The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1902-07-02
MIR. TWiIN'S sad PARTING
LARGE CROWDS AT RAIL WAY STATION
BID HIM GODSPEED.
Humoyist on His Return Trip from
Home Of His Boyhood Over
come by Emotion.

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 few days, took his farewell look
at the city, the home of his boyhood,
and sped on his way to Columbia at III
o'clock the other morning to attend the
commencement exercises Of the state
university. says the st. Louis Globe
Democrat. His parting was sad one.
To the large crowd which had collect
ed at the station to bid him goodby
and to wish him godspeed on his jour
ney homeward the humorist 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 heavy
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
pressiye 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 were at the depots
to see him. e. Fowkes, general agent
of the Wabash at Hannibal, Mo-, ac-
companied him as far as Moberly. At
Stoutsville a large number of the resi-
dents of Florida, Mo-, the birthplace OF
the humoriSt, were at the station. M.
Anderson, son Of an old acquaintance
of the Clemens family presented him
with a cane made of timber from the
house of his birth.
At Paris a crowd of over thousand
people were 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 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
| 1t was clearly seen that he restrained
| his emotions with great difficulty.
'sThis visit of mine back to the scenes
| of my boyhood has been one OF the
happy events of my life," he said.
my trip has certainly been a most en-
joyable one, and do not recall single
| instance when have ever had better
time The time was all well spent. l
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 have done and then
| return and be received so cordially"
The other night Mark Twain talked
more freely than ever He told one sto-
~ after another of his experiences in
Hannibal during his younger days. The
| original Huckleberry Finn, he said,
| was Tom Blankenship. Blankenship
was familiar character about Hanni-
bal during the boyhood days of the hui
morist His sister, Becky Blankenshlp,
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, ne said. However, he admitted
that various tricks of the character
were 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 in tom
Sawyer"
When asked if he would write any
more books, the humorist drawled in
his characteristic manner: "Well, /
don't know. 1t depends on the circum-
stances. l am too lazy to write any
thing unless have strong incentive.
dread to ride on the railroads. l have
crossed the ocean seventeen times and
did not mind it as much as do one or
| tho 70 bOuy rides on q train"