December 26, 1998

Excerpt from Souvenir by Margaret Truman (NY: Mc Graw Hill, 1956)

"The Christmas of 1933, when I was eight years old, I was bedded down as usual, with the flu. (It seems to me that every Christmas and every birthday for years I was bedded down with something.) The only thing I wanted in life (besides being able to get up) was an electric train. I insinuated loudly that I wanted an electric train and I insinuated it often. The day before Christmas I was aware that there was considerable commotion going on downstairs and visions of miles of track, automatic switches, signal towers and I don't know what else, danced in my head."

"On Christmas morning when Daddy came to wake me his face was shining like a new moon.
"Wait until you see," he rhapsodized, wrapping me in a blanket. "Wait until you see what you've got!"

"In my minds eye I saw the darling little train, running madly through miniature villages and over tiny bridges, headlight aglow and whistle blowing. I grinned and snuggled into his shoulder. He carried me down to the parlor"

There Margaret saw a beautiful grand piano---not a train. Much to Truman's dismay his daughter burst into tears--her dream of a train set gone.

Margaret wrote later:
"Poor Daddy! It was certainly the most important and expensive present he had ever bought. He was earning a modest salary as presiding judge of the Jackson County Court. The time was the depths of the depression and nobody was buying baby grands."

"Most fathers give their girl children electric trains because THEY want to play with them, but my father gave me a piano!"

It was some time before Margaret was well and began to play. But eventually the piano gave her and her father many happy hours. The piano went with them to Washington when Harry was a senator and vice president and president.

Glendale Elementary School
Independence, Missouri