Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1883-02-24
How Marx Twnin Wrote '1HHocents
Abrodd"
HIT. Ramsdell.

/ II. J.. Ramsdell.
| To my surprise 1 found Clemen:
among the bOarders. He appeared
glad to see me and I was certainly
glad to see him. He was not good.
natured, but then he was an old
acquaintance, and that was some
thing. was modest then--as
am now-and L was greatly inter
ested in the little quarrel between
Townsend and Twain. They were
both very aggressive anu very
opinionated, and neither liked to
give up. | said nothing. was
very green" then, and did not
think / knew as much as / really
did know. / am quite different
now. So L became quite intimate
with Twain, for respected him for
his travels, his memory, for the
dangers he had wrought and for his
droll humor. At that time we all
did our work in our rooms, and
when one of US got tired we went to
the room of one of the Others. II
the other fellow was working hard
he snubbed the visitor il he was
idling he welcomed him. Ii was
here L became very good drinker
and a very good smoker. AT
Twain's room, however, the visitor
was always welcome, for by nature
Twain is so lazy that he will not
work if there is an excuse for loaf
ing. He had a little back room
that was novelty, museum, a
hermit's cave, den for a wild ami
NAL, and the wild animal was
there. In this room Clemens wrote
his "Innocents Abroad" i wish
you could see it to-day in the light
of Mark Twain's present reputation
and his half million of money. /
am rather hardened now, but l
remember it shocked me at the
time. The little drum stove was
full of ashes, running over on the
zinc sheet, which was covered all
over /; the bed seemed to be unmade
for a week, the slops had not been
carried out for fortnight, the room
was sour with tobacco smoke, the
floor, dirty enough to begin with,
was Uttered with newspapers, from
which Twain had cut his letters.
Then there were hundreds of pieces
of torn manuscripts which had been
written and then rejected by the
author. A dozen pipes were about
the apartInent-on the washStand,
on the mantel, on the writing table,
on the chairs-everywhere that
room could BE- found. And there
was tobacco, and tobacco every
where. One thing, there was no
flies. The smoke killed them, and
| am now surprised the smoke did
not kill me, too. Twain would not
let a servant come into his room.
He would strip down his suspen-
ders This coat and vest, of course,
being Off and walk back and for
ward in his slippers in his little
room and swear and smoke the
whole day long. OF course, at
times he would work, and when he
did work it was like steam-engine
at full head. / do believe that if
Clemens had not been, under con-
tract to write for the Hartford firm
his "Innocents Abroad" he never
would have done it. OF course at
that time, Townsend, StillsoH, Riley
and myself never thought thai
TWain's book would amount to
anything, and probably he did not
think it would either, but ne was
writing for the money his naked
manuscript would bring from his
Hartford publishers. He needed
that money and SO he wrote. He
is glad he did write now, fer that
"Innocents Abroad" written in
that little back room in Indiana
avenue, in Washington, has been
the making of the fame and fortune
of Mark Twain. 7a Whether he
smokes the same sinking old pipes;
whether he wears the same soiled
undershirts whether he heats his
room with the old uncleaned stove;
whether he swears at his own or
other peoples servants, whether he
mopes and snarls and whines-well,
/ don't care. He is rich and aristO-
cratic. He has edited paper in
Buffalo and another in Hartford. |
He failed in both. Editing is not
his forte. Mining is not his forte.
Humor is his forte, but will you
excuse me if / say that coarse hu-
NOR should be nobody's forte?