Arizona republican., 1903-06-14

but I will let you have it. Shut your hands tight" His interrogator did so.
 Now" said he. "open them."
 His order was obeyed. faint flush caused by the excessive pressure was discernible in the palm of each. MT Train examined them attentively, shook his head and remarked sadly: "Only an average life. It's hard, but 1t cannot be helped. Now mark me and see the difference"
 He clenched his right hand tightly for a moment, and suddenly opening 1t the palm was seen to be suffused with a hue as deep a red as turkey gCbbler's crest.
 That" said MT. Train, triumphantly lis the infallible sign of longevity"
 Shortly after President Mckinley was elected MT. Train gave lecture in Association hall, Philadelphia, against what he called the "Stokley- Drexel- Scott Childs -Cameron-Twee ring" At the conclusion of his talk a number of men went upon the stage to congratu- late him upon his fervent utterances. but he waved them all aside and an- nounced that he had made an agree ment with himself never to again shake hands with a human being, as he believed that such contact robbed him of his vital force.
 After his speech at the Glover club dinner in January, 1897, Congressman Grosvenor of Ohio, the friend of Presi- dent Mckinley, came forward with outstretched hands to congratulate Train upon his speech. Train waved him back. Grosvenor looked abashed, as though he were mortified. He did not know that George Francis Train never shook hands.
 Train was reported once as saying that Mark Twain had lived upon his audiences. On one Sunday evening. in 1877. he spoke in New York. Twenty years ago." said he, as reported, "I wrote one or two books that had a deservedly world wide reputation. and l also wrote occasionally for the news papers. My writings were, besides being profound and erudite, always sparkling and brilliant. At times I, indeed, descended into humor-the highest. best kind of humor. mark you. - Well. now, imagine my astonish- ment one day upon learning that some picayune humorist in California was calling himself Mark Twain. You see he had said to himself very shrewdly that Train was a name that would at tract crowds, and so, in effect, he stole it, and that same Mark Twain has been for fifteen years living upon my audi ences. I have borne this silently and like Christian for all these years. but now, when they begin to mix me with him. as he has endeavored to have him. self mixed up with me, it is a little too much, and l won't stand it." Contin- uing. he is reported to have said that the play of the "Gilded Age" written by Mark Twain and D. Warner. in 1873, would have fallen flat but for his ex- ertions. "The night it was produced, |" says the report of his words, ''I took a box and invited Matilda Heron Ga fla , nous actress in her day) and Bijou to go with me. I saw at once that the thing was a dead failure. There wasn't any fun in it. It was as dreary as a tomb. Says I, 'Pshaw, this fellow has stolen my name, but I'll help him. So l got up and stepped to the front of the box. Everybody recognized me. I clapped. The effect was, of course, in stantaneous. The house accepted my judgment, and the play was stamped a success. So much for this Mark