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Paderewski
When Jan Paderewski was to leave his native Poland to play his first recital in London, he asked an influential compatriot to give him a letter of introduction to a leading figure in Britain’s musical world, who might be of assistance should anything go amiss. The letter was handed to him in a sealed envelope. He hoped that everything would proceed smoothly and he would not have to use it. He did not; his debut was a success and no snags developed.
Some years later, while going through his papers, he came upon the letter and opened it. It read: “This will introduce Jan Paderewski, who plays the piano, for which he demonstrates no conspicuous talent.”
Bits and Pieces, January 9, 1992, pp. 1 & 2.
General Sherman
The soldier’s first article of faith is summed up nowhere more eloquently than in an 1865 letter from William Tecumseh Sherman to U. S. Grant: “I knew wherever I was that you thought of me, and if I got in a tight place you would come—if alive.”
Source unknown
People Need People
Laurie was about three when one night she requested my aid in getting undressed. I was downstairs and she was upstairs, and ... well. “You know how to undress yourself,” I reminded. “Yes,” she explained, ‘but sometimes people need people anyway, even if they do know how to do things by themselves.”
William C. Schultz, in Bits and Pieces, Dec. 1990
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