The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-08-29
MARX TWAIN ON
THE REAL HUCK FINN
North American Review.)

strangers who remember me, or whose
fathers remember me as a boy and
young man. But these letters are al
most always disappointing. I have not
known these strangers nor their faith
ers. ] have not heard of the names
| they mention; the "reminiscences tC
which they call attention have had nc
| part in my experience: all of which
| means that these strangers have beer
! mistaking me for somebody else. But
at last I have the refreshment, this
| morning, of letter from a man who
| deals in names that were familiar tC
me in my boyhood. The writer en-
closes newspaper clipping which has
been wandering through the press foI
| four or five weeks, and he wants tC
know if Captain Tonkray. lately de-
ceased, was las stated in the clippingl
the original 'Huckleberry Finn"
l have replied that "Huckleberry
Finn" was Frank F. AS this inquirer
| evidently knew the Hannibal of the
| forties. he will easily recall Frank
Franks father was at one time Towr
Drunkard, an exceedingly well-define6
and unofficial office of those DAYS. He
succeeded General Gaines, and for q
| time he was sole and only incumbent
of the office, but sfterward Jimmy
Finn proved com petency and disputed
| the place with him, so we had two
| town drUnkards at one time-and il
made as much trouble in the village rs
Christendom experienced in the four
| teenth century when there were two
popes al the same time.
| In "Huckleberry Finn l have draw
| Frank exactly as he was. He was ig-
/ nOrant, unwashed. insufficiently fed
! but he had as good a heart as any DO,
ever had. His liberties were totally
unrestricted. He was the only really
Independent person-boy or man-ir
the community, and by consequence he
was TRANQUILITY and continuously hap
by, and was envied by all the rest oil
US. We liked him; we enjoyed his so
ciety. And as his society was forbid
den us by our parents. the prohibition
| trebled and quadrupled it's value, anl
| therefore we sought and got more OF
! his society than of any other boys.
| heard. four years ago. that he was
| justice of the peace in remote village
| in the state of --, and was a good
| citizen and was greatly respected
During Jimmy Firms term he Jim
| my was not exclusive; he was not fin
zeal; he was not hypercritical: he was
| largely and handsomely democratic
| and slept in the deserted lanyard with
| the hogs. My father tried to reform
him once, but did not succeed. My
| father was not a professional reform
er. In him the spirit of reform was
| spasmodic. It only broke out now and
then, with considerable intervals be-
| tween. Once he tried to reform Injur
Joe. That also was a failure. Ii was
failure, and the boys were glad. For
Injun Joe, drunk, was interesting, and
a benefaction to us. but Inju1 Joe
sober, was a dreary spectacle. We
watched my fathers experiments upon
/ him with a good deal of anxiety, but
1t came out all right and we were sat
isfied. Intun Joe got drunk ofteneI
than before. and became intoleraoly
| interesting
| week or two ago Mr.. Blank Blank
| dined with US He SAID Mr. y
was sexton or something, Of the Epis-
copal church in his town, and had been
for many years the competent superin-
tendent of all the church's worldly af-
fairs. and was regarded by the whole
| congregation as a stay. a blessing a
| priceless treasure. But he had a cou-
/ pie of defects-not large defects. but
they seemed large when flung against
the background of his profoundly re-
ligious character; he drank u good
deal, and he could outswear a brake
man. A movement arose to perSul lt
him to lay aside these vices. and after
consulting with his pal. who occupied
the same position as himself in the
other Episcopal church. and whose de-
! fects were duplicates of his own and
had inspired regret in the congrega-
| ton he was serving, they concluded tC
try for reform-not wholesale. bur half
at time. They took the liquor pledge
and waited for results. During nine
days the results were entirely salts
| factory, and they were recipients OF
| many compliments and much congrat.
| ulation. Then on New Years eve they
| had business a mile and a half out OF
town, just beyond the state line. Ev.
| erything went well with them that
evening i'm the barron of the inn-but
| at last the celebration of the occasion
by those villagers came to be of a bur.
| densOme nature. 1t was a bitter cold
night and the multitudinous hot tod
dies that were circulating began by
and by to exert a powerful influence
upon the new Drohibitionists. At las;
ks friend remarked:
tx, does it occur to you that we are
outside of the diocese?"
That ended reform No. 1. Then they
| took a chance in reform No. 2 For 2
| while that one prospered, and they got
much applause. 1 now reach the Incl
dent which sent me back a matter oil
sixty years, as 1 have remarked g
while ago.
One morning Mr.. Blank BLANK met
| x on the street and said:
You have made gallant struggle
| against those defects of yours. l an
aware that you failed on No. 1, but
am also aware that you are having
better luck with No. -
Yes" X said; NO. is all right ard
sound up to date. and we are full OF
hope"
Blank-Blank said: TX. Of course
you have your trouble like o.har pee
pie. but they never show on the out
side. l have never seen you when you
were not cheerful? Really always
cheerful?"
We'll. no." he said, mo. I can't say
that I am always cheerful. but-wel
you know that kind of a night thai
comes: say-you wake I'D way in the
night and the whole world is sunk in
gloom and there are storms and earth
quakes and all sorts of disasters in the
air threatening, and you get cold auc
clammy: and when that happens to ms
1 recognize how sinful 1 am and it al
goes to my heart and wrings 1t and
have such terrors and terrors!-oh
they are indescribable, those terror:
that assail me. and 1 slip out of beC
and get on my knees and pray and
pray and promise that l will be good