Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-10-30
MARK TWAIN AND LUCY
American and British Humorists Recall Stories of Each Other.
NOVEL IDEA IN STARTING A PAPER

Before Sailing For Italy Mark Tells
 of a Proposed Postmortem Blacl-
 maiIing sheet-His Comments on
 Does Not want to Be In Same Place
 With E1li5ah HI. I'm Next World.
 Henry W. Lucy, the British humor- ist, better known as Toby, M. P, ar- rived in the United States the other morning at New York for five weeks visit. Shortly after he arrived Mark Twain, with his family, sailed for Italy, says the New York Times. The chief motive for the trip was the ur- gent need of an ocean voyage for Mrs. Clemens, who is an invalid. MT. Lucy as he came off the steamship had a note in his hand which, he said, was from Mark Twain. It read, @You ar rive this morning, and I sail this aft ernoon in order to avoid you"
 In explaining the note he said:
 Some time ago Mark Twain and WCIC dt d BULL RA4GC 0ALlllCl AO A4s fAs 1AO~ bey, the artist, when he proposed to me that we start paper called the Obituary. We were to print the life of every living man of prominence, send him the proof and ask him for $25o for suppressing the story. con sidered the matter and wrote to Twain that it was agreeable to me. Since then he has made. every effort, and successfully, to keep out of my way
 Before Mark Twain sailed he was told what Lucy had said, and he re piled:
 That's true: we did talk it over, and ! think there never was better paying institution that could be devised. You see, the idea was to write the most scandalous things about a man while he was alive and tell him it would be published at the time of his death un- less he paid to have it kept out of the papers. If the man paid handsomely we would allow him to alter the proof and cover up the spots on his career. There are very few men who have not some spots that can be artistically cov- cred. He could cut the proof, add to it OI pUI1SA 1t dS UE hb W4SASAk, put he had to pay for that. He could have as many of the copies of the paper in which the article was printed as he wished, and in the end he could by paying enough money get as good 8 reputation as he wanted and one of which his family could be proud.
 I've had no circulation to our paper, for, you see, the circulation end is the losing end. When got home I found could make more money by Twain than by two, so I gently but firmly had to eliminate Lucy from the money propo- sition. ! calculated that he would not land until tomorrow or else should not have sent the note until today. But he is good fellow, and hope he will do we'll. However, his situation reminds me of what St. Clair Nickel way said to me when 11e learned that the Harpers had promised me a pen sion for life in considerations of work Il had promised to do for them. Colonel Harvey is living on hope he said, while you are living on a certainty
 At the pier Mark Twain was occupied in getting eighteen pieces of baggage and his wife, two daughters and an other lady who, like Mrs Clemens, is an invalid on board the ship. Some one suggested that MT. Clemens was hav- ing a great deal of trouble.
 Well. he replied, .I always was sorry for Father Noah, he had so much trouble getting all of his animals aboard the ark. But, you see, Pm pee wish today. have absorbed all of my wife's pugnacity and all of my daugh- ters' audacity.'
 At the pier tax assessor from Tar rytoWn was waiting for the humorist When Mr. Clemens appeared the as- sessor stepped up to him and said. an anxious look in his eyes; When are you coming back P Mr. Twain did not answer, but, turning to the reporters, said:
 T don't own the Casey house at Tar rytoWn. have only rented it for year. As matter of fact I am tired of renting four houses and being able to occupy but one. I don't see that it mat ters to that fellow at what time I am going to return"
 It was remarked that mention had been made of the fact that MT. Glenn ems had been compared with Rabelais snd Aristophanes
 8Rabelais, yes, he commented; sAris- tophanes, no I never knew .Arfstoph- anes personally. All of what knew of him was told me by William Dean Howells. get quite confused idea of what he was like. Sometimes T think of him sailing up the English channel with Sir John Hawkins; again I think of Aristophanes as the Greek physician and again as an Italian vir- tuoso. If had lived in the fifteenth century should have been Rabelais.