In a recent conversation with a retired librarian friend of mine, who is now volunteering to be a librarian (about the only sort we have left as there is so little support for libraries these days), the topic of Mark Twain came up. Actually, Mark Twain was the primary purpose of my visit with this librarian. I was loaning her my copy of Twain's book on Joan of Arc and in return she loaned me the most recent version of his autobiography and a copy of The Outrageous Mark Twain. She bemoaned the fact that Twain is longer taught in public schools and in fact has become "politically incorrect". The latter particularly in reference to Huck Finn. Now, Huck Finn has always been my favorite book, of all time. And, I consider the portion containing Huck's moral dilemma in regards to freeing Jim, to be perhaps the single most valuable bit of literature I have ever read. I must say, though that I've never been entirely satisfied with the closing portion of the novel, Tom's attempt to "steal" Jim. Anyway, I'd like to hear what the subscribers to this list have to say about Twain's standing in today's community at large. I hope this is an appropriate thing to post here. I'm not a Mark Twain scholar and neither am I a sociologist, but I do believe that if Twain's work passes from our general "social consciousness" something of great value will be lost. Comments please... Scott Holmes