Perhaps he meant in comparison with other times and/or other places at that
time. Hordes from Europe didn't emigrate to America because they hated
their homeland, many of them were starving where they were with little
prospect for improvement.

On Tue, Oct 10, 2023 at 5:24 PM Scott Holmes <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> There is an entry in Day By Day that has left me a bit befuddled. It
> seems in contrast to his comments on, among other things, Labor Unions
> and Civil Rights. This from July 13, 1888, in a letter that Fears notes
> was not finished until October 31^st .
>
> /The thing called American humor is misnamed; it has no patent, it is
> not peculiar, it is mere human humor, with the pressure lifted off, its
> chains broken, its spirit set free. Only once, in the world’s history,
> have we seen a nation enjoying these several things all at the same
> time: a bright sky, a general freedom from the depressing bread-and-meat
> cares of life, and every man entitled to hold his head as high as his
> neighbor’s. The result is the only example in history of human humor not
> in a state of arrested development /[MTP].
>
> Was he really of the opinion that there were no “depressing bread a meat
> cares of life, and every man entitled to hold his head as high as his
> neighbor’s”? I’m aware that one must not look for consistency in the
> opinions of Mark Twain, but really...
>
> --
> /Unaffiliated Geographer and Twain aficionado/
>


-- 
Clay Shannon, FC (Facility Contact) at CTF Soledad
Freelance Writer (see https://padlet.com/bclayshannon/7c1loxa5nig4kkmw)
(831) 251-4279