Worth Reading

[Guest guest]

A lady in a faded gingham dress and her husband, dressed in a

homespun suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and

walked timidly without an appointment into the outer office of the

President of Harvard University.

The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods,

country hicks had no business at Harvard and probably didn't even

deserve to be in Cambridge.

She frowned. " We want to see the president, " the man said

softly. " He'll be busy all day, " the secretary snapped. " We'll

wait, " the lady replied.

For hours, the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple

would finally become discouraged and go away. They didn't. And

the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the

president, even though it was a chore she always regretted to do.

" Maybe if they just see you for a few minutes,

they'll leave, " she told him. And he signed in exasperation

and nodded. Someone of his importance obviously didn't have

the time to spend with them, but he detested gingham dresses

and homespun suits cluttering up his outer office.

The president, stern-faced with dignity, strutted toward the

couple.

The lady told him, " We had a son that attended Harvard for one

year. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year

ago, he was accidentally killed. And my husband and I would like

to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus. "

The president wasn't touched; he was shocked.

" Madam, " he said gruffly, " We can't put up a statue for every

person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place

would look like a cemetery. " " Oh, no, " the lady explained quickly,

" We don't want to erect a statue. We thought we would like to give

a building to Harvard. " The president rolled his eyes.

He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun

suit, then exclaimed, " A building! Do you have any earthly

idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million

dollars

in the physical plant at Harvard. "

For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased.

He could get rid of them now. And the lady turned to her husband

and said quietly, " Is that all it costs to start a University? Why

don't we just start our own? "

Her husband nodded. The president's face wilted in confusion

and bewilderment.

And Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away, traveling to

Palo Alto, California, where they established the University that bears

their name, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.

Sometimes first impressions are wrong. Someone might look like

a chunk of gold, and quickly rust. Or we might turn away someone

with drive, loyalty, ambition, determination, etc. We hear that what goes

around, comes around.

Just in case that might actually be true and in case you have

ever felt under appreciated, then you might consider taking

advantage of the next opportunity to look a little deeper for

the goodness in others.