Embarrassing

Two months ago, U.N. had vaguely assented to a suggestion that a piece of Plymouth Rock be used as a cornerstone for U.N.'s new skyscraper headquarters along Manhattan's East River. Last week came the alarming news that the stone was on its way. But it was not really a chip off Plymouth Rock at all--just an ordinary boulder from Yarmouth, Mass. It weighed 15 tons.

New York's Mayor O'Dwyer was quoted as saying grimly that if it ever reached his city, the rock would be dumped into the East River. Said his secretary, more softly: "They can send anything they please. But if it blocks traffic, someone is going to get a lot of tickets."

At first, U.N. officials could not even remember who had suggested the rock in the first place. One functionary recalled that the name of the sponsoring organization had contained the word "Friendship." Another remembered distinctly that it had something to do with Massachusetts schoolchildren. Finally the truth emerged: the rock was to be donated to U.N. by the World Friendship Council (an organization devoted to amity of moppets everywhere). The Council in turn got the rock from Charles Henry Davis, a Cape Cod millionaire and idea man, last heard of when he proposed that an 80-ft. statue of Winston Churchill, with a beacon in the form of a lighted cigar, be erected at Dover (TIME, July 29). When Donor Davis heard of the mixed reception awaiting his rock in New York, he promptly ordered workmen to dump it off its trailer truck (see cut). It is now resting in a field near Yarmouth, awaiting a decision from Secretary General Trygve Lie.

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