The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1885-01-22
MARK TWAIN AND CARLE


MARK TWAIN AND CABLE
Gossip About Their Career-Mr. Clemens
rs Waehink ton Correspondent.
Mark Twain and George w. Cable
hare ceen reciting extracts from theI
works to large audiences here this week,
wr!tes Washington correspondent of
the Cleveland Leader. The two men
are as different as the poles, and both
are surprises.
George w. Cable is under medium
height, very straight, very slender, and
as sallow as many of the creoles whom
be portrays in his novels He has 3
lace rather effeminate than manly, and
nis beard OF silky black and his long
muSsdche twisted with its ends hanging
Gown below his chm and making bow
over flis mouth, carries out this illusion.
HIS nose is straight and small. his ewes
br' rht, black, and piercing, and his
foEahead medium. His harris the color
OF Jet, and ss glossy as oiled ebony.
t.e does not weigh, I should say, over
$50 pounds. He has good voice. well
trained and mciodious. 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 in the front rank of the Amcri-
can iitersa. He was at ono time a
merchant, then tried newspaper writing
on the New Orleans FtcGyune, and
Wa';e doing SO began to study the early
history of New Orleans. He became
interested in the creoles, and wrote
several sketches of them for the Cen
tis'.y Aagcztae. These attracted atten-
lien. and he found the field upon which
he had entered one worth developing.
In the carrying out of his idea he has
shown that ne is an accomplished nov
cilst and has made reputation which
VIII last.
Mark Twain is Just as big and awk-
ward as Cable is small and graceful.
lie las big head stuck on bv long
neck TO pai1 of round shoulders. He
came on to the stage as though he were
h;iif asleep, and he looked to me as
though nature, in putting him together,
HAD, somehow, gotten the joints mixed. /
be has big face. nose large enough /
TO represent any kind of genius, and |
eyes large, black, and sleepy. He has
thick, bushy name of hair which is
nov IRON gray. and a bushy mustache |
which overhangs his characteristic
mouth. As he stood on the stage he
reminded me much of mammoth in
terrogation point, and as he drawled
out his words with scarcely a gesture
his voice made me think of a little
buzz-saw slowly grinding inside a |!
corpse. He did not laugh while he ut
tered his funniest jokes, and when the /
audience roared he merely stroked his
chin or pulled his mustache.
Still he could not help being satisfied.
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 Washington correspondent.
He came here from the West with Sem
a.or Stewart and for time wrote let
ters to the Alta California and the New
York Tribune. He used to drink a
good deal in those days, and was hard
IL considered reputable character. It
WAS shortly before this that he made
the trip from which he wrote s.Inno-
cents Abroad snd this book he wrote
here from tho notes he took during his
tour. The book made him both fam
Gus and wealthy. His manuscript he
first sent to several prominent publish
ers, but they all rejected it, and he was {
about giving up in despair when Hart
ford company took hold of it. The re-
suit was they made SO. 5.000 off the book 1
snd sold more than 100000 copies of it. {
L was after this that Mark 1wain tried I
editing the Buffalo Express. A man {
who worked on the paper at the time
told me to-day that this venture of his
vi as not success. He loafed around
Lhe Office, guying the oiiice-boy, and
telling Jokes and stories rather than
writing, and the only fruit of his Buffa-
10 experience was his marriage, which,
ike s.Irnocents Abroad" turned out
we'll. His wife brought pot of gold
into the family. and when he got to
Eiinira he found that his father-in-law 6
iad made him the present of brown Q
,tone front, and thrown in a coachman
with q bug On his hat. Twain did not t
-.'nnain IN Eimirs, however, but went r
= Hartford and began 20 write Rough .
ng IT. This was also successful and c
-E--t,iiSNC0 N4- ls>inC
Mark Twain probably makes as much '
,ut of his books as any other writer in 5
he country. He has his Hartford firm l
publish his books Cor him, and he so c
oranges it that he gets a royalty on @
hose printed in Europe. He is better n
lnown in foreign lands than any other S
American writer, and he is sn interna- e
ional character. Many of his scenes n
re taken from resl life, and his descrip- +
ions OF travel are in the main true. b
Ie is hard worker, and while at Hart o
ord he writes in his biliiari-rcom in r
fc attic. Like Trollope, he believes t
hat there is nothing like piece of ?
hoe aker's wax on the seat of ones t
hair to turn oat good literary work. C
nd, like Blaine. he has fixed amount v
i writing for each days duty. He re-
rrites many OF lis chapters, and some il
i them have been scratched out and t
lier:ined again and again. Mr. Glenn e
knows Mark TYain's n
anne is Cleniens-will be ~ wears old 6
n the 3oth of this month. Ee is t.
iissouri n.an by birth. aud has taken S
are of himself ever since he was Is. | n
ie has been a practical printer, a C
teamboat pilot, private secretary, a s.
liner, Il reporter, a lecturer, and a o
| q