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Show -286- in the large lot beside the new building. Inside, the other early arrivals were mostly the younger members, who seemed in a high state of excitement, inappropriate, the Professor thought, to the place or the occasion. They ran about the large lobby, shouting and laughing, as though participating in a football rally. Some of them were rummaging through a pile of picket signs stacked in one corner, not the professionally prepared signs the Professor had seen at the earlier meeting^ but hastily constructed and lettered signs in random sizes and shapes? He saw only one person he knew, his colleague from a Catholic background who had been present at his friend's house the night of the last meeting. As he walked up to him? his colleague asked him how he felt this morning. "Not as happy about this as most people I can see," he replied? The man smiled and nodded, understanding that the Professor referred to the young men who were running about in such high spirits? He, too? appeared nervous? He was younger than the Professor, but older than the others present? quiet and softspoken? The Professor had been surprised when he first saw him at the meetings of the Union. Now he told the Professor that he had just recently joined the Teachers' Union, when he became disillusioned with the stand taken by a more c Conservative organization to which he had belonged. As they chatted? the room began to fill, and they were joined by several other members of their department, including |