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diff --git a/old/files/relative.htm b/old/files/relative.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b49c1de --- /dev/null +++ b/old/files/relative.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4977 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <title> + MARK TWAIN, by Archibald Henderson + </title> + <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd7; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> + <h2> + MARK TWAIN, by Archibald Henderson + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mark Twain, by Archibald Henderson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net + + +Title: Mark Twain + +Author: Archibald Henderson + +Release Date: July 14, 2004 [EBook #6873] +Last Updated: October 31, 2012 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARK TWAIN *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="titlepage.jpg (62K)" src="images/titlepage.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + > <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="frontpiece.jpg (54K)" src="images/frontpiece.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + > <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + MARK TWAIN + </h1> + <p> + <br /><br /> <br /><br /> + </p> + <h3> + By Archibald Henderson<br /><br /> With Photographs by Alvin Langdon Coburn + </h3> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <table summary=""> + <tr> + <td> + <i> "Haply—who knows?—somewhere<br /> In Avalon, Isle of + Dreams,<br /> In vast contentment at last,<br /> With every grief done + away,<br /> While Chaucer and Shakespeare wait,<br /> And Moliere hangs + on his words,<br /> And Cervantes not far off<br /> Listens and smiles + apart,<br /> With that incomparable drawl<br /> He is jesting with + Dagonet now."</i> + <p> + BLISS CARMAN. + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <h2> + PREFACE + </h2> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p> + There are to-day, all over the world, men and women and children who owe a + debt of almost personal gratitude to Mark Twain for the joy of his humour + and the charm of his personality. In the future they will, I doubt not, + seek and welcome opportunities to acknowledge that debt. My own experience + with the works of Mark Twain is in no sense exceptional. From the days of + early childhood, my feeling for Mark Twain, derived first solely from + acquaintance with his works, was a feeling of warm and, as it were, + personal affection. With limitless interest and curiosity, I used to hear + the Uncle Remus stories from the lips of one of our old family servants, a + negro to whom I was devotedly attached. These stories were narrated to me + in the negro dialect with such perfect naturalness and racial gusto that I + often secretly wondered if the narrator were not Uncle Remus himself in + disguise. I was thus cunningly prepared, "coached" shall I say, for the + maturer charms of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. With Uncle Remus and + Mark Twain as my preceptors, I spent the days of my youth—excitedly + alternating, spell-bound, between the inexhaustible attractions of Tom, + Huck, Jim, Indian Joe, the Duke and the Dauphin, and their compeers on the + one hand; and Brer Rabbit, Sis Cow, and a thousand other fantastic, but + very real creatures of the animal kingdom on the other. + </p> + <p> + I felt a strange sort of camaraderie, of personal attachment, for Mark + Twain during all the years before I came into personal contact with him. + It was the dictum of a distinguished English critic, to the effect that + Huckleberry Finn was a literary masterpiece, which first awoke in me, then + a mere boy, a genuine respect for literary criticism; for here was + expressed an opinion which I had long secretly cherished, but somehow + never dared to utter! + </p> + <p> + My personal association with Mr. Clemens, comparatively brief though it + was—an ocean voyage, meetings here and there, a brief stay as a + guest in his home—gave me at last the justification for paying the + debt which, with the years, had grown greater and more insistently + obligatory. I felt both relief and pleasure when he authorized me to pay + that debt by writing an interpretation of his life and work. + </p> + <p> + It is an appreciation originating in the heart of one who loved Mark + Twain's works for a generation before he ever met Samuel L. Clemens. It is + an interpretation springing from the conviction that Mark Twain was a + great American who comprehensively incorporated and realized his own + country and his own age as no American has so completely done before him; + a supreme humorist who ever wore the panache of youth, gaiety, and + bonhomie; a brilliant wit who never dipped his darts in the poison of + cynicism, misanthropy, or despair; constitutionally a reformer who, + heedless of self, boldly struck for the right as he saw it; a philosopher + and sociologist who intuitively understood the secret springs of human + motive and impulse, and empirically demonstrated that intuition in works + which crossed frontiers, survived translation, and went straight to the + human, beneath the disguise of the racial; a genius who lived to know and + enjoy the happy rewards of his own fame; a great man who saw life steadily + and saw it whole. + </p> + <p> + ARCHIBALD HENDERSON. + </p> + <p> + LONDON, August 5, 1910. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + NOTE.—The author esteems himself in the highest degree fortunate in + having the co-operation of Mr. Alvin Langdon Coburn. All the + illustrations, both autochrome and monochrome, are the work of Mr. Coburn. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <h2> + CONTENTS + </h2> + <table summary=""> + <tr> + <td> + I. + </td> + <td> + <a href="#introductory">INTRODUCTORY</a><br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + II. + </td> + <td> + <a href="#man">THE MAN</a><br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + III. + </td> + <td> + <a href="#humorist">THE HUMORIST</a><br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + IV. + </td> + <td> + <a href="#genius">WORLD-FAMED GENIUS</a><br /> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + V. + </td> + <td> + <a href="#philosopher">PHILOSOPHER, MORALIST, SOCIOLOGIST</a> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p> + <i> "I've a theory that every author, while living, has a projection + of himself, a sort of eidolon, that goes about in near and distant + places, and makes friends and enemies for him out of folk who never + knew him in the flesh. When the author dies, this phantom fades away, + not caring to continue business at the old stand. Then the dead writer + lives only in the impression made by his literature; this impression + may grow sharper or fainter according to the fashions and new + conditions of the time."</i> + </p> + <p> + Letter of THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH to WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS of date + December 23, 1901. + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="pp003.jpg (29K)" src="images/pp003.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + > <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <h2> + <a name="introductory" id="introductory">INTRODUCTORY</a> + </h2> + <p> + In the past, the attitude of the average American toward Mark Twain has + been most characteristically expressed in a sort of complacent and + chuckling satisfaction. There was pride in the thought that America, the + colossal, had produced a superman of humour. The national vanity was + touched when the nations of the world rocked and roared with laughter over + the comically primitive barbarisms of the funny man from the "Wild and + Woolly West." Mark Twain was lightly accepted as an international comedian + magically evoking the laughter of a world. It would be a mis-statement to + affirm that the works of Mark Twain were reckoned as falling within the + charmed circle of "Literature." They were not reckoned in connexion with + literature at all. + </p> + <p> + The fingers of one hand number those who realized in Mark Twain one of the + supreme geniuses of our age. Even in the event of his death, when the + flood-gates of critical chatter have been thrown emptily wide, there is + room for grave doubt whether a realization of the unique and incomparable + position of Mark Twain in the republic of letters has fully dawned upon + the American consciousness. The literatures of England and Europe do not + posit an aesthetic, embracing work of such primitive crudity and + apparently unstudied frankness as the work of Mark Twain. It is for + American criticism to posit this more comprehensive aesthetic, and to + demonstrate that the work of Mark Twain is the work of a great artist. It + would be absurd to maintain that Mark Twain's appeal to posterity depends + upon the dicta of literary criticism. It would be absurd to deny that upon + America rests the task of demonstrating, to a world willing enough to be + convinced, that Mark Twain is one of the supreme and imperishable glories + of American literature. + </p> + <p> + At any given moment in history, the number of living writers to whom can + be attributed what a Frenchman would call <i>mondial ecla</i> is + surprisingly few. It was not so many years ago that Rudyard Kipling, with + vigorous, imperialistic note, won for himself the unquestioned title of + militant spokesman for the Anglo-Saxon race. That fame has suffered + eclipse in the passage of time. To-day, Bernard Shaw has a fame more + world-wide than that of any other literary figure in the British Isles. + His dramas are played from Madrid to Helsingfors, from Buda-Pesth to + Stockholm, from Vienna to St Petersburg, from Berlin to Buenos Ayres. + Recently Zola, Ibsen and, Tolstoy constituted the literary hierarchy of + the world—according to popular verdict. Since Zola and Ibsen have + passed from the scene, Tolstoy experts unchallenged the profoundest + influence upon the thought and consciousness of the world. This is an + influence streaming less from his works than from his life, less from his + intellect than from his conscience. The <i>literati</i> bemoan the artist + of an epoch prior to 'What is Art?' The whole world pays tribute to the + passionate integrity of Tolstoy's moral aspiration. + </p> + <blockquote> + <p> + [While this book was going through the press, news has come of the + death of Tolstoy.] + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + Until yesterday, Mark Twain vied with Tolstoy for the place of most widely + read and most genuinely popular author in the world. In a sense not easily + misunderstood, Mark Twain has a place in the minds and hearts of the great + mass of humanity throughout the civilized world, which, if measured in + terms of affection, sympathy, and spontaneous enjoyment, is without a + parallel. The robust nationalism of Kipling challenges the defiant + opposition of foreigners; whilst his reportorial realism offends many an + inviolable canon of European taste. With all his incandescent wit and + comic irony, Bernard Shaw makes his most vivid impression upon the upper + strata of society; his legendary character, moreover, is perpetually + standing in the light of the serious reformer. Tolstoy's works are + Russia's greatest literary contribution to posterity; and yet his literary + fame has suffered through his extravagant ideals, the magnificent futility + of his inconsistency, and the almost maniacal mysticism of his + unrealizable hopes. + </p> + <p> + If Mark Twain makes a more deeply, more comprehensively popular appeal, it + is doubtless because he makes use of the universal solvent of humour. That + eidolon of which Aldrich speaks—a compact of good humour, robust + sanity, and large-minded humanity—has diligently "gone about in near + and distant places," everywhere making warm and lifelong friends of folk + of all nationalities who have never known Mark Twain in the flesh. The + French have a way of speaking of an author's public as if it were a select + and limited segment of the conglomerate of readers; and in a country like + France, with its innumerable literary cliques and sects, there is some + reason for the phraseology. In reality, the author appeals to many + different "publics" or classes of readers—in proportion to the + many-sidedness of the reader's human interests and the catholicity of his + tastes. Mark Twain first opens the eyes of many a boy to the power of the + great human book, warm with the actuality of experience and the life-blood + of the heart. By humorous inversion, he points the sound moral and + vivifies the right principle for the youth to whom the dawning + consciousness of morality is the first real psychological discovery of + life. With hearty laughter at the stupid irritations of self-conscious + virtue, with ironic scorn for the frigid Puritanism of mechanical + morality, Mark Twain enraptures that innumerable company of the + sophisticated who have chafed under the omnipresent influence of a "good + example" and stilled the painless pangs of an unruly conscience. With + splendid satire for the base, with shrill condemnation for tyranny and + oppression, with the scorpion-lash for the equivocal, the fraudulent, and + the insincere, Mark Twain inspires the growing body of reformers in all + countries who would remedy the ills of democratic government with the + knife of publicity. The wisdom of human experience and of sagacious + tolerance informing his books for the young, provokes the question whether + these books are not more apposite to the tastes of experienced age than to + the fancies of callow youth. The navvy may rejoice in 'Life on the + Mississippi'. Youth and age may share without jealousy the abounding fun + and primitive naturalness of 'Huckleberry Finn'. True lovers of adventure + may revel in the masterly narrative of 'Tom Sawyer'. The artist may bestow + his critical meed of approval upon the beauty of 'Joan of Arc'. The + moralist may heartily validate the ethical lesson of 'The Man that + Corrupted Hadleyburg'. Anyone may pay the tribute of irresistible + explosions of laughter to the horse-play of 'Roughing It', the colossal + extravagance of 'The Innocents Abroad', the irreverence and iconoclasm of + that Yankee intruder into the hallowed confines of Camelot. All may + rejoice in the spontaneity and refreshment of truth; spiritually + co-operate in forthright condemnation of fraud, peculation, and sham; and + breathe gladly the fresh and bracing air of sincerity, sanity, and wisdom. + The stevedore on the dock, the motor-man on the street car, the newsboy on + the street, the riverman on the Mississippi—all speak with exuberant + affection in memory of that quaint figure in his white suit, his ruddy + face shining through wreaths of tobacco smoke and surmounted by a great + halo of silvery hair. In one day, as Mark Twain was fond of relating, an + emperor and a <i>portie</i> vied with each other in tributes of admiration + and esteem for this man and his works. It is Mark Twain's imperishable + glory, not simply that his name is the most familiar of that of any author + who has lived in our own times, but that it is remembered with infinite + irrepressible zest. + </p> + <p> + "We think of Mark Twain not as other celebrities, but as the man whom we + knew and loved," said Dr. Van Dyke in his Memorial Address. "We remember + the realities which made his life worth while, the strong and natural + manhood that was in him, the depth and tenderness of his affections, his + laughing enmity to all shams and pretences, his long and faithful witness + to honesty and fair-dealing. + </p> + <p> + "Those who know the story of Mark Twain's career know how bravely he faced + hardships and misfortune, how loyally he toiled for years to meet a debt + of conscience, following the injunction of the New Testament, to provide + not only things honest, but things 'honourable in the sight of all men.' + </p> + <p> + "Those who know the story of his friendships and his family life know that + he was one who loved much and faithfully, even unto the end. Those who + know his work as a whole know that under the lambent and irrepressible + humour which was his gift, there was a foundation of serious thoughts and + noble affections and desires. + </p> + <p> + "Nothing could be more false than to suppose that the presence of humour + means the absence of depth and earnestness. There are elements of the + unreal, the absurd, the ridiculous in this strange, incongruous world + which must seem humorous even to the highest mind. Of these the Bible + says: 'He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Almighty shall hold + them in derision.' But the mark of this higher humour is that it does not + laugh at the weak, the helpless, the true, the innocent; only at the + false, the pretentious, the vain, the hypocritical. + </p> + <p> + "Mark Twain himself would be the first to smile at the claim that his + humour was infallible; but we say without doubt that he used his gift, not + for evil, but for good. The atmosphere of his work is clean and wholesome. + He made fun without hatred. He laughed many of the world's false claimants + out of court, and entangled many of the world's false witnesses in the net + of ridicule. In his best books and stories, coloured with his own + experiences, he touched the absurdities of life with penetrating, but not + unkindly, mockery, and made us feel somehow the infinite pathos of life's + realities. No one can say that he ever failed to reverence the purity, the + frank, joyful, genuine nature of the little children, of whom Christ said, + 'Of such is the kingdom of heaven.' + </p> + <p> + "Now he is gone, and our thoughts of him are tender, grateful, proud. We + are glad of his friendship; glad that he expressed so richly one of the + great elements in the temperament of America; glad that he has left such + an honourable record as a man of letters; and glad also for his own sake + that after many and deep sorrows he is at peace and, we trust, happy in + the fuller light. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + "'Rest after toil, port after stormy seas,<br /> Death after life doth + greatly please."' + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p> + <i> "'We cannot live always on the cold heights of the sublime—the + thin air stifles'—I have forgotten who said it. We cannot flush + always with the high ardour of the signers of the Declaration, nor + remain at the level of the address at Gettysburg, nor cry continually, + 'O Beautiful! My country!' Yet, in the long dull interspans between + these sacred moments we need some one to remind us that we are a + nation. For in the dead vast and middle of the years insidious foes + are lurking—anaemic refinements, cosmopolitan decadencies, the + egotistic and usurping pride of great cities, the cold sickening of + the heart at the reiterated exposures of giant fraud and corruption. + When our countrymen migrate because we have no kings or castles, we + are thankful to any one who will tell us what we can count on. When + they complain that our soil lacks the humanity essential to great + literature, we are grateful even for the firing of a national joke + heard round the world. And when Mark Twain, robust, big-hearted, + gifted with the divine power to use words, makes us all laugh + together, builds true romances with prairie fire and Western clay, and + shows us that we are at one on all the main points, we feel that he + has been appointed by Providence to see to it that the precious + ordinary self of the Republic shall suffer no harm."</i> + </p> + <p> + STUART P. SHERMAN: "MARK TWAIN." The Nation, May 12, 1910. + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="pp015.jpg (53K)" src="images/pp015.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + > <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + <a name="man" id="man">THE MAN</a> + </h1> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + American literature, indeed I might say American life, can exhibit no + example of supreme success from the humblest beginnings, so signal as the + example of Mark Twain. Lincoln became President of the United States, as + did Grant and Johnson. But assassination began for Lincoln an apotheosis + which has gone to deplorable lengths of hero-worship and adulation. Grant + was one of the great failures in American public life; and Johnson, + brilliant but unstable, narrowly escaped impeachment. Mark Twain enjoys + the unique distinction of exhibiting a progressive development, a + deepening and broadening of forces, a ripening of intellectual and + spiritual powers from the beginning to the end of his career. From the + standpoint of the man of letters, the evolution of Mark Twain from a + journeyman printer to a great author, from a merry-andrew to a + world-humorist, from a river-pilot to a trustworthy navigator on the vast + and uncharted seas of human experience, may be taken as symbolic of the + romance of American life. + </p> + <p> + With a sort of mock—pride, Clemens referred at times to the + ancestral glories of his house—the judge who condemned Charles I., + and all those other notables, of Dutch and English breeds, who shed lustre + upon the name of Clemens. Yet he claimed that he had not examined into + these traditions, chiefly because "I was so busy polishing up this end of + the line and trying to make it showy." His mother, a "Lambton with a p," + of Kentucky, married John Marshall Clemens, of Virginia, a man of + determination and force, in Lexington, in 1823; but neither was endowed + with means, and their life was of the simplest. From Jamestown, in the + mountain solitudes of East Tennessee, they removed in 1829, much as Judge + Hawkins is said to have done in 'The Gilded Age', settling at Florida, + Missouri. Here was born, on November 30, 1835, a few months after their + arrival, Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Long afterwards he stated that he had + increased by one per cent. the population of this village of one hundred + inhabitants, thereby doing more than the best man in history had ever done + for any other town. + </p> + <p> + Although weak and sickly, the child did not suffer from the hard life, and + survived two other children, Margaret and Benjamin. At different times his + life was in danger, the local doctor always coming to the rescue. He once + asked his mother, after she had reached old age, if she hadn't been uneasy + about him. She admitted she had been uneasy about him the whole time. But + when he inquired further if she was afraid he would not live, she answered + after a reflective pause—as if thinking out the facts—that she + had been afraid he would! + </p> + <p> + His sister Pamela afterwards became the mother of Samuel E. Moffett, the + writer; and his brother Orion, ten years his senior, afterwards was + intimately associated with him in life and found a place in his writings. + </p> + <p> + In 1839, John Marshall Clemens tired of the unpromising life of Florida + and removed to Hannibal, Missouri. He was a stern, unbending man, a lawyer + by profession, a merchant by vocation; after his removal to Hannibal he + became a Justice of the Peace, an office he filled with all the dignity of + a local autocrat. His forum was a "dingy" office, furnished with "a + dry-goods box, three or four rude stools, and a puncheon bench." The + solemnity of his manner in administering the law won for him, among his + neighbours, the title of Judge. + </p> + <p> + One need but recall the scenes in which Tom Sawyer was born and bred to + realize in its actuality the model from which these scenes were drawn. + "Sam was always a good-hearted boy," his mother once remarked, "but he was + a very wild and mischievous one, and, do what we would, we could never + make him go to school. This used to trouble his father and me dreadfully, + and we were convinced that he would never amount to as much in the world + as his brothers, because he was not near so steady and sober-minded as + they were." At school, he "excelled only in spelling"; outside of school + he was the prototype of his own Huckleberry Finn, mischievous and + prankish, playing truant whenever the opportunity afforded. "Often his + father would start him off to school," his mother once said, "and in a + little while would follow him to ascertain his whereabouts. There was a + large stump on the way to the schoolhouse, and Sam would take his position + behind that, and as his father went past would gradually circle around it + in such a way as to keep out of sight. Finally, his father and the teacher + both said it was of no use to try to teach Sam anything, because he was + determined not to learn. But I never gave up. He was always a great boy + for history, and could never get tired of that kind of reading; but he + hadn't any use for schoolhouses and text books." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Howells has aptly described Hannibal as a "loafing, out-at-elbows, + down-at-the-heels, slaveholding Mississippi river town." Young Clemens + accepted the institution of slavery as a matter of course, for his father + was a slave-owner; and his mother's wedding dowry consisted in part of two + or three slaves. Judge Clemens was a very austere man; like so many other + slave-holders, he silently abhorred slavery. To his children, especially + to Sam, as well as to his slaves, he was, however, a stern taskmaster. + Mark Twain has described the terms on which he and his father lived as a + sort of armed neutrality. If at times this neutrality was broken and + suffering ensued, the breaking and the suffering were always divided up + with strict impartiality between them—his father doing the breaking + and he the suffering! Sam claimed to be a very backward, cautious, + unadventurous boy. But this modest estimate is subject to modification + when we learn that once he jumped off a two-story stable; another time he + gave an elephant a plug of tobacco, and retired without waiting for an + answer; and still another time he pretended to be talking in his sleep, + and got off a portion of every original conundrum in hearing of his + father. He begs the curious not to pry into the result—as it was of + no consequence to any one but himself! + </p> + <p> + The cave, so graphically described in Tom Sawyer, was one of Sam's + favourite haunts; and his first sweetheart was Laura Hawkins, the Becky + Thatcher of Tom's admiration. "Sam was always up to some mischief," this + lady once remarked in later life, when in reminiscential mood. "We + attended Sunday-school together, and they had a system of rewards for + saying verses after committing them to memory. A blue ticket was given for + ten verses, a red ticket for ten blue, a yellow for ten red, and a Bible + for ten yellow tickets. If you will count up, you will see it makes a + Bible for ten thousand verses. Sam came up one day with his ten yellow + tickets, and everybody knew he had not said a verse, but had just got them + by trading with the boys. But he received his Bible with all the serious + air of a diligent student!" + </p> + <p> + Mark Twain, save when in humorous vein, has never pretended that his + success was due to any marvellous qualities of mind, any indefatigable + industry, any innate energy and perseverance. I have good reason to recall + his favourite theory, which he was fond of expounding, to the effect that + circumstance is man's master. He likened circumstance to the attraction of + gravity; and declared that while it is man's privilege to argue with + circumstance, as it is the honourable privilege of the falling body to + argue with the attraction of gravity, it does no good: man has to obey. + Circumstance has as its working partner man's temperament, his natural + disposition. Temperament is not the creation of man, but an innate + quality; over it he has no authority; for its acts he cannot be held + responsible. It cannot be permanently changed or even modified. No power + can keep it modified. For it is inherent and enduring, as unchanging as + the lines upon the thumb or the conformation of the skull. Throughout his + life, circumstance seemed like a watchful spirit, switching his + temperament into those channels of experience and development leading + unerringly to the career of the author. + </p> + <p> + The death of Judge Clemens was the first link in the long chain of + circumstance—for his son was at once taken from school and + apprenticed to the editor and proprietor of the Hannibal Courier. He was + allowed the usual emolument of the office apprentice, "board and clothes, + but no money"; and even at that, though the board was paid, the clothes + rarely materialized. Several weeks later his brother Orion returned to + Hannibal, and in 1850 brought out a little paper called the 'Hannibal + Journal.' He took Sam out of the Courier office and engaged him for the + Journal at $3.50 a week—though he was never able to pay a cent of + the wages. One of Mark's fellow-townsmen once confessed: "Yes, I knew him + when he was a boy. He was a printer's devil—I think that's what they + called him—and they didn't miss it." At a banquet some years ago, + Mark Twain aptly described at length his experiences as a printer's + apprentice. There were a thousand and one menial services he was called + upon to perform. If the subscribers paid at all, it was only sometimes—and + then the town subscribers paid in groceries, the country subscribers in + cabbages and cordwood. If they paid, they were puffed in the paper; and if + the editor forgot to insert the puff, the subscriber stopped the paper! + Every subscriber regarded himself as assistant editor, ex officio; gave + orders as to how the paper was to be edited, supplied it with opinions, + and directed its policy. Of course, every time the editor failed to follow + his suggestions, he revenged himself by stopping the paper! + </p> + <p> + After some financial stress, the paper was moved into the Clemens home, a + "two-story brick"; and here for several years it managed to worry along, + spasmodically hovering between life and death. Life was easy with the + editors of that paper; for if they pied a form, they suspended until the + next week. They always suspended anyhow, every now and then, when the + fishing was good; and always fell back upon the illness of the editor as a + convenient excuse, Mark admitted that this was a paltry excuse, for the + all-sufficing reason that a paper of that sort was just as well off with a + sick editor as a well one, and better off with a dead one than with either + of them. At the age of fifteen he considered himself a skilled journeyman + printer; and his faculty for comedic portrayal had already betrayed itself + in occasional clumsy efforts. In 'My First Literary Venture', he narrates + his experiences, amongst others how greatly he increased the circulation + of the paper, and incensed the "inveterate woman-killer," whose poetry for + that week's paper read, "To Mary in H—l" (Hannibal). Mark added a + "snappy foot—note" at the bottom, in which he agreed to let the + thing pass, for just that once; but distinctly warning Mr. J. Gordon + Runnels that the paper had a character to sustain, and that in future, + when Mr. Runnels wanted to commune with his friends in h—l, he must + select some other medium for that communication! Many were the humorous + skits, crudely illustrated with cuts made from wooden blocks hacked out + with his jack-knife, which the mischievous young "devil" inserted in his + brother's paper. Here we may discern the first spontaneous outcroppings of + the genuine humorist. "It was on this paper, the 'Hannibal Journal'," says + his biographer, Mr. Albert B. Paine, "that young Sam Clemens began his + writings—burlesques, as a rule, of local characters and conditions—usually + published in his brother's absence, generally resulting in trouble on his + return. Yet they made the paper sell, and if Orion had but realized his + possession he might have turned his brother's talent into capital even + then." + </p> + <p> + One evening in 1858, the boy, consumed with wanderlust, asked his mother + for five dollars—to start on his travels. He failed to receive the + money, but he defiantly announced that he would go "anyhow." He had + managed to save a tiny sum, and that night he disappeared and fled to St + Louis. There he worked in the composing-room of the Evening News for a + time, and then started out "to see the world"—New York, where a + little World's Fair was in progress. He was somewhat better off than was + Benjamin Franklin when he entered Philadelphia—for he had two or + three dollars in pocket-change, and a ten-dollar bank-bill concealed in + the lining of his coat. For a time he sweltered in a villainous mechanics' + boarding-house in Duane Street, and worked at starvation wages in the + printing-office of Gray & Green. Being recognized one day by a man + from Hannibal, he fled to Philadelphia where he worked for some months as + a "sub" on the 'Inquirer' and the 'Public Ledger'. Next came a flying trip + to Washington "to see the sights there," and then back he went to the + Mississippi Valley. This journey to the "vague and fabled East" really + opened his eyes to the great possibilities that the world has in store for + the traveller. + </p> + <p> + Meantime, Orion had gone to Muscatine, Ohio, and acquired a small interest + there; and, after his marriage, he and his wife went to Keokuk and started + a little job printing-office. Here Sam worked with his brother until the + winter of 1856-7, when circumstance once again played the part of good + fairy. As he was walking along the street one snowy evening, his attention + was attracted by a piece of paper which the wind had blown against the + wall. It proved to be a fifty-dollar bill; and after advertising for the + owner for four days, he stealthily moved to Cincinnati in order "to take + that money out of danger." Now comes the second crucial event in his life! + </p> + <p> + For long the ambition for river life had remained with him—and now + there seemed some possibility of realizing these ambitions. He first + wanted to be a cabin boy; then his ideal was to be a deck hand, because of + his splendid conspicuousness as he stood on the end of the stage plank + with a coil of rope in his hand. But these were only day-dreams—he + didn't admit, even to himself, that they were anything more than heavenly + impossibilities. But as he worked during the winter in the printing-office + of Wrightson & Company of Cincinnati, he whiled away his leisure hours + reading Lieutenant Herndon's account of his explorations of the Amazon, + and became greatly interested in his description of the cocoa industry. + Now he set to work to map out a new and thrilling career. The expedition + sent out by the government to explore the Amazon had encountered + difficulties and left unfinished the exploration of the country about the + head-waters, thousands of miles from the mouth of the river. It mattered + not to him that New Orleans was fifteen hundred miles away from + Cincinnati, and that he had only thirty dollars left. His mind was made up + he would go on and complete the work of exploration. So in April, 1857, he + set sail for New Orleans on an ancient tub, called the Paul Jones. For the + paltry sum of sixteen dollars, he was enabled to revel in the unimagined + glories of the main saloon. At last he was under way—realizing his + boyhood dream, unable to contain himself for joy. At last he saw himself + as that hero of his boyish fancy—a traveller. + </p> + <p> + When he reached New Orleans, after the prolonged ecstasy of two weeks on a + tiny Mississippi steamer, he discovered that no ship was leaving for Para, + that there never had been one leaving for Para and that there probably + would not be one leaving for Para that century. A policeman made him, + move, on, threatening to run him in if he ever caught him reflecting in + the public street again. Just as his money failed him, his old friend + circumstance arrived, with another turning-point in his life—a new + link. On his way down the river he had met Horace Bixby; he turned to him + in this hour of need. It has been charged against Mark Twain that he was + deplorably lazy—apocryphal anecdotes are still narrated with much + gusto to prove it. Think of a lazy boy undertaking the stupendous task of + learning to know the intricate and treacherous secrets of the great river, + to know every foot of the route in the dark as well as he knew his own + face in the glass! And yet he confesses that he was unaware of the + immensity of the undertaking upon which he had embarked. + </p> + <p> + "In 1852," says Bixby, "I was chief pilot on the 'Paul Jones', a boat that + made occasional trips from Pittsburg to New Orleans. One day a tall, + angular, hoosier-like young fellow, whose limbs appeared to be fastened + with leather hinges, entered the pilot-house, and in a peculiar, drawling + voice, said— + </p> + <p> + "'Good mawnin, sir. Don't you want to take er piert young fellow and teach + 'im how to be er pilot?' + </p> + <p> + "'No sir; there is more bother about it than it's worth.' + </p> + <p> + "'I wish you would, mister. I'm er printer by trade, but it don't 'pear to + 'gree with me, and I'm on my way to Central America for my health. I + believe I'll make a tolerable good pilot, 'cause I like the river.' + </p> + <p> + "'What makes you pull your words that way?' + </p> + <p> + "'I don't know, mister; you'll have to ask my Ma. She pulls hern too. + Ain't there some way that we can fix it, so that you'll teach me how to be + er pilot?' + </p> + <p> + "'The only way is for money.' + </p> + <p> + "'How much are you going to charge? + </p> + <p> + "'Well, I'll teach you the river for $500.' + </p> + <p> + "'Gee whillikens! he! he! I ain't got $500, but I've got five lots in + Keokuk, Iowa, and 2000 acres of land in Tennessee that is worth two bits + an acre any time. You can have that if you want it.' + </p> + <p> + "I told him I did not care for his land, and after a while he agreed to + pay $100 in cash (borrowed from his brother-in-law, William A. Moffett, of + Virginia), $150 in twelve months, and the balance when he became a pilot. + He was with me for a long time, but sometimes took occasional trips with + other pilots." And he significantly adds "He was always drawling out dry + jokes, but then we did not pay any attention to him." + </p> + <p> + It cannot be thought accidental that Sam Clemens became a pilot. Bixby + became his mentor, the pilot-house his recitation-room, the steamboat his + university, the great river the field of knowledge. + </p> + <p> + In that stupendous course in nature's own college, he "learned the river" + as schoolboy seldom masters his Greek or his mathematics. With the naive + assurance of youth, he gaily enters upon the task of "learning" some + twelve or thirteen hundred miles of the great Mississippi. Long + afterwards, he confessed that had he really known what he was about to + require of his faculties, he would never have had the courage to begin. + </p> + <p> + His comic sketches, published in the 'Hannibal Weekly Courier' in his + brother's absence, furnish the first link, his apprenticeship to Bixby the + second link in the chain of circumstance. For two years and a half he + sailed the river as a master pilot; his trustworthiness secured for him + the command of some of the best boats on the river, and he was so skilful + that he never met disaster on any of his trips. He narrowly escaped it in + 1861, for when Louisiana seceded, his boat was drafted into the + Confederate service. As he reached St. Louis, having taken passage for + home, a shell came whizzing by and carried off part of the pilot-house. It + was the end of an era: the Civil War had begun. The occupation of the + pilot was gone; but the river had given up to him all of its secrets. He + was to show them to a world, in 'Life on the Mississippi' and 'Huckleberry + Finn'. + </p> + <p> + The story of the derivation of the famous <i>nom de guerr</i> has often + been narrated-and as often erroneously. As the steamboat approaches a + sandbank, snag, or other obstruction, the man at the bow heaves the lead + and sings out, "By the mark, three," "Mark twain," etc.-meaning three + fathoms deep, two fathoms, and so on. The thought of adopting Mark Twain + as a <i>nom de guerr</i> was not original with Clemens; but the world owes + him a debt of gratitude for making forever famous a name that, but for + him, would have been forever lost. "There was a man, Captain Isaiah + Sellers, who furnished river news for the New Orleans Picayune, still one + of the best papers in the South," Mr. Clemens once confessed to Professor + Wm. L. Phelps. "He used to sign his articles Mark Twain. He died in 1863. + I liked the name, and stole it. I think I have done him no wrong, for I + seem to have made this name somewhat generally known." + </p> + <p> + The inglorious escapade of his military career, at which he himself has + poked unspeakable fun, and for which not even his most enthusiastic + biographers have any excuse, was soon ended. Had his heart really been + enlisted on the side of the South, he would doubtless have stayed at his + post. In reality, he was at that time lacking in conviction; and in after + life he became a thorough Unionist and Abolitionist. In the summer of + 1861, Governor Jackson of Missouri called for fifty thousand volunteers to + drive out the Union forces. While visiting in the small town where his + boyhood had been spent, Hannibal, Marion County, young Clemens and some of + his friends met together in a secret place one night, and formed + themselves into a military company. The spirited but untrained Tom Lyman + was made captain; and in lieu of a first lieutenant—strange + omission!—young Clemens was made second lieutenant. These fifteen + hardy souls proudly dubbed themselves the Marion Rangers. No one thought + of finding fault with such a name—it sounded too well. All were full + of notions as high-flown as the name of their company. One of their + number, named Dunlap, was ashamed of his name, because it had a plebeian + sound to his ear. So he solved the difficulty and gratified his + aristocratic ambitions by writing it d'Unlap. This may serve as a sample + of the stuff of which the company was made. Dunlap was by no means + useless; for he invented hifalutin names for the camps, and generally + succeeded in proposing a name that was, as his companions agreed, "no + slouch." + </p> + <p> + There was no real organization, nobody obeyed orders, there was never a + battle. They retreated, according to the tale of the humorist, at every + sign of the enemy. In truth, this little band had plenty of stomach for + fighting, despite its loose organization; and quite a number fought all + through the war. Mark Twain is doubtless correct in the main, in his + assertion that he has not given an unfair picture of the conditions + prevailing in many of the militia camps in the first months of the war + between the states. The men were raw and unseasoned, and even the leaders + were lacking in the rudiments of military training and discipline. The + situation was strange and unprecedented, the terrors were none the less + real that they were imaginary. As Mark says, it took an actual collision + with the enemy on the field of battle to change them from rabbits into + soldiers. Young Clemens, according to his nephew's account, was first + detailed to special duty on the river because of his knowledge acquired as + a pilot; it was not long before he was captured and paroled. Again he was + captured, this time sent to St. Louis, and imprisoned there in a tobacco + warehouse. Fearing recognition and tragic consequences, perhaps + courtmartial and death, should he, during the formalities of exchange, be + recognized by the command in Grant's army which first captured him, he + made his escape, abandoned the cause which he afterwards spoke of as "the + rebellion," and went west as secretary to his brother Orion, lately + appointed Territorial Secretary of Nevada by the President. + </p> + <p> + A very credible and interesting biography of Mark Twain might be compiled + from his own works; and Roughing it is full of autobiography of a coloured + sort, though in the main correct. His joy in the prospect of that trip, + the exciting details of the long journey, are all narrated with gusto and + fine effect. In the "unique sinecure" of the office of private secretary, + he found he had nothing to do and no salary; so after a short time—the + fear of being recognized by Union soldiers and shot for breaking his + parole still haunting him—he, and a companion, went off together on + a fishing jaunt to Lake Tahoe. Everywhere he saw fortunes made in a + moment. He fell a prey to the prevailing excitement and went mad like all + the rest. Little wonder over the wild talk, when cartloads of solid silver + bricks as large as pigs of lead were passing by every day before their + very eyes. The wild talk grew more frenzied from day to day. And young + Clemens yielded to no one in enthusiasm and excitement. For vividness or + picturesqueness of expression none could vie with him. With three + companions, he began "prospecting," with the most indifferent success; and + soon tiring of their situation, they moved on down to Esmeralda (now + Aurora), on the other side of Carson City. Here new life seemed to inspire + the party. What mattered it if they were in debt to the butcher—for + did they not own thirty thousand feet apiece in the "richest mines on + earth"! Who cared if their credit was not good with the grocer, so long as + they revelled in mountains of fictitious wealth and raved in the frenzied + cant of the hour over their immediate prospect of fabulous riches! But at + last the practical necessities of living put a sudden damper on their + enthusiasm. Clemens was forced at last to abandon mining, and go to work + as a common labourer in a quartz mill, at ten dollars a week and board—after + flour had soared to a dollar a pound and the rate on borrowed money had + gone to eight per cent. a month. This work was very exhausting, and after + a week Clemens asked his employer for an advance of wages. The employer + replied that he was paying Clemens ten dollars a week, and thought that + all he was worth. How much did he want? When Clemens replied that four + hundred thousand dollars a month, and board, was all he could reasonably + ask, considering the hard times, he was ordered off the premises! In after + days, Mark only regretted that, in view of the arduous labours he had + performed in that mill, he had not asked seven hundred thousand for his + services! + </p> + <p> + After a time, Mark and his friend Higbie established their claim to a + mine, became mad with excitement, and indulged in the wildest dreams for + the future. Under the laws of the district, work of a certain character + must be done upon the claim within ten days after location in order to + establish the right of possession. Mark was called away to the bedside of + a sick friend, Higbie failed to receive Mark's note, and the work was + never done—each thinking it was being properly attended to by the + other. On their return, they discovered that their claim was "re-located," + and that millions had slipped from their grasp! The very stars in their + courses seemed to fight to force young Clemens into literature. Had Samuel + Clemens become a millionaire at this time, it is virtually certain that + there would have been no Mark Twain. + </p> + <p> + After one day more of heartless prospecting, Clemens "dropped in" at the + wayside post-office. It was the hour of fate! A letter awaited him there. + We cannot call it accident—it was the result of forces and events + which had long been converging toward this end. Samuel Clemens began his + career as an itinerant, tramping "jour" printer. He wrote for the papers + on which he served as printer; and he actually read the matter he set up + in type. By observation on his travels, by study of the writing of others, + Clemens acquired information, knowledge of life, and ingenuity of + expression. He hadn't served his ten—years' apprenticeship as a + printer for nothing. In the process of setting up tons of good and bad + literature, he had learned—half unconsciously—to appraise and + to discriminate. In the same half-unconscious way, he was actually gaining + some inkling of the niceties of style. After he began "learning the + river," Clemens once wrote a funny sketch about Captain Sellers which made + a genuine "hit" with the officers on the boat. The sketch fell into the + hands of the "river-editor" of the 'St. Louis Republican', found a place + in that journal, and was widely copied throughout the West. On the + strength of it, Clemens became a sort of river reporter, and from time to + time published memoranda and comic squibs in the 'Republican'. That + passion which a French critic has characterized as distinctively American, + the passion for "seeing yourself in print," still burned in Clemens, even + during all the hardships of prospecting and milling. At intervals he sent + from the mining regions of "Washoe," as all that part of Nevada was then + called, humorous letters signed "Josh" to the 'Daily Territorial + Enterprise' of Virginia City, at that time one of the most progressive and + wide—awake newspapers in the West. + </p> + <p> + The fateful letter which I have mentioned, contained an offer to Clemens + from the proprietor of the 'Enterprise', of the position of city editor, + at a salary of twenty-five dollars a week. To Clemens at this time, this + offer came as a perfect godsend. Twenty-five dollars a week was nothing + short of wealth, luxury. His enthusiasm oozed away when he reflected over + his ignorance and incompetence; and he gloomily recalled his repeated + failures. But necessity faced him; and opportunity knocks but once at + every door. His doubts were speedily resolved; and he afterwards confessed + that, had he been offered at that time a salary to translate the Talmud + from the original Hebrew, he would unhesitatingly have accepted, despite + some natural misgivings, and have tried to throw as much variety into it + as he could for the money. It was to fill a vacancy, caused by the absence + of Dan De Quille, the regular reporter, on a visit to "the States," that + Clemens was offered this position; but he retained it after De Quille + returned. "Mark and I had our hands full," relates De Quille, "and no + grass grew under our feet. There was a constant rush of startling events; + they came tumbling over one another as though playing at leap-frog. While + a stage robbery was being written up, a shooting affray started; and + perhaps before the pistol shots had ceased to echo among the surrounding + hills, the firebells were banging out an alarm." A record of the + variegated duties of these two, found in an old copy of the Territorial + Enterprise of 1863, bears the unmistakable hallmarks of Mark Twain. "Our + duty is to keep the universe thoroughly posted concerning murders and + street fights, and balls and theatres, and pack-trains, and churches, and + lectures, and school-houses, and city military affairs, and highway + robberies, and Bible societies, and hay wagons, and the thousand other + things which it is within the province of local reporters to keep track of + and magnify into undue importance for the instruction of the readers of a + great daily newspaper. Beyond this revelation everything connected with + these two experiments of Providence must for ever remain an impenetrable + mystery." An admirable picture of Mark Twain on his native heath, in the + latter part of 1863, is given by Edward Peron Hingston, author of The + Genial Showman, in the introduction to the English edition of The + Innocents Abroad. + </p> + <p> + The fame of the Western humorist had already reached the ears of Hingston; + and as soon as he reached Virginia City, he went to the office of the + 'Territorial Enterprise' and asked to be presented to Mark Twain. + </p> + <p> + When he heard his name called by some one, Clemens called out: + </p> + <p> + "Pass the gentleman into my den. The noble animal is here." + </p> + <p> + The noble animal proved to be "a young man, strongly built, ruddy in + complexion, his hair of a sunny hue, his eyes light and twinkling, in + manner hearty, and nothing of the student about him—one who looked + as if he could take his own part in a quarrel, strike a smart blow as + readily as he could say a telling thing, bluffly jolly, brusquely cordial, + off-handedly good-natured." The picture is detailed and vivid: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p> + "Let it be borne in mind that from the windows of the newspaper office + the American desert was visible; that within a radius of ten miles + Indians were encamping amongst the sage—brush; that the whole + city was populated with miners, adventurers, Jew traders, gamblers, + and all the rough-and-tumble class which a mining town in a new + territory collects together, and it will be readily understood that a + reporter for a daily paper in such a place must neither go about his + duties wearing light kid gloves, nor be fastidious about having gilt + edges to his note-books. In Mark Twain I found the very man I had + expected to see—a flower of the wilderness, tinged with the + colour of the soil, the man of thought and the man of action rolled + into one, humorist and hard-worker, Momus in a felt hat and + jack-boots. In the reporter of the 'Territorial Enterprise' I became + introduced to a Californian celebrity, rich in eccentricities of + thought, lively in fancy, quaint in remark, whose residence upon the + fringe of civilization had allowed his humour to develop without + restraint, and his speech to be rarely idiomatic." + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + Under the influence of the example of the proprietors of the 'Enterprise', + strict stylistic disciplinarians of the Dana school of journalism, Clemens + learned the advantages of the crisp, direct style which characterizes his + writing. As a reporter, he was really industrious in matters that met his + fancy; but "cast-iron items"—for he hated facts and figures + requiring absolute accuracy—got from him only "a lick and a + promise." He was much interested in Tom Fitch's effort to establish a + literary journal, 'The Weekly Occidental'. Daggett's opening chapters of a + wonderful story, of which Fitch, Mrs Fitch, J. T. Goodman, Dan De Quille, + and Clemens were to write successive instalments, gave that paper the <i>coup + de grac</i> in its very first issue. Of this wonderful novel, at the close + of each instalment of which the "hero was left in a position of such peril + that it seemed impossible he could be rescued, except through means and + wisdom more than human"; of the Bohemian days of the "Visigoths,"—Clemens, + De Quille, Frank May, Louis Aldrich, and their confreres; of the practical + jokes played on each other, particularly the incident of the imitation + meerschaum ("mere sham") pipe, solemnly presented to Clemens by Steve + Gillis, C. A. V. Putnam, D. E. M'Carthy, De Quille and others—all + these belong to the fascinating domain of the biographer. When Clemens was + sent down to Carson City to report the meetings of the first Nevada + Legislature, he began for the first time to sign his letters "Mark Twain." + In his Autobiography he has explained that his function as a legislative + correspondent was to dispense compliment and censure with impartial + justice. As his disquisitions covered about half a page each morning in + the Enterprise, it is easy to understand that he was an "influence." + Questioned by Carlyle Smith in regard to his choice of "Mark Twain," Mr. + Clemens replied: "I chose my pseudonym because to nine hundred and + ninety-nine persons out of a thousand it had no meaning, and also because + it was short. I was a reporter in the Legislature at the time, and I + wished to save the Legislature time. It was much shorter to say in their + debates—for I was certain to be the occasion of some questions of + privilege—'Mark Twain' than 'the unprincipled and lying + Parliamentary Reporter of the 'Territorial Enterprise'.'" + </p> + <p> + Already his name was known the whole length of the Pacific Coast; the + Enterprise published many things from his pen which gave him local, and + afterwards national, fame; such sketches as 'The Undertaker's Chat', 'The + Petrified Man' and 'The Marvellous 'Bloody Massacre'' had attracted + favourable and wide notice east of the Rocky Mountains. But his career in + Carson City came to a sudden close when he challenged the editor of the + Virginia Union to a duel, the bloodless conclusion of which is narrated in + the Autobiography. But even a challenge to a duel was against the new law + of Nevada; and obeying the warning of Governor North, the duellists + crossed the border without ceremony, and stood not upon the order of their + going. + </p> + <p> + While Mark Twain was still with the Enterprise, he was in the habit of + reserving all his "sketches" for the San Francisco newspapers, the 'Golden + Era' and the 'Morning Call'. He now turns his steps to that storied city + of "Frisco," and was not long in extending his fame on that coast. He was + incorrigibly lazy, as George Barnes, the editor of the Call, soon + discovered; and Kipling was told when he was in San Francisco that Mark + was in the habit of coiling himself into a heap and meditating until the + last minute, when he would produce copy having no relationship to the + subject of his assignment—"which made the editor swear horribly, and + the readers of 'The Call' ask for more." His love for practical joking + during the California days brought him unpopularity; and one reads in a + San Francisco paper of the early days: "There have been moments in the + lives of various kind-hearted and respectable citizens of California and + Nevada, when, if Mark Twain were before them as members of a vigilance + committee for any mild crime, such as mule-stealing or arson, it is to be + feared his shrift would have been short. What a dramatic picture the idea + conjures up, to be sure! Mark, before these honest men, infuriated by his + practical jokes, trying to show them what an innocent creature he was when + it came to mules, or how the only policy of fire insurance he held had + lapsed, how void of guile he was in any direction, and all with that + inimitable drawl, that perplexed countenance and peculiar scraping of the + left foot, like a boy speaking his first piece at school." If he just + escaped disaster, he likewise just escaped millions; on one occasion, for + the space of a few moments, he owned the famous Comstock Lode, which was, + though he never suspected it, worth millions. His trunkful of securities, + which were eminently saleable at one time, proved to be of fictitious + value when "the bottom dropped out" of the Nevada boom; and that silver + mine, which he was commissioned to sell in New York, was finally sold for + three million dollars! It was, as Mark says, the blind lead over again. + Mark Twain had the true Midas touch; but the mine of riches he was + destined to discover was a mine, not of gold or silver, but the mine of + intellect and rich human experience. + </p> + <p> + To The 'Golden Era', Mark Twain, like Prentice Mulford and Joaquin Miller, + contributed freely; and after a time he became associated with Bret Harte + on 'The Californian', Harte as editor at twenty dollars a week, and Mark + receiving twelve dollars for an article. Here forgathered that group of + brilliant writers of the Pacific Slope, numbering Bret Harte, Mark Twain, + Charles Warren Stoddard, Charles Henry Webb, and Prentice Mulford among + its celebrities; two of that remarkable coterie were soon destined to + achieve world-wide fame. "These ingenuous young men, with the fatuity of + gifted people," says Mr. Howells, "had established a literary newspaper in + San Francisco, and they brilliantly co-operated in its early extinction." + Of his first meeting with Mark Twain, Bret Harte has left a memorable + picture: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p> + "His head was striking. He had the curly hair, the aquiline nose, and + even the aquiline eye—an eye so eagle-like that a second lid + would not have surprised me—of an unusual and dominant nature. + His eyebrows were very thick and bushy. His dress was careless, and + his general manner was one of supreme indifference to surroundings and + circumstances. Barnes introduced him as Mr. Sam Clemens, and remarked + that he had shown a very unusual talent in a number of newspaper + articles contributed over the signature of 'Mark Twain.'" + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + Mark tired of the life of literary drudgery in San Francisco—on one + occasion he was reduced to a solitary ten—cent piece; and General + John McComb wooed him back to journalism just as he was on the point of + returning to his old work on the Mississippi River, this time as a + Government pilot. During the earlier years in San Francisco, he was in the + habit of writing weekly letters to the 'Territorial Enterprise'—personals, + market-chat, and the like. But when he criticized the police department of + San Francisco in the most scathing terms, the officials "found means for + bringing charges that made the author's presence there difficult and + comfortless." So he welcomed the opportunity to join Steve Gillis in a + pilgrimage to the mountain home of Jim Gillis, his brother—a "sort + of Bohemian infirmary." Mark Twain revelled in the delightful company of + the original of Bret Harte's "Truthful James," and he enjoyed the mining + methods of Jackass Hill, like the true Bohemian that he was. Soon after + his arrival, Mark and Jim Gillis started out in search of golden pockets. + As De Quille says: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p> + "They soon found and spent some days in working up the undisturbed + trail of an undiscovered deposit, They were on the 'golden bee-line' + and stuck to it faithfully, though it was necessary to carry each + sample of dirt a considerable distance to a small stream in the bed of + a canon in order to wash it. However, Mark hungered and thirsted to + find a big rich pocket, and he pitched in after the manner of Joe + Bowers of old—just like a thousand of brick. + </p> + <p> + "Each step made sure by the finding of golden grains, they at last + came upon the pocket whence these grains had trailed out down the + slope of the mountain. It was a cold, dreary drizzling day when the + 'home deposit' was found. The first sample of dirt carried to the + stream and washed out yielded only a few cents. Although the right + vein had been discovered, they had as yet found only the tail end of + the pocket. + </p> + <p> + "Returning to the vein, they dug a sample of the decomposed ore from a + new place, and were about to carry it down to the ravine and test it, + when the rain increased to a lively downpour." + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + Mark was chilled to the bone, and refused to carry another pail of water. + In slow, drawling tones he protested decisively: + </p> + <p> + "Jim, I won't carry any more water. This work is too disagreeable. Let's + go to the house and wait till it clears up." + </p> + <p> + Gillis was eager to test the sample he had just taken out. + </p> + <p> + "Bring just one more pail, Sam," he urged. + </p> + <p> + "I won't do it, Jim!" replied the now thoroughly disgusted Clemens. "Not a + drop! Not if I knew there were a million dollars in that pan!" + </p> + <p> + Moved by Sam's dejected appearance—blue nose and humped back—and + realizing doubtless that it was futile to reason with him further, Jim + yielded and emptied the sacks of dirt just dug upon the ground. They now + started out for the nearest shelter, the hotel in Angel's Camp, kept by + Coon Drayton, formerly a Mississippi River pilot. Imagine the jests and + shouts that went around as Mark and Coon vied with each other in narrating + interesting experiences. For three days the rain and the stories held out; + and among those told by Drayton was a story of a frog. He narrated this + story with the utmost solemnity as a thing that had happened in Angel's + Camp in the spring of '49—the story of a frog trained by its owner + to become a wonderful jumper, but which failed to "make good" in a contest + because the owner of a rival frog, in order to secure the winning of the + wager, filled the trained frog full of shot during its owner's absence. + This story appealed irresistibly to Mark as a first-rate story told in a + first-rate way; he divined in it the magic quality unsuspected by the + narrator—universal humour. He made notes in order to remember the + story, and on his return to the Gillis' cabin, "wrote it up." He wrote a + number of other things besides, all of which he valued above the frog + story; but Gillis thought it the best thing he had ever written. + </p> + <p> + Meantime the rain had washed off the surface soil from their last pan, + which they had left in their hurry. Some passing miners were astonished to + behold the ground glittering with gold; they appropriated it, but dared + not molest the deposit until the expiration of the thirty-day claim-notice + posted by Jim Gillis. They sat down to wait, hoping that the claimants + would not return. At the expiration of the thirty days, the claim-jumpers + took possession, and soon cleared out the pocket, which yielded twenty + thousand dollars. It was one of the most fortunate accidents in Mark + Twain's career. He came within one pail of water of comparative wealth; + but had he discovered that pocket, he would probably have settled down as + a pocketminer, and might have pounded quartz for the rest of his life. Had + his nerve held out a moment longer, he would never have gone to Angel's + Camp, would never have heard The Story of the Jumping Frog, and would have + escaped that sudden fame which this little story soon brought him. + </p> + <p> + On his return to San Francisco, he dropped in one morning to see Bret + Harte, and told him this story. As Harte records: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p> + "He spoke in a slow, rather satirical drawl, which was in itself + irresistible. He went on to tell one of those extravagant stories, and + half-unconsciously dropped into the lazy tone and manner of the + original narrator. I asked him to tell it again to a friend who came + in, and they asked him to write it for 'The Californian'. He did so, + and when published it was an emphatic success. It was the first work + of his that had attracted general attention, and it crossed the + Sierras for an Eastern reading. The story was 'The Jumping Frog of + Calaveras.' It is now known and laughed over, I suppose, wherever the + English language is spoken; but it will never be as funny to anyone in + print as it was to me, told for the first time, by the unknown Twain + himself, on that morning in the San Francisco Mint." + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + When Artemus Ward passed through California on a literary tour in 1864, + Mark Twain regaled him—as he regaled all worthy acquaintances—with + his favourite story, 'The Jumping Frog'. Ward was delighted with it. + </p> + <p> + "Write it out," he said, "give it all the necessary touches, and let me + use it in a volume of sketches I am preparing for the press. Just send it + to Carleton, my publisher, in New York." + </p> + <p> + It arrived too late for Ward's book, and Carleton presented it to Henry + Clapp, who published it in his paper, The Saturday Press of November 18, + 1864. In his Autobiography, Mr. Clemens has narrated how 'The Jumping + Frog' put a quietus on 'The Saturday Press', and was immediately copied in + numerous newspapers in England and America. He was always proud of the + celebrity that story achieved; but he never sought to claim the credit for + himself. He freely admits that it was not Mark Twain, but the frog, that + became celebrated. The author, alas, remained in obscurity! + </p> + <p> + Carleton afterwards confessed that he had lost the chance of a life—time + by giving The Jumping Frog away; but Mark Twain's old friend, Charles + Henry Webb, came to the rescue and published it. About four thousand + copies were sold in three years; but the real fame of the story was in its + newspaper and magazine notoriety. In 1872 it was translated into the + 'Revue des Deux Mondes'; and it was almost as widely read in England, + India, and Australia as it was in America. + </p> + <p> + Meantime Mark Twain was still awaiting the rewards of journalism, and + doing literary hack work of one sort or another. In 1866 the proprietors + of the 'Sacramento Union' employed him to write a series of letters from + the Sandwich Islands. The purpose of these letters was to give an account + of the sugar industry. Mark told the story of sugar, but, as was his wont, + threw in a lot of extraneous matter that had nothing to do with sugar. It + was the extraneous matter, and not the sugar, that won him a wide audience + on the Pacific Coast. During these months of "luxurious vagrancy" he + described in the most vivid way many of the most notable features of the + Sandwich Islands. Nowadays such letters would at once have been embodied + in a volume. In his 'My Debut as a Literary Person', Mark Twain has + described in admirably graphic style his great "scoop" of the news of the + Hornet disaster; how Anson Burlingame had him, ill though he was, carried + on a cot to the hospital, so that he could interview the half-dead + sailors. His bill—twenty dollars a week for general correspondence, + and one hundred dollars a column for the Hornet story—was paid with + all good will. On the strength of this story, he hoped to become a + "Literary Person," and sent his account of the Hornet disaster to Harper's + Magazine, where it appeared in December, 1866. But alas! he could not give + the banquet he was going to give to celebrate his debut as a "Literary + Person." He had not written the "Mark Twain" distinctly, and when it + appeared it had been transformed into "Mike Swain"! + </p> + <p> + When Mark returned to San Francisco, he resolved to follow the example of + Stoddard and Mulford, and "enter the lecture field." The "extraneous + matter" in his letters to the Sacramento Union had made him "notorious"; + and, as he put it, "San Francisco invited me to lecture." The historic + account of that lecture, in 'Roughing It', is found elsewhere in this + book. Noah Brooks, editor of the Alta California, who was present at this + lecture, has written the following graphic piece of description "Mark + Twain's method as a lecturer was distinctly unique and novel. His slow, + deliberate drawl, the anxious and perturbed expression of his visage, the + apparently painful effort with which he framed his sentences, and, above + all, the surprise that spread over his face when the audience roared with + delight or rapturously applauded the finer passages of his word-painting, + were unlike anything of the kind they had ever known. All this was + original; it was Mark Twain." Employing D. E. McCarthy as his agent, Mark + gave a number of lectures at various places on the Pacific Coast. From + this time forward we recognize in Mark Twain one of the supreme masters of + the art of lecturing in our time. + </p> + <p> + In December, 1866, he set out for New York, preparatory to the grand tour + around the world. His own account of the circular describing the projected + trip is famous. He had proposed, for twelve hundred dollars in gold,—at + the rate of twenty dollars apiece, to write a series of letters for the + 'Alta California'. Brooks, the editor, fortified the grave misgivings of + the proprietors over this proposition; but Colonel John McComb (then on + the editorial staff) argued vehemently for Mark, and turned the scale in + his favour. While Mark was in New York, he was urged by Frank Fuller, whom + he had known as Territorial Governor of Utah, to deliver a lecture—in + order to establish his reputation on the Atlantic coast. Fuller, an + enthusiastic admirer of Mark Twain, overcame all objections, and engaged + Cooper Union for the occasion. Though few tickets were sold, Fuller + cleverly succeeded in packing the hall by sending out a multitude of + complimentary tickets to the school-teachers of New York City and the + adjacent territory. That lecture proved to be a supreme success—Mark's + reputation as a lecturer on the Atlantic coast was assured. + </p> + <p> + On June 10, 1867, the Quaker City set sail for its Oriental tour. It bore + on board a comparatively unknown person of the name of Clemens, who, in + applying for passage, represented himself to be a Baptist minister in + ill-health from San Francisco! + </p> + <p> + It brought back a celebrity, destined to become famous throughout the + world. Prior to sailing he arranged to contribute letters to the 'New York + Tribune' and the 'New York Herald', as well as to the 'Alta California'. + </p> + <p> + "His letters to the 'Alta California'," says Noah Brooks, "made him + famous. It was my business to prepare one of these letters for the Sunday + morning paper, taking the topmost letter from a goodly pile that was + stacked in a pigeon-hole of my desk. Clemens was an indefatigable + correspondent, and his last letter was slipped in at the bottom of a tall + stack. + </p> + <p> + "It would not be quite accurate to say that Mark Twain's letters were the + talk of the town; but it was very rarely that readers of the paper did not + come into the office on Mondays to confide to the editors their admiration + of the writer, and their enjoyment of his weekly contributions. The + California newspapers copied these letters, with unanimous approval and + disregard of the copyrights of author and publisher." + </p> + <p> + It was the Western humour, and the quaintly untrammelled American + intelligence, focussed upon diverse and age-encrusted civilizations, which + caught the instantaneous fancy of a vast public. It was a virgin field for + the humorous observer; Europe had not yet become the playground of + America. It was rather a <i>terra incognita</i>, regarded with a sort of + reverential ignorance by the average American tourist. By the range of his + humour, the pertinency of his observation, and the vigour of his + expression he awoke immediate attention. And he aroused a deeply + sympathetic response in the hearts of Americans by his manly and outspoken + expression—his respect for the worthy, the admirable, the + praiseworthy, his scorn and detestation for the spurious, the specious and + the fraudulent. In this book, for the first time, he strikes the key-note + of his life and thought, which sounds so clearly throughout all his later + works. It is the true beginning of his career. + </p> + <p> + On his return to the United States in November, he resumed his newspaper + work, this time at the National Capital. On his arrival there he found a + letter from Elisha Bliss, of the 'American Publishing Company', proposing + a volume recounting the adventures of the "Excursion," to be elaborately + illustrated, and sold by subscription on a five per cent. royalty. He + eagerly accepted the offer and set to work on his notes. + </p> + <p> + "I knew Mark Twain in Washington," says Senator William M. Stewart of + Nevada, in his reminiscences 'A Senator of the Sixties', "at a time when + he was without money. He told me his condition, and said he was very + anxious to get out his book. He showed me his notes, and I saw that they + would make a great book, and probably bring him in a fortune. I promised + that I would 'stake' him until he had the book written. I made him a clerk + to my committee in the senate, which paid him six dollars per day; then I + hired a man for one hundred dollars per month to do the work!" His + mischievously extravagant description of Mark Twain at this time is + eminently worthy of record "He was arrayed in a seedy suit which hung upon + his lean frame in bunches, with no style worth mentioning. A sheaf of + scraggly, black hair leaked out of a battered, old, slouch hat, like + stuffing from an ancient Colonial sofa, and an evil-smelling cigar butt, + very much frazzled, protruded from the corner of his mouth. He had a very + sinister appearance. He was a man I had known around the Nevada mining + camps several years before, and his name was Samuel L. Clemens." + </p> + <p> + It was during this winter that Mark wrote a number of humorous articles + and sketches—'The Facts in the Case of the Great Beef Contract', the + account of his resignation as clerk of the Senate Committee on Conchology, + and 'Riley—Newspaper Correspondent'. His time was chiefly devoted to + preparing the material for his book; but finding Washington too + distracting, he returned to San Francisco and completed the manuscript + therein July, 1868. For a year the publication of the book was delayed, as + recorded in the Autobiography; but it finally appeared in print following + Mark's indignant telegram to Bliss that, if the book was not on sale in + twenty-four hours, he would bring suit for damages. Mark Twain records + that in nine months the book had taken the publishing house out of debt, + advanced its stock from twenty-five to two hundred, and left seventy + thousand dollars clear profit. Eighty-five thousand copies were sold + within sixteen months, the largest sale of a four dollar book ever + achieved in America in so short a time up to that date. It is, miraculous + to relate, still the leader in its own special field—a "bestseller" + for forty years! + </p> + <p> + The proprietors of the 'Alta California' were exceeding wroth when they + heard that Clemens was preparing for publication the very letters which + they had commissioned him to write and had printed in their own paper. + They prepared to publish a cheap paper-covered edition of the letters, and + sent the American Publishing Co. a challenge in the shape of an advance + notice of their publication. Clemens hurried back to San Francisco from + the East, and soon convinced the proprietors of the 'Alta California' of + the authenticity of his copyright. The paper-covered edition was then and + there abandoned forever. + </p> + <p> + Before leaving the West to settle permanently in the East, Mark Twain was + associated for a short time with the 'Overland Monthly', edited by Bret + Harte. In his review of 'The Innocents Abroad', Harte asserted that + Clemens deserved "to rank foremost among Western humorists"; but he was + grievously disappointed in the first few contributions from Clemens to the + Overland Monthly—notably 'By Rail through France' (later + incorporated in The Innocents Abroad)—because of their perfect + gravity. At last, 'A Mediaeval Romance'—a story which has been said + to contain the germ of 'A Connecticut Yankee', because of its burlesque of + mediaevalism—won the enthusiastic approval of Bret Harte. + </p> + <p> + From this time forward, Samuel L. Clemens is seen in a new environment, in + association with new ideas and a new civilization. The history of this + second period does not fall within the scope of the present work. It has + just been narrated with brilliancy and charm by his close associate and + most intimate friend, Mr. William Dean Howells, in his admirable book 'My + Mark Twain'. In the subsequent portion of the present work attention will + be directed solely to those features of Mark Twain's life which have a + direct bearing upon his career as a man of letters, and which throw into + relief the progressive development of his genius. + </p> + <p> + The South and the West contributed to Mark Twain's development, and added + to his store of vital experience, in greater measure than all the other + influences of his life combined. From the inexhaustible well of those + experiences he drew ever fresh contributions for the satisfaction of the + world. His mind was stocked with the rich, crude ore of early experience—the + romance and the reality of a life full of prismatic variations of colour. + The civilization of the East, its culture and refinement, tempered the + genius of Mark Twain in conformity with the indispensable criteria of + classic art. Under the broadening influence of its persistent nationalism, + he became more deeply, more profoundly, imbued with the comprehensive + ideals of American democracy. He never lost the first fine virginal + spontaneity of his native style, never weakened in the vigour of his + thought or in the primitiveness of his expression. His contact with the + East compassed the liberation of that vast fund of stored—up early + experiences, acquired through grappling with life in many a rude + encounter. + </p> + <p> + Out of its own life, the East never contributed to Mark Twain's works, in + any appreciably momentous way, either volume or immensity of fertile, + suggestive human experience. If we eliminate from the list of Mark Twain's + works those books which have their roots deep set in the soil of South and + West, we eliminate the most priceless assets of his art. Indeed, it may be + doubted whether, were those works struck from the catalogue of his + contributions, Mark Twain could justly rank as a great genius. To his + association with the South and the Southwest are due 'Tom Sawyer', + 'Huckleberry Finn', 'Pudd'nhead Wilson', and 'Life on the Mississippi'. + 'The Jumping Frog' and 'Roughing It' belong peculiarly to the West, and + even 'The Innocents Abroad' falls wholly within the period of Mark Twain's + influence by the West, its standards, outlook, and localized viewpoint. + </p> + <p> + Colonel Mulberry Sellers is a veritably human type, the embodiment, + laughably lovable, of a temperamental phase of American character in the + course of the national development. But 'The Gilded Age' has long since + disappeared from that small but tremendously significant group of works + which are tentatively destined to rank as classics. Much as I enjoy the + satiric comedy of 'A Yankee in King Arthur's Court', I have always felt + that it set before Europe an American type which is neither elevating nor + inspiring—nor national. It tends to the gratification of England and + Europe, even in the face of its democratic demolition of feudalistic + survival, by sealing a certain cheap type of vulgarity with the national + stamp. One must, nevertheless, confess with regret that this type is the + embodiment of an "ideal" still only too commonly cherished in America. The + national type, I take it, is found in such characters as Lincoln and + Phillips Brooks, in Lee and Henry W. Grady, in Charles W. Eliot and Edwin + A. Alderman, and not in a provincial 'Connecticut Yankee', jovial and + whole—hearted though he be. I say this without forgetting or + minimizing for a moment the art displayed in effecting the devastating and + illimitably humorous contrast of a present with a remotely past + civilization. 'Joan of Arc' has no local association, being a pure work of + the heart, the chivalric impulse of a noble spirit. 'The Man that + Corrupted Hadleyburg', viewed from any standpoint, is a masterpiece; but + its significance lies, not in the locality of its setting, but in the + universality of its moral. + </p> + <p> + In a word, it was the East which broadened and universalized the spirit of + Mark Twain. We shall see, later on, that it steadily fostered in him a + spirit of true nationalism and hardy democracy. But it was the South and + the West which lavishly gave him of their most priceless riches, and + thereby created in Mark Twain an unique and incomparable genius, the + veritable type and embodiment of their inalienably individual life and + civilization. This first phase of the life of Mark Twain has been so + strongly stressed here, because the first half of his life has always + seemed to me to have been a period of—shall I say?—God-appointed + preparation for the most significant and lastingly permanent work of the + latter half, namely, the narration of the incidents of early experience, + and the imaginative reminting of the gold of that experience. + </p> + <p> + One has only to read Mark Twain's works to learn the real history of his + life. There were momentous episodes in the latter half of his career; but + they were concerned with his life rather than with his art. We cannot, + indeed, say what or how profound is the effect of life and experience on + art. There was the happy marriage, the tragic losses of wife and children. + There were the associations with the culture and art—circles of + America and Europe—New England, New York, Berlin, Vienna, London, + Glasgow; the academic degrees—Missouri, Yale; finally ancient Oxford + for the first time conferring the coveted honour of its degree upon a + humorist; the honours his own country delighted to bestow upon him. And + there too was that gallant struggle to pay off a tremendous debt, begun at + sixty—and accomplished one year sooner than he expected—after + the most spectacular and remarkable lecture tour in history. The beautiful + chivalric spirit of this great soul shone brightest in disaster. He + insisted that it was his wife who refused to compromise his debts for + forty cents on the dollar—that it was she who declared it must be + dollar for dollar; and when a fund was raised by his admirers to assist in + lightening his burden, that it was his wife who refused to accept it, + though he was willing enough to accept it as a welcome relief. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="pp065.jpg (82K)" src="images/pp065.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + > <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + As an American, I can say nothing more significantly characteristic of the + man than that he was a good citizen. He possessed in the consciousness of + personal responsibility for the standards, government, and ideals of his + town, his city, and his country. Civic conscientiousness burned strong + within him; and he fought to develop and to maintain breadth of public + view and sanity of popular ideals. Blind patriotism was impossible for + this great American: he exposed the shallowness of popular enthusiasms and + the narrowness of rampant spread-eagleism, without regard for consequence + to himself or his popularity. What a tribute to his personality that, + instead of suffering, he gained in popularity by his honest and downright + outspokenness! He wielded the lash of his bitter scorn and fearful irony + upon the wrong-doer, the hypocrite, the fraud; and aroused public opinion + to impatience with public abuse, open offence, and official discourtesy. + </p> + <p> + Samuel Langhorne Clemens impressed me as the most complete and human + individual I have ever known. He was not a great thinker; his views were + not "advanced". + </p> + <p> + The glory of his temperament was its splendid sanity, balance, and + normality. The homeliest virtues of life were his the republican virtue of + simplicity; the domestic virtue of, personal purity and passionately + simple regard for the sanctity of the marriage bond; the civic virtue of + public honesty; the business virtue of stainless private honour. Mark + Twain was one of the supreme literary geniuses of his time. But he was + something even more than this. He was not simply a great genius: he was a + great man. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="pp069.jpg (50K)" src="images/pp069.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + > <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + <a name="humorist" id="humorist">THE HUMORIST</a> + </h1> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <blockquote> + <blockquote> + <p> + <i> "Exhilaration can be infinite, like sorrow; a joke can be so + big that it breaks the roof of the stars. By simply going on being + absurd, a thing can become godlike; there is but one step from the + ridiculous to the sublime."</i><br /> GILBERT K. CHESTERTON: + Charles Dickens. + </p> + </blockquote> + </blockquote> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + Not without wide significance in its bearing upon the general outlines of + contemporary literature is the circumstance that Mark Twain served his + apprenticeship to letters in the high school of journalism. Like his + contemporaries, Artemus Ward and Bret Harte, he first found free play for + his comic intransigeance in the broad freedom of the journal for the + masses. Brilliant as he was, Artemus Ward seemed most effective only when + he spoke in weird vernacular through the grotesque mouthpiece of his own + invention. Bret Harte sacrificed more and more of the native flavour of + his genius in his progressive preoccupation with the more sophisticated + refinements of the purely literary. Mark Twain never lost the ruddy glow + of his first inspiration, and his style, to the very end, remained as it + began—journalistic, untamed, primitive. + </p> + <p> + Both Rudyard Kipling and Bernard Shaw, who like Mark Twain have achieved + comprehensive international reputations, have succeeded in preserving the + early vigour and telling directness acquired in journalistic + apprenticeship. It was by the crude, almost barbaric, cry of his + journalese that Rudyard Kipling awoke the world with a start. That + trenchant and forthright style which imparts such an air of heightened + verisimilitude to his plays, Bernard Shaw acquired in the ranks of the new + journalism. "The writer who aims at producing the platitudes which are + 'not for an age, but for all time,'" says Bernard Shaw, "has his reward in + being unreadable in all ages; whilst Plato and Aristophanes trying to + knock some sense into the Athens of their day, Shakespeare peopling that + same Athens with Elizabethan mechanics and Warwickshire hunts, Ibsen + photographing the local doctors and vestrymen of a Norwegian parish, + Carpaccio painting the life of St. Ursula exactly as if she were a lady + living in the next street to him, are still alive and at home everywhere + among the dust and ashes of many thousands of academic, punctilious, most + archaeologically correct men of letters and art who spent their lives + haughtily avoiding the journalists' vulgar obsession with the ephemeral." + Mark Twain began his career by studying the people and period he knew in + relation to his own life. Jamestown, Hannibal, and Virginia City, the + stately Mississippi, and the orgiastic, uproarious life of Western + prairie, mountain, and gulch start to life and live again in the pages of + his books. Colonel Sellers, in the main correct but "stretched a little" + here and there; Tom Sawyer, the "magerful" hero of boyhood; the shrewd and + kindly Aunt Polly, drawn from his own mother; Huck Finn, with the tender + conscience and the gentle heart—these and many another were drawn + from the very life. In writing of his time <i>a propo</i> of himself, Mark + Twain succeeded in telling the truth about humanity in general and for any + time. + </p> + <p> + In the main—though there are noteworthy exceptions—Mark + Twain's works originated fundamentally in the facts of his own life. He is + a master humorist—which is only another way of saying that he is a + master psychologist with the added gift of humour—because he looked + upon himself always as a complete and well-rounded repository of + universally human characteristics. <i>Humanus sum; et nil humanum mihi + alienum est</i>—this might well have served for his motto. It was + his conviction that the American possessed no unique and peculiar human + characteristics differentiating him from the rest of the world. In the + same way, he regarded himself as possessing no unique or peculiar human + characteristics differentiating him from the rest of the human race. Like + Omar he might have said "I myself am Heaven and Hell"——for + within himself he recognized, in some form, at higher or lower power, + every feature, trait, instinct, characteristic of which a human being is + capable. The last half century of his life, as he himself said in his + Autobiography, had been constantly and faithfully devoted to the study of + the human race. His knowledge came from minute self-examination—for + he regarded himself as the entire human race compacted together. It was by + concentrating his attention upon himself, by recognizing in himself the + quintessential type of the race, that he succeeded in producing works of + such pure naturalness and utter verity. A humour which is at bottom good + humour is always contagious; but there is a deeper and more universal + appeal which springs from genial and unaffected representation of the + human species, of the universal 'Genus Homo'. + </p> + <p> + It has been said, by foreign critics, that the intellectual life of + America in general takes its cue from the day, whilst the intellectual + life of Europe derives from history. If American literature be really + "Journalism under exceptionally favourable conditions," as defined by the + Danish critic, Johannes V. Jensen, then must Mark Twain be a typical + product of American literature. A certain modicum of truth may rest in + this startling and seemingly uncomplimentary definition. Interpreted + liberally, it may be taken to mean that America finds her key to the + future in the immediate vital present, rather than in a remote and hazy + past. Mark Twain was a great creative genius because he saw himself, and + so saw human nature, in the strong, searching light of the living present. + He is the greatest genius evolved by natural selection out of the ranks of + American journalism. Crude, rudimentary and boisterous as his early + writing was, at times provincial and coarse, it bore upon its face the + fresh stamp of contemporary actuality. + </p> + <p> + To the American of to-day, it is not a little exasperating to be placidly + assured by our British critics that America is sublimely unconscious that + her childhood is gone. And this gay paradox is less arresting than the + asseveration that America is lacking in humour because she is lacking in + self-knowledge. There is a certain grimly comic irony in this + commiseration with us, on the part of our British critics, for our failure + joyously to realize our old age, which they would have us believe is a + sort of premature senescence and decay. The New World is pitied for her + failure to know without illusion the futility of the hurried pursuit of + wealth, of the passion for extravagant opulence and inordinate display, of + all the hostages youth in America eternally gives to old age. "America has + produced great artists," admits Mr. Gilbert Chesterton. Yet he maintains + that "that fact most certainly proves that she is full of a fine futility + and the end of all things. Whatever the American men of genius are, they + are not young gods making a young world. Is the art of Whistler a brave, + barbaric art, happy and headlong? Does Mr. Henry James infect us with the + spirit of a schoolboy? . . . Out of America has come a sweet and startling + cry, as unmistakable as the cry of a dying man." This sweet and startling + cry is less startling than the obvious reflection that Mr. Chesterton has + chosen to illustrate his ludicrous paradox, the two American geniuses who + have lived outside their own country, absorbed the art ideals of the + older, more sophisticated civilizations, and lost touch with the youthful + spirit, the still almost barbaric violence, the ongoing rush and progress + of America. It is worthy of remark that Mr. James has always maintained + that Mark Twain was capable of amusing only very primitive persons; and + Whistler, with his acid <i>diablerie</i>, was wholly alien in spirit to + the boisterous humour of Mark Twain. That other brilliant but incoherent + interpreter of American life, Mr. Charles Whibley, bound to the + presupposed paradox of America's pathetic senescence and total deficiency + in humour, blithely gives away his case in the vehement assertion that + America's greatest national interpreter is—Mark Twain! + </p> + <p> + To the general, Mark Twain is, first and foremost and exclusively, the + humorist—with his shrieking Philistinism, his dominant sense for the + colossally incongruous, his spontaneous faculty for staggering, ludicrous + contrast. To the reflective, Mark Twain subsumed within himself a "certain + surcharge and overplus of power, a buoyancy, and a sense of conquest" + which typified the youth of America. It is memorable that he breathed in + his youth the bracing air of the prairie, shared the collective ardour of + the Argonauts, felt the rising thrill of Western adventure, and expressed + the crude and manly energy of navigation, exploration, and the daring + hazard for new fortune. To those who knew him in personal intimacy, the + quality that was outstanding, omnipresent and eternally ineradicable from + his nature was—paradoxical as it may sound—not humour, not + wit, not irony, not a thousand other terms that might be associated with + his name, but—the spirit of eternal youth. It is comprehensively + significant and conclusive that, to the day of her death, Mrs. Clemens + never called her husband anything but the bright nickname—"Youth." + Mark Twain is great as humorist, admirable as teller of tales, pungent as + stylist. But he has achieved another sort of eminence that is peculiarly + gratifying to Americans. "They distinguish in his writings," says an acute + French critic, "exalted and sublimated by his genius, their national + qualities of youth and of gaiety, of force and of faith; they love his + philosophy, at once practical and high—minded. They are fond of his + simple style, animated with verve and spice, thanks to which his work is + accessible to every class of readers. They think he describes his + contemporaries with such an art of distinguishing their essential traits, + that he manages to evoke, to create even, characters and types of eternal + verity. They profess for Mark Twain the same sort of vehement admiration + that we have in France for Balzac." + </p> + <p> + Whilst Mark Twain has solemnly averred that humour is a subject which has + never had much interest for him, it is nothing more than a commonplace to + say that it is as a humorist, and as a humorist only, that the world seems + to persist in regarding him. The philosophy of his early life was what + George Meredith has aptly termed the "philosophy of the Broad Grin." Mr. + Gilbert Chesterton once said that "American humour, neither unfathomably + absurd like the French, nor sharp and sensible and full of the realities + of life like the Scotch, is simply the humour of imagination. It consists + in piling towers on towers and mountains on mountains; of heaping a joke + up to the stars and extending it to the end of the world." This partial + and somewhat conventional foreign conception of American humour is + admirably descriptive of the cumulative and "sky-breaking" humour of the + early Mark Twain. Then no exaggeration was too absurd for him, no phantasm + too unreal, no climax too extreme. + </p> + <p> + The humour of that day was the humour bred of a barbaric freedom and a + lawless, untrammelled life. Mark Twain grew up with a civilization but one + remove from barbarism; supremacy in marksmanship was the arbiter of + argument; the greatest joke was the discomfiture of a fellow-creature. In + the laughter of these wild Westerners was something at once rustic and + sanguinary. The refinements of art and civilization seemed effeminate, + artificial, to these rude spirits, who laughed uproariously at one + another, plotted dementedly in circumvention of each other's plans, and + gloried in their defiance of both man and God. Deep in their hearts they + cherished tenderness for woman, sympathy for the weak and the afflicted, + and generosity indescribable. And yet they prided themselves upon their + barbaric rusticity, glorying in a native cunning bred of their wild life + and sharpened in the struggle for existence. What, after all, is 'The + Jumping Frog' but the elaborate narrative, in native vernacular, of a + shrewd practical joke? As Mark Twain first heard it, this story was a + solemn recital of an interesting incident in the life of Angel's Camp. It + was Mark Twain who "created" the story: he endowed with the comic note of + whimsicality that imaginative realization of <i>une chose vue</i>, which + went round the world. The humour of rustic shrewdness in criticism of art, + so elaborately exploited in 'The Innocents Abroad', was displayed, perhaps + invented, by Mark Twain in the early journalistic days in San Francisco. + In 'The Golden Era' an excellent example is found in the following + observations upon a celebrated painting of Samson and Delilah, then on + exhibition in San Francisco: + </p> + <p> + "Now what is the first thing you see in looking at this picture down at + the Bank Exchange? Is it the gleaming eye and fine face of Samson? or the + muscular Philistine gazing furtively at the lovely Delilah? or is it the + rich drapery? or is it the truth to nature in that pretty foot? No, sir. + The first thing that catches the eye is the scissors at her feet. Them + scissors is too modern; thar warn't no scissors like them in them days—by + a d—-d sight." + </p> + <p> + That was a brilliant and audacious conception, having the just proportion + of sanguinary humour, embodied in Mark Twain's offer, during his lecture + on the Sandwich Islands, to show his audience how the cannibals consume + their food—if only some lady would lend him a live baby. There is + the same wildly humorous tactlessness in the delicious anecdote of + Higgins. + </p> + <p> + Higgins was a simple creature, who used to haul rock; and on the day Judge + Bagley fell down the court-house steps and broke his neck, Higgins was + commissioned to carry the body in his wagon to the house of Mrs. Bagley + and break the news to her as gently as possible. When he arrived, he + shouted until Mrs. Bagley came to the door, and then tactfully inquired if + the Widder Bagley lived there! When she indignantly replied in the + negative, he gently humoured her whim; and inquired next if Judge Bagley + lived there. When she replied that he did, Higgins offered to bet that he + didn't; and delicately inquired if the Judge were in. On being assured + that he was not in at present, Higgins triumphantly exclaimed that he + expected as much. Because he had the old Judge curled up out there in the + wagon; and when Mrs. Bagley saw him, she would doubtless admit that about + all that could comfort the Judge now would be an inquest! + </p> + <p> + Mark Twain was so fond of this bloody and ghastly humour that, on one + occasion, he utterly overreached himself and suffered serious + consequences. In the words of his fellow-journalist, Dan De Quille: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p> + Mark Twain was fond of manufacturing items of the horrible style, but + on one occasion he overdid this business, and the disease worked its + own cure. He wrote an account of a terrible murder, supposed to have + occurred at "Dutch Nick's," a station on the Carson River, where + Empire City now stands. He made a man cut his wife's throat and those + of his nine children, after which diabolical deed the murderer mounted + his horse, cut his own throat from ear to ear, rode to Carson City (a + distance of three and a half miles) and fell dead in front of Peter + Hopkins' saloon. + </p> + <p> + All the California papers copied the item, and several made editorial + comment upon it as being the most shocking occurrence of the kind ever + known on the Pacific Coast. Of course rival Virginia City papers at + once denounced the item as a "cruel and idiotic hoax." They showed how + the publication of such "shocking and reckless falsehoods" disgraced + and injured the State, and they made it as "sultry" as possible for + the 'Enterprise' and its "fool reporter." + </p> + <p> + When the California papers saw all this and found they had been sold, + there was a howl from Siskiyou to San Diego. Some papers demanded the + immediate discharge of the author of the item by the 'Enterprise' + proprietors. They said they would never quote another line from that + paper while the reporter who wrote the shocking item remained on its + force. All this worried Mark as I had never before seen him worried. + Said he: "I am being burned alive on both sides of the mountains." We + roomed together, and one night, when the persecution was hottest, he + was so distressed that he could not sleep. He tossed, tumbled, and + groaned aloud. So I set to work to comfort him. "Mark," said I, "never + mind this bit of a gale, it will soon blow itself out. This item of + yours will be remembered and talked about when all your other work is + forgotten. The murder at Dutch Nick's will be quoted years from now as + the big sell of these times." + </p> + <p> + Said Mark: "I believe you are right; I remember I once did a thing at + home in Missouri, was caught at it, and worried almost to death. I was + a mere lad, and was going to school in a little town where I had an + uncle living. I at once left the town and did not return to it for + three years. When I finally came back I found I was only remembered as + 'the boy that played the trick on the schoolmaster.'" + </p> + <p> + Mark then told me the story, began to laugh over it, and from that + moment "ceased to groan." He was not discharged, and in less than a + month people everywhere were laughing and joking about the "murder at + Dutch Nick's." + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + Out of that full, free Western life, with its tremendous hazards of + fortune, its extravagant alternations from fabulous wealth to wretched + poverty, its tremendous exaggerations and incredible contrasts, was + evolved a humour as rugged, as mountainous, and as altitudinous as the + conditions which gave it birth. Mark Twain may be said to have created, + and made himself master of, this new and fantastic humour which, in its + exaggeration and elaboration, was without a parallel in the history of + humorous narration. At times it seemed little more than a sort of + infectious and hilarious nonsense; but in reality it had behind it all the + calculation of detail and elaboration. There was something in it of the + volcanic, as if at the bursting forth of some pentup force of primitive + nature. It consisted in piling Pelion on Ossa, until the structure toppled + over of its own weight and fell with a stentorian crash of laughter which + echoed among the stars. Whenever Mark Twain conceived a humorous idea, he + seemed capable of extracting from it infinite complications of successive + and cumulative comedy. This humour seemed like the mental functionings of + some mad, yet inevitably logical jester; it grew from more to more, from + extravagance to extravagance, until reason itself tired and gave over. + Such explosive stories as 'How I Edited an Agricultural Paper', 'A Genuine + Mexican Plug', the deciphering of the Horace Greeley correspondence, 'The + Facts in the Case of the Great Beef Contract, and many another, as Mr. + Chesterton has pointed out, have one tremendous essential of great art. + "The excitement mounts up perpetually; they grow more and more comic, as a + tragedy should grow more and more tragic. The rack, tragic or comic, goes + round until something breaks inside a man. In tragedy it is his heart, or + perhaps his stiff neck. In farce I do not quite know what it is—perhaps + his funny-bone is dislocated; perhaps his skull is slightly cracked." Mark + Twain's mountainous humour, of this early type, never contains the element + of final surprise, of the sudden, the unexpected, the <i>imprevu</i>. We + know what is coming, we surrender ourselves more and more to the mood of + the narrator, holding ourselves in reserve until laughter, no longer to be + restrained, bursts forth in a torrent of undignified and explosive mirth. + Perhaps no better example can be given than the description of the sad + fate of the camel in 'A Tramp Abroad'. + </p> + <p> + In Syria, at the head-waters of the Jordan, this camel had got hold of his + overcoat; and after he finished contemplating it as an article of apparel, + he began to inspect it as an article of diet. In his inimitable manner, + Mark describes the almost religious ecstasy of that camel as it devoured + his overcoat piecemeal—first one sleeve, then the other, velvet + collar, and finally the tails. All went well until the camel struck a + batch of manuscript—containing some of Mark's humorous letters for + the home papers. Their solid wisdom soon began to lie heavy on the camel's + stomach: the jokes shook him until he began to gag and gasp, and finally + he struck statements that not even a camel could swallow with impunity. He + died in horrible agony; and Mark found on examination that the camel had + choked to death on one of the mildest statements of fact that he had ever + offered to a trusting public! Here Mark gradually works up to an + anticipated climax by piling on effect after effect. Our risibility is + excited almost as much by the anticipation of the climax as by the + recital. + </p> + <p> + Admirable instances of the ludicrous incident, of the nonsensical recital, + are found in the scene in 'Huckleberry Finn' dealing with the performance + of the King's Cameleopard or Royal Nonesuch, the address on the occasion + of the dinner in honour of the seventieth anniversary of John Greenleaf + Whittier (an historic failure), and the Turkish bath in 'The Innocents + Abroad'. + </p> + <p> + In this prison filled with hot air, an attendant sat him down by a tank of + hot water and began to polish him all over with a coarse mitten. Soon Mark + noticed a disagreeable smell, and realized that the more he was polished + the worse he smelt. He urged the attendant to bury him without unnecessary + delay, as it was obvious that he couldn't possibly "keep" long in such + warm weather. But the phlegmatic attendant paid no attention to Mark's + commands and continued to scrub with renewed vigour. Mark's consternation + changed to alarm when he discovered that little cylinders, like macaroni, + began to roll from under the mitten. They were too white to be dirt. He + felt that he was gradually being pared down to a convenient size. + Realizing that it would take hours for the attendant to trim him down to + the proper size, Mark indignantly ordered him to bring a jackplane at once + and get the matter over. To all his protests the attendant paid no + attention at all. + </p> + <p> + In one of the earliest critical articles about Mark Twain, which appeared + in 'Appleton's Journal of Literature, Science and Art' for July 4,1874, + Mr. G. T. Ferris gives an excellent appreciation of his humour. "Of humour + in its highest phase," he says, "perhaps Bret Harte may be accounted the + most puissant master among our contemporary American writers. Of wit, we + see next to none. Mark Twain, while lacking the subtilty and pathos of the + other, has more breadth, variety, and ease. His sketches of life are + arabesque in their strange combinations. Bits of bright, serious + description, both of landscape and society, carry us along till suddenly + we stumble on some master-stroke of grotesque and irresistible fun. He + understands the value of repose in art. One tires of a page where every + sentence sparkles with points, and the author is constantly attitudinizing + for our amusement. We like to be betrayed into laughter as much in books + as in real life. It is the unconscious, easy, careless gait of Mark Twain + that makes his most potent charm. He seems always to be catering as much + to his own enjoyment as to that of the public. He strolls along like a + great rollicking schoolboy, bent on having a good time, and determined + that his readers shall have it with him." + </p> + <p> + Mark Twain is the most daring of humorists. He takes his courage in his + hands for the wildest flights of fancy. His humour is the caricature of + situations, rather than of individuals; and he is not afraid to risk his + characters in colossally ludicrous situations. His art reveals itself in + choosing ludicrous situations which contain such a strong colouring of + naturalness that one's sense of reality is not outraged, but titillated. + Hence it is that his humour, in its earlier form, does not lend itself + readily to quotation. His early humour is not epigrammatic, but cumulative + and extensive. Each scene is a unit and must appear as such. Andrew Lang + not inaptly catches the note of Mark Twain's earlier manner, when he + speaks of his "almost Mephistophelean coolness, an unwearying search after + the comic sides of serious subjects, after the mean possibilities of the + sublime—these with a native sense of incongruities and a glorious + vein of exaggeration." + </p> + <p> + Mark Twain began his career as a wag; he rejoiced in being a fun-maker. He + discarded the weird spellings and crude punning of his American + forerunners; his object was not play upon words, but play upon ideas. He + offered his public, as Frank R. Stockton pointed out, the pure ore of fun. + "If he puts his private mark on it, it will pass current; it does not + require the mint stamp of the schools of humour. He is never afraid of + being laughed at." Indeed, that is a large part of his stock-in-trade; for + throughout his entire career, nothing seemed to give him so much pleasure—though + it is one of the lowest forms of humour—as making fun of himself. In + describing two monkeys that got into his room at Delhi, he said that when + he awoke, one of them was before the glass brushing his hair, and the + other one had his notebook, and was reading a page of humorous notes and + crying. He didn't mind the one with the hair-brush; but the conduct of the + other one cut him to the heart. He never forgave that monkey. His + apostrophe, with tears, over the tomb of Adam—only to be fully + appreciated in connexion with his satiric indignation over the drivel of + the maudlin Mr. Grimes, who "never bored, but he struck water"—is an + admirable example of the mechanical fooling of self-ridicule. + </p> + <p> + In his penetrating study, 'Mark Twain a Century Hence', published at the + time of Mr. Clemens' death, Professor H. T. Peck makes this observation: + "We must judge Mark Twain as a humorist by the very best of all he wrote + rather than by the more dubious productions, in which we fail to see at + every moment the winning qualities and the characteristic form of this + very interesting American. As one would not judge of Tennyson by his + dramas, nor Thackeray by his journalistic chit-chat, nor Sir Walter Scott + by those romances which he wrote after his fecundity had been exhausted, + so we must not judge Mark Twain by the dozen or more specimens which + belong to the later period, when he was ill at ease and growing old. Let + us rather go back with a sort of joy to what he wrote when he did so with + spontaneity, when his fun was as natural to him as breathing, and when his + humour was all American humour—not like that of Juvenal or Hierocles—acrid, + or devoid of anything individual—but brimming over with exactly the + same rich irresponsibility which belonged to Steele and Lamb and Irving. + It may seem odd to group a son of the New World and of the great West with + those earlier classic figures who have been mentioned here; yet upon + analysis it will be discovered that the humour of Mark Twain is at least + first cousin to that which produced Sir Roger de Coverley and Rip Van + Winkle and The Stout Gentleman." + </p> + <p> + The details of the Gambetta-Fourtou duel, in which Mark played a somewhat + frightened second, have furnished untold amusement to thousands. And his + description of the inadvertent <i>faux pa</i> he committed at his first + public lecture is humorous for any age and society. The sign announcing + the lecture read—"Doors open at 7. The Trouble will begin at 8." For + three days, Mark had been in a state of frightful suspense. Once his + lecture had seemed humorous; but as the day approached, it seemed to him + to be but the dreariest of fooling, without a vestige of real fun. He was + so panic-stricken that he persuaded three of his friends, who were giants + in stature, genial and stormy voiced, to act as claquers and pound loudly + at the faintest suspicion of a joke. He bribed Sawyer, a half-drunk man, + who had a laugh hung on a hair-trigger, to get off, naturally and easily + during the course of the evening, as many laughs as he could. He begged a + popular citizen and his wife to take a conspicuous seat in a box, so that + everybody could see them. He explained that when he needed help, he would + turn toward her and smile, as a signal, that he had given birth to an + obscure joke. Then, if ever, was her time—not to investigate, but to + respond! + </p> + <p> + The fateful night found him in the depths of dejection. But heartened up + by a crowded house, full even to the aisles, he bravely set in and + proceeded to capture the house. His claquers hammered madly whenever the + very feeblest joke showed its head. Sawyer supported their herculean + efforts with bursts of stentorian laughter. As Mark explained, not without + a touch of pride, inferior jokes never fared so royally before. But his + hour of humiliation was at hand. On delivering a bit of serious matter + with impressive unction, to which the audience listened with rapt + interest, he glanced involuntarily, as if for her approval, at his friend + in the box. He remembered the compact, but it was too late—he smiled + in spite of himself. Forth came her ringing laugh, peal after peal, which + touched off the whole audience: the explosion was immense! Sawyer choked + with laughter, and the bludgeons performed like pile-drivers. The little + morsel of pathos was ruined; but what matter, so long as the audience took + it as an intentional joke, and applauded it with unparalleled enthusiasm. + Mark wisely let it go at that! + </p> + <p> + Reading through 'The Innocents Abroad' after many years, I find that it + has not lost its power to provoke the most side-splitting laughter; and + the same may be said of 'A Tramp Abroad' and 'Following the Equator', + which, whilst not so boisterously comical, exhibit greater mastery and + restraint. His own luck, as Mark Twain observed on one occasion, had been + curious all his literary life. He never could tell a lie that anybody + would doubt, nor a truth that anybody would believe. Could there be a more + accurate or more concise definition of the effect of his writings, in + especial of his travel notes? Like his mother, he too never used large + words, but he had a natural gift for making small ones do effective work. + How delightfully human is his comment on the vagaries of woman's shopping! + Human nature he found very much the same all over the world; and he felt + that it was so much like his dear native home to see a Venetian lady go + into a store, buy ten cents' worth of blue ribbon, and then have it sent + home in a scow. It was such little touches of nature as this which, as he + said, moved him to tears in those far-off lands. In speaking of Palestine, + he says that its holy places are not as deliriously beautiful as the books + paint them. Indeed, he asserts that if one be calm and resolute, he can + look on their beauty and live! He bequeathed his rheumatism to + Baden-Baden. It was little, but it was all he had to give. His only regret + was that he could not leave something more catching. + </p> + <p> + There is nothing better in all of 'The Innocents Abroad' than his analysis + of the theological hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. Disclaiming all + intention to be frivolous, irreverent or blasphemous, he solemnly declared + that his observations had taught him the real way the Holy Personages were + ranked in Rome. "The Mother of God," otherwise the Virgin Mary, comes + first, followed in order by the Deity, Peter, and some twelve or fifteen + canonized Popes and Martyrs. Last of all came Jesus Christ the Saviour—but + even then, always as an infant in arms! + </p> + <p> + Who can ever forget the Mark Twain who kissed the Hawaiian stranger for + his mother's sake, the while robbing him of his small change; who was so + struck by the fine points of his Honolulan horse that he hung his hat on + one of them; who rode glaciers as gaily as he rode Mexican plugs, and + found diverting programmes of the Roman Coliseum, in the dust and rubbish + of two thousand years ago! + </p> + <p> + Samuel L. Clemens achieved instantaneous and world-wide popularity at a + single bound by the creation of a fantastic and delightfully naive + character known as "Mark Twain." At a somewhat later day, Bernard Shaw + achieved world-wide fame by the creation of a legendary and fantastic wit + known as "G. B. S." To the composition of "Mark Twain" went all the wild + humour of ignorance—the boisterously comic admixture of the + sanguinary and the stoical. The humour of 'The Jumping Frog' and 'The + Innocents Abroad' is the savage and naive humour of the mining camp, not + the sophisticated humour of civilization. It is significant that Mme. + Blanc, a polished and refined intelligence, found the <i>nil admirari</i> + attitude of "Mark Twain" no more enlightening nor suggestive than the + stoicism of the North American Indian. This mirthful and mock-innocent + naivete, so alien to the delicate and subtle spirit of the French, found + instant response in the heart of the Anglo-Saxon and Germanic peoples. The + English and the Germans, no less than the Americans, rejoiced in this gay + fellow with his combination of appealing ignorance and but half-concealed + shrewdness. They laughed at this unsophisticated <i>naif</i>, gazing in + wide-eyed wonderment at all he saw; and they delighted in the + consciousness that, behind this thin mask, lay an acute and searching + intelligence revelling in the humorous havoc wrought by his keen + perception of the contrasts and incongruities of life. The note of this + early humour is perfectly caught in the incident of the Egyptian mummy. + Deliberately assumed ignorance of the grossest sort, by Mark Twain and his + companions, had the most devastating effect upon the foreign guide—one + of that countless tribe to all of whom Mark applied the generic name of + Ferguson. After driving Ferguson nearly mad with pretended ignorance, they + finally asked him if the mummy was dead. When Ferguson glibly replied that + he had been dead three thousand years, he was dumbfounded at the fury of + the "doctor" for being imposed upon with vile second-hand carcases. The + poor Frenchman was warned that if he didn't bring out a nice, fresh corpse + at once, they would brain him! No wonder that, later, when he was asked + for a description of the party, Ferguson laconically remarked that they + were lunatics! + </p> + <p> + In speaking of contemporary society, Ibsen once remarked: "We have made a + fiasco both in the heroic and the lover roles. The only parts in which we + have shown a little talent, are the naively comic; but with our more + highly developed self-consciousness we shall no longer be fitted even for + that." With time and "our more highly developed self-consciousness" have + largely passed the novelty and the charm of this early naively comic + humour of Mark Twain. But it is as valid still, as it was in 1867, to + record honestly the impressions directly communicated to one by the + novelties, peculiarities, individual standards and ideals of other peoples + and races. Mark Twain spoke his mind with utter disregard for other + people's opinions, the dicta of criticism or the authoritative judgment of + the schools. 'The Innocents Abroad' is eminently readable, not alone for + its humour, its clever journalism, its remarkably accurate and detailed + information, and its fine descriptions. The rare quality, which made it + "sell right along—like the Bible," is that it is the vital record of + a keen and searching intelligence. Mark Twain found so many of the + "masterpieces of the world" utterly unimpressive and meaningless to him, + that he actually began to distrust the validity of his own impressions. + Every time he gloried to think that for once he had discovered an ancient + painting that was beautiful and worthy of all praise, the pleasure it gave + him was an infallible proof that it was not a beautiful picture, nor in + any sense worthy of commendation! He pours out the torrents of his + ridicule, not indiscriminately upon the works of the old masters + themselves—though he regarded Nature as the grandest of all the old + masters—but upon those half-baked sycophants who bend the knee to an + art they do not understand, an art of which they feign comprehension by + mouthings full of cheap and meaningless tags. As potent and effective as + ever, in its fine comic irony, is that passage in which he expresses his + "envy" of those people who pay lavish lip-service to scenes and works of + art which their expressionless language shows they neither realize nor + understand. He reserves his most biting condemnation for those second-hand + critics who accept other people's opinions for their criteria, and rave + over "beauty," "soul," "character," "expression" and "tone" in wretched, + dingy, moth-eaten pictures. He hated with the heartiest detestation such + people—whose sole ambition seemed to be to make a fine show of + knowledge of art by means of an easily acquired vocabulary of inexpressive + technical terms of art criticism. + </p> + <p> + There is much, I fear, of misguided honesty in Mark Twain's records of + foreign travel. To the things which he personally reverenced, he was + always reverential; and his expression of likes and dislikes, of + prejudices and predilections, was honest and fearless. Grant as we may the + humorist's right to exaggerate and even to distort, for the purposes of + his fun-making, it does not therefore follow that his judgments, however + forthright or sincere, are valid, reputable criticisms. One's enjoyment of + his fresh and hilarious humour, his persistent fun-making is no whit + impaired by the recognition that he was lacking in the faculty of historic + imagination and in the finer artistic sense. It is, in a measure, because + of his lack of culture and, more broadly, lack of real knowledge, that he + was enabled to evoke the laughter of the multitude. "The Mississippi + pilot, homely, naive, arrogantly candid," says Mr. S. P. Sherman, "refuses + to sink his identity in the object contemplated—that, as Corporal + Nym would have said, is the humour of it. He is the kind of travelling + companion that makes you wonder why you went abroad. He turns the Old + World into a laughing stock by shearing it of its storied humanity—simply + because there is nothing in him to respond to the glory that was Greece, + to the grandeur that was Rome—simpler because nothing is holier to + him than a joke. He does not throw the comic light upon counterfeit + enthusiasm; he laughs at art, history, and antiquity from the point of + view of one who is ignorant of them and mightily well satisfied with his + ignorance." This picture reminds us of the foreign critics of 'The + Innocents Abroad' and 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court': it is + too partial and restricted. The whole point of Mark Twain's humour, as + exhibited in these travel notes, is missed in the statement that "he does + not throw the comic light upon counterfeit enthusiasm "—for this + might almost be taken as the "philosophy" of his books of foreign travel. + And yet Mr. Sherman's dictum, in its entirety, quite clearly provokes the + question whether, as he intimates, the "overwhelming majority" of his + fellow-citizens also were not mightily pleased with Mark Twain's point of + view, and whether they did not enjoy themselves hugely in laughing, not at + him, but with him. + </p> + <p> + In commenting on the reasons for the broadening and deepening of his + humour with the passage of time, Mr. Clemens once remarked to me: "I + succeeded in the long run, where Shillaber, Doesticks, and Billings + failed, because they never had an ideal higher than that of merely being + funny. The first great lesson of my life was the discovery that I had to + live down my past. When I first began to lecture, and in my earlier + writings, my sole idea was to make comic capital out of everything I saw + and heard. My object was not to tell the truth, but to make people laugh. + I treated my readers as unfairly as I treated everybody else—eager + to betray them at the end with some monstrous absurdity or some + extravagant anti-climax. One night, after a lecture in the early days, Tom + Fitch, the 'silver-tongued orator of Nevada,' said to me: 'Clemens, your + lecture was magnificent. It was eloquent, moving, sincere. Never in my + entire life have I listened to such a magnificent piece of descriptive + narration. But you committed one unpardonable sin—the unpardonable + sin. It is a sin you must never commit again. You closed a most eloquent + description, by which you had keyed your audience up to a pitch of the + intensest interest, with a piece of atrocious anti-climax which nullified + all the really fine effect you had produced. My dear Clemens, whatever you + do, never sell your audience.' And that," continued Mr. Clemens, "was my + first really profitable lesson." + </p> + <p> + It was the toning down of his youthful extravagance—Fitch's precept + not to "sell" his audience, Mrs. Fairbanks' warning not to try their + endurance of the irreverent too far—that had a markedly salutary + effect upon Mark Twain's humorous writings. There can be no doubt that the + deep and lifelong friendship of Mr. Howells, expressing itself as occasion + demanded in the friendliest criticism, had a subduing influence upon Mark + Twain's tendency, as a humorist, to extravagance and headlong + exaggeration. In time he left the field of carpet-bag observation—the + humorous depicting of things seen from the rear of an observation car, so + to speak—and turned to fiction. Now at last the long pent-up flood + of observation upon human character and human characteristics found full + vent. 'Tom Sawyer' and 'Huckleberry Finn' are the romances of eternal + youth, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. They are freighted, + however, with a wealth of pungent and humorous characterization that have + made of them contemporary classics. From ethical sophistication and moral + truantry Mark Twain evolves an inexhaustible supply of humour. The revolt + of mischievous and Bohemian boyhood against the stern limitations of + formal Puritanism is, in a sense, a principle that he carried with him to + the grave. "There are no more vital passages in his fiction," says Mr. + Howells, "than those which embody character as it is affected for good as + well as for evil by the severity of the local Sunday-schooling and + church-going." Out of the pangs of conscience, the ingenious sedatives of + sophistry, the numerous variations of the lie, he won a wholesome humour + that left you thinking, by inversion, upon the moral involved. Knowledge + of human nature finds expression in forms made permanently effective + through the arresting permeation of humour. The incident of Tom Sawyer and + the whitewashing of the fence is the sort of thing over which boy and man + alike can chuckle with satisfaction—for Tom Sawyer had discovered a + great law of human action without knowing it, namely, that in order to + make a man or boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing + difficult to attain. Huck's reasoning about chicken stealing—the + exquisitely comic shifting of ground from morality to expediency—is + a striking example of the best type of Mark Twain's humour. Following his + father's example, Huck would occasionally "lift" a chicken that wasn't + roosting comfortable; for had his father not told him that even if he + didn't want the chicken himself, he could always find somebody that did + want it, and a good deed ain't never forgot? Huck confesses that he had + never seen his Pap when he didn't want the chicken himself! + </p> + <p> + The germ of Mark Twain's humour, wherever it is found, from 'The Innocents + Abroad' to 'The Connecticut Yankee' and 'Captain Stormfield's Visit to + Heaven', is found in the mental reactions resulting from stupendous and + glaring contrasts. First it is the Wild Western humorist, primitive and + untamed, running amuck through the petrified formulas and encrusted + traditions of Europe. Then comes the fantastic juxtaposition of the shrewd + Connecticut Yankee, with his comic irreverence and raucous sense of + humour, his bourgeois limitations and provincial prejudices, to the Court + of King Arthur, with its mediaevalism, its primitive rudeness and social + narrowness. How many have delighted in the Yankee's inimitable description + of his feelings toward that classic damsel of the sixth century? At first + he got along easily with the girl; but after a while he began to feel for + her a sort of mysterious and shuddery reverence. Whenever she began to + unwind one of those long sentences of hers, and got it well under way, he + could never suppress the feeling that he was standing in the awful + presence of the Mother of the German Language! + </p> + <p> + Mark Twain ransacked the whole world of his own day, all countries, savage + and civilized, for the display of effective and ludicrous contrast; and he + opened up an illimitable field for humanizing satire, as Mr. Howells has + said, in his juxtaposition of sociologic types thirteen centuries apart. + Not even heaven was safe from the comprehensive survey of his satire; and + 'Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven' is a remarkable document,—a + forthright lay sermon,—the conventional idea of heaven, the + theologic conception of eternity, as heedlessly taught from the pulpit, + thrown into comic, yet profoundly significant, relief against the + background of the common-sense of a deeply human, thoroughly modern + intelligence. + </p> + <p> + Humour, as Thackeray has defined it, is a combination of wit and love. + Certain it is that, in the case of Mark Twain, wit was a later development + of his humour; the love was there all the time. Mark Twain has not been + recognized as a wit; for he was primarily a humorist, and only secondarily + a wit. But the passion for brief and pungent formulation of an idea grew + upon him; and Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar is a mine of homely and + memorable aphorism, epigram, injunction. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="pp105.jpg (59K)" src="images/pp105.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + > <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + According to Mark Twain's classification, the comic story is English, the + witty story French, the humorous story American. While the other two + depend upon matter, the humorous story depends for its effect upon the + manner of telling. The witty story and the comic story must be concise and + end with a "point"; but the humorous story may be as leisurely as you + please and have no particular destination. Mark Twain always maintained + that, while anyone could tell effectively a comic or a witty story, it + required a person skilled in an art of a rare and distinctive character to + tell a humorous story successfully. Mark Twain was himself the supreme + exemplar of the art of telling a humorous story. Take this little passage, + for example, which convulsed one of his London audiences. He was speaking + of a high mountain that he had come across in his travels. "It is so cold + that people who have been there find it impossible to speak the truth; I + know that's a fact (here a pause, a blank stare, a shake of the head, a + little stroll across the platform, a sigh, a puff, a smothered groan), + because—I've—(another pause)—been—(a longer pause)—there + myself." Who could equal Mark Twain as a humorous narrator, in his recital + of the alarums and excursions, criminations and recriminations, over the + story of somebody else's dog he sold to General Miles for three dollars? + He delighted numerous audiences with his story of inveighing Mrs. Grover + Cleveland at a White House reception into writing blindly on the back of a + card "He didn't." When she turned it over she discovered that it bore on + the other side, in Mrs. Clemens' handwriting, the startling words: "Don't + wear your arctics in the White House." I shall never forget his recital of + the story of how his enthusiasm oozed away at a meeting in behalf of + foreign missions. So moving was the fervid eloquence of the exhorter that, + after fifteen minutes, if Mark Twain had had a blank cheque with him, he + would gladly have turned it over, signed, to the minister, to fill out for + any amount. But it was a very warm evening, the eloquence of the minister + was inexhaustible—and Mark Twain's enthusiasm for foreign missions + slowly oozed away—one hundred dollars, fifty dollars, and even lower + still—so that when the plate was actually passed around, Mark put in + ten cents and took out a quarter! + </p> + <p> + I was a witness in London, and at Oxford, in 1907, of the vast, + spontaneous, national reception which Mark Twain received from the English + people. One incident of that memorable visit is a perfect example of that + masterly power over an audience, that deep humanity, with which Mark Twain + was endowed. At the banquet presided over by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, + which was the signal of Mark Twain's farewell to the English people, his + peroration was as follows: + </p> + <p> + "Many and many a year ago I read an anecdote in Dana's Two Years Before + the Mast. A frivolous little self-important captain of a coasting-sloop in + the dried-apple and kitchen-furniture trade was always hailing every + vessel that came in sight, just to hear himself talk and air his small + grandeurs. One day a majestic Indiaman came ploughing by, with course on + course of canvas towering into the sky, her decks and yards swarming with + sailors, with macaws and monkeys and all manner of strange and romantic + creatures populating her rigging, and thereto her freightage of precious + spices lading the breeze with gracious and mysterious odours of the + Orient. Of course, the little coaster-captain hopped into the shrouds and + squeaked a hail: 'Ship ahoy! What ship is that, and whence and whither?' + In a deep and thunderous bass came the answer back, through a speaking + trumpet: The Begum of Bengal, a hundred and twenty-three days out from + Canton homeward bound! What ship is that?' The little captain's vanity was + all crushed out of him, and most humbly he squeaked back: 'Only the Mary + Ann—fourteen hours from Boston, bound for Kittery Point with—with + nothing to speak of!' That eloquent word 'only' expressed the deeps of his + stricken humbleness. + </p> + <p> + "And what is my case? During perhaps one hour in the twenty-four—not + more than that—I stop and reflect. Then I am humble, then I am + properly meek, and for that little time I am 'only the Mary Ann'—fourteen + hours out, and cargoed with vegetables and tin-ware; but all the other + twenty-three my self-satisfaction rides high, and I am the stately + Indiaman, ploughing the great seas under a cloud of sail, and laden with a + rich freightage of the kindest words that were ever spoken to a wandering + alien, I think; my twenty-six crowded and fortunate days multiplied by + five; and I am the Begum of Bengal, a hundred and twenty-three days out + from Canton—homeward bound!" + </p> + <p> + Says "Charles Vale," in describing the scene "The audience sat spellbound + in almost painful silence, till it could restrain itself no longer; and + when in rich, resonant, uplifted voice Mark Twain sang out the words: 'I + am the Begum of Bengal, a hundred and twenty-three days out from Canton,' + there burst forth a great cheer from one end of the room to the other. It + seemed an inopportune cheer, and for a moment it upset the orator: yet it + was felicitous in opportuneness. Slowly, after a long pause, came the last + two words—like that curious, detached and high note in which a great + piece of music suddenly ends—'Homeward bound.' Again there was a + cheer: but this time it was lower; it was subdued; it was the fitting echo + to the beautiful words—with their double significance—the + parting from a hospitable land, the return to the native land. . . . Only + a great litterateur could have conceived such a passage: only a great + orator could have so delivered it." + </p> + <p> + Mark Twain was the greatest master of the anecdote this generation has + known. He claimed the humorous story as an American invention, and one + that has remained at home. His public speeches were little mosaics in the + finesse of their art; and the intricacies of inflection, insinuation, + jovial innuendo which Mark Twain threw into his gestures, his implicative + pauses, his suggestive shrugs and deprecative nods—all these are + hopelessly volatilized and disappear entirely from the printed copy of his + speeches. He gave the most minute and elaborate study to the preparation + of his speeches—polishing them dexterously and rehearsing every + word, every gesture, with infinite care. Yet his readiness and fertility + of resource in taking advantage, and making telling use, of things in the + speeches of those immediately preceding him, were striking evidences of + the rapidity of his thought-processes. In Boston, when asked what he + thought about the existence of a heaven or a hell, he looked grave for a + moment, and then replied: "I don't want to express an opinion. It's policy + for me to keep silent. You see, I have friends in both places." His speech + introducing General Hawley of Connecticut to a Republican meeting at + Elmira, New York, is an admirable example of his laconic art: "General + Hawley is a member of my church at Hartford, and the author of 'Beautiful + Snow.' Maybe he will deny that. But I am only here to give him a character + from his last place. As a pure citizen, I respect him; as a personal + friend of years, I have the warmest regard for him; as a neighbour, whose + vegetable garden adjoins mine, why—why, I watch him. As the author + of 'Beautiful Snow,' he has added a new pang to winter. He is a square, + true man in honest politics, and I must say he occupies a mighty lonesome + position. So broad, so bountiful is his character that he never turned a + tramp empty-handed from his door, but always gave him a letter of + introduction to me. Pure, honest, incorruptible, that is Joe Hawley. Such + a man in politics is like a bottle of perfumery in a glue factory—it + may modify the stench, but it doesn't destroy it. I haven't said any more + of him than I would say of myself. Ladies and gentlemen, this is General + Hawley." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Chesterton maintains that Mark Twain was a wit rather than a humorist—perhaps + something more than a humorist. "Wit," he explains, "requires an + intellectual athleticism, because it is akin to logic. A wit must have + something of the same running, working, and staying power as a + mathematician or a metaphysician. Moreover, wit is a fighting thing and a + working thing. A man may enjoy humour all by himself; he may see a joke + when no one else sees it; he may see the point and avoid it. But wit is a + sword; it is meant to make people feel the point as well as see it. All + honest people saw the point of Mark Twain's wit. Not a few dishonest + people felt it." The epigram, "Be virtuous, and you will be eccentric," + has become a catchword; and everyone has heard Mark Twain's reply to the + reporter asking for advice as to what to cable his paper, which had + printed the statement that Mark Twain was dead "Say that the statement is + greatly exaggerated." He has admirably taken off humanity's enduring + self-conceit in the statement that there isn't a Parallel of Latitude but + thinks it would have been the Equator if it had had its rights. There is + something peculiarly American in his warning to young girls not to marry—that + is, not to excess! His remarks on compliments have a delightful and naive + freshness. He points out how embarrassing compliments always are. It is so + difficult to take them naturally. You never know what to say. He had + received many compliments in his lifetime, and they had always embarrassed + him—he always felt that they hadn't said enough! + </p> + <p> + The incident of Mark Twain's first meeting with Whistler is quaintly + illustrative of one phase of his broader humour. Mark Twain was taken by a + friend to Whistler's studio, just as he was putting the finishing touches + to one of his fantastic studies. Confident of the usual commendation, + Whistler inquired his guest's opinion of the picture. Mark Twain assumed + the air of a connoisseur, and approaching the picture remarked that it did + very well, but "he didn't care much for that cloud—"; and suiting + the action to the word, appeared to be on the point of rubbing the cloud + with his gloved finger. In genuine horror, Whistler exclaimed: "Don't + touch it, the paint's wet!" "Oh, that's all right," replied Mark with his + characteristic drawl: "these aren't my best gloves, anyhow!" Whereat + Whistler recognized a congenial spirit, and their first hearty laugh + together was the beginning of a friendly and congenial relationship. + </p> + <p> + I recall an incident in connection with the writing of his Autobiography. + On more than one occasion, he declared that the Autobiography was going to + be something awful—as caustic, fiendish, and devilish as he could + make it. Actually, he was in the habit of jotting on the margin of the + page, opposite to some startling characterization or diabolic joke: "Not + to be published until ten (or twenty, or thirty) years after my death." + One day I heard him vent his pent-up rage, in bitter and caustic words, + upon a certain strenuous, limelight American politician. I could not + resist the temptation to ask him if this, too, were going into the + Autobiography. "Oh yes," he replied, decisively. "Everything goes in. I + make no exceptions. But," he added reflectively, with the suspicion of a + twinkle in his eye, "I shall make a note beside this passage: 'Not to be + published until one hundred and fifty years after my death'!" + </p> + <p> + Mark Twain had numerous "doubles" scattered about the world. The number + continually increased; once a month on an average, he would receive a + letter from a new "double," enclosing a photograph in proof of the + resemblance. Mark once wrote to one of these doubles as follows: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p> + MY DEAR SIR— + </p> + <p> + Many thanks for your letter, with enclosed photograph. Your + resemblance to me is remarkable. In fact, to be perfectly honest, you + look more like me than I look like myself. I was so much impressed by + the resemblance that I have had your picture framed, and am now using + it regularly, in place of a mirror, to shave by. + </p> + <p> + Yours gratefully,<br /> S. L. CLEMENS. + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + Although not generally recognized, it is undoubtedly true that Mark Twain + was a wit as well as a humorist. He was the author of many epigrams and + curt aphorisms which have become stock phrases in conversation, quoted in + all classes of society wherever the English language is spoken. His + phrasing is unpretentious, even homely, wearing none of the polished + brilliancy of La Rochefoucauld or Bernard Shaw; but Mark Twain's sayings + "stick" because they are rooted in shrewdness and hard commonsense. + </p> + <p> + Mark Twain's warning to the two burglars who stole his silverware from + "Stormfield" and were afterwards caught and sent to the penitentiary, is + very amusing, though not highly complimentary to American political life: + </p> + <p> + "Now you two young men have been up to my house, stealing my tinware, and + got pulled in by these Yankees up here. You had much better have stayed in + New York, where you have the pull. Don't you see where you're drifting. + They'll send you from here down to Bridgeport jail, and the next thing you + know you'll be in the United States Senate. There's no other future left + open to you." + </p> + <p> + The sign he posted after the visitation of these same burglars was a + prominent ornament of the billiard room at "Stormfield ": + </p> + <blockquote> + <p> + NOTICE + </p> + <p> + To the next Burglar + </p> + <p> + There is nothing but plated-ware in this house, now<br /> and + henceforth. You will find it in that brass thing<br /> in the + dining-room over in the corner by the basket of<br /> kittens. If + you want the basket, put the kittens in<br /> the brass thing. + </p> + <p> + Do not make a noise, it disturbs the family. + </p> + <p> + You will find rubbers in the front hall, by that thing<br /> which + has the umbrellas in it, chiffonnier, I think<br /> they call it, + or pergola, or something like that. + </p> + <p> + Please close the door when you go away! + </p> + <p> + Very truly yours, + </p> + <p> + S. L. CLEMENS. + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + Now these are examples of Mark Twain's humour, American humour, such as we + are accustomed to expect from Mark Twain—humour not unmixed with a + strong spice of wit. But Mark Twain was capable of wit, pure and + unadulterated, curt and concise. I once saw him write in a young girl's + birthday book an aphorism which he said was one of his favourites "Truth + is our most valuable possession. Let us economize it." The advice he once + gave me as to the proper frame of mind for undergoing a surgical operation + has always remained in my memory: "Console yourself with the reflection + that you are giving the doctor pleasure, and that he is getting paid for + it." Peculiarly memorable is his forthright dictum that the statue which + advertises its modesty with a fig-leaf brings its modesty under suspicion. + His business motto—unfortunately, a motto that he never followed—has + often been attributed, because of its canny shrewdness, to Mr. Andrew + Carnegie. The idea was to put all your eggs in one basket—and then—watch + that basket! His anti-Puritanical convictions find concrete expression in + his assertion that few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance + of a good example. Truly classic, in usage if not in form, is his happy + saying that faith is believing what you know ain't so. His definition of a + classic as a book which people praise but don't read, is as frequently + heard as are Biblical and Shakespearian tags. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Clemens once told me that he had composed between two and three + hundred maxims during his life. Many of them, especially those from the + old and new calendars of Pudd'nhead Wilson, bear the individual and + peculiar stamp of Mark Twain's phraseology and outlook upon life—quaint, + genial, and shrewd. In pursuance of his deep-rooted belief in the + omnipotent power of training, he remarked that the peach was once a bitter + almond, the cauliflower nothing but cabbage with a college education. He + himself was not guiltless of that irreverence which he defined as + disrespect for another man's god. Women took an almost unholy delight in + describing some of their undesirable acquaintances, in Mark Twain's + phrase, as neither quite refined, nor quite unrefined, but just the kind + of person that keeps a parrot! + </p> + <p> + At times, Mark Twain realized the sanctifying power of illusions in a + world of harsh realities; for he asserted that when illusions are gone you + may still exist, but you have ceased to live. A depressing sense of + world-weariness sometimes overbore the native joyousness of his + temperament; and he expressed his sense of deep gratitude to Adam, the + first great benefactor of the race—because he had brought death into + the world. A funeral always gave Mark Twain a sense of spiritual uplift, a + sense of thankfulness because the dead friend had been set free. He + thought it was far harder to live than to die. + </p> + <p> + In one of his early sketches, there was admirable wit in the suggestion to + the organist for a hymn appropriate to a sermon on the Prodigal Son: + </p> + <p> + "Oh! we'll all get blind drunk<br /> When Johnny comes marching home!" + </p> + <p> + And in The Innocents Abroad there is the same sort of brilliant wit in the + mad logic of his innocent query, on learning that St. Philip Neri's heart + was so inflamed with divine love that it burst his ribs: "I was curious to + know what Philip had for dinner." Mark Twain was capable of epigrams + worthy, in their dark levity, of Swift himself. In speaking of Pudd'nhead + Wilson, Anna E. Keeling has said "Humour there is in almost every scene + and every page; but it is such humour as sheds a wild gleam on the + greatest Shakespearian tragedies—on the deep melancholy of Hamlet, + the heartbreak of Lear." The greatest ironic achievements of Mark Twain, + in brief compass, are the two stories: 'The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg' + and 'Was it Heaven or Hell'? They reveal the power and subtlety of his art + as an ironic humorist—or shall we rather say, ironic wit? For they + range all the way from the most mordant to the most pathetic irony—from + Mephistophelean laughter to warm, human tears: + </p> + <p> + "<i>Sunt lachrymae rerum.</i>" + </p> + <p> + "Make a reputation first by your more solid achievements," counselled + Oliver Wendell Holmes. "You can't expect to do anything great with + Macbeth, if you first come on flourishing Paul Pry's umbrella." Mark Twain + has had to pay in full the penalty of comic greatness. The world is loth + to accept a popular character at any rating other than its own. Whosoever + sets himself the task of amusing the world must realize the almost + insuperable difficulty of inducing the world to regard him as a serious + thinker. Says Moliere— + </p> + <p> + "<i>C'est une etrange entreprise que celle<br /> de faire rire les honnetes + gens.</i>" + </p> + <p> + The strangeness of the undertaking is no less pronounced than the rigour + of its obligations. Mark Twain began his career as a professional humorist + and fun-maker; he frankly donned the motley, the cap and bells. The + man-in-the-street is not easily persuaded that the basis of the comic is, + not uncommon nonsense, but glorified common-sense. The French have a + fine-flavoured distinction in <i>ce qui remu</i> from <i>ce qui emeut</i>; + and if <i>remuag</i> is the defining characteristic of 'A Tramp Abroad', + 'Roughing It', and 'The Innocents Abroad', there is much of deep + seriousness and genuine emotion in 'Life on the Mississippi', 'Tom + Sawyer', 'Huckleberry Finn', and 'Pudd'nhead Wilson'. In the course of his + lifetime, Mark Twain evolved from a fun-maker into a masterly humorist, + from a sensational journalist into a literary artist. In explanation of + this, let us recall the steps in that evolution. In his youth, this boy + had no schooling worth speaking of; he lived in an environment that + promised only stagnation and decay. As the young boy, barefooted and + dirty, watched the steamboats pass and repass upon the surface of that + great inland deep, the Mississippi, he conceived the ambition and the + ideal of learning to know and to master that mysterious water. His dream, + in time, was realized; he not only became a pilot, but—which is + infinitely more significant—he changed from a callow, indolent, + unobservant lad, with undeveloped faculties, to a man, a master of the + river, with a knowledge which, in its accuracy and minuteness, was, for + its purpose, all-sufficient and complete. + </p> + <p> + I have always felt that, had it not been for this training in the great + university of the Mississippi, Mark Twain might never have acquired that + trained faculty for minute detail and descriptive elaboration without + which his works, full of flaws as they are, might never have revealed the + very real art which they betray. For the art of Mark Twain is the art of + taking infinite pains—the art of exactitude, precision and detail. + Humour per se is as ephemeral as the laugh—dying in the very moment + of its birth. Art alone can give it enduring vitality. Mark Twain's native + temperament, rich with humour and racy of the soil, drank in the wonder of + the river and unfolded through communication with all its rude human + devotees; the quick mind, the eager susceptibility, developed and matured + through rigorous education in particularity and detail; and before his + spirit the very beauties of Nature herself disappeared in face of a + consuming sense of the work of the world that must be done. + </p> + <p> + Mark Twain never wholly escaped the penalty that his reputation as a + humorist compelled him to pay. He became more than popular novelist, more + than a jovial entertainer: he became a public institution, as unmistakable + and as national as the Library of Congress or the Democratic Party. Even + in the latest years of his life, though long since dissociated in fact + from the category of Artemus Ward, John Phoenix, Josh Billings, and + Petroleum V. Nasby, Mark Twain could never be sure that his most solemn + utterance might not be drowned in roars of thoughtless laughter. + </p> + <p> + "It has been a very serious and a very difficult matter," Mr. Clemens once + said to me, "to doff the mask of humour with which the public is + accustomed, in thought, to see me adorned. It is the incorrigible practice + of the public, in this or in any country, to see only humour in the + humorist, however serious his vein. Not long ago I wrote a poem, which I + never dreamed of giving to the public, on account of its seriousness; but + on being invited to address the women students of a certain great + university, I was persuaded by a near friend to read this poem. At the + close of my lecture I said 'Now, ladies, I am going to read you a poem of + mine'—which was greeted with bursts of uproarious laughter. 'But + this is a truly serious poem,' I asseverated—only to be greeted with + renewed and, this time, more uproarious laughter. Nettled by this + misunderstanding, I put the poem in my pocket, saying, 'Well, young + ladies, since you do not believe me to be serious, I shall not read the + poem'—at which the audience almost went into convulsions of + laughter." + </p> + <p> + Humour is a function of nationality. The same joke, as related by an + American, a Scotchman, an Irishman, a Frenchman, carries with it a + distinctive racial flavour and individuality of approach. Indeed, it is + open to question whether most humour is not essentially local in its + nature, requiring some specialized knowledge of some particular locality. + It would be quite impossible for an Italian on his native heath to + understand that great political satirist, "Mr. Dooley," on the Negro + Problem, for example. After reading George Ade's Fables in Slang, Mr. + Andrew Lang was driven to the desperate conclusion that humour varies with + the parallels of latitude, a joke in Chicago being a riddle in London. + </p> + <p> + If one would lay his finger upon the secret of Mark Twain's world-wide + popularity as a humorist, he would find that secret, primarily, in the + universality and humanity of his humour. Mark Twain is a master in the art + of broad contrast; incongruity lurks on the surface of his humour; and + there is about it a staggering and cyclopean surprise. But these are mere + surface qualities, more or less common, though at lower power, to all + forms of humour. Nor is his international vogue as a humorist to be + attributed to any tricks of style, to any breadth of knowledge, or even to + any depth of intellectuality. His hold upon the world is due to qualities, + not of the head, but of the heart. I once heard Mr. Clemens say that + humour is the key to the hearts of men, for it springs from the heart; and + worthy of record is his dictum that there is far more of feeling than of + thought in genuine humour. + </p> + <p> + Mark Twain succeeded in "tickling the midriff of the English-speaking + races" with a single story; and in time he showed himself to be, not only + a man of letters, but also a man of action. His humour has been defined as + the sunny break of his serious purpose. Horace Walpole has said that the + world is a comedy to the man of thought, a tragedy to the man of feeling. + To the great humorist—to Mark Twain—the world was a + tragi-comedy. Like Smile Faguet, he seemed at times to feel that grief is + the most real and important thing in the world—because it separates + us from happiness. He was an exemplar of the highest, truest, sincerest + humour, perfectly fulfilling George Meredith's definition: "If you laugh + all round him, tumble him, roll him about, deal him a smack, and drop a + tear on him, own his likeness to you and yours to your neighbour, spare + him as little as you shun, pity him as much as you expose, it is the + spirit of Humour that is moving you." Mark Twain's fun was light-hearted + and insouciant, his pathos genuine and profound. "He is, above all," said + that oldest of English journals, 'The Spectator', "the fearless upholder + of all that is clean, noble, straightforward, innocent, and manly. . . . + If he is a jester, he jests with the mirth of the happiest of the + Puritans; he has read much of English knighthood, and translated the best + of it into his living pages; and he has assuredly already won a high + degree in letters in having added more than any writer since Dickens to + the gaiety of the Empire of the English language." + </p> + <p> + Mark Twain's humour flowed warm from the heart. He enjoyed to the utmost + those two inalienable blessings: "laughter and the love of friends." He + woke the laughter of an epoch and numbered a world for his friends. "He is + the true consolidator of nations," said Mr. Augustine Birrell. "His + delightful humour is of the kind which dissipates and destroys national + prejudices. His truth and his honour, his love of truth and his love of + honour, overflow all boundaries. He has made the world better by his + presence." + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="pp129.jpg (46K)" src="images/pp129.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + > <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + <a name="genius" id="genius">THE WORLD-FAMED GENIUS</a> + </h1> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <blockquote> + <blockquote> + <p> + <i> "Art transmitting the simplest feelings of common life,<br /> + but such, always, as are accessible to all men in the<br /> whole + world the art of common life—the art of a people—<br /> + universal art."<br /></i> + </p> + <p> + TOLSTOY: What is Art? + </p> + </blockquote> + </blockquote> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + Some years ago a group of Mark Twain's friends, in a spirit of fun, + addressed a letter to: + </p> + <p> + MARK TWAIN<br /> GOD KNOWS WHERE. + </p> + <p> + Though taking a somewhat circuitous route, the letter went unerringly to + its goal; and it was not long before the senders of that letter received + the laconic, but triumphant reply: "He did." They now turned the tables on + the jubilant author, who equally as quickly received a letter addressed: + </p> + <p> + MARK TWAIN<br /> THE DEVIL KNOWS WHERE. + </p> + <p> + It seemed that "he" did, too! + </p> + <p> + In his lifetime Mark Twain won a fame that was literally world-wide—a + fame, indeed, which seemed to extend to realms peopled by noted + theological characters. From very humble beginnings—he used + facetiously to speak of coming up from the "very dregs of society"!—Mark + Twain achieved international eminence and repute. This accomplishment was + due to the power of brain and personality alone. In this sense, his career + is unprecedented and unparalleled in the history of American literature. + </p> + <p> + It is a mark of the democratic independence of America that she has + betrayed a singular indifference to the appraisal of her literature at the + hands of foreign criticism. Upon her writers who have exhibited derivative + genius—Irving, Hawthorne, Emerson, Longfellow—American + criticism has lavished the most extravagant eulogiums. The three geniuses + who have made permanent contributions to world-literature, who have either + embodied in the completest degree the spirit of American democracy, or who + have had the widest following of imitators and admirers in foreign + countries, still await their final and just deserts at the hands of + critical opinion in their own land. The genius of Edgar Allan Poe gave + rise to schools of literature on the continent of Europe; yet in America + his name must remain for years debarred from inclusion in a so-called Hall + of Fame! Walt Whitman and Mark Twain, the two great interpreters and + embodiments of America, represent the supreme contribution of democracy to + universal literature. In so far as it is legitimate for anyone to be + denominated a "self-made man" in literature, these men are justly entitled + to such characterization. They owe nothing to European literature—their + genius is supremely original, native, democratic. The case of Mark Twain, + which is our present concern, is a literary phenomenon which imposes upon + criticism, peculiarly upon American criticism, the distinct obligation of + tracing the steps in his unhalting climb to an eminence that was + international in its character, and of defining those signal qualities, + traits, characteristics—individual, literary, social, racial, + national—which compassed his world-wide fame. For if it be true that + the judgment of foreign nations is virtually the judgment of posterity, + then is Mark Twain already a classic. + </p> + <p> + Upon the continent of Europe, Mark Twain first received notable + recognition in France at the hands of that brilliant woman, Mme. Blanc + (Th. Bentzon), who devoted so much of her energies to the popularization + of American literature in Europe. That one of her series of essays upon + the American humorists which dealt with Mark Twain appeared in the 'Revue + des Deux Mondes' in 1872; in it appeared her admirable translation of 'The + Jumping Frog'. There is no cause for surprise that a scholarly + Frenchwoman, reared on classic models and confined by rigid canons of art, + should stand aghast at this boisterous, barbaric, irreverent jester from + the wilds of America. When it is remembered that Mark Twain began his + career as one of the sage-brush writers and gave free play to his passion + for horseplay, his desire to "lay a mine" for the other fellow, and his + defiance of the traditional and the classic, it is not to be wondered at + that Mme. Blanc, while honouring him with recognition in the most + authoritative literary journal in the world, could not conceal an + expression of amazement over his enthusiastic acceptance in + English-speaking countries. + </p> + <blockquote> + <p> + "Mark Twain's 'Jumping Frog' should be mentioned in the first place as + one of his most popular little stories—almost a type of the + rest. It is, nevertheless, rather difficult for us to understand, + while reading this story, the 'roars of laughter' that it excited in + Australia and in India, in New York and in London; the numerous + editions of it which appeared; the epithet of 'inimitable' that the + critics of the English press have unanimously awarded to it. + </p> + <p> + "We may remark that a Persian of Montesquieu, a Huron of Voltaire, + even a simple Peruvian woman of Madame de Graffigny, reasons much more + wisely about European civilization than an American of San Francisco. + The fact is, that it is not sufficient to have wit, or even natural + taste, in order to appreciate works of art. + </p> + <p> + "It is the right of humorists to be extravagant; but still common + sense, although carefully hidden, ought sometimes to make itself + apparent. . . . In Mark Twain the Protestant is enraged against the + pagan worship of broken marble statues—the democrat denies that + there was any poetic feeling in the middle ages. The sublime ruins of + the Coliseum only impressed him with the superiority of America, which + punishes its criminals by forcing them to work for the benefit of the + State, over ancient Rome, which could only draw from the punishments + which it inflicted the passing pleasure of a spectacle. + </p> + <p> + "In the course of this voyage in company with Mark Twain, we at length + discover, under his good-fellowship and apparent ingenuousness, faults + which we should never have expected. He has in the highest degree that + fault of appearing astonished at nothing—common, we may say, to + all savages. He confesses himself that one of his great pleasures is + to horrify the guides by his indifference and stupidity. He is, too, + decidedly envious. . . . We could willingly pardon him his patriotic + self-love, often wounded by the ignorance of Europeans, above all in + what concerns the New World, if only that national pride were without + mixture of personal vanity; but how comes it that Mark Twain, so + severe upon those poor Turks, finds scarcely anything to criticize in + Russia, where absolutism has nevertheless not ceased to flourish? We + need not seek far for the cause of this indulgence: the Czar received + our ferocious republicans; the Empress, and the Grand Duchess Mary, + spoke to them in English. + </p> + <p> + "Taking the Pleasure Trip on the Continent altogether, does it merit + the success it enjoys? In spite of the indulgence that we cannot but + show to the judgments of a foreigner; while recollecting that those + amongst us who have visited America have fallen, doubtless, under the + influence of prejudices almost as dangerous as ignorance, into errors + quite as bad—in spite of the wit with which certain pages + sparkle—we must say that this voyage is very far below the less + celebrated excursions of the same author in his own country." + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + Three years later, Mme. Blanc returns to the discussion of Mark Twain, in + an essay in the 'Revue des Deux Mondes', entitled 'L'age Dore en Amerique'—an + elaborate review and analysis of The Gilded Age. The savage charm and real + simplicity of Mark Twain are not lacking in appeal, even to her + sophisticated intelligence; and she is inclined to infer that jovial irony + and animal spirits are qualities sufficient to amuse a young nation of + people like the Americans who do not, like the French, pique themselves + upon being blase. According to her judgment, Mark Twain and Charles Dudley + Warner are lacking in the requisite mental grasp for the "stupendous task + of interpreting the great tableau of the American scene." Nor does she + regard their effort at collaboration as a success from the standpoint of + art. The charm of Colonel Sellers wholly escapes her; she cannot + understand the almost loving appreciation with which this cheaply gross + forerunner of the later American industrial brigand was greeted by the + American public. The book repels her by "that mixture of good sense with + mad folly—disorder"; but she praises Mark Twain's accuracy as a + reporter. The things which offend her sensibilities are the wilful + exaggeration of the characters, and the jests which are so elaborately + constructed that "the very theme itself disappears under the mass of + embroidery which overlays it." "The audacities of a Bret Harte, the + grosser temerities of a Mark Twain, still astonish us," she concludes; + "but soon we shall become accustomed to an American language whose savoury + freshness is not to be disdained, awaiting still more delicate and refined + qualities that time will doubtless bring." + </p> + <p> + In translating 'The Jumping Frog' into faultless French (giving Mark Twain + the opportunity for that delightful retranslation into English which + furnished delight for thousands), in reviewing with elaboration and long + citations 'The Innocents Abroad' and 'The Gilded Age', Mme. Blanc + introduced Mark Twain to the literary public of France; and Emile Blemont, + in his 'Esquisses Americaines de Mark Twain' (1881), still further + enhanced the fame of Mark Twain in France by translating a number of his + slighter sketches. In 1886, Eugene Forgues published in the 'Revue des + Deux Mondes' an exhaustive review (with long citations) of 'Life on the + Mississippi', under the title 'Les Caravans d'un humoriste'; and his + prefatory remarks in regard to Mark Twain's fame in France at that time + may be accepted as authoritative. He pointed out the praiseworthy efforts + that had been made to popularize these "transatlantic gaieties," to import + into France a new mode of comic entertainment. Yet he felt that the + peculiar twist of national character, the type of wit peculiar to a people + and a country, the specialized conception of the <i>vis comic</i> revealed + in Mark Twain's works, confined them to a restricted milieu. The result of + all the efforts to popularize Mark Twain in France, he makes plain, was an + almost complete check; for to the French taste Mark Twain's pleasantry + appeared macabre, his wit brutal, his temperament dry to excess. By some, + indeed, his exaggerations were regarded as symptoms of mental alienation; + and the originality of his verve did not succeed in giving a passport to + the incoherence of his conceptions. "It has been said," remarked M. + Forgues, with keen perception, "that an academician slumbers in the depths + of every Frenchman; and it was this which prevented the success of Mark + Twain in France. Humour, in France, has its laws and its restrictions. So + the French public saw in Mark Twain a gross jester, incessantly beating + upon a tom-tom to attract the attention of the crowd. They were tenacious + in resisting all such blandishments . . . . As a humorist, Mark Twain was + never appreciated in France. The appreciation he ultimately secured—an + appreciation by no means inconsiderable, though in no sense comparable to + that won in Anglo-Saxon and Germanic countries—was due to his + sagacity and penetration as an observer, and to his marvellous faculty for + calling up scenes and situations by the clever use of the novel and the <i>imprevu</i>. + There was, even to the Frenchman, a certain lively appeal in an + intelligence absolutely free of convention, sophistication, or reverence + for traditionary views <i>qu</i> traditionary." Though at first the salt + of Mark Twain's humour seemed to the French to be lacking in the Attic + flavour, this new mode of comic entertainment, the leisurely exposition of + the genially naive American, in time won its way with the <i>blase</i> + Parisians. Travellers who could find no copy of the Bible in the street + bookstalls of Paris, were confronted everywhere with copies of 'Roughing + It'. When the authoritative edition of Mark Twain's works appeared in + English, that authoritative French journal, the 'Mercure de France', paid + him this distinguished tribute: "His public is as varied as possible, + because of the versatility and suppleness of his talent which addresses + itself successively to all classes of readers. He has been called the + greatest humorist in the world, and that is probably the truth; but he is + also a charming and attractive story-teller, an alert romancer, a clever + and penetrating observer, a philosopher without pretensions, and therefore + all the more profound, and finally, a brilliant essayist." + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, the observation of M. Forgues is just and authentic—the + Attic flavour of <i>l'esprit Gauloi</i> is alien to the loosely + articulated structure of American humour. The noteworthy criticism which + Mark Twain directed at Paul Bourget's 'Outre Mer', and the subsequent + controversy incident thereto, forced into light the racial and + temperamental dissimilarities between the Gallic and the American <i>Ausschauung</i>. + Mr. Clemens once remarked to me that, of all continental peoples, the + French were most alien to the spirit of his humour. In 'Le Figaro', at the + time of Mark Twain's death, this fundamental difference in taste once more + comes to light: "It is as difficult for a Frenchman to understand Mark + Twain as for a North American to admire La Fontaine. At first sight, there + is nothing in common between that highly specialized faculty which the + Anglo-Saxons of the old and the new world designate under the name of + humour, and that quality with us which we call wit (esprit). And yet, at + bottom, these two manifestations of the human genius, so different in + appearance, have a common origin and reach the same result: they are, both + of them, the glorification of good sense presented in pleasing and + unexpected form. Only, this form must necessarily vary with peoples who do + not speak the same language and whose skulls are not fashioned in the same + way." + </p> + <p> + In Italy, as in France, the peculiar <i>timbr</i> of Mark Twain's humour + found an audience not wholly sympathetic, not thoroughly <i>au courant</i> + with his spirit. "Translation, however accurate and conscientious," as the + Italian critic, Raffaele Simboli, has pointed out, "fails to render the + special flavour of his work. And then in Italy, where humorous writing + generally either rests on a political basis or depends on risky phrases, + Mark Twain's sketches are not appreciated because the spirit which + breathes in them is not always understood. The story of 'The Jumping + Frog', for instance, famous as it is in America and England, has made + little impression in France or Italy." + </p> + <p> + It was rather among the Germanic peoples and those most closely allied to + them, the Scandinavians, that Mark Twain found most complete and ready + response. At first blush, it seems almost incredible that the writings of + Mark Twain, with their occasional slang, their colloquialisms and their + local peculiarities of dialect, should have borne translation so well into + other languages, especially into German. It must, however, be borne in + mind that, despite these peculiar features of his writings, they are + couched in a style of most marked directness, simplicity and native + English purity. The ease with which his works were translated into + foreign, especially the Germanic and allied tongues, and the eager delight + with which they were read and comprehended by all classes, high and low, + constitute perhaps the most signal conceivable tribute, not only to the + humanity of his spirit, but to the genuine art of his marvellously + forthright and natural style. It need be no cause for surprise that as + early as 1872 he had secured Tauchnitz, of Leipzig, for his Continental + agent. German translations soon appeared of 'The Jumping Frog and Other + Stories' (1874), 'The Gilded Age' (1874), 'The Innocents Abroad and The + New Pilgrim's Progress' (1875), 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' (1876). A + few years later his sketches, many of them, were translated into virtually + all printed languages, notably into Russian and modern Greek; and his more + extended works gradually came to be translated into German, French, + Italian, and the languages of Denmark and the Scandinavian peninsula. + </p> + <p> + The elements of the colossally grotesque, the wildly primitive, in Mark + Twain's works, the underlying note of melancholy not less than the lawless + Bohemianism, found sympathetic appreciation among the Germanic races. + George Meredith has likened the functionings of Germanic humour to the + heavy-footed antics of a dancing bear. Mark Twain's stories of the + Argonauts, the miners and desperadoes, with their primitive, orgiastic + existence; his narratives of the wild freedom of the life on the + Mississippi, the lawless feuds and barbaric encounters—all appealed + to the passion for the fantastic and the grotesque innate in the Germanic + consciousness. To the Europeans, this wild genius of the Pacific Slope + seemed to function in a sort of unexplored fourth dimension of humour—vast + and novel—of which they had never dreamed. It is noteworthy that + Schleich, in his 'Psychopathik des Humors', reserved for American humour, + with Mark Twain as its leading exponent, a distinct and unique category + which he denominated <i>phantastischen, grossdimensionalen</i>. + </p> + <p> + To the biographer belongs the task of describing, in detail, the lavish + entertainment and open-hearted homage which were bestowed upon Mark Twain + in German Europe. In writing of Mark Twain and his popularity in Germanic + countries, Carl von Thaler unhesitatingly asserts that Mark Twain was + feted, wined and dined in Vienna, the Austrian metropolis, in an + unprecedented manner, and awarded unique honours hitherto paid to no + German writer. In Berlin, the young Kaiser bestowed upon him the most + distinguished marks of his esteem; and praised his works, in especial + 'Life on the Mississippi', with the intensest enthusiasm. When Mark Twain + received a command from the Kaiser to dine with him, his young daughter + exclaimed that if it kept on like this, there soon wouldn't be anybody + left for him to become acquainted with but God! Mark said that it seemed + uncomplimentary to regard him as unacquainted in that quarter; but of + course his daughter was young, and the young always jump to conclusions + without reflection. After hearing the Kaiser's eulogy on 'Life on the + Mississippi', he was astounded and touched to receive a similar tribute, + the same evening, from the portier of his lodging-house. He loved to dwell + upon this, in later years—declaring it the most extraordinary + coincidence of his life that a crowned head and a portier, the very top of + an empire and the very bottom of it, should have expressed the very same + criticism, and delivered the very same verdict, upon one of his books, + almost in the same hour and the same breath. + </p> + <p> + The German edition of his works, in six volumes, published by Lutz of + Stuttgart, in 1898, I believe, contained an introduction in which he was + hailed as the greatest humorist in the world. Among German critics he was + regarded as second only to Dickens in drastic comic situation and depth of + feeling. Robinson Crusoe was held to exhibit a limited power of + imagination in comparison with the ingenuity and inventiveness of Tom + Sawyer. At times the German critics confessed their inability to discover + the dividing line between astounding actuality and fantastic exaggeration. + The descriptions of the barbaric state of Western America possessed an + indescribable fascination for the sedate Europeans. At times Mark Twain's + bloody jests froze the laughter on their lips; and his "revolver-humour" + made their hair stand on end. Though realizing that the scenes and events + described in 'Tom Sawyer', 'Huckleberry Finn', 'Roughing It', and 'Life on + the Mississippi' could not have been duplicated in Europe, the German + critics revelled in them none the less that "such adventures were possible + only in America—perhaps only in the fancy of an American!" "Mark + Twain's greatest strength," says Von Thaler, "lies in the little sketches, + the literary snap-shots. The shorter his work, the more striking it is. He + draws directly from life. No other writer has learned to know so many + different varieties of men and of circumstances, so many strange examples + of the Genus Homo, as he; no other has taken so strange a course of + development." The deeper elements of Mark Twain's humour did not escape + the attention of the Germans, nor fail of appreciation at their hands. In + his aphorisms, embodying at once genuine wit and experience of life, they + discovered not merely the American author, but the universal human being; + these aphorisms they found worthy of profound and lasting admiration. + Sintenis found in Mark Twain a "living symptom of the youthful joy in + existence"—a genius capable at will, despite his "boyish + extravagance," of the virile formulation of fertile and suggestive ideas. + His latest critic in Germany wrote at the time of his death, with a + genuine insight into the significance of his work: "Although Mark Twain's + humour moves us to irresistible laughter, this is not the main point in + his books; like all true humorists, <i>ist der Witz mit dem Weltschmerz + verbunden</i>, he is a witness to higher thoughts and higher emotions, and + his purpose is to expose bad morals and evil circumstances, in order to + improve and ennoble mankind." The critic of the 'Berliner Zeitung' + asserted that Mark Twain is loved in Germany more than all other + humorists, English or French, because his humour "turns fundamentally upon + serious and earnest conceptions of life." It is a tremendously significant + fact that the, works of American literature most widely read in Germany + are the works of—striking conjunction!—Ralph Waldo Emerson and + Mark Twain. + </p> + <p> + The 'Jumping Frog of Calaveras County' fired the laugh heard round the + world. Like Byron, Mark Twain woke one morning to find himself famous. A + classic fable, which had once evoked inextinguishable laughter in Athens, + was unconsciously re-told in the language of Angel's Camp, Calaveras + County, where history repeated itself with a precision of detail startling + in its miraculous coincidence. Despite the international fame thus + suddenly won by this little fable, Mark Twain had yet to overcome the + ingrained opposition of insular prejudice before his position in England + and the colonies was established upon a sure and enduring footing. In a + review of 'The Innocents Abroad' in 'The Saturday Review' (1870), the + comparison is made between the Americans who "do Europe in six weeks" and + the most nearly analogous class of British travellers, with the following + interesting conclusions: "The American is generally the noisier and more + actively disagreeable, but, on the other hand, he often partially redeems + his absurdity by a certain naivete and half-conscious humour. He is often + laughing in his sleeve at his own preposterous brags, and does not take + himself quite so seriously as his British rival. He is vulgar, and even + ostentatiously and atrociously vulgar; but the vulgarity is mixed with a + real shrewdness which rescues it from simple insipidity. We laugh at him, + and we would rather not have too much of his company; but we do not feel + altogether safe in despising him." The lordly condescension and gross + self-satisfaction here betrayed are but preliminaries to the ludicrous + density of the subsequent reflections upon Mark Twain himself: "He parades + his utter ignorance of Continental languages and manners, and expresses + his very original judgments on various wonders of art and nature with a + praiseworthy frankness. We are sometimes left in doubt whether he is + speaking in all sincerity or whether he is having a sly laugh at himself + and his readers"! It is quite evident that the large mass of English + readers, represented by The Saturday Review, had not caught Mark Twain's + tone; but even the reviewer is more than half won over by the + infectiousness of this new American humour. "Perhaps we have persuaded our + readers by this time that Mr. Twain (sic) is a very offensive specimen of + the vulgarest kind of Yankee. And yet, to say the truth, we have a kind of + liking for him. There is a frankness and originality about his remarks + which is (sic) pleasanter than the mere repetition of stale raptures; and + his fun, if not very refined, is often tolerable in its way. In short, his + pages may be turned over with amusement, as exhibiting more or less + consciously a very lively portrait of the uncultivated American tourist, + who may be more obtrusive and misjudging, but is not quite so stupidly + unobservant as our native product. We should not choose either of them for + our companions on a visit to a church or a picture—gallery, but we + should expect most amusement from the Yankee as long as we could stand + him." It was this review which gave Mark Twain the opening for his + celebrated parody—a parody which, I have always thought, went far to + opening the eyes of the British public to the true spirit of his humour. + Such irresistible fun could not fail of appreciation at the hands of a + nation which regarded Dickens as their representative national author. + </p> + <p> + Two years later, Mark Twain received in England an appreciative reception + of well-nigh national character. Whilst the literary and academic circles + of America withheld their unstinted recognition of an author so primitive + and unlettered, Great Britain received him with open arms. He was a + welcome guest at the houses of the exclusive; the highest dignitaries of + public life, the authoritative journals, the leaders of fashion, of + thought, and of opinion openly rejoiced in the breezy unconventionality, + the fascinating daring, and the genial personality of this new variety of + American genius. His English publisher, John Camden Hotten, wrote in 1873: + "How he dined with the Sheriff of London and Middlesex; how he spent + glorious evenings with the wits and literati who gather around the festive + boards of the Whitefriars and the Savage Clubs; how he moved in the gay + throng at the Guildhall conversazione; how he feasted with the Lord Mayor + of London; and was the guest of that ancient and most honourable body—the + City of London Artillery—all these matters we should like to dwell + upon." His public lectures, though not so popular as those of Artemus + Ward, won him recognition as a master in all the arts of the platform. Mr. + H. R. Haweis, who heard him once at the old Hanover Square Rooms, thus + describes the occasion: "The audience was not large nor very enthusiastic. + I believe he would have been an increasing success had he stayed longer. + We had not time to get accustomed to his peculiar way, and there was + nothing to take us by storm, as in Artemus Ward. . . . . He came on and + stood quite alone. A little table, with the traditional water-bottle and + tumbler, was by his side. His appearance was not impressive, not very + unlike the representation of him in the various pictures in his 'Tramp + Abroad'. He spoke more slowly than any other man I ever heard, and did not + look at his audience quite enough. I do not think that he felt altogether + at home with us, nor we with him. We never laughed loud or long; no one + went into those irrepressible convulsions which used to make Artemus pause + and look so hurt and surprised. We sat throughout expectant and on the <i>qui + vive</i>, very well interested, and gently simmering with amusement. With + the exception of one exquisite description of the old Magdalen ivy—covered + collegiate buildings at Oxford University, I do not think there was one + thing worth setting down in print. I got no information out of the + lecture, and hardly a joke that would wear, or a story that would bear + repeating. There was a deal about the dismal, lone silver—land, the + story of the Mexican plug that bucked, and a duel which never came off, + and another duel in which no one was injured; and we sat patiently enough + through it, fancying that by and by the introduction would be over, and + the lecture would begin, when Twain suddenly made his bow and went off! It + was over. I looked at my watch; I was never more taken aback. I had been + sitting there exactly an hour and twenty minutes. It seemed ten minutes at + the outside. If you have ever tried to address a public meeting, you will + know what this means. It means that Mark Twain is a consummate public + speaker. If ever he chose to say anything, he would say it marvellously + well; but in the art of saying nothing in an hour, he surpasses our most + accomplished parliamentary speakers." + </p> + <p> + The nation which had been reared upon the wit of Sidney Smith, the irony + of Swift, the <i>gros se</i> of Fielding, the extravagance of Dickens, was + ripe for the colossal incongruities and daring contrasts of Mark Twain. + They recognized in him not only "the most successful and original wag of + his day," but also a rare genius who shared with Walt Whitman "the honour + of being the most strictly American writer of what is called American + literature." We read in a review of 'A Tramp Abroad', published in The + Athenaeum in 1880: "Mark Twain is American pure and simple. To the eastern + motherland he owes but the rudiments, the groundwork, already archaic and + obsolete to him, of the speech he has to write; in his turn of art, his + literary method and aims, his intellectual habit and temper, he is as + distinctly national as the Fourth of July." Mark Twain was admired because + he was "a literary artist of exceptional skill"; and it was ungrudgingly + acknowledged that "he has a keen sense of character and uncommon skill in + presenting it dramatically; and he is also an admirable story-teller, with + the anecdotic instinct and habit in perfection, and with a power of + episodic narrative that is scarcely equalled, if at all, by Mr. Charles + Reade himself." Indeed, from the early days of 'The Innocents Abroad', the + "first transatlantic democratic utterance which found its way into the + hearing of the mass of English people"; during the period of 'Tom Sawyer', + "the completest boy in fiction," the immortal 'Huckleberry Finn', "the + standard picaresque novel of America—the least trammelled piece of + literature in the language," and 'Life on the Mississippi', vastly + appreciated in England as in Germany for its <i>cultur-historisch</i> + value; down to the day when Oxford University bestowed the coveted honour + of its degree upon Mark Twain, and all England took him to their hearts + with fervour and abandon—during this long period of almost four + decades, Mark Twain progressively strengthened his hold upon the + imagination of the English people and, like Charles Dickens before him, + may be said to have become the representative author of the Anglo-Saxon + race. "The vast majority of readers here regard him," said Mr. Sydney + Brooks in 1907, "to a degree in which they regard no other living writer, + as their personal friend, and love him for his tenderness, his + masculinity, his unfailing wholesomeness even more than for his humour." + To all who love and admire Mark Twain, these words in which he was + welcomed to England in 1907 should stand as a symbol of that racial bond, + that <i>entente cordial</i> of blood and heart, which he did so much to + strengthen and secure. "A compliment paid to Mark Twain is something more + than a compliment to a great man, a great writer, and a great citizen. It + is a compliment to the American people, and one that will come home to + them with peculiar gratification. . . . The feeling for Mark Twain among + his own people is like that of the Scotch for Sir Walter eighty odd years + ago, or like that of our fathers for Charles Dickens. There is admiration + in it, gratitude, pride, and, above all, an immense and intimate + tenderness of affection. To writers alone it is given to win a sentiment + of this quality—to writers and occasionally, by the oddness of the + human mind, to generals. Perhaps one would best take the measure of the + American devotion to Mark Twain by describing it as a compound of what + Dickens enjoyed in England forty years ago, and of what Lord Roberts + enjoys to-day, and by adding something thereto for the intensity of all + transatlantic emotions. The 'popularity' of statesmen, even of such a + statesman as President Roosevelt, is a poor and flickering light by the + side of this full flame of personal affection. It has gone out to Mark + Twain not only for what he has written, for the clean, irresistible + extravagance of his humour and his unfailing command of the primal + feelings, for his tenderness, his jollity and his power to read the heart + of boy and man and woman; not only for the tragedies and afflictions of + his life so unconquerably borne; not only for his brave and fiery dashes + against tyranny, humbug, and corruption at home and abroad; but also + because his countrymen feel him to be, beyond all other men, the + incarnation of the American spirit." + </p> + <p> + Mark Twain achieved a position of supreme eminence as a representative + national author which is without a parallel in the history of American + literature. This position he achieved directly by his appeal to the great + mass of the people, despite the <i>dict</i> of the <i>literati</i>. At a + time when England and Europe were throwing wide the doors to Mark Twain, + the culture of his own land was regarding him with slighting + condescension, or with mildly quizzical unconcern. Boston regarded him + with fastidious and frigid disapproval, Longfellow and Lowell found little + in him to admire or approve. There were notable exceptions, as Mr. Howells + has recently pointed out—Charles Eliot Norton, Professor Francis J. + Child, and most notable of all, Mr. Howells himself; but in general it is + true that "in proportion as people thought themselves refined they + questioned that quality which all recognize in him now, but which was then + the inspired knowledge of the simple-hearted multitude." The professors of + literature regarded Mark Twain as an author whose works were essentially + ephemeral; and stood in the breach for Culture against the barbaric + invasion of primitive Western Barbarism. Professor W. P. Trent was, I + believe, the first to cite Professor Richardson's American Literature + (published in 1886) as a typical instance of the position of literary + culture in regard to Mark Twain. "But there is a class of writers," we + read in that work, "authors ranking below Irving or Lowell, and lacking + the higher artistic or moral purpose of the greater humorists, who amuse a + generation and then pass from sight. Every period demands a new manner of + jest, after the current fashion . . . . The reigning favourites of the day + are Frank R. Stockton, Joel Chandler Harris, the various newspaper jokers, + and 'Mark Twain.' [Note the damning position!] But the creators of + `Pomona' and 'Rudder Grange,' of `Uncle Remus and his Folk-lore Stories,' + and `Innocents Abroad,' clever as they are, must make hay while the sun + shines. Twenty years hence, unless they chance to enshrine their wit in + some higher literary achievement, their unknown successors will be the + privileged comedians of the republic. Humour alone never gives its masters + a place in literature; it must coexist with literary qualities, and must + usually be joined with such pathos as one finds in Lamb, Hood, Irving, or + Holmes." This passage stands in the 1892 edition of that work, though 'Tom + Sawyer' had appeared in 1876, 'The Prince and the Pauper' in 1882, 'Life + on the Mississippi' in 1883, 'Huckleberry Finn' in 1884, and 'A + Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court' in 1889. Opinions analogous to + those expressed in the passage just cited have found frequent expression + among leaders of critical opinion in America; and only yesterday 'The + Jumping Frog' and 'The Innocents Abroad' were seriously put forward, by a + clever and popular American critic, as Mark Twain's most enduring claims + upon posterity! A bare half-dozen men in the ranks of American literary + criticism have recognized and eloquently spoken forth in vindication of + Mark Twain's title as a classic author, not simply of American literature, + but of the literature of the world. + </p> + <p> + It is, even now, perhaps not too early to attempt some sort of inquiry + into the causes contributory to Mark Twain's recognition as the prime + representative of contemporary American literature. One of the cheap + catchwords of Mark Twain criticism is the statement that he is "American + to the core," and that his popular appreciation in his own country was due + to the fact that he most completely embodied the national genius. How many + of those who confidently advance this vastly significant statement, one + curiously wonders, have seriously endeavoured to make plain to others—or + even to themselves—the reasons therefor? Perhaps in seeking the + causes for Mark Twain's renown in his own country one may discover the + causes for his world-wide fame. + </p> + <p> + A map of the United States, upon which were marked the localities and + regions made famous by the writings of Mark Twain, would show that, + geographically, he has known and studied this vast country in all the + grand divisions of its composition. Bred from old Southern stock, born in + the Southwest, he passed his youth upon the bosom of that great natural + division between East and West, the Mississippi River, which cleaves in + twain the very body of the nation. In the twenties he lost the feeling of + local attachment in the vast democracy of the West, and looked life—a + strangely barbaric and primitive life—straight in the face. This is + the first great transformation in his life—behold the Westerner! + After enriching his mind through contact with civilizations so diverse as + Europe and the Sandwich Islands, he settled down in Connecticut, boldly + foreswore the creeds and principles of his native section, and underwent a + new transformation—behold the Yankee! Once again, travel in foreign + lands, association with the most intellectual and cultured circles of the + world, broadened his vision; yet this cosmopolitan experience, far from + diminishing his racial consciousness, tended still further to accentuate + the national characteristics. In this new transformation, we behold the + typical American! The later years, of cosmopolitan renown, of world-wide + fame, throw into high relief the last transformation—behold the + universally human spirit! Under this crude catalogue, the main lines of + Mark Twain's development stand out in sharp definition. The catalogue, + however, is only too crude—it is impossible to say with precision + just when such and such a transformation actually took place. It is only + intended to be suggestive; for we must bear in mind that Mark Twain never + changed character. His spirit underwent an evolutionary process—broadening, + deepening, enlarging its vision with the passage of the years. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="pp157.jpg (78K)" src="images/pp157.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + > <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + The part which the South played in the formation of the character and + genius of Mark Twain has been little noted heretofore. It was in the South + and Southwest that the creator of the humour of local eccentrics first + appeared in full flower; and "Ned Brace," "Major Jones," and "Sut + Lovengood" have in them the germs of that later Western humour that was to + come to full fruition in the works of Bret Harte and Mark Twain. The stage + coach and the river steamboat furnished the means for disseminating far + and wide the gross, the ghastly, the extravagant stories, the oddities of + speech, the fantastic jests which emerged from the clash of diverse and + oddly-assorted types. The jarring contrasts, the incongruities and + surprises daily furnished by the picturesque river life unquestionably + stimulated and fertilized the latent germs of humour in the young + cub-pilot, Sam Clemens. Through Mark Twain's greatest works flows the + stately Mississippi, magically imparting to them some indefinable share of + its beauty, its variety, its majesty, its immensity; and there is no + exaggeration in the conclusion that it is the greatest natural influence + which his works betray. Reared in a slave-holding community of + narrow-visioned, arrogantly provincial people of the lower middle class; + seeing his own father so degrade himself as to cuff his negro house-boy; + consorting with ragamuffins, the rag-tag and bob-tail of the town, in his + passion for bohemianism and truantry—young Clemens never learned to + know the beauty and the dignity, the purity and the humanity, of that + aristocratic patriarchal South which produced such beautiful figures as + Lee and Lanier. Not even his most enthusiastic biographers have attempted + to palliate, save with half-hearted facetiousness, his inglorious + desertion of the cause which he had espoused. Mark Twain is the most + speedily "reconstructed rebel" on record. Is it broad-minded—or even + accurate!—for Mr. Howells to say of Mark Twain: "No one has ever + poured such scorn upon the second-hand, Walter-Scotticised, + pseudo-chivalry of the Southern ideal?" Mark Twain never, I firmly + believe, held up to ridicule the Southern "ideal." But in a well-known and + excellent passage in Life on the Mississippi, he properly pokes fun at the + "wordy, windy, flowery 'eloquence,' romanticism, sentimentality—all + imitated from Sir Walter Scott," of the Southern literary journal of the + thirties and forties. In later years Mark Twain, in his 'Joan of Arc', + voiced a spirit of noble chivalry which bespoke the "Southern ideal" of + his Virginia forbears; and that delicacy of instinct in matters of right + and wrong which is so conspicuous a trait of Mark Twain's is a symptom of + that "moral elegance" which Mr. Owen Wister has pronounced to be one of + the defining characteristics of the Southern American. "No American of + Northern birth or breeding," Mr. Howells pertinently observes, "could have + imagined the spiritual struggle of Huck Finn in deciding to help the negro + Jim to his freedom, even though he should be for ever despised as a negro + thief in his native town, and perhaps eternally lost through the blackness + of his sin. No Northerner could have come so close to the heart of a + Kentucky feud, and revealed it so perfectly, with the whimsicality playing + through its carnage, or could have so brought us into the presence of the + sardonic comi-tragedy of the squalid little river town where the + store-keeping magnate shoots down his drunken tormentor in the arms of the + drunkard's daughter, and then cows with bitter mockery the mob that comes + to lynch him." + </p> + <p> + The influence of the West upon the character and genius of Mark Twain is + momentous and unmistakable. Mark Twain found room for development and + expansion in the primitive freedom of the West. It was here, I think, that + there were bred in him that breezy democracy of sentiment and that hatred + of sham and pretence which fill his writings from beginning to end. In the + West, virgin yet recalcitrant, every man stood—or fell—by + force of his own exertions; every man, without fear or favour, struggled + for fortune, for competence—or for existence. It was a case of the + survival of the fittest. In face of bleak Nature—the burning alkali + desert, the obdurate soil, the rock-ribbed mountains,—all men were + free and equal, in a camaraderie of personal effort. In this primitive + democracy, every man demanded for himself what he saw others getting. The + pretender, the hypocrite, the sham, the humbug soon went to the wall, + exposed in the nakedness of his own impotency. Humour is a salutary aid in + the struggle of the individual with the contrasts of life; indeed it may + be said to be born of the perception of those contrasts. In a degree no + whit inferior to the variegated river life, the life of the West furnished + contrasts and incongruities innumerable—vaster perhaps, and more + significant. There was the incessant contrast of civilization with + barbarism, of the East with the West; and there was infinite play for the + comic <i>expos</i> of the credulous "tenderfoot" at the hands of the + pitiless cowboy. Roars of Gargantuan laughter shook the skies as each new + initiate unwittingly succumbed to the demoniac wiles of his tormentors. + The West was one vast theatre for the practice of the "practical joke." + Behind everything, menacing, foreboding, tragic, lay the stupendous + contrast between Man and Nature; and though the miner, the granger, the + cowboy laughed defiantly at civilization and at Nature, there crept into + the consciousness of each the conviction that, in the long run, + civilization must triumph, and that, in order to win success, Nature must + be conquered and subdued. In such an environment, with its spirit of + primitive democracy, its atmosphere of wild and ribald jest, its contempt + for the impostor, its perpetually recurring incongruities, and behind all + the solemn, perhaps tragic, presence of inexorable Nature—in such an + environment were sharpened and whetted in Mark Twain the sense of humour, + the spirit of real democracy bred of competitive effort, and the hatred + for pretence, sham, and imposture. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="pp163.jpg (69K)" src="images/pp163.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + > <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + It was not, I think, until Mark Twain went to live in Connecticut and, as + he expressed it, became a scribbler of books, and an immovable fixture + among the other rocks of New England, that he developed complete + confidence in himself and his powers. That passion for successful + self-expression, which Mr. Nicholas Murray Butler has defined as the main + ambition of the American, became the dominant motive of Mark Twain's life. + Of his experience as a steamboat pilot, Mark Twain has said that in that + brief, sharp schooling he got personally and familiarly acquainted with + about all the different types of human nature that are to be found in + fiction, biography or history. In the West he had still further enriched + his mind with an inexhaustible store of first-hand knowledge of human + nature. In rotation he had been tramping jour printer, river pilot, + private secretary, miner, reporter, lecturer. He now turns to literature + in real earnest, and begins to display that vast store of knowledge + derived from actual contact with the infinitely diversified realities of + American life. Mark Twain takes on more and more of the characteristics of + the Yankee—those characteristics which constitute the basis of his + success: inventiveness and ingenuity, the practical efficiency, the + shrewdness and the hard common—sense. It is the last phase in the + formation of the national type. + </p> + <p> + It was, I venture to say, in some such way as this that Mark Twain came to + assume in the eyes of his countrymen an embodiment of the national spirit. + He was the self—made man in the self—made democracy. He was at + once his own creation and the creation of a democracy. There were + humorists in America before Mark Twain; there are humorists in America + still. But Mark Twain succeeded not merely in captivating the great mass + of the people; he achieved the far more difficult and unique distinction + of convincing his countrymen of his essential fellowship, his + temperamental affinity, with them. This miracle he wrought by the frankest + and most straightforward revelation of the actual experiences in his own + life and the lives of those he had known with perfect intimacy. It is true + that he wrote a few books dealing with other times, other scenes, than our + own in the present and in America. But I daresay that his popularity with + the mass of his countrymen would not have been in any degree lessened had + he never written these few books. Indeed, it is hardly to be doubted that + his books were successful in the ratio of their autobiographic nature. For + the character he revealed in those books of his which are essentially + autobiographic, is the character dear to the American heart; and the + experiences, vicissitudes, and hardships, shot through and irradiated with + a high boisterousness of humour, found a joyous sympathy in the minds and + hearts of men who had all "been there" themselves. In Mark Twain the + American people recognized at last the sturdy democrat, independent of + foreign criticism; confident in the validity and value of his own ideas + and judgments; believing loyally in his country's institutions, and + upholding them fearlessly before the world; fundamentally serious and + self-reliant, yet with a practicality tempered by humane kindliness, + warmth of heart, and a strain of persistent idealism; rude, boisterous, + even uncouth, yet withal softened by sympathy for the under-dog, a + boundless love for the weak, the friendless, the oppressed; lacking in + profound intellectuality, yet supreme in the possession of the simple and + homely virtues—an upright and honourable character, a good citizen, + a man tenacious of the sanctity of the domestic virtues. America has + produced finer and more exalted types—giants in intellectuality, + princes in refinement and delicacy of spirit, savants in culture, classics + in authorship. An American type combining culture with picturesqueness, + refinement with patriotism, suavity with self-reliance, desire it as we + may, still awaits the imprimatur of international recognition. America has + sufficient cause for gratification in the memory of that quaint and sturdy + figure so conspicuously bearing the national stamp and superscription. + Perhaps no American has equalled Mark Twain in the quality of subsuming + and embodying in his own character so many elements of the national spirit + and genius. In letters, in life, Mark Twain is the American <i>par + excellence</i>. + </p> + <p> + Underneath those qualities which combined to produce in Mark Twain a + composite American type, lay something deeper still—that indefinable + <i>je ne sais quo</i> which procured him international fame. Humour alone + is utterly inadequate for achieving so momentous a result—though + humour ostensibly constituted the burden of the appeal. As a matter of + fact, vehemently as the professors may deny it, Mark Twain was an artist + of remarkable force and power. From the days when he came under the + tutelage of Mr. Howells, and humbly learned to prune away his stylistic + superfluities of the grosser sort, Mark Twain indubitably began to subject + himself to the discipline of stern self-criticism. While it is true that + he never learned to realize in full measure, to use Pater's phrase, "the + responsibility of the artist to his materials," he assuredly disciplined + himself to make the most, in his own way, of the rude and volcanic power + which he possessed. It is fortunate that Mark Twain never subjected + himself to the refinements of academic culture; a Harvard might well have + spoiled a great author. For Mark Twain had a memorable tale to tell of + rude, primitive men and barbaric, remote scenes and circumstances; of + truant and resourceful boyhood exercising all its cunning in circumventing + circumstance and mastering a calling. And he had that tale to tell in the + unlettered, yet vastly expressive, phraseology of the actors in those wild + events. The secret of his style is directness of thought, a sort of + shattering clarity of utterance, and a mastery of vital, vigorous, + audacious individual expression. He had a remarkable feeling for words and + their uses; and his language is the unspoiled, expressive language of the + people. At times he is primitive and coarse; but it is a Falstaffian note, + the mark of universality rather than of limitation. His art was, in + Tolstoy's phrase, "the art of a people—universal art"; and his style + was rich in the locutions of the common people, rich and racy of the soil. + A signal merit of his style is its admirable adaptation to the theme. The + personages of his novels always speak "in character"—with perfect + reproduction, not only of their natural speech, but also of their natural + thoughts. Though Mr. Henry James may have said that one must be a very + rudimentary person to enjoy Mark Twain, there is unimpeachable virtue in a + rudimentary style in treatment of rudimentary or,—as I should prefer + to phrase it,—fundamental things. Mr. James, I feel sure, could + never have put into the mouth of a "rudimentary" person like Huck, so + vivid and graphic a description of a storm with its perfect reproduction + of the impression caught by the "rudimentary" mind. "Writers of fiction," + says Sir Walter Besant in speaking of this book, "will understand the + difficulty of getting inside the brain of that boy, seeing things as he + saw them, writing as he would have written, and acting as he would have + acted; and presenting to the world true, faithful, and living effigies of + that boy. The feat has been accomplished; there is no character in fiction + more fully, more faithfully, presented than the character of Huckleberry + Finn. . . . It may be objected that the characters are extravagant. Not + so. They are all exactly and literally true; they are quite possible in a + country so remote and so primitive. Every figure in the book is a type; + Huckleberry Finn has exaggerated none. We see the life—the dull and + vacuous life—of a small township upon the Mississippi River forty + years ago. So far as I know, it is the only place where we can find that + phase of life portrayed." + </p> + <p> + Mark Twain impressed one always as writing with utter individuality—untrammelled + by the limitations of any particular sect of art. In his books of travel, + he reveals not only the instinct of the trained journalist for the novel + and the effective, but also the feeling of the artist for the beautiful, + the impressive, and the sublime. His descriptions, of striking natural + objects, such as the volcano of Mount Kilauea in the Sandwich Islands, of + memorable architecture, such as the cathedral at Milan, show that he + possessed the "stereoscopic imagination" in rare degree. The picture he + evokes of Athens by moonlight, in the language of simplicity and + restraint, ineffaceably fixes itself in the fancy. + </p> + <p> + Mark Twain was regarded in France as a remarkable "impressionist" and + praised by the critics for the realistic accuracy and minuteness of his + delineation. Kipling frankly acknowledged the great debt that he owed him. + Tennyson spoke in high praise of his finesse in the choice of words, his + feeling for the just word to catch and, as it were, visualize the precise + shade of meaning desired. In truth, Mark Twain was an impressionist, + rather than an imaginative artist. That passage in 'A Yankee in King + Arthur's Court' in which he describes an early morning ride through the + forest, pictorially evocative as it is, stands self-revealed—a + confusedly imaginative effort to create an image he has never experienced. + </p> + <p> + If we set over beside this the remarkable descriptions of things seen, as + minutely evocative as instantaneous photographs—such, for example, + as the picture of a summer storm, or preferably, the picture of dawn on + the Mississippi, both from Huckleberry Finn—pictures Mark Twain had + seen and lived hundreds of times, we see at once the striking superiority + of the realistic impressionist over the imaginative artist. + </p> + <p> + I have always felt that the most lasting influence of his life—the + influence which has left the most pervasive impression upon his art and + thought—is portrayed in that classic and memorable passage in which + he portrays the marvellous spell laid upon him by that mistress of his + youth, the great river. + </p> + <p> + To the young pilot, the face of the water in time became a wonderful book. + For the uninitiated traveller it was a dead language, but to the young + pilot it gave up its most cherished secrets. He came to feel that there + had never been so wonderful a book written by man. To its haunting beauty, + its enfolding mystery, he yielded himself unreservedly—drinking it + in like one bewitched. But a day came when he began to cease from noting + its marvels. Another day came when he ceased altogether to note them. + </p> + <p> + In time, he came to realize that, for him, the romance and the beauty were + gone forever from the river. If the early rapture was gone, in its place + was the deeper sense of knowledge and intimacy. He had learned the + ultimate secrets of the river—learned them with a knowledge, so + searching and so profound, that he was enabled to give them the enduring + investiture of art. + </p> + <p> + Mark Twain possessed the gift of innate eloquence. He was a master of the + art of moving, touching, swaying an audience. At times, his insight into + the mysterious springs of humour, of passion, and of pathos seemed almost + like divination. All these qualities appeared in full flower in the + written expression of his art. It would be doing a disservice to his + memory to deny that his style did not possess literary distinction or + elegance. At times his judgment was at fault; his constitutional humour + came near playing havoc with his artistic sense. Not seldom he was long—winded + and laborious in his striving after comic effect. To offset these manifest + lapses and defects there are the many fine qualities—descriptive + passages aglow with serene and cloud less beauty, dramatic scenes depicted + with virile and rugged eloquence, pathetic incidents touched with gentle + and caressing tenderness. + </p> + <p> + Style bears translation ill; in fact, translation is not infrequently + impossible. But Mr. Clemens once pointed out to me that humour has nothing + to do with style. Mark Twain's humour—for humour is his prevalent + mood—has international range since, constructed out of a deep + comprehension of human nature and a profound sympathy for human + relationship and human failing, it successfully surmounts the difficulties + of translation into alien tongues. + </p> + <p> + Mark Twain became a great international figure, not because he was an + American, paradoxical and unpatriotic as that may sound, but because he + was America's greatest cosmopolitan. He was a true cosmopolitan in the + Higginsonian sense, in that, unlike Mr. Henry James, he was "at home even + in his own country." He was a true cosmopolitan in the Tolstoyan sense; + for his was "art transmitting the simplest feelings of common life, but + such, always, as are accessible to all men in the whole world—the + art of common life—the art of a people—universal art." His + spirit grasped the true ideal of our time and reflected it. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Clemens attributed his international success not to qualities of + style, not to allegiance to any distinctive school, not to any overtopping + eminence of intellect. "Many so-called American humorists," he once + remarked to me, "have been betrayed by their preoccupation with the local. + Their work never crossed frontiers because they failed to impart to their + humour that universal element which appeals to all races of men. Realism + is nothing more than close observation. But observation will never give + you the inside of the thing. The life, the genius, the soul of a people + are realized only through years of absorption." Mr. Clemens asseverated + that the only way to be a great American humorist was to be a great human + humorist—to discover in Americans those permanent and universal + traits common to all nationalities. In his commentary upon Bourget's + 'Outre Mer', he declared that there wasn't a single human characteristic + that could safely be labelled "American"—not a single human detail, + inside or outside. Through years of automatic observation, Mark Twain + learned to discover for America, to adapt his own phrase, those few human + peculiarities that can be generalized and located here and there in the + world and named by the name of the nation where they are found. + </p> + <p> + Above all, I think, Mark Twain sympathized with and found something to + admire in the citizens of every nation, seeking beneath the surface veneer + the universal traits of that nation's humanity. He expressly disclaimed in + my presence any "attitude" toward the world, for the very simple reason + that his relation toward all peoples had been one of effort at + comprehension of their ideals, and identification with them in feeling. He + disavowed any colour prejudices, caste prejudices, or creed prejudices—maintaining + that he could stand any society. All that he cared to know was that a man + was a human being—that was bad enough for him! It is a matter not of + argument, but of fact, that Mark Twain has made more damaging admissions + concerning America than concerning any other nation. Lafcadio Hearn best + succeeded in interpreting poetry to his Japanese students by freeing it + from all artificial and local restraints, and using as examples the + simplest lyrics which go straight to the heart and soul of man. His + remarkable lecture on 'Naked Poetry' is the most signal illustration of + his profoundly suggestive mode of interpretation. In the same way, Mark + Twain as humorist has sought the highest common factor of all nations. "My + secret—if there is any secret—," Mr. Clemens once said to me, + "is to create humour independent of local conditions. In studying humanity + as exhibited in the people and localities I best knew and understood, I + have sought to winnow out the encumbrance of the local." And he + significantly added—musingly—" Humour, like morality, has its + eternal verities." + </p> + <p> + To the literature of the world, I venture to say, Mark Twain has + contributed: his masterpiece, that provincial Odyssey of the Mississippi, + 'Huckleberry Finn', a picaresque romance worthy to rank with the very best + examples of picaresque fiction; + </p> + <p> + 'Tom Sawyer', only little inferior to its pendent story, which might well + be regarded as the supreme American morality—play of youth, + 'Everyboy'; 'The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg', an ironic fable of such + originality and dexterous creation that it has no satisfactory parallel in + literature; the first half of 'Life on the Mississippi' and all of + 'Roughing It', for their reflections of the sociological phases of a + civilization now vanished forever. It is gratifying to Americans to + recognize in Mark Twain the incarnation of democratic America. It is + gratifying to citizens of all nationalities to recall and recapture the + pleasure and delight his works have given them for decades. It is more + gratifying still to rest confident in the belief that, in Mark Twain, + America has contributed to the world a genius sealed of the tribe of + Moliere, a congener of Le Sage, of Fielding, of Defoe—a man who will + be remembered, as Mr. Howells has said, "with the great humorists of all + time, with Cervantes, with Swift, or with any others worthy his company; + none of them was his equal in humanity." + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="pp179.jpg (33K)" src="images/pp179.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + > <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + <a name="philosopher" id="philosopher">PHILOSOPHER, MORALIST, SOCIOLOGIST</a> + </h1> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <table summary=""> + <tr> + <td> + <p> + "Diligently train your ideals upward and still upward<br /> towards a + summit where you will find your chiefest<br /> pleasure in conduct + which, while contenting you, will<br /> be sure to confer benefits + upon your neighbour and the<br /> community."<br /> MARK TWAIN: 'What + is Man?' + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + "The humorous writer," says Thackeray, "professes to awaken and direct + your love, your pity, your kindness, your scorn for untruth, pretension, + and imposture, your tenderness for the weak, the poor, the oppressed, the + unhappy. To the best of his means and ability he comments on all the + ordinary actions and passions of life almost. He takes upon himself to be + the week-day preacher, so to speak. Accordingly, as he finds, and speaks, + and feels the truth best, we regard him, esteem him.—sometimes love + him." This definition is apt enough to have been made with Mark Twain in + mind. In an earlier chapter, is displayed the comic phase of Mark Twain's + humour. Beneath that humour, underlying it and informing it, is a fund of + human concern, a wealth of seriousness and pathos, and a universality of + interests which argue real power and greatness. These qualities, now to be + discussed, reveal Mark Twain as serious enough to be regarded as a real + moralist and philosopher, humane enough to be regarded as, in spirit, a + true sociologist and reformer. + </p> + <p> + It must be recognised that the history of literature furnishes forth no + great international figure, whose fame rests solely upon the basis of + humour, however human, however sympathetic, however universal that humour + may be. Behind that humour must lurk some deeper and more serious + implication which gives breadth and solidity to the art-product. Genuine + humour, as Landor has pointed out, requires a "sound and capacious mind, + which is always a grave one." There is always a breadth of philosophy, a + depth of sadness, or a profundity of pathos in the very greatest + humorists. Both Rabelais and La Fontaine were reflective dreamers; + Cervantes fought for the progressive and the real in pricking the bubble + of Spanish chivalry; and Moliere declared that, for a man in his position, + he could do no better than attack the vices of his time with ridiculous + likenesses. Though exhibiting little of the melancholy of Lincoln, Mark + Twain revelled in the same directness of thought and expression, showed + the same zest for broad humour reeking with the strong but pungent flavour + of the soil. Though expressing distaste for Franklin's somewhat cold and + almost mercenary injunctions, Mark Twain nevertheless has much of his + Yankee thrift, shrewdness, and bed-rock common sense. Beneath and + commingled with all his boyish and exuberant fun is a note of pathos + subdued but unmistakable, which rings true beside the forced and + extravagant pathos of Dickens. His Southern hereditament of chivalry, his + compassion for the oppressed and his defence of the down-trodden, were + never in abeyance from the beginning of his career to the very end. Like + Joel Chandler Harris, that genial master of African folk-lore, Mark Twain + found no theme of such absorbing interest as human nature. Like Fielding, + he wrote immortal narratives in which the prime concern is not the + "story," but the almost scientific revelation of the natural history of + the characters. The corrosive and mordant irony of many a passage in Mark + Twain, wherein he holds up to scorn the fraudulent and the artificial, the + humbug, the hypocrite, the sensualist, are not unworthy of the colossal + Swift. That "disposition for hard hitting with a moral purpose to sanction + it," which George Meredith pronounces the national disposition of British + humour, is Mark Twain's unmistakable hereditament. It is, perhaps, because + he relates us to our origins, as Mr. Brander Matthews has suggested, that + Mark Twain is the foremost of American humorists. + </p> + <p> + In the preface to the Jumping Frog, published as far back as 1867, Mark + Twain was dubbed, not only "the wild humorist of the Pacific slope," but + also "the moralist of the Main." The first book which brought him great + popularity, 'The Innocents Abroad', exhibited qualities of serious ethical + import which, while escaping the attention of the readers of that day, + emerge for the moderns from the welter of hilarious humour. How + unforgettable is his righteous indignation over that "benefit" performance + he witnessed in Italy! + </p> + <p> + The ingrained quality in Mark Twain, which perhaps more than any other won + the enthusiastic admiration of his fellow Americans, was this: he always + had the courage of his convictions. He writes of things, classic and + hallowed by centuries, with a freshness of viewpoint, a total indifference + to crystallized opinion, that inspire tremendous respect for his courage, + even when one's own convictions are not engaged. The "beautiful love story + of Abelard and Heloise" will never, I venture to say, recover its pristine + glory—now that Mark Twain has poured over Abelard the vials of his + wrath. + </p> + <p> + Those who know only the Mark Twain of the latter years, with his deep, + underlying seriousness, his grim irony, and his passion for justice and + truth, find difficulty in realizing that, in his earlier days, the joker + and the buffoon were almost solely in evidence. In answer to a query of + mine as to the reason for the serious spirit that crept into and gave + carrying power to his humour, Mr. Clemens frankly replied: "I never wrote + a serious word until after I married Mrs. Clemens. She is solely + responsible—to her should go the credit—for any deeply serious + or moral influence my subsequent work may exert. After my marriage, she + edited everything I wrote. And what is more—she not only edited my + works, she edited ME! After I had written some side-splitting story, + something beginning seriously and ending in preposterous anti-climax, she + would say to me: 'You have a true lesson, a serious meaning to impart + here. Don't give way to your invincible temptation to destroy the good + effect of your story by some extravagantly comic absurdity. Be yourself! + Speak out your real thoughts as humorously as you please, but—without + farcical commentary. Don't destroy your purpose with an ill-timed joke.' I + learned from her that the only right thing was to get in my serious + meaning always, to treat my audience fairly, to let them really feel the + underlying moral that gave body and essence to my jest." + </p> + <p> + The quality with which Mark Twain invests his disquisitions upon morals, + upon conscience, upon human foibles and failings, is the charm of the + humorist always—never the grimness of the moralist or the coldness + of the philosopher. He observes all human traits, whether of moral + sophistry or ethical casuistry, with the genial sympathy of a lover of his + kind irradiated with the riant comprehension of the humorist. And yet at + times there creeps into his tone a note of sincere and manly pathos, + unmistakable, irresistible. One has only to read the beautiful, tender + tale of the blue jay in 'A Tramp Abroad' to know the beauty and the depth + of his feeling for nature and her creatures, his sense of kinship with his + brothers of the animal kingdom. + </p> + <p> + In our first joyous and headlong interest in the narrative of 'Huckleberry + Finn', its rapid succession of continuously arresting incidents, its + omnipresent yet never intrusive humour, the deeper significance of many a + passage in that contemporary classic is likely to escape notice. Sir + Walter Besant, who revelled in it as one of the most completely satisfying + and delightful of books, speaks of it deliberately as a book without a + moral. Perhaps he was deceived by the foreword: "Persons attempting to + find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to + find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in + it will be shot." There never was a more easy-going, care-free, + unpuritanical lot than Huck and Jim, the two farcical "hoboes," Tom + Sawyer, and the rest. And yet in the light of Mark Twain's later writings + one cannot but see in that picaresque romance, with its pleasingly loose + moral atmosphere, an underlying seriousness and conviction. Jim is a + simple, harmless negro, childlike and primitive; yet, so marvellous, so + restrained is the art of the narrator, that imperceptibly, unconsciously, + one comes to feel not only a deep interest in, but a genuine respect for, + this innocent fugitive from slavery. Mr. Booker Washington, a + distinguished representative of his race, said he could not help feeling + that, in the character of Jim, Mark Twain had, perhaps unconsciously, + exhibited his sympathy for and interest in the masses of the negro people. + </p> + <p> + Indeed, to the reflective mind—and it is to be presumed that by that + standard Mark Twain's works will ultimately be judged—there is no + more significant passage in Huckleberry Finn than that in which Huck + struggles with his conscience over the knotty problem of his moral + responsibility for compassing Jim's emancipation. Nothing else is needed + to show at once Mark Twain's preoccupation with the workings of human + conscience in the unsophisticated mind and his conviction that, with the + "lights that he had," Huck was justified in his courageous decision. + </p> + <p> + Huck felt deeply repentant for allowing Jim to escape from the innocent, + inoffending Miss Watson. He became consumed with horror and remorse to + hear Jim making plans for stealing his wife and children, if their masters + wouldn't sell them. His conscience kept stirring him up hotter than ever + when he heard Jim talking to himself about the joys of freedom. After + awhile, Huck decided to write a letter to Miss Watson, informing her of + the whereabouts of her "runaway nigger." After writing that letter, he + felt washed clean of sin, uplifted, exalted. But he could not forget all + the goodness and tenderness of poor Jim, who had shown himself so + profoundly grateful. Though he faced the torments of Puritanical damnation + as a consequence, he resolved to let Jim go free. Humanity triumphed over + conscience—and with an "All right, then, I'll go to hell," he tore + up the letter. + </p> + <p> + One of Mark Twain's favourite themes for the display of his humour was the + subject of prevarication. He seemed never to tire of ringing the changes + upon the theme of the lie, its utility, its convenience, and its + consequences. Doubtless he chose to dabble in falsehood because it is + generally winked at as the most venial of all moral obliquities—a + fault which is the most thoroughly universal of all that flesh is heir to. + The incident of George Washington and the cherry tree furnished the basis + for countless of his anecdotes; he wrung from it variations innumerable, + from the epigram to the anecdote. His distinction between George + Washington and himself, redounding immeasurably to his own glory, and + demonstrating his complete superiority to Washington as a moral character, + is classic: "George Washington couldn't tell a lie. I can; but I won't." + Perhaps his most humorous anecdote, based upon the same story, is in + connection with the exceedingly old "darky" he once met in the South, who + claimed to have crossed the Delaware with Washington. "Were you with + Washington," asked Mark Twain mischievously, "when he took that hack at + the cherry tree?" This was a poser for the old darkey; his pride was + appealed to, his very character was at stake. After an awkward hesitation, + the old darkey spoke up, a gleam of simulated recollection (and real + gratification for his convenient memory) overspreading his countenance: + "Lord, boss, I was dar. In cose I was. I was with Marse George at dat very + time. In fac—I done druv dat hack myself"! + </p> + <p> + Mark Twain's most delightful trick as a popular humorist was to strike out + some comic epigram, that passed currency with the masses whose fancy it + tickled, and also had upon it the minted stamp of the classic aphorism. + These epigrams were frequently pseudo-moral in their nature; and their + humour usually lay in the assumption that everybody is habitually addicted + to prevarication—which is just precisely true enough and + reprehensible enough to validate the epigram. His method was humorous + inversion; and he told a story whose morals are so ludicrously twisted + that the right moral, by contrast, spontaneously springs to light. "Never + tell a lie—except for practice," is less successful than the more + popularly known "When in doubt, tell the truth." Out of the latter maxim + he succeeded in extracting a further essence of humour. He admitted + inventing the maxim, but never expected it to be applied to himself. His + advice, he said, was intended for other people; when he was in doubt + himself, he used more sagacity! Mark Twain has made no more delightful + epigram than that one in which he recognizes that a lie, morally + reprehensible as it may be, is undoubtedly an ever present help in time of + need: "Never waste a lie. You never know when you may need it." + </p> + <p> + Sometimes in a humorous, sometimes in a grimly serious way, Mark Twain was + fond of drawing the distinction between theoretical and practical morals. + Theoretical morals, he would point out, are the sort you get on your + mother's knee, in good books, and from the pulpit. You get them into your + head, not into your heart. Only by the commission of crime can anyone + acquire real morals. Commit all the crimes in the decalogue, take them in + rotation, persevere in this stern determination—and after awhile you + will thereby attain to moral perfection! It is not enough to commit just + one crime or two—though every little bit helps. Only by committing + them all can you achieve real morality! It is interesting to note this + distinction between Mark Twain, the humorous moralist, and Bernard Shaw, + the ethical thinker. Each teaches precisely the same thing—the one + not even half seriously, the other with all the sharp sincerity of + conviction. Shaw unhesitatingly declares that trying to be wicked is + precisely the same experiment as trying to be good, viz., the discovery of + character. + </p> + <p> + The range of Mark Twain's humour, from the ludicrous anecdote with + comically mixed morals to the profound parable with grimly ironic + conclusion, takes the measure of the ethical nature of the man. It can + best be illustrated, I think, by a comparison of his anecdote of the theft + of the green water-melon and the classic fable of 'The Man that Corrupted + Hadleyburg'. Mark stole a water-melon out of a farmer's wagon, while he + wasn't looking. Of course stole was too harsh a term—he withdrew, he + retired that water-melon. After getting safely away to a secluded spot, he + broke the water-melon open—only to find that it was green, the + greenest water-melon of the year. + </p> + <p> + The moment he saw that the water-melon was green, he felt sorry. He began + to reflect—for reflection is the beginning of reform. It is only by + reflecting on some crime you have committed, that you are "vaccinated" + against committing it again. + </p> + <p> + So Mark began to reflect. And his reflections were of this nature: What + ought a boy to do who has stolen a green water-melon? What would George + Washington, who never told a lie, have done? He decided that the only + real, right thing for any boy to do, who has stolen a water-melon of that + class, is to make restitution. It is his duty to restore it to its + rightful owner. So rising up, spiritually strengthened and refreshed by + his noble resolution, Mark restored the water—melon—what there + was left of it—to the farmer and—made the farmer give him a + ripe one in its place! Thus he clinched the "moral" of this story, so + quaint and so ingenious; and concluded that only in some such way as this + could one be fortified against further commission of crime. Only thus + could one become morally perfect! + </p> + <p> + Here, as in countless other places, Mark Twain throws over his ethical + suggestion—a suggestion, by contrast, of the very converse of his + literal words—the veil of paradox and exaggeration, of incongruity, + fantasy, light irony. Yet beneath this outer covering of art there is a + serious meaning that, like murder, will out. If demonstration were needed + that Mark Twain is sealed of the tribe of moralists, that is amply + supplied by that masterpiece, that triumph of invention, construction, and + originality, 'The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg'. Here is a pure morality, + daring in the extreme and incredibly original in a world perpetually + reiterating a saying already thousands of years old, to the effect that + there is nothing new under the sun. It is a deliberate emendation of that + invocation in the Lord's Prayer "Lead us (not) into temptation." The + shrieking irony of this trenchant parable, its cynicism and heartlessness, + would make of it an unendurable criticism of human life—were it + accepted literally as a representation of society. In essence it is a + morality pure and simple, animated not only by its brilliantly original + ethical suggestion, but also by its illuminating reflection of human + nature and its graciously relieving humour. In that exultant letter which + the <i>Diabolus ex machin</i> wrote to the betrayed villagers, he sneers + at their old and lofty reputation for honesty—that reputation of + which they were so inordinately proud and vain. The weak point in their + armour was disclosed so soon as he discovered how carefully and vigilantly + they kept themselves and their children out of temptation. For he well + knew that the weakest of all weak things is a virtue that has not been + tested in the fire. The familiar distinction between innocence and virtue + springs to mind. And it is worthy of consideration that Nietzsche, and + Shaw after him, both point out that virtue consists, not in resisting + evil, but in not desiring it! 'The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg' is a + masterpiece, eminently worthy of the genius of a Swift. It proclaims Mark + Twain not only as a supreme artist, but also as eminently and + distinctively a moralist. + </p> + <p> + It is impossible to think of Mark Twain in his maturer development as + other than a moralist. My personal acquaintance with Mr. Clemens convinced + me—had I needed to be convinced—that in his later years he had + striven to grapple nobly with many of the deeper issues of life, character + and morality, public, religious and social, as well as personal and + private. I never knew anyone who thought so "straight," or who expressed + himself with such simple directness upon questions affecting religion and + conduct. He was absolutely fearless in his condemnation of those + subsidized "ministers" of the Gospel in cosmopolitan centres, who, through + self-interest, cut their moral disquisitions to fit the predilections of + their wealthy parishioners, many of whom were under national condemnation + as "malefactors of great wealth." Animated by love for all creatures, the + defenceless wild animal as well as the domestic pet, he was unsparing in + his indictment of those big-game hunters who shamelessly described their + feelings of savage exultation when some poor animal served as the target + for their skill, and staggered off wounded unto death. His sympathy for + the natives of the Congo was profound and intense; and his philippic + against King Leopold for the atrocities he sanctioned called the attention + of the whole world to conditions that constituted a disgrace to modern + civilization. His diatribe against the Czar of Russia for his inhumanity + to the serfs was an equally convincing proof of his noble determination to + throw the whole weight of his influence in behalf of suffering and + oppressed humanity. Some years before his death, he told me that he never + intended to speak in public again save in behalf of movements, + humanitarian and uplifting, which gave promise of effecting civic + betterment and social improvement. + </p> + <p> + I have always felt a peculiar and personal debt of gratitude to Mark Twain + for three events—for the publication of such works can be dignified + with no less eminent characterization. When Mr. Edward Dowden tried to + make out the best case for Shelley that he could, it was at the sacrifice + of the reputation of the defenceless Harriet Westbrook. That ingrained + chivalry which is the defining characteristic of the Southerner, the + sympathy for the oppressed, the compassion for the weak and the + defenceless, animated Mark Twain to one of the noblest actions of his + career. For his defence of Harriet Westbrook is something more than a + work, it is an act—an act of high courage and nobility. With words + icily cold in their logic, Mark Twain tabulated the six pitifully + insignificant charges against Harriet, such as her love for dress and her + waning interest in Latin lessons, and set over against them the six times + repeated name of Cornelia Turner, that fascinating young married woman who + read Petrarch with Shelley and sat up all hours of the night with him—because + he saw visions when he was alone! Again, in his 'Joan of Arc', Mark Twain + erected a monument of enduring beauty to that simple maid of Orleans, to + whom the Roman Catholic Church has just now paid the merited yet tardy + tribute of canonization. It is a sad commentary upon the popular attitude + of frivolity towards the professional humorist that Mark Twain felt + compelled to publish this book anonymously, in order that the truth and + beauty of that magic story might receive its just meed of respectful and + sympathetic attention. + </p> + <p> + The third act for which I have always felt deeply grateful to Mark Twain + is the apparently little known, yet beautiful and significant story + entitled 'Was it Heaven or Hell?' It contains, I believe, the moral that + had most meaning for Mark Twain throughout his entire life—the + bankruptcy of rigidly formal Puritanism in the face of erring human + nature, the tragic result of heedlessly holding to the letter, instead of + wisely conforming to the spirit, of moral law. No one doubts that Mark + Twain—as who would not?—believed, aye, knew, that this sweet, + human child went to a heaven of forgiveness and mercy, not to a hell of + fire and brimstone, for her innocently trivial transgression. The essay on + Harriet Shelley, the novel of 'Joan of Arc', and the story 'Was it Heaven + or Hell?' are all, as decisively as the philippic against King Leopold, + the diatribe against the Czar of Russia, essential vindications of the + moral principle. 'Was it Heaven or Hell?' in its simple pathos, 'The Man + that Corrupted Hadleyburg' in its morally salutary irony, present vital + evidence of that same transvaluation of current moral values which marks + the age of Nietzsche and Ibsen, of Tolstoy and Shaw. In that amusing, + naive biography of her father, little Susy admits that he could make + exceedingly bright jokes and could be extremely amusing; but she maintains + that he was more interested in earnest books and earnest conversation than + in humorous ones. She pronounced him to be as much of a Pholosopher (sic) + as anything. And she hazards the opinion that he might have done a great + deal in this direction if only he had studied when he was a boy! + </p> + <p> + Years ago, Mark Twain wrote a book which he called 'An Extract from + Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven'. For long he desisted from + publishing it because of his fear that its outspoken frankness would + appear irreverent and shock the sensibilities of the public. While his + villa of "Stormfield" was in course of erection several years ago, he + discovered that half of it was going to cost what he had expected to pay + for the whole house. His heart was set on having a loggia or sun-parlour; + and when it seemed that he would have to sacrifice this apple of his eye + through lack of funds, he threw discretion to the winds, hauled out + Captain Stormfield and made the old tar pay the piper. His fears as to its + reception were wholly unwarranted; for it was generously enjoyed for its + shrewd and vastly suggestive ideas on religion and heaven as popularly + taught nowadays from the pulpits. This book is full of a keen and bluff + common sense, cannily expressed in the words of an old sea-captain whom + Mark Twain had known intimately. It is only another link in the chain of + evidence which goes to prove that Mark Twain had thought long and deeply + upon the problematical nature of a future life. It is, in essence, a <i>reductio + ad absurdu</i> of those professors of religion who still preach a heaven + of golden streets and pearly gates, of idleness and everlasting + psalm-singing, of restful and innocuous bliss. Mark Twain wanted to point + out the absurdity of taking the allegories and the figurative language of + the Bible literally. Of course everybody called for a harp and a halo as + soon as they reached heaven. They were given the harps and halos—indeed + nothing harmless and reasonable was refused them. But they found these + things the merest accessories. Mark Twain's heaven was just the busiest + place imaginable. There weren't any idle people there after the first day. + The old sea captain pointed out that singing hymns and waving palm + branches through all eternity was all very pretty when you heard about it + from the pulpit, but that it was a mighty poor way to put in valuable + time. He took no stock in a heaven of warbling ignoramuses. He found that + Eternal Rest, reduced to hard pan, was not as comforting as it sounds in + the pulpit. Heaven is the merited reward of service; and the opportunities + for service were infinite. As he said, you've got to earn a thing square + and honest before you can enjoy it. To Mark, this was "about the + sensiblest heaven" he had ever heard of. He mourned a little over the + discovery that what a man mostly missed in heaven was company. But he + rejoiced in the information vouchsafed by his friend the Captain—a + valuable piece of information that leaves him, and all who are so + fortunate as to hear it, the better for the knowledge—that happiness + isn't a thing in itself, but only a contrast with something that isn't + pleasant! This view of heaven, seen through the temperament of a humorist + and a philosopher, is provocative and thought-compelling more than it is + amusing or ludicrous. I think it inspired Bernard Shaw's Aerial Foot-ball + which won Collier's thousand dollar prize—a prize which Mr Shaw + hurled back with indignation and scorn! + </p> + <p> + Mark Twain was a great humorist—more genial than grim, more + good-humoured than ironic, more given to imaginative exaggeration than to + intellectual sophistication, more inclined to pathos than to melancholy. + He was a great story-teller and fabulist; and he has enriched the + literature of the world with a gallery of portraits so human in their + likenesses as to rank them with the great figures of classic comedy and + picaresque romance. He was a remarkable observer and faithful reporter, + never allowing himself, in Ibsen's phrase, to be "frightened by the + venerableness of the institution"; and his sublimated journalism reveals a + mastery of the naively comic thoroughly human and democratic. He is the + most eminent product of our American democracy, and, in profoundly + shocking Great Britain by preferring Connecticut to Camelot, he exhibited + that robustness of outlook, that buoyancy of spirit, and that faith in the + contemporary which stamps America in perennial and inexhaustible youth. + Throughout his long life, he has been a factor of high ethical influence + in our civilization, and the philosopher and the humanitarian look out + through the twinkling eyes of the humorist. + </p> + <p> + And yet, after all, Mark Twain's supreme title to distinction as a great + writer inheres in his natural, if not wholly conscious, mastery in that + highest sphere of thought, embracing religion, philosophy, morality and + even humour, which we call sociology. When I first advanced this view, it + was taken up on all sides. Here, we were told, was Mark Twain "from a new + angle"; the essay was reviewed at length on the continent of Europe; and + the author of the essay was invited "to explain Mark Twain to the German + public"! There are still many people, however, who resent any + demonstration that Mark Twain was anything more than a mirthful and + humorous entertainer. Mr. Bernard Shaw once remarked to me, in support of + the view here outlined, that he regarded Poe and Mark Twain as America's + greatest achievements in literature, and that he thought of Mark Twain + primarily, not as humorist, but as sociologist. "Of course," he added, + "Mark Twain is in much the same position as myself: he has to put matters + in such a way as to make people who would otherwise hang him, believe he + is joking." + </p> + <p> + Mark Twain once said that whenever he had diverged from custom and + principle to utter a truth, the rule had been that the hearer hadn't + strength of mind enough to believe it. "Custom is a petrifaction," he + asserted; "nothing but dynamite can dislodge it for a century." Mr. W. D. + Howells has advanced the somewhat fanciful theory that "the ludicrous + incongruity of a slave-holding democracy nurtured upon the Declaration of + Independence, and the comical spectacle of white labour owning black + labour, had something to do in quickening (in Mark Twain) the sense of + contrast which is the mountain of humour or is said to be so." However + that may be, Mark Twain was irresistibly driven to the conclusion, + Southern born though he was, that slavery was unjust, inhuman, and + indefensible. The advanced thinkers in the South had reached this + conclusion long before the beginning of the Civil War, and many Southern + men had actually devised freedom to their slaves in their wills. The + slaves were treated humanely, their material wants were cared for by their + owners with a care that can only be called loving, and their spiritual + welfare was the frequent concern in particular of the mistress of the + house. + </p> + <p> + In his schoolboy days, Mark Twain had no aversion to slavery. He wasn't + even aware that there was anything wrong about it. He never heard it + condemned by acquaintances or in the local papers. And as for the + preachers, they taught that God approved slavery, and cited Biblical + passages in support of that view. If the slaves themselves were averse to + it, at least they kept discreetly silent on the subject. He seldom saw a + slave misused—on the farm, never. But when he was brought face to + face with Sandy, the little slave forcibly separated from his family, it + made a deep impression upon his consciousness. It was this deplorable evil + of the system, this unnatural and inhuman forcible separation of the + members of the same family, the one from the other, that convinced him of + the injustice of slavery; though this vision, as has been pointed out by + Mr. Howells, did not come to him "till after his liberation from + neighbourhood in the vaster far West." Yet it found its way into his books—into + Huckleberry Finn, with its recital of Jim's pathetic longing to buy back + his wife and children; and in Pudd'nhead Wilson with its moving picture of + the poor slave's agony when she suddenly realizes in the way the water is + flowing around the snag that she is being "sold down the river." In Uncle + Tom's Cabin, as Professor Phelps has pointed out, "the red—hot + indignation of the author largely nullified her evident desire to tell the + truth. . . . Mrs. Stowe's astonishing work is not really the history of + slavery; it is the history of abolition sentiment. . . . Mark Twain shows + us the beautiful side of slavery—for it had a wonderfully beautiful, + patriarchal side—and he also shows us the horror of it." Mark Twain + has declared that the only way to write a great novel is to learn the + scenes and people with which the story is concerned, through years of + "unconscious absorption" of the facts of the life to be portrayed. When + his stories were written, slavery was a thing of the past—he was + competent to judge of the situation impartially, through direct personal + contact throughout his boyhood with the realities of slavery. His object + was not the object of the reformer, warped with prejudice and fired by + animosity. He saw clearly; for his aim was not polemic, but artistic. + Hence it is, I believe, that Mark Twain stands out as, in essence and in + fundamentals, a remarkable sociologist. Certain passages in his books on + the subject of slavery, as the historian Lecky has declared, are the + truest things that have ever been expressed on the subject which vexed a + continent and plunged a nation in bloody, fratricidal strife. + </p> + <p> + Huckleberry Finn and Life on the Mississippi always call up to my mind the + most vivid pictures—pictures that are eternally unforgettable. The + memorable scene in which Colonel Sherburne quells the mob and his scathing + remarks upon lynching; the reality and the pathos of the feuds of those + Kentucky families, the Shepherdsons and the Grangerfords, shooting each + other down at sight in vindication of honour and pride of race; the lordly + life of the pilot on the Mississippi, his violent and unchallenged sway + over his subordinates, his mastery of the river; the variegated colours of + that lawless, picturesque, semi-barbarous life of the river—all + these sweep by us in a series of panoramic pictures as Huck's raft swings + lazily down the tawny river, and Horace Bixby guides his boat through the + dangers of the channel. Mark Twain is primarily a great artist, only + unconsciously a true sociologist. But his power as a sociologist is no + less real that it is unconscious, indeed infinitely more real and human + and verisimilar that it is not polemical. There is a "sort of + contemporaneous posterity" which has registered its verdict that Mark + Twain was the greatest humorist of the present era. But there is yet to + come that greater posterity of the future which will, I dare say, class + Mark Twain as America's greatest, most human sociologist in letters. He is + the historian, the historian in art, of a varied and unique phase of + civilization on the American continent that has passed forever. And it is + inconceivable that any future investigator into the sociological phases of + that civilization can fail to find priceless and unparalleled documents in + the wild yet genial, rudimentary yet sane, boisterous yet universally + human writings of Mark Twain. + </p> + <p> + Mark Twain's genius of social comprehension and sociologic interpretation + went even deeper than this. His mastery lay not alone in penetrative + reflection of a bit of sectional life and a vanished phase of our + civilization, not alone in astute criticism of an "institution" blotted + from the American escutcheon and a collective racial passion that + periodically breaks forth from time to time in mad "carnivals of crime." + The defining quality of the true sociologist, that quality which gives his + profession its power and validity as an effective instrumentality in the + advancement of civilization, is the faculty of penetrating national and + racial disguises, and going directly to the heart of the human problem. + Mark Twain possessed this faculty in supreme degree. As a literary critic + he was banal and futile; but as a social and racial critic he was + remarkable and profound. His essay 'Concerning the Jews' is a masterpiece + of impartial interpretation; his comprehension of French and German racial + traits, as revealed in his works, is keen and pervasively pertinent; and + his magnificent analysis of the situation in South Africa, in the + concluding chapters of 'Following the Equator', rings clear with the + accents of truth and mounts almost to the dignity of public prophecy. + Deeper far, more comprehensive, and voiced with splendid courage, are Mark + Twain's interpretations of American democracy and his mirroring of the + national ideals. His "defence" of General Funston is a scorching and + devastating blast, red with the fires of patriotism. Whatever be one's + convictions, one cannot but respect the profound sincerity of Mark Twain's + berserker-like rage over the attitude of Europe in China, the barbarities + of Russian autocracy, and the horrors of America's methods in the + Philippines, copied after Weyler's <i>reconcentrad</i> policy in Cuba. His + study of Christian Science, despite its hyperbole, its gross exaggerations + and unfulfilled prophecies, is the expression of glorified common-sense, a + sociological study of religious fanaticism comprehensive in psychological + analysis of national and racial traits. + </p> + <p> + In his own works, Mark Twain brought to realization the dim and inchoate + fancies of Whitman; in his own person he realized that "divine average" of + common life which is the dream of American democracy. 'The Prince and the + Pauper' is a beautiful child's tale, vivid in narrative and rich in human + interest. It is something deeper far than this; for the very crucial + motive of the story, the successful substitution of the commoner for the + king, transforms it into a symbolic legend of democracy and the equality + of man. Mark Twain vehemently approved the French revolution, and frankly + expressed his regret over Napoleon's failure to invade England and thus + destroy the last vestiges of the semi-feudal paraphernalia of the British + monarchy. Despite its note of Yankee blatancy, 'A Yankee at the Court of + King Arthur' is a remarkable brief for democracy and the brotherhood of + man. So eminent a publicist as Mr. William T. Stead pronounced it, at the + time of its first appearance, one of the most significant books of our + time; and classed it (with Henry George's 'Progress and Poverty' and + Edward Bellamy's 'Looking Backward') as the third great book from America + to give tremendous impetus to the social democratic movement of the age. + Mark Twain abandoned all hope of a future life; found more of sorrow than + of joy in life's balances; and even, in his latter years, lost faith in + humanity itself. But amid the wreck of faiths and creeds, he achieved the + strange paradox of American optimism: he never lost faith in democracy, + and fought valiantly to the end in behalf of equality and the welfare of + the average man. + </p> + <p> + Several years ago, when we were crossing the Atlantic on the same ship, + Mr. Clemens told me that while he was living in Hartford in the early + eighties, I think, he wrote a paper to be read at the fortnightly club to + which he belonged. This club was composed chiefly of men whose deepest + interests were concerned with the theological and the religiously + orthodox. One of his friends, to whom he read this paper in advance, + solemnly warned him not to read it before the club. For he felt confident + that a philosophical essay, expressing candid doubt as to the existence of + free will, and declaring without hesitation that every man was under the + immitigable compulsion of his temperament, his training, and his + environment, would appear unspeakably shocking, heretical and blasphemous + to the orthodox members of that club. "I did not read that paper," Mr. + Clemens said to me, "but I put it away, resolved to let it stand the + corrosive test of time. Every now and then, when it occurred to me, I used + to take that paper out and read it, to compare its views with my own later + views. From time to time I added something to it. But I never found, + during that quarter of a century, that my views had altered in the + slightest degree. I had a few copies published not long ago; but there is + not the slightest evidence in the book to indicate its authorship." A few + days later he gave me a copy, and when I read that book, I found these + words, among others, in the prefatory note: + </p> + <p> + "Every thought in them (these papers) has been thought (and accepted as + unassailable truth) by millions upon millions of men—and concealed, + kept private. Why did they not speak out? Because they dreaded (and could + not bear) the disapproval of the people around them. Why have I not + published? The same reason has restrained me, I think. I can find no + other." + </p> + <p> + 'What is Man?' propounds at length, through the medium of a dialogue + between a Young Man and an Old Man, the doctrine that "Beliefs are + acquirements; temperaments are born. Beliefs are subject to change; + nothing whatever can change temperament." He enunciates the theory, which + seems to me both brilliant and original, that there can be no such person + as a permanent seeker after truth. + </p> + <p> + "When he found the truth he sought no farther; but from that day forth, + with his soldering iron in one hand and his bludgeon in the other, he + tinkered its leaks and reasoned with objectors." "All training," he avers, + "is one form or another of outside influences, and association is the + largest part of it. A man is never anything but what his outside + influences have made him. They train him downward or they train him upward—but + they train him; they are at work upon him all the time." Once asked by + Rudyard Kipling whether he was ever going to write another story about Tom + Sawyer, Mark Twain replied that he had a notion of writing the sequel to + Tom Sawyer in two parts, in one bringing him to high honour, and in the + other bringing him to the gallows. When Kipling protested vigorously + against any theory of the sort, because Tom Sawyer was real, Mark Twain + replied with the fatalistic doctrine of 'What is Man?': "Oh, he is real. + He's all the boy that I have known or recollect; but that would be a good + way of ending the book—because, when you come to think of it, + neither religion, training, nor education avails anything against the + force of circumstances that drive a man. Suppose we took the next four and + twenty years of Tom Sawyer's life, and gave a little joggle to the + circumstances that controlled him. He would, logically and according to + the joggle, turn out a rip or an angel." It was what he called Kismet. + </p> + <p> + It is one of the tragedies of his life, so sad in many ways, that in the + days when the blows of fate fell heaviest upon his head, he had lost all + faith in the Christian ideals, all belief in immortality or a personal + God. And yet he avowed that, no matter what form of religion or theology, + atheism or agnosticism, the individual or the nation embraced, the human + race remained "indestructibly content, happy, thankful, proud." He never + had a tinge of pessimism in his make-up, his beliefs never tended to warp + his nature, he accepted his fatalism gladly because he saw in it supreme + truth. His ultimate philosophy of life, which he sums up in 'What is + Man?', is healthy and right-minded. It is best embodied in the lofty + injunction: "Diligently train your ideals upward and still upward towards + a summit where you will find your chiefest pleasure in conduct which, + while contenting you, will be sure to confer benefits upon your neighbour + and the community." Lassalle once said: "History forgives mistakes and + failures, but not want of conviction." In Mark Twain, posterity will never + be called upon to forgive any want of conviction. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mark Twain, by Archibald Henderson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARK TWAIN *** + +***** This file should be named 6873-h.htm or 6873-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.net/6/8/7/6873/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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