The Van Buren press., 1894-03-10
LINCOLN AT GETTYSBURG.
How the Martyr President Wrote his
Famous Address.

uow the Martyr President Wrote His
Famous Address.
There is no decisive record OF when
Mr.. Lincoln wrote the first sentences
of his proposed address. He Oily
followed his usual habit in such mat
ters, using great deliberation IN ar
ranging his thoughts. and moulding
his phrases mentally, waiting to reduce
them to writing until they had taken
satisfactory form.
There was much greater necessity
for such precaution in this case, be-
cause the invitation specified that the
address of dedication should only be
.a few appropriate remarks Brevity
in speech and writing was one OF LIN
coins marked characteristics; but IN
this instance there existed two other
motives calculated to strongly support
his natural inclination. One was that
Mr.. Everett would be quite certain to
make q long address; the other, the
want of opportunity even to think
leisurely about what he might desire
to say. All this strongly confirms the
correctness Of the statement made by
the Hon. James Speed, in an interview
printed in the Louisville Commercial
in November, 1879, that the president
told him that 1.-THE day before he left
Washington he found time to write
about half of his speech"
1t was after the breakfast hour on
the morning Of the 10th that the writer,
Mr.. Lincoln's private secretary, went
to the upper room in the house OF Mr..
Wills lat Gettysburg] which Mr.. Lin
coin occupied, to report for duty, ana
remained with the president while he
finished writing the Gettysburg adj
dress, during the short leisure ne could
utilize for this purpose before being
called to take his place in the pro-
cession, which was announced on the
programme to move promptly at 10
o'clock.
There is neither record, evidence,
nor well-founded tradition that Mr..
Lincoln did any writing, or made any
notes, on the journey between Wash
ington and Gettysburg. The train
consisted of four passenger coaches
and either composition or writing
would have been extremely trouble
some amid all the movement, the
noise, the conversation, the greetings
and the questionings which ordinary
courtesy required him to undergo in
these surroundings; but still worse
would have been the BOOKINGS and JOLT
ings of the train, rendering writing
virtually impossible. Mr.. Lincoln car
ried in his pocket the autograph manu-
script OF SO much OF his address as he
had written at Washington the day
before 1t fills one page of the letter
paper at that time habitually used in
the executive mansion, containing the
plainly printed blank heading; both
paper and print giving convincing
testimony to the simple and economi-
cal business methods then prevailing
in the White House.
This portion of the manuscript be-
gins with the line, -Four score and
seven years ago." and ends ut is
rather for us the living" etc. The
whole OF this first page-nineteen lines
lis written in ink in the presidents
strong, clear hand, without blot or
erasure; and the last line is in the fol-
lowing form: SIT is rather for us the
living to stand here" the last three
words being, like the rest, in ink.
From the fact that this sentence is In
complete, we may infer that at the
time of writing it in Washington the
remainder of the sentence was also
written in ink on another piece OF
paper. But when, at Gettysburg, on
the morning of the ceremonies, Mr..
Lincoln finished his manuscript he
used q lead pencil, with which he
crossed out the last three words of the
first page, and wrote above them in
pencil 1--WE here be dedica," at which
point he took up a new half sheet OF
paper-not white letter paper as be-
fore, but bluish-gray foolscap Of large
size with wide lines, habitually used
by him for long or formal documents,
and on this he wrote, all in pencil, the
remainder of the word, and of the
first draft of the address, comprising a
total of nine lines and half The
time occupied in this final writing was
probably about an hour.-John g.
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