The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1883-12-22
LEXINGTON.
The Old-Time Athens OF the South--.
The Commercial Centre OF the
West

The Commercial Centre OF the
West.
IA K. Mcclure in Philadelphia Times
/ find myself for the first time in
Lexington, the home of Clay. Grand
as 1t Is IN the associations which gather
| about his lustrous name and career, il
is not the Lexington that called the
Mill Boy of the Slashes" to seek home
and fame in the Kentucky wilderness.
When he turned his youthful face
toward the setting sun in 1897, and cast
his lot in the outpost of civilization, the
Lexington of that day was regarded as
the future inland commercial centre OF
the south and west. It was baptized OF
the campfire of pioneers, by the patri.
otlc impulse that welcomed the news OF
the Lexington battle in Massachusetts,
and Virginia culture and refinement
came to the land of Boone and made
the new Lexington the Athens of the
west. Clay and Polk both came from
the Old Dominion to rise with the most
promisi ing and cultured people of the
new commonwealth, and both honored
it in later years, in the senate of the
United States. And their dreams of
social and commercial pre- eminence for
their new western home, long seemed
to be certain of fulfillment.
Before Clay had reached national
distinction as Commoner, Lexington
had become the great commercial CEN
tire of the west, with Cincinnati, Louis
vile, and all the near west and south
seeking 1t as wholesale trading depot.
Its law and medical colleges riyaled
even the great cities of the east, and its
temples of learning were the pride of
the nation. Transylvania university
was the Yale of the south, with its char
ter from parent Virginia ante-dating
the independence of the colonies. The
population of Lexington was once
thrice that of Louisville or Cincinnati.
and it was the centre of southern intel
lect, refinement and elegance. It has
furnished the most illustrious line of
statesmen of any city or county in the
union. Nine residents of Fayette county
have borne the high commission of
proud Kentucky to the United States
senate, and among them were such
memorable names as Clay, Marshall,
breckenridge, and last, though not
least, the present Senator Beck. who
cast his first vote for Clay in 1874; and
twice that number have made the name
of Lexington familiar in the house of
representatives.
But commerce is shifting as the sands
OF the sea, and the Lexington that
Henry Clay dreamed of and saw in
commercial and social pre-eminence
three score years ago, is now, as COM
pared with that day, another sweet Au-
burn, grandest in the fragrant memories
OF festive greatness. The steamboats,
hoarse song was heard on the Ohio:
commerce fled to worship at new altars.
and the city lots which sold at fabulous
prices In the suburbs of Lexington, have
long been gathered back into heart
some and bountiful blue grass farms.
l spent most interesting and in
structlve morning here with one of the
few surviving contemporaries of Clay
when Lexington was the boasted Athens
OF the west. Benjamin Gratz has braved
the storms of ninety-one winters. He
tells of Philadelphia when a city
less than the present Louisville
and of Lexington as the boasted inland
city of the continent. He once pointed
to Transylvania university in its grand
est distinction as part of his own work,
and he shared every joy and sorrow Of
Henry Clay. His eyes are sightless
and his fine form bowed by the weight
of years, but his face brightens with
almost the fervor of youth when he
tells the story of the devotion of Lex
lngton to the gallant Harry of the
West" The city of Penn that he left
to become part of the future metropo-
lis of the west now has nearly million
people within its limits, and the western
metropolis, founded SO hopefully in the
heart of the beautiful and bountiful
blue grass region, is to-day pretty vii
lage, rich in legend and tradition.
richer in the nations records of endur-
ing fame, but with all the glory of early
dreams departed.