beginning of letter omitted 1explanatory note

You know my weakness for Adam, &Ⓐemendation you know how I have struggled to get him a monument & failed. Now, it seems to me, here is my chance. What do we care for a statue of liberty when we’ve got the thing itself in its wildest sublimity? What you want of a monument is to keep you in mind of something you haven’t got—something you’ve lost. Very well; we haven’t lost liberty; we’ve lost Adam.

Another thing: What has liberty done for us? Nothing in particular that I know of. What have we done for her? Everything. We’ve given her a home, & a good home, too. And if she knows anything, she knows it’s the first time she ever struck that novelty. She knows that when we took her in she had been a mere tramp for 6,000 years, Biblical measure. Yes, & we not only ended her troubles & made things soft for her permanently, but we made her respectable—& that she hadn’t ever been before. And now, after we’ve poured out these Atlantics of benefits upon this aged outcast, lo! & behold you, we are asked to come forward & set up a monument to her! Go to. Let her set up a monument to us if she wants to do the clean thing.

But suppose your statue represented her old, bent, clothed in rags, downcast, shame-faced, with the insults & humiliation of 6,000 years, imploring a crust & an hour’s rest for God’s sake at our back door?—come, now you’re shouting! That’s the aspect of her which we need to be reminded of, lest we forget it—not this proposed one, where she’s hearty & well-fed, & holds up her head & flourishes her hospitable schooner of flame, & appears to be inviting all the rest of the tramps to come over. O, go to—this is the very insolence of prosperity.

But, on the other hand—look at Adam. What have we done for Adam? Nothing. What has Adam done for us? Everything. He gave us life, he gave us death, he gave us heaven, he gave us hell. These are inestimable privileges—& remember, not one of them should we have had without Adam. Well, then, he ought to have a monument—for Evolution is steadily & surely abolishing him; & we must get up a monument, & be quick about it, or our children’s children will grow up ignorant that there ever was an Adam. With trifling alterations, this present statue will answer very well for Adam. You can turn that blanket into an ulster without any trouble; part the hair on one side, or conceal the sex of his head with a fire helmet, & at once he’s a man; put a harp & a halo & a palm branch in the left hand to symbolize a part of what Adam did for us, & leave the fire-basket just where it is, to symbolize the rest. My friend, the father of life & death & taxes, has been neglected long enough. Shall this infamy be allowed to go on or shall it stop right here?

Is it but a question of finance? Behold the inclosed (paid bank) checks. Use them as freely as they are freely contributed. Heaven knows I would there were a ton of them; I would send them all to you, for my heart is in this sublime work!