Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1895-04-18
GETTYSBURG SPEECH.

LlNcoLN's GETTYSBURG SPEECH
Sublime and Immortal. Though Matthew
Arnold Had Never Heard of 1t.
stood close by and heard that speech
delivered. 1t cdmo upon us after tho
pondcrous and elaborate rhetoric of Ed
ward Everett like blaze of real fire
after matchless picture of fire 1t
u 3prang, like the strophes of old, ont Of
i chastened heart almost broken with
the weight of conquest, but still dnuat-
less i'll its American faith, and tho man
who spoke tho words was, for the mo-
ment, TRANSPORTED for us, and his fur
rowed face and gaunt form took or
tho light THAT never WAS on land Or
, sea, so that ho became the archetypc OF
the people themselves, uttcring better
! than ho knew the great prayer Of that
) finer and better humanity that our fla
, theirs and we believed was to come with
liberty and equality out of storm and
stress and an ulshaiien confidence i'll
man.
But / don't think any Of us then
, k.lcM HOW 1llilStCilul tl!J cJStli1 VI
, the human heart when it comes through
' tho furnace 10 these great occasions and
plants its sad sincerity by the side Of
: mere scholarship and the groovcd thUn-
| der of rhetoric.
4 Wo had TO live on for q quatcr of a
! century and see that brief speech burn
Q ing with unquenchablo flame III orr
t schoolbooks and standing out with mod
= est majesty Oil our page Of recorded
: history TO comprehend how God can
. touch with u living coal tho lips OF Il
rail splitter just as no touched the lips
Of q tentmakcr of Tarsns and lifted the
G ,iitutored heart Of tho shoemaker. Bun
: van. into communion with the immcr
: tails.
n Tu.Y it every way you cnn, the Get
o tysburg speech stands unique as q brief
II literary and patriotic composition. III is
Il The noblest condensation into the iittest
+ words OF all the emotions, aspirations
!, and sentiments that millions Of r!ute
q people wanted ut that moment to utter
: SO inwiought is that speech with the
: heart of tho occasion, and so majestic
q ally does it sweep over into the time 70
1t come, that should think all men every
IL where would discern its intrinsic quail
y t.. Dut that IS not the case.
. remember talking With Matthew
Il Arnold when he was in this country
about Abraham Lincolm-you will re-
member that he said of Lincoln that hr
lad 10 "tlistinction land | called his
IL attention 10 tho Gettysburg speech.
!, shall ncver forget the imperturbahlJ
Saturday Review stare with which lit
~ asked, "Ah, what is tho Gettysburg
- speech?'
70 llo had never heard of it. ! believe
= when he went back he asked Protesso'
l. Bryce what it WAS about, and when \
10 was hunted up i'll al American schonl
% book and shown to him he read it h;isti
! ly and put it away with commissioning
: roticonce.
'e Suppose You ask NJ Bourgct. who i
Le looking into tho American heart by thu
10 way of tho American bodice and OF
J. space rates, it he has read tho Gottys
burg speech. happen to know of III.
own knowledge that Robert Loui
Stevenson had not heard of it when Ii
, was exploring cur continent, and 81
Lepel Griffin and Rudyard Kiplng ha'
v az idea that it was q newspaper fake
e Tho current number of Tho Satmda,
II Review lies open before me, and this i
l. what my eye falls on:
IL The common American delusiol
l. that there have been u number of grca
:. American poets, that there is. indee
E, such thing as American literature
y,
1t is impossible for these literar
II pligs of special cult to understan
10 that there may be stimulant condi
y lions of national life that wake int
u tumultuous activity all the higher an
II better functions OF the soul prior to til
lie chartered formulation of them into "a
" art ard that it is i'll these periods c
ii awakening and not i'll tho after repos
st OF an elaborate rstlleticism the mos
j. precious heartbeats of the race hay
w made themselves heard and felt, som,
X times i'll half articulato tones, but Otter
'e er III organ blasts which have set til
a key Of liberty and fixed the vocabulal
in of hope and victory.
II Before eloquence or poetry was an IL
III it was burning soul and fetched il
Up style from the agonies and mysteries {
in an untutorcd nature.
III Let us by all means confer distin'
H. ton OH deathless utteranco by mole
lie ing it III bronze Ii we add metal enoug
ne and surround it with tho arabesquo {
~ Oxford, future Matthew Arnolds ma
a join tho pilgrims and throw the Englis
tribute OF q we'll turned phrase upc
", tho tablet which, after all, is but
weak hieroglyph of tho record i'll 20
ce 900, 900 hearts.-Andrcw C. Whee!'
IT, i'll New York Sun.
he =-----
ho a Carrier Pigeons Return.
81, L,;elA .,.nntl,r .,..r., on, o, "a; 1ro1,,, II