Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-05-22
VISITING A HUMORIST.
Some of the Latest Quaint Things from

| L WdHI W tell OI my FlSh 10 MARE
Twain's'' summer home. writes Louise
NJ. Gordon in the Brooklyn Eagle. 1t is
built on a hillside overlooking the Chumue
valley, the winding river and the city. and
| commands fine view of the surrounding
country which is one of the most beautiful
that | ever saw. No wonder that the
great humorist catches inspiration from
their view, and the ever-changing lights
and shadows and glad glow of the hills
Gods own monuments The cottage is
modest and is frame, painted brown. 1t
nestles, in home-like way, among the
many large trees on whose boughs swing.
unmolested, the singing birds. Neither
does he forget to have flowers, which our
| own Maude Andrews calls 1.-The soul of
home" and next to our loved ones they
| are.
As stood on the very long, very broad
yeranda, drinking in the great view and
| thinking of this man who makes this place
his summer home, and here coins sentences
whose happy wit has swept away so many
shadows from the hearts of his fellow Great
ures, wished that | might know some
thing of his home-life, whether he was
Sinking in his nature there | had to ask
about it, and was told that he idolized his
family and made much amuse-
ment for his children, giving
each one a pretty Shetlandp ony, and doing
many things every day for he happiness
Of his three girls. At the birth of each
child he bought stone watering trough
for the country public road, and inscribed
on it the date of the child's birth and it's
name. Perhaps the daughters will not
care to have these thoughts remain after a
while. Some distance from the cottage,
further up the elevation, is his sanctum
sanctorium-his studyand Workshop 1t
is an acknowledgment rustic, many
windowed room. He said of this room to
''World'' reporter: Il think it is one of
the quietest spots on the face of the globe;
still have had tribulations in it. Shortly
after it was finished aud had begun work
on a drowsy summer day, with nothing to
break the stiffness but the peaceful birr of
humming insects, quieter than solitude. |
was aroused by a tremendous snorting and
squealing and granting. | looked down
the hill and found that our nearest neigh
Dor. a farmer, had established hog orch
ard where | could get all the benefit of it,
The sound those hogs made when they
quarreled, and the smells that foated from
them on the soft, southern breeze, drove
me wild. Work was impossible | went
over to the farmer house, and bought all
of those hogs and his right to keep hogs
forever. A few weeks after that another
chorus aroused me, and there were six
guinea hens squawking to one another in
the place where the hogs had been Well,
the farmer said he had paid a quarter
piece. for them hens. | offered
him dollar head for the lot and reserved
the privilege of never seeing or hearing
them again. he agreed Three days
latter | was disturbed by the same cackl-
ing and Gathering. and on looking
! down the hill found that tie farmer had
invested my money in four times as many
hens. In the haste of my bargain | had
overlooked specifications of all future hens
Time for a new trade said |, and |
| made it. The farmer, a wellmeaning
man, next INDUCED in a flock of sheep
that skipped as near my workshop as pos
sible and ate grass and bleated loudly at
intervals. | bought mutton. The quiet
has been preserved around that hill now
for sometime, but one by one nearly all of
farmers rights have been extinguished. -
He said to the reporter that he did his
writing here. That he. only worked three
months in a year, five days in a..week, and
four hours a day, from II to 3 o'clock.
He advises not to be in a hurry to do too
much, but work regularly. He does not
think the prose writer has to wait for in
spiration. He wrote Innocence Abroad
in sixty days, and he said to the reporter:
Il would not dare do it now; it would break
me down." He said that he wanted to
say some spiteful things in 1.-The Yankee
in King Arthur's Court" and when a
man has that to do, it is apt to
make him hurry In speaking at length
to this "World" reporter about charges of
plagiarism, he said: "Do you suppose
this great old world can keep on revolving
thousands and thousands of times, with
out turning out the same old thoughts
again and again? They will be modified
each time by the individual who thinks
them, but the germ itself is never new. I
laugh every time | hear the idiots jackass-
irg in charge of pla giarism against some
body or other
His winter home is in Hartford, and
his near neighbors are Mrs. Harriet
Beecher Stowe (who is now In a distress
ing mental condition) and Charles Dud-
ley Warner. It is said that the inscription
over the hearth of his,study there is: 1.-The
ornament of house is the friends who
frequent it, and on the wall, in a frame,
hang the checks: 100000 and $4,000,
which show Mrs. Julia Dent Grant profits
from Mark Twain's publication of General
Grants book. His wife was Miss Alivia
Langdon her family are wealthy, and
prominent people in Elmira. 1t is denied
that Mrs. Clemens has written a book. |
saw her photograph. She has a strong.
gentle, refined face, and the loss of her
little one, the only son, has left its impress
of sorrow on the sweet pretty face. Hel
friends say that she has peculiarly charm
ing manner. The Clemens family will
spend next summer in Paris.