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SPECIAL FEATURE

The Hartford Courant, October 26, 1900, p. 10

WHAT MR. CLEMENS SAID.
His Grief at News of Mr. Warner's Death -- Old Days Recalled -- Humorist's Plans.

When Mr. Clemens was in the city to attend Mr. Warner's funeral this week he was seen by a "Courant" reporter and began at once to talk of Mr. Warner and his death. He said: --

"This was expected any time this year or two, but it has carried with it a shock proportioned to an altogether unexpected thing. We have had our warnings, and frequent warnings, that Warner must pass away. But no matter. When your telegram came the other night, it smote me just as if I was not thinking of such a possibility. I kept it from the family until next morning so that they might sleep. I told the mother the first thing in the morning, but we kept it from the children as long as we could. They only learned it in the evening by accident. Going up on the elevated late in the afternoon somebody spoke to me and I said, 'Yes; it's a staggering blow to us all,' and before I thought I had uttered Warner's name. My daughter asked me 'What is it, papa?' I had said enough to start the inquiry. The children, as little things, were pets of the Warners, and Warner himself was always to them 'Cousin Charley' and Mrs. Warner 'Cousin Susie,' and this has made a sad time for them all.

"It brings back the Monday Evening Club to me afresh and I can see all those men as they were in those days talking upon all subjects and regulating the affairs of this planet -- Warner, Robinson, Judge Pardee, Hammond Trumbull, the elder Hamersley, Dr. Bushnell, Dr. Knight, Dr. Burton, Dr. Wainwright and the rest. It amounts to this, that the Monday Club is assembling in the cemetery. That is our honorary membership and we are all taking our places in that procession and arriving one by one. The club life and the Saturday afternoon walks through the autumnal tints, and the constant communion back and forth between Warner's home and mine were things that made the intimacy very close and of the daily sort. And, although we have been away so many years and that intimacy in the bodily presence has been so long interrupted, this death affects us as would the death of a member of the family who had been living in another state. He was a beautiful spirit and a gracious presence, but I don't need to say what Warner was. Everybody knew his lovable character and how much he was to all the country, high and low, rich and poor."

Mr. Clemens suddenly recognized that he was being interviewed and said he had told the reporters when he arrived at New York that they might question him all they wanted for twenty-four hours and then he was through. "But to-day," he said, "I am in Hartford. When I return to New York I shall resume by silence and this silence is not for my benefit but for the benefit of the general public. I don't wish to destroy my welcome with my tongue."

Asked what were his plans Mr. Clemens said: "I am arranging to spend the winter in New York if I can find a furnished house that will not bankrupt us. Beyond that we have no plans. But we have the hope that we can then come to Hartford and live in our own home among the friends whom we have reared from their childhood to their old age, and have reared them properly and on lines which make them fit society for the elect."

"It is a surprise to see you looking so youthfully fresh and robust," said the reporter. "It was reported, last year, that you were a shadow."

"It was true," said Mr. Clemens, "but I am in sound health, now. I had an eight years' persistent dispute with dyspepsia, but got rid of it last January by adding Plasmon to my other food, and have had no return of it since. Plasmon is a food; it is pure albumin extracted from milk, and was discovered by Siebold, the chemist in Vienna, when I was there two or three years ago. I did not eat it for indigestion, but for nourishment, and because it was cheap. In Europe the dyspeptics are aware, now, that it cures without the help of medicine, and so do the physicians, but they did not know it then. The 'Lancet' and the other medical journals informed them. I ordered it from the druggist here. In Europe, from the grocer or baker.

"But tell me about politics. Is the vote going to be close, here?"

"The politicians say not in this state," said the reporter.

"Then I shan't come up to vote. If I could tip the scale I should like that distinction and would exploit it, but to swell a majority or a minority isn't a patriotic necessity when a person is hard driven by other stress upon his time."