Harvard 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 president of Harvard'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.

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 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 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.

********
"You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who
can do nothing for them or to them."
Malcolm