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045 - The State Flag The Official Flower of the State and the Method of its Selection · History of Minnesota and Tales of the Frontier, Part 1

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  Speaker 1: Section forty five of the History of Minnesota and the
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  Speaker 1: Tales of the Frontier, Part one. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
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  Speaker 1: by Chris Hawkins. The History of Minnesota and Tales of
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  Speaker 1: the Frontier, Part one by Charles E. Flandreaux. Section forty
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  Speaker 1: five The state flag, the official flower of the state
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  Speaker 1: and the method of its selection. The state flag. Up
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  Speaker 1: to the year eighteen ninety three, the state of Minnesota
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  Speaker 1: had no distinctive state flag. On April fourth, eighteen ninety three,
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  Speaker 1: an act was passed by the legislature entitled an Act
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  Speaker 1: Providing for the Adoption of a State Flag. This Act
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  Speaker 1: appointed by name a commission of six ladies to adopt
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  Speaker 1: a design for a state flag. Section two of the
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  Speaker 1: Act provided that the design adopted should embody, as near
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  Speaker 1: as may be, the following facts. There shall be a
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  Speaker 1: white ground with reverse side of blue. The center of
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  Speaker 1: the white ground shall be occupied by a design substantially
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  Speaker 1: embodying the form of the seal employed as the state
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  Speaker 1: seal of Minnesota at the time of its admission into
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  Speaker 1: the Union. The said design of the state seal shall
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  Speaker 1: be surrounded by appropriate representations of the moccas and flower
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  Speaker 1: indigenous to Minnesota. Surrounding said central design, and appropriately arranged
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  Speaker 1: on said white ground, shall be nineteen stars, emblematic of
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  Speaker 1: the fact that Minnesota was the nineteenth state to be
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  Speaker 1: admitted into the Union after its formation by the thirteen
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  Speaker 1: original states. There shall also appear at the bottom of
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  Speaker 1: the flag in the white ground, so as to be
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  Speaker 1: plainly visible the word Minnesota. The Commission prepared a very
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  Speaker 1: beautiful design for the flag, following closely the instructions given
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  Speaker 1: by the legislature, which was adopted and is now the
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  Speaker 1: authorized flag of the state. The flag staff is surmounted
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  Speaker 1: by a golden gopher rampant in harmony with a popular
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  Speaker 1: name given to our state. May it ever represent the
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  Speaker 1: principles of a liberty and justice and never be lowered
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  Speaker 1: to an enemy. The original flag, auristically embroidered in silk,
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  Speaker 1: can be seen at the Office of the Governor at
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  Speaker 1: the state Capitol. The official flower of the state and
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  Speaker 1: the method of its selection. On the twentieth day of
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  Speaker 1: April eighteen ninety one, the legislature of the state passed
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  Speaker 1: an act entitled an Act to provide for the collection, arrangement,
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  Speaker 1: and display of the products of the State of Minnesota
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  Speaker 1: at the World's Columbian Exposition of one thousand, eight hundred
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  Speaker 1: and ninety three, and to make an appropriation. Therefore, this
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  Speaker 1: Act created a commission of six citizens of the state,
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  Speaker 1: to be appointed by the governor and called the Board
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  Speaker 1: of World's Fair Managers of Minnesota. The women of the
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  Speaker 1: state determined that there should be an opportunity for them
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  Speaker 1: to participate in the Exposition on the part of Minnesota,
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  Speaker 1: and a convention of delegates from each county of the
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  Speaker 1: state was called and held at the People's Church in
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  Speaker 1: Saint Paul on feb fourteenth, eighteen ninety two. This convention
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  Speaker 1: elected one woman delegate and one alternate from each of
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  Speaker 1: the seven congressional districts of the state. There were also
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  Speaker 1: two National Lady Managers from Minnesota, nominated by the two
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  Speaker 1: national representatives from Minnesota and appointed by the President of
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  Speaker 1: the United States, who were added to the seven delegates
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  Speaker 1: so chosen, and the whole was called the Women's Auxiliary
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  Speaker 1: to the State Commission. The women so chosen took charge
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  Speaker 1: of all of the matters properly pertaining to the Women's
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  Speaker 1: Department of the Fair. At one of the meetings of
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  Speaker 1: the Ladies held in Saint Paul, the question of the
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  Speaker 1: selection of an official flower for the state was presented,
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  Speaker 1: and the sentiment generally prevailed that it should be at
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  Speaker 1: once be decided by the assemblage. But Missus L. P. Hunt,
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  Speaker 1: the delegate from Mankato in the second Congressional District, wisely
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  Speaker 1: so suggested that the selection should be made by all
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  Speaker 1: the Ladies of the state, and they should be given
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  Speaker 1: an opportunity to vote upon the proposition. This suggestion was approved,
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  Speaker 1: and the following plan was adopted. Missus Hunt was authorized
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  Speaker 1: to appoint a committee of which she was to be chairman,
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  Speaker 1: to select a list of flowers to be voted on. Accordingly,
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  Speaker 1: she appointed a subcommittee who were to consult the state botanist,
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  Speaker 1: mister Conway macmillan, who was to name a number of
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  Speaker 1: Minnesota flowers from which the ladies were to choose. He
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  Speaker 1: presented the following Lady slipper moccasin flower, sip Repedium spectabile
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  Speaker 1: a silky astor, Indian pink cone flower, brown eyed Susan
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  Speaker 1: wild rose. The plan was to send out printed tickets
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  Speaker 1: to all the women's organizations in the States with these
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  Speaker 1: names on them to be voted upon, which was done
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  Speaker 1: with the result that the moccasin flower received an overwhelming
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  Speaker 1: majority and has ever since been accepted as the official
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  Speaker 1: flower of the state. That the contest was a a
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  Speaker 1: very spirited one can be judged from the fact that
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  Speaker 1: Missus Hunt sent out in her district at least ten
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  Speaker 1: thousand tickets with indications of her choice of the moccasin flower.
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  Speaker 1: She also maintained lengthy newspaper controversies with parties in Manitoba
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  Speaker 1: who claimed the prior right of the last province to
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  Speaker 1: the moccasin flower, all of whom she vanquished. The choice
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  Speaker 1: was a very wise and appropriate one. The flower itself
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  Speaker 1: is very beautiful and peculiarly adapted to the purposes of
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  Speaker 1: the artistic decoration. It has already been utilized in three
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  Speaker 1: instances of an official character with success and approval. The
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  Speaker 1: Minnesota State Building at the Columbian Exposition was beautifully decorated
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  Speaker 1: with it. It is prominently incorporated into the state flag
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  Speaker 1: and adorns the metal conferred by the state upon the
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  Speaker 1: defenders of Fort Ridgeley. The botanical name of the flower
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  Speaker 1: is Superpedium, taken from the Greek words meaning the shoe
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  Speaker 1: of venus. It is popularly called ladies slipper, moccasin flour,
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  Speaker 1: and Indian shoe. About twenty five species of Cyprepedium are known,
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  Speaker 1: belonging to the north temperate zone and reaching south into
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  Speaker 1: Mexico and northern India. Six species occur in the northern
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  Speaker 1: United States and Canada east of the Rocky Mountains, all
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  Speaker 1: of these being found in Minnesota, and about a dozen
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  Speaker 1: species occur on this continent. They are perennial herbs with
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  Speaker 1: irregular flowers which grow singly or in small clusters, the
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  Speaker 1: colors of some of which are strikingly beautiful. The species
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  Speaker 1: adopted by the women of the State of Minnesota is
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  Speaker 1: the Siperpedium spectabilite, or the showy lady slipper. The ladies
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  Speaker 1: naturally desired that their choice should be ratified by the
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  Speaker 1: state legislature, and one of their number prepared a report
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  Speaker 1: of their doings in a petition to that body asking
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  Speaker 1: its approval. Whoever drew the petition named the flower chosen
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  Speaker 1: by the ladies as Siperpedium calciolis, a species which does
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  Speaker 1: not grow in Minnesota, but what is purely of European production.
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  Speaker 1: The petition was presented to the Senate on the fourth
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  Speaker 1: day of February eighteen ninety three. The Journal of the
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  Speaker 1: Senate shows the following record, which is found on page
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  Speaker 1: one sixty seven. Mister Dean asked the unanimous coscent to
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  Speaker 1: present a petition from the Women's Auxiliary to the World's
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  Speaker 1: Fair relative to the adoption of the state flower and emblem,
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  Speaker 1: which was read. Mister Dean offered the following concurrent resolution
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  Speaker 1: and moved its adoption be it resolved by the Senate
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  Speaker 1: the House of Representatives concurring that the wild Lady Slipper
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  Speaker 1: or moccasin flower Cyprepedium calciolus b and the same as
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  Speaker 1: hereby designated and adopted as the state flower or emblem
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  Speaker 1: of the State of Minnesota, which was adopted in the
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  Speaker 1: Legislative Manual of eighteen ninety three, appears on page six
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  Speaker 1: oh six the following the state flower. On April fourth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen ninety three, should be February, a petition from the
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  Speaker 1: Women's Auxiliary to the World's Fair was presented to the
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  Speaker 1: Senate relative to the adoption of a state flower by
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  Speaker 1: resolution of the Senate concurred in by the House, the
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  Speaker 1: wild lady slipper or moccasin flower siper Pedium was designated
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  Speaker 1: as a state flower or floral emblem of the State
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  Speaker 1: of Minnesota. The word calciolus means a little shoe or slipper,
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  Speaker 1: But as I said before, the species so designated in
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  Speaker 1: botany is not indigenous to Minnesota and is purely a foreigner.
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  Speaker 1: As we have, in the course of our growth, assimilated
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  Speaker 1: so many foreigners successfully, we will have no trouble in
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  Speaker 1: swallowing this small shoe, especially as the House did not
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  Speaker 1: concur in the resolution. And while the mistake will in
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  Speaker 1: no way militate against the progress or prosperity of Minnesota,
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  Speaker 1: it should be a warning to all committees and Western
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  Speaker 1: legislatures to go slow when dealing with the dead languages.
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  Speaker 1: We now have the whole body of siper pediums to
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  Speaker 1: choose from, and may reject the calciolus. If the House
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  Speaker 1: of Representatives ever concur heard in this state resolution, it
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  Speaker 1: left no trace of its action, either in its journal
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  Speaker 1: or published laws. That have been able to find. Among
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  Speaker 1: the many valuable achievements of the Women's auxiliary one deserved
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  Speaker 1: special mention. Missus H. F. Brown, one of the delegates
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  Speaker 1: at large, suggested a statue for the Women's Building to
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  Speaker 1: be the production of Minnesota's artistic conception and execution. The
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  Speaker 1: architect of the State Building had disallowed this feature, and
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  Speaker 1: there was no public fund to meet the expense, which
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  Speaker 1: would be considerable. The ladies, however, decided to procure the
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  Speaker 1: statue and rely on private subscription to defray the cost.
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  Speaker 1: Missus L. P. Hunt thought that sufficient funds might be
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  Speaker 1: raised from the school children of the state through a
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  Speaker 1: penny subscription, and f was raised, however, to secure a
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  Speaker 1: plaster cast of great beauty representing Hiawatha carrying many Haha
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  Speaker 1: across a stream in his arms, illustrating the lines in
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  Speaker 1: Longfellow's poem over wide in rushing waters in his arms.
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  Speaker 1: He bore the maiden adorned the porch of the Minnesota
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  Speaker 1: Building during the fair. It was designed and made by
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  Speaker 1: a very talented young Norwegian sculptor then residing in Minneapolis,
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  Speaker 1: the late Jacob Fielde. It is proposed to cast a
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  Speaker 1: statue in bronze and place it in Minnehaha Park, Minneapolis
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  Speaker 1: at some future day. End of Section forty five