Prefo， ce<br >，et me tell you about a man I know.<br > When he started out in life， he didn t seem to have much<br >0ing for him. His parents spoke imperfect English. Being poor，<br >hey couldn t give him any "advantages." Most of his school-<br >aates were like himself--slum kids or not much better. Though<br >ealthy enough， he grew up shortish and no great shakes as an<br >thlete. His mother may have liked his face， but it would never<br >， in a beauty prize. Worst of all， he turned out to have no head<br >3r business.<br > In only one way was he above the average. He liked words.<br >te liked their shape， their sound and the way they fitted to-<br >ether to make clear or surprising or useful statements. He liked<br >a read， write， speak and listen to them.<br > Because he had few other talents， he concentrated on his<br >hility to handle words. As the years rolled by， he was astonished<br > find that he was making for himself a reasonably interesting，<br >espectable and successful life， And he was accomplishing this<br >lmost entirely through his capacity to speak， write， read and<br >sten a little better than most others，<br > He s an old man now. But not a day passes that he does not<br >less the English language and offer up a prayer for its health<br >nd welfare.<br > That old man--sure， you guessed it--is the writer of these<br >nes， Because I owe so much to the power of the printed and<br >poken word， I ve tried to pay back a little of my debt by per-<br >~ading young people that that power really exists. It can help to<br >lake ) our life more interesting. But more to tile point， if you<br >