细节
JOHNSON, Lyndon B. (1908-1973), President. Typed letter signed ("Lyndon"), as Representative, to Arthur "Tex" Goldschmidt, Washington, 20 December 1938. 1 page, 8vo, on House of Representatives stationery.
"HE DIDN'T KNOW ONE SYMPHONY FROM ANOTHER AND HE THOUGHT TOSCANINI WAS A BRAND OF SPAGHETTI"
A LIGHT-HEARTED LETTER PASSING ALONG A CHRISTMAS TURKEY. "Listen Tex," LBJ writes to a fellow Lone Star "ex-patriate" in New Deal Washington, "I want to prove to you that you never can tell. A couple of weeks ago a little hill-country boy, mesquite thorns in his hair and cockleburs dripping off the seat of his pants, took his 10-year old I. Q. out to the Central Texas ranch country and put it to work picking out the best turkey in all the flocks thereabouts. He didn't know one symphony from another and he thought Toscanini was a brand of spaghetti. He had never heard of the venerable Bede and he thought when anybody talked about Karl Marx he was referring to the 'x' Carl made when he signed his name. But he picked this turkey out for you and Wickie [Goldschmidt's wife Elizabeth], this fine bird which carries within his skin all that is good and rich and wholesome and blessed in the Paradise that is Texas. So I am sending this bird along in the hope that he can be mute and irrefutable testimony in behalf of the 10-year-old mentality now so far in the shade of disfavor. You've been talking about teaching that boy of yours to chew tobacco. An art, indeed, but one which requires patience, practice, endurance. Let him throw a lip over one of these drumsticks and gnaw it a while and he will be well on his way." Goldschmidt, a native San Antonian and Columbia University graduate, served as an assistant in the Interior Department under Presidents Roosevelt and Truman, and was instrumental in working with Congressman Johnson to get needed WPA funds into the impoverished rural regions of Texas.
"HE DIDN'T KNOW ONE SYMPHONY FROM ANOTHER AND HE THOUGHT TOSCANINI WAS A BRAND OF SPAGHETTI"
A LIGHT-HEARTED LETTER PASSING ALONG A CHRISTMAS TURKEY. "Listen Tex," LBJ writes to a fellow Lone Star "ex-patriate" in New Deal Washington, "I want to prove to you that you never can tell. A couple of weeks ago a little hill-country boy, mesquite thorns in his hair and cockleburs dripping off the seat of his pants, took his 10-year old I. Q. out to the Central Texas ranch country and put it to work picking out the best turkey in all the flocks thereabouts. He didn't know one symphony from another and he thought Toscanini was a brand of spaghetti. He had never heard of the venerable Bede and he thought when anybody talked about Karl Marx he was referring to the 'x' Carl made when he signed his name. But he picked this turkey out for you and Wickie [Goldschmidt's wife Elizabeth], this fine bird which carries within his skin all that is good and rich and wholesome and blessed in the Paradise that is Texas. So I am sending this bird along in the hope that he can be mute and irrefutable testimony in behalf of the 10-year-old mentality now so far in the shade of disfavor. You've been talking about teaching that boy of yours to chew tobacco. An art, indeed, but one which requires patience, practice, endurance. Let him throw a lip over one of these drumsticks and gnaw it a while and he will be well on his way." Goldschmidt, a native San Antonian and Columbia University graduate, served as an assistant in the Interior Department under Presidents Roosevelt and Truman, and was instrumental in working with Congressman Johnson to get needed WPA funds into the impoverished rural regions of Texas.