The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-02-22
MARK TWAIN's NEW STORY.
Some Interesting Sketches from Life on the
Mississippi Forty Years Ago.

The greatest living authority on the Mississip-
pi river and on juvenile cussedness gives notice
at the beginning of his book, the Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn that persons attempting
to find motive, moral, or plot in the narrative
viii be prosecuted, banished or shot, according
to the variety of the offense Yet Mark Twain's
last story can brag of both motive and a fair
ish plot, while beautiful moral decorates nearly
every one of its shining pages. namely, that it
is better and nobler to lie simply and directly TO
the purpose than to put frills of overelaborate
mendacity or to wander from the main chance
into the byways of unnecessary prevarcation.
That is what is taught by the careers of Huckle
berry Finn and Tom Sawyer; and along with
the lesson we get end of stirring incident,
river lore, human nature, philology and fun.
Huck Finn lives in Missouri town on the
Mississippi river above st. Louis. He has &c. 600
held in trust for him, drunken father who is
trying to get control of the boy and the money,
and good friend in the pious Widow Doug
las, who does what she can for his moral i'm
provement:
After supper she got out her book and learned
me about Moses and the bulrushers and was
In sweat to find out all about him; but by and
by she let cut that Moses had been dead con-
siderable long time, then | didn't
more about him, because | don't take no stock
in dead people,"
Huck respects the widow, but is driven wild
by the additional supervision of her sister, Miss
Watson, "a rolerable slim old maid with goggles
on"
'She took set at me with the spelling book.
She worked me about an hour and then the
widow made her ease up Then for hour it
was deadly dull and was idgety. Miss Watson
would say, Don't put your feet up there, Huck-
.eberry; and don't scrunch up like that Huckle-
berry; set up straight and pretty soon she
would say, Don't gap and stretch like that,
eberry-why don't you try to behaveP
Then she told me all about the bad place, and l
said wished was there. She got mad then,
but didn't mean no harm; all | wanted was
change, I warnt particular. She said it was
wicked to say what said said she wouldn't say
it for the whole world she was going to live so
to go to the good place WE'LL couldn't see
no advantage in going where she was going, so /
made up my mind | wouldn't try for it."
Hucks disreputable papa carries him off to
the Illinois shore and locks him up in log
shanty during the days, which he devotes to
whisky:
HE was most fifty and he looked it, His
hair was long, and tangled, and greasy, and
hung down, and you could see his eyes shining
through it like he was behind vines 1t was all
black, no gray; his long, mixedup
whiskers. There warn't no color in his face
where his face Showed 1T was white not like
another mans white, but white to make body
SICK white to make a body's flesh crawl--a
tree-toad white a fish-belly white. AS for his
clothes-iust rags, that was all.
HE had been drunk over in town and laid in
the gutter all night. and he was a sight to look
at. A body would thought he was ADAM he
was just all mud. Whenever his liquor begun
to work he most always went for the CONVENT
This time he saws:
"'Call this CONVENT! Why, just look at it
and see what it's like. Here's the law a stand
ing ready to take mans son away from him
"a mans own son, which he has had all the
trouble and all the anxiety and all the expense
of raising Yes, just as that man has got that
son raised at last, and ready to go to work and
begin to do suthin' for him and give him rest,
the law up and goes for him. And they call that
govment! That amt ALL nuther The law backs
that old Judge Thatcher up and helps him to
keep me out O my property The law takes
man worth $4,000 and upwards and jams him
into old trap of cabin like this. and let's HIM
go round in clothes that amt fifteen for hog
They call that CONVENT! Sometimes I've mighty
notion to just leave the country for good and all.
Yes, and told EN- so; told old Thatcher so to
his face Lots of 'em heard me- and can tell
what said. Says l, for two cents I'd leave the
blamed country and never come anear it agin.
Thems the very words. l say, look at my hat
if you call it hat-but the lid raises up and
the rest of it goes down till it's below my chin,
and then it amt rightly hat at all, but more
like my head was showed up through jint O
stove pipe Look at it, says I-such a hat for
me to wear-one of the wealthiest men in this
town. if could git my rights"
Between the educational efforts of Miss Wat
son and the hickory club of this interesting cti-
zen, Huck's life became so miserable that he
runs away down the river, first fixing things so
that it will seem that he has been murdered.
The companion of his adventures is Miss Wat
sons slave Jim, who has also run away because
he belives he is to be sold and sent to New Or
leans. While the runaways are still hiding near
the town, Huck puts on a girls dress and goes,
after dark, to the settlement, in order to get
news He enters the house of woman who
does not know his face because she is a new
conner in the neghborhood:
"'Come in says the woman and 1 did. She
says;
IT done it. She looked me all over with her
little shiny eyes and says:
"'What might your name beg
Sarah Williams
"'Where bouts do you live! In this neigh
borhoodP
Nom. In Hookervile, seven mile below.
I've walked all the way, and I'm all tired out.
My mothers down sick, and out of money
and everything, and come to tell my uncle,
apner Moore He lives at the upper end of the
town, she says. 1 hain't ever been here before.
Do you know him."
The woman tells him about the supposed MUIR
der of Huckleberry Finn, and that both the
drunken father and runaway niger are sus
pected of the crime. There is reward for the
capture of Jim, and party is going that very
night to search the island where the fugitives
have been hiding:
81 had got so uneasy couldn't set still I had
to do something with my hands, so l took UP a
needle off of the table, and went to threading it,
My hands shook, and was making bad job of
it. When the woman stopped talking looked
up and she was looking at me pretty curious
and smiling a little. l put down the needle and
thread, and let on to be interested-and l was,
too-and says:
"'Three hundred dollars is a power of money.
Is your husband going over there tonight