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\u2019s outer office. The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, country hicks had no business at Harvard and probably didn\u2019t even deserve to be in Cambridge. She frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to see the president,\u201d the man said softly.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019ll be busy all day,\u201d the secretary snapped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll wait,\u201d the lady replied.<\/p>\n
For hours, the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away. They didn\u2019t. And the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president, even though it was a chore she always regretted to do. \u201cMaybe if they just see you for a few minutes, they\u2019ll leave,\u201d she told him. And he sighed in exasperation and nodded. Someone of his importance obviously didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
The lady told him, \u201cWe 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\u201d. The president wasn\u2019t touched he was shocked.<\/p>\n
\u201cMadam,\u201d he said gruffly, \u201cwe can\u2019t put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, no,\u201d the lady explained quickly, \u201cwe don\u2019t want to erect a statue. We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard.<\/p>\n
The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and
\nhomespun suit, then exclaimed, \u201cA 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.\u201d For a moment the lady was silent.<\/p>\n
The president was pleased. He could get rid of them now.<\/p>\n
The lady turned to her husband and said quietly, \u201cIs that all it costs to start a University? Why don\u2019t we just start our own?\u201d Her husband nodded. The president\u2019s face wilted in confusion and bewilderment.<\/p>\n
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!<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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