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10 - Mark Twain; his life and work. A biographical sketch by William M. Clemens · Mark Twain; his life and work. A biographical sketch

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  Speaker 1: This is chapter ten of Mark Twain, His Life and Work,
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  Speaker 1: a biographical sketch by William M. Clemens. This LibriVox recording
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  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. Chapter ten, Mark Twain at Home,
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  Speaker 1: read by John Greenman. When in eighteen sixty eight Samuel L.
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  Speaker 1: Clemens visited the city of Hartford, Connecticut, to arrange for
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  Speaker 1: the publication of his first book, Innocence Abroad, he was
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  Speaker 1: captivated by the old town and its beautiful suburbs. Later,
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  Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy one, when he determined upon leaving Buffalo
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  Speaker 1: and taking up his residence in an eastern city, it
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  Speaker 1: was not strange that he should select Hartford as the
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  Speaker 1: site for his permanent home. In a corner of the
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  Speaker 1: Nook Farm on Farmington Avenue, about a mile and a
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  Speaker 1: quarter for business center of the city, he built a large,
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  Speaker 1: unique house of brick and stone. The building was of
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  Speaker 1: the Queen anne and style of architecture, which just at
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  Speaker 1: that time was the most popular as well as the
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  Speaker 1: most aristocratic mode of residence in vogue. There were gables
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  Speaker 1: and arches and quaint windows, and in many of these
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  Speaker 1: boxes of flowers were placed. The house was built in
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  Speaker 1: the center of a parklike grove of old trees and
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  Speaker 1: the hand of a Scotch landscape artist, soon molded hedges,
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  Speaker 1: flower beds and a well kept lawn. To day it
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  Speaker 1: stands a home of homes. A porte cochere covered with
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  Speaker 1: vines extends from the entrance under which the carriages drive.
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  Speaker 1: The exterior of the house has the air of a
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  Speaker 1: luxurious old English home. From the day that Mark Twain
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  Speaker 1: and his young wife took up their abode in their
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  Speaker 1: Hartford home, money was expended with lavish hands, and the
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  Speaker 1: result has been a rich, charming, artistic and homelike interior.
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  Speaker 1: One is ushered into an immense square hall, the floor
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  Speaker 1: of which is in marble tiles of peculiar pattern. A
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  Speaker 1: winding staircase, very wide and massive of heavily carved English
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  Speaker 1: oak extends above. Opposite the front door are double doors
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  Speaker 1: leading into the library. Near these doors in the hall
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  Speaker 1: stands upon a marble pedestal the bust of mister Clemmons,
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  Speaker 1: executed by young Carl Gerhardt. There are also paintings on
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  Speaker 1: the carved oaken walls of the hall and a heavily
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  Speaker 1: carved table. To the right are double doors leading into
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  Speaker 1: the large drawing room all the doors and windows are
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  Speaker 1: draped at the top by handsome lambrikins. The doors and
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  Speaker 1: woodwork are of dark polished wood covered with stencil designs
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  Speaker 1: in metallic paint, so that at a short distance they
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  Speaker 1: look as if inlaid with mother of pearl. The drawing
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  Speaker 1: room is furnished with light colored satin furniture. Leading from
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  Speaker 1: this apartment is the dining room, which is fin in
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  Speaker 1: heavy carved woods of the most elaborate workmanship, high carved
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  Speaker 1: dado old tapestry portier a massive buffet covered with cut
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  Speaker 1: glass and silverware. An odd idea is a window directly
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  Speaker 1: over the fireplace. It is of one solid piece of
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  Speaker 1: plate glass, surrounded by a frame of dark blue glass,
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  Speaker 1: and inside that like the mat of a picture opal glass.
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  Speaker 1: As one looks out at the beautiful landscape, he can
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  Speaker 1: hardly realize at first that it is nature's handiwork, thus
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  Speaker 1: framed in instead of a painting actually hanging upon the wall.
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  Speaker 1: The flu of the fireplace extends each side of this
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  Speaker 1: picturesque window. Connected with the dining room is the library,
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  Speaker 1: which is the general living room. It has large double
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  Speaker 1: doors leading into the front hall opposite the entrance. It
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  Speaker 1: is a sunny, cheerful room with a huge, heavily carved fireplace,
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  Speaker 1: which Miss Clemmens brought from Europe, where it had once
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  Speaker 1: held place in an ancient castle. It seems to have
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  Speaker 1: brought with it to this American home some of the dignity, pomp,
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  Speaker 1: and splendor of which it once formed an important part.
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  Speaker 1: The room looks as if it belonged to a baronial castle,
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  Speaker 1: but in winter it is less somber, and a blazing
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  Speaker 1: fire of logs burns behind the brass fender, bringing into
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  Speaker 1: greater prominence the motto cut in brass above the fire.
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  Speaker 1: The ornament of a house is the friends that frequent it.
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  Speaker 1: On either side are low bookshelves built against the wall.
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  Speaker 1: They form a part of the massive chimney piece and
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  Speaker 1: look like wings of a great bat. The floor is
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  Speaker 1: covered with rugs, and luxurious seats are fitted into the windows.
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  Speaker 1: A large carved table stands in the center, covered with
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  Speaker 1: magazines and papers. The whole house has rather the appearance
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  Speaker 1: of an old castle, with the carvings grotesque and ponderous,
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  Speaker 1: instead of the old mahogany of colonial days. A wide,
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  Speaker 1: oaken staircase leads to the apartments above the most conspicuous
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  Speaker 1: of which is a large room fitted up most comfortably
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  Speaker 1: with cozy nooks filled in with cushioned seats. Beyond is
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  Speaker 1: a room in which a large rocking horse and scattered
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  Speaker 1: toys make one acquainted with the reason mister Clement ceased
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  Speaker 1: writing in this attractive apartment and moved still further upstairs
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  Speaker 1: to a corner of the billiard room. Each suite of
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  Speaker 1: apartments has its separate bathroom. One guest chamber is furnished
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  Speaker 1: in pink silk. Even the bedstead is of pink silk,
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  Speaker 1: tufted all over with tiny satin buttons. The study or
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  Speaker 1: work room of the humorist is the billiard room upon
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  Speaker 1: the upper floor, the windows of which look out upon
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  Speaker 1: the broad acres of beautiful landscape. In the distancence is
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  Speaker 1: heard the ripple of park river. In the corner of
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  Speaker 1: the room is his writing table, covered usually with books, manuscripts, letters,
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  Speaker 1: and other literary litter. And in the middle of the
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  Speaker 1: room stands the billiard table. Mister Clemens is an expert
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  Speaker 1: billiard player, and when he tires of writing at his
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  Speaker 1: little desk in the corner, he rises and makes some
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  Speaker 1: scientific strokes with the queue. A resident of Hartford says
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  Speaker 1: that he called upon Mark once in the billiard room,
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  Speaker 1: when the fire in the grate threw some sparks out
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  Speaker 1: upon the floor. These caught some loose paper, and the
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  Speaker 1: room for a moment promised to break out in flames.
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  Speaker 1: Twain was playing billiards at the time, says the man,
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  Speaker 1: and he did not stop his game. He immediately rung
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  Speaker 1: for the servants and lazily told them that they had
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  Speaker 1: better extinguish the fire. And with that he leaned over
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  Speaker 1: the table and made a stroke with his billiard cue,
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  Speaker 1: which would have done honor to the world champion. Twain
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  Speaker 1: never gets excited. The study is a long room with
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  Speaker 1: sloping sides formed by the roof. There are three balconies adjacent,
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  Speaker 1: two large ones on either side, and one at the end.
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  Speaker 1: One may step out into these through regular doors. His
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  Speaker 1: mode of work in this study is systematic. He makes
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  Speaker 1: it an invariable rule to perform a certain amount of
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  Speaker 1: literary work every day, and his working hours are made
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  Speaker 1: continuous by his not taking any midday meal. He is
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  Speaker 1: merciless toward his own productions, and has often destroyed an
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  Speaker 1: entire day's labor as soon as it was written. He
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  Speaker 1: found by experience that the final result was more satisfactory
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  Speaker 1: by taking this course than by trying to remodel what
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  Speaker 1: he considered a faulty manuscript. In this way he has
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  Speaker 1: destroyed hundreds of pages of manuscript, and from one of
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  Speaker 1: his larger books he called out no less than five
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  Speaker 1: hundred pages. Since his advent in the city of Hartford,
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  Speaker 1: Mark Twain has won for himself the name of Prince
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  Speaker 1: of Entertainers. Seated in his richly furnished library, to whose
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  Speaker 1: beauty and artistic completeness half the lands of Europe have contributed.
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  Speaker 1: He will tell an anecdote or discuss a literary or
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  Speaker 1: social question with a calm directness, an earnestness, revealing to
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  Speaker 1: you an entire new side of his character that has
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  Speaker 1: nothing in common with that which he is wont to
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  Speaker 1: display to the public who thronged to his lectures. Even
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  Speaker 1: his drollest stories. He relates with this same earnest impressiveness,
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  Speaker 1: and with a face as serious as a sexton's. His
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  Speaker 1: brilliancy has a certain delightful quality which is almost too
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  Speaker 1: evanescent to be imprisoned in any one phrase. You have
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  Speaker 1: no oppressive consciousness that you are expected to laugh, you
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  Speaker 1: rather feel as if the talker had unexpectedly taken you
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  Speaker 1: into his confidence, and you feel your heart going out
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  Speaker 1: toward him in return. He is a reader of the
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  Speaker 1: finest discriminating faculty, high dramatic power, and remarkable sympathetic interpretation,
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  Speaker 1: and his reading of Browning, whom he greatly admires, is
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  Speaker 1: a rare entertainment. He is a leading member of the
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  Speaker 1: Monday Evening Club of Hartford, the Author's Club, the Century Club,
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  Speaker 1: the Actors Club of New York, and other social and
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  Speaker 1: literary organizations. During the summer months, mister Clemens and his
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  Speaker 1: family sojourn at Quarry Farm near Elmira, New York, at
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  Speaker 1: the home of mister T. W. Crane, whose wife is
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  Speaker 1: a sister of Missus Clemens. Here among the historic hills
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  Speaker 1: of the Chemung Valley, the humorist works with the same
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  Speaker 1: systematic rule as in the study of his Hartford house.
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  Speaker 1: A friend who visited mister Clemens in his summer retreat
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  Speaker 1: writes as follows a summer the house has been built
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  Speaker 1: for mister Clemmens within the Crane grounds, on a high
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  Speaker 1: peak which stands six hundred feet above the valley that
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  Speaker 1: lies spread out before it. The house is built almost
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  Speaker 1: entirely of glass, and is modeled exactly on the plan
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  Speaker 1: of a Mississippi steamboat's pilot house. Here, shut off from
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  Speaker 1: all outside communication, mister Clemens does the hard work of
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  Speaker 1: the year, or rather the confining and engrossing work of writing,
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  Speaker 1: which demands continuous application day after day. The lofty work
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  Speaker 1: room is some distance from the house. He goes to
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  Speaker 1: it every morning about half past eight, and stays there
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  Speaker 1: until called to dinner by the blowing of a horn
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  Speaker 1: about five o'clock. He takes no lunch or noon meal
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  Speaker 1: of any sort, and works without eating. While the rules
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  Speaker 1: are imperative not to disturb him during this working period,
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  Speaker 1: his only recreation is his cigar. Another correspondent wrote as follows.
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  Speaker 1: To keep away the large number of visitors and sightseers
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  Speaker 1: who come to view the sanctum, Twain posted upon his
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  Speaker 1: door the following notice step softly, keep away, do not
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  Speaker 1: disturb the remains. In spite of this characteristic warning, we
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  Speaker 1: open the door and enter. The floor is bare. There
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  Speaker 1: is a table in the center of the room covered
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  Speaker 1: with books, newspapers, manuscripts, and all the paraphernalia of authorship.
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  Speaker 1: Over the fireplace is a shelf on which rests a
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  Speaker 1: few books and a couple of boxes of choice cigars.
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  Speaker 1: An intimate acquaintance writing of mister Clemens and the tobacco habit,
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  Speaker 1: says he is an inveterate smoker, and smokes constantly while
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  Speaker 1: at is work, and indeed all the time from half
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  Speaker 1: past eight in the morning to half past ten at night,
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  Speaker 1: stopping only when at his meals. A cigar lasts him
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  Speaker 1: about forty minutes. Now that he has reduced to an
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  Speaker 1: exact science the act of reducing the weed to ashes,
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  Speaker 1: so he smokes from fifteen to twenty cigars every day.
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  Speaker 1: Some time ago he was persuaded to stop the practice,
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  Speaker 1: and actually went a year and more without tobacco, But
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  Speaker 1: he found himself unable to carry along important work which
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  Speaker 1: he undertook, and it was not until he resumed smoking
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  Speaker 1: that he could do it. Since then, his faith in
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  Speaker 1: his cigar has not wavered. Like other American smokers, mister
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  Speaker 1: Clemens is unceasing in his search for the really satisfactory
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  Speaker 1: cigar at a really satisfactory price, and first and last
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  Speaker 1: has gathered a good deal of experience in the pursuit
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  Speaker 1: It is related that, having entertained a party of gentlemen
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  Speaker 1: one winter evening in Hartford, he gave to each just
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  Speaker 1: before they left the house one of a new sort
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  Speaker 1: of cigar that he was trying to believe was the
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  Speaker 1: object of his search. He made each guest lighted before starting.
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  Speaker 1: The next morning, he found all that he had given
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  Speaker 1: away lying on the snow beside the pathway across his lawn.
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  Speaker 1: Each smoker had been polite enough to smoke until he
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  Speaker 1: got out of the house, but every one, on gaining
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  Speaker 1: his liberty, had yielded to the instinct of self preservation
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  Speaker 1: and tossed the cigar away, forgetting that it would be
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  Speaker 1: found there by daylight. The testimony of the next morning
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  Speaker 1: was overwhelming, and the verdict against the new brand was accepted.
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  Speaker 1: Some years ago, in making a phrenological examination of Mark Twain,
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  Speaker 1: Professor Beale of Cincinnati made report as follows. Wit humor
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  Speaker 1: are very familiar words, and yet from the difficulty in
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  Speaker 1: defining them, or from not distinguishing the particular mental mechanism
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  Speaker 1: upon which they depend, the relative merits of many authors
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  Speaker 1: are often but vaguely understood. Wit is primarily an intellectual
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  Speaker 1: perception of incongruity or unexpected relations. But the idea that
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  Speaker 1: anything thus apprehended is ludicrous is suggested by the effective
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  Speaker 1: faculty of mirthfulness in the same manner that the understanding
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  Speaker 1: may perceive a dangerous object and thus arouse the emotion
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  Speaker 1: of fear. The relation between the intellectual faculties and the
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  Speaker 1: feelings is reciprocal, so that the sentiment of the ludicrous,
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  Speaker 1: when strong, may prompt the to create imaginary senses or
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  Speaker 1: associated ideas adapted to gratify it, or become active as
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  Speaker 1: the result of real perceptions. Talent for wit then depends
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  Speaker 1: upon certain intellectual activities combined with the sentiment of mirth.
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  Speaker 1: But humor introduces another element, namely secretiveness. This propensity not
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  Speaker 1: only creates the desire to conceal one's own thoughts, but
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  Speaker 1: gives almost equal pleasure in penetrating the disguises of others.
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  Speaker 1: It enables a joker to keep a straight face while
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  Speaker 1: telling a story, and the secretiveness of the listener is
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  Speaker 1: gratified by detecting the absurdity in the narrative beneath the
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  Speaker 1: assumed gravity of the speaker, that is, to the amusing
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  Speaker 1: incongruity of the events in the story is added the
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  Speaker 1: further incongruity between the character of the story and the
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  Speaker 1: serious countenance of the narrator. The English and Italians are
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  Speaker 1: more humorous than witty, the reverse of which is true
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  Speaker 1: of the French. Mark Twain is excellent in wit, but
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  Speaker 1: super excellent in humor. Secretiveness is very marked in the
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  Speaker 1: diameter of his head just above the ears, and is
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  Speaker 1: indicated also by the width of his nostrils, the nearly
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  Speaker 1: closed eyes, compressed lips, slow guarded manner of speech, et cetera.
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  Speaker 1: His nose is of the apprehensive type in its great
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  Speaker 1: length and somewhat hooked point, but it is not thick
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  Speaker 1: enough above the nostrils to indicate taste for commerce. This
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  Speaker 1: apprehensive or cautiousness nasal organ so prominent in Dante, Calvin
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  Speaker 1: and other men celebrated for earnestness and gravity, might seem
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  Speaker 1: an anomaly in this case, but for the explanation that
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  Speaker 1: cautiousness and secretiveness are essential ingredients in genuine humor. On
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  Speaker 1: this principle we can account for the temperament of our
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  Speaker 1: great humorist, which is not the laughing, fat, rotund vital,
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  Speaker 1: but rather the spare, angular, mental or mental motive, which
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  Speaker 1: is favorable to hard sense, logic, general intelligence, and insight
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  Speaker 1: into human nature. His intellect is well balanced, having a
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  Speaker 1: strong foundation of perceptive faculties which gather details with the
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  Speaker 1: fidelity of a camera. He has also a large upper forehead,
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  Speaker 1: giving philosophical power ability to generalize, reason, plan, and see
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  Speaker 1: a long way ahead. The middle centers, or memory of events, criticism,
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  Speaker 1: and comparison, are also well developed. His eyes are rather
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  Speaker 1: deeply set, and his language is subordinate to his thought.
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  Speaker 1: The hollow temples indicate but little music and mirthfulness at
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  Speaker 1: the upper corners of the forehead is by no means remarkable.
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  Speaker 1: Ideality or love of beauty is only fair. The head
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  Speaker 1: measures twenty two and a half inches, which is half
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  Speaker 1: an inch less than the average intellectual giant. But the
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  Speaker 1: fiber of the whole man is fine, close and strong,
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  Speaker 1: and the cerebral combination is of a very available sort.
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  Speaker 1: He has very ardent affections, strong love of approbation, sense
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  Speaker 1: of justice, firmness, kindness, and ability to read character with
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  Speaker 1: small self esteem. Love of gain or inclination to the supernatural,
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  Speaker 1: knowledge of the world, and interest in humanity are his
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  Speaker 1: leading traits and altogether, he is a phenomenal man of
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  Speaker 1: whom Americans may well be proud. Being extremely domestic in
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  Speaker 1: his tastes, Mark Twain is fond of his home life
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  Speaker 1: and of his beautiful children. His eldest daughter, Susy, was
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  Speaker 1: born in eighteen seventy two. Clara Langhorne was born in
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  Speaker 1: eighteen seventy four, and Jeanne in eighteen eighty. Another child,
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  Speaker 1: a son, died in infancy. Missus Clemens is described as gentle,
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  Speaker 1: quiet and motherly, ten years younger than her husband. Mister
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  Speaker 1: Clemens is reported to have said that when his mother died,
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  Speaker 1: there would be no one left in the family to
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  Speaker 1: appreciate his jokes. It is said Missus Clemens is particularly
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  Speaker 1: slow in these matters. She dresses very plainly, wearing her
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  Speaker 1: dark hair smoothly brushed from the parting in the center,
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  Speaker 1: with no crimps or attempt at dressing. She appears still
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  Speaker 1: more sedate by usually wearing eye glasses. She is, however,
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  Speaker 1: noted for her goodness and for being a fond mother.
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  Speaker 1: For many years, the near neighbors of the family have
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  Speaker 1: been the families of mister Charles Dudley Warner, mister George Warner,
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  Speaker 1: reverend mister Twitchell, and Missus Harriet Beecher Stowe. It is
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  Speaker 1: said that once, when mister Clemmens, at the solicitation of
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  Speaker 1: his wife, called on Missus Stowe, he was so absent
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  Speaker 1: minded as to put on neither collar nor necktie on
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  Speaker 1: Missus Clemmons. Remonstrating on his return, he said he would
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  Speaker 1: make it all right, and accordingly sent a collar and
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  Speaker 1: tie of his over to Missus Stow in a box.
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  Speaker 1: Miss Susy has always been Dark's favorite child. She inherits
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  Speaker 1: much of her father's brightness. She kept a diary at
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  Speaker 1: one time in which she noted the occurrences in the family, and,
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  Speaker 1: among other things, the sayings of her parents. On one page,
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  Speaker 1: she wrote that father sometimes used stronger words when mother
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  Speaker 1: wasn't by, and he thought we didn't hear. Missus Clemens
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  Speaker 1: found the diary and showed it to her husband, probably
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  Speaker 1: thinking the particular page worth his notice. After this, Clemens
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  Speaker 1: did and said several things that were intended to attract
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  Speaker 1: the child's attention, and found them duly noted afterward. But
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  Speaker 1: one day the following entry occurred. I don't think i'll
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  Speaker 1: put down anything more about father, for I think he
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  Speaker 1: does things to have me notice him, and I believe
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  Speaker 1: he reads This Diary of the Clemens Children, a correspondent
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  Speaker 1: of a Chicago newspaper, tells of their adventures with their
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  Speaker 1: father while on a visit to that city. As follows,
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  Speaker 1: we came in last night, said Mark, pulling at the
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  Speaker 1: left side of his mustache. Missus Clemmons is not very well.
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  Speaker 1: Neither am I. I have been amusing the children. I
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  Speaker 1: have taken them to a panorama. I understand there are
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  Speaker 1: three others near here. I will take them there too.
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  Speaker 1: I want to satiate them with battles. It may amuse them.
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  Speaker 1: Three little girls, composed of three red gowns, three red parasols,
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  Speaker 1: and six blue stockings, stood on the steps and laughed.
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  Speaker 1: Run up and tell mamma what a jolly time you've had,
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  Speaker 1: and I'll think of something else to amuse you. When
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  Speaker 1: the three little girls had disappeared, mister Clemens's side, did
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  Speaker 1: you ever try to amuse three little girls at the
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: same time, he asked, after a pause. It requires genius.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: I wonder whether they would like to bathe in the lake,
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: He continued with sudden animation, hardly pausing five minutes between
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: each word, it might amuse them. Are you on your
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: vacation trip, mister Clemens. No, I have just returned from
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: a visit to my mother in Keacook, Iowa. We came
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: from Buffalo to Duluth by a lake steamer, and then
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: from Saint Paul down the river to Keacok. Neither in
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: this country, nor in any other, have I seen such
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: interesting scenery as that. Along the upper Mississippi one finds
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: all that the Hudson affords, bluffs, wooded highlands, and a
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: great deal. In addition, between Saint Paul and the mouth
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: of the Illinois River there are over four hundred islands
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: strung out in every possible shape. A river without islands
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: is like a woman without hair. She may be good
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: and pure, but one doesn't fall in love with her
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: very often. Did you ever fall in love with a
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: bald headed woman? The reporter admitted that he had drawn
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: the line there. I never did, either, continued mister Clemmons meditatively.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: At least I think I never did. There is no
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: place for loafing more satisfactory than the pilot house of
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: a Mississippi steam boat. It amuses the children to see
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: the pilot monkey with the wheel. Traveling by boat is
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: the best way to travel, unless one can stay at home.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: On a lake or river boat, one is as thoroughly
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: cut off from letters and papers and the tax collector
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: as though he were amid sea. Moreover, one doesn't have
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: the discomforts of seafaring. It is very unpleasant to look
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: at sea sick people, at least so my friends said
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: the last time I crossed. It might amuse the children, though,
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: suggested the reporter. I hadn't thought of that, replied mister Clemens.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: But perhaps it might. The late seems rather rough to day.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: I wonder whether one could get a boat, a little
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: boat that would bob considerably. Yes, it might amuse the children.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: But it's such a sacrifice, you are not apparent, replied
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: the humorist. It is strange, continued mister Clemens, in a
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: momentary forgetfulness of the children. How little has been written
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: about the upper Mississippi. The river below Saint Louis has
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: been described time and again, and it is the least
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: interesting part. One can sit in the pilot house for
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: a few hours and watch the low shores, the ungainly trees,
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: and the democratic buzzards, and then one might as well
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: go to bed. One has seen everything there is to
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: see along the Upper Mississippi. Every hour brings something new.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: There are crowds of odd islands, buffs, prairies, hills, woods
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: and villages. Everything one could desire to amuse the children.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: A few people ever think of going there. However, Dickens, Corbett,
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: mother Trollope, and the other discriminating english people who wrote
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: up the country before eighteen forty two had hardly any
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: idea that such a stretch of river scenery existed. Their
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: successors have followed in their footsteps, and as we form
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: our opinions of our country from what other people say
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: of us, of course we ignore the finest part of
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: the Mississippi. At this moment, the three little girls in
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: the three red gowns and six blue stockings appeared, and
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: mister Clemmons assumed the shape of an amusement bureau. An
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: instance of his home life is the following anecdote. Having
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: been asked to contribute to a newspaper issued at the
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: fair in aid of the abused children in Boston, he wrote,
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: why should I want a society for the prevention of
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: cruelty to children to prosper when I have a baby
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: downstairs that kept me awake several hours last night, with
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: no pretext for it but to make trouble. This occurs
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: every night, and it embitters me because I see how
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: needless it was to put in the other burglar alarm,
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: a costly and complicated contrivance which cannot be depended upon
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: because it's always getting out of order, whereas although the
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: baby is always getting out of order too, it can
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: nevertheless be depended upon. Yes, I am bitter against your society,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: for I think the idea of it is all wrong.
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: But if you will start a society for the prevention
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: of cruelty to fathers, I will write you a whole book.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: At a heart for dinner party one day, the subject
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: of eternal life and future punishment came up for a
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: lengthy discussion in which Mark Twain, who was present, took part.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: A lady near him turned suddenly toward him and exclaimed,
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: why do you not say anything? I want your opinion,
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: mister Clemmons replied gravely, madam, you must excuse me. I
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: am silent of necessity. I have friends in both places.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: End of Chapter ten, read by John A. Greeman