I state it as a fact, and without fear of contradiction, that this famous Gettysburg speech was not regarded by the audience to whom it was addressed, or by the press and people of the United States, as a production of extraordinary merit, nor was it commented on as such until after the death of its author. Those who look thoughtfully into the history of the matter must own that Mr. Lincoln was, on that occasion, "wiser than he knew." He was wiser than his audience, wiser than the great scholars and orators who were associated with him in the events of that solemn day. He had unconsciously risen to a height above the level of even the "cultured thought" of that period.[6] [6] Page 174, line 11, after the word "period." The words of Clark E. Carr are entitled to credit, for no one present had more at heart than he the success of these ceremonies--he being one of the original commissioners comprising the board that purchased this, the first ground set apart for a national cemetery for our soldiers. He was on the platform from which Mr. Lincoln spoke. He says in his "Lincoln at Gettysburg" that, "Before the great multitude of people could prepare themselves to listen intelligently, before their thoughts had become sufficiently centred upon the speaker to take up his line of thought and follow him, he had finished and returned to his seat. So short a time [only about three minutes] was Mr. Lincoln before them that the people could scarcely believe their eyes when he disappeared from their view. They could not possibly in so short a time mentally grasp the ideas that were conveyed. Many persons said to me that they would have supposed that on such a great occasion the President would have made a speech. Every one thought he made only a very few 'dedicatory remarks.' Mr. Carr further says that the general impression was that the remarks consisted of 'a dozen commonplace sentences scarcely one of which contained anything new, anything that when stated was not self-evident.'"