--the art of common life--the art of a people--universal art." His
spirit grasped the true ideal of our time and reflected it.

Mr. Clemens attributed his international success not to qualities of
style, not to allegiance to any distinctive school, not to any
overtopping eminence of intellect. "Many so-called American humorists,"
he once remarked to me, "have been betrayed by their preoccupation with
the local. Their work never crossed frontiers because they failed to
impart to their humour that universal element which appeals to all races
of men. Realism is nothing more than close observation. But
observation will never give you the inside of the thing. The life,
the genius, the soul of a people are realized only through years of
absorption." Mr. Clemens asseverated that the only way to be a great
American humorist was to be a great human humorist--to discover in
Americans those permanent and universal traits common to all
nationalities. In his commentary upon Bourget's 'Outre Mer', he
declared that there wasn't a single human characteristic that could
safely be labelled "American"--not a single human detail, inside or
outside. Through years of automatic observation, Mark Twain learned to
discover for America, to adapt his own phrase, those few human
peculiarities that can be generalized and located here and there
in the world and named by the name of the nation where they are found.

Above all, I think, Mark Twain sympathized with and found something to
admire in the citizens of every nation, seeking beneath the surface
veneer the universal traits of that nation's humanity. He expressly
disclaimed in my presence any "attitude" toward the world, for the very
simple reason that his relation toward all peoples had been one of
effort at comprehension of their ideals, and identification with them in
feeling. He disavowed any colour prejudices, caste prejudices, or creed