Here’s a free thought.
Today is Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi’s birthday.
Born in Colmar, France on August 2, 1834. It was a Saturday, just for the record.
When he was 44 years old, he designed the Statue of Liberty to mark the France-American alliance of 1778. I don’t know how he did it, maybe it was a Lemonade Stand, or a Croissant Bake Sale, but he raised money in both France and the U.S. for the New York landmark.
And, officially, there are two inscriptions on that Statue of Liberty.
The first is on the tablet. Lady Liberty holds this in her left arm. Personally, I think it is either a journal, or a datebook of some sort. The date of the Declaration of Independence is inscribed on the tablet in Roman numerals – JULY IV MDCCLXXVI (July 4, 1776). I think there are other dates on other pages we can’t see. But. That’s just me.
Of course, in her left hand is her torch, held high. A beacon of light, all to see. Well. That’s debatable.
The other inscription is on a bronze plaque displayed at the Statue of Liberty exhibit.
A sonnet written by Emma Lazarus. It goes.
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, with conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand a mighty woman with a torch, whose flame is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command the air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame, “Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she with silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
You can say that again.
Overall, I’d say Frédéric-Auguste Barthold did a great job.
He died, October 4, 1904, at the age of 70. From Tuberculosis. It was a Tuesday, for the record.
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“Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves”
― Abraham Lincoln, Complete Works – Volume XII
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“The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end.”
― Leon Trotsky, Their Morals and Ours
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“Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.”
― John Milton , Areopagitica
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