The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1889-01-13
The Kentucky nIue.Grass Region.

Charles Dudley Warner In Harper for January.
So far as | know, there is nothing like it
in the world. Comparison OF it with Eng
land is often made in the use of the words
garden" and "park." The landscape is
as unlike the finer parts of Old England
as ii is unlike the most carefully tended
parts OF New England. IL has neither the
intense green, the subdivisions in hedges,
the bosky lanes, the picturesque cottages,
the niceness Of minute garden culture, of
England, nor the broken. mixed lawn
gardening and neglected pastures and
highways, with the sweet, wild hills, of
the Berkshire region. 1t is an open, ef7--'
waited, rolling land, giving the traveller
often the most extended views over wheat
and clover, hemp and tobacco fields for
ests and bluegrass pastures. One may
drive for u hundred miles north and south
over the splendid macadam turnpikes,
behind blooded roadsters at an easy ten
mile gait, and see always the same sight
smiling agricultural paradise, with
scarcely foot in fence corners, by the
roadside, or in low grounds, of unculti-
try is more pleasing than the small viii
lagos, which have not the tidincss of the
New England small villages; the houses
are for the most part plain; here and
there il negro cabin, or n cluster of
them, apt to be unsightly, but always in
view somewhere is a plantation. house,
more or less pretentious, generally old.
fashioned and with the colonial charm.
These are frequently off the main thor
oughfare, approached by a private road
winding through oaks and ash-trees,
seated on some gentle knoll or slope, may
be with small flower garden. ut prob
ably with the old sentimental blooms that
smell good and have "reminiscences, in the
midst Of waving fields Of grain, bluegrass
pastures, and open forcst-glades watered
by clear stream. There seems TO
be infinite peace in n house so sur
rounded. The house may have pillars,
probably colonial porch and doorway
with carving in bass.rclief, q wide ball,
large, square rooms, low studded, and
general air OF comfort. What is new in il
in the way OF art, furniture, or bric-a-brac
may not be in the best taste. and may
'swear" at the old furniture and the de-
lightful old portraits. For almost always
will be found some portraits Of the post
Revolutionary period, having traditional
aud family interest, by Copley or Jouett,
perhaps Stuart, maybe by some artist
who evidently did not paint for fame,
which carry the observer back to the colo. /,
NAL society in Virginia, Philadelphia ar>@
New York. In a country house and in
Lexington l saw portraits, liie-size aud
miniature, Of Rebecca Gratz, whose love-
illness Of person and character Is still
tender recollection OF persons living. She
was great beauty and toast in her day.
Ii was at her house in Philadelphia, CEN
ter Of wit and gayety. that Washington
Irving and Henry Brevoort and Gulian
G. Vcrplanck often visited. She shono
not less in New York society. and was the
most intimate iriend'oi Matilda Hoffman,
who was betrothed 10 Irving indeed il
was in her arms that Matilda died, fade
less always 10 us as she was 10 Irving, in
the loneliness OF her eighteenth year. Tho
well-iounded tradition is that Irving, on
his first visit 10 Abbotsiord. told Scott OF
his own loss, and made him acquainted
with the beauty and grace Of Rebecca
Gratz. and that Scott, wanting at the mo-
ment TO vindicatc q race that was aspersed,'
used her Us model for Rcbecca in "Ivan-
hoe"