Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1910-04-27

Redding, Conn, Special.-Samuel
Langkorne Clemens MARK Twain)
died painlessly Thursday night of
angina pectoris.
He lapsed into coma at 8 p. M. and
never recovered consciousness. 1t
was the end of a man worn out by
grief and acute agony Of body.
Angina pectoris is a paroxysmal
affection Of the chest of battling and
obscure origin, characterized by Sc
we're pain, faintness and deep depres-
sion of the spirits. The pain is Sc
we're and of an oppressive crushing or
stabbing character. The attacks pro-
gress in frequency and severity, with
uncertain intermissions, sometimes Of
long duration, to a fatal termination.
Mark Twain did not die in anguish.
Sedatives soothed his pain, but in his
moments of consciousness the mental
depression persisted. On the way up
from Bermuda he said to Mr.. Paine,
who had been his constant companion
in illness:
"This is a bad job; we'll never
pull through with it.
On shore once. more and longing
for the serenity of the New England
hills, he took heart and said to those
who noted his enfeeblement in sor-
row: "Give me a breath of Redding
air once more and this will pass"
But it did not pass, and tired Of body
and weary of spirit, the old warrior
against shams and snobs said family
to his nurses:
"Why do you fight to keep me
alive9 Two days of life are as good
to me as four"
It is certain to be recalled that
Mark Twain was for more than so
years an inYeterate smoker and the
first conjecture of the layman would
be that he had weakened his heart by
overindulgence in tobacco. DR.. Hal
say said that he was unable to pred
icate that the angina pectoris was in
any way a sequel Of nicotine poison
ing. Some constitutions, he said,
seem immune from the effects of to-
bacco, Mr.. Clemens being n of
them. Yet it is true that since his
illness began the doctors had cut
down Mark Twain's daily allowance
of 2 cigars and countless pipes to
four cigars.
No deprivation was a greater sor-
row to him. He tried to smoke on
the steamer while returning from
Bermuda and only gave it up because
he was too feeble to draw his pipe.
Humorist's Last Home.
Where Mark Twain chose to spend
his declining years was the first out
post of Methodism in New England,
and it was among the hills of Redding
that Gen. Israel Putnam, of Revolu-
tionary fame, mustered his spare
ranks. Putnam Park now encloses
the memory of his camp.
Mark Twain first heard of it at the
dinner given him on his SEVENTEEN
birthday when a fellow guest, who
lived there, mentioned its beauties
and added that there was a vacant
house adjoining his own.
81 think you ma, buy that old
house for me-" said Mark Twain.
Sherwood Place was the delectable
name of that old house, aud where it
stood Mark Twain reared the white
walls of the Italian villa he first
named Innocence at Home, but a
first experience Of what a New Eng
land winter storm can be in its
whitest fury quickly caused him to
christen it anew Stormfeld.
The house has been thus describ-
ed by Albert Bigelow Paine: "Set
on a fair hillside, with such a green
slope below, such a view outspread
across the valley as made one catch
his breath a little when he first turn!
ed to look at it. A trout stream lowsI
through one of the meadows. There
are apple trees and grey stone walls.