By Garry Thompsen, Laurie Cameron and Helena Gondry
Hillsboro Library Friends
Did You Know?
Mark Twain was born in 1835 under Haley’s Comet.
He predicted he would die some 75 years later. April 21, 1901 was the last night that the perihelion of Halley’s was seen in the night sky.
Mark Twain’s appearance at the Hillsboro Library Fall Social may be a tall tale as preposterous as those told in these parts – or maybe not.
Samuel Langhorne Cle-mens, “Mark Twain,” the sixth of seven children was born in Florida, Missouri.
He was the “Wild Humorist of the Pacific Slope,” a printer, pilot, soldier, editor, author, publisher and businessman. Although he enjoyed fame as America’s most beloved literary figure, he also experienced personal tragedy.
He authored some 30 books, such as The Prince and the Pauper, Innocence Abroad, and Life on The Mississippi.
President Roosevelt coin-ed the phrase, “New Deal” from Twain’s The Confederate Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.
Twain wore a white suit, known as his “wondrous white flannels” because he wanted to. Who needs an old black serge, anyway?
“The billiard table is better than the doctors,” he wrote in a thank you to its donor. Twain began working with his biographer, Albert Paine, in 1906, but billiards often took priority over biography.
Join us Down Home at The Hillsboro Library, Saturday, September 20, beginning at 5 p.m. with music by Bill Hefner, followed by a potluck supper at 6 p.m.
The Trouble begins – at 7 p.m. with Mark Twain. The event is free. Bring a covered dish – no covered wagons, please.
For more information, call 304-653-4936.