The older I become, the more do I dislike speeches.
I was sitting on a platform some time ago with a fellow-, but infinitely more distinguished, politician. In the course of the proceedings he was observed to seize a pencil and a sheet of paper and to write with frenzied concentration. He then folded up the paper into a triangular note which he passed down the platform to myself. It was 'a striking and indeed important gesture, and the audience were suitably impressed. I opened the note carefully and read it with a slight frown. I then leant forward in my seat and nodded to my fellow-, but infinitely more distinguished, politician as if to indicate assent. The audience imagined that the note had contained some message urging me, when my turn came, to make some rejoinder to the point which our chairman had just made. Not at all. The note contained the following sentence, " It has become a physical agony to me to listen to speeches other than my own."
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