in a lesser degree, in
connection with each of the thousands of public speeches I have made
since that time. I have never again gone so far as to faint in the
presence of an audience; but I have invariably walked out on the
platform feeling the sinking sensation at the pit of the stomach,
the weakness of the knees, that I felt in the hour of my debut. Now,
however, the nervousness passes after a moment or two.

From that night Miss Foot lost no opportunity of putting me into the
foreground of our school affairs. I took part in all our debates,
recited yards of poetry to any audience we could attract, and even shone
mildly in our amateur theatricals. It was probably owing to all this
activity that I attracted the interest of the presiding elder of our
district--Dr. Peck, a man of progressive ideas. There was at that time a
movement on foot to license women to preach in the Methodist Church, and
Dr. Peck was ambitious to be the first presiding elder to have a woman
ordained for the Methodist ministry. He had urged Miss Foot to be this
pioneer, but her ambitions did not turn in that direction. Though she
was a very devout Methodist, she had no wish to be the shepherd of a
religious flock. She loved her school-work, and asked nothing better
than to remain in it. Gently but persistently she directed the attention
of Dr. Peck to me, and immediately things began to happen.

Without telling me to what it might lead, Miss Foot finally arranged
a meeting at her home by inviting Dr. Peck and me to dinner.
Being unconscious of any significance in the occasion, I chatted
light-heartedly about the large issues of life and probably settled most
of them to my personal satisfaction. Dr. Peck drew me out and led me
on, listened and smiled. When the evening was over and we rose to go, he
turned to me with sudden seriousness:

"My quarterly meeting will be held at Ashton," he remarked, casually. "I
would like you to preach the quarterly sermon."

For a moment the earth seemed to slip away from my feet. I stared at
him in utter stupefaction. Then slowly I realized that, incredible as it
seemed, the man was in earnest.

"Why," I stammered, "_I_ can't preach a sermon!"

Dr. Peck smiled at me. "Have you ever tried?" he asked.

I started to assure him vehemently that I never had. Then, as if Time
had thrown a picture on a screen before me, I saw myself as a little
girl preaching alone in the forest, as I had so often preached to a
congr