Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1902-06-12
MARK TWAIN HoNoRED
Large Crowds at Railway Sta
tons Bid Him Godspeed.

SAO14S olA xAlkll NOuSpOGQ,
SAD PARTING AT HANNIBAL, MO,
Humortst on His Recent Return Trip
From Home of His Boyhood Over
come by Emotion In Attempting to
Speak nj Paris, Mo.-Experiences of
Younger Days.
Standing on the platform of the rear
of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas
passenger train, Mark Twain, who has
recently been in Hannibal, Mo-, spend
ing a few days, took his farewell look
at the city, the home of his boyhood,
and sped on his way to Columbia at IL
o'clock the other morning to attend the
commencement exercises of the state
university, says the st. Louis Globe
Democrat. His parting was a sad one.
10 the large crowd which had collect
ed at the station to bid him goodby
and to wish him godspced on his jour
ney homeward the Lumorist waved his
hand in response to the cheers which
went up for him.
After being loyalty entertained dur
ing his stay, Mark Twain has learned
to think more OF Hannibal and its peo-
pie than ever, and it was with a hea-y
heart that he departed to return no
more. The usual pleasant smiles which
had %leisurely played over his face were
absent. In their place tears trickled
down his cheeks. Such was the i'm
pressive parting with the humorist
whom all Hannibal idolized during the
past few days.
The trip of Mark Twain down to Co
lumbia was one ovation after another.
AT every station through which he
passed large crowds We're at the depots
to see him. q. Fowkes, general agent
Of the Wabash at Hannibal, Mo-, ac-
companied him as far as Moberly. At
Stoutsyille a large'number of the resi-
dents of Florida, Mo-, the birthplace Of
h humorist, We're at the station. NJ.
Anderson, son of an old acquaintance
OF the Clemens family, presented him
with n ane made of timber from the
house of his birth.
At Paris a crowd of over a thousand
people We're on hand. Arrangements
had been made to hold the train about
ten minutes so that Mark Twain might
make a little speech. He had hardly
begun when a little girl stepped up to
the car and handed him a large bunch
OF pretty red roses. He broke down
completely and was unable to continue.
People then rushed forward to shake
his hand, and the train soon pulled out.
Moberly gave him another ovation. The
depot was crowded with people. There
Mark Twain changed cars and was
compelled to wait forty minutes for his
train.
On the Journey to Columbia Mark
Twain said that he never had anything
to hurt him more than his farewell at
Hannibal. He was deeply affected, and
it was clearly seen that he restrained
his emotions with great d~ifficulty.@
"This visit of mine back to the scenes
of my boyhood has been one of the
happy events of my life" h said.
10y ZIP Aoo lillly UeSu Il ulOSI Gll-
joyable one, and 1 do not recall a single
instance when l have ever had a better
time. The time was all well spent. /
am glad to know that the people think
so much of me. 1t is not always that a
fellow can stay away from his old
home as long as l have done and then
return and be received so cordially"
The other night Mark Twain talked
more freely than ever. He told one sto-
ry after another of his experiences in
Hannibal during his younger days. The
original Huckleberry Finn, he said,
was Tom Blankenship. B~lankenship
was a familiar character about Hanni-
bal during the boyhood days of the hui
morist. His sister, Becky B~lankenship,
now lives in Hannibal. Tom Sawyer,
he said, was a composite character.
Sometimes it was Will Bowen, John
Garth, Ed Stevens, Jim Holmes or him
self. he said. However. he admitted
that various tricks of the character
We're mostly his. Mrs. Frazier, now
matron of the Home For the Friend
less, who was formerly Laura Hawk
ms, the first sweetheart Of Mark
Twain. was Becky Thatcher / n .sTom
Sawyer"
When asked if he would write any
more books, the humorist drawled in
his characteristic manner: "Well, 1
don't know. 1t depends on the circum-
stances. | am too lazy to write my
thing unless l have a strong incentive.
l dread to ride on the railroads. I have
crossed h ocean seventeen times and
did not mind it as much as I do one of
the five hour rides on a train.'
Young vanderbilt's Novel Offer.
A Paris letter in the Chicago Inter
Ocean StnfoS thot w Z Na.aa.h.l4