Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-05-23
MARK TWAIN ON TWINS.
He Sees "Pudd'nhead Wilson"
 Put on the Stage.
AND MAKES A SPEECH FROM A BOX.


 Angelo When He Put Them In a Book. He Is Going on n Lecture Trip Around tho World.
 NEW YORK, May 23-The two left pro scenium boxes at the Herald Square thea ter were occupied last night by Mark Twain and a party of friends. Among them were M-. and Mrs. H. l.. Bridgeman, Mir. and Mrs E. c. Stedman, Rev. Lyman Abbott, Mir. and Mrs c. c. Bull, MT. and Mrs. St Clair Mckelway and Mir. and Mrs. Murat Halstead.
 Mark Twain was to witness the play CT "Pudd 'nhead Wilson as Gramatizsd frsn his novel by Frank Mayo. The author was prominent in the box nearest the stage. whence he was himself to contribute In person to the entertainment of the audi ence before tho close of the play. The house was crowded and the stage people evidently felt the inspiration of an atten- tive audience supplemented by the pres ence of the renowned author.
 When the cur ain went down on the third act. the applause of the play grew tn- to a clamorous call for a speech from Mark Twain Rising in the dusk of the still darkened auditorium. MT. Twain was al- ready speaking before the lights were turned on. Greeted with hearty applause. he proceeded in his characteristic fashion. He said
 His Trouble With the Twins. II am gratified to see that MT. Mayo has been able to manage those difficult twins l tried. but in my hands they failed. When l was here the year before last, there wus an Italian freak on exhibi- tion in Philadelphia who was an exagGer- ation of the Siamese twins. This freak had ore body, one pair of legs two heads and four arms. l thought he would be useful in book, so l put him in. And 1 then the trouble began. 1 called these con- solidated twins Angelo and Luigi, and | tried to make them nice and agreeable, | but it was not possible.
 They would not do anything my way, but only their own way. They were who'll l ly unmanageable, and not day went by that they didn't develop some new kind of devilishness-particula Luigi An gelo was of a religious turn of mind and was monotonously honest and honorable and upright and tediously proper, where as Luigi had no principles. no morals, no | reliRion-a perfect blatherskits and an in extricable tanGle theoretically - infidel, atheist and aGnostie all mixed together.
 "Ho was of malicious disposition and liked to eat things which disagreed with his brother. They were SO strangely or l RanIEeu bUAb "Dab Ouc OL lneIl Alb OA drank had no effect upon himself but only nourished or damaged the other ono Luigi was hearty and robust because An gelo ate the best and most wholesome fooC he could find for him, but Angelo wa: himself delicate and sickly because every day Luigi filled himself up with mince pic and salt junk just because he knew h' couldn't digest them. Luigi was very dis sipated, but it didn't show on him, bu only on his brother. His brother was strict and conscientious teetotaler, but ht was drunk most of the time on account O Luigis habits.
 About Angelo and Luigi.
 Angelo was president of the Prohibi tion society, but they had to turn him ou because every timc he appeared at tn head of the procession on parade he wa a scandalous spectacle to look at On tn other hand. Angelo was trouble ts Lui gi. the infdel, because he was alway changing his religion, trying to find tn best one, and he always preferred sect ! that believed in baptism by immersion and this was a constant peril and discom fort to Luigi, who couldn't stand wate outside or in, and so every time Angel got baptized Luigi got drowned and ha to be pumped out and rosusoitated.
 Luigi grew steadily more and mor wicked, and saw by and by that the wa he was going on he was bound to land | the eternal tropics, and ] was glad of il but knew be would necessarily take hi righteous brother with him. and tha would not be fair. did not object to il but I didn't want to be responsible for il was in such a hohbe that there wa J only one way out. To save tho righteou brother l had to pull tho consolidate twins apart and make two separate an distinct twins of them.
 Well, as soon as did that they lost a their energy and took no further intere: in life They were wholly futile and us less in the book. They became mere shaC ows. and so they remain. Mir. Mayo mar ages them, but If ho had taken a chan at them before I pulled them apart an tanned tf"m he would have found oJ early that if he put thom in his play tho would take full possession, and thel wouldn't be any room in it for Pudd'l head Wilson or anybody else.
 'I have taken four days to prepare tho statistics, and as far ns they go you ca depend upon their being strictly true.
 have not told all the truth about Il twins but just barely enough of it f. business purposes for my motto is-ar Pudd nhead Wilson can adopt it If wants to-my motto is: Truth is the mo valuable thing we have Let us econ mize it "
 Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll. with h family in a box directly above the Twa party, was an amused listener.
 The dramatist was next called. and q bearing before the curtain Mir. Ma
 briefly thanked his hearers for the 0ourte of their demand to hea1 him. and tn
 took occasion to commend the manas
 mont of tho Herald Square theater for t ample setting and furnishings of the pla
 Mark Twain on Aug. 16 will sail fro
 Vancouver on tour around the wOrl
 He will go directly to Australia, where
 will deliver a series of lectures.