Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1895-08-30
VIEWS OF A CYNIC.
DOES NOT APPROVE OF THE HUI
NOR OF MARK TWAIN.

( TEetefS - JuCk.at-ailsIrad TO
n Genius i'm the Realm OF Humor
Thinks Mark il by No Means the
Most Popular Writer.
TACOMA, Aug. 90 1895.
ED. STANDARD:
In the last issue OF your paper, you
seem to deplOre the fact that Mark
Twain met with such poor reception
when he lectuIed in the capital city
But here in Tacoma we witnessed
quite the opposite extreme, and | will
venture to assert that the people of
Olympia, were, after all, wiser than the
people of this city. When the dis
tinguished lecturer stepped upon the
platform in the theater building, Mon
day evening, that immense auditorium
was packed with eager listeners, and
before Mr.. Clemens spoke word a
great wave of mingled applause and
merriment greeted his ears.
|
the lecture with the settled impression
that he must laugh despite any out
come; and so, of course everybody
laughed. Some said they laughed at
the way in which Twain shambled
upon the stage; others laughed be.
cause his chin was poised at so queer
an upgrade in the air. One giggled
at his moustache, another at his po-
tato-top hair. A lady, however, gave
the most sensible and probably the
truest reason when she said she
laug he'd because everybody else
laughed.
So you see, Mr.. Editor, we had a
laughing time OF it, but just where the
intellectual treat" came in, it is hard
to say. Mr.. Clemens carries with him,
doubtless, q magazine of drolleries,
and am inclined to think that it is
the way he says things rather than
the subject matter of his talk which
causes such uproarious merriment in
his audiences.
When the judge asked the black
man why he knocked the white man
down, the African replied: "He called
me niger, your honor"
But" continued the Judge, "did
he not speak the truth, are you not a
niger"
Yes, your honor" replied the pris-
oner, he spoke the truth, but it was
the manner in which he said it that
caused me TO knock him down."
So it seems only to be the man
ner in which Mark Twain tells a yarn,
rather than the texture of the yarn it.
self which causes his hearers to laugh
at him.
After the lecture was concluded, the
representatives of the press took Mr..
Clemens in charge and treated him to
nocturnal ovation, and the "boys,"
as the papers said, had lots of fun"
The newspaper reporters were on
hand, of course, and exhausted their
skill in describing every action and at
titude performed or assumed by their
distinguished guest. How he drawled
his words, how he cooked his head and
poised his chin; how he doubled up
his legs like q jack-knife and rested
his feet on the sofa, all these intensely
interesting particulars were jotted
down by flying pencils and duly pub
lished in the papers, the next day.
Well, Mr.. Clemens has gone to other
lands and perhaps we have time for
little reflection.
1t is still only quite recently that an
eminent man came to Tacoma to de-
liver lecture. That individual COM
bined the rare qualities of a talented
lawyer, a military hero and war vete-
ran, a statesman, an ex-United States
minister to one of the Oriental courts,
a diplomatist and, finally, charming
author, holding high place in the lit
erature of our language. This man
came to Tacoma, delivered lecture TO
moderate audience, n lecture replete
with wisdom and ripe intellectual cul-
ture, and left as quietly as he came.
No especial ado was made over him
and only passing notices of his lectures
were printed in the papers. That
man was General Lew Wallace.
Now, Mr.. Editor, how shall we ex-
plain the different attitudes assumed
by discriminating public towards
these two men, Lew Wallace and Sam
uel Clemens?
If, as has been asserted by Puget
Sound papers, Mark Twain is the fore
most man in American literature and
the most popular writer in the Eng
lish language" what must be said of
Mr.. Wallace?
Homer is remembered for his Iliad
Virgil for his Eneid; Milton as being
the author of the only great epic in
our language. Byron wrote "Childe
Harold" and became famous Moore is
immortalized in Lallah Rookh"; Bry-
ant made his reputation by writing
" Thanatopsis" the name of Longfel-
low is embalmed in the hearts OF Eng.
lish speaking people by hundred
songs, while Mark Twain came bounc-
ing into nOtoriety upon the back of
his " Jumping Frog!
The "most popular writerT Why,
Mr.. Editor, l had rather be the
author of those two lines,
"Owud some power the giftie gle us
To see Oursels as ithers see us,
and eat oatmeal with Bobby Burns in
his poverty, than to have written a
hundred Jumping Frogs" and be the
recipient of all the seven hundred
thousand dollars that Mark Twain re-
ceived from his publishers. Please let
it be understood that am not aiming
these structures at humorists or their
admirers, but rather at those insane
npOpIa uhO maka n,O,1ptaips ont of
mole-hills and lions out of jackalls.
1t has been we'll said that when DIR.
Isaac Watts wrote that little child's
evening prayer, beginning " Now l lay
me down to Sleep" he made himself
the most popular writer on earth.
Does this seem wild assertion?"
Wherever in the wide world the sun
is setting upon cottage or palace this
little goodnight petition is being
waited from the lips of old age as we'll
as babes and sucklings straight up to
| tho Uroof xvhifo ne CnJI