The Prarie President

[RJNorton]

I agree, Bill. In Lincoln's Journey to Greatness author Victor Searcher writes:

"The press had been informed that Lincoln would make no announcements before departing. His last-minute remarks had come as a complete surprise for which they had been unprepared.

To comply with their request, Lincoln sat down in a coach seat that swayed and bounced as the train gathered speed. On a pad handed him by private secretary John G. Nicolay he put down the words he had just spoken. At the fourth sentence he handed back pad and pencil to Nicolay and dictated several lines. Nicolay having trouble writing, he took over again and completed what has become an American classic.

Lincoln's Farewell to Springfield is considered by many to be his finest composition, since it was a spontaneous outpouring of profound feeling."