Dear Mark Twain Forum Members:

Thanks to a friend of ours, we are the recent recipients of a complete set
of the _St. Louis Post-Dispatch_ series on Mark Twain in Nicaragua. An
overview appears below.

Regards,

Mary Leah Christmas

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FROM THE ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

5 March 2001

    Front page: Photo and summary. "Reporter follows author's route through
Nicaragua."

    Pages D-1 and D-3: "The adventures of Samuel Clemens in Nicaragua
inspire a do-over."

    Editor's Note:  "On his way from San Francisco to New York in 1866, Mark
Twain crossed the Central American isthmus at Nicaragua by land, lake and
river, writing letters to a San Francisco newspaper as he went. Last
October, Post-Dispatch reporter William Allen retraced this route, comparing
the Nicaragua of today with what Missouri's most famous author saw then.
This is the first part of his five-part report."

    The reporter states, "We tried to follow the 1866 voyage as closely as
possible, using a horse-drawn carriage and a 23-foot Fiberglas boat with an
outboard motor. And even though much of the route appears strikingly similar
to what he reported, much more has changed."

    The journey begins: San Juan del Sur, La Flor, La Virgen.

6 March 2001

    Page D-1 and D-3:   "Roughing it:  Waves, sharks and mosquitoes are part
of the deal." Lake Nicaragua, Isla Mancarron, Los Guatusos.

7 March 2001

    Page E-1 and E-2:  "Entering another Panama Canal? Past the fort and
through the rapids, the river rolls." San Juan to El Castillo, El Castillo
to Bartola.

8 March 2001

    Pages F-1 and F-2:  "Into the war zone:  The fighting's over, but
soldiers and some of the jungle remain." Bartola to Sarapiqui

9 March 2001

    Pages D-1 and D-6:  "East meets West:  135 years later, Twain's
observations are still on the mark." Sarapiqui to San Juan del Norte.

    At "the end of the trail," the reporter makes the closing statement:

    "Like Twain, we encountered a land still 'bright green' and
    'enchanting.' But many of the threads in its ecological quilt
    are unraveling....

    These are all signs of a common predicament of the 21st-
    century world:  as poor and populous nations struggle to grow
    economically, the environment suffers. A citizen of a
    flourishing economic power, Twain knew the benefits of
    commerce and industry. Yet, his dispatches from Nicaragua
    also warned us, from a simpler era, not to lose our 'rollicking
    monkeys,' our 'birds of splendid plumage' and the 'music of
    invisible songsters' welling up out of the forest depths. He
    warned us not to lose the 'enchanting beauty' of the river.

    We saw what Twain saw:  the importance of nature and the
    human connection to it. His was a trail worth retracing. And
    a lesson worth repeating."

Each installment includes the following information:

    "About the reporter:  William Allen, a science writer at the
    Post-Dispatch, has reported on Central American
    environmental issues for 15 years. He spent three months
    last year in Nicaragua on a fellowship awarded by the
    International Center for Journalists in Washington. The
    Ford Motor Co. Fund sponsored the fellowship. Allen's
    first book, _Green Phoenix:  Restoring the Tropical
    Forests of Guanacaste, Costa Rica_, was published
    last month by Oxford University Press."