We hope to have a sort of
"opening" for our new offices and building about June 1, 1954.
Naturally, we should like to have these leather chairs on hand
. . . If we knew there would be a little delay in delivery we
would try to delay our "opening." It is not my intention to try
to rush you. I would just like to know for a certainty and plan
accordingly.
I find myself in a dither like unto a situation that confronted
me long, long years ago. I was a cadet a Western Military
Academy, Alton, Illinois, 16 years old. . . In class, I sat next
to a boy two years my senior and far, far more sophisticated. He
was a member of a really rich family in St. Louis. He invited me
to spend Easter vacation at his home. I was glad to go. Arrived
in St. Louis I learned another St. Louis tycoon, a brewer and his
wife, were giving a banquet and ball, and that I was scheduled to
be among "those present."
My hostess looked me over carefully. In a casual way she asked,
"Andrew, I'll bet you forgot to bring your dress suit along?"
The question amazed me. "Why Mrs. --," I said, "I never owned a
dress suit. Boys my age where I come from don't have dress
suits."
What an understanding woman she was! I could see the smile come
to her eyes.
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