Page:In defense of Harriet Shelley, and other essays.djvu/417

 A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Four years of lecturing followed distasteful, but profitable, Mark Twain always shrank from the public exhibition of himself on the platform, but he was a popular favorite there from the first. He was one of a little group, including Henry Ward Beecher and two or three others, for whom every lyceum com mittee in the country was bidding, and whose cap ture at any price insured the success of a lecture course.

The Quaker City excursion had a more important result than the production of The Innocents Abroad. Through her brother, who was one of the party, Mr. Clemens became acquainted with Miss Olivia L. Langdon, the daughter of Jervis Langdon, of Elmira, New York, and this acquaintance led, in February, 1870, to one of the most ideal marriages in literary history.

Four children came of this union. The eldest, Langdon, a son, was born in November, 1870, and died in 1872. The second, Susan Olivia, a daughter, was born in the latter year, and lived only twenty- four years, but long enough to develop extraordinary mental gifts and every grace of character. Two other daughters, Clara Langdon and Jean, were born in 1874 and 1880, respectively, and still live (1899).

Mark Twain s first home as a man of family was in Buffalo, in a house given to the bride by her father as a wedding present. He bought a third interest in a daily newspaper, the Buffalo Express, and joined its staff. But his time for jogging in harness was past. It was his last attempt at regular news paper work, and a year of it was enough, He had

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