Samuel Langhorne Clemens was welcomed into the world as the sixth child of John Marshall and Jane Lampton Clemens. Little did John and Jane know, their son Samuel would one day be known as Mark Twain - America's most famous literary icon. Approximately four years after his birth, in 1839, the Clemens family moved 35 miles east to the town of Hannibal. A growing port city that lie along the banks of the Mississippi, Hannibal was a frequent stop for steam boats arriving by both day and night from St. Louis and New Orleans.
Samuel's father was a judge, and he built a two-story frame house at 206 Hill Street in 1844. As a youngster, Samuel was kept indoors because of poor health. However, by age nine, he seemed to recover from his ailments and joined the rest of the town's children outside. He then attended a private school in Hannibal. When he was 12, his father died of pneumonia, and at 13, Samuel left school to become a printer's apprentice. After two short years, he joined his brother Orion's newspaper as a printer and editorial assistant. It was here that young Samuel found he enjoyed writing.
At 17, he left Hannibal behind for a printer's job in St. Louis. While in St. Louis, Clemens became a river pilot's apprentice. He became a licensed river pilot in 1858. Clemens' pseudonym, Mark Twain, comes from his days as a river pilot. It is a river term which means two fathoms or 12-feet when the depth of water for a boat is being sounded. "Mark twain" means that is safe to navigate. Because the river trade was brought to a stand still by the Civil War in 1861, Clemens began working as a newspaper reporter for several newspapers all over the United States. In 1870, Clemens married Olivia Langdon, and they had four children.
Twain began to gain fame when his story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calavaras County" appeared in the New York Saturday Press on November 18, 1865. Twain's first book, "The Innocents Abroad," was published in 1869, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" in 1876, and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" in 1885. He wrote 28 books and numerous short stories, letters and sketches.
Mark Twain passed away on April 21, 1910, but has a following still today. His childhood home is open to the public as a museum in Hannibal, and Calavaras County in California holds the Calavaras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee every third weekend in May. Walking tours are given in New York City of places Twain visited near his birthday every year
Mark Twain Famous Quotation
If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.
Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.
Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Great people are those who make others feel that they, too, can become great.
The secret of getting ahead is getting started.
Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.
To get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with.
The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.
In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then He made School Boards.
The Bible: It is full of interest. It has noble poetry in it; and some clever fables; and some blood-drenched history; and some good morals; and a wealth of obscenity; and upwards of a thousand lies.
The man with a new idea is a Crank until the idea succeeds
There are many humorous things in the world; among them, the white man’s notion that he is less savage than the other savages.
A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain.
To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence.
The two most important days in your life are, the day you are born and the day you find out why.
Walang komento:
Mag-post ng isang Komento