National Affairs: Twelve Days

Should a man throw into the air a tennis ball, catch it as it falls, he would perform no great feat, arouse no great attention. But should he make, consecutively, 100,000 throws, 100,000 catches, he would become a famed person whom vaudeville patrons would lay down dimes, quarters, halves to see. For any action, no matter how trivial or inane, becomes a heroic achievement, if it is persisted in long enough to constitute some sort of record.

Thus, for example, one Alvin ("Shipwreck") Kelly expects soon to collect $1,000 per week in vaudeville. No...

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