IN KENTUCKY.

The moonlight falls the softest,

In Kentucky;

The summer days come oftest,

In Kentucky;

Friendship is the strongest,

Love’s light glows the longest,

Yet, wrong is always wrongest,

In Kentucky.

Life’s burdens bear the lightest,

In Kentucky;

The home fires burn the brightest,

In Kentucky;

While players are the keenest,

Cards come out the meanest,

The pocket empties cleanest,

In Kentucky.

The sun shines ever brightest,

In Kentucky;

The breezes whisper lightest,

In Kentucky;

Plain girls are the fewest,

Their little hearts are truest,

Maiden’s eyes the bluest,

In Kentucky.

Orators are the grandest,

In Kentucky;

Officials are the blandest,

In Kentucky;

Boys are all the fliest,

Danger ever nighest,

Taxes are the highest,

In Kentucky.

The bluegrass waves the bluest,

In Kentucky;

Yet, bluebloods are the fewest (?),

In Kentucky;

Moonshine is the clearest,

By no means the dearest,

And, yet, it acts the queerest,

In Kentucky.

The dove-notes are the saddest,

In Kentucky;

The streams dance on the gladdest,

In Kentucky;

Hip pockets are the thickest,

Pistol hands the slickest,

The cylinder turns quickest,

In Kentucky.

The song birds are the sweetest,

In Kentucky;

The thoroughbreds are fleetest,

In Kentucky;

Mountains tower proudest,

Thunder peals the loudest,

The landscape is the grandest,

And politics—the damnedest,

In Kentucky.

By James H. Mulligan.