Show L at IT basat sa sat mag w i LITILE more than seventy years URO ago a gaunt unhandsome imin ini tn whose face was careworn and whose figure was as stooped re revealing the agony that was v ns almost cirii delivered a speech of only about three hundred w words in length scarcely any attention was paid to that man or to the words that he tittered at the time it was because lie was the nations ruler that lie he had been given alven the opportunity to make any remarks on this occasion not abraham lincoln resident president of I 1 the united states hut but another man inward dward everett a noted orator had i been chosen ns as the principal ni sp speaker oaker i and lie he spoke first he hold held tho the crowd spellbound two hours and newspapers the next net day devoted dented much aiace to a of ills masterly extort of tile the other roans mans most newspapers made no mention beyond saying that lie he also spoke A few of the larger lai syr t papers printed what lie he said lait etli i out comment about e everybody embody forgot what hat th man who spoke two hours had sni tile other mans utterance because of I 1 its brevity and manner of delivery began to be recalled rec tilled by its hearers and for decades it has been classed among i the ibbe worms s literary masterpieces a wais only n I 1 chance unit president lincoln spoke nt ull all for tind the original late date chosen for the lie dedication been ober observed ved it Is likely that he would have pronounced only the r simple I 1 of official dedication the ilie date ret wits was october 23 but everett B erett advised vint that lie he could not conveniently bo be there then the dedication was postponed to november IB 19 no jno invitation was sent cent to the president until november Iso vember 2 then he was waa very for nt ay iy told that lion hon edward everett J v Z wit 9 W I 1 4 WA 71 ON M 4 at LJ LJ will deliver the oration it Is the desire after the oration you ns as chief executive of the nation formally set iset apart these grounds to their sacred use by a few appropriate remarks with vi etli the lie invitation went a note from an official of the soldiers national cemetery board tilling telling the president the writer hoped mr lincoln would feel it ills his duty to lay aside pressing business for a day and tone corne to get to perform tails alil late bad and rite to our brave soldiers thus the president virtually ally was commanded to attend a dedication ceremony that had bad lieen been postponed for the convenience of another it was rattier rather hoped by the committee in charpe large of the arrangements that old AW abe would not attempt to make a speech the me members feared his uncouth appearance and homely vernacular would woold not make a good impression on an the rich and cultured supporters of the cemetery project lincoln seemed not to notice the slight and ace accepted apted the invitation ills ill anxiety was not that two weeks was waa too short a time in which to prepare a cell hut but that uncertain train connections might cause him to be late and thus delay the ded dedication leation some same still anre living who heard him speak and the they y can have no more precious memory observe observes es a writer in the washington star the martyred marty red presidents Id eilts words have become a world classic their immortality guaranteed hy by their majestic hut but simple beauty spoken for a particular moments moment intended to serve but an instants need the nobility of both the thought and lincoln seemed seamed not to notice the accepted the utterance was so BO compelling that multitudes far removed from the orl original occasion feel the power of the message and respond to its appeal no other oration of modern times has hag been its equal it stands alone an unparalleled expression of tile 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 lie 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 trick of 0 rhythm which given it its mystic character of limpid and barmon harmonious fous prose in point of of fact the address may be explained only in terms of aspiration it Is like a fragment of opalescent sky a flash of climbing flame a scrap of verdant windswept wind swept hillside or a mighty wave aa of the illimitable sea it Is dynamic as these things are natural and authentic as the universe Is lincoln shared with the psalmist and the bard of avon aoa the instinctive capacity judgment and charity which are aspects of divinity ye yet t are deeply human the address then must have hae come out of the infinite and it was america that spoke at gettysburg so viewed dewed the phrases signify dignify the dedication not merely of a battlefield but ofa of a nation consecration Is in them patriotism ni and loyalty sheltie from them and love loe and mercy reach out through thorn them to touch the heart of mankind mankina one by one in an unending sequence the curtain of the ages will ft fall and XIn lincoln coln and his vision islon will remain without sulo end with pure purpose let us renew our trust in god ml and go co forward asto it fear car and with manly hearts abraham lincoln |