Evening star., 1928-12-28
Nv a star correspondent.
Written Exclusively for The Star and tn
North American Newspaper Alliance.

North American Newspaper Alliance.
KANSAS CITY, Mo-, December 28.-
| On a hill overlooking the Mississippi
River at Hannibal, where, as a girl, she
played with Mark Twain, the famous
Missouri novelist, Becky Thatcher" a
character who wove sentiment into
many of the humorist's books, was
buried yesterday. Mrs. Laura Frazer, the
Becky" in real life, died at the age
Of 81 years.
Mrs. Frazer, known to Mark Twain
as Laura Hawkins, probably knew more
of the early life of the novelist than
others of his characters who were
taken from real life. She was his child
hood sweetheart and schoolmate.
One must go back IS years. and to
the quiet Mississippi River town Of
Hannibal, to see the picture of Samuel
L. Clemens, later the TON Sawyer" Of
his famous novel, and his first sweet
heart, Laura Hawkins, later Mrs. Laura
Frazer and the Becky Thatcher" Of
the story. Laura then was years old
and Samuel was z, and they played
and roamed together until Samuel left
Hannibal, 10 years later.
This is how Mrs. Frazer herself
summed up the story Of those years In
an interview recently:
Recalls First Meeting.
do you recall when you first saw
Tom Sawyer?" she was asked.
"Oh, yes" she replied quickly. 81
remember that very well. The ClemenSes
lived on Hill street, about the middle OF
the block. where the old house still
and about half block away. I was
standing in my yard one day when Sam
Clemens came along and saw me. He
had a rose in his hand. He put this
between his toes and with a kind Of
handspring tossed the flower over the
fence to me. He was just showing OF.
was years old then and he was Z.
We became fast friends after that.
I'VE attended school together and
went to the same parties. When we
were little we played In the backyard
of the Clemens home almost every day
and we found plenty of amusement.
remember that there was an old brick
chimney in the backyard, built along
side the house. There were a lot of
loose bricks. We used to take these and
build houses with them.
Sam would carry the bricks to me
and would be the bricklayer."
One day while they were playing this
game, Sam let q brick drop on Laura
Hawkins finger. She began to cry. Sam
was always tender and kind and espe-
cially gentle in his treatment Of the
other sex, and when this catastrophe oc-
CURED he, too, set UP howl Of anguish
HE cried longer and louder than I
did," Becky Thatcher said.
Sam Clemens taught me to skate"
she added. HE carried my skates for
me, put them on and we skated together
hand in hand. We had great fun"
was he miSchievous when he was
boy?"
Mischievous ~ boy.
"I expect he was" Becky Thatcher
admitted, smiling. But he wasn't what
you would call bad boy at all. He was
Just like any other mischievous boy do
ing mischievous things. He was always
ready for fun. We were very fond OF
each other as children and had lots sof
good times together. AS we got to be
bigger we went to parties together and
played games, kissing games mostly"
"And did Sam Clemens choose Laura
Hawkins in these games2"
WELL" Becky said, HE wasn't q bit
bashfui, and he was in for all the fun
there was"
when you first read Tom Sawyer
did you know you were the heroine Of
the Story?" Mrs. Frazer was asked.
II rather thought was" she replied.
There were so many incidents that I
recognized. But was not positive Of it
until visited Storm Field in 1908. Mr..
Clemens told me on that visit that ne
had me in mind when he wrote the
book and that was the first time he
ever said so to me. There were, he said,
certain incidents In the book wherein
Laura Hawkins figured as Becky
Thatcher"
In the book, you remember, Tom
takes the blame for something Becky
did and Is whipped for It by the teacher.
Was that founded on q real incident?"
Eyes, that was one OF the events re-
ferred to by Mr.. Clemens, but do not
remember now just what It was did
that he took the blame for"
Recalls Twinkle In Eye.
When Mrs. Frazer was talking of
their childhood days In Hannibal, she
was asked what to her was the most
striking characteristic Of young Sam
Clemens.
"The way he talked" she said, her
eyes twinkling again with nferriment.
"It wasn't so much what he said rs
the way he said it. used to tell him
that the things he said wouldn't sound
funny II any one else said them. But
r r