[CAPTIONING MADE POSSIBLE BY GENERAL MOTORS] Man as Twain: "I THINK WE NEVER BECOME REALLY AND GENUINELY OUR ENTIRE AND HONEST SELVES UNTIL WE ARE DEAD--AND NOT THEN UNTIL WE HAVE BEEN DEAD YEARS AND YEARS.

PEOPLE OUGHT TO START DEAD, AND THEN THEY WOULD BE HONEST SO MUCH EARLIER."

MARK TWAIN.

Hal Holbrook, actor: YOU KNOW, SOMETIMES WHEN I HAVE NOT FELT LIKE READING TWAIN, OR I'D HAVE TO, OR I-- THERE WAS YEARS AGO WHEN I FELT REALLY LOUSY ABOUT THINGS OR WHATEVER, AND I PICKED UP A BOOK OF HIS, AND I STARTED TO READ A PAGE.

"I'LL JUST READ A PAGE AND SEE IF I CAN FIND SOMETHING."

BY THE TIME I'D GET TO THE TOP OF THE NEXT PAGE, I'M STARTING TO ENJOY IT, BECAUSE I SEE ALL THIS STUFF COMING BACK AT ME THAT SAYS, "HEY, DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT.

EVERYBODY DOES IT.

WE'RE ALL NUTS.

WE'RE ALL A LITTLE FOOLISH-- OR A LOT FOOLISH.

ISN'T THAT FUNNY?

AREN'T WE FUNNY ANIMALS?"

Narrator: BY AGE 50, SAMUEL LANGHORNE CLEMENS HAD COME A LONG WAY FROM HIS BOYHOOD IN THE BACKWOODS OF MISSOURI.

AS MARK TWAIN, HE WAS THE BEST-KNOWN WRITER ON EARTH-- THE AUTHOR OF A DOZEN BOOKS, INCLUDING THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER, LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI, AND HIS MASTERPIECE HUCKLEBERRY FINN, THE FIRST NOVEL TO TAKE THE WAY ORDINARY AMERICANS SPEAK AND TURN IT INTO GREAT LITERATURE-- A CUNNINGLY SUBVERSIVE ATTACK ON SLAVERY AND RACISM.

TO PROMOTE HIS WORKS, HE HAD STARTED HIS OWN PUBLISHING FIRM--CHARLES WEBSTER AND COMPANY--WHICH ALSO RELEASED THE MEMOIRS OF ULYSSES S. GRANT, SELLING MORE COPIES IN LESS TIME THAN ANY OTHER BOOK IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN PUBLISHING AND MAKING HIM ASTONISHINGLY RICH.

HE LIVED IN A PALACE OF A HOUSE IN HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, WITH HIS WIFE LIVY AND 3 YOUNG DAUGHTERS.

"IF THERE IS ONE [PERSON] WHO IS MORE THOROUGHLY AND UNCEASINGLY HAPPY THAN I AM," TWAIN WROTE TO A FRIEND, "I DEFY THE WORLD TO PRODUCE HIM."

Man as Twain: "I AM A BORDER-RUFFIAN FROM THE STATE OF MISSOURI.

I AM A CONNECTICUT YANKEE BY ADOPTION.

IN ME, YOU HAVE MISSOURI MORALS, CONNECTICUT CULTURE; [AND] THIS... IS THE COMBINATION WHICH MAKES THE PERFECT MAN."

Narrator: BUT THE YEARS TO COME WOULD NOT BE PERFECT.

SAM CLEMENS WOULD FIND HIMSELF INCREASINGLY TORN BETWEEN THE TWO WORLDS AND THE TWO IDENTITIES HE INHABITED-- TORN BETWEEN FAME AND FAMILY, BETWEEN HUMOR AND BITTERNESS, BOTTOMLESS HUNGER FOR SUCCESS, AND HAUNTING FEARS OF FAILURE.

HIS RECKLESS PURSUIT OF WEALTH WOULD LEAD HIM AND HIS FAMILY TO HUMILIATION, TURN THEM INTO EXILES, AND USHER IN ONE MISFORTUNE AFTER ANOTHER.

IN THE 25 YEARS THAT FOLLOWED HIS 50th BIRTHDAY, MARK TWAIN WOULD BECOME STILL MORE CELEBRATED...

BUT SAM CLEMENS WOULD LOSE NEARLY EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE THAT MATTERED TO HIM.

Arthur Miller, playwright: I WONDER WHETHER IN HIM IS SOME KIND OF A SYMBOLIZATION OF THE AMERICAN CHARACTER.

THERE'S SO MUCH BOASTING GOING ON THAT ALWAYS GOES ON.

WE'RE A GREAT COUNTRY FOR SELF-ADVERTISING.

WE'RE GOD'S COUNTRY.

WE'RE A BIG SUCCESS.

AND HE HAD THAT ABOUT HIM.

HE WAS NOT HIDING HIS LIGHT UNDER A BUSHEL.

AT THE SAME TIME, UNDERNEATH THERE, YOU SMELL SUFFERING.

AND, OF COURSE, THAT'S THE AMERICAN DILEMMA.

WE'RE ALL GREAT SUCCESSES, AND IF YOU PUSH A LITTLE BIT, YOU CAN REACH THE ANGUISH THAT'S UNDERNEATH IT ALL.

Man as Twain: "AH, WELL, I AM A GREAT AND SUBLIME FOOL.

BUT THEN, I AM GOD'S FOOL, AND ALL HIS WORKS MUST BE CONTEMPLATED WITH RESPECT."

Narrator: IN 1885, THE SAME YEAR HE PUBLISHED ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN, SAMUEL CLEMENS MET A MAN NAMED WARNER T. McGUINN DURING A VISIT TO YALE UNIVERSITY.

McGUINN WAS A BRILLIANT SCHOLAR--ONE OF THE SCHOOL'S FIRST BLACK LAW STUDENTS-- BUT HE WAS HAVING TROUBLE MAKING ENDS MEET.

HE BOARDED WITH THE COLLEGE'S CARPENTER AND WAS WORKING 3 PART-TIME JOBS JUST TO GET BY.

WHEN HE LEARNED OF McGUINN'S DIFFICULTIES, CLEMENS WROTE THE COLLEGE DEAN, OFFERING TO PAY THE MAN'S EXPENSES.

Man as Twain: "I DO NOT BELIEVE I WOULD VERY CHEERFULLY HELP A WHITE STUDENT, BUT I DO NOT FEEL SO ABOUT THE OTHER COLOR.

WE HAVE GROUND THE MANHOOD OUT OF THEM, AND THE SHAME IS OURS, NOT THEIRS, AND WE SHOULD PAY FOR IT."

Narrator: McGUINN GRADUATED FROM YALE LAW SCHOOL IN 1887 AT THE TOP OF HIS CLASS AND BECAME A RESPECTED LAWYER IN BALTIMORE, WHERE HE WOULD WIN A MAJOR COURT VICTORY, OVERTURNING A LAW THAT HAD ENFORCED SEGREGATED HOUSING IN THAT CITY.

McGUINN, IN TURN, BECAME A MENTOR TO A YOUNG LAWYER IN AN ADJOINING OFFICE NAMED THURGOOD MARSHALL, WHO WOULD ONE DAY SERVE ON THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT AND WHO ALWAYS REMEMBERED McGUINN AS "ONE OF THE GREATEST LAWYERS WHO EVER LIVED."

Russell Banks, writer: YOU KNOW, THERE'S A SAYING: "LITERATURE DOESN'T CHANGE THINGS AT THE CENTER."

IT CHANGES THINGS AT THE EDGES, ON THE ONE HAND.

ON THE OTHER HAND, NOTHING CHANGES AT THE CENTER.

CHANGE ONLY OCCURS AT THE EDGES AND WORKS ITS WAY IN.

AND I THINK THAT TWAIN CERTAINLY CHANGED THINGS OUT AT THE EDGES.

IN THOSE SMALL TOWNS OF AMERICA, IN THOSE LIVING ROOMS, AND LATER IN THE CLASSROOMS OF AMERICA, HE INITIATED AND CONTINUES TO CHANGE THINGS AT THE EDGES.

IF YOU HAVE A BOOK THAT CHANGES A WHITE KID'S UNDERSTANDING OF RACE IN AMERICA OR A BLACK KID'S UNDERSTANDING OF RACE IN AMERICA, THAT KID GOES OUT INTO THE WORLD AND BECOMES, YOU KNOW, A TEACHER, A JOURNALIST, A DENTIST OUT THERE AT THE EDGES AND STARTS CHANGING THE PEOPLE WHO TOUCH HIS LIFE IN THE SAME WAY.

SO I THINK, OF COURSE, TWAIN WAS AN ENORMOUS FORCE FOR GOOD.

HE WASN'T A WRITER WHO WAS ONLY READ BY OTHER WRITERS OR ACADEMICS OR CRITICS.

HE WAS A WRITER WHO WAS READ BY EVERYDAY FOLKS.

AND THAT'S WHERE CHANGE OCCURS-- IN THE LIVES OF EVERYDAY FOLKS.

Narrator: IN 1885, WHEN SHE WAS JUST 13 YEARS OLD, SUSY CLEMENS TOOK IT UPON HERSELF TO WRITE A BIOGRAPHY OF HER FATHER.

EVERY NIGHT IN HER BEDROOM, SHE WOULD ADD A LITTLE MORE TO THE BIOGRAPHY--DETAILS ABOUT HER FATHER AND THEIR FAMILY AND THE LIFE THEY WERE LEADING ON FARMINGTON AVENUE.

Woman as Susy Clemens: "WE ARE A VERY HAPPY FAMILY.

WE CONSIST OF PAPA, MAMA, JEAN, CLARA, AND ME.

IT IS PAPA I AM WRITING ABOUT, AND I SHALL HAVE NO TROUBLE IN NOT KNOWING WHAT TO SAY ABOUT HIM, AS HE IS A VERY STRIKING CHARACTER."

Narrator: SUSY TRIED TO KEEP HER WORK A SECRET, BUT HER MOTHER DISCOVERED IT AND PRIVATELY SHARED IT WITH HER HUSBAND.

"I HAD HAD COMPLIMENTS BEFORE," HE WROTE LATER, "BUT NONE THAT TOUCHED ME LIKE THIS; NONE THAT COULD APPROACH IT FOR VALUE IN MY EYES."

SUSY HAD ALWAYS BEEN HIS FAVORITE CHILD, AND FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE, PARTICULARLY IN HIS DARKEST MOMENTS, CLEMENS LIKED TO LEAF THROUGH HER SLENDER MANUSCRIPT, PAUSING HERE AND THERE TO RECALL HIS FAMILY'S HAPPIEST DAYS.

Man as Twain: "TO US, OUR HOUSE WAS NOT UNSENTIENT MATTER.

IT HAD A HEART AND SOUL AND EYES TO SEE US WITH, AND APPROVALS AND SOLICITUDES AND DEEP SYMPATHIES.

IT WAS OF US, AND WE WERE IN ITS CONFIDENCE AND LIVED IN ITS GRACE AND IN THE PEACE OF ITS BENEDICTION.

WE NEVER CAME HOME FROM AN ABSENCE THAT ITS FACE DID NOT LIGHT UP AND SPEAK OUT ITS ELOQUENT WELCOME, AND WE COULD NOT ENTER IT UNMOVED."

Narrator: EVERYTHING ABOUT HIS HOUSE IN HARTFORD ASSURED CLEMENS THAT AT LAST HE HAD ACHIEVED THE KIND OF SUCCESS THAT HAD ALWAYS ELUDED HIS OWN FATHER.

AT A TIME WHEN THE AVERAGE ANNUAL WAGE WAS LESS THAN $500, HE WAS SPENDING $30,000 A YEAR ON HOUSEHOLD EXPENSES ALONE.

THERE WERE PRIVATE TUTORS FOR SUSY AND HER SISTERS, CLARA AND JEAN; DAILY VISITS FROM A BARBER FOR CLEMENS HIMSELF; AND A STAFF OF 7 SERVANTS TO HELP LIVY WITH EVERYDAY CHORES AND THE ENDLESS STREAM OF GUESTS WHO DINED AT THEIR TABLE.

John Boyer, historian: IT WAS THE VERY INCARNATION OF THE HIGH LIFE.

IT WAS REALLY SEEN AS AN ENTERTAINMENT MACHINE BY THIS YOUNG, UPWARDLY MOBILE, AND CULTURALLY AMBITIOUS COUPLE.

CONSTANT ENTERTAINMENT WITH FRIENDS AND VISITORS-- SOME OLD FRIENDS, SOME ABSOLUTELY NEW FRIENDS.

AND IT WAS THE BEST OF EVERYTHING--THE FINEST WINES, THE RAREST DELICACIES, THE BEST MENU, AND THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY AMUSEMENTS.

Narrator: TWAIN WAS ALWAYS THE CENTER OF ATTENTION--PACING THE FLOOR, REGALING EVERYONE WITH HIS STORIES, WAVING HIS NAPKIN AS HE TALKED.

HE ENCOURAGED HIS CHILDREN TO STAGE ELABORATE PLAYS FOR HIS FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS, INCLUDING A DRAMATIZATION OF ONE OF HIS NOVELS, THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER.

CLEMENS HIMSELF COULD RARELY RESIST BEING ONSTAGE-- AND EMBARRASSING HIS DAUGHTERS.

HIS ANTICS SOMETIMES EMBARRASSED LIVY, AS WELL, WHO WOULD LATER REPRIMAND HER HUSBAND FOR HIS OFFENSES.

SUSY HAD A NAME FOR THIS, HE REMEMBERED: "DUSTING OFF PAPA."

John Boyer, historian: CHRISTMAS WAS THE APEX OF THE YEAR FOR THE FAMILY AND FOR ALL OF THEIR GUESTS.

FOR WEEKS BEFORE THE HOLIDAY, THEY WOULD BE INVOLVED IN THE SHIPPING AND RECEIVING OF PACKAGES, THE WRAPPING OF PRESENTS, THE DECORATING OF THE HOUSE, THE PRACTICING CHRISTMAS TUNES, THE PREPARATION FOR ELABORATE MEALS, THE WELCOMING OF FAMILY AND FRIENDS.

IT GOT TO THE POINT WHERE TWAIN REFERRED TO IT AS "THAT INFERNAL CHRISTMAS SUICIDE."

BUT TWAIN WAS ALSO THE KIND OF HUSBAND AND FATHER WHO WOULD LITERALLY DRESS UP AS SANTA CLAUS EARLY IN THE MORNING OF CHRISTMAS DAY AND GO DOWNSTAIRS AND MEET HIS DAUGHTERS AND HIS WIFE AND DISTRIBUTE PRESENTS TO THEM WHILE DRESSED AS SAINT NICHOLAS... AND THEN SUDDENLY RUSH OFF WITH A GREAT SENSE OF URGENCY, AND A FEW MINUTES LATER RETURN TO THE FAMILY, DRESSED IN HIS NIGHTSHIRT, RUBBING HIS EYES, ASKING, "WHAT'S ALL THE COMMOTION ABOUT?"

LIKE SO MANY OTHER ASPECTS OF THEIR LIFE, CHRISTMAS WAS AN ELABORATE PERFORMANCE PIECE THAT EVERYBODY LOVED.

Narrator: "IT WAS LIKE A DREAM HOUSE," THEIR IRISH MAID KATY LEARY REMEMBERED.

"HAPPINESS BUDDING ALL OVER... [AND] NOT A BIT OF SADNESS OF ANY KIND."

IT WAS A DREAM HOUSE, BUT CLEMENS WOULD ALWAYS CLING TO AN IDEALIZED IMAGE OF HIS FAMILY THERE, HOPING HIS DAUGHTERS COULD SOMEHOW REMAIN LITTLE GIRLS FOREVER, OVERLOOKING HIS OWN UNPREDICTABLE BEHAVIOR... AND IGNORING HIS COMPULSIVE NEED TO MAKE HIMSELF RICHER THAN HE ALREADY WAS.

Man as Twain: "I WAS BORN MODEST, BUT IT DIDN'T LAST.

GOOD BREEDING CONSISTS IN CONCEALING HOW MUCH WE THINK OF OURSELVES AND HOW LITTLE WE THINK OF THE OTHER PERSON."

Narrator: IN 1886, MARK TWAIN BEGAN WORK ON A NEW BOOK-- A FANCIFUL TALE ABOUT A NEW ENGLANDER WHO FINDS HIMSELF TRANSPORTED BACK TO MEDIEVAL ENGLAND.

HE CALLED IT A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT.

ITS HERO IS HANK MORGAN, A FACTORY FOREMAN AND INVETERATE TINKERER WHO BELIEVES THAT "A COUNTRY WITHOUT A PATENT OFFICE [IS] JUST A CRAB, AND [CAN'T] TRAVEL ANY WAY BUT SIDEWAYS OR BACKWARD."

MORGAN'S YANKEE INGENUITY SOON MAKES HIM A COURT WIZARD, AND HE SETS ABOUT BRINGING EVERYTHING UP-TO-DATE.

HE INTRODUCES KING ARTHUR'S KNIGHTS TO THE BICYCLE AND TALKS THEM INTO USING THEIR ARMOR AS ADVERTISING SPACE...

BUT EVENTUALLY ENDS UP DESTROYING SOCIETY INSTEAD OF REFORMING IT.

John Boyer, historian: IT'S ONE OF THE FULLEST EXPRESSIONS OF TWAIN'S FASCINATION WITH TECHNOLOGY AND MONARCHY AND GOVERNMENT AND THE TELLING OF HISTORY.

BUT ON THE HUMAN LEVEL, CONNECTICUT YANKEE IS THE BEGINNING OF THE END.

INSTEAD OF GOING FROM GREAT WORK TO GREAT WORK ABOUT EVERY 18 MONTHS, CONNECTICUT YANKEE TAKES 4 1/2 YEARS.

IT WAS TO HAVE STARTED, AS TWAIN PUT IT, AS "A SUMMER'S AMUSEMENT."

THE FIRST CHAPTERS ARE SHORT, FULL OF WORDPLAY AND PRATFALLS... AND AT THE END, IT IS THIS DARK, APOCALYPTIC, TECHNOLOGICAL VERSION OF HELL.

IT IS A REMARKABLE STATEMENT ABOUT HIS LIFE, AND IT SIGNALS A GREAT CHANGE IN HIS WORK.

Narrator: MOST CRITICS DISLIKED THE BOOK, AND IT DID NOT SELL WELL.

TWAIN PROFESSED NOT TO CARE.

"IT'S MY SWAN SONG," HE SAID, "MY RETIREMENT FROM LITERATURE PERMANENTLY."

HE WAS TIRED OF WHAT HE CALLED "THE SLAVERY OF PEN AND PAPER" AND INTENDED TO WRITE ONLY FOR HIS OWN AMUSEMENT NOW, INSTEAD OF FOR MONEY.

HE WAS CONFIDENT HE HAD FOUND A BETTER WAY TO SUPPORT HIS FAMILY AND HIS LAVISH WAY OF LIVING--AS A BUSINESSMAN RATHER THAN AS AN AUTHOR.

ON THE STRENGTH OF THE SALES OF GRANT'S MEMOIRS, HIS PUBLISHING FIRM WAS BUSILY SIGNING UP OTHER CELEBRATED SUBJECTS TO WRITE THEIR AUTOBIOGRAPHIES-- WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN...

THE WIDOW OF GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER...

EVEN POPE LEO XIII, WHOSE BIOGRAPHY CLEMENS INSISTED BE TRANSLATED INTO 6 LANGUAGES BECAUSE HE WAS SURE EVERY CATHOLIC ON EARTH WOULD WANT A COPY.

HE BOUGHT AND SOLD STOCKS, TOO.

"I MUST SPECULATE IN SOMETHING," HE SAID, "SUCH BEING MY NATURE."

Man as Twain: "OCTOBER-- THIS IS ONE OF THE PECULIARLY DANGEROUS MONTHS TO SPECULATE IN STOCKS IN.

THE OTHERS ARE JULY, JANUARY, SEPTEMBER, APRIL, NOVEMBER, MAY, MARCH, JUNE, DECEMBER, AUGUST, AND FEBRUARY."

Narrator: INVENTIONS WERE HIS GREATEST WEAKNESS.

NEW MECHANICAL DEVICES WERE EVERYWHERE, MAKING THINGS EASIER, FASTER, MORE EFFICIENT, TRANSFORMING THE LIVES OF ORDINARY AMERICANS, AND CREATING A WHOLE NEW CLASS OF WEALTHY ENTREPRENEURS.

CLEMENS INVESTED $25,000 EACH IN A STEAM GENERATOR, A STEAM PULLEY, A MARINE TELEGRAPH; TWICE THAT AMOUNT IN AN ENGRAVING PROCESS CALLED "KAOLATYPE."

HE BOUGHT A TYPEWRITER... AND CLAIMED TO BE THE FIRST AUTHOR EVER TO SUBMIT A TYPEWRITTEN MANUSCRIPT.

AND HE INSTALLED A TELEPHONE IN HIS MANSION--THE VERY FIRST ONE IN A PRIVATE HOME IN TOWN.

John Boyer, historian: HERE IS A MAN WHO WAS COMPLETELY FASCINATED BY MODERNITY AND INVENTION, AND AT THE SAME TIME, FASCINATED BY COMMUNICATION, AND THIS WAS THE PERFECT HYBRID.

AND YET, HERE'S A MAN WHO WAS APPROACHED BY THE AGENTS OF BELL, SEEING IF HE WOULDN'T BE INTERESTED IN INVESTING IN THE TELEPHONE.

AND APPARENTLY TWAIN THOUGHT ABOUT IT BACK AND FORTH, AND HE THOUGHT, "WELL, YOU KNOW, I'LL HAVE ONE AND THE NEWSPAPER WILL HAVE ONE AND MY LAWYER WILL HAVE ONE, BUT, YOU KNOW, WHERE'S THE MARKET?"

SO TWAIN NEVER INVESTED IN THE TELEPHONE.

Narrator: WITH 3 PATENTS UNDER HIS OWN NAME, CLEMENS CONSIDERED HIMSELF AN INVENTOR, TOO, AND WAS CONSTANTLY COMING UP WITH MORE IDEAS, INCLUDING A CLAMP TO KEEP CHILDREN FROM KICKING OFF THEIR COVERS.

BUT IT WAS THE INVENTION OF ANOTHER MAN THAT OBSESSED HIM MOST.

JAMES W. PAIGE'S AUTOMATIC TYPESETTING COMPOSITOR, WITH ITS 18,000 SEPARATE PARTS, PROMISED TO SET TYPE AS QUICKLY AS 6 MEN AND TO REVOLUTIONIZE THE NEWSPAPER INDUSTRY.

IT COULD DO EVERYTHING A HUMAN COULD DO, CLEMENS BRAGGED, EXCEPT DRINK, SWEAR, AND GO ON STRIKE.

BY 1885, HE HAD BOUGHT HALF-OWNERSHIP IN PAIGE'S COMPOSITOR FOR $30,000 AND WAS BUSILY FILLING NOTEBOOKS WITH CALCULATIONS: HOW MUCH MONEY A NEWSPAPER COULD SAVE WITH A SINGLE MACHINE; HOW MANY MACHINES EACH MAJOR PAPER WOULD WANT; HOW MANY MACHINES WOULD BE REQUIRED TO FILL THE WHOLE WORLD'S NEEDS.

Arthur Miller, playwright: I'M SURE THERE ARE WRITERS WHO ARE GREAT BUSINESSMEN, BUT I NEVER MET ANY.

THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT THE ARTIST THAT'S ANTIPATHETIC TO MAKING A PROFIT... EXCEPTING MAYBE ON HIS OWN WORK.

BUT AS A SPECULATOR, IT DOESN'T WORK, AND IT'S BECAUSE THERE'S AN EXCESS OF IMAGINATION IN WRITERS.

THEY CAN FORESEE THIS THING BEING A MASSIVE SUCCESS ALL OVER THE WORLD, WHEN IT HAS FATAL FLAWS, IT WILL NEVER WORK, AND THE CAREFUL BUSINESSMAN, OF COURSE, WOULD HAVE LOOKED AT IT AND SEEN, "IT AIN'T GONNA WORK."

IT WAS PATHETIC THAT HE WOULD TAKE IT UPON HIMSELF TO INVEST SO MUCH IN THIS HOPELESS MACHINE.

IT JUST INGRATIATES HIM MORE IN YOUR IMAGINATION THAT HE WAS HOPELESS AS A BUSINESSMAN.

Narrator: NONE OF HIS INVESTMENTS PAID OFF.

NONE OF THE NEW MEMOIRS HIS COMPANY PUBLISHED-- NOT EVEN THE POPE'S--CAME CLOSE TO MATCHING THE SUCCESS OF GRANT'S RECOLLECTIONS.

AND PAIGE'S COMPOSITOR CONTINUED TO REQUIRE INFUSIONS OF $3,000 TO $5,000 EVERY MONTH.

BY DECEMBER OF 1887, CLEMENS COULD SEND HIS SISTER PAMELA'S FAMILY ONLY $15 FOR CHRISTMAS.

HE WAS FEELING "A LITTLE CROWDED," HE WROTE HER, BECAUSE OF THE TYPESETTER.

CHRISTMAS OF 1889 ARRIVED.

TWAIN SENT HER $5.00, ALONG WITH AN APOLOGY.

"THE MACHINE," HE WROTE, "STILL HAS A GRIP ON OUR PURSE."

BY CHRISTMAS OF 1890, CLEMENS HAD LOST MOST OF LIVY'S INHERITANCE, BORROWED AGAINST THE ASSETS OF HIS PUBLISHING COMPANY, TRIED IN VAIN TO INTEREST FRIENDS IN BUYING SHARES.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU," HE WROTE AN ASSOCIATE, "AND I WISH TO GOD I COULD HAVE ONE MYSELF BEFORE I DIE."

Man as Twain: "NOW, HERE IS A QUEER FACT: I AM ONE OF THE WEALTHIEST GRANDEES IN AMERICA--ONE OF THE VANDERBILT GANG, IN FACT-- AND YET IF YOU ASKED ME TO LEND YOU A COUPLE OF DOLLARS, I SHOULD HAVE TO ASK YOU TO TAKE MY NOTE INSTEAD."

Narrator: CLEMENS WOULD HAVE TO RELY ON HIS WRITING ONCE AGAIN TO SUPPORT HIS FAMILY.

HE THREW HIMSELF INTO A NEW NOVEL--ANOTHER SOCIAL SATIRE, CALLED THE AMERICAN CLAIMANT-- THAT ALSO FAILED TO SELL.

HE HAD WRITTEN IT DESPITE EXCRUCIATING PAINS THAT HAD BEGUN TO SHOOT UP HIS ARM WITH EVERY PEN STROKE AND FINALLY FORCED HIM TO LEARN TO WRITE WITH HIS LEFT HAND TO KEEP PUMPING OUT THE WORDS.

LIVY'S HEALTH WAS DETERIORATING, TOO.

HER DOCTORS DIAGNOSED A "HEART DISTURBANCE" AND RECOMMENDED REST AND TREATMENT FOR HER IN EUROPE.

CLEMENS WAS INITIALLY RELUCTANT TO GO, BUT A TEMPORARY REMOVAL TO EUROPE, HE REALIZED, COULD PROVIDE HIM WITH LUCRATIVE TRAVEL-WRITING ASSIGNMENTS, AND IF THEY CLOSED THE HARTFORD HOUSE FOR A WHILE, IT COULD ACTUALLY SAVE THEM MONEY.

STILL, FOR THE MAN WHO HAD SPENT MOST OF HIS LIFE ON THE ROAD, HAVING TO LEAVE THE FIRST REAL HOME HE'D HAD SINCE HANNIBAL WAS PAINFUL AND EMBARRASSING.

BY LATE SPRING, THEY WERE READY TO GO.

Man as Twain: "TRAVEL HAS NO LONGER ANY CHARM FOR ME.

I HAVE SEEN ALL THE FOREIGN COUNTRIES I WANT TO SEE, EXCEPT HEAVEN AND HELL--AND I HAVE ONLY A VAGUE CURIOSITY AS CONCERNS ONE OF THOSE."

Narrator: THE CLEMENSES SPENT MOST OF THE NEXT DECADE IN EUROPE, MOVING FROM COUNTRY TO COUNTRY, RENTED QUARTERS TO RENTED QUARTERS... YEARNING ALWAYS TO RETURN HOME TO HARTFORD.

LIVY AND THE GIRLS TRIED TO MAKE THE MOST OF THEIR IMMERSION IN EUROPEAN CULTURE.

TWAIN DID NOT.

AT AN OPERA FESTIVAL IN GERMANY, HE WROTE, THE "BANGING AND SLAMMING AND BOOMING AND CRASHING" OF WAGNER'S LOHENGRIN BROUGHT BACK "THE MEMORY OF THE TIME I HAD MY TEETH FIXED."

Man as Twain: "NOTHING CAN MAKE A WAGNER OPERA ABSOLUTELY PERFECT AND SATISFACTORY TO THE UNTUTORED...

BUT TO LEAVE OUT THE VOCAL PARTS.

I WISH I COULD SEE A WAGNER OPERA DONE IN PANTOMIME ONCE."

Chuck Jones, cartoonist: HE SAID, "WAGNER'S MUSIC IS BETTER THAN IT SOUNDS."

AND I THOUGHT, "NOW, IS THAT POSSIBLE?"

AND, OF COURSE, IT ISN'T POSSIBLE, BUT IT IS GREAT.

AND HE SAID HE LIKED PARSIFAL...

EXCEPT FOR THE SINGING.

AND HE WAS TALKING ABOUT THE GERMAN LANGUAGE, AND HE SAID, "GERMAN LANGUAGE IS THE ONLY LANGUAGE WHERE THE WORDS ARE SO LONG, THEY HAVE PERSPECTIVE."

THEY HAVE PERSPECTIVE, THEY'RE SO LONG.

AND HE SAYS, "IF A CAT GETS AHOLD OF THE GERMAN IRREGULAR VERB, GOOD-BYE CAT."

[LAUGHS] Narrator: EUROPEANS HAD BEEN READING HIS BOOKS IN TRANSLATION FOR YEARS, AND WHEREVER HE WENT, THEY HAILED HIM AS A GREAT AUTHOR AND A FASCINATING AMERICAN CELEBRITY.

GERMANY'S EMPEROR, KAISER WILHELM II, INVITED HIM TO DINNER IN BERLIN AND TOLD TWAIN HE HAD READ ALL OF HIS BOOKS.

LATER THAT EVENING, THE PORTER AT TWAIN'S HOTEL TOLD HIM THE SAME THING.

"WHY, PAPA," HIS YOUNGEST DAUGHTER, JEAN, SAID ONE MORNING, "IF IT KEEPS GOING ON LIKE THIS, PRETTY SOON THERE WON'T BE ANYBODY FOR YOU TO GET ACQUAINTED WITH BUT GOD."

THE FAMILY SPENT THE WINTER OF 1892 IN FLORENCE, WHERE LIVY'S HEALTH GRADUALLY IMPROVED.

TWAIN WAS FEELING BETTER, TOO.

HIS ARM NO LONGER HURT, AND HE WAS WRITING STEADILY AGAIN-- 1,800 PAGES IN 5 MONTHS: A BOOK CALLED TOM SAWYER ABROAD; AND ANOTHER NOVEL WITH ECHOES OF HIS EARLIER GENIUS, PUDD'NHEAD WILSON, IN WHICH A LIGHT-SKINNED SLAVE MOTHER SWITCHES HER OWN BABY WITH HER WHITE MASTER'S.

IT EXPOSES WHAT TWAIN CONSIDERED THE IDIOCY OF DEFINING HUMAN BEINGS BY RACE.

Ron Powers, writer: PUDD'NHEAD WILSON GIVES US THE ONLY TRULY TEXTURED FEMALE CHARACTER MARK TWAIN EVER WROTE.

SHE IS ROXANNE-- 1/16 BLACK, BUT VERY BLACK IN HER IDENTITY AND SPEECH.

THE MIXED IDENTITIES ALWAYS FASCINATED TWAIN.

AND AS THESE TWO SWITCHED INFANTS GO THEIR SEPARATE WAYS THROUGH LIFE, WE SEE VERY CLEARLY THE TRAGEDY OF IDENTITY.

WE SEE THE TRAGEDY--THE STIGMA-- OF BEING BORN BLACK, BECAUSE NOW THESE BLACK THINGS, THESE BLACK FATES, ARE HAPPENING TO A WHITE PERSON.

THAT'S A FAIRLY INGENIOUS DEVICE.

AND WE SEE IN ROXANNE THE CAPACITY FOR SUFFERING AND THE CAPACITY FOR DIGNITY AND THE CAPACITY FOR SORROW THAT A WOMAN AND A BLACK ENDURES.

Narrator: IN MARCH OF 1893, LEAVING HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE, CLEMENS SAILED FOR AMERICA.

NO AMOUNT OF WRITING FEES COULD OFFSET HIS MOUNTING DEBTS, AND HE WAS GOING HOME TO SEE IF HE COULD TURN THINGS AROUND.

BUT BACK IN THE UNITED STATES, THE GREAT ECONOMIC BOOM THAT HAD BEGUN AFTER THE CIVIL WAR SUDDENLY WENT BUST.

HE MOVED FROM FRIENDS' HOMES TO HOTEL ROOMS, PACED THE FLOOR AT NIGHT, TOTALED UP HIS DEBTS ON THE MARGINS OF HIS MANUSCRIPTS-- MORE THAN $200,000.

"THE BILLOWS OF HELL HAVE BEEN ROLLING OVER ME," HE WROTE LIVY.

"A BODY FORGETS PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING THESE DAYS, EXCEPT HIS VISIONS OF THE POORHOUSE."

Man as Twain: "IN MY AGE, AS IN MY YOUTH, NIGHT BRINGS ME MANY A DEEP REMORSE.

I REALIZE THAT FROM THE CRADLE UP, I HAVE BEEN LIKE THE REST OF THE [HUMAN] RACE-- NEVER QUITE SANE IN THE NIGHT."

Narrator: IT WAS AT THAT DARK MOMENT THAT CLEMENS MET THE MAN HE WOULD LATER CALL "NOT ONLY THE BEST FRIEND I EVER HAD, BUT THE BEST MAN I HAVE EVER KNOWN."

HENRY HUTTLESTON ROGERS WAS VICE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF THE VAST STANDARD OIL TRUST, A RUTHLESS BUSINESSMAN PERSONALLY WORTH AT LEAST $100 MILLION, WHO SAW NO NEED TO APOLOGIZE FOR HOW HE HAD MADE ANY OF IT.

Ron Powers, writer: HENRY HUTTLESTON ROGERS EMBODIED THE VERY KIND OF PREDATORY, PLUTOCRATIC WEALTH AND ACQUISITION THAT TWAIN ABHORRED AND WROTE SAVAGELY ABOUT.

AND IN FACT, WHEN ONE OF HIS FRIENDS SAID TO MARK TWAIN, "ISN'T--DON'T YOU THINK THAT THE ROGERS' WEALTH IS TAINTED?"

TWAIN SHOT BACK, "YES, IT IS.

T'AINT YOURS, AND T'AINT MINE."

SO--SO AT THE SAME TIME THAT HE ABHORRED IT, HE LOVED IT.

Narrator: MARK TWAIN WAS ROGERS' FAVORITE AUTHOR.

HE READ TWAIN'S BOOKS ALOUD TO HIS CHILDREN, AND WHEN HE LEARNED WHAT HAD BEFALLEN CLEMENS, HE OFFERED TO HELP.

HE APPROVED A LOAN OF $8,000 TO PROVIDE THE PUBLISHING COMPANY WITH BREATHING ROOM AND AGREED TO LOOK INTO ALL OF CLEMENS' BUSINESS AFFAIRS, INCLUDING THE COMPOSITOR, AND TRIED TO MAKE THEM PROFITABLE.

MEANWHILE, HE TOLD CLEMENS, "YOU STOP WALKING THE FLOOR."

BUT NOT EVEN HENRY HUTTLESTON ROGERS COULD UNTANGLE CLEMENS' FINANCES.

VOLUNTARY BANKRUPTCY WAS THE ONLY OPTION.

BACK IN EUROPE, LIVY GOT THE NEWS.

Woman as Livy Clemens: "THE HIDEOUS NEWS OF WEBSTER & CO.'s FAILURE REACHED ME BY CABLE ON THURSDAY.

I HAVE A PERFECT HORROR AND HEARTSICKNESS OVER IT.

I CANNOT GET AWAY FROM THE FEELING THAT BUSINESS FAILURE MEANS DISGRACE."

Narrator: THE BANKRUPTCY WAS A HUMILIATION FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY, BUT ROGERS HELPED THEM HOLD ONTO THEIR TWO MOST IMPORTANT ASSETS.

HE INSISTED THAT SINCE THE HARTFORD HOUSE HAD BEEN BUILT WITH LIVY'S INHERITANCE, IT COULD NOT BE AUCTIONED OFF TO PAY HER HUSBAND'S DEBTS.

AND SINCE LIVY HAD LENT THE PUBLISHING FIRM $60,000, HE DECLARED HER A PREFERRED CREDITOR-- THEREFORE RETAINING THE INVALUABLE COPYRIGHTS ON HER HUSBAND'S WORKS.

THERE WAS EVEN A GLIMMER OF HOPE.

ROGERS HAD PERSUADED THE CHICAGO HERALD TO TEST PAIGE'S COMPOSITOR.

IF IT PERFORMED AS WELL UNDER REAL WORKING CONDITIONS AS IT HAD IN PAIGE'S SHOP, THE CLEMENS FAMILY WOULD BE WEALTHY ONCE MORE.

BUT THE MACHINE, WITH ALL ITS COMPLICATED PARTS, KEPT BREAKING DOWN.

ROGERS WAS NOW CONVINCED IT WOULD NEVER MAKE A DIME.

THE NEWS, CLEMENS WROTE BACK TO HIS FRIEND, "HIT ME LIKE A THUNDERCLAP AND KNOCKED EVERY RAG OF SENSE OUT OF MY HEAD."

IN MARCH 1895, BEFORE HE WENT BACK TO EUROPE, CLEMENS STOPPED BRIEFLY IN HARTFORD TO LOOK IN ON THEIR OLD HOME.

Man as Twain: "LIVY, DARLING, WHEN I ARRIVED IN TOWN, I DID NOT WANT TO GO NEAR THE HOUSE, AND I DIDN'T WANT TO GO ANYWHERE OR SEE ANYBODY.

I SAID TO MYSELF, IF I MAY BE SPARED IT, I WILL NEVER LIVE IN HARTFORD AGAIN.

BUT AS SOON AS I ENTERED THIS FRONT DOOR, I WAS SEIZED WITH A FURIOUS DESIRE TO HAVE US ALL IN THIS HOUSE AGAIN AND RIGHT AWAY, AND NEVER GO OUTSIDE THE GROUNDS ANYMORE FOREVER... YOU DID IT ALL, AND IT SPEAKS OF YOU AND PRAISES YOU ELOQUENTLY AND UNCEASINGLY.

IT IS THE LOVELIEST HOME THAT EVER WAS...

IT SEEMED AS IF I HAD BURST AWAKE OUT OF A HELLISH DREAM AND HAD NEVER BEEN AWAY, AND THAT YOU WOULD COME DRIFTING DOWN OUT OF THOSE DAINTY UPPER REGIONS, WITH ALL THE LITTLE CHILDREN TAGGING AFTER YOU.

SAMUEL."

Woman as Susy Clemens: "MARK TWAIN.

HOW I HATE THAT NAME!

I SHOULD LIKE NEVER TO HEAR IT AGAIN!

MY FATHER SHOULD NOT BE SATISFIED WITH IT!

HE SHOULD NOT BE KNOWN BY IT!

HE SHOULD SHOW HIMSELF THE GREAT WRITER THAT HE IS, NOT MERELY A FUNNY MAN.

FUNNY!

THAT'S ALL THAT PEOPLE SEE IN HIM-- A MAKER OF FUNNY SPEECHES."

SUSY CLEMENS.

Narrator: IN THE SPRING OF 1895, SAM CLEMENS WAS NEARLY 60 AND BANKRUPT.

LIVY'S PRIDE--AND HENRY ROGERS' CONCERN FOR MARK TWAIN'S REPUTATION--HAD PERSUADED HIM PUBLICLY TO PROMISE TO PAY ALL HIS CREDITORS IN FULL, EVEN THOUGH HE WAS NOT LEGALLY REQUIRED TO DO SO.

BUT THERE WAS ONLY ONE WAY FOR HIM TO MAKE MONEY QUICKLY, AND IT WAS SOMETHING HE HAD SWORN TO HIMSELF AND HIS FAMILY HE WOULD NEVER DO AGAIN-- RETURN TO THE LECTURE CIRCUIT.

IT WAS A "HEART-TORTURING IDEA," CLEMENS ADMITTED, BUT IN LATE APRIL, HE SIGNED A CONTRACT FOR THE MOST AMBITIOUS LECTURE TOUR OF HIS LIFE, ONE THAT WOULD BEGIN WITH A CROSS-COUNTRY TOUR OF NORTH AMERICA AND EVENTUALLY TAKE HIM ALL THE WAY AROUND THE WORLD-- NEARLY 150 APPEARANCES ON 5 CONTINENTS.

CONCERNED ABOUT HER HUSBAND'S SPIRITS AND HIS HEALTH, AND DREADING ANOTHER PROLONGED SEPARATION, LIVY INSISTED ON COMING ALONG.

SO DID THEIR MIDDLE DAUGHTER, CLARA.

SUSY AND JEAN WERE TO REMAIN WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY IN THE UNITED STATES.

LIVY ASSURED THEM THAT THEY WOULD ALL SOON BE TOGETHER AGAIN AND LIVING IN THEIR HARTFORD HOUSE ONCE MORE.

Man as Twain: "WHEN WE STARTED WESTWARD UPON OUR LONG TRIP, SUSY STOOD ON THE PLATFORM, WAVING HER GOOD-BYES TO US AS THE TRAIN GLIDED AWAY, HER MOTHER THROWING BACK KISSES AND WATCHING HER THROUGH HER TEARS."

Narrator: "PRAY FOR ME," TWAIN WROTE TO HENRY ROGERS AS HE SET OFF ON THE FIRST LEG OF THE TOUR--A GRUELING SUCCESSION OF 22 CITIES, FROM CLEVELAND TO VANCOUVER, IN LESS THAN A MONTH.

Woman as Clara Clemens: "IT WAS SURELY A TRIUMPHAL MARCH.

MY FATHER DETESTED THE THOUGHT OF LECTURING AT ALL TIMES OF HIS LIFE, AND YET, WHEN ACTUALLY ON THE STAGE, HE ALMOST ALWAYS SUCCEEDED IN ELECTRIFYING HIMSELF TO THE POINT OF PLEASURE."

CLARA CLEMENS.

Man as Twain: "THE FIRST TIME I EVER STOLE A WATERMELON, I CARRIED THAT WATERMELON TO A SECLUDED BOWER IN THE LUMBERYARD AND BROKE IT OPEN, AND IT WAS GREEN.

I BEGAN TO REFLECT, AND I SAID TO MYSELF, I HAVE DONE WRONG.

IT WAS WRONG IN ME TO STEAL THAT WATERMELON... THAT KIND OF WATERMELON.

I WAS SPIRITUALLY STRENGTHENED AND REFRESHED, AND CARRIED THAT WATERMELON BACK TO THAT WAGON AND GAVE IT TO THE FARMER.

AND I TOLD HIM HE OUGHT TO BE ASHAMED OF HIMSELF, GOING AROUND WORKING OFF GREEN WATERMELONS IN THAT WAY ON PEOPLE WHO HAD CONFIDENCE IN HIM.

AND I TOLD HIM, IN MY PERFECTLY FRANK MANNER, IT WAS WRONG... AND MADE HIM GIVE ME A RIPE ONE.

TO BE GOOD IS NOBLE, BUT TO SHOW OTHERS HOW TO BE GOOD IS NOBLER AND NO TROUBLE."

MARK TWAIN.

Narrator: BY THE TIME HE WAS READY TO SET SAIL ACROSS THE PACIFIC, TWAIN HAD SENT $5,000 BACK TO HENRY ROGERS AS THE FIRST PAYMENT TOWARD RETIRING HIS DEBT.

IF MORE MONEY KEPT COMING IN AT THAT RATE, TWAIN TOLD REPORTERS, HE WAS CONFIDENT THAT "IF I LIVE, I CAN PAY OFF THE LAST DEBT WITHIN 4 YEARS, AFTER WHICH, AT THE AGE OF 64, I CAN MAKE A FRESH AND UNENCUMBERED START IN LIFE."

GOING AROUND WORKING OFF Man as Twain: "LECTURING IS GYMNASTICS, CHEST-EXPANDER, MEDICINE, MIND-HEALER, BLUES-DESTROYER, ALL IN ONE.

I AM TWICE AS WELL AS I WAS WHEN I STARTED OUT.

I HAVE GAINED 9 POUNDS IN 28 DAYS AND EXPECT TO WEIGH 600 POUNDS BEFORE JANUARY.

MY WIFE AND DAUGHTER ARE ACCUMULATING HEALTH AND STRENGTH AND FLESH NEARLY AS FAST AS I AM.

WHEN WE REACH HOME, TWO YEARS HENCE, WE THINK WE CAN EXHIBIT AS FREAKS."

Narrator: THEY STOPPED BRIEFLY AT HAWAII, THEN ON TO THE BRITISH COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND, WHERE NIGHT AFTER NIGHT, FOR NEARLY 4 MONTHS, MARK TWAIN SPOKE TO PACKED HOUSES, READING ALOUD FROM HIS BOOKS, LIKE HUCKLEBERRY FINN, AND TELLING HIS OUTRAGEOUS STORIES.

Man as Twain: "DR. RICE'S FRIEND CAME HOME DRUNK AND EXPLAINED IT TO HIS WIFE, AND HIS WIFE SAID TO HIM, JOHN, WHEN YOU HAVE DRUNK ALL THE WHISKY YOU WANT, YOU OUGHT TO ASK FOR SARSAPARILLA.

HE SAID, YES, BUT WHEN I HAVE DRUNK ALL THE WHISKY I WANT, I CAN'T SAY SARSAPARILLA."

Narrator: AT NEARLY EVERY STOP, LIVY KEPT THE TWO GIRLS BACK HOME UP-TO-DATE ON THE TOUR'S PROGRESS.

Woman as Livy Clemens: "SUSY, DARLING, DEAREST CHILD: TONIGHT WE WERE AT HORSHAM.

I THINK PAPA NEVER TALKED TO A MORE ENTHUSIASTIC AUDIENCE.

THE HOUSE WAS PACKED-- PEOPLE SITTING ON THE STAGE AND STANDING AROUND THE SIDES OF THE HALL.

A YOUNG FELLOW WHO SAT NEXT TO ME, BEGAN TO POUND HIS SIDES AS IF TROUBLED WITH STITCHES IN THEM AND, TURNING TO ME SAID, WELL, IF IT IS ALL AS FUNNY AS THIS, I SHALL DIE!"

Narrator: AFTER CELEBRATING HIS 60th BIRTHDAY, TWAIN AND HIS ENTOURAGE SAILED ON TO INDIA-- "THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY COUNTRY," HE WROTE, "THAT THE SUN VISITS ON HIS ROUND."

FOR NEARLY 3 MONTHS, HE CRISSCROSSED THE SUBCONTINENT, FROM BOMBAY TO RAWALPINDI, DARJEELING TO CALCUTTA, SPEAKING TO LARGE, ADORING, AND MOSTLY WHITE CROWDS OF BRITISH COLONIALS.

THE TAJ MAHAL WAS BEAUTIFUL, HE SAID, THOUGH NOT QUITE AS BEAUTIFUL AS THE ICE-COVERED TREES IN HARTFORD AFTER A WINTER STORM.

AT THE SACRED CITY OF BENARES, HE SPENT AN AFTERNOON WITH A HINDU HOLY MAN SAID TO HAVE REACHED PERFECTION THROUGH INNUMERABLE REINCARNATIONS.

TWAIN GAVE HIM A COPY OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN, SAYING, "I THOUGHT IT MIGHT REST HIM UP A LITTLE TO MIX IT IN ALONG WITH HIS MEDITATIONS."

AND AT JAIPUR, TWO MONKEYS SLIPPED INTO HIS HOTEL ROOM THROUGH AN OPEN WINDOW.

ONE GROOMED ITS FUR WITH HIS HAIRBRUSH, HE CLAIMED.

THE OTHER PICKED UP HIS HUMOROUS NOTES AND BEGAN CRYING OVER THEM.

"I DID NOT MIND THE ONE WITH THE HAIRBRUSH," HE WROTE LATER, "BUT THE CONDUCT OF THE OTHER ONE HURT ME.

IT HURTS ME YET."

Man as Twain: "I COULD EASILY LEARN TO PREFER AN ELEPHANT TO ANY OTHER VEHICLE, PARTLY BECAUSE OF THAT IMMUNITY FROM COLLISIONS AND PARTLY BECAUSE OF THE FINE VIEW ONE HAS FROM UP THERE AND PARTLY BECAUSE OF THE DIGNITY ONE FEELS IN THAT HIGH PLACE AND PARTLY BECAUSE ONE CAN LOOK IN AT THE WINDOWS AND SEE WHAT IS GOING ON PRIVATELY AMONG THE FAMILY."

Narrator: FROM INDIA, TWAIN SAILED FOR SOUTH AFRICA, FOR TWO MONTHS OF PERFORMANCES IN PRETORIA, CAPE TOWN, JOHANNESBURG, AND MORE THAN HALF A DOZEN OTHER TOWNS.

EVERYWHERE IN AFRICA, EUROPEAN POWERS WERE CARVING UP THE CONTINENT, EXTENDING THEIR COLONIAL EMPIRES.

TAKING SOMEONE ELSE'S LAND WAS NOTHING NEW IN THE WORLD, TWAIN NOTED, BUT THIS MODERN IMPERIALISM CLOAKED ITSELF IN A HYPOCRITICAL SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS THAT HE FOUND PARTICULARLY GALLING.

EVEN MORE TROUBLING TO HIM WAS THE TREATMENT OF NATIVE PEOPLES HE HAD WITNESSED THROUGHOUT HIS TOUR, FROM AUSTRALIA TO INDIA TO AFRICA.

IT AWAKENED IN CLEMENS POWERFUL AND DISTURBING MEMORIES OF WATCHING THE TREATMENT OF SLAVES DURING HIS YOUTH IN MISSOURI BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR, AND IT MADE HIM ANGRY AND ASHAMED OF HIS OWN RACE.

Man as Twain: "IN MANY COUNTRIES, WE HAVE CHAINED THE SAVAGE AND STARVED HIM TO DEATH.

IN MORE THAN ONE COUNTRY, WE HAVE HUNTED THE SAVAGE AND HIS LITTLE CHILDREN AND THEIR MOTHER, WITH DOGS AND GUNS THROUGH THE WOODS AND SWAMPS FOR AN AFTERNOON'S SPORT.

IN MANY COUNTRIES, WE HAVE TAKEN THE SAVAGE'S LAND FROM HIM AND MADE HIM OUR SLAVE AND LASHED HIM EVERY DAY AND BROKEN HIS PRIDE AND MADE DEATH HIS ONLY FRIEND AND OVERWORKED HIM TILL HE DROPPED IN HIS TRACKS.

THERE ARE MANY HUMOROUS THINGS IN THE WORLD, AMONG THEM THE WHITE MAN'S NOTION THAT HE IS LESS SAVAGE THAN THE OTHER SAVAGES."

Russell Banks, writer: NOTHING HUMAN SHOCKED TWAIN, EXCEPT SLAVERY AND RACISM.

I THINK THAT THAT SHOCKED HIM.

AND WHEN YOU READ HIS WORK, THERE'S A KIND OF SHOCK THAT RUNS THROUGH IT, A HORROR ALMOST, THAT'S NOT JUDGMENTAL.

IT'S JUST--HE'S JUST REPELLED, THROWN BACK ON HIMSELF.

Narrator: ON JULY 15, 1896, ONE YEAR AND ONE DAY SINCE STARTING OUT ON THE TOUR, CLEMENS, LIVY, AND CLARA SET SAIL FROM SOUTH AFRICA FOR ENGLAND.

HE WAS EXHAUSTED.

THE TRIP, HE SAID, SEEMED AS IF IT HAD ALREADY LASTED A THOUSAND YEARS.

BUT IT HAD BEEN A GREAT SUCCESS, NETTING $35,000 TOWARD HIS DEBTS, PROVIDING TWAIN WITH MATERIAL FOR STILL ANOTHER TRAVEL BOOK AND EXTENDING HIS FAME TO EVERY CORNER OF THE GLOBE.

BETTER YET, IN ENGLAND, THE FAMILY WOULD BE REUNITED.

Woman as Susy Clemens: "DEAR MAMA AND PAPA AND CLARA, I AM MISSING YOU SO TERRIBLY!

WHY DID I EVER LET YOU GO?

IT IS A MISTAKE TO SEPARATE FROM THE PEOPLE WE LOVE AND WHOM WE BELONG TO.

I DO NOT REALLY LOVE ANYBODY BUT YOU DEAR THREE, AND OF COURSE, NOBODY ELSE LOVES ME.

SUSY."

Narrator: UPON ARRIVAL IN SOUTHAMPTON, SAM, LIVY, AND CLARA CABLED TO THE STATES FOR SUSY AND JEAN TO PREPARE TO SAIL FROM NEW YORK.

BUT A LETTER ARRIVED FROM HARTFORD, SAYING THAT SUSY HAD FALLEN ILL WITH A FEVER.

THE DEPARTURE WAS POSTPONED.

THEN CAME A TELEGRAM.

SUSY'S RECOVERY WOULD BE LONG, IT SAID, BUT CERTAIN.

LIVY IMMEDIATELY SET SAIL FOR HOME, TAKING CLARA WITH HER.

CLEMENS STAYED BEHIND TO WORK ON HIS TRAVEL BOOK AND TO FIND MORE SUITABLE LODGINGS FOR THE FAMILY WHEN LIVY AND THE GIRLS RETURNED.

THREE DAYS LATER, ON AUGUST 18, HE RECEIVED ANOTHER TELEGRAM FROM THE STATES... SUSY WAS DEAD.

LATER, HE WOULD GATHER THE GRIM DETAILS.

SUSY HAD BEEN SPENDING THE SUMMER IN HARTFORD, STAYING WITH THE CLEMENS' FRIENDS, THE WARNERS, BUT OFTEN GOING TO THE FAMILY'S OLD HOME TO PLAY THE PIANO AND PRACTICE HER SINGING.

NEIGHBORS SOMETIMES GATHERED OUTSIDE THE OPEN WINDOWS TO ENJOY THE MUSIC.

BUT THEN SHE DEVELOPED A MYSTERIOUS FEVER.

DOCTORS DIAGNOSED SPINAL MENINGITIS.

FOR TWO WEEKS, HER FEVER SPIRALED AND SHE GREW DELIRIOUS, SOMETIMES WANDERING THROUGH THE EMPTY HOUSE.

SHE FOUND A GOWN BELONGING TO LIVY HANGING IN A CLOSET AND, CONVINCED IT WAS HER MOTHER, KISSED IT AND CRIED.

SHE WATCHED THE TRAFFIC PASSING ON FARMINGTON AVENUE AND SANG OUT, "UP GO THE TROLLEY CARS FOR MARK TWAIN'S DAUGHTER.

DOWN GO THE TROLLEY CARS FOR MARK TWAIN'S DAUGHTER."

THE INFECTION SPREAD DEEPER INTO HER BRAIN.

SHE LOST HER SIGHT, LAPSED INTO A COMA.

WHEN SHE DIED, SHE WAS ONLY 24 YEARS OLD.

JUST AS HE HAD HELD HIMSELF GUILTY FOR HIS YOUNGER BROTHER'S ACCIDENTAL DEATH 38 YEARS EARLIER, JUST AS HE HAD BLAMED HIMSELF FOR THE LOSS OF HIS 19-MONTH-OLD SON LANGDON IN 1872, CLEMENS NOW BLAMED HIMSELF FOR SUSY'S DEATH.

THE STRAIN OF HIS BANKRUPTCY AND THE TOUR THAT HAD PULLED HIS FAMILY APART WERE HIS DOING, AND HE WAS SURE THAT, TOGETHER, THEY HAD KILLED HIS BELOVED DAUGHTER.

MEANWHILE, LIVY WAS ON A BOAT, HALFWAY ACROSS THE ATLANTIC, STILL UNAWARE OF WHAT HAD HAPPENED.

Man as Twain: "DEAREST LIVY, OH, MY HEARTBROKEN DARLING-- NO, NOT HEARTBROKEN YET, FOR YOU STILL DO NOT KNOW-- BUT WHAT TIDINGS ARE IN STORE FOR YOU!

WHAT A BITTER WORLD, WHAT A SHAMEFUL WORLD IT IS.

I LOVE YOU, MY DARLING.

I WISH YOU COULD HAVE BEEN SPARED THIS UNUTTERABLE SORROW.

SAMUEL."

Narrator: CLEMENS POURED OUT HIS HEART TO HER IN A STREAM OF LETTERS TO BE DELIVERED TO HER AFTER HER ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK.

Man as Twain: "I HAVE SPENT THE DAY ALONE, THINKING...

SOMETIMES BITTER THOUGHTS, SOMETIMES ONLY SAD ONES.

REPROACHING MYSELF FOR LAYING THE FOUNDATION OF ALL OUR TROUBLES.

REPROACHING MYSELF FOR A MILLION THINGS WHEREBY I HAVE BROUGHT MISFORTUNE AND SORROW TO THIS FAMILY.

IT RAINS ALL DAY.

NO, IT DRIZZLES AND IS SOMBER AND DARK.

I WOULD NOT HAVE IT OTHERWISE.

I COULD NOT WELCOME THE SUN TODAY.

BE COMFORTED, MY DARLING.

WE SHALL HAVE OUR RELEASE IN TIME.

BE COMFORTED, REMEMBERING HOW MUCH HARDSHIP, GRIEF, PAIN SHE IS SPARED, AND THAT HER HEART CAN NEVER BE BROKEN NOW FOR THE LOSS OF A CHILD.

I SEEM TO SEE HER IN HER COFFIN.

I DO NOT KNOW IN WHICH ROOM.

IN THE LIBRARY, I HOPE, FOR THERE SHE AND CLARA AND I MOSTLY PLAYED WHEN WE WERE CHILDREN TOGETHER AND HAPPY.

SHE DIED IN OUR OWN HOUSE, NOT IN ANOTHER'S.

DIED WHERE EVERY LITTLE THING'S FAMILIAR AND BELOVED.

DIED WHERE SHE HAD SPENT ALL HER LIFE, TILL MY CRIMES MADE HER A PAUPER AND AN EXILE.

HOW GOOD IT IS THAT SHE GOT HOME AGAIN.

GIVE MY LOVE TO CLARA AND JEAN.

WE HAVE THAT MUCH OF OUR FORTUNE LEFT."

Narrator: SUSY WAS BURIED IN THE FAMILY CEMETERY PLOT IN ELMIRA, NEAR LANGDON, THE OLDER BROTHER SHE HAD NEVER KNOWN.

HER FATHER WAS TOO FAR AWAY TO ATTEND.

Ron Powers, writer: SUSY'S DEATH WAS THE CULMINATING BLOW.

IT WAS THE GRIEF THAT TRUMPED ALL OTHER GRIEFS IN HIS LIFE.

AND WHEN THAT HAPPENED, I THINK IT WAS THE FINAL COLLAPSE OF HIS FAITH IN A BENEVOLENT GOD.

HE SAID LATER, "IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO IMAGINE HOW A MAN COULD EXPERIENCE A THUNDERCLAP LIKE THAT AND STILL LIVE."

THAT LAUNCHED MARK TWAIN INTO THE HOT, DARK YEARS OF HIS LATE LIFE AND THE WRITINGS IN WHICH HE TURNED THE UNIVERSE OF MAN AND GOD ON ITS HEAD.

Narrator: AFTER SUSY'S FUNERAL, LIVY, CLARA, AND JEAN SAILED BACK TO EUROPE TO REJOIN THEIR GRIEVING FATHER.

THE FAMILY WOULD REMAIN ABROAD FOR NEARLY 4 MORE YEARS, WANDERING FROM ONE CITY TO ANOTHER--LONDON, LUCERNE, VIENNA, BUDAPEST, PRAGUE, AND LONDON AGAIN.

THEY SPENT A CHRISTMAS WITHOUT EVEN MENTIONING THE HOLIDAY, BECAUSE OF THE MEMORIES IT BROUGHT BACK OF SUSY.

ON OTHER DAYS, CLARA CLEMENS WROTE, "FATHER'S PASSIONATE NATURE EXPRESSED ITSELF IN THUNDEROUS OUTBURSTS OF BITTERNESS, SHADING INTO RUGGED GRIEF."

"IT WAS A LONG TIME," SHE ADDED, "BEFORE ANYONE LAUGHED IN OUR HOUSEHOLD."

Laura Skandera-Trombley, Twain scholar: AFTER SUSY'S PASSING, THIS SIGNALED THE DEATH KNELL TO THE LIFE THAT THEY ONCE TREASURED AND HELD SO DEARLY AS A FAMILY.

THAT WAS PART OF JUST A GHOSTLY PAST, AS IT RECEDED, AND AS MUCH AS TWAIN TRIED, AND HE DID TRY, UP UNTIL THE END OF HIS LIFE, TO RECREATE THAT ON DIFFERENT LEVELS, IT WAS GONE.

THEY HAD LOST THEIR HOME.

THEY HAD LOST THEIR COUNTRY.

THEY HAD LOST THEIR DAUGHTER.

WHAT THEY HAD WAS MONEY, BUT MONEY DIDN'T MATTER.

Man as Twain: "LAKE OF LUCERNE, SWITZERLAND.

AUGUST 18, 1897.

ONE YEAR TODAY SINCE THE GREAT DISASTER FELL.

LIVY WENT AWAY TO BE ALONE.

SHE TOOK THE STEAMER AND SPENT THE DAY SOLITARY IN AN INN IN AN UNKNOWN TOWN UP THE LAKE.

I SPENT THE DAY ALONE UNDER THE TREES ON THE MOUNTAINSIDE...

WRITING."

Narrator: WORK BECAME TWAIN'S SOLACE.

HE FINISHED A BEST-SELLING BOOK ABOUT HIS WORLD LECTURE TOUR, CALLED FOLLOWING THE EQUATOR, FILLED WITH BITING SOCIAL CRITICISM AND HILARIOUS OBSERVATIONS, ALL THE WHILE WONDERING AT HIS OWN ABILITY TO BE FUNNY IN THE MIDST OF PERSONAL TRAGEDY.

Russell Banks, writer: HIS NEED TO READ THIS WORLD THROUGH THE PRISM OF HUMOR WAS, I THINK, THE ONLY WAY IT WAS TOLERABLE FOR HIM.

I MEAN, THERE WAS PROBABLY NO OTHER OPTION OTHER THAN SUICIDE IF HE DIDN'T--IF HE DIDN'T HAVE THAT--DIDN'T SEE IT THROUGH HUMOR.

IT ISN'T JUST SOMEONE WHO IS TRYING TO ENTERTAIN YOU.

IT'S SOMEONE WHO IS TRYING TO KEEP FROM KILLING HIMSELF, I THINK.

Narrator: BY THE FALL OF 1900, ALL THE FAMILY'S DEBTS HAD FINALLY BEEN PAID OFF.

CLEMENS FELT PROSPEROUS ENOUGH TO TURN DOWN LUCRATIVE OFFERS FOR TOBACCO ENDORSEMENTS AND ANOTHER LECTURE TOUR, EVEN STARTED SPECULATING AGAIN IN NEW INVENTIONS.

WHEN A RUMOR STARTED THAT HE WAS GRAVELY ILL, A NEWSPAPER MAN WAS DISPATCHED TO CONFIRM THE STORY.

"THE REPORT OF MY DEATH," TWAIN SAID, "HAS BEEN GREATLY EXAGGERATED."

Hal Holbrook, actor: HE REFUSED TO LIE DOWN AND DIE.

HE JUST KEPT MOVING FORWARD AGAIN, GETTING UP, GOING AT IT AGAIN.

HE WAS A LIFE FORCE.

HE WAS A POWERFUL LIFE FORCE, A FORWARD-MOVING ONE.

AND...HE WASN'T A QUITTER.

Narrator: SAM CLEMENS WAS 64 YEARS OLD AND WEARY OF WHAT HE CALLED HIS "EVERLASTING EXILE."

IT WAS TIME TO GO HOME.

Man as The New York World reporter: "OCTOBER 16, 1900.

THERE WAS THE FAMILIAR BUSHY HAIR; THE TWINKLING, SEMI-MYSTERIOUS EYES; THE PECULIAR DRAWLING VOICE-- HALF YANKEE, HALF SOUTHERN; THE VERY LOW TURN-DOWN COLLAR OF THE WEST; AND THE IMMACULATE SHINY SILK HAT AND LONG FROCK COAT OF THE EFFETE EAST.

HE LOOKED AS YOUNG AS HE DID 20 YEARS AGO AND YOUNGER THAN HE DID WHEN HE SHOOK AMERICAN DUST OFF HIS FEET IN 1891."

THE NEW YORK WORLD.

Narrator: MARK TWAIN RETURNED TO NEW YORK TO A TUMULTUOUS WELCOME.

THE WHOLE COUNTRY HAD SYMPATHIZED WITH HIS SORROW AT SUSY'S DEATH, AND EVERYONE NOW ADMIRED HIM FOR HAVING WORKED HIMSELF OUT OF DEBT.

NEWSPAPERS HAILED THE RETURN OF "THE BRAVEST AUTHOR IN ALL LITERATURE."

"OUR FRIEND ENTERED THE FIERY FURNACE A MAN," ANDREW CARNEGIE SAID, "AND EMERGED A HERO."

"THE AVERAGE AMERICAN LOVES HIS FAMILY," SAID THOMAS ALVA EDISON.

"IF HE HAS ANY LOVE LEFT OVER FOR SOME OTHER PERSON, HE GENERALLY SELECTS MARK TWAIN."

TWAIN LOVED THE ATTENTION, AND THE PRESS LOVED HIM.

"I NEVER TOLD THE TRUTH IN MY LIFE THAT SOMEONE DIDN'T SAY I WAS LYING," HE TOLD REPORTERS WHO MET HIM AT THE PIER, "AND I NEVER TOLD A LIE THAT SOMEBODY DIDN'T TAKE IT AS A FACT."

UNABLE TO BEAR THE THOUGHT OF EVER LIVING IN THE HARTFORD HOME WHERE SUSY HAD DIED, THE FAMILY MOVED INTO A RENTED HOUSE AT 14 WEST 10th STREET IN NEW YORK CITY.

A STEADY STREAM OF REPORTERS CAME KNOCKING AT THE DOOR, SEEKING TWAIN'S OPINIONS ON EVERY IMAGINABLE TOPIC.

Man as Twain: "I WAS BORN LAZY.

I AM NO LAZIER NOW THAN I WAS 40 YEARS AGO, BUT THAT IS BECAUSE I REACHED THE LIMIT 40 YEARS AGO.

YOU CAN'T GO BEYOND POSSIBILITY."

"AS AN EXAMPLE TO OTHERS, AND NOT THAT I CARE FOR MODERATION MYSELF, IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN MY RULE NEVER TO SMOKE WHEN ASLEEP AND NEVER TO REFRAIN WHEN AWAKE.

AND I HAVE MADE IT A RULE NEVER TO SMOKE MORE THAN ONE CIGAR AT A TIME."

"IT COULD PROBABLY BE SHOWN BY FACTS AND FIGURES THAT THERE IS NO DISTINCTLY NATIVE AMERICAN CRIMINAL CLASS...

EXCEPT CONGRESS."

Hal Holbrook, actor: HE OFTEN REFERRED TO THE CONGRESS AS "THE GRAND OLD, BENEVOLENT NATIONAL ASYLUM FOR THE HELPLESS."

I THINK ANOTHER TIME, HE SAID... "IMAGINE THAT YOU ARE AN IDIOT, AND THEN IMAGINE THAT YOU ARE A MEMBER OF CONGRESS.

WAIT A MINUTE.

I REPEATED MYSELF."

Narrator: "FIRST, GOD MADE IDIOTS," TWAIN SAID.

"THAT WAS FOR PRACTICE.

THEN HE MADE SCHOOL BOARDS."

Hal Holbrook, actor: I LOVE, UH, "THE TROUBLE IS NOT THAT THE WORLD IS FULL OF FOOLS, IT'S JUST THAT LIGHTNING ISN'T DISTRIBUTED RIGHT."

Man as Twain: "TRUTH IS THE MOST VALUABLE THING WE HAVE.

LET US ECONOMIZE IT."

Hal Holbrook, actor: WELL, HE WAS ONE OF US.

HE DIDN'T EXCLUDE HIMSELF.

HE SAID, "THE HUMAN RACE IS A RACE OF COWARDS, AND I AM NOT ONLY MARCHING IN THAT PROCESSION, I AM CARRYING A BANNER."

Arthur Miller, playwright: HE NEVER EXEMPTED HIMSELF FROM THE TRAVAILS OF THE PEOPLE HE WAS CRITICIZING.

INSTEAD OF SAYING, "YOU ARE DOING THIS," HE SEEMED TO BE SAYING, "WE ARE DOING THIS," OR "WE ARE BEING SO SILLY OR STUPID OR DESTRUCTIVE."

HE INCLUDED HIMSELF IN WHAT WAS RIDICULOUS, AND THAT'S A GREAT ART, TO BE ABLE TO DO THAT WITHOUT WEAKENING THE ACCUSATION.

Narrator: TWAIN ALSO BEGAN SPEAKING OUT DIRECTLY ON POLITICAL ISSUES: IN SUPPORT OF BOOKER T. WASHINGTON'S EFFORTS TO UPLIFT HIS RACE, AGAINST THE CORRUPTION OF TAMMANY HALL, AND THE RAMPANT ANTI-SEMITISM OF THE DAY, IN FAVOR OF A WOMAN'S RIGHT TO VOTE.

Man as Twain: "ALL THAT WE REQUIRE OF A VOTER IS THAT HE WEAR PANTALOONS INSTEAD OF PETTICOATS AND BEAR, MORE OR LESS, A HUMOROUS RESEMBLANCE TO THE REPORTED IMAGE OF GOD.

FROM THE DAY THAT ADAM ATE OF THE APPLE AND TOLD ON EVE, MAN, IN A MORAL FIGHT, HAS PRETTY UNIFORMLY SHOWN HIMSELF TO BE AN ERRANT COWARD."

Narrator: HE WAS ESPECIALLY OUTSPOKEN ON THE MOST DIVISIVE ISSUE OF THE DAY--WHETHER OR NOT THE UNITED STATES SHOULD FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE OF THE GREAT POWERS OF EUROPE AND ESTABLISH ITS OWN EMPIRE.

"I AM AN ANTI-IMPERIALIST," HE TOLD THE PRESS.

"I AM OPPOSED TO HAVING THE EAGLE PUT ITS TALONS ON ANY OTHER LAND."

FRIENDS WARNED HIM THE PUBLIC MIGHT BE OFFENDED.

HE DIDN'T SEEM TO MIND.

Man as Twain: "THIS NATION IS LIKE ALL THE OTHERS THAT HAVE BEEN SPEWED UPON THE EARTH, READY TO SHOUT FOR ANY CAUSE THAT WILL TICKLE ITS VANITY OR FILL ITS POCKET.

WHAT A HELL OF A HEAVEN IT WILL BE, WHEN THEY GET ALL THESE HYPOCRITES ASSEMBLED THERE."

Narrator: HE RAILED AGAINST AMERICAN MISSIONARIES, WHOSE PRESENCE IN CHINA HELPED BRING ON THE BOXER REBELLION; CRITICIZED ENGLAND FOR WAGING WAR ON THE BOERS IN SOUTH AFRICA; AND SO VIOLENTLY DENOUNCED KING LEOPOLD OF BELGIUM FOR HIS SAVAGERY IN THE CONGO THAT NO AMERICAN PUBLISHER DARED PRINT IT.

Hal Holbrook, actor: HE IS FEARLESS.

HE'S FEARLESS AND HE'S DANGEROUS.

HE SAYS, "I SUPPOSE AN HONEST MAN SHINES MORE IN POLITICS THAN HE DOES ELSEWHERE, BUT SHOULDN'T A SENATOR KEEP HIS WORD, OR A PRESIDENT?

SHOULDN'T HE SET A HIGH EXAMPLE?

IS KEEPING ONE'S WORD SO EXTRAORDINARY...A THING, WHEN THE PERSON ACHIEVING THAT FEAT IS THE FIRST CITIZEN OF A CIVILIZED NATION?"

OUCH.

Narrator: NO ONE WAS IMMUNE.

AFTER ATTACKING THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT FOR TURNING A WAR TO FREE THE PHILIPPINES FROM SPAIN INTO THE BRUTAL CONQUEST OF THE FILIPINOS, TWAIN SET HIS SIGHTS ON A MAN HE SAW AS AMERICA'S BIGGEST IMPERIALIST--THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

HE RIDICULED THE PRESIDENT SO PERSISTENTLY THAT, WHEN YALE UNIVERSITY AWARDED TWAIN AN HONORARY DEGREE IN 1901, ROOSEVELT, WHO WAS GETTING AN AWARD OF HIS OWN, WENT OUT OF HIS WAY TO AVOID SHAKING TWAIN'S HAND.

Man as Twain: "OURS IS A USEFUL TRADE, A WORTHY CALLING.

WITH ALL ITS LIGHTNESS AND FRIVOLITY, IT HAS ONE SERIOUS PURPOSE, ONE AIM, ONE SPECIALTY, AND IT IS CONSTANT TO IT--THE DERIDING OF SHAMS, THE EXPOSURE OF PRETENTIOUS FALSITIES, THE LAUGHING OF STUPID SUPERSTITIONS OUT OF EXISTENCE.

AND THAT WHOSO IS, BY INSTINCT, ENGAGED IN THIS SORT OF WARFARE IS THE NATURAL ENEMY OF ROYALTIES, NOBILITIES, PRIVILEGES, AND ALL KINDRED SWINDLES, AND THE NATURAL FRIEND OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMAN LIBERTIES."

Russell Banks, writer: WHEN YOU BECOME UNSURE OF WHO YOU ARE NOW... YOU GO TO WHO YOU WERE WHEN YOU KNEW WHO YOU WERE, AND TRY TO READ BACK OUT OF THAT.

Ron Powers, writer: MARK TWAIN CAME BACK TO HANNIBAL FOR THE LAST TIME IN 1902.

IT WAS AN UNEXPECTED VISIT.

HE DIDN'T LET THE TOWN KNOW.

HE WAS ON HIS WAY TO COLUMBIA, MISSOURI, TO RECEIVE A DOCTORATE FROM THE UNIVERSITY, AN HONORARY DEGREE.

AND HE SLIPPED INTO TOWN ON A JUNE DAY, ACCOMPANIED BY A REPORTER FROM THE ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH NAMED ROBERTUS LOVE.

THE PEOPLE SAW HIM, IMMEDIATELY RECOGNIZED HIM, AND BY 4:00 IN THE AFTERNOON, THE GIRLS WERE ALL DRESSED UP LIKE BECKY THATCHER, THE BOYS WERE DRESSED UP LIKE TOM SAWYER.

HANNIBAL HAS NEVER STOPPED DOING THAT SINCE, BY THE WAY.

SO HE WADED THROUGH THIS GREAT BOUQUET OF PEOPLE.

HE WAS GIVEN A LUNCHEON WITH THE OLD WOMAN WHO WAS THE MODEL FOR BECKY THATCHER, AND HE LOVED IT.

BUT AT ONE POINT TOWARD THE END OF THE VISIT, WHEN HE WAS CRACKING WISE AT THE LABINNAH CLUB--"HANNIBAL" SPELLED BACKWARDS--HE ERUPTED IN TEARS AND SOBBING, ABSOLUTELY OUT OF THE BLUE.

AND AS ROBERTUS LOVE SAID, IT WAS THE CRYING OF AN OLD MAN WHO REALIZES THAT WHAT HE IS SAYING IS, "FAREWELL, FAREWELL."

ALL OF THE GHOSTS HAD RETURNED.

HE'D ENCOUNTERED ALL OF THE GHOSTS OF HIS BOYHOOD, AND HAD HAD, I THINK, HIS FINAL CATHARSIS.

MAYBE THIS WAS PUTTING THE BOYHOOD TO REST AT LAST, BECAUSE THE NEXT DAY, HE WAS GREAT AGAIN.

HE WALKED THROUGH TOWN ON THE ARM OF A PREACHER, BOARDED THE STEAM TRAIN, AND NEVER RETURNED.

Narrator: IN AUGUST OF 1902, WHILE VACATIONING IN MAINE, LIVY CLEMENS SUDDENLY BEGAN TO SUFFER HEART PALPITATIONS AND ATTACKS OF ASTHMA THAT LEFT HER GASPING FOR AIR, UNABLE EVEN TO LIE DOWN, FOR FEAR OF SUFFOCATING.

HER DOCTORS BELIEVED THAT VISITS FROM HER EXCITABLE, OVERDRAMATIC HUSBAND WOULD ONLY WEAKEN HER FURTHER AND RECOMMENDED THAT HE SEE HER FOR NO MORE THAN TWO MINUTES A DAY.

CLEMENS FELT HIS BANISHMENT KEENLY.

LIVY WAS NOT ONLY HIS WIFE, BUT HIS SOULMATE AND HIS SOUNDING BOARD.

WITHOUT HER, HE FELT BEREFT.

HE PINNED NOTES TO THE TREES OUTSIDE HER WINDOW, WARNING THE BIRDS NOT TO SING FOR FEAR OF DISTURBING LIVY'S REST, AND SENT MESSAGES TO HER SICK ROOM.

Man as Twain: "GOOD MORNING, SWEETHEART.

IT IS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL, AND I LOVE YOU MOST DEEPLY.

THIS DINING ROOM IS A PARADISE WITH THE FLOODING SUNSHINE AND THE INCOMPARABLE RIVER.

I WISH YOU WERE DOWN HERE, SWEETHEART."

Woman as Livy Clemens: "YOUTH, MY OWN PRECIOUS DARLING, I FEEL SO FRIGHTFULLY BANISHED.

COULDN'T YOU WRITE IN MY BOUDOIR?

THEN I COULD HEAR YOU CLEAR YOUR THROAT, AND IT WOULD BE SUCH JOY TO FEEL YOU NEAR.

I MISS YOU SADLY, SADLY.

YOUR NOTE IN THE MORNING GAVE ME SUPPORT FOR THE DAY, AND THE ONE AT NIGHT, PEACE FOR THE NIGHT.

WITH THE DEEPEST LOVE OF MY HEART, YOUR LIVY."

Narrator: EVENTUALLY, LIVY'S DOCTORS RECOMMENDED THAT CLEMENS TAKE HIS WIFE BACK TO ITALY, TO FLORENCE, WHERE THE CLIMATE WOULD BE GOOD FOR HER HEALTH.

ON JUNE 5, 1904, LIVY SEEMED ONCE AGAIN TO BE ON THE MEND, WELL ENOUGH TO PERMIT A LONGER THAN USUAL VISIT FROM HER HUSBAND.

LATER, CLEMENS WENT TO THE PARLOR, SAT DOWN AT THE PIANO, AS HE OFTEN HAD DURING THE 34 YEARS OF THEIR MARRIAGE, AND BEGAN PLAYING.

AS HE PLAYED, LIVY SLIPPED AWAY.

Man as Twain: "VILLA DI QUARTO, FLORENCE.

AN HOUR AGO, THE BEST HEART THAT EVER BEAT FOR ME AND MINE WAS CARRIED SILENT OUT OF THIS HOUSE, AND I AM AS ONE WHO WANDERS AND HAS LOST HIS WAY.

OUR LIFE IS WRECKED.

WE HAVE NO PLANS FOR THE FUTURE.

SHE ALWAYS MADE THE PLANS.

NONE OF US WAS CAPABLE.

WE SHALL CARRY HER HOME AND BURY HER WITH HER DEAD AT ELMIRA.

BEYOND THAT, WE HAVE NO PLANS.

THE CHILDREN MUST DECIDE.

I HAVE NO HEAD."

Laura Skandera-Trombley, Twain scholar: SHE WAS THE GLUE.

SHE KEPT EVERYONE TOGETHER.

SHE KEPT THE DAUGHTERS FUNCTIONING.

SHE KEPT HER SPOUSE ON AN EVEN KEEL.

WHEN SHE WAS GONE, THEY WENT SPINNING OUT OF CONTROL.

Narrator: CLARA WAS AS HEADSTRONG AS HER FATHER, AND FOR YEARS HAD CHAFED UNDER HIS DOMINATING PERSONALITY.

NOW SHE BEGAN TO BREAK AWAY.

JEAN, WHO SUFFERED FROM EPILEPSY, BEGAN TO HAVE SEIZURES MORE FREQUENT AND MORE SEVERE THAN EVER BEFORE.

THE VERY HAPPY FAMILY SUSY HAD ONCE DESCRIBED LAY IN RUINS.

Laura Skandera-Trombley, Twain scholar: WITH OLIVIA'S DEATH, HE WAS NO LONGER ABLE TO WRITE EXTENDED NARRATIVES, AND HE TRIED TO COMPLETE MANUSCRIPTS, BUT HE NO LONGER COULD DO SO.

THE OTHER PART OF IT, THOUGH, IS I BELIEVE HE DIDN'T WANT TO WRITE AS HE USED TO-- TO CLOSET HIMSELF AWAY AND WRITE ALONE, AND THEN COME BACK AND READ HIS WORK, BECAUSE HE FELT SO MUCH ALONE ANYWAY.

HE DIDN'T WANT TO BE EVEN MORE ALONE.

Man as Twain: "THERE IS NOTHING.

THERE IS NO GOD AND NO UNIVERSE.

THERE IS ONLY EMPTY SPACE, AND IN IT, A LOST AND HOMELESS AND WANDERING AND COMPANIONLESS AND INDESTRUCTIBLE THOUGHT, AND I AM THAT THOUGHT.

AND GOD AND THE UNIVERSE AND TIME AND LIFE AND DEATH AND JOY AND SORROW AND PAIN ONLY A GROTESQUE AND BRUTAL DREAM EVOLVED FROM THE FRANTIC IMAGINATION AND THAT INSANE THOUGHT."

Ron Powers, writer: I THINK WE SEE IN MARK TWAIN A MAN WHO WAS CONSTANTLY GROPING FOR AN ULTIMATE STANDARD OF VIRTUE AND GOODNESS AND NEVER FOUND IT.

AND I THINK HE WAS VERY DISAPPOINTED IN THE CHRISTIAN GOD.

I THINK HIS ANGER AT THE CHRISTIAN GOD IS THE ANGER OF A MAN WHO REALLY WANTED TO BELIEVE.

Narrator: SINCE SUSY'S DEATH, MUCH OF TWAIN'S WRITING HAD TURNED DARK AND BITTER.

LIVY HAD PERSUADED HIM NOT TO LET THE PUBLIC SEE HIS MOST PESSIMISTIC WRITINGS.

NOW, WITH HER GONE, HE GAVE EVEN GREATER VENT TO HIS DEEPENING ANGER AND DESPAIR.

John Boyer, historian: HE LOVED WRITING.

IT WAS HIS VOICE ON ALL THINGS, AND HE WROTE RIGHT UP TO THE END OF HIS LIFE.

HIS LATER YEARS WERE DIFFERENT, THOUGH.

IT WAS A DIFFERENT KIND OF WRITING ABOUT A MORE-- IT'S AN INNER WORLD OF VISIONS AND HALLUCINATIONS.

HE QUESTIONS GOD.

HE TALKS WITH SATAN.

IT'S A DIFFERENT AGENDA AT THE END.

Narrator: HE WROTE THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER AND LETTERS FROM THE EARTH-- SCATHING ATTACKS ON GOD AND CONVENTIONAL RELIGION, STORIES IN WHICH SATAN OFTEN APPEARS ON EARTH, TO REPORT ON THE ABSURDITY OF HUMAN BELIEFS--WORKS THAT EVEN TWAIN THOUGHT SHOULD NOT BE PUBLISHED UNTIL WELL AFTER HIS OWN DEATH.

Hamlin Hill, Twain scholar: THE LAST CHAPTER OF THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER, WHERE THE GOD THAT HUMAN BEINGS HAVE INVENTED IS INSANE-- IT HAS TO BE A NIGHTMARE.

WHY WOULD WE INVENT A GOD WHO COULD MAKE EVERYBODY HAPPY AND DIDN'T MAKE A SINGLE HUMAN BEING EVER HAPPY?

Man as Twain: "OUR BIBLE REVEALS TO US THE CHARACTER OF OUR GOD WITH MINUTE AND REMORSELESS EXACTNESS.

THE PORTRAIT IS SUBSTANTIALLY THAT OF A MAN, IF ONE CAN IMAGINE A MAN CHARGED AND OVERCHARGED WITH EVIL IMPULSES FAR BEYOND THE HUMAN LIMIT.

HIS ACTS EXPOSE HIS VINDICTIVE, UNJUST, UNGENEROUS, PITILESS, AND VENGEFUL NATURE CONSTANTLY.

HE IS ALWAYS PUNISHING: PUNISHING INNOCENT CHILDREN FOR THE MISDEEDS OF THEIR PARENTS; PUNISHING UNOFFENDING POPULATIONS FOR THE MISDEEDS OF THEIR RULERS."

"IT IS, PERHAPS, THE MOST DAMNATORY BIOGRAPHY THAT EXISTS IN PRINT ANYWHERE.

IT MAKES NERO AN ANGEL OF LIGHT, BY CONTRAST."

Arthur Miller, playwright: IT'S THE DARK TRUTH, THE BOTTOM FROM WHICH I THINK HE WAS STRUGGLING WITH ALL HIS LIFE.

A DESPAIR WHICH WAS PROFOUND.

I THINK HE WAS A DEPRESSED PERSON.

I THINK HE WROTE LIKE A DEPRESSIVE, WHO WAS STRUGGLING TERRIBLY WITH THAT SENSE THAT IT'S ALL FUTILE, THAT WE CANNOT KNOW WHY WE'RE HERE, AND THAT IT ALL MAKES VERY LITTLE SENSE IN THE LONG RUN.

Narrator: TWAIN SPENT MOST OF HIS TIME NOW WORKING ON HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

HE TOLD HIS FRIEND WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS, "IT WAS THE TRUEST OF ALL BOOKS, BECAUSE IT CONSISTS MAINLY OF EXTINCTIONS OF THE TRUTH, SHIRKINGS OF THE TRUTH, PARTIAL REVEALMENTS OF THE TRUTH, WITH HARDLY AN INSTANCE OF PLAIN, STRAIGHT TRUTH."

Man as Twain: "WHEN I WAS YOUNGER, I COULD REMEMBER ANYTHING, WHETHER IT HAD HAPPENED OR NOT, BUT MY FACULTIES ARE DECAYING NOW, AND SOON I SHALL BE SO I CANNOT REMEMBER ANY BUT THE THINGS THAT NEVER HAPPENED.

IT IS SAD TO GO TO PIECES LIKE THIS, BUT WE ALL HAVE TO DO IT."

Narrator: CLEMENS HAD SETTLED INTO A BROWNSTONE ON NEW YORK'S FIFTH AVENUE, AND TURNED OVER THE DAY-TO-DAY MANAGEMENT OF HIS HOUSEHOLD TO ISABEL LYON--A WORSHIPFUL YOUNG WOMAN WHO TOOK DICTATION, KEPT HIS ACCOUNTS, AND SUPERVISED THE SERVANTS.

BUT HE FELT MORE AND MORE ALONE AND INCREASINGLY ESTRANGED FROM HIS TWO SURVIVING DAUGHTERS.

JEAN'S ILLNESS WAS GROWING WORSE.

TWICE DURING SEIZURES, SHE PHYSICALLY ATTACKED THE FAITHFUL SERVANT KATY LEARY AND WAS SENT AWAY TO A SANITARIUM, FOR FEAR SHE WOULD HARM SOMEONE ELSE.

CLARA JOINED CLEMENS IN NEW YORK, BUT SPENT AS LITTLE TIME AS SHE COULD IN HIS COMPANY.

Woman as Isabel Lyon: "NEW YORK, MARCH 24, 1906.

THIS IS THE WRETCHED DAY WHEN MR. CLEMENS WENT DOWN TO THE LIVING ROOM AND THERE WASN'T ANYONE THERE.

FOR HALF AN HOUR, HE WAITED FOR A HUMAN BEING, AND NONE CAME TO STAY.

THESE ARE THE AGONY DAYS, WHEN HE KNOWS MRS. CLEMENS IS GONE.

ISABEL LYON."

Laura Skandera-Trombley, Twain scholar: HE RESORTED IN THE LAST YEARS TO FALLING BACK UPON THIS PERSONA, THIS THING THAT HE HAD CREATED, THIS MARK TWAIN, AND HE ATTRACTED PEOPLE TO HIM.

WHO WOULD BE INTERESTED IN SAM CLEMENS--AN ELDERLY MAN WHO WAS INCREASINGLY FRAIL, WHO HAD OUTLIVED EVERYONE, WHOSE DAUGHTERS DIDN'T FIND A WHOLE LOT OF INTEREST IN HIM, AND WHO WAS SO EXTRAORDINARILY LONELY?

THAT WAS SAM CLEMENS.

AND SO, MARK TWAIN, I THINK, BEGAN TO COME OUT MORE AND MORE.

THERE'S A LETTER THAT HOWELLS ONCE WROTE TO HIM SAYING, "I THOUGHT THAT YOU HAD LEFT MARK TWAIN BEHIND."

BUT MARK TWAIN, AT THE END, WAS IN SOME WAYS, ALL THAT WAS LEFT.

HE HAS ENTERED THE REALM OF FAME WITHOUT FAMILY.

Jocelyn Chadwick, Twain scholar: HE IS A PASSIONATE MAN, NO MATTER WHAT, IN SPITE OF HIMSELF, WHEN HE MIGHT WANT TO JUST GIVE UP.

AND THERE ARE THOSE TIMES WHEN HE'S WRITING HIS LETTERS AND IN HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY THAT HE JUST--YOU JUST THINK, "SAM, YOU CAN JUST GO NO FURTHER.

THIS IS IT.

THIS IS THE MOST DEVASTATING BLOW YOU COULD HAVE HAD."

YOU FEEL AS THOUGH HE'S GIVEN UP ON GOD, LIFE, THE WHOLE BIT, AND THEN HE COMES THROUGH.

HE RALLIES.

HE CONTINUES TO RALLY.

Man as Twain: "BEFORE 70, WE ARE MERELY RESPECTED AT BEST, AND WE HAVE TO BEHAVE ALL THE TIME.

BUT AFTER 70, WE ARE RESPECTED, ESTEEMED, ADMIRED, REVERED, AND DON'T HAVE TO BEHAVE UNLESS WE WANT TO."

Man as reporter: THE NEW YORK EVENING MAIL-- "THINGS HAVE REACHED THE POINT WHERE IF MARK TWAIN IS NOT AT A PUBLIC MEETING OR BANQUET, HE IS EXPECTED TO CONSOLE IT WITH ONE OF HIS INIMITABLE LETTERS OF ADVICE AND ENCOURAGEMENT.

WE MUST BE GLAD THAT WE HAVE A PUBLIC COMMENTATOR LIKE MARK TWAIN ALWAYS AT HAND AND HIS WIT AND WISDOM CONTINUALLY ON TAP.

HIS SOUND, BREEZY, MISSISSIPPI VALLEY AMERICANISM IS A CORRECTIVE TO ALL SORTS OF SNOBBERY.

HE CULTIVATES RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS BY ALWAYS MAKING SURE THAT HE HAS HIS OWN."

Hal Holbrook, actor: THERE IS NOBODY TODAY, TRULY NO ONE, TO COMPARE HIM TO.

HE BECAME THE SAGE OF THE COUNTRY, EVEN THE WORLD.

WHATEVER HAPPENED IN THE MORNING'S PAPER, YOU KNOW, THEY WOULD HAVE A COMMENT ABOUT TWAIN.

SOMETHING WOULD HAPPEN.

A WAR WOULD BREAK OUT OR SOMEBODY WOULD DO SOME STUPID THING, OR--LIKE WHEN THE TAMMANY HALL FELLOW DIED THE NIGHT BEFORE ELECTION, YOU KNOW, HE'D BE CONTACTED IMMEDIATELY FOR A COMMENT.

THE POLITICO DIED, AND HE SAYS, "WELL, I WON'T ATTEND HIS FUNERAL, BUT I'LL WRITE A VERY NICE LETTER SAYING THAT I APPROVE OF IT."

Narrator: TWAIN NOW FOUND HIS ONLY COMFORT AND SATISFACTION IN CELEBRITY.

HE TOOK TO WEARING SCARLET SOCKS AND ALL-WHITE SUITS YEAR-ROUND-- HIS "DON'T-CARE-A-DAMN SUITS," HE CALLED THEM.

ON SUNDAY MORNINGS, HE PARADED UP AND DOWN BROADWAY WHEN THE CHURCHES LET OUT, JUST TO DRAW STILL MORE ATTENTION TO HIMSELF.

HIS MERE APPEARANCE AT A BILLIARDS TOURNAMENT IN MADISON SQUARE GARDEN BROUGHT THE CROWD TO ITS FEET.

A WOMAN BEGGED TO KISS HIS HAND, SAYING, "HOW GOD MUST LOVE YOU."

"I HOPE SO," HE ANSWERED, BUT AS SOON AS SHE WAS GONE, HE ADDED, "I GUESS SHE HASN'T HEARD OF OUR STRAINED RELATIONS."

STRANGERS BESIEGED HIM FOR AUTOGRAPHS, PHOTOGRAPHERS BEGGED HIM TO SIT FOR PORTRAITS.

MAIL ARRIVED FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD, INCLUDING ONE LETTER ADDRESSED SIMPLY TO "MARK TWAIN, GODKNOWSWHERE."

HE HAD BECOME, HE SAID, "THE MOST CONSPICUOUS PERSON ON THE PLANET."

Ron Powers, writer: WHEN HE TRAVELED BY TRAIN, THE CONDUCTORS WOULD HOLD UP THE TRAIN WHILE MARK TWAIN RELIEVED HIMSELF IN THE GENTS' ROOM, AND PEOPLE WOULD SCURRY TO CARRY HIS BAGGAGE FOR HIM.

AND HE LOVED THOSE GREAT BANQUETS OF OYSTERS AND CHAMPAGNE.

AND HE REALLY BECAME INTIMATE WITH MANY OF THE GREAT FIGURES OF THE EARLY 20th CENTURY.

HE SUBSIDIZED HELEN KELLER.

HE INTRODUCED WINSTON CHURCHILL TO HIS FIRST AMERICAN AUDIENCE.

HE VACATIONED IN BERMUDA WITH WOODROW WILSON.

SO HE REALLY CROSSED WITH THE CURRENTS OF THE GREAT POWER ELITE OF THE 20th CENTURY, AND HE LOVED IT.

Narrator: WHEN OXFORD UNIVERSITY OFFERED HIM AN HONORARY DOCTOR OF LETTERS IN 1907, HE EAGERLY SET SAIL FOR ENGLAND.

IN LONDON, HE CHATTED WITH THE KING AND QUEEN, MADE HEADLINES SIMPLY BY STROLLING ACROSS THE STREET IN HIS BATHROBE, AND MET WITH THE IRISH PLAYWRIGHT GEORGE BERNARD SHAW, WHO CALLED HIMSELF A "HUCK-A-MANIAC" AND CALLED TWAIN "THE AMERICAN VOLTAIRE."

TWAIN, SHAW SAID, HAD TAUGHT HIM THAT "TELLING THE TRUTH IS THE FUNNIEST JOKE IN THE WORLD."

AT OXFORD, AFTER PUTTING ON HIS CRIMSON-AND-GRAY GOWN, TWAIN EXCLAIMED, "I LIKE THE DEGREE WELL ENOUGH, BUT I'M CRAZY ABOUT THE CLOTHES."

DURING THE CEREMONY, THE BOY WHO HAD BEEN BORN IN A TWO-ROOM SHACK IN THE BACKWOODS OF MISSOURI AND HAD LEFT SCHOOL AT 12 FOUND HIMSELF IN THE MOST DISTINGUISHED POSSIBLE COMPANY: THE WRITER RUDYARD KIPLING, THE COMPOSER CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS, AND THE SCULPTOR AUGUSTE RODIN.

Man as Twain: "I WAS SORRY TO HAVE MY NAME MENTIONED AS ONE OF THE GREAT AUTHORS, BECAUSE THEY HAVE A SAD HABIT OF DYING OFF.

CHAUCER IS DEAD.

SO IS MILTON.

SO IS SHAKESPEARE.

AND I'M NOT FEELING VERY WELL MYSELF."

Narrator: IN 1908, CLEMENS MOVED INTO A NEW HOME BUILT FOR HIM IN REDDING, CONNECTICUT.

HIS DAUGHTERS RETURNED BRIEFLY AND HELPED ISABEL LYON TURN IT INTO A MUSEUM OF HIS MEMORIES.

TWAIN PRONOUNCED IT "A PERFECT HOUSE" IN EVERY DETAIL AND NAMED IT "STORMFIELD," AFTER THE HERO OF ONE OF THE MANY STORIES HE COULD NEVER QUITE COMPLETE.

THE OLD HARTFORD HOUSE-- THE SCENE OF SO MUCH JOY AND SORROW--HAD BEEN SOLD AT A LOSS 5 YEARS EARLIER, BUT ITS MANTELPIECE HAD BEEN SAVED AND WAS NOW INSTALLED IN THE NEW LIVING ROOM.

AND HIS AND LIVY'S OLD BED, WITH ITS HOST OF CARVED ANGELS, WAS PLACED IN HIS BEDROOM.

HE SOON BEGAN GATHERING AROUND HIM A GROUP OF YOUNG GIRLS, ENCOURAGING THEM AND THEIR MOTHERS TO VISIT HIM OFTEN, OPENLY SEEKING THEIR PRAISE AND ADMIRATION--JUST AS HE HAD DONE IN HARTFORD WHEN HIS OWN DAUGHTERS WERE LITTLE.

HE CALLED THEM HIS "ANGELFISH."

Man as Twain: "IN GRANDCHILDREN, I AM THE RICHEST MAN THAT LIVES TODAY, FOR I SELECT MY GRANDCHILDREN, WHEREAS ALL OTHER GRANDFATHERS HAVE TO TAKE THEM AS THEY COME, GOOD, BAD, AND INDIFFERENT."

Narrator: IN 1909, CLEMENS WAS 73--FRAIL, SOMETIMES BEFUDDLED, AND SUFFERING FROM CHEST PAINS, THE FIRST SIGNS OF HEART DISEASE.

HE CALLED IT HIS "TOBACCO HEART" AND CUT BACK FROM 40 CIGARS A DAY TO 4, BUT HE KNEW HE WAS "BEGINNING A HOLIDAY," HE SAID, "WHOSE OTHER END IS THE CEMETERY."

WHEN CLARA FINALLY MARRIED, HER FATHER DID HIS BEST TO STEAL THE SHOW BY WEARING HIS OXFORD ROBES.

THE NEWLYWEDS IMMEDIATELY MOVED TO EUROPE.

HIS CIRCLE WAS SHRINKING, AND THERE WAS STILL ONE MORE TRAGEDY TO ENDURE.

JEAN, NOW 29, ASKED TO BE ALLOWED TO COME HOME TO LIVE, AND HER FATHER AGREED.

"DEAR CHILD," HE WROTE TO HER, "YOU WILL BE AS WELCOME AS IF IT WERE YOUR MOTHER HERSELF CALLING YOU HOME FROM EXILE!"

CHRISTMAS HAD ALWAYS BEEN THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE CLEMENSES' YEAR IN HARTFORD, JEAN REMEMBERED, AND SHE WAS DETERMINED TO CREATE FOR HER FATHER SOMETHING LIKE THE CHRISTMASES THEY HAD ONCE KNOWN TOGETHER.

SHE WOUND THE OLD MANTLEPIECE WITH GARLANDS OF EVERGREEN, TRIMMED A TREE, PILED BRIGHTLY WRAPPED PACKAGES AROUND ITS BASE.

ON THE MORNING OF THE 24th, JEAN ROSE EARLY AND DREW HER BATH.

IT WAS CHRISTMAS EVE, AND SHE STILL HAD A LOT TO DO.

AN HOUR LATER, KATY LEARY KNOCKED ON THE BATHROOM DOOR.

THERE WAS NO ANSWER.

JEAN CLEMENS WAS DEAD, DROWNED IN THE BATHTUB DURING A SEIZURE.

Man as Twain: "FROM MY WINDOWS, I SAW THE HEARSE AND THE CARRIAGES WIND ALONG THE ROAD AND GRADUALLY GROW VAGUE AND SPECTRAL IN THE FALLING SNOW AND PRESENTLY DISAPPEAR.

JEAN WAS GONE OUT OF MY LIFE AND WOULD NOT COME BACK ANY MORE."

Russell Banks, writer: AS TWAIN GETS OLDER, YOU COULD SORT OF SEE THE LIGHTS GOING OUT.

YOU KNOW, HE BEGINS HIS CAREER AS A WRITER BRIGHTLY LIT, SORT OF STANDING IN A BRIGHTLY LIT STAGE, YOU KNOW, WITH THE INNOCENTS ABROAD AND THE EARLY JOURNALISM AND SO FORTH.

THIS IS THE WISEGUY WITH THE DEPTH, WITH THE PROFUNDITY OF A GREAT AND WISE PERSON.

HE'S A WISEGUY WHO'S WISE, AND ALL THE LIGHTS ARE ON.

AND THEN AS HE GROWS OLDER AND PERSONAL TRAGEDIES START TO STRIKE, YOU CAN SEE THE LIGHTS GOING OUT ONE BY ONE, UNTIL IN LATE LIFE, HE'S STANDING ALL BY HIMSELF ON THE STAGE WITH JUST ONE LITTLE READING LIGHT LOOKING UP FROM THE PODIUM AND SHINING ON HIS FACE.

AND THAT'S THE LAST LIGHT TO GO OUT, AND THAT DOESN'T GO OUT UNTIL HE DIES.

BUT IT CASTS A VERY DIFFERENT TONE OVER ALL HIS WORK AS HE WENT ON.

Man as Twain: "I AM NOT AN AMERICAN.

I AM THE AMERICAN.

I AM THE HUMAN RACE COMPACTED AND CRAMMED INTO A SINGLE SUIT OF CLOTHES, BUT QUITE ABLE TO REPRESENT ITS ENTIRE MASSED MULTITUDE IN ALL ITS MOODS AND INSPIRATIONS.

I AM ONLY HUMAN, ALTHOUGH I REGRET IT."

MARK TWAIN.

Narrator: BY APRIL OF 1910, NEWSPAPERS REPORTED MARK TWAIN'S HEALTH WAS FAILING, AND WELL-WISHERS FLOODED HIM WITH HOMEMADE CURES.

Man as Twain: "DEAR MADAM, I TRY EVERY REMEDY SENT TO ME.

I AM NOW ON NUMBER 87.

YOURS IS NUMBER 2,653.

I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO ITS BENEFICIAL RESULTS."

Narrator: BUT HIS CONDITION GREW STEADILY WORSE.

HE HAD TO BE DOSED WITH MORE AND MORE MORPHINE.

"I HAD A PICTURESQUE NIGHT," HE TOLD A FRIEND.

"EVERY PAIN I HAD WAS ON EXHIBITION, [AND] I AM LOSING ENOUGH SLEEP TO SUPPLY A WORN-OUT ARMY."

CLARA HURRIED HOME FROM EUROPE TO BE WITH HIM.

AT HIS REQUEST, SHE SANG SOME SCOTTISH AIRS TO COMFORT HIM.

HE GREW WEAKER, DRIFTED OFTEN INTO SLEEP.

Man as Twain: "I CAME IN WITH HALLEY'S COMET IN 1835.

IT IS COMING AGAIN, AND I EXPECT TO GO OUT WITH IT.

IT WILL BE THE GREATEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF MY LIFE IF I DON'T GO OUT WITH HALLEY'S COMET.

THE ALMIGHTY HAS SAID, NO DOUBT, NOW HERE ARE THESE TWO UNACCOUNTABLE FREAKS.

THEY CAME IN TOGETHER.

THEY MUST GO OUT TOGETHER."

Narrator: CLARA WAS WITH HIM ON THE 21st OF APRIL.

Woman as Clara Clemens: "HE AWOKE WITH MENTAL CLARITY AND VIGOR, BUT NOT INCLINED TO CONVERSE.

THEN HE DOZED OFF.

I WAS SITTING BY THE BEDSIDE WHEN SUDDENLY HE OPENED HIS EYES, TOOK MY HAND, AND LOOKED STEADILY INTO MY FACE.

FAINTLY, HE MURMURED, GOOD-BYE, DEAR, IF WE MEET.

AFTER THAT, HE SANK INTO SLEEP THAT DEEPENED AND POSSESSED HIM WHOLLY.

WHILE THE SUN DIMMED OUT ON THE HORIZON, [HIS] GREAT SOUL MELTED INTO THAT SPEECHLESS STATE OF MAJESTY AND CALM HE HAD SO FERVENTLY YEARNED FOR."

Narrator: SAMUEL LANGHORNE CLEMENS DIED PEACEFULLY AT 6:22 IN THE EVENING.

AS HE SLEPT AWAY, THE BRIGHT GLOW OF HALLEY'S COMET COULD BE MADE OUT JUST ABOVE THE HORIZON.

MORE THAN 3,000 MOURNERS TURNED OUT TO SAY GOOD-BYE TO MARK TWAIN AT THE BRICK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN NEW YORK.

THE REVEREND JOE TWICHELL-- WHO HAD PRESIDED AT CLEMENS' WEDDING AND THE FUNERALS OF LANGDON, SUSY, LIVY, AND JEAN-- OFFERED THE FINAL PRAYER BEFORE THE MOURNERS SOLEMNLY FILED PAST THE CASKET.

CLEMENS' OLD FRIEND WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS WAS AMONG THEM.

Man as Howells: "I LOOKED A MOMENT AT THE FACE I KNEW SO WELL, AND IT WAS PATIENT WITH THE PATIENCE I HAD SO OFTEN SEEN IN IT: SOMETHING OF [A] PUZZLE, A GREAT SILENT DIGNITY, AN ASSENT TO WHAT MUST BE, FROM THE DEPTHS OF A NATURE WHOSE TRAGICAL SERIOUSNESS BROKE IN THE LAUGHTER WHICH THE UNWISE TOOK FOR THE WHOLE OF HIM.

EMERSON, LONGFELLOW, LOWELL, HOLMES--I KNEW THEM ALL AND ALL THE REST OF OUR SAGES, POETS, SEERS, CRITICS, HUMORISTS.

THEY WERE LIKE ONE ANOTHER AND LIKE OTHER LITERARY MEN.

BUT CLEMENS WAS SOLE, INCOMPARABLE, THE LINCOLN OF OUR LITERATURE."

Russell Banks, writer: WHEN TWAIN DIES, THE PEOPLE WHO LOSE SOMETHING ARE THOSE WHO KNEW HIM PERSONALLY AND WHO LOVED HIM PERSONALLY.

WE DIDN'T REALLY LOSE ANYTHING WHEN HE DIED... BECAUSE OF THIS FACT THAT HIS WORK GOES ON ALTERING OUR CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE WORLD.

THIS IS WHAT ANY WRITER HOPES WILL HAPPEN--ANY WRITER WHO'S A SERIOUS WRITER HOPES WILL HAPPEN--IS THAT THE WORK WILL GO ON ALTERING HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS INTO THE FUTURE.

YOU KNOW, HUMAN BEINGS-- WE'RE A STRANGE SPECIES.

WE'RE UNIQUE ALMOST, BUT MAINLY INSOFAR AS WE HAVE TO LEARN OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN WHAT IT IS TO BE HUMAN.

WE HAVE TO BE TAUGHT SIMPLY WHAT IT IS TO BE HUMAN.

OTHER SPECIES KNOW EXACTLY WHAT IT IS TO BE A DOG, A CAT, EVEN A CHIMPANZEE, BUT WE'RE NOT DRIVEN BY INSTINCTS TO THAT DEGREE TO BE OURSELVES.

AND TWAIN-- WHAT ANY GREAT WRITER DOES-- IS SHOW US, REMIND US, TEACH US WHAT IT IS TO BE HUMAN: THE WORST OF IT TO BE HUMAN AND THE BEST OF IT TO BE HUMAN.

AND THIS IS THE GREAT GIFT OF TWAIN HIMSELF IN HIS LIFETIME AND IS THE GIFT OF HIS WORK.

THE REASON IT'S A GREAT GIFT IS BECAUSE WE, 150 YEARS LATER OR 100 YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH, ARE-- WE NEED, WE REQUIRE THAT WORK IN ORDER TO BE TRUE TO OUR OWN SPECIES.

Ron Powers, writer: I THINK MARK TWAIN'S GREAT LEGACY IS THE LEGACY OF LAUGHTER FROM A FONT OF SORROW.

HE REALLY HAS GIVEN US A POETRY OF LAUGHTER, A REALLY--A HEALTHY, REIFYING, ENSHRINING KIND OF LAUGHTER, THE LAUGHTER THAT IS BORN OF EXPERIENCES THAT ARE ALMOST TOO MUCH FOR THE HUMAN SPIRIT TO ENDURE.

Hal Holbrook, actor: I DON'T KNOW, IT'S LIKE... SOMEBODY...

REACHING HIS HAND OUT TO YOU...

IN COMRADESHIP, ALMOST.

SOMEBODY WHO REALLY UNDERSTANDS WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT TAKING YOU IN, MAKING YOU A PARTNER IN WHAT HE FEELS.

AND IT'S A POWERFUL FRIENDSHIP TO HAVE, YOU KNOW?

Man as Twain: "UPON ARRIVAL IN HEAVEN, DO NOT SPEAK TO SAINT PETER UNTIL SPOKEN TO.

IT IS NOT YOUR PLACE TO BEGIN.

YOU CAN ASK HIM FOR HIS AUTOGRAPH--THERE IS NO HARM IN THAT--BUT BE CAREFUL AND DON'T REMARK THAT IT IS ONE OF THE PENALTIES OF GREATNESS.

HE HAS HEARD THAT BEFORE.

DON'T TRY TO KODAK HIM.

HELL IS FULL OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE MADE THAT MISTAKE.

AND LEAVE YOUR DOG OUTSIDE.

HEAVEN GOES BY FAVOR.

IF IT WENT BY MERIT, YOU WOULD STAY OUT AND THE DOG WOULD GO IN."

MARK TWAIN.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Narrator: To learn more ab out this film and other films from Ken Burns, watch video, explore photographs and access lesson plans; visit pbs.org/kenburns.

Narrator: Mark Twain A Film By Ken Burns is available on DVD.

The companion book is also available.

To order, visit shopPBS.org or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS.

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