becoming
severity; I contradicted his statements in the plainest and strongest
way I could; I also offered to arrange for a discussion of personal
matters, if he wished it, after we had gone through our discussion of
principles, and engaged to prove every discreditable story he told of me
to be false, and then went on with the discussion. He accepted my
challenge to discuss personalities, but neither kept his engagement, nor
abated his efforts at misrepresentation during the remainder of the
debate.

He was not content with sober, sad, deliberate falsehood; he resorted to
ridicule. He pulled comical and ugly faces; put out his tongue; put his
thumb to his nose; threw orange peel at me; and said and did other
things which it is not lawful for me to utter.

He had thought, I suppose, to disgust me; to tire me out; to make me
withdraw from the debate, and give him the opportunity of saying he had
put me to flight. He was mistaken. I kept my ground. And I kept my
temper. And I kept my gravity. I rebuked him at times with becoming
sternness, and then went on with my task. It is probable that I spoke
more strongly against the Bible, and that I said harder things against
the church and the ministry, than I should have done, if he had
conducted himself with any regard to truth and decency; but I did not
raise my voice above its usual pitch, nor did I show any unusual signs
of indignation, disgust, or irritation. My feelings became more intense,
my language more cutting, and my style and logic more pointed and
forcible; but my manner was calm, and my behaviour guarded.

And I husbanded my strength. I let him explode, while I let off my steam
quietly, and in just measure only, making every particle do its proper
work. I wasted neither words, nor strength, nor time. In three or four
days my wicked opponent began to get weak and weary. He had tired
_himself_ instead of me. He had disgusted and put to shame many of his
friends. He had driven away several of his supporters. He had weakened
his party. He had strengthened his opponent. He had lost, he had
betrayed, his cause. He dragged on heavily. He was all but helpless. I
had every thing my own way. I had an easy fight, and a decisive victory.

I had the last speech; and when the battle was over, I felt free to deal
with my unprincipled opponent rather severely, and I said: "My opponent
has acted, from beginning to end of this debate, in anything but a noble
and manly way. I ref