Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1912-01-04
HOW MARK TWAIN
STARTED AS PILOT
'Biographer Relates the Circum
stances of Authors Secur-
ing First River Job.
From Harper's Weekly.

The facts OF the story We're all OBJ
tanned from Captain Horace Bixby. who
taught Mark Twain, and in 1910 was
still at the wheel. In 1857, Mark Twain
went aboard the Paul Jones.
Horace Bixby, pilot of the Paul
Jones. then a man of 32-still living
191O) and at the wheel--was looking
out over the bow at the head of Island
No. 50, when he heard a slow. pleasant
voice say:
".Good morning
"Bixby was Il clean cut, direct, curt
eous man.
Good morning, sir he said, briskly,
without looking around.
A a rule. Mr.. BiNby did not care
for visitors in the pilot house. This
one presently came up and stood a
little behind him..
How would you like a young man
to learn the river?' ne said.
The pilot glanced Yer his shoulder
and saw a rather slender, loose limbed
fellow with a fair. girlish COM
plexion and q great tangle of auburn
hair.
81 wouldn't like 1t. Cub pilots are
more trouble than they're worth. A
| great deal more trouble than profit
"The applicant was not discouraged.
81 am a printer by trade he went
on in his easy, deliberate way. 1T
doesn't agree with me. thought I'd
go to South America.
"Bixby kept his eye on the river, but
a note of interest crept into his voice.
"'What makes you pull Your words
that way? c'pulling'' being the river
term for drawlng),' he asked.
THE young man had a seat on
the visitors bench.
You'll have to ask my mother he
said, more slowly than ever. She
pulls hers. too
Pilot BiXby woke up and laughed;
he had a keen sense of humor and the
n of the reply amused him.
Come over and stand by the side
of me- he said. What is your name?'
The applicant told him. and the two
stood looking at the sunlit water.
Did you ever do n s%teering?'
Bixby questioned.
81 have steered about everything
on the river but a steamboat. l guess
Very we'll; a the wheel and see
what you can do with a steamboat.
Keep her as she is-toward that lower
cottonwood snag.'
"'Bixby had a sore foot n was
glad Of a little relief. He sat down on
h cOurse BY and by he said:
h is just one way hat I would
take a young man to learn the river;
that Is, for money!
What do you charge?
"'Ffve hundred dollars, I to be
- AO VA NllblSNCIs
.In those days pilots were allowed
to carry a learner, or cub" board free.
Mr.. BiXby meant that he was to be at
no expense in port or for in%cidentals.
His terms looked rather discouraging.
81 haven't got $500 in money! said
Sam; Nv got a lot OF Tennessee land
worth 25 cents an acre: I'll give you
1000 acres of that
"Bixby dissented.
mo; I don want any unimproyed
real estate. / have too much already
1.-The young man reflected upon the
amount he could probably borrow Of
Pamela's husband without straining his
credit.
".Well, then, I'll give you 500 cash
and the rest when I earn it,
Something about this young man
had won Horace Bixby's heart. His
slow, pleasant speech, his unhurried.
quiet n with the wheel, his evil
lent sincerity of purposeHthese were
external. but beneath them the pilot
felt something Of that quality Of mind
or heart which later made the world
love Mark Twain. The terms proposed
were agreed upon. The deferred pay
ments were to begin when the pupil
had learned the river and was receiving
pilots wages.
Ct. Louis. Sam borrowed from
Mr.. Moffit the funds necessary to make
up his first payment, and 20 concluded
his contract.
Horace Bixby was n lightning pilot,
with a method of instruction as direct
and forcible as 1t was effective. He was
9 small man.. hot and quick firing,
though kindly. too. and gentle, when
ne had blown Off. After one rather
pyrotechnic misunderstanding between
them as to the manner Of acquiring
information, he said:
MY boy, you must get a little menu
orandum book. and every time I tell
you q thing put 1t down right away.
There's only one way to be a pilot and
,nat - 20 get this entire river by heart.
You have to know It like A B c.,
8 Sam Clemens got the little book.
presently It fairly bristled' with
the names of towns. points. bars. is.
lands. bends n reaches. but 1t made
his heart ache to think that he had only
half OF the river set down; for. as the
watches were four hours OF and four
he had slept.
There IL bat one way to account for
the fact that the man whom the world
knew as Mark Twain-dreamy. unprac-
teal. and Indifferent to details-eyer
persisted in acquiring knowledge like
that In the vast. h absolutely limit
less quantity necessary to Mississippi
plotting. 1t lies In the fact that he
loved the river In ito every mood and
aspect and detail. and not only the
river. put q steamboat: and still more.
perhaps. the freedom Of the pilots life
md Its prestige. Wherever he has
written OF the river-and in one way
or another he was always writing Of It
we feel the claim OF the old captivity
and that Il still holds him.,
When Samuel Clemens 1eears MARI
Albert Blgelow Pane. ID Harperss.