Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1899-03-02
"she Was Bred in Old Kentucky.

E In the periodical literature and occ
sional poetry of the United State
, Kentucky, the dark and bloody groun'
has been more generally Identified
: the popular mind with the productio
and consumption of superior grade
whiskey than with sentimental ma
: ters taking musical form 10 ballad
The author of the song, Bred in VI
Kentucky''-not bread from old kel
lucky, as the parodists aires ly have
.I-.touched, however, upon syn
pathetic vein in the first verse OF hl
1song, as follows:
When a lad, stood one day by col
/ tage far away,
And to me that day all nature seem
more grand,
For my Sue, with blushes red, had jus
promised we should wed,
And I'd come to ask her mother TO
her hand.
AS told the old, old tale of alOve tha
ne'er would fail,
The Gray.hRired mother stroked he
daughters head,
And I fancied I could trace just tea
on her kind face
As she placed my sweetheart's han'
| in mine and said.
| What the mother said to the yonni
man differed materially from what, II
like cases, according to all human OBJ
servation and experience. is general,
said. She did not refer to her daugh
ter or to her future sOn-in.law. Sh'
did not say that matrimonial alliances
were made in heaven she did not ado
that she had always expected that h'
would propose. She did not grieve al
the prospective loss of her daughter OF
dry her tears in contemplation Of The
good husband the daughter would Sc
cure. She did not say that she hated
to part with her child, but would gain q
son in losing q daughter. Her remarks
were distinctively geographical, parti-
cularly impersonal and somewhat des.
criptive, and as follows-in the cho-
rus:
She was bred in old Kentucky, where
the meadow grass is blue,
There's the sunshine of the country in
her face and manner, too.
She was bred in old Kentucky, take
her boy, you're mighty lucky,
When you marry a girl like Sue.
For some reason, which it is difficult
to explain, there has been considerable
popular approval Of the dominant senti-
ment in the song of old Kentucky, not
withstanding the fact that there is no
allusion in it to the merits of Bourbon
Is beverage or the wholesome advant
ages of rye, taken internally. Hereto
'ore, Kentucky has been chiefly noted
n the affairs of the stage by reason of
,he horses bred and reared there, and
kentucky thoroughbreds have gained
marked distinction on many race
courses, but the popular merit of
voung women with Kentucky as q /
,lace of education has not heretofore
,een very clearly made known. The
econd verse of the sentimental song.
She Was Bred in Old Kentucky, is of
mournful character. as it de-
cribes the emotions of the young hus-
,and after being left a widower and
contains, too, a somewhate curt refer
nee on his part to "the place viewer
ong called home" He is represented
is soliloquzing, not as is usual in such
pictures, i'll group OF bis
friends and relatives, with. usually,
mis- children in the foreground Of the
picture, but sitting alone, absolutely
alone, and disconsolate, and recalling
the language of bis mother.in-law.
These are the words Of the second
verse.
Many years have passed away since
that well remember d day.
When to that dear old Kentucky
home 1 came,
And my happiness thro' life was my
sweetheart, friend and wife,
For the sunshine in her heart remain
a ed the same;
I am sitting all alone in place we've
long called home,
For yesterday my darling passed
away;
Tho in tears, I think with joy of the
day when, but boy.
That l took her hand and heard her
mother say.
Obviously the essential point to the
popularity of q song is the excellence
Of the music, but the theme has muct
to do with it and the words Of descrip
tion, too. For number Of years mat
ters connected with Kentucky have de
manded public attention. The play
"In Old Kentucky" has been present
ed in all parts of the country, and fo
that reason, perhaps. the patrons o
theatres have felt themselves NOR
familiar with the song on that sub
ject, than one based upon. "Bred il
Kansas" or "Bred in Delaware" fol
instance. The parodists have no
been slow to utilize the advantage
offered by "She Was Bred IN Old Ken
tucky'' as a subject for travesty
There is the tramps' BREAD from Oh
Kentucky." there is the, race-trac
''Bled in Old Kentucky" there is tn
humorous Full of Old Kentucky,
and SO On.
Washington Gets the Conference.
The SPECTATOR Thursday mornin
contained an extract from the VIII
chester News Item to the effect tha
lStaunton would secure the Baltimor
EConference of the M. E. Church, ,Soutf