The Autobiography of Mark Twain · Chapter
Thursday, April 5, 1906 explained
Mark Twain reflects on the long, troubled history of the Tennessee land inherited from his father, detailing Orion Clemens's repeated failures in business and politics, including losing a sure nomination for Secretary of State due to a sudd
What happens
Mark Twain reflects on the long, troubled history of the Tennessee land inherited from his father, detailing Orion Clemens's repeated failures in business and politics, including losing a sure nomination for Secretary of State due to a sudden bout of virtue, and a missed opportunity to sell the land for $200,000 because of Orion's temperance scruples. Twain also mentions composing a cablegram for Ellen Terry's farewell banquet and a new idea for a play that was squelched by Mr. Hammond Trumbull. The chapter ends with a new proposition to sell the remaining thousand acres of the Tennessee land.
Themes in this chapter
Family and Domestic Life
Twain's ongoing financial and emotional entanglements with his brother Orion and the inherited Tennessee land highlight the burdens and disappointments of family obligations.
Hypocrisy and Human Nature
Orion's sudden spasms of virtue—refusing to attend the convention and adopting teetotalism—lead to his downfall, illustrating the ironic consequences of moral rigidity.
Social Class and Inequality
The contrast between Orion's failed ventures and Twain's relative success, as well as the speculative land deals, reflect the precariousness of economic status in 19th-century America.
Characters to notice
- Mark Twain
Narrator and central figure; reflects on the Tennessee land, his brother Orion's misfortunes, and composes a cablegram for Ellen Terry.
- Orion Clemens
Twain's brother; loses the nomination for Secretary of State due to a spasm of virtue, fails as a lawyer, and later quashes a $200,000 land deal because of temperance scruples.
- Samuel E. Moffett
Surviving heir of the Tennessee land; mentioned as part of the group that will share the remaining third of any profit from the new land proposition.
- Charles L. Webster
Deceased; his wife is mentioned as a surviving heir of the Tennessee land.
- Jane Lampton Clemens
Twain's mother; mentioned as living in a house Twain bought for her in Keokuk, with Orion also receiving a monthly sum.
- Governor Nye
Mentioned as certain to get a U.S. Senatorship from Nevada, while Orion was expected to become Secretary of State.
Key passages
“such profit as might eventuate the Tennesseean gentleman should take a third, the New Yorker a third, and Sam Moffett and his sister ( Mrs. Charles L. Webster), and I—who are the surviving heirs—the remaining third.”
Any profit from the sale of the Tennessee land would be split: one third to the Tennessee gentleman, one third to the New York gentleman, and the remaining third to Sam Moffett, Mrs. Charles L. Webster, and me as the surviving heirs.
Twain outlines the proposed division of proceeds from the new land deal.
“He said his presence there would be an unfair and improper influence, and that if he was to be nominated the compliment must come to him as a free and unspotted gift.”
Orion refused to attend the convention, believing that his presence would be an unfair influence and that the nomination should come to him unsolicited.
Twain describes Orion's principled but self-defeating stance that cost him the nomination.
“I think that his client would find out his make in laying his case before him, and would take warning and withdraw it in time to save himself from probable disaster.”
Twain suggests that Orion's clients would realize his tendency to examine both sides so thoroughly that they would withdraw their cases to avoid likely failure.
Twain's humorous speculation on why Orion failed as a lawyer.
