches. I was directly in its
course, and took my stand behind an immense poplar,
six feet in diameter. It bore for a time the full fury
of the blast, but at length began to yield. Seeing it
falling, I scrambled nimbly, round the trunk like a
squirrel. Down it went, bearing down another tree
with it. I crept under the trunk as a shelter, and
was protected from other trees which fell around me,
but was sore all over, from the twigs and branches
driven against me by the blast.

`This was the only incident of consequence that
occurred on my way to John Miller's, where I arrived
on the following day, and was received by the veteran
with the rough kindness of a backwoodsman. He
was a gray-haired man, hardy and weather-beaten,
with a blue wart, like a great bead, over one eye,
whence he was nicknamed by the hunters, `Bluebead
Miller.' He had been in these parts from the
earliest settlements, and had signalized himself in the
hard conflicts with the Indians, which gained Kentucky
the appellation of `the Bloody Ground.' In
one of these fights he had had an arm broken; in
another he had narrowly escaped, when hotly pursued,
by jumping from a precipice thirty feet high into a
river.

`Miller willingly received me into his house as an
inmate, and seemed pleased with the idea of making a

[figure description] Page 059.[end figure description]

hunter of me. His dwelling was a small log-house,
with a loft or garret of boards, so that there was ample
room for both of us. Under his instruction, I soon
made a tolerable proficiency in hunting. My first
exploit, of any consequence, was killing a bear. I
was hunting in company with two brothers, when we
came upon the track of Bruin, in a wood, where there
was an undergrowth of canes and grape-vines. He
was scrambling up a tree, when I shot him through
the breast: he fell to the ground, and lay motionless.
The brothers sent in their dog, who seized the bear
by the throat. Bruin raised one arm, and gave the
dog a hug that crushed his ribs. One yell, and all
was over. I don't know which was first dead, the
dog or the bear. The two brothers sat down and
cried like children over their unfortunate dog. Yet
they were mere rough huntsmen, almost as wild and
untameable as Indians: but they were fine fellows.

`By degrees I became known, and somewhat of a
favorite among the hunters of the neighborhood; that
is to say, men who lived within a cirle of thirty or
forty miles, and came occasionally to see John Miller,
who was a patriarch among them. They lived
widely apart, in log-huts and wigwams, almost with
the simplicity of Indians, and well nigh as destitute
of the comforts and inventions of civilized life. They
seldom saw each other; weeks, and even months
would elapse, without their visiting. When they
did meet, it was very much after the manner of Indians;
loitering about all day, without having much
to say, but becoming communicative as evening advanced,
and sitting up half the night before the fire
telling hunting stories, and terrible tales of the fights
of the Bloody Ground.

[figure description] Page 060.[end figure description]

`Sometimes several would join in a distant hunting
expedition, or rather campaign. Expeditions of this
kind lasted from November until April; during which
we laid up our stock of summer provisions. We
shifted our hunting-camps from place to place, according
as we found the game. They were generally
pitched near a run of water, and close by a cane-brake,
to screen us from the wind. One side of our
lodge was open toward the fire. Our horses were
hoppled and turned loose in the cane-brakes, with bells
round their necks. One of the party staid at home
to watch the camp, prepare the meals, and keep off
the wolves; the others hunted. When a hunter
killed a deer at a distance from the camp, he would
open it and take out the entrails; then climbing a
sapling, he would bend it down, tie the deer to the
top, and let it spring up again, so as to suspend the
carcass out of reach of the wolves. At night he
would return to the camp, and give an account of
his luck. The next morning early he would get a
horse out of the cane-brake and bring home his game.
That day he would stay at home to cut up the carcass
while the others hunted.

`Our days were thus spent in silent and lonely occupations.
It was only at night that we would
gather together before the fire, and be sociable. I was
a novice, and used to listen with open eyes and ears
to the strange and wild stories told by the old hunters,
and believed every thing I heard. Some of their stories
bordered upon the surpernatural. They believed
that their rifles might be spell-bound, so as not to be
able to kill a buffalo, even at arm's length. This
superstition they had derived from the Indians, who

[figure description] Page 061.[end figure description]

often thnik the white hunters have laid a spell upon
their rifles. Miller partook of this superstition, and
used to tell of his rifle's having a spell upon it; but it
often seemed to me to be a shuffling way of accounting
for a bad shot. If a hunter grossly missed his
aim, he would ask, `Who shot last with this rifle?'—
and hint that he must have charmed it. The sure
mode to disenchant the gun, was to shoot a silver
bullet out of it.

`By the opening of Spring we would generally
have quantities of bear's-meat and venison salted,
dried, and smoked, and numerous packs of skins.
We would then make the best of our way home from
our distant-hunting grounds; transporting our spoils,
sometimes in canoes along the rivers, sometimes on
horse-back over land, and our return would often be
celebrated by feasting and dancing, in true backwoods
style. I have given you some idea of our hunting;
let me now give you a sketch of our frolicking.

`It was on our return from a winter's hunting in
the neighborhood of Green River, when we received
notice that there was to be a grand frolic at Bob
Mosely's, to greet the hunters. This Bob Mosely
was a prime fellow throughout the country. He was
an indifferent hunter, it is true, and rather lazy, to
boot; but then he could play the fiddle, and that was
enough to make him of consequence. There was no
other man within a hundred miles that could play
the fiddle, so there was no having a regular frolic
without Bob Mosely. The hunters, therefore, were
always ready to give him a share of their game in
exchange for his music, and Bob was always ready
to get up a carousal, whenever their was a party

[figure description] Page 062.[end figure description]

returning from a hunting expedition. The present
frolic was to take place at Bob Mosely's own house,
which was on the Pigeon Roost Fork of the Muddy,
which is a branch of Rough Creek, which is a branch
of Green River.

`Every body was agog for the revel at Bob Mosely's;
and as all the fashion of the neighborhood was
to be there, I thought I must brush up for the occasion.
My leathern hunting-dress, which was the
only one I had, was somewhat the worse for wear, it
is true, and considerably japanned with blood and
grease; but I was up to hunting expedients. Getting
into a periogue, I paddled off to a part of the Green
River where there was sand and clay, that might
serve for soap; then taking off my dress, I scrubbed
and scoured it, until I thought it looked very well. I
then put it on the end of a stick, and hung it out of
the periogue to dry, while I stretched myself very
comfortably on the green bank of the river. Unluckily
a flaw struck the periogue, and tipped over the
stick: down went my dress to the bottom of the
river, and I never saw it more. Here was I, left almost
in a state of nature. I managed to make a kind
of Robinson Crusoe garb of undressed skins, with
the hair on, which enabled me to get home with decency;
but my dream of gayety and fashion was at
an end; for how could I think of figuring in high
life at the Pigeon Roost, equipped like a mere Orson?

`Old Miller, who really began to take some pride
in me, was confounded when he understood that I did
not intend to go to Bob Mosely's; but when I told
him my misfortune, and that I had no dress: `By the

[figure description] Page 063.[end figure description]

powers,' cried he, `but you shall go, and you shall be
the best dressed and the best mounted lad there!'

`He immediately set to work to cut out and make
up a hunting-shirt, of dressed deer-skin, gaily fringed
at the shoulders, with leggins of the same, fringed
from hip to heel. He then made me a rakish raccoon-cap,
with a flaunting tail to it; mounted me on his
best horse; and I may say, without vanity, that I was
one of the smartest fellows that figured on that occasion,
at the Pigeon-Roost Fork of the Muddy.

`It was no small occasion, either, let me tell you.
Bob Mosely's house was a tolerable large bark shanty,
with a clap-board roof; and there were assembled all
the young hunters and pretty girls of the country, for
many a mile round. The young men were in their
best hunting-dresses, but not one could compare with
mine; and my raccoon-cap, with its flowing tail, was
the admiration of every body. The girls were mostly
in doe-skin dresses; for there was no spinning and
weaving as yet in the woods; nor any need of it. I
never saw girls that seemed to me better dressed;
and I was somewhat of a judge, having seen fashions
at Richmond. We had a hearty dinner, and a merry
one; for there was Jemmy Kiel, famous for raccoon
hunting, and Bob Tarleton, and Wesley Pigman, and
Joe Taylor, and several other prime fellows for a
frolic, that made all ring again, and laughed, that you
might have heard them a mile.

`After dinner, we began dancing, and were hard at
it, when, about three o'clock in the afternoon, there
was a new arrival — the two daughters of old Simon
Schultz; the two young ladies that affected fashion
and late hours. Their arrival had nearly put an end

[figure description] Page 064.[end figure description]

to all our merriment. I must go a little round about
in my story, to explain to you how that happened.

`As old Schultz, the father, was one day looking
in the cane-brakes for his cattle, he came upon the
track of horses. He knew they were none of his,
and that none of his neighbors had horses about that
place. They must be stray horses; or must belong
to some traveller who had lost his way, as the track
led no where. He accordingly followed it up, until
he came to an unlucky pedlar, with two or three packhorses,
who had been bewildered among the cattletracks,
and had wandered for two or three days
among woods and cane-brakes, until he was almost
famished.

`Old Schultz brought him to his house; fed him
on venison, bear's meat, and hominy, and at the end of
a week put him in prime condition. The pedlar could
not sufficiently express his thankfulness; and when
about to depart, inquired what he had to pay? Old
Schultz stepped back with surprise. `Stranger,' said
he, `you have been welcome under my roof. I've
given you nothing but wild meat and hominy, because
I had no better, but have been glad of your
company. You are welcome to stay as long as you
please. But by Zounds! if any one offers to pay
Simon Schultz for food, he affronts him!' So saying,
he walked out in a huff.

`The pedlar admired the hospitality of his host, but
could not reconcile it to his conscience to go away
without making some recompense. There were honest
Simon's two daughters, two strapping, red-haired
girls. He opened his packs and displayed riches before
them of which they had no conception; for in

[figure description] Page 065.[end figure description]

those days there were no country stores in those
parts, with their artificial finery and trinketry; and
this was the first pedlar that had wandered into that
part of the wilderness. The girls were for a time
completely dazzled, and knew not what to choose;
but what caught their eyes most, were two looking-glasses,
about the size of a dollar, set in gilt tin.
They had never seen the like before, having used no
other mirror than a pail of water. The pedlar presented
them these jewels, without the least hesitation:
nay, he gallantly hung them round their necks by
red ribbands, almost as fine as the glasses themselves.
This done, he took his departure, leaving them as
much astonished as two princesses in a fairy tale,
that had received a magic gift from an enchanter.

`It was with these looking-glasses, hung round
their necks as lockets, by red ribbands, that old
Schultz's daughters made their appearance at three
o'clock in the afternoon, at the frolic at Bob Mosely's,
on the Pigeon-Roost Fork of the Muddy.

`By the powers, but it was an event! Such a
thing had never before been seen in Kentucky. Bob
Tarleton, a strapping fellow, with a head like a chestnut-burr,
and a look like a boar in an apple orchard,
stepped up, caught hold of the looking-glass of one of
the girls, and gazing at it for a moment, cried out:

`Joe Taylor, come here! come here! I'll be
darn'd if Patty Schultz aint got a locket that you can
see your face in, as clear as in a spring of water!'

`In a twinkling all the young hunters gathered
round old Schultz's daughters. I, who knew what
looking-glasses were, did not budge. Some of the
girls who sat near me were excessively mortified at

[figure description] Page 066.[end figure description]

finding themselves thus deserted. I heard Peggy
Pugh say to Sally Pigman, `Goodness knows, it's
well Schultz's daughters is got them things round
their necks, for it's the first time the young men
crowded round them!'

`I saw immediately the danger of the case. We
were a small community, and could not afford to be
split up by feuds. So I stepped up to the girls, and
whispered to them: `Polly,' said I, `those lockets are
powerful fine, and become you amazingly; but you
don't consider that the country is not advanced
enough in these parts for such things. You and I
understand these matters, but these people don't.
Fine things like these may do very well in the old
settlements, but they wont answer at the Pigeon-Roost
Fork of the Muddy. You had better lay them
aside for the present, or we shall have no peace.'

`Polly and her sister luckily saw their error; they
took off the lockets, laid them aside, and harmony
was restored: otherwise, I verily believe there would
have been an end of our community. Indeed, notwithstanding
the great sacrifice they made on this
occasion, I do not think old Schultz's daughters were
ever much liked afterward among the young women.

`This was the first time that looking-glasses were
ever seen in the Green River part of Kentucky.

`I had now lived some time with old Miller, and
had become a tolerably expert hunter. Game, however,
began to grow scarce. The buffalo had gathered
together, as if by universal understanding, and
had crossed the Mississippi, never to return. Strangers
kept pouring into the country, clearing away the
forests, and building in all directions. The hunters

[figure description] Page 067.[end figure description]

began to grow restive. Jemmy Kiel, the same of
whom I have already spoken for his skill in raccoon
catching, came to me one day: `I can't stand this
any longer,' said he; `we're getting too thick here.
Simon Schultz crowds me so, that I have no comfort
of my life.'

`Why how you talk!' said I; `Simon Schultz
lives twelve miles off.'

`No matter; his cattle run with mine, and I've
no idea of living where another man's cattle can run
with mine. That's too close neighborhood; I want
elbow-room. This country, too, is growing too poor
to live in; there's no game: so two or three of us
have made up our minds to follow the buffalo to the
Missouri, and we should like to have you of the party.
Other hunters of my acquaintance talked in the
same manner. This set me thinking; but the more
I thought, the more I was perplexed. I had no one
to advise with: old Miller and his associates knew
but of one mode of life, and I had had no experience
in any other: but I had a wide scope of thought.
When out hunting alone, I used to forget the sport,
and sit for hours together on the trunk of a tree, with
rifle in hand, buried in thought, and debating with
myself: `Shall I go with Jemmy Kiel and his company,
or shall I remain here? If I remain here,
there will soon be nothing left to hunt; but am I to
be a hunter all my life? Have not I something more
in me, than to be carrying a rifle on my shoulder,
day after day, and dodging about after bears, and
deer, and other brute beasts? My vanity told me I
had; and I called to mind my boyish boast to my
sister, that I would never return home, until I

[figure description] Page 068.[end figure description]

returned a member of congress from Kentucky; but was
this the way to fit myself for such a station?

`Various plans passed through my mind, but they
were abandoned almost as soon as formed. At
length I determined on becoming a lawyer. True it
is, I knew almost nothing. I had left school before
I had learnt beyond the `rule of three.' `Never
mind,' said I to myself, resolutely; `I am a terrible
fellow for hanging on to any thing, when I've once
made up my mind; and if a man has but ordinary
capacity, and will set to work with heart and soul,
and stick to it, he can do almost any thing.' With
this maxim, which has been pretty much my mainstay
throughout life, I fortified myself in my determination
to attempt the law. But how was I to set
about it? I must quit this forest life, and go to one
or other of the towns, where I might be able to study,
and to attend the courts. This too required funds.
I examined into the state of my finances. The purse
given me by my father had remained untouched, in
the bottom of an old chest up in the loft, for money
was scarcely needed in these parts. I had bargained
away the skins acquired in hunting, for a horse and
various other matters, on which, in case of need, I
could raise funds. I therefore thought I could make
shift to maintain myself until I was fitted for the
bar.

`I informed my worthy host and patron, old Miller,
of my plan. He shook his head at my turning
my back upon the woods, when I was in a fair way
of making a first-rate hunter; but he made no effort
to dissuade me. I accordingly set off in September,
on horseback, intending to visit Lexington, Frankfort,

[figure description] Page 069.[end figure description]

and other of the principal towns, in search of a favorable
place to prosecute my studies. My choice
was made sooner than I expected. I had put up one
night at Bardstown, and found, on inquiry, that I
could get comfortable board and accommodation in a
private family for a dollar and half a week. I liked
the place, and resolved to look no farther. So the
next morning I prepared to turn my face homeward,
and take my final leave of forest life.

`I had taken my breakfast, and was waiting for
my horse, when, in pacing up and down the piazza,
I saw a young girl seated near a window, evidently a
visiter. She was very pretty; with auburn hair, and
blue eyes, and was dressed in white. I had seen
nothing of the kind since I had left Richmond; and
at that time I was too much of a boy to be much
struck by female charms. She was so delicate and
dainty-looking, so different from the hale, buxom,
brown girls of the woods; and then her white dress!
it was perfectly dazzling! Never was poor youth
more taken by surprise, and suddenly bewitched. My
heart yearned to know her; but how was I to accost
her? I had grown wild in the woods, and had none
of the habitudes of polite life. Had she been like
Peggy Pugh, or Sally Pigman, or any other of my
leathern-dressed belles of the Pigeon-Roost, I should
have approached her without dread; nay, had she
been as fair as Schultz's daughters, with their looking-glass
lockets, I should not have hesitated: but
that white dress, and those auburn ringlets, and blue
eyes, and delicate looks, quite daunted, while they
fascinated me. I don't know what put it into my
head, but I thought, all at once, that I would kiss her!

[figure description] Page 070.[end figure description]

It would take a long acquaintance to arrive at such a
boon, but I might seize upon it by sheer robbery.
Nobody knew me here. I would just step in, snatch
a kiss, mount my horse, and ride off. She would
not be the worse for it; and that kiss—oh! I should
die if I did not get it!

`I gave no time for the thought to cool, but entered
the house, and stepped lightly into the room. She
was seated with her back to the door, looking out at
the window, and did not hear my approach. I tapped
her chair, and as she turned and looked up, I snatched
as sweet a kiss as ever was stolen, and vanished in
a twinkling. The next moment I was on horseback,
galloping homeward; my very ears tingling at what
I had done.

`On my return home, I sold my horse, and turned
every thing to cash; and found, with the remains of
the paternal purse, that I had nearly four hundred
dollars; a little capital, which I resolved to manage
with the strictest economy.

`It was hard parting with old Miller, who had
been like a father to me: it cost me, too, something
of a struggle to give up the free, independent wildwood
life I had hitherto led; but I had marked out
my course, and have never been one to flinch or turn
back.

`I footed it sturdily to Bardstown; took possession
of the quarters for which I had bargained, shut myself
up, and set to work with might and main, to
study. But what a task I had before me! I had
every thing to learn; not merely law, but all the
elementary branches of knowledge. I read and read,
for sixteen hours out of the four-and-twenty; but the

[figure description] Page 071.[end figure description]

more I read, the more I became aware of my own
ignorance, and shed bitter tears over my deficiency.
It seemed as if the wilderness of knowledge expanded
and grew more perplexed as I advanced. Every
height gained, only revealed a wider region to be
traversed, and nearly filled me with despair. I grew
moody, silent, and unsocial, but studied on doggedly
and incessantly. The only person with whom I
held any conversation, was the worthy man in whose
house I was quartered. He was honest and wellmeaning,
but perfectly ignorant, and I believe would
have liked me much better, if I had not been so
much addicted to reading. He considered all books
filled with lies and impositions, and seldom could
look into one, without finding something to rouse his
spleen. Nothing put him into a greater passion, than
the assertion that the world turned on its own axis
every four-and-twenty hours. He swore it was an
outrage upon common sense. `Why, if it did,' said
he, `there would not be a drop of water in the well,
by morning, and all the milk and cream in the dairy
would be turned topsy turvy! And then to talk of
the earth going round the sun! `How do they know
it?' I've seen the sun rise every morning, and set
every evening, for more than thirty years. They
must not talk to me about the earth's going round
the sun!'

`At another time he was in a perfect fret at being
told the distance between the sun and moon. `How
can any one tell the distance?' cried he. `Who surveyed
it? who carried the chain? By Jupiter! they
only talk this way before me to annoy me. But then
there's some people of sense who give in to this

[figure description] Page 072.[end figure description]

cursed humbug! There's Judge Broadnax, now,
one of the best lawyers we have; is n't it surprising
he should believe in such stuff? Why, Sir, the other
day I heard him talk of the distance from a star he
called Mars to the sun! He must have got it out of
one or other of those confounded books he's so fond
of reading; a book some impudent fellow has written,
who knew nobody could swear the distance was
more or less.'

`For my own part, feeling my own deficiency in
scientific lore, I never ventured to unsettle his conviction
that the sun made his daily circuit round the
earth; and for aught I said to the contrary, he lived
and died in that belief.

`I had been about a year at Bardstown, living thus
studiously and reclusely, when, as I was one day
walking the street, I met two young girls, in one of
whom I immediately recalled the little beauty whom
I had kissed so impudently. She blushed up to the
eyes, and so did I; but we both passed on without
farther sign of recognition. This second glimpse of
her, however, caused an odd fluttering about my
heart. I could not get her out of my thoughts for
days. She quite interfered with my studies. I tried
to think of her as a mere child, but it would not do:
she had improved in beauty, and was tending toward
womanhood; and then I myself was but little better
than a stripling. However, I did not attempt to seek
after her, or even to find out who she was, but returned
doggedly to my books. By degrees she faded
from my thoughts, or if she did cross them occasionally,
it was only to increase my despondency; for I
feared that with all my exertions, I should never be

[figure description] Page 073.[end figure description]

able to fit myself for the bar, or enable myself to support
a wife.

`One cold stormy evening I was seated, in dumpish
mood, in the bar-room of the inn, looking into
the fire, and turning over uncomfortable thoughts,
when I was accosted by some one who had entered
the room without my perceiving it. I looked up, and
saw before me a tall, and, as I thought, pompous-looking
man, arrayed in small clothes and kneebuckles,
with powdered head, and shoes nicely blacked
and polished; a style of dress unparalleled in those
days, in that rough country. I took a pique against
him from the very portliness of his appearance, and
stateliness of his manner, and bristled up as he accosted
me. He demanded if my name was not Ringwood.

`I was startled, for I supposed myself perfectly
incog.; but I answered in the affirmitive.

`Your family, I believe, lives in Richmond.'

`My gorge began to rise. `Yes, Sir,' replied I,
sulkily, `my family does live in Richmond.'

`And what, may I ask, has brought you into this
part of the country?'

`Zounds, Sir!' cried I, starting on my feet, `what
business is it of yours? How dare you to question
me in this manner?'

`The entrance of some persons prevented a reply;
but I walked up and down the bar-room, fuming with
conscious independence and insulted dignity, while
the pompous-looking personage, who had thus trespassed
upon my spleen, retired without proffering
another word.

`The next day, while seated in my room, some one

[figure description] Page 074.[end figure description]

tapped at the door, and, on being bid to enter, the
stranger in the powdered head, small-clothes, and
shining shoes and buckles, walked in with ceremonious
courtesy.

`My boyish pride was again in arms; but he subdued
me. He was formal, but kind and friendly. He
knew my family, and understood my situation, and
the dogged struggle I was making. A little conversation,
when my jealous pride was once put to rest,
drew every thing from me. He was a lawyer of experience,
and of extensive practice, and offered at
once to take me with him, and direct my studies.
The offer was too advantageous and gratifying not to
be immediately accepted. From that time I began to
look up. I was put into a proper track, and was enabled
to study to a proper purpose. I made acquaintance,
too, with some of the young men of the place,
who were in the same pursuit, and was encouraged
at finding that I could `hold my own' in argument
with them. We instituted a debating club, in which
I soon became prominent and popular. Men of talents,
engaged in other pursuits, joined it, and this diversified
our subjects, and put me on various tracks
of inquiry. Ladies, too, attended some of our discussions,
and this gave them a polite tone, and had
an influence on the manners of the debaters. My
legal patron also may have had a favorable effect in
correcting any roughness contracted in my hunter's
life. He was calculated to bend me in an opposite direction,
for he was of the old school; quoted Chesterfield
on all occasions, and talked of Sir Charles
Grandison, who was his beau ideal. It was Sir Charles
Grandison, however, Kentuckyized.

[figure description] Page 075.[end figure description]

`I had always been fond of female society. My
experience, however, had hitherto been among the
rough daughters of the backwoodsmen; and I felt
an awe of young ladies in `store clothes,' and delicately
brought up. Two or three of the married ladies
of Bardstown, who had heard me at the debating
club, determined that I was a genius, and undertook
to bring me out. I believe I really improved
under their hands; became quiet where I had been
shy or sulky, and easy where I had been impudent.

`I called to take tea one evening with one of these
ladies, when to my surprise, and somewhat to my confusion,
I found with her the identical blue-eyed little
beauty whom I had so audaciously kissed. I was
formally introduced to her, but neither of us betrayed
any sign of previous acquaintance, except by blushing
to the eyes. While tea was getting ready, the
lady of the house went out of the room to give some
directions, and left us alone.

`Heavens and earth, what a situation! I would
have given all the pittance I was worth, to have been
in the deepest dell of the forest. I felt the necessity
of saying something in excuse of my former rudeness,
but I could not conjure up an idea, nor utter a
word. Every moment matters were growing worse.
I felt at one time tempted to do as I had done when
I robbed her of the kiss: bolt from the room, and take
to flight; but I was chained to the spot, for I really
longed to gain her good will.

`At length I plucked up courage, on seeing that
she was equally confused with myself, and walking
desperately up to her, I exclaimed:

`I have been trying to muster up something to say

[figure description] Page 076.[end figure description]

to you, but I cannot. I feel that I am in a horrible
scrape. Do have pity on me, and help me out of it!'

`A smile dimpled about her mouth, and played
among the blushes of her cheek. She looked up with
a shy but arch glance of the eye, that expressed a
volume of comic recollection; we both broke into a
laugh, and from that moment all went on well.

`A few evenings afterward, I met her at a dance,
and prosecuted the acquaintance. I soon became
deeply attached to her; paid my court regularly;
and before I was nineteen years of age, had engaged
myself to marry her. I spoke to her mother, a widow
lady, to ask her consent. She seemed to demur;
upon which, with my customary haste, I told her there
would be no use in opposing the match, for if her
daughter chose to have me, I would take her, in defiance
of her family, and the whole world.

`She laughted, and told me I need not give myself
any uneasiness; would be no unreasonable opposition.
She knew my family and all about me. The
only obstacle was, that I had no means of supporting
a wife, and she had nothing to give with her
daughter.

`No matter; at that moment every thing was
bright before me. I was in one of my sanguine
moods. I feared nothing, doubted nothing. So it
was agreed that I should prosecute my studies, obtain
a license, and as soon as I should be fairly launched
in business, we would be married.

`I now prosecuted my studies with redoubled ardor,
and was up to my ears in law when I received
a letter from my father, who had heard of me and
my whereabouts. He applauded the course I had

[figure description] Page 077.[end figure description]

taken, but advised me to lay a foundation of general
knowledge, and offered to defray my expenses, if I
would go to college. I felt the want of a general
education, and was staggered with this offer. It
militated somewhat against the self-dependant course
I had so proudly, or rather conceitedly, marked out
for myself, but it would enable me to enter more advantageously
upon my legal career. I talked over
the matter with the lovely girl to whom I was engaged.
She sided in opinion with my father, and
talked so disinterestedly, yet tenderly, that if possible,
I loved her more than ever. I reluctantly, therefore,
agreed to go to college for a couple of years, though
it must necessarily postpone our union.

`Scarcely had I formed this resolution, when her
mother was taken ill, and died, leaving her without
a protector. This again altered all my plans. I
felt as if I could protect her. I gave up all idea of
collegiate studies; persuaded myself that by dint of
industry and application I might overcome the deficiences
of education, and resolved to take out a
license as soon as possible.

`That very autumn I was admitted to the bar, and
within a month afterward, was married. We were
a young couple; she not much above sixteen, I not
quite twenty; and both almost without a dollar in
the world. The establishment which we set up
was suited to our circumstances: a log-house, with
two small rooms; a bed, a table, a half dozen chairs,
a half dozen knives and forks, a half dozen spoons;
every thing by half dozens; a little delft ware;
every thing in a small way: we were so poor, but
then so happy!

[figure description] Page 078.[end figure description]

`We had not been married many days, when court
was held at a county town, about twenty-five miles
distant. It was necessary for me to go there, and
put myself in the way of business: but how was I
to go? I had expended all my means on our establishment;
and then, it was hard parting with my
wife, so soon after marriage. However, go I must.
Money must be made, or we should soon have the
wolf at the door. I accordingly borrowed a horse,
and borrowed a little cash, and rode off from my door,
leaving my wife standing at it, and waving her hand
after me. Her last look so sweet and beaming, went
to my heart. I felt as if I could go through fire and
water for her.

`I arrived at the county town, on a cool October
evening. The inn was crowded, for the court was
to commence on the following day. I knew no one,
and wondered how I, a stranger, and a mere youngster,
was to make my way in such a crowd, and to
get business. The public room was thronged with
the idlers of the country, who gather together on such
occasions. There was some drinking going forward,
with much noise, and a little altercation. Just as I
entered the room, I saw a rough bully of a fellow,
who was partly intoxicated, strike an old man. He
came swaggering by me, and elbowed me as he
passed. I immediately knocked him down, and
kicked him into the street. I needed no better introduction.
In a moment I had a dozen rough shakes
of the hand, and invitations to drink, and found myself
quite a personage in this rough assembly.

`The next morning the court opened. I took my
seat among the lawyers, but felt as a mere spectator,

[figure description] Page 079.[end figure description]

not having a suit in progress or prospect, nor having
any idea where business was to come from. In the
course of the morning, a man was put at the bar,
charged with passing counterfeit money, and was
asked if he was ready for trial. He answered in the
negative. He had been confined in a place where
there were no lawyers, and had not had an opportunity
of consulting any. He was told to choose counsel
from the lawyers present, and to be ready for trial
on the following day. He looked round the court,
and selected me. I was thunder-struck. I could
not tell why he should make such a choice. I, a
beardless youngster; unpractised at the bar; perfectly
unknown. I felt diffident yet delighted, and
could have hugged the rascal.

`Before leaving the court, he gave me one hundred
dollars in a bag, as a retaining fee. I could scarcely
believe my senses; it seemed like a dream. The
heaviness of the fee spoke but lightly in favor of his
innocence, but that was no affair of mine. I was to
be advocate, not judge, nor jury. I followed him to
jail, and learned from him all the particulars of his
case: from thence I went to the clerk's office, and
took minutes of the indictment. I then examined
the law on the subject, and prepared my brief in my
room. All this occupied me until midnight, when I
went to bed, and tried to sleep. It was all in vain.
Never in my life was I more wide awake. A host of
thoughts and fancies kept rushing through my mind:
the shower of gold that had so unexpectedly fallen
into my lap; the idea of my poor little wife at home,
that I was to astonish with my good fortune! But
then the awful responsibility I had undertaken!—to

[figure description] Page 080.[end figure description]

speak for the first time in a strange court; the expectations
the culprit had evidently formed of my
talents; all these, and a crowd of similar notions,
kept whirling through my mind. I tossed about all
night, fearing the morning would find me exhausted
and incompetent; in a word, the day dawned on me,
a miserable fellow!

`I got up feverish and nervous. I walked out
before breakfast, striving to collect my thoughts, and
tranquillize my feelings. It was a bright morning;
the air was pure and frosty. I bathed my forehead
and my hands in a beautiful running stream; but I
could not allay the fever heat that raged within. I
returned to breakfast, could not eat. A single cup of
coffee formed my repast. It was time to go to court,
and I went there with a throbbing heart. I believe
if it had not been for the thoughts of my little wife,
in her lonely log-house, I should have given back to
the man his hundred dollars, and relinquished the
cause. I took my seat, looking, I am convinced, more
like a culprit than the rogue I was to defend.

When the time came for me to speak, my heart
died within me. I rose embarrassed and dismayed,
and stammered in opening my cause. I went on
from bad to worse, and felt as if I was going down
hill. Just then the public prosecutor, a man of
talents, but somewhat rough in his practice, made a
sarcastic remark on something I had said. It was
like an electric spark, and ran tingling through every
vein in my body. In an instant my diffidence was
gone. My whole spirit was in arms. I answered
with promptness and bitterness, for I felt the cruelty
of such an attack upon a novice in my situation.

[figure description] Page 081.[end figure description]

The public prosecutor made a kind of apology: this,
from a man of his redoubted powers, was a vast concession.
I renewed my argument with a fearless
glow; carried the case through triumphantly, and the
man was acquitted.

`This was the making of me. Every body was
curious to know who this new lawyer was, that had
thus suddenly risen among them, and bearded the
attorney-general at the very outset. The story of
my début at the inn, on the preceding evening, when
I had knocked down a bully, and kicked him out of
doors for striking an old man, was circulated, with
favorable exaggerations. Even my very beardless
chin and juvenile countenance were in my favor, for
people gave me far more credit than I really deserved.
The chance business which occurs in our
country courts came thronging upon me. I was repeatedly
employed in other causes; and by Saturday
night, when the court closed, and I had paid my bill
at the inn, I found myself with an hundred and
fifty dollars in silver, three hundred dollars in notes,
and a horse that I afterward sold for two hundred
dollars more.

`Never did miser gloat on his money with more
delight. I locked the door of my room; piled the
money in a heap upon the table; walked round it;
sat with my elbows on the table, and my chin upon
my hands, and gazed upon it. Was I thinking of
the money? No! I was thinking of my little wife
at home. Another sleepless night ensued; but what
a night of golden fancies, and splendid air-castles!
As soon as morning dawned, I was up, mounted the
borrowed horse with which I had come to court, and

[figure description] Page 082.[end figure description]

led the other, which I had received as a fee. All the
way I was delighting myself with the thoughts of
the surprise I had in store for my little wife; for
both of us had expected nothing but that I should
spend all the money I had borrowed, and should return
in debt.

`Our meeting was joyous, as you may suppose:
but I played the part of the Indian hunter, who,
when he returns from the chase, never for a time
speaks of his success. She had prepared a snug
little rustic meal for me, and while it was getting
ready, I seated myself at an old fashioned desk in
one corner, and began to count over my money, and
put it away. She came to me before I had finished,
and asked who I had collected the money for.

`For myself, to be sure,' replied I, with affected
coolness; `I made it at court.'

`She looked me for a moment in the face, incredulously.
I tried to keep my countenance, and to play
Indian, but it would not do. My muscles began to
twitch; my feelings all at once gave way. I caught
her in my arms; laughed, cried, and danced about
the room, like a crazy man. From that time forward,
we never wanted for money.

`I had not been long in successful practice, when
I was surprised one day by a visit from my woodland
patron, old Miller. The tidings of my prosperity
had reached him in the wilderness, and he had
walked one hundred and fifty miles on foot to see me.
By that time I had improved my domestic establishment,
and had all things comfortable about me. He
looked around him with a wondering eye, at what
he considered luxuries and superfluities; but

[figure description] Page 083.[end figure description]

supposed they were all right, in my altered circumstances.
He said he did not know, upon the whole,
but that I had acted for the best. It is true, if game
had continued plenty, it would have been a folly for
me to quit a hunter's life; but hunting was pretty
nigh done up in Kentucky. The buffalo had gone
to Missouri; the elk were nearly gone also; deer,
too, were growing scarce; they might last out his
time, as he was growing old, but they were not
worth setting up life upon. He had once lived on
the borders of Virginia. Game grew scarce there;
he followed it up across Kentucky, and now it was
again giving him the slip; but he was too old to
follow it farther.

`He remained with us three days. My wife did
every thing in her power to make him comfortable;
but at the end of that time, he said he must be off
again to the woods. He was tired of the village, and
of having so many people about him. He accordingly
returned to the wilderness, and to hunting life.
But I fear he did not make a good end of it; for I
understand that a few years before his death, he
married Sukey Thomas, who lived at the White Oak
Run.'