First photo: Harvard University)
(second photo: Stanford University)
A lady in a faded gingham dress and her husband, dressed in a homespun
threadbare suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and walked timidly
without an appointment into the Harvard University President's outer
office.
The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, countryhicks had no
business at Harvard and probably didn't even deserve to be in Cambridge.
"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.
"Maybe if you see them for a few minutes, they'll leave," she said to
him.
He sighed 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 resident, stern
faced and with dignity, strutted toward the couple.
The lady told him, "We had a son who attended Harvard for one year. He
loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was
accidentally killed. 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, and 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 buildings here at Harvard."
For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. Maybe he
could get rid of them now.
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.
Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford got up and walked away, traveling to Palo
Alto, California where they established the university that bears their
name, Stanford University, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer
cared about.
You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those
who they think can do nothing.
A TRUE STORY
by Malcolm Forbes
