Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1903-06-24
ORIGINAL COLONEL SELLERS.
Mark Twain Lived and Flour.
fshed In Missouri

One hears, almost annually, of some
person who was Mark Twain's in
spiration' for the famous character
of Col. Mulberry Sellers-that won,
derful optimist who has delighted
two generations, taught the lesson
of human kindness and loving charity
as 1T was never taught by mortal
man, and given mingled happiness
and merriment to untold thousands
OF our time just how. many persons
have received this enviahle sdistinc-7
ton we shall not undertake. to saw.
They are innumerable by this time.
and we shrink from the task of as
sorting and classifying them with.
anything like care. Indeed, we: are
relieved of that laborious and futile
undertaking by the sure. knowledge
that Mark Twain had originally in
mind. the late Thomas A.. Harris nof
Pewee Valley, KY, some IS aor 20
miles to the north of Louisville, says
the Washington Post. ), f..1a@s,1@ 5.
Gen. Harris was a Missourian-a
man of travel, education. wide. expe-
rience. indomitable courage, and en-
gaging manners and appearance.
Gifted far beyond ordinary men in
| brains, address and noble instincts,
he was believed in private, success
full in affairs, admired, respected and
confided in by all who knew him He
made millions like a genius, and spent
them like a prince. He was soldier,
poet, an orator, a bold and shrewd
| SPECTATOR. No one ever lost dollar
through trusting him. His failures
and disappointments touched himself
alone. Mary Twain knew him well
in the old days before the civil war;
thrilled responsive to his sublime con-
ceptions and the alluring eloquence
with which he gave them shape and
substance; recognized his fine charac-
ter, his noble purpose, his chivalric
soul, felt the full charm of his amaz-
ing personality. And Mark Twain,
in painting Col. Mulberry Sellers,
merely utilized the pathos and the
humor and the splendid and beautiful
benevolence of the mans unique and
brilliant nature.
Senator Vest remembered dear old
Tom Harris. It was he who in the
fall of 1861, when Price was be-
sieging Lexington, Mo-, and when all
efforts failed to dislodge Mulligan and
his immortal Chicago brigade" con.
ceived the expedient of the hemp
bales. and put the confederate army
behind them, rolling the movable
breastworks up the hill and over the
union Notifications to victory. But
for Harris genius Lexington would
never have been taken. Thrice the
force that Price had at his command
could not have successfully stormed
that formidable height. A year OF
so later, Harris was in Richmond
seeking command. While there. he
fell out of fourth-story window
alighting, face downward, on n pile
Of bricks. Vest said of it, afterward:
TT would have killed a snow bird
In Harris case, there was only a
nose split right down the middle, and
scar which everybody thought had
been made by a saber in some des'
pera tie hand-to-hand conflict with a
hateful foe.
Harris was always the kind and
courteous and clear-headed gentle
man. He loved his fellow man. He
was always ready ia share his last
dollar with anyone who seemed to be
in stress or sorrow. Great thoughts
issued from his fruitful mind. Pro
1igious schemes and enterprises were
the children of his intellect. Untold
millions, in which he had no share
have been the creatures of his light
suave SUGGESTIONS. He never wrongeC
man or woman. He was incapable o.
deceit or pretense. But when he
talked all men listened. Out of the
crumbs of his opulent suggestion 9th
ers gathered fame and fortune. Ane
he died poor! He had made many
men rich. He had distributed sue
cor. hope. encouragement. as the
sower filings his seed. But he all
ways saw the bread upon the water
and he never lost his faith in man
He was Mark Twain's Sellers.