Mark Twain's Daughter. How She Caught Her Father Guying Her.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 332, 9 January 1889, Page 5

Mark Twain's Daughter. How She Caught Her Father Guying Her.

JVI \kk Twain, if he is in the mood, will tel tho ot his own courtship in a tntinnet win thy ot tho greatest of living humorists. When he tii!*t met the lady who afterwards became his wile he \wu> not &o distinguished ;ib now. Hi-? oii^in was humble, and for some jedi-3 of his life he had been a pilot on the SJissi&Mppi nvcr. The future Mi> Clemen* was a woman ot position and tortune. Her tftiher win a judge, and doubtless expected ' family ' and social importance in his hon-in-law. Clemens, howex or, became interested in his daughter, and aller awhile piopo&ed, but was lejoeted. ' Well,' he &aid to the lady, ' 1 didn't much believe you'd ha\e me, bub 1 thought I'd try.' After a while he ' tried ' again, with the same lesult, and then remarked, with his celebrated brawl: 'I think a great deal moie ot yon than if you'd said " Ye?, 3< but it's hard to bear.' A third time he met with better foitunc, and then came the most difficult part of his task, to address the old gentleman. 1 Judge, 5 he said to the dignified millionaire, ' have you seen anything going on between Mi^fe Lu/.ie and me?' 1 What ? What '?/ exclaimed the Judge, rather sharply, apparently not understanding the situation, yet doubtless getting a glimpse of it from the inquiry. ' Have you seen anything going on bet\\ een Miss Liz/ie and me T ' No — no, indeed !' replied the magistrate, sternly. 'No, sir, I have not.' ' Well ! Look sharp and you will,' said the author of 'Innocents Abroad ;' and chat's the way he asked the judicial luminary for hih daughter's hand. Mark has a child who inherits some of. her father's brightness. She kept a diary at one time, in which she noted tho occur- , rences in the family and, amonsr other tilings, the sayings of her parents. On one page she wrote that father sometimes u&ed stronger words when mother wasn't) by and ho thought ' we ' didn't hear. Mrs Clemens found tlie'diary and showed it to her husband, probably thinking the particular page worth his notice. After this Clemens did and said several things that wei'e intended to attiaot the child's attention, and found them duly oioted afterward. But one day the following entry occurred : ' I don't think I'll put down anything more about father, for T think he does things to have mo notice him, and I believe ho reads this diary.' She was Mark's own child.

Mr Mylos Fen ton, general manager of the South Eastern Railway Company, hus been knighted.