31.   A woman pastor at the meeting, the Rev. Penny Ellis, said some optimism is appropriate but warned against expecting overnight changes.

32.   All this is encouraging, but the local optimism is probably a bit excessive.

33.   But administration officials and private consultants to Unocal told the company that its optimism was premature.

34.   But alas, our optimism was short-lived.

35.   But among Bay State business and political leaders close to the situation, there was unbridled optimism the team would remain in Foxborough.

36.   But former employees and other industry experts think optimism is premature.

37.   But given the chaos of the last week, optimism was not high.

38.   But generally, optimism is high.

39.   But his optimism is evident with the Mustangs headed into a new conference.

40.   But if hysteria was scarce, so was optimism about a quick turnaround.