OR MATTERS AND THINGS IN GENERAL: CONTAINING, AMONGST OTHER THINGS, HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF THE HISTORY OF THE HARPS, A SATIRICAL BURLESQUE UPON THE PRACTICE OF ELEC- OF NATURAL CURIOSITIES; A COL- BY J. W. M. BREAZEALE. KNOXVILLE: PRINTED BY JAMES WILLIAMS, AT THE OFFICE OF “THE POST 1842. DISTRICT OF EAST TENNESSEE, 85. BE IT REMEMBERED, That, on the twenty-ninth day of January, in the year of our Lord, eighteen hundred and forty two, and of the Independence of the United States of America the sixty-sixth, J. W. M. BREAZEALE, of said district of East Tennessee, deposited in this office, the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as author and proprietor, in the words following, to wit:"LIFE AS IT IS; or, Matters and Things in General: containing, amongst other things, Historical Sketches of the exploration and first settlement of the State of Tennessee; Manners and Customs of the inhabitants; their wars with the Indians; Battle of King's Mountain; History of the Harps, (two noted murderers ;) a Satirical Burlesque upon the practice of Electioneering; Legislative, Judicial and Ecclesiastical incidents; Descriptions of Natural Curiosities; a Collection of Anecdotes, &c. By J. W. M. BREAZEALE." In conformity to an act of Congress of the United States, entitled "An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned ;" and also to an act, entitled "An act supplementary to an act, entitled 'An act for the encouragement of learning by securing the copies of maps, charts and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned ;' and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving and etching historical and other prints." JAMES W. CAMPBELL, Clerk of the Eastern District of Tennessee. A 1969 Facsimile Reproduction of the First and Only Edition By CHARLES ELDER Bookseller and Publisher Nashville, Tennessee, 1969 DEDICATION. "God that hath made the world, and all things therein, hath made of one blood all nations of men, to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and fixed the bounds of their habitation." HOLY WRIT. To the inhabitants of every nation, kindred and kingdom this work is respectfully dedicated, in token of the regard and esteem entertained by the author for his brethren of the human family, as well as to manifest his desire to proclaim throughout the sunny realms of science and of song, and to make known through the dark and benighted regions of ignorance and superstition, LIFE AS IT IS; AND THE MATTERS AND THINGS IN GENERAL, pertaining thereto, as it hitherto has existed, and now exists, in the romantic highlands, fertile plains, flourishing towns, prosperous villages and growing hamlets of his native State. "Go, little book, from this my solitude! PREFACE. THE object of the author in presenting to the world the following pages, is to amuse, instruct and improve the human mind, while he rescues from oblivion some important memoranda of the history of the patriarchs of Tennessee-spreads before his countrymen the light and force of the example of their fathers-contrasts their plain, economical, republican manners and customs, with the vain, ostentatious, and, in many respects, aristocratic practices of the present age-lashes the vices of the times -lauds the virtues of his fellow-citizens-chastises them for their follies, and proclaims in high places, as well as throughout the humblest walks of obscurity, the history of his country, and the manners, customs, practices and policy of its inhabitants. True, he has "an eye to the recompense of reward, recollecting that the laborer is worthy of his hire," and hoping that his work may find favor and patronage from a liberal and enlightened public. The plan of the work is entirely new, and original, presenting all the variety and novelty of human life for near a century, with geographical descriptions of many sections of the country we inhabit, and historical sketches of the manners, customs, habits and pursuits of the past and present generations. History is the telescope through which we look back the stream of time, and take a view of the nations, |