I had been given to understand that my name would be called last, and settled down to pick up some points from the other fellow's remarks, on which I could build. 'Tis an old trick.
Through some mistake my name was called second, and before I could fully collect my wits, I found myself there on the platform bowing to the applause.
"There seems to be some misunderstanding about my being called so early in the proceedings," I remarked, "and the incident puts me in mind of something that once happened in my native town.
"At the death of an eccentric citizen it was learned that he had himself written his epitaph.
"When the lettering on the stone was completed, we all went to see what our fellow-citizen had to say of himself, and this was what we read under his name and date of death:
"'I expected this, but not so soon.'"
That excused me. They didn't want any more speeches from me. They thought it was an insinuation that our candidate would soon be a dead one.
And while I'm on the subject of politics I want to tell you of a little scene that I always look back on with a grin.
