A good story that is true, how Sanford University got started. Can't
> >> judge
> >> the book by its cover especially in people. Al
> >>
> >> ________________________________
> >>
> >>
> >> THE GINGHAM DRESS
> >>
> >>
> >> 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,
> >> country hicks had no business at Harvard &probably didn't even
> >> deserve to be in Cambridge.
> >>
> >> "We'd like to see the president," the man said softly.
> >>
> >> "He will be busy all day," the secretary snapped.
> >>
> >> "We will 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, and he detested gingham dresses and homespun suits
> >> cluttering up his outer office.
> >>
> >> The president, 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, 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
> >> cost 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 for them.
> >>
> >>
> >> A TRUE STORY By Malcolm Forbes
> >>
> >>
> >> I hope to keep this in mind whenever I start to judge.
> >>