"EXPLAINS" MARK TWAIN.
British Writer Says His Mother Was a Daughter of the Earl of Durham.
Copyright, 1925, by The New York Times Company.
By Wireless to THE NEW YORK TIMES.
LONDON, Jan. 22. - An explanation of Mark Twain's boast in "The Million Dollar Bank Note" that he was related to the Earl of Durham is contained in reminiscences which Arthur Lambton has published recently under the title "Mystery."
This has achieved success because of the frankness with which the author has related the relations his mother had with his father before their marriage. He himself, he informs the world, was one of the fruits of their premature association and in one of his rambling chapters he writes:
"The first Lord Durham, the statesman, did precisely what my father did. Was there ever a clearer case of hypocrisy and glass houses? The only child of that issue born in wedlock became the wife of the fifth Lord Bessborough. One of the other children was the mother of Mark Twain (Mrs. Clemens). And Mark Twain tells us in 'The Million Dollar Bank Note' how proud he is of having Lambton blood in his veins. And Mr. Barron ('Londoner' of The Evening News) told me that this was the reason why he was always saying: 'People would be surprised if they knew who he really was.' "
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