"... her name, Mother of Exiles" from the poem "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus

 

"Liberty Enlightening the World" or "The Mother of Exiles"

The Statue of Liberty has always seemed sturdy and comforting to me.  Like a mother who protects and loves all her children.  Even the adopted ones who show up at her door. When my immigrant ancestors' ship encountered the giant statue in New York Harbor in 1892,  I hope they got to see it.  However, considering they had been packed into steerage like human cargo, I'm not sure they were allowed to stand on the deck and take part in that spectacular moment.  

French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi named his 151-foot copper colossus "Liberty Enlightening the World" to commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He added something more. Beneath one barefoot of the statue, he fashioned broken chains and a shackle, reflecting our nation's abolishment of slavery.  Our friends, the French, took great pride in that moment in our nation's history.  Lady Liberty was a generous gift from France, but the US had to pay for a gargantuan pedestal, which added about another 150 feet and would cost nearly $250,000 (8.4 million today.)

For a fundraiser, Emma Lazarus wrote a sonnet titled "The New Colossus." I prefer her phrase "Mother of Exiles" for the title.  But I suppose the poet was in awe of the statue's giant hand and 29-foot flame on display in Madison Square Park from 1876 to 1882.  Certainly a colossus!  Lazarus died before the poem was inscribed on a bronze plaque and affixed to the statue's base.

The most quotable phrase in Lazarus's poem is "Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to be free," which has lost its luster for many Americans in 2025.  

 

   

"The New Colossus" Sonnet--original document 

The New Colossus

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!"

Emma Lazarus (1849-1987)

Top photo by StockSnap on Pixabay; Document of the handwritten poem and photo of Emma Lazarus found in the Library of Congress. 

--Submitted by elder Pappy Stargazer

Please contact us if you would like to submit a story, poem, reflection, or essay. 

Before childhood vaccines: "Our Darling" Cemetery marker (1924). Photos by elder CD Burr

 

"Our Darling" Inez Pearl Daniel

My great-grandparents buried three children who might have lived if vaccines or antibiotics had been available.  I'm not saying a lack of vaccines killed Inez at five months--a virus killed my grandpa's baby sister during one of the epidemics raging through Tennessee that year (influenza, measles, malaria). Most healthy kids today might survive these diseases without vaccines, but why risk extremely high temperatures, encephalitis, and pneumonia? Or spread a potentially deadly virus to others with compromised immune systems? Please vaccinate your children and yourself and help prevent the spread of deadly diseases.

"We Will Meet Again"  Anita Ann Daniel

"In heaven there is one angel more" Bobbie H. Daniel

Penicillin and antibiotics might have saved Bobbie, who suffered from a series of kidney infections and "bad tonsils."

All photos taken at Cedar Valley Cemetery (TN) by CD Burr

For an updated version of this essay, see Author's blog:  CD Burr 

Please contact us if you would like to submit a story, poem, reflection, or essay. 

"An Inspiring Day at the Kansas Capitol" by Elder Myster E

 

January 29, 2025  

What an inspiring day! It was Kansas Day at the capitol and the unveiling of the new mural by Phyllis Garibay-Coon, a Manhattan, Kansas resident, honoring the Kansas suffragists. 

Women from the League of Women Voters of Kansas had done the preliminary work for the new mural for several years. Yet it was Phyllis' artwork that created a masterpiece. 

The mural captures the pioneer and rebellious spirit of thirteen women and each one is depicted in her own unique way.   Because of the work of suffragists, Kansas was the first state in the union to hold a referendum in 1867, on a proposed constitutional amendment to grant women the full right to vote. 

Phyllis certainly did her historical background work in depicting those women. And her artistic talent is impeccable. She is the first woman painter to have a mural in the state capitol.  She and Governor Kelly gave inspiring talks, emphasizing the need for women today to exhibit the same fighting spirit for their rights.

This event gave me and my wife the opportunity to visit around the capitol building and marvel at the magnificent artwork. It reminded me of the US capitol in Washington D.C.  and made me think of the importance and the sacredness of such a place and made me feel proud of being a Kansan. 

And then images of January 6, 2021 came to mind and I wondered:  How could any true patriot who loves his state and his country, defile and damage such a place?! Is it not time to revive the passionate spirit of the suffragists?!

--Myster E

To read more about the mural, copy and paste this link:   https://www.kssuffragist.org/

 Please contact us if you would like to submit a story, poem, reflection, or essay.