Seattle University - Aegis Yearbook (Seattle, WA)

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S E A T T , E C O Jj L E G E A X X U A L .‘51 HJark ©main SOME one has said: “A man must be dead before the general public will appreciate his worth.” Now there is some logic in this assertion. The most noble and zealous states- men and defenders of the American republic were men whose administration and achievements were in their time the basis of the most severe criticism. Today their memory is engraved in golden letters in the hearts of our citizens. Hut the truth of the assertion is still more evident when applied to our leaders in the literary world. While Mr. Clemens’ ability as a humorist was recognized years ago, yet it is not till after his death that due recognition has been given him and that our admiration for him has multiplied. Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born November 30, 1835, at Florida, Missouri; but his parents removed shortly afterwards to Hannibal, Missouri, a small town on the Mississippi, where most of the humorist’s boyhood was spent. His mother was one of the earliest, prettiest and brightest of many belles who have given Kentucky an enviable reputation as a nursery of fair women, and her vivacity and wit left no doubt in the minds of her friends concerning the source of her son’s genius. His father, an austere and singularly upright man, died bankrupt when the lad was twelve years old, and the boy had hereafter to make what scramble he could for an education. He got very little learning in school, but. like Franklin, in whom the impulse was native, he turned to the local printing office for some of the education from which he had been cut off. After working in the leading newspaper offices from the Pacific to the Atlantic, he tried his fortune at a new vocation. Piloting on the Mississippi offered a special fascination for Clemens. Of this period of his life he has left us a full account in the delightful series of papers, “Piloting On the Mississippi.” The growth of the railroads and the outbreak of the Civil War put an end to profitable piloting, and at twenty-four he was again in search of new fields of labor. He listened for a moment to the loudly calling sound of the drum, and he was actually in camp for three weeks on the Confederate side. Hut the organized force to which lie belonged was disbanded and he finally did not go “with his section,” either in sentiment or in fact. Mr. Clemens next tried his luck at mining, but he did not seem to possess much of a Midas touch. After his failure as a miner had become evident, even to himself, he accepted a position as local editor on the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise. It was here that he first used his pseudonym “Mark Twain,” which, according to some authorities, he borrowed from the vernacular of the river, when the man “heaving the lead” called out “mark twain” instead of “mark two.” Several years afterwards he entered the lecture field. Of these days there is full record, all his readers know, in “Roughing It.” In 1867 Mr. Clemens made the excursion to Europe and the East which he has commemorated in “Innocents Abroad. Shortly after his return he married and located at Huffalo, where he bought an interest in one of the city’s newspapers. Later he moved to Hartford, where he spent the remainder of his life. Thousands have wondered what the special charm of Mark Twain is. Can it be that he was different from any other author that ever lived? His marvelous sense of humor followed him to every place and shone forth in print with a brilliancy never dreamed of before. His humor is as irrepressible as Lincoln’s and bubbles forth on every occasion. Let me make this

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REV. A. J. COl'DEYRK, S. .1. REV. HENRY A. GAHRIKL, S. J. A FACULTY GROUP REV. F. .1. H1RKE. S. J. REV. S. M. FI LIPPI, S. .1.

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32 T II K P A L K S T II A clear by a simple incident. Mr. Clemens was much troubled, according to his biographer, Henderson, by persons who imagined that they were his double. On receiving a letter from one of them, with a photograph enclosed, lie replied as follows: “My Dear Friend: Many thanks for your letter with the enclosed photograph. Your resemblance to ire is remarkable. In fact, to be perfectly honest, you look more like me than I look like myself. I was so impressed by this resemblance that I had your picture framed, and I now use it regularly in place of a mirror to shave bv. Yours gratefully, “S. L. Clemens.” His humor, universally accepted as the best, gave him great popularity not only in America but also in England. Many of his works have been translated into French, German, and Italian. Apart from the English, the Italians are perhaps the most enthusiastic about his writings. I'hus Signor Helazza says of him that he is not only the greatest humorist, but also that he is without a rival since the days of Cervantes and Shakespeare, with perhaps the sole exception of that eternal Jew, Henriech Heine. Hut. as Hrandcr Matthews says, “a humorist is often without honor in his own country.” The reason for this is rather obscure, yet the fact remains obvious. A humorist must hazard the risk of being tolerated as a mere triller, a shallow fun-maker, the Fool, playing with his bells and baubles for His Royal Highness, the Public,—and as such he is not to be taken seriously. Phis is often the penalty inflicted on the humorist, and Mark Twain had to pay the penalty. Many literati ignored him, deeming him an uncultured pedlar of crude puns, an uncouth jester. The critics, however, who discuss the merits of his wit and humor, say that Mr. Clemens docs not deserve such unfair treatment. They wax enthusiastic over him, call him a genius, and fervidly proclaim his parity to the great Spaniard who bade forth from his mind the immortal Don Quixote, 'i'hrough his writings we behold Mark Twain as the true friend of all humanity, bubbling over with glad humor and friendliness, laughing merrily over the absurdities and incongruities he encounters in the world, and gently caviling at its miseries. He is a sincere observer of life in which he finds such mixture of joy and sorrow that his heart goes out in sympathy to all men. Hut Mark Twain has a serious side. When he gave Joan of Arc to the world he clearly demonstrated that, had he chosen, he might easily have become one of the great masters of English prose. Joan of Arc, probably his one serious work, historically accurate and sympathetically phrased, betrays that Mr. Clemens could handle a reverent subject in a reverent manner. Although full credit is not given to the part played by the angelic voices in determining Joan’s future, yet the author cannot be blamed for this. He wrote as he understood, and did not imprudently venture beyond his ken. When we consider this little appreciation of the Maid of Orleans, with its combination of sympathy, poetic feeling and genuine appreciation of tlie noble and the great, we have but one regret—that Mark Twain has not written more of the serious. In his characters we hear the man speak; his broad, sincere, and genial self is ever peeping out from the printed page, giving to the creatures of his fancy the appealing qualities of naturalness and sympathy. While Mark Twain lived he was held dear by an extended circle of friends and admirers. “We think of Mark Twain not as of other celebrities, but as the man we knew and loved,” said Henry Van Dyke in his Memorial Address. “We remember the realities which made his life, while we admire the strong and natural manhood that was in him, the depth and tenderness of his affections, his laughing enmity to all shams and pretences, his long and faithful witness to honesty and fair dealing.’’ The death of Mark Twain removed