MARK TWAIN.
rTO TED EDITOR OF THE .SPROTATOR."1 SIE,—Thanks for your deserved tribute to Mark Twain in last week's issue, especially these words: "preserving the same courage, independence, and health of vision, he has earned the title of a good deal more than a man of letters ; he has been a man of action." The parallel you draw between Scott and him is just. Our friend could readily have gone through bankruptcy, given up all and started afresh,—that Nees the eau and lawful road; but, not what was due to his creditors, what was due to himself, was his thought, and he started round the world to lecture, though suffering great physical pain. At the supreme moment of trial, he chose the thorny path, entered the feu furnace a man and emerged a hero. He accomplished the task which Scott also set before himself. Those privileged to know Mr. Clemens know him as a man of deep, earnest convictions upon public questions, ready to give his time and support to every good cause. Behind the author there is a hero greater than his works, high as you rate these.
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