Twains Letters vol 6 1907-1910 | Page 9

Weekly, a man beloved by all who knew
him--had been drowned in the surf off the Jersey beach.
To W. D. Howells, Kittery Point, Maine:
Aug. 12, '08. DEAR HOWELLS,--Won't you and Mrs. Howells and
Mildred come and give us as many days as you can spare, and examine
John's triumph? It is the most satisfactory house I am acquainted with,
and the most satisfactorily situated.
But it is no place to work in, because one is outside of it all the time,
while the sun and the moon are on duty. Outside of it in the loggia,
where the breezes blow and the tall arches divide up the scenery and
frame it.
It's a ghastly long distance to come, and I wouldn't travel such a
distance to see anything short of a memorial museum, but if you can't
come now you can at least come later when you return to New York,
for the journey will be only an hour and a half per express-train. Things
are gradually and steadily taking shape inside the house, and nature is
taking care of the outside in her ingenious and wonderful fashion--and

she is competent and asks no help and gets none. I have retired from
New York for good, I have retired from labor for good, I have
dismissed my stenographer and have entered upon a holiday whose
other end is in the cemetery. Yours ever, MARK.
From a gentleman in Buffalo Clemens one day received a letter
inclosing an incompleted list of the world's "One Hundred Greatest
Men," men who had exerted "the largest visible influence on the life
and activities of the race." The writer asked that Mark Twain examine
the list and suggest names, adding "would you include Jesus, as the
founder of Christianity, in the list?"
To the list of statesmen Clemens added the name of Thomas Paine; to
the list of inventors, Edison and Alexander Graham Bell. The question
he answered in detail.
To-----------, Buffalo, N. Y.
Private. REDDING, CONN, Aug. 28, '08. DEAR SIR,--By "private," I
mean don't print any remarks of mine.
.................. I like your list.
The "largest visible influence."
These terms require you to add Jesus. And they doubly and trebly
require you to add Satan. From A.D. 350 to A.D. 1850 these gentlemen
exercised a vaster influence over a fifth part of the human race than was
exercised over that fraction of the race by all other influences combined.
Ninety- nine hundredths of this influence proceeded from Satan, the
remaining fraction of it from Jesus. During those 1500 years the fear of
Satan and Hell made 99 Christians where love of God and Heaven
landed one. During those 1500 years, Satan's influence was worth very
nearly a hundred times as much to the business as was the influence of
all the rest of the Holy Family put together.
You have asked me a question, and I have answered it seriously and
sincerely. You have put in Buddha--a god, with a following, at one
time, greater than Jesus ever had: a god with perhaps a little better
evidence of his godship than that which is offered for Jesus's. How then,
in fairness, can you leave Jesus out? And if you put him in, how can
you logically leave Satan out? Thunder is good, thunder is impressive;
but it is the lightning that does the work. Very truly yours, S. L.
CLEMENS.
The "Children's Theatre" of the next letter was an institution of the

New York East Side in which Mark Twain was deeply interested. The
children were most, if not all, of Hebrew parentage, and the
performances they gave, under the direction of Alice M. Herts, were
really remarkable. It seemed a pity that lack of funds should have
brought this excellent educational venture to an untimely end.
The following letter was in reply to one inclosing a newspaper clipping
reporting a performance of The Prince and the Pauper, given by
Chicago school children.
To Mrs. Hookway, in Chicago: Sept., 1908. DEAR MRS.
HOOKWAY,--Although I am full of the spirit of work this morning, a
rarity with me lately--I must steal a moment or two for a word in
person: for I have been reading the eloquent account in the Record-
Herald and am pleasurably stirred, to my deepest deeps. The reading
brings vividly back to me my pet and pride. The Children's Theatre of
the East side, New York. And it supports and re-affirms what I have so
often and strenuously said in public that a children's theatre is easily the
most valuable adjunct that any educational institution for the young can
have, and that no otherwise good school is complete without it.
It is much the most effective teacher of morals and promoter of good
conduct that the ingenuity of man has