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Notable New     Yorkers
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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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you know, there were at least twenty-five people there. Neither of them had any status, you see, as protocol, so they sat beside each other, and they sat in the middle of the table.

When the ladies were about to leave the table, I noticed they were engaged in pleasant conversation. Mr. Lewis was courteous to everybody. He was speaking to everybody in a very polite way. When we came out, when the ladies withdrew and left the gentlemen to their cigars and stories, I noticed that Mrs. Eustis came moving up to me. “My dear!” she said, “My dear! Mr. Lewis is the most fascinating man I ever saw or ever met. He's perfectly remarkable! Is that really John L. Lewis?”--(whom she'd borely heard of).

At that time he hadn't made much of a dent in public psychology. “Tell me about him. What kind of a man is he? How does he know so much? How does he know all this about Shakespeare? How does he know so much about English history? How does he know about art and architecture? This is really wonderful. I never met such a man.” She was raving about him.

I remember that occasion, because I said to her, Well, it's not surprising. You know, a labor leader's just like anybody else. They pick up their information and their knowledge depending upon their tastes, you know. You bear what you're interested in and you read in the paper what you're interested in, and you get a book from the library





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