þe_getisbyrg_adres

As my eyes get older I really hate decorated letters.
I can't always make out which decoration I'm looking
at.  But since we read by scanning the general shape
of the word as a whole, I suppose it doesn't matter
which decoration a given letter has.  But if that's
the case, then the decorations are superfluous and can
be left off with no loss of legibility.

e.g.:

þe getisbyrg adres
getisbyrg, pensilvania
novembr 19, 1863

for skor and seven jers ago ur faþrs brat forþ on þis
kontinent, a ny nasyn, konsevd in libyrti, and
dedikatid to þe proposisyn þat al men ar kre-atid
ekwal.

--gary

--- Benct Philip Jonsson <bpj@...> wrote:

> þe getisbyrg adres
> getisbyrg, pensilvánia
> nóvembr 19, 1863
>
> fôr skór and seven jérs agó úr faþrs bråt forþ on
> þis kontinent, a ný
> nášyn, konsévd in libyrti, and dedikátid to þe
> propósišyn þat ål men ar
> kré-átid ekwål.
>
> nú wé ar eñgáçd in a grát sivil wår, testiñ hweþr
> þat nášyn, or eni
> nášyn so konsévd and so dedikátid, kan loñ endýr. wé
> ar met on a grát
> batl-féld of þat wår. wé háv kym to dedikát a poršyn
> of þat féld, as a
> fínal restiñ plás for þós hu hér gáv þeyr lívs þat
> þat nášyn mít lív. it
> is åltogçeþr fitiñ and propr þat wé šud dô þis.
>
> byt, in a larçr sens, wé kan not dedikát -- wé kan
> not konsekrát -- wé
> kan not haló -- þis grúnd. þe bráv men, líviñ and
> ded, hu strygld hér,
> háv konsekrátid it, far abov úr pur púyr to ad or
> detrakt. þe world wil
> litl nót, nor loñ rémembr hwat wé sá hér, byt it kan
> névr forget hwat þá
> did hér. it is for ys þe líviñ, raþr, to bé
> dedikátid hér to þe ynfínišd
> work hwic þá hu fåt hér háv þys far so nóbli
> advansd. it is raþr for ys
> to bé hér dedikátid to þe grát task remániñ béfor ys
> -- þat from þés
> onord ded wé ták inkrésd dévošyn to þat kås for hwic
> þá gáv þe last ful
> mezýr of dévóšyn -- þat wé hér híli résolv þat þés
> ded šål not háv díd
> in ván -- þat þis nášyn, yndr god, šål háv a ný byrþ
> of frédom -- and
> þat góvyrnment of þe pépel, bí þe pépel, for þe
> pépel, šål not pyriš
> from þe yrþ.
>
> --
>
> /BP 8^)
> --
> B.Philip Jonsson -- melroch at melroch dot se
>
>          Solitudinem faciunt pacem appellant!
>
> (Tacitus)
>

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