Brothers, ladies and friends we have set aside this evening to pay tribute to and recognize the lovely ladies of our lodge. It goes without saying that the support of the ladies is crucial to the success of any organization, especially this of ours. The ladies are the true foundation upon which our attendance is built. While we recognize each of you for the support that you provide to us, there is one lady that I would like to select and honor this evening. We all know her and I am sure that you all will agree with me that she deserves this very special honor. In fact, the whole world knows her and admires her and what she represents. She is, of course, Lady Liberty – our world-famous Statue of Liberty. She stands guard over the entrance to New York Harbor in Upper New York Bay. But, how many of us truly know her? How many of us have had the pleasure of visiting her?

 Located on the 12 acre Liberty Island (formerly called Bedloes Island), the Liberty Enlightening the World (known as The Statue of Liberty) was a gift of friendship from the people of France to the people of the United States and is a universal symbol of freedom and democracy. The copper-clad statue, dedicated on October 28, 1886, commemorates the centennial of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence and is a gesture of friendship from France to the United States. It was designated as a National Monument in 1924 and restored for her centennial on July 4, 1986. The Statue of Liberty was closed to visitors on September 11, 2001, but Liberty Island was reopened on December 20, 2001. The Promenade and Observatory were reopened to visitors beginning August 3, 2004 by reserved ticket only.  The observation area in the crown has been closed to the public since September 11, 2001, because the National Park Service could not be sure that visitors could be evacuated safely in an emergency.  The only access to the crown is via a very narrow, double-helix spiral staircase with a low guardrail. The staircase, which was designed for maintenance, not for daily heavy use by the public, falls considerably short of meeting applicable local, state, and federal building and fire safety codes.

Its designer, a Freemason, was Brother Frederic A. Bartholdi (1834-1904) who conceived its design while on a visit to America. As his ship sailed into New York, Brother Bartholdi had a vision of a woman standing on a pedestal, holding a torch and welcoming immigrants to a new life in a free land. Along with Brother Bartholdi, Brother Gustave Eiffel was also responsible for the statue. Brother Eiffel designed and built the frame work which holds the copper sheeting in place. He also designed the Eiffel Tower. Officially named Liberty Enlightening the World, the Statue of Liberty was designed by French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. After finalizing the design, wooden molds were made over which copper sheets were attached and hammered into shape. The copper shell was then joined to an internal iron structure designed by Gustave Eiffel. The statue is of a robed woman holding a torch, and is made of a sheeting of pure copper, hung on a framework of steel with the exception of the flame of the torch, which is coated in 14 carat gold leaf. It stands atop a rectangular stonework pedestal with a foundation in the shape of an irregular eleven-pointed star. The statue is 151 ft (46 m) tall, but with the pedestal and foundation, it is 305 ft (93 m) tall. Worldwide, the Statue of Liberty is one of the most recognizable icons of the United States and was, from 1886 often one of the first glimpses of the United States for the millions of immigrants after ocean voyages from Europe.

Brother Bartholdi had initially planned to have the statue completed and presented to the United States on July 4, 1876, but a late start and subsequent delays prevented it. However, The base of the statue is an 11-pointed star, part of old Fort Wood; a 150-ft (45-m) pedestal, built through American funding, is made of concrete faced with granite. On it is a tablet, affixed in 1903, inscribed with “The New Colossus,” the famous sonnet of Emma Lazarus, welcoming immigrants to the United States. By the early 20th century, this greeting to the arriving stranger had become the statue's primary symbolic message. Broadening in its meaning, the statue became a symbol of America during World War I and a ubiquitous democratic symbol during World War II. An elevator runs to the top of the pedestal, and steps within the statue lead to the crown, but the public has not been permitted to climb to crown since Sept., 2001, when access to the statue was restricted for reasons of security and, subsequently, safety. The statue was extensively refurbished prior to its centennial celebration in 1986. The Statue of Liberty became a national monument in 1924. In 1965, Ellis Island, the entrance point of millions of immigrants to the United States, was added to the monument.

The statue, made of copper sheets with an iron framework, depicts a woman escaping the chains of tyranny, which lie at her feet. Her right hand holds aloft a burning torch that represents liberty. The flame of the torch is capped with 14K gold foil.  Her left hand holds a tablet inscribed with the date "July 4, 1776" (in Roman numerals), the day the United States declared its independence from England. She is wearing flowing robes and the seven rays of her spiked crown symbolize the seven seas and continents. 

The Jewish-American poet Emma Lazarus saw the Statue as a beacon to the world.  A poem she wrote to help raise money for the pedestal, and which is carved on that pedestal, captured what the Statue came to mean to the millions who migrated to the United States seeking freedom, and who have continued to come unto this day.

Emma Lazarus' famous words, "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" may now be indelibly engraved into the collective American memory, but they did not achieve immortality overnight. In fact, Lazarus' sonnet to the Statue of Liberty was hardly noticed until after her death, when a patron of the New York arts found it tucked into a small portfolio of poems written in 1883 to raise money for the construction of the Statue of Liberty's pedestal. The patron, Georgina Schuyler, was struck by the poem and arranged to have its last five lines become a permanent part of the statue itself. More than twenty years later, children's textbooks began to include the sonnet and Irving Berlin wrote it into a Broadway musical. By 1945, the engraved poem was relocated--including all fourteen lines-- to be placed over the Statue of Liberty's main entrance.

Thank you ladies, for being with us this evening and now as a memento of this occasion, our Senior Deacon will present each of you with a small gift.* I hope that you enjoyed this program and I invite you to join with us in the lower banquet hall to enjoy the fine collation that the Stewards have prepared for us.

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* Many inexpensive gifts are available on the internet.  You may also choose not to give a gift.