Posted on 10/19/2010 10:14:57 AM PDT by decimon
It's been 100 years since Mark Twain died, after declaring, "If I cannot swear in heaven I shall not stay there."
Wherever he is, a century later, the words and stories he left behind live on . . .
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...President Theodore Roosevelt is "one of the most impulsive men in existence" . . . the American soldiers Roosevelt sent to the Philippines Twain called "uniformed assassins" . . . and then there's his Italian landlady, who's "excitable, malicious, malignant, vengeful, unforgiving, selfish, stingy, avaricious, coarse, vulgar, profane, and obscene" . . . and that's just for starters.
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...our Christianity which we have always been so proud of - not to say so vain of - is now nothing but a shell, a sham, a hypocrisy; that we have lost our ancient sympathy with oppressed peoples struggling for life and liberty; that when we are not coldly indifferent to such things we sneer at them, and that the sneer is about the only expression the newspapers and the nation deal in with regard to such things...
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The Jew has always been benevolent. Suffering can always move a Jew's heart and tax his pocket to the limit.
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(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
There are not many people who would be relevant 100 years after their death.
Kinda like the U.S. Constitution or the Bible-timeless wisdom...
Twain was always one of my favorite writers, but one thing I'm fairly sure about Heaven. He won't get to make the rules there.
ping
If he sounds sympathetic enough to socialism maybe they’ll let school kids read Huck Finn again.
We toured his Hartford, CT home several weeks ago. It was fascinating. Also have been to some of his stomping grounds around Hannibal, MO just by coincidence. I had not realize that he was such a global figure during his peak of fame. Also had a sad life in that 3 of his 4 children, plus his wife, predeceased him. There was something said about some of his writings just now being released next month, due to he had requested they be held until surely beyond the lifetimes of the subjects. I don’t remember the details, but probably can be found with a little research.
A Plan for the Improvement of English Spelling
by Mark Twain
For example, in Year 1 that useless letter “c” would be dropped to be replased either by “k” or “s”, and likewise “x” would no longer be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which “c” would be retained would be the “ch” formation, which will be dealt with later. Year 2 might reform “w” spelling, so that “which” and “one” would take the same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish “y” replasing it with “i” and Iear 4 might fiks the “g/j” anomali wonse and for all. Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear with Iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and Iears 6-12 or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konsonants. Bai Iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi ridandant letez “c”, “y” and “x” — bai now jast a memori in the maindz ov ould doderez — tu riplais “ch”, “sh”, and “th” rispektivli. Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.
Why would there be rules in heaven?
Why wouldn’t there?
What rules would be in heaven? If it’s just souls in heaven, what could they do? If you make it there, you must be OK with God, besides, He would know if you were going to do something He didn’t like, and then you wouldn’t make it there in the first place.
So, are you agreeing that God makes the rules and not Mark Twain?
I don’t think there are rules in heaven. Besides, without a body, how would he swear? Would he think swear words?
Well, I have to go by what I believe, which is that we do have bodies (according to the Bible). If you believe something different, it would be difficult for us to have a discussion on the topic.
And since I simply said that Mark Twain didn’t get to make them, I still believe I’m correct. What exactly are we arguing about?
It's hard to tell if he had such sympathy in his later years. His friends ranged from socialists to who were considered robber barons.
An excellent question for many threads.
LOL I am trying to learn to not follow down rabbit holes. It’s too easy, and some people are experts at doing it. :)
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