From *Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer among the Indians, and Other Unfinished Stories.* p.319: Foreman (or Forman), James A. (Jim) (1835?-1903), was a Hannibal clerk who in 1850, like Clemens, joined the Cadets of Temperance. By 1854 he was clerking in a St. Louis dry goods store. Clemens and Foreman met again in May 1902 in St. Louis, where Foreman was a cashier in a printing firm. That summer Clemens wrote Anna Laura Hawkins Frazer: "Guess again! Jim Foreman is in one of the books, but you have not spotted him" . . . A page of Clemens's Hannibal notes includes the phrase "Jim Foreman the model boy" and identifies Foreman's fictional counterpart--the "Model Boy, Willie Mufferson," who appears in chapter 5 of *Tom Sawyer.* In "Villagers" (p. 99): "*Jim Foreman.* Clerk. Pomeroy Benton & Co., Handkerchief." On Tue, Dec 13, 2016 at 9:01 AM, Clay Shannon <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Even the boy's name (Alfred Temple) could conceivably have been a > derivation/permutation of the name "Bret Harte" - since Twain said that the > only heart Bret had was his name, yet admitted in a roundabout way that he > had a "head", he may have changed the surname "Harte" to "Temple" for that > reason. - B. Clay Shannon > > From: Clay Shannon <[log in to unmask]> > To: [log in to unmask] > Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2016 6:41 AM > Subject: Re: Was the St. Louis smarty Bret Harte? > > If any are unaware of the "necktie" connection, this is from > http://www.old= > magazinearticles.com/pdf/Twain%20-%20Harte.pdf: > "...his necktie. Always it was of a single color, and intense. Most > frequen= > tly, perhaps, it was crimson--a flash of flame under his chin; or it was > in= > digo-blue, and as hot and vivid as if one of those splendid and luminous > Br= > azilian butterflies had lighted there."=C2=A0- B. Clay Shannon > > From: Clay Shannon <[log in to unmask]> > To: [log in to unmask] > Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2016 6:05 AM > Subject: Was the St. Louis smarty Bret Harte? > =20 > I started re-reading Tom Sawyer (in Spanish) last night; I noticed > somethin= > =3D > g for the first time: the way the new kid in town, the citified dandy (the > = > =3D > "St. Louis smarty") makes me wonder if Bret Harte was Twain's mental image > = > =3D > for this irritating adversary, particularly where he mentions his colorful > = > =3D > tie: > This boy was well dressed, too=3DE2=3D80=3D94well dressed on a week-day. > Th= > is was=3D > simply astounding. His cap was a dainty thing, his close-buttoned blue > clo= > =3D > th roundabout was new and natty, and so were his pantaloons. He had shoes > o= > =3D > n=3DE2=3D80=3D94and it was only Friday. He even wore a necktie, a bright > bi= > t of r=3D > ibbon. He had a citified air about him that ate into Tom=3DE2=3D80=3D99s > vi= > tals. > > Was this boy conjured up by a mental image of Bret Harteless?=3DC2=3DA0- > B.= > Cla=3D > y Shannon > > > =20 > > > >