In "History 1000 Years from Now" (written in 1901 but first published in Mark Twain's Fables of Man, 1972) Twain wrote: "Today no subject but the one -- the past -- can get much attention. We began, a couple of years ago, with a quarrel as to whether the dying century closed with the 31st of December 2899, or whether it would close with the last day of last year, and it took the entire world the best part of a year to settle it; then the past was taken hold of with interest, and that interest has increased in strength and in fascination ever since." Everyone seems to be experiencing the same confusion this year. Twain's own interest inspired quite a few writings in 1900-1902, many of which can be found in Mark Twain's Fables of Man, The Bible According to Mark Twain, and Letters from the Earth. I have put "A Salutation Speech from the Nineteenth Century to the Twentieth" online in several places, all of which probably have some interest because of the other greetings included with them: Anti-Imperialists Greet the New Century http://www.boondocksnet.com/century/century_greet.html Includes Twain's with greetings written for the same event by William Jennings Bryan and Senator Richard F. Pettigrew. Editors on Mark Twain's Anti-Imperialism http://marktwain.about.com/library/texts/bl_ed_editors.htm An editorial from the Springfield Republican discusses how Twain was recruited to write the greeting. The editorial from The Public includes greetings written for the Red Cross Society by William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt and William Jennings Bryan as well as Twain's. I like to use that one as an example of Twain's prominence at the time -- he was grouped with the president, the vice-president-elect, and their opponent in the recently concluded presidential election. A Salutation Speech from the Nineteenth Century to the Twentieth http://marktwain.about.com/library/texts/bl_salutation.htm Includes a facsimile of the card version of Twain's greeting published by Albert S. Parsons of the New England Anti-Imperialist League that was based on an earlier draft of the salutation. Jim Zwick