CHAPTER FIVE HAWIAII AWAITS A LEGEND DON'T PART WITH DREAMS OF YOUTH Mark Twain had indeed come a long way from his first trip in 1866 to Hawaii. Back then he was a young, scrambling reporter for a California newspaper. As his life progressed, he developed a drive for financial success. He had gone through disastrous business endeavors, including the bankruptcy. By 1895 Twain was back with the American Publishing of Hartford traveling around the world to pay off the $100,000 debt, and had started "to write himself into affluence" (Wilson 7). His books were now more complicated and became valuable pieces of merchandise. As he aged, he seemed to ponder about his illusions of life. Mark Twain had often attempted to look at life through a veil of illusions. In Following the Equator, he warned his readers: "Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone, you may still exist, but you have ceased to live" (Bellamy 222). He would remark: "Ah, the dreams of our youth, how beautiful they are, and how perishable! . . . Oh, our lost Youth--God keep its memory green in our hearts! For age is upon us, with the indignity of its infirmities, and Death beckons!" (qtd. in Budd, Speeches 450). He also wrote in "Old Age" that one needs to climb to a summit in their old age and look back: Ah, then you see!" (qtd. in Budd 719). He commented further: Down that far-reaching perspective you can make out each country and climate that you crossed. . . you can make out where Infancy merged into Boyhood; Boyhood into down-lipped Youth; Youth into indefinite Young-Manhood; indefinite Young Manhood into definite Manhood; definite Manhood with aggressive ambitions into sobered and heedful Husbandhood and Fatherhood; these into Old Age, white-headed, the temple empty, the idols broken, the worshippers in their graves, nothing left but You, a remnant, a tradition, belated fag-end of a foolish dream, a dream so ingeniously dreamed that it seemed real all the time. . . .(qtd. in Budd 719) The dream of the Sandwich Islands did call him back and sentiment took hold of him as his ship, the Warimoo, steamed to within sight of Diamond Head and Mark Twain encountered the vision of paradise he had longed all those years to see: On the seventh day out we saw a dim vast bulk standing up out of the wastes of the Pacific and knew that spectral promontory was Diamond Head, a piece of this world which I had not seen before for 29 years. So we were nearing Honolulu, the capital city of the Sandwich Islands--those islands which to me were paradise; a paradise which I had been longing all those years to see again. Not any other thing in the world could have stirred me as the sight of that rock did . . . . (Twain, Following the Equator 24) Mildred Clemens would further quote Mr. Twain: Many memories of my former visit to the island came up in my mind while we lay at anchor in front of Honolulu that night. And pictures--pictures--pictures--an enchanting procession of them. . .we lay in luminous blue water; shoreward the water was green--green and brilliant; at the shore itself it broke in a long white ruffle, and with no crash, no sound that we could hear. The town was buried under a mat of foliage that looked like a cushion of moss. The silky mountains were clothed in soft, rich splendors of melting color, and some of the cliffs were veiled in slanting mists. I recognized it all. It was just as I had seen it long before, with nothing of its beauty lost, nothing of its charm wanting . . . and it made one drunk with delight to look upon it. (qtd. in M. Clemens 11) Mark Twain was scheduled to have lectured in Honolulu. In his notebook he commented on the five hundred booked lecture seats sold out for his advertised appearance. Mark Twain was a legendary writer and performer by 1895, and it was natural that the Hawaiian people were excited that he was coming to the islands. He had made no secret that he had to lecture around-the-world for the honor of discharging the burden of bankruptcy. Twain was eager to return to a land that had offered him the opportunities to make his name known to a wider audience, first as a reporter for his 1866 Hornet scoop, and then as a lecturer with his popular "Sandwich Islands" lectures. Hawaii prepared for his return trip with much fanfare. Tickets sold fast at the Park Pavilion for the August 24 event (Zmijewski 22). Twain would have only a day in Honolulu due to the tight schedule of the cargo ship Warrimoo. Local newspapers informed the public: The sale of seats for the Mark Twain lecture on Saturday night has exceeded all expectations, and the success of the affair is already assured. Manager Levey has secured the services of the Kawaihau Quintette Club which will render entirely new selections and songs between the remarks of the humorist . . . extra cars will be run on King and Beretania streets before and after the lecture. (Zmijewski 22) The Independent said: "It is safe to say that every chair which Level can manage to squeeze into the hall will be occupied. It is the one chance in a lifetime to see and hear the greatest humorist of the century" (17 August 3). The Pacific Commercial Advertiser said: As a humorist, Mr. Clemens has no equal, and everyone who has read his Innocents Abroad or Tom Sawyer will enjoy his entertainment and be well repaid for the time and money spent" (21 August, 1).
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