Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 March 1886 — The Typical Kentuckian. [ARTICLE]

The Typical Kentuckian.

The typical Kentuckian regards himself an American of the Americans, and thinks as little of being like the English as he would of imitating the Jutes. In nothing is he more like his transatlantic ancestry than in strong self-content. He sits on his farm as though it were the pole of the heavens —a manly man with a heart in him. Usually of the blonde type, robust, well.formed, with clear, fair complexion, that grows ruddier with age and stomachic development, full neck, and an open, kind, untroubled countenance. He is frank, but not familiar; talkative, but not garrulous; full of the genial humor of local hits and illusions, but Without a subtle nimbleness of wit; indulgent toward all purely masculine vices, but intolerant of petty crimes; no reader of books nor master in religious debate, faith coming to him as naturally as his appetite, and growing with what it is fed upon; loving roast pig, but not caring particularly for Lamb’s eulogy; loving his grass like a Greek, not because it is beautiful, but because it is fresh and green; a peaceful man with strong passions, and so to be heartily loved and respected or heartily hated and respected, but never despised or trifled with. An occasional barbecue in the woods, where the saddles of Southdown mutton are roasted on spits over the coals of the mighty bench, and the steaming kettles of burgoo lend their savor to the nose of the hungry political orator, so that he becomes all the more impetuous in his invectives; the gre<t agricultural fairs; the race-courses; the monthly County 'Court day, when he meets his neighbors on the ptiblic square of the nearest town; the quiet Sunday mornings, wlieh he meets them again for rather more clandestine talks at the front door of the neighborhood church— these and his own fireside are his characteristic and ample pleasures. You will never be under his roof without being touched by the mellowest of all the virtues of his race—simple, unsparing -human kindness and hospitality. The women of Kentucky have long had a reputation for beauty. An average type is a refinement on the English blonde —greater delicacy of form, feature, and color. A beautiful Kentucky women is apt to be exceedingly beautiful. Her voice is almost uniformly low and soft; her hands and feet delicately formed 1 ; her skin quite pure and beautiful in tint and shading; her eyes blue or brown, and hair nut brown or golden b.own; to all of which ia added a certain unapproachable refinement. It must nbt for a moment be supposed, however, that there are not many genuinely ugly women here, as -elsewhere. —James JLane Allen, [Magazine.