Good Deeds

"¢ At the Chicago Herald-Examiner, John J. "œJack" McPhaul sometimes was given a lot of money to do such things as buy photographs. When the Herald-Examiner learned that Harry F. McCormick had married his nurse, he and city editor Roscoe Conkling (Duffy) Cornell got 10 $100 bills in expense money and headed to Mr. McCormick's house. Duffy stayed in the taxi, but Jack rang the doorbell and talked to the housekeeper, a woman with a Scottish accent. Inside the house he saw a photograph of a woman and asked the housekeeper if the woman in the photograph was the bride. The housekeeper nodded yes, and Jack said, "œMadam, if you'll turn your back, I'll put $1,000 on the table and take the picture." The housekeeper told him, "œNow you know I wouldn't allow you to do that." After a little more conversation, she asked him, "œYoung man, don't you know you're employed in a shameful business." He replied, "œYes, ma'm." Back in the taxi, he told Duffy that he had been unable to get the photograph. Duffy said, "œDamn it to hell." Jack explained, "œI met an honest woman." Duffy again said, "œDamn it to hell," but Jack writes that "œas he said no more, I suspect he was as pleased as I to have encountered an honest soul."

"¢ The first woman to be elected United States Senator from Texas is Kay Bailey Hutchinson. Her father, Allan Bailey, always bought Buicks and Plymouths - nothing fancy, with one exception. Both he and his wife had cars, and when she was diagnosed with cancer in 1960, it was time to trade in her car for another one. She told him to wait because if the cancer spread and she died, the family would not need a second car. He traded it in anyway, and he bought a brand-new Cadillac. Kay Bailey Hutchinson says that the fancy car was a way for her father to tell her mother, "You are going to live, and I love you very much." The surgery for cancer was successful, she lived, and when the Cadillac needed to be traded in, it was traded in for a Buick. Mr. Bailey was a kind man. He once sold a used car to a man who turned out to be a student. Discovering that the student was studying for a Ph.D., Mr. Bailey would not take any money from him just then - not even a down payment. He told the student to get his Ph.D. and then begin paying for the car. Four years later, the student got his Ph.D. and started paying for the car. By the way, the student became a NASA engineer.

"¢ Pitcher Ron Davis hit a rough - make that absolutely terrible - patch after he was traded to the Minnesota Twins. Expected to be their bulldog ace, Mr. Davis instead seemed to be unable to protect a lead in the late innings. It got so bad that the Twins fans cheered all the other Twins players but booed whenever Mr. Davis appeared. Fortunately, a sports writer wrote about some good deeds that Mr. Davis had done, including paying all the expenses for inner-city kids to go fishing for the first time in their lives. The Twins organization also stated that whenever a request came for someone to visit a sick kid or do a good deed, they turned to Mr. Davis. After the article appeared, Mr. Davis appeared on the mound again. He was expecting the usual booing, and he was astonished when all 22,000 fans gave him a standing ovation. Apparently, the cheering raised his confidence, as he protected the lead for a Twins victory. For the rest of the season, Mr. Davis was an outstanding relief pitcher. In 20 out of the 21 close games that Mr. Davis pitched in, the Twins recorded a victory. For his effectiveness in winning games, Mr. Davis was voted the 1985 Most Valuable Player for the Twins.

"¢ Faith Hill's father - a loving man - could not read, as she discovered when she was in elementary school. Therefore, when she became a singing star later, she made the fight against illiteracy a priority by establishing, along with Warner Brothers Records and Time Warner, the Faith Hill Family Literacy Project. She has collected many thousands of new and gently used books at her concert venues to donate to schools, day-care centers, hospitals, and shelters for battered women. By the way, as a young woman on her own for the first time, she cooked very well - especially lasagna - although she frequently called her mother to ask, "How much of this ingredient do I put in?" That's not a surprise because many young adults do that, but her marriage to Tim McGraw was a surprise to many of the guests. On October 6, 1996, many people arrived for what they thought was a brunch before a charity softball game, but they were delighted to find out that Ms. Hill and Mr. McGraw were getting married.

"¢ The father of New York Times bestselling author Ridley Pearson was an alcoholic who would stop at a bar for a shot of vodka at 8 a.m., at noon, and after work. He nearly died of alcoholism three times, but eventually his wife told him that he had two choices: Alcoholics Anonymous or a sanitarium. This time, AA worked, and he stayed sober. Ridley says, "He discovered his family. He went on to manage AA worldwide for 15 years. Got hundreds of people sober. Maybe saved a few lives in there as I smelled coffee from downstairs at three in the morning and heard the mumble of dispirited voices. A good man. A man who cared. A spiritual man by midlife and a quirky, bright, loving man who is now in photographs, and memories, and who puts a lump in my throat just to remind me to love my neighbor regardless of circumstance."

"¢ In the late 1820s, Abraham Lincoln and some of his friends discovered a drunk passed out outside during a freezing night. Mr. Lincoln's friends wanted to leave the drunk outside, but Mr. Lincoln picked him up and carried him to a building with a fireplace where he could get warm. The drunk later said, "It was mighty clever of Abe to tote me so far that cold night."