Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1893-07-27
1rNcoLN,s SPEECH.
The Short Address That He Made a,
Gettysburg nE5663.
From the New York Herald.

From the New York Herald.
Few of the present generation
know that Edward Everett, and not
Abraham Lincoln, was the selected
! orator of the day at the dedication of
of the National cemetery on the
battlefield of Gettysburg in Novems
Der, 1868.
The Massachusetts, scholar was
then famed as one of the foremost
representatives of American oratory.
He then devoted himself to the
preparation of the Gettysburg ora
ton with the ambition of making it
the effort of his life. It was de-
livered with that courtly grace for
which the orator was distinguished
and published in a bulky tone. Few
have eve read it it is never quoted,
and not a passage in it is familiar to
the public.
When asked TO speak at Gettys-
burg as the chief magistrate of the
nation, Mr.. Lincoln was overwhelmed
with the duties Of his high office
and the responsibilities of tie war.
He could give but little time or
thought to the matter before he left
Washington for the scene Of the
commemoration. 1t has been a mat
ter of dispute whether he iotted
down on the journey or after his ar
rival at Gettysburg what be in
tended to say.
He spoke but a few minutes, and
uttered less than three hundred
words. What he said produced
little or no impression at the time
and when he sat down many felt
that he made a failure.
1t was soon discovered that his
short speech was an inspiration, a
classic which has since been, as it
ever will be, priced as one of the
brightest gems of human eloquence.
II it, Mr.. Lincoln's words, did not
prove prophetic-"the world will lit.
tie note or long remember what We
say here"
"BeIow is verbatum copy of his
speech:
"Four score and seven years ago our
fathers brought forth on this contin-
enta 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 whether that ma
ton, or any nation SO conceived and
SO dedicated, can long endure.
owe are met on a great battlefield
of that war. We have come to dedi-
cate 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
"But, in a larger sense, we cannot
dedicate, we cannot ~eonsecrate, we
cannot hallow this ground. The
brave men, living and dead, who
struggled here have consecrated it
far aboYe our poor powers to add
or detract. The world will little
n%ote,n nor long remember what we say
here, but it can meyer forget wha'
they did here.
cit is for us, the living, rather tt
be dedicated here to the unfinished
work which they who fought her,
have thus far so lobby advanced. /
is rather for us to be here dedicated
to TIE great task remaining befor'
us; that from these honored deat
we take increased devotion to tina
cause for which they gave the las
full measure of devotion; that W
here highly resolve that these deat
shall not have died in vain; tina
this nation, under God, shall have
new birth of freedom, and tina
government of the people, by tn
people, for the people, shall no
perish from the EARTH"