Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-10-26
MARK TWAIN,s WIFE.
The Humorist's Tribute to His Life
Companion. .u

The Humorist's Tribute 20 MS LHe
Companion. "
Tomorrow will be the thirty-si sixth
of our marriage. My wife
passed from this life one year and
eight months ago. in. Florence, Italy,
after an unbroken illness Of twenty
two months duration.
/ saw her first in the form Of an
ivory miniature in her brother, Char
leys state room in the steamer Quak-
er City, in the Bay Of Smyrna, In the
summer Of 1867, when she was in her
twenty second year I saw her in the
flesh for the first time in New York
in the following December She was
slender and beautiful and girlish-and
she was both girl and woman. She
remained both girl and woman to the
last day of her life. Under grave
and gentle exterior burned inextin-
guishable fires of sympathy, energy,
devotion, enthusiasm, and absolutely
limitless affection. She was always
frail in body, and she lived upon her
spirit, whose hopefulness and courage
were indestructible. Perfect truth,
perfect honesty, perfect candor, were
qualities Of her character which were
born with her. Her judgments Of peo-
pie and things were sure and accurate.
Her intuitions almost never deceived
her. In her judgments of the charac-
ters and acts Of both friends and
strangers, there was always room for
charity, and this charity never failed.
have compared and contrasted her
with hundreds Of persons, and my con-
viction remains that hers was the most
perfect character have ever met. And
may add that she was the most Win
ningly dignified person 1 have ever
known. Her character and disposition
were Of the sort that not only invites
worship, but commands it. No SER
want ever left her service who de-
served to remain in It, And, as she
could choose with glance Of her eye,
the servants she selected did in almost
all cases deserve to remain, and they
did remain. She was always cheerful,
and she was always able to COM
municate her cheerfulness to others.
During the nine years that we spent
in poverty and debt, she was always
able to reason me out Of my despairs,
and find a bright side to the clouds,
and make me see 1t. In all that time,
never knew her to utter word Of
regret concerning our altered circum-
stances, nor did I ever know her chill
dren to do the like. For she had
taught them, and they drew their for
titude from her. The love which she
bestowed upon those whom she loved
took the form of worship, and in that
form 1t was returned-returned by
relatives, friends, and the servants of
her household. 1t was a strange COM
bination which wrought into one in
dividual, so to speak, by marriage
her disposition and character and mine.
She poured out her prodigal affections
in kisses and caresses, and in a voca-
bulary Of endearments whose profusion
was always an astonishment to me. l
was born reserved as to endearments
of speech and caresses, and hers broke
upon me as the summer waves break
upon Gibraltar. I was reared in that
atmosphere Of reserve. AS 1 have al
ready said, in another chapter, 1 new
er knew a member of my fathers fam
lily to kiss another member Of it except
once, and that at deathbed. And
our village was not kissing COM
munity. The kissing and caressing
ended with courtship-along with the
deadly piano. playing Of that day.
She had the heart-free laugh Of
girl. 1t came seldom, but when 1t
broke upon the ear it was as inspiring
as music heard 1t for the last time
when she had been occupying her sick
bed for more than year, and 1 made
a written note of it at the time-a
note not to be repeated-Mark Twain
in the North American Review.