Time and time again, as I have stood in the street in front of a building and have seen men and women passing in large numbers into the audience room where I was to speak, I have felt ashamed that I should be the cause of people--as it seemed to me--wasting a valuable hour of their time.

Some years ago I was to deliver an address before a literary society in Madison, Wis.

An hour before the time set for me to speak, a fierce snow-storm began, and continued for several hours.

I made up my mind that there would be no audience, and that I should not have to speak, but, as a matter of duty, I went to the church, and found it packed with people.

The surprise gave me a shock that I did not recover from during the whole evening.
People often ask me if I feel nervous before speaking, or else they suggest that, since I speak often, they suppose that I get used to it.
In answer to this question I have to say that I always suffer intensely from nervousness before speaking.