1<br > When A.A. Came of Age<br > BY BmL W.，<br > co4ounder， Alcoholics Anonymous<br > URING the first three days of July， x955， Alcoholics Anonymous<br > held a Convention in St. Louis， commemorating the twentieth<br >anniversary of its founding. There our fellowship declared itself come<br >to the age of full responsibility， and there it received from its founders<br >and old-timers permanent keeping of its three great legacies of Recov-<br >ry， Unity， and Service.<br > I wiI1 always remember those three days as among the greatest ex-<br >periences of my life.<br > At four o clock in the afternoon of the final day about 5，000 A.A.<br >members and their families and friends were seated in the Kiel Audi-<br >torium at St. Louis. All of the United States and Canadian Provinces<br >were represented. Some had traveled from far lands to be there. On<br >the auditorium stage were the General Service Conference of Alco-<br >hohcs Anonymous， including some seventy-five delegates from the<br >United States and Canada， Trustees of Aak. s General Service Board，<br >directors and secretarial staffs of our world services at New York，<br >my wife Lois， my mother， and I.<br > The General Service Conference of Alcoholics Anonymous was<br >about to take over the custody of A.A. s Twelve Traditions and the<br >guardianship of its world services. It was to be named as the perma-<br >nent successor to the founders of A.A. Speaking for co-founder Dr.<br >