The Washington times., 1922-05-28

of Years.
closely holding tho attention OF his
audience which burst into a storm
OF applause at the close. Then
came Lincoln's turn He Is de-
scribed as a tall. gaunt figure, with
a slouching gait. and his voice be-
gan as a queer squeaking falsetto-
Tho audience was at first amused.
but grew calm and attentive at the
earnestness of his words.
At the close there was no ap-
plause. Lincoln thought his speech
had been a complete failure. Even
when Everett came forward to con-
gratulate him, he waved the sub
tect aside as a painful one. And
It was not until the next day. when
the newspapers acclaimed the bril-
liant success OF the Presidents ad-
dress that Lincoln was undeceived.
This was what he said on that
November day, in 1868, when they
censecrated the Gettysburg nation
al cemetery:
WAS NO APPLAUSE.
Fourscore and seven years
ago, our fathers brought forth on
this continent a new nation, con-
celved In liberty and dedicated to
the proposition that all men are
created equal. Now we are en-
gagged In a great civil war, testing
whether that nation, or any ns-
ton, so conceived and so dedi-
Gated, can long endure. We are
met on a great battlefield Of that
war. We have come to dedicate
a portion of IL as a final resting
place for those who here gave
their lives that that nation might
live. 1t Is altogether fitting and
proper that we should do this.
But in a larger sense we can
not dedicate, we cannot conse-
crate, we cannot hallow, this
ground. The brave men, living
and dead, who struggled here,
have consecrated 1t far above
our poor power to add or to de-
tract. The world will little note
nor long remember what we say
here, but IL can never forget
what they did here. It Is for us,
the living, rather, to be dedicated
here to the unfinished work
which they who fought here have
thus far so nobly advanced. 1t is
rather for us to be here dedicated
10 the great task remaining be-
fore us-that from these honOred
dead we take increased devotion
to that cause for which they here
gave the last full measure Of de-
yotion-that we here highly re-
solve that these dead shall not
have died in vain, that this ma
ton, under God, shall have q
new birth Of freedom, and that
government Of the people, by tho
people, for the people, shall not
perish from the earth"
OF the occasion of Lincoln's
second inaugural address, also
sculptured on the wall of the new
Memorial, so Smith d. Fry, his
torian Of the Capitol, tells us, after
he had described the incidents of
Lincoln's first inauguration: Dur
ing the ensuing four years the
nation was rent by civil war, and
drenched with the blood Of the
brave men of the North and of the
South. Washington became an
armed camp, and the second in
auguration OF Abraham Lincoln
was a military pageant"
DEATH AFTER SPEECH.
On April IS, 1865, but six weeks
after he had delivered this cele-
brated address, and only five days
after General Lees surrender at
Appomattox, Lincoln was assassi'
mated. His words, therefore, have
for us an added significance.
Fellow countrymen," he said,
"at this second appearing to take
the oath Of the Presidential office
there Is less occasion for an ex
tended address than there was at
the first. Then statement
somewhat In detail OF a course
to be pursued seemed fitting and
proper. Now at the expiration
Of four years during which public
declarations have been constantly
called forth on every point and
phase Of the great contest which