I would not wade in on this word issue, but I am weathered-in here in Hannibal. The president of the Illinois Underground Railroad Association couldn't make it over to speak at the Hannibal Free Public Library, so I had to cancel that event. I am just about bored out of my mind. Here are my thoughts. Say the word. If Sam had intended to use a different word, he would have written a different word. I have spent most of my free time for the past three years reading newspaper articles, speeches, sermons, and letters from this area. You may be assured the word is historically accurate and was very common. I am far more concerned with what Quintin Tarrantino and his Hollywood friends have done with the word nigger than what Twain has done with it. For those of you who are inclined to tell me about the awesome power of this word, be assured I know it. Let me share this very intimate anecdote with you. My wife and I are both of European descent. We adopted children who are of Euro-African-Hispanic descent. They were four and six when we adopted them and had been in rather horrible foster care for three years. The week they came to live with us, I enrolled them in school one evening. Afterwards, we stopped for a root beer at the Mark Twain Dinette (don't you love Hannibal). The oldest one looked up at me and said, "you know I'm a nigger, don't you?" That was a lot like getting smacked with a softball bat. (And yes, we've dealt with those self-esteem issues and that particular young lady is very proud of who she is and an honors student at university.) So, my thinking is, if you don't know how to tell your children what kind of language is appropriate to use at home, school, playground, church, mosque or synagogue -- and especially what kind will get the bejeezies beat out of you -- then you don't have any business raising kids anyway. Them hearing it in Huckleberry Finn will not negatively impact them any more than seeing nudes at the art museum will make them exhibitionists. Terrell Dempsey