Silver that he hoped to visit with the children. He never got the chance and so his family fulfilled his promise when Kate Rodina Steichen. daughter of the world famous photographer brotherinlaw of Sandburg. came over to reminisce with the children about her Uncle Carl. Sandburg had been pleased to know that this school had been dedicated to the symbol of the East Side immigrant mothers. for he too was the child of immigrant parents. The Hon. Charles H. Silver of the Class of 1901. the former president of the Board of Education and now an assistant to the mayor delivered the dedicatory address. In his remarks he said. "More than any other school in the city. indeed. in our nation Public School 20 welcomed the newly arrived immigrant children and the children o immigrants before and during the early days of this century. This beloved school in its old building. which many of us remember so well. taught these young people the beginning of wisdom. the Joy of freedom and the privilege beyond price of being American citizens. I was one of those children. I sat on the hard benches listening wideeyed to the story of those who founded this blessed land of opportunity and the vast promise it held for me. and I am sure that Carl Sandburgwho was a child of immigrant parentssat on a bench very much like mine in a school that imbued him with the same spirit of devotion to our nation and gratitude for all that God gave us who dwell within its borders. It was this magical thing that is America which must have come to live in his heart and sing in his poetry. "I do not know what feelings move you as we welcome the first school in the nation to honor and preserve the memory of Carl Sandburg. but I feel a great pride well up within me .... We know that the children of today are the parents of tomorrow and that there are no limits to the enrichments of all mankind everywhere that can begin in a single classroom....
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immigrant immigrants