The audience was stirring and whispering so that I could hear: "Who is it ?" "Is that so ?" And again they prompted me:-- "Mary Antin, get up.

Get up and thank him, Mary." And I rose where I sat, and in a voice that sounded thin as a fly's after the oratorical bass of the last speaker, I began:-- "I want to thank you--" That is as far as I got.

Mr.Swan, the principal, waved his hand to silence me; and then, and only then, did I realize the enormity of what I had done.
My eulogist had had the good taste not to mention names, and I had been brazenly forward, deliberately calling attention to myself when there was no need.

Oh, it was sickening! I hated myself, I hated with all my heart the girls who had prompted me to such immodest conduct.

I wished the ground would yawn and snap me up.