Page:Abroad with Mark Twain and Eugene Field.djvu/22

 later his private secretary, and Marshal of the District of Columbia during Lincoln's administration. Lamon was the author of "The Life of Abraham Lincoln" and "Recollections of Abraham Lincoln." These books the Lincoln family did not enjoy.

When the Clemenses went to live in Vienna, six years later, I happened to be correspondent at the Austrian capital for Dalziel's News, London, and Galignani's Messenger, Paris, and as Mark, used to the Berlin dialect, found it difficult "to acclimatize his German, making it chime in with the Vienna variety" (his own description), I was again much in demand as interpreter, pathfinder, and general cicerone.

In later years I met Mark repeatedly during his several London seasons, for, liking his society, I called at Brown's or his apartment whenever he came to England, myself being engaged in literary work there. We were never on terms of particular intimacy—hail-fellows-well-met, yes! "Hello, Mark"—"Hello Henry W.—you here again?" We stuck verbally to the formula of the old Chicago days, and I was glad to be of use to him when it suited his fancy. Moreover, I was vastly interested in Mark's books, short stories, and essays, but found him rarely inclined to talk shop unless it was the other fellow's.

Rudyard Kipling he used to designate "the militant spokesman of the Anglo-Saxon races," and he sometimes spoke with near-admiration of Bernard Shaw, "whose plays are popular