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In his minor way Charles Arthur Shires was perhaps more typical of his era than Ruth was, for he was but one of many young men who laid waste their talents in these Scott Fitzgerald days for the sake of earning space in the newspapers.

There were others who climbed flagpoles and refused to come down ; ;

or who ingested strange objects, like live fish ; ;

or who undertook to set records for remaining erect on a dance floor, with or without a partner ; ;

or who essayed to down full bottles of illicit gin without pausing for breath.

One young man, exhilarated to the point of insanity by liquor and the excitement of the moment, performed a perfect swan dive out of the stands at the Yale Bowl during the Yale-Army football game, landed squarely on his head on the concrete ramp below, and died at once.