Some rambling notes of an idle excursion - Softcover

Twain, Mark

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1540848086 ISBN 13: 9781540848086

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016

Synopsis

Extract: I. All the journeyings I had ever done had been purely in the way of business. The pleasant May weather suggested a novelty namely, a trip for pure recreation, the bread-and-butter element left out. The Reverend said he would go, too; a good man, one of the best of men, although a clergyman. By eleven at night we were in New Haven and on board the New York boat. We bought our tickets, and then went wandering around here and there, in the solid comfort of being free and idle, and of putting distance between ourselves and the mails and telegraphs. After a while I went to my stateroom and undressed, but the night was too enticing for bed. We were moving down the bay now, and it was pleasant to stand at the window and take the cool night breeze and watch the gliding lights on shore. Presently, two elderly men sat down under that window and began a conversation. Their talk was properly no business of mine, yet I was feeling friendly toward the world and willing to be entertained. I soon gathered that they were brothers, that they were from a small Connecticut village, and that the matter in hand concerned the cemetery. Said one:.....

About this title

About the Author

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, prominently known by his penname Mark Twain, was a famous American author and humorist. His most famous works, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, and its sequel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, the latter being called “The Great American Novel”. Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which provided the setting for “Huck Finn” and “Tom Sawyer”. He worked as a typesetter and contributed articles to his brother’s newspaper Orion Clemens, prior to which he did apprenticeship with a printer. He later worked as a pilot of a riverboat before he moved west to join Orion in Nevada. He referred humorously to his lack of success at mining, turning to journalism for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise. His humorous story, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”, published in 1865 and based on a story he heard at Angels Hotel in Angels Camp California, where he had spent time as a miner, brought international fame and attention and was even translated to Classic Greek. He was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty. The wit and satire of Twain, both in prose and speech, earned praise from critics and peers. Twain earned a great deal of money from his writings and lectures, though he lost most of it by investing in ventures, notably the Paige Compositor. The failure of this mechanical typesetter was attributed to its complexity and imprecision. These financial difficulties led him to seek protection from his creditors via bankruptcy and succeeded in overcoming his financial problems with the help of Henry Huttleston Rogers. A gentleman by nature, Twain decided to pay all his pre-bankruptcy creditors in full, though he had no legal responsibility to do so. Twain was born shortly after the visit of Halley’s Comet, and he predicted that he would “go out with it”, too. He died the day after the comet returned. He was lauded as “the greatest American humorist of his age”, and William Faulkner called Twain “the father of American literature.”

Edition details

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1540848086
• ISBN 13: 9781540848086
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 70
• Editor: Ballin G-Ph