MARK TWAIN'S EARLY WRITINGS
DISCOVERED
BY C. J. ARMSTRONG*
"No other writing of any kind has been preserved from Sam
Clemen's boyhood, none from that period when he had served
his apprenticeship and was a capable printer on his brother's
paper, a contributor to it when occasion served. Letters and
manuscripts of those days have vanished—even his contributions in printed form are unobtianable. It is not believed
that a single number of Orion Clemen's paper, the Hannibal
Journal, exists today." (Italics mine)
When Albert Bigelow Paine wrote the above words
{Mark Twaine's Letters, I, 20) they expressed the regrettable
truth. But, fortunately, I was enabled to discover some old
volumes of bound papers, that contain copies of the Hannibal
Journal and some of the early writings of Mark Twain.
On the day that we dedicated "Tom and Huck," the
statuary (presented to the city of Hannibal by Mr. and Mrs.
George A. Mahan and their son, Mr. D. D. Mahan) that put
Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn in bronze at the foot of
Cardiff Hill, I learned through Miss Nettie A. League, of
some old Hannibal papers, preserved by her father, the late
Mr. W. T. League, Sr., who had been a boyhood friend of
Samuel Clemens. The collection contain seven volumes. I
happened to pick up volume one. Imigine the thrill when I
looked upon the issues of Ament's Missouri** Courier! I
cannot describe my feelings when further search uncovered the
Hannibal Journal, published by O. Clemens. A hasty examination showed there were issued for 1851, 1852, and 1853,
but I could not then determine either that it was a complete
*I wish to express my gratitude to Miss Nettie A. League, Mr. George A.
Mahan, Miss Anna Shelton, Miss Queen Austin, Mr. Floyd C. Shoemaker and
his staff for their willing service and hearty co-operation. I am also greatly
indebted to Mr. Bernard De Voto of Cambridge, Mass., for his invaluable
suggestions.
**Mark Twain, through faulty memory, always speaks of the Hannibal
Courier. The above is the correct title of Ament's paper.
( 485 )
