tudy-class idea, and every other League idea so
far invented.

But all this is merely a hint of what the General Secretary meant to the
Institute, and particularly to the delegates from Delafield. Even Joe
Carbrook had been impressed. He heard the General Secretary the morning
after that little exchange of compliments on the library steps, and for
an hour thereafter let himself enjoy the rare luxury of thinking. The
results were somewhat disconcerting.

"It's funny," said Marty, as the four of them, the other three being
Joe, Marcia, and J.W., sat under a tree in the afternoon, "but I believe
that man could make even trigonometry interesting. I thought I'd heard
all that could be said about the devotional meeting; but did you get
that scheme for leaders he sprung this morning? Watch me when we get
back home, that's all."

"You needn't suppose you are the only one who got it," said Marcia.
"Everybody was trying to watch the General Secretary and to take notes
at the same time, and I don't believe you are any quicker at that than
the rest of us. Of course all of us will use as many of his ideas as we
can remember, when we get home again."

Joe Carbrook, with a new seriousness which sat awkwardly on him,
confessed that he could not understand just what was happening. It was
evident that he was ill at ease; Marcia had noticed it every time she
had seen him since that encounter with Alma Wetherell.

"I guess you folks know I am not easily caught; but I'm ready to admit
that man has hold of something. Yes, and I'm half convinced that this
Institute has hold of something. I wish I knew what it is. If I could
really believe that all I hear and see at this place is part of being
young and part of being a Christian, I might be thinking before long
about getting into the game myself. The trouble is you three and the
other Leaguers I've watched at home are just you three and the others,
and that's all. I know, and you know, what you can do. You'll take all
these ideas of League work and use them, maybe; but what I can't see is
how you will pick up the Big Idea of this place and get back home
without losing it."

"We can't," said Marcia, "not without all sorts of help, visible and
invisible. You, for instance; if you would really get into the game, as
you say, nobody could guess how much it would mean to our League. And it
might mean more to you."

"Marcia's right about that," said J.W. "The Big Idea of this place, that
you