nd engaged Cooper Union for the occasion. Though few
tickets were sold, Fuller cleverly succeeded in packing the hall by
sending out a multitude of complimentary tickets to the school-teachers
of New York City and the adjacent territory. That lecture proved to be
a supreme success--Mark's reputation as a lecturer on the Atlantic coast
was assured.

On June 10, 1867, the Quaker City set sail for its Oriental tour. It
bore on board a comparatively unknown person of the name of Clemens,
who, in applying for passage, represented himself to be a Baptist
minister in ill-health from San Francisco!

It brought back a celebrity, destined to become famous throughout the
world. Prior to sailing he arranged to contribute letters to the 'New
York Tribune' and the 'New York Herald', as well as to the 'Alta
California'.

"His letters to the 'Alta California'," says Noah Brooks, "made him
famous. It was my business to prepare one of these letters for the
Sunday morning paper, taking the topmost letter from a goodly pile that
was stacked in a pigeon-hole of my desk. Clemens was an indefatigable
correspondent, and his last letter was slipped in at the bottom of a
tall stack.

"It would not be quite accurate to say that Mark Twain's letters were
the talk of the town; but it was very rarely that readers of the paper
did not come into the office on Mondays to confide to the editors their
admiration of the writer, and their enjoyment of his weekly
contributions. The California newspapers copied these letters, with
unanimous approval and disregard of the copyrights of author and
publisher."

It was the Western humour, and the quaintly untrammelled American
intelligence, focussed upon diverse and age-encrusted civilizations,
which caught the instantaneous fancy of a vast public. It was a virgin
field for the humorous observer; Europe had not yet become the
playground of America. It was rather a _terra incognita_, regarded with
a sort of reverential ignorance by the average American tourist. By the
range of his humour, the pertinency of his observation, and the vigour
of his expression he awoke immediate attention. And he aroused a deeply
sympathetic response in the hearts of Americans by his manly and
outspoken expression--his respect for the worthy, the admirable, the
praiseworthy, his scorn and detestation for the spurious, the specious
and the fraudulent. In this book, for the first time, he strikes the
key-note of his li