ABSTRACT
We were a long time in getting to the agenda for our seventeenth meeting, for a tragic death in our community that morning had stirred the whole town. We found it hard to shake off the pall of private grief and turn our minds to what seemed to be remote—public affairs. After exchanging views on the sad occurrence and wondering over and over again how it happened, we managed to shift our thought to the theme of the evening. In fact, catching myself up short, I realized the futility of dwelling on an incident about which we knew little and could discover no more by exchanging idle guesses. So I deliberately diverted attention from the subject.
