Four train whistled at the Wabash river just before pulling into
the Wabash station, where I was to get off.

Here was another failure that could be checked up against the
instructor who knew nothing whatever about the cause of
stammering. The whole idea of the course was to cultivate voice
and make me an orator. That was very fine and would, no doubt,
have done me a great deal of good, but it was of no use to try to
cultivate a fine voice until I could use that voice in the normal
way. The finest voice in the world is of no use if you stammer,
and cannot use it. The school of elocution went the same way as
all the rest--it was a total failure so far as curing my
stammering was concerned.

By this time, my effort to be cured of stammering had become a
habit, just as eating and sleeping are habits. I was determined to
be cured. I made up my mind I would never give up. True, I often
said to myself, "I may never be cured," but in the same breath I
resolved that if I was not, it could never be said that it was
because I was a "quitter."

My next experiment was with a man who claimed he could cure my
stammering in one hour. Think of it. Here I had been, spending
weeks and months trying out just ONE way of cure and here was a
man who could do the whole job IN ONE HOUR. Wonderful power he
must possess, I thought. Of course, I did not believe he could do
it. I COULD not believe it. It was not believable. But
nevertheless, in my effort to be cured, I had resolved to leave no
stone unturned. I made up my mind that the only way to be sure
that I was not missing the successful method was to try them all.