"Mark Twain makes Stop At Library Today"

Currently on display near the Library’s circulation desk is a collection of books by or about Mark Twain, an American literary giant of the last half of the 19th century. Who hasn’t read the books, listened to recordings of, or viewed the videos of “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” or “Huckleberry Finn”?

This Sunday afternoon, at 2:00 PM, in the lower level of the Library, the “Friends of the Library” will be hosting a presentation of “Mark Twain on the Lecture Circuit”. This re-enactment will be performed by Wally Seiler, a banker from Alliance, Nebraska. The program is underwritten by the Nebraska Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
 
Born in 1835 in Monroe County, Missouri, Samuel Langhorne Clemens moved with his family to the riverboat terminal of Hannibal, Missouri. When he was eleven, his father died of pneumonia. As a youth, he worked as an apprentice printer. At sixteen, he began writing humorous newspaper articles. He left Hannibal at eighteen and worked as a printer in New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Cincinnati. Clemens returned to Missouri when he was twenty-two and worked as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River until the river-freighting business was closed by a Union blockade during the Civil War.

Although living in a Confederate state, Clemens remained loyal to the Union. He was able to avoid serving in the armed services on either side of the conflict by joining his brother, Orion, who had been appointed secretary to the territorial governor of Nevada.

Heading west by stagecoach, they traveled for more than two weeks across the Great Plains and over the Rocky Mountains. On their way west, they camped with the gold rush venturers along the route and visited the polygamous Mormon city of Salt Lake City. His travels ended in the silver-mining town and state capitol of Virginia City, Nevada. His experience on this journey contributed significantly to the book, “Roughing It”, published in 1871.

Once in Nevada, Clemens became a miner for a short time. When the “Comstock” eluded him after a few months, Clemens found work at a newspaper called the “Daily Territorial Enterprise” in Virginia City. It was while working for the “Enterprise” that he adopted the pen name “Mark Twain” in an article published in 1863.

“The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” (1876) remains his most popular book, but other titles such as “The Prince and the Pauper,” (1882) “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court” captured the reading interest of Americans and Europeans alike. His non-fiction book, “Life on the Mississippi” (1883), also proved very profitable for him.

Written in mid-career, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”( 1884), combined humor and social criticism in a way almost unrivaled in world literature. “Huckleberry Finn” remains a classic that continues to be read in nearly every high school American literature class.

Even though he was a critically acclaimed humorist, novelist, writer and lecturer, Twain was plagued by financial and business difficulties most of his life. Immensely popular with the public, his lecture tours brought him a measure of financial comfort in his later years. Twain died in 1910.

Readers are encouraged to attend this 40-minute presentation. The “Friends of the Columbus Public Library will be holding a short meeting afterwards to elect a slate of officers for the coming year. Although a slate will be proposed, nominations will also be taken from those in attendance.