Mark Twain [antikvár]

CHAPTER ONE THE PUNY CHILD "Oh, he's puny!" "Poor little thing! He'll never live the year out." "What a shame!" That was how the neighbours talked when they came to theClemens cottage to look at baby number five on November 30, 1835. And no wonder! Because Sámuel Clemens was a weak and puny baby, and he stayed weak and puny until he was several years old. The household was in a bustle the day he was born. The maid, Jennie, ran around doing things. She had to look after Sámuel, look after Mrs. Clemens, and look after the other four Clemens children - Orion, aged ten; Pamela, aged eight; Margaret, aged five and Benjámin, aged three. Mr. Clemens walked up and down outside. The house had only two rooms, and there wasn't enough space for him to pace the floor inside. "This house is too small, now," he said. "I'11 have to build a bigger one." There was plenty of empty land in Florida, Missouri, where the Clemenses lived. The town had only about twenty houses, made of logs or fiat boards. Its two streets were plain unmetalled roads. Mr. Clemens was part owner of a store in Florida. His partner was Uncle John Quarles. He and Uncle John earned their living selling groceries and yard goods, needles and nails, and whatever else their neighbours needed. Mr. Clemens knew law, too, but there wasn't enough law business in a town as small as Florida.