Dear Editor,

This is regarding the Diversions and Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address on Nov. 20. In 1970, I was working in Papua New Guinea, most definitely a third world country. (Some of the people I had contact with had eaten human flesh).

I had occasion to visit an island 40 miles off the North coast of Papua New Guinea specifically to view the Crater Lake there at 700 feet above sea level. I needed a guide so

I searched out the local school teacher. The school was a ramshackle openair affair with odds and ends for desks. On the blackboard was “Four score and seven years ago…”

With all the current quarreling, try not to forget what this country has stood for and how it has been perceived by the rest of the world.

Jim Hickey,

Warren