The Washington herald., 1910-07-25
Il BAILMsl.:z~&
BgDK REVIEW
MARK TWAIN's SPEECHES.

Mark Twains speeches were perhaps
the flower Of the after-dinner species
The reader. no matter how much he has
suffered from wretched examples Of post.
prandial oratory. can imagine himself
beaming joyfully under the speeches re-
corded e this volume. Genial and IRE
sponsible they were set in the very key
Of the after-dinner mood. superhcially
they We're a little grave. leaving the hear.
er TO discover their laughableness. They
eschewed the anecdote. And, thank Cod
they were short.
One figures the tail. thin. whitehead
shape OF our great national humorist un-
folding itself vertically above the festal
board and sOlemnly announcing a topic
point from which to start but to which
never 10 return-then a burst OF gay
sweet pershage. surprising every one
Into sudden laughter; and the speaker
has sat down.
Even In his more formal addresses from
the platform. Mark Twain adhered tc
this method. with results. so far as one
can Judge from this book. that make Mr.
Howells remark in his preface seem un-
necessarily cautious: Il never heard
Clemens speak when I thought he quite
failed" His other assertion Is more to
the mark: Whoever else was in the run
ming, he Mark Twain came in ahead. d
When he had been especially shocking
he was not above placating his hearers
with a penultimate: But seriously now
my friends" AT a dinner OF the New
England Society. given in honor of the
landing OF the Pilgrims, he appears e
have turned in and roasted" the Pill
grim Fathers for thelr quite authentic
crimes Of ignorance and intolerance; but
at the end he made 1t right with his staic
New England hearers By saying: How.
ever. chaff and nonsense aside, I honor
and appreciate your Pilgrim stock as
much as you do yourselves. perhaps"
Whenever he had decided opinions
on a subject he left his hearers in nc
doubt as 10 what .hey were; first, he
indicated them by satire, and then he
pumped them out in commonplace but
unmistakable English. He was in favor
1888 -c- NDAANAAf anu dAAGA AO4CA-
Ing on a roman candle Of Jest in con-
nection with the subject, he drew a
long breath and said: For twenty five
years I've been a wOman's rights man
II all the women IN this town
had a vote to-day they would elect a
mayor at the next election. and they
would rise IN their might and change
the nnwfrrf % r-F
ing here" He meant that He wasn't
going to have the women think that
he held their cause lightly, and he was
not afraid 10 end on a platitude IN
which he honestly believed.
Somebody once analysed Mark Twain,
humor and found Il 20 consist mainly OIL
exaggeraton. The exaggeration is obvi
Gus in his books; It is present. thouEs
less obvious. in his speeches. he turned
the trick In a subtler way in talk thar
in print I am something OF a poet
When the great poet laureate Tennysor
died, and I found that the place was
open, tried to get it-but I did not get
Il" This is finer drawn than the humor
Of "Jnnocents Abroad"
There are over 100 speeches in this
book. and they range IN theme from the
horrors OF the German language 10 dress
reform and copyright. from obituary
poetry TO cats and candy The volume
exhibits our lovable lost humorist in a
new and wholly delightful way. II formf
really an important addition 10 the list
OF his books. (New York: Harper
Brothers)