The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-04-26

- SpoIidcIl III Europe ana
the East; next, an inStructional torch
bearer on the lecture platform: and.
nhallE. | became q scribbIer of books,
ana an lmmoyable fixture among the
other rocks Of New England"
This was in 1872. a year after he
mad married Miss Olivia /. L.angdon,
OF Eimira, n Y, who brought him an
independent fortune. At that time.
ms writings were in growing demand.
he had an assured income. his own
nome. and seemed indeed a fxture
But IN 1885 his popularity as an au-
thor and his acquaintance with the
mechanics of the publishing trade-
besides being a practical printer, he
had been part owner Of the Buffalo
express before his marriage-drew
him into the firm of c. l.. Webster
& Company, publishers. The firm
brought out the memoirs of General
Grant and paid his widow s350,00
but its prosperity was shortliyed. and
it failed with liabilities of $4,000
The failure had already sucked in
$4,000 of Mark Twain's cash, but
he determined also TO shoulder the
debts, and to pay them off undertook
in 1895 a lecture TIP around the
world.
Mark Twain was an inveterate
smoker and one Of the most leisureiy
men in the world. An old pressnan
who was once printers devil in an
office where Mark was editorial writer,
tells this anccdotc OF his habits Of
work: One of my duties WAS to
sweep the room where editors worked.
Every CAV Mark would give me a
nickel to get away from him. lie
would rather die in the dust than UNI
cross his less. One day he gave me
Il uickel to dot an L in his copy for
him. lie certainly did enjoy life, that
man did
Yet his c~asy-going dawdler acGuif-
ted himself Of a prodigious deal or
work in his life. and bound himself
voluntarily to pay off debts that he
could have discharged without hurt to
his coCd name by passing through
bankruptcy. He did not practice as he
preached. 1T don't make no differ
erce,' he had Huck Finn say whether
you do right or wrong, q person 5 con
science amt got no sense, and just
goes for him anyway. If | had q ya!-
Ter dog tina didn't know no more than
= persons conscience did, Id poison
him. It takes up more room than al
the rest Of q persons insides, and yet
amt no good nohOw.'
With Mark Twain's lecture TRIP
around the world began his Internal
tional celebrity, and his gradual rise
into a figure taken in some sense C
typify the American spirit. From hu'
| morist he became the kindly Du
mocking moralist and philosopher OF
Puddinhead Wilson. His literary out
nut became more occasional and
though written with more flnesse
more critical and less creative. Ills
public appearances grew more ire
Quent, his whimsical u~tterances gained
| greater currency, and a whole ltefa-
go n L>>I,t Ir1- tJCGx - I n
Yale gave him the degree Of NJ. \
and later OF L. II. d. in 1901; the n
versity Of Missouri, his native state
followed with IL. d. in 1907, ana II
1907 the University Of Oxford With
great made him Lit. -.
Indeed serious appreciation OF
! Mark Twain as an artist ana not q
mere jokesnsith began abroad. bu'
his true worth has long been fecos-
nized in this country. Mark wan
humor,'' said William Dean tIoWeils
will live forever He portraEs anc
interprets real types. not only VIII
exquisite appreciation and sympatnS
but with a force and truth OF uraWlHs
that makes them permanent. he hdt
the true humorists tendef heaLt d.io
deem seriousness. Like Bret 1iarte
with whom he worked. i the Srea'
West that bred him. his most auda
cionc sallies were ters6 and StefniN
crave. as a moralist, love OF human
itv hatred Of sham, and sense OF out
informed his most ironlc ana deoolfdli
~preacTments.
Four children were born to MARI
Twain. of whom two, q son ana {
dapghte died early. One other dausn
fer. lean. who had been an lnVall.
cor 1ifa was found dead in her bait
tub last fall in her horne at Redd1nS
Connecticut. Her tragic death grea'i,
saddoned her father, who declined II
health from tina moment a thirt
Clara, is Mrs. osslp oTaprllo
vitch. wife of the pianist, whom Sh'
married last year.
Mark Tvain's first book was IN
I,mnine Frog His best known II
This ountr was possibly innocent
Abroad. His surest title to tame l
generally believed to be Tom SaWSe
30 itc c~cmpanion volume, The Al
ventures of Huckleberry Finn. IN an
his books had a sale OF more tndl
100000 copies and We're tlail9i' -,
80 CT. Ia aoaS Others among III