When Mark Twain was young, the West was new; hence his task in
literature was to preserve contemporary life. He has accomplished this
mission better than any other writer of the middle West.
_The Adventures of Tom Sawyer_ (1876) is a story of life in a Missouri town
on the Mississippi River. Tom Sawyer, the hero, is "a combination," says
the author, "of the characteristics of three boys whom I knew." Probably
Mark Twain himself is the largest part of this combination. The book is the
record of a wide-awake boy's impression of the life of that day. The
wretched common school, the pranks of the boys, the Sunday school, the
preacher and his sermon, the task of whitewashing the fence, the belief in
witches and charms, the half-breed Indian, the drunkard, the murder scene,
and the camp life of the boys on an island in the Mississippi,--are all
described with a vividness and interest due to actual experience. The
author distinctly says, "Most of the adventures recorded in this book
really occurred; one or two were experiences of my own, the rest those of
boys who were schoolmates of mine."
[Illustration: HUCKLEBERRY FINN
(From "Huckleberry Finn," by Samuel L.
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