A 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'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, 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, "Is that all it cost s 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, CA 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
> 
> "People will forget what you said; People will forget what you did, but 
> people will never forget how you made them feel."
> 
> --