Two Story Tellers

Part 1 - (May 22 – May 24, 2019) – Hannibal, Missouri, Springfield, Illinois

On the Memorial Day weekend, I escaped with my exceptional friend, Professor Mydland, to America’s Heartland.

After overnighting in Iowa City, Iowa, our first stop was Hannibal, Missouri, the hometown of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 – 1910). Clemens is known by his pen name, Mark Twain. Twain is considered the greatest author, humorist, and social commentator of 19^th Century America.

We arrived at the Twain Interpretive Center and purchased our tickets allowing us to explore the historic properties. The Center was welcoming and included an overview and orientation of Hannibal’s favorite son. Included in the historic properties, we toured were the Mark Twain Boyhood Home, Becky Thatcher House, J M Clemens Justice of the Peace Office, and the Museum Gallery. Somehow, we missed the Huckleberry Finn House. The presentations were informative but not quite worthy of Twain’s greatness. The Museum however was impressive.

The first floor of the extremely clean and modern museum was focused on the stories and characters of five of Twain’s most popular books, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, A Connecticut Yankee, Roughing It, and Innocents Abroad. The second floor was a catchall of various collectibles the Museum has acquired. Among them, I was attracted by the original Norman Rockwell paintings and a unique humorous photograph of Twain in cap and gown when he received his honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Oxford.

The Rockwell paintings were completed for a commission as illustrations for special editions published of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Rockwell’s artistic interpretations of Twain’s stories are wonderful.

Downtown riverside Hannibal looks like many other throwback tourist towns. Exposed underneath the 19^th Century, small town taffy shop façade, is the foundation of Mark Twain along with a few peeks at his soul. The Hannibal young Sam grew up in was typical of small-town America at the time. Hannibal then had a population of about one thousand.

The considerable difference between Hannibal and other small towns was that American superhighway, the Mississippi River. The personalities and stories of the river boat travelers coming through Hannibal strongly influenced Twain. These characters and their stories on the edge of America’s frontier in 1850 captivated Twain’s soul and created his wanderlust. Absorbing the River would be his education. Foremost the River fostered his imagination!

Clemens’ father died when he was twelve and as a result, he formed a strong bond with his mother. His mother taught him compassion and he gained her sense of humor. A year later to help support the family he became a printer’s apprentice. At the age of fifteen he became a typesetter at his brother’s newspaper office where he also began writing articles for the paper. Remarkably typesetting gave him a unique perspective of words and their power.

Twain would go on to be a riverboat pilot, very briefly a member of the Confederate Army, a newspaperman, author, publisher, entrepreneur, and lecturer. He is best known as an author. William Faulkner, called him, “the Father of American Literature." Unknown by many was Twain’s love of science and technology.

Twain with his wife. Olivia, settled in Hartford, Connecticut. His personal life was often tragic with the loss of children and occasional financial failures. A result of his life’s tragedy, when employing his humor and wit, Twain never laughed.

Many of Twain’s works were biographical including “Roughing It”, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, “Life on the Mississippi”, and “Innocents Abroad.” The great humorist also penned many other Classics including “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”, and “The Prince and the Pauper.” Twain claimed his personal favorite was his biography of Joan of Arc. “Joan of Arc” took him eight years of research and writing to complete

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“If you want to look at America’s 19^th century soul, Hannibal is without question, worth beholding.