Arts, Crafts, Music, & Events of Breckinridge County Issue 13, June 2016 | Page 39

Tomorrow , there will be many forms of keeping this national holiday . Maybe you have already had your big hurrah this weekend and will be traveling tomorrow . I regret I didn ’ t spend some time last week in preparation that I might have entered the weekend having shared some thoughts from my perspective but still , I offer the following notes from a little book , 28 pages , that my friend , Frank Anderson gifted me last year . He had spent several days visiting historical sites in Pa . and found this little pocket-sized tome , “ The Gettysburg Address ”, produced by Applewood Books .
The battle of Gettysburg lasted three days , July 1 st -3 rd . In that time , 50,000 souls died . The bodies of those men and horses created such a stench in the summer sun that residents of Gettysburg became ill . A seventeen-acre burial was done on the 20,000 acre battlefield . It was decided that on September 23 rd , 1863 , the burial ground would be dedicated . The chief speaker for the event was to be one , Edward Everett . Everett was a former secretary of state , U . S . senator , U . S . representative , governor of Massachusetts and president of Harvard University . He was considered to be the “ greatest orator in the nation ”!
President Lincoln was invited to make the “ Dedicatory Remarks ”. Everett asked that the date be extended so that he would have more time to prepare . It was re- scheduled for November 19 of that Fall .
On the day of the dedication , Everett stood and delivered a speech of 13,607 words in two hours . Do you know anything of what he said ?
Lincoln stood and delivered a 272 word-speech and sat down at

On Memorial Day ’ s Eve by Mark Keller

Tomorrow , there will be many forms of keeping this national holiday . Maybe you have already had your big hurrah this weekend and will be traveling tomorrow . I regret I didn ’ t spend some time last week in preparation that I might have entered the weekend having shared some thoughts from my perspective but still , I offer the following notes from a little book , 28 pages , that my friend , Frank Anderson gifted me last year . He had spent several days visiting historical sites in Pa . and found this little pocket-sized tome , “ The Gettysburg Address ”, produced by Applewood Books .
The battle of Gettysburg lasted three days , July 1 st -3 rd . In that time , 50,000 souls died . The bodies of those men and horses created such a stench in the summer sun that residents of Gettysburg became ill . A seventeen-acre burial was done on the 20,000 acre battlefield . It was decided that on September 23 rd , 1863 , the burial ground would be dedicated . The chief speaker for the event was to be one , Edward Everett . Everett was a former secretary of state , U . S . senator , U . S . representative , governor of Massachusetts and president of Harvard University . He was considered to be the “ greatest orator in the nation ”!
President Lincoln was invited to make the “ Dedicatory Remarks ”. Everett asked that the date be extended so that he would have more time to prepare . It was re- scheduled for November 19 of that Fall .
On the day of the dedication , Everett stood and delivered a speech of 13,607 words in two hours . Do you know anything of what he said ?
Lincoln stood and delivered a 272 word-speech and sat down at