from A PICKLE FOR THE KNOWING ONES; OR PLAIN TRUTHS IN A
HOMESPUN DRESS (1848)
1/
To mankind at Large the time is Com at
Last the grat day of Regoising what is that why I will tell you thous three
kings is Rased Rased you meane shoued know Rased on the first Royel Arch in the
worid olmost Not quite but very hiw up upon so thay are good mark to be scene
so the womans Lik to see the frount and all people Loves to see them as the
quakers will Com and peape slyly and feel glad and say houe the doue frind
father Jorge washeton is the senter king Addoms is at the Rite hand the present
king at the Left hand father gorge with his hat on the other hats of the middel
king with his sword king Addoms with his Cane in a grand poster Adtetoude
turning his fass towards the first king as if thay was on sum politicks king
our present king he is stands hearng being yonger and very deafe in short
being one grat felosfer Looks well East & west & North & south
deafe & very deafe the god of Natur has dun very much for our present king
and all our former ones thay are all good I want them to Live for Ever and I beleave
thay will it is hard work to be A king – I say it is hardar than tilling the
ground I know it is for I find it is hard work to be A Lord I dont desier the
sound but to pleas the peopel at Large Let it gou to brak the way it dus for
Asort ment to help a good Lafe to Cour the sick spleney goutey dul frames Lik
my selfe with the goute and so on make merry a Chealy Christen is for me only
to be onnest No matter what thay worshep son moune or stars or there wife or
miss if onnest Live for Ever money wont gitt thous figers so fast as I wish I
have sent to Leg horn for many mr bourr is one Amonks others I sent in the
grand Crecham thous 3 kings Are plane white colow at present the Royal Arch
& figers cost 39 pound wate silver the hiest Councaton order in the world
so it is sade by the knowing one I have only 4 Lions & 1 Lam up the
spred Eagel has bin up 3 years upon the Coupelay I have 13 billors front in
strat Row for 13 states when we begun 3 in the Rear 15 foot hie 4 more on the
grass see 2 the same hath at the Rite of the grand Arch 2 at the left wing 15
foot hie the Arch 17 foot hie the my hous is 3 sorey upwards of 290 feet round
the hous Nater has formed the ground Eaquel to a Solomun the onerabel Jonathan
Jackson one of the first in this Country for tast borne a grat man by Nater
then the best Lurning what sot me fored for my plan having so gran spot the
hool of the world Cant Excead this to thous that dont know would think I was
Like halfe the world A Lier I have traveled good deale but old steady men
sayeth it is the first that it is the first best in this Contry & others
Contrey I tell you this the trouth that None of you grat men wodent be A
frunted at my preseadens & I spare Now Cost in the work I have the tempel
of Reason in my garding 3 years past with a toume under it on the Eage of the
grass see it cost 98 gineys besides the Coffen panted whit in side & out
side tuched with green Nobel trimings uncommon Lock so I can tak the kee in
side and haye fier works in the toume pipes and tobacker & A speaking
trumpet and a bibel to Read & sum good songs
2/
“Peper
and Solt” (see commentary)
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COMMENTARY
source: Timothy Dexter, A Pickle for the Knowing Ones, 4th edition, Blanchard & Sargent, Newburyport, MA, 1848.
The merchant Timothy Dexter of Newburyport, MA,
self-described lord & philosopher, not only successfully/miraculously sold
mittens in the Caribbean and coals to
Newcastle, as the legend goes; he faked his wife’s death (declaring her from
then on a drunken ghost), & he faked his own funeral. In spite of his
successes, he was a social outcast of sorts, & considered a “lackwit” by
many of his contemporaries, who gave him advice in order to ruin him.
Apparently completely unfazed by his failure to gain admittance to Society in
spite of his fortune, at age 50 he wrote a book called A Pickle for the Knowing Ones; or Plain
Truth in a Homespun Dress. The book contained 8,847 words & 33,864
letters, but no punctuation, & capital letters were seemingly random. At
first he handed his book out for free, but it became popular & was
re-printed in eight editions. Because people complained about the lack of
punctuation Dexter added an extra page of punctuation marks. Dexter instructed
readers to “peper and solt it as they plese”.
In the
course of doing which he became, while outside any literary nexus as such, a
forerunner to many of the experimental workings with spelling, grammar &
punctuation of the two centuries that followed.
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