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ADVERTISEMENT.

IF there should be a demand for this work, the author will publish an Introduction, intended for new beginners. These two will make a complete series; and the cost will be but little over half of that of the Worcester series, the one most in use. There are five of these; and though the work is in many respects a good one, it is too much upon the plan of popular stories, published in magazines. Barely enough is given in one No. of the series to make another necessary; and the reader is beguiled into the purchase of book after book, till he has a little library of Readers. Each number is made purposely deficient; and thus those who purchase one must get all, and though each number is rather cheap, the whole series is expensive.

The Worcester series is also overloaded with rules and instructions; the scholar becomes bewildered and fatigued with them, and, in trying to remember so many, retains no distinct recollection of any. A few simple rules, with good teachers, are sufficient; and if the teacher is really himself a good reader, the fewer the rules the better. Rules for reading only are herein given; the book does not profess to teach grammar and spelling.

It is the author's design to publish his Gazetteer of North-Carolina when the census statistics are completed and arranged: and this Gazetteer is intended to present a fair picture of the state, in her moral, political, and physical aspects. If it is a fair picture, it will astonish many in the state as well as those out of it. Our people have been doomed, too long, to exile, to the cost, and trouble, and sorrow of expatriation: it is time to dispel the darkness that has brooded over their native state, and driven them from the homes of their fathers, to struggle and toil in foreign lands. Wealth and greatness sleep quietly beneath their feet: they need only light to guide them to happiness and prosperity at home.

It was not deemed important to quote authorities in the historical sketch of the state; but it may be proper to state that its sources were varied, perplexing, and of difficult access. The history of the state has never been fairly written; but the author of the following sketch obtained a good deal of information from the cumbrous and uninteresting works of Martin and Williamson. He also consulted Bancroft's History of the United States; Jones's Defence of North-Carolina; Foote's valuable Sketches of North-Carolina; Life of Caldwell, by Caruthers (a book full of important information); Chalmers's Annals; different lives or biographies of Gen. Greene; Hubbard's excellent life of Gen. Davie; Lawson's North-Carolina; Brickall's North-Carolina, and various other histories, memoirs, and biographies, together with records of local transactions, proceedings of safety committees, &c. &c.

The statutes at large afford some light in regard

to the manners, progress, and interests of ancient Carolina; and also the historical collections of Virginia and South-Carolina. The author cannot conclude this list of authorities without some reference to a living source of aid to the student of North-Carolina history; and he trusts it will not be indelicate to acknowledge his obligations to the Hon. David L. Swain, president of the University, a gentleman who has vindicated his claim to the honours of his native state by a uniform, zealous, and enlightened devotion to her interests and her reputation.

Will not all her sons-ay, and her daughters too-join in and make common cause in behalf of this

"land of home,

Land of the good and true?"

We have but to unite to will-and it is done! The graves of our ancestors, the inheritance of our children, our native home, stands redeemed, a fitting monument to the dead, a blessing to the living, a bright realization of an early promise, and a glorious hope of future greatness!

INTRODUCTION.

THE design of this work is obvious.

It occurred to the author while anxiously revolving in his mind different plans for the resuscitation of his native state; and he still believes that the surest and speediest way to attain the object desired, is to imbue the minds of the rising generation with just ideas of the resources and desirableness of the country in which they live. This has been the first impulse of enlightened patriotism in all ages and countries; and if it be not profane to make such a reference in this connection, it may be stated that, as an example for our instruction, the first day's work of the Almighty, when he formed the heavens and the earth, was the creation of light.

We have needed light; generation after generation has grown up in ignorance of the capabilities and the actual advantages of their native state. Like the Israelites in Egypt, the North Carolinians have still entertained vague expectations of a good time coming; but these were hopes without fixed and tangible purposes, indulged without an effort to realize, and without any definite notions of the ways and means necessary to the deliverance of their state.

And, unfortunately, they have, in another respect, resembled the descendants of Jacob while in exile and in bondage; they have ever regarded their location as being not their permanent abiding-place, while their children and children's children have been carefully taught to look beyond the limits of North Caro lina for wealth, happiness, and fame.

All this has been the result of ignorance; and it has caused a constant drain of enterprise and wealth from the state.

Not only has ignorance of her resources and her history prevailed in North Carolina, but her people have never been characterized by common feelings and sympathies; and, strange to say, the state has run a career of honour for more than a century and a half without producing a single bard, annalist, historian, or novelist, to call forth, embody, and fix on common objects the affections of the public.

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