If there is not the war you don't get the great general if there is not a great occasion you don't get a great statesman if Lincoln had lived in a time of peace no one would have known his name.
Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.
A just and reasonable modesty does not only recommend eloquence but sets off...
I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things... I play with leaves. I skip down the street and run against the wind.