The Men of the West 3 1 



crowd. At one of the great football games between 

 Stanford and Berkeley Universities, a huge stand, 

 flimsily constructed of timber, began to shake omi- 

 nously. Several persons jumped up and a panic 

 was imminent. Just then there arose a well- 

 known man, something of an autocrat in his way. 

 " Sit down ! " he said sternly. " Sit Down ! SIT 

 DOWN ! " He was obeyed, but a clear voice was 

 heard in reply : " That 's all right, Fred. But why 

 don't you sit down yourself ? " 



Another anecdote that illustrates well the temper 

 of an American crowd as contrasted with an Eng- 

 lish assembly is worth repeating: A great singer 

 was enchanting a large audience, when suddenly 

 at her feet a column of flame soared up into the 

 flies. In the front row of the stalls a man sat 

 beside his wife (some wags said she was his mother- 

 in-law). As the flames shot upward this fellow 

 bolted. He was next to the gangway, and was 

 up and out of the theatre before the audience had 

 realised what was impending. The flames van- 

 ished ; the cantatrice smiled and assured the house 

 that the danger was over. Then the man came 

 back ! In England he would have been greeted 

 with hisses. In America he was cheered ! For 

 my part, I think that his moral courage in return- 

 ing was more amazing than his cowardice in run- 

 ning away. 



In a thousand ways the men of the West show 

 that they are willing and content to accept less 

 than their due. In lawsuits a compromise is 

 generally possible, whereas in England the same 

 suit would be fought to a finish. And in their 



