This arrived just now from a friend of my brother.  He is mid-40s and a businessman in St. Louis: Thought it might add something to the line of comments. Interesting to note what he carried away.
He wrote:

I watched the PBS program about Mark Twain on Monday and Tuesday nights.  I thought it was good, especially the second half.  I was impressed not just by his literary skills and varied experiences, but also by how much he was internationally recognized and his effort to make right his past mistakes.

I read both "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Finn" when I was a kid, but was probably too young to appreciate the second.  I vaguely remember it.

My folks have been in Florida the past two weeks and I received a postcard from them today.  They saw the article in USA Today!

David D.