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in spite of all their threats to the contrary. They sat, of course, in the very front row, directly in front of me most of the time, and every time I looked up, my eyes rested on their upturned faces, adorned with grins stretching from Ear to ear. They all assured me I was a most stunning girl, and I had to refuse a volley of proposals, dates, etc. To be impartial, I allowed myself to be escarted home by them all. They threatened yesterday to make divers remarks to me during the performance, said remarks being designed to break up the show by precipitating an immediate riot. However, they were extremely good and on-lt applauded vigorously when "Bobbie" appeared on the stage the first time. The remarks which were to have been made are of interest, two in particular, and need a bit of explanation. On the control panel in the special test room are pasted various ridiculous newspaper headlines, the names of the characters involved usually corresponding with those of various prominent members of the test force. For example, Herrick was the head of the special test and there is one up there on this wise:

EX-JUSTICE HERRICK DIES IN EIGHTIETH YEAR

But the prize item of them all is one that has no particular significance as far as anyone on the test is concerned. It is just one of those things that is inexplicably funny. You can't put your finger right on the exact reason for its humor and yet it's subtly killing. Here it is:

RILEY FEELING BETTER TODAY

If I am feeling low in spirit, I have but to look up at that line and my heart takes on new hope. I see the world has its better aspects too. That line is a masterpiece for some reason. And, of course, it is a standing joke among the testmen, pardon me, the student engineers, for here we're designated as such, a testman, as Parker once put it, being "a fellow who chews tobacco and never graduated from grammar school." To get back to the point, Castellino had declared that he intended, at the tense and crucial moment of the play, to suddenly remark so I could hear, "Riley feeling better today!" And it would have broken up the show undoubtedly, for its peculiar humor and association would have tickled me too much. Then we have another masterpiece, a single word, that will always elicit a loud guffaw from any one of us. This one is the brain child of Octavio Enrique Allende, and is all of an inexplicable nature, to some extent at least. There is a Canadian boy on test that we all know very well. He is rather rotund, extremely jolly, wears horn-rimmed spectacles, and a little moustache, and his name is McBride, and everyone loves to jolly him and kid him a bit occasionally. Allende, who loves to kid, some time ago took to calling "Mac" by this rather funny alteration of his name, "Mahk Breed," affecting to be unable to get the correct English

Transcription Notes:
changed somer Eason to some reason.