THE COLLEGE AND THE CIRCUS
but the way he said it was all wrong. His speech did more harm than good to his side of the question.
But you needn't think it was easy for this man to talk thus; the tremble in his voice showed how hard it was. Stehman, the big football Captain, looking at Stacy as he sat down, wet with perspiration and shaking all over, said solemnly to himself: "I wish I had as much nerve as that."
Another man jumped up. "It's not so serious as all that," he said, smiling confidently at the crowd, who smiled back. "Our friend here has too much conscience and not enough sense of humor. Besides, we are not infants, to be told we must and we must not. Is this a college or is it only a prep. school? [Stehman, listening, thought to himself, "My very words this morning."] We are here for an education," the speaker went on. ["Right," they shouted—especially the loafers.] "We are here to study, by Heavens!" the speaker went on amid some laughter. "It's absurd. It's against our inalienable rights and privi-
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