To that cause, he brought all the rhetorical skills he had developed in his various careers. Cicero and Quintilian would have been impressed with Ingersoll’s range. He used logic, pointing out contradictions in stories of miracles or of answered prayers. He used humor, often sounding like a stand-up comedian. Once, when a woman saw him leaving a saloon bar and said in shocked tones, “Why, Mr. Ingersoll, I am surprised to see you come out of such a place,” he shot back: “Why, my dear madam, you wouldn’t want me to stay in there all the time.” At
