a considerable and uncomfortable degree by prigs, time-servers and unpleasantly aggressive individuals. Hell may have a worse climate but undoubtedly the company is sprightlier. The Catholics, with their genius for stage-management, handle this detail better. The officiating clergyman speaks in Latin and the parishioners, being unacquainted with that language are impressed by the majesty of the rolling, sonorous periods without being shocked by distressing allusions and harrowing references. Legacy and honors The World War II Liberty Ship was named in his honor. Following the Second World War, the Illinois Central Railroad named a passenger train operating between Louisville and Memphis, via Cobb's hometown, Paducah, the Irvin S. Cobb. The train carried timetable numbers 103 southbound and 104 northbound and made a direct connection at Fulton with trains to and from New Orleans. Fiction Cobb wrote humorous stories set in Kentucky, and he is considered part of the American literary regionalism school. These stories were first collected in the book Old Judge Priest (1915), whose title character was based on a prominent West Kentucky judge named William Pitman Bishop. Joel Chandler Harris wrote of these tales, "Cobb created a South peopled with honorable citizens, charming eccentrics, and loyal, subservient blacks, but at their best the Judge Priest stories are dramatic and compelling, using a wealth of precisely rendered detail to evoke a powerful mood." Among Cobb's other books are the humorous Speaking of Operations (1916), and an anti-prohibition ode to bourbon, Red Likker (1929). Cobb also wrote short stories in the horror genre, such as "Fishhead" (1911) and "The Unbroken Chain" (1923). "Fishhead" has been cited as an inspiration for H. P. Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth, while "The Unbroken Chain" was a model for Lovecraft's "The Rats in the Walls". The former was described by Lovecraft as "banefully effective in its portrayal of unnatural affinities between a hybrid idiot and the strange fish of an isolated lake" in his essay Supernatural Horror in Literature. Bibliography "A Little Town Called Montignies St. Christophe" – 1907 story Funabashi – 1907 musical comedy Mr. Busybody – 1908 musical comedy Talks with the Fat Chauffeur – 1909 collection "The Escape of Mr. Trimm" – 1910 story "The Exit of Anse Dugmore" – 1911 story Cobb's Anatomy – 1912 book "Words and Music" – 1912 story Back Home: Being the Narrative of Judge Priest and His People – 1912 collection The Escape of Mr. Trimm: