Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-11-29
nifty herd! But the other-who was The

MARK Twain" said he.
al seem to have heard the name some
WHERE said L; @but l don't think I've
ever met him, or at least l don't remember
it. New York's a pretty big place. you
know, and you can't be expected to know
everybody. What was his line?'
l am not sure, but | think the reverend
gentleman woke up at that point. At any
rate he gave me no clue as to Mark Twain S
identity He turned away, and excused him
self on the ground that he wanted to see if
the audience was "all in.
"Don't BOTHER" l called after him. at
will be all in when l get through with it.
But he never cracked a smile. l presume
there were refnements of slang with which
he was not familiar.
As to the others, however, find as I run
the noble army over in retrospect that
many have won their way into my affections,
and none are remembered save pleasantly.
Several of them stand out prominently for
acts of self-sacrificing kindness on my be-
half; notably one gentleman in Iowa who
drove me over distance of eighteen miles
after midnight through raging blizzard,
requiring the unremitting efforts of four
that l might catch a train back East and
be with my children at Christmas time,
and he was not a particularly emotional
man, or anything of a sentimentalist, at
that
shall never forget the spur of his answer
to remark made to him that night on our
way from the hotel to the lecture hall. The
snow was falling lightly when he arrived,
but the distance to the hall was SO short that
we walked it. As we came to the public
square l noticed that hitched to the white
railing about the county courthouse that
stood in the middle thereof were some thirty
or forty teams, harnessed to farm wagons of
various types, large and small. 1t was al
ready after eight o'clock, and l was SUR
prised to find the wagons there at so late
an hour.
"Your people work late, Mr.. Robb, said
l. as we Sauntered along.
@What do you mean by that?" he in
quired.
"Why," said I, "those wagons over there
Isn't it trife late for your farmers to be
in town."
"Oh," he said, "those wagons-why no,
Mr.. Bangs. Those wagons are here for
pleasure, not on business. They have
brought in good part of your audience.
Some of your people tonight have driven
in from as far as twenty miles to hear
YOU"
My heart sank "Great Scott" 1 ejacu-
lated. "Twenty miles, Ell? On night like
this-I-I hope I'll be good enough for
that"
II hope so!' was his laconic response.
The rejoinder was as the prick of a spur,
and by its aid, as well as with the assistance
of delightfully."- receptive gathering of lis
teners who had Travelled far to have good
time, and meant to have it anyhow,-a char
acteristic of your Westerner,-we pulled
through in good condition.
When all was over this noncommittal
Iowan bundled me up in borrowed fur
overcoat, and insisted on taking that all
night drive with me through the raging
storm that l might be sent safely and re-
joicing back to my youngsters awaiting my
coming on the Atlantic coast. 1t was shortly
after four in the morning when my train
drew out of the distant station, and the last
/ saw of my kindly host he was standing on
the railway platform, knee deep in the snow,
in the spotlight of a solitary white electric
lamp, hat in hand, and waving his farewells
and good wishes for me and mine.
l rejoice to say that he has remained my
friend over the eight or nine years that
have since elapsed, and if by any chance he
shall read these lines l trust they will serve
to prove to him that my affection, as fire.
quently expressed in my letters to him, is
4 IL.