arms of Western boatmen, are at once transformed into the settlements of a commercial and civilized people.  Independence and St. Paul, six months after they are laid off, have their stores and their workshops, their artisans, and their mechanics.  The mantua-maker and the tailor arrive in the same boat with the carpenter and mason.  The professional man and the printer quickly follow.  In the succeeding year the piano, the drawing-room, the restaurant, the billiard-table, the church bell, the village and the city in miniature, are all found, while the neighboring interior is yet a wilderness and a desert.  The town and comfort, taste and urbanity are first; the clearing, the farm-house, the wagon-road and the improved country, second.  It was far different on the frontier in Tennessee.  At first a single Indian trail was the only entrance to the eastern border of it and for many years admitted only of the hunter and the pack-horse It was not till the year 1776 that a wagon was seen in Tennessee.  In consequence of the want of roads—­as well as of the great distance from sources of supply—­the first inhabitants were without tools, and, of course, without mechanics—­much more, without the conveniences of living and the comforts of house-keeping.  Luxuries were absolutely unknown.  Salt was brought on pack-horses from Augusta and Richmond, and readily commanded ten dollars a bushel.  The salt gourd, in every cabin, was considered as a treasure.  The sugar-maple furnished the only article of luxury on the frontier; coffee and tea being unknown, or beyond the reach of the settlers, sugar was seldom made, and was only used for the sick, or in the preparation of a sweetened dram at a wedding, or the arrival of a new-comer.  The appendages of the kitchen, the cupboard, and the table were scanty and simple.

“Iron was brought, at great expense, from the forges east of the mountain, on pack-horses, and was sold at an enormous price.  Its use was, for this reason, confined to the construction and repair of plows and other farming utensils.  Hinges, nails, and fastenings of that material, were seldom seen.

“The costume of the first settlers corresponded well with the style of their buildings and the quality of their furniture.  The hunting-shirt of the militiaman and the hunter was in general use.  The rest of their apparel was in keeping with it—­plain, substantial, and well adapted for comfort, use, and economy.  The apparel of the pioneer’s family was all home-made, and in a whole neighborhood there would not be seen, at the first settlement of the country, a single article of dress of foreign growth or manufacture.  Half the year, in many families, shoes were not worn.  Boots, a fur hat, and a coat with buttons on each side, attracted the gaze of the beholder, and sometimes received censure and rebuke.  A stranger from the old States chose to doff his ruffles, his broadcloth, and his queue, rather than endure the scoff and ridicule of the backwoodsmen.”