MARK TWAIN.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 800, 25 April 1910, Page 7

MARK TWAIN.

DEATH-BED INCIDENTS, I FORTUNE EXCEEDS 1,000,88 - 1 DOLLAES. i By T«leeraDh—Press ABsoclatloa—floD3rrl«hi "1 Mew - York, April 22., Shortly before his death, Mark Twain, ■ : despjto his. weakness, asked for a ' ' 1 ! writing-pad and his spectacles,-,, and -'-! i a cheque for 6000 dollars in favour H iof the Mark Twain Libraryj at Redding. "• He continued joking with his .. nurses : [ and despite . acuto . angina | pectoris and cardiac astfema. ; { | i ios° a cigar, saying, j-_.j It a only .two o'clock in thq afternoon, •■{ : yet here s the third of four "smokes I am : I | allowed daily—and for years I have been. 1 h&ving forty. I would like to sit here i and smoke for ever." \ : " ii He became unconscious at three : 1 o'clock. ■) London, April 22. .1 Harper Brothers, Mark Twain's pub- v " ushers, estimate that his fortune will M exceed a million dollars. Practically all m has been bequeathed to his daughter- . '] INCIDENTS IN MARK TWAUFS , CAREER. J ■■ v.v;,/:\| Perhaps no better insist of his fan- ' ] Uy hfe,- and by inference, of himself as j t ' 04,1 1)0 8' yen than thai J afforded by a letter which, in 1885, he 1 wrote to the "Christian'. Union," ft •? n^,(- t^ a - Vn i-i ottt a f° re going letter 1 , Iw? f "fl P 3 ? 01 " ■ 011 the sub- ' ject of the discipline of children, to ' which he was moved ,to reply.'-lieM J is no need-to stato the particular rxxmi ; in discMsion, or the argument on either- : j side. But, as pertinent to what he had 1 been saying,, Mark, towards tho end of. ...j lus communication, hroke mtothiapoiv sonal strain:— • i , mother of mv children adores' i tton—there is no milder' term for it— , and they worship her; they even wor- 1 ship anything' which the touch of her i nana has_ rendered sacred. They know her for the best and truest friend they ' have ever had or ever shall have; they "" Know her for one who never did them , a OTong and cannot do them' a wrong: :' J ; who never told thema lie or the shadow 1 or one; who never; deceived them by J even an ambiguous gesture, who:never gave them .an unreasonable command, , nor ever contented herself .with any- 5 thing short;of a perfect obedience; who i Has always treated them as politely l and consistently ; as she would the best ! and., oldest in the land, and has always } required of them gentle speech; and conduct towards all, of what- j soever degree, ;with whom they ch.-nce ' to come in contact; they know her for '• one whose, promise, whether of regard or punishment, .is gold .and' always ] worth its face to the utmost farthing.'!'4^l In a >ord, they know her, and I know j ?f r i v r ■ best and dearest mother l that lives —and by a long, lone wav tho- -> wisest." i . - .. ■ . .-• j AfteNJinner Speeches. ' ' > ' In the oourse of an interview dunnerhis recent visit to England Mark TY.V'n said: "Nowaday® joking isn't quite tlib " i same thing as it used to be with m «. in tunes gone by I nover cared, where or when or how it was. I'd do my best aad .think no more about it. Now 1 ' tomehow or other, iit'B different lam an old man, and have to be in tho - mood,. Take after-dinner speeches, for ■ ■■ 1 instance. I feeJ nowadays I'd hlc' to W prepare them beforehand.; But I cant !' bring myself to !do it. Itwooldn't be ' honest. ■ So: I'm anxious all -the tim« ]i about what I'm going to say. Some I people" managed- to- find it. iii .'the jug. -: 1 'My' jug's generally empty.-. Everything v! .depends, he continued, "on previous ' speakers. Tory often I g6..down : to a ' public dinner, hoping and praying that >.» somobody may let me fall any little bit'-- j of. inspiration—just a crumb. -But it's | ■no good. . No, it was very different wffih i Birroll. He was. bully. He stirred ma. 1 "— •'] What/ a speech that was. to rep]y to! Every sentence a text! _ I .h'atf t..tima>-'■' 1 to.use half his suggestions. Give mo ] more Birrells, and 111 speak jnst as ' long as you've a mind to hear me. Still, what I want to. know abotrt this afteisJinner. speaking 'ie—what's the ; j good'of it all; what's-it<all for?" v-j Some Twain Stories. The deceased to feJl some fine stories. , One concerned hja first earnings. When a boy, ho was 4 - a certain school rioted for its belief in . Solomon's, adage Teg&rding'the rod and . the child, and ono j>articu!ar misde- 1 meanour which never weat'! unpunwhed I was tile l marking of the schoolroom desks. Unless the culprit could pay up ii' fine of five dollars he was sure of a , i severe caning.' One day young Clemens ' happened to disfigure'his desk wfth-sun- .' i? dry original designs, and was caught: by the . master: and offered tho uruaJ alternative—tho fine or the whipping. -- , 1 Ho went and told his father, wio, be- j ing a kindhearted man, gave him th#. .j five , dollars. Now five dollars, :was a! j" large sum to Master Clemens, and one '. whipping more or less did not mako " verj- much difference,;, "so. ; that,"- ho.'Y'i; says quietly when, he tells tho . story, fiS "was how I earned my, first five dollars."

On one occasion Twain went to hear j q missionary .preach in aid of tie suf-iN fering poor, and wa;s delighted with the,' earnestness of the speaker. Tho author j had four hundred-dollar bills in his i

pocket, and determined to givo one of.: ! them as soon as the collection took' 1 .-, ! place. The missionary continued. his ;.i preaching, and the pictures ho drew of • the poverty-stricken districts so touch- :

ed 1 Twain that he decided to give two ' ' of the bills to aid the good cause, As time wont on,. the speaker> became so /. v eloquent that the famous humorist, al- •: '*

most besido himself at the harrowing , 'M details, made up his mind to put all four : bills.in the collection plate.; But; the missionary was so carried away with hia own eloquence that lie went a bit too' I far, and continued talking ~ and - talk-i ing to such an extent that Mark Twain 'i mentally took those bills back again . j one by one until all four of them were j his again. "Arid," he . adds when he r;» narrates the incident* (although this • i part of the story mu6t be taken with : all reserve), "when he finally did send ■'< that plate round, I borrowed ten oenta

out of it to pay my car faro homo." '• > A celebrated artist onco asked Twain , ! to his studio to see some of his piotures, and. the humorist, having been previously told that the painter was a ' confirmed joker, determined to beat him £ ! at his own game. Pretending to bo ' very dense, ho walked up to i. f ing and began to criticise it. "Not at all bad," lie said, "but," moving- his hand dangerously near the canvas; "if ' I were you I'd do away with that 1 cloud." The artist was in agonies, "Take care," he cried, "don't touch ; ' that, the paint's not yet dry." "Oh, : 1 that's all right," , said Mark Twain! genially. "Don't you worry, I've got I my gloves on 1" A well-known conjuror one day sot an<1 * thinking " ' that tho author did not know who )i« '■ was, decided to try , the effect of om of his tricks. While Mark Twain was ' engaged m cutting a lettuce, the con! jurer gave an explanation of surprise and putting his hand among tho loaves 1 * 1 drow a valuable diamond tin* 1 tfufc the wtiy mimonst was not to £"• .so deluded, and .telling' tho inao- 1 u5? ? y,s thiiifca 1 like that about the place, called ; waitress to him. and solemnly g*v o her tho ring. What the conjurer remarked ' -• is not recorded, but-it took him all his ' timo to regain possession, of his ran. > Jjerty, • i