Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1890-08-29
MARK TWAIN IN A Elk.
How the Humorist FILLED n Date on short
Nstice without His Knowledge.

Notice without His Knowledge.
When Mark Twain was in Washing
ton week or two ago he told a num-
her of interesting incidents and anec-
dotes. one of which the Post OF that city
reproduces. A gentleman well known
In political and newspaper circles. on
beinp introduced TO this well-known
author. said to him that he had once
had the pleasure of listening to lee
tire of his which was delivered twenty
years ago.
.Did youe'' asked Mark, in that in
imitable drawl of his. well, now,
I'll have to tell you something about
that lecture. 1t was IL little the hard
est and toughest experience ever un-
derwent in my whole career as lee
turer. came 20 Washington with no
intention whatever of delivering lee
ture. | simply came, don't You know,
to meet my friends, see the city. aud
keep a little track of what was gong
on in Congress. as do hundreds OF
other people in the course OF the WIN
ter. THIS was twenty years ago, you
remember.
Now, | had not been in the city
more than day or two before friend
of mine came to my room at tue hotel
early one morning. wakened ME out or
n sound sleep. and nearly stunned mo
by asking if l was aware OF the fact
that | was to deliver lecture at Lin
coin Hall that evening. | told him 70,
and that he must be crazy 10 get ont
of bed at such an unseemly hour simply
to ask such foolish question. But he
soon assured me that he was perfectly
sane bv showing the papers, which all
announced that Mark Twain was TO
lecture that evening and that his sub
iect would be The Sandwich Islands.
I TO say that was surprised would be
drawing it mildly. | was mad, for
thought some one had put up game
on me.
"Well. on careful inquiry, learned
! that an old theatrical friend OF mino
| thought he would do me favor. 80
he started out by getting drunk. While
| in this condition he made all the neces-
sary arrangements for me to lecture,
with the exception OF the slight circum-
stance that he neglected to inform mo
of any OF his intentions. he rented
! Lincoln Hall, billed the town and sent
! the newspapers advertisements and
| notices about the coming lecture, aud
the worst of it was that he had done
all his work thoroughly. After learn
! inc this l was in dilemma. | had
never prepared any lecture on the
! Sandwich Islands. What was TO do?
/ could not back out by telling the peo-
pie that l was unprepared. and that
my friend was intoxicated when he
made these arrangements. NO. that
was out of the question, because tho
public wouldn't believe it anyway. The
billing of the town had been too well
done for that. So there was only one
thing left for me to do, and that was to
! lock myself in nv room and write that
lecture between the breakfast hour and
I half-past z that evening. Well, did it,
and was on hand ut the advertised
hour. facing one of the biggest audi
ences ever addressed"
Yes Mr.. Clemens, you were there
ell right" said Mr.. -, for | heard
the lecture. and a very amusing one
it was too; but if remember correctly
you did not read from your notes"
You are right. l did not use my
manuscript" replied Mark Twain,
"but in those early days l always had
my lecture in writing and kept it on
reading stand a. Que side of the place
where | stood on the platform. was
very good at memorizing and rarely
had any trouble in speaking without
notes. but the very fact that had my
manuscript near at hand where | could
readily turn TO it without having to
undergo the modification of pulling it
from my pocket gave me courage and
kept me from making awkward pauses.
But the writing of that Sandwich
Island lecture in one day was the
toughest job ever put on me-"