MARK TWAIN RECITAL

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 9869, 15 January 1918, Page 6

MARK TWAIN RECITAL

A GREAT GATHERING,

Every seat was occupied in tho big assembly hall at tho Y'.M.C.A. last night on tfio occasion of Professor Truehlood’s Mark Twain rooital. Many, indeed, had to be content with standing-room only. Mr John Caughley (Assistant-Direc-tor of Education), who presided, heartily welcomed the professor as an American citizen, and made graceful reference to tho fact that tho Stars and Stripes and the Union Jack floated side by side, not only over the platform, but also over the trenches at the front. (Applause.)

Professor Trueblood said that he had chosen to speak on Mark Twain because he believed that tho great humorists! like Mark Twain and Dickens and Dooley, who had mado people smile a great deal, had taken them out of themselves, array from, the tragedies of life, and' in that way had accomplished a great deal for humanity. (Applause.) in the final reckoning and rating of American authors, ho was not sure that Mark Twain would not hej reckoned as their greatest writer. Certainly, he was their greatest humorist —one of the three greatest of the world’s humorists, standing beside Cervantes and Dickens. (Applause.) None excelled him in the human interest that pervaded his writings. Mark Twain had given them some of the most dramatic of characters, such as were to be found in “Huckleberry Finn,” “The Prince and the Pauper,” and “A Yankee at the Court of King Arthur.” These were also brimful of fun and humour. In “Joan of Arc,” again, and also in parts of .the “Prince and the Pauper.” ho'had touched the heights of sublimity; and he had reached tho high watermark of pathos in both of those books. They enjoyed him also because of the saneness of his philosophy. Always some good lesson came along with his humorous characteristics; Mark Twain, too, was a man of great courage and integrity. When he and his publishers got into money difficulties, Mark Twain, though he did not care to go intaypublic at such a time, took to the platform, and went all round, tho world, including Wellington city, and thus ' ho' earned the money to pay off their debts. (Applause.) Mark Twain was a most prolific writer, and his works were translated into all the civilised languages, and also into German. (Laughter.) “The Innocents Abroad” and “The Tramp Abroad,” said Professor Trueblood 1 , were the best of guide-books if one only knew when tho author was joking and when he was not; and he recited some very amusing excerpts from these hooks as samples of Mark Twain’s wit and humour. A mirth-provoking account of ail encounter with a newspaper interviewer followed. Mark Twain was bom in the South in tho old slave clays, and extracts from “The Gilded Age” and “Huckleberry Finn” were given to illustrate his perfect understanding of the negro character. “Huck” Finn’s dissertation “on some kings” to Jim, the negro, with whom he ran away, kept the- audience bubbling over with merriment. A hearty vote of thanks to Professor Trueblood was carried by acclamation on the calk of the chairman, .and the National Anthem closed the proceedings.