McCook weekly tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 188?-1886, 1885-01-08
nARK TWAIN AND CABLE.
dossip About Their Careers-Mr. Clemens as
Washington Correspondent.


washington Correspondent.
Mark Twain and George w. Gable
nave been reciting extracts from their
work to large audiences here this
week, writes a Washington CORE
Ispondent of The Cleveland Leader.
line two men are as different as the
poles, and both are surprises.
george w. Cable is under medium
ineight, very straight, very slender,
and as sallow as many of the creoles
twnom he rortrays in his novels. He
mas face rather effeminate than man
~ and his beard of silky black and
ms long mustache twisted with its
ends hanging down below his chin and
making bow over his mouth, carries
out this illusion. His nose is straight
and small, his eyes bright, black, and
kplerclng, and his forehead medium.
Ills hair is the color of jet and as
glossy as oiled ebony. He does not
weigh, l should say, over 100 pounds
he has good voice, well trained and
meIodlous. He articulates distinctly,
and his gestures have all the grace of
a woman. Ten years ago the world
knew nothing of Cable; now he stands
m the front ranks of American literati.
HE was at one time merchant, then
ttr1ed newspaper writing on The New
EOrteG'aS Ptcayu,ae, and while doing so
inegan to study .he early history of
new Orleans. He became interested
IN the creoles, and wrote several
sketches of them for The Century Mag
idzs'ae. These attracted attention, and
she found the field upon which he had
lentered one worth developing. In the
carrying out of his idea he has shown
that he is an accomplished novelist
and has made reputation which will
last.
F Mark Twain is just as big and awk-
ward as Cable is small and graceful.
He has a big head stuck on by a long
neck to pair of round shoulders. He
came on to the stage as though he
were half asleep, and he looked to me
as though nature, in putting him to-
gether, had, somehow, gotten the joints
mixed. He has big face, nose large
enough torepresent any kind of genius,
and eyes large, black. and sleepy He
has thick, bushy name of hair which
is now iron gray, and bushy mus
tache which overhangs his character
1stic mouth. AS he stood on the stage
he reminded me much of a mammoth
Interrogation point, and as he drawled
out his words with scarcely gesture
his voice made me think of a little
buz-saw slowly grinding inside a
corpse. He did not laugh while he
uttered his funniest jokes, and when
the audience roared he merely stroked
his chin or pulled his mustache.
Still he could not help being salts
fed, and do not doubt the contrast
of his first days in Washington, when
he came here years ago and had hard
work making money enough to pay
his board bills, came forcibly before
him. Though it is not generally
known, Mark Twain was once WASH
ington correspondent. He came here
from the west with Senator Stewart
and for long time wrote letters to
The AHG California and the New
York Tribune. He used to drink
a good deal in those days and
was hardly considered a reputable
character. 1t was shortly before this
that he made the trip from which he
wrote "Innocents Abroad" and this
book he wrote here from the notes
which he took during his tour. The
book made him both famous and
wealthy. His manuscript he first sent
to several prominent publishers, but
they all rejected it, and he was about
giving up in despair when a Hartford
company took hold of it. The result
was they made $4,000 off the book
and sold more than 200, 900 copies of it.
1T was after this that Mark Twain tried
editing The Buffalo Express. A man
who worked on the paper at the time
told me that this venture of his was
not success. He loafed around the
Office, guying the office-boy, and tell
ing Jokes and stories rather than
writing, and the only fruit of his Buff
falo experience was his marriage,
which like s'Innocents Abroad"
turned out we'll. His wife brought a
ipot of gold into the family, and when
he got to Elmira he found that his
father-in-law had made him the pres
ent of brown-stone front, and thrown
in coachman with bug on his hat
Twain did not remain in Elmira, how
ever, but went to Hartford and began
to write ''Roughing It." This was
also successful and established his
fame.
Mark Twain probably makes as
much out of his books as any other
writer in the country. He has his
Hartford firm publish his books for
him, and he so arranges it that he gets
a royalty on those printed in Europe.
He is better known in foreign lands
than any other American writer, and
he is an international character.
MANY of his scenes are taken from real
life, and his descriptions of travel are
in the main true He is hard worker,
and while at Hartford he writes in his
billiard-room in the attic. Like Troll
ilope he believes that there is nothing
like piece of shoemaker's wax on the
seat of ones chair to turn out good
literary work, and, like Blaine, he has
a fixed amount of writing for each
DAYS duty. He rewrites many of his
chapters, and some of them have been
scratched out and interlined again and
again. Mr.. Clemens-everyone knows