MARK TWAIN IN OBERLIN
By RUSSEL B. NYE
On the night of February II, 1885,
the Union Library As-
sociation of Oberlin, Ohio, presented
readings by Samuel L.
Clemens and George W. Cable as the third
number of its annual
lecture series. The Twain-Cable lecture
took place in the First
Congregational Church of Oberlin, where
Clemens, according to
a program of the entertainment now in
the Oberlin College Li-
brary, gave as his part of the evening
readings of "King Soller-
mun," "The Tragic Tale of a
Fishwife," "A Trying Situation,"
and a few shorter selections. Cable gave
four readings from his
novel, Dr. Sevier. The Oberlin
appearance was but one of many
for the two men, since they were on an
extended tour which took
them through the Middle West.
No reference to Twain's experiences
during his short stay
in Oberlin occurs in any of the
published work concerning him or
his life. Albert Bigelow Paine's edition
of the Letters shows no
correspondence concerning his lecture,
nor does his Mark Twain,
the most complete biography. The reviews
published in the Ober-
lin newspapers disclose an hitherto
unknown and unrecorded in-
cident in an otherwise widely known
career, an incident interest-
ing in itself for the light it sheds on
our knowledge of Clemens,
and for the connection that it may
establish between the Ohio
town and one of Twain's major short
stories, The Man That Cor-
rupted Hadleyburg.
Two days after the Twain-Cable lecture,
a review of the en-
tertainment appeared in the Oberlin Weekly
News of February 13,
1885. Cautiously worded, the review
nevertheless makes it plain
that the reaction of the Oberlin
audience to Twain's humorous
(69)
70
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
readings was not as favorable as it
might have been, and that
Cable had received the greater share of
the applause.
Cable, though not as universally known
as Mark Twain, proved him-
self the peer of his companion in the
humourous, while he also excelled in
the pathetic, at which Twain made no
attempt. Twain added the peculiar
force of his recitation to the humour of
his compositions.
The Oberlin Review, a college
publication, took the same
stand in regard to the respective merits
of the two lecturers in its
issue of February 21, 1885, phrasing
its remarks in slightly
stronger language.
While Mr. Clemens' writings lose nothing
by being presented by the
author, they hardly gain so much as do
Mr. Cable's. Some of Mr. Cable's
selections were as humourous as Twain's,
and his rendition decidedly better.
Although many, to whom Twain's humour
was distasteful, were disap-
pointed, the younger part of the
audience enjoyed the entertainment im-
mensely.
Both of these reviews show a decided
coldness on the part
of the Oberlin audience toward Clemens'
part of the program. An
even more conclusive lack of response is
shown in an open letter
sent to the Oberlin Weekly News, and
published February 20,
1885.
DEAR EDITOR:
Now that the people of this city have
been so thoroughly humbugged,
why not frankly own up and so possibly
save other communities the morti-
fication of being swindled? No doubt
there are but few persons who do not
admire Mark Twain's writings, but as a
lecturer, I think that at least four-
fifths of the people who heard him in
Oberlin will agree with me in saying
that he is not a success. I believe that
I express the mind of the large and
intelligent audience that he undertook
to entertain. I like to laugh, but I am
provoked to think that so many laughed
when there was nothing to laugh at.
M. V. R.
The sender of the letter was undoubtedly
M. V. Rowley, a
local merchant and a member of the town
council, since his initials
are the only ones appearing in a city
directory of that year which
agree.
To this frankly hostile letter the
program director of the
Union Library Association replied in the
next issue of the same
paper.
MARK TWAIN IN OBERLIN 71
EDITOR:
Since some dissatisfaction has been
shown concerning the Twain-Cable
lecture, it is necessary to remind those
disgruntled members of the audience
who have publicly expressed their
disapproval that the program was offered
primarily as an entertainment, in which
we believe it was worthwhile.
Although he proved to be not exactly
what was expected, nevertheless Mr.
Clemens is fully entitled to a just judgment.
It is obvious from the above newspaper
quotations that Twain
was not well received by his Oberlin
audience, either because he
did not give the type of recitation
which was expected of him, or
else because the audience did not
appreciate his type of humor.
Furthermore, they did enjoy the
sentimental readings of Cable,
and expressed their preference publicly.
It must have been evi-
dent to Twain during the program, as it
probably was after, from
the reviews, that he was not a success
in Oberlin. To Clemens,
whose pride was easily touched, this
must have been humiliating.
The readings which he gave required his
audience to be whole-
heartedly with him, and any of those
listed would be tremendous
failures if the audience were not in the
spirit of the evening,
which they obviously were not. There can
be little doubt that
the people of Oberlin expected and
desired something of the
sentimental-didactic which Cable
supplied and Clemens did not.
The fact that the program took place in
a church might have
caused some to take offense at the
exuberant humor of Twain.
Whatever the reasons, it is clear that
Clemens' experience in Ober-
lin was not a happy one, but rather one
which could leave bitter-
ness in the mind of the one offended.
At the time of the publication of Mark
Twain's short story,
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg (1899) the rumor began
that the town of Hadleyburg was Oberlin,
and that the story was
Twain's way of taking revenge for his
unhappy experience there
of fourteen years before. The belief
still exists in Oberlin. Ex-
actly how and where it began is
difficult to determine, but the story
is coexistent with the publication of
Twain's tale of exposed hy-
pocrisy, the townspeople remembering his
visit and noting the
parallel situations. There are some
interesting and provocative
parallels between Twain's Oberlin
experiences and the Hadley-
72 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
burg of the story. The beginning reminds
one at once of Twain's
feelings at his cold reception, and of
his probable reaction:
But at last, in the drift of time,
Hadleyburg had the ill-luck to offend
a passing stranger, possibly without
knowing it, certainly without caring, for
Hadleyburg was sufficient unto itself,
and cared not a rap for strangers or
their opinions.
Then, too, the description of Hadleyburg
is highly reminis-
cent of the Oberlin of the 'eighties:
Hadleyburg was the most honest and
upright town in all the region
round about. It had kept that reputation
unsmirched during three genera-
tions, and was prouder of it than of any
other of its possessions. It was
so proud of it, and so anxious to insure
its perpetuation, that it began to
teach the principles of honest dealing
to the babes.... Also, through the
formative years, temptations were kept
out of the way of the young people.
The town of Oberlin had been founded as
a religious and
educational settlement in 1833, or
approximately three genera-
tions before the writing of the story,
and since that time had had
a wide reputation, which is still held,
as an educational and re-
ligious center. It is quite probable
that Twain knew these things;
it would have been difficult for him to
have visited Oberlin with
its reputation escaping his knowledge.
Again, it is important to
note that the humiliation of the good
people of Hadleyburg took
place, ironically enough, in the village
church, the scene of Twain's
own experiences some years before.
Except for the internal evidence noted
above, there seems
to exist no more definite evidences of a
connection between Oberlin
and Hadleyburg. The fact that at the
time of the publication of
the story a connection was believed to
exist, and that the belief
still persists, serves as some evidence
in itself. Then, too, if the
story had been written with Oberlin in
mind, could one expect to
find any closer parallels than those
already noted? To the people
of Oberlin, for whom it was intended,
the similarities were
enough, as results show. Also, rabid
anti-slavery agitation of
some forty years before had made the
town a highly-publicized
community in the Middle West and East,
and this fact, plus the
town's fame as a religious and
educational center, would have
made the intended connection even more
apparent. As revenge
MARK TWAIN IN OBERLIN 73
on Twain's part for Oberlin's lack of
appreciation of his talents,
if such was his intention, the story has
been successful enough.
The conclusion to be drawn is no doubt
this: That Twain, in
writing his story, remembered his
experiences in Oberlin, and
consciously or unconsciously allowed
them to color his description
of Hadleyburg. Beginning with the idea
of a hypocritical, smugly
conceited, and reputedly virtuous body
of people as a basis for a
story in which those people were to be
exposed, his thoughts must
have turned to Oberlin, as it had seemed
to him fourteen years
before, for a living example of what he
wished to attack.