THE KING OF JESTERS.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 8893, 13 August 1907, Page 4

THE KING OF JESTERS.

Mark" Twain, who recently crossed the Atlantic to get some ideas for his funeral, as lie said, from the Uxiord pageant, was entertained in due course i>v the Pilgrims' Club. Mr Birreli, 'who proposed his health, spoke of the humourist as '_■ the true consolidate!' ol' nations." Mark | Twain seems to have risen to the oei casion in his reply to the Pilgrims' ovation, aud made a capital speech, full of genial, sunny humour, in the course of which he said:"My books have had effects, and very good ones too, hero ami there, and some others not so good. There is no doubt about that. Jiut I remember one monumental instance of it; vcars and years ago. Professor Norton of Harvard was over hero, and whc'.ihe came back to .Boston I went out with Howell; do call on him. Norton was allied in some way jby marriage with Darwin. Mr Norton was very gentle in wuat he laid ;to say, uiidij almost delicate, and he sa id : —'Mr Clemens, I have been spending some time with Mr Darwin iu. England, and I should like to tell you something connected with that visit You were the object of it, and I myself would have been very proud of it, but you may not be proud of it. At any rate lam going to tell yon what it was, and to leave to vou to regard it as you please. Mr Darwin took me up to his bedroom and pointed out certain things there —pitcher-plants, and so on, that he was measuring and watching from day to day—and he said, ''The chambermaid is permitted to do what she pleases in this room, but she must never touch those'plants aud never touch those books on that table by that caudle. With those books I road myself to sleep every night." Those were your owu ' books. " (Laughter and cheers.) I said, 'There is no question to my mind as to whether I should regard that as a compliment or not. 1 do regard it as a very great compliment and a very high honour that that groat mind, labouring for the whole humau race, should rest itself on my books. I am proud that he should read himself to sloeii with them.' I could not keep that to myself—l was so promt of it. As soon as I got home to Hartford I called up my oldest fricud —and dearest enemy on occasion (laughter) the Ilev. Joseph Twitchell, my pastor, and I told him about that, ami of course he was full of interest and venom. (Laughter.) Those people who get no compliments like that feel like that. "(Laughter.) He went off. Ho did not issue any applauso?of any

kind and I did not hear of that subject for sonic time. Bnt when Mr Darwin passed away from this life, and some time after Darwin's .Life and Letters came ont, rlio Key. Mr Twitchell procured an early copy of that work and found something in it which he considered applied tome. He came over to my house —it was snowing, raining, sleeting, but that did not make any difference to Twitchell. He produced the book', and turned over and over until ho came to a certain place, when he said, 'Here, look at this letter from Mr Darwin to Sir Joseph Hooker.'

What Mr Darwin said—l give you the idea and not the very wordswas this: I do not know whether I ought to have devoted my whole life to these, drudgeries in natural his-

tory and the other sciences or not, for' while I may have gained in one way I have lost in another. Once I had a fine perception and appreciation of high literature, but in me that [quality is atrophied. 'That was the reason,' said Mr Twitchell, 'he was reading your books.' " (Laughter.)