I remember that when they were celebrating the 100th anniversary of the statue, one of the local papers where I lived (Seattle) had an article talking about how Bartholdi had used his wife (or possibly his daughter?) as the model for the sculpture. They had a picture of his granddaughter or great-granddaughter who lived in the area - - the resemblance was striking! Wish I had time to try to find the article & picture to post a link - - was pretty amazing.

This article was OK until the "huddled masses" were, seemingly inevitably, introduced. The phrase is from Emma Lazarus's sonnet, which was added to the statue's pedestal years later, with the permission of precisely nobody -- especially not the ordinary American citizens who are expected to make room and accept the "huddled masses" (such as the poverty legions crashing our southwest border today).

In short, the statue is about **liberty** -- "Liberty Enlightening the World" -- not immigration. It's **not** an invitation to the world to move here. It's just a suggestion that people all over the world might look to the workings of ordered liberty in American society as a possible example to follow themselves.

I have often read that Lady Liberty was once as bright and shiny as a new penny. I knew it was too good to be true.