Twain in His Own Time: A Biographical Chronicle of His Life, Drawn from Recollections, Interviews, and Memoirs by Family, Friends, and Associates

From Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie (1920)

[238] === From Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie (1920) Andrew Carnegie Twain also befriended the American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919). none of my friends hailed my retirement from business more warmly than Mark Twain. I received from him the following note, at a time when the newspapers were talking much about my wealth. [6 February 1901] Dear Sir and Friend: You seem to be prosperous these days. Could you lend an admirer a dollar and a half to buy a hymn-book with? God will bless you if you do; I feel it, I know it. So will I. If there should be other applications this one not to count. Yours Mark P.S. Don’t send the hymnbook, send the money. I want to make the selection myself. M. When he was lying ill in New York I went to see him frequently, and we had great times together, for even lying in bed he was as bright as ever. One call was to say good-bye, before my sailing for Scotland. The Pension Fund for University Professors was announced in New York soon after I sailed. A letter about it from Mark, addressed to “Saint Andrew,” reached me in Scotland, from which I quote the following: You can take my halo. If you had told me what you had done when at my bedside you would have got it there and then. It is pure tin and paid “the duty” when it came down. Those intimate with Mr. Clemens (Mark Twain) will certify that he was one of the charmers. . . . The public only knows one side of Mr. Clemens— the amusing part. Little does it suspect that he was a man of strong convic- [239] tions upon political and social questions and a moralist of no mean order. For instance, upon the capture of Aguinaldo by deception,1 his pen was the most trenchant of all. Junius was weak in comparison. The gathering to celebrate his seventieth birthday was unique. The literary element was there in force, but Mark had not forgotten to ask to have placed near him the multi-millionaire, Mr. H. H. Rogers, one who had been his friend in need.2 Just like Mark. Without exception, the leading literary men dwelt in their speeches exclusively upon the guest’s literary work. When my turn came, I referred to this and asked them to note that what our friend had done as a man would live as long as what he had written . Sir Walter Scott and he were linked indissolubly together. Our friend, like Scott, was ruined by the mistakes of partners, who had become hopelessly bankrupt. Two courses lay before him. One the smooth, easy, and short way—the legal path. Surrender all your property, go through bankruptcy , and start afresh. This was all he owed to creditors. The other path, long, thorny, and dreary, a life struggle, with everything sacrificed. There lay the two paths and this was his decision: “Not what I owe my creditors, but what I owe to myself is the issue.” There are times in most men’s lives that test whether they be dross or pure gold. It is the decision made in the crisis which proves the man. Our friend entered the fiery furnace a man and emerged as a hero. He paid his debts to the utmost farthing by lecturing around the world. “An amusing cuss, Mark Twain,” is all very well as a popular verdict, but what of Mr. Clemens the man and the hero, for he is both and in the front rank, too, with Sir Walter. He had a heroine in his wife. She it was who sustained him and traveled the world round with him as his guardian angel, and enabled him to conquer as Sir Walter did. This he never failed to tell to his intimates. Never in my life did three words leave so keen a pang as those uttered upon my first call after Mrs. Clemens passed away. I fortunately found him alone and while my hand was still in his, and before one word had been spoken by either, there came from him, with a stronger pressure of my hand, these words: “A ruined home, a ruined home.” The silence was unbroken . I write this years after, but still I hear the words again and my heart responds. Andrew Carnegie twain in his own time [240] Notes 1. Twain was severely critical of American military strategy...