Complete Letters of Mark Twain | Page 7

York, Carleton, the publisher, had Ward's book about
ready for the press. It did not seem worth while to Carleton to include
the frog story, and handed it over to Henry Clapp, editor of the

Saturday Press--a perishing sheet-saying:
"Here, Clapp, here's something you can use."
The story appeared in the Saturday Press of November 18, 1865.
According to the accounts of that time it set all New York in a roar,
which annoyed, rather than gratified, its author. He had thought very
little of it, indeed, yet had been wondering why some of his more
highly regarded work had not found fuller recognition.
But The Jumping Frog did not die. Papers printed it and reprinted it,
and it was translated into foreign tongues. The name of "Mark Twain"
became known as the author of that sketch, and the two were
permanently associated from the day of its publication.
Such fame as it brought did not yield heavy financial return. Its author
continued to win a more or less precarious livelihood doing
miscellaneous work, until March, 1866, when he was employed by the
Sacramento Union to contribute a series of letters from the Sandwich
Islands. They were notable letters, widely read and freely copied, and
the sojourn there was a generally fortunate one. It was during his stay
in the islands that the survivors of the wrecked vessel, the Hornet, came
in, after long privation at sea. Clemens was sick at the time, but Anson
Burlingame, who was in Honolulu, on the way to China, had him
carried in a cot to the hospital, where he could interview the surviving
sailors and take down their story. It proved a great "beat" for the Union,
and added considerably to its author's prestige. On his return to San
Francisco he contributed an article on the Hornet disaster to Harper's
Magazine, and looked forward to its publication as a beginning of a real
career. But, alas! when it appeared the printer and the proof-reader had
somehow converted "Mark Twain" into "Mark Swain," and his dreams
perished.
Undecided as to his plans, he was one day advised by a friend to deliver
a lecture. He was already known as an entertaining talker, and his
adviser judged his possibilities well. In Roughing It we find the story of
that first lecture and its success. He followed it with other lectures up
and down the Coast. He had added one more profession to his
intellectual stock in trade.
Mark Twain, now provided with money, decided to pay a visit to his
people. He set out for the East in December, 1866, via Panama, arriving
in New York in January. A few days later he was with his mother, then

living with his sister, in St. Louis. A little later he lectured in Keokuk,
and in Hannibal, his old home.
It was about this time that the first great Mediterranean steamship
excursion began to be exploited. No such ocean picnic had ever been
planned before, and it created a good deal of interest East and West.
Mark Twain heard of it and wanted to go. He wrote to friends on the
'Alta California,' of San Francisco, and the publishers of that paper had
sufficient faith to advance the money for his passage, on the
understanding that he was to contribute frequent letters, at twenty
dollars apiece. It was a liberal offer, as rates went in those days, and a
godsend in the fullest sense of the word to Mark Twain.
Clemens now hurried to New York in order to be there in good season
for the sailing date, which was in June. In New York he met Frank
Fuller, whom he had known as territorial Governor of Utah, an
energetic and enthusiastic admirer of the Western humorist. Fuller
immediately proposed that Clemens give a lecture in order to establish
his reputation on the Atlantic coast. Clemens demurred, but Fuller
insisted, and engaged Cooper Union for the occasion. Not many tickets
were sold. Fuller, however, always ready for an emergency, sent out a
flood of complimentaries to the school-teachers of New York and
adjacent territory, and the house was crammed. It turned out to be a
notable event. Mark Twain was at his best that night; the audience
laughed until, as some of them declared when the lecture was over,
they were too weak to leave their seats. His success as a lecturer was
assured.
The Quaker City was the steamer selected for the great oriental tour. It
sailed as advertised, June 8, 1867, and was absent five months, during
which Mark Twain contributed regularly to the 'Alta-California', and
wrote several letters for the New York Tribune. They were read and
copied everywhere. They preached a new gospel in travel literature-- a
gospel of seeing with an overflowing honesty; a