Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1885-09-03
The Bartholdi Statue.


When Patrick Henry put his old cast
iron spectacles back on top of his head
and whooped for liberty he did rot
know that some day we would have
more of it than we knew what to do
with. He little dreamed that the time
would come when We would have more
liberty than we could pay for. When
Mr.. Henry sawed the air and shouted
for liberty or death | do not believe
that he knew that the time would come
when Liberty would stand knee-dcep
in the mud of Bedioe's Island and
yearn for a solid place to stand upon.
1t seems to me that we have too
much liberty in this country in some
ways. We have more liberty than we
have money. We guarantee that every
man in America shall fiji himself up
full OF liberty at expense. and the
less OF an American he b the more lib
erty he can have. If he desires to en-
Joy himself al he needs is a slight for
eign accent and q willingness to mix up
with politics rs sOon rs he can get his
baggage oil the steamer. The moro |
study American institutions the more
l regret that ! was not born 4 foreign
er, so that | could have something to
say about the management Of our great
land. Ii / could not be q foreigner, |
believe l would prefer to be a Mormon
or an Indian, not taxed.
/ am often led to ask, in the Ian
guage of the poet, is the Caucasian
played out?" Most everybody can
have a good deal Of fun in this country
except the American. He seems to be
so busy paying his taxes all the time
that he has very little time to mingle
in the giddy whirl of the alien. That
is the reason hat the alien who rides
across the United States on the "limit-
ed mail and writes q book about us
before breakfast wonders why we are
always in a hurry. That is the reason
VT have to throw our meals into our
selves with q dull thad and have no time
to maintain n warm personal friend
ship with our families.
We do not care much for wealth,
but we must have freedom, and free
dom costs money. We have adyer-
tised to furnish u bunch OF freedom to
every man, woman, or child who comes
to our shores, and we are going to de-
liver the goods whether we have any
left for ourselves or not. What would
the great world beyond the seas say to
us if some day the blue-eyed Mormon,
with his heart fun of love for our
female seminaries aud our old women's
homes, should land upon our shores
and find that we were using all the
liberty ourselves?
What do we want Of liberty, any
howP What could we do with it if we
had itP 1t takes a man OF leisure to
enjoy liberty, and we have no leisure
whatever. 1t is q good thing to keep
in the house ''for the use Of guests
only" but we don't need it ourselves.
Therefore l am in favor OF n statue
of Liberty Enlightening the World, be-
cause ii will show that we keep it on
tap winter and summer. We want the
whole broad world TO remember that
when it gets tired Of oppression it can
come here to America aud Cypress us.
We are used to it, and we rather like
it. Ii we don't like it we q get on
the steamer and go abroad, where we
may visit the eaete monarchies and
have q high old time.
The sight Of the Goddess Of Liberty
standing there in New York Harbor
night and day, bathing her feet in the
ripping sea, will be a good thing. 1t
will be drst-rate. 1t may also be pro-
ductiye of good in q direction that
many have not thought Of. As she
stands there day after day bathing her
feet in the broad Atlantic, perhaps
some moss-grown Mormon moving to-
ward the far West, q confirmed victim
OF the matrimonial habit, may fix the
bright picture in his so-called mind,
and remembering how, on his arrival
in New York, he saw Liberty bathing
her feet with i%mpunity, he may be led
in after years to try it on himself
Bill Me. ig Boston Gi0Jc.