TOD SLOAN 



him with the argument : " / am putting five hundred 

 dollars on him to-day ! " An audience always likes 

 stories told against oneself. 



Then I rung in another story about America's great 

 jockey Snapper Garrison. I recounted how I had met 

 him on the race-track and said : " Wiy don't you go 

 on the stage the same as I am and earn fifteen hundred 

 dollars a week? You have only to go before an 

 audience and tell them what you did when you were 

 riding." 



He was supposed to reply : " Tell them what I did ? 

 Wliy, I wouldn't do that for ten thousand a week ! " 

 It doesn't perhaps look so funny in cold print but I 

 got across with it — again thanks to Mr Geo. Cohan. 

 By the way, Mr Cohan is one of the best friends 

 possible to those he likes or who are in need of a helping 

 hand. The little charities he has done are numberless. 

 One day he walked into a saloon kept by a man he 

 had known in happier circumstances. He had heard 

 that this particular saloon-keeper had not been going 

 very strong and had been struggling to overcome 

 misfortune. He also knew for certain that the place 

 was absolutely the man's own property. Calling for a 

 couple of drinks, he threw down a thousand -dollar 

 note and told the barman to " ring it up in the machine " 

 (the check till). It was a graceful way of doing some- 

 thing without making a fuss about his bounty. 



My wife went from one show to another in musical 

 comedy and paid two visits to London — much to my 

 regret — however, that need not be alluded to. There 

 was one incident, however, which I shall never forget, 

 that being when I raced across the Atlantic to see her, 

 cabling beforehand for her not to sail until after my 

 arrival. Somehow the cable miscarried : whose fault 

 it was doesn't matter, but when I arrived she had sailed 



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