He said that he did not like to make any personal allusions, but that the profane conversation he had been compelled to listen to from Whitelaw Reid, John Hay, Samuel Bowles and Henry Watterson had frightened away all the pious thoughts he had concocted for the solemn occasion. He spoke of Mr. Reid as a man who had grown so accustomed to editing a newspaper that he could not distinguish between truth and falsehood; and that John Hay had written so many ribald verses that he (Twain) was always compelled to disown his acquaintance when presiding at meetings of the Young Men’s Christian Association. ... He closed with an apology for discontinuing his harangue; saying that those anxious to hear the remainder of it might step down stairs, where he had stationed a number of agents, and purchase tickets for his Wednesday evening [5 February] lecture, adding, “I make it a rule of life never to miss any chances, especially on occasions like these, where the opportunity for converting the heathen is luxuriously promising.” As may be surmised, Mr. Twain was not let off without a dreadful scoring in which he was denounced as an impostor. Much of his history was ventilated. (Elderkin, 15–16)