The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-07-29
HOW MARK TWAIN
 MISSED CELEBRATION

In his "reminiscences of Mark Twain in
 Harper's for August w. D. Howells tells
 amusngly of the time when he and MT Clemens missed the anniversary celebra- tion of the battle of Concord.
 Mark. Twain came on to Cambridge in April 1875, to go with me to the cen tennial ceremonies at Concord in celebra- ton of the battle of the Minute Men with
 the British troops a hundred years before We both had special invitations, including passage from Boston; but I said, Why
 bother to go Into Boston, when we could just as well take the train for Concord
 at the Cambridge station? He equally de-
 cided that it would be absurd; so we breakfasted deliberately, and then walked to the station, reasoning of many things,
 as usual. When the train stopped we found 1t packed inside and out People stood dense on the platforms of the cars :; to our startled eyes they seemed to pro- ject from the windows, and unless mem- ory betrays me they lay strewn upon | the roofs like brakemen slain at tho post | of duty We remounted the fame-worn 1 steps of Porters station and began ex-
 ploring North Cambridge for some means 1 of transportation overland to Concord, for
 we were that far on the road by which the British went and came on the day of
 the battle. The liverymen whom we ap- pealed to received us, some with com | assion, some with derislon, but in either mood convinced us that we could l not have hired a cat to attempt our con-
 veyance, much less a horse, or vehicle of 1 any description. It was a raw windy i day. very unlike the exceptionally hot | April day when the routed redcoats, pur- 1 sued by the Colonials. fled panting back to Boston with their tongues hanging
 out like dogs but we could not take due comfort in the vision of their discomfit- l ure we could almost envy them, for they had at least got to Concord. A swift pro- cession of coaches. carriages and buggies all going to Concord. passed us, inert and helpless, on the sidewalk in the peculiarly
 cold mud of North Cambridge. We be- gan to wonder if we might not stop one of them, and bribe 1t to take us.
 q felt keenly the shame of defeat, and the guilt of responsibility for our failure and when a gay party of students came toward us on the top of tally-ho. luxu- riantly empty inside. we felt that our chance had come, and our last chance
 He said that if would stop them and tell them who was. they would gladly, per- haps proudly, give us passage: contend | ed that if with his far vaster renown he would approach them, our success would he assured While we stood. lost in this | contest of civilities the coach passed us with gay notes blown from the horns of the students, and then Clemens started in pursuit, encouraged with shouts from the merry party. who could not imagine who was trying to run them down, to a rivalry in speed. The unequal match could end only In one way, and am glad cannot recall what he said when he came back to me. Since then have often wondered at the grief which would have
 wrung those blthe young hearts, if they
 could have known that they might have
 had the company of Mark Twain to Con cord that day and did not
 We hung about, unavailingly. in the
 bitter wind awhile longer, and then slow ly, very slowly, made our way home We wished to pass as much time as possible, In order to give probability to the deceit we intended to practice, for we could not
 bear to own ourselves baffled In our boasted wisdom of taking the train at Porters station. and had agreed to say that we had been to Concord and got back Even after coming home to my house we felt that our statement would
 be wanting in verisimilitude without fur
 ther delay, and we crept quietly into my library and made up roaring fire on tho