At Bloomington, Ill.

THE LOST SPEECH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN--Honore Willsie Morrow-- Stokes ($1.00). When homespun Lawyer Lincoln arose at Bloomington, Ill., in May, 1856, to breathe life into an inert body that some editors and politicians had created and hoped to call the Republican Party, he uttered not two score words before his hearers-- all the stenographers and reporters present included--lost control over head, heart and hand. When he had done and the Party lived, the stenographers and reporters shudderingly discovered that they had let mighty-worded history fly out of the window. The Morrow version of that event, which aims at being "a very appealing piece of fiction," fabricates a Rose Franklin, Iphigeneia of the period, to collaborate with Lincoln on his very lofty plane of motives. Her part is to forswear, at Lincoln's behest, a well beloved fiancee, in the interest of political lubrication. At this she is most satisfactory, as is the centre of interest --save for one melodramatic reference to his dead Anne Rutledge. Among the "appealing" details is the token Lincoln had from Rose's small brother and which he concealed in his pocket during the speech -- a stiff little fish. With rare sense, the author leaves the lost speech lost.