Excerpt from The Elocutionist's Annual, Number 15: Comprising New and Popular Readings, Recitations, Declamations, Dialogues, Tableaux, Etc, , EtcThough the bronze goddess stands motionless and firm, she seems but a moment ago to have assumed the attitude which she will retain through centuries to come. She has stepped forward and halted, and raised her torch into the sky. There is energy without effort, and movement combined with repose. Her aspect is grave almost to sternness, yet her faultless features wear the serenity of power and confidence. Her mes sage is the sublimest ever brought to man, but she is adequate to its delivery. In her left hand she holds a tablet inscribed with the most glorious Of our memories, the birthday of the Republic. NO words are needed to interpret her meaning, for her gesture and her connte nance speak the universal language, and their utterance reaches to the purest depths of the human soul.Antiquity never gave birth to anything so great, either in spirit or in substance. She is the genius of America, because America is herself the symbol of whatever is noblest and of greatest hope in the world.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.