When Abraham
Lincoln stood for election Grace Bell a young girl from Westfield wrote to him: “Dear Sir, I am a little girl of eleven year old but want you to be
President of United States very much so I hope you would not think me very bold
to write to such a great man as you are. You would look a great deal better for
your thin face if you let your whiskers grow. All the ladies like whiskers and
they would tease their husbands to vote for you and then you would be the
President—Grace Bell”.
Lincoln was
elected. The special train carrying the President around the
country stopped at a station near Westfield. A large crowd assembled to greet
the President and when he was asked to speak he opened up “I have a little
correspondent from this place. Her name is Grace Bell. The little child wrote
to me how to improve my appearance. If she is present here I would like to
speak to her. Bell’s parents who were in the crowd with the child brought her
before the President. The President bent, lifted her, kissed her on both her
cheeks and said “ You wrote I would look better with whiskers. You see I let
that grow for you my little friend”
- Ego and status should not interfere when suggestion comes. Alone, undeterred and unmindful of a hostile weather and the inconvenience of frequent travelling leaving the family aside my good friend Srinivasa Murty has undertaken a crusade for getting the cooperation and assistance from various quarters to discover an end to the legal wrangle and to checkmate any further adjournments. His suggestions deserve attention and not brushed aside.
R.K.Viswanathan