Another thought on the 150th anniversary of the "Yours, Dreamily, Mark Twain" article: In the article, Twain does not name the ladies who sang, nor does he name their songs, but Twain does list, by name, the men who sang. and he names the songs each sang. Then he spears his friend and foil, C.T. Rice, The Unreliable," who played the piano and sang. Twain does not name the tune, a church hymn, but references the name by telling us Rice "shouted something about he 'would not live alway'. . . . He must have made up that song as he went along." That allows Twain to twist the line "The few lurid mornings that dawn on us here" into "The few lucid moments that dawn on us here." ("Lurid mornings" is an archaic use of the word, which comes from Latin for light yellow, as in a light yellow sky at dawn.) Meanwhile, a friend who wrote a biography of Warren Wasson questions Twain's assertion that "Wasson has a cultivated voice, and a refined musical taste. . . ." He reports this is the only known reference to Wasson as a singer, and wonders if the tunes of all the men were Twain barbs. But I submit these were church-going men, comfortable singing hymns there. The lyrics of all are online, and several of the tunes listed were hymns, including that sung by The Unreliable. I think the men did sing, and their singing became Twain's set-up for the verbal spear he hurls at The Unreliable. Bob Stewart