"Donald Joyce is a young neighbor of ours who went to war and came back safely," said Mrs. Horton.
"An' Donald said," recited Sunny Boy, slowly and carefully because he did not want to forget before he had told it all, "the Statue of Liberty was made by a man—you say it, Mother," he broke off. "It begins with 'B'."
"A man named Bartholdi," said Mrs. Horton smilingly.
"A man named Bartholdi," repeated Sunny Boy. "He came over from France to see us, and he saw all the im-im-immigrants acting glad when they first saw the United States. So he went home and asked the French to give some money so's he could build us a statue. And they did. And Bartholdi made the statue and it's a present from France. Donald Joyce said the soldiers were awful glad to see it when they came home from France and they were glad they'd helped fight for the country that made the Statue of Liberty, too."
"Isn't that nice?" said Alice Kennedy, with satisfaction. "I never heard that part about the soldiers being glad. The boat's moving, Sunny!"
The four children hung over the rail, pulled back now and then by an anxious mother, during the short sail. Alice had brought some crumbs of bread with her, and they amused themselves by throwing these into the water for the gulls.
"See the boats!" cried Sunny Boy, pointing to several large steamers plainly seen from their boat.
"That's Ellis Island we're passing," explained Mrs. Kennedy. "All the immigrants are sent there from the ships on which they arrive. They see the Statue of Liberty first, Sunny, as you said."
The beautiful bronze Statue of Liberty, familiar to all the boys and girls of our country through pictures if not by actual sight, loomed up before the passengers on the boat now. It was so much larger than Sunny Boy had expected, that he stared at it silently.
"The torch isn't lit, but you can imagine how wonderful it must look then," said Mrs. Horton, as the boat docked and the people prepared to go ashore. "Just think of the millions of people who have been glad to catch their first glimpse of 'Miss Liberty'."