The divisions of water are next described, beginning with the following couplet:
An ocean is a vast extent of brine,
Or salt sea water boundless and sublime.
Lakes are described as—“
Fresh water seas, by land surrounded;
As Lake Champlain, whose waves by land are bounded.
Couplets similar to these follow on straits, channels, sounds, rivers, and other divisions of water. After explanation necessary to the use of maps, there follows a poetical chapter on North America. Its capes and rivers are poetically described and then, in turn, its towns, each state being separately mentioned. The author begins with Maine and ends with his own state, Wisconsin. A chapter on British America is next in order and this in turn is followed by chapters on Mexico, Guatamala, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. The book ends with rhymed delineations of islands, volcanoes, and “The Rules of Arithmetic” and a sketch of English
history. A number of notes are interspersed throughout the work, and a prose preface follows the title. A rhymed introduction is also introduced.
This book and also the following are in the fine collection of Wisconsin poetry formed by Mr. Henry E. Legler, now in the possession of Mr. Henry C. Sturges of New York.[62]
Probably the earliest specimen of German verse written in Wisconsin, is that from the pen of one of the German immigrants of 1848. Its title is: “Lieder/ aus/ Wisconsin/ von/ Adolf Schults./ Elberfeld und Iserlohn./ Verlag von Julius Bädeker./ 1848.”/ This is a 16mo. pamphlet of forty-one pages followed by an unnumbered page.