Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1902-06-12
MARK TWAIN.
Visited Boyhood Scenes
His First Love.

Mark Twain visited his old
home, the scenes of his boyhood,
the graves of his parents, mingled
with old friends, associates and
of his writings, in Han.
nlbal several days last week. He
was also mp ut Columbia where
the University conferred upon him
the LII. ID. degree. On his re-.
turn from Columbia he stopped at
Union station in Mexico Il few
when he was met by
few admirers.
Mr.. Clemens is now 67 years
old, and this was his first visit to
Hannibal for 30 years and he
thinks it will he his last, for the
life of the great humorist is draw
ing to II close. His birth place is in
Florida, Monroe county, but the
house has been carried away, and
sold, for souvenirs. II is said
that the owner made considerable
money selling souvenirs and when
hr used up the old house he went
to the nearby woods to get mater
ial with which to make MARK
Twain canes, and shipped them
East.
TWAIN FIRST LOVE.
The following interesting story
is told by the Philadelphia Times:
Mark Twain might be suspected
of having been up to Ills old tricks
IN causing the newspaper men to
send out over the country that
story of his having met again, af-
ter many years, his first sweet
heart at the home of his boyhood
III AhISN'ull, Ntl' II llbl tIluI IHtTt
is intrinsic probability in it. "Why,
oh, why," asks the feminine en-
thuSiast, "didn't he seek her out
years ago, after he had become
famous, and marry herr 1t would
have been so grand, SO noble, so
like what ! have thought him to
be-" All! dear young lady, that
merely suggests anew the fatal
! difference between the real and the
ideal. Personalities that we do
not know hy actual facc-to-facc in
tercOurSc are seldom what we
dream them to be, and none of
the episodes or the sequences of
life exactly correspond to our pre-
conceptions of it.
Noblc-grand! No, the char
acteristic adjcctivcS shall not be
attacked; only it should be mildly
remarked that Mark Twain, aside
from his qualities as humoriSt, is
pretty fully endowed with the
common traits of humanity, and
that there is every reason to sup
pose that he has tasted of its com.
mon experience SO, the story be-
ing SO plausible, the language of
the rural Judge as to the very
creStfallcn prisoner before him, is
appropriate in this ease: IF he
ain guilty he Ortcr be.
II would be interesting if some
one could calculate the percentage
of first courtships that eliminate
IN weddings and IN living happi-
| ~ ever aftcrward." The figures.
however, could only be obtained
through the census takcr, and it is
To be feared that the effort would
lead merely to the cmbalming in
the government records of more
lies than have ever yet appeared
there. The first sweetheart is such
II choice theme for establishment,
on the lips of either man or wo.
man, And it is usually has as
much patho~ rs tenderness, for
who Is going TO admit that any
thing but dramatic or tragic on
emotional rauScS rupturcd and
dissipatcd the dream! 1t is true
that Mark Twain is said to have
immortalizcd Mrs. Fraser of Han,
nibal, Mo, in Bcckcy Hatcher, OF
the Tom Sawyer story, written at
the zenith of his powers; but he is
now at the threshold of the garru-
louS stage of litc's journey, and
may we not hope that he will yet
tell in romantic earnest just why,
as boy, he loved and rode away,
upI pnvnr NUnnt hnnE auy nnr.