Mark Twain Speaking

184. Humorists and Cartoonists

MARK TWAIN SPEAKING· 184 · 619 Senator Patrick H. McCarren, Henry Rogers, and Mark Twain were the chief guests at a rowdy dinner ofcartoonists and newsmen. Mam'selle Fay Douglas, in afetching bathing costume, entertained the disorderly crowd with songs, and cartoonists amused themselves by drawing caricatures on the large menus, on which were printed, in scarehead type, only "Steak" and "Beer." The pace became so boisterous that the Times said next day: "At 11 o'clock it appeared that the proper name ofthe organization would be the Mutual Protective Bail Bond Association." Mark Twain was reluctant to talk across a long room, but he wasfinally persuaded to say something. Remarks Humorists and Cartoonists Beefsteak Dinner, Reisenweber's, New York, April 18, 1908 In the matter of courage we all have our limits. There never was a hero who did not have his bounds. I suppose it may be said of Nelson and all the others whose courage has been advertised that there came times in their lives when their bravery knew it had come to its limit. I have found mine a good many times. Sometimes this was expected -often it was unexpected. I know a man who is not afraid to sleep with a rattlesnake, but you could not get him to sleep with a safety razor. I never had the courage to talk across a long, narrow room. I should be at the end of the room facing all the audience. If I attempt to talk across a room I find myself turning this way and that, and thus at alternate periods I have part of the audience behind me. You ought never to have any part of the audience behind you; you can never tell what they are going to do. I'll sit down. Text / Composite, based upon: "Twain and McCarren Mix Wit With Art," Times, April 19, 1908; "Courage," in MTS(10):151; MTS(23):386. ...