Perhaps someone else has a citation for the following, for I do not at this
time, but if I misremember not, Twain, referring to one of the scenes in *A
Modern Instance *in which the protagonist, Bartley Hubbard, is drunk and
falls, asked author/friend W.D. Howells if he had based Hubbard in that
episode upon Twain, and Howells answered yes.

On Fri, Sep 3, 2010 at 3:29 PM, Click, Benjamin A <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> C.H.,=20
>
> Twain maintained definite ideas of how his habits worked or didn=B9t work
> f=
> or
> him. As a public speaker, he found two glasses of champagne worked =B3as an
> admirable stimulant to the tongue=B2 and =B3the happiest inspiration=B2
> for=
>  an
> after-dinner speech. But for the writer Twain, wine was =B3a clog to the
> pe=
> n,
> not an inspiration.=B2  Smoking, however, was the =B3best of all
> inspiratio=
> ns
> for the pen.=B2 =20
>
> Ben
>
>
> On 9/3/10 10:18 AM, "Chet Manchester" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > Does anyone on the forum know if Sam Clemens ever abused alcohol,
> especia=
> lly
> > toward the end of his life?  Did he turn to the bottle to ease his pain
> o=
> r
> > grief?  When he lectured, was he ever known to appear on stage drunk?
>  Di=
> d
> > he ever use alcohol to calm his nerves before a public performance?
>  Last=
> ly,
> > is there any possibility that he successfully hid an alcohol addiction
> fr=
> om
>  > his family and others?
> >=20
> > Thanks for any insights and sources you can offer on this subject.
> >=20
> > - C.H. Stewart
>



-- 
John H. Davis, Ph.D.
Professor of English
Department of Language and Literature
Chowan University
Murfreesboro, North Carolina 27855