THE GETTYSBURG SPEECH
SIR,—Your review of Mr. Sandburg's Storm Over the Land is in error in saying that the words of Lincoln's Gettysburg speech have been " mutilated " by him. There are three versions of this famous speech : (t) that taken down in shorthand by a reporter of the Associated Press present at the dedication ceremony ; (2) the version taken down, also in shorthand, by Mr. Hales, a journalist member of the Massachusetts commission present at the ceremony and circulated later to correct the former version, ' marred by errors in telegraphing, and appended in the correct form as the words actually spoken by the President, with great deliberation, were taken down," (3) the version finally revised by Lincoln himself after comparison of all the Press reports with his MS notes of the speech and his own recollections. This last version is the one usually printed, and this your reviewer presumably calls " a few, appro- priate, and immortal " words, which are " imprinted on the minds of all educated Americans, and many educated Englishmen." Mr. Sandburg's version is the second, and whatever susceptibilities he may have offended, he surely has justification for his view that this represents more accurately than the other two what Lincoln actually said. The whole matter is fully dealt with in Major Burrege's Gettysburg and Lincoln (Putnam, 1906).—Yours faithfully, E. W. SHEPPARD. Gothic Cottage, Sandhurst, Camberley, Surrey.
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