This gave him a chance to add something to what he had said to the reporters. But the truth is, that when a Library expels a book of mine and leaves an unexpurgated Bible lying around where unprotected youth and age can get hold of it, the deep unconscious irony of it delights me and doesn't anger me. But even if it angered me such words as those of Professor Phelps would take the sting all out. Nobody attaches weight to the freaks of the Charlton Library, but when a man like Phelps speaks, the world gives attention. Some day I hope to meet him and thank him for his courage for saying those things out in public.
Custom is, to think a handsome thing in private but tame it down in the utterance.
Sincerely yours, S. L. Clemens. See our list of books by Mark Twain. Inc. All rights reserved.