April has landed in our part of the world with a great blast of early a.m. sunshine pouring in our east- facing kitchen windows. The sun always seems very close in Arizona and, at this time of year, energizing. I love to get up early in the spring, when the outside temps linger in the high 50's and low 60's. It's the perfect time for a cup of coffee, al fresco, and a wake-up read.
On the lazy days when time allows, I read an entry from The Intellectual Devotional: American History. Today I learned that Eiffel, of Eiffel Tower fame, designed and built the interior framing that holds our monumental Statue of Liberty together. I visited Liberty Island when I was a senior in high school and remember going inside and climbing up, I'm not sure how far, but I do remember we couldn't go all the way. Something about crumbling and unsafe conditions.
It just dawned on me that my paternal grandparents may have come into this country after the Statue of Liberty was erected. I wish I knew, but since I don't I'm going to believe they did....because I want to be part of the poem attached to that great lady:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me ...
Talk about "wretched refuse:" My maternal great-grandmother came to these shores, alone in a coffin ship at the tender age of 12. She sailed from the shores of Ireland where the poor farmers, in the midst of the potato blight, were starving to death, and the English were letting them. To the English, the departure of one little Irish-Catholic girl was "good riddance" indeed.
On my paternal side, Grandfather and Grandmother Weigel were Volga-Germans--descendents of Germans imported into Russia by Catherine the Great for the purpose of teaching the Russians their farming methods. Catherine promised them 100 years free of taxes and military conscription and, until the 1870s, that promise was honored. When time ran out, the future grew dim. Russia began pulling the rug out from under the Germans, but when they looked to the west, neither Germany nor Europe could offer a peaceful future. America became, quite literally, the promised land offering a home to these who were now homeless. My grandparents, gratefully, answered the call.
So, wow! Obviously, I come from very strong stock...as do we all if we think about it. That's the beauty of a country grown with immigrants. When the lovely granddaughter of that little Irish girl met the handsome son of those Volga-Germans, their love created a family with traces of Wales and Mexico and Germany and England and on and on and on. You've got to love it!
