Greetings All: As a Southerner whose maternal grandmother was born in St. Louis, I've always had quite a bit of fun imagining exactly what Twain might have sounded like. Certainly I've always enjoyed Mr. Holbrook's performances and cadences of the "Slow-Sam-speak" he employs. However, one lovely thing that often escapes those looking closely and linguistically for a definitive Mark Twain accent is the basic and tranquil utility of just speaking slowly. It simply gives one more time to think of what to say (especially in reply to someone else) and more time to come up with a zinger. I think this natural way of speaking tor Clemens, learned at his mother's knee or elsewhere, served Mark Twain very well in life. Press accounts certainly seem to support such an observation on my part, as he was rarely recorded as having little to say that was not highly entertaining, witty or possessed of other memorable qualities. Dramatic pauses certainly serve comedy timing and are natural for a slower Southern speech pattern. But I hope no one will overlook the vast ground an agile mind, like Clemens, could cover in such a seemingly short pause and with what effect the treasures gathered from all that ground often displayed. Cordially, B. Adrian van der Wel, MFA-at-Large San Francisco, California