Mark Twain

[CAPTIONING MADE POSSIBLE BY GENERAL MOTORS] Man as Twain: "I WAS MADE MERELY IN THE IMAGE OF GOD, BUT NOT OTHERWISE RESEMBLING HIM ENOUGH TO BE MISTAKEN FOR HIM BY ANYBODY BUT A VERY NEAR-SIGHTED PERSON.

I BELIEVE THAT OUR HEAVENLY FATHER INVENTED MAN BECAUSE HE WAS DISAPPOINTED IN THE MONKEY."

MARK TWAIN.

Narrator: HE WAS A SOUTHERNER AND A NORTHERNER, A WESTERNER AND A NEW ENGLAND YANKEE, A TIRELESS WANDERER WHO LIVED IN A THOUSAND PLACES ALL AROUND THE WORLD.

HE WOULD CALL JUST TWO OF THEM HOME--THE MISSOURI TOWN OF HIS CHILDHOOD, WHICH HE WOULD TRANSFORM INTO THE IDEALIZED HOMETOWN OF EVERY AMERICAN BOY, AND THE MAGNIFICENT CONNECTICUT HOUSE HE BUILT FOR HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN, WHICH HE HOPED WOULD SHELTER THEM FROM HARDSHIP, BUT WHERE HEARTBREAK FOUND THEM NONETHELESS.

[STEAM WHISTLE BLOWS] DURING HIS LONG LIFE, HE WAS A PRINTER'S APPRENTICE AND A RIVERBOAT PILOT, A PROSPECTOR WHO NEVER STRUCK GOLD AND A CONFEDERATE SOLDIER WHO NEVER FOUGHT A BATTLE.

[LAUGHTER] HE WAS CONSIDERED THE FUNNIEST MAN ON EARTH, A BRILLIANT PERFORMER ON THE LECTURE CIRCUIT WHO COULD ENTERTAIN ALMOST ANY AUDIENCE, AND A SPECTACULARLY INEPT BUSINESSMAN WHOSE COUNTLESS SCHEMES TO GET RICH QUICK THREATENED AGAIN AND AGAIN TO BRING HIM TO RUIN.

BUT ABOVE ALL, MARK TWAIN WAS A WRITER, A NATURAL-BORN STORYTELLER AND A SELF-TAUGHT GENIUS WITH WORDS WHO UNDERSTOOD BEFORE ANYONE ELSE THAT ART COULD BE CREATED OUT OF THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE.

Ron Powers, writer: THE GENIUS WAS FOR SPEAKING THE VOICE OF AMERICA, FOR INTERNALIZING AND THEN FLAWLESSLY REPRODUCING THE VOICE OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

Arthur Miller, playwright: HE WROTE AS THOUGH THERE HAD BEEN NO LITERATURE BEFORE HIM, AS THOUGH HE HAD DISCOVERED THE ART OF TELLING A STORY ABOUT THESE FOLKS THAT INHABIT THIS CONTINENT AND THAT THERE WAS NO OTHER CONTINENT.

IT WAS LIKE SOMETHING THAT ROSE UP OUT OF THE SEA AND HAD NO HISTORY, AND HE WAS JUST TELLING WHAT HE RAN INTO.

Hal Holbrook, actor: HE MADE AMERICAN SPEECH SOMETHING TO BE ADMIRED.

EUROPEAN LANGUAGE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE IDEAL, BUT HE JUST-- HE IDEALIZED THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE, AND HE USED THE WAY WE TALK AND TURNED IT INTO LITERATURE.

Narrator: HE WROTE CONSTANTLY-- NEWSPAPER STORIES, POETRY, PLAYS, POLITICAL DIATRIBES, TRAVEL PIECES, IRREVERENT MUSINGS ABOUT RELIGION, AND A SERIES OF AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES NOTED AS MUCH, HE ADMITTED, FOR THE TALL TALES THEY SPUN AS FOR THE TRUTH THEY TOLD.

AND HE WROTE BOOKS--BOOKS READ BY MILLIONS, INCLUDING THE DECEPTIVELY SIMPLE STORY OF A BACKWOODS BOY AND A RUNAWAY SLAVE THAT SHOWED HIS PEOPLE A WHOLE NEW WAY TO THINK ABOUT THEMSELVES.

David Bradley, writer: I THINK MARK TWAIN UNDERSTOOD THAT IF WE WERE GOING TO BE A COUNTRY, IF AMERICA WAS GOING TO BE THE NATION THAT IT STARTED OUT TO BE, THE PROBLEM OF RACE HAD TO BE SOLVED, AND I THINK HE REALIZED THAT IT WASN'T BEING SOLVED.

MARK TWAIN TOLD THE TRUTH.

HE SAW WHAT WE WERE ABOUT AND WAS NOT AFRAID TO DEAL WITH THINGS THAT OTHER PEOPLE WERE AFRAID TO DEAL WITH.

Narrator: LIKE THE NATION HE WOULD COME TO EMBODY, HE WAS ALWAYS REINVENTING HIMSELF, ALWAYS RESTLESS, ALWAYS FULL OF CONTRADICTIONS.

"I AM NOT AN AMERICAN," MARK TWAIN SAID, "I AM THE AMERICAN."

Man as Twain: "I WAS BORN THE 30th OF NOVEMBER 1835 IN THE ALMOST INVISIBLE VILLAGE OF FLORIDA, MONROE COUNTY, MISSOURI.

THE VILLAGE CONTAINED A HUNDRED PEOPLE, AND I INCREASED THE POPULATION BY 1%.

IT IS MORE THAN MANY OF THE BEST MEN IN HISTORY COULD HAVE DONE FOR A TOWN.

THERE IS NO RECORD OF A PERSON DOING AS MUCH, NOT EVEN SHAKESPEARE, BUT I DID IT FOR FLORIDA, MISSOURI, AND IT SHOWS I COULD HAVE DONE IT FOR ANY PLACE, EVEN LONDON, I SUPPOSE."

Narrator: HE WAS BORN SAMUEL LANGHORNE CLEMENS, THE SIXTH OF 7 CHILDREN, TWO MONTHS PREMATURE AND SO THIN AND SICKLY, HIS MOTHER REMEMBERED, THAT "I COULD SEE NO PROMISE IN HIM."

BUT HALLEY'S COMET HAD BLAZED IN THE SKY THE NIGHT OF HIS BIRTH, AND SHE CLUNG TO THE HOPE THAT IT MIGHT BE A BRIGHT OMEN FOR HER BABY'S FUTURE.

HIS FATHER, JOHN CLEMENS, WAS A MERCHANT, LAWYER, AND OWNER OF A FEW SLAVES, WHOSE CHRONIC FINANCIAL FAILURES HAD FORCED HIM TO START OVER 5 TIMES IN A DOZEN YEARS.

SAM CLEMENS WOULD REMEMBER THAT HE NEVER SAW HIS FATHER LAUGH.

HIS MOTHER JANE WAS DIFFERENT.

THOUGH A DEVOUT AND GOD-FEARING PRESBYTERIAN WHO MADE SURE HER CHILDREN MEMORIZED THEIR BIBLE VERSES, SHE LOVED DANCING AND MUSIC, AND DELIGHTED IN HEARING AND TELLING TALL TALES.

[HORSE WHINNIES] IN 1839, HARD TIMES FORCED THE CLEMENS FAMILY TO MOVE ONCE MORE, THIS TIME TO A SMALL MISSISSIPPI RIVER TOWN CALLED HANNIBAL.

THERE, SAM CLEMENS WOULD ACCUMULATE A LIFETIME'S WORTH OF MEMORIES.

IN THE NEARBY WOODS, HE AND HIS FRIENDS PLAYED INDIANS, PIRATES, AND ROBIN HOOD AND HIS MERRY MEN.

THEY EXPLORED A DEEP LIMESTONE CAVE WHERE THE CORPSE OF A 14-YEAR-OLD GIRL WAS SAID TO BE PRESERVED IN A GLASS CYLINDER AND WHERE A LOCAL NE'ER-DO-WELL NAMED "INJUN JOE" ONCE GOT LOST, SURVIVING ONLY ON BATS.

THEY PLAYED HOOKY, SKIPPED SUNDAY SCHOOL, AND SPENT WHOLE DAYS ALONE ON AN ISLAND IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RIVER-- FISHING, SMOKING CORN-COB PIPES, INVENTING PRANKS TO PLAY ON THE TOWNSPEOPLE.

[BOYS TALKING AND SPLASHING] Ron Powers, writer: I THINK THAT PLACE FORMED MARK TWAIN AS IT HAS FORMED ALMOST NO OTHER AMERICAN WRITER.

THROUGH MARK TWAIN, WE SEE HANNIBAL AS AN EDEN.

WE SEE IT AS AN ETERNAL SUMMER.

WE SEE IT AS A PLACE OF WOODS AND HILLS AND THAT GREAT FLOWING RIVER AND BOYS IN STRAW HATS FISHING AND FORMING FRIENDSHIPS, AND THAT CERTAINLY WAS A PART OF HIS CONSCIOUSNESS.

Narrator: MUCH TO HIS PARENTS' DISAPPOINTMENT, ONE OF SAM'S CLOSEST BOYHOOD FRIENDS WAS TOM BLANKENSHIP, THE SON OF THE TOWN DRUNK, WHO LIVED NEARBY IN A WRECKED OLD HOUSE.

AFTER DARK, WHEN SAM HEARD TOM'S SECRET CATCALL, HE WOULD SNEAK OUT THE BEDROOM WINDOW TO JOIN HIM IN A NIGHTTIME OF ADVENTURES.

[OWL HOOTS] Man as Twain: "HE WAS IGNORANT, UNWASHED, INSUFFICIENTLY FED, BUT HE HAD AS GOOD A HEART AS EVER ANY BOY HAD.

HE WAS THE ONLY REALLY INDEPENDENT PERSON, BOY OR MAN, IN THE COMMUNITY, AND BY CONSEQUENCE, HE WAS TRANQUILLY AND CONTINUOUSLY HAPPY AND WAS ENVIED BY ALL THE REST OF US."

Ron Powers, writer: BUT THERE WAS AN UNDERCURRENT TO HANNIBAL, AND THAT UNDERCURRENT INVOLVED SUDDEN DEATH BY DROWNING IN THE RIVER, BY MURDEROUS THUGS WHO WALKED THE STREETS, AND THE BOY WAS AWARE OF ALL OF THESE THINGS.

[THUNDER] Narrator: GROWING UP, SAM CLEMENS WAS RESTLESS AND NERVOUS AND DEEPLY SCARRED WHEN FIRST A SISTER AND THEN A BROTHER DIED OF CHILDHOOD DISEASES.

[THUNDER] HE WAS GIVEN TO TERRIFYING NIGHTMARES AND SLEEP-WALKING AND OCCASIONAL FEARS THAT A LATE-NIGHT THUNDERSTORM WAS GOD'S WARNING TO HIM TO MEND HIS WAYS.

[ROOSTER CROWS] EVERY SUMMER, SAM SPENT SEVERAL WEEKS ON HIS UNCLE'S NEARBY FARM.

THERE, HE AND HIS COUSINS GATHERED IN THE EVENING IN THE CABIN OF AN OLD SLAVE THEY ALL CALLED "UNCLE DANIEL," WHO THRILLED THEM WITH GHOST STORIES AND INTRODUCED THEM TO SPIRITUALS AND JUBILEES.

Voices singing: OH, DO, LORD... Ron Powers, writer: I THINK THAT RACE WAS ALWAYS A FACTOR IN HIS CONSCIOUSNESS PARTLY BECAUSE BLACK PEOPLE AND BLACK VOICES WERE THE NORM FOR HIM BEFORE HE UNDERSTOOD THERE WERE DIFFERENCES.

Voices singing: OH, DO, LORD, REMEMBER ME Ron Powers, writer: THEY WERE THE FIRST VOICES OF HIS YOUTH AND THE MOST POWERFUL, THE MOST METAPHORICAL, THE MOST VIVID STORYTELLING VOICES OF HIS EARLY CHILDHOOD.

UNCLE DAN'L AND AUNT HANNAH, WHO WAS RUMORED TO BE A THOUSAND YEARS OLD AND WAS A CONFIDANT OF MOSES.

THESE WERE TOWERING PERSONALITIES TO HIM.

[MAN HUMMING SPIRITUAL] Man as Twain: "IN MY SCHOOLBOY DAYS, I HAD NO AVERSION TO SLAVERY.

I WAS NOT AWARE THAT THERE WAS ANYTHING WRONG ABOUT IT.

THE LOCAL PAPERS SAID NOTHING AGAINST IT.

THE LOCAL PULPIT TAUGHT US THAT GOD APPROVED IT, THAT IT WAS A HOLY THING, AND THAT THE DOUBTER NEED ONLY LOOK IN THE BIBLE IF HE WISHED TO SETTLE HIS MIND, AND THEN THE TEXTS WERE READ ALOUD TO US TO MAKE THE MATTER SURE.

IF THE SLAVES THEMSELVES HAD AN AVERSION TO SLAVERY, THEY WERE WISE AND SAID NOTHING."

Narrator: ONE OF HIS MOST LASTING CHILDHOOD MEMORIES WAS OF A DOZEN MEN AND WOMEN CHAINED TOGETHER, WAITING TO BE SHIPPED DOWNRIVER TO THE SLAVE MARKET.

"THEY HAD," HE SAID, "THE SADDEST FACES I EVER SAW."

IN 1847, JOHN MARSHAL CLEMENS WAS CAUGHT IN A SLEET STORM, DEVELOPED PNEUMONIA, AND ON MARCH 24, DIED.

TO HELP HIS FAMILY GET BY, SAM HAD TO LEAVE SCHOOL AND GO TO WORK AS A PRINTER'S APPRENTICE.

AT 14, HE GOT A JOB AT A BRAND-NEW PAPER IN TOWN-- THE HANNIBAL JOURNAL.

HIS BOSS WAS HIS OLDER BROTHER ORION, WHO HAD INHERITED HIS FATHER'S GIFT FOR FINANCIAL FAILURE.

OVER THE COURSE OF TWO YEARS, ORION NEVER ONCE PAID HIS BROTHER THE $3.50 A WEEK HE HAD PROMISED.

Ron Powers, writer: ORION WAS A SCHLEMIEL, BUT HE DID, IN HIS BUMBLING, LURE SAMMY INTO THE WORLD OF WORDS AND IDEAS.

BECOMING A PRINTER'S APPRENTICE GAVE HIM AN ALMOST TACTILE POSSESSION OF WORDS.

HE COULD NOW LAY HIS HANDS ON THOSE LETTERS, AND HE COULD SET THE WORDS IN TYPE, AND HE COULD FEEL THE WORDS.

Narrator: SAM MADE THE MOST OF THE EXPERIENCE.

HE READ EVERYTHING HE COULD FIND--SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE, HISTORIES AND NOVELS, NEWSPAPERS FROM EVERYWHERE-- AND HE NOW BEGAN TO WRITE OCCASIONAL LIGHT VERSE AND HUMOROUS SKETCHES UNDER THE PSEUDONYM OF W. EPAMINONDAS ADRASTUS BLAB, "ANYTHING," HE LATER SAID, "TO MAKE THE PAPER LIVELY."

Man as Twain: "HANNIBAL JOURNAL, MAY 6, 1853.

TERRIBLE ACCIDENT!

500 MEN KILLED AND MISSING!!

WE HAD SET THE ABOVE HEAD UP, EXPECTING (OF COURSE) TO USE IT, BUT AS THE ACCIDENT HASN'T HAPPENED, YET, WE'LL SAY... (TO BE CONTINUED.)"

[STEAM WHISTLE BLOWS] Narrator: BY THE TIME SAM WAS 17, HANNIBAL SEEMED TOO CONFINING.

AFTER SOLEMNLY PROMISING HIS MOTHER NOT TO DRINK OR GAMBLE, HE PACKED HIS BAGS AND SET OFF DOWN THE RIVER TO MAKE A NAME FOR HIMSELF.

IT WAS THE BEGINNING OF A LIFETIME OF WANDERING.

HE SET TYPE IN ST. LOUIS, NEW YORK, PHILADELPHIA, KEOKUK, IOWA, AND CINCINNATI, WHERE HE ALSO WROTE HUMOROUS ARTICLES AT $5.00 EACH UNDER THE PEN NAME THOMAS JEFFERSON SNODGRASS.

NONE OF IT SATISFIED HIM.

IN THE SPRING OF 1857, HE BOARDED A STEAMBOAT CALLED THE PAUL JONES BOUND FOR NEW ORLEANS WITH THE GRAND AMBITION OF GOING ON TO BRAZIL TO MAKE HIS FORTUNE TRADING IN COCA PLANTS, BUT ON HIS WAY DOWN THE RIVER, AN OLD DREAM WAS REAWAKENED.

Man as Twain: "WHEN I WAS A BOY, THERE WAS BUT ONE PERMANENT AMBITION AMONG MY COMRADES IN OUR VILLAGE.

THAT WAS TO BE A STEAMBOATMAN.

WE HAD TRANSIENT AMBITIONS OF OTHER SORTS, BUT THEY WERE ONLY TRANSIENT.

WHEN A CIRCUS CAME AND WENT, IT LEFT US ALL BURNING TO BECOME CLOWNS.

THE FIRST NEGRO MINSTREL SHOW THAT CAME TO OUR SECTION LEFT US ALL SUFFERING TO TRY THAT KIND OF LIFE.

NOW AND THEN, WE HAD A HOPE THAT IF WE LIVED AND WERE GOOD, GOD WOULD PERMIT US TO BE PIRATES.

THESE AMBITIONS FADED OUT, EACH IN ITS TURN, BUT THE AMBITION TO BE A STEAMBOATMAN ALWAYS REMAINED."

[STEAM WHISTLE BLOWS] Narrator: BY THE TIME SAM CLEMENS REACHED NEW ORLEANS, HE HAD CONVINCED THE PILOT OF THE PAUL JONES TO TAKE HIM ON AS AN APPRENTICE IN EXCHANGE FOR THE FIRST $500 OF HIS WAGES.

SAM SOON REALIZED JUST HOW DIFFICULT THE JOB WAS.

A RIVERBOAT PILOT NEEDED TO COMMIT TO MEMORY EVERY LANDMARK ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BIG RIVER, 1,200 TWISTING MILES FROM NEW ORLEANS TO ST. LOUIS, KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RIFFLES ON THE WATER'S SURFACE CAUSED BY WIND AND THOSE CREATED BY DANGEROUS REEFS, LEARN TO NOTE THE CHANGING DEPTHS AT EVERY CRUCIAL SPOT WHERE THE LEADSMEN DROPPED THEIR KNOTTED ROPE LINES AND SANG OUT THEIR MEASUREMENTS-- QUARTER-TWAIN, HALF-TWAIN, AND THE MOST PLEASANT SOUND OF ALL TO A PILOT--MARK TWAIN, MEANING TWO FATHOMS, OR 12 FEET.

SAFE WATER.

A PILOT HAD TO DIGEST ALL THIS INFORMATION AND THEN BE ABLE TO APPLY IT DAY AND NIGHT, IN CLEAR WEATHER, AND IMPENETRABLE FOG.

Man as Twain: "THE FACE OF THE WATER, IN TIME, BECAME A WONDERFUL BOOK, A BOOK THAT WAS A DEAD LANGUAGE TO THE UNEDUCATED PASSENGER BUT WHICH TOLD ITS MIND TO ME WITHOUT RESERVE, DELIVERING ITS MOST CHERISHED SECRETS AS CLEARLY AS IF IT UTTERED THEM WITH A VOICE.

AND IT WAS NOT A BOOK TO BE READ ONCE AND THROWN ASIDE, FOR IT HAD A NEW STORY TO TELL EVERY DAY.

THROUGHOUT THE LONG 1,200 MILES, THERE WAS NEVER A PAGE THAT WAS VOID OF INTEREST, NEVER ONE THAT YOU COULD LEAVE UNREAD AND LOST, NEVER ONE THAT YOU WOULD WANT TO SKIP, THINKING YOU COULD FIND HIGHER ENJOYMENT IN SOME OTHER THING.

IN TRUTH, THE PASSENGER WHO COULD NOT READ THIS BOOK SAW NOTHING BUT ALL MANNER OF PRETTY PICTURES IN IT, PAINTED BY THE SUN AND SHADED BY THE CLOUDS, WHEREAS TO THE TRAINED EYE, THESE WERE NOT PICTURES AT ALL, BUT THE GRIMMEST AND MOST DEAD-EARNEST OF READING MATTER."

[STEAM WHISTLE BLOWS] Narrator: IN THE SPRING OF 1858, SAM, NOW A CUB PILOT ON THE SIDE-WHEELER PENNSYLVANIA, PERSUADED HIS YOUNGER BROTHER HENRY TO JOIN THE CREW AS A CLERK.

THE TWO BROTHERS HAD ALWAYS BEEN CLOSE, AND SAM WAS GRATEFUL FOR HENRY'S COMPANIONSHIP, HAPPY TO HAVE LAUNCHED HIM ON A CAREER.

BUT SAM GOT INTO A QUARREL WITH THE PENNSYLVANIA'S PILOT AND WAS TRANSFERRED TO ANOTHER BOAT IN NEW ORLEANS.

THE BROTHERS AGREED TO MEET AT THEIR SISTER'S HOUSE IN ST. LOUIS, AND HENRY SET OUT UPRIVER ON THE PENNSYLVANIA.

SAM FOLLOWED TWO DAYS LATER ON ANOTHER BOAT.

AT GREENVILLE, MISSISSIPPI, SOMEONE FROM SHORE SHOUTED TO SAM'S BOAT THAT THE PENNSYLVANIA'S BOILERS HAD BLOWN UP, AND SHE HAD GONE DOWN NEAR MEMPHIS.

IN ARKANSAS, SAM WAS RELIEVED WHEN HE GOT A NEWSPAPER THAT LISTED HENRY AMONG THE UNINJURED, BUT THEN SAM BEGAN SEEING CORPSES BOBBING IN THE WATER, AND FARTHER UPRIVER ANOTHER PAPER REPORTED THAT HENRY HAD BEEN HURT.

WHEN HE FINALLY ARRIVED IN MEMPHIS AND RUSHED TO THE MAKESHIFT HOSPITAL, HE FOUND HIS BROTHER, STILL ALIVE, BUT BADLY BURNED AND NOT EXPECTED TO SURVIVE.

Man as Twain: "MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE, FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 1858.

THE HORRORS OF 3 DAYS HAVE SWEPT OVER ME.

THEY HAVE BLASTED MY YOUTH AND LEFT ME AN OLD MAN BEFORE MY TIME.

FOR 48 HOURS, I LABORED AT THE BEDSIDE OF MY POOR BURNED AND BRUISED BUT UNCOMPLAINING BROTHER.

LONG BEFORE THIS REACHES YOU, MY POOR HENRY WILL HAVE FINISHED HIS BLAMELESS CAREER, AND THE LIGHT OF MY LIFE WILL HAVE GONE OUT IN UTTER DARKNESS."

Narrator: ON JUNE 21, HENRY CLEMENS, JUST 19 YEARS OLD, DIED.

SAM BLAMED HIMSELF FOR HAVING LURED HENRY ONTO THE RIVER IN THE FIRST PLACE AND ESPECIALLY FOR NOT BEING THERE WHEN HIS LITTLE BROTHER HAD NEEDED HIM MOST.

Ron Powers, writer: HENRY CLEMENS' DEATH WAS THE CULMINATING SORROW OF HIS BOYHOOD, AND I THINK IT ANNEALED A GREAT SORROW IN HIM AND A GREAT SENSE OF REMORSE THAT HE NEVER LOST.

HE SEEMED TO BELIEVE HIMSELF IN SOME WAY RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL OF THE SORROWS AROUND HIM, AND THAT'S A FEELING THAT PERSISTED INTO OLD AGE, BUT HE ALSO HAD RECOURSE TO A WAY OF REPAIRING THIS SORROW, AND THAT WAS THROUGH HUMOR.

HE ONCE WROTE THAT THE SOURCE OF ALL HUMOR IS NOT LAUGHTER, BUT SORROW.

HE SAID, "THERE IS NO LAUGHTER IN HEAVEN."

Narrator: IN THE SPRING OF 1859, A YEAR AFTER HENRY'S DEATH, SAMUEL CLEMENS RECEIVED HIS OFFICIAL RIVERBOAT PILOT'S CERTIFICATE.

HE SOON BEGAN EARNING $250 A MONTH--AS MUCH, HE LIKED TO POINT OUT, AS THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

Man as Twain: "A PILOT IN THOSE DAYS WAS THE ONLY UNFETTERED AND ENTIRELY INDEPENDENT HUMAN BEING THAT LIVED IN THE EARTH.

HIS MOVEMENTS WERE FREE.

HE CONSULTED NO ONE.

HE RECEIVED COMMANDS FROM NOBODY.

SO HERE WAS THE NOVELTY OF A KING WITHOUT A KEEPER, AN ABSOLUTE MONARCH WHO WAS ABSOLUTE IN SOBER TRUTH AND NOT BY A FICTION OF WORDS."

Narrator: NEARLY 1,000 STEAMBOATS WERE CHURNING UP AND DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI AND ITS TRIBUTARIES, CARRYING MORE CARGO THAN ALL THE NATION'S OCEANGOING VESSELS COMBINED.

SAM SERVED ON AT LEAST 19 OF THEM, INCLUDING THE WHITE CLOUD AND THE CRESCENT CITY, THE ARAGO, THE ALECK SCOTT, THE CITY OF MEMPHIS, AND THE JOHN J. ROE.

Man as Twain: "FOR A LONG TIME, I WAS ON A BOAT THAT WAS SO SLOW WE USED TO FORGET WHAT YEAR IT WAS WE LEFT PORT IN.

FERRYBOATS USED TO LOSE VALUABLE TRIPS BECAUSE THEIR PASSENGERS GREW OLD AND DIED WAITING FOR US TO GET BY.

THIS BOAT, THE JOHN J. ROE, WAS DISMALLY SLOW.

STILL, WE OFTEN HAD PRETTY EXCITING TIMES RACING WITH ISLANDS AND SUCH THINGS."

Narrator: HIS TIME ON THE RIVER WAS HIS SCHOOLING, SAM SAID LATER, IN WHICH "I GOT PERSONALLY ACQUAINTED WITH ABOUT ALL THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF HUMAN NATURE THAT ARE TO BE FOUND IN FICTION, BIOGRAPHY, OR HISTORY."

EVERYWHERE HE WENT, HE STORED UP MEMORIES OF PLACES, SCENES, AND PEOPLE.

[WORKMEN TALKING] Ron Powers, writer: HE WAS AN ENORMOUS NOTICER.

HE WAS A PRODIGIOUS NOTICER.

HE WAS ALWAYS NOTICING WHETHER PEOPLE HAD THEIR HANDS IN THEIR POCKETS OR NOT OR WHAT WAS IN THEIR POCKETS.

HE WAS NOTICING MANNERS OF DRESS, THE WAY PEOPLE HELD THEMSELVES.

HE WAS NOTICING AFFECTS AND PRETENSES, AND THIS SAME FASCINATION WITH NOTICING, WHICH I THINK CAME FROM THOSE EARLY CHILDHOOD NIGHTS ON THE FARM, NOTICING THE NUANCES OF THE SLAVE SONGS AND THE FOLK TALES--THAT SAME NOTICING TRANSFERRED ITSELF TO ABSORBING THE RIVER.

Hamlin Hill, Twain scholar: THE MISSISSIPPI BECAME FOR MARK TWAIN HIS HARVARD AND HIS YALE, THE WAY THAT MELVILLE SAYS THE WHALING BOAT WAS HIS HARVARD AND HIS YALE.

HE ANNOUNCED THAT EVERY CHARACTER HE HAD EVER WRITTEN, CREATED IN HIS LITERATURE, HE HAD MET ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

Narrator: SAM CLEMENS ASSUMED HE WOULD LIVE OUT HIS DAYS AS A PILOT AND "DIE AT THE WHEEL," HE SAID, "WHEN MY MISSION WAS ENDED."

[EXPLOSION] BUT ON APRIL 12, 1861, THE CIVIL WAR BEGAN AND ALL COMMERCIAL TRAFFIC ON THE MISSISSIPPI STOPPED.

THE CLEMENS FAMILY WAS DIVIDED.

SAM'S MOTHER MADE NO SECRET OF HER HATRED OF YANKEES, BUT HIS BROTHER ORION HAD BECOME A REPUBLICAN AND HAD CAMPAIGNED FOR ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

SAM JUST HOPED THAT THE WAR WOULD BE OVER SOON SO THAT HE COULD RETURN TO THE RIVER.

WHEN SEVERAL CHILDHOOD FRIENDS HELPED FORM A CONFEDERATE MILITIA COMPANY CALLED THE MARION RANGERS, SAM SIGNED ON, TOO, SIMPLY FOR SOMETHING TO DO.

BUT AFTER TWO WEEKS SPENT HIDING IN THE WOODS FROM EVEN THE RUMOR OF APPROACHING UNION TROOPS, THE MARION RANGERS DISBANDED.

MOST OF SAM'S FRIENDS ENLISTED IN THE REGULAR CONFEDERATE ARMY.

SAM DID NOT.

HE SKEDADDLED.

Man as Twain: "WHEN I RETIRED FROM THE REBEL ARMY IN '61, I RETIRED IN GOOD ORDER.

IT SEEMED TO ME THAT FOR A FIRST ATTEMPT AT A RETREAT, IT WAS NOT BADLY DONE.

I HAD DONE NO ADVANCING IN ALL THAT CAMPAIGN THAT WAS AT ALL EQUAL TO IT."

Narrator: MEANWHILE, PRESIDENT LINCOLN HAD REWARDED ORION FOR HIS SUPPORT BY APPOINTING HIM SECRETARY OF THE BRAND-NEW TERRITORY OF NEVADA.

SAM, NOW 25 YEARS OLD, BEGGED HIS BROTHER TO TAKE HIM ALONG.

OTHERS COULD GO TO WAR.

SAM CLEMENS WAS GOING WEST.

Man shouting: HYAH!

[HORSE WHINNIES] HAH!

HAH!

[HORSES WHINNY] Man as Twain: "WE JUMPED INTO THE STAGE.

THE DRIVER CRACKED HIS WHIP, AND WE BOWLED AWAY AND LEFT THE STATES BEHIND US.

THERE WAS A FRESHNESS AND BREEZINESS AND AN EXHILARATING SENSE OF EMANCIPATION."

Narrator: ON JULY 26, 1861, THE CLEMENS BROTHERS LEFT ST. JOSEPH, MISSOURI, ON THE CENTRAL OVERLAND AND PIKE'S PEAK EXPRESS COMPANY STAGECOACH.

SAM BROUGHT ALONG HIS PIPES, 5 POUNDS OF TOBACCO, AND A PISTOL, HE SAID, THAT HAD ONLY ONE FAULT-- "YOU COULD NOT HIT ANYTHING WITH IT."

THEY CROSSED KANSAS, THEN NEBRASKA, STOPPING EVERY 10 TO 15 MILES TO CHANGE HORSES AT STATION HOUSES MADE OF SOD.

"IT WAS THE FIRST TIME," SAM NOTED, "WE HAD EVER SEEN A MAN'S FRONT YARD ON TOP OF HIS HOUSE."

ON WARM DAYS, HE PERCHED ON TOP OF THE STAGECOACH, CLOTHED ONLY IN HIS UNDERWEAR, DRINKING IN THE FRESH AIR AND ADMIRING THE ENDLESS EMPTY SPACES.

Man as Twain: "IT WAS A COMFORT TO SIT UP AND CONTEMPLATE THE MAJESTIC PANORAMA OF MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS SPREAD OUT BELOW US AND EAT HAM AND HARD-BOILED EGGS WHILE OUR SPIRITUAL NATURES REVELED ALTERNATELY IN RAINBOWS, THUNDERSTORMS, AND PEERLESS SUNSETS.

NOTHING HELPS SCENERY LIKE HAM AND EGGS-- HAM AND EGGS AND AFTER THESE, A PIPE, AN OLD, RANK, DELICIOUS PIPE.

HAM AND EGGS AND SCENERY, A DOWNGRADE, A FLYING COACH, A FRAGRANT PIPE, AND A CONTENTED HEART-- THESE MAKE HAPPINESS.

IT'S WHAT ALL THE AGES HAVE STRUGGLED FOR."

[HORSE WHINNIES] Narrator: 3 WEEKS AFTER LEAVING MISSOURI, THEY PULLED INTO CARSON CITY, THE RAW NEW SETTLEMENT THAT WAS THE CAPITAL OF NEVADA TERRITORY.

BUT AS ORION STARTED HIS JOB AS TERRITORIAL SECRETARY, SAM REALIZED THAT BEING SECRETARY TO THE SECRETARY CARRIED WITH IT NO DUTIES AND NO PAY.

HE DECIDED TO TRY HIS HAND AT GOLD AND SILVER MINING ALONG WITH THE THOUSANDS OF OTHER MEN WHO HAD FLOODED INTO NEVADA ON THE PROMISE OF EASY RICHES.

HE WAS A COMPLETE FAILURE.

Man as Twain: "MY DEAR MOTHER, THE COUNTRY IS FABULOUSLY RICH IN GOLD, SILVER, COPPER, LEAD, COAL, IRON, QUICKSILVER, THIEVES, MURDERERS, DESPERADOES, LAWYERS, CHRISTIANS, INDIANS, CHINAMEN, SPANIARDS, GAMBLERS, SHARPERS, COYOTES, POETS, PREACHERS, AND JACKASS RABBITS."

Narrator: IN SEPTEMBER 1862, HE GAVE UP MINING AND MOVED TO VIRGINIA CITY, A NEVADA BOOM TOWN BUILT ATOP THE COMSTOCK LODE, THE RICHEST BODY OF SILVER ORE EVER DISCOVERED IN AMERICA.

VIRGINIA CITY WAS ALSO THE HOME OF THE TERRITORIAL ENTERPRISE, THE MOST-READ NEWSPAPER BETWEEN CHICAGO AND SAN FRANCISCO.

ITS EDITOR OFFERED SAM A JOB COVERING LOCAL EVENTS AT $25 A WEEK.

CLEMENS LOVED THE REPORTER'S LIFE.

HE HAUNTED SALOONS, THEATERS, WHOREHOUSES.

HE DRANK, SMOKED, PLAYED CARDS AND BILLIARDS WITH OTHER NEWSMEN LATE INTO THE NIGHT.

Ron Powers, writer: GOING WEST BROUGHT HIM ACCIDENTALLY INTO THE COMPANY OF A GREAT PROTO-PSYCHEDELIC, COUNTERCULTURE NEWSPAPER SOCIETY OUT WEST IN NEVADA-- A BUNCH OF TALENTED WILD MEN IMPROVISING A WHOLE NEW NEWSPAPER ART FORM WITH TALL TALES AND LIES AND HOAXES AND GREAT WRITING.

Narrator: WITH HIS NEW CAREER UNDER WAY, SAM CLEMENS DECIDED TO TAKE ON A NEW NAME-- ONE THAT WOULD STICK WITH HIM THE REST OF HIS LIFE AND EVENTUALLY BECOME THE MOST CELEBRATED IN ALL OF AMERICAN LITERATURE.

ON FEBRUARY 3, 1863, AT THE END OF A DISPATCH WRITTEN FROM CARSON CITY TO THE TERRITORIAL ENTERPRISE, HE SIGNED HIMSELF "MARK TWAIN."

Ron Powers, writer: THERE'S A LOT OF AMBIGUITY IN THAT.

TWO FATHOMS--MARK TWAIN-- IS THE POINT AT WHICH DANGEROUS WATER BECOMES SAFE WATER, OR THE POINT AT WHICH SAFE WATER BECOMES DANGEROUS WATER, AND I THINK MARK TWAIN WAS ALWAYS ON THAT MARGIN.

THAT'S WHERE HE LIVED-- ON THE EDGE-- BETWEEN THE LIGHTNESS AND THE DARK, BETWEEN SAFETY AND DANGER, BUT ALWAYS ON THE FLOW OF THE RIVER.

Narrator: IN THE SPRING OF 1864, SAM CLEMENS THOUGHT IT BEST TO LEAVE VIRGINIA CITY.

AFTER BEING CHALLENGED TO A DUEL HE WAS SURE HE'D LOSE, HE MOVED ON TO WHAT HE CALLED "THE MOST CORDIAL AND SOCIABLE CITY IN THE UNION"--SAN FRANCISCO.

Man as Twain: "AFTER THE SAGEBRUSH AND ALKALI DESERTS OF NEVADA, SAN FRANCISCO WAS PARADISE TO ME.

I LIVED AT THE BEST HOTEL, EXHIBITED MY CLOTHES IN THE MOST CONSPICUOUS PLACES, INFESTED THE OPERA.

I ATTENDED PRIVATE PARTIES IN SUMPTUOUS EVENING DRESS, SIMPERED AND AIRED MY GRACES LIKE A BORN BEAU AND POLKAED WITH A STEP PECULIAR TO MYSELF AND THE KANGAROO."

MARK TWAIN.

Narrator: HE WENT TO WORK FOR THE MORNING CALL AT $40 A WEEK AND WROTE OCCASIONAL PIECES FOR A LITERARY JOURNAL, THE GOLDEN ERA.

HE WAS SOON CAROUSING WITH SAN FRANCISCO'S LEADING WRITERS AND INTELLECTUALS-- AMBROSE BIERCE, JOAQUIN MILLER, AND BRET HARTE.

BUT HE BEGAN HAVING TROUBLE WITH HIS EDITOR.

WHEN TWAIN WROTE AN ARTICLE DENOUNCING WHITE VIOLENCE TOWARDS CHINESE IMMIGRANTS, THE PAPER WOULDN'T RUN IT.

HE ATTACKED BRUTALITY AND CORRUPTION IN THE SAN FRANCISCO POLICE DEPARTMENT, AND WHEN THAT STORY WAS ALSO KILLED, HE SENT IT TO HIS OLD NEWSPAPER, THE TERRITORIAL ENTERPRISE, WHERE ITS PUBLICATION RESULTED IN A LIBEL SUIT.

ONCE, HE WAS JAILED FOR PUBLIC DRUNKENNESS.

IN OCTOBER OF 1864, HIS EDITOR QUIETLY LET HIM GO.

Man as Twain: "FOR TWO MONTHS, MY SOLE OCCUPATION WAS AVOIDING ACQUAINTANCES, FOR DURING THAT TIME, I DID NOT EARN A PENNY OR BUY AN ARTICLE OF ANY KIND OR PAY MY BOARD.

I BECAME VERY ADEPT AT SLINKING.

I SLUNK FROM BACK STREET TO BACK STREET.

I SLUNK AWAY FROM APPROACHING FACES THAT LOOKED FAMILIAR.

AND AT MIDNIGHT, AFTER WANDERINGS THAT WERE BUT SLINKINGS AWAY FROM CHEERFULNESS AND LIGHT, I SLUNK TO MY BED.

I FELT MEANER AND LOWLIER AND MORE DESPICABLE THAN THE WORMS.

DURING ALL THIS TIME, I HAD BUT ONE PIECE OF MONEY-- A SILVER 10-CENT PIECE-- AND I HELD TO IT AND WOULD NOT SPEND IT ON ANY ACCOUNT, LEST THE CONSCIOUSNESS COMING STRONG UPON ME THAT I WAS ENTIRELY PENNILESS MIGHT SUGGEST SUICIDE."

Narrator: NOTHING SEEMED TO WORK OUT FOR HIM.

ONE DAY, HE PUT A REVOLVER TO HIS HEAD AND ALMOST PULLED THE TRIGGER.

"MANY TIMES, I HAVE BEEN SORRY I DID NOT SUCCEED," HE WROTE YEARS LATER, "BUT I WAS NEVER ASHAMED OF HAVING TRIED."

THEN A FRIEND INVITED CLEMENS TO COME AND TRY PROSPECTING AGAIN IN THE SIERRA FOOTHILLS.

HE DID A LITTLE MINING BUT SPENT MOST OF THE NEXT 3 MONTHS HUDDLED INSIDE AGAINST THE WINTER RAINS.

SITTING NEAR THE STOVE AT A PLACE CALLED ANGEL'S CAMP IN CALAVERAS COUNTY, HE LISTENED INTENTLY AS A MAN NAMED BEN COON TOLD AN OLD STORY ABOUT A GAMBLER WHO WOULD BET ON ANYTHING, EVEN HIS JUMPING FROG.

TWAIN RECAST THE SIMPLE STORY INTO A MUCH MORE ELABORATE AND COMIC TALE AND, IN 1865, SENT IT EAST TO THE MOST POPULAR HUMORIST IN AMERICA, ARTEMUS WARD, TO SEE WHAT HE THOUGHT OF IT.

WARD LIKED IT AND PASSED THE STORY ALONG TO A FRIEND, WHO PUBLISHED IT IN THE NEW YORK SATURDAY PRESS.

UP AND DOWN THE EAST COAST, ALL ACROSS THE MIDWEST, OTHER NEWSPAPERS REPRINTED IT, AND HE GOT HIS VERY FIRST GOOD REVIEW.

Man as reporter: "THE FOREMOST AMONG THE MERRY GENTLEMEN OF THE CALIFORNIA PRESS IS ONE WHO SIGNS HIMSELF MARK TWAIN.

PERHAPS, IF HE WILL HUSBAND HIS RESOURCES AND NOT KILL WITH OVERWORK THE MENTAL GOOSE THAT HAS GIVEN US THESE GOLDEN EGGS, HE MAY ONE DAY RANK AMONG THE BRIGHTEST OF OUR WITS."

THE NEW YORK ROUND TABLE.

Narrator: IN EARLY 1866, MARK TWAIN LANDED A PLUM ASSIGNMENT-- WRITING ABOUT HAWAII FOR THE SACRAMENTO UNION.

IT WAS HIS FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE WORLD BEYOND AMERICA, AND HE LOVED IT.

"HAWAII," HE WROTE, "IS THE LAND OF HAPPY CONTENTMENT--THE ONLY SUPREMELY DELIGHTFUL PLACE ON EARTH."

Man as Twain: "AT NOON, I OBSERVED A BEVY OF NUDE NATIVE YOUNG LADIES BATHING IN THE SEA AND WENT AND SAT DOWN ON THEIR CLOTHES TO KEEP THEM FROM BEING STOLEN.

I BEGGED THEM TO COME OUT, FOR THE SEA WAS RISING AND I WAS SATISFIED THAT THEY WERE RUNNING SOME RISK.

BUT THEY WERE NOT AFRAID AND PRESENTLY WENT ON WITH THEIR SPORT."

Narrator: TWAIN TOURED OAHU BY HORSE, VISITED THE SUGAR PLANTATIONS OF MAUI, HIKED ACROSS THE VOLCANIC CRATER OF MOUNT KILAUEA, AND GENTLY LAMPOONED AMERICAN MISSIONARIES' EFFORTS TO CONVERT THE ISLANDERS.

"HOW SAD IT IS," HE WROTE, "TO THINK OF THE MULTITUDES WHO HAVE GONE TO THEIR GRAVES ON THIS BEAUTIFUL ISLAND AND NEVER KNEW THERE WAS A HELL."

HIS REPORTS DELIGHTED READERS ALL OVER CALIFORNIA, AND WHEN HE GOT BACK TO SAN FRANCISCO, A FRIEND SUGGESTED HE MAKE THE MOST OF IT BY TURNING HIS ARTICLES INTO LECTURES.

TWAIN WAS RELUCTANT AT FIRST.

THE PROSPECT OF FAILING BEFORE A LIVE AUDIENCE TERRIFIED HIM, BUT HE BORROWED $50 TO RENT THE ACADEMY OF MUSIC ON PINE STREET AND ANOTHER $150 TO PRINT ADVERTISEMENTS THAT WERE SOON SHOWING UP ALL OVER SAN FRANCISCO.

Man as Twain: "MARK TWAIN, (HONOLULU CORRESPONDENT OF THE SACRAMENTO UNION) WILL DELIVER A LECTURE ON THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.

A SPLENDID ORCHESTRA IS IN TOWN, BUT HAS NOT BEEN ENGAGED.

ALSO, A DEN OF FEROCIOUS WILD BEASTS WILL BE ON EXHIBITION IN THE NEXT BLOCK.

MAGNIFICENT FIREWORKS WERE IN CONTEMPLATION FOR THIS OCCASION, BUT THE IDEA HAS BEEN ABANDONED.

A GRAND TORCHLIGHT PROCESSION MAY BE EXPECTED; IN FACT, THE PUBLIC ARE PRIVILEGED TO EXPECT WHATEVER THEY PLEASE.

DOORS OPEN AT 7 O'CLOCK.

THE TROUBLE TO BEGIN AT 8 O'CLOCK."

Narrator: TWAIN GOT TO THE EMPTY THEATER EARLY.

HE WAS SO NERVOUS, HE SAT BACKSTAGE IN THE DARK FOR AN HOUR AND A HALF, CONTEMPLATING HIS IMPENDING FAILURE.

Man as Twain: "BEFORE I WELL KNEW WHAT I WAS ABOUT, I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STAGE, BEWILDERED BY THE FIERCE GLARE OF THE LIGHTS AND QUAKING IN EVERY LIMB WITH A TERROR THAT SEEMED LIKE TO TAKE MY LIFE AWAY.

THE HOUSE WAS FULL-- AISLES AND ALL!

THE TUMULT IN MY HEART AND BRAIN AND LEGS CONTINUED A FULL MINUTE BEFORE I COULD GAIN ANY COMMAND OVER MYSELF.

THEN, LITTLE BY LITTLE, MY FRIGHT MELTED AWAY, AND I BEGAN TO TALK."

Narrator: HE SPOKE FOR A LITTLE OVER AN HOUR TO A CROWD THAT WAS MESMERIZED BY HIS POWERS OF DESCRIPTION AND CONVULSED BY HIS DEADPAN HUMOR.

Man as Twain: "HOW SAD IT IS TO THINK OF THE MULTITUDES WHO HAVE GONE TO THEIR GRAVES IN THIS BEAUTIFUL ISLAND AND NEVER KNEW THERE WAS A HELL."

[LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE] Narrator: THE EVENING WAS A TRIUMPH, EARNING TWAIN $400, MORE THAN HE HAD EARNED IN A MONTH AS A RIVERBOAT PILOT.

SOON HE WAS REPEATING HIS PERFORMANCE ALL ACROSS NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AND WESTERN NEVADA.

Ron Powers, writer: HE WAS AN UNINTENTIONAL GENIUS OF THE STAGE.

HE HAD THIS SHAMBLING GAIT, AND HE HAD THIS BEWILDERING DRAWL.

HIS MOTHER CALLED IT "SAMMY'S LONG TALK."

SOME PEOPLE THOUGHT HE WAS DRUNK WHEN HE WANDERED OUT ONSTAGE AND KIND OF MUMBLED ABOUT LIKE THIS.

BUT AS THE ACT WENT ON-- AS THE LECTURE WENT ON-- THEY BEGAN TO SEE THAT THE PAUSES WERE THE GREAT FORMULATIONS.

THE PAUSES WERE THE GREAT PRELUDES TO THE CASCADE OF HUMOR, SO THE SILENCE ONSTAGE LED TO SOMETHING ELSE, AND AS HE STARTED TO UNDERSTAND THAT HIMSELF, HE DEVELOPED IT INTO A GREAT ART FORM.

HE UNDERSTOOD THE PAUSE.

AND ONE NIGHT, HE DECIDED TO TAKE IT AS FAR AS IT WOULD GO.

HE WALKED OUT ONSTAGE AND LOOKED AT THE AUDIENCE... AND LOOKED AT THE AUDIENCE... AND LOOKED AT THE AUDIENCE.

AND THE SILENCE WENT ON, THE TENSION BUILT, UNTIL SOMEONE IN THE CROWD SNICKERED.

AND WHEN THAT HAPPENED, THE CASCADES OF LAUGHTER CAME, AND HE KNEW THAT THE AUDIENCE WAS HIS.

[APPLAUSE] Narrator: ON JUNE 8, 1867, THE STEAMSHIP QUAKER CITY SET SAIL FROM NEW YORK.

IT REPRESENTED SOMETHING ENTIRELY NEW--THE VERY FIRST FULL-SCALE PLEASURE CRUISE-- A 5-MONTH VOYAGE TO THE HOLY LAND AND THE MAJOR PORTS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN.

MOST OF THE 70 PASSENGERS ABOARD WERE MIDDLE-CLASS MIDWESTERNERS-- PROSPEROUS, PROTESTANT, AND SO PIOUS THAT ONE ASKED THE CAPTAIN IF THE SHIP COULD HALT ITS PROGRESS IN MID-OCEAN IN HONOR OF THE SABBATH.

ONE PASSENGER, HOWEVER, SEEMED UNLIKE THE REST.

MARK TWAIN'S $1,250 PASSAGE HAD BEEN PAID BY THE ALTA CALIFORNIA AND TWO NEW YORK PAPERS THAT HAD PROMISED $20 A LETTER FOR REGULAR REPORTS ON THE HOLY LAND TOUR.

TWAIN WAS EAGER TO SEE THE OLD WORLD BUT BEMUSED BY HIS FELLOW PASSENGERS.

Man as Twain: "THERE WAS A LITTLE DIFFERENCE OF OPINION BETWEEN US, NOTHING MORE.

THEY THOUGHT THEY COULD'VE SAVED SODOM AND GOMORRAH, AND I THOUGHT IT WOULD'VE BEEN UNWISE TO RISK MONEY UPON IT."

Narrator: HE DID HIS BEST TO FIT IN, JOINING NIGHTLY READINGS FROM GUIDEBOOKS, PLAYING SHUFFLEBOARD ON DECK, TAKING PART IN DEBATES FOR WHICH HE SUGGESTED TOPICS OF HIS OWN, SUCH AS, "IS A TAIL ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TO THE COMFORT AND CONVENIENCE OF A DOG?"

HE EVEN ATTENDED REGULAR PRAYER SERVICES, ADDING HIS VOICE TO THE CHOIR.

BUT HE STILL PREFERRED LATE EVENINGS IN HIS CABIN--DRINKING, SMOKING, SWEARING, AND PLAYING CARDS WITH A HANDFUL OF OTHER MEN WHO CALLED THEMSELVES "THE QUAKER CITY NIGHTHAWKS."

Man as Twain: "WE WISH TO LEARN ALL THE CURIOUS OUTLANDISH WAYS OF ALL THE DIFFERENT COUNTRIES SO THAT WE CAN SHOW OFF AND ASTONISH PEOPLE WHEN WE GET HOME.

WE WISH TO EXCITE THE ENVY OF OUR OWN UNTRAVELED FRIENDS WITH OUR STRANGE FOREIGN FASHIONS WHICH WE CAN'T SHAKE OFF.

THE GENTLE READER WILL NEVER, NEVER KNOW WHAT A CONSUMMATE ASS HE CAN BECOME UNTIL HE GOES ABROAD.

I SPEAK NOW, OF COURSE, IN THE SUPPOSITION THAT THE GENTLE READER HAS NOT BEEN ABROAD AND THEREFORE IS NOT ALREADY A CONSUMMATE ASS."

Russell Banks, writer: HE'S NOT THE FIRST AMERICAN WRITER TO TRAVEL TO EUROPE AND THE MIDDLE EAST AND REPORT BACK, BUT HE'S THE FIRST ONE WHO TRAVELS ABROAD AND TRAVELS AS THOUGH AMERICA WERE THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE.

UP UNTIL THAT POINT, WRITERS TRAVELED ABROAD TO GO TO THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE, BUT TWAIN IS THE FIRST ONE WHO TAKES THE CENTER WITH HIM.

Narrator: TWAIN SAW IT ALL-- GIBRALTAR, TANGIERS, MARSEILLES, AND A SIDE TRIP TO PARIS, WHERE HE WENT TO SEE YOUNG WOMEN DANCE THE CANCAN.

"I PLACED MY HANDS BEFORE MY FACE FOR VERY SHAME," HE TOLD HIS READERS, "BUT I LOOKED THROUGH MY FINGERS."

THEN IT WAS ON TO ITALY, WHERE HE POKED FUN AT EVERYTHING.

Man as Twain: "I USED TO WORSHIP THE MIGHTY GENIUS OF MICHAEL ANGELO, BUT I DO NOT WANT MICHAEL ANGELO FOR BREAKFAST, FOR LUNCHEON, FOR DINNER, FOR TEA, FOR SUPPER, FOR BETWEEN MEALS.

I LIKE A CHANGE OCCASIONALLY.

IN GENOA, HE DESIGNED EVERYTHING.

IN FLORENCE, HE PAINTED EVERYTHING.

IN PISA, HE DESIGNED EVERYTHING BUT THE OLD SHOT TOWER, AND THEY WOULD HAVE ATTRIBUTED THAT TO HIM IF IT HAD NOT BEEN SO AWFULLY OUT OF THE PERPENDICULAR."

Narrator: ON SEPTEMBER 10, THE TOUR REACHED BEIRUT, WHERE TWAIN AND 7 COMPANIONS DECIDED THEIR PILGRIMAGE TO THE HOLY LAND WOULD BE MORE MEMORABLE IF THEY PROCEEDED BY PACK TRAIN.

Man as Twain: "IN SYRIA, AT THE HEADWATERS OF THE JORDAN, A CAMEL TOOK CHARGE OF MY OVERCOAT WHILE THE TENTS WERE BEING PITCHED AND EXAMINED IT WITH A CRITICAL EYE ALL OVER WITH AS MUCH INTEREST AS IF HE HAD AN IDEA OF GETTING ONE MADE LIKE IT.

AND THEN, AFTER HE WAS DONE FIGURING ON IT AS AN ARTICLE OF APPAREL, HE BEGAN TO CONTEMPLATE IT AS AN ARTICLE OF DIET.

HE PUT HIS FOOT ON IT AND LIFTED ONE OF THE SLEEVES OUT WITH HIS TEETH AND CHEWED AND CHEWED AT IT, GRADUALLY TAKING IT IN, AND ALL THE WHILE OPENING AND CLOSING HIS EYES IN A KIND OF RELIGIOUS ECSTASY, AS IF HE HAD NEVER TASTED ANYTHING AS GOOD AS AN OVERCOAT BEFORE IN HIS LIFE.

THEN MY NEWSPAPER CORRESPONDENCE DROPPED OUT, AND HE TOOK A CHANCE IN THAT, BUT HE WAS TREADING ON DANGEROUS GROUND NOW.

HE BEGAN TO COME ACROSS SOLID WISDOM IN THOSE DOCUMENTS THAT WAS RATHER WEIGHTY ON HIS STOMACH AND OCCASIONALLY, HE WOULD TAKE A JOKE THAT WOULD SHAKE HIM UP TILL IT LOOSENED HIS TEETH.

IT WAS GETTING TO BE PERILOUS TIMES WITH HIM, BUT HE HELD HIS GRIP WITH GOOD COURAGE, TILL AT LAST HE BEGAN TO STUMBLE ON STATEMENTS THAT NOT EVEN A CAMEL WOULD SWALLOW WITH IMPUNITY.

HE BEGAN TO GAG AND GASP, AND HIS EYES TO STAND OUT, AND HIS FORELEGS TO SPREAD, AND IN ABOUT A QUARTER OF A MINUTE, HE FELL OVER AS STIFF AS A CARPENTER'S WORKBENCH AND DIED A DEATH OF INDESCRIBABLE AGONY.

I WENT AND PULLED THE MANUSCRIPT OUT OF HIS MOUTH AND FOUND THAT THE SENSITIVE CREATURE HAD CHOKED TO DEATH ON ONE OF THE MILDEST AND GENTLEST STATEMENTS OF FACT I EVER LAID BEFORE A TRUSTING PUBLIC."

MARK TWAIN.

Narrator: IN PALESTINE, THEY VISITED NAZARETH AND THE DEAD SEA, BETHLEHEM, AND JERUSALEM.

FOR HIS READERS BACK HOME, HE POINTED OUT THAT WHILE IT TOOK MOSES 40 YEARS TO CROSS THE DESERT FROM EGYPT TO THE PROMISED LAND, THE OVERLAND STAGE COULD'VE DONE IT IN 36 HOURS.

AND WHEN A BOATMAN CHARGED $8.00 FOR A SHORT SAIL ON THE SEA OF GALILEE, TWAIN ASKED, "DO YOU WONDER NOW THAT CHRIST WALKED?"

IN OCTOBER OF 1867, THE TOUR CAME TO AN END, AND THE QUAKER CITY SET SAIL FOR AMERICA, WHERE MARK TWAIN HOPED TO CONTINUE LECTURING AND TURN HIS DISPATCHES INTO A BOOK.

Man as Twain: "I WANT A GOOD WIFE.

I WANT A COUPLE OF THEM IF THEY ARE PARTICULARLY GOOD.

IF I WERE SETTLED, I WOULD QUIT ALL NONSENSE AND SWINDLE SOME POOR GIRL INTO MARRYING ME, BUT I WOULDN'T EXPECT TO BE WORTHY OF HER.

I WOULDN'T HAVE A GIRL THAT I WAS WORTHY OF.

SHE WOULDN'T DO.

SHE WOULDN'T BE RESPECTABLE ENOUGH."

Narrator: IN THE SUMMER OF 1868, CLEMENS TRAVELED TO ELMIRA, NEW YORK, TO VISIT THE HOME OF A FRIEND FROM THE QUAKER CITY TOUR-- CHARLEY LANGDON.

EVERYTHING ABOUT THE LANGDONS IMPRESSED CLEMENS.

CHARLEY'S FATHER, JERVIS LANGDON, HAD MADE HIMSELF A MILLIONAIRE BY CORNERING THE LOCAL COAL BUSINESS DURING THE CIVIL WAR.

BUT LANGDON WAS AS PRINCIPLED AS HE WAS PROSPEROUS.

BEFORE THE WAR, HE HAD BEEN A CONDUCTOR ON THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.

WHEN FREDERICK DOUGLASS PASSED THROUGH NEW YORK STATE IN FLIGHT FROM HIS MASTER, THE LANGDONS OFFERED HIM SHELTER IN THEIR HOME.

CLEMENS HAD NEVER MET ANYONE LIKE THE LANGDONS, BUT THE MEMBER OF THE FAMILY HE WAS DRAWN TO THE MOST WAS THEIR 22-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER OLIVIA--A HIGHLY RELIGIOUS, FRAIL, AND SERIOUS-MINDED YOUNG WOMAN.

Man as Twain: "LIVY IS THE BEST GIRL IN ALL THE WORLD AND THE MOST SENSIBLE.

SHE IS THE SWEETEST AND THE GENTLEST AND THE DAINTIEST AND THE MOST MODEST AND UNPRETENTIOUS AND THE WISEST IN ALL THINGS SHE SHOULD BE WISE IN AND THE MOST IGNORANT IN ALL MATTERS IT WOULD NOT GRACE HER TO KNOW."

Narrator: SAM CLEMENS HAD NEVER WANTED ANYTHING SO MUCH AS HE NOW WANTED TO MARRY LIVY.

"I TAKE AS MUCH PRIDE IN HER BRAINS," HE WROTE A FRIEND, "AS IN HER BEAUTY."

AND JUST A FEW DAYS AFTER HE GOT TO ELMIRA, HE IMPETUOUSLY PROPOSED.

SHE GENTLY TURNED HIM AWAY, BUT SHE AGREED THAT THEY COULD WRITE TO ONE ANOTHER AS "BROTHER" AND "SISTER."

CLEMENS BEGAN WRITING TO HER THE VERY NEXT DAY AND DID NOT STOP FOR 17 MONTHS-- 184 LETTERS, EACH CAREFULLY NUMBERED BY LIVY, WHO WAS SLOWLY BUT SURELY FALLING IN LOVE WITH HIM.

WHEN THE LANGDONS INVITED HIM BACK FOR THANKSGIVING, CLEMENS TOOK THE OPPORTUNITY FORMALLY TO ASK JERVIS LANGDON FOR HIS DAUGHTER'S HAND.

THE LANGDONS WERE STUNNED BUT GAVE THEIR CONDITIONAL APPROVAL, PROVIDED THAT HE COULD SUPPLY THEM WITH THE NAMES OF FRIENDS OUT WEST WHO COULD ATTEST TO HIS CHARACTER.

HIS FRIENDS DID NOT HELP HIS CAUSE.

Man as Twain: "THEY SAID WITH ONE ACCORD THAT I GOT DRUNK OFTENER THAN WAS NECESSARY AND THAT I WAS WILD AND GODLESS, IDLE, LECHEROUS, AND A DISCONTENTED AND AN UNSETTLED ROVER, AND THEY COULD NOT RECOMMEND ANY GIRL OF HIGH CHARACTER AND SOCIAL POSITION TO MARRY ME.

BUT AS I HAD ALREADY SAID ALL THAT ABOUT MYSELF BEFOREHAND, THERE WAS NOTHING SHOCKING OR SURPRISING ABOUT IT TO THE FAMILY."

Narrator: DESPITE THE DUBIOUS CHARACTER REFERENCES, JERVIS LANGDON HAD GROWN TO LIKE CLEMENS, AND HE FINALLY GAVE HIS BLESSING TO THE ENGAGEMENT.

"I AM SO HAPPY," CLEMENS WROTE TO A FRIEND, "I WANT TO SCALP SOMEBODY."

MEANWHILE, LIVY SET OUT TO REFORM HER FIANCE.

AS HE CONTINUED TO LECTURE AND WAIT IMPATIENTLY FOR HIS BOOK ABOUT THE QUAKER CITY TOUR TO BE PUBLISHED, SHE SENT HIM COPIES OF THE REVEREND HENRY WARD BEECHER'S WEEKLY SERMONS, WHICH, HE SAID, HE READ OVER AND OVER AGAIN.

HE VOWED TO BECOME A CHRISTIAN, TO STOP SWEARING, TO ABANDON EVEN THE SOCIAL DRINKING SHE HAD RELUCTANTLY AGREED TO PERMIT HIM.

Man as Twain: "I DO NOT KNOW OF ANYTHING I COULD REFUSE TO DO IF YOU WANTED IT DONE.

I AM REASONABLY AFRAID THAT YOU'LL STOP ME FROM SMOKING SOMEDAY, BUT IF EVER YOU DO, YOU WILL DO IT WITH SUCH HAPPY GRACE THAT I SHALL BE SWINDLED INTO THE NOTION THAT I DIDN'T WANT TO SMOKE ANYMORE, ANYHOW."

Narrator: IN JULY OF 1869, MARK TWAIN'S THE INNOCENTS ABROAD APPEARED AT LAST.

IT WOULD SELL 100,000 COPIES IN THE NEXT TWO YEARS.

ONLY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE'S UNCLE TOM'S CABIN HAD SOLD MORE IN SO LITTLE TIME.

THE FORMER PRINTER'S APPRENTICE HAD BECOME THE BEST-SELLING AUTHOR IN AMERICA.

INNOCENTS ABROAD WAS A SUBSCRIPTION BOOK, SOLD DOOR-TO-DOOR BY AN ARMY OF SALESMEN WHO TOOK ORDERS FROM PEOPLE WHO RARELY VISITED BOOKSTORES--TRADESMEN, SHOPKEEPERS, FARMERS LIVING MILES FROM TOWN.

Hamlin Hill, Twain scholar: HE TOLD A CRITIC, "I NEVER TRIED TO CULTIVATE THE CULTIVATED CLASSES.

I ALWAYS WENT FOR BIGGER GAME-- THE MASSES," AND HE GOT THEM.

HE WROTE IN HIS JOURNAL, "GREAT BOOKS ARE WINE, MY BOOKS ARE WATER"-- AND THEN YOU CAN ALMOST HEAR THE PAUSE AND SEE THE WINK-- "BUT EVERYBODY DRINKS WATER."

Narrator: LITERARY CRITICS RARELY BOTHERED EVEN TO REVIEW SUBSCRIPTION BOOKS, BUT TWAIN COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MORE PLEASED WHEN HIS BOOK WAS PRAISED BY THE EMINENT WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS, AN EDITOR OF THE PRESTIGIOUS JOURNAL THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY.

THE TWO MEN WOULD BECOME CLOSE FRIENDS.

WITH HIS WEDDING DAY APPROACHING, TWAIN WENT RIGHT TO WORK ON A NEW BOOK-- AN ACCOUNT OF HIS OWN YOUTHFUL ADVENTURES IN THE WEST-- CALLED ROUGHING IT.

AND HIS PUBLISHER NOW BEGAN PROMOTING HIM AS "THE PEOPLE'S AUTHOR."

SAMUEL CLEMENS AND LIVY LANGDON WERE MARRIED IN HER FATHER'S PARLOR ON FEBRUARY 2, 1870.

THE WEDDING PARTY BOARDED A PRIVATE RAILROAD CAR FOR BUFFALO, WHERE, THANKS TO A LOAN FROM HIS FATHER-IN-LAW, CLEMENS WAS NOW PART-OWNER OF A NEWSPAPER, THE BUFFALO EXPRESS.

THEN JERVIS LANGDON STUNNED HIS NEW SON-IN-LAW BY PRESENTING HIM WITH A HANDSOME HOME-- COMPLETELY FURNISHED AND STAFFED WITH A COOK, HOUSEMAID, AND COACHMAN, WHOSE UNIFORM, CLEMENS SAID, COST MORE THAN ANY SUIT OF CLOTHES HE'D EVER OWNED.

HE COULD NOT BELIEVE HIS LUCK.

Man as Twain: "BEHOLD, I HAVE AT THE MOMENT THE ONLY SWEETHEART I EVER LOVED, AND BLESS HER OLD HEART, SHE IS LYING ASLEEP UPSTAIRS IN A BED I SLEEP IN EVERY NIGHT, AND FOR 4 WHOLE DAYS, SHE HAS BEEN MRS. SAMUEL L.

CLEMENS."

Narrator: "WE ARE TWO AS HAPPY PEOPLE AS YOU EVER SAW," LIVY WROTE.

"OUR DAYS SEEM TO BE MADE UP OF ONLY BRIGHT SUNLIGHT WITH NO SHADOW IN THEM."

BUT THAT SUMMER, JERVIS LANGDON DIED OF STOMACH CANCER.

LIVY, NOW PREGNANT, SUFFERED A NERVOUS COLLAPSE.

HER CLOSEST FRIEND CAME TO CARE FOR HER AND DIED OF TYPHOID FEVER IN THE CLEMENS' OWN BED.

IN NOVEMBER, SHE GAVE BIRTH PREMATURELY TO A SON.

THEY NAMED HIM LANGDON AFTER HER FATHER.

THE BABY WEIGHED JUST 4 POUNDS AT BIRTH AND REMAINED SICKLY-- SLOW TO TEETHE, TO WALK, TO TALK, WAS PLAGUED BY FREQUENT COUGHS AND COLDS-- A CONSTANT SOURCE OF WORRY FOR HIS DOTING PARENTS.

IN 1871, CLEMENS DECIDED TO LEAVE BUFFALO AND START OVER.

HE PUT UP FOR SALE BOTH HIS HOUSE AND HIS INTEREST IN THE BUFFALO EXPRESS AND MOVED TO THE MOST PROSPEROUS CITY IN AMERICA-- HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

Man as Twain: "OF ALL THE BEAUTIFUL TOWNS IT HAS BEEN MY FORTUNE TO SEE, HARTFORD IS THE CHIEF.

IT IS A CITY OF 40,000 INHABITANTS AND SEEMS TO BE COMPOSED ALMOST ENTIRELY OF DWELLING HOUSES SCATTERED ALONG THE BROAD, STRAIGHT STREETS.

EVERYWHERE THE EYE TURNS, IT IS BLESSED WITH A VISION OF REFRESHING GREEN.

YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT BEAUTY IS IF YOU HAVE NOT BEEN HERE."

Narrator: THE EDITOR CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER LIVED IN HARTFORD.

SO DID HARRIET BEECHER STOWE AS WELL AS HER SUFFRAGIST SISTER ISABELLA BEECHER HOOKER, WHOSE HOUSE SAM AND LIVY RENTED TILL THEY COULD BEGIN TO BUILD ONE OF THEIR OWN.

IN MARCH OF 1872, THEIR SECOND CHILD, OLIVIA SUSAN CLEMENS, WAS BORN.

UNLIKE LANGDON, SHE WAS HEALTHY; "A FIVE-POUNDER," CLEMENS TOLD FRIENDS, "AS FAT AS BUTTER AND WHOLLY FREE FROM INFELICITIES OF ANY KIND."

HE AND LIVY WOULD CALL HER SUSY.

BUT JUST 9 WEEKS AFTER HER BIRTH, TRAGEDY STRUCK AGAIN.

19-MONTH-OLD LANGDON CONTRACTED DIPHTHERIA AND DIED IN HIS MOTHER'S ARMS.

JUST AS HE HAD BLAMED HIMSELF FOR THE DEATH OF HIS BROTHER HENRY, CLEMENS HELD HIMSELF RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS SON'S DEATH.

HE CLAIMED HE HAD CARELESSLY ALLOWED HIM TO BECOME CHILLED DURING A CARRIAGE RIDE.

LIVY WAS DEVASTATED.

"I FEEL SO OFTEN AS IF MY PATH IS TO BE LINED WITH GRAVES," SHE WROTE.

SHE SAID SHE NOW FELT "ALMOST PERFECTLY COLD TOWARD GOD," AND NO LONGER WENT REGULARLY TO CHURCH.

CLEMENS WOULD COME TO BLAME HIMSELF FOR THAT, TOO.

William Styron, writer: IF HE WERE MERELY THE STAND-UP COMIC OF HIS TIME, THE ARTEMUS WARD, THE MAN IN SEARCH OF AN EASY LAUGH, HE WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN A VERY GOOD WRITER.

BUT HIS EXUBERANT AND ALMOST IRREPRESSIBLE HUMOR IS ALWAYS COLORED BY THIS UNDERSTANDING THAT LIFE IS NOT JUST ONE BIG YUK, BUT IS A SERIOUS EVENT IN WHICH HORRIBLE THINGS HAPPEN.

I THINK THAT--THAT HE HAD A--A PERHAPS A DARK, DEPRESSIVE STREAK, WHICH IS NOT UNCOMMON AMONG WRITERS, AND THAT THIS WAS THE ELEMENT IN HIS PERSONALITY THAT BALANCED OFF THIS NEED TO BE AMUSING AND ENTERTAINING AND GAVE DEPTH TO HIS WORK.

Man as Twain: "SOME MEN WORSHIP RANK, SOME WORSHIP HEROES, SOME WORSHIP POWER, SOME WORSHIP GOD, AND OVER THESE IDEALS THEY DISPUTE AND CANNOT UNITE-- BUT THEY ALL WORSHIP MONEY."

MARK TWAIN.

Narrator: THE 1870s WAS A TIME OF UNPRECEDENTED GROWTH AND PROSPERITY IN AMERICA.

EVERYONE SEEMED CONSUMED WITH MAKING MONEY, WHILE POWERFUL NEW INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS GOT WHATEVER THEY WANTED FROM WASHINGTON.

IN 1873, TWAIN AND HIS HARTFORD NEIGHBOR, CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER, COLLABORATED ON A NOVEL CALLED THE GILDED AGE-- A CAUSTIC ASSAULT ON CORRUPT POLITICS AND A BITING SATIRE ON THE GREED AND GET-RICH-QUICK FEVER OF THE ERA.

MARK TWAIN GAVE THE GILDED AGE ITS NAME, BUT SAM CLEMENS PERSONIFIED IT.

NO ONE WAS MORE CONSTANTLY ON THE LOOKOUT FOR SCHEMES THAT WOULD MAKE HIM WEALTHIER THAN HE ALREADY WAS.

NO ONE LOVED MONEY AND THE COMFORT AND LUXURY IT COULD BUY MORE THAN HE DID.

IN 1873, SAM AND LIVY BOUGHT A 5-ACRE PLOT ON FARMINGTON AVENUE, HIRED ONE OF THE NATION'S LEADING ARCHITECTS, EDWARD TUCKERMAN POTTER, AND INSTRUCTED HIM TO BUILD THEM A HOUSE UNLIKE ANY OTHER HOUSE IN HARTFORD OR ANYWHERE ELSE.

Man as Twain: "I HAVE BEEN BULLYRAGGED ALL DAY BY THE BUILDER, BY HIS FOREMAN, BY THE ARCHITECT, BY THE TAPESTRY DEVIL WHO IS TO UPHOLSTER THE FURNITURE, BY THE IDIOT WHO IS PUTTING DOWN THE CARPETS, BY THE SCOUNDREL WHO IS SETTING UP THE BILLIARD TABLE AND HAS LEFT THE BALLS IN NEW YORK, BY A BOOK AGENT WHOSE BODY IS IN THE BACKYARD AND THE CORONER NOTIFIED.

JUST THINK OF THIS GOING ON THE WHOLE DAY LONG, AND I AM A MAN WHO LOATHES DETAILS WITH ALL MY HEART!

BUT I HAVEN'T LOST MY TEMPER."

Narrator: IT WAS EVERYTHING HE HAD HOPED FOR.

"MR. CLEMENS," LIVY WROTE, "SEEMS TO GLORY IN HIS SENSE OF POSSESSION."

THERE WERE 3 FLOORS, 19 ROOMS, TURRETS AND BALCONIES WITH SPLENDID VIEWS OF THE SURROUNDING COUNTRYSIDE AND AN ELONGATED PORCH FOR SUMMER AFTERNOONS.

IN THE MASTER BEDROOM, SAM AND LIVY INSTALLED WHAT HE CALLED "THE MOST COMFORTABLE BEDSTEAD THAT EVER WAS, WITH SPACE ENOUGH IN IT FOR A FAMILY, AND CARVED ANGELS ENOUGH," HE ADDED, "TO BRING PEACE TO THE SLEEPERS, AND PLEASANT DREAMS."

THE FAMILY WAS GROWING.

CLARA, A SECOND HEALTHY GIRL, HAD BEEN BORN IN 1874.

HER PROUD FATHER CALLED HER "THE GREAT AMERICAN GIANTESS."

JEAN WOULD BE BORN 6 YEARS LATER.

THE GIRLS HAD THEIR OWN NURSERY AND SOON TOOK OVER THEIR FATHER'S STUDY, TRANSFORMING IT INTO THEIR SCHOOLROOM.

HE MOVED HIS DESK TO THE THIRD FLOOR TO THE BIG BILLIARD ROOM, WHERE HE COULD SMOKE AND WRITE AND ENTERTAIN HIS FRIENDS WITHOUT FEAR OF BEING DISTURBED.

SPEAKING TUBES HIDDEN IN THE WALLS ALLOWED ANY OF THE 7 SERVANTS TO BE SUMMONED FROM ANY ROOM.

THE LIBRARY WAS THE HEART OF THE HOUSE.

HERE, HE READ ALOUD TO THE GIRLS AND WAS OFTEN ASKED TO MAKE UP A BRAND-NEW BEDTIME STORY FOR THEM, STARTING WITH THE CAT AT ONE END OF THE MANTELPIECE AND THEN INCORPORATING EVERY ITEM IN TURN UNTIL HE REACHED THE OTHER END AND THE WATERCOLOR PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG GIRL HIS DAUGHTERS HAD NAMED "EMMELINE."

Man as Twain: "I HAD TO START ALWAYS WITH THE CAT AND FINISH WITH EMMELINE.

I WAS NEVER ALLOWED THE REFRESHMENT OF A CHANGE, END FOR END.

IT WAS NOT PERMISSIBLE TO INTRODUCE AN ORNAMENT INTO THE STORY OUT OF ITS PLACE IN THE PROCESSION.

THESE BRIC-A-BRACS WERE NEVER ALLOWED A PEACEFUL DAY.

THEY KNEW NO EXISTENCE BUT A MONOTONOUS CAREER OF VIOLENCE AND BLOODSHED."

Narrator: THERE WAS A STEADY STREAM OF GUESTS AT MARK TWAIN'S TABLE-- CLOSE FRIENDS LIKE WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS AND THE REVEREND JOE TWICHELL, BUT ALSO MORE FAMOUS VISITORS LIKE WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN, THE ACTOR EDWIN BOOTH, AND THE EXPLORER HENRY M. STANLEY-- WHO CAME TO DINE AND TO ENJOY HEARING THEIR HOST TELL STORIES.

Ron Powers, writer: I THINK THE HARTFORD HOUSE TELLS US ABOUT HIS DIVIDED PERSONALITY.

ON THE ONE HAND, HE WANTED TO BE THE RUSTIC FROM THE INTERIOR FLINGING HARPOONS INTO THE FLANKS OF THE MIGHTY, AND ON THE OTHER HAND, HE WANTED TO BE THE MIGHTY.

HE WANTED THAT WEALTH.

HE WANTED TO ACHIEVE WHAT HIS FATHER HADN'T ACHIEVED, WHAT HIS OLDER BROTHER HADN'T ACHIEVED.

AT THE SAME TIME, HE WAS BURDENED WITH A KIND OF AN HONESTY ABOUT THE CORRUPTING POWER OF WEALTH.

AND SO THE HOUSE IN HARTFORD SHOWS US THIS GREAT DIVIDED SOUL RICOCHETING BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN INDULGING THE LUXURIES THAT HIS WRITING HAD BROUGHT HIM AND FEELING A KIND OF DISGUST FOR--FOR THE STERILIZATION OF IT.

Narrator: EVENTUALLY, CLEMENS WOULD DECIDE HIS HOUSE WAS STILL NOT GRAND ENOUGH AND HAD ITS DOWNSTAIRS REDONE BY LOUIS COMFORT TIFFANY WITH A STAINED-GLASS WINDOW, A MARBLE FLOOR IN THE ENTRANCE HALLS, AND ORNATE BRASSWORK SPECIALLY MADE IN INDIA.

IT ALL COST TOO MUCH.

NEITHER HIS ROYALTIES NOR LIVY'S INHERITANCE COULD PAY THE BILLS THAT CONTINUED TO PILE UP.

AS A RESULT, TWAIN WAS FORCED TO LEAVE HOME AND RETURN TO THE ARDUOUS LECTURE CIRCUIT-- SOMETHING HE HAD HOPED HE WOULD NOT HAVE TO DO AGAIN.

[TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS] Man as Twain: "WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

LIVY DARLING, I AM JUST IN FROM THE LECTURE, JUST IN FROM TALKING TO 1,700 OF THE STAIDEST PURITANICAL PEOPLE YOU EVER SAW, ONE OF THE HARDEST GANGS TO MOVE THAT EVER WAS.

I'M GOING TO BED.

I'M DISGUSTED.

I DO HATE LECTURING, AND I SHALL TRY HARD TO HAVE AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE OF IT TO DO HEREAFTER."

"COLUMBUS, OHIO.

LIVY DARLING, RODE ALL DAY IN A SMOKING CAR YESTERDAY, STOPPING EVERY 30 YARDS.

ARRIVED HERE IN A RAINSTORM, JUMPED INTO EVENING DRESS IN A DESPERATE HURRY, AND CAME BEFORE A FULL OPERA HOUSE OF THE HANDSOMEST PEOPLE YOU EVER SAW, AND MADE THEM SHOUT AND TORE THEM ALL TO PIECES TILL HALF PAST 10:00."

[APPLAUSE] Narrator: BACK IN HARTFORD, LIFE AS MRS. MARK TWAIN WAS NEVER EASY.

LIVY CLEMENS REMAINED FRAGILE, SUBJECT TO A HOST OF ILLNESSES THAT KEPT HER IN BED FOR WEEKS AT A TIME AND OFTEN LEFT ALONE FOR MONTHS TO CARE FOR THE CHILDREN.

Woman as Livy Clemens: "DEAR MOTHER, I GET A LITTLE HOMESICK TO SEE YOU ONCE IN A WHILE.

TONIGHT I SHOULD LIKE TO PUT MY HEAD IN YOUR LAP AND CRY JUST A LITTLE BIT.

I WANT TO BE SOMEBODY'S BABY.

I HAVE SERVANTS TO MANAGE, I HAVE A GLORIOUS HUSBAND TO TRY AND BE A WOMAN FOR, BUT SOMETIMES I WOULD LIKE TO LIE DOWN AND GIVE IT ALL UP.

I FEEL SO INCOMPETENT FOR EVERYTHING.

I COME SO VERY FAR SHORT, YET I THINK I DO TRY EARNESTLY EVERY DAY."

Narrator: WHEN HER HUSBAND WAS HOME, HE EXPECTED EVERYTHING TO REVOLVE AROUND HIM.

HIS MOODS SHIFTED FROM MINUTE TO MINUTE, AND HIS TEMPER WAS VOLCANIC.

NEIGHBORS ONCE WATCHED IN ASTONISHMENT AS ONE BY ONE, HE HURLED HIS SHIRTS OUT A SECOND FLOOR WINDOW BECAUSE HE HAD FOUND ONE WITH A MISSING BUTTON.

John Boyer, historian: TWAIN HAD HIS WEAKNESSES.

HIS PASSIONS, HIS ENERGIES, HIS SENSE OF FAILURE, HIS ABILITY TO DERIDE HIMSELF, AND HIS FRUSTRATIONS WOULD SOMETIMES COME OUT IN HIS VENTING WITH LIVY, HIS DISTANCE FROM HIS CHILDREN ON OCCASION.

IT WAS A COMPLEX RELATIONSHIP, TO BE SURE.

Narrator: THE HARTFORD HOUSE MAY HAVE BEEN THE CLEMENS' HOME, BUT EVERY SUMMER FOR 20 YEARS, THEY PACKED UP AND MOVED BACK TO ELMIRA, NEW YORK, TO BE WITH LIVY'S SISTER, SUSAN CRANE, AT HER COUNTRY PLACE CALLED QUARRY FARM.

THE CHILDREN LOVED QUARRY FARM.

THERE WERE 12 CATS AND A CONSTANTLY SHIFTING CAST OF COUSINS TO PLAY WITH.

CLEMENS FOUND COMPANIONS THERE, TOO.

JOHN T. LEWIS WAS A PIG FARMER, A FREE-BORN AFRICAN-AMERICAN FROM MARYLAND, WHO EARNED CLEMENS' GRATITUDE FOR HAVING STOPPED A RUNAWAY CARRIAGE WHICH WOULD HAVE CARRIED HIS SISTER-IN-LAW AND NIECE TO CERTAIN DEATH.

THE TWO MEN SPENT TIME TOGETHER WHENEVER CLEMENS WAS IN RESIDENCE.

Russell Banks, writer: WHAT'S UNUSUAL ABOUT TWAIN IS THAT AS THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS LIFE CHANGED, AS HE IN FACT GREW OLDER, IN A WHITE, BOURGEOIS WORLD, HE NEVER FORGOT THAT BASIC FACT WHICH CAME HOME TO HIM, I'M SURE, YOU KNOW, IN HIS EARLY-- PREADOLESCENT AND ADOLESCENT YEARS, THAT RACE IS A CENTRAL FACT OF AMERICAN ONGOING HISTORY.

Narrator: THE COOK AT QUARRY FARM WAS AN EX-SLAVE NAMED MARY ANN CORD.

ONE LATE AFTERNOON IN 1874, AS SAM AND LIVY AND THE CHILDREN LISTENED, SHE TOLD THEM HER LIFE STORY.

TWAIN WAS SO MOVED BY THE WAY MARY ANN CORD TOLD HER STORY THAT HE SET OUT TO PUT IT DOWN ON PAPER, CHANGING HER NAME TO AUNT RACHEL.

Man as Twain: "IT WAS SUMMERTIME AND TWILIGHT.

WE WERE SITTING ON A PORCH ON THE FARMHOUSE, ON THE SUMMIT OF THE HILL, AND AUNT RACHEL WAS SITTING RESPECTFULLY BELOW OUR LEVEL, ON THE STEPS, FOR SHE WAS OUR SERVANT AND COLORED.

SHE WAS 60 YEARS OLD, A CHEERFUL, HEARTY SOUL, AND IT WAS NO MORE TROUBLE FOR HER TO LAUGH THAN FOR A BIRD TO SING.

I ASKED HER, AUNT RACHEL, HOW IS THAT YOU HAVE LIVED 60 YEARS WITHOUT TROUBLE?

SHE SAID, "MISTO CLEMENS, IS YOU IN 'ARNEST?

WHY, I SAID, I THOUGHT--THAT IS, I MEANT--WHY, YOU CAN'T HAVE HAD ANY TROUBLE.

I NEVER HEARD YOU SIGH AND NEVER SEEN YOUR EYE WHEN THERE WASN'T A LAUGH IN IT.

SHE SAID, HAS I HAD ANY TROUBLE?

MISTO CLEMENS, I'S GWYNE TO TELL YOU, DEN I LEAVE IT TO YOU.

I WAS BAWN DOWN AMONGST DE SLAVES."

Narrator: MARY ANN CORD HAD BEEN BORN A SLAVE IN VIRGINIA, WHERE SHE MARRIED AND GAVE BIRTH TO 7 CHILDREN.

THEN, IN 1852, HER FAMILY WAS TORN APART.

Woman as Mary Ann Cord: "AN' DEY SOLE MY OLE MAN, AND TOOK HIM AWAY, AN' DEY BEGAN TO SELL MY CHIL'EN AND TAKE DEM AWAY, AN' I BEGIN TO CRY, AN' DE MAN SAY, SHET UP YO' DAMN BLUBBERIN, AN' HIT ME IN DE MOUF WID HIS HAN.

AN' WHEN DE LAS' ONE WAS DONE BUT MY LITTLE HENRY, I GRAB HIM CLOST UP TO MY BREAS' AND I RIS UP AN' SAYS, YOU SHAN'T TAKE HIM AWAY.

I SAYS, I'LL KILL DE MAN DAT TETCHES HIM!

BUT MY LITTLE HENRY WHISPER AN' SAY, I GWYNE TO RUN AWAY AND DEN I WORK AN' BUY YO FREEDOM.

BUT DEY GOT HIM, DE MEN DID."

Narrator: SHE LOST TOUCH WITH HER HUSBAND AND ALL HER CHILDREN.

YEARS LATER DURING THE CIVIL WAR, SHE WAS LIVING IN NORTH CAROLINA WHEN BLACK TROOPS FIGHTING FOR THE UNION OCCUPIED HER OWNER'S PLANTATION AND ASKED HER TO BRING THEM BREAKFAST.

Woman as Mary Ann Cord: "I WAS STOOPING DOWN BY DE STOVE, AN' I'D JIST GOT DE PAN 'O HOT BISCUITS IN MY HAN' AN WAS 'BOUT TO RAISE UP WHEN I SEE A BLACK FACE COMIN' AROUN' UNDER MINE AN DE EYES LOOKIN' UP INTO MINE, AN I JIST STOPPED RIGHT DAH AN' NEVER BUDGED!

JIST GAZED AND GAZED, AN DE PAN BEGIN TO TREMBLE, AN' ALL OF A SUDDEN I KNOWED!

DE PAN DROPPED ON DE FLO' AN' I GRAB HIS LEF' HAN' AN' SHOVE BACK HIS SLEEVE AN' DEN I GOES FOR HIS FOREHEAD AN' PUSH DE HAIR SO, AN' BOY!

I SAYS, IF YOU AIN'T MY HENRY, WHAT IS YOU DOIN' WID DIS WELT ON YO WRIS' AN' DAT SKY-AR ON YO' FOREHEAD?

DE LORD GOD OH BE PRAISE, I GOT MY OWN AG'IN!

OH, NO, MISTER CLEMENS, I HAIN'T HAD NO TROUBLE.

AN' NO JOY!"

Shelley Fisher Fishkin, Twain scholar: NOT ONLY DID HER STORY REMIND TWAIN OF THE HORRORS OF SLAVERY, OF THE TREMENDOUS TOLL IT TOOK ON FAMILIES, ON THE WAY IN WHICH IT DESTROYED FAMILIES AT A TIME WHEN HE WAS SURROUNDED BY HIS FAMILY AND VERY MUCH AWARE OF HOW MUCH HE LOVED HIS CHILDREN AND HOW DEVASTATING IT WOULD BE TO BE SEPARATED FROM THOSE CHILDREN.

I THINK HEARING MARY ANN CORD TELL THAT STORY REMINDED TWAIN OF HOW MUCH POWER A VERNACULAR STORYTELLER COULD EXERCISE OVER HIS OR HER LISTENERS.

Narrator: MARK TWAIN WROTE DOWN MARY ANN CORD'S STORY PRECISELY AS SHE HAD TOLD IT AND SENT IT OFF TO WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS, WITH A NOTE WARNING "IT HAS NO HUMOR IN IT."

YOU CAN PAY AS LIGHTLY AS YOU CHOOSE FOR THAT, IF YOU WANT IT," HE ADDED, "FOR IT IS RATHER OUT OF MY LINE."

TITLED A TRUE STORY, REPEATED WORD FOR WORD AS I HEARD IT, IT MARKED HIS FIRST APPEARANCE IN THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY.

THE SLAVEOWNER'S SON FROM MISSOURI WAS DISCOVERING NEW WAYS OF LOOKING AT THE WORLD.

THAT SAME SUMMER, HIS SISTER-IN-LAW SURPRISED HIM WITH A WRITING PLACE ALL HIS OWN.

Man as Twain: "IT IS THE LOVELIEST STUDY YOU EVER SAW, OCTAGONAL WITH A PEAKED ROOF, EACH FACE FILLED WITH A SPACIOUS WINDOW, PERCHED IN COMPLETE ISOLATION ON THE TOP OF AN ELEVATION THAT COMMANDS LEAGUES OF VALLEY AND CITY AND RETREATING RANGES OF DISTANT BLUE HILLS.

IT IS A COZY NEST AND JUST ROOM IN IT FOR A SOFA, TABLE, AND 3 OR 4 CHAIRS.

AND WHEN THE STORMS SWEEP DOWN THE REMOTE VALLEY AND THE LIGHTNING FLASHES BEHIND THE HILLS BEYOND AND THE RAIN BEATS UPON THE ROOF OVER MY HEAD, IMAGINE THE LUXURY OF IT."

Laura Skandera-Trombley, Twain scholar: HIS METHOD OF COMPOSITION IS, HE WOULD TYPICALLY GO OFF FOR THE DAY, WRITE A TEXT, COME BACK, AND THEN THE FAMILY WOULD GATHER AROUND HIM, AND THEY WOULD ALL LISTEN TO HIM READ, AND HE COULD INSTANTLY JUDGE HOW EFFECTIVE HIS PROSE WAS SIMPLY IN THEIR REACTIONS.

THE IMAGE THAT I HAVE OF WHAT IT MUST HAVE BEEN LIKE FOR TWAIN AND HIS FAMILY DURING THIS 20 SUMMERS THAT THEY SPENT AT QUARRY FARM WAS OF A MAN WHO IS ENJOYING THE HAPPIEST YEARS OF HIS LIFE SURROUNDED BY THE PEOPLE HE LOVED THE MOST, IN AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE HE COULD HAVE THE FREE RANGE OF HIS IMAGINATION.

Narrator: HE SPENT EACH DAY IN SPLENDID ISOLATION, THE AIR THICK WITH CIGAR SMOKE, HIS HAND RACING ACROSS THE PAGE.

HERE, WORDS SEEMED TO COME TO TWAIN AS THEY CAME NOWHERE ELSE, AND HE WAS SUMMONING THEM UP FROM 800 MILES AWAY AND 30 YEARS BEFORE, FROM THE HANNIBAL OF HIS BOYHOOD, WHEN, HE SAID, "ALL THE SUMMER WORLD WAS BRIGHT AND FRESH AND THE SUN ROSE UPON A TRANQUIL WORLD AND BEAMED DOWN LIKE A BENEDICTION."

Man as Twain: "THE FOUNTAINS OF MY GREAT DEEP ARE BROKEN UP, AND I HAVE RAINED REMINISCENCES FOR 4 AND 20 HOURS.

THE OLD LIFE HAS SWEPT BEFORE ME LIKE A PANORAMA.

THE OLD DAYS HAVE TROOPED BY IN THEIR OLD GLORY AGAIN.

THE OLD FACES HAVE LOOKED OUT OF THE MISTS OF THE PAST.

OLD FOOTSTEPS HAVE SOUNDED IN MY LISTENING EARS.

OLD HANDS HAVE CLASPED MINE, OLD VOICES HAVE GREETED ME, AND THE SONGS I LOVED AGES AND AGES AGO HAVE COME WAILING DOWN THE CENTURIES!"

Narrator: OUT OF HIS FLOOD OF MEMORIES, A NEW BOOK EMERGED.

THE PROTAGONIST WAS MORE OR LESS BASED ON THE YOUNG SAM CLEMENS.

HIS NAME WAS TOM SAWYER.

BECKY THATCHER, THE BEAUTIFUL OBJECT OF TOM'S AFFECTIONS, WAS INSPIRED BY HIS BOYHOOD NEIGHBOR, LAURA HAWKINS.

SAWYER'S RAFFISH FRIEND, HUCKLEBERRY FINN, WAS MODELED ON TOM BLANKENSHIP.

Jocelyn Chadwick, Twain scholar: HE WEAVES US IN WITH THE NARRATIVE-- "LOOK, I'M GONNA TELL YOU A STORY."

HE GIVES US THESE SEEMINGLY-- THESE SEEMINGLY SIMPLE SENTENCES BY THESE SEEMINGLY SIMPLE PEOPLE, WHOM WE END UP TRUSTING, JUST PUTTING OUR WHOLE SOUL AND TRUST IN AND SAYING, "OK, I'LL--I'LL BITE.

I'LL LISTEN TO THE STORY."

Narrator: THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER, FINISHED THE FOLLOWING SUMMER, WAS "SIMPLY A HYMN," TWAIN WROTE, "PUT INTO PROSE TO GIVE IT A WORLDLY AIR."

IT WOULD BECOME THE BEST-LOVED OF ALL TWAIN'S BOOKS, A CELEBRATION OF A SMALL-TOWN AMERICAN BOYHOOD IN WHICH THE HERO SOLVES A MURDER MYSTERY, MANAGES TO EAVESDROP ON HIS OWN FUNERAL, AND TRICKS HIS FRIENDS INTO PAINTING HIS FENCES.

Man as Twain: "TOM RESUMED HIS WHITEWASHING AND ANSWERED CARELESSLY, LIKE IT?

WELL, I DON'T SEE WHY I OUGHTN'T TO LIKE IT.

DOES A BOY GET A CHANCE TO WHITEWASH A FENCE EVERY DAY?

THAT PUT THE THING IN A NEW LIGHT.

BEN STOPPED NIBBLING HIS APPLE.

TOM SWEPT HIS BRUSH DAINTILY BACK AND FORTH, STEPPED BACK TO NOTE THE EFFECT, ADDED A TOUCH HERE AND THERE.

BEN WATCHING EVERY MOVE AND GETTING MORE AND MORE INTERESTED, MORE AND MORE ABSORBED.

PRESENTLY HE SAID, SAY, TOM, LET ME WHITEWASH A LITTLE."

Ron Powers, writer: I THINK TOM SAWYER IS DURABLE BECAUSE IT'S THE NORMAN ROCKWELL VERSION OF WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO THINK BOYHOOD IS.

TOM SAWYER GIVES US A VERY MYTHIC AND VERY BENIGN VERSION OF BOYHOOD.

AND IT IDENTIFIES BOYHOOD AS A SPECIFIC TIME IN THE LIFE CYCLE OF A PERSON.

Narrator: THE STORY OF TOM SAWYER WOULD ENCOURAGE TWAIN TO RETURN AGAIN AND AGAIN TO THE SCENES OF HIS YOUTH, FIRST IN A SERIES OF MAGAZINE ARTICLES DRAWING UPON HIS STEAMBOAT YEARS THAT EVENTUALLY BECAME ANOTHER BOOK, LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI.

AFTER READING THE FIRST INSTALLMENT, WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS TOLD HIM, "THE PIECE ABOUT THE MISSISSIPPI IS CAPITAL.

IT ALMOST MADE THE WATER IN OUR ICE PITCHER MUDDY."

TWAIN'S PAST NOW SEEMED AN INEXHAUSTIBLE SOURCE OF INSPIRATION FOR HIM.

"WHEN THE TANK RUNS DRY," HE SAID, "YOU'VE ONLY TO LEAVE IT ALONE, AND IT WILL FILL UP AGAIN IN TIME."

Ron Powers, writer: MARK TWAIN WAS A PHENOMENAL WRITER.

ON THE ONE HAND, HE GENERATED OCEANS AND OCEANS OF COPY, WRITING IN LONGHAND MOST OF THE TIME-- WRITING LEFT-HANDED WHEN HIS ARM WAS TOO ARTHRITIC-- SO THE PAGES FLEW FROM HIS PEN.

AT THE SAME TIME, HE WAS A METICULOUS CRAFTSMAN OF SENTENCES, AND I THINK THIS WENT BACK TO HIS TYPESETTING DAYS WHEN HE, AS A BOY, HE LITERALLY SET WORDS IN TYPE AND PUT HIS FINGERS ON THOSE CHARACTERS.

HE PARED DOWN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

HE WAS THE FIRST TO REALLY STRIP IT OF ITS ORNAMENTATION, AND HE REALLY GOT THE TERSE RHYTHMS OF SPOKEN LANGUAGE.

Narrator: "THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE RIGHT WORD AND ALMOST THE RIGHT WORD," TWAIN ONCE SAID, "IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIGHTNING AND THE LIGHTNING BUG."

Arthur Miller, playwright: HE WAS CHISELING IT OUT.

HE MADE IT SEEM LIKE AN EFFUSION, LIKE IT WAS JUST DRIPPING OFF OF HIM, LIKE A SHOWER BATH, BUT YOU READ ANY PAGE OF HIS, AND YOU KNOW THAT THERE'S A POET WHO'S CRAFTING ALL THOSE LINES.

YOU KNOW, IT'S HARD TO IMPROVE ON ANY OF HIS LINES.

Narrator: THE 10 YEARS THAT FOLLOWED MARK TWAIN'S MOVE TO HARTFORD WERE THE MOST PRODUCTIVE OF HIS CREATIVE LIFE.

IN ADDITION TO TOM SAWYER AND LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI, HE PRODUCED STILL ANOTHER BOOK OF TRAVEL PIECES CALLED A TRAMP ABROAD, AND IN 1881 HE MADE A BID FOR THE KIND OF LITERARY RESPECTABILITY THAT HAD ALWAYS BEEN DENIED HIM BY PUBLISHING A CHILDREN'S BOOK SET IN TUDOR ENGLAND, CALLED THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER.

CONVENTIONAL CRITICS LOVED IT.

ITS LANGUAGE WAS "PURE," THEY SAID, "REFINED," "ENNOBLING."

DURING THOSE SAME 10 YEARS, BETWEEN 1874 AND 1884, THOMAS HARDY PUBLISHED RETURN OF THE NATIVE, DOSTOYEVSKY WROTE THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV, ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON'S TREASURE ISLAND APPEARED, HENRY JAMES PRODUCED PORTRAIT OF A LADY.

MEANWHILE, TWAIN HAD BEGUN ANOTHER BOOK DRAWN FROM MEMORIES OF HIS OWN CHILDHOOD.

"I LIKE IT ONLY TOLERABLY WELL, AS FAR AS I'VE GOT," HE TOLD HOWELLS AFTER WRITING THE FIRST 400 MANUSCRIPT PAGES, "AND MAY POSSIBLY PIGEONHOLE IT OR BURN IT."

HE OFTEN PUT IT ASIDE FOR OTHER THINGS DURING THE NEXT 7 YEARS.

Shelley Fisher Fishkin, Twain scholar: I THINK TWAIN BEGAN IT AS A SEQUEL TO TOM SAWYER, WHICH WAS A BOY'S BOOK...

BUT THE BOOK WAS QUICKLY HIJACKED AND BECAME SOMETHING VERY DIFFERENT.

Hal Holbrook, actor: LINCOLN DECLARED THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION TO TRY TO IDEALIZE THE STRUGGLE OF THE NORTH AGAINST THE SOUTH, AND THEN IN 1876, RECONSTRUCTION DIED, THE KU KLUX KLAN CAME OUT, AND HUCKLEBERRY FINN, THE BOOK, BEGAN.

INTERESTING.

HE STARTED TO WRITE THIS THING, AND HE MUST HAVE RUN INTO DIFFICULTY.

INTERESTING... AND THEN HE STOPS THE BOOK.

HE PUT IT ASIDE FOR 5 YEARS.

THEN, IN APRIL 1882, HE DECIDES TO GO DOWN THE RIVER TO NEW ORLEANS ON A STEAMBOAT AND WRITE A BOOK CALLED LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI, NOT HUCKLEBERRY FINN.

IN MAY, HE TURNS AROUND, HE STARTS BACK UP THE RIVER AGAIN, ALL THE WAY TO MINNESOTA, AND THEN, AT THE TAG END OF THAT, HE GOES BACK AND VISITS HANNIBAL AGAIN... AND THE NEXT MONTH, WHAT DOES HE DO?

HE PICKS UP HUCKLEBERRY FINN.

WHAT DOES THAT SAY TO YOU?

WHAT DID HE SEE GOING DOWN THAT RIVER?

HE'D BEEN OFF THAT RIVER FOR 20 YEARS...

SINCE BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR.

WHAT DO YOU THINK HE WAS LOOKING AT?

HE WAS LOOKING AT THE HORRIBLE FAILURE OF FREEING THE SLAVE.

Narrator: BACK AT QUARRY FARM IN THE SUMMER OF 1883, TWAIN RETURNED WITH RENEWED EAGERNESS TO THE MANUSCRIPT.

IT WAS A VERY DIFFERENT KIND OF STORY, TOLD IN THE PLAIN LANGUAGE OF HIS MISSOURI BOYHOOD.

IT WOULD BE HIS MASTERPIECE.

Ron Powers, writer: I THINK THAT SAM CLEMENS AND MARK TWAIN WERE A KIND OF DIALECTIC WITH ONE ANOTHER.

IT'S ALMOST LIKE HAVING A PUPPET THAT YOU CAN INVOKE AND TALK TO, AND WHEN YOU TALK TO THIS ALTER EGO, AN ENERGY COMES UP THAT WASN'T THERE BEFORE.

SAM CLEMENS WAS A CAUTIOUS, BOURGEOIS, UPWARDLY STRIVING GENTLEMAN WHO WAS ON THE WAY UP FROM THE MIDWEST INTO THE SALONS OF THE EAST.

MARK TWAIN WAS AN UNTAMEABLE ROGUE, A KIND OF BARELY RESTRAINABLE ID, A GREAT, DARK SPIRIT THAT SAM COULD LET OUT OF THE BOTTLE SOMETIMES, AND SOMETIMES MARK TWAIN GOT OUT WHEN SAM LEAST EXPECTED IT.

I DON'T THINK HE REALLY UNDERSTOOD AS HE WAS WRITING HUCKLEBERRY FINN WHAT AN INSURRECTIONARY AND SUBVERSIVE AND COMPLETELY REVOLUTIONARY BOOK THAT WAS.

Hamlin Hill, Twain scholar: WITH ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN, MARK TWAIN LIBERATED AMERICAN LITERATURE.

HE CUT IT LOOSE FROM ANY OF THE RESTRICTIONS AND BOUNDS OF PROPRIETY, OF PROPER GRAMMAR, OF DIGNIFIED, ELEGANT SPEECH.

HUCKLEBERRY FINN DOESN'T TALK LIKE AHAB, AND HE DOESN'T TALK LIKE HESTER OR ARTHUR DIMMESDALE, AND MARK TWAIN DOESN'T APOLOGIZE FOR HIM.

YOU DON'T HEAR MARK TWAIN'S VOICE AT ALL.

HE NARRATES THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER, BUT HE LETS HUCK, THIS VULGAR, ILLITERATE, UNEDUCATED LITTLE RIVER RAT, JUVENILE DELINQUENT TELL HIS WHOLE STORY WITHOUT AN APOLOGY OF ANY SORT, AND THAT, AS HEMINGWAY SAID, THAT REALLY WAS THE BEGINNING OF AMERICAN LITERATURE.

Ron Powers, writer: BUT IT STARTED WITH THE VOICE.

IT STARTED WITH HUCK'S VOICE.

"YOU DON'T KNOW ME, WITHOUT YOU HAVE READ A BOOK BY MR. SAM CLEMENS CALLED THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER."

ONCE THOSE RHYTHMS KICKED IN, THE PUPPET WAS THERE.

THE ALTER EGO WAS THERE, AND HE COULD TAP INTO THAT ENERGY.

Man as Twain: "YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME, WITHOUT YOU HAVE READ A BOOK BY THE NAME OF THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER, BUT THAT AIN'T NO MATTER.

THAT BOOK WAS MADE BY MR. MARK TWAIN, AND HE TOLD THE TRUTH, MAINLY.

THERE WAS THINGS WHICH HE STRETCHED, BUT MAINLY HE TOLD THE TRUTH..." Narrator: SET BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR AND BEFORE EMANCIPATION, ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN IS THE STORY OF TWO RUNAWAYS-- A WHITE BOY, TOM'S OLD FRIEND HUCKLEBERRY FINN, FLEEING CIVILIZATION, AND A BLACK MAN, JIM, WHO IS RUNNING AWAY FROM SLAVERY.

Jocelyn Chadwick, Twain scholar: IT'S ALL IN DIALECT, IT'S ALL TOLD FROM THE SOUTHERN PERSPECTIVE, AND IT WOULD TAKE A SOUTHERN WRITER WHOSE PERSPECTIVE HAS SHIFTED.

A NORTHERNER COULD NOT HAVE WRITTEN HUCK FINN FOR THE VERY REASON THAT YOU WOULD HAVE TO UNDERSTAND SLAVERY AS THAT PECULIAR INSTITUTION, AND YOU WOULD HAVE TO BE ABLE TO RENDER IT IN SUCH A WAY AS TO BE BELIEVABLE.

HE DEMYSTIFIES IT, HE DEMYTHOLOGIZES IT, HE TAKES THE ROMANTICISM AWAY FROM IT.

I THINK LANGSTON HUGHES SAID IT BEST WHEN HE SAID THAT THIS IS THE FIRST TIME WE HAVE HAD A REALISTIC DEPICTION OF AN UNLETTERED SLAVE CLINGING TO THE HOPE OF FREEDOM.

THAT'S WHAT WE HAVE IN JIM.

Dick Gregory, comedian: BUT HERE'S A MAN THAT CAME OUT AND PUT A FACE ON BLACK FOLKS.

THE WORD "NIGGER," UP UNTIL HE CAME THROUGH, MEANT A NON-PERSON, A PRODUCT, UH, SOMEBODY ELSE'S GOODS, SO NO ONE EVER HAD TO LISTEN TO A CONVERSATION FROM A BLACK PERSON, AND SO, MARK TWAIN WAS ABLE TO COME THROUGH AND SAY, "HERE'S NIGGER JIM.

HERE'S A STORY," AND HE TOOK A BLACK PERSON AND MADE THEM A HUMAN BEING.

Narrator: TOGETHER, JIM AND HUCK DRIFT DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI ON A RAFT, ENCOUNTERING ALL MANNER OF PEOPLE AND PLACES, AND GETTING TO KNOW ONE ANOTHER.

Man as Twain: "THIS NIGHT WE RUN BETWEEN 7 AND 8 HOURS, WITH A CURRENT THAT WAS MAKING OVER 4 MILE AN HOUR.

WE CATCHED FISH AND TALKED, AND WE TOOK A SWIM NOW AND THEN TO KEEP OFF SLEEPINESS.

IT WAS KIND OF SOLEMN, DRIFTING DOWN THE BIG, STILL RIVER, LAYING ON OUR BACKS, LOOKING UP AT THE STARS... AND WE DIDN'T EVER FEEL LIKE TALKING LOUD, AND IT WARN'T OFTEN THAT WE LAUGHED-- ONLY A LITTLE KIND OF LOW CHUCKLE."

William Styron, writer: I THINK THERE IS SOMETHING SO IRRESISTIBLE ABOUT THIS FABLE, THIS STORY OF THIS KID AND HIS BLACK COMPANION ON THIS MURKY AND MYSTERIOUS WATERWAY THAT JUST TOUCHES SOME CHORD IN READERS EVERYWHERE.

I THINK MARK TWAIN, OUT OF HIS GENIUS, HAS FOUND A METAPHOR FOR THE TRAGICOMEDY OF LIFE.

Narrator: HUCK'S EXPERIENCES WITH JIM TURN UPSIDE DOWN EVERYTHING HE HAS BEEN TAUGHT ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE AND WHITE, ABOUT SLAVERY AND FREEDOM, ABOUT GOOD AND EVIL.

Man as Twain: "JIM TALKED OUT LOUD.

HE WAS SAYING HOW THE FIRST THING HE WOULD DO WHEN HE GOT TO A FREE STATE, HE WOULD GO TO SAVING UP MONEY AND NEVER SPEND A SINGLE CENT, AND WHEN HE GOT ENOUGH, HE WOULD BUY HIS WIFE... AND THEN THEY WOULD BOTH WORK TO BUY THE TWO CHILDREN, AND IF THEIR MASTER WOULDN'T SELL THEM, THEY'D GET AN AB'LITIONIST TO GO AND STEAL THEM.

IT MOST FROZE ME TO HEAR SUCH TALK.

HERE WAS THIS NIGGER WHICH I HAD AS GOOD AS HELPED TO RUN AWAY, COMING RIGHT OUT FLATFOOTED AND SAYING HE WOULD STEAL HIS CHILDREN-- CHILDREN THAT BELONGED TO A MAN I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW, A MAN THAT HADN'T EVER DONE ME NO HARM."

Jocelyn Chadwick, Twain scholar: HUCK AWAKENS TO HEAR JIM, WHAT HE CALLS, "MOANIN' AND MOURNIN'."

JIM'S BEEN CRYING.

JIM CRIES OFTEN AT NIGHT, AND HUCK HAS, BECAUSE OF HIS EXPERIENCE WITH JIM, HAS BEGUN TO SEE JIM IN A DIFFERENT WAY, AND HUCK SAYS HE'S "MOANIN' AND MOURNIN' FOR HIS FAMILY," AND HE SAYS I KNOW THIS BECAUSE HE'LL SAY, "POOR LITTLE JOHNNY, POOR LITTLE ELIZABETH, WON'T BE SEEIN' THEIR FATHER ANYMORE," AND HUCK SAYS SOME OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT WORDS, I THINK, I'VE EVER READ IN FICTION.

HE SAYS, "I GUESS JIM MISSES HIS FAMILY THE WAY WHITE FOLKS DO THEIR'N.

IT DON'T SEEM NATURAL, BUT I GUESS IT'S SO."

JIM'S A MAN.

JIM'S A PERSON.

HE'S NOT 3/5 A PERSON.

HE'S NOT INVISIBLE.

HE'S A DAD.

HE'S A FATHER.

HE'S A HUSBAND.

HE'S A--HE'S A REAL INDIVIDUAL, AND HUCK IS NOT MAKING A RACIST STATEMENT.

HE'S UNLEARNING, LITERALLY.

WE ACTUALLY HEAR HIM MAKING THOSE CONNECTIONS IN HIS HEAD.

"I'VE BEEN TAUGHT THAT THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT FAMILY, THAT YOU CAN SEPARATE THEM, YOU CAN SELL THEM, YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU WANT TO THEM, AND YET HERE'S THIS MAN CRYING DAY AFTER DAY AFTER DAY, TALKING ABOUT POOR LITTLE ELIZABETH AND POOR LITTLE JOHNNY.

HE MUST CARE ABOUT HIS FAMILY."

Narrator: THE NOVEL REACHES ITS MORAL CLIMAX WHEN HUCK IS FACED WITH A TERRIBLE CHOICE.

HE BELIEVES HE HAS COMMITTED A GRIEVOUS SIN IN HELPING JIM ESCAPE, AND HE FINALLY WRITES OUT A LETTER, TELLING JIM'S OWNER WHERE HER RUNAWAY PROPERTY CAN BE FOUND.

HUCK FEELS GOOD ABOUT DOING THIS AT FIRST, HE SAYS, AND MARVELS AT "HOW CLOSE I COME TO BEING LOST AND GOING TO HELL," BUT THEN HE HESITATES.

Man as Twain: "I GOT TO THINKING OVER OUR TRIP DOWN THE RIVER, AND I SEE JIM BEFORE ME ALL THE TIME-- IN THE DAY AND IN THE NIGHTTIME, SOMETIMES MOONLIGHT, SOMETIMES STORMS, AND WE A-FLOATING ALONG, TALKING AND SINGING AND LAUGHING-- BUT SOMEHOW I COULDN'T SEEM TO STRIKE NO PLACE TO HARDEN ME AGAINST HIM, BUT ONLY THE OTHER KIND.

I'D SEE HIM STANDING MY WATCH ON TOP OF HIS'N, 'STEAD OF CALLING ME, SO I COULD GO ON SLEEPING, AND SEE HOW GLAD HE WAS WHEN I COME BACK OUT OF THE FOG, AND SUCH-LIKE TIMES, AND WOULD ALWAYS CALL ME HONEY, AND DO EVERYTHING HE COULD THINK OF FOR ME, AND HOW GOOD HE ALWAYS WAS... AND AT LAST I STRUCK THE TIME WHEN HE SAID I WAS THE BEST FRIEND OLD JIM EVER HAD IN THE WORLD, AND THE ONLY ONE HE'S GOT NOW, AND THEN I HAPPENED TO LOOK AROUND AND SEE THAT PAPER.

I TOOK IT UP AND HELD IT IN MY HAND.

I WAS A-TREMBLING BECAUSE I'D GOT TO DECIDE, FOREVER, BETWIXT TWO THINGS, AND I KNOWED IT.

I STUDIED A MINUTE, SORT OF HOLDING MY BREATH, AND THEN SAYS TO MYSELF, ALL RIGHT, THEN, I'LL GO TO HELL, AND TORE IT UP."

Russell Banks, writer: THAT SENTENCE, IT MAKES THE HAIR ON THE BACK OF MY NECK STAND UP TODAY WHEN I THINK ABOUT THAT SENTENCE AND THE CONTEXT OF THAT SENTENCE.

IT'S THE GREAT MORAL AWAKENING FOR WHITE AMERICANS.

THERE IS, THEN, THE POSSIBILITY OF REDEMPTION FROM WHAT TWAIN SAW AND WHAT MOST OF US TODAY STILL SEE AS THE GREAT-- THE SIN AT OUR INCEPTION, THE SIN OF SLAVERY AND--AND RACISM.

IF YOU CAN ACCEPT THAT-- "ALL RIGHT, THEN, I GUESS I'LL GO TO HELL," THEN THE POSSIBILITY OF REDEMPTION EXISTS.

David Bradley, writer: THE MOMENT WHEN HUCK SAYS "I'LL GO TO HELL," IT'S A CHALLENGING MOMENT BECAUSE HE THOUGHT THAT WAS TRUE.

IT WASN'T A FIGURATIVE STATEMENT AT ALL... AND IT COMES AFTER HE'S SAID SOME OTHER THINGS ABOUT "MAYBE IF I HAD BEEN TRAINED, IF I'D GONE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL, MAYBE IF I'D BEEN LEARNED RIGHT, THEN I WOULDN'T DO THIS, BUT I CAN'T HELP MYSELF.

I'M--I'M EVIL.

I'LL GO TO HELL THEN.

SAVE MY FRIEND."

THAT'S WHAT IT ALL COMES DOWN TO, ISN'T IT?

I MEAN, EVERY MORAL CHOICE THAT WE MAKE-- IF WE DECIDE NOT TO DO WHAT WE THINK IS GOING TO SAVE US, BUT DO WHAT WE THINK WILL SAVE SOMEONE ELSE, I MEAN, IT'S THE ULTIMATE CHRISTIAN MOMENT AS WELL.

THAT'S THE MOMENT AS A WRITER, IF YOU CAN GET TO ANYTHING THAT HAS THAT CLARITY, YOU'VE GOT IT.

YOU'VE GOT SOMETHING.

Russell Banks, writer: I THINK THAT HUCKLEBERRY FINN IS OUR HOMERIC EPIC.

IT STANDS TO OUR LITERATURE, I THINK, AS THE ILIAD AND THE ODYSSEY STAND TO GREEK AND EUROPEAN LITERATURE IN SOME SENSE.

WE ARE, AS A PEOPLE, RADICALLY DIFFERENT, DESPITE OUR COMMON THREADS OF HISTORY, FROM EUROPEANS, AND THE ELEMENTS THAT MAKE US DIFFERENT, I THINK, ARE ESSENTIALLY TWO-- RACE AND SPACE-- AND TWAIN'S WORK, MORE THAN ANY OTHER WRITER BEFORE HIM AND PROBABLY MORE THAN ANY OTHER WRITER SINCE, EMBRACE THOSE TWO FACTS AND MAKES POSSIBLE AN AMERICAN LITERATURE WHICH OTHERWISE WAS NOT POSSIBLE.

HAWTHORNE WAS TRYING TO WRITE ENGLISH LITERATURE.

EVEN MELVILLE, TO HIS GREAT-- IN HIS GREAT EXTREMITY, HE ACCEPTED THE FACT, THE CENTRAL FACT OF SPACE IN HIS WORK.

THERE'S NO QUESTION ABOUT THAT, BUT HE WAS A LITTLE MORE AMBIGUOUS AND AMBIVALENT ABOUT RACE.

TWAIN JUST LOOKED IT RIGHT IN THE FACE AND-- AND MADE IT CENTRAL.

William Styron, writer: ALL A MAN EVER HAD TO DO TO ACHIEVE IMMORTALITY WAS TO WRITE A BOOK LIKE HUCKLEBERRY FINN, UH, WHICH--WHICH, IN THE END, IS SORT OF A HYMN WITHOUT SENTIMENTALITY TO THE SOLIDARITY OF THE HUMAN RACE, AND IT HAS ITS MAGNIFICENCE IN THAT SPIRIT.

Narrator: BUT UNLIKE TOM SAWYER, HUCKLEBERRY FINN WAS NOT GREETED WITH UNIVERSAL ACCLAIM.

THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF CONCORD, MASSACHUSETTS, BANNED THE BOOK.

Man as Twain: "THEY HAVE EXPELLED HUCK FROM THEIR LIBRARY AS, QUOTE, TRASH AND SUITABLE ONLY FOR THE SLUMS.

THAT WILL SELL 25,000 COPIES FOR US SURE."

Ron Powers, writer: WHEN IT FIRST CAME OUT, IT WASN'T THE PORTRAYAL OF BLACKS THAT GOT IT BANNED FROM LIBRARIES.

IT WAS THE ROUGH LANGUAGE, THE COARSENESS, THE KIND OF CELEBRATION OF THE BAD BOY AND THE BAD LANGUAGE AND THE BAD GRAMMAR... AND THEN AS OTHER ERAS CAME ALONG WITH THEIR OWN DEMONS, IT ALWAYS SEEMED THAT HUCKLEBERRY FINN HAD AN ANSWER OR A--OR A KIND OF REFERENT TO THOSE DEMONS.

Narrator: IN HARTFORD ON NOVEMBER 30, 1885, SAM CLEMENS TURNED 50.

TRIBUTES ARRIVED FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD.

ONLY 20 YEARS EARLIER-- PENNILESS, FRIENDLESS, FULL OF SELF-LOATHING-- HE HAD CONTEMPLATED SUICIDE IN CALIFORNIA.

NOW, EVERYTHING WAS GOING HIS WAY.

HE HAD A LOVELY WIFE AND 3 ADORING CHILDREN.

HE WAS THE BEST-KNOWN WRITER IN AMERICA AND THE RICHEST-- RICH ENOUGH FOR HIS FAMILY TO LIVE LIKE MILLIONAIRES.

"I AM OUT OF THE WOODS," HE WROTE IN HIS JOURNAL.

"IT SEEMS THAT EVERYTHING I TOUCH TURNS TO GOLD.

I AM FRIGHTENED AT THE PROPORTIONS OF MY PROSPERITY."

IT NOW SEEMED TO SAM CLEMENS THAT HE HAD PUT HIS HARDSCRABBLE BOYHOOD AND HIS WANDERING YOUTH FAR BEHIND HIM, BUT NOT EVEN IN HIS WILDEST DREAMS-- OR HIS WORST NIGHTMARES-- COULD HE HAVE FORESEEN ALL THAT WAS ABOUT TO HAPPEN TO HIM AND TO HIS FAMILY.

NEXT TIME ON MARK TWAIN INSTEAD OF GOING FROM GREAT WORK TO GREAT WORK ABOUT EVERY EIGHTEEN MONTHS, CONNECTICUT YANKEE TAKES FOUR AND A HALF YEARS "MARK TWAIN, HOW I HATE THAT NAME.

MY FATHER SHOULD NOT BE SATISFIED WITH IT.

HE SHOULD SHOW HIMSELF THE GREAT WRITER THAT HE IS, NOT MERELY A FUNNY MAN."

"SOMETHING ABOUT THE ARTIST THAT'S ANTIPATHETIC TO MAKING A PROFIT" "BUT I THINK HE WAS VERY DISAPPOINTED IN THE CHRISTIAN GOD I THINK HIS ANGER AT THE CHRISTIAN GOD IS THE ANGER OF A MAN WHO REALLY WANTED TO BELIEVE" "YOU FEEL AS THOUGH HE'S GIVEN UP ON GOD, LIFE, THE WHOLE BIT AND THEN HE COMES THROUGH, HE RALLIES, HE CONTINUES TO RALLY."

TWAIN: "I CAME IN WITH HALLEY'S COMET IN 1835, IT IS COMING AGAIN AND I EXPECT TO GO OUT WITH IT."

DON'T MISS THE FINAL CHAPTER OF MARK TWAIN.

Narrator: To learn more ab out this film and other films from Ken Burns, watch video, explore photographs and access lesson plans; visit pbs.org/kenburns.

Mark Twain A Film By Ken Burns is available on DVD.

The companion book is also available.

To order, visit shopPBS.org or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS.

[music plays through credits]