as a boy. No one ever knew what I suffered. Dad never dreamed of it.

“When he sent me to a private school — I was only eleven — the boys ducked me in the swimming-tank until I stood on a table and read aloud all the advertisements of Father’s patent abominations. I did it — then” — Barney clinched his fists — ”I was frightened and half drowned and all my world was against me. But when I went to college and the sophs tried the same stunt I didn’t do it.” Barney smiled grimly. “They couldn’t make me do it. But they could — and did — make my life miserable. I never heard the last of the Pills and the Bitters and the Hair Tonic. ‘After using’ was my nickname — you see I’d always such a thick thatch.