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Chapter 53 Every now and then, in these days, the boys used to tell me I ought to get one Jim Blaine to tell me the stirring story of his grandfather's old ram--but they always added that I must not mention the matter unless Jim was drunk at the time--just comfortably and sociably drunk. They kept this up until my curiosity was on the rack to hear the story. I got to haunting Blaine; but it was of no use, the boys always found fault with his condition; he was often moderately but never satisfactorily drunk. I never watched a...

“There has been only one Christian. They caught him and crucified him …… “ – Mark Twain ........... As a Cardinal, George Pell became the second most successful Australian Catholic ever, behind Saint Mary of the Cross. Then a Socialist Left injustice system imprisoned him for conducting a mass ........... Some voices rate Pell’s prison journal as one of the greatest works of literature produced in Australia. Pell's Anglican friend, Bishop David Farrer sees it as a remarkably uplifting call to prayer ......,.... Today is the 113th anniversary of Mark Twain’s death in 1910. Perhaps the following words of Twain...

Receiving Mark Twain award, he gives a warm-hearted shout-out to his friend Adam Sandler and Jews in general, as a subtle rebuke to Kanye West and black anti-Semites generally.

Click the link to see Mark Twain reading this essay and hear the narration (turn on your sound)If you collect a hundred black ants And a hundred fire ants And put them in a jar Nothing will happen But, if you take the jar, shake it violently and leave it on a table, the ants will start killing each other Red believes the black is the enemy while black believes the red is the enemy When the real enemy is the person who shook the jar The same is true in society Men versus women Black versus white Faith versus...

In December 1854, gold miners or diggers (which later became a word to describe all Australia's fighting defence force personnel) took up arms and rebelled by building and defending the Eureka Stockade in their campaign against excessive taxation and undemocratic government. There were a fair few people from California among them. Wikipedia reports that: "a contingent of 200 Americans under James McGill arrived at 4 pm in the afternoon" of December the second, but most left before the Battle the early the next day, the Sabbath, a time which the British colonial forces used for their advance in part because...

"History doesn't repeat itself," Mark Twain observed, "but it often rhymes." Twain's saying seems prophetic when comparing the Gilded Age monopolies he satirized to today's Big Tech monopolies. Like the tycoons who built America's railroads, today's "digital railroad" companies like Google and Facebook that connect us online have generated unprecedented sums of wealth and power for just a handful of enterprises. Modern Robber Barons wear hoodies in Silicon Valley instead of top hats in the Rust Belt. Make no mistake. These underdressed tech titans are the new aristocrats, and their monopolies pervade our lives in ways that Rockefeller and Vanderbilt...

HANNIBAL, Missouri -- During a visit here in 1882, Mark Twain wrote to his wife Olivia of the rush of sentiments he experienced returning to the town of his childhood. "I have spent three delightful days in Hannibal, loitering around all day long, examining the old localities and talking with the grey-heads who were boys and girls with me 30 or 40 years ago," he said. "It has been a moving time. I spent my nights with John and Helen Garth, three miles from town, in their spacious and beautiful house. They were children with me, and afterwards schoolmates." Garth...

John Wagner, the oldest man in Buffalo--one hundred and four years old --recently walked a mile and a half in two weeks. He is as cheerful and bright as any of these other old men that charge around so persistently and tiresomely in the newspapers, and in every way as remarkable. Last November he walked five blocks in a rainstorm, without any shelter but an umbrella, and cast his vote for Grant, remarking that he had voted for forty-seven presidents--which was a lie. His "second crop" of rich brown hair arrived from New York yesterday, and he has a new...

In 1888 Mark Twain (born this day, Australian time, in 1835) said, “Irreverence is the champion of liberty and its only sure defense.” Now POTUS 45 is an upmarket version of Archie Bunker in the White House. He knows what Nixon’s Silent Majority still wants and he cuts through and communicates it. This old majority’s grip on power is not as strong as it was. But Donald Trump has been underestimated in politics ever since he came down the Golden Escalator. “It is a blessed thing to have an imagination that can always make you satisfied, no matter how you...

Politically correct idiots think that they invented diversity. E Pluribus Unum has been at the heart of diversity in America since 1776 ......... .......... at least ........

Today's Quotefall Puzzle features a quote by Mark Twain. Click puzzle (or click here) for full size rendition, then use your browser's print command to print puzzle. Mark Twain lived well over a century ago, but he spot-on predicts the Deep State's attempt, and current success, of putting to practice Twain's iconic quote. All hints, along with the answer, are provided in the first reply comment below, using filtered font to prevent accidental spoilers. Please refrain from disclosing the full answer in comments to prevent spoilers.To solve the puzzle: Enter the letters in the top half (letter columns) of the puzzle into...

We can't know what Mark Twain, who died 110 years ago today, would have said about the Coronavirus but here is what he had to say about truth in newspapers and about buying life insurance for railroad travel: https://freedom-demokrasi-and-civilised-humanity.com/2020/04/21/remembering-mark-twain-and-media-driven-fear-of-death/ “Where we have one newspaper that does good, I think we have fifty that do harm.” “....... the stupid people — who constitute the grand overwhelming majority of this and all other nations — do believe and are moulded and convinced by what they get out of a newspaper, and there is where the harm lies.” Was Mark Twain better than...

“Hello, old chap, you got stuck with the big decision, didn't you?" ”Donald wheeled suddenly and said:“Why, it’s you, Andrew! I warn’t noticing.” “Say—I’m swimming in glowing press, I am. Don’t you wish you were? But of course you’d druther work on reopening the economy — wouldn’t you? Even if people gonna criticize you if it ain't picture perfect afterwards.” Donald contemplated the Governor a bit, and said: “What do you call work?” “Why, ain’t that work? ”Donald resumed his hard work, and answered carelessly: “Well, maybe it is, and maybe it ain’t. All I know, is, it suits Donald Trump.” “Oh come, now,...

Today's Quotefall Puzzle features a quote by Mark Twain. Click puzzle (or click here) for full size rendition, then use your browser's print command to print puzzle. Mark Twain was an American humorist and writer in the late 19th and early 20th century. His wit and wisdom transcended political discourse, especially in his seminary works, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. All hints, along with the answer, are provided in the first reply comment below, using filtered font to prevent accidental spoilers. Please refrain from disclosing the full answer in comments to prevent spoilers.To solve the puzzle:...

Today's Quotefall Puzzle features a quote by Mark Twain. Click puzzle (or click here) for full size rendition, then use your browser's print command to print puzzle. Mark Twain is considered to be America's Finest Storyteller. He had the gift of relating extraordinary stories in a common sense manner.NOTE: The answer of this Quotefall has been embellished from its original form to highlight modern conditions. All hints, along with the answer, are provided in the first reply comment below, using filtered font to prevent accidental spoilers. Please refrain from disclosing the full answer in comments to prevent spoilers.To solve the puzzle: Enter...

Today's Quotefall Puzzle features a quote by Mark Twain. Click puzzle (or click here) for full size rendition, then use your browser's print command to print puzzle. Mark Twain was one of America's most influential authors and pundits who portrayed life in the late 1800's through the turn of the century. Note: As puzzle is harder than normal, more hints are provided if needed. All hints, along with the answer, are provided in the first reply comment below, using filtered font to prevent accidental spoilers. Please refrain from disclosing the full answer in comments to prevent spoilers.To solve the puzzle: Enter the...

<p>Mark Twain is known as a "great American author", but not enough Americans have firsthand knowledge of his best work.</p> <p>In this vanity, I hope to interest you in rediscovering this witty social critic and humorist.</p> <p>I'm probably like you: I read a bit of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn in grade school.  At the time, those American-slang "classics" didn't thrill me, and maybe it's because those books were not written for kids anyway.</p>

Today's Quotefall Puzzle features a quote by Mark Twain. Click image (or click here) for full size rendition, then use your browser's print command to print puzzle.Mark Twain was one of the preeminent writers and statesmen of his day in American history. His adventures took him all over America. All hints, along with the answer, are provided in the first reply comment below, using filtered font to prevent accidential spoilers. Please refrain from disclosing the full answer in comments to prevent spoilers.To solve the puzzle: Enter the letters in the top half (letter columns) of the puzzle into the white squares...

Two New Jersey Assembly members want school districts to stop teaching Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” because of racist language and themes in the 134-year-old story. The book chronicles the travels of Huckleberry Finn, who ran away from his abusive father, and Jim, a runaway slave, along the the Mississippi River. It’s set in the antebellum south but was written in the early days of the JIm Crow Laws. It contains more than 200 uses of the N-word and “its depiction of racist attitudes can cause students to feel upset, marginalized, or humiliated and can create an uncomfortable atmosphere...

DULUTH, Minn. - Students taking English classes in a Minnesota city will no longer have to read two American classics or write reports about them, the Duluth News Tribune reported. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and “To Kill a Mockingbird,” which contain racial slurs, will no longer be required reading for students in the Duluth Public School district’s English classes next fall. However, the books are not banned: They will be available in the school as optional reading for students, the News Tribune reported. The decision comes two months after a Virginia school temporarily banned the two novels after a...