Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-04-10


been an International calamity. Con
seauently that house must be there,
and you can find it easily If you visit
Hannibal.
The House That Marx Built.
The next home of Mark Twain which
history records and which still stands
is a shack in the town of Aurora, Es-
meralda county, New, on the cactus
desert. 1t is stated by lady journal
ist 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 a lady. The shack
is built of clapboards and other things,
with little board porch in front and
q 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
Ell. But they do not count. He has
said himself that when you stay Il cou
pie of months in place il begins to
look familiar, but that it requires at
least two years to make q place your
home. In his wanderings he seems to
have adhered consistently to this the
DRY, for he lived two years each at half
dozen places in Europe-LOndOn.
Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Florence, Ven
Ice and so on. This was after his mar
rage. Each of those cities now has q
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
SO often. But as this is q veracious
| 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 little wedding present. l 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
Ell tricksters lighted the gas in all the
rooms of the new home and the cook
prepared and spread savory supper.
l shall not even mention how MIR. and
| Mrs. Clemens finally were permitted to
drive up to the house, suppoSing they
were visiting friends, and We're told
when seated at the table that the
house and all its fixtures were theirs.
When Connecticut Gasped.
Mark Twain had Il third interest in
the Buffalo Express, but by that time
"Innocents Abroad had made him SC
famous that he could not afford to con
tinue in newspaper work. He moved
out of the gift house and away from
Buffalo. Fur Overcoats, he said, had
something to do with his quitting thai
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. We're not t
be resisted. \ literary colony in tina
city lured Mark Twain thither. Charlie.
Dudley Warner was neighbor. Har
riet Beecher Stowe was another.
The house built by Mark Twain il
Hartford was SO far in advance of til,
age that Connecticut gasped. 1t wa
like thrusting 4 twentieth century Uni
tartan into the New England atmos
phere of Jonathan Edwards. Tina
house was built for comfort. 1t hat
enough windows to let in the ligh
where the light would do the mos
good. 1t had plenty of ventilation.
had porches suited to all climates
which it needed in Connecticut. and
had no regard whatever for the con
ventional New England architecture
lines Of the period.
In this house the Clemens famil