At 04:46 PM 5/2/97 -0400,  Everett Emerson wrote:
>One of the disappointments of my life was examining the Autobiographical
>Dictations at the Mark Twain Papers.  They show Mark Twain being very
>self-indulgent.  I do not expect to see an edition of the so-called
>autobigraphy published in my lifetime, and though I expect to feel many
>disappointments at the end of my life, seeing that publication will not be
>one of them.  See the account in my THE AUTHENTIC MARK TWAIN, written
>before Kiskis's magisterial edition.


You have phrased the issue so clearly -- Twain is not to be compared to the
average person, who indulges in herd mentality, herd snobbishness, and
herd disdain  of complex ideas of freedom...and reproduces prodigiously!
.. his personal life should be lived according to the standards of  mental
herd animals now that the curtain is falling...We can be part of the tyranny
of the
majority...Enforce the categorical imperative - "I do not do it, therefore
you should
not do it."

My formula for life is right....yours is suspect...

Of course, by that standard, we would not have any of his writing.
Self indulgence, the herd states, is only allowed in the pleasures of
conformity. Or maybe the formula for great mental accomplishment varies from
person to person in varying situations.

That's a start. The best arguments are on this side of the question.
The other side can make points but after the first few they are all evil
and against our Constitution, modern philosophy, and self-determination.

I hope you don't agree with the herd  mentality on this?
The Masons are not God's only law-givers...far from it.

Mike