State

Cobb's Poetical Geography ( iiM|ii4‘ textbook of a U(4i(‘ralion ацо con- Inineil llie пашем of mountains. rivers, сгсскм, sounds and bays of the state in rhymed arrangements. I К you wore born in North Carolina I long enough ago lo have gone to ■ school in the ’liineliee, you may have learned “by heart" the musical пашен of our mountain rivers in this order : “S'vannanon, Tahkeosln, Tucknseigc, Tennessee, Wild Watauga, Iliawasse, Nnntahala, Cheowee, Valley, Elk. Ocoualufia. New ami Toe ami Pigeon flow From the Skyland through the mountains To the Gulf of Mexico.” For that was how Dr. Needham Игуан Cobb (18311-1905) put them in verso form in his Poetical Geog¬ raphy of North Carolina, which was memorized in some of the schools of the state a half century ago. (A foot¬ note to the quoted lines explained that “Tahkeostn" is the Indian name for the French Broad.) Following this rhythmical arrangement of the four¬ teen westward-flowing rivers, the fifty- nine other North Carolina rivers are accounted for in similar poetic style. For convenience in memorizing, the rivers east of the Blue Bulge are grouped ns tributaries of the Catawba, the Yadkin, and Cape Fear, the Nouso, the Pamlico rivers, and the Albe¬ marle rivers. The Pamlico rivers, to use the smallest group a» an il¬ lustration, appear as follows: “Little, Flat and small Kim, Trent and Nellie and Pamlico, Pungo, Tar and Pantego, liny and Long-Shoal slowly flow To the Sound of Pamlico." In addition to the rivers, the Poetical Geography would have the youngster memorize all the mountains, bays, sounds, principal creeks, and a ‘‘Key to the Ninety-six Counties" which comprised the state at that time! The rhymes were written to uid the author's own pupils in memorizing the geography of their native state. But later, in 1SS7, they were published in book form by the Riverside Press, Cambridge, for use in other North Carolina schools. One of the most interesting sections of the book is the one dealing with the creeks. It was obviously a consider¬ able task to trace and catalog all В I/ W. II. JO!\'ES the principal creeks of the state -31)4. nil told — and to weave their odd and interesting names into rhyme. What human-interest stories of pioneer days might we find, if we eould trace tin- origins of such names as Hard¬ scrabble. Troublesome. Panther. Wolf Island, Swearing, Gunpowder, Meat Camp, and Sandy Mush creeks! The Poetical Geography begins its catalog of the creeks with these moun¬ tain streams: “Stekoah, Tu.kogee, Balds three and Cowee, Catalooclie and Jonathan'», Cove and Crabtree, Two Ivys ami Laurel and Piney and Pities, Beaver and Heaverdnni. Sugarton, Fines, Hurricane, Hominy, Richland and Scotts, Sandy Mush, Gusli's, Mud, Cove and Plott’s, Brushy and Beech, .lack’s, Grassy, and Rheums, Lieklog and Shooting (queer little streams), Barker's, Alarka, ami tumbling Cat Stair, Red Marble and Brierlown. high up in air"— The neatly rhymed lines continue until sixty creek» west of the Blue Ridge are named. Skipping now to the north-central part of the state, we find these streams singing their way through the author's musical lines toward Roanoke River: “Wolf Islam! and Marrows, Town, Hogan, and Show, And Neilmaii and Itouhle, two prongs of Hyco, And Big, Mill, and Moon (these names are no jokes), From Rockingham, Caswell, and Person and Stokes, And Bearskin and Nut hush, from Granville and Vance, Big Grassy, Big Island, and Jonathan's prance, With Sassafras, Gardener’s, and long County Line, Kehtlke, Skewarkee, and old Sandy Run"— These selections serve to illustrate the author's method and style. The mountains, hays, and sounds are treated in a similar way hut with stiflieieiit variation of meter ami rhyme scheme to avoid monotony. As a filial quotation, these lines may aid someone ill rvuieinl«erilig the North Carolina sounds : “Just eleven shallow sounds Sliiuilier on our shore: Albemarle and Pamlico, Topsail, Stump, and Core, Currituck and t'roatan Where tile wild geese soar, Wrightsville. Masonlioro, Boguo, Roanoke- -and no more." Ill hi» Preface the author tells ns that his pupils were required to n-|»ent the rhymes iu concert. After they were memorized, they Were need as recitations when parents came to visit the school on Friday afternoons, as they frequently did in those days. As was true of many schoolmasters of a former tiny. Dr. Needham B. Cobb’» vocation was that of the Chris- linn ministry. Teaching was an ad¬ junct. Yet he was keenly interested ill it and was proficient in several fields. H<- received his A.B. and M.A. •leg rev- from till- State Fniversity at an early age. The honorary I). If. degree was conferred later hv Judsou College. As an illustration of his versatility as a teacher, ii is said that he gave the first instruction in short¬ hand ever given to a class in this state at the I’niversity’s first summer school in 1877. The Poetical Geography contains a number of the author's poem, on other subject- than North Carolina geography, one of which (Reply to Gray'» Klegy) was quoted in Ameri¬ can and English periodicals of the day. During a long ministry in the Baptist church, Dr. Cobh served a- pastor in Hickory, Fayetteville. Lilesvillc, Aneonville, Shelby. Wayne- ville and other North Carolina com¬ munities.