TWAIN-L Archives

Mark Twain Forum

TWAIN-L@YORKU.CA

Options: Use Classic View

Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
"K. Patrick Ober" <[log in to unmask]>
Wed, 5 Nov 2014 13:40:36 +0000
text/plain (39 lines)
The name Rab probably came from the dog story "Rab and His Friends" by Dr. John Brown. Brown was a Scottish physician and friend of the Clemens family. Sam Clemens thought highly of the story. Wikipedia claims that "Rab" is the Lowland Scots version of "Rob." The "Rab" in the story was "a huge mastiff," described as being "old, grey, brindled, as big as a Highland bull," and extremely loyal and loving.


Pat Ober


-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Twain Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Joseph Csicsila
Sent: Monday, November 03, 2014 11:34 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Query

Susan, 

Twain had a dog named Rab that was killed in some kind of a street accident in late 1881. Twain used to say that the dog kept the staff at the Hartford home busy pulling him away from passing carriages. Twain sought out another dog of the same breed a short while after. This second dog named Rob started terrorizing neighbors and people passing by the house in wagons and carriages. The individual Twain got Rob from, Charles Fairchild, offered to take the dog back in the fall of 1882. Not sure of the breed(s) or how the situation with Rob turned out. 

There may be more info in the letters from the mid 1880s? 

Joe Csicsila 

----- Original Message -----

From: "Lawrence Howe" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, November 3, 2014 10:29:16 AM
Subject: Re: Query 

Susan--=0A=
=0A=
Are you sure it's Hartford? I've seen photos of the family in Elmira with = a large dog, who belonged to the Cranes, if memory serves. =0A= =0A= No doubt, someone with more authoritative knowledge will weigh in. =0A= =0A= --LH=0A= =0A= Larry Howe=0A= Professor of English=0A= Chair, Department of Literature and Languages=0A= Roosevelt University=0A= =0A= Fulbright Distinguished Chair in American Studies, Syddansk Universitet--Od= ense, 2014-15=0A= ________________________________________=0A=
From: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Harris, Susan Kumin = <[log in to unmask]>=0A=
Sent: Monday, November 3, 2014 8:46 AM=0A=
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Query=0A=
=0A=
Dear All,=0A=
=0A=
This is a query re the photograph of Twain, Livy, and the girls outside the= =3D=0A= Hartford house, sometime in the 80s, I assume. They are sitting on the st= =3D=0A= eps of the veranda and there is a large dog stretched out in front of them.= =3D=0A= I would like to know a little bit about the dog. Did it belong to the Cl= =3D=0A= emens family? Name? Breed? Anyone know?=0A= =0A= Many thanks. --susan harris=0A= =0A= =0A= Susan K. Harris=0A= =0A= Hall Professor of American Literature=0A= =0A= University of Kansas=0A= =0A= Author of God's Arbiters: Americans and the Philippines, 1898-1902=0A= 

ATOM RSS1 RSS2