MAJOR DOWNING'S BIOGRAPHY OF SAM PATCH,
THE JUMPER.
Note, by the Editor. There are some striking
parallels between the race run by the renowned Sam
Patch, of jumping memory, who figured in this jumping
world in the year, (anno Domini) one thousand eight
hundred and twenty-nine, and the no less renowned Major
Jack Downing, who is figuring away `in the full tide
of successful experiment' at this present era. We think
it fortunate for the memory of the jumping hero, as well
as for the world, that his wonderful achievements have
been recorded by so illustrious a genius and accomplished
writer as Major Downing. It is fitting that their memory
should go down to posterity together. They were
both humble in their origin, and both were aspiring and
lofty in their ambition. Neither of them however ever
stooped to run after popularity, for popularity always
run after them. Sam commenced with taking small
jumps, and Jack commenced with reaching after small
offices. Sam's ambition soon led him to leap from high
bridges and factory walls, and Jack began anon to think
of a Governor's chair and a seat in the Cabinet at Washington.
Sam at length would stop nothing short of
jumping down the falls of Gennesee and Niagara, and
Jack has fixed his eye upon the lofty mark and is pressing
forward with full vigor for the Presidency of the
United States. Sam's last jump was a fatal one, and we
sincerely hope the parallel may not be carried out, but
that the Major may yet see many good days, and continue
to serve his country as faithfully as he has hitherto
done.
But we must explain how Major Downing came to be
the biographer of Sam Patch.
While Mr Downing (we say Mr, because it was before
he received any office) was attending upon the Legislature
of Maine in 1830, one day when the wheels of government
were clogged and some of the Senators had run
away and there was nothing doing, Mr Downing came into
our room, and sat down and looked over a file of newspapers.
He soon got upon the achievements of Sam
Patch, whose career had a short time before closed, and
he read his history through. Mr Downing's head was
full of the matter. He never read any thing before that
filled him with such intense interest. He had got upon
the track of a kindred spirit, and he was all animation.
He went home with us and spent the night; but he could
talk of nothing and think of nothing but Sam Patch.
He had got his story by heart, and he was talking it over
in his sleep all night. In the morning he rose pale and
nervous. Says he, `I believe that story of Sam Patch
has been ground over in my head more than forty times
to-night, and its got so now it comes through my head
in lines all about the same length, jest like rolls out of a
carding machine; and if you 'll give me some paper and
pen and ink, I 'll put it down.' We furnished him accordingly,
and he sat down and wrote the following
splendid piece of biography, which we published in the
Courier at the time and now insert in the volume of his
life and writings.
