Mark Twain's Eulogy of Hawley

1910

One Speech Humorist Was Known to Make Certainly a Gem in Its Way

It is said that Mark Twain has made only one public appearance as a political speaker, which was during a presidential campaign some years ago. While visiting in Elmira, N. Y., in the fall of that year, he made a short speech, introducing Gen. Hawley of Connecticut to a Republican meeting. Among other things he said:

"Gen. Hawley is a member of my church in Hartford, and the author of 'Beautiful Snow.' Maybe he will deny that; but I am here only to give him a character from his last place. As a pure citizen I respect him; as a personal friend of years, I have the warmest regard for him; as a neighbor whose vegetable garden intimately adjoins mine, why — why I watch him.

"As the author of 'Beautiful Snow,' he added a new pang to winter. He is a square, true man in honest politics — and I must say that he occupies a mighty lonesome position. So broad, so bountiful is his character, that he never turned a tramp empty handed from the door — but always gave him a letter of introduction to me.

"Pure, honest, incorruptible, that is Joe Hawley. Such a man in politics is like a bottle of perfumery in a glue factory; it may moderate the stench; but it can't eliminate it. "In conclusion let me say that I haven't said any more of him than I would of myself. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Gen. Hawley." — The Sunday Magazine.