the declamation finals that night at Beall
High School. Again I won! It was
Allegany's third straight victory in the boys’
division, entitling our school to permanent
possession of the banner. Two weeks later I
made a protocol visit to Tasker Lowndes, at
his invitation, in his office at the Second
National Bank. It turned out to be a question
and answer grilling, although pleasant
enough. Later I gave my speech at a
luncheon meeting of the local Rotary club.
(In their newsletter, a writer commented:
“Every once in a while we get discouraged
and think that the whole of civilization is
going haywire; and then we run into some
youngster who seems to be doing some real
thinking about the situation and we cheer up
a bit." He thought I wrote that speech. I
must have spoken convincingly - or was a
better actor than I knew!) I again gave my
talk at a meeting of a Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad YMCA group which my
grandmother and grandfather Wallace as well
as my Aunt Margaret and my mother
attended, to my great pleasure.
In February 1939, the question for the
annual William A. Gunter debate was
announced: Resolved: That the United States
Should Establish an Alliance with Great
Britain. It could not have been more timely:
Only a year earlier, Hitler had annexed
Austria. On March 15, 1939, just before the debate preliminaries, Hitler had
occupied Czechoslovakia. Europe was in turmoil. Great Britain was a part of Europe.
For my tryout presentation in early March, I presented arguments both pro
and con and gained a slot on the negative team, whose other members would be Alice
Keller, Bill Holt and John MacFarlane. My friend David would be on the affirmative
team. On March 24,
“Over 200 Allegany High School students listened
carefully as eight glib students presented their cases.
Following the verbal wrestling match, Principal Ralph
92
County-wide high school declamation contest,
December 16, 1938
