"Liberty," or Bartholdi's statue, was presented to the United States by
the French people in 1885. It is the largest statue ever built. The
great French sculptor Bartholdi made it after the likeness of his
mother. Eight years were consumed in the construction of this gigantic
image. Its size is really enormous. The height of the figure alone is
fully one hundred and fifty feet. Forty persons can find standing room
within the mighty head, which is fifteen feet in diameter. A six-foot
man, standing upon the lower lip, can hardly reach the eyes of the
colossal head. The index finger is eight feet long, and the nose is
over three feet long. Yet the proportion of all the parts of the
figure is so well preserved that the whole statue is in perfect harmony.

The materials of which the statue is composed are copper and steel.
The immense torch which is held in the hand of the giantess is three
hundred feet above tidewater.

The Colossus of Rhodes was a pigmy compared with this huge wonder.




LESSON VIII

INDEPENDENCE

Scholars, who are enjoying the priceless blessings of that liberty
which cost our forefathers so much treasure and so much blood,--have
you read the Declaration of Independence? If you have not, read it; if
you have, read it again; study it; make its noble sentiments your own,
and do not fail to grave deep in your memories these immortal lines:--