Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-26
IT WAS COMMONPLACE.
The Occasion Did Not Give Him
Opportunity to EnthuSe.
DIGNITARIEs WHO WERE PRESENT.
The Impressions Made by the Set Grafton
of Edward Everett.
AMUSING EFFORTS OF A PHOTOGRAPHERS
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH. ]


some newspaper to the effect that the writer
should put into print his impressions Of
Lincoln's address at Gettysburg 1t was my
duty to report the speech on behalf Of the
press, to sit at the side of Lincoln as he
pronounced the immortal words, and write
them down in shorthand as they came from
his lips My memory Of the event is as
clear as 1t could hope to be after so many
years. In some idle, silent hours have
gone over the memoranda made at the time.
So far as these may serve will tell the
story as it rests with me.
The celebration of Gettysburg took place
on Thursday, the 18th of November, 1868,
little more than four months after the
famous battle was fought. I have not been
to Gettysburg since. When was there the
traces of the terrible strife were every
where, no gentle summer as yet to cover
the torn fields with tenderness and bloom.
Since then, as I read, it has been largely
splashed and sprinkled with monuments,
as if any monument could mark Marathon,
or any bewildering labyrinths or entsbla-
lures commemorate the Mighty Fact that
found immortality and conservation at Get
tysburg.
The presidential Party.
When we reached Gettysburg the rainy
afternoon settled into a soggy November
night. The town was in chaos over the new
invasion, and a corner in a tavern was a
erowning mercy. The Presidential party
came in about sunset, and we were all on
hand to do them honor. They were a strag-
gled, hungry set. Lincoln, with that weary
smile, which poet might have read as q
forecast of destiny; Seward, with an essen
TALLY bad hat; John Hay, in attendanes
upon the President, and much to bs
troubled by the correspondents, handsome
as peach, the countenance of extreme
youth; Usher, Secretary of the Interior, il
/ remember, with heavy, reserved features,
and capacity for silence; DennisOn, OF
Ohio, smiling and courteous; gruff Tod,
from Ohio; Pierpont, of Virginia; Mont
gomery Blair, with his face in which fanat-
ieism was tempered by enthusiasm; John
W. Forney, in the flush of his winning
manhood, Secretary Of the Senate, and
rather In the lead of the Washington party.
Lincoln became invisible to US, and could
not be enticed even by serenading parties,
who were bewildering the night with music.
| Seward was more ameDable, and as he came
to the door recall my trouble in reporting
| him. Nothing better than the note book
and stone step. Iremember the impression
| it made upon me. "What voice for the
Ghost in Hamlet" my first thought as
the Secretary, speaking in . slow, artificial,
metallic tone, threw his sentences like
changing oracles into the night.
BIending of Seer and PugiIst.
1t was an optimistic speech-Seward
should say in a temper; how he had seen il
all; how much better it would have been II
his advice had been taken 40 years before;
with q great deal about our distressed and
srring brethren, of whom so many had been
slain on those hillsides, and what an i'm
mense country we should have when this
last of all rebellions was suppressed. This
was the blending of the seer with the pugil-
ist which those of US who were radical and
impatient with his conservatism saw in
Seward those days.
remember that did as well as I could
with the speech, and was studying my notes
mournfully with view to transcription,
when Stewards secretary gladdened US with
the news that it had been prepared before
hand and given to the press associations.
Stewards speech done, the crowd must have
Forney, who spoke with Pennsylvania en-
thusiasm. His theme was the war, and es-
pecially what Douglas had done to bring
Democratic support to the Union The
proud, gallant Forneyl The banner of the
dead Douglas was in his keeping, and it was
ever unturled. Curtin came with his party
from Harrisburg. He was our Governor
and star Of the first magnitude, having
Just won a notable political victory in his
reelection, and therefore an influence
which these Washington people might as
we'll treat with civility. The relations
of Curtin toward the Washington people
were those of criticism at least. ga good
deal of Cameron about this administration,
and wise politicians, who do not like being
trodden upon, must wait and see." Hewas
host, streaming, spontaneous in his courte-
sizes. With him were Wayne MacVeagh
and brilliant staff. Wayne, then the ris-
ing hope of the exuberant young Republic
cans of Pennsylvania, had led the party to
victory, was much sought after at county
fairs and gatherings which yearn for elo-
uuence, and might have become wretehed
party boss, or some other dreadful Possi-
bility, had he not switched off toward re-
form and scholarship and the less truculent
pursuits of the law.
Quay Was There Too.
He gave US rattling good speech at the
serenade, which I helped to cheer. With
him a silent young official named Quay,
silent then as now, but to become the cause
of speech to o considerable extent among
others. I think 1 was indebted to John
Hay, assuredly to some kind friend, for .
special audience with Edward Everett We
OF this 0eneraLlOQ 10 uOL I6dllZG Tue space
which Edward Everett filled, at least in ths
imagination of the younger men. He was
the embodiment of a noble and stainless
fame Webster, Clay, Calhoun gone, he
was the last of the orators. No more great
men left to US, only Everett. He had well
coined Lafayette; his scholarship was our
envy and admiration; he had been the friend
of Byron, the guest of Walter Scott, Minis
ter to England, Secretary of State, and we,
even we, were permitted to see him. We were
critical, some of us, not always friendly to
the Lincolns, the Stewards, the Seymours,
who swarmed around, but here was one who
had outlived calumny, Misrepresentation,
even fear and hope-who had belonged to
the serene days, when patriotism was hand
in hand with peace-one almost in touch
with the Revolution. He was only one re-
move from Washington, whose glory had
been the theme of his noblest oration. The
fame of Everett is now somewhat faded. In
the tapestries of our Pantheon the war
colors darken all others with their fiery
splendor; he has gone to be with Madison
and Rufus King. But to us at Gettysburg
Everett had an apostolic fame-and know
with what awe one of that company came
into the presence of the sublime and yenera-
Bile man.
Everett Had Met Lord Byron.
Everett had not been visible at the serey
nadinos and other noisy festivals Thai