From Keokuk, Sam had wandered to Cincinnati and started working there. But again left his job and traveled to New Orleans by a streamer called Paul Jones. The young aspirant could only travel up to New Orleans beyond which fortune showed no means of attaining the Amazon. Sam, who was a wanderer at heart, left his printing career to fellow his fortune on the river.
The open and beautiful landscapes of Nevada and Rocky mountains, the sunlit shores of the Pacific, nurtured a talent, which could have never blossomed in a New York printing room. Living near the Mississippi river, he had an ambition of becoming a pilot. While Sam could not go further in South America, he came across Mr Horace Bixby, a famous pilot. And he learnt from Mr Bixby navigating the river in a reasonably short time and got a license. This information helped him later in writing Huckleberry Finn.
Change in Name
There is an interesting event, which turned Sam Clemens into Mark Twain. There was in Sam's pilot days, an ancient and experienced pilot, Captain Sellers. He often wrote about the weather and the course of river in the New Orleans papers. Though it was said to in crude form, it was very valuable. These contributions to the press were signed, 'Mark Twain'. Sam then wrote an article, which ridiculed Seller. And the latter was deeply hurt by such a tirade. From this incident, Sam learnt a lesson about the cruelty of fun and seldom indulged in such writing again. When Sellers was dead, Sam borrowed his pen name for himself. This name later became synonymous with American humor.
Mark Twain's pilot days ended with the outbreak of the Civil War. But he managed to get to his own state on the last boat in January 1861. Twain never supported the war as he soon realized that it was, in way, slavery. Meanwhile, Sam's brother, Orion Clemens, had secured an appointment as secretary at a new place. Twain offered to go along as a secretary to the private secretary. The journey to the West was financed from Twains' savings of his pilot days. His stay at Nevada lasted five-and-a-half years. From his sinecure duties as a secretary, he the turned to mining and also moved to journalism. He worked for a local newspaper, which was a ground for jests and jokes. Thus, Twain was working as a surface miner and also contributing to a paper called Territorial Enterprise, published by Joe Goodman in Virginia City.
Journalistic Stint
The proprietor of the paper was impressed by Twain's sketches and absorbed him in the editorial section at a salary of $25 a week. Twain gave up mining and took to journalism in August 1862. He was a robust-looking young man with a mop of sandy hair and his deep blue eyes reflecting energy and intelligence. As a pilot, Sam liked to dress as per the current trend but as a miner, he did the opposite. A large part of his popularity in Nevada days sprang from his easy and carefree demeanor. In short, Sam tried and succeeded a lot in what he wanted to be. But amidst his tough schedule at the mines with the search for gold, dreaming of fortune, even his robust health was affected.
By nature, Twain was peace-loving. He lived among rough men where no one
could be timorous but Twain was never looked for any fight. There is an account of Twain's encounter with the most notorious "bad man" of those days and yet the encounter was said to be a peaceful one.
Twain, while working for the Territorial Enterprise, was eventually moved to the position of a reporter in San Francisco and later as the editor and part proprietor. The paper covered 'local' fun about the characters there. There were also occasional exchanges of sarcastic jokes with rival papers for which Mark Twain and his fellows were given a free hand.
Twain was enjoying his life to the fullest. He signed his name for the first time in Enterprise article of February 2, 1863. But his journalistic life in Virginia City ended in a duel, the outcome of some particularly insulting jokes. Twain then moved to San Francisco where he got the job of a reporter in Call. It was not a part of his nature to work in a routine way and the management called him careless and let him go. He stayed in San Francisco for a while and led a mendicant's life. But he never lacked the means to support; he wrote daily letters for his old paper Enterprise and some articles for a California magazine.
The Big Leap
In Twain's letters to the Virginia's Enterprise, while denouncing municipal corruption in San Francisco, he hurt the feelings of the city police. This brought trouble for him and Twain skipped out to find refuge at the mining camp at Gillis. Here, Twain spent a year from 1864. During this time, he heard the story of a frog from a person, who would stupidly repeat it to the point of weariness. Twain wrote the story and sent it to Artemus Ward's funny book. It missed the book, drifted into a newspaper and became the famous Jumping Frog, vastly admired by those who had not read it. By now, Twain had left mining and was back in San Francisco. He was an intelligent and energetic man of 30 and success knocked at is door soon.
In 1865, a San Francisco newspaper offered the young man a job of special correspondent. He was asked to go to the Sandwich Island, an unknown paradise lost in the Pacific. Twain undertook the task and carried it out with wonderful success. He saw, traversed, explored and described the islands as no one else that time could have done. His Sandwich Islands became really famous in California. A blaze was ignited and it soon turned into a conflagration. His friends persuaded Twain to give a lecture on his Sandwich Island trip. This was really a new opportunity. Till now, he had spoken for fun but now had to talk for money, also act funny on the stage at a set hour. It was a new and exciting chance for him.
Mark advertised that the "doors open at seven o'clock, the trouble begins at eight o'clock". Eventually, Twain found himself thrust out in front of lights, a huge manuscript in his hand, to receive a welcoming roar of applause that must be repaid in services. An hour later, when he ended his talk that had been carried long in billows of laughter; he left the platform with his head among the clouds and on it a golden crown. From that memorable day - October 2, 1866 - his success graph kept soaring.
Birth and Childhood
Mark Twain, one of the most memorable writers, was born on November 30, 1835 the year in which the Halley's comet blazed. He died in 1910, a coincidence that the same comet was sighted again. The man had a life just as remarkable and famous as the celestial body.
Born to John Marshall Clemens of Virginia and Jane Lampton of Kentucky in a sleepy village of Florida, Twain was the sixth of their seven children. He was originally named Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Before moving to Florida, John and his wife stayed at East Tennessee, where their other five offsprings were born. The seventh child was born in Florida. The family was an impoverished one. The head of the family was a kind-hearted and selfless man and had tried his hand at various jobs like store keeping, house-building etc. but did not succeed. But he did succeed in daydreaming about a bright future.
Samuel's, father somehow managed to gather $400 and buy some land with it. When Sam was about four, the family left Florida. But Sam's connection with the place did not end because one of his uncles lived on a farm, about four miles from Florida. Sam spent part of every year there till he was 12 years old. These memories left a deep impression on the young Sam and they are reflected in his later works.
Till the death of his father, Samuel lived at Hannibal. The life here was neither poverty-struck nor affluent. But it was marked by free adventures. These fun-filled, adventurous childhood days were passed into the world of literature in the form of Tom Sawyer later on. And the character made it one of the most famous novels all over the world.
Little Formal Education
The man, whose writing became a vital part of the English syllabus for most school children, had very little formal education. Till the age of 12, Sam attended school in his native town. Here, he learned to read, write and studied elementary history and geography. Sam never attended high school or college.
In his early childhood, Sam had no aversion to slavery. He was not aware that slavery was a major social evil. Even at school, he only learnt that God approved slavery and, that it was a holy thing but he personally never liked or accepted it. When he grew up, Twain kept conveying subtly but strongly his ideas on equality and fairness for the mankind. For example, in his Huckleberry Finn, Twain put forth his views against slavery in a convincing manner.
While Sam had very limited formal education, he was always 'hungry' of facts and figures. But he also said that information came to him almost naturally. He was always interested in guidebooks, statistics and liked to know how to calculate things like the light year etc.
It is said that there are two means by which a man of native genius could succeed in life : one by receiving a sound and complete education and the other by not getting any at all. If Mark Twain had attended college and learnt to repeat the standardized judgements in the past, his creativity would have been badly affected. It would have removed the entire 'Mark Twain element' from him.
Sketches for Evening Post
When John Clemens died in 1847, Sam's schooling ended. He joined his brother, Orion Clemens, who had already been involved in the printing business. Young Sam also became the printer's apprentice and followed the trade for the next 10 years. These were, perhaps, the dreariest and most insignificant years of his life. In 1850, Sam assisted his brother in getting out a sheet called the Hannibal Journal. Sam also contributed a couple of sketches to the Evening Post, a journal from Philadelphia. They were published but Sam neither asked for any payment nor was his name mentioned.
Sam later worked for the Evening News in St Louise. He worked from both the places - New York and Philadelphia. In 1855, he joined his brother again at the Keokuk (Iowa) printing unit.
During on his voyages between 1853 and 1855, Sam wrote a few letters to his mother and gathered money to take her to Kentucky. This was her native place. He had also taken a vow before his mother that he would never drink or gamble and stuck to this code for the sake of the promise. Sam had been deeply attached to his mother.
The young printer Sam worked hard and kept adding to his knowledge. But his sturdy and robust physique could not remain in the confines for long; at a very young age; the boy aspired to go to South America, then a fabulous land of gold mines.
Knowledge Quest
From Keokuk, Sam had wandered to Cincinnati and started working there. But again left his job and traveled to New Orleans by a streamer called Paul Jones. The young aspirant could only travel up to New Orleans beyond which fortune showed no means of attaining the Amazon. Sam, who was a wanderer at heart, left his printing career to fellow his fortune on the river.
The open and beautiful landscapes of Nevada and Rocky mountains, the sunlit shores of the Pacific, nurtured a talent, which could have never blossomed in a New York printing room. Living near the Mississippi river, he had an ambition of becoming a pilot. While Sam could not go further in South America, he came across Mr Horace Bixby, a famous pilot. And he learnt from Mr Bixby navigating the river in a reasonably short time and got a license. This information helped him later in writing Huckleberry Finn.
Change in Name
There is an interesting event, which turned Sam Clemens into Mark Twain. There was in Sam's pilot days, an ancient and experienced pilot, Captain Sellers. He often wrote about the weather and the course of river in the New Orleans papers. Though it was said to in crude form, it was very valuable. These contributions to the press were signed, 'Mark Twain'. Sam then wrote an article, which ridiculed Seller. And the latter was deeply hurt by such a tirade. From this incident, Sam learnt a lesson about the cruelty of fun and seldom indulged in such writing again. When Sellers was dead, Sam borrowed his pen name for himself. This name later became synonymous with American humor.
Mark Twain's pilot days ended with the outbreak of the Civil War. But he managed to get to his own state on the last boat in January 1861. Twain never supported the war as he soon realized that it was, in way, slavery. Meanwhile, Sam's brother, Orion Clemens, had secured an appointment as secretary at a new place. Twain offered to go along as a secretary to the private secretary. The journey to the West was financed from Twains' savings of his pilot days. His stay at Nevada lasted five-and-a-half years. From his sinecure duties as a secretary, he the turned to mining and also moved to journalism. He worked for a local newspaper, which was a ground for jests and jokes. Thus, Twain was working as a surface miner and also contributing to a paper called Territorial Enterprise, published by Joe Goodman in Virginia City.
Journalistic Stint
The proprietor of the paper was impressed by Twain's sketches and absorbed him in the editorial section at a salary of $25 a week. Twain gave up mining and took to journalism in August 1862. He was a robust-looking young man with a mop of sandy hair and his deep blue eyes reflecting energy and intelligence. As a pilot, Sam liked to dress as per the current trend but as a miner, he did the opposite. A large part of his popularity in Nevada days sprang from his easy and carefree demeanor. In short, Sam tried and succeeded a lot in what he wanted to be. But amidst his tough schedule at the mines with the search for gold, dreaming of fortune, even his robust health was affected.
By nature, Twain was peace-loving. He lived among rough men where no one
could be timorous but Twain was never looked for any fight. There is an account of Twain's encounter with the most notorious "bad man" of those days and yet the encounter was said to be a peaceful one.
Twain, while working for the Territorial Enterprise, was eventually moved to the position of a reporter in San Francisco and later as the editor and part proprietor. The paper covered 'local' fun about the characters there. There were also occasional exchanges of sarcastic jokes with rival papers for which Mark Twain and his fellows were given a free hand.
Twain was enjoying his life to the fullest. He signed his name for the first time in Enterprise article of February 2, 1863. But his journalistic life in Virginia City ended in a duel, the outcome of some particularly insulting jokes. Twain then moved to San Francisco where he got the job of a reporter in Call. It was not a part of his nature to work in a routine way and the management called him careless and let him go. He stayed in San Francisco for a while and led a mendicant's life. But he never lacked the means to support; he wrote daily letters for his old paper Enterprise and some articles for a California magazine.
The Big Leap
In Twain's letters to the Virginia's Enterprise, while denouncing municipal corruption in San Francisco, he hurt the feelings of the city police. This brought trouble for him and Twain skipped out to find refuge at the mining camp at Gillis. Here, Twain spent a year from 1864. During this time, he heard the story of a frog from a person, who would stupidly repeat it to the point of weariness. Twain wrote the story and sent it to Artemus Ward's funny book. It missed the book, drifted into a newspaper and became the famous Jumping Frog, vastly admired by those who had not read it. By now, Twain had left mining and was back in San Francisco. He was an intelligent and energetic man of 30 and success knocked at is door soon.
In 1865, a San Francisco newspaper offered the young man a job of special correspondent. He was asked to go to the Sandwich Island, an unknown paradise lost in the Pacific. Twain undertook the task and carried it out with wonderful success. He saw, traversed, explored and described the islands as no one else that time could have done. His Sandwich Islands became really famous in California. A blaze was ignited and it soon turned into a conflagration. His friends persuaded Twain to give a lecture on his Sandwich Island trip. This was really a new opportunity. Till now, he had spoken for fun but now had to talk for money, also act funny on the stage at a set hour. It was a new and exciting chance for him.
Mark advertised that the "doors open at seven o'clock, the trouble begins at eight o'clock". Eventually, Twain found himself thrust out in front of lights, a huge manuscript in his hand, to receive a welcoming roar of applause that must be repaid in services. An hour later, when he ended his talk that had been carried long in billows of laughter; he left the platform with his head among the clouds and on it a golden crown. From that memorable day - October 2, 1866 - his success graph kept soaring.
Oratory To The Fore
The lectures on Sandwich Islands were carried all over the state of California, repeated in halls, theatres etc. and evoked roars of laughter. Twain then set off on the steamship America on December 15, 1866, to reach the east of the Isthmus route and landed in New York on January 11, 1867. When Twain reached New York, he had in his mind an idea of traveling round the world and writing letters about it. Meanwhile, Twain learnt that the luxurious paddle wheel streamer Quaker City was to leave New York on an excursion trip across the Atlantic to the Mediterranean and the Holy Land.
The ship was to be a luxurious one to travel and was to provide every necessary comfort on board. He proposed to the owners of Alta newspaper that he be sent on the excursion and that he would pass on letters about his travel for $20 per piece. The arrangement clicked and Twain sailed on the Quaker City on June 8, 1867. Compared to the modern times, the voyages then were drab. Among fellow passengers were ministers of the gospel, spinsters and teachers.
Twain, while on board, formed a merry group. His letters had now reached the public giving an account of journey from Paris to the Crimea and from Africa to the Egyptian pyramids. When the ship returned to America on November 19, 1867, Twain stepped out as a celebrity. Success greeted him on his return like a great tidal wave. For the first time ever, there was a man who wrote 'American literature on Europe'. His work Innocents Abroad was the fist step in the 'Americanization of Europe'.
Soon, a lecture bureau offered him a contract for 18 nights - for a dollar a night. A Senator wanted him as a 'literary secretary'. The New York Tribune also put him on their staff. All leading papers, namely, Tribune, Herald, San Francisco's Alta, the Chicago press, the magazines sought his letters and articles. By then, Twain's first famous book, Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Sketches was in the market and sold well.
Meanwhile, Elisha Bliss of the American Publishing Company in Hartford, Connecticut proposed to bring out the Quaker City letters as a travel book. But the Alta papers, having paid for Twain's Quaker City trip and also for the letters, felt that the literary material was theirs, and proposed to publish it. But Twain was in a dilemma. He went to California by sea to meet the Alta management who gave up their claim to publish the letters.
Twain delivered a lecture on the Quaker City trip on July 2, 1868. The lecture was a grand success. Another lecture delivered by Twain called 'A Vandal Abroad' was yet another success. It is, however, strange that despite the phenomenal success that he achieved in writing and speeches, Twain did not think of himself as an author or contemplate writing as his profession. And America perceived him as a funny man, not as a great writer.
Love and Marriage
While on board the Quaker City, there came a turning point in Twain's life. He found someone to love and this happened almost suddenly. One of the passengers on board the ship was Charlie Langdon, a young man from Elmira, New York. Twain and Langdon became good friends on the ship. One day, Langdon showed him the picture of his younger sister Olivia. Twain took a liking for the pretty girl immediately after seeing the photograph. A month later, the Langdons were at New York and Twain, then a celebrity, was invited for dinner at the old St Nicholas Hotel. Here, Twain and his wife-to-be met for the first time. He fell deeply in love with her at the first sight. After dinner, they went to Steinway Hall to hear a lecture by Charles Dickens. The duo also saw ardent scenes from Charles Dickens' David Copperfield. Twain was invited once again by the Langdons. This time it was at Elmira and also, to drop in during his lecture tours. Twain's love for young Olivia became obvious soon. But the lady was a complete contrast. While Twain was robust, she was delicate and fragile; while he was a skeptic, young Olivia was a devout. It was later known that she suffered from a mental ailment resulting from a fall. She had been cured by a faith healer. This incident increased her religious faith.
Twain had to get the consent of Olivia's father for the marriage. The Langdons were well-to-do, orthodox and devout people. To them, Twain moving in queer clothes, with a stock of red hair, penetrating eyes and drawling speech was a strange personality. But like an uncut diamond, he was an uncouth genius then. Mr Jarvis Langdon, Olivia's father, thought twice before giving him his young daughter. Finally, Twain was engaged to the lady of his dreams Olivia on February 4, 1869. Mr Jarvis Langdon also planned to gift a house in Buffalo to his would-be son-in-law.
Mark Twain married Olivia Langdon on February 2, 1870. The same day his publishers gave him a cheque for $4,000 as royalty for three months' sale of Innocents Abroad. The book was a success right from the start. The sale never dropped. It is said that Innocents Abroad is still the most widely sold travel book.
It is ironical that though Twain achieved fame as a successful speaker and writer, he was never a rich man. The shadow of debt moved closely behind him but never grew large enough to darken his talent.
Ever since he came to know the charming young Olivia, Twain's life became more pleasant. Not only did Olivia play a vital role in Twain's personal life but also in his professional life. In fact, Olivia was the 'censor' for all Twain's writings. She was devout and gentle by nature and did not allow Twain to write anything profane. Even when anger or abuse was to be expressed, it had to be done in a moderate way, according to Olivia. The expression of love and other feelings had to be showed in a refined manner. Thus, Olivia's scrutinized whatever her husband wrote before it was published. Twain was a very loving and devoted husband. Olivia, too, filled his world with love and considered his writings valuable.
Pathetic Phase
In 1870, Twain was studying about Noah's Ark and God. He also brought out a comic autobiography. The Clemens then lived at Buffalo but this was not a happy time for them. Olivia's father died in August 1871. More sad news was to follow. One of Olivia's friends died in their house itself, the premature arrival of a feeble little son, Langdon Clemens, on November 7, 1870 whose days seemed numbered due to poor health.
After the short and not so fruitful stay at Buffalo, the Clemens moved to Hartford. Here, Twain was charmed by the environment and also found the companionship of a new friend Joe Switchell. Twain reeled under heavy debts for most of his life. In Buffalo, he had accumulated some, which followed him to Hartford too. And in order to clear these debts, Twain had to take up lecture tours, which he disliked. Twain also found the friendship of W D Howells, whom he also considered as mentor.
In August 1872, Twain undertook a journey to England to settle a copyright dispute. This was just as sudden as his trip to California. When Twain reached England, he was treated like a prince and forgot all about the copyright issue. His received an overwhelming reception; he was treated as a great writer. His visit was a series of dinners and entertainment. He had no time to discuss the copyright issue. When he got back to America, Twain was a big figure. By 1872, he became too busy. He finished his work called Roughing It, which he had begun at Buffalo. Meanwhile, he also invented a character called Tom Sawyer. A book called The Guilded Age on which he worked in collaboration with Charles Dudley Warner, came out in 1873.
On the personal front, he was drawn still closer to his family. The demise of his son on June 2, 1872, left the family grief-stricken but life held a lot more for the Clemens. In March 1872, Susie (Susan Clemens) was born, followed by two sisters, Clara and Jean in July 1880. Mark Twain was now successful : he had fame, affluence, a loving wife and a babbling nursery. Twain was now happy and also busy. He again undertook a journey to England, this time with his wife. During the tour, Twain delivered a lecture in London on October 13, 1873. This lecture and others were a phenomenal success. Twain became a hero, almost a legend during his life. By January 1874, the Clemens were back in America and Twain finally finished Tom Sawyer and brought it out in December 1876. Its success was immediate, complete and continuous. Twain was now famous as "the man who wrote Tom Sawyer."
After the publication of Tom Sawyer, Twain was not just a public figure, a sort of national asset. He saw the height of financial success, literary reputation, affluence and domestic bliss - all that a man can ever dream of. Twain became a household name with his lecture trips becoming a triumphant success and his books flooding the country. Men would quote him - his principles, his stories and perhaps also that he never said. With the passage of time, the man's stock of hair that was red turned to grey and then gradually to white. Twain was a personality as familiar as that of Washington and Lincoln. Above all, the man had managed to earn the well-deserved affection from his fellowmen.
Twain's fame grew further; it was not confined to national boundaries.
He was now a citizen of the world and the entire world community was now included in his fans. With his reputation well established by his lectures and dinner speeches in London, he could manage to draw national sympathy mutually among nations, which had drifted away during the Civil War. The English people who admired Twain so heartily, realized that the writer came from America basically and so, America could not be such bad place after all.
Dramatic Effort
After Tom Sawyer, a great deal of time and effort was spent into a play called Ah Sin! written in collaboration with his old friend Bret Harte. It was played at the National Theatre in Washington on May 7, 1877 and later in New York and died of inanition. As a result of this failure, Twain's friendship with Harte received a jolt.
By the summer of 1877, Twain was busy with the plot of a story in which a little child changes place with a king's son. The work, however, took three years to finish and was called The Prince And The Pauper. Meanwhile, another idea, which remained in the conceptual stage for quite sometime, was Huckleberry Finn. The character had already appeared like a satellite in his work Tom Sawyer. At the same time, it also deserved to be taken up as a new concept. But Huckleberry Finn and other writings had to wait while Twain and his family was away on a grand tour of Europe. They left in April of 1878, visited Germany, Italy, Venice, Florence, Rome, Paris and came back home to America in 1879. While on the tour, Twain took a walking tour in Germany and Switzerland with Twitchell, immortalized as A Tramp Abroad, in which Twitchell is cast for the part of Harris. The work, however, was not as good as the Innocents Abroad.
While the Clemens' were on the tour, Twain developed an inexhaustible interest in the German language. Having had no schooling, linguistic study was a novelty for him, he enjoyed learning novel German nouns. Another notable peregrination of Twain was the trip to the Mississippi, down the river from St Louis to New Orleans and then to St Paul. This helped him refresh his memories and renew the experiences he had as a pilot and again to fraternize with Horace Bixby. The trip helped him to prepare from his Atlantic articles and Life on the Mississippi. It was published from his own financial sources and cost him $50,000. He was dealing with big sums now. The Prince And The Pauper was published in 1880 and evoked a mixed response.
Apologetic Approach
Success came to Twain almost naturally. But he was also stricken by failure occasionally. He delivered a speech on December 17, 1877, marking the 70th birthday party of the age poet Whittier. The staff of the Atlantic gave a party and among those present on the occasion were famous literary personalities Longfellow, Emerson and Holmes. Though Twain had well written and practised for the day, he became nervous on considering the fact that he was going to speak before people who were famous authors. The speech was to be a delightful one but incidentally, Twain mentioned a particular term to refer to the "three bigs" - Longfellow, Holmes and Emerson - but the word was unfortunately misinterpreted by that group which mainly consisted of older gentlemen. There was a frozen silence. The speaker's inferiority complex seized him. His face turned pale and the speech ended. The old men shuffled into their coats. It was all over. The next day, Twain wrote letters of apology. Twain wanted to resign from everything, quit everything, to give up everything not to be Mark Twain at all, any more. For some time after that, Twain was brooding and feeling bad about what happened. He read the speech over and over again. Years later, he read the speech again, and the light broke in and he felt that it was glorious. It truly was. He felt that if he had given the speech to the student of Yale it would have made him four times as popular.
On the other hand, one of his most grand successes in dinner speeches should also be mentioned here. Twain made one such great speech at the great Army dinner at Chicago in 1879. All people who attended the dinner recalled it as 'the magnificent wonder of Twain'. This great success was the dinner given is honor of General Grant by the Army of the Tennessee in Chicago on November 13, 1879. At this dinner, a galaxy of great soldiers was present. Colonel Robert Ingersoll carried the audience away with a really patriotic speech. He was to speak for a minute but spoke for an hour.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn finally came out in 1884 and became Twain's most renowned work, which brought him success and immense fame and made Huck a worldwide celebrity like Tom. Then came Twain's turn and he made one of the most historic dinner speeches of his career. Hence, most of he time it may be said that success was a common and natural thing for Twain. The people who him enjoyed him not only for the moment or the day but recollected his witty speech even years later.
'Presidential Mark'
Twain had a long association with General Grant. General Grant was elected as the President of America as it was a rule to make the highest general of the nation the President. After his term as a president was over, he was involved in Wall's Street business but failure led him to ruin, almost saving him closely from prosecution. Having faced all these ups and down, General Grant became a real key figure. Twain hit upon the idea of General Grant dictating his biography to Colonel Sellers. This would make it the most authentic version. General Grant dictated the memories and thus a masterpiece was created.
General Grant was suffering from throat cancer, now in the penultimate stage and yet the will to carry on took him a long way. The work was nearly complete. When the disease got worst and Grant could not dictate anymore, he wrote about his ideas firmly to convey all he had to say. All through the making of the Memories, Twain was beside General Grant, encouraging him continuously. Thus, the Personal Memories of General Grant was completed on July 20, 1885. Three days later, the world learnt that General Grant was dead. But before he died, General Grant had the satisfaction of knowing that his name and his family were saved. After Grant was dead, the royalty paid to his widow touched nearly $4,50,000. This gives an idea about the popularity of the book. Although Twain did not write the memories, he was the man who motivated the ailing General Grant to pen such interesting and catchy memories in a simple manner.
The next big creation by Twain was the Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court, which appeared in December 1889 after a lot of preparation and thinking. Twain's mind had been working of the topic for a long time but the making was interrupted by several dinner speeches, preparation for articles, sketches, receiving honorary degrees etc. One honorary degree was conferred upon Twain by Yale University. It was an honorary Masters in Arts conferred in 1888. But all these activities that went on, did not stop Twain or deter him from the track of Connecticut Yankee. In this work, Twain denounced all the things he hated like superstitions, aristocracy, hereditary power etc.
The Yankee was the most artistic work of Twain, perhaps, better than Huckleberry Finn. Despite the fact that Yankee was against some rigid superstitions and the unjustifiable power of the church etc., the people who read it, did experience unadulterated joy.
Royal Rendezvous
In the early 1890s, Twain's family was on a trip to Europe again. By now, they were treated as leading celebrities of the day. The family was privileged to meet the royal circle of the day. Twain got an opportunity to dine with the German Emperor while on his Europe tour on February 20, 1892. Later, Twain wrote an account of the emperor, saying that he had a silent dinner; there were frigid questions and frigid answers to them. In the following summer, Twain had the opportunity of meeting the Prince of Wales (Edward VII) at Nauheim. In striking contrast to his meeting with the emperor, it was extremely jovial and also informal.
Meanwhile, another work of Twain called The American Claimant was published. There was also a new Tom Sawyer story published in St Nicholas in 1893. This was called Tom Sawyer Abroad, in which Tom, Huck and Nigger Jim started of in a balloon across the Atlantic and the Sahara desert. The work did not do very well. Twain then never realized in his fast moving life that he was losing out on his finance.
Twain was blessed with the best of both the worlds. He got fame, money and world's applause. On the domestic scene, he had a very caring wife, whose love and attachment, proved to be like a sheltering tree in scorching sun. Twain had a strong memory of his father. He also had a deep respect and love for his mother, whom he portrayed as Aunt Polly of Tom Sawyer. Though Twain had attachment and deep reverence for his mother, he occasionally disregarded her by drinking and gambling. In Twain's pilot days, he seldom met his mother. Fame stayed with his daughter and later with her eldest son Orion Clemens.
Twains' mother lived for 88 years. In her old age, she was full of pride for her son, Sam, now a celebrity called Mark Twain. Twain's brother Orion, who was seven years older, was always supportive to him. His elder sister Pamela too, meant a lot to him. She named her own son 'Samuel' after her brother.
Twain was a loving husband and an ideal father, playing games with his children, romping with them, spoiling them and enjoying his life to the fullest with his loved ones. Olivia, too, was a perfect mother taking proper care of their children.
When Twain was at the peak of his career, he received more and more money and his life-style became lavish. A thousand dollars was too little to be saved seemed to be the attitude.
Twain loved his family and his home a lot. With a lot of money flowing in regularly, Twain spent it to adorn his beautiful house at Hartford. The house consumed a lot of money. Meanwhile, Twain also bought an adjacent piece of land but was reportedly cheated in the deal by his neighbors who probably extracted much more than the cost of the land. Twain also had several other expensive tastes - he liked to invite guests at his place rather than going over to their place. There were regular, lavish dinners and parties.
Technical Topsy-Turvy
A lot of funds went into Twain's inventive efforts also. Twain had a progressive and inventive mind. He spent a large chunk of money on the steam generator, which had a marvelous mechanism to save fuel but never worked so well. About $32,000 went into a steam-pulley, which also was not much useful. Another $25,000 were invested into the marine telegraph. Such expenses consumed a large part of Twain's wealth. Twain himself had been into the printing trade. Any step to bring about advancement in the process would interest him the most James Paige, the dreamy young inventor, could turn the world upside down with his efforts. Twain financed the venture but calculations failed and the expenses rose beyond estimation. All through the success years of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, Twain was pouring money into the empty pipe. Slowly and steadily, Twain was moving away from his affluence.
While Twain was in the midst of his lavish life-style, he was nearing his disaster. Twain kept helping Paige in his venture even as his own finances were not working out well. The American Claimant came out, and Pudd'nhead Wilson was to follow, but it was a hard time for sales. While disaster followed, Twain found temporary solace in a life-long friend, Henry H Rogers of the Standard Oil Company. The financial crash could be avoided only till early 1894.
On April 18, 1894, Webster, the company, which was to publish Twain's books, went bankrupt. Charles L Webster owned the company. At that time, Henry H Rogers came to the rescue of Twain and a settlement was reached. But it was not as per Twain's great expectations.
Amidst Adversity
Adversity befell on Twain in the form of poor finances. It is said that a man's character shows by the way in which he faces adversity and Twain was a brave fighter. The attitude to win was his driver in these dark days of his life. He wanted to work and fight back his adversity. Checks poured in for help but Twain accepted none. There were several letters and telegrams expressing love and sympathy of his fans. Most of all, there were letters from his wife, who was in France, expressing deep love and encouragement.
Twain emerged as a real winner in this hard time because he took this adversity as a temporary defeat and not as a dishonor. In this time of despair, Twain still had a ray of hope - the printing machine. Twain was sure that Rogers and Paige who were his close companions would still help him. Twain was also hopeful that the machine would now have been finished.
Twain was soon back in France with his family. Here, he settled down at Etretat on the Normandy coast work began as usual. The man had been contemplating for long on his work Joan of Arc, which he finally finished. Joan of Arc was, in true terms, the child of Twain's adversity, and so, it was the dearest to him. Thus, finally in January 1895, when the book came out, Twain dedicated it to his wife in grateful recognition of her 25 years of valued service as his literary adviser and editor.
Soon after Joan of Arc was published in 1895, Twain was on a lecturing tour arranged by Major Pond, covering America, Australia, India, South Africa and England. For a man, who already disliked lecturing, had to start it again posing as a celebrity. But Twain moved on bravely.
After this long and tiring lecture tour, when Twain was back in England in 1896, he expected his daughter, Susie, who had stayed back in America, for studies, to come and greet him. But he received the shocking news of illness and sudden death of his 17-year-old daughter. Twain had to face disasters one or the other after this. Twain hardly ever recovered from this depression. His world tour had been covered in a book Following the Equator, which was published in 1897. Twain did not return to America. He lingered on in Europe during 1896-99. Here, he was a celebrity and money came in fast. But Twain was a bereaved man. To add to his misery, his old and faithful butler, George, died. His youngest daughter Jean, who had accompanied her parents on all their tours, fell ill. Fear gripped Twain, his wife, and the family went to London for Jean's treatment and then to Sweden for the summer. Meanwhile, partly due to Jean's illness and partly his own, Twain's mind was diverted to medicine, osteopathy, mental treatment etc.
Life in London was nice but Twain was homesick. At last, the exile ended. Jean's health improved and Twain also managed to clear all his debts. By 1900, the man was free from all his dues. He could go home. He was back in America with his family. He was a national celebrity. But Twain's career had ended by then. For the rest of his life, Twain led a quiet life. But he constantly moved from place to place, traveling from New York to Elmira to another suburb of New York. From there, he went to Missouri, Hannibal, Maine and back to Elmira. The Hartford house was sold. By now, his wife's health needed attention. In order to give a pleasant change of place they traveled to Europe but it did not help her. Mrs Clemens passed away on June 5, 1904 leaving Twain in the deepest despair of his life. This was his greatest loss. His first and last love, Olivia Clemens, was no more.
Twain now lived with his two daughters Clara and Jean in New York. In 1906, the University of Oxford conferred on him an honorary degree of Doctor of Literature. Another creation called Christian Science was brought to light in 1907. In the autumn of 1909, Twain went to Bermuda but traveled back due to a feeling to restlessness, as Clara was married. She became Mrs Gabrilowitch.
The Final Blow
Tragedy was not yet over for Twain. Jean was stricken again by sudden illness and died on Christmas eve. She was buried on the Christmas day, beside her mother at Elmira December 24, 1909.
Twain was a grief-stricken man now. He went back to Bermuda and wrote seemingly cheerfully, to his other daughter Clara and friends Howells and Paine. But he had lost the will to write, perhaps also to live and sure he did not carry on for long.
At Bermuda his health deteriorated. He was brought back to Stormfield on April 14, 1910. Here, his friend Paine and others were present to receive him. Twain could just gather strength to step out of the carriage.
On receiving the news about her father's illness, Clara rushed home. Twain breathed his last on April 21, 1910 at sunset, with the last words "Good bye, if we meet". That was the end of Mark Twain. The man who made millions laugh, lay silent forever. He was buried beside the graves of his wife Olivia and daughter at Elmira. Samuel Langhorne Clemens had left an 'indelible Mark' for the posterity.
"All you need in life is ignorance and confidence, then success is sure", these words of Mark Twain, one of the greatest humorists of America, probably reflect his philosophy of life. Mark Twain's real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens and he lived and died within two successive appearances of the Halley's comet. His most popular works are The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventure of Tom Sawyer and the language is lucid. In his quest for more knowledge, the writer undertook a number of long voyages.
Twain's perseverance made him face and often win the hardest battles in life. His will to fight made him a towering personality.
Twain's wife Olivia Clemens had a unique characteristic; she used to scrutinize all his works before they were published.
November 30, 1835
Born at Florida, Missouri.
1839 Family moved to Hannibal, Missouri.
March 24, 1847 Father died; began work as a printer's apprentice.
1853 Worked as a printer at St Louis, then in New York and Philadelphia.
1854 Worked again in St Louis.
1855 Worked with Orion Clemens at Keokuk, Iowa.
1856-57 Worked in Cincinnati
1857 Abandoned printer's trade and became a pilot's apprentice and then a pilot on the Mississippi.
1861 Pilot's job ended; enlisted as a Confederate in a temporary Missouri organization. Retired after two weeks.
1861
Went to Nevada as unpaid secretary to his brother Orion.
Became a miner.
1862 On the staff of Territorial Enterprise, Virginia City.
1863 Adopted the pen name of 'Mark Twain.'
March - June 1866 Sandwich Islands trip.
October 2, 1866 San Francisco lecture on the Sandwhich Islands.
December 15, 1866 Sailed from San Francisco for New York via the Isthmus.
May 6, 1867 Lectured in Cooper Union building, New York.
June - November 1867 The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Sketches.
December 23, 1867 Met Olivia Langdon; went with her to hear Charles Dickens' lecture.
1868 To California and back via Aspinwall to discuss the rights of publishing Quaker City letters.
July 2, 1868 Farewell Address in San Francisco
February 4, 1869 Engagement with Olivia Langdon.
February 2, 1870 Married Olivia Langdon.
August - November 1872 First visit to England.
1873 Published The Guilded Age; built a house in Hartford.
May - January 1873-1874 Second visit to England.
1876 Tom Sawyer.
December 17, 1877 The Whittier Birthday Speech.
April - September 1878 Europe's tour - Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France and England.
November 13, 1879 Speech at the Grant Banquet at Chicago.
1883 Life of Mississippi
1884 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
1885 Contract with General Grant.
1888 Master of Arts of Yale.
1889 Connecticut Yankee.
1891 The American Claimant.
June 1892 Back to America for two weeks; returned to Europe.
May 1894 Returned to France, then back to America.
April - December 1895 Joan of Arc
July 1895 July - 1896 Round-the-world lecture tour - United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa.
1897 Following the Equator.
1901 Doctor of Letters degree from Yale.
June 5, 1904 Mrs Clemens died.
1906-7 Trip to Bermuda.
1907 To England; Oxford Degree, June 26, 1907.
November 1909 To Bermuda again.
December 1909 Back to Stormfield. Jean Clemens died, December 24.
January 1910 Back to Bermuda.
April 1910 Returned to Stormfield.
April 21, 1910 Mark Twain died.
Innocents Abroad
The book was written when Mark Twain was on his first major voyage on board Quaker City in 1867. The book vividly describes his experiences when traveling all over the world was not so common. The book describes the scenery and people in foreign cities. It talks about ancient monuments, art and history of Europe. It is said to be one of the largest sold books on traveling.
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Tom Sawyer is a world famous book and the boy Tom, a world celebrity. Published in 1876, the book is based on the life a young and mischievous boy Tom. Each character in the book seems to come alive, especially Tom's aunty, named Aunt Polly caricatured on Twain's own mother. The book owes its success mainly to its simplicity.
Prince and The Pauper
The Prince and the Pauper, published in 1880, is the story of a child who changes places with the king's son. The work was received with mixed response. It's said to be not as funny as Mark Twain's other writings are.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn marks the highest achievement in Twain's writing. The character of Huck or Huckleberry had earlier appeared like a satellite in Tom Sawyer. This novel is the story of the ragged little outcast, Huckleberry, floating down the Mississippi on a raft, with his companion, the Nigger Jun.
The Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court
The work was brought out in 1889. It is a strange, wonderful tale. The story is about a factory boss, a skilled workman who is put to sleep by a crack with a crowbar. The book denounces all that Mark Twain himself hated, like hereditary power, aristocracy, superstitions etc.
Joan of Arc
After Twain faced the financial disaster and sailed out of it victorious, he finished this work and brought it out in 1895. Thus, it may be said that Joan of Arc was the 'child of disaster'. It is a tragic story of a young, beautiful girl, inspired to save her country, and dying in the flames of martyrdom. The book is still being widely read.
Personal Memoirs of General Grant
The personal memoirs of General Grant were inspired by Twain, written by Colonel Sellers and dictated by the General himself. Thus, the work was really authentic.
• A classic is a book which people praise and don't read.
• Accident is the name of the greatest of all inventors.
• After all these years I see that I was mistaken about Eve in the beginning; it is better to live outside the Garden with her than inside it without her.
• All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.
• Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest
• Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first
• Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.
• Familiarity breeds contempt - and children.
• Few things are harder to put up with than a good example.
• Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't.
• Get your facts first and then you can distort them as much as you wish.
• God made the Idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board.
• Good breeding consists of concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person.
• Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of joy must have somebody to divide it with.
• Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritations and resentments slip away, and a sunny spirit takes their place.
• I am opposed to millionaires, but it would be dangerous to offer me the position.
• I am prepared to meet anyone, but whether anyone is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
• I can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life. The problem is that I can't find anybody who can tell me what they want.
• I was gratified to be able to answer promptly. I said, "I don't know.
• If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man.
• If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything.
• In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards.
• It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress.
• It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not to deserve them.
• It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.
• It is by the fortune of God that, in this country, we have three benefits: freedom of speech, freedom of thought, and the wisdom never to use either.
• It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things : freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either.
• It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.
• Keep away from small people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.
• Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear, and the blind can read.
• Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed.
• Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.
• Let us live so that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.
• Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul.
• My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.
• Never tell the truth to those unworthy of it....
• Of the delights of this world man cares most for sexual intercourse, yet he has left it out of his heaven.
• Principles have no real force except when one is well-fed.
• Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.
• The best way to cheer yourself is to try to cheer someone else up.
• The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.
• The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creature that cannot.
• The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.
• The principle of give and take is the principle of diplomacy - give one and take ten.
• The proper office of a friend is to side with you when you are in the wrong.
• There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
• There is nothing so annoying as to have two people talking when you're busy interrupting.
• Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.
• Truth is more of a stranger than fiction.
• Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream.
• We have a criminal jury system which is superior to any in the world; and its efficiency is only marred by the difficulty of finding twelve men every day who don't know anything and can't read.
• When angry, count to four. When very angry, swear.
• When in doubt, tell the truth.
• When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.
• Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform.
• Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do. Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do.
• You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.
