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Show '-f .v .v.-jKga3KmfcK. ri- t-M--y.J--'-.jjc....r0"wTrYiT ygyTT-i. T , m . , uw-m. . y . . y ; i UA , S ; j i i i til is. f V til id r V-rJV 1 'V i r -x fawfrt .r .,...1 .... i the oration. ... It is the desire after the oration, you, as Chief Executive of the nation, formally set apart these grounds to their sacred sa-cred use by a few appropriate remarks." re-marks." With the Invitation went a note from an official of the Soldiers' National Na-tional Cemetery board, telling the President the writer hoped Mr. Lincoln Lin-coln would feel it his "duty to lay aside pressing business for a day and come to Gettysburg to perform this late sad rite to our brave soldiers." sol-diers." Thus the President virtually virtu-ally 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 ar- '1E5Sv3 LITTLE more than sev- Wflf enty years aS0' a saunt, 'Wjyk unhandsome man, whose Ietwst! face was careworn, and ikTTFK whose figure was stooped, 11 I 1 revealing the agony that 11 1 1 was almost smothering Sill Hill him, delivered a speech of only about three hun- rangements that "Old Abe" would not attempt to make a speech. The members feared his uncouth ap pearance and homely vernacular would not make a good Impression on the rich and cultured supporters support-ers of the cemetery project. Lincoln seemed not to notice the slight and accepted the invitation. His 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 de-lav de-lav the dedication. .... i. dred 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 the nation's ruler that he had been given the opportunity to make any remarks on this occasion. Some still are living wno neara him speak, and they can have no more precious memory, observes a writer in the Washington Star. The martyred President's words have become a world classic, their Immortality Im-mortality guaranteed by their majestic ma-jestic but simple beauty. Spoken for a particular moment, intended to serve but an Instant's need, the nobility of both the thought and Not Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, but another man Edward Everett a noted orator, or-ator, had been chosen as the principal prin-cipal speaker, and he spoke first. He held the crowd spellbound for two hours and newspapers the next day devoted much space to a report re-port of his masterly effort. Of the other man's speech most newspapers newspa-pers made no mention, beyond saying say-ing that he also spoke. A few of the larger papers printed what he said, but without comment. About everybody forgot what the man who spoke two hours had said. The other man's utterances, because of its brevity and manner of delivery, de-livery, began to be recalled by Its hearers and for decades it has been classed among the world's literary masterpieces. Lincoln Seemed Not to Notice the Slight; Accepted. the utterance was so compelling that multitudes far removed from the original occasion feel the power pow-er of the message and respond to its appeal. No other oration of modern times has been Its equal. It stands alone, an unparalleled expression ex-pression of the grandeur of a master mas-ter spirit, the elemental splendor of an illuminated soul. FOURSCORE and seven years ago out fnthers brought forth, npon this continent, n new nation, conceived con-ceived In liberty nnd dedicated to the proposition that "all men are created equal." Now we are engaged In a great civil war, testing whether that nation, na-tion, or any nation o conceived nnd o dedicated, can lonr endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate ded-icate a portion of it as a final resting rest-ing place for those who died here that the nation might live. It la altogether fitting and proper thnt we should do this. But in a larger sense we ennnot dedicnte we cannot can-not consecrate we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living nnd dead, who struggled here have hallowed it far above our poor power pow-er to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here; but It can never forget for-get what they did here. It Is rather for us, the living, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work they have thus far so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to bo here dedicated to the great task remaining before us thnt from these honored dend we tnke increased in-creased devotion to thnt cause for whleh they here gave the last full measure of devotion j that we here highly resolve these dend shall not have died In vnin; thnt this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and thnt government of the people, by the people nnd for the people shall not perish from tbe earth. Critics have declared that the text may be scanned, and it frequently fre-quently has been printed in the typographical arrangement of poetry. po-etry. To the question as to the source of Its music, analysts have replied by citing the Psalms and Shakespeare, but it is not exclusively exclu-sively a mechanical trick of rhythm which gives it its mystic character of limpid and harmonious prose. In point of fact, the address may be explained only In terms of asplra- The occasion of the masterpiece of oratory and the scene was that of the dedication of the burial jdace for Union soldiers who died in battle a field over which a part of the Battle of Gettysburg had raged. It was only by chance that President Presi-dent Lincoln spoke at all, for had the original date chosen for the dedication been observed, it is likely that he would have pronounced pro-nounced only the simple formula of official dedication. The date set was October 23, but Everett advised ad-vised that he could not conveniently conven-iently be there then. The dedication dedica-tion was postponed to November 19. No invitation was sent to the President until November 2. Then he was very formally told that "Hon. Edward Everett will deliver tion. It Is like a fragment of opalescent opal-escent sky, a flash of climbing 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 authentic au-thentic as the universe Is. The address, then, must have come out of the Infinite, and It was America that spoke at Gettysburg. So viewed, the Emancipator's phrases signify the dedication not merely of a battlefield but of a nation. na-tion. Consecration Is In them, patriotism pa-triotism and loyalty shine from them, and love nnd mercy reach out through them to touch the heart of mankind. One by one, in an unending sequence, se-quence, the curtain of the ages will fall, and Lincoln and his vision will remain. |