something I have never since forgotten: that the man, woman or
child who stammers needs no inducement to cause him to desire to
be cured, because the change from his condition as a stammerer to
that of a nonstammerer is of more inducement to the sufferer than
all the money you could offer him. I have never yet seen a man,
woman or child who wanted to stammer or stutter.

The offer of prizes doing no good, I took long trips to get my
mind off the affliction. I did everything in my power, worked
almost day and night, exerted every effort I could command--it was
all in vain.

The idea that I would finally outgrow my difficulty was
strengthened in the minds of my parents and friends by the fact
that there were times when my impediment seemed almost to
disappear, but to our surprise and disappointment, it always came
back again, each time in a more aggravated form; each time with a
stronger hold upon me than ever before.

I found out, then, one of the fundamental characteristics of
stammering--its intermittent tendency. In other words, I
discovered that a partial relief from the difficulty was one of
the true symptoms of the malady. And I learned further that this
relief is only temporary and not what we first thought it to be,
viz: a sign that the disorder was leaving.