And now we need just one more character to unite our scattered parties and to complete our chronicle and this must be Abraham Lincoln, "The Emancipator." Think of introducing a man with less than a year's schooling into a literary record! But this man had as a boy manifested indomitable will in freeing himself from the fetters of ignorance. He had read over and over a few good books, until from them he had gained the golden art of speaking and writing distinctly and to the point. Thus he had shaped a style of his own, unsurpassed in strength, sincerity, and directness. His State papers were models of expression, and he won national fame in his debates with Senator Douglas. A plain blunt man, he was abounding in wit and humour, but often carrying a sad heart, weighed down by the burdens of his fellows and the greater the occasion, the more his heart was touched, the more were his soul depths revealed - and yet he hardly thought of literary fame; but he has bequeathed us two masterpieces that belong quite as much to literature as to politics. One was his "Second Inaugural," delivered on March fourth, 1865, "With malice toward none; with charity for all "- it was full of faith and spirituality, and seemed like a benediction - so soon was it followed by the tragedy that closed his life. Perhaps, however, the address that will make him longest remembered is the one delivered at Gettysburg, on November nineteenth, 1863, on the day when the National Cemetery was consecrated to the long-sought liberty. Edward Everett, called "the most accomplished gentleman of his time," who was in turn editor, preacher, foreign minister, member of Congress, Secretary of State, Governor of Massachusetts, and President of Harvard College - preceded the speaker of the day. With graceful and dignified mien, he gave one of his smooth and flowing musical addresses which lasted for two hours, and which was greeted by enthusiastic applause. President Lincoln had been too busy to prepare a speech but en route from Washington he had written with the stub of a pencil on a bit of wrapping-paper - a few notes, and when Mr. Everett took his seat he rose awkwardly, "without grace of look or manner," and in a high, thin voice made his brief address, and seated himself. Perfect silence followed-he knew that he had failed! After all was over, he congratulated Mr. Everett, and Mr. Everett in his reply said: "I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes!" And to-day President Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" is called, "The Top and Crown of American Eloquence." It is displayed on one of the walls of Oxford University to show the students how much can be said in less than three hundred words, and for the same reason it is mentioned here that our American youth may acquire from it the habit of concise utterance. THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS November nineteenth, 1863 We "Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a 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 nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. have come to dedicate 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 consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it 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. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honoured dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth." - Lincoln. FROM "THE BUILDING OF THE SHIP" Thou, too, sail on, O ship of State! Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee, Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, Our faith triumphant o'er our fears, Are all with thee, are all with thee!" -Longfellow. XVIII BANCROFT AND PRESCOTT GEORGE BANCROFT (1800-1891) WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT (1796-1859) CENTURIES have rolled by! do they mean anything to the eager youth of our day, who, absorbed in modern interests, almost forget that there is a past, for they have so little time to pore over its story, and to gaze upon their ancestors from many lands. They may call history dull. Well there are, as Carlyle says, two kinds-one "dry as dust," the other "alive" and any youth will find it an invaluable stimulus to read himself into a love for "alive" history; for "alive" history is like a panorama, unrolling in miniature scenes of adventure and exploration and war and camp and court and senate. Do we realise the gratitude which we owe the historian? Think of what he must possess and what he must do. He should first have plenty of leisure to spend in investigation and plenty of money to conduct this investigation by travel-sometimes covering hundreds of miles to verify a single fact. Added to these, are the study of languages, and the |