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that the hand-made trees ^'standing around it' gave the observer no idea of the great lindens, the maples and the blackberries mean which it was to stand. But it was the pivotal point of the exhibit, and I was happy as I boarded the train back to Chicago, crossed outandcrossed out reflecting that one project might well become the prototype of new and important elements in American architecture.

I do not remember what the New York cities wrote about the Van der Rohe exhibit. But there was one visitor who let fall a comment which found its way to Mies, not in minutes but in seconds. That visitor was Frank Lloyd Wright. The comments was pithy: "Negative is not enough."

Back in Chicago, a day or two later, we gathered at Mies to consider what should be done about that comment. After long deliberation during which he sat in his black chair and puffed his cigar, inarticulate and huffy, we drafted a dignified complaint having a time bearing ^'upon' the negation. this was approved