The Little Red Schoolhouse
Session Thirteen
The Oratorical Voice
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Introduction
Focus
The University of Virginia
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A Written Voice
All texts have what we might think of as a voice—a sense of what it might be like
to listen to the writer speaking to us. But in fact, most readers think of a text as
having a voice only when we can imagine, not just anyone intoning the words but
a distinct person, with a recognizable personality—a manner, an air, an axe to
grind, opinions and stances, a specific way of conversing with us. So when a text
has a voice that is impersonal, generic, institutional or otherwise not imaginable
as issuing from a distinct and distinctive person, we tend to say that is has no
voice—that it is mechanical, inhuman, voiceless.
The term voice is of course a metaphor, and what we experience as voice is as
much a product of our own imagining as of the text. But it is, nevertheless a
product of the text—not of the writer, but of the implied writer or persona that the
writer encodes into a variety of the features in her text. Here we will look at seven
kinds of features that seem to be important to our experience of voice.
Seven Textual Dimensions of Voice
Is Its Story Image-able?
Is Its Language Familiar?
Is Its Language Appropriate?
Does It Invoke Conceptual Metaphors?
Does It Depict an Attitude? a Set of Values?
Does It Depict a Persona?
Does It Have a Compelling Rhythm?
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1a. The Appellate Division of the Court of Common Pleas held that where defendant
which rendered computer services to plaintiff was paid a fee by plaintiff for finding an
attorney subsequently employed by plaintiff for only about eight weeks, but was not
paid by the attorney, did not solicit the public at large for business and procured the
attorney only as an incident to its main service to plaintiff, defendant was not an
employment agency and thus an employment agency license was not necessary for
defendant and defendant was not required to refund part of its fee pursuant to such
statutes.
1b.
In a case before the Appellate Division of the Court of Common Pleas, defendant
rendered computer services to plaintiff and separately received a fee from plaintiff for
finding an attorney who was subsequently employed by plaintiff for only about eight
weeks. The Court held that defendant was not an employment agency because it did
not solicit the public at large for that business, was not paid by the attorney, and
procured the attorney only as an incident to its main service to plaintiff. Thus defendant
was not required to obtain an employment agency license or to refund part of its fee
pursuant to such statutes.
The Problem of Long Sentences
Long sentences can be both hard to read and misleading. Long sentences are
hard to read when the reader has to juggle too much grammatical structure at
the same time that she is trying to understand what all that grammatical
structure means. This usually happens when the sentence has a very long
subject (which will have its own complex internal grammatical structure) or
when something comes between the subject and the verb:
SUBJECT
«The settled rule that all aspects of a controversy
should be determined at a single proceeding and
the fact that both the law and chancery divisions
have concurrent jurisdictions»
VERB
are helpful to our position.
SUBJECT
This knowledge
«while not definitive in regard to the
assumption of condonation in regard to the
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acts which constituted just cause for
dismissal»
VERB
is damaging to the cause.
Since the subject-verb pair is the most important grammatical structure, you will
help the reader if you get a short subject right next to a specific verb:
«Our position» «is helped by» the settled rule that . . . .
While not definitive . . . dismissal, «this knowledge» «is damaging to the cause.»
Long sentences can also confuse a reader because they do not let you make the
best use of the sentence structures that signal focus and emphasis. Specifically,
(1) they do not give you enough Topics to make it clear what you are specifically
focusing on,
(2) they do not give you enough Stress positions to emphasize what you think is
important, and
(3) they will often swallow up whatever single idea you want to make your Main
Point.
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2a. It therefore seems evident that the SEC meant to establish a two-level materiality
test, the first level of which enveloped all proceedings which could be generically
grouped with the second level selecting out economically material proceedings and
requiring the same individual description (including relief sought) as for other
material legal proceedings.
2b. It therefore seem evident that the SEC meant to establish a two-level materiality test:
the first level groups all generically related; and the second level selects out
economically material proceedings and requires for them the same individual
description (including relief sought) that is required for other material legal
proceedings.
3a. What appears to have been contemplated when the education article was adopted at
the 1894 Constitutional Convention was a statewide system assuring minimal
acceptable facilities and services in contrast to the unsystematic delivery of instruction
then in existence within the state.
3b. When in 1894 the Constitutional Convention adopted the education article, it appears
to have intended not the unsystematic delivery of instruction that then existed within
the state, but a statewide system assuring minimal acceptable facilities and services.
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2b. It therefore seems evident that the SEC meant to establish a two-level materiality
test: the first level groups all generically related; and the second level selects out
economically material proceedings and requires for them the same individual
description (including relief sought) that is required for other material legal
proceedings.
It therefore seem evident that
the SEC meant to
establish a two-level
materiality test:
the first level
groups
all generically related proceedings;
selects out
economically material proceedings
and
the second level
and
requires
for them
the same individual description
(including relief sought)
that
is required
for other material legal proceedings.
3b. When in 1894 the Constitutional Convention adopted the education article, it appears
to have intended not the unsystematic delivery of instruction that then existed within
the state, but a statewide system assuring minimal acceptable facilities and services.
When in 1894
the Constitutional Convention
it
adopted the education article,
appears to have intended
not
the unsystematic delivery of instruction
that
but
then existed within the state,
a statewide system
assuring minimal acceptable
facilities
and
services.
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Snakes and Peacocks
Though long sentences are normally a problem for most writers, they are also the
most common means that good writers use to convey a sense of elegance and grace,
the sense that, in their sentences, more is happening than usually meets the eye or
ear. Elegance need not be long-winded. Most good writers find a judicious mix of
long and short. But the fact is, most of the time with elegance comes the elaboration
of a long and periodic sentence whose length and many turns give the writer the
room to explore each idea in all facets, even those otherwise tangential, but whose
periodic structure gives the reader an architecture that allows her to survey the
facets and anticipate the turns, examining each in its own good time, without
confusion and without anxiety about its relation to what has come before or to what
might come next.
All long sentences are not created equal. Long sentences that give readers the most
difficulty are like snakes, unwinding themselves endlessly, each element merely
tagged on to what has come before, so that the reader has little sense of controlled
anticipation, able to do little more than wait for it all to end. Here is a classic snake:
The problem of liberal education is to institutionalize those intellectual circumstances
under which it is maximally probable that the reflective moment of intellectual
activity will serve the purpose of permanently transforming the relationship of an
individual mind to the intellectual world so that persons may become freely
functioning participants in intellectual activity and autonomous members of the
intellectual community.
Successful long sentences are less like snakes than like peacocks: When they
unwind, the punch is all in the tail, which has a well-defined structure whose
architecture we take in with a glance. Like the peacock's tail, a successful long
sentence uses repetition and symmetry to give order to its parts. Now, a classic
peacock:
The object of what we commonly call education — that education in which man
intervenes and which I shall distinguish as artificial education — is to make good
these defects in Nature's methods: to prepare the child to receive Nature's education,
neither incapably nor ignorantly, nor with willful disobedience; and to understand the
preliminary symptoms of her pleasure, without waiting for the box on the ear.
And here displayed is its architecture:
The object of what we
commonly call education
—
that education
in which man intervenes
and
which I shall distinguish as artificial education —
is
to make good these defects in
to prepare the child to receive
neither
nor
nor
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Nature's methods:
Nature's education,
incapably
ignorantly,
with willful disobedience;
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and
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to understand the preliminary symptoms of
her pleasure,
without waiting
for the box on the ear.
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Of course, there are always exceptions. A master stylist will always be able to use to
his own advantage our expectations for how things should work. Here is a part of a
very long, but wonderfully written snake. Notice how Mailer uses the fact that
snakes make us feel lost inside their length, uses it to make us feel a part of the
experience he reports.
from Norman Mailer, Armies of the Night
In any event, up at the front of this March, in the first line, back of
that hollow square of monitors, Mailer and Lowell walked in this
barrage of cameras, helicopters, TV cars, monitors, loudspeakers,
and wavering buckling twisting line of notables, arms linked (line
twisting so much that at times the movement was in file, one arm
locked ahead, one behind, then the line would undulate about and
the other arm would be ahead) speeding up a few steps, slowing
down while a great happiness came back into the day as if finally
one stood under some mythical arch in the great vault of history,
helicopters buzzing about, chop-chop, and the sense of America
divided on this day now liberated some undiscovered patriotism in
Mailer so that he felt a sharp searing love for his country in this
moment and on this day, crossing some divide in his own mind
wider than the Potomac, a love so lacerated he felt as if a marriage
were being torn and children lost — never does one love so much
as then, obviously, then — and an odor of wood smoke, from
where you knew not, was also in the air, a smoke of dignity and
some calm heroism, not unlike the sense of freedom which also
comes when a marriage is burst — Mailer knew for the first time
why men in the front line of a battle are almost always ready to die:
...
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Even though Mailer does not use the kind of short, parallel syntactic sub-units that
make peacocks work, he does punctuate this snake with thematic repetitions that
help readers build connections to help them through its length.
In any event, up at the front of this March, in the first line, back of that hollow
square of monitors, Mailer and Lowell walked
in this barrage of cameras, helicopters, TV cars, monitors, loudspeakers, and
wavering buckling twisting line of notables, arms linked
(line twisting so much that at times the movement was in file, one arm locked
ahead, one behind, then the line would undulate about and the other arm would be
ahead)
speeding up a few steps, slowing down
while a great happiness came back into the day as if finally one stood under some
mythical arch in the great vault of history,
helicopters buzzing about, chop-chop,
and the sense of America divided on this day now liberated some undiscovered
patriotism in Mailer
so that he felt a sharp searing love for his country in this moment and on this
day,
crossing some divide in his own mind wider than the Potomac,
a love so lacerated he felt as if a marriage were being torn and children lost —
never does one love so much as then, obviously, then —
and an odor of wood smoke, from where you knew not, was also in the air, a smoke of
dignity and some calm heroism,
not unlike the sense of freedom which also comes when a marriage is burst —
Mailer knew for the first time why men in the front line of a battle are almost
always ready to die: . . .
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On Coordination
We coordinate parts of sentences when we join them rhetorically and
syntactically with and, but, or, nor, yet, etc. When these coordinated parts of
sentences contain lexical and syntactic parallels, readers find it easier to follow
the ideas expressed in the sentence. When this lexical and syntactic parallelism
is carried to an extreme, readers often perceive it as the mark of a rhetorical,
occasionally an elegant style.
For example,
But
when the legislature proceeds to impose on that officer other duties,
when he is directed peremptorily to perform certain acts,
when the rights of individuals are dependant on the performance of those acts
he
is so far the officer of the law
is amenable to the laws for his conduct,
and
cannot at his discretion sport away the vested rights of others.
Another example,
But
if
so far from being an intrusion into the secrets of the cabinet
it respects
a paper
which according to law is upon record
and
to a copy of which the law gives the right, on the payment of ten cents,
if it be no intermeddling with
a subject,
over which the executive can be considered as having
exercised control,
what is there in the exalted station of the officer
which
shall bar a citizen from asserting in a court of justice his legal rights,
or
shall forbid a court
to listen to the claim
or
to issue a mandamus directing the performance of a
duty
not depending on executive discretion
but
on particular acts of congress
and
the general principles of law.
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Using Parallel Structures
You construct PARALLEL structures by using segments (from single words to
entire clauses) that are alike grammatically and structurally. Parallel structures
are frequently connected by "and," "or," "nor" or "but."
For example:
1. The garden is [large] but [carefully tended].
(parallel segments are modifiers.)
2. Rising costs of long-term dialysis has led to [questions about the benefits to
patients] and [concern about the future of the program].
(parallel segments are noun phrases.)
3. They heard rumors [that the college was near bankruptcy], [that its science
program was weak], and [that it could not keep a football coach for more than a year].
(parallel segments are clauses)
4. [Some metaphors are harmless], [some are useful], [some are beautiful], and [some
are stumbling blocks to clear thinking].
(parallel segments are clauses)
The power of parallel structures is the power of repetition. Because they have the
same structure, parallels make it easier for readers to assimilate new
information. Parallel structures give readers new information in an already
familiar form. In the first segment of the parallel, readers learn the structure; in
subsequent segments they just use that structure over and over again.
Remember: the key is repetition. A parallel works only if the grammatical
structure is repeated. If you do not repeat the grammar, you obscure the form
and so force readers to decipher your style in order to understand your meaning.
When you construct parallel structures, follow these rules:
RULE #1:
All segments in a parallel structure must have the same grammatical structure.
Frequently, you can test for consistent structure by interchanging one segment
with another. The grammar of the sentence will show you if the structure is
inconsistent.
NOT THIS:
In this study, we have not only [successfully delineated the causes and symptoms of
the disease] but also [escalating dosage as an effective treatment].
You cannot interchange the segments. You couldn't write: "In this study, we have
not only escalating dosage as an effective treatment . . . "
BUT THIS:
In this study, we have not only [successfully delineated the causes and symptoms of
the disease] but also [shown that escalating dosage can be an effective treatment.]
The segments are now interchangeable.
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Repeating the same grammatical structure is necessary for a successful parallel,
but it is not enough. Remember, the advantage of parallelism is that readers can
better focus on content because they process the repeated structure so easily.
Unfortunately, you can create a grammatically correct parallel that is not easy to
process. This happens when the reader has to choose among several possible
structures. If your reader has to stop to decide what is parallel to what, you lose
the advantage of parallelism.
RULE #2:
If you can't tell immediately where each parallel segment begins and ends,
change the segment to better signal the exact parallel.
NOT THIS:
The low birth rate is due to decreases in fertility and longevity and the scarcity of
adult bears.
This could mean: the rate is low because bears are (1) less fertile, (2) less longlived, and (3) less scarce. Or perhaps: because bears are (1) less fertile, (2) longlived, and (3) scarce.
In fact, the writer wanted it to mean neither of these. The writer needs to make
clear exactly what the parallels are. Here, by adding words at the beginning of
each segment, the writer makes parallel segments begin alike and non-parallel
segments begin differently.
BUT THIS:
The low birth rate is due to decreases in fertility and longevity an d to the scarcity of
adult bears.
NOT THIS:
When the system processes the application, some names or addresses may be
shortened if the words are too long or altered to correct spelling errors and conform to
bureau conventions.
BUT THIS:
When the system processes the application, it may shorten words that are too long,
correct those that are misspelled, or alter those that do not conform to bureau
conventions.
Caution: Repeated words work so well to signal a parallel that if you begin nonparallel elements identically, readers will try to make them parallel.
NOT THIS:
Press the shutter release button on top of the camera to expose the image and
advance the frame.
BUT THIS:
Press the shutter release button on top of the camera to expose the image and to
advance the film.
OR
Press the shutter release button on top of the camera to expose the image. Then
advance the film.
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Since the advantage of parallelism is that the reader becomes familiar with the
repeated structure, it makes sense to have the structure become clear as soon as
possible. The sooner readers see what the repeated structure will be, the sooner
they can make use of the repetition.
RULE #3:
Usually, put parallel structures late in the sentence, and put short segments before
long ones.
NOT THIS:
The sunbelt will continue to attract new businesses looking for a low-salaried pool of
nonunionized labor and cheap energy, and retirees looking for sunshine.
BUT THIS:
The sunbelt will continue to attract retirees looking for sunshine and new businesses
looking for cheap energy and a low-salaried pool of nonunionized labor.
(Note the "Usually" in Rule #3. Do not choose short-to-long order if it violates a
more important logical or chronological order. For example, if you are describing
four steps, don't order them: 3, 1, 4, 2 just because 3 has the shortest description
and 2 the longest.)
Even when you put short segments before long ones, your readers still have to
get to the "and" or the "or" before they can recognize a parallel structure. But
some connectors signal the parallel even before the first segment.
Rule #4:
Where you can, prepare your reader for a (long) parallel by using paired
connectors. The first connector anticipates the parallel and so prepares the
reader.
not X . . . but Y
not only X . . . but also Y
either X . . . or Y
if not X . . . at least Y
both X . . . and Y
neither X . . . nor Y
NOT THIS:
My opinion would change if I learned the franchisor coerced the franchisee when they
negotiated the agreement or the franchisor could not promptly service the franchisee.
BUT THIS:
My opinion would change if I learned either that the franchisor coerced the franchisee
when they negotiated the agreement or that the franchisor could not promptly service
the franchisee.
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Now if Nature should intermit her course and leave
altogether, though it were but for a while, the observation of
her own laws; if those principal and mother elements of the
world whereof all things in this lower world are made, should
lose the qualities which they now have; if the frame of that
heavenly arch erected over our heads should loosen and
dissolve itself; if celestial spheres should forget their wonted
motion and by irregular volubility turn themselves any way
as it might happen; if the prince of the lights of heaven, who
now as a giant doth run his unwearied course, should, as it
were, through a languishing faintness, begin to stand and to
rest himself; if the moon should wander from her beaten way,
the times and seasons of the year blend themselves by
disordered and confused mixture, the winds breathe out their
last gasp, the clouds yield no rains, the earth be defeated of
heavenly influence, the fruits of the earth pine away as
children at the withered breast of their mother no longer able
to yield them relief:—what would become of man himself,
which these things now do all serve.
Richard Hooker, The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity
Now
if
Nature
should
intermit her course
and
leave altogether, though it were but for a
while, the observation of her own laws;
if
those principal and mother elements
of the world whereof all things in this
lower world are made,
if
should
lose the qualities which they now have;
should
loosen
the frame of that heavenly arch
erected over our heads
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and
dissolve itself;
if
celestial spheres
should
forget their wonted motion
and
by irregular volubility
turn themselves any way as it might happen;
if
the prince of the lights of heaven,
who now as a giant doth run his
unwearied course,
should,
as it were, through a languishing faintness,
begin to stand
and
to rest himself;
if
the moon
the times and seasons of the year
should
wander from her beaten way,
blend themselves by disordered
and
confused mixture,
the winds
breathe out their last gasp,
the clouds
yield no rains,
the earth
be defeated of heavenly influence,
the fruits of the earth
pine away as children at the withered
breast of their mother no longer able
to yield them relief:--
what would become of man himself, which these things now do all serve?
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Abraham Lincoln: Second Inaugural Address
1
Fellow-Countrymen: At this second appearing to take the oath of the presidential office,
2
there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement,
3
somewhat in detail, of a course to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the
4
expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth
5
on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and
6
engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of
7
our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself;
8
and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hopes for the
9
future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.
10
On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were anxiously
11
directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it — all sought to avert it. While the
12
inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the
13
Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war —
14
seeking to dissolve the Union, and divide effects, by negotiation. Both parties deprecated
15
war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other
16
would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came.
17
One eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over
18
the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and
19
powerful interest. All knew that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war. To
20
strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents
21
would rend the Union, even by war; while the government claimed no right to do more than
22
to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the mag-
23
nitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of
24
the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for
25
an easier triumph and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible,
26
and pray to the same God; and each invokes his aid against the other. It may seem strange
27
than any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the
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sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not, that we not be judged. The prayers of both
29
could not be answered — that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has his
30
own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses! for it must needs be that offenses
31
come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American
32
slavery is one of those offenses which in the providence of God, must needs come, but which,
33
having continued through his appointed time, he now wills to remove, and that he gives to
34
both North and South this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offense came,
35
shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a
36
living God always ascribe to him? Fondly do we hope — ferverently do we pray — that this
37
mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all
38
the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be
39
sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn
40
with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, "The
41
judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."
42
With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives
43
us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's
44
wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan
45
— to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and
46
with all nations.
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What follows is one of Lincoln's most brilliant passages. The last of these sentences is
about as complex as any Lincoln ever wrote. But note how Lincoln uses its peacock
structure to diminish our sense of its complexity.
The Almighty has his own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses! for it
must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense
cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which in
the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through his
appointed time, he now wills to remove, and that he gives to both North and South
this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern
therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living
God always ascribe to him?
If we shall suppose
that American slavery is
one of those offenses
which in the providence of God,
but
which, having
he now
must needs come,
continued through
his appointed time,
wills to remove,
and
that he gives to both North and South
by whom
this terrible war,
as the woe due to those
the offense
came,
shall we discern therein
any departure from those divine attributes
which the believers in a living God always ascribe to him?
But despite the soothing, elegant structure of this sentence, we get a rather different
impression when we analyze the story it has to tell. Below is the story this sentence tells,
displayed as a list of all the actions, many of which Lincoln expresses in nominalizations,
and the agents that go with them.
If we shall suppose that
Americans enslave blacks
[that Americans enslave blacks] offends God
God provides [that Americans enslave blacks]
the offense [that Americans enslave blacks] must needs come
God appoints the time for the offense [that Americans enslave blacks] to continue
God now wills to remove the offense [that Americans enslave blacks]
God gives to both North and South this terrible war
the offense [that Americans enslave blacks] came by/through Americans [both North and South]
the woe [of the war] is due to [deserved by] Americans [both North and South]
[then] shall we discern [that]
God has departed from [his] divine attributes
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the believers in a living God always ascribe [those attributes] to him
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Note how with the next sentences, which are also peacocks, Lincoln shifts to a more
forceful message and a more forceful style:
The Almighty has his own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses! for it
must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense
cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which in
the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through his
appointed time, he now wills to remove, and that he gives to both North and South
this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern
therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living
God always ascribe to him? Fondly do we hope — ferverently do we pray — that this
mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue
until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of
unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash
shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years
ago, so still it must be said, "The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous
altogether."
Fondly do we hope —
ferverently do we pray — that
Yet, if God wills that
until
this mighty scourge of war
may speedily pass away.
it
continue
all the wealth piled by the
bondsman's two hundred
and fifty years of
unrequited toil
shall be sunk,
and
until
every drop of blood
lash
drawn with the
shall be paid
by another
drawn with the sword,
as was said three thousand years ago,
so still it must be said,
"The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."
And finally, one of the most stirring sentences in the language:
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Little Red Schoolhouse
13
13
Page 334
Oratorical Voice
With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God
gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the
nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow
and his orphan — to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace
among ourselves, and with all nations.
With
malice toward none;
with
charity for all;
with
firmness in the right,
as God gives us
to see
the right,
to finish
the work we are in;
to bind up
the nation's wounds;
to care
for him
let us strive on
who shall have borne the battle,
and
for his widow
and
his orphan —
to do
all
which may
achieve
and
cherish
a just
and
lasting peace
among ourselves,
and
with all nations.
Little Red Schoolhouse
University of Virginia