Thanks to The Pilot for using Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address as the Memorial Day editorial. Nothing could have been more appropriate.

It is interesting to note that Lincoln was not the principal speaker at the dedication. Shortly before the event, the committee in charge of the dedication invited Lincoln to say a few words.

The principal speaker was Edward Everett, a nationally known orator from Massachusetts. Everett spoke for more than two hours.

He later acknowledged in a letter to the president that Lincoln got it “more right” in his two-minute address than Everett did in his two hours. It is hard to believe a two-minute speech by a man with one year of formal education could have such a lasting effect on our country.

Clarke Conlon

Pinehurst