Daily capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1896-1899, 1896-07-06
,Moolws GETTYSBURG spEEcA.

eiNN~
.-.,,,,,o and Immortal. Though Matthew
'"'''' a-,c,d kiad Never Hesrd OF It.
7 stead c',ge by and heard that speech
s,livered. lt came upon Us after the
copaorous and elaborate rhetoric of Ed
w.l Everett like blaze OF real fire
after a matchless picture OF fire. 1t
.ryona. like tie strophes of old, out Of
.ohastened heart almost broken with
,ho weight Of conquest, but still daunt-
lass in its American faith, and the man
sbo smoke the words was, for the mo-
mopt trans6gured for us, and his fur
,owpd face and gaunt form took on
d,e light that never was on land or
.oa SO that be became the arohetype OK
,be people themselves, uttering better
tan he knew the great prayer Of that
AMER and better humanity that our IA
,hsrs and wo believed was to come with
liberty aud equality out Of storm and
,iress and an unshaken confidence In
+ man.
But don't think any Of us then
knew how mastorful Is tho speech Of
1 tbe human heart when IL comes through
tLe furnace to these great occasions and
plants its sad sincerity by the side OF
mere scholarship and the groovod thun-
der Of rhetoric.
We had TO live on for q quater OF q
osutury and sec that brief speech burn.
h inc with unquenchable flame In our
schoolbooks and standing out with mod.
ct majesty on our page Of recorded
history to comprehend how God ran
touch with living coal the lips Of q
n rail splitter Just as he touched the lips
OF tentmaker Of Tarsus and lifted the
n untutored heart OF the shoemaker, Bun.
van, into communion with the immor.
"tAls
. Turn II every way you can, tho Get
H tysburg speech stands unique as brief
literary and patriotic composition. It is
the noblest condemnation into the fttest
words Of oil the emotions, aspirations
and sentiments that millions Of mute
people wanted at that moment to utter.
So inwrought is that speech with the
heart Of the occasion, and 80 majestic
hlly does 1t sweep over into the time to
bone, that should think all men every.
where would discern its intrinsic quail
ly But that is not the case.
" remember talking with Matthew
Arnold when he was In this country
s. boat Abraham Linooln-you will re-
lsmber that he said Of Lincoln that he
Had no "dis;inction"-and / called his
isntion to tho Gettysburg speech. !
4 ball never forget the importurbable
a,lrlay Reviow stare with which he
# AEod, "Ah, what is the Gettysburg
petchy'
+ ho had never heard of il. | believe
ghel hu went back he asked Professor
'pee what it was about, and when II
N hrniod up in an American school
'ook aiid shown to him he read IL hasti.
and put 1t away with oommiseratiDg
etcaoe.
suppose you ask NJ. Bourget. who Is
|okirg into the American heart by the
ay or the American bodice and on
ace rates, If ha has read the Gettys-
Is speech. | happon to know Of my
Nh knowledge That Robert Louis
'''enson had not heard CT it when he
's explcring our continent. and Sir
lel Griffin aud Rudyard Kipling had
.uea that II was newspaper fake.
me current number OF Tho Saturday
ss'lew lies open before me, and this Is
isI my eye falls ON:
Tho common American delusion
AZ there have been number of great
',sfiean poets, that there is indeed
"a q thing as American literature
Fcsls itself with unusual pomposity. .
Is Impossible for these literary
lsS OF special cult to understand
= 'nere may be stimulant condi-
ns oi national life that wake into
au'.nous activity all the higher and
'es functions of the soul prior to the
A''ered formulation of them into an
ana that 10 is in these periods OF
aKening and not in the after repose
~ elaborate Rstheticism the most
s'Ous heartbeats of the race have
- themselves heard and felt, some
IN half articulate tones. but often
" organ blasts which have set the
" liberty and fixed the vocabulary
sope and victory.
s'@e eioquence or poetry was an arr
burning soul and fetched it
: % nom the agonies and mysteries oi
ua'e'ored nature.
u by all means confer distino-
~. ~ a deathless utterAnce by mold.
"la hsonze, II we add metal enough
.~''.e'i II with the arabesque Of
~ l~lnre Matthew Arnolds may
p''S7ims aud throw the Engliah
- ,., y well turned phrase upon
'ss'ss ,, which, after all. is but q
.''i 'rlypA Of the record in 20,
~. sesits- Andrew O. Wheelal
" 49, i4i.y has bevn formed in Gin
. -" A~l Tie unrf,ne. - l...Yf.... -. ~.