River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1910-04-28


pilot life to enable him to describe the
difficulties encountered in guiding a
boat along the great river in his Life
on the Mississippi River" which he
wrote many years later.
At the outbreak of the Civil war
steamboating came to a standstill, and
young Clemens enlisted in the Confed-
crate army. A soldiers life, however,
was not to his liking, and after a few
weeks service he Joined his brother
Orion, who had received an appoint
ment as secretary of the Territory of
Nevada. lie acted as secretary to his
brother, but as his duties were almost
nothing and his salary even less, he
spent most of his time in the mining
camps. His experiences in this sec.
ton are depicted in his "Roughing 1t. .
and 'The Jumping Frog"
First Literary Work.
In 1862 he began his first regular
literary work on the staff of the Vir-
ginfa City Enterprise. He wrote col
umn daily, dealing with the political
situation in the state, that attracted
wide attention. These articles he
signed with the nom de plume mark
Twain" which he had heard sung out
on the Mississippi steamers to let the
pilot know that the sounding showed
two fathoms of water.
He resigned his position at Virginia
City and went to California, where he
worked on the Sacramento Union; but
after a brief period, he left his desk
and went to Hawaii to write up the
sugar interests. His work was very
successful, and on his return to Cali
fornia he delivered a number of lee
lures, which melted him considerable
money.
In March of 1867, Twain published
his first book, ''The Jumping Frog of
quite stir i'm that part of the coun-
try, but only 1000 copies we're sold.
Tt attracted the attention, however, of
the editor of the Alta California, who
sent the author out as a newspaper
correspondent on a steamboat excur-
sion to southern Europe and the ORR
ent.
His letters were published from time
to time, and in 1869 the author re-
vised them and published them in
book form under the title of "The In
nocents Abroad This work made
mark Twain" famous, and compelled
his recognition as Americas foremost
humorist. In the first 16 months, 85,-
600 volumes were sold, and many
more subsequently, This was a record
sale for those days.
Marries Miss Langdon.
1t was on his trip In the Mediter-
ranean that Mark Twain met Olivia l..
LangdOn of Elmira, N. Y. They fell
in love with each other, and in 1870
were married. Their married life was
one Of perfect harmony and four chill
dren blessed their union.
Mr.. Clemens resided in Buffalo for
a year after his marriage, and was
nominally the editor of the Buffalo
Express. In 1871 he Joined the liter
airy colony at Hartford, Conn, where
he lived for a great many years, and
where he did the greater part of the
work that has made his name i'm
mortal
In 1872 "Roughing 1t" appeared, and
in the same year "The Gilded Age"
written in collaboration with Charles
Dudley Warner, was published. tom
Sawyer" came in 1876, and "Huckle-
berry Finn" nine years later. OF the
stories with an historical setting ''The
Prince and the Pauper." "a Connec-
ticut Yankee at the Court of King
Arthur" and Personal Recollections
of Joan of Arc" appeared in 1882,
1890 and 1894 respectively. In 1893