''
For an instant I did not catch his meaning, nor
the implication in his knowing smile.
``Very clever, that strangling bit, and your going
on with the speech,'' he repeated. ``It hit the au-
dience hard.''
``Surely,'' I protested, ``you don't think it was a
deliberate thing--that we planned or rehearsed it.''
He stared at me incredulously. ``Are you going
to pretend,'' he demanded, ``that it wasn't a put-up
job?''
I told him he had paid us a high compliment, and
that we must really have done very well if we had
conveyed that impression; and I finally convinced
him that we not only had not rehearsed the episode,
but that neither of us had known what the other
meant to say. We never wrote out our speeches,
but our subject was always suffrage or some ramifica-
tion of suffrage, and, naturally, we had thoroughly
digested each other's views.
It is said by my friends that I write my speeches
on the tips of my fingers--for I always make my
points on my fingers and have my fingers named for
points. When I plan a speech I decide how many
points I wish to make and what those points shall
be. My mental preparation follows. Miss An-
thony's method was much the same; but very fre-
quently both of us threw over all our plans at the last
moment and spoke extemporaneously on some theme
suggested by the atmosphere of the gathering or by
the words of another speaker.
From Miss Anthony, more than from any one else,
I learned to keep cool in the face of interruptions
and of the small annoyances and disasters inevitable
in campaigning.
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