When I’m at a loss for a good book to read, I go to the library in our basement and scan the familiar titles on the wide floor-to-ceiling shelves.

When I did this late last night, my eye rested, as it often does, on the long row of Lincoln books. I chose a slim volume, “The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln” by Gary C. Humes, and carried it back to my recliner.

Thirty minutes later I dozed off peacefully, feeling nourished, inspired and at peace by the writings of this good man.

Perhaps I missed it, but absent from the celebration of the 250th anniversary of America’s Declaration of Independence was any mention of how Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, in 272 words, redefined Thomas Jefferson’s monumental document as the foundational statement of this country.

Until then, historians say, the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights were seen as the blueprint and justification for America. Few of the thousands in attendance heard or grasped the import of Lincoln’s two-minute speech, coming after Edward Everett’s numbing two-hour oration. Lincoln reached back to The Declaration and enlarged upon it, speaking of “a new birth of freedom” and a government “of the people, by the people and for the people.”

He stated the Civil War was not just a battle to preserve the Union, but a defining test of whether a democracy founded on liberty, and which declared that “all men are created equal,” could survive.

Newspaper editors were among those who recognized the impact of the Address. Because it was so brief, they printed it on the front page of papers across the land.

There was a time when all schools in America (though likely not much in the South), required students to memorize and recite the Gettysburg Address. Its succinct and forceful message clearly states what America is or should be, and reminds us of the lives sacrificed to preserve that promise.

There was an upsurge in interest in Lincoln especially in the early 1900s, with many Lincoln societies formed and annual celebrations staged. Though Lincoln Day events have fallen away, interest in the man thrives, with published books about Lincoln numbering in the tens of thousands, second only to books about Jesus Christ. (Goodwin’s “A Team of Rivals” is among recommended reading, telling how the opponents he brought into his cabinet were converted into a great strength.)

One school which has not ceased to require students to memorize and recite the Gettysburg Address is the all-boys Greenwood School in Putney, Vermont. Ken Burns, famous for his TV mini-series “The Civil War” and a Vermont neighbor, was invited to witness the recitations by these students, all of whom had speech, language and other disabilities. Seeing their struggles and triumphs brought Burns to tears and inspired him to make a 90-minute film about them in 2014.

When Burns realized neither he nor any of his crew had ever memorized the Address, they all did so.

I admit I never memorized it either. Reading it aloud now brings a catch to my throat. The humility, the goodness, the wisdom, sadness and hope of Abraham Lincoln radiates from the words he spoke at Gettysburg.

Lincoln is ranked by many among America’s greatest writers, second only to Mark Twain. There is no humor in the Address, but much in his other statements. Two from Humes’ little book: “With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die,” and “Does it not seem strange that I, who could not ever so much as cut off the head of a chicken, should have been elected or selected in midst of this blood?”

A dose of Lincoln always does me good.