Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-04-24

shooting down the rippling current in his tiny
canoe. and perhaps the crack of a rifle in the
| silence, stirring the echoes as it has done
many and many time in these forest depths.
| Higher up toward the source we come to
| the ruins of the famous fort at Harrods-
| burg, the scene OF so many historic exploits in
| Kentucky's s infancy. and in that direction also
| are the Towers and the celebrated High
Bridge. But here the river widens and flows
placIdly; noisy little steamers bearing the eu-
| phonious names of "Gray Eagle " ''Sea Gull, -
| ''Blue Wing" lineal descendants of the vener-
| able craft bearing the self-same names that
| sailed these waters thirty and forty years ago,
| ply up and down with an air Of importance in
tended to convince the STRANGER that Frankfort
| is the next thing to seaport. and the vessels
! of these waters are monopoliziug the carrying
| trade of the world.
| girdle IF misty hills something Ike the dregs
| at the bottom of teacup tits old fashioned
| and quaint and quiet, and. therefore, beauti-
full; 1t is full Of gable ended houses set back in
| Snowballs, and old time cabbage roses make
| little incense in the atmosphere; great over
| grown sunfowers f1aunt their splendor in the
| fence corners ignorant OF Wilde and their eX-
| alted position in the sphere of the beautiful
| Spring life is strong in Natures veins now; in
| the back ground are the orchards tossing in the
billows of delicate bloom, and every wind comes
| laden with the very heart-essence of Araby.
There is homelike feeling about the place,
| and homelike look about these old houses that
must come across the memory of the wanderer
and turn his heart sick with longing-that
must rise up before weary eyes afar
| off. until they grow heavy with
| tears. The business man. the stirring,
practical, successful man, might come back
here-not in his old age, for then the circle has
almost closed and he is a child again-but in
his middle life. the most prosaic, unfeeling
period of his career, and standing here with
| dim eyes. could say. 81 was born here-there
| is the house where first saw the light and by
that footpath among the hills Dolly toed to
| the school house behind them. l remember
I nQ
place"
"And that's the way. through yonder lane
| That looks so still and grassy
The way went one SUNDAY eve
When Mary was lassie."
The records declare-and they are doubtless
| as veracious as most records that the first
| stone of what was to become the capital was
| laid in 1775 by one Hancock Lee. though not
| for seventeen years thereafter did Kentucky
become State. and then her first Legislature
met in Lexington, bur ever after that unto this
day has ls assembled in Frankfort The State
House has been falling into decrepitude for
years, but VIII hanever the subject of aDpropria-
tions for new one comes up there is also
stirred no the subject OF removal ard rather
than that the Frankfort-or t-ornothing-party re-
sign themselves a little longer to the cracks
and crannies in the old building, which they
regard with great veneration.
Ths condition of the Executive Mansion has
| long cried to Heaven for relief. The floor Of
the grand salon has sunk in the centre
though there might have been an earthquake
in the cellar, and man in a hurry across the
room is apt to find the centre of gravity too
suddenly for grace and elegance.
The ball room has been considered so unsafe
as to its flooring that it became necessary to
issue a mandate that not more than two fat
men should be allowed to dance at one time
Sometimes it happens to be a good year for fat
men, eve y legislator being heavy weight,
and of course when they hear of the decree
they all become frantic to frIsk about in the
mazy dance, not one believing the order could
apply to himself for what specimen of ColOs-
suS ever believed himself to be other than a
shadow, wasting away to nothiugness And
here also is the penitentisry, in regard to
which there has been a little of a row
and a rumpus ever since Governor Black
burn has been in office, for he will persist in
pardoning the criminals as fast as they are put
there. The sanitary condition of the building
is not the best in the world, and the Governor
does not believe in capital punishment by
lingering torment. Simply standing outside
and looking up, need not strike apy one
with terror, unless he should happen to he a
bank cashier or treasurer Of a Y. NJ G A.
Then he might have apprehensiOns for the
future in which it participated. Not a stones
throw away is the Kentucky Military Institute
with General r. T. P. Allen at its head VIII ch
is supposed not to doff the cap even to West
Point. And here lSo is the Frankfort YeOnldn,
living and flourishing, with masculine muse
in the editorial chair, who is the reigning ia
vorite OF the Kentucky Dress-MejOT H. T.
Stanton, the author OF the "Moneyless Man"
snd who almost edits his paper in inspired
verse.
The Capitol Hotel is the time hopored insti-
tuition, in its special line, of the place; other
travellers rests may have their brief day and
vanish, but this goes on forever About its
doors the same fine old Kentucky gentlemen
sir" coDgregate in congeniai groups as they
have done since that departed earliest father
laid the first corner stone. They patronize the
hotel bar liberaily-if it is warm to cool off;
and, 1t it is cold, by the same apparently agree
able process. to warm up. They serve TO
deepen that widespread impression that a
Kentucky gentleman'S breakfast consists of
three cocktails and chew of tobacco" and
il, perchance he be desperately hungry adds
fourth cocktail and is too full for utterance
Just above the town is the cemetery on the
rivers brink. Here are the remains Of Daniel
Boone, transferred from their original burial
place In Missouri to this lovely spot. in whose
near neighbor orhood he first stood when he
looked upon the promised land-the fairest
the grandest, the greenest sweep of unbr0ken
forest and hill that ever the sun Shone on
Dotted as it is now with city and town, with all
the manifold traces of civilization and sTt
what must 1t have been to his eye as he beheld
it in its fresh, primeval loveliness. like to
new creation, the glttering dew flashing from
the velvet grasses Piled luxuriantIy about his
feet, the waving woodlands, from whose bosom
the wood lark bore her music to thrill the
morning sky
Elderly Frankfortonians still talk of the day
when Boone was brought to this SPOT for his
final sepulture. The occasion brought together
so many people to witness the imposing cere-
monies that the town was quite lifted off its
little ancient legs. The Boone monument is of
rough Kentucky stone, undresSed and Quanti-
ties of rock are thrown around it to resemble
as much as possible wild spot on a hill slope
Beside him, of course, is Mrs Boone. 1t sounds
rather queer to say Mrs. Boone" of the de-
funct lady, who was quite as good half in the
moose as old Dan himself There is an auto
graph letter of Boone's dated 1888 in possession
of the Kentucky Historical Society. There are
many historic names craven on the tombs In
this cemetery. A great number Of the heroes
of Buena Vista are buried here, and in the
midst OF the group is the grave of Theodore
O'Hara, with that verse from his noble lyric,
THE Heroes of Buena Vista" that stirs the
pulse like strain Of martial music, engraved
on the monument.
''On Fame's eternal camping ground
Their silent tents are spread
And Glory guards with solemn round
The bivouac of the dead"
Many names that seem should belong here nv
all right are written elsewhere-they who filed
these old buildings with tumultuous applause
in the by gone time Clay rests beneath the
marble spire at Lexington, as does Menifee:
and poor, ill-starred Tom Marshall found peace
among the graves of his kindred at the old
Woodford farm. John J. Crittenden is inferred
here, and Ben Hardin and the Monroes and
Mckees, sire and sons.
In possession of the Historical Soeitv is a
cane made or the mantelpiece of the old Love
tavern, where Aaron Burr stopped when here
in 1906 and also a table on which the articles
of his conspiracy were drawn up.
Frankforts day as the capital is rapidly
waning Lexie gton has offered superior induce
ments TO have the seat of government located
there. and Louisville reaches out greedy hands
holding tempting million dollars within them
She wants the capital and she will doubtless
get it. Whenever the Legislature has nothing
in particular to do it falls to talking excitedly
OF removal, and this session has become per- |
fectly rampant on the subject. The day Is not |
far of when Frankfort will be left like solf- |
tary bird clinging to its lonely perch.
And he is dead-the good. the noble the ten |
der. dear Major Jones. Who does not read it |
with something like pang Of personal sorrows |
When the grown men and women of to-day were |
In their cradles their parents drew about the |
winter fires and read the charming idyla with |
ever fresh delight. And was not Major Jones |
forever a near and dear companion as the chill |
dren grew up at the hearthstonep Whose lest |
so keen, and yet with neither iibe nor tannt |
nor sting behind it? There are enough sorrow |
full chords in the worlds chorus and enough !
hands to draw forth the saddest undartones
but he who with finer. subtler touch moves
the worlds laughter in a fresh Lure strain |
mingling no bitter with tho sweet OF the foun, |
6ains spFinging from within, with no light |
scornilg in his ightest spe sch-his need must
be the love and reverence of all mankind. But |
as the same end comes to the BRIGHTEST |
as to the darkest story, with what |