The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

These stories were narrated to me in the Negro dialect with such perfect naturalness and racial gusto that I often secretly wondered if the narrator were not Uncle Remus himself in disguise.

I was thus cunningly prepared, coached, shall I say, for the maturer charms of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.

With Uncle Remus and Mark Twain as my preceptors, I spent the days of my youth excitedly alternating, spellbound, between the inexhaustible attractions of Tom, Huck, Jim, Indian Joe, the Duke and the Dauphin and their compeers on the one hand, and Brer Rabbit, Sis Cow, and a thousand other fantastic but very real creatures of the animal kingdom on the other.

I felt a strange sort of camaraderie of personal attachment for Mark Twain during all the years before I came into personal contact with him.

The navvy may rejoice in Life on the Mississippi.

Youth and age may share without jealousy the abounding fun and primitive naturalness of Huckleberry Finn.

True lovers of adventure may revel in the masterly narrative of Tom Sawyer.

The artist may bestow his critical meed of approval upon the beauty of Joan of Arc.

OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN.

Huckleberry Finn, Chapter One You don't know about me without you have read the book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

But that ain't no matter.

That book was made by Mr.

and so when I couldn't stand it no longer, I lit out.

I got into my old rags and my sugar hog's head again and was free and satisfied.

But Tom Sawyer, he hunted me up and said he was going to start a band of robbers, and I might join him if I'd go back to the winter and be respectable.

So I went back.

But we've got the peace of mind part covered.

CHAPTER I. SAMUEL LANGHORN CLEMONS by CHARLES H. CLARK samuel langhorne clemens of hartford connecticut is known all over the world as mark twain his books have been translated into all the modern languages and his name has become a household word wherever people read he first acquired fame by his inimitable and irresistible humor but the position which he has taken is due not merely to his success as a humorist but to the genius of the man as displayed in various directions he has taken a leading place in literature in society and in business in america and his career is a most suggestive illustration of how the natural gifts of a man can conquer obstacles that seem impossible at the age of twelve years he was a penniless unschooled orphan at twenty an illiterate pilot on the mississippi and even at thirty he was entirely unknown and had written very little while at thirty-five he was famous and now past fifty a gentleman of culture each year adds to his fame and strengthens his position his was no accidental success for if so his light would have long ago gone out on the contrary his wit is as keen his humor as fresh his satire as sharp and his imagination as fantastic as when people first realized the power of these gifts that he possesses he was born in the little town of florida in monroe county missouri november thirtieth eighteen thirty five his father died in eighteen forty seven and the boy had thereafter to support himself his first work was as a printer and though he changed his occupation in a short time this beginning was no doubt influential in subsequently turning his mind to literary work as it has been with so many others at seventeen he decided to follow the mississippi river as a pilot and he learned the channel for thirteen hundred and seventy-five miles from st louis to new orleans many of his books reflect his observations and experiences there noticeably the life on the mississippi eighteen eighty three and it was from his life there that he took his pseudonym of mark twain which is a call relating to the sounding for the depth of water from the mississippi he went to nevada as private secretary for his elder brother who had been appointed lieutenant-governor of the territory there he drifted into mining and shared the experience of the many who make it a failure and are not heard of not of the few who make great fortunes in eighteen sixty two he was offered the place of local editor of the virginia city enterprise to which he had occasionally contributed he first used his signature of mark twain upon that journal in eighteen sixty four he went to san francisco still in newspaper work and wrote there occasional sketches which had in them the elements of popularity in eighteen sixty six he made a trip as a correspondent to the sandwich islands and when he returned he lectured in nevada and california his career so far abounded in variety but could hardly be called successful and gave but the slightest promise of what the next few years would reveal in the spring of eighteen sixty seven he went to new york and published there his first volume the celebrated jumping frog of calaveras and other sketches this sold well both at home and in england the choice humor of the jumping frog story was at once appreciated and the reputation of the author was established in that same year eighteen sixty seven mark twain sailed on the steamer quaker city on her journey to the holy land which journey is now famous because he made it in his innocents abroad he described the sights experiences emotions and characters of that singular and interesting trip it is one of the most widely read of all american books and deserves to be there is nothing like it except one or two of his later books and they are not like it through any repetition it is a remarkable book in many ways its humor is simply irrepressible and cannot be put down the reader may try to resist it and may even at first rule it out of order but you have to surrender to it and you laugh as you surrender and yet funny as it is it is also one of the most admirable descriptive works of travel that has been written people journeying over the same ground or seeking information as to any of the places mentioned find it very useful to consult for practical purposes it has had an immense sale and has been translated and printed in many languages roughing it eighteen seventy one and a tramp abroad eighteen eighty are of the same character in many respects but each has its individuality while they all have the individuality of the author stamped upon them mark twain's list of publications includes beside the jumping frog innocence abroad roughing it and a tramp abroad which have already been alluded to the gilded age by himself and charles dudley warner eighteen seventy three the adventures of tom sawyer eighteen seventy six sketches eighteen seventy seven the prince and the pauper eighteen eighty one the stolen white elephant eighteen eighty three life on the mississippi eighteen eighty three the adventures of huckleberry finn eighteen eighty five and a library of humor this last is a compilation of the characteristic works of american humorists in which all classes of such writers are included both the dead and the living it is a large volume and as the first is so large it may be followed by others of a similar nature a deal of reading and selecting was necessary in the preparation of the volume which though only now published was in great measure ready five years ago Mark Twain was aided in preparing it, so the writer understands, by Mr. W. D. Howells.

The story of the Gilded Age developed the unique character of Colonel Sellers, unique in letters but familiar in daily life, and the play of Colonel Sellers based on the story was worked out by Mark Twain and proved as great a success as his stories.

Already more than half a million, probably six hundred or seven hundred thousand, of Mark Twain's books have been sold in this country.

The prospective father-in-law wrote letters of inquiry to several residents of San Francisco to whom Clemens referred him, and with one exception the letters denounced him bitterly, especially deriding his capacity for becoming a good husband.

Mark sat beside his fiancée when the letters were read aloud by the old gentleman.

There was a dreadful silence for a moment, and then Mark stammered, "'Well, that's pretty rough on a fellow, anyhow.' His betrothed came to the rescue, however, and overturned the mass of testimony against him by saying, "'I'll risk you anyhow.' the terrible father-in-law lived in elmira new york and there mark was married he had told his friends in the newspaper office at buffalo to select him a suite of rooms in a first-class boarding-house in the city and to have a carriage at the depot to meet the bride and groom mark knew they would do it and gave himself no more anxiety about it when he reached buffalo he found a handsome carriage a beautiful span of horses and a driver in livery they drove him up to a handsome house on an aristocratic street and as the door was opened there were the parents of the bride to welcome them home the old folks had arrived on the quiet by special train after mark had gone through the house and examined its elegant finishings he was notified officially that he had been driven by his own coachman in his own carriage to his own house they say tears came to his wonderfully dark and piercing eyes and that all he could say was well this is a first-class not long after his marriage mark settled down in hartford and invested capital in insurance companies there his second book roughing it appeared in eighteen seventy one and had almost as large a sale as its predecessor he visited england a few months later and arranged for the publication of his works there in four volumes on his return he issued his third book in partnership with charles dudley warner which was styled the gilded age this was followed by the adventures of tom sawyer a book for boys in eighteen seventy six these books all commanded an immense sale and several editions have been exhausted the american publishing company of hartford represented these works in this country chatto and windus published them in england and mark's continental publisher was tauschnitz of leipzig among his other accomplishments clemens is a politician and has done good service on the stump for the republican party for all this he is the proud possessor of the title of honorable many of the most ludicrous scenes in the works of mark twain are taken from life the steamboat scene in the adventures of colonel sellers was witnessed by him when a young man his adventure with a dead man was in his father's office in missouri his description of the horror creeping over him as he saw a ghastly hand lying in the moonlight how he tried to shut his eyes and tried to count and opened them in time to see the dead man lying on the floor stiff and stark with a ghastly wound in his side and lastly how he beat a terrified retreat through the window carrying the sash with him is vividly remembered by every reader of the gilded age the whole thing occurred just as mark recorded it the man was killed in a street fight almost in front of mr clemens's door was taken in there while a post-mortem examination was held and there left until the next morning during the night mark came in and the scene described was enacted a writer in the san francisco chronicle wrote not many years since as follows there have been moments in the lives of various kind-hearted and respectable citizens of california and nevada when if mark twain were up before them as members of a vigilance committee for any mild crime such as mule-stealing or arson it is to be feared his shrift would have been short what a dramatic picture the idea conjures up to be sure mark before those honest men infuriated by his practical jokes trying to show them what an innocent creature he was when it came to mules or how the only policy of fire insurance he held had lapsed how void of guile he was in any direction and all with that inimitable drawl that perplexed countenance and the peculiar scraping back of the left foot like a boy speaking his first piece at school it is but fair to say that the fun that mark mixed up for citizens in those days was not altogether appreciated in the midst of it for some one touched too sharply surgibat mari aliquid and mark had another denouncer joined to the wounded throng he is keenly sensitive to sympathy or criticism and relates as one of the most harrowing experiences of his life a six hours ride across england his fellow-traveller an englishman who shortly after they started drew forth the first volume of the english edition of innocence abroad from his pocket and calmly perused it from beginning to end without a smile then he drew forth the second volume and read it as solemnly as the first mark says he thought he should die yet john bull was probably enjoying it after his own undemonstrative style in another instance the same writer says of mark twain this literary wag has performed some services which entitled him to the gratitude of his generation he has run the traditional sunday-school book boy through his literary mangle and turned him out washed and ironed into a proper state of flatness and collapse that whining canting early dying anmic creature was the nauseating model held up to the full-blooded mischievous lads of bygone years as worthy their imitation he poured his religious hypocrisy over every honest pleasure a boy had he whined his lachrymose warnings on every playground he vexed their lives so when mark grew old enough he went gunning for him and lo Wherever his soul may be, the skin of the strummest young pietist is now neatly tacked up to view on the Sunday-school door of to-day as a warning, and the lads of to-day see no particular charm in a priggish, hydropathical existence.

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Roughing It, 1871, and A Tramp Abroad, 1880, are of the same character in many respects, but each has its individuality, while they all have the individuality of the author stamped upon them.

Mark Twain's list of publications includes Beside the Jumping Frog, Innocence Abroad, Roughing It, and A Tramp Abroad, which have already been alluded to, The Gilded Age, by himself and Charles Dudley Warner, 1873, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 1876, Sketches, 1877, The Prince and the Pauper, 1881, The Stolen White Elephant, 1883, Life on the Mississippi, 1883, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 1885, and A Library of Humor, 1888.

This last is a compilation of the characteristic works of American humorists in which all classes of such writers are included, both the dead and the living.

It is a large volume, and as the first is so large it may be followed by others of a similar nature.

He visited England a few months later and arranged for the publication of his works there in four volumes.

On his return, he issued his third book in partnership with Charles Dudley Warner, which was styled The Gilded Age.

This was followed by The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, a book for boys, in 1876.

These books all commanded an immense sale, and several editions have been exhausted.

his satire and wit, speak for themselves.

The Author this is chapter two of mark twain his life and work a biographical sketch by william m clemens this libervox recording is in the public domain chapter two samuel langhorne clemens john greenman there is more or less obscurity surrounding the ancestry and birth of mark twain his ancestors were of dutch and english extraction the clemens family extended back to nicholas clemens who lived in holland early in the last century upon the maternal side the langhorns were of english birth in the days of the revolution there came to america three sturdy pioneers bearing the clemens name one of these settled in virginia another in pennsylvania the former prospered in the southern colony and the name became well known in the south more especially in the political history of that section early in the present century jeremiah clemens was a united states senator from alabama and a congressman a judge and other dignitaries bore the name john marshall clemens the father of mark twain was one of a fine virginia family a man of brain and force of character he migrated to kentucky and soon thereafter to adair county in tennessee he was married there in fentress county to miss langhorne a warm-hearted domestic woman with great emotional depths the family fled from those vast landed possessions in tennessee so graphically described in the gilded age and crossed the river into missouri in eighteen twenty nine locating in the town of florida in monroe county a few months after their arrival samuel langhorne clemens first saw the light of day on the thirtieth of november eighteen thirty five three years later the family removed to hannibal a river town in marion county in eighteen forty the elder clemens filled the ancient and honorable office of justice of the peace he was a stern unbending man of sterling common sense and was indeed the autocrat of the little dingy room on bird street where he held his court and preserved order in the village the court-room fairly indicated the rustic simplicity of the people and the frugal manner in which judge clemens lived and transacted business the furniture consisted of a dry-goods box which served the double purpose of a desk for the judge and a table for the lawyers three or four rude stools and a puncheon bench for the jury here on court days when the judge climbed upon his three-legged stool rapped upon the box with his knuckles and demanded silence in the court it was fully expected that silence would reign supreme as a general thing the rough characters who lounged about to see the wheels of justice move bowed submissively to the mandates of the judge an overbearing turbulent and quarrelsome man named allen b mcdonald was an exception and many a time he had violated the rules and been rebuked by the court upon one occasion macdonald was plaintive in a case against one jacob smith judge clemens was presiding with his usual dignity and the court-room was filled with witnesses and friends of the parties to the suit one frank snyder a peaceable citizen had given his testimony in favor of defendant smith and resumed his seat when macdonald with an exasperated air made a face at him as quick as a flash snyder whipped out an old pepper-box revolver and emptied every barrel at macdonald hurting no one but filling the room with smoke and consternation in the confusion that followed judge clemens doubtless remembering macdonald's turbulent spirit instantly concluded that he was the aggressor and seizing a hammer that lay near by he dealt him a blow that sent him senseless and quivering to the floor the court was completely master of the situation being a kind-hearted man he was greatly mortified when he learned that he had struck the wrong fellow but the oldest inhabitant never heard him admit that it was a lick amiss his death occurred in eighteen forty three his grave in mount olivet cemetery near hannibal is marked by a tasteful monument erected by his son hannibal was a sleepy river town characteristic of that day william dean howells in a brief sketch of mark twain's career says hannibal as a name is hopelessly confused and ineffective but if we know nothing of mr clemens from hannibal we can know much of hannibal from mr clemens who in fact has studied a loafing out at elbows down at the heels slaveholding mississippi river town of thirty years ago with such strong reality in his boy's romance of tom sawyer that we need inquire nothing further concerning the type the original perhaps no longer exists anywhere certainly not in hannibal which has grown into a flourishing little city the morality of the place was the morality of a slave-holding community fierce arrogant one-sided the religion was calvinism in various phases with its predestinate aristocracy of saints and its rabble of hopeless sinners doubtless young clemens escaped neither of the opposing influences wholly his people like the rest were slaveholders but his father like so many other slaveholders abhorred slavery silently as he must in such a time and place mark twain's childhood home was that of an ordinary backwoods infant his boyhood was a series of mischievous adventures he was sent to school at an early age where he says he excelled only in spelling he delighted to spend much of his time upon the river and so successfully was he in getting into the turbid waters that he was dragged out of the river six times before he was twelve years of age his mother said of him Sam was always a good-hearted boy.

but he was a very wild and mischievous one and do what we could we could never make him go to school this used to trouble his father and me dreadfully and we were convinced that he would never amount to as much in the world as his brothers because he was not near so steady and sober-minded as they were often his father would start him off to school and in a little while would follow him to ascertain his whereabouts there was a large stump on the way to the school-house and sam would take his position behind that and as his father went past would gradually circle around it in such a way as to keep out of sight finally his father and the teacher both said it was of no use to try to teach sam anything because he was determined not to learn but i never gave up he was always a great boy for history and could never get tired of that kind of reading but he hadn't any use for schoolhouses and text-books

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a friend who lived amid the scenes of his boyhood writes the old home of the clemens family was a two-story brick with a large tree in front a little way down the river is the cave by which tom sawyer made his wonderful escape and by means of an underground passage the city of hannibal is easily regained We used to play about the old village blacksmith's shop, and were always in mischief.

The old blacksmith became so provoked one day that he caught Sam and with a shingle made him so sore that he did not sit down for a week.