But  a  man  may  be  a  Yankee  clockmaker  without  having
the  "  cuteness "  and  common  sense  of  Sam  Slick.  In  his
Early  Reminiscences,  Sir  Daniel  Lysons  describes  such  an  one
who,  while  selling  clocks  in  Canada,  was  tempted  to  stake  his
money  and  clocks,  etc.,  on  games  of  billiards  with  a  knowing
young  subaltern.  "The  clocks  soon  passed  into  British  pos-
session. They  then  played  for  the  waggon  and  horse.  Finally,
Sam  Slick,  pluck  to  the  backbone,  and  still  confident,  staked
his  broad-brimmed  hat  and  his  coat ;  Bob  won  them ;  and
putting  them  on  in  place  of  his  own,  which  he  gave  to  his
friend  Sam,  he  mounted  the  waggon  and  drove  into  barracks
in  triumph,  to  the  immense  amusement  of  the  whole  garrison."

An  English  Reader  has  for  half  a  century  been  in  use  in
French  schools,  which  gives  Sam  Slick's  chapter  on  "Buying
a  Horse  "  as  one  of  its  samples  of  classical  English  literature.
Experience  is  proving  that  the  value  attached  by  Sam
Slick  to  the  geographical  position  and  natural  advantages  of
the  Province  of  Nova  Scotia  was  not  a  mistaken  one.  We
are,  however,   apt  to  be  more  grateful  to  those  that  amuse

27


than  to  those  who  instruct  us.  Many  persons  who  laughed
at  Sam  Slick's  jokes  did  not  relish  his  truths,  and  his  popu-
larity as  an  author  was  far  greater  out  of  Nova  Scotia  than
in  it  ;  but  il  had  ceased  to  depend  on  the  verdict  of  his
count  rvnien.
