TWENTIETH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII 631 



defeated for the United States senate; and he couldn't get an appoint- 

 ment for office in the department of the interior for which he had ap- 

 plied. But when that great idea took hold — the preservation of the Union, 

 for that day and for posterity — when he thrilled this whole nation with 

 that thought, he became great, he became immortal. 



Mr. Bunn told me about the Gettysburg address. Governor Yates of 

 Illinois went to Gettysburg to that celebration, and on his return they 

 were down to the hotel to hear an account of what occurred. Governor 

 Yates spoke in the highest eulogy of Edward Everett, saying that it was 

 the most wonderful speech he had ever heard anywhere, but he spoke 

 not a word about Abraham Lincoln. Finally Mr. Bunn asked, "How did 

 Mr. Lincoln do?" "Well," said Governor Yates, "it was a failure; it fell 

 flat; nobody cared for it that I could see; just a fractional part of the 

 audience heard it," and in disappointment they finally broke up and went 

 home. Weeks passed by; then some magazine over in Scotland or Eng- 

 land published that speech, and in publishing it described it as a classic, 

 stating that it would probably rank as one of the greatest of the nine- 

 teenth century. A New York daily read this article in the magazine and 

 published the speech in full, with the account as it appeared in the 

 magazine. It was immediately reprinted all over the United States, and 

 spread like a prairie fire. Today, you know, that oration of Lincoln's, 

 which takes only about two minutes to recite, ranks as one of the most 

 celebrated productions in the English language. 



I want to say that in all my little journeys about meeting folks, one 

 of the most striking personalities that I have ever met, one that has had 

 a profound Influence on my life, lived in this home state of ours. Four 

 years ago next Sunday, the 22d, I was called over to a certain church 

 in this city, and in a room there I saw an heroic figure lying on the floor 

 — a friend of mine had died. That man, when over forty years of age, 

 had to change his occupation — he was declared a consumptive, and it 

 wasn't until 'about forty-nine years of age that he began on his real life's 

 work — he became a leader in the thought of his state and of the whole 

 nation, in many departments. 



A few days after that I was asked to make a little talk over at the 

 Y. M. C. A. In going over my papers the other day I came across these 

 notes, and I want to read them to you in closing, because they picture 

 to me one of the strongest personalities whom I have ever had the pleas- 

 ure of knowing: 



"Henry Wallace never held a public office, but he helped to mold the 

 thought of this state on many of the great questions of the day, concern- 

 ing which Iowa has led the nation. He was a private citizen, but he 

 helped to place upon the statute books some of the most important legis- 

 lation of his generation; he defeated legislators and congressmen; he 

 was an adviser at critical moments in the lives of governors, of men 

 in the United States senate, and in several cabinets; and he received 

 a distinguished honor at the hands of the president of the United States. 

 It is this man in whose memory we are gathered together upon this 

 occasion. 



