The quotation itself apparently is taken from the movie The Adventures
of Mark Twain, and the speaker is "Mark Twain" as character in that
movie.  Here's the dialogue as I captured it from a website on the
movie:

----------------------

Becky Thatcher: Well, Tom and Huck and I, well, see, we're not so
sure... 

Mark Twain: That l know what I'm doing up here? Angelfish, it's just
like piloting a river. You get to know the shape of it. Like following a
hall at home in the dark. And even if you feel some fear, you know no
harm can come to you because you've traveled that hallway a hundred
times in nothing but bare feet and faith.

----------------------

This appears to be an adaptation of the passage from chapter 8
(Perplexing Lessons) of Life on the Mississippi, in which Mr. Bixby is
instructing the cub pilot:

----------------------

'My boy, you've got to know the SHAPE of the river perfectly. It is all
there is left to steer by on a very dark night. Everything else is
blotted out and gone. But mind you, it hasn't the same shape in the
night that it has in the day-time.'

'How on earth am I ever going to learn it, then?'

'How do you follow a hall at home in the dark. Because you know the
shape of it. You can't see it.'

'Do you mean to say that I've got to know all the million trifling
variations of shape in the banks of this interminable river as well as I
know the shape of the front hall at home?'

'On my honor, you've got to know them BETTER than any man ever did know
the shapes of the halls in his own house.'


--Jim Leonard


-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Twain Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Michael
Kiskis
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2008 9:24 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: FW: Twain Quote

A little help. =20
=20
I received a note from a local teacher who is working on a curriculum on
Mark Twain for the 4th and 5th grades.  She emailed me the note below
looking for help to identify the quote.  I admit that I can't recall
where it (or if it) appears in any Twain work.
=20
If anyone has some idea, please let me know.  And I will pass the
response along.
=20
Thanks very much.
=20
____________________________________________
Michael J. Kiskis
Leonard Tydings Grant Professor of American Literature
Elmira College
One Park Place
Elmira, NY  14901
607-735-1827
=20
=20
I have been unable to find the Twain quote that I was asking about last
night.  I'll  just paraphrase it and hope that someone out there will
recognize it and be able to relay it back as the author intended it to
be. I really appreciate your help.=20
=20
'  Like walking a hallway in the dark-- you've done it a hundred times
before, with nothing but bare feet and faith. '