Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1870-08-04
Mark TWain's First and Last Attempt
at Poetry.

When l say that never knew my aus
tere father 10 be enamored OF but one
poem in all the long half century that he
lived, persons who knew him VIII easily
believe me; when ! say that have never
composed but one poem IN al the long
third Of century that have hved, per-
sons who know me Will be tincereiy gra,e-
full; and finally, when say that the poem
which composed was Dot the one when
nv father was enamored OF, persons VINO
NAV have known us both will not need to
have this truth shot into them with a
| mountain howitzer before they can re-
ccIye it. NV father and / were always
| on the most distant terms when l was q
| boy-a sort of armed neutrality, SO TO
| sneak. At irregular intervals this neu'
| trslity was broken and suffering ensued !;
but Will be candid enough to say that
the breaking and the suffering were al
ways divided up with strict impartia!ity
between us-which is to say, my father
did The breaking, and l did the suffering
Asa general thing | was backward,
cautious, unadventurous boy: but once 1
Jumped off a two5story stable; announcer
time gave an elephant q "plug' OF to-
bacco and retired without waiting Tor an
answer; and still another time / pretend
ed to be talking in my sleep, and got on
portion of very wrefched oilginai GO.
nundrum in hearing of my father Let
us not pry into the result 1t was OF no
consequence to any one but me.
But the poem have referred TO as at
tracing my fathers attention and achiev.
ing his favor, was "Hiswatha." Some
man who courted sudden and awful
death, presented him an early copy, and
I never lost faith in my own senses until
I saw him sit down and go to reading II IN
cold blood--saw him open the book and
heard him read these following lines, with
the same inflectlonless judicial frigidity
with which he always read his charge 10
the jury or administered an oath to W.T.
ness
Take your arrows jasper headed.
And your m,ttens. Minjskahwsn,
And your birch canoe for sailing,
And the oil OF Mishe Mama.
Presently nv father took out Of his
breast pocket an imposing "Warranty
Deed" and fixed his eyes upon it and
dropped into meditation, knew what IT
was. A Texan lady and gentleman had
given nv hall. brother, Orrin johnson, a
handsome property in town in the North,
IN gratitude to him for having saved their
lives by an act of brilliant heroism.
By and by my father looked toward me
and sighed. Then he said:
"If I had such son Is this poet, here
were subject worthier than the tradi-
tons of these Indians"
IF you please. sir, where!"
"In this deed"
ain the-deed?"
aYes--in this very deed" said my
father, throwing ii on the table. There
Ia more poetry, more romance, more sub
Unity, more splendid imagery hidden
away in that homely document than could
be found in all the traditions OF all the
savages that live"
aIndeed. sir; could get 1t out, sirf
Could compose the poem, sir, do you
think ?"
"You!"
wilted.
Presently my fathers face softened
somewhat, and he said:
$50 aud try. But mind, curb folly.
No poetry at the expense Of truth. Keep
strictly to the facts"
said would, and bowed myself out,
and went up stairs.
aHiawatha kept droning in my head
and 30 did my fathers remarks about
the sublimity and romance hidden In my
subject, and also his INDUCTION to beware
of wasteful and cxubcrant fancy. no.
ticed, Just here, that l had heedlessly
brought the deed away with me. NOW,
a. this moment came to me one of those
rare moods Of daring recklessness,
such as referred TO a while
ago. Without another thought, and
| in plain defiance Of the fact that ! knew
NV father meant me to write the roman
tic story of my halfbrother's adventure
and subsequent good fortune, | ventured
merely to heed the letter Of his remarks
and ignore their spirit. / took the stupid
"Wafranty Deed itself and chopped 1t
up into Hawaiian blank verse, without
Altering or leaving out three words, and
without transporting six. II required
loads Of courage to go down stairs and
face my father with my performance. I
started three or four times before l finally
got my courage TO where II would stick.
But at last I aid / would 60 down and
read il 70 him II he threw me over the
| church for IL I stood up to begin, and
he told me TO come closer. edged up 9
! little, bat still left a. much neutral ground
between ~ a I Thought he would stand:
Then + Begin. Is would be useless for
| me 70 try % tell what conflicting emotions
expressed themselves upon his face, nor
hot t1ox Ore0 MIRO And sn0f4 fnf0nn0 A.