The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1885-07-18
THE BARTsIoLDE STATUE.
Mr. AVE Talks About the BroHze God-
dess whose Mission Ii IL 10 Euiight-
eE the World

Mr.. Nye Talks About the Bronze God-
dess whose Mission Ii IL To EuiigEt-
eE the World.
When Patrick Henry put his old
cast-iron spectaclcs back on the top Of
his head and whooped for liberty, he
did not know that some day we would
have more of il than we know 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 one day come when Liberty
would stand knee-deep i'll the mud of
Bedloe's Island and yearn for solid
place to stand upon.
1t seems to me that we have too
much liberty in this country in some
ways. We have more liberyty than
we have money. We guarantee that
every man in America shall fill him
self up full of liberty at our expense,
and the less of an American he is the
more liberty he can have. If he de
sires to enjoy himself, all he needs is a
slight foreign accent and willingness
to mix up with politics as soon rs he
can get his baggage off the steamer
The more | study American institu-
tons, the more | regret that | was
not born a foreigner, So that | could
have something to say about the man
agement of our great land. If | could
not be foreigner, | believe | would
prefer to be a Mormon or an Indian
not taxed.
| am often led to ask, in the Ian
guage of the poet, as the Caucasian
played out?' Most everybody can
haye a good deal of fun in this coun-
try except the American. He seems
to be so busy paying his taxes all the
time that he has very little time to
mingle i'll the giddy whirl with the
alien. That is the reason that the
alien who rides across the United
States on the Limited Mail" and
writes book about us before break
fast wonders why We are always in Il
hurry. That is the reason We have to
throw our meals INTO ourselves with
dull thud, and hardly haye time TO
maintain warm personal friendship
with our families.
We do not care much for wealth,
but we must have freedom, and free
dom costs money. We have advertis-
ed to furnish 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 full Of love for our fe-
male seminaries and our old women's
homes, should land upon our coasts
and find that we were using all the
liberty ourselves?
What do we want Of liberty, any
how? What could we do with it if we
had it? 1t takes man Of leisure to
enjoy liberty, and we have no leisure
whatever. 1t is a good thing to keep
in the house ''for the use Of guests
only" but we don't need it for our
SELVES.
Therefore, / am in favor of a statue
of Liberty Enlightening the World,
because it 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 Cypress US. We are used
TO it, and we rather like it, If we
don't like it we can get on the steam
er and 90 abroad, where we may visit
the effete monarchies and have a 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 Il good thing. 1t
will be first-rat". 1t may also be pro-
ductive Of good in direction that he
may not have 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, a confirmed victim
of the matrimonial habit, may fix tie
bright picture in his so-called mind,
and remembering how, on his arrival
in New York, he saw Liberty bathing
her feet with impunity, he may be led
IN after years to try it on himself -
Bill Nye, in Boston Weekly Globe.