PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S ADDRESS AT THE DEDICATION OF GETTYSBURG CEMETERY.

Nov. 1864.

FOURSCORE and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that We are met to dedicate a portion of it as the final resting place of those who here gave their lives that that aation might live.

war.

It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work they have thus far so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to the cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom, and that the government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

SOCRATES SNOOKS.

MISTER Socrates Snooks, a lord of creation,
The second time entered the married relation:

Xantippe Caloric accepted his hand,

And they thought him the happiest man in the land.
But scarce had the honeymoon passed o'er his head,
When, one morning, to Xantippe, Socrates said,
"I think, for a man of my standing in life,
This house is too small, as I now have a wife:
So, as early as possible, carpenter Carey

Shall be sent for to widen my house and my dairy."

"Now, Socrates, dearest," Xantippe replied,
"I hate to hear every thing vulgarly my'd;
Now, whenever you speak of your chattels again,
Say, our cow house, our barn yard, our pig pen.”

By your leave, Mrs. Snooks, I will say what I please Of my houses, my lands, my gardens, my trees.” "Say our," Xantippe exclaimed in a rage.

"I won't, Mrs. Snooks, though you ask it an age !"

Oh, woman! though only a part of man's rib,

If the story in Genesis don't tell a fb,

Should your naughty companion e'er quarrel with you,
You are certain to prove the best man of the two.
In the following case this was certainly true;
For the lovely Xantippe just pulled off her shoe,
And laying about her, all sides at random,
The adage was verified-"Nil desperandum.”

Mister Socrates Snooks, after trying in vain,
To ward off the blows which descended like ram-
Concluding that valor's best part was discretion-
Crept under the bed like a terrified Hessian :
But the dauntless Xantippe, not one whit afraid,
Converted the siege into a blockade.

At last, after reasoning the thing in his pate,
He concluded 't was useless to strive against fate:
And so, like a tortoise protruding his head,

Said, "

My dear, may we come out from under our bed ?” "Hah! hah!" she exclaimed, "Mr. Socrates Snooks, I perceive you agree to my terms by your looks: Now, Socrates-hear me-from this happy hour, If you'll only obey me, I'll never look sour." 'Tis said the next Sabbath, ere going to church, He chanced for a clean pair of trowsers to search:

Having found them, he asked, with a few nervous twitches, "My dear, may we put on our new Sunday breeches ?”

THE BATTLE OF LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN.
Geo. H. Boker.

"GIVE me but two brigades," said Hooker, frowning at fortified Lookout,

"And I'll engage to sweep yon mountain clear of that mocking rebel rout !"

At early morning came an order that set the general's face aglow:

"Now,"

" said he to his staff, "draw out my soiders. Grant says that I may go!"

Hither and thither dash'd each eager colonel to join his regiment,

While a low rumor of the daring purpose ran on from tent

to tent;

For the long-roll was sounding in the valley, and the keev trumpet's bray,

And the wild laughter of the swarthy veterans, who cried, "We fight to-day !”

The solid tramp of infantry, the rumble of the great jolting

gun,

The sharp, clear order, and the fierce steeds neighing, "Why's not the fight begun ?”’——

All these plain harbingers of sudden conflict broke on the startled ear;

And, last, arose a sound that made your blood leap-the ringing battle-cheer.

The lower works were carried at one onset. Like a vast roaring sea

Of steel and fire, our soldiers from the trenches swept out the enemy;

And we could see the gray-coats swarming up from the mountain's leafy base,

To join their comrades in the higher fastness-for life or death the race!

Then our long line went winding round the mountain, in a huge serpent track,

And the slant sun upon it flash'd and glimmer'd, as on a dragon's back.

Higher and higher the column's head push'd onward, ere the rear moved a man;

And soon the skirmish-lines their straggling volleys and single shots began.

Then the bald head of Lookout flamed and bellow'd, and all its batteries woke,

And down the mountain pour'd the bomb-shells, puffing into our eyes their smoke;

And balls and grape-shot rain'd upon our column, that bore the angry shower

As if it were no more than that soft dropping which scarcely stirs the flower.

Oh, glorious courage that inspires the hero, and runs through all his men !

The heart that fail'd beside the Rappahannock, it was itself again!

The star that circumstance and jealous faction shrouded in envious night,

Here shone with all the splendor of its nature, and with a freer flight!

Hark! hark! there go the well-known crashing volleys, the long-continued roar,

That swells and falls, but never ceases wholly, until the fight is o'er.

Up towards the crystal gates of heaven ascending, the mortal tempests beat,

As if they sought to try their cause together before God's very feet!

We saw our troops had gam'd a footing almost beneath the topmost ledge,

And back and forth the rival lines went surging upon the dizzy edge.

Sometimes we saw our men fall backward slowly, and groan'd in our despair;

Or cheer'd when now and then a stricken rebel plunged out in open air,

Down, down, a thousand empty fathoms dropping, his God alone knows where !

At eve, thick haze upon the mountain gather'd, with rising smoke stain'd black,

And not a glimpse of the contending armies shone through the swirling rack.

Night fell o'er all; but still they flash'd their lightnings and roll'd their thunders loud,

Though no man knew upon what side was going that battle in the cloud.

Night! what a night!-of anxious thought and wouder; but still no tidings came

From the bare summit of the trembling mountain, still wrapp'd in mist and flame.

But towards the sleepless dawn, stillness, more dreadful than the fierce sound of war,

Settled o'er Nature, as if she stood breathless before the morning star.

As the sun rose, dense clouds of smoky vapor boil'd from the valley's deeps,

Dragging their torn and ragged edges slowly up through the tree-clad steeps,

And rose and rose, till Lookout, like a vision, above us grandly stood,

And over his black crags and storm-blanch'd headlands burst the warm, golden flood.

Thousands of eyes were fix'd upon the mountain, and thousands held their breath,

And the vast army, in the valley watching, seem'd touched with sudden death.

High o'er us soar'd great Lookout, robed in purple, a glory on his face,

A human meaning in his hard, calm features, beneath that heavenly grace.

Out on a crag walk'd something-What? an eagle that treads yon giddy height?

Surely no man! But still he clamber'd forward into the full, rich light;

Then up he started, with a sudden motion, and from the blazing crag

Flung to the morning breeze and sunny radiance the dear old starry flag!

Ah! then what follow'd? Scarr'd and war-worn soldiers. like girls, flush'd through their tan,

And down the thousand wrinkles of the battles a thousand tear-drops ran;

Men seized each other in return'd embraces, and sobbed for very love;

A spirit which made all that moment brothers seem'd fall ing from above.

And, as we gazed, around the mountain's summit our glittering files appear'd;

Into the rebel works we saw them marching; and we-we cheer'd, we cheer'd!

And they above waved all their flags before us, and join'd

our frantic shout,

Standing, like demigods, in light and triumph, upon their own Lookout!