The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1905-12-28
LETTER FROM KENTUCKY.
Mrs. Sharpe Tells of Lexington
and the Blue Grass Country.

Lexington, KY, Dec. 20, 1905.
Editor Tribune:
After spending tie summer in
Marshall county, returned to
this city, October "a, and having
promised many friends to write
to them when got settled for
the winter i will, with your per-
mission, make one letter in the
Tribune do for all at this time.
/ always read the Tribune just
as soon as the carrier leaves it
and when | opened it Dec. s, the
first thing that met my eyes was
the supplement with Kloepfer's
red letter sale on one side and
the presidents message on the
other. OF course | read the bar
gains first, then turning to the
local pages | learned that the
ground was covered with snow
on Thanksgiving day while the
streets were dry and dusty here.
We had no weather like winter
until December Is, when we. had
a rain followed by sleet and
about six inches Of snow, but it
all melted in a few hours.
can scarcely realize that it is
almost Christmas. The little
folks here do not expect Santa
Claus to come with reindeers and
a sleigh, because sleighs are sell
dom seen south of the Ohio river.
The children here think he trav-
els in an automobile and would
not dare to run over a Kentuck-
ian.
Lexington was settled in 1879 ;
the first school house was built
in 1880, the first church, Presby-
terian, was organized in 1881.
Henry Clay was married here in
1893 and monument 116 feet
high, erected to his memory,
stands in the beautiful cemetery
and l can see it plainly from
my porch.
Joel Y. Hart, one of Ameri-
cas- noted sc,ilptors had his stu
dio on Second street. Transyl-
vania University established in
1898 and now called Kentucky
University, has an enrolment OF
1,100 students from thirty states
and many foreign countries. 1t
has an endowment of a million
dollars and among those who
contributed to this fund were
George Washington, John Quin-
cy Adams, Aaron Burr, Robert
Morris and other historic charac-
tiers.
The commercial college, the
Carnegie library, costing $4,000
the Y. M. c. A. building worth
$4,000, the public schools and
22 nice churches, two hospitals,
eight banks, the chamber of COM
merce, manufacturing establish
ments, the park system, court
house and other public buildings
are features of interest.
Thousands of turkeys are rails
ed in the hilly sections of this
state and are driven to the mar
ket house in Lexington and
slaughtered for the eastern mar
kets. The larger the drove OF
turkeys the easier they are to
drive, and | had the pleasure of
seeing 1900 in one drove last
week.
The first fiat building was
erected in Lexington this sum-
mer by colored man and it is
UP to date in every particular.
The country surrounding the
city is level and the soil is very
productive. Hemp, tobacco and
corn are raised in large quaint
ties. The corn seems to be all
white and the stalks are aston
ishingly large. This is the center
of the celebrated blue grass re-
gion, famous for fine horses and
cattle.
Natural gas is being piped here
from the mountains and will soon
be ready for use. The city is
supplied with water from a reser-
voir three miles away, but many
people use cistern water instead
of city water. The city is 65 miles
from the mountains, 80 miles
|. from Cincinnati and 800 miles
from Plymouth, Indiana.
The state reform school is To-
Gated FIVE miles from the city and
has over 80 boys who are taught
trades of different kinds. One
of the state insane asylums is To-
Gated here, and the post office
building erected by the govern
ment cost $225,000.
i The city is quite railorad CEN
ter. There are five railroads and
a union depot. We of course have
street cars, interurban lines, cleo
trio lights and everything up to
date. The climate is mild and
healthful and there is much
wealth in the city and surround.
ing country. The state fair was
held here fb;c voar fo~ <Lo G~ex