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Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

Excerpts from newspapers and

other sources Illuminating

aspects of this most well-known

Presidential speech

References to the

Delivery of The Address

From the files of the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection

(Formerly described as: Binder 3, p. l-7a)

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What Readers Say

Lincoln at Gettysburg

His Address Received as if a Bene- diction

To the Editor of The Tribune: ,

Sir: It has been interesting to read what you have had to say about ex- Senator Cole, of California. His vigor and memory are remarkable for one of his age.

I cannot refrain from trying to correct some impressions regarding Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. We know that the President expected to be present, as Chairman Dix of the Pennsylvana Commission invited his presence and asked that he make a brief address. As an evidence that it was written before leaving Washington I refer you to the memoirs of Ward Hill Lamon, who was United States Marshal for the District of Columbia. His memoirs were published by his daughter after his death. We find therein this statement: "On the morn- ing of the 18th I called on the Presi- dent, and he took from his tall hat a sheet of foolscap, handing it to me with the remark: 'Hill, there is what I have written for Gettysburg to-mor- row. It does not suit me, but I have not time for anything more!' This was the address substantially as deliv- ered."

Senator Cole is correct in that it was received with silence, as an officer of the 5th New York Regiment (the Dan- dy Fifth) told me the address seemed like a benediction, and applause would have been out of place. That the. greatness and beauty of the address was at once recognized I need only quote the letter of the speaker, Edward Everett, who wrote Mr. Lin- coln the next day: "Mr. President, per- mit me to congratulate you on your ad- dress of yesterday. Would I could flat- ter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes."

From time to time there has ap- peared in the newspapers a statement that the Gettysburg Address had been posted on the walls of Oxford Univer- sity as an example of the purest Eng- lish. Those who have been through the university buildings told me they had never seen anything of the kind. I wrote the registrar of the university inclosing a newspaper paragraph and asked him to let me know whether it was true or not. Registrar Lansdorf replied that it was not.

No embellishments are needed for Abraham Lincoln — the simple truth is

enough to mark him as the greatest all- round man known to the annals of mankind. CHARLES BURROWS,

Rutherford, N. J., July 3, 1922.

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WHEN LINCOLN SPOKE

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xactly four-sgore i M.U and seven years ago,

f a&4&$M on November 19> 1863> ' Abraham Lincoln made

his Gettysburg Address. This address, probably

the most famous in Amer- ican history, was an afterthought on the part of the committee in charge of ar- rangements at Gettysburg that day. For the formal dedication of the ground where thousands of soldiers in blue and gray had fallen. Edward Everett, a renowned orator with a booming voice, had been chosen to make the key address.

President Lincoln, invited to add a few- words virtually at the last moment, spoke in low, gentle tones that would have car- ried great conviction in a drawing room or small hall, but could not be heard back of the fifteenth row out-of-doors. The blessings — such as they are — of the public-address system had not yet been bestowed upon mankind in 1863. And so Lincoln's immortal words were lost on all but an honored few. The rest of the audience was content to get a look at the President — then began to file out while his speech was still in progress!

A survey conducted by the advertising firm of Batten, Barton, Durstine and Osborne (a name likened by some wit to the sound of a trunk falling down a flight of stairs) would indicate that far too few Americans are familiar with the Gettys- burg Address today. If 10 key cities are an indication, more than seven million adults never even heard of it. Sixteen per cent of those who have heard of it cannot identify the speaker. Fifty-four per cent are wrong about the occasion.

One man complained, "How should I know about the Gettysburg Address? I'm a stranger here myself — just got in. from Chicago." Another boasted. "Sure ■ — it was made at the end of the Civil War — somewhere around 1822!"

on the mere threshold of fame, named Andrew Carnegie. Unfortunately, these are no more than pleasant myths. There is ample evidence that the President began writing the speech in the White House, polished jt en route, and completed it at the home of Judge Wills, his host in Gettysburg. Two original drafts are now in the Library of Congress.

One man who knew his Lincoln back- wards and forwards was the late Alexander Woollcott. Frequently he would greet lec- ture audiences by regaling them with a few inconsequential pleasantries, then con- sulting his watch. "I have been speaking three minutes and thirty-four seconds," he would announce dramatically. "In pre-

JUST four-score and seven years ago . . .

cisely that time Abraham Lincoln deliv- ered the Gettysburg Address!"

Over three hundred biographies of Lincoln have been published. Today, Carl Sandburg's monumental work (awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1940) is considered the final authority. . . Once a very poetic young playwright penned a very poetic play about Lincoln and talked the kindly Sandburg into attending a dress rehearsal. Unfortunately, Sandburg slept through the greater part of the

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ixactly four-score I and seven years ago, on November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln made his Gettysburg Address. This address, probably the most famous in Amer- ican history, was an afterthought on the part of the committee in charge of ar- rangements at Gettysburg that day. For the formal dedication of the ground where thousands of soldiers in blue and gray had fallen. Edward Everett, a renowned orator with a booming voice, had been chosen to make the key address.

President Lincoln, invited to add a few words virtually at the last moment, spoke in low, gentle tones that would have car- ried great conviction in a drawing room or small hall, but could not be heard back of the fifteenth row out-of-doors. The blessings — such as they are — of the public-address system had not yet been bestowed upon mankind in 1863. And so Lincoln's immortal words were lost on all but an honored few. The rest of the audience was content to get a look at the President — then began to file out while his speech was still in progress!

A survey conducted by the advertising firm of Batten, Barton, Durstine and Osborne (a name likened by some wit to the sound of a trunk falling down a flight of stairs) would indicate that far too few Americans are familiar with the Gettys- burg Address today. If 10 key cities are an indication, more than seven million adults never even heard of it. Sixteen per cent of those who have heard of it cannot identify the speaker. Fifty-four per cent are wrong about the occasion.

One man complained, "How should I know about the Gettysburg Address? I'm a stranger here myself — just got in from Chicago." Another boasted, "Sure — it was made at the end of the Civil War — somewhere around 1822!"

There have been intimations that Presi- dent Lincoln wrote the entire address on the back of an old envelope aboard the train that carried him from Washington to Gettysburg. For added effect, you can even read stories that the envelope was borrowed from Mr. Seward, of his cabi- net, and the pencil from a gentleman, then

on the mere threshold of fame, named Andrew Carnegie. Unfortunately, these are no more than pleasant myths. There is ample evidence that the President began writing the speech in the White House, polished it_en route, and completed it at the home of Judge Wills, his host in Gettysburg. Two original drafts are now in the Library of Congress.

One man who knew his Lincoln back- wards and forwards was the late Alexander Woollcott. Frequently he would greet lec- ture audiences by regaling them with a few inconsequential pleasantries, then con- sulting his watch. "I have been speaking three minutes and thirty-four seconds," he would announce dramatically. "In pre-

JUST four-score and seven years ago . . .

cisely that time Abraham Lincoln deliv- ered the Gettysburg Address!"

Over three hundred biographies of Lincoln have been published. Today, Carl Sandburg's monumental work (awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1940) is considered the final authority. . . Once a very poetic young playwright penned a very poetic play about Lincoln and talked the kindly Sandburg into attending a dress rehearsal. Unfortunately, Sandburg slept through the greater part of the performance. The outraged dramatist chided him later, "How could you sleep when you knew how very much I wanted your opinion?" Sandburg reminded him, "Young man, sleep is an opinion."

TW— 11-19-50

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2012 with funding from

State of Indiana through the Indiana State Library

http://archive.org/details/lincoxxxxxxOOIinc

Bulletin of the Lincoln National Life Foundation - - - - Dr. Louis A. Warren, Editor

Published each week by The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, Fort Wayne, Indiana

Number 1195

FORT WAYNE, INDIANA

March 3, 1952

LINCOLN'S DAY-STAR OF PEACE

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Many traditions associated with the Lincoln story have taken on a new significance with the availability of the Lincoln Papers in The Library of Congress. On March 4, 1865, the very day that Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office, Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, who had presided at Lincoln's induction, wrote a presen- tation note to Mrs. Lincoln which accompanied the Bible kissed by Lincoln in the inaugural ceremonies. In this complimentary message the Chief Justice mentioned "The most beautiful sunshine which just at the time the oath was taken dispersed the clouds that had previously darkened the sky." He further expressed his wish that the incident "might prove an auspicious omen of the dispersion of the clouds gray and the restoration of the clear sunlight of prosperous years with the wise and just administration of him who took it (the oath)."

The day following the second inaugural exercises Bishop Simpson delivered an address in the House of Bepresentatives. One who was present has left this reminiscence about a demonstration which took place during the speech. He recalls, "Suddenly the Bishop drew himself up to his full height and said, 'I hope and trust (here he raised his right hand with index finger pointed upward) that the star, which stood over the President yesterday at his inauguration is but the harbinger, the day-star of Peace'." Our informant states that "The audience was receptive, the words like magic. Men whooped and shouted and yelled and tossed their hats in air and then repeated the same thing over and over again."

Clarence True Wilson in his book on Matthew Simp- son uses what seems to be an accurate excerpt from the Bishop's speech on March 5. The author places in quotes these words: "I am not much of a believer in signs and omens; but when yesterday, just as the old administration expired and the new one began, the rifted clouds let God's sunshine flow, I could but regard it as an augury of returning peace."

One of Lincoln's close friends, Isaac N. Arnold, in a book published in 1866 notes the dual appearance of heavenly bodies on that inaugural day and the reaction of the negroes. He states: "When the clouds broke away, and the sun came out in its brilliancy on in- auguration day — especially when a star appeared at mid- day, these simple excitable, strongly religious and su- perstitious people, saw in these natural exhibitions, the palpable interposition of God."

It appears as if we have two separate and distinct phenomena which attracted the attention of the great crowds who attend the dedication. The sudden ap- pearance of the sun seems to have been remembered by the larger number of those in attendance at the services, especially due to the vivid change in weather conditions.

From a dispatch of a news correspondent to a Philadelphia paper on March 4 we observe this impres- sive account of the strange spectacle: "Such a wet, dirty morning as this . . . hardly ever dawned upon Washington. Bain had been falling all yesterday and last night, making the proverbial filthy streets of the political metropolis filthier and more unpleasant than ever. It continued to rain until about nine o'clock this morning when it ceased; but the clouds still hung heavily and the atmosphere looked and felt wattery . . . about eleven o'clock the rain began to pour down again, and the vast masses of people in the ceremonies got well drenched. . . . The fickle weather at half past eleven changed again. The rain ceased."

The news reporter then proceeded to describe the scene which occurred but a short time after the drench- ing rain, and just at the opening of the ceremonies: "Just at this moment the sun burst forth through the dense mass of clouds that had hung like a pall over the city all morning. . . . The clouds disappeared almost as by a miracle."

An interesting version of Abraham Lincoln's reaction to the abrupt change in weather conditions comes from Noah Brooks who claims that "as Lincoln rose to de- liver his inaugural address, the sun burst through the clouds irradiating the scene with splendor and light. It was a hopeful omen, and, speaking of it the next day, Lincoln with tears gathering in his eyes said: 'It made my heart jump ! Let us accept it as a good sign my dear friends'." Brooks further continued in his narration: "A tinge of superstition pervaded Lincoln's nature and more than once he spoke of the sunburst that had illuminated the sky as he stood on the steps of the beautiful capitol to assume the obligations of another term of the Presidency."

While the sudden appearance and brilliant illumina- tion by the sun was possibly the most sensational of the two phenomena, the appearance of the day-star, introduced a mystical element to the whole proceedings which caused much wonderment.

The reminiscences of Smith Stimmel, a member of the military escort which followed next to the Presi- dent's carriage as it returned to the White House after the inaugural ceremonies, have been preserved in a handsome brochure. He states: "Shortly after we turned onto Pennsylvania Ave., west of the capitol, I noticed the crowd along the street looking intently and some were pointing to something in the heavens towards the south. I glanced up in that direction and there in plain view shining in all her starlight beauty was the planet Venus."

Another eye witness of the strange phenomena in Washington that inaugural day was Ervin Chapman who stated in his book of reminiscence: "I saw groups of people at several widely separated points in the city all gazing towards the heavens, and at length I, too, paused and looked and to my unspeakable surprise I saw a bright and beautiful star shining with undimmed splendor in close proximity to the unclouded king of day."

Judge Eobert W. McBride was standing within twenty feet of President Lincoln when he delivered his second inaugural address. He states: "While the ceremonies were in progress the clouds suddenly parted, and, al- though it was about midday, Venus was seen clearly shining in the blue sky. The attention of the immense throng was directed to it."

One of the witnesses already mentioned was informed that, "President Lincoln and his attendants saw the star as they were returning from the capitol to the White House and that it gave the President great de- light as did the welcome sunburst at the inauguration."

Note — Several years ago the late V. H. Biddeson of Tulsa, Okla., did considerable research about the timeliness of the clearing weather and the appearance of a star at midday. Upon his death his file of correspondence was forwarded to the Foundation by his son which data has furnished many leads for this monograph.

LINCOLN'S ORATION.

Rooted in the Memory of Man it Will Live Forever.

United States District Attorney A. W. Tenney of Brooklyn delivered one of his characteristic brilliant speeches at the Lincoln birthday dinner given bv Lafayette camp No. 140, Sons of Vet- erans, in celebration of the birthday of the martyr president. General Sher- man. General O. O. Howard and Ad- miral Bratne were among those pres- ent, says the Eagle.

Colonel Clarkson presided and called upon General Sherman to respond to the toast "Our Country." The grim old veteran was in excellent humor, and he made the boys feel happy by telling them that they would undoubtedly make as good soldiers as their fathers had been. "Justice and mercy," said Gen- eral Sherman, "are two things which come from heaven, but the sword is man's symbol of authority on earth, which makes good mercy on the one hand and justice on the other."

General O. O. Howard spoke of the army and navy.

Colonel Clarkson then called upon the principal speaker of the evening, Asa W. Tenney, to respond to the toast "Abraham Lincoln." Mr. Tenney was received with great applause and his speech was frequently interrupted with shouts of approbation from his auditors. Among other things he said:

Mr. Lincoln was intensely American. He believed in government by the Deo- ple and for tne people. He had no sympathy with class distinctions or witb an aristocracy that came by chance or had its root in spoliation and carnage. He believed not in the birthright of kings, but in the unalienable rights of the people. He believed that every man should own himself and enjoy the fruits of his hands and brain. He be- lieved that in the scales of citizenship loyally weighed more than disloyalty. He believed, too, in the union of states, in the sovereignty of the people and in the absolute power of the nation to save itself. And acting upon this belief in the crucial period of the republic he turned slaves into men and men into soldiers, and declared that this nation should be saved inside the constitution, if pos- sible, outside of it if necessary. His theory was to save the nation first and taue care of parchments afterward. And acting upon this theory he saved the nation. As an orator Mr. Lincoln had few equals, no superiors. And yet he was educated not in the schools, but in the cabin. He knew nothing of the rules of rhetoric or the "genius of gesture." He was na- ture's orator — heaven born. His words, pure and simple, came from his Peart and found an echo on his lips. On No- vember 14, 1863, two orators met on the 1 memorable field of Gettysburg. Both were masters and matchless in their way. One was gifted in oratory, learned in schools and from the books, the other was skilled in the "witchery of speech" as gathered from the river, the forest and plain. Both spoke. The speech of one lies dumb and meaningless, un- read and unremembered, while the speech of the other, rooted in the mem- ory of man, and oft repeated will live with the literature of the race, grow- ing grander and sweeter in pathos and in beauty as the years shall gather around and about it. One was a brain effort, the other was a heart effort. One spoke words that were heard, the other words thp.t were felt. One was art the other was genius. One was Edward Everett, the gifted scholar of New England, the other was Abraham Lincoln, the gifted railsplitter of the west. ^? - £^ C •«

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Lincoln at Gettysburg.

John G. Nicolay, who was Mr. Lin. coin's private secretary, and who ac- companied the President when he made his immortal speech at Gettysburg,- contributes an article to the February Century, describing the occasion and comparing the various versiorsof the speech. He thus describes its delivery:

At about eleven o'clock the Presiden- tial party reached the platform. Mr. Everett, the orator of the day, arrived fully half an hour later, and there was still further waiting before the military bodies and civic spetator could be prop- erly ranged and stationed. It was therefore fully noon before M. Everett began his address, after which, for two hours, he held the assembled multitude in rapt attention with his eloquent de- scription and argument, his polished dictation," his carefully studied and practiced delivery.

When he had concluded, and the band had performed the usual musical interlude. President Lincoln rose to fill the part assigned him in the program. It was entirely natural for every one to expect that this would consist of a few punctuary words, tho mere formality of official dedication. There is every probability that the assemblage regard- ed Mr. Everett as the mouthpiece, the organ of expression of the tnougnt and feeling of the hour, and took it for granted that Mr. Lincoln was there as amere official figure-head, the culminat- ing decoration, so to speak, of the elab- orately planned pageant of the day. They were therefore totally unprerared for what they heare, and could not im- mediately realize that his words, and not those of the carfully selected orator, were to carry the concentrated thought of the oeeasion like a trumpet-pea', to farthest posterity.

The newspaper records indicate that I when Mr. Lincln began to speak, he ! held in his hand the manuscript first draft of his address which he had fin- ished only a short time before. But it is the distinct recollection of the writer, who sat within a few feet of him, that he did not read from the written pages, though that impression was naturally left upon may of his auditors. That it was not a mere mechanical reading is, however, more definitely confirmed by the circumstances that Mr. Lincoln did not deliver the address in the ex- act form in which his first draft is writ- ten. It was taken down in shorthaud by the reporter for the "Associated Press," telegraphed to the principal cities, and printed on the following morning in the leading newspapers.

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Lincoln Pictured In Noted Speeches

' — By JOHN A. HEFFERNAN_

Can I— can you— fina an adjective adequately descriptive of Abraham Lincoln? Adjectives in plenty there are. His long figure, gangling, un- gainly. His queer stove pipe hat. These were familiar enough in Wash- ington during the dark days of civil war. But what transfigured him, what gave these physical incongru- ities a strange and beautiful har- mony and integrity, as he stood on the platform at Gettysburg, that November day in 1863, on ground but recently sanctified by blood freely shed there in the cause of human liberty and the integrity of the Rep-'blic?

What made the rugged brow ma- jestic, like a mighty crag on a moun- tain peak, as he said those simple, sublime words that will ring on for- ever? Not, perhaps, here during darkened periods of human experi- ence, when clouds of oppression hide and bedim the faith in which he lived, but if the mind of the mil- lions should ever become so op- pressed and bedimmed by tyrannous rule as to have no room for them, then they will still ring on beyond the farthest horizon, among the singing stars that keep eternal vigil in the unending vistas of eternity. I can find no adjective for that. All I can do is to ask you to sea him, as I clcse my eyes and see him, rising there, awkward, somberly pensive, beside the elegant, urbane Edward Everett, and, as silence falls on the multitude— listen!

"... We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that the nation might live. It is altogether fitting and prop- er that we should do this. But in a larger sense — we cannot dedicate— we cannot consecrate —we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, v/ho struggled here have conse- crated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. . . .

"It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the un- finished work which they, who fought here, have thus far, so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us— that from these honored dead, we take increasedy devo- tion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here high- ly resolve that these dead shall not have lived in vain— that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Once more behold him, as I be- hold him, as he stands for the second inaugural on the East por- tico of the Capitol,

"... With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firm- ness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and for his or- phan— to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." I think, perhaps, you may under- stand what I mean. When they place the monarch of the greatest empire the world knows today — in- deed, has ever known — on the throne, they clothe him with robes of high state, they give him a royal curule, surmounted by the crown of his kingly authority; there is the sash of an ancient heraldic order across his breast, and on his tunic gleam the jewelled insignia of an- cient orders, the gem encrusted Cross and blazing star; they dress the puppet symbol of imperial au- thority with all the trappings of pomp and glory.

Lincoln had none of that; needed none of it. Yet that figure, stand- ing on the portico of the Capitol, was the center and the soul of a picture to which all the environ- ment was merely attendant, a pic- ture that for that hour was the mag- net of the world's wondering gaze. What word in the vast, opulent lan- guage we speak is adequate? I know of none.

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The Heart of America

By Arthur Briggs Farquhar

An intimate picture of life in Maryland before the Civil War: the author's experiences when the Confederate armies invaded hhhome town: contacts with Lincoln and Grant

The Civil War

The debates of Lincoln and Doug- las, and Lincoln's great speech at the Cooper Institute in New York in February, 1860, fired the country. They made known the legal position of slavery, and they made known to the East something of the qualities which this wonderful man had in him. His gift of clear thought and Biblical speech convinced the soldier- citizen, disgusted with the vacillations of Buchanan, that he was the man who might cement together the Union that seemed in a fair way to need the services of a very competent mason. For there was no doubt where Lincoln, stood. We needed a strong President with plenty of common sense. And for these reasons Lincoln won the nomination and the election. Only a very few people held him as a potentially great man — not a larger number than hail every President as great. But his speeches and declara- tions affected me deeply — ■ more deeply than I can well describe. They awoke in me an admiration which, a few years later, after I had met and talked with him, developed into a reverence that has grown with the years. To-day, after having met many of the leading men in most of the countries of the world during the past half-century, I believe that he was one of the few super-men who ever came to this earth. This may sound extravagant but I cannot put down my feeling toward Abraham Lincoln in other than extravagant terms. When the most has been said that can be said — only a fraction of the whole man has been revealed.

When the result of Lincoln's elec- tion was made known it will be re- membered that 'South Carolina in a state convention repealed the act rati- fying the Constitution and seceded from the Union; and that, before his inauguration, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississipi, Texas, and Florida had made like decisions. We knew that the situation was serious; but, somehow, we could not reconcile j ourselves to civil war. Neither side I really believed that there was going

to be a fight. The most that anyone could conceive was an insurrection — an oversized riot. Politicians were always talking fight anyway. Presi- dent Buchanan had no effective sug- gestion for maintaining the Union.

Then came the inauguration, and the declaration by Lincoln — I was within a few feet of the platform, closely watched his face, and knew that he meant what he said, that his

promises would be kept — that he had no purpose of interfering with the in- stitution of slavery in the states where it existed; that he was against bloodshed and violence; but that he would protect the integrity of the Union and, for the benefit of the South, he said: "You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have a most solemn one to protect and defend it." We thought that the genius and firmness of Lincoln could find a way out. Those who live to-day have no conception of the obstacles which the Union had already surmounted in its organization. I was a young man with lit/tie personal experience, but all around were men who had gone through the travail of >■ the Union. They had seen basic points of differ- ences between the sections recon- ciled. Politics were usually violent. In most disputes, each side held al- most as of course, that the other was | actuated by lower motives than had hitherto been known in the history I of the human mind and that as far as personal character was concerned, one would have to go back to the worst of the Roman emperors even to get a faint idea of the moral turpitude of the opponent. We were accustomed to violent invectives; and seldom an election passed without a number of free-for-all fights. What we to-day would call a shockingly vituperative campaign would then have been classed as mild.

THE Gettysburg and Vicksburg vic- tories immensely helped the Presi- dent, but they by no means silenced all the virulent attacks against him. There was not a general "Stand behind the President" in those days.

I stood very near to the speaker's stand. Edward Everett made an ora- tion. It was eloquent but it was long, and the President, as he sat there, looked very, jjpry weary. Then the time came for him to move to the rustic platform where he was to speak. The place is marked now by a monu- ment, on which is inscribed his great address. He rose slowly and, as he

took his place in the center of the platform drew from his waistcoat pocket what appeared to me to be a small, discolored leaf torn from a memorandum book, and, glancing at it now and then, delivered slowly clearly, dwelling on each phrase as though he were pronouncing a bene- diction, these words:

Lincoln at Gettysburg

"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this con- tinent a new nation, conceived in lib- erty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

';Now we are engaged in a great eival war, testing whether that na- tion, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a por- tion of that field, as a final resting- place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

"But, in a larger sense, we cannot

dedicate — we cannot consecrate we

annot hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who strug- gled h^re, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or de- tract. The vorld will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us Ae living, rather to be dedicated here u the unfinished work which they whot fought here have thus far so nobly dvanced. It

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is rather ior us to oe nere dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly re- solve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of free- dom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

It was over so quickly; it was so direct, so simple, so forceful, that practically none of those in the audi- ence seemed to realize that they had just heard the most glorious joining of word and thought that has ever come from mortal man — ■ that we had been given the opportunity to hear the whole philosophy and spirit and cour- age and reason for the United States being put into the compass of the Lord's Prayer — that the words we had heard would be to-day in every truly American home and office in the land; and that no one hunting for a definition for that new word "Ameri- canism" need go beyond those sen- tences. Perhaps it was because I kne\V and venerated Lincoln that I was more deeply impressed than by any words that I had ever heard uttered during my lifetime. Turn- ing to those with me, I said: "When this battle becomes a misty memory those words will be remembered" — which was received with a doubtful >mile.

Edward Everett, turning to the President, and either because he was courteous or because the address had moved him, or because of both, said in my hearing:

"Mr. President, you have made a great speech. My address will only be remembered because it was made on the same day."

The President answered: "The au- dience does not seem to agree with you."

The audience certainly did not. They did not really know what they had heard. When a great thing hap- pens, those who are there rarely have any notion of the greatness. The Tribune said that the President had "made a few remarks" and a Harris- burg paper, published the next morn- ing, spoke sneeringly of it as being unworthy of a President. At an agri- cultural meeting at Elkton, Md. about a year later, I spoke to Horace Greelej about this and he gruffly answered:

"One of the many times we wer< damn fools," and I told him I forga^ him.

I heard the President's inaugural in the following year, and that was the last time I saw him alive. B3 the time of Lincoln's second inaugura tion his position had become more permanent. The personal opposition to him was negligible. But it was not until April 15, 1865, with the war ended, and Abraham Lincoln suddenly dead, that the country began to know what it had had and what it had lost in the way of a man. We feel a good deal the same way about Theodore Roosevelt, another great, clean, coura- geous American. The world seems a lonesome place since he has gone. It is a great country that can produce such men.

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