[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 168 (Friday, December 17, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H8601-H8603]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          RECOGNIZING MARK TWAIN AS AN AMERICAN LITERARY ICON

  Mr. CUELLAR. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to 
the resolution (H. Res. 1733) recognizing

[[Page H8602]]

Mark Twain as one of America's most famous literary icons on the 175th 
anniversary of his birth and the 100th anniversary of his death, as 
amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 1733

       Whereas, on November 30, 1835, Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 
     one of the most prolific and influential writers and orators 
     in America, was born in Florida, Missouri;
       Whereas Clemens suffered many childhood setbacks including 
     incessant poor health until age 9 and the death of his father 
     at age of 12;
       Whereas growing up along the emerging Mississippi port city 
     of Hannibal, Missouri, watching the frequent steamboat stops 
     and working as a printer and editorial assistant at his 
     brother's newspaper, Clemens discovered his passion for 
     writing;
       Whereas Clemens, at the age of 17, moved to St. Louis, 
     Missouri, and became a river pilot's apprentice, eventually 
     becoming a licensed river pilot in 1858;
       Whereas Samuel Clemens then worked for several newspapers 
     across the United States after the river trade was halted by 
     the Civil War in 1861;
       Whereas Clemens assumed his pen name, Mark Twain, based on 
     his experience as a river pilot;
       Whereas Mark Twain means two fathoms or 12 feet when the 
     depth of water for a boat is being sounded, or that it is 
     safe to navigate;
       Whereas Twain's first work to gain notoriety was his short 
     story, ``The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County'', 
     which appeared in the New York Saturday Press on November 18, 
     1865;
       Whereas Mark Twain composed 28 books as well as numerous 
     short stories, letters, and sketches, including such classics 
     as ``Life on the Mississippi'', ``The Adventures of Tom 
     Sawyer'', ``The Prince and the Pauper'', and ``The Adventures 
     of Huckleberry Finn'';
       Whereas Twain first declared his disappointment with 
     politics in ``A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court'', 
     where he depicted the absurdities of political and social 
     norms by setting them in the court of King Arthur;
       Whereas Mark Twain was a staunch civil rights advocate 
     believing strongly in emancipation and said, ``Lincoln's 
     Proclamation . . . not only set the black slaves free, but 
     set the white man free also.''; and
       Whereas Mark Twain was an adamant supporter of women's 
     suffrage, saying in his most famous speech, ``Votes for 
     Women'':
       ``Referring to woman's sphere in life, I'll say that woman 
     is always right. For twenty-five years I've been a woman's 
     rights man. I have always believed, long before my mother 
     died, that, with her gray hairs and admirable intellect, 
     perhaps she knew as much as I did. Perhaps she knew as much 
     about voting as I.
       ``I should like to see the time come when women shall help 
     to make the laws. I should like to see that whiplash, the 
     ballot, in the hands of women. As for this city's government, 
     I don't want to say much, except that it is a shame--a shame; 
     but if I should live twenty-five years longer--and there is 
     no reason why I shouldn't--I think I'll see women handle the 
     ballot. If women had the ballot to-day, the state of things 
     in this town would not exist.
       ``If all the women in this town had a vote today they would 
     elect a mayor at the next election, and they would rise in 
     their might and change the awful state of things now existing 
     here.'': Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives recognizes Mark 
     Twain as one of America's most famous literary icons and 
     commemorates him on the 175th anniversary of his birth and 
     the 100th anniversary of his death.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Cuellar) and the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Luetkemeyer) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas.


                             General Leave

  Mr. CUELLAR. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their 
remarks.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. CUELLAR. I now yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Committee on Oversight Government 
Reform, I am pleased to present House Resolution 1733, a resolution 
recognizing Mark Twain as one of America's most famous literary icons 
on the 175th anniversary of his birth and the 100th anniversary of his 
death. House Resolution 1733 was introduced by our colleague, the 
gentleman from Arkansas, Representative Vic Snyder, on November 18, 
2010. This measure enjoys the support of over 60 Members of the House.
  Mr. Speaker, Mark Twain was born as Samuel Langhorne Clemens in the 
town of Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 1835. Famously, he was born 
2 weeks after the closest approach to Earth of Halley's Comet, which 
made its next approach 1 day after his death in 1910.
  At the age of 4, Twain moved to Hannibal, Missouri, a Mississippi 
River town that would inspire some of his most beloved works. At age 
12, he became a printer's apprentice; and at age 16, he began working 
as a typesetter and contributor of articles and humorous sketches for 
the Hannibal Journal, a newspaper owned by his brother Orion. At age 
18, he worked briefly as a printer in New York City, Philadelphia, St. 
Louis, Cincinnati, taking time to educate himself at public libraries 
in the evenings.
  After returning to Missouri at age 22, he was inspired to be a 
steamboat pilot, earning significant income, learning intimate details 
of the river, and where he was inspired to give himself his pen name 
Mark Twain, which refers to the depth of two fathoms, or 12 feet, the 
right depth for safe passage of a riverboat.
  He worked on riverboats until 1861, when the Civil War stopped 
traffic along the Mississippi River. He then traveled west, working as 
a miner and for newspapers in various towns. His first success as a 
writer came when his humorous short story, ``The Celebrated Jumping 
Frog of Calaveras County,'' was published in a New York weekly, The 
Saturday Press, on November 18, 1865. This launched his renown as a 
writer, bringing attention across the country.
  After traveling to Europe and the Middle East on assignment from a 
local newspaper, he moved with his family to Buffalo, New York, and 
then to Hartford, Connecticut. It was in Hartford that Twain wrote his 
most famous works, ``The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,'' ``The Prince and 
the Pauper,'' ``Life on the Mississippi,'' ``Adventures of Huckleberry 
Finn,'' and ``A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.''
  He gave lectures around the world, patented three inventions, and 
developed a lasting friendship with one of history's most famous 
scientists and inventors, Nikola Tesla.
  Twain died at age 74 on April 21, 1910, a year after making his 
famous prediction: ``I came in with Halley's Comet in 1835. It is 
coming again next year, 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.' ''
  William Faulkner called Mark Twain ``the father of American 
literature,'' and he is rightly remembered as such. We can also 
remember and honor him for his advocacy on behalf of emancipation and 
women's suffrage.
  In closing, no study of American literature is complete without the 
works of Mark Twain. Mr. Speaker, let us, therefore, honor this giant 
of American literature on the 100th anniversary of his death through 
the passage of House Resolution 1733.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting it, and I reserve the 
balance of my time.
  Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of House Resolution 1733, 
recognizing Mark Twain as one of America's most famous literary icons 
on the 175th anniversary of his birth and the 100th anniversary of his 
death.

                              {time}  0920

  Born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 
1835, Mark Twain left school at the age of 13 to go to work as a 
printer's apprentice. He went on to become an editorial assistant at a 
newspaper and river pilot, where he gained his famous pseudonym. Mark 
Twain began writing for a newspaper during the Civil War, and his short 
story ``The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County'' was published 
in 1865. Twain would, of course, go on to author ``The Adventures of 
Tom Sawyer'' and ``The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,'' among 28 other 
books and numerous short stories.
  Mr. Speaker, it is altogether fitting and proper that we recognize 
Mark

[[Page H8603]]

Twain and his rich contributions to our country's literary history. 
This wonderful occasion has also inspired me to rediscover the great 
works of Mark Twain with my granddaughter and connect this imaginary 
world with the reality of his boyhood home in Hannibal. It is critical 
for us to foster a love for reading among children and our 
grandchildren because it is part of what makes them kids.
  I am also extremely honored and fortunate to represent Hannibal in 
Congress and would encourage folks to visit the area in northeast 
Missouri and discover the inspiration for some of the greatest literary 
works of American history. Mark Twain and the city of Hannibal are 
integral parts of Missouri's heritage, and I am proud to recognize him 
on this very special day.
  To that end, a Mark Twain quote: ``Twenty years from now, you will be 
more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones 
that you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe 
harbor, catch the trade winds in your sail. Explore, dream, discover.''
  I urge all Members to join me in strong support of this resolution.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. CUELLAR. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Snyder).
  Mr. SNYDER. Mr. Speaker, as a boy growing up in southern Oregon, 
Medford, Oregon, I was blessed with a wonderful public school system. 
Of course, that is about a half century ago now, but you only have a 
good school system if you have good teachers, and I did: Mr. Merriman 
and Elsie Butler and Devere Taylor and John Smock and Mrs. Leininger 
and Irv Myrick, and I do a disservice to all of them by naming just a 
few.
  Chuck Nevi was one of those teachers, and he helped me explore 
America and humanity through the words of Mark Twain.
  For a boy growing up in 1950s America, the world of riverboats, 
scalawags, runaway slaves, and sassy, independent, barefooted boys was 
magical. The world of Mark Twain taught readers universal truths about 
the human animal, and some of those truths are not flattering. Like all 
youngsters, I imagined myself to be Huckleberry Finn, and when Huck 
Finn chooses what he believes will be hell and eternal damnation so 
that his love, loyalty, and friendship with a runaway slave will be 
preserved, well, for me, being raised in a town with few minorities, I 
learned both about racism and about the power of even young boys to 
find the real truths and confront confusing human institutions that 
allowed racism to persist.
  A few weeks ago, I saw the news report of Tina Fey winning the Mark 
Twain Prize for American Humor, and it reminded me that this year, 
2010, should be acknowledged for the 100th anniversary of Mark Twain's 
death and the 175th anniversary of his birth. And so even though it was 
late in the session, I filed this resolution on his birthday to honor 
Mark Twain.
  Mr. Speaker, when parents are away from their babies, particularly 
during these holidays, we talk about our kids, and so I will. My 4-
year-old, Penn, and my three 2-year-olds, Aubrey, Wyatt and Sullivan, 
are the four little boy Huck Finns in our Arkansas household 
geographically not far from Huck Finn's world, but such a different 
world now, one that 19th century contemporaries of a young Sam Clemens 
would not recognize, except, of course, for his insights into the 
strengths and weaknesses of human nature. And because of that genius, 
that genius expressed with humor, I hope my young boys, my young Huck 
Finns, learn to love the world and works of Mark Twain.
  Mr. LUETKEMEYER. I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. CUELLAR. Mr. Speaker, again I urge my colleagues to join me in 
supporting this measure, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Cuellar) that the House suspend the rules and 
agree to the resolution, H. Res. 1733, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the resolution, as amended, was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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