Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-04-11

ed to learn Of 1t, for 1t would have
been an Internal onal calamity. Con-
|sequently that house must be there,
and you can find it easily If you visit
Hannibal. N.Y.
The House That Mark Built.
The next home of Mark Twain which
history records and which still stands
is a shack in the town Of Aurora, Els
meralda county, New, on the cactus
desert. 1t is stated by q lady Journal
list of San Francisco that Mark Twain
built this house with his own hands.
That may or may not be true Let us
not take issue with d lady. The shack
is built Of clapboards and other things,
with a little board porch in front and
a stovepipe sticking UP through the
roof. Here dwelt Sam Clemens and his
partners, subsisting upon canned beans
and hope while they tried to discover
silver in the rock regions roundabout.
1t is Of record that they failed. Mark
Twain moved out went to San Fran
cisco, Honolulu and scores Of other
places, not to forget Virginia City,
New, where he began to write for the
newspapers and found his calling
OF course Mark Twain had many
temporary homes along the Mississippi
river, from Hannibal to the gulf, be-
tween trips, as steamboat pilot or help
er. But they do not count He has
said himself that when you stay cou-
pie of months In q place 1t begins to
look familiar, but that It requires at,
least two years to make place your
home. In his wanderings he seems to
have adhered consistently to this the
DRY, for he lived two years each at haR
dozen places In Europe london.
Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Florence, Ven
ice and SO on. This was after his mar
riage. Each OF those cities now has a
Mark Twain home to show to future
generations.
One feels like Offering an apology to.
the public for mentioning the first
home Of Mark Twain after his mar
rage, because the story has been told
30 often. But as this is q yeracious
chronicle OF Mark Twain's homes the
present writer must hew to the line
That home was In Buffalo. The BRIDE
groom's father-in-law gave It to him
as a little wedding present. I am de-
termined not to say word about that
familiar story of the young newspaper
man and his bride being detained some
where by unreliable friends while 9TH
er tricksters lighted the gas In all the
rooms Of the new home and the cook
prepared and spread a savory supper.
shall not even mention how Mr.. and
Mrs. Clemens finally were permitted to
drive up to the house, supposing they
were visiting friends, and were told
when seated at the table that the
house and all its fixtures were theirs.
When Connecticut Gasped.
Mark Twain had third interest In
the Buffalo Express, but by that time
"Innocents Abroad" had made him so
famous that he could not afford to con-
ttnue In newspaper work. He moved
out Of the gift house and away from
Buffalo. Eur overcoats, he said, had
something to do with his quitting that
climate on the lake shore The family
dwelt for brief time in Elmira, the
| girlhood home of Mrs. Clemens, but the
charms Of Hartford, Conn, were not to
! be resisted. A literary colony Ia that
city lured Mark Twain thither. Charles
Dudley Warner was a neighbor. Har-
riet Beecher Stowe was another. III
The house built by Mark Twain In
Hartford was SO far in advance of the
age that Connecticut gasped. It was
like thrusting twentieth century Uni
tartan into the New England atmos-
phere Of Jonathan Edwards. That
house was built for comfort. It had,
enough windows to let in the light
where the light would do the most
good. 1t had plenty of ventilation. It
had porches suited to all climates,
which 1t needed In Connecticut, and 1t
had no regard whatever for the CON
ventional New England architectural
lines Of the period. II
In this house the Clemens family
resided for the larger part Of twenty
years. II began to look as though Mark
Twain had settled down. But appear
ances were deceiving. The wanderIust
microbe was still working. The fam
lily pulled up stakes and went abroad.
Mark Twain rode around the earth on
the equator, wrote, lectured, establish
ed biennial homes here and there, occu-
pied houses for the summer In the Adj
ironda cks, on the Maine shore, in the
New Hampshire mountains and few
other regions. n s2s.
Early In 1902 he purchased hand
some country place near Tarrytown,
N. r, not far from Mr.. RockefelIer's
house. But this place he never occu-
pied. The family went to italy IN the
hope Of restoring the health Of Mrs.
Clemens. After the bereavement Of