George Bemis . . . wore in his belt an old original "Allen" revolver, such as irreverent people called a "pepper-box." Simply drawing the trigger back, cocked and fired the pistol. As the trigger came back, the hammer would begin to rise and the barrel to turn over, and presently down would drop the hammer, and away would speed the ball. To aim along the turning barrel and hit the thing aimed at was a feat which was probably never done with an "Allen" in the world. But George's was a reliable weapon, nevertheless, because, as one of the stage-drivers afterward said, "If she didn't get what she went after, she would fetch something else." And so she did. She went after a deuce of spades nailed against a tree, once, and fetched a mule standing about thirty yards to the left of it. Bemis did not want the mule; but the owner came out with a double-barreled shotgun and persuaded him to buy it, anyhow. It was a cheerful weapon--the "Allen." Sometimes all its six barrels would go off at once, and then there was no safe place in all the region round about, but behind it.
- Mark Twain in Roughing It
I was armed to the teeth with a pitiful little Smith & Wesson's seven-shooter, which carried a ball like a homopathic pill, and it took the whole seven to make a dose for an adult. But I thought it was grand. It appeared to me to be a dangerous weapon. It had only one fault--you could not hit anything with it. One of our 'conductors' practiced awhile on a cow with it, and as long as she stood still and behaved herself she was safe; but as soon as she went to moving about, and he got to shooting at other things, she came to grief.
- Mark Twain in Roughing It
Don't meddle with old unloaded firearms. They are the most deadly and unerring things that have ever been created by man. You don't have to take any pains at all with them; you don't have to have a rest, you don't have to have any sights on the gun, you don't have to take aim, even. No, you just pick out a relative and bang away, and you are sure to get him. A youth who can't hit a cathedral at thirty yards with a Gatling gun in three-quarters of an hour, can take up an old empty musket and bag his mother every time at a hundred. Think what Waterloo would have been if one of the armies had been boys armed with old rusty muskets supposed not to be loaded, and the other army had been composed of their female relations. The very thought of it makes me shudder.
- Mark Twain .. Advice to Youth speech, 4/15/1882
These are not new ... they have been around for quite some time .. but worth repeating ..
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Please post political post in the new Politics forum.
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- Advanced Levergunner
- Posts: 9047
- Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2008 10:05 am
- Location: Sweetwater, TX
Re: These are not new ... they have been around for quite some time .. but worth repeating ..
Golden stuff, Jim. "Roughing It" is my favorite Twain opus.
Re: These are not new ... they have been around for quite some time .. but worth repeating ..
Mark Twain was a genius.
Most folks do not appreciate this fact.
-Stretch
Most folks do not appreciate this fact.
-Stretch
Re: These are not new ... they have been around for quite some time .. but worth repeating ..
this is great stuff--thank you... :)
- Carlsen Highway
- Levergunner 2.0
- Posts: 487
- Joined: Tue May 27, 2008 8:23 am
- Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Re: These are not new ... they have been around for quite some time .. but worth repeating ..
My favourite Twain quotes:
I did not attend his funeral, but I wrote a nice letter saying I approved of it.
The rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated.
And of course my signature line below:
I did not attend his funeral, but I wrote a nice letter saying I approved of it.
The rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated.
And of course my signature line below:
A person who carries a cat home by the tail, will receive information that will always be useful to them.
Mark Twain
Mark Twain