Live Free and Draw

A COMICS POEM;
Extrapolated from Frank Leavitt’s original 3-verse poem (1885):

SOURCE LINKS:

I drew this comic using Frank Leavitt’s poem as my starting point.
I added some details from other sources (see below) & then made up a couple of my own lines to fill out the story.
I have found that the poem actually fits quite well into the old fiddle tune “Forked Deer” [Henry Reed, LOC.gov].  The tune dates to at least a little before the time of the Willey slide.  (These verses fit the A part perfectly; & the B part gives you some time to ponder mortality & fate.)

Here are a couple source links for the text:

• Folk artist & poet Frank Leavitt @ WhiteMountainHistory.org >>
• Leavitt’s original poem, “The Willey Slide” (included in this 1888 print):
  I use Leavitt’s 1885 version (where the mudslide “hit” the barn, instead of “took” it — “hit” is more clear for a modern audience).
• More about Leavitt’s poetry: “Franklin Leavitt’s White Mountains Verse” by David Tatham >>
• I’ve also drawn some details from Benjamin Willey’s account in Incidents in White Mountain History (1856).

28 August 1826