Reminiscences*

Samuel Clemens Enjoys a Heart to Heart Talk with Mark Twain

An old man with a white mane, lying in a bed strewn with the ashes of his cigars; pipes, tobacco, cigars at his elbows; a stenographer catching his words as he talks on, slowly, reminiscently: an old teller of tales picking out of the jumble of his past those episodes, ideas, memories that come uppermost in his mind.

When Samuel Clemens set about leaving the world a record of himself as he saw himself, he resolved on a new method of autobiography. It comprised two new features: First, he would have no method. He would talk at his ease about whatever came first to his mind, leaving his readers to pluck unity from the disorder of his memories and opinions. This, he points out with not uncharacteristic complaisance, would be the perfect autobiography. Second, he specified that it should not be published until after his death. Thus, from the grave, he could speak his mind candidly, without reserve.

As a matter of fact, from the grave or otherwise, there is little in this account to shock the unwary or to change the opionions of those who have known him in his work. His memories paint the picture of a good man and a great American, but there is nothing to surprise or alarm the scholar.

His Life. "It is good to begin life poor; it is good to begin life rich-- these things are wholesome; but to begin it poor and PROSPECTIVELY rich! The man who has not experienced it cannot imagine the curse of it,"says Samuel Clemens. He was born in Missouri, in an almost invisible village deep in mud or dust, as the case might be. His family had lost all their money, but owned 75,000 acres of undeveloped land on which they fed their hope of rapid wealth. The hope was not conducive to labor.

The town church rested on five-foot piles, had a log floor through which you saw the hogs that dwelt beneath. There were fleas enough for the whole congregation. On weekdays, the church was a schoolhouse.

Mr. Clemens Sr. kept a store; butter was six cents a pound. A slave-girl could be rented for $12 a year. The Doctor received $25 a year for doctoring an entire family, which meant gallons of castor oil gratis. Grandmothers were adequate physicians in the case of minor ailments. For toothache, you chose between the doctor and his tongs and a woman faith-healer who cured handily by the magic word "Believe!"

Young Samuel's career was varied-- typesetter, river pilot, miner, editor, lecturer, writer. He settled in Hartford with a wife whom he affirms was the loveliest person he ever knew. He lost $190,000 on a typesetting machine that failed. Of his lawyer he writes: "He is a great, fat, good-natured, kindhearted, chicken-livered slave; with no more pride than a tramp, no more sand than a rabbit, no more moral sense than a wax figure and no more sex than a tapeworm. He sincerely thinks he is honest; he sincerely thinks he is honorable."

When Mr. Clemens lost his entire fortune, he earned enough lecturing and writing to pay back every cent.

The first time he met Mrs. Cleve land (at the White House), he made her write on his card: "He did not,"and sign it. He sent the card to his wife. She had written him, saying: "Don't wear your arctics in the White House."

Said he : "I do not laugh easily."It is said that there has never been a cheerful humorist. Mark Twain was philosophically and by temperament a pessimist.

Criticism he calls bitterly "the most degraded of all trades."His daughter Susy, aged 12, however, he excepted. She was his chief critic, and with her sisters guided not only his work but his social conduct. From behind a screen they were wont to coach his be havior at the dinner table.

He had a good memory: "When I was younger I could remember any thing whether it happened or not ; but I am getting old and soon I shall re member only the latter."

The Significance. Lovers of Mark Twain will enjoy the book because he wrote it and because it fills out the picture of a kindly, sad and great man. It adds little to the known facts about his life and opinions.

The Author is the creator of Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, Pudd'nhead Wilson, The Prince and the Pauper, the Yankee who went to King Arthur's Court.

* MARK TWAIN's autobiography -- with an introduction by Albert Bigelow Paine (2 Vols.)-- Harper ($10.00).