My Years with Ludwig von Mises.pdf - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

his vacation. But when he did, I would never disturb him. Mandy,
however, did not recognize any rules. When she wanted to have a
word with her "Gran'pa" she went straight into his room, and he
never reproached her. When she thought he looked too serious for
her taste, she only needed to say "Gran'pa, smile," and immediately
a kind, warm smile brightened his face.
One day we visited Franconia College. The students recognized
Lu and gathered around our car to pepper him with questions,
mostly about Ludwig Wittgenstein, the Austrian philosopher, who
was in fashion with them at that time. Lu, as always, answered
every question patiently, while Mandy looked at the boys and girls
around us. It was a strange crowd, their heads full of ideas of how
toimprove the world and their bodies scantily dressed. All were in
bare feet, with long flowing hair or masses of beard framing their
faces. After watching these youngsters, little Mandy said: "If all
the boys and girls in American colleges look like this, I'd rather go
to school in England."
Mandy, at that time, was a rather untidy little girl, and I tried my
best to change her. One day I told her: "Mandy, darling, each
evening when'I come into your room and find your toys put-away
and the room tidied and nice looking, I'll give you five cents. After
a while you will have saved enough to buy your Mummy a nice
present."
When Lu heard this, he explained to me that it was a bad educational
practice to bribe a child. But that very evening he went into
Mandy's room to kiss her goodnight and told her: "Mandy, how
would you like it if I .gave .you ten cents every night when your
room is tidy?" Could anyone imagine that Mandy would not have
liked it?
As usual we had guests that summer: 110 and George Koether
and Bettina and Percy Greaves. We also became very good friends
with Austrian Ambassador to the United Nations Baron von Haymerle
and his wife, who had a little chalet very near ours. A year
later Dr. Haymerle became the Austrian ambassador to Russia.
They wrote us from Moscow, but the cards were so carefully
worded that the unwritten words were more eloquent than the
written ones.
In May, 1970, Lu made his last extensive lecture trip. It had been
arranged by Charles Heatherly, at that time director of the southern
Intercollegiate Studies Institute and now educational director
of the National Federation of Independent Business in California.
This trip took us from Seattle, where Lu gave an excellent lecture
before a full house of some 600 people, via Los Angeles to Tucson,
Arizona.
It was an exciting trip for us because it took place during the
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