The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1910-04-29

l64I without assuming office. Hi;
death marked the end of the youths
systematic education which had nre.
viously been Indifferent owing to
his uncertain health.
A brothers print shop became his
school. At intervals. shortly afte,
he was 2 years old, he edited {. @
little newspaper to the amazemen,
of the subscribers and to the discon;.
future of the elder brother whose
responsibility as publisher bore Tie
Drunt OF hostile complaints against
the personal journalism" of the III
venile.
the boy was fished out of the river
almost drowned, but the fond mothe,
out of her utter confidence in lis
future. would remark each time, It is
no matter. One who is born to be
hanged is certainly safe in the wa
ter"
Stricken with a sudden Fl. of i,.-
nv i'Sh "diiueiluSl, young Clemens
disappeared from Hauuibal in 1885,.
BY this time he was considered a
Tit itinerant typesetter. BY dint OF
hard work and the saving of money
Tor travelling expenses he saw .ne
| Worlds fair at New York and visited
all of the eastern cities, but was
finally compelled by financial stree
to seek cover near home.
At Keokuk he apprenticed himself
to Capt. BiXby to learn the infinite
mysteries of steamboat plotting.
Those were the days When the wha
men of the Mississippi packets wen e
accounted princes.
Their dress was at once the ;ov
and perplexity of the river towns
They carried guns and fought the:l
way by similar code of honor ND
and down the mystic river. famed for
its capricious habit of changing beds
over night. In tom Sawyer" HucE-
| leberry Finn" ''Puddin' Head VII
SON. and Life on the Mississippi :
which came from his pen in later
years, every incident of this vanish-
ing estate is dwelt upon lovingly.
In the midst of this phase of lis
career the civil war was declared,
and born Of slave-holding parents
the youth piloted his boat through
the blockades of the north and
joined the confederate army. This
army experience lasted two weeks
when he resigned, assigning tie
cause to "incapacity by fatigue
through persistent retrating."
i Returning to Hannibal he Joined
his brother, Grin, who had accented
the appointment of first secretary
of the new territory of Nevada. Sam
uel accepted the private secretaryship
which his brother explained was "a
good job with nothing to do and no
salary
AT Virginia City young Clemens
amused himself by writing letter,
to the Virginia City Terratorial en-
terprise. and was finally engaged as
Legislature correspondent at Carson
City To these letters he first SIGN
ed the name "Mark Twain" which
which he adopted from the old Miss
lssippi river term for two-fanthom
sounding
firing of his gerth as city editor of
the San Francisco Call, Mark TWAIN
penetrated the Sierras in search of
gold, but being inapt as prospectoc
he sailed for Hawaii as correspon.
dent for the Sacramento Union, arri.-
ing there just in time to report the
sensational burning of the clipper
Hornet. which was his first real
scoop"
After six months stay he return
ed to California and Joined the
ed to California and Joined the
Quaker City Excursion to the Holy
Land as representative of Alta, Cal
lfornia. On this, one of his first nrr,
sonally conducted world tours, Mark
Twain obtained the material which
found its way into "Jnnocenrs
Abroad his first real introduction
to the world of literature Another
fateful influence upon his life was
furnished by the Quaker City excur-
sion through his meeting Miss Olivia
l.. Langdon, at Elmira, N. Y. In
1870 they We're married, and through
out one of the most ideal marital re-
lations recorded in history four child.
rem were born to them. Langdon.
son, came in 1870, and died in 1872,
Susan Olivia, born in the latter year,
lived to be "a. old enough to develop
extraordinary mental powers aud
strength of character. Two other
daughters, Clara and Jean, were born
in 1874 and 1880 respectively. Jean
died of epilepsy in her bath, Dec
"a, 1909. and Clara is the wife OF
Ossip Gabrilowitsch, the Russian
pianist.