William Aspenwall Bradley
Published: 2016-09-04
Total Pages: 44
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Excerpt from Singing Carr and Other Song-Ballads of the Cumberlands These poems were written last summer, in the course of a second long ramhle through the Ken tucky Cumberlands some in the saddle, almost, others during a prolonged stay at Hindman, my home in the mountains. Three, Singing Carr, The Blind Boy, and Sourwood Mountain, were printed in the local paper, The Little Star, from which the first found its way into a wider circulation. T his little piece owes its title to Mr. Howard Brockway, the composer, who visited the mountains two years ago, with Miss Loraine Wyman, in search of those song hallets with which, both on the concert platform and through their Lonesome Tunes, they have since hecome so closely identified. On his return, Mr. Brockway happened to speak of Singing Carr, and said he had heard the creek called C arr's Fork, thus named hy the natives. I had never heard it myself, nor could I find anyone who had, when I went hack there. In the meantime, however, I had written the verses, and was not sorry I had done so; for, surely, no one acquainted with that famous creek would quarrel with the appellation thus he stowed upon it. It is, indeed, Singing Carr, though perhaps not all the citizens are as averse to profane balladry as I have intimated! Even the memhers of the Old Carr Church are a vigorous, vital lot, both men and women, and do not enjoy life the less hecause of their peculiar religious principles. I am not likely to forget a night I once spent among them. It was noon when we left Hindman, a hright October day, the hottoms tawny with hlown hroom-sedge, the hills dyed purple and pale primrose with Farewell Summer, and the water in the creeks re ecting the deep azure of the sky, as they parted swiftly past rocks of gleaming golden ochre; hut it was nearly dark when. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."