Song Of Surveyors 1730
Upon our NEEDLEwe depend
In ye THICK WOODS our COURSE to know
Then after it ye CHAIN Extend
For we must gain our DISTANCE so
Over ye HILLS through BRUSHEY PLAINS
And HIDIOUS SWAMPS where is no TRACK
Cross RIVERS, BROOKS we with much PAINS
Are forced to travel forth & back...
When WEARY STEPS has brought us home
And NEEDLE, CHAIN have some respite
SCALE and DIVIDERS in use come
To FIT all for next morning light
And though we’re CAREFUL in ye same
As HAST & OBSTICLES will yeild
Yet after times they will us BLAME
When ROUGH WILD WOODS are made a Field.
Anonymous 1730 poem, from a map of "25 Divisions" in Stoughton, Massachusetts.
In ye THICK WOODS our COURSE to know
Then after it ye CHAIN Extend
For we must gain our DISTANCE so
Over ye HILLS through BRUSHEY PLAINS
And HIDIOUS SWAMPS where is no TRACK
Cross RIVERS, BROOKS we with much PAINS
Are forced to travel forth & back...
When WEARY STEPS has brought us home
And NEEDLE, CHAIN have some respite
SCALE and DIVIDERS in use come
To FIT all for next morning light
And though we’re CAREFUL in ye sameAs HAST & OBSTICLES will yeild
Yet after times they will us BLAME
When ROUGH WILD WOODS are made a Field.
Anonymous 1730 poem, from a map of "25 Divisions" in Stoughton, Massachusetts.
Reprinted from The Maryland Surveyor, Vol. 24, No. 2, March 1997.
Our thanks to editor C. Langelan for passing this along.
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