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 in to the Harvard University President's 
outer office.

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

'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 a way. 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 
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 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'.