ated England more cordially than did Henry Clay.

The genealogists have put forth heroic efforts to secure for Clay a noble
English ancestry, but with a degree of success that only makes the
unthinking laugh and the judicious grieve.

Had these zealous pedigree-hunters studied the parish registers of County
Derry, Ireland, as lovingly as they have Burke's Peerage, they might have
traced the Clays of America back to the Cleighs, honest farmers
(indifferent honest), of Londonderry.

The character of Henry Clay had in it various traits that were peculiarly
Irish. The Irishman knows because he knows, and that's all there is about
it. He is dramatic, emotional, impulsive, humorous without suspecting it,
and will fight friend or foe on small provocation. Then he is much given
to dealing in that peculiar article known as palaver. The farewell address
of Henry Clay to the Senate, and his return thereto a few years later,
comprise one of the most Irishlike proceedings to be found in history.

There is no finer man on earth than your "thrue Irish gintleman," and
Henry Clay had not only all the highest and most excellent traits of the
"gintleman," but a few also of his worst. Clay made friends as no other
American statesman ever did. "To come within reach of the snare of his
speech was to love him," wrote one man. People loved him because he was
affectionate, for love only goes out to love. And the Irish heart is a
heart of love. Henry Clay called himself a Christian, and yet at times he
was picturesquely profane. We have this on the authority of the "Diary" of
John Quincy Adams, which of course we must believe, for even that other
fighting Irishman, Andrew Jackson, said, "Adams' Diary is probably
correct--damn it!"

Clay was convivial in all the word implies; his losses at cards often put
him in severe financial straits; he stood ready to back his opinion
concerning a Presidential election, a horse-race or a dog-fight, and with
it all he held himself "personally responsible"--having fought two duels
and engaged in various minor "misunderstandings."

And yet he was a great statesman--one of the greatest this country has
produced, and as a patriot no man was ever more loyal. It was America with
him first and always. His reputation, his fortune, his life, his all,
belonged to America.

* * * * *

The city of Lexington contains about twenty-five thousand inhabitants. In
Lexington two distinct fo