Mark Twain Speaking

86. Interview

MARK TWAIN SPEAKING 287 Mark Twain digressed to physical ailments, and predicted that medical science would eventually be able to vaccinate an infant against every possible disease. Evidently the implication was to suggest immunization against all forms of immorality.·86· The travelers-Mark Twain, Olivia, and daughter Clara-journeyed west by the northern route, pausing for engagements in Duluth, Minneapolis, Butte, Helena, Spokane, Portland, and other towns on the way to Seattle. From there they ferried to Victoria and Vancouver, B.C., then sailedfor Australia in late August. Shortly before departure, a Vancouver reporter caught Mark Twain for the interview below. Interview Vancouver, B.C., August 19,1895 [A reporter mentioned the inability of some people to see the point ofajoke. Mark Twain took off from there.] When you have a crowded house, some subtle magnetic influence seems to permeate the atmosphere , so that the recognition of the speaker's intention by the audience is unanimous. It often happens that when one is telling ajoke to three or four listeners, only one will perceive its meaning, but with a large auditory, it is invariably the large majority. The depressing influence ofa small audience is due to several causes. In the first place, the individual members of that audience feel sorry for the lecturer. Mentally they put themselves in his position and sympathize with him-such is the charitable disposition of most people. But should the lecturer become scared and rattled their attitudes change from sympathy to contempt and contempt is fatal. The sympathetic attitude is hard to fight against and the ability to do so comes only with experience . Personally some of my most enthusiastic audiences have been small ones. Many years ago, I delivered a lecture in St. Louis. The hall was a 288 MARK TWAIN SPEAKING very large one, with a seating capacity of about a thousand persons I believe, no galleries, but every seat occupying the same level. The night was terribly stormy and there were perhaps eighty people in the hall and with that exception a vast acreage of chair backs confronted me. The feeling ofa lecturer at such junctures should not be despondent . Every man's presence should be regarded as an individual compliment . If there are only fifteen people present there are fifteen compliments and it surely is not necessary to multiply a compliment by fifteen in order to appreciate it. I requested everybody to come forward and sit in a solid phalanx. It was like lecturing to the disciples on the edge of the Sahara but I started off, and instead oflecturing for an hour and a half only, I kept it up for more than two hours. Among my auditory, as I afterwards learned, was H. M. Stanley, who took down the lecture in shorthand. [The subject of hotels came up, particularly changes in lighting systems.] Formerly, when staying at some hotel I would enter my bedroom and find the gas jet turned down, as I thought, and feeling inclined for a read and a smoke I would attempt to turn it up, only to find that the flame was at its maximum. Sometimes I would complain and solicit an amelioration of affairs. Then the hotel people had recourse to a trick, which I soon became aware ofand which has never deceived me since. A waiter would put on a pair of overalls and pretend to be an engineer, or a plumber or some such thing. He would tinker with the gas as long as I remained at the hotel, but never improved it as far as I could see. Consequently I found it useful to travel with a wax candle, and when the electric light was introduced into hotels, I was among the first to rejoice. But commencing at some point, the exact position of which is ambiguous and proceeding westward, the hotels seem to be concerned with the spirit of economy. The electric light is only turned on at a certain hour in the evening and no matter how dark or foggy the day may be-so dark that even those who dwelt in Egyptian darkness would find it impossible to see-unless otherwise provided you cannot obtain artificial light. So even now my wax candle has been of use to me. Text / Vancouver, B.C., News Advertiser, August 20, 1895. ...