Life of "Mark Twain," Great American Humorist

Printed April 1910

Struggles, Adventures, Literary Work, Deaths, Financial Reverses

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, America's foremost humorist and known the world over as "Mark Twain" was born in the little town of Hannibal, Mo., on November 30, 1835.

His father, John Marshall Clemens, came from an old Virginia family, and with his young wife, Elizabeth Lampton, a descendant of the early settlers of Kentucky, he joined the sturdy band of pioneers who pushed over the Alleghenies in the early part of the last century and settled along the banks of the Mississippi river.

In the uncouth environment of the then little frontier town of Hannibal the famous author spent his boyhood days. Here he fished, hunted and lounged along the river banks with his sturdy companions, living a healthy outdoor existence, which undoubtedly accounted for his long life, in the face of his many afflictions.

He attended the little school, but not being of a very studious disposition, he learned far more from contact with the rough companions whom he immortalized in later years as "Huckleberry Finn" and "Tom Sawyer," and others of their type.

At the age of twelve his meager school education was brought to a sudden close by the death of his father.

His older brother, Orion S. Clemens, was the proprietor of a printing shop in the village, and young Sam Clemens began his journalistic career here as a "printer's devil." In the course of a few years he learned the trade as a compositor, and in 1853 he left his native town and began a wandering existence. He journeyed from place to place, working at his trade in New York and the principal cities of the middle west.

But while he gained a vast amount of experience during his travels, which proved of the greatest value in the preparation of some of his works in later years, this period was rather unprofitable from a financial standpoint, and he was finally compelled to return to his home along the banks of the great river, in rather straightened circumstance.

The life of a steamboat pilot had always appealed to his youthful imagination, and now that he had grown to manhood, he resolved to realize his ambition. He was fortunate enough to become a pupil of Horace Bixby, and he was soon guiding the awkward river craft along the tortuous channel of the muddy stream.

The idea of his becoming an author had never entered his mind at that time, but he absorbed enough of the pilot life to enable him to describe the difficulties encountered in guiding a boat along the great river in his "Life on the Mississippi River," which he wrote many years later.

First Literary Work

In 1862 he began his first regular literary work on the staff of the Virginia City Enterprise. He wrote a column daily, dealing with the political situation in the state, that attracted wide attention. These articles he signed with the nom de plume "Mark Twain," which he had heard sung out on the Mississippi steamers to let the pilot know that the sounding showed two fathoms of water.

In March of 1867, "Twain" published his first book, "The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." The book made quite a stir in that part of the country, but only 4,000 copies were sold. It attracted the attention, however, of the editor of the Alta California, who sent the author out as a newspaper correspondent on a steamboat excursion to southern Europe and the Orient.

His letters were published from time to time, and in 1869 the author revised them and published them in book form under the title of "The Innocents Abroad." This work made "Mark Twain" famous and compelled his recognition as America's foremost humorist. In the first 16 months, 85,000 volumes were sold, and many more subsequently. This was a record sale for those days.

Marries Miss Langdon

It was on his trip in the Mediterranean that "Mark Twain" met Olivia L. Langdon of Elmira, N. Y. They fell in love with each other, and in 1870 were married. Their married life was one of perfect harmony and four children blessed their union.

Mr. Clemens resided in Buffalo for a year after his marriage, and was nominally the editor of the Buffalo Express. In 1871 he joined the literary colony at Hartford, Conn., where he lived for a great many years, and where he did the greater part of the work that has made his name immortal.

In 1872 "Roughing It" appeared, and in the same year "The Gilded Age," written in collaboration with Charles Dudley Warner, was published. "Tom Sawyer" came in 1876, and "Huckleberry Finn" nine years later. Of the stories with an historical setting "The Prince and the Pauper," "A Connecticut Yankee at the Court of King Arthur," and "Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc," appeared in 1882, 1890 and 1894, respectively. In 1893 that curious philosopher, "Pudd'nhead Wilson." made his bow.

Misfortune Dogs Him

But while the great humorist was meeting with well-deserved success from a literary standpoint, the imps of misfortune seemed to dog his very footsteps.

In 1884 he conceived the idea of reaping the publisher's as well as the author's profits from some of his works. Accordingly he organized a stock company known as C. L. Webster & Co., in which he was the largest stockholder, to publish his works. He had accumulated considerable wealth and was rated as a millionaire.

His financial ability, however, was none of the best, and in 1894 his entire fortune was swept away by the failure of the publishing house. Mr. Clemens was abroad at the time, and although 60 years of age, he started out on a tour of the globe, delivering lectures and writing articles in order to pay the debts of the defunct firm.

He had scarcely begun his great task when fate struck him another hard blow. This was the death of his eldest and most accomplished daughter, Miss Olivia S. Clemens, who died in August, 1896, at the age of 24. Broken in spirit, he continued his great task and in two years he had paid off his debts.

Wife Passes Away

As if in sympathy with her husband's misfortunes, his wife's health began to fail. He moved to Florence, Italy, in the hope that the mild climate would restore her, but it proved of no avail, and on November 6, 1904, she died in that far off land.

About this time the humorist met H. H. Rogers, the Standard Oil magnate, and the men became fast friends. Rogers gave his literary friend the aid of his financial experience, and Clemens was soon in possession of a comfortable income.

And now misfortune selected another weapon with which to attack the white-haired author. Heretofore his books had escaped harsh criticisms, but in November, 1907, "Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Finn," his boy masterpieces, were withheld from youths by the Brooklyn public libraries, as "unfit for young minds." Comptroller Joy of Detroit, Mich., declared his work, "A Double-Barrelled Detective Story," was "literary junk, unfit for a public library," and a Massachusetts public library refused to give shelf room to his "Eve's Diary," declaring that the book was "shocking."

Worn out by his lectures, after dinner speeches and misfortunes, "Twain" purchased a farm in Redding, Conn., and erected a $40,000 villa, which he called "Stormfield." With his two daughters, Clara and Jean, he moved there in 1908, and settled down to a life of ease.

But a series of fresh misfortunes was in store for him. He had vigorously denounced the rule of the late King Leopold II in the Kongo Free State, and just when the reform movement was at its height, his ill health compelled him to abandon his work.

The "Children's Theater," which was founded by "Mark Twain" in New York, and which represented one of his life-long ambitions, was forced to close through lack of funds.

Then the humorist and his daughter Clara became involved in a lawsuit over a farm which he had presented to his former secretary, Mrs. Ralph Ashcroft, on her wedding day; and which he later attached on the advice of his daughter.

The facts regarding this disagreeable affair were aired in the press, much to the humiliation of the veteran humorist.

In the early part of 1909 his stanch friend and adviser, H. H. Rogers, died suddenly at his New York home. This great financier and the white haired humorist had been inseparable companions for a number of years. They had made trips to Bermuda together, and when Rogers opened his railroad in Virginia, "Twain" was one of the guests of honor. The author was greatly affected by the financier's sudden death.

In the latter part of 1909, "Twain" made another trip to Bermuda, and on his return his feeble appearance attracted a great deal of attention. Then the last crushing blow came the day before Christmas, when his youngest daughter, Jean, was found dead in the bathtub at his Redding home. The young woman had been a victim of epileptic fits.

Note: This article is a from a paper published on April 20, 1910. Mark Twain died the next day.