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of us in the audience who had put in a lot of time and believed ourselves devoted to the idea of rebuilding the great cities of this country, particularly New York, so that they were good places, not only in their buildings, but in their habits, in their protection of the life of the people and their devotion to the welfare of the people. We were all very much pleased with him.
Many years later when LaGuardia was either mayor or had just finished being mayor I went with Mr. Charles C. Burlingham to the dedication of some model housing project, the LaGuardia Houses, on the lower East Side. I had been invited and I went with Mr. Burlingham. We sat with a lot of other invited guests on the platform. There was an episode that stands out in my mind that was so touching that none of us will ever forget it. The proceedings opened with prayer, somebody said something and then a Negro spiritual glee club favored us with music. They sang two or three selections in the usual charming way in which Negro spiritual singers sing. They wound up with this Negro spiritual: “I heard of the city called Heaven and I'm striving for to make it my home.” That was the refrain that went over and over again. They sang it very beautifully and touchingly.
Then LaGuardia rose to speak. He stood there a moment with tears running down his cheeks. Then he spread
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