Word: beans
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...SUSAN BEAN...
...SUSAN M. BEAN...
...story really began when L. L. Bean was 39. The orphaned son of a Maine horse trader, he had until then bounced from job to job. But he was an avid woodsman, and in 1912, while trudging on wet, blistered feet through the forest, he suddenly hit upon the idea of a boot with a rubber bottom attached to a leather top. From that inspiration came the famous "Maine Hunting Shoe"-which a hunter, Bean later boasted, "might like better than his wife." Once in business, Bean gradually expanded into other lines, and his factory grew into a labyrinth...
Haphazard as it was, Bean's business had as invaluable assets his own Yankee frugality and early-American honesty. When somebody suggested that he carry $70 eiderdown parkas, Bean snapped that hunters would only be wasting their money on a coat that expensive. Instead of pushing new sales, he urged customers to return worn-out Maine Hunting Shoes for refurbishing. Throwing away used boots, he advised, "is about the same as throwing away a five-dollar bill...
Expansive Suspenders. Bean's two sons and two grandsons, who plan to carry on the business with little change, helped him over the years. But Bean remained active until his death, afflicted by little more than a slight deafness that often made him amplify his voice even beyond its usual foghorn level. Asked not long ago if he had plans for expansion, Bean bellowed: "Yes, we have some suspenders in the catalogue." The catalogue was his pride and joy, and Bean recently read galley proofs of the 100-page spring 1967 edition, which came out last week...