Dave, that is an awesome quote. 
I wonder how closely this Van Dyke is related to Dick, whom I consider the most Twain-like "comedian" of our time.
- B. Clay Shannon 

    On Sunday, June 30, 2019, 06:53:01 AM PDT, Dave Davis <[log in to unmask]> wrote:  
 
 A quick search uncovers this lead: 


"Untitled," Henry Van Dyke on Mark Twain

When Mark Twain turned 67, his longtime friend and advisor Henry Van Dyke read a poem for him at the Metropolitan Club in New York City. Its last line was, "Long life to you, Mark Twain." Just seven years later, he'd be delivering the eulogy at Twain's funeral in New York City. In it, he provides a working definition of quality humor that everyone would be wise to remember: "But the mark of this higher humor is that it does not laugh at the weak, the helpless, the true, the innocent; only at the false, the pretentious, the vain, the hypocritical...we may say without doubt that [Twain] used his gift, not for evil, but for good."

A Times report from that day wrote, "Throughout it was evident that the speaker was making a strong effort to keep down his emotion and control his voice.
http://mentalfloss.com/article/61227/11-eulogies-writers-written-writers

On Sun, Jun 30, 2019 at 9:42 AM Clay Shannon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Are there any surviving writings about Twain by those who actually knew him, other than those by Susy, Clara, Howells, Katy Leary, Dorothy Quick (the Angelfish), and Paine?
I would be especially interested in what the Clemens family themselves said/wrote about him (his mother and siblings) and the Moffett family; but also Harte, Goodman, Redpath, Keller, Kipling, Bixby, Howland, Paige, Twichell, Aldrich, Gilder, Joel C. Harris, &c &c.
I do know that Kipling wrote about his "pilgrimage" to meet Twain.
Do such writings exist? Even better would be if they were all collected together in a volume (excluding the writings which are already of book length - those alluded to in the first paragraph). Has anybody done this yet?
- B. Clay Shannon