and journalizing in Nevada, where
he conducted the Virginia City _Enterprise_, finally drifted to San
Francisco, and was associated with Bret Harte on the _Californian_, and
in 1867 published his first book, the _Jumping Frog_. This was succeeded
by the _Innocents Abroad_, 1869; _Roughing It_, 1872; _A Tramp Abroad_,
1880, and by others not so good.

Mark Twain's drolleries have frequently the same air of innocence and
surprise as Artemus Ward's, and there is a like suddenness in his turns
of expression, as where he speaks of "the calm confidence of a Christian
with four aces." If he did not originate, he at any rate employed very
{570} effectively that now familiar device of the newspaper "funny man,"
of putting a painful situation euphemistically, as when he says of a man
who was hanged that he "received injuries which terminated in his death."
He uses to the full extent the American humorist's favorite resources of
exaggeration and irreverence. An instance of the former quality may be
seen in his famous description of a dog chasing a coyote, in _Roughing
It_, or in his interview with the lightning-rod agent in _Mark Twain's
Sketches_, 1875. He is a shrewd observer, and his humor has a more
satirical side than Artemus Ward's, sometimes passing into downright
denunciation. He delights particularly in ridiculing sentimental humbug
and moralizing cant. He runs a tilt, as has been said, at "copy-book
texts," at the temperance reformer, the tract distributor, the Good Boy
of Sunday-school literature, and the women who send bouquets and
sympathetic letters to interesting criminals. He gives a ludicrous turn
to famous historical anecdotes, such as the story of George Washington
and his little hatchet; burlesques the time-honored adventure, in
nautical romances, of the starving crew casting lots in the long boat,
and spoils the dignity of antiquity by modern trivialities, saying of a
discontented sailor on Columbus's ship, "He wanted fresh shad." The fun
of _Innocents Abroad_ consists in this irreverent application of modern,
common sense, utilitarian, democratic standards to the memorable places
and historic associations of {571} Europe. Tried by this test the Old
Masters in the picture galleries become laughable. Abelard was a
precious scoundrel, and the raptures of the guide books are parodied
without mercy. The tourist weeps at the grave of Adam. At Genoa he
drives the cicerone to despair by pretending never to