On Thu, 30 Jan 1997, Barbara L. Goodman wrote:

> Dear Friends,
>      I would like to know the prevailing explanation of MT's having used
such
> a varied and exotic collection of quotations at the beginning of each
chapter
> of The Gilded Age.  Barbara L. Goodman
>
Twain and Warner were parodying the prevailing practice of beginning
chapters with quotations.  They upped the ante, so to speak, in showing
off worthless erudition.
                                Gregg Camfield