. St. Nicholas [serial]. ; |1N CKNTEK) WHKRE ORION CLKMFCNS HAD MISPKINTING-OFFICK IN 1856-7, AT KEOKUK, IOWA. was a man of deep knowledge, a reader of manybooks, a thinker; he was versed in history andphilosophy, he knew the dictionary by heart. Hemade but two statements concerning himself:one, that he had acquired his knowledge fromreading, and not at school; the other, that heknew every word in the English dictionary. Hewas willing to give proof of the last, and SamClemens tested him more than once, but foundno word that Macfarlane could not define. Macfarlane was not silent—he wou
. St. Nicholas [serial]. ; |1N CKNTEK) WHKRE ORION CLKMFCNS HAD MISPKINTING-OFFICK IN 1856-7, AT KEOKUK, IOWA. was a man of deep knowledge, a reader of manybooks, a thinker; he was versed in history andphilosophy, he knew the dictionary by heart. Hemade but two statements concerning himself:one, that he had acquired his knowledge fromreading, and not at school; the other, that heknew every word in the English dictionary. Hewas willing to give proof of the last, and SamClemens tested him more than once, but foundno word that Macfarlane could not define. Macfarlane was not silent—he would discussreadily enough the deeper problems of life and. MARK TWAIN AT EIGHTEEN. had many startling theories of his own. Darwinhad not yet published his Descent of Man, yetMacfarlane was already advancing ideas similar to those in that book. He went farther thanDarwin. He hadstartling ideas of themoral evolution ofman, and these hewould pour into the V ~\ ears of his younglistener until tenoclock, after which,like the English Sum-ner in Philadelphia,he would grill a her-ring, and the eveningwould end. Thosewere fermenting dis-courses that youngSamuel Clemens lis-tened to that winter in Macfarlanes room, and they did not fail toinfluence his later thought. It was the high tide of spring, late in April,when the prospective cocoa-hunter decided thatit was time to set out for the upper Amazon. Hehad saved money enough to carry him at least asfar as New Orleans, where he would take ship, itlieing farther south and therefore nearer hisdestination. Furthermore, he could begin with alazy trip down the Mississippi, which next tobeing a pilot had bee
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Keywords: ., bookauthordodgemar, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookyear1873
