The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1916-04-28

by disinterested bystanders that the
war was really over, the Kentucky
Confederates and the Kentucky
Unionists embraced across the
Bloody Chasm, and then resumed
pleasant and congenial hostilities in
the political arena right where they
had left off four years before. In
order to be sure there would always
be enough foemen to furnish enter
tainment, a considerable number of
the Confederates became Radical Re-
publicans and an equal proportion OF
the Union men Joined the shattered
Democratic party. Again the situa-
tion became typical, traditional and
proper.
Politically, Kentucky.
Politically, Kentucky of recent
years has Gained down somewhat,
although our campaigns are yet very
far from being the milk-and- watery
affairs observed elsewhere in the
Union. To the true Kentuckian, pol
itics is not recreation merely. With
him 1t is a calling, a profession, and
a lifetime avocation. Hospitality is
his religion, but politics is his habit.
At this time of writing, the issues of
prohibition and woman suffrage en-
gage the voters mind. Suffrage
gains ground steadily, but 1t has not
yet enlisted so strong following as
in certain nearby states. Having for
so long regarded woman as his supe-
rior, the Kentuckian is reluctant to
make her his equal.
OF the seven original jokes in the
world-there are eight now, since a
gentleman at Detroit, Michigan, pop
ularized the jitney- bile-but of the
original seven the first and foremost
dealt with the Kentucky colonel and
his toddy. This being so, it will
come as a shock to many to learn
that local option prevails over most
of Kentucky. Four out of every five
counties are so dry that often a
stranger must travel nearly half a
block to get drink.
Kentucky offers more contradic-
tions than any other state in the en-
tire sisterhood. 1t is inseparably and
forever of the Union, yet standing
apart and insisting always upon the
right to administer its own affairs in
it's own way. Within its boundaries
are spots which breed more pizen Re-
publicans to the square inch than
Vermont does. Ten miles away, or
twenty, are other spots which in
thought, mood, custom and speech
are as typically southern as though
they stretched along the gulf, in
stead of being, as they sometimes
are, within shooting distance of the
Mason and Dixon line. You find
towns where scarce colored brother
abides, and other towns where he
constitutes thirty-ive to forty pei
cent of the population and practical
ly all of the leisure class. When
Gabriel's trumpet blows, some of the
dark-complexioned Kentuckians are
not going to answer, unless they
think it's dinner horn. Marse Ga.
briel will have to blow her again.
OF late, Kentucky has gone in less
for pistol .toting and more for better
schools; for fewer homicides and a
greater number of good roads. Yet
in her essentials she is what she al
ways has been. She leads the planet
and the subdivision thereof in the
production of chewing tobacco and
Bourbon Installations, which age In
the wood, or would do so were 1t moi
for the demands of the New York
clubs. Likewise, she leads in fine
fast horses; in hemp, although moi
so much hemp since the electric
chair came into common use and the
lynchings began to fall off; in corr
bread, without any sugar in it; IL
uo6 JoWi anu tuihiP 6iSShS, ~ go
cestors; in, colonies who inherited the
title or had 1t wished on them; II
poets-not all of our poets write poe
try, but all of them think it; in sill
ver-tongued orators; in the proper
tionate number of latchstrings hang
ing on the outside; in the use Of
doormats with the word Welcome
on them; in pretty girls with soft
voices and tiny feet and fiirtatiou'
souls; in men who believe that Ken
lucky has the fairest skies, the soft
est landscapes. the deepest water
ways, the clearest rills, the finest
people, and the greatest undevlopo5
possibilities in natural wealth. and
are willing to fight you to prove It
Within her own borders she excels
in the ritualistic mint julip and the