e the house for the
creation of a new county, and there was a dispute about the
boundary-line. The author of the bill wished to run the line in a
direction which would manifestly promote his own interest. Crockett
arose and said:

"Mr. Speaker: Do you know what that man's bill reminds me of? Well, I
s'pose you don't, so I'll tell you. Well, Mr. Speaker, when I first
came to this country a blacksmith was a rare thing. But there happened
to be one in my neighborhood. He had no striker; and whenever one of
the neighbors wanted any work done, he had to go over and strike until
his work was finished. These were hard times, Mr. Speaker, but we had
to do the best we could.

"It happened that one of my neighbors wanted an axe. So he took along
with him a piece of iron, and went over to the blacksmith's to strike
till his axe was done. The iron was heated, and my neighbor fell to
work, and was striking there nearly all day; when the blacksmith
concluded that the iron wouldn't make an axe, but 'twould make a fine
mattock.

"So my neighbor, wanting a mattock, concluded that he would go over and
strike till the mattock was done. Accordingly he went over the next
day, and worked faithfully. But toward night the blacksmith concluded
his iron wouldn't make a mattock but 'twould make a fine ploughshare.

"So my neighbor, wanting a ploughshare, agreed that he would go over
the next day and strike till that was done. Accordingly he went over,
and fell hard at work. But toward night the blacksmith concluded his
iron wouldn't make a ploughshare, but 'twould make a fine skow. So my
neighbor, tired of working, cried, 'A skow let it be;' and the
blacksmith, taking up the red-hot iron, threw it into a trough of hot
water near him, and as it fell in, it sung out skow. And this, Mr.
Speaker, will be the way of that man's bill for a county. He'll keep
you all here, doing nothing, and finally his bill will turn up a skow;
now mind if it don't."

At this time, Crockett, by way of courtesy, was usually called colonel,
as with us almost every respectable man takes the title of esquire. One
of the members offended Colonel Crockett by speaking disrespectfully of
him as from the back woods, or, as he expressed it, the gentleman from
the cane. Crockett made a very bungling answer, which did not satisfy
himself. After the house adjourned, he very pleasantly invited the
gentleman to take a walk with him. They chatted very sociably by the
way, till,