New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-06-24
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
,,.nv w.1Ns LATEST BOOK.

osscod 4 GO.
T., This annie volume NJ Clemens has set out to
be facetious over the whole extent of the Missls
sim; Riyei IL is vast stretch OF water, and the
grin that covers il must be more than commonly
broad The Mark Twain grin, however Is a gooa
putta-percha article, warranted to stand any sort
Of strain: and the resolut energy with which MI
Clemens expands 1t through this BOOK WIZ % re-
marked with admiration by every reader. For a
third of the volume he SMILES upon the mighty
stream. looking northwaId. After that his jocund
visaae has southerly aspect and beams toward
New-Oreans He describes 1t both ways and
both WAYS his strenuous leyity is proof against
fatigue He Is hike the pcnitent IN the old irish
sour who melodiously declares that. L went 10
confess me to Father 0Flannigan, Tonid him me
tale made an end, and began agin." lie chngs 70
thu Mississippi rs Byron says that hoarse FItzger-
aid clang to the Phenix. He beams on every
wood pile aud he vaults over evory Snag. lie can
not desst. He is like the culprt in Prors ballad
who Now fitted the hatef, now traversed the cart
And often took leave, but seemed loath to depart
He has obviously undertaken to make ais readers
1aurh and he will not let 90 until perfectly assured
that this feat has been accomplished. julius caesar
was not moro constant. No. nor that renowned
barber who tried to shave customer with blunt
razor: The beard is bound to come" he said " II
the razor Doesn't break"
MFR. Clemens with the prudence of an old steam
boat hand goes SLOW" however, at the start. lie
will not instantly conyGlse his readers lie VIII he
cautious He will cxharate by slow degrees On
the threshold he gives fsir warning that the Mis-
eissippi is worth reading about"-a fact which
otherwise might not have been suspected 1t is
not commonplace he adds; it is 1890 miles long;
il is at one place 129 feet deep; II was discovered
by De Soto in 1912 the birth year oil Mary
Stuart and it does not low at present. where 1t
did 200 years ago. These are all discreet sugges-
tions such as leave the average human composure
quite uurnfied Moreover. made by professional
bumosist, they possess quality that is almost de
mure They sscrete merrIment. and bulge with
unutterabe promise of laughter 1t is not till about
the twenty-n;nth page. though that the magician
let's himself loose and the chair of Rabeais begins
really to shake. Z" If somebody should discover
creek SAYS Mr.. Clemens with burst OF glee, in
tho county next TO the one that tho Norn Poe Is H.
Europe and America would start fifteen costly eX-
pedirons thther; one TO explore the creek, aud the
other fourteen to hunt for zach other" Here at
last is the snap of the ring-masters whip, as the
hat of the clown comes flying into the ring. Never
theess for a considerable farther DISTANCE and at
intery ais throughout the entire protracted nara
tive Mr. Clemens continues furtlvely to conceal his
comic drift, by deft use of the style OF the school
az Louis the Putrid (which. for a Connecticut
criticism is bold,-and reference is made to IN In
dian chief VINO had taken of his Lass rag III order
10 appear ut his level best" Yet certainly at times
the qifted humotist has hidden his fun 50 well that
his text might be used in even the primary schools,
without dread of any but serious results. How in
nocent, for example, Is this, and how well the
learned Saunders appears in such strain: In the
dead of winter he and Henri de Tonty, son of Lo-
reno Tonty who invented the tOntine, his leuten-
ant started down the Illinois, with following OF
eighteen Indians, brought from New-England, and
twenty thee Frenchmeu They moved IN process
sion down the surface OF the frozen river on foot
and dragging their canoes after then on sledges"
You might not be able to parse this or to under
stand how q tontine can be lieutenant, or how
eighteen Indians could be brought from twenty
three Frenchmen las long rs the Frenchmen had
anything left; bat You read it without SMILE
Joyial moments arrive. northumberland and
nanton-when the spirits OF Mr.. Clemens shine
through him, and the eeographer succumbs to the
wag These are blIssful times. In one such mo-
ment be is speaking Of slow boat, and he says that
Ferry-boats used to lose valuable trips because
their passengers grew old and died, waiting fol us to
get by. had the documents for these oecur-
renees, but through carelessness they have beeD
mislad. This boat so slow that when she
finally sunk, in Madrid Bend, 1T was five years be-
fore the owners heard of it." IN this wondrous
witty STRAIN the fusilade of fun goes Abiding
to the usual canopy Of smoke over the city OF st.
Louis Mr.. Clemens remarks: This shelter IS very
r,ueh thinner now. Still there is a suflicency Of
smoke there, think heard no complaints" OF
n certain steamboat he declares: She was ven
cradle racb-heap and fraud 10 boot for she was
playing herself for personal property, whereas the
good honest dirt was thIckly caked all over her
that she was righteousIy taxable as real estate"
At a cemetery in New-Orleans he beheld the iui-
mortelle and it won hIS approval as an emblem OF
sorrow: You Just hang it up. and there yon are.
Just leave it alone, it will take care OF your grief
FOR you and keep it in mind bettsr than YOU can;
stands weather firstrate. and lasts like boilerrcn
On reyisiting his birthplace, Hannibal, Missouri,
he makes this tender and playful comment: Many
Of the people once knew this tranquil refuge OF
nv childhood are now in Heaven some, l trust,
in the other place" 1t would be agreeable to quote
several hundred more of these brilliant ebullitIons
of huulor but space is restricted, and even these
may perhaps painfully oyerwhelm the unprepared
absorber Mr. Clemens releases his fertility in jests
that are more elaborate than these, but In none
that Is more pnngent One chapter which viii es-
pecially thrill his admirers cmbodies the long, joe
ular. ligbtsome soiloquy OF q shrewd smart
hearlless, uGprincIpled undertaken IN NewOrleans,
as TO the profits OF bis business and to the adrOlt
ness with which cupidIty may traffic on the vanity
of human grief Another sparkles around the
comic theme of the accidental drowning Of some
little boys and subsequent thunderstorm which
their Surviving comrades took to 10 sign of cees
tial disfayor. Over this ludicrous remnscence Mr..
Clemens chuckles with infectious delight. What,
indeed can be merrier than sudden death and
childish superstition Such delicate theme, too,
and so properly 30 be hailed with guilaw through
q horse collar Sometimes this fine Ariel strays
into the humor OF representative Western char
acter. and this the sort of language he has in
vented falling from the lips of braggart RATS
man or keelboatman on the Mississippi: Held me