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Collect and preserve

TOM SAWYER
I fam had a nice, idle me, and the fence had
three coots of whitewash. He presented him-
| self before Aunt Potty.

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£me upon Huckleberry Finn. Huckleberry

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was dreaded by all the mothers of the tc*.n be¬
cause their children wished they dared be like ,
CLASSICS i
 lost they burst through the open door and

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3RFT, onybody tells, let Muff Potter J ^
IT he next morning, the church bell began to
Mtoll in the little town. Aunt Potty entered

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£ad they did. 'Old Hundred"stud* lilt njllers. Tam Sawyer the j

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'Phat night, the boys went to the hill, but only TomamU^^hHe. to*,...

Phey gave the haunted house a wide berth Qn Saturday, when they reached the haunted

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 SAMUEL L. CLEMENS

Clemens’ fame as a writer-is based mainiy on hi^storf&Tabout'the adven-"

tures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. These stories describe the kind
of life Clemens knew as a boy growing up in Hannibal, Missouri. He was born
in Florida, Missouri in 1835. His family moved to Hannibal four years later.
' loving boy, not fond of study, but active in
as extremely poor. He was twelve years old
hen apprenticed to a printer to help support
he once wrote, “When I was a boy^there was
, IflrehKKfes! BkS'to’spend aUhilume
upon the river, and he was so successful in getting into the water that he had
to be dragged out of it nine times before he was fifteen years old.
At the age of twenty-two, Clemens achieved his great ambition. He appren-
I'expei-ienc^ IfjoywhiehfiHed me with the purest gratitude for I saw that the
skin had begun to blister and peel off my face and neck. I wished that the
boys and girls at home could see me now.”
Clemens sailed the Mississippi River until the Civil War began. Then he
went to Nevada with his brother. There he joined the staff of a npwanan*,.
and wrote feature stories. One day, he told his editor, “I want
articles. I want to sign them ‘Mark Twai
signifying two fathoms-twelve feet. It has a nvuuvaa auuut iu; J was always
a pleasant sound for a pilot to hear on a dark night; it meant safe waters.”
Clemens moved to California in 1864, and continued writing under tha
name of^Mark Twain. When he did not earn enough by writing, he began to
A few years later, he joined a tour going to Europe. On his return, he
wrote The Innocents Abroad, telling of his adventures. Also, hemet and married
Olivia Langdon, who was the sister of one of the tour members.
In 1871, Clemens moved to Hartford, Connecticut. The years in Hartford
.- »J ’ - • - -*«-»•- wrote The Adventures of Tom
he Pauper and The Adventures
of \Huckleberry Finn. Other bo siemens include Roughing It, Life on
the Mississippi, A Conne. " in King Arthur's Court, The Tragedy
of Pudd’nhead Wilson an zollecUonsofJoanofArc.
In his later years, Clemens wrote, lectured and visited abroad. He lost a
fortune in a publishing investment, but regained it by a successful lecture
tour around the world. He died in 1910, widely mourned and generally reeog-
as America’s greatest humorist.
 THE SEMINOLE CHIEF
The young Seminole chief stood up, the army to meet with him in the
drew his knife from its scabbard and swamp under a flag of truce. He
drove the blade through the treaty, asked that the man come alone.
pinning it to the table. “This is my The offer was accepted. But the
signature!” he said, afigry. “I refuse terms of the truce were not honored.
to sign away the Seminoles’ inherit- A United States general rode into
the Seminole camp with a large num-
to a strange land!” He strode out of ber of troops. They found Osceola
the room, leaving behind him an as¬ standing with several braves beneath,
tonished group of Seminole chiefs a huge white flag.
and army officers. * The general ordered his men to:
Chief Osceola had been asked to dismount. Then he led them toward
sign a treaty with the United States, Osceola. At a signal from the general,
which several of*the older chiefs of the soldiers closed in on the Semi¬
the Seminole nation had already noles. Osceola saw that resistance
signed. The/1835 treaty stated that
the Seminoles would sell their tradi¬
tional Florida homeland and move to death, he uttered no word of protest
fcn Indian territory the government against this betrayal of the truce,
had set up in what is now Oklahoma. even , though public opinion openly
Osceola’s refusal to move his people condemned it.
caused the United States to send Osceola was imprisoned in a dun¬
additional troops to deal with him. geon at Fort Moultrie, South Caro¬
Knowing that his small band of lina. Here, he contracted a fever. He
Indians would be no match for the grew so weak that he was unable to
troops, Osceola led the Seminoles talk. At one point, he seemed to know
north to the vast Okefenokee Swamp that death was near. Osceola made
on the Florida-Georgia border. From signs that.he wanted to see all the
this hiding place, Osceola fought officers at the fort. He asked for his
against the United States Army. full wa}.’ dress, some red paint and a
Although he had only two hundred mirror. N^hen they were brought to
braves, his brilliant strategy enabled him, he put on his war dress and
him to keep eight thousand soldiers painted his face. He had finished by
from capturing him. the time the officers arrived. Then
The war dragged on. One day, Osceola rose, smiling, and reached
Osceola sent word to the army that forth his hand to bid each of his cap-
his people wapted peace, but that
they still would not leave their home¬ He was given fuH military honors
land. He invited a representative of at his burial.