New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-06-24

] clsyerness Snch humorst 90 they know ther
great exenplar to be: and Ending that such Is
| the humor of his Life on the Mississippi" they
will inevitably, aud very properly. hail 1t as pre-
cious boon. 1t is. For IL contains little OF every
! thing--from a cyclopeda to a comic almanac;
| from Ma~di GIas TO the Siege OF Vicksburg; from
steamboat timetable to an Indian legend; and
] from q burlesque dime novel to nasty lie Oh
Murel the Land Pirate. And it is expressed In
style that has all the flowing smoothness of the
Scotch bag-pipe and all the soothing tranquility oil
| bass drum. Great thoughts, too, underle IL. Mt.
Clemens thinks that cremation is good thing, ana
that the present century is the plainest ana SUR
dest and infinitely greatest and worthiest OF a tno
centuries the world has sceI." He IS also OF opnoh
that The inhabitants OF the great west ough' 10 DC
more exact IN their use Of language and he writes
| transpredD where he means occurred lneSo
are literally all the thoughts in the DOCK, anu 'hoS
would be impressive If only for their loneliness
There is abundance, though, of statistics. The
reader learns that Mississippi steamboatlnS was
born about 1872" and that the river at presett IL
orlv ore miles long between New Orleans and
! Cairo.
| A flavor OF autobiography which hangs about
this big volume will no doubt still further endear 1t
! TO the Mark Twain public. In his boyhood MT
Clemens was trained to he pilot on the MISSISSIPPI
and it is his own youthful personal experience III
this period OF tutcage that he first describes. 10
mature years, and after becoming funny" he re-
visited the Father Of Waters and again sailed IN It's
steamboats, and the tale of his earlier adventures
! is supplemented with an account of this proceed
inc. These two narratives interspersed with oc-
casional yarns and miscellaneous observations
divided into sixty chapters and fortified with four
/ appendices of quotation, compose the book. Some
of the chapters and these by far the best-rel-
! alive to the authors training as "cub" pilot,
were published several years ago. III separate vol
ume One chapter, the twenty-first tells in hair
page the general story of twenty-one years OF the
authors life and serves as division line between
! his stories of the past and the present. Il was
pilot now" says Mr. Clemens full-tedged.
| Time drifted smoothly and prosperousy on
| BY and by tho war came, commerce was suspended
| my occupation was gone. had to seek another
! livelihood. so became silver miner in Nevada;
next newspaper reporter; next goldniner I'D
California; rext reporter in san Francisco; next
a special correspondent in ths Sandwich lsauds;
! next Il rowing correspondent in Europe and the
East next an Institutional torch-bearer On the
lecture platform and finally | became scrlbbIer
of books and an immOvable fixture among the other
rocks Of New-England" In chapter hftieth Mr.
] Clemens explains his adoption Of the name OF
&" Mark Twain which he states was first used as
newspaper signature by an old Mississippi pilot,
n AIMED Captan Isaiah Sellers, whose contributions
to The Ne,C- Orleans PcayaRe lie was accustomed to
parody Captain Sellers thereupon dropped the
name and Mr. Clemens assumed it.
An old farmer once remarked that blind hog
will root mp a good acorn now and then. few
extracts will show tie style Of Mr. Clemens when
at its hest.
Perhaps the best representative passage that
could be selected-since ii shows its authors fac
Mites OF observation and statement, and his COM
mand of satirical phraseulogy, together with bis
characteristic mood OF banter and chaf,-is the
nibivined account of the homes of the wealthy cit
liens of the West:
Every town ana village along that vast stretch OF
double river frontage has a best dwelling, finest
dwelling. mansion. -tho home oil It's Weaithlest ana
most conspicuous citizen IL IL easy TO describe ~
large grassy yard with pallDg fence painted whie
lin fair repair; brick walk from gate to door big
square, twO-stOry frame" house, painted white,
ana porticoed like a GrecIan tenple--with this
difference. that the imposing fluted columns and
COrnthian capltals were a pathetic sham, DeIng
made of white pine and painted; iron knocker;
brass door knob-discolored, for lack Of polishing.
Within an meatpeted hal, 81 Planed boards
some instances five or ten feet larger; ingram
carpet mahogany centre table lamp on II, with
grpeT-papar understanding on "a gridiron, so TO
speak made of nigh colored yarns, by tina young
ladies of the house, and called lamp mat: several
books piled and disposed, with cast-rcn exactness.
according to an inherited and Interchangeable plan
among them, Topper, much pcncilled; also
. Friendships Offering" aud Affections Wreath"
with their sappy uSuities llai!rated IN die,away
mezzotints; also, Ossan; Alonzo and Melissa y;
maybe Z" Ivanhoe"; also Album" iall OF original
poetry" OF the fhou-hsst- wounded-th e-splrit-
that-loved-t thee breed; two or three g0ody-goody
works" Shepherd of Salisbury Plains" etc: cur
rent number of the chaste and lnnocuous Godeys
" Lady's Book" with painted fashion-pate Of wax
figure women with mouths all alke-lips and eye
lids tho same siZe-eaca five foot woman with
two-inch wedge sticking fr IN under her dress and
letting on to be bali of her foot Polished alrtight
stove new and deadly nventloD with Pipe passing
through board which closes up the discarded
good old fireplace. On each END OF the wooden
manel over the fireplace large basket OF peaches
and other fruits natural size. all done In plaster.
ru6ely or IN wax, and painted to resemble the
tel engraVng-Wa shington Crossing the Della
ware; on the wall by the door copy OF II done IN
thunder audit .htnng cIewcls by one OF the yoang
ladies-work of art which would nave made Wash
ington Hesitate about crossing, II no could have
forssesn what advantage was going to DO taken OF
H. PanO-kette In disguise-with music, bound
and inbound piled on it, aud on a stand near by
Baltic of Prague; Bird Waltz; Arkansas Tray
eiIcr; Rosin the Bow Marseles Hymn On a
i i;ToEen; She Wore Wreath of Roses the Night
when Last we Met; Go, Forget Me-, why should
there were to Memory Dearer; Long, Long Ago;
! DAYS Of Absence; A Life on the Ocean We've,
Home on the Rolling Deep; Bird at Sea; and spread
open on the rack, where the plalntve singer has
left il, RO.hOll on, silver moo-hoon guide the tTar-
el.lerr his WaE etc. Tilted pensiyely against the
piano, enitar-gnitar capable OF pIaying inc
| Frantic work of art on the wall-pOus motto,
done on the premises, sometimes In colOred yarns,
somoti mes faded grasses-prOgenUor OF the God
! Bless our Home OF modern commerce. Framed ia
| black mouldngs on the wall. other works OF art,
| conceived and committed on the premises. by the
youug ladies; being grim black land white crayons;
landscapes mostly lake, solitary sal-boat, perl-
ned clouds pre- geological trees Oh shore, antbra-
! cite precIpice name OF criminal conspicuous in the
| corner Lithograph Napoleon Crossing the Alps.
| Lithograph, The Grave at ST. Helena. Steel
plates: Trambulrs Battle OF Bunker Hill, and the
Sally from Gibraltar. Copper plates, Moses Shifting
| the Rock aud Return OF the Prodigal Son. In big
gilt frame. SANDER OF the family IN oil: papa hold
ing book ( Constitution OF the United States y