THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF
MARK TWAIN
Orion Clemens/' A Strange Human Compound'
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A Stranpc Human Mixture
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indifferent, he repented of it every time in sackcloth
and ashes before twenty-four hour- had sped.
Pessimists are born, not made. Optimists are born.
not made. But I think he was the only person I
have ever known in whom pessimism and optimism
were lodged in exactly equal proportions. Except
in the matter of grounded principle, he was as un
stable as water. 'You could dash his spirits with a
single word: you could raise them into the sky
again with another one. You could break his heart
with a word of disapproval: you could make him
as happy as an angel with a word of approval. And
there was no occasion to put any sense or any vestige
of mentality of any kind into these miracles: any
thing you might say would answer.
He had another-: conspicuous characteristic, and
it was the father of those which 1 have just spoken
of. This was an intense; lust for "approval. He/was.
<r, cage- to be appr >ved. — so girlishly anxious to be
a:>;>roved by anybody and everybody, without di -
...... — that he was commonly ready to for
sake his notions, opinions: and convictions at a
moment's notice in order to get the approval of
.... who disagreed with them. I wish to be
understood as reserving his fundamental principles
ill the time. He never forsook those to please any
body. Bom and reared among slaves and slave
holders, he was vet an abolitionist from his boyhood
to his death. He was always truthful: he was
V-.v ivs -mere : he was always honest and honorable.
But in matters -matters of small consequence^
like religion and politics and such things— he never
acquired a conviction thai could survive a dis
approving remark from a cat.
He was always dreaming. — he was a dreamer m>m
b:rth.— and this characteristic got him into trouble
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A Reversed Surprise
ONCE when he was twenty-three or twenty-four
years old. and was become a journeyman, he
conceived the romantic idea of coming to Hannibal
without giving its notice, in order thai he might
furnish to the family a pleasant surprise. It he had
given notice, he would have been informed that we
had changed our residence and that that gruff old
bass voiced sailorman; Dr. G.. our family physician.
was living in the house which we had formerly oc
cupied, and that Orion's former room in that house
was now occupied by Dr. G.s two middle aged
maiden sisters. Orion arrived at Hannibal per
steamboat in the middle of the night, and started
vT-itfa his customary eagerness on his excursion, his
Why. >.i LinJ! Aren't You Goin< to Stop to Brc.ikl.Kt f'
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■n fire ■■•■ h . ni project and
building ai i - rpi in advance He
■•- i- always enj >ying things . T^ advance it was the
He i it for the event,
; - tuff and
• • . : ■ ■ hen the
penedh that ii nol . las the
;■• nted ii ginatioi nd so he
tpi ■ not keeping 1 magii
the 1
Whei ■• L at 1 I ' nt around
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tairs, am t the room of 1
■ • pers He
lv Ire Lin 1 lai nd got ml
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: . !■ • • : " ' rtable.
... : ■; ■ to 1 mfori • :
s he is dropping off 1 •
Ireams
ng 1 ■
; . • going 1 ppei
ened i thai
ng cr - L fretted and strugj
preseni I hali i nditioi
rotested against 1 i ling
alyzed < h-ion. He ■ ildn tm> •'■ i ildn I
I the ci led oi
:•••.; »ved
the par ■ ' : ; '
• ■ in the I irk I >r hi n a fraction of a
nd. Bothi I ■ ' m thei C>non
tto gel anirobe. He »t irte i
with uch parts of i 1
Ho flev to 'In- hea I th tail md started d
. | ■ ■ that point, because he
the faini ' i : ' ■ mdie soaring up
the stairs from •■ v d judged that Dr G ■' is
behind i 1 .:- Ihe was. He had i
;peak f; but i matter he •is well enough fixed
;',, an ccasion like 1 -■■ he h. ! a but her
knife in hi- hand < >rion ihoul I ' this
saved hi life I ir the doctor t i p oice
Then in tho ■>■ deep- ea-goii I i
: •■ . idn ire o i len 1
he explaine I to Orion thi change thai
made 1 to fu
tnd lose [ with son
. ; l».»ut posting himselJ
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needed aj i - ■ •• ;
A Suitor InviteJ to Breakfast
O\*E bitter !>• i : reading
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... • Ed forth 1 ill m <■