This is what it said: I,Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States and commander in chief of the Army and Navy, do hereby declare that on the first day of January, eighteen sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any state then in rebellion against the United States, shall then become and be forever free.

VOA: special.2009.10.08

and so -- very slowly -- I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and free myself of the eye forever.

VOA: special.2009.05.16