If I thought you could possibly do it, I would ask you to imagine the mentality of a country school-marm from the far-off mountains and deserts of Utah, brought up to a devout belief in the golden tablets of Joseph Smith. Suffice it to say, that at this group meeting the Mormon ladies listened patiently, and not a single classroom teacher opened her mouth. Mr. Magill gave them printed statements containing the arguments of the gang, adding that of course they would vote as they saw fit. But the Mormon managers were not satisfied with such a careless formula, and one of them got up and pointed out that it was sometimes a difficult matter to follow the technicalities of business meetings, and the Utah teachers ought to take precautions to keep from getting lost in the parliamentary labyrinths. These managers knew they had to come out on the floor of the convention next day, and face Margaret Haley and Ethel Gardner and the rest of the “Bolsheviks”; so they had reason to be nervous! It was arranged that the Utah teachers should sit together in a group, and in their voting they should follow the example of a leader, saying “aye” when he said “aye,” and “nay” when he said “nay.” And who was that leader to be? Whom would you guess but Howard Driggs, professor of English at the University of Utah, author of “Live Language Lessons,” vice-president of the N. E. A., and president of the Utah Educational Association? And lest perchance these teachers from the mountains and deserts of Utah might never have seen the great Mormon professor, the professor was invited to stand up and display his impressive presence to the assemblage. It was furthermore ordered that the Utah teachers were to be on hand in their Mormon Tabernacle half an hour in advance of the opening of the business session. Immediately after this meeting there was a secret session in the room of President Pearse of Milwaukee, at the Utah Hotel. At this meeting the gang leaders staged a full-dress rehearsal of the proceedings. They had someone to play the part of Margaret Haley, and to make all the motions and objections which they expected her to make; they worked out the method of foiling her, with each one’s duty assigned, each part learned and recited. This secret meeting lasted until one o’clock in the morning, and goes down into educational history as “the midnight rehearsal.” CHAPTER LIII THE FUNERAL OF DEMOCRACY