My father was a blacksmith, my uncle was a horse doctor, and I was both, along at first.

Then I went over to the great arms factory and learned my real trade; learned all there was to it; learned to make everything: guns, revolvers, cannon, boilers, engines, all sorts of labor-saving machinery.

Why, I could make anything a body wanted--anything in the world, it didn't make any difference what; and if there wasn't any quick new-fangled way to make a thing, I could invent one--and do it as easy as rolling off a log.

I became head superintendent; had a couple of thousand men under me.
Well, a man like that is a man that is full of fight--that goes without saying.

With a couple of thousand rough men under one, one has plenty of that sort of amusement.