Search

Sam Slick, a clock-peddler who accompanies a visiting English gentleman on an unforgettable tour of Nova Scotia, first appeared in the'Novascotian'in 1835. His shrewd observations and witty commentaries addressed important contemporary issues, such as race, slavery and colonialism.

Sam Slick, a clock-peddler who accompanies a visiting English gentleman on an unforgettable tour of Nova Scotia, first appeared in the'Novascotian'in 1835. His shrewd observations and witty commentaries addressed important contemporary issues, such as race, slavery and colonialism.

In 1835 Thomas Chandler Haliburton introduced Samuel Slick of Slicksville, Connecticut, into the pages of the Novascotian in order to awaken his fellow citizens to the economic opportunities of their province. From this Halifax newspaper trotted out the Connecticut Yankee, manufacturer and seller of clocks, with his original dialect and unique comic vision, to become the chief character in three series of The Clockmaker published between 1836 and 1840.