The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-11-03

Il ~
lVt school with Mark Twain are
dead; but in the hills of northeast
Missouri one may yet come across
white-bearded, pleasant-mannered OLD
fellows who played the pranks and
knew the hairbreadth 'scapes of Tom
Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn
Only few weeks ago The SATURDAY
Evening Posts Paris correspondent Sc.
forth the interesting fact that HucL
Finn and Tom Sawyer are on t,e
friendiiest of terms with the youth Of
france These boys, along with thou
sands upon thousands of our own boys
will be happy to know that nearly e..
Oh the atmosphere that surrounded
Huck and Tom is just about as il va.
htty years ago, when the boys ranged
the hills. the river, the islands ana the
cave Scores of other .'Hucksr and
Toms have come and gone. and many
others are doing pretty much the sam.
thing, right now, that the originals did
II you were to go to Hannibal totday
and make inquiry for some of the
boys who went To school with Sam
Clemens you would probably be direct
ed to Ed Pierce and Charley Curtis.
When you hear them spoken of as
Ed and Charley you feel that they
must be youngsters yet and that s.,n.
trick of time has kept them tus, as
they were when they used TO row nm ~
the island and scratch for the French
mans gold. Mr.. Curtis told me the orb
er day that he was more than seven,
years or age. He is over six fee, il,
height. very straight, very carefully.
/ dressed and very classical in facia,
outline We were standing near the lit-
tie PARK OF the town when Mr. c,Irts
4 pointed to spot in the center of il.
WHERE TOM AND BECKY WE'RE
LOST.
Right here" he said, stood a one
story. frame schoolhouse. The teache:
was Miss Newcomb. Sam Clemens
and | learned to spell in that school
! house. and on Sundays we went there
to church and Sunday school-when w
couldn't sneak away. That was wher
we were round about ten and fftee.
years old. In the period when we wele
older Sam and ran off good deal ARD
went To the Cave. the same Cave tina
syou read about. the Cave in which Ton
and Becky were lost. We always too,
Isome fire with us, carefully guarding
from the wind We managed to gel
candles somehow. and after we got
lighted up we would climb the hill anG
crawl through the little hole that Iey
light into the long narrow passage
leading to the main part OF the rays
FERROUS place. We spent hours anG
hours there day after day. Sam neve-
tired of exploring the wonderful al p
ways. rooms and walks. To this da.
there are portions of it known
only 10 Sam Clemens Once l.,
n while we hear that Mark Twain !.
lazy and that as a youngster he put al
the work on the other fellow. This ism
true. He not only did his share Of all
the work there was to do. but ne lent
another aid that was beyond the gif.s
of the others. He used to get a lot o.
the boys-Ed Pierce, Bill Nash Be-
COontz. Gene Freeman. Ruel CDidle.
Tom Blankenship and John Meredith
and tell the Arabian Nights stories I,
us. His father John NJ. Clemens. own
ed the only copy of the book in town
and after sam had digested it thor
oughly he related the whole thing TO us
decorated in his own way"
Did Mr.. Clemens aspire to author
ship at that time. or do you recall thai
he gave any indication of his futur.
course?" asked Mr.. Curtis.
He was the best stOry-teller among
the boys-the best boy story-teller
ever knew; but he wasn't thinking
much about authorship. One time some
one patted him on the shoulder and
, asked. i'm the usual way:
, :" What are you going to he, Sam
mic, when you grow up2'
:" Haven't thought much. sir. saiC
Sam, but l suppose I'll grow into {
man." a
ONE OF MARK TWAIN'S EARLY
PASTIMES.
Edward Pierce is bit younger thar
Mary Twain, but he always managed
to be present when the Arabian Night:
stories were going around, and many
/. time he helped to dig for gold OF
Treasure Island When Ed Pierce
Sam Clemens, Bill Nash and Ruel Grid
ley were boys together there was mi.
near which the youngsters loved t
gather. This mill was in the center o
; a narrow valley, and at the top of IT.
long steep inclines that ran away from
II were great stones, tossed there in by
gone ages by the wondrous hand o
Nature.