of us want to track mud into it for days at a time. Of course, Nelson Avenue will be repaired some day, but we don't want to wait for some day. We want that street fixed now."
He had them gripped. He could feel their interest. The auditorium was profoundly still.
"We hear a lot in our civics classes about public opinion and the voice of the people. Public opinion is nothing until it expresses itself. The voice of the people isn't a voice unless it says something. We don't want mud in Nelson Avenue. Well, let's say so. We're people. We have voices. Let's use them. Letters won't do. Neither will petitions. It takes only a second to sign a petition. It takes an hour or so to go see the proper person and tell him that something's wrong. You can't get results with seconds; you've got to spend hours. The way to get a thing done is to go and see that it is done. If we want Nelson Avenue repaired, we've got to be the voice of Northfield High—a real voice. Why shouldn't we? It's our street. My father and your father pay for it. My idea is for this school to go down to the City Hall in a body and ask the City Commissioners to fix that street. A petition is only a petition, but going down there looks like business. And we'll mean business."
A murmur ran through the auditorium. The
