SAMUEL LANGHORNE CLEMENS, the son of a country merchant from Tennessee, was born at
Florida Missouri, on November 30, 1835. His boyhood was spent in Hannibal, Missouri; but his father’s
death in 1847 cut short the boy’s schooling and sent him out into the world at an early age. He learned
type-setting, and in the pursuit of this craft he wandered as far east as New York. When he was seventeen
he returned to the west and became a pilot on the Mississippi, an occupation he followed until traffic was
interrupted by the war. Drifting farther west to Nevada, he saw something of mining and began to write
for the newspapers, using as his pen name “Mark Twain,” from a call used in recording soundings on the
Mississippi. Finally reaching California, he made the acquaintance of Bret Harte, then in the San
Francisco Mint, and told him the story of “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” It was
the publication of this famous yarn that first brought him into notice; and a San Francisco newspaper
enabled him to join a party which had chartered a steamer for a Mediterranean tour. His first book, “The
Innocents Abroad,” was made from the letters written on this trip, and it immediately achieved a wide
popularity. Availing himself of the publicity thus won, he took to the lecture platform, where he
delighted his audiences with his extraordinary talent for story-telling and his droll humor. After a short