Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-01-25
An EngIish Portrait Of an American
HHuui0rtaf.

causo they have had the courage to cut loose
from the apron strings of England, have
achieved the greatest success both at home
and abroad, Mark Twain is, in point Of pop
ularity, .titcjjs YTiHceps. Those who only know
| him as the author of The Innocents Abroad
and 'Roughing It, are apt to imagine he is a
kind OF frontier joker, of the type with which
Bret Hnrte has made us familiar. It may be
that there is even yet II vague suspicion of
this bent although his external person GER
tanly shows no trace Of it. If you see him
in his charming home at Hartford in the val
| ley Of the Connecticut, surrounded with every
object which taste and wealth can procure.
you feel that such II conception has been er-
ronoous. The mansion with its quaint old
| English architecture and its exquisite tiles
and mosaics, the rich ferneres and alf-tropi-
cal hothouses, are no mere extraneuus accu-
mutations such rs any man of wealth might
| create, but gradual and organic outgrowth
of the owners mind, which gives you a de-
lghtful peep into the inner recesses of his
character The main building as well as the
stables, is built Of dark-red brick with dark
brown trimmings, interpreted with inlaid de-
vices of scarlet painted brick and black Greek
patterns in mosaic The whole has most
novel and pleasing effect nothing gaudy and
glaring. but all arranged with rare artistic
taste and a strict regard for harmony in col
ors and outlines. During the summer the
outer window-sills are draped with hanging
ferns and bright nasturtiums and the wood
work Of the broad East Indian portico is half
concealed by the foliage of cambering vines.
But as winter reigns supreme during good
| many months Of the year in New England
Mark Twain has taken care to provide him
self with summer vistas even while Nature
does not afford them. His library the place
! where the owner is most frequently to be
! found. opens into n miniature greenhouse,
full of tall graceful ferns and blooming tropi-
cal plants. In the midst of all these luxuri-
ant eXotics fountain is constantly playing,
shedding its spray over the smooth white
rocks at its base, and under the glass ceiling
hangs large cage in which pair of Califor-
mia quails of brilliant plumage spend brief
season of happy captivity. Mark Twain can
not endure to see any bird or beast which Ma
ture intended for freedom imprisoned within
the narrow bars of a cage. and he bought
these quails last winter from boy. meaning
to set them at liberty in a neighboring forest
as soon as spring should arrive.
In the pleasant city of Hartford he has
gathered about him u delightful circle of
| friends, authors, business men and LAWYERS
to whom his hosptable doors are always open.
And he is, indeed, the prince of entertainers
| Sitting in his richly-furnished library, to
! whose beauty and artistic completeness half
the lands of Europe have contributed he will
tell an anecdotG or discuss a literary or social
question with a calm directness and earnest
ness, revealing to you an entirely new side of
his character, that has nothing in common
with that which he is wont to display to the
public who throng to his lectures Even his
drollest stories he relates with this same ear
nest lmpressivcness, and with a face as seri-
Gus as seNton's His 'rilliancy has certain
delightful quality which is almost too evanes-
cent to he Imprisoned in any one phrase. You
have no oppressive consciousness that YOU
are expected TO laugh You rather feel rs if
the talker had unexpectedly taken you into
his confidence, and you feel your heart going
out toward him in return. Throughout his
house Mark Twain has indulged literally his
taste fox wood tints and quaint carvings.
Each of the doors in the library is surmount-
ed with carved cherlbs and other biblical and
mythical figures, spoils from some European
pilgrimage. In his study on the second floor
he revels i'll sphinXes and griffins. whose re-
Ginning bodies and capacious wings fashion
themselves into luxurious lounges. easy chairs
and sofas. The mantelpiece. with all its mag
nihcent superstructure had once adorned an
old English or Scottish country-seat and
Mark Twain was fortunate enough to pick it
| up during one of his many sojourns in Eng
| land Amid these surroundings Mark Twain
| spends the time between breakfast and din
ner. COMPOSING with much serious reflection
the sketches, novels and dramas which have
| shaken the American public with laughter
| After dinner the chances are that you will
find him TRANQUILITY smoking cigar before the
fire in the library, and chatting leisurely with
some friend, who addresses him plainly as
Mark, as his nam de plume persists in cling
| ing to him both in his private and public re-
| lations. His real name is Samuel L. Clemens
He is still man in the prime of life, being
now about forty-two years old. His rich and
varied experiences in the past as n western
editor, gold-digger and pilot on the AIississip-
pi have stored his brain with abundant ma
terial for future works which have still TO be
written.
Mark Twain is a man of middle height
solidly built, but not stout; his features are
| all of a clear massive modelling, and the pre-
| vailing expression seems TO be resolute cour-
age and determination. His upper lip is COW
cred with a thick brown moustache, and the
broad territory of his forehead is usually en-
croached upon by his brown curly hair. His
| eyes are small and keen, but are by no means
| lacking in kindlness and humor In his
whole bearing there is Il frank cordiality that
is very winning He is the father of two
beautiful little girls of whom he is very proud;
and like the amiable prince of tradition he
takes much pleasure, amid the serious bust
ness of his life, in playing with these two
| charming princesses His library and his
conversation testify to the excellence of his
literary taste. Mark Twain is a devoted ad-
mirer of Macaulay, and has habit of ever
| returning TO him when the higher literary
| pabulum of the day begins to pail upon his
sense The much-abused term, professional
humorist can hardly apply to Mark Twain.
| He Is rather a constitutional humorist, be-
cause his mind is so fashioned that, in deal
ing with any subject whatever, the humorous
point of view first and most naturally presents
itself to him. For all that he is very careful
not to rush into publicity with a half formed
or half-peIfected thought. His after-dinner
| speeches, which are probably read by great
er number of men and women in America
than any public document, the Presidents
| message not excepted, would no doubt have
been very good and very laughable even if
they had been entirely imprOmptu but the
careful and critical revision to which he sub
jects them before their public appearance GER
tainly refnes their quality.
when Mark Twain is not writing or max
ing speeches he smokes, and if he feels any
further need of recreation he takes it in play
ing billiards. In the third story of his house
there is an elegantly appointed billiard-room,
where he often spends an evening with three
or four masculine friends. Though he keeps
handsome horses, housing them in Il superb
stable, and may be seen daily driving through
the city with fine pair of bays, he is not
much of II connoisseur of horsefiesh or a
sportsman.
I'm politics he at first impresses you as an
indihsrentist, with -Nerhaps a leaning toward
pessimsih; but if } VI happen to touch GER
tain chords which never fail TO respond in an
American bosom, you soon discover that your
first impression was very remote from the
truth. The fact is, like many another
thoughtful man, Mark Twain sees plainly the
present and future in the United States, and
accordingly hs' very little patience with the
spread-eagleism and cheap declamations of
contending politicians, Probably his political
creed is not very different from that of the in
dependents, new and still unorganized par
ty which is daily growing among the citizens
of the great republic"
In the valley of the Kander, in switzer-