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Re: Mark Twain Quotation?



The Twain quote below comes from Chapter 22 of _Life on the Mississippi_.
(The Gutenberg e-text is convenient to search, but does not give page
numbers).  The quote "too thick to drink, too thin to plow" does not appear
in that book. A quick Google search shows the adage has been applied to
muddy rivers from Maine to California, but most frequently to the Missouri
and Platte.

Thomas J. Wood
Archivist
Archives/Special Collections LIB 144
University of Illinois at Springfield
P.O. Box 19243
Springfield IL 62794-9243
217-206-6520 | wood@uis.edu | http://www.uis.edu/~lib-arch


-----Original Message-----
From: Gosebrink, Jean [mailto:jgosebrink@SLPL.LIB.MO.US]
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2000 11:24 AM
To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
Subject: Re: Mark Twain Quotation?


The autobiography of St. Louis mayor Rolla Wells, Episodes of My Life (St.
Louis, 1933) quotes Twain on Mississippi River water:

"Every tumbler of it holds an acre of land in solution.  I got this fact
from the Bishop of the diocese.  If you will let your glass stand half an
hour you can separate the land from the water as easy as Genesis, and then
you will find them both good -- the one to eat, the other to drink.  The
land is very nourishing, the water is thoroughly wholesome.  The one
appeases hunger; the other, thirst.  But the natives do not take them
separately, but together as nature mixed the.  When they find an inch of mud
in the bottom of the glass, they stir it up and take the draught as they
would gruel.  It is difficult for a stranger to get used to this batter, but
once used he will prefer it to water.  This is really the case.  It is good
for steamboating and good to drink, but it is worthless for all other
purposes except baptizing."

A card in our local history files gives the same quote, attributing it to
Twain on a visit to St. Louis in 1882.  It cites a 1926 newspaper article,
although I couldn't locate the clipping.

Jean E. Meeh Gosebrink
Special Collections
St. Louis Public Library

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