A red letter day!

[Rob Wick]

Today, while going through the Tarbell papers, I noticed that Allegheny College finally added the letters written to and from Carl Sandburg. Some of the letters from her are duplicated in Sandburg's papers (which one would expect) but there is also a copy of the speech which Sandburg delivered in 1940 during the dedication of Tarbell's "Lincoln Room" which was made up of her collection.

I won't reprint the whole speech (which one can find if they go to the Tarbell papers website) but at the end of it there was something which I had to smile over.

Perhaps I could close by offering a passage from one of the chapters in the War years that gives the story of the Gettysburg speech, how he came to write it, what he was doing in those days and weeks, and the delivery of the speech.
"And after that............................

.............................and freedom is worth dying for".

(We're afraid his few closing words are lost forever because by this time our pens were dry, our pencils broken, our fingers cramped, and our dispositions ragged.)

How Sandburg would have loved that!

Best
Rob

[LincolnMan]

Rob: I've read your posting three times now and I just don't get the ending. I really want to understand it. At the risk of appearing to be stupid I admit this. Help!

[Rob Wick]

Bill,

I think the copy of the speech in Tarbell's papers was actually notes taken by someone and wasn't Sandburg's copy. The last line was by the transcriptionist who couldn't keep up and finally gave up.

Best
Rob

[LincolnMan]

Now I get it! Thanks Rob!