I'm coming, of course.
WORD COUNT: 28,468
Eleven
score and seventeen years ago our fathers brought forth on this
continent,
Jeffrey said this as he was sitting
with his legs crossed on the floor this morning so deadpan it was
funny as we were debating whether to let Sarah go to school today or
not. I picked her up yesterday after lunch at Longfellow because she
said she was sick to her stomach – and considering that Grandma and
I picked up Jeffrey Friday after he'd thrown up in the lunchroom and
Martha and I dealt with the chills, the lightheadedness, and assorted
symptoms of the flu Sunday night (and for Martha Monday as well;
heck, Sunday night I had to sleep fully clothed, full jacketed,
gloved, and under three blankets I was so cold), it was likely she'd
throw up herself (and she did five times last night, so I heard). The
four of us went to Longfellow this morning and I was talking to Mrs.
Johnson, Jeffrey's teacher whom I caught coming out of the supply
room about one or two things while it was advised that Sarah stay
home today because her stomach was still acting up and she felt like
she would throw up.
a
new nation, conceived in Liberty,
Brought
her to Grandma's this morning, so I don't know if she has or has
slept off the flu bug as of this writing … now as to reading, I've
made sure the kids keep up with that. And this morning they each got
to read a piece I expect no one in their class will: the latest
letter from the child I sponsor through Compassion International, a
seven-year-old boy from El Salvador named Jefferson. Obviously, they
read the English translation of said letter which was on the other
side of the sheet I received; when Jeffrey got to read it, he said
out of the blue that he
wanted to learn Spanish and when Sarah said “Spanish? In first
grade?” rather incredulously, I replied that it's very possible –
in fact, the earlier you start to learn a new language, the more
likely it will stick with you. And one day soon, with the volume of
writing my kids have seen me do as well as reading (and asking some
very cogent questions about it), we may see a work “Traducido
de los Ingleses por Jeffrey Alvin” in a bookstore near you …
and
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
And
for closing today – I was going to go into some books I'd read and
a movie the kids and I saw together, but I think they can wait,
especially since I'm behind on MY
book I'm writing this month (check my word count) – I want to
celebrate the one hundred fiftieth anniversary of these words. And
no, you cannot write to the Gettysburg Address!
Without much aplomb, David
Without much aplomb, David
Bliss
Copy
Ever
since Lincoln wrote it in 1864, this version has been the most often
reproduced, notably on the walls of the Lincoln Memorial in
Washington. It is named after Colonel Alexander Bliss, stepson of
historian George Bancroft. Bancroft asked President Lincoln for a
copy to use as a fundraiser for soldiers (see "Bancroft Copy"
below). However, because Lincoln wrote on both sides of the paper,
the speech could not be reprinted, so Lincoln made another copy at
Bliss's request. It is the last known copy written by Lincoln and the
only one signed and dated by him. Today it is on display at the
Lincoln Room of the White House.
Four
score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on 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. We 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 can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we
can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who
struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor 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 honored 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, for the people, shall not
perish from the earth.
Abraham
Lincoln
November 19, 1863
November 19, 1863
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