era
"ST
A EVEN MILLION DOLLAR
TON TO CETTY.TBURG
TO BE A GRATEFUL
NATION? AT
THE CENTENARY. OF
LINCOLN
OST navel of memorials, a tribute
in honor of Abraham Lincoln, has
Just been proposed by Representa
tive Daniel Lafean.
Mr. Lafean has ready for presentation
to the- next Congress a bill appropriating
$7,000,000 for a roadway between Washing
ton and the battlefield of Gettysburg.
The proposed highway will begin at
the White House and will go straight
to the historic scene of struggle that
virtualy decided the Civil War since It
established the fact, that the war would
thereafter be fought mainly In the seced
ing states, the Confederacy having failed
In Its aim of invading the enemy's ter
ritory. The project is a most ambitious one,
but It has the support of so many dis
tinguished men that It is hard to see
how It can fall of passage.
The time selected for Its Introduction
into Congress could not have been more
appropriate, for on February 12 next will
be celebrated the 100th anniversary of the
man who saved the Republic.
In the mighty monument that towers
over the whole country for miles the
Nation's capital has a proper and beau
tiful memorial of the founder of his
country, but it has often been pointed
out that there Is no memorial of Lin
coln equally worthy, and that one should
be put through.
Excepting perhaps only Independence
Hall. In Philadelphia, which saw the pro
mulgation of the Declaration, there Is no
spot to which Americans turn with such
reverence as to the battlefield where for
three terrible Summer days Lee and
Meade struggled, while North and South
alike tremblingly awaited the outcome.
Many who took part in the conflict
are still living, and a still greater num
ber of men and women little more than
past middle age will tell how as children
they knelt praying on the streets of
Philadelphia, only a two days march
from the battlefield, and fearing that
next tidings would tell of Confederate
victory and the certainty that in 48 hours
the city would be In the hands of
enemy.
the
But the name of Lincoln himself Is
attached to the battlefield with a senti
ment far beyond what results from the
fact that he was the chief executive of
the country when was fought there the
battle on whise Issue hung the outcome
of the war.
The immortal speech delivered at Get
tysburg in sanctification of the brave
dead buried there from the first has
been know nas "Lincoln's Gettysburg
Speech."
A great judge of literature has referred
to this simply-phrased little address of
the war President as:
"The greatest speech of any time in
any tongue."
Its simple eloquence did not reach the
audience .In full measure on the day It
was delivered, for the big crowd wag
more attracted by ,the showy rhetoric
of Edward Everett, who was the orator
of the day.
Lincoln was there merely because he
was the President of the United States.
He was not looked to for an oration,
and he made no preparation. It was not
until he had taken hie train for Gettys
burg that he had a chance to turn his
busy mind from the many cares that op
pressed it in order to get ready a few
words In which to address his fellow
citizens
Taking an envelope and a stubby little
MOVING
CI
G
OOD news, Martha," announced
Mr. Thomas Smithklns as he
came home one June evening
and found his wife awaiting him on the
piazi.
"What im it, Thomas?" she ttsked,
smiling.
"I've rented a cottage for the Sum
mer:" The emile faded from Mrs. Smlthkins's
face.
"Rented a cottage without consulting
MB?" she inquired.
"Why r you know, my dear," said
her husband, "you suggested it yourself
and the agent told me that he hatl
ready given the refusal of it to 11 people
and If I didn't take It now It might be
tone before I had another chance. It's
got nine rooms, and "
"Did it occur to you. Thomas," said
his better half, that If 11 people had
had the refusal of the cottage, and no
one had taken it. the demand for It was
not very great?"
"Well. no. Martha; but it has nine"
"So you said before. Is there a bath
room ?' '
"I didn't ask."
"Humph! Is there gas?"
"I think er that is. I don't know."
"Is there anything you do know about
It?"
Mr. Smithklns was beginning to grow
irritated.
"It's near Bristol." he said shortly.
It's got nine rooms. It's yellow, with
green blinds "
"Yellow with green blinds!" almost
screamed Mrs. Smithklns.
"That's what I said." returned he.
"You act as if I'd said sky-blue with
pink blinds."
"It's almost as bad." she murmured.
"It has a wide plaza around three
sides, a kitchen with a cook stove in It "
"Remarkable thing for a kitchen
to have," con-.mented Mrs. Smithklns,
sarcastically. "And since you haven't
BIRTH.
LaFeanoiYork,Penn.
Who will introduce A bill in the Penn
n'Tl n .1.. Vn
fylvaaia Legislature asking
inz for An ap-
for a highway
Ith birthday of .
propriation of $7,000,000
to commemorate the 100th
Abraham Lincoln.
41 '
us.- v5
:':.;yV;r:i-i:R-:
pencil from his pocket, he wrote out the
passage beginning "Four score years and
ten"
This envelope that bore on its back im
mortal words that patriotic parents have
been teaching children to memorize ever
since, and that masters of the English
tongue have for four decades been teach
ing to students as one of the most in
spired instances of eloquence, has un
fortunately been lost. If it still existed
it would have a priceless value, and
would go into the Nation's archives side
by side with the Declaration of the Con
stitution. Perhaps the busy President, modest al
ways to his own achievements, and little
reckoning .the value of his speech, care
lessly tore It up on his way back home, or
as soon as the speech had ended.
INTO THEIR FIRST
seen it, how do you happen to be able
to describe it ?"
"The agent told me."
"Thomas," said his wife; "for a man
with the reputation of being a good busi
ness man, you are the the llmltl"
Mrs. Smithklns turned red. "I don't
often use such language," she said, "but
that is the only word I can think of!"
Smithklns controlled himself by a
strong effort.
"You may occupy the cottage or not as
you see fit," he told his wife. "The rent
Is paid for a month in advance. I'll have
nothing more to do with it. I work my
fingers to the bone trying to please you
and this is the way you take it."
"Of course, we'll move down, my dear,"
said Mrs. Smithklns, soothingly. "I
spoke hastily. But I do want to see the
place and decide what furniture to take
and all that."
"Well." said Mr. Smithklns. somewhat
mollified, "we'll go down tomorrow and
seo What is to be done. The children will
like it, anyway."
There were four children In the fam
ily, the eldest a son, 15 years old, then
two girls, twins, aged ten. and a young
gentleman of four, commonly called the
baby.
Mr. and Mrs. Smithklns went down as
they planned. When the' lady saw the
cottage she smiled. "Why, Thomas,"
she said, "yellow and green! It's buff,
and the dark green goes well with it."
"I'm glad you like it," replied her hus
band. The cottage stood on a bluff overlook
ing the bay, about 300 yards distant from
the water. There was a well on the
premlsees, an outhouse which could be
used for storage purposes, and the place
a3 a whole was outwardly attractive.
Inside there was a good deal of dust
and there was no bath-room.
"What shall we do for bathing facili
ties?" despairingly asked Mrs. Smith
kins.
THE SUNDAY' OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, JULY 26, 1908.
fib
GRAHAM
XINCQLN
1 aJs
oo
,
:-.3
EL'-HE JPJSOPOSJED
..HANCOCK AVE,
The public wildly welcomed the gTeat
leader, but his little speech passed com
paratively unnoticed, while the flowing
periods of Mr. Everett were hailed as
something magnificent.
But time brings its revenges. Today
not one sentence from Everett's oration
is remembered, while nothing in the Eng
lish language is much better known than
Lincoln's concluding phrase:
"That government of the people, for the
people and by the people, shall not perish
from the earth."
More and more every year Gettysburg
becomes a place of pilgrimage. It is a
field that it is impossible to traverse
without feeling the greatness of the deeds
there accomplished.
All over its surface is marked the
valor of the contendors.
There's a little water In the bay,"
returned Mr. Smithklns, waving .his
hand in the direction of the bay.
"We can't bathe the baby in the bay,"
Bald his wife, "and even if we should
bathe him and took baths ourselves we'd
be crusted with salt."
"There's the well and you can get a tin
tub."
"Nice thing to bathe, a baby In, ice
cold well water."
"It's possible to heat It."
"I presume you'd be willing to let the
baby go without his bath."
"Occasionally, yes. It seems to me
he's washed too frequently."
"'Oh, don't be silly. We must decide
what furniture to take when we move
down. There are four rooms up-stalrs,
two in front and two in the back. The
twins can have one of the front rooms,
you and I with the baby the other. We
can put Tom in the larger of the other
two and let Eliza have the smaller."
"Will our dusky queen condescend to
come and cook for us in these wilds?"
"I asked Eliza last year if she would
be willing to come into the country, and
she said she would."
"Now, Martha," said Mr. Smithklns.
"you make a list of the things we shall
want and I'll look It over and see If I
can think of anything more." And Mr.
Smithklns sat on the steps of the piazza
and smoked while his wife went through
the cottage armed with a pencil and a
bit of paper. At the end of half en hour
she announced that her list was com
plete, and handed it to her husband.
He glanced through it.
"Good heavens, Martha!" he exclaimed.
"we're not going to live here for the rest
of our lives! My idea was to take what
furniture we absolutely needed; not to
set up an establishment."
We absolutely need everything on
that list."
"Nonsense! Here, lor Instance, you
i have four beds, including our large dou
1 1
Mis
r
- .:
.HifetiWAV WILL
feETTYaSBUEC PUNNA
Guides who have mastered every detail
of the struggle are constantly on .hand
to show the visitor over the field, to point
out the places of especial interest, and to
explain the movements of the various
Generals and the men under them.
.The mention of points like Cemetery
Hill, Bloody Angle, the stone wall. Round
Top, etc., have in them a thrill, but
to be able to stand in these very
places, to see the direction in which
the attacking troops came, is to get such
a real realization of the stuggle as no
amount of book reading could ever con
vey. But in spite of the great interest in the
most notable battle of the war, it is a
fact that Gettysburg is a difficult place
to reach. From New York and Philadel
phia, for example, the most familiar
method is to go through York, but all
SUMMER COTTAGE
ble brass affair. We don't want any-
thing like that. Cots are good enough."
"Thomas, I shall not sleep on a cot.
You know perfectly well what happened
the last time I tried." j
"I do," replied her husband brutally, '
you fell out on the floor and yelled
bloody murder! But you can have Tom's
single bed and cots will do for the rest
of us."
"Two chiffoniers," he went on. "One
is more than enough. I am trying to im
press upon you, my dear, that we are
not at a fashionable seaside resort, but
that we are trying to get close to nature
by roughing it to the extent of wearing
old clothes and living out of doors most
of the time. - We can keep what we need
in trunks and closets.
You know best, of course, what Eliza
needs in the way of kitchen utensils, al
though It looks as If she intended to feed
an army. Personally I am quite content
to eat off ordinary tabeware instead of
our most expensive china, which I see
you intend to take, and in my humble
way I should suggest that we use plain
plated, tableware instead of solid silver.
We can store that in safe deposit.
"Curtains, rugs, piano why this miser
liness In the way of pianos? Why noi
have two or three scattered about to
make the cottage look cosy and home
like?" "The twins ought to keep up their
music," said Mrs. Smithklns.
"Three months without their .'music
will do them more good," returned her
husband. "But to resume. We don't
want rugs and curtains. Matting is quite
good enough, and some muslin things on
the bedroom windows will constitute a
genteel sufficiency in the matter of cur
tains. Tables, chairs, lamps, those' are
all right pictures we are not opening
an art gallery, my dear, and bedroom
sets."
During his comments Mr. Smithklns
VJW.JFJROM -UER., AJZROSS THE
'TQ'VED.:JLITfriiE 130UHD 0?OP.
'',' ;.-';?:
HIfi 'WAITEIS MARK,
the railroads leading to it are slow, and
the trip in the Summer time, the proper
time to go in order to see the field in the
condition it was during the battle, is long
and wearying, considering the compara
tively short distance to be covered.
Undoubtedly the presence of good roads
would make an automobile trip the ideal
way to make the pilgrimage to Gettys
burg. This is already the favorite way
of going io it from Philadelphia and New
York. During the greater part of the way
these roads are all that could be asked,
and the ride is delightful.
But the roads from Washington to Get
tysburg are far from being up to the
mark, and the autoirroblle ride in this di
rection, especially going through Mary
land, is a continuous struggle.
Representative
Lafean's
proposed
had been crossing out all the things he
deemed unnecessary and he gave back
the list to his wife with about half of
It marked off. She examined it. Then
she said:
"Very well, Thomas. If you want your
wife and family to go about like a lot
of naked savages and live like Italian
mill 'hands we are helpless. I'm sur
prised you didn't suggest bathing suits
for a regular costume. Possibly I went
-too far in suggesting bedroom sets.. We
might go down to the pump In the mor
ning and perform our ablutions, Inci
dentally freezing the baby."
"There is no use quarreling over it,"
observed Mr. Smithklns, "but you must
remember that it is expensive to trans
port furniture, and if we took every
thing you regard as- indispensable it
would cost en immense sum for freight.
We'd better go home and begin packing
tomorrow."
On their return to the city that day
the children of the family were told ot
the plans for the Summer, of which
they strongly approved. They spread the
news all over the neighborhood so
thoroughly that the next morning when
Mrs. Smithklns. with the aid of an expert
packer and a carpenter, was beginning
the majority, of the matrons in the vicin
ity dropped in to advise her as to what
to take. ' , , :
In spite of advice Mrs. Smithklns fol
lowed pretty closely her list as revised
by her husband, but she could not re
sist the temptation of adding a few gim
cracks, tidies and other things calcu
lated to soften the asperities of the sim
ple life. From time to time the chil
dren appeared with various toys, from
a small express cart to a doll's house,
and Insisted that they be packed with
the rest of the household goods.
Eliza seemed pleased with the change,
which struck her mistress as somewhat
strange until she heard the cook lady
TO
r
5
4 . r""- . arftt"
t.1
5 '
trtw -f ; ; v'-; ,y .
A-fiiOWlKLfe J101UJylEii1, OF
boulevard would be a source of delight
alike to automobillsts and horsemen, even
to pedestrians, in fact, for the recent re
vival of the love for man's most primi
tive means of locomotion has banished
the terrors of a hundred-mile walk.
The great avenue, according to the
plans which Mr. Lafean has had drawn,
will extend straight as a ray of light
from Washington to Westminster, Mary
land. Here it will take a new direction,
and again go straight till the goal is
reached.
At no point will It be less than one
hundred and fifty feet wide, and in the
middle is to be a fifty-foot plot of shrub
bery and flowers. On either side of this
central plot will be fifty-foot roadways,
for transit in either direction.
Congressman Lafean, who represents
the Twentieth District, Including York
Varied Experiences of Mr. and Mrs. Smithkins in a
House That the Husband Rented.
explaining to a friend that "day Is a
numbah of cullud gemmen at Bristol,"
after which she wondered no more.
While the packing went on at one end
of the line the oottage was being swept
and garnished at the other. Smithklns I
ordered and had sent to the cottage an
Immense tin tub as a pleasant surprise
for his wife and had also purchased
some piazza chairs and had them freshly
painted a dark green.
The packing was done at last, and the
packing cases sent away. Then a discus
sion arose as to the number of trunks.
Mrs. Smithklns said that as they were
supposed to live in trunks most of the
time, eight was the minimum number.
Smithklns said that as they were not
going to live after the manner of the
Newport cottagers, four was a maximum,
but his wife showed symptoms' of tears
so be compromised on six.
Then they went down to their cottage.
AH the packing cases had been dumped
on the piazza, and none of them had
been opened. Smithklns got a man from
the village and set to work to get things
into shape. After three hours hard labor
he succeeded in getting out and Betting
up the cots and the bed. He sat down
to rest In one of the piazza chairs and
stuck to It when he got up, spoiling a
suit of clothes.
The family ate at the village Inn and
Blept In the cottage that night, being
nearly devoured by mosquitoes, as they
had forgotten to bring any nets. . The
next day the expert packer was sent for
to unpack, and he gave illustrations of
his ability In smashing dishes and lamps.
The cook stove would not work, so
they continued to board at the village,
and as all the lamps were broken they
went to bed, as they had done the night
before, by candle light, soothed by the
song of the glad mosquito.
Two days later the stove was in wnrk-
i lng order, the children were forbidden
"Mi l, " -
V f.
OF JDEATti
'T i? '
and Adams Counties, and whose home Is;
only twenty-ejght miles from the scene of j
the battlefield, has had the able assist
ance of J. T. McCleary, Second Assistant!
Postmaster-General, in working out the
plans for his road.
Through Mr. McCleary the Abraham
Lincoln Memorial Association, of which
he is a foremost member, has heartily
commended the project. President Roose
velt, Senator Knox and other leading men
are in accord and Mr. Knox has agreed
to take charge of the bill when .lt is re-1
ported to the Senate. !
According to present plans work on the
road will either start tin February 13.
which is Lincoln's centenary, or else the
signature of the President will be affixed
to the bill on that day. At any rate, thej
anniversary will be made to figure inj
some way. 1
to go near the water or to sit in the
piazza chairs, and the family began to1
enjoy the simple life according to the'
cottage Ideal. Every day Mrs. Smithklns
would find that something quite lndis-!
pensable had been left at the house, anil
every night Smithklns would take the
train from the city wrth his arms full'
of packages of all shapes and descrip-'
tions.
At other times an expressman would!
arrive with a chair or table, crated, and1
deposit It on the piazza, and another
piece of furniture would be added to
the store. Once or twice Smithklns had
to stay in town over night, and the third;
time it happened he said to his wife the
next day:
"Martha, our house seems very empty.
We must have taken much more furni
ture than we thought we did." .
"Well, my dear," replied his wife,
"you insisted on having your favorite'
easy chair. I had to have my sewing
table and some things for the bedrooms
and you know we sent a few pieces to
the storage warehouse."
Smlthkine took a day off in town and
an inventory of the furniture left In the
town house. He found the piano, all
the drawing-room furniture, the heavy
brass beds and a few tables, too large'
to be conveniently moved. Everything
else had drifted, little by little, to the
cottage, was there to Btay for the Sum
mer, and, as was afterward decided, part
of the Autumn. The next year when the
cottage project was discussed they had
solved the problem. One set of Summer
furniture with a few, strictly a few, in-;
dispensables from the town house, and
that was all.
And now the Smlthkinses go down the
bay every season, wise in the knowledge'
of what constitutes comfort In a Sum
mer cottage.
There are others. -