Hear here:  For those of us discussing Twain from a
rhetorical perspective while others of us refuse any
possibility from the non-sensical, we are left to our
own vane/vein self-complacency whose only definition
is "self-satisfaction."  Outside either of those boxes
is where the likes of Twain found meaning.   To wit:
"cigar" is a "filler," a "high tree" or "thill horse,"
or it is a "wrapper" that is "mother hubbard."
Mean-wile, "fish" is "search, seek to elicit, torpedo,
trimmer, prison inmate, sucker, person," and "dollar,"
which come to think on it, five of which is "fin."
All things are in-deed possible to those who love the
word.  Can we really believe Twain had so many mental
lapses in reporting the historical facts.  Methinks he
lived by the word, and it was the word that colored
his lenses . . . and we all mite give paws to go and
do like-wise!