Show 14 i li LINCOLN at GER LITTLE more than seventy years ago a gaunt unhandsome man whose face was careworn and whose figure was stooped revealing the agony that was almost smothering him delivered a speech of 0 only about three hundred words in length scarcely any attention was paid to that man or to the words that he uttered at the time it was because he was mas the nations ruler that lie he had bad been given the opportunity to make any remarks on this occasion not abraham lincoln Pre president of the united states but another man edward everett a noted orator had been chosen as the principal speaker and be spoke first lie ile held the crowd spellbound two hours and newspapers the next nest day devoted much space to a report of we his masterly effort of the other mans speech most newspapers made no mention beyond saying that he also spoke A few of the larger papers printed what he said but without comment about everybody even body forgot what the man who spoke two hours had said the other mans utterance because of its brevity and manner of delivery began to be recalled by its hearers bearers and for decades it has been classed among the worlds literary masterpieces and seven eten years year asa ago out our cythera brought forth upon this continent a new notion nation conceived conceive in liberty and dedicated to afa the proposition that nil all men tire are created equal now we ire are engaged in a great civil war or testing tit hether that nation or any nation so 0 o conceived and so 0 o dedicated led long ionic endure we are eruct on a a great battlefield of ant that tier we lave come to dedicate a portion of it a a a final place for those thoe nho ho died did here her that the nation might lle lie it Is altogether fitting and proper that aliat we should do this but in a larger sense we canting aie cannot consecrate xie ne cannot hallow this hi ground the bratie braie men biting and dead ilbo struggled here have bul lowed it fur far abue our poor power to add or detract the iorli will little note nor long remember what we ray any here e bo but it can neier forget hat they did here it to I 1 rather for un on the living to lie be dedicated here bere to the unfinished work tuey they have than car so 0 o nobly carried on it in rather for us u to be here dedicated to the great tank remaining before us a that from these honored dead vre a take tak increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last tabt full measure of devol devotion loni that vr tre h her re highly reso these dead ball dball ot t kate have tit died te d in en vain ing th that st t h a nation under onder god shall ball have a new aen birth of freedom freed and that hat government of the people by the people aad to tor the people shall not perish from the earth the occasion of the masterpiece of oratory and ad the scene was that of the dedication of the burial place for union soldiers who died in battle ea e a field over which a part of the battle of gettysburg had raged it was only by chance that president lincoln spoke at all for had the original date chosen for the dedication been observed it Is likely that he would have pronounced only the LI simple in formula of off official iclal dedication the date set net was october 23 but arverett eve rett advised that lie ho could not conveniently be there then the dedication was postponed to november 19 11 no invitation was sent to the president until No N november ember 2 then lir he uns nas very for melv inid thai glint lion ledward bedr ard everett will deliver the oration it Is the desire after the oration you its as chief executive of 0 the nation formally set apart these grounds to their sacred use by a few appropriate remarks with the invitation went a note from an 0 official of the soldiers national cemetery board telling the president the writer hoped mr lincoln would feel it hla his duty to lay aside pressing business for a day and come to gettysburg to perform this late sad rite to our brave soldiers thus the president virtually was commanded to attend a dedication ceremony that had been postponed for the convenience of another it was rather hoped by the committee in charge of the arrangements that old abe would not attempt to make a speech the members feared his uncouth appearance and homely vernacular would not make it a good impression on the rich and cultured supporters of the cemetery project lincoln seemed not to notice the slight and accepted the invitation ills anxiety was not that two weeks was too short a time in which to prepare a speech but that uncertain train connections might cause him to be late and thus delay the dedication some still are living who hoard heard him speak and they can have no more precious memory observes a writer in the washington star the martyred marty red presidents words have become a world classic their immortality guaranteed by their majestic but simple beauty spoken lor for a particular moment intended to serve but an instants need the nobility of both the thought and I 1 II 11 ll 11 AJ I 1 III N Z 6 lincoln seemed not net to notice the tha slight accepted the utterance was so compelling that multitudes far removed from the original occasion feel the power of the message and respond to its appeal no other oration of modern times has been its equal it stands alone an unparalleled expression of the grandeur of a master spirit the elemental splendor of an illuminated soul critics have declared that the text may be scanned and it frequently has been printed in the typographical arrangement ran gement of poetry to the question as to the source of its music analysts have replied by citing the psalms and shakespeare but it Is not exclusively a mechanical melian leal trick of rhythm which glies it its mystic character of limpid and harmonious prose in point of fact the address may be explained only in terms of aspiration it Is like a fragment of opalescent sky a flash of climbing lame flame a scrap of verdant windswept wind swept hillside or a mighty wave of the illimitable sea it Is dynamic as these things are natural and all authentic as the universe Is lincoln shared with the psalmist and the bard of avon the instinctive capacity judgment and charity which are aspects of divinity yet are deeply human bumm the address ahe then must have come out of the infinite and it was america that at gettysburg so viewed the emancipators phrases signify the dedication not merely of a battlefield but of a notion nation consecration Is in them patriotism and loyalty shine from them and love and mercy reach out through them to touch the heart of mankind one by one in an unending sequence the curtain of the ages will fall and lincoln and his vision will remain without guile uil and d with pure ure purpose pur pot let U renew our trust truit to la cod and go 0 o forward without foar sad with manly aly b hearts carts abraham lincoln |