This was the experience of a bit of doggerel—“Punch, brothers! Punch with care!” which, at the time of its perpetration, was greatly in vogue. . . .

It was early attributed to Mark in spite of the solicitous insistence of Dana in The Sun that Bromley should not be deprived of its authorship. I, too, in frequent appeals to a much more restricted constituency, have labored to the same end. It bothered Mark Twain also. He was in constant receipt of letters from admirers, who both expressed the delight they had taken in it and the desire to have an authenticated copy. He finally wrote Bromley in despair saying: “The next time you write anything like that for God’s sake sign your name to it.”1explanatory note