called I made it a point to make friends with the chairman, who hailed
from South Dakota and was all to the good. He was bright and
distinctly wise to his job. By a little scouting I found out when the
last competing representative was to call and speak his little piece.

"The next day I took a 'flyer,' that is, called without making an
appointment. I arranged to arrive at my man's room in the afternoon
when his recitations were over. His greeting was characteristic of the
westerner,--as if we had known one another all our lives. He was a
runner and did the one hundred yards dash in ten seconds flat and was
the school's champion. I talked athletics to beat the band and got him
interested. He was unable to get the committee together until seven
o'clock that evening, which meant that I would have to stay in the
town over night, as the last train went to Boston around 6:30 o'clock.
There was nothing else to do but stay, as you naturally know what bad
business it would be to leave a committee about to decide.

"I saw a platinum photograph of myself sleeping in that third-class
hotel. I kept on talking athletics, however, and the chairman was good
enough to ask me to dine with him. After dinner we played billiards
and he beat me. At 6:45 we adjourned to his room. He and his committee
excused themselves to hold their meeting in a room on the floor below.
I was smoking one of the chairman's cigars, and was congratulating
myself that things looked encouraging. The cigar was a good one, too.
In half an hour the committee returned. The fellows lined up on the
sofa, side by side, while the chairman straddled his chair and
addressed me as follows:

"'Well, Mr. Rogers, we have discussed the matter thoroughly and as
impartially I think as any committee of fellows could do, who had the