St. Tammany farmer., 1922-02-25

In Ramseys ears, was the sound Of
Gabriel practising on his horn in thu
early morning Of Judgment day. The
members Of the society sat, three row.
deep, along the walls Of the room
leaving a clear oblong Of green car
pet In the center, where were tive
small desks, twenty feet apart, the
rostrums Of the debaters. Upon q
! platform at the head Of the room sat
dreadful seniors, the officers Of the
society, and, upon benches near the
platform, the debaters Of the evening
were aligned. One of the fraternal
seniors sat with sweltering Ramsey
and the latter, as his time relentlessly
came nearer, made last miserable
squirm.
"Look here, Brother Colburn, got
to get out O. here"
mo, you don't, young fellow"
Eyes, dol" Ramsey whispered, pas
-sionately. Honest, I do. Honest,
Brother Colburn, I got to get drink
OF water. I got tol" -.
mo. You can't"
Honest, Colburn, I got--
"Hushy'
Ramsey cast his dilating eyes along
the rows Of faces. Most of them were
but as blurs, swimming, yet he was
aware Che thought) of q formidable
and horrible impassive scrutiny Of
himself, a glare seeming to pierce
through him to the back Of the belt
round his waist, so that he began to
have fearful doubts about that belt,
about every fastening and adjustment
Of his garments, about the expression
OF his countenance, and many other
things jumbling together in his con-
sciousness. Over and over he whis-
pered gaspingly to himself the OPEN
ing words of the sentence with which
senior had advised him to begin his
argument. And as the moment Of su-
preme agony drew close, this whisper
ing became continuous: "In making
my first appearance before this honor
BILE membership / feel constrained to
say in making my first appearance be-
fore this honor'ble membership 1 feel
constrained to say in making my first
appearance before this honor'ble mem
=. :. 1t had come. The chairman
announced the subject of the fourth
freshman twelve-minute debate; and
Dora Yocum, hitherto unperceived by
Ramsey, rose and went forward to one
Of the small desks in the open space,
where she stood composedly, slim,
pretty figure in white Members in
Ramsey's neighborhood were aware Of
a brief and hushed commotion, and :
fierce whisper, you can't! You get
up there !" And the blanched Ramsey
came forth and placed himself at the
othet desk.
He stood before the silent Dopu-
lace Of that morgue, and it seemed to
him that his features had forgotten
that he was supposed to be their own
er and in control Of them he felt that
they were slipping all over his face,
regardless of his wishes. His head,
as a whole, was subject to an agita-
tion not before known by him; it de-
sired to move rustilysin eccentric ways
Of Its own devising; his legs alternate
ly limbered and Strengthened under no
direction but their own and his hands
each other fiercely behind his
back; he was not one cohesive person,
evidently, but an assembled collection |
Of parts which had relapsed each into |
Its own individuality. In spite Of them,
he somehow contrived the semblance
IF a bow toward the chairman and the |
semblance Of another toward Dora, of |
whom he was but hazily conscious. |
Then he opened his mouth and, not |
how he had started his voice |
going heard it as Ii from distance.
'In making my first appearance be-
ore this honor'ble membership l feel |
'estrained to say" He stopped /
short, and thenceforward shook visit
'ly. After a long pause, he managed +
o repeat his opening, stopped again,
many times, produced
and wiped his face, an
lct OF necessity--then had an inspira-
ion.
''The subject assigned to me-" he T
aid, 'fs resolved that Germany Is
nor1y and legally justified in Bel I
This subject was
ssigned to me to be the subject of
his debate" He interrupted himself
0 gasp piteously. found breathing diff
icult, but faltered on again: ''Thls
ubject is the subject. It Is the SUBJ
ect that was assigned to me on
ostal card" Then,> for moment or
o, he had miraculous squirt Of conf
ence, and continued, rather rapidly:
I feel constrained to say that the
ountry Of Belgian-Belgium, mean
his country has been constrained by
he-invaded I mean-invaded by the
imperial German Umpire and my SUBJ
ect in this debate is whether it ought
D or not, my being the informative,
mean-that got to prove
hat Germany is mor1y and legally
lstified. I wish to state that"
He paused again, lengthily, then
on. Il have been requested
} state that the German Imp-Empire
that it certainly isn't right for those
'utch-Germans, mean-they haven't
OF any more business in Belgium than
have myself, but IL feel constrained
, say that I had to accept whatever
de Of this debate | got on the postal