This begins the final portion of Roughing It. Mark has taken ship to Hawaii aboard the Ajax. We are introduced to one of Twain's favorite foils, the boisterous and profane inventor of histories, the old Admiral. This retired whaleman is friend always to the underdog. And, originally being a Union man, he became a secessionist the moment the Southern army began to fail. On this particular voyage the Admiral meets his match and is vanquished by another inventor of history, a soft spoken individual named Williams.
This is actually the second version of this sketch. It was first published in the Jumping Frog of Calaveras County book. This one has better sound quality.
Mark takes a post on a Tennessee journal. The rather boisterous nature of the relations between the journals subjects and it's editor are a bit too much for him.
Where there are no women or children a man will take up a pet. In this case a sagacious cat named Tom Quartz.
I've gone back to producing slide shows rather than Second Life animation.
Because I've become a bit fixated on Yosemite of late, I started looking through my photo collection again. This shot from, the side of Mt Lyell, has always been one of my favorites and could possibly be one of my best shots. So, how do I get past all my current responsibilities and get back to the country? I reached the spot in the photo on a day hike from Tuolumne Meadows. I doubt I will do that again.
I've recently been adding comments to blogs and articles dealing with the recent deaths at Yosemite's Vernal Falls. It is my opinion that these deaths were the result of a disconnect between those involved and the physical world. It's all too obvious that some, if not all those involved were acting irresponsibly. I've suggested that they were not consciously aware of being irresponsible. I think they were incapable of perceiving that they were in any danger at all. This may or may not, in their case, have been reinforced by this group being a church group and thus protected by God.
I had only a single guest, Varooka, during this reading. She's a great fan, however, so I read her this one sketch. This tale is included in the volume Sketches New and Old, published in 1875.
A sketch from the volume Sketches New and Old. Mark buys more lightning rods than are necessary. The consequences are rather spectacular.
All about "Pocket Mining". Life in the foothills of Tuolumne after the gold rush.
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