Every little while Mark Twain had a fever of play-writing, and it was
about this time that he collaborated with W. D. Howells on a second
Colonel Sellers play. It was a lively combination.
Once to the writer Howells said: "Clemens took one scene and I another.
We had loads of fun about it. We cracked our sides laughing over it
as we went along. We thought it mighty good, and I think to this day it
was mighty good."
But actors and managers did not agree with them. Raymond, who had played
the original Sellers, declared that in this play the Colonel had not
become merely a visionary, but a lunatic. The play was offered
elsewhere, and finally Mark Twain produced it at his own expense. But
perhaps the public agreed with Raymond, for the venture did not pay.
It was about a year after this (the winter of 1884-5) that Mark Twain
went back to the lecture platform--or rather, he joined with George W.
Cable in a reading-tour. Cable had been giving readings on his own
account from his wonderful Creole stories, and had visited Mark Twain in
Hartford. While there he had been taken down with the mumps, and it was
during his convalescence that the plan for a combined reading-tour had
been made. This was early in the year, and the tour was to begin in the
autumn.
Cable, meantime, having quite recovered, conceived a plan to repay Mark
Twain's hospitality. It was to be an April-fool--a great complimentary
joke. A few days before the first of the month he had a "private and
confidential" circular letter printed, and mailed it to one hundred and
fifty of Mark Twain's friends and admirers in Boston, New York, and
elsewhere, asking that they send the humorist a letter to arrive April 1,
requesting his autograph. It would seem that each one receiving this
letter must have responded to it, for on the morning of April 1st an
immense pile of letters was unloaded on Mark Twain's table. He did not
know what to make of it, and Mrs. Clemens, who was party to the joke,
slyly watched results. They were the most absurd requests for autographs
ever written. He was fooled and mystified at first, then realizing the
nature and magnitude of the joke, he entered into it fully-delighted, of
course, for it was really a fine compliment. Some of the letters asked
for autographs by the yard, some by the pound. Some commanded him to sit
down and copy a few chapters from "The Innocents Abroad." Others asked
that his autograph be attached to a check. John Hay requested that he
copy a hymn, a few hundred lines of Young's "Night Thoughts," etc., and
added:
"I want my boy to form a taste for serious and elevated poetry, and
it will add considerable commercial value to have it in your
handwriting."
Altogether, the reading of the letters gave Mark Twain a delightful day.
The platform tour of Clemens and Cable that fall was a success. They had
good houses, and the work of these two favorites read by the authors of
it made a fascinating program.
They continued their tour westward as far as Chicago and gave readings in
Hannibal and Keokuk. Orion Clemens and his wife once more lived in
Keokuk, and with them Jane Clemens, brisk and active for her eighty-one
years. She had visited Hartford more than once and enjoyed "Sam's fine
house," but she chose the West for home. Orion Clemens, honest, earnest,
and industrious, had somehow missed success in life. The more prosperous
brother, however, made an allowance ample for all. Mark Twain's mother
attended the Keokuk reading. Later, at home, when her children asked her
if she could still dance (she had been a great dancer in her youth), she
rose, and in spite of her fourscore, tripped as lightly as a girl. It
was the last time that Mark Twain would see her in full health.
At Christmas-time Cable and Clemens took a fortnight's holiday, and
Clemens went home to Hartford. There a grand surprise awaited him. Mrs.
Clemens had made an adaptation of "The Prince and the Pauper" for the
stage, and his children, with those of the neighborhood, had learned the
parts. A good stage had been set up in George Warner's home, with a
pretty drop-curtain and very good scenery indeed. Clemens arrived in the
late afternoon, and felt an air of mystery in the house, but did not
guess what it meant. By and by he was led across the grounds to George
Warner's home, into a large room, and placed in a seat directly fronting
the stage. Then presently the curtain went up, the play began, and he
knew. As he watched the little performers playing so eagerly the parts
of his story, he was deeply moved and gratified.
It was only the beginning of "The Prince and the Pauper" production. The
play was soon repeated, Clemens himself taking the part of Miles Hendon.
In a "biography" of her father which Susy began a little later, she
wrote:
"Papa had only three days to learn the part in, but still we were all
sure he could do it . . . . I was the prince, and Papa and I
rehearsed two or three times a day for the three days before the
appointed evening. Papa acted his part beautifully, and he added to
the scene, making it a good deal longer. He was inexpressibly
funny, with his great slouch hat and gait--oh, such a gait!"
Susy's sister, Clara, took the part of Lady Jane Gray, while little Jean,
aged four, in the part of a court official, sat at a small table and
constantly signed state papers and death-warrants.