Dodge City times., 1891-01-02
MARK TWAIN m Am.
How the Humsrist Frlea . .n...-Aa
Notice Without M Esovp.a~>-

When Mark Twain was in Washing
ton a week or two ago he told . num-
Der of interesting incidents and anec-
dotes. one OF which the Post Of that city
reproduccs. A gentleman well known
in political and newspaper circles. on
being introduced to this well-kuown
author. said to him that he had oace
had the pleasure of listening - . lee
ture of his whicl, was delivered twenty
wears ago. -
imitablc drawl Of his. We'll, now.
I'll have to tell You something about
that lecture. II was little the hard
est and roughcst experience ever I'M
derwcnt in my whole career rs . lee
turer. Icamc to Washington with NO
intention whatcver of delivcringa lee
ture. l simply camss &eiteyOu know:
to meet my friends, see the-eity. and
keep little track Of what was going
on in Congress. as do hundreds Of
other people in the course Of the win
ter. Tbs 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 OF
a sound sleep. and nearly stunned me
by asking if was aware OF the TACT
that l was to deliver . lecture at Lin
coin Hall that evening. l told him no.
and that he must be crazy to get OUT
of bed at such an unseemly hour simply
to ask such q foolish question. But he
soon assured me that he was perfectly
sane by showing the papers. which an
announced that Mark Twain was to
lecture that evening and that Shis sub.
iect would be The Sandwich Islands.
TO say that was surprised would be
drawing it mildly. was mad. for l
thought some one had put up game
on me.
"Well. on careful inquiry. l learned
that an old theatrical friend OF mine
thought he would do me a favor: So
he started out by getting drunk. While
in this condition he made all the neces-
sary arran ycments for me to lecture.
with the exception of the slight circum-
stance that he neglected to inform me
of any of his intentions He rented
Lincoln Hall, billed the town and sent
the newspapers advertisements and
notices about the coming lecture. and
the worst of it was that he had done
all his work thoroughly. After learn
ing this was in dilemma had
never prepared any lecture on the
Sandwich Islands. What was to do?
l could not back out by telling the peo-
pie that 1 was unprepared. and that
my friend was intoxicated when he
made these arrangements. No. that
was out of the question. because the
public wouldn't believe it anyway. The
billing of the town had been too well
done for that. So there was only ono
thing left for me to do, and that was to
lock myself in my room and write that
lecture between the breakfast hour and
half-past Z that evening. Well, l did it.
and was on hand at the advertised
hour, facing one of the biggest audi
ences ever addressed"
"Yes. MIR. Clemens, you were there
all right" said Mr.. -. for heard
the lecture, and . very amusing one
it was too; but il remember correctly
you did not read from your notes"
you are right. 1 did not use my
manuscript" replied Mark Twain.
''but in those early days always had
my lecture in writing. and kept it on
a reading stand at one side of the place
where l stood on the platform. l was
very good at memorizing. and rarely
had any trouble in speaking without
notes, but the very fact that l had my
manuscript near at hand where l 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 pausea
But the writing Of that Sandwich
Island lecture in one d " was the
toughest job ever put ON me-"