Some New Anecdotes 
of Mark Twain, 
By MARION SCHUYLER ALLEN. 
These interesting reminiscences of Mark Twain are written by the lady in whose house, in Bermuda, 
he stayed during the last mDnths of his life, and are illustrated with some most characteristic photographs 
here published for the first time. 
From a Photograph. 
ARK TWAIN, although the 
creator of the most lovable 
boy in literature, “Tom 
Sawyer,” was really more 
interested in little girls, and 
it was through his interest and 
affection for my little daughter 
Helen that we came to know him so well and 
to share the last months of his life. He used 
to pretend that only girls were interesting, 
that boys ought not to exist until they were 
men. The fact was, he really was interested 
in any young creature. In one of the books 
he gave Helen he wrote, “It is better to be 
a young June-beetle than an old bird of 
Paradise.” 
During his first visit to our home in Ber- 
muda, a touch of the picturesque signalized 
a step in our acquaintance, just such a scene 
as might have come out of one of his own 
books. The flagship Euryalus was enter- 
taining, and we had received word that 
something unusual and mysterious was to 
take place during the afternoon. So we 
persuaded Mark Twain to go with us, on 
a particular boat which we had been warned 
not to miss. As the steady old steamer with 
its burden of light-hearted humanity calmly 
steamed through the Narrows, we were 
startled by the appearance of a ship’s long- 
boat, boasting a formidable gun and full 
of fierce-looking pirates ! They were armed 
to the teeth and wildly gesticulating. Our 
ship was hailed, but on receiving no reply three 
shots were fired across our bow, which quickly 
brought us to anchor. They boarded us so 
eagerly that they failed to secure their own 
craft firmly, and she was caught in the tide, 
swirled upon a rock, and sank in the channel. 
They swarmed over our ship in their blood- 
thirsty array, capturing the officers, two of 
whom were made to walk the plank in full 
