spirit, switching his temperament into those channels of experience and
development leading unerringly to the career of the author.

The death of Judge Clemens was the first link in the long chain of
circumstance--for his son was at once taken from school and apprenticed
to the editor and proprietor of the Hannibal Courier. He was allowed
the usual emolument of the office apprentice, "board and clothes, but no
money"; and even at that, though the board was paid, the clothes rarely
materialized. Several weeks later his brother Orion returned to
Hannibal, and in 1850 brought out a little paper called the 'Hannibal
Journal.' He took Sam out of the Courier office and engaged him for the
Journal at $3.50 a week--though he was never able to pay a cent of the
wages. One of Mark's fellow-townsmen once confessed: "Yes, I knew him
when he was a boy. He was a printer's devil--I think that's what they
called him--and they didn't miss it." At a banquet some years ago, Mark
Twain aptly described at length his experiences as a printer's
apprentice. There were a thousand and one menial services he was called
upon to perform. If the subscribers paid at all, it was only sometimes
--and then the town subscribers paid in groceries, the country
subscribers in cabbages and cordwood. If they paid, they were puffed in
the paper; and if the editor forgot to insert the puff, the subscriber
stopped the paper! Every subscriber regarded himself as assistant
editor, ex officio; gave orders as to how the paper was to be edited,
supplied it with opinions, and directed its policy. Of course, every
time the editor failed to follow his suggestions, he revenged himself by
stopping the paper!

After some financial stress, the paper was moved into the Clemens home,
a "two-story brick"; and here for several years it managed to worry
along, spasmodically hovering between life and death. Life was easy