Here is what Smith has to say in "Mark Twain": "In a passage for Life on the Mississippi but omitted from the book Mark Twain makes scathing generalizations about the cowardice of mobs, especially in the South but also in other regions, that closely parallel Sherburn's speach." ... "The image of Sherburn standing on the roof of the porch in front of his house with the shotgun that is the only weapon in sight has an emlematic quality. He is a solitary figure, not identified with the townspeople, and because they are violently hostile to him, and outcast. But he is not weaker than they, he is stronger. He stands above the mob, looking down on it. He is "a heap the best dressed man in that town," and he is more intelligent than his neighbors. The scornful courage with which hhe defies the mob redeems him from the taint of cowardice implied in his shooting of an unarmed man who was trying to escape. Many members of the mob he faces are presumably armed; the shotgun he holds is not the source of his power but merely a symbol of the personal force with which he dominates the community. The Colonel's repeated references to one Buck Harkness, the leader of the mob, whom he acknowledges to be "half-a-man,". . . Harkness is the strongest man with whom the townspeople can identify themselves. In his pride Sherburn chooses isolation, but he demonstrates that he is stronger than Harkness, for the mob, including Harkness, obeys his command to "leave - and take your half-a-man with you." Mark Twain, like Huck, was sickened by the brutality he had witnessed in the society along the river. But he had an adult aggressiveness foreign to Huck's character. At a certain point he could no longer endure the anguish of being a passive observer. His imagination sought refuge in the image of an alternaitve personawho was protected against suffering by being devoid of pity or guild, yet could denounce the human race for its cowardice and cruelty, and perhaps even take action against it. This was pasted from Word, so if it is messed up, blame Microsoft, it was hrd enough for me to almost format it nice. Micah