Mark Twain History

Samual Longhorne Clemon well known as “Mark Twain” was born on November 30, 1895 in Florida, Missouri. He was the sixth of seventh children of John and Jane Clemons. The family later moved to a small town Hannibal, Missouri where his father died of pneumania which prompted him to leave school and become a printers apprentice. He recieved work from his brother Orions newspaper Hannibal Western Union as a printer and editorial assistant which is where he found his passion for writing. He published his first story Gallent Fireman which was a humorous piece that helped him get a job in St. Louis to become a licensed steamboat pilot apprentice on the Mississippi River. Twains favorite job was as a steamboat pilot apprentice but it was short lived because of the Civil War. The would be the foundation of his pen name “Mark Twain” that is a riverboat term for two fathoms or twelve feet and “Mark Twain” means that it is safe to navigate.

Clemens began working as a newspaper reporter for several newspapers on the Western hempishere of the United States and in 1870 he married his lovely and wealthy wife Olivia Langdon and they had four children. Twain was beginning to be recognized nation wide by his story, Jim Smilely and His Jumping Frog which appeared in the New York Saturday Press that was unique about life in a mining camp. Twain’s first published book, The Innocents Abroad was a humorous piece about his sightseeing on a five month Mediterrranean cruise which became a bestseller. He is the most incredible America writer because of his most famous books Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that showed his true talented as writer because of the colliquial language of the common people that created great literature. Mark Twain died on April 21, 1910 in Stormfield in Redding, Connnecuit and is now on Americas most influential writers.

Mark Twain was a successful writer that recieved many awards and was asked to speak at many lectures all around the world. He demonstrated his brand of humor in his writings and his public lectures. On April 15,1882 at the Saturday Morning Club in Boston he presented his speech Advice to the Youth to the youth of America. The speech would later become a essay published in the book Mark Twain Speaking edited by Paul Fatout in 1923. The purpose of the Advice to Youth essay was to teach a lesson to the entire youth of America about being obedient to your parents, respecting your superiors, going to bed early, not lying, handling firearms, and reading good books.