When he wrote his letter in acceptance of the nomination to the
presidency, he showed it to the superintendent of public instruction in
Illinois, whom he called "Mr. Schoolmaster" (and who was years after my
own beloved schoolmaster) saying: "I am not very strong on grammar and I
wish you would see if it is all right." The schoolmaster had only to
repair what we call a "split infinitive." But the great utterances of his
life had no tuition or revision of schoolmasters. They were his own in
conception and expression. He sent his Cooper Union speech in advance to
several for advice, and they, I am told, changed not a word.
Of his debates with Douglas (1858), his speech in Cooper Union, New York,
1860, his oration at the dedication of the Soldiers' Cemetery at
Gettysburg, and of his second inaugural address, it has been said that no
one of them has been surpassed in its separate field. Goldwin Smith said
of the Gettysburg speech: "Saving one very flat expression, the address
has no superior in literature.
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