```

[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1733 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1733

 Recognizing Mark Twain as one of America's most famous literary icons 
on the 175th anniversary of his birth and the 100th anniversary of his 
                                 death.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 18, 2010

 Mr. Snyder submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
            the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
 Recognizing Mark Twain as one of America's most famous literary icons 
on the 175th anniversary of his birth and the 100th anniversary of his 
                                 death.

Whereas, on November 30, 1835, Samuel Langhorne Clemens, one of the most 
        prolific and influential writers and orators in America, was born in 
        Florida, Missouri;
Whereas Clemens suffered many childhood setbacks including incessant poor health 
        until age 9 and the death of his father at age of 12;
Whereas growing up along the emerging Mississippi port city of Hannibal, 
        Missouri, watching the frequent steamboat stops and working as a printer 
        and editorial assistant at his brother's newspaper, Clemens discovered 
        his passion for writing;
Whereas Clemens, at the age of 17, moved to St. Louis, Missouri, and became a 
        river pilot's apprentice, eventually becoming a licensed river pilot in 
        1858;
Whereas Samuel Clemens then worked for several newspapers across the United 
        States after the river trade was halted by the Civil War in 1861;
Whereas Clemens assumed his pen name, Mark Twain, based on his experience as a 
        river pilot;
Whereas Mark Twain means two fathoms or 12 feet when the depth of water for a 
        boat is being sounded, or that it is safe to navigate;
Whereas Twain's first work to gain notoriety was his short story, ``The 
        Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County'', which appeared in the New 
        York Saturday Press on November 18, 1865;
Whereas Mark Twain composed 28 books as well as numerous short stories, letters, 
        and sketches, including such classics as ``Life on the Mississippi'', 
        ``The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'', ``The Prince and the Pauper'', and 
        ``The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'';
Whereas Twain first declared his disappointment with politics in ``A Connecticut 
        Yankee in King Arthur's Court'', where he depicted the absurdities of 
        political and social norms by setting them in the court of King Arthur;
Whereas Mark Twain was a staunch civil rights advocate believing strongly in 
        emancipation and said, ``Lincoln's Proclamation . . . not only set the 
        black slaves free, but set the white man free also.'';
Whereas Mark Twain was an adamant supporter of women's suffrage, saying in his 
        most famous speech, ``Votes for Women'':
                    ``Referring to woman's sphere in life, I'll say that woman 
                is always right. For twenty-five years I've been a woman's 
                rights man. I have always believed, long before my mother died, 
                that, with her gray hairs and admirable intellect, perhaps she 
                knew as much as I did. Perhaps she knew as much about voting as 
                I.
                    ``I should like to see the time come when women shall help 
                to make the laws. I should like to see that whiplash, the 
                ballot, in the hands of women. As for this city's government, I 
                don't want to say much, except that it is a shame--a shame; but 
                if I should live twenty-five years longer--and there is no 
                reason why I shouldn't--I think I'll see women handle the 
                ballot. If women had the ballot to-day, the state of things in 
                this town would not exist.
                    ``If all the women in this town had a vote today they would 
                elect a mayor at the next election, and they would rise in their 
                might and change the awful state of things now existing here.''; 
                and
Whereas Mark Twain, after saying in 1909, ``I came in with Halley's Comet in 
        1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it. It 
        will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don't go out with 
        Halley's Comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt: `Now here are these two 
        unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out 
        together.''', died on April 21, 1910, one day after Halley's Comet had 
        its closest approach to the Earth: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives recognizes Mark Twain 
as one of America's most famous literary icons and commemorates him on 
the 175th anniversary of his birth and the 100th anniversary of his 
death.
                                 <all>
```