The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1919-05-31

TINE Following address was denver
ed by Hon. Edwin p. Morrow at Lou
isville on last Lincoln Day, Febru-
ary IL. 1919
There Is no altar OF national love
or national service on which Ken
lucky has not proudly laid her price,
less gifts of head and heart, Of soul
and body. There has been no march
OF progress In which she did not
share, no field of enedavor In which
she did not toll, no victory which she
did not help to win, no defeat In which
she did not suffer, and no star on the
flag which she did not help to keep in
Its field of blue.
First begotten of the womb of the
Union, first nursing at the ample
breast of the motherland, she will be
the last to desert or dishopor her. To
tell the full story Of Kentucky's gifts
to the life and progress Of the Ma
tion; to recount the lofty deeds or give
the names of her distinguished sons,
Is impossible In the brief time now
allowed We can only sketch the
mountain peaks of her influence. Dur
ing the years Of her terrible struggle
for existence, even before her en-
trance into the Union, her hardy sons
and noble daughters were leading the
vanguard in the march of the Nations
progress. Leading in that march Of
civilization started by Boone and his
companions when they threw them
selves beyond the walls Of the Appa-
lachians and through the gaps of the
Cumberlands, and which was to lead
on beyond the Missouri across the
Western prairies, beyond the frown-
ing barrier of the Rockies, down to
the tapping waves of the Pacific,
where now teeming cities light their
lamps by the setting sun ere 1t sinks
to rest in oceans outstretched arms."
All, pioneers of Kentucky! All, wild
erness road! crimsoned with blood,
golden with romance and legend, your
story will be told as long as history
finds pen, or truth a tongue. Boone!
[Kenton! Harrod! Whitley! Logan!
Your mossacined feet have left forever
their imprint on the shores of time.
1t was the Kentucky pioneer-"those
knights in buckskin who followed
the vision-granted quest of George
Rogers Clark, and who, starting from
this spot, at the falls Of the Ohio,
pressed on through swamps and mo-
rass, through snow and ice, through
difficulties that immortalized endur-
ance" to the walls of Old Vincenes,
where they took from the sky the flag
of England and gave that priceless
jewel. THE Northwest" to glitter for
ever in the diadem of the newborn re-
public. Sons Of such sires, heirs of
such traditions, 1t is no wonder that
the sons and daughters of Kentucky
have, in the life and thought and
deeds of the Nation, taken high place
and rank, nor that Kentucky has given
noble gifts to the Nation.
To the cause of education she gave
the first newspaper and the first IL
brary west of the Appalachians, and
was among the first States Of the I'm
ion to imbed deep in the foundation of
her government that rock Of ages
the American common free school. In
the realm Of craftsmanship we point
with pride to Beck, Breckenridge,
Letcher, Carlisle and to Clay, the
great compromiser, who stood with
loving heart and lofty brain between
the North and South, and like Moses
serving his people. held back for
years the cruel waves of fratricidal
strife. In Jurisprudence to Nicholas,
Boyle, Robertson, and Harlan, the
great dissenter. In oratory to Mar
shall, Menifee, and Clay, of the older
school, and to Bradley and James, of
the new. In surgery to Mcdowell, the
father of ovariotomy, and to Brasil
ear, who first amputated the thigh at
the hip joint. In journalism to Penn
and Prentice, and to the greatest Ro-
man of them all, our own "Marse Hen
ry," who first, and for months alone,
sounded that stirring bugle call which
was at last to swell into the national
chorus, ITO hell with the Hohenzol-
Terms and the Hapsburgs."
In invention to John Fitch and
James Rumsey, who first mastered the
principles of the steamboat, and to
Barlow, who invented the planetar-
ium, and made a model Of the first To-
connective. In theology to Bascon. Wal
Ter. Rice, and Alexander Campbell
who In the wilderness gave to religion
new faith now numbering thousands
Of followers. In art to Jouett, who,
with cunning brush, so truthfully de-
lineated the human features as to al
most make his canvas breathe and
speak; to Joel Hart, the sculptor,
whose genius touched cold and form
less marble to make II blush at its
own loneliness. In poetry to OHara,
who wrote the immortal elegy for all
the heroic dead.
To music Kentucky gave deathless
song, one which blends In It's heart Of
melody the mysteries Of twilight and
moonrise. the glory OF the breaking