The Coolidge examiner., 1935-02-22
5t,theLacs in GLo1lda, ITO

soon attracting wide attention on the Pacific
coast Then be wrote an article and sent II TO
an eastern magazine. Watching .anxiousy TO see
II II was printed he was nightly dlsgusted when
II appeared over the signature Of Mike Swain"
Ills handwriting had been poor 10 the sigma
ture that the editor had translated MARX
Twain thus
But an omen OF his future was given and n
landmark ~ literary history was established q
little later when he visited the San Francisco
mint and there told young writer named Bret
Harte q story lin a slow rather satirical drawl
which was Irresistible so says Harte That
story. which appeared later In a New York news
paper vas The Celebrated Jumping Frog OF
Calaveras County"
While In san Francisco Twain had a chance 20
20 10 Hawaii. then known as the Sandwich Is
lands and be went. sending back such vivid dis
patches that the world for the first time realized
that a ncw literary genius had appeared above
the western horizon. soon Afterwards he came
back 10 visit his mother In keokuk and. later
going on TO the scene OF his boyhood days in
Hannibal. he was made 10 realize that for once
the old saying about prophet being without
honor In his own country vas far from true.
Hearing of an excursion to the Holy Land.
Mark decided 10 20 II he could do II as the
correspondent for some paper. The Alta Cali
fornla Of san Francisco vas the lucky journal
that secured bis service aud SIS publication OF
his travel sketches ihet with instantaneous sue
cess
Later his stories OF this trip were published
in book form and. according To one biographer.
a short time later statesmen might have been
seen Offering Il book with the recommendation
that IL was as funny as Arremus Ward. II was.
bul IL was more serious too. The Innocents
Abroad was akin to The Jumping Frog In sol.
emn sincerity of manner. but In this book, the
quick eyed. blunt.speakIng westerner had a sub
ject. No had ever written about Europe III
this way. No one had inquired OF the stunned
guide: rs Columbus deadT Or wept at the tomb
of Adam. Mark TWAIN had donned his suit OF
motley. From DOW on he turned out page after
page OF this nonsense. Thus . the beginning
OF his long career as prominent Journalist. lee
turer. humorisI and. IL may be added, philoso-
pher. . i. oxford conferred upon him the degree
OF ID. c. L.-strange largesse to the boy who
had thrilled TO St-e-a- -m.boat a-comin'V and
whose permanent ambition had been TO stride
It's deck as captain"
Another result OF the European tour which
produced '1nnocents Abroad" was that it won
him a wife as well as literary fame. On the trip
Clemens met Charles J. Langdon OF Elmlra. \
y who showed him picture OF his sister. Olivia
Iangdon. Twain promptly fell In love with the
pictured face. Later he eagerly accepted an In
yitation to visit the Langdon home and the flame
OF romance ignIted by the picture burned higher
when he looked upon the girl herself.
Love had passed Mark Twain by during his
bachelorhood and there was but one romance In
his whole life-that with Olivia Langdon. They
were married in 1870 and went 10 Hartford
Conn., 10 live. On the morning OF his wedding
Twain received check for $4,000 from his pub
shers-a promising beginning for a young mar
ried couple. After his marriage he began tc
write steadily. Tom Sawyer" was published
when he was forty. and seven years later
~Huckleberry Finn" appeared. Both were inan
cially very successful. as were all OF his later
books.
His career ended April 81, 1910. and when the
word was flashed from Reddlng Conn, that Sam
Clemens had left this id human race" to
struggle along as best 1t could without having
his flashing wit to help ii bear its burden, mil
lions OF its members felt as did Robert Under
wood Johnson-''The world has seemed TO me
very strange without Mark Twain in II" That Is
Why the stories of the various centennial cele
5rations which viii be held this year will be
news that is certain TO win a place in the -al
umns OF our newspapers, even In these times
when history making events are taking place al
most daily. For ii is somehow reassuring to fee
hat, although Mark Twain Is gone from oul
midst, something of him still remains with US
cannot so easily forget a man who makes II
.asy for US to laugh.
eby Western Nswsoapsr UAien-