The Columbus journal. (Columbus, Neb.) 1874-1911, 1911-01-04

OO0foe OF tfuetee6 IoI any Ieu8to Oh tI00.
In truth. the trade Of college president
seems . perfect training for politics.
That more of them haven't graduated
into craftsmanship must be due to the
law Of supply and demand. Good col.
leee presidents are harder to find than
good Statesmen State Journal.
MARK TWAIN'S PLAYGROUND.
Of the many cities in the United
States which have called MARK
Twain" their own, none feels towards
him as great q depth of tenderness u
Hannibal. The citizens of this river.
side town knew Sam-the old boys
over there never call him Mark Twain
As youngster. They saw all his frail'
ties and they loved him none the lesa
for them. The only thing they have
against the great humorist is that be
did not return to them in his declining
years, and sit with them on the river
front aud swap yarns of the long ago.
Mark Twain, soon after his folks 10.
Gated in Hannibal, was sent to the log
schoolhouse in the park. DR.. Buck
Brown, a much older man than Sam
was. who is yet living in the enjoyment
Of good health. attended that log
schoolhouse and was in some of Sans
classes. He was asked if he had de.
tected any latent signs ofgenius in his
schoolmate. The old gentleman scrat-
ched his head and studied the floor.
81 have often thought Of that" he
remarked slowly, and it seems like l
ought to be able to say yes, but the
cold truth is that l don't remember
that Sam ever gave the slightest hint
of a career that would set the world on
fire. Why, he wasn't even bad. He
says he was, l know, but l never caught
him at any tricks. We did have .
bright lad in our school then, Sam
Raymond by name, and whenever the
teacher wanted to show off to visitors
she would always put Sam up at the
board to work examples or make him
recite The Boy Stood on the Burn
ing Deck. The visitors always clap
ped their hands and said that one of
these days Raymond would certainly
land in congress or some place. l
think he became tramp printer, and
that's the last ever heard of him"
Hannibal and the adjacent country
seems to have been constructed by the
master architect in accordance with
the wishes of youthful spirits. There
are at least one hundred ways to get
killed within quarter ola mile Of the
square. There is Lovers Leap, tower
ing one hundred feet or so above the
railroad yards, offering constant and
almost irresistible temptation to jump
of: 1t is no trick at all to get lost in
Tom and Becky's Cave" to wander
about in the gloomy avenues for miles
and miles and then to die gloriously of
starvation. The river is alluring and
treacherous. There are delightful
whirlpools and eddies, where the
swimmer sinks To rise no more. Be-
hind the southern bluffs are admirable
jungles and hiding places for pirates
and outlaws Of all descriptions. Sam
himself was the captain Of the several
bandit gangs operating in the neigh
borhood. and he frankly put the history
"f them in his hooks.
When Mark Twain rediscovere,l his
old playground, thirty years after he
had left it. he had become famous as
n writer and all Of the old boys turned
out to i" him honor. They proudly
showed him the immense hotel on
Broadway. which they named after
him. At that time it was the most i'm.
posing building in Hannibal. The
humorist looked at it thoughtfally,
and then studied the surroundings.
They had to gil up Bear Greek to
build this house here" he said; Its q
great pity; that used to be one of the
best fishing places in these parts"
On that occasion the humorist told
this story of an incident that occurred
just east of the big hotel.
bad as they have made me out
since left here, l want to say that
never stole anything. no matter how
many scraps l got into. Iexpect the
reason you folks have been slandering
my memory during my absence is be-
cause Of this part of my boyhood his
tory. One day a crowd of US boys
wanted IN On dnwn IN tho ;eI.nI IN v,l.v