TOW #10 - Nonfiction Text: A Pickle for the Knowing Ones or Plain Truth in a Homespun Dress by Timothy Dexter - 1802

Timothy Dexter was an American businessman noted for his writing and eccentricity. A largely uneducated man, Dexter’s business practices were considered peculiar. Later in his life he wrote an autobiography entitled A Pickle for the Knowing Ones or Plain Truth in a Homespun Dress. Dexter’s autobiography is a collection of correspondence and chronicles penned by Dexter and first self-published as an anthology in May of 1802. The book contained 8,847 words and 33,864 letters, but no punctuation and its capitalization seemed random. He complained about politicians, the clergy and his wife. In his autobiography, Timothy Dexter uses anecdotal tales of his life, as well as written outside sources to highlight his life.

At first, he handed his book out for free, but it became popular and was reprinted for sale eight times. In the second edition, Dexter added an extra page which consisted of 13 lines of punctuation marks with the instructions that readers could “peper and soolt it as they pleased.” His style of writing is poor, with little attention to spelling, grammar, punctuation etc. The preface of the autobiography, not written by dexter, highlights the eccentricities of his life, “Dexter got up a mock funeral, which with all but his family and a few associates was to pass as real. Various people in the town were invited by card, who came and found the family clad in mourning, and preparations for the funeral going forward. The burial service was read by a wag, who then pronounced a bombastic eulogy upon the deceased. The mourners moved in procession to the tomb in the garden, the coffin was deposited, and they returned to the large hall, where a sumptuous entertainment was provided. While the feast was going on, a loud noise attracted the guests to the kitchen, where they beheld the arisen Lord caning his wife for not having shed a tear during the ceremony! He entered the hall with the astonished mourners, in high spirits, joined in the rout, threw money from the window to the crowd of boys, and expressed his satisfaction with every thing except the indifference of his wife, and the silence of the bells” (Dexter 5). Through this anecdote, as well as the others that comprise the autobiography, Dexter’s eccentricities can be seen. Dexter achieves his purpose of highlighting his life experiences and business ventures in A Pickle for the Knowing Ones or Plain Truth in a Homespun Dress.