Sappy Headmaster

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on 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 war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate - we can not consecrate - we can not hallow - this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor 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 which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. 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 that 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 this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
I'll be 49 years old this month. Sigh.... Recently the boys asked me if I'd been alive during the Civil War. I had to stop and think for a second.

So while planning some school activities last week, I hatched this great idea to read the Gettysburg Address to the boys. I would begin by laying all the Civil War background over the course of two days, with a goal of reading the actual Gettysburg Address on Wednesday.

Over the course of an hour or so on Monday and Tuesday, I related all the necessary background material, beginning with a definition of slavery and a discussion of all the factors (economic, social, industrial and agricultural) that created such a deep divide over the issue.

On Wednesday, we talked about the battle, and then I read the foreword of an illustrated book of the Gettysburg Address. It provided some of the immediate background material on those most famous 272 words that make up the speech.

Now I must tell you that, for as long as I can remember, I've had a strange connection to the Civil War. There is something very, very emotional about the whole thing for me. I've read countless books (forgetting most of it), and visited the famous battlefields. I remember becoming overwhelmed with emotion while strolling the Gettysburg Battlefield.

And thus, as I turned to the first page of the Gettysburg Address, and attempted to utter the first word - nothing came out. Nothing dry, that is. When the tears began to flow, I got up, and without explanation started into a math discussion.

The worst part is, that after all the buildup over two days, I don't think the boys even knew what happened!

Anyone up for a Civil War Co-Op? You teach my kids Civil War history, and I'll teach your kids math. I promise not to cry. Until we get to the number 49.