[Gutenberg 2982] • Mark Twain: A Biography. Volume I, Part 1: 1835-1866

Certain happenings as recorded in this work will be found to differ

materially from the same incidents and episodes as set down in the

writings of Mr. Clemens himself. Mark Twain's spirit was built of the

very fabric of truth, so far as moral intent was concerned, but in his

earlier autobiographical writings--and most of his earlier writings were

autobiographical--he made no real pretense to accuracy of time, place, or

circumstance--seeking, as he said, "only to tell a good story"--while in

later years an ever-vivid imagination and a capricious memory made

history difficult, even when, as in his so-called "Autobiography," his

effort was in the direction of fact.

"When I was younger I could remember anything, whether it happened or

not," he once said, quaintly, "but I am getting old, and soon I shall

remember only the latter."

The reader may be assured, where discrepancies occur, that the writer of

this memoir has obtained his data from direct and positive sources:

letters, diaries, accountbooks, or other immediate memoranda; also from

the concurring testimony of eye-witnesses, supported by a unity of

circumstance and conditions, and not from hearsay or vagrant printed

items.

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