JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE 231 HENRY CLAY 232
JAMES WEIR, SR. 234 SIMON KENTON 235
MARY E. W. BETTS 237 A KENTUCKIAN KNEELS TO NONE BUT GOD 238
REUBEN T. DURRETT 239 LA SALLE: DISCOVERER OF LOUISVILLE 241
RICHARD H. COLLINS 244 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION 245
ANNIE C. KETCHUM 247 APRIL TWENTY-SIXTH 248
FRANCIS H. UNDERWOOD 250 ALOYSIUS AND MR. FENTON 252 AN AMAZING PROPHECY 254
STEPHEN C. FOSTER 255 MY OLD KENTUCKY HOME, GOOD-NIGHT 256
ZACHARIAH F. SMITH 258 EARLY KENTUCKY DOCTORS 259
JOHN A. BROADUS 261 OXFORD UNIVERSITY 263
MARY J. HOLMES 265 THE SCHOOLMASTER 266
ROSA V. JEFFREY 269 A GLOVE 270 A MEMORY 271
SALLIE R. FORD 272 OUR MINISTER MARRIES 273
JOHN E. HATCHER 276 NEWSPAPER PARAGRAPHS 277
WILLIAM C. WATTS 279 A WEDDING AND A DANCE 280
J. PROCTOR KNOTT 282 FROM THE DULUTH SPEECH 283
GEORGE G. VEST 285 JEFFERSON'S PASSPORTS TO IMMORTALITY 286 EULOGY OF THE DOG 286
WILLIAM P. JOHNSTON 288 BATTLE OF SHILOH--SUNDAY MORNING 289
WILL WALLACE HARNEY 291 THE STAB 292
J. STODDARD JOHNSTON 292 "CAPTAIN MOLL" 293
JULIA S. DINSMORE 295 LOVE AMONG THE ROSES 295
HENRY T. STANTON 297 THE MONEYLESS MAN 299 "A MENSa ET THORO" 300 A SPECIAL PLEA 301 SWEETHEART 301
SARAH M. PIATT 303 IN CLONMEL PARISH CHURCHYARD 304 A WORD WITH A SKYLARK 305 THE GIFT OF TEARS 306
BOYD WINCHESTER 307 LAKE GENEVA 308
THOMAS GREEN 310 THE CONSPIRATORS 312
FORCEYTHE WILLSON 313 THE OLD SERGEANT 314
W. C. P. BRECKINRIDGE 319 IS NOT THIS THE CARPENTER'S SON 321
BASIL W. DUKE 323 MORGAN, THE MAN 324
HENRY WATTERSON 325 OLD LONDON TOWN 327
GILDEROY W. GRIFFIN 331 THE GYPSIES 332
JOHN L. SPALDING 334 AN IVORY PAPER-KNIFE 335
NATHANIEL S. SHALER 336 THE ORPHAN BRIGADE 337 TOM MARSHALL 339 LINCOLN IN KENTUCKY 341
WILLIAM L. VISSCHER 342 PROEM 343
BENNETT H. YOUNG 344 PREHISTORIC WEAPONS 345
JAMES H. MULLIGAN 348 IN KENTUCKY 350 OVER THE HILL TO HUSTONVILLE 351
NELLY M. MCAFFEE 353 FINALE 353
MARY F. CHILDS 356 DE NAMIN' OB DE TWINS 357
WILLIAM T. PRICE 359 THE OFFENBACH AND GILBERT OPERAS 361
GEORGE M. DAVIE 363 "FRATER, AVE ATQUE VALE" 363 HADRIAN, DYING, TO HIS SOUL 364
JOHN URI LLOYD 364 "LET'S HAVE THE MERCY TEXT" 366
KENTUCKY IN AMERICAN LETTERS
JOHN FILSON
John Filson, the first Kentucky historian, was born at East Fallowfield, Pennsylvania, in 1747. He was educated at the academy of the Rev. Samuel Finley, at Nottingham, Maryland. Finley was afterwards president of Princeton University. John Filson looked askance at the Revolutionary War, and came out to Kentucky about 1783. In Lexington he conducted a school for a year, and spent his leisure hours in collecting data for a history of Kentucky. He interviewed Daniel Boone, Levi Todd, James Harrod, and many other Kentucky pioneers; and the information they gave him was united with his own observations, forming the material for his book. Filson did not remain in Kentucky much over a year for, in 1784, he went to Wilmington, Delaware, and persuaded James Adams, the town's chief printer, to issue his manuscript as _The Discovery, Settlement, and Present State of Kentucke_; and then he continued his journey to Philadelphia, where his map of the three original counties of Kentucky--Jefferson, Fayette, and Lincoln--was printed and dedicated to General Washington and the United States Congress. This Wilmington edition of Filson's history is far and away the most famous history of Kentucky ever published. Though it contained but 118 pages, one of the six extant copies recently fetched the fabulous sum of $1,250--the highest price ever paid for a Kentucky book. The little work was divided into two parts, the first part being devoted to the history of the country, and the second part was the first biography of Daniel Boone ever published. Boone dictated this famous story of his life to the Pennsylvania pedagogue, who put it into shape for publication, yet several Western writers refer to it as "Boone's autobiography." Boone is the author's central hero straight through the work, and he is happier when discussing him than in relating the country's meager history. Filson's _Kentucky_ was translated into French by M. Parraud, and issued at Paris in 1785; and in the same year a German version was published. Gilbert Imlay incorporated it into the several editions of his _Topographical Description of the Western Territory of North America_ (London, 1793). And several subsequent Western writers also reproduced it in their works, seldom giving Filson the proper credit for it. The last three or four years of his life John Filson spent in Kentucky, Illinois, and Indiana. He was one of the founders of Cincinnati, which he named "Losantiville;" and a short time later, in 1788, he wandered into the Miami woods one day and was never seen again. Col. Reuben T. Durrett, the Louisville historian, wrote his biography, and established an historical organization, in 1884, which he named the "Filson Club." Filson's fame is secure in Kentucky, and Colonel Durrett and his work have made it so.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. _The Life and Writings of John Filson_, by R. T.
Durrett (Louisville, Kentucky, 1884); _Kentuckians in History and Literature_, by John Wilson Townsend (New York, 1907); _The First Map of Kentucky_, by P. Lee Phillips (Washington, 1908).
THE AIR AND CLIMATE OF KENTUCKY
[From _The Discovery, Settlement, and Present State of Kentucky_ (Wilmington, Delaware, 1784)]