tery many contrary statements have been made, both about its preparation and about its reception. The most plausible view is that it was rather carefully prepared, that it was received by the assemblage in comparative silence, and that Lincoln and others present thought it a failure, only to learn their mistake when they saw its reception by the world. Lamon says that a few days before the dedication Lincoln spoke to him of his short time for preparation and his fear of not coming out of the situation with credit. From his hat he drew a sheet of foolscap, on one side of which was a closely written memorandum of the intended address. After the delivery he said he regretted that it had not been done more carefully. "Lamon," he said also, "that speech won't scour! It is a flat failure. The people are disappointed." Edward Everett, the orator of the day, whose long speech is unremembered now, and Secretary Seward also thought, according to Lamon, that Lincoln had failed and that the crowd was disappointed. The story that it was written on the train probably grew out of a final revision. The whole speech was:

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

"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing

Address delivered at the dedication of the Remetery at Gettysbing.

Four scow and seven years ago our fathers brought forth tion, conceives in Liberty,

ow this continent, a new na

and dedicateds

to the proposition that all men are cro

ates equal.

engaged

Now we are in a great cuire was, testing whether that nation, or

any nation po conceived and po dedicated, can long enflure. We and met on q and met on's great battle field of thats ever, We have come to dedicats a portion of that feed, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might lives. To is atta gether fitting and proper that we should

do this,

But, in a larger sanse, we can not drdis

cato was caw not consecratin we can pots

hallow, this grounds, The kreve mew, live ing and dead, who struggles here, have come becrated to, for above our, • poor power to add or detract, the world will little notes, hop long remember what we pay here, but to can never forget what they did have, to is for as the living, rother, to be desticated here to the unfinished work which they who four gbo her have thus far so nobly advanced, To is rather for us to be here dedication to

the

we

hev

great task remaining before us__ that from these honores dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the fast full measure of devotion_that highly resolve that these dear shall now have drew en vain that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of fres pond and that govemment of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not pers ish from the earth.

Abraham Lincoln.

whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field 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 that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

not consecrate

we can

"But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate we cannot hallow - this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished 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 increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died 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."

The classical, lasting qualities of this brief address are no longer subject to doubt. They stand with the few best known pieces of English prose. The last phrase is one that the world had been working at, and Lincoln had marked something very much like it in one of Theodore Parker's lectures; but it was chosen for this final place

with literary skill, and the whole address, which has no other echo in it, is too nobly right to gain by praise. Nothing could prove how thoroughly the man of the people could be the man of taste; how the absolute Democrat could perfectly speak the highest language of literary simplicity. Nothing seems too ripe or cultivated for him, just as nothing seems too humble or crude to deserve his fellowship. With the highest he never entirely lost the air of familiarity; when easily meeting the lowest it was always with an inalienable dignity. How different, it might be natural to exclaim, the Lincoln who penned these lines from the Lincoln who listened to Lamon's songs; yet the surprise would be as shallow as it would be natural. He was a man, and deemed nothing human foreign to him; yet his soul dwelt alone,

66

silent upon a peak in Darien." This solitary greatness, this elevation and distinction in the midst of unconventionality and equality, are well set in the outer habits of his life. A French marquis has left this singularly vivid impression of him. "He wittingly laughed either at what was being said to him, or at what he said himself. But all of a sudden he would retire within himself; then he would close his eyes and all his features would at once bespeak a kind of sadness as indescribable as it was deep. After a while, as though it were by an effort of his will, he would