of the train was grater. Mr. Lincoln, at the head of the table, at once said that the situ- ation reminded him of a friend of his in southern Illinois who, riding over a corduroy road where the logs were not sufficiently close together, was frightened by a thunder- storm. In the glimpses of light afforded by the lightning, his horse would endeavor to reach another log, but too frequently missed it, and fell with his rider. As a result of sev- eral such mishaps, the traveler, although not accustomed to prayer, thought that the time had come to address his Maker, and said: “Oh, Lord, if it would suit you equally well, it would suit me much better if I had a little more light and a little less noise.’ As Mr. Lin- coln concluded his story, the train passed in- to the open, where there was much more light and much less noise.” One has to be- lieve the metaphor describes Lincoln’s agony — and his prayers as well — over the war effort.


The train arrived in Gettysburg at 5:00


p.m., by which time it had quit raining. Lin- coln ate dinner and spent the night at the home of his host, David Wills, chairman of the cemetery board. The next day he rose to give a speech the origin of which is still debated, the greatness of which appears indisputable: “Four score and seven years ago our fa- thers 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 en- dure. We are met on a great battlefield 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 dedi- cate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have conse- crated 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 nev- er forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the un- finished 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 hon- ored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full meas- ure of devotion — that we here highly re- solve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that gov- ernment of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Alas: We have yet to discover just what comestibles the railroad served the Presi- dent in the “dining car” on his trip to Gettys- burg. But, as Constance Carter notes, “at least we know it was at table and not in the car in which he made the journey.” On the return trip to Washington, Lincoln became feverish.


Exhausted, he lay


stretched out on a seat in the drawing room in his railcar, a cold towel placed over his head. We don’t know the condition of Valet Johnson.


*(And that “writer’s buzz”?): It was a pleasant surprise to learn one reason why the staff at the Library of Congress was so helpful. In an email that accompanied sever- al sources and some of the lengthy quotes used here was this sentence: “We have found your books, their notes and bibliographies, useful for queries relating to dining cars and dining car menus, so we are delighted that we can do some research for you for a change.” I will say, however, that while I am grateful for such an acknowledgement, it has been my consistent experience that the people at LOC go the extra mile to help a visitor, regardless of the matter being re- searched — and goodness knows I am not an instantly recognizable celebrity (nor a celebrity of any sort, recognizable or not). That, as I write this, they are out of work due to a political squabble that pales in com- parison to struggles behind Lincoln’s brief comments 150 years ago, saddens me.


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