Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 70, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 April 1917 — A Famous Phrase and Its Author. [ARTICLE]

A Famous Phrase and Its Author.

During any political campaign one familiar phrase often appears in the public prints and has frequently been heard on the hustings —“Government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Its authorship is yet widely attributed to Abraham Lincoln, from whose lips it fell on the battlefield of Gettysburg, November 19, 18(>3’ That other speakers and writers used it before Mr. Lincoln did is conceded by competent critics; but where did they find it? This question is answered as by authority in a book issued last year by Dr. Frank H. Vizetelly, entitled “Essentials of English Speeclv and Literature.” On page 38 of the book Doctor Vizetelly says of Wycliffe: "He entered Queen’s cob lege, Oxford, in 1340, and in 1372 took the degree of doctor of divinity. Wycliffe’s greatest service to literature lies in the fact that he undertook the translation into English of the whole Bible. This he produced between the years 1380 and 1384. In the preface Wycliffe used a phrase that later writers and speakers have attributed in modified form to Abraham Lincoln: ‘The Bible Is for the government of tfie people, by the people and for the people.’ ” —Literary Digest.