The Life and Adventures of Kit Carson, the Nestor of the Rocky Mountains, from Facts Narrated | Page 7

Sioux Indians, who would quickly have
dispatched him, had he not succeeded immediately in convincing them
of his wonderful powers. It so happened that this gentleman was well
informed in the theory of vaccination, and it struck him that by
impressing on the savages his skill, he might extricate himself. By the
aid of signs, a lancet and some virus, he set himself to work, and soon
saw that he had gained a reputation which saved him his scalp. He first
vaccinated his own arm, after which all of the Indians present solicited
his magic touch, to save them from the loathsome disease. The result
was, that he found he had enlisted himself in an active practice. After a
few days, the Indians were delighted with the results, and began to look
upon their prisoner as possessed of superhuman knowledge. They
feared to do him injury, and finally resolved to let him go; of which
privilege, it is almost unnecessary to say, he was delighted to avail
himself, and was not long in finding his friends.]
The incidents which enliven and add interest to the historic page, have
proved of spontaneous and vigorous growth in the new settlements of
America. Nearly every book which deals with the early planting and
progress of the American colonists and pioneers, contains full, and
frequently glowing, descriptions of exploits in the forest; strifes of the
hunter; fights with the savages; fearful and terrible surprises of lurking
warriors, as they arouse the brave settler and his family from their
midnight dreams by the wild, death-announcing war-whoop;
hair-breadth escapes from the larger kinds of game, boldly bearded in
their lair; the manly courage which never yields, but surmounts every
obstacle presented by the unbroken and boundless forest; all these are
subjects and facts which have already so many counterparts in
book-thought, accessible to the general reader, that their details may be
safely omitted during the boyhood days of young Carson. It is better,
therefore, to pass over the youthful period of his eventful life, until he
began to ripen into manhood.
Kit Carson, at fifteen years of age, was no ordinary person. He had at
this early age earned, and well earned, a reputation, on the basis of
which the prediction was ventured in his behalf, that he would not fail

to make and leave a mark upon the hearts of his countrymen. Those
who knew him at the age of fifteen, hesitated not to say, "Kit Carson is
the boy who will grow into a man of influence and renown."
The chief points of his character which elicited this prediction were
thus early clearly marked. Some of his traits were kindness and good
qualities of heart, determined perseverance, indomitable will,
unflinching courage, great quickness and shrewdness of perception, and
promptitude in execution. The predictions uttered by the hardy rangers
of the forest concerning a boy like Carson are seldom at fault; and Kit
was one who, by many a youthful feat worthy the muscle of riper years,
had endeared himself to their honest love. It was among such men and
for such reason, that Kit Carson thus early in life had won the influence
and rewards of a general favorite.
His frame was slight, below the medium stature, closely knit together,
and endowed with extraordinary elasticity. He had, even then, stood the
test of much hard usage. What the body lacked in strength was more
than compensated for by his indomitable will; consequently, at this
early age, he was considered capable of performing a frontier man's
work, both in tilling the soil and handling the rifle.
It was at this period of his eventful life that his father, acting partially
under the advice of friends, determined that his son Kit should learn a
trade. A few miles from Kit's forest home, there lived a Mr. David
Workman, a saddler. To him he was apprenticed. With Mr. Workman
young Carson remained two years, enjoying both the confidence and
respect of his employer; but, mourning over the awl, the hide of new
leather, the buckle and strap; for, the glorious shade of the mighty
forest; the wild battle with buffalo and bear; the crack of the unerring
rifle, pointed at the trembling deer. Saddlery is an honorable
employment; but saddlery never made a greater mistake than when it
strove to hitch to its traces the bold impulse, the wild yearning, the
sinewy muscle of Kit Carson. Harness-making was so irksome to his
ardent temperament and brave heart, that he resolved to take advantage
of the first favorable opportunity and quit it forever. With him, to
resolve has ever been followed by action. During the latter part of his

stay with Mr. Workman, many stories of adventures in the Rocky
Mountains reached the ear of the youthful Kentuckian in his