Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born on November 30, 1835 in a small village of Florida, Missouri. His parent's names were John Marshall Clemens and Jan Lampton Clemens, descendants of slaves in Virginia. They had been married in Kentucky and move to Tennessee and then Missouri. When Sam was four, his father, who was full of the grandiose ideas of making a fortune, moved the family to Hannibal, Missouri. Here, the mighty Mississippi River with its mile side wide was the home of little Samuel Clemens. There on the West Bank of the river, Sam spent his boyhood with moving steamboats and making stops (Encyclopedia Americana 921A). Growing up aside a mile-wide surfaced Mississippi River was the same as Tom Sawyer did. Young Samuel must have watched, as any boy might, admire the strength of this river and the surrounding frontier. He seen men killed in waterfront brawls and Negroes that w

American Writers, New York, Charles Scribner's Sons 1974

As he approached forty, he had come to maturity in writing the book Innocents Abroad. To many readers this book remains third best behind Life on the Mississippi and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. His invention of stories did not come easily to him (American Writers 198).

Mark Twain published in full in 1883 Life on the Mississippi, which is an autobiographical account that gives a vivid picture of his days a Mississippi River pilot before the Civil War. "The rugged apprenticeship of the river pilot, the excitement on the river leaves, the steamboat races, the gambling on board the ships, and wealth of human incident make this a classic account of river life".

Another book is Huckleberry Finn. It was published in 1884. This book is generally considered his masterpiece and one of the masterpieces of American literature. The story is told in the vivid view of Huck. He is a true child of nature that deals with his daring act of helping him, who is a runaway slave, to escape. In a frontier voyage, Huck and Jim float down the Mississippi on a raft enjoying peace, freedom, and mutual respect that is a sharp contrast to the meanness of society in the river towns where they stop. "Twain uses the irony of Huck's innocent view of life to criticize the barbarity of sivilization."

Some common words found in the essay are:
San Francisco, Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn, Civil War, Huck Jim, Sawyer Samuel, Enterprise Changing, Encyclopedia Americana, American Authors, American Writers, mark twain, mississippi river, encyclopedia americana, samuel clemens, huckleberry finn, san francisco, civil war, american writers, life mississippi, american literature, pilot civil war, days mississippi river,
Approximate Word count = 1111
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)