Arizona republican., 1899-10-05
MARK TWAIN
COMING HOME

Mark Twain's absence from the land
of his birth has been painful fer many
reasons. During the time he was away
| he lost the last remnant Of his once
large fortune and has had to begin
again; during that time, also, he lost
his dearly beloved daughter, the bril-
liant Miss Clemens, who was about to
go on the operate stage tc help her old
father in his hour OF need.
Mark Twain cIouched under the first
blow ready to spring up again; but I'M
der the second he tainted, and for a
while was SO weak of heart that his
friends wondered if he would ever re-
vive.
But revive he did, and Mark Twain
of today is as lively and as humorous
as full of that peculiar vital eccentric
ity as ever he was in the sixties when
his E'Innocents Abroad set the world
laughing. Mark Twain's quaint say
ings in that book have become current
literature, and many of the funny
things are now quoted by those who
have never read the author
When Samuel L. Clemens started
along the roadway Of life it was as a
little chap in Missouri The town OF
Florida was not a metropolis in 1885,
and little Sam had a country boyhood
At the age Of Is he found himself ap-
prenticed to- a printer in Hannibal;
and then he began upon the work
which he has followed all his life. For
half century he has worked at the
type" as Charles Dickens once said,
without intermission.
While working as a printer young
Clemens found it necessary to divert
himself, as it ware, financially At one
time he was pilot on the Mississippi,
a period which he las portrayed n
odd Times on the Mississippi"
His first real prosperity came when
his brother was appointed territorial
secretary to Nevada, and he became
the private secretary of his brother.
Then he was the editor of a paper in
Virginia City, a sheet which did not
pay too richly; and SO he alternated
between editing and mining, until
finally finding a gold mine in the nib
Of his pen, he laid aside the pick for
ever and from thence Forward devoted
himself to digging money cut of the
ink bottle with the aid OF pen.
In 1866 he made a then remarkable
journey tc'Hawaii and from that island
he wrote letters home that were IA
nous for their humor. At the age of
81 he found himself almost the only
humorous writer for the newspapers
of America, and adopting the name of
Mark Twain" he continued sending
the letters and making them funnier
and funnier He enjoyed Writing them,
and the public enjoyed reading them:
and there was money il. it.
A trip through FRANCE. Germany,
Italy and Palestine furnished the ma
terial for The +Innocents Abroad" and
when the book was done the inhabi-
tants of these countries clamored so
loudly fer a: chance to read it that it
was speedily translated into their
tongues and into Russian, Danish and |
japanese as we'll.
After his return to America Twain |
was SO popular that a lecture tour was
planned and those who attended the |
lectures twenty years ago will rem5m-
Der Mark Twain and his readings from |
his own works. 1t was estimated that |
he cleared, in those days, upwards OF
fifty thousand year from his royal
ties and the lecture platform.
Mark Twain's lamentable business
disasters came early in the eighties.
He started a book publishing firm, be-
IieVing that authors should get larg
or income from their books. And,
knowing nothing of business, he went
down steadily, it was said, from the
start. Anyway in few years the pub
fishing house came to grief, and Mark
Twain went abroad a ruined man. yet
lot penniless. Mrs. Clemens, who was
L rich young woman of Elmira, New
York, still had her income; and it is
said that upon this sum the entire
Clemens family, including the clever
Mark, lived abroad.
At that time, you will recall, there
we're subscriptions started for Mark
Twain. But Mark, on hearing of them
the money with the charac-
eristic argument that his family
would not allow him to accept it. He
would have liked il for himself, he
aid, but the family did not want him
o take it. so please give it back to
he people" he said. And it was Civ
N back
Bret Harte, who has long lived in
london, is a friend of the Clemens
amily. And bstween the two writer's,
Mark Twain and Bret Harte, it was
greed that play could be written,
me that would delight the world. The
Ian in writing was for Bret Harte TO
Tisit Mark Twain and the two, after a
discussion of the plot, were to word the
dialogue together.
AT first it worked well. Bret Rarte,
himself the soul of method and pune
uality, promptly arrived at the Glenn
ms house, to be met by Mark in I'M
Ierclothes and fur overcoat, a costume
much affected by him when at leisure
n his own house, to be ushered into
he library to write.
Here Mark would insist that Bret
Iarte take the desk. 'Where will you
yrite?" Harte would ask.
Upon a barrel" Twain would
reply; and sure enough from
corner he would rcll cut sugar bar
'el and upon the head of the barrel he
would write, and no other place.
Well, the play never was written.
Jay after day the two famous old
writer's would meet and get to chat
ing and smoking. There were SO
many. points CT interest in common,
throughout the world; so many charm
ng books to be discussed; SO many
teCple to be criticised Finally Bret