An author was due to deliver the first speech of his lecture tour. "I'm such a miserable speaker," he confessed to his agent, "that I know they'll all walk out on me before I finish."

"Nonsense!" retorted the agent. "You are an excellent speaker and will keep the audience glued to their seats."

"Oh, I say," cried the author, "that is a wonderful idea! But do we dare?"

Any of you who have ever tried speaking in front of people will appreciate the predicament that Dr. Ralph D. Nichols of the University of Minnesota found himself in. He was addressing a high school commencement when suddenly a child began to cry. Then another child added his loud voice. A small boy galloped up and down the aisle, chased by another. With the sinking feeling only a public speaker knows, Nichols realized he had lost his audience.

Nichols tried every trick of the speaker's trade. He spoke more loudly, told a funny story, walked around the stage, peered intently and disapprovingly at the area of disturbance. But all was to no avail.

Then he tried his last desperate trick. He found one good listener - an elderly gentleman in the first row that was looking up, smiling, and nodding his head approvingly. Concentrating all his attention on this one listener, the speaker gradually salvaged the situation and the speech.

During the refreshment period that followed, Nichols asked the school superintendent to introduce him to the old gentleman who had sat on the front row.

"Well...I'll try to introduce you," said the superintendent, "but it may be a little difficult. You see the poor old fellow is stone-deaf."