Mark Twain attended a church service one Sunday morning and heard a sermon preached by the local bishop. At the end of the service, Twain complimented the bishopon his sermon, but added "It was hardly original though. I myself have a book at home that contains every word of it."
"Impossible!" said the bishop. "That sermon was my own
work and if indeed there is such a book then I would like
to see it."
The next day, the bishop received a small
package from Mark Twain containing a copy of the book in question, the ditionary.
"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great ones make you feel that you too, can become great."
Mark Twain
"Mark twain" means "two fathoms." (A fathom, of course is six feet deep, so that's 12 feet.) When navigating a riverboat over the Mississippi River, a riverboat captain needs someone to call out the depth in tricky areas to ensure that the boat can make it through. If he hears "mark twain," he knows that the water is barely deep enough for the boat to pass. Samuel Clemens, the creator of the adventuresome Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, took "Mark Twain" as his pen name. This was not because he WAS a riverboat captain, but because he once wanted very badly to be one.
