$30, 000 Bequest and Other Stories »

Riverboat pilot, journalist, failed businessman (several times over): Samuel Clemens -- the man behind the figure of Mark Twain -- led many lives. But it was in his novels and short stories that he created a voice and an outlook on life that will be forever identified with the American character.

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These twenty-eight short pieces by Twain comment on the human condition. The best to be hoped for, apparently, is that humans can be persuaded to rise above their selfish nature and work for the betterment of the community at large. Generally in his essays, Twain spoke his mind on a variety of public issues and was especially passionate in his anti-imperialist stance.

CONTENTS

The $30,000 Bequest

A Dog's Tale

Was it Heaven? or Hell?

The Californian's Tale

A Helpless Situation

A Telephonic Conversation

Edward Mills and George Benton: A Tale

Saint Joan of Arc

The Five Boons of Life

The First Writing-Machines

Italian without a Master

Italian with Grammar

A Burlesque Biography

General Washington's Negro Body-Servant

Wit Inspirations of the "Two-Year-Olds"

An Entertaining Article

A Letter to the Secretary of the Treasury

Amended Obituaries

A Monument to Adam

A Humane Word from Satan

Introduction to "The New Guide of the Conversation in Portuguese and English"

Advice to Little Girls

Post-mortem Poetry

A Deception

The Danger of Lying in Bed

Portrait of King William III

Does the Race of Man Love a Lord?