ught 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."

The dwelling-house, on every frontier in Tennessee, was the log-cabin.
A carpenter and a mason were not needed to build them--much less the
painter, the glazier, or the upholsterer. Every settler had, besides his
rifle, no other instrument but an axe, a hatchet, and a butcher-knife. A
saw, an auger, a froe, and a broad-axe would supply a whole settlement,
and were used as common property in the erection of the log-cabin. The
floor of the cabin was sometimes the earth. No saw-mill was yet erected;
and, if the means or leisure of the occupant authorized it, he split
out puncheons for the floor and for the shutter of the entrance to his
cabin. The door was hung with wooden hinges and fastened by a wooden
latch.

"Such was the habitation of the pioneer Tennessean. Scarcel