The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-09-11
Death of a Poet
sas
and a
Big Yacht Race.


YACHT RACES first set for August
goth, but was post
| poned a month because of an accident to
the Shamrock. The date now is Septem-
Der 21st.
The history of these greatest OF aIi
yacht races is not uninteresting:
August %, 1851, the Schooner Yacht
America set out to capture the Royal
Squadron Cup, valued at 100 guineas,
which was offered the winner Of the In
ternational Regatta arranged in honor OF
J the Worlds Fair, London. Seventeen
other crafts were entered. The course
was around the Isle of Wight, one which
the London Times declared 10 he mo
toriously one of the most unfair to
strangers that can be selected, inasmuch
as the currents and tides render local
knowledge of more value than swift sail
ing or nautical skill
Fifteen yachts started. The America
took the lead soon after passing mo
Mans Land" and won by margin of "A
minutes, Aurora second. The cup was
presented to the New YORK Yacht Club
| in 1857 as a perpetual international chal-
lenge cup.
Here is full list of the races for the
Americas Cup:
No. l, 1851-Schooner America beat Au-
rora by "a minutes, o seconds.
No. 2, 1S70-Schooner Magic beat Cam
bria by 80 minutes, IL seconds.
No. 3, 1S71-Schooner Columbia beat
Livona by % minutes, % seconds second
race by 10 minutes, 33 seconds.
No. 4, 1S76-Schooner Madeline, beat c.
of Dufferin by 9 minutes. IS seconds;
second race by 81 minutes. 13 seconds.
No. 5. 1SS1-Sloop Mischief beat Atlanta
by 81 minutes, Is seconds; second race by
SO minutes, 81 seconds.
No. 6, 18S5-Cutter Puritan beat Cen
esta by 6 minutes, AZ seconds; second
| race by 2 minutes, seconds
No. Z, 1SS6-Cutter Mayflower beat
Galatea by II minutes, 20 seconds; second
lace by 20 minutes, As seconds.
No. s, 1SS7-Cutter Volunteer beat
Thistle by 10 minutes, % seconds; second
| race by IL minutes, 81 seconds.
No. 8, 1S93-Cutter Vigilant beat Valky-
RE / by minutes, IL seconds; second
race by minutes. &c seconds.
No 10, 1S95--Cutter Defender beat
Valkyrie III by 8 minutes, 20 seconds.
Second race foul.
No. H. 1S99-Cutter Columbia beat
Shamrock l by 10 minutes, seconds
second race -; third race by 6
minutes, Is seconds.
After 1870 best two in three; since
1893 best three in five races decide
"Walkover, Shamrock broke topmast.
South Carolina has lost her "poet
lariat," as Frank l.. Stanton was wont to
call him. j. Gordon
DEATH OF Coogler is dead. AT
-.-as.l THE five O'Clock Monday
POET LARIAT." morning death came
to take him away
from the harshness Of his critics and the
equally obnoxious sympathy of his
friends.
No more original character ever stray
ed into the field of literature, and he was
the only man in the country who was
absolutely undaunted at the criticisms OF
his literary contemporaries; he died
apparently with the belief that he was
one of the greatest poets of the age.
Poet or jester, believer in his own
ability or merry masker who wrote for
fun and accepted the sarcasm of the critics
as a joke-it matters not which-he is
dead; dead to the stings Of his critics;
dead to the laughter of his readers; dead
to the frowns of his friends.
Coogler lived in Columbia, on the
banks of the Congaree, wrote poetry-or
what to him was poetry-for amusement
and operated a printshop for a living.
Incidentally he put his own poems into
type and sold them in book form under
the heading of Purely Original Verse"
When his first book appeared he was
subjected to the biting sarcasm of critics
all over the country. Apparently he ac
cepted their ill-meant words as truth
and in issuing his second book he quoted
what had been said about the first. Seven
or eight books have been issued in this
way and no inconsiderable part Of the
amusement in reading them comes from
perusal of the preface and a summary
OF what critics have said about previous
volumes.
An indication of the character of the
Coogler is found in this couplet which
he wrote some years ago.
alas! for the South her books are few
She never was given to literature
A critic suggested that the last word
III the lIue SHOulu nave DeeH
fewer" in stead Of "few" in order to
make the rhyme, and Coogler wrote him
an elaborate letter, thanking him for the
suggestion and hailing his as a fellow
poet.
He may have made a mistake in writ
ing, but he made the world merrier, and,
buffoon or poet, the world owes him hon.
age.
Two we'll remembered stanzas from
his verses are given:
Woman, woman, how weak thou art at
best,
Thou canst not look beyond a satin lined
vest
Il feel like some lone, deserted lad,
Standing by the shore of life's great
ocean,
Casting pebbles at the pillows,
AS if to excite some past emotion"
Substitution
the fral1d Of tho da0