1881
1881.1.610) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: The giant had a broom, and was cleaning up and fixing around, diligently. Joe conceived the idea of getting some talk out of him. Now that never would have occurred to me. So he dropped in under the man’s elbow, dogged him patiently around, prodding him with questions and getting irritated snarls in return which would have finished me early—but at last one of Joe’s random shafts drove the centre of that giant’s sympathies somehow, and fetched him. The fountains of his great deep were broken up, and he rained a flood of personal history that was unspeakably entertaining.
Scripture: In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. - Genesis 7:11
Work; Date: Letter to W. D. Howells; December 16, 1881
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3195/3195-h/3195-h.htm
1881.2.611) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: When you leave a battle-field always leave it in good order. Remove the wreck and rubbish, and tidy up the place. However, in the case of a drawn battle it is neither party’s business to tidy up anything. You can leave the field looking as if the City Government of New York had bossed the fight. When you are traversing the enemy’s country, in order to destroy his supplies and cripple his resources, you want to take along plenty of camp followers. The more the better. They are a tremendously effective arm of the service, and they inspire in the foe the liveliest dread. A West Point Professor told me that the wisdom of this was recognized as far back as Scripture times. He quoted the verse. He said it was from the new revision, and was a little different from the way it reads in the old one. I do not recollect the exact wording of it now, but I remember that it wound up with something about such and such a devastating agent being as “terrible as an army with bummers.”
Scripture: Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners? – Song of Solomon 6:10
Work; Date: The Benefit of Judicious Training; June 8, 1881
Source: http://www.twainquotes.com/18810609.html
THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER
1881.3.612,613) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: At a lower table the Court grandees and other guests of noble degree were seated, with the magnates of the city; the commoners took places at a multitude of tables on the main floor of the hall. From their lofty vantage-ground the giants Gog and Magog, the ancient guardians of the city, contemplated the spectacle below them with eyes grown familiar to it in forgotten generations.
Scripture: And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, -- Ezekiel 38:1,2
Scripture: And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. -- Revelation 20:8
Work; Date: The Prince and the Pauper, Chapter 11; 1882
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1837/1837-h/1837-h.htm
1882
1882.1.614) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: You know when it comes down to moral honesty, limpid innocence, and utterly blemishless piety, the Apostles were mere policemen to Cable;
Scripture: Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. -- Matthew 10:2-4
Work; Date: Letter to W. D. Howells; November 4, 1882
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3195/3195-h/3195-h.htm
1882.2.615) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: Think what tedious years of study, thought, practice, experience, went to the equipment of that peerless old master who was able to impose upon the whole world the lofty and sounding maxim that “Truth is mighty and will prevail” -- the most majestic compound fracture of fact which any of woman born has yet achieved.
Scripture: Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. -- Job 14:1
Work; Date: Speech “Advice to Youth”; April 15, 1882
Source: http://people.virginia.edu/~jdk3t/TwainAY.htm
1882.3.616) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: But I have said enough. I hope you will treasure up the instructions which I have given you, and make them a guide to your feet and a light to your understanding.
Scripture: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. -- Psalms 119:105
Work; Date: Speech “Advice to Youth”; April 15, 1882
Source: http://people.virginia.edu/~jdk3t/TwainAY.htm
1882.4.617) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: Every morning at five the cook opened the kitchen door, in the way of business, and rip went that gong! The first time this happened I thought the last day was come sure.
Scripture: And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? -- Matthew 24:3
Work; Date: The McWilliamses and the Burglar Alarm; December, 1882
Source: https://americanliterature.com/author/mark-twain/short-story/the-mcwilliamses-and-the-burglar-alarm
1882.5.618) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: A stranger died on our hands one time, aid we vacated and left him in our room overnight. Did that stranger wait for the general judgment? No, sir; he got up at five the next morning in the most prompt and unostentatious way.
Scripture: And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. -- Acts 17:30,31
Work; Date: The McWilliamses and the Burglar Alarm; December, 1882
Source: https://americanliterature.com/author/mark-twain/short-story/the-mcwilliamses-and-the-burglar-alarm
1882.6.619) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: The compromise cost me one hundred thousand dollars; my detective expenses were forty-two thousand dollars more; I never applied for a place again under my government; I am a ruined man and a wanderer in the earth, but my admiration for that man, whom I believe to be the greatest detective the world has ever produced, remains undimmed to this day, and will so remain unto the end.
Scripture: When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. -- Genesis 4:12
Work; Date: The Stolen White Elephant; 1882
Source: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3181/3181-h/3181-h.htm
1883
1883.1.620) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: I propose to stick here and drink him in silence standing till I can’t tell a ministering angel from a tax collector.
Scripture: Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? -- Hebrews 1:14
Work; Date: Speech “On Adam”; May 23, 1883
Source: Tales, Sketches, Speeches, & Essays 1852-1890
1883.2.621) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: You know my weakness for Adam, and you know how I have struggled to get him a monument and failed. ... on the other hand - look at Adam. What have we done for Adam? Nothing. What has Adam done for us? Everything. He gave us life, he gave us death, ...
Scripture: Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: – Romans 5:12
Work; Date: MARK TWAIN AGGRIEVED. WHY A STATUE OF LIBERTY WHEN WE HAVE ADAM!; December 4, 1883
Source: http://www.twainquotes.com/18831204.html
— 1883 to be continued with excerpts from Life On The Mississippi