The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1885-02-19
MARK TWAIN AND CABLE,
Gossip About Their Career-Mp. Clemens
rs Washington Correspondent.

| Mark Twain and George w. Cable
have been reciting extracts from their
works to large audiences here this week.
writes 4 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, ana
as sallOw as many of the creoles whom
he pOrtrays in his novels. He has a
face rather eifeminate than manly, and
his beard of silky black and his long
muStache twisted with its ends hanging
down below his chm and making II bow
over his mouth, carries out this illusion.
HIS nose is straight and small. his eyes
bright, black. and piercing, and his
forehead medium. His harris the color
of jet, and as glossy as oiled ebony.
He does not weigh, I should say. oyer
13O pounds. He has good voice, well
trained and melodious. He articulates
distinct y, 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 Ameri-
can literati. He was at one time a
merchant, then tried newspaper writing
on the New Orleans Picayune, and
while doing so began to study the early
history of New Orleans. He became
interested in the creO.es, and wrote
several sketches of them for the Cen
tury !NagGzine. These attracted atten-
tioa. and he found the field upon which
he had entered one worth developing.
In the carrying out of his idea he hos
shown that he is an accomplished nov
ciist and has made a reputation which
will last
Mark Twain is Just as big and awk-
ward as Cable is small and graceful.
He has 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 together,
had, somehow. gotten the joints mixed.
He has a big face, 4 nose large enough
to represent any kind of genius. and
eyes large, black, and sleepy. He has
a thick. bushy name of hair which is
now iron gray, and bushy mustache
which overhangs his characteristic
mouth. As he stood on the stage he
reminded me much of Il mammoth in
tcrrogatiOn 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 strCked his
chin or pulled his mustache.
Still he could not help being satisfied.
and l do not doubt the contrast of his /
first days IN Washington. when he |
came here years ago and had hard work |
making me ey enough to pay his board |
bills, came forcib!y before him. Though |
it is not generally known. Mark Twain |
was once Washington correspondent.
He came here from the West with Sem
ator Stewart and for time wrote let
ters to the Alta California and the New
York Tri1ane. He used to drink q
good deal in those days, and was hard
ly considered Il reputable character. 1t
was shortly before this that he made
the trip from which he wrote limo
cents Abroad and thi. book he wrote
here from the notes he took during his
tour. The book made him both fam
Gus and wealthy. His manuscript he
uISt Scht ~ SCNCIdi piohihCHt pVoilSu-
ers. but they all rejected it, aud he was
about giving up in despair when Il Hart
ford company took hold of it. The re-
suit was they m;,.le $4,000 off the book
and sold more than 100000 copies OF it.
1t WIS after this that Mark IVAN tried
editing the Buffalo Express. A man
who worked on the paper ut the time
told me to-day that this venture of his
was not success. He loafed around
the Office. guying the oilice-boy. and
telling jokes and stories rather than
writing, and the only fruit OF his Buila-
10 experience Wa, his marriage. which.
like '.Innocents Abroad" turned out
well. His wife brought pot of gold
into the family. and when he got to
Elmira he found that his father-in-law
Al the battle of Gettysburg. one of
the Union burial parties buried eighty
Federal soldiers in one irencli. They
were all from Il New York regiment,
aud al had seemingly been killed by
one voiiey. They were almost in line.
taking up but little more room than
live men. All of them were shot about
the hips. and not one of them appar-
emily lived ten minutes after being hit
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