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 handed down, in time, to his successor. A dictionary on a stand was near the tables, a filled bookcase stood against one wall, and between two windows was a rack holding newspapers to which the school had subscribed. Four newspapers hung suspended from rods—the New York Times, the Chicago Daily News, the Kansas City Star and the Philadelphia Ledger.

At one of the windows Bristow and Praska stood staring out at a stretch of vacant building lots that lay parallel with the rear of the school building. Praska was the first to speak.

"If something isn't done," he said, "it will be the same story that it was three years ago. Northfield won't have a chance."

Bristow pursed his lips. "Three years ago the election came right after that outbreak of typhoid fever. Everybody was taking sides on the question of pure water. Nobody was thinking about an athletic field for the high school. Scarcely anybody bothered to vote yes or no on the question of buying the lots back there."

"It will be the same this year," said Praska. "This time everybody is interested in Commissioner Sloan. His side is saying that the parks and public improvements were never kept up better than he has kept them. The other side is saying that he's done nothing but make a lot of