Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-26

, thought, spoken as if it came from the very
throne of God: if only some living thought
! could go out over these hillsides to the mil.
lions beyond-a trumpet call and an incen
tive; if only the spirit the fury of the war,
| the thought in all mems hearts could come
from those silver lips, and that voice of har.
mony and persuasion.
His Oratory Came From the Past.
But so cold, so chaste, so exquisitely beau
tiful, that even the mighty fact that we
were at Gettysburg-th We were standing
upon Marathon-seemed lost in our wonder
| at the speakers genius and skill. The voice
was from the past. This orator came from
the past, even to speak to u.s. Not to him
the abrasions and wrenchings of the hour,
the mighty wars and the tramp of armed
men, the noise and the fighting, the terror
and fury of political passion. Gettysburg
was as far from him then as it is from us to-
! day. He looked at it even as we might
now, as one of the events of the ages, to be
studied as philosopher and historian. There
were none of the "effects" of public speak
| ing, but you might as well have expected an
effect from a symphony of Beethoven, or a
statue of Michael Angelo. There was no ap-
! plause otner than that of courtesy and deep
| personal reverence for the man. The pero-
ration was calm. One rhetorical bit
comes back to me.
'Pericles, said the orator, "looked upon
the whole earth as the sepulchre of illustri-
Gus men," Then pausing and raising his
voice into solemn, measured emphasis, he
added: Eyes, and all time will be the
millennium of their glory" This, as quote
| with reserve, because from memory, but
with distinct remembrance of the impress
sion it made, as the one effect of Everett s
oration at Gettysburg. But if the voice
that might have spoken did not come from
the silver lips of Everett it yet was to be
spoken, and here and now upon the hal
lowed ground of Gettysburg. When Everett
ceased, exhausted, excited, the two hours
talk telling on him, there was a moment of
rustic, hands extended in congratulation,
the President and Secretary of State among
the first, then loving hands carefully en-
| folding and wrapping him up in shelter
from the insidious purposes OF the cold
November air.
Lincoln UnfoIded Like a Telescope.
The music ran on a bit and the President
arose. Deliberate, hesitating, awkward,
''like telescope drawing out, I" as heard
some one say, the large, bundled up figure
untwisting and adjusting itself into reason
able conditions. / do not recall Lincoln as
in appearance an imposing man-but i'm
pressive. You would turn and look at him
a second time on the street. And there
was that in his face when you looked close
ly that might well give one pause-a deep,
unfathomable sense of power. He stood an
instant waiting for the cheers to cease and
the music to exhaust its echoes, slowly ad-
justed his glasses, and took from his pocket
what seemed to be page of ordinary fools
cap paper, quietly unfolded it, looked for
the place and began to read.
Ny own personal anxieties at the moment
were as to whether he would or would not
make a speech. Colonel Fornev had pro-
missed me ride over the battlefield in the
afternoon, along with Senator Cole, of Cal
ifornia, and an army officer who had been in
the engagement, and We were to have the
story of Gettysburg. 1 had had an easy
time with Stockton and Everett; PRAYER
and oration in type. But what would the
President do? NV outing was in the hands of
Lincoln. Would he speak an hour? Would
he speak from notes and memory or read
his address? An extempore effort means
long evening transcribing notes, and no
Gettysburg battlefield, no useful afternoon
of the solemn study of a mighty drama
aught else, for that matter, but close work
in dingy tavern. 1 am afraid L pestered
Hay on the subjec for an advance sight of
the manuscript, were there one; but HAY,
ever generous and helpful, as 1 remember,
L
not tell me.
Only a Few Lines of Shorthand.
So when the President arose there was my
uncertainty. / took up the pencil and
began to take him in shorthand. The sight
of the single sheet of paper wa not reassur-
ing. 1t could only hold the heads or threads
of a discourse-a text as it were-and the
outing over the battlefield dissolved into
the gray wintry skies. Therefore the emo
tions with which L took down this immortal
address were entirely selfish. To my sur
prise, almost it seemed before Mr.. Lincoln
had begun to speak, he turned and sat
down. Surely these five or six lines of
shorthand were not all Hurriedly bending
over the aisle 1 asked if that was all. "Yes,
for the present." he answered He did not
think he could say any more.
Lincoln, as was saving, when he arose
adjusted his glasses, and taking out the sim
gle sheet of paper held it close to his face.
He began at once in high key, voice
archaic, strident, almost in shrek. He
spoke slowly, with deliberation, reading
straight on. I did not write the report
which appeared in the Press, as the manu-
script had been given to the Associated
Press. This report was studded with sap
plause," but L do not remember the ap-
plause, and am afraid the a,,preciative re-
porter was more than generous-may have
put in the applause himself as a personal
expression Of opinion. Nor in fact was
there any distinct emotion among those
around me on the platform after the prayer,
and when Lincoln was speaking, but one of
sympathy for the forlorn photographer who
failed to take his picture. This enterpris-
ing artist, by dint of persuasion and making
interest with the crowd, had managed to
place his camera in front Of the President.
Photographer Got the Attention.
And as he began to speak the workman
began his work, peeping through his lenses,
adjusting them, dodging his head to catch
a favorable position, fooling with the cloth
that covered the lenses, staring wistfully at
the President, in the hope to make him
'look pleasant in true Photographic fash
ion. But the President was not good SUBJ
ject. Whether conscious or not of the
honor thus impending, he drove on with
his speech, ever holding the paper before
the face, the dismayed photographer vainly
hoping for one glimpse Of the face. And as
the President summarily turned to sit down,
he desperately uncovered the camera, but in
vaini The flash Of sunshine brought him
nothing. There was a general ripple of
laughter at his dismay.
L have read many narratives of the scenes,
OF the emotions produced by the Presidents
address, the transcendent awe that fell upon
every one who heard those most mighty and
ever living words, to be remembered with
pride through the ages. have read of the
tears that fell and the solemn hush, as
though in a cathedral solemnity in the most
holy moment of the sacrifice. Nor am in
sensible to the power Of oratory, nor to the
rapture that came from hearing Gladstone
and Phillips and CASTELAR,. There was