Page:The spirit of the leader (IA spiritofleader00heyl).pdf/114

 Mr. Banning. The teacher's face, at that moment, was transformed.

The closing bell rang, but it was a half hour before the school had emptied and the students had gone their way. Littlefield's attempt to express himself had been incoherent. Perry King's sentiments had found expression in but one sentence, repeated over and over again.

"I'll tell the world I'm an American and darned glad of it."

Praska reached home long past his usual time. A rolled newspaper thrown there by a carrier, was on the front porch. It was the Evening Star; he unrolled it and smoothed out its creases. There was nothing in the news columns about Commissioner Hunter's message to Mr. Rue; probably the Commissioner's decision had come too late to be published that day. But on the editorial page was this:

Government is not the whim or fancy of any group of public officials. American government is the American people. The American people are the American government. But confusion, and misrepresentation, and trouble arise because the people refuse to function in their government. The mere act of voting on election day does not constitute citizenship. True citizen-