Mark Twain is the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens. He was born in Florida, Missouri, in 1835. Although he left school when he was only twelve years old, he became a man of many interests and occupations. He began his career as a printer, then became a pilot of a Mississippi riverboat. Afterwards, when he worked as a journalist, travel writer, and publisher, Clemens decided to use a pen name. "Mark Twain" came from Clemens' riverboat days, when measuring the depth of the water was called "marking the twain".

Twain has been described as hot-tempered and cynical, but also as tender and sentimental. His love for the past and his feelings for his country helped him produce some of his finest books.

Although Twain wrote many short stories, ariticles, and novels, including A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, The Prince and the Pauper, and Life on the Mississipi, he is probably best remebered for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Both of these books, Twain admitted, were based on experiences he had in his boyhood and on people he knew as he grew up along the Mississippi River.

Before he died in 1910, Mark Twain--the boy who left school at the age of twelve--received honorary degrees from universities in the United States and in Europe. Today, Mark Twain is remembered and love as one of America's greatest writers.

From The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

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