Page:Southern Life in Southern Literature.djvu/495

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This selection is from "The Life of David Crockett by Himself" an autobiography written in order to correct false impressions about the writer. After Crockett's election to Congress his eccentricities of dress and manner made him a notable figure in Washington, and a publisher seized the occasion to issue, in 1834, an anonymous book entitled "Sketches and Eccentricities of Colonel David Crockett," without the latter's approval. To correct the impressions of this book, Crockett, now nearing fifty, set to work to write the story of his life and produced a book which, in spite of literary deficiencies, is one of the most racy and amusing books of its kind. His achievement is all the more remarkable because he did not learn to write until, when nearly thirty, an appointment as justice of the peace compelled him to do so in a degree sufficient to keep his records and to draw legal papers. Bear hunts, Indian fights, and other thrilling adventures make up the contents of the book, and in spite of inelegancies of expression it gives a good picture of pioneer life.

harricane: canebrake.—cracks: caused by earthquakes.

What methods, according to this selection, were employed in hunting bears?

This selection is from the journal in which Audubon recorded not merely details relating to his scientific interests, but many adventures and sketches of the country and its inhabitants in the sections visited by him.

The scene of this sketch is the swamps of Louisiana, which in Audubon's time were very sparsely settled.

1. What causes induced the squatters to leave their homes? 2. How did they travel? 3. What obstacles did they over come in their new homes? 4. W T hat qualities caused them to prosper? 5. Has the South retained or lost such qualities among its white working classes?