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Sam Slick first appeared in a series of sketches in the Novascotian during 1835 and 1836 and proved so popular that they were published in book form with additional stories in 1838; indeed, he was so popular that a pirate edition appeared in 1837. He is credited with coining such phrases as'the early bird catched the worm','to get blood out of a stone','to drink like a fish', and'it's raining cats and dogs'amongst others. His'sayings and doings'resonated with the times, addressing as they did such issues as race, the abolition of slavery and colonialism, but presented in a witty and satirical way. Sam Slick of Slickville is a clock-peddler who accompanies a visiting English gentleman on an unforgettable tour of early nineteenth-century Nova Scotia. His shrewd observations and witty commentaries make up the thirty-three sketches of The Clockmaker.