Twains rebellious nature can be traced back as far as when he was a young boy of 13 in Hannibal. Working as an apprentice printer in his uncles print shop, he was put in charge of the paper for a week while his uncle would be out of town. It was then that the young Twain, being of devilish mind, decided to put himself to work on a piece that had been rumored throughout town, but to that day

Neider, Charles. The Autobiography of Mark Twain. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1959

had not been brought out in the open. It seems that some time before, perhaps a few days or a week maybe, that a man by the name of Higgins, who at that time was the editor of the rival paper, had been jilted, and one night left a note on his bed, which stated that the could no longer endure life, and had drowned himself in Bear Creek. Upon discovering this note, a friend ran down to the river only to find Higgins wading back to shore, who concluded that he wouldn't. The village was full of the rumor for a few days, but Higgins didn't suspect anything. Twain thought it would be a perfect time to bring things out in the open, and if doing so would show his ability as a writer, probably be a lot of fun, and cause quiet a stirrer throughout town, then so be it. So Twain wrote up a wretched account on the whole matter, and published it in the next issue of the paper ( Times-7 ). Next he turned his attention to the matter of the towns most prominent lady killer, J. Gordon. Every week he wrote lushly poetry for the Journal about his newest conquest, and for the week that Twain was in charge he headed his rhymes to Mary in H_1, meaning Mary in Hannibal. Twain through some kind of evil surge of inspiration composed a snappy footnote that read; We will let this thing pass, just this once, but we wish Mr. J. Gordon Runnels to understand distinctly that we have a character to sustain, and from this time forth when he wants to commune with his in H_1, he must select some other medium then the columns of this journal (Times-8)!" On another occasion young Twain was severely chastised by the local minister, who over heard him say Great God! "Why commit the unforgiving sin when Great Scott would have done as well (Ayres-25)" the minister corrected him. Some time after that the minister arranged to have one of his sermons printed in a pamphlet. The task of correction the proofs fell on young Twain. Remembering the ministers admonition he revised the Reverend's text, correction Great God to Great Scott and Father, Son, and Holy Ghost to Father, Son, and Caesar's Ghost. When the paper came out the town was all a buzz over his detrimental way of publishing news, in fact Runnels came onto the shop with a double-barrel shotgun ready to pump somebody full of l

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Approximate Word count = 1589
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)