Arkansas Crossroads

Edward Everett was an American politician, pastor, educator, diplomat and orator from Massachusetts. If you’ve ever heard of him at all, you probably know him as the man who gave the “other” Gettysburg address. Everett spoke eloquently (and exhaustively) for two hours before Lincoln upstaged him with a two-minute speech. Most of us can recite Lincoln’s address but know nothing of Everett's. Here’s a story about Edward Everett you probably haven’t heard: “Once a man who had been slandered by a newspaper came to Edward Everett asking what to do about it. Everett replied, ‘Do nothing! Half the people who bought the paper never saw the article. Half of those who saw it did not read it. Half of those who read it did not understand it. Half of those who understood it did not believe it. Half of those who believed it are of no account anyway.’” – from Staying Up, Up, Up in a Down, Down World by Zig Ziglar