His childhood’s home was more humble than the majority of the readers of this volume can imagine.  It was destitute of everything which, in a higher state of civilization, is deemed essential to comfort.  The wigwam of the Indian afforded as much protection from the weather, and was as well furnished, as the cabin of logs and bark which sheltered his father’s family.  It would seem, from David Crockett’s autobiography, that in his childhood he went mainly without any clothing, like the pappooses of an Indian squaw.  These facts of his early life must be known, that we may understand the circumstances by which his peculiar character was formed.

He had no instruction whatever in religion, morals, manners, or mental culture.  It cannot be supposed that his illiterate parents were very gentle in their domestic discipline, or that their example could have been of any essential advantage in preparing him for the arduous struggle of life.  It would be difficult to find any human being, in a civilized land, who can have enjoyed less opportunities for moral culture than David Crockett enjoyed in his early years.

There was quite a fall on the Nolachucky River, a little below the cabin of John Crockett.  Here the water rushed foaming over the rocks, with fury which would at once swamp any canoe.  When David was four or five years old, and several other emigrants had come and reared their cabins in that vicinity, he was one morning out playing with his brothers on the bank of the river.  There was a canoe tied to the shore.  The boys got into it, and, to amuse themselves, pushed out into the stream, leaving little David, greatly to his indignation, on the shore.

But the boys did not know how to manage the canoe, and though they plied the paddies with all vigor, they soon found themselves caught in the current, and floating rapidly down toward the falls, where, should they be swept over, the death of all was inevitable.

A man chanced to be working in a field not far distant.  He heard the cries of the boys and saw their danger.  There was not a moment to be lost.  He started upon the full run, throwing off coat and waistcoat and shoes, in his almost frantic speed, till he reached the water.  He then plunged in, and, by swimming and wading, seized the canoe when it was within but about twenty feet of the roaring falls.  With almost superhuman exertions he succeeded in dragging it to the shore.

This event David Crockett has mentioned as the first which left any lasting imprint upon his memory.  Not long after this, another occurrence took place characteristic of frontier life.  Joseph Hawkins, a brother of David’s mother, crossed the mountains and joined the Crockett family in their forest home.  One morning he went out to shoot a deer, repairing to a portion of the forest much frequented by this animal.  As he passed a very dense thicket, he saw the boughs swaying to and fro, where a deer was apparently browsing.  Very cautiously he crept within rifle-shot, occasionally catching a glimpse, through the thick foliage, of the ear of the animal,—­as he supposed.