Jeff Russell, age 8, of Hughesville, Pa., for his question:
HOW DID THE STATUE OF LIBERTY GET IN N.Y. HARBOR?
A very dignified lady, holding a great torch high above her head with her right hand and holding a tablet in her left hand, stands on a small island in New York harbor and extends greetings to all who see her. The lady in flowing robes and wearing a spiked crown is formally called Liberty Enlightening the World, but everybody knows her as the Statue of Liberty.
The Statue of Liberty is probably the most famous monument in the world. It is among the largest. It was a gift to the people of the United States from the people of France, and was presented on our nation's birthday, July 4, 1884.
Standing on a small sliver of land in New York harbor now called Liberty Island (it was formerly called Bedloe's Island), the large copper statue is a symbol of liberty and friendship.
French citizens raised $250,000 to build the statue, and people in the United States contributed $280,000 for the pedestal on which it stands.
Construction of the famous statue was done in repousse work, a process of using hammered metal over a mold to shape it. More than 300 sheets of copper, weighing about 100 tons, were used as an outer layer. Inside is an iron framework which very much resembles an oil derrick.
From foot to top of torch measures 151 feet 1 inch. Including the base, the statue stands 305 feet 1 inch. The iron framework was made by Gustave Eiffel, the man who built the famous Eiffel Tower in Paris.
You ride 150 feet in an elevator from ground level to the top of the pedestal, and then if you want to go to the observation platform in the Statue of Liberty's crown, you have to walk. Two stairways parallel each other and spiral up and down. You'll find there are 168 steps each way with rest seats located at every third turn of the spiral.
In Miss Liberty's torch are 14 lamps that have a total wattage of 14,000. On the tablet held in the left hand is engraved the date of the Declaration of Independence.
The Statue of Liberty was dedicated by President Grover Cleveland on Oct. 28, 1886. Floodlights were added at the base in 1916 and it became a national monument in 1924.
On a tablet in the pedestal is a poem by Emma Lazarus which ends in these stirring words: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free . . . Send these, the homeless, tempest tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.''