David Crockett: His Life and AdventuresAbbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
History
David Crockett: His Life and Adventures
Abbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
Crockett, Davy, 1786-1836
Without delay he made his choice, and made his offer, and was as
promptly accepted as a lover. Though they were both very young, and
neither of them had a dollar, still as those considerations would not
have influenced David in the slightest degree, we know not why they
where not immediately married. Several months of very desperate and
satisfactory courtship passed away, when the time came for the nuptials
of the little Quaker girl, which ceremony was to take place at the
cabin of her uncle David and his "girl" were invited to the wedding.
The scene only inflamed the desires of David to hasten his
marriage-day. He was very importunate in pressing his claims. She
seemed quite reluctant to fix the day, but at last consented; and says
David, "I thought if that day come, I should be the happiest man in the
created world, or in the moon, or anywhere else."
In the mean time David had become very fond of his rifle, and had
raised enough money to buy him one. He was still living with the
Quaker. Game was abundant, and the young hunter often brought in
valuable supplies of animal food. There were frequent shooting-matches
in that region. David, proud of his skill, was fond of attending them.
But his Quaker employer considered them a species of gambling, which
drew together all the idlers and vagrants of the region, and he could
not approve of them.
There was another boy living at that time with the Quaker. They
practised all sorts of deceptions to steal away to the shooting-matches
under pretence that they were engaged in other things. This boy was
quite in love with a sister of David's intended wife. The staid member
of the Society of Friends did not approve of the rude courting frolics
of those times, which frequently occupied nearly the whole night.
The two boys slept in a garret, in what was called the gable end of the
house. There was a small window in their rough apartment. One Sunday,
when the Quaker and his wife were absent attending a meeting, the boys
cut a long pole, and leaned it up against the side of the house, as
high as the window, but so that it would not attract any attention.
They were as nimble as catamounts, and could run up and down the pole
without the slightest difficulty. They would go to bed at the usual
early hour. As soon as all were quiet, they would creep from the house,
dressed in their best apparel, and taking the two farm-horses, would
mount their backs and ride, as fast as possible, ten miles through the
forest road to where the girls lived. They were generally expected.
After spending all the hours of the middle of the night in the varied
frolics of country courtship, they would again mount their horses and
gallop home, being especially careful to creep in at their window
before the dawn of day The course of true love seemed for once to be
running smoothly. Saturday came, and the next week, on Thursday, David
was to be married.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
David Crockett: His Life and Adventures — John Shaqi
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