Annotation
[1] Philadelphia Press and Inquirer, June 17, 1864. The basic text reproduced is from the Press. Variants appearing in italics within brackets are from the Inquirer. Interruptions are reproduced in brackets as they appear in the Press. Lincoln spoke at a banquet held in a reception room at the Fair near seven o'clock P.M. The Press, as well as other papers, commented on the difficulties which confronted the reporters: ``The people at large will regret to hear that no accommodation whatever was made for the representatives of the press, and, therefore, it was with great difficulty that the reporters were able to take the speech of the President at all.'' Reports appearing in all papers show many verbal variations. The Press and Inquirer are the best which have been discovered and are practically identical in content, though differing in numerous verbal details. Only the most important variants appearing in the Inquirer have been inserted in the Press text as reproduced.
Among the Lincoln Papers there is a page of manuscript in handwriting that has not been identified, written on Executive Mansion stationery, which appears to have been drafted as a suggestion for Lincoln's speech:
``Executive Mansion,
``Washington, [June 16?], 1864.
``It was here in the days when our fathers, struggled to free themselves from the exactions, of the heartless mother country, that noble women met and organized, and went from precinct to precinct, soliciting aid for not only our sick, but these half clothed and barefooted soldiers; and some one has told me, that there is preserved among the papers of your Historical Society, one of the subscription lists with the autograph signatures of the patriotic matrons of that day, some of whose grand-daughters perhaps imbued with their spirit, have by their taste and energy and presence brought us into a floral fairy land.'' (DLC-RTL).