They mean no harm, and they do no harm.

But I've been wishfu', sometimes, that the American reporters had a wee bit less imagination.
'Tis a grand thing, imagination; I've got it masel, tae some extent.
But those New York reporters--and especially the first ones I met! Man, they put me in the shade altogether! I'd little to say to them the day I landed; I needed time tae think and assort my impressions.

I didna ken my own self just what I was thinking aboot New York and America.

And then, I'd made arrangements wi' the editor of one of the great New York papers to write a wee piece for his journal that should be telling his readers hoo I felt.
He was to pay me weel for that, and it seemed no more than fair that he should ha' the valuable words of Harry Lauder to himself, since he was willing to pay for them.
But did it mak' a wee bit of difference tae those laddies that I had nought to say to them?
That it did--not! I bade them all farewell at my hotel.

But the next morning, when the papers were brought to me, they'd all long interviews wi' me.