As I type this, my Writings of Mark Twain class is taking a vocabulary/biography test on Mr. Clemens.

One senior brought in a fountain pen with a bottle of ink in honor of our hero.

Everyone laughed, but looked on with growing envy as he started to write his name.

Of course, he was pressing the nib a little too hard and at too sharp of an angle in order to write smoothly and swiftly.

I pointed out the proper way to hold it and he happily exclaimed, “Well dog my cats (Twain term thanks to Kent Rasmussen’s glossary) this is a real game-changer!”

Life is good!

John
John R. Pascal, M.B.A., M.A.
Teacher of 9th, 11th Grade English, & The Writings of Mark Twain
Seton Hall Preparatory School
Contributing Author to Mark Twain and Youth, available at Amazon and Bloomsbury Academic Publishing by the links below:

https://www.amazon.com/Mark-Twain-Youth-Studies-Writings/dp/1474225381/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1471631434&sr=8-1&keywords=mark+twain+and+youth <https://www.amazon.com/Mark-Twain-Youth-Studies-Writings/dp/1474225381/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1471631434&sr=8-1&keywords=mark+twain+and+youth>

http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/mark-twain-and-youth-9781474225380/ <http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/mark-twain-and-youth-9781474225380/>


Review--
“The very theme of youth is a crucial one in Twain ... the list of authors who have agreed to write for this collection provides a kind of who's who of the very best critics working in Twain Studies at the present moment. This is a book which I would eagerly anticipate reading, as would any scholar with an interest in Twain.” ―Peter Messent, Emeritus Professor of American and Canadian Studies, Nottingham University, UK