Mark Twain in Hannibal When be wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain turned Hannibal, Missouri—which he later described as a “white town drowsing in the sunshine of a summer’s morning” — into an American literary Mecca. No other town in the country has stronger associations with an author, and Twain readily acknowledged its role in his success. The relationship between Hannibal and Twain began in November 1839, when Twain’s father, John Clemens, decided to leave the hamlet of Florida, Missouri, and move east about 35 miles(56km) to the somewhat larger and more prosperous Hannibal, on the banks of the Mississippi River. Twain, then known as Samuel Clemens, marked his fourth birthday about a week after the family settled there. He showed little promise of becoming a long-term resident. However, because his health was so poor that his parents probably feared he would not survive childhood. During the family’s first few years in Hannibal, Twain was too young to understand fully the changes going on around him. John Clemens, though trained as a lawyer, tried to support his family by running a store and speculating in real estate. When those ventures failed. Clemens was forced to postpone his plans to establish a permanent home for the family. About 1843, he began concentrating on the practice of law, a decision that brought some stability to the family finances and enabled him to have a house built. Construction began in 1843, and the family moved into the new house the next year. Situated on Hill Street, near the center of town, the modest two-story frame house attracted little attention during the years when the family called it home. The kitchen, dining room and parlor were on the first floor, and three bedrooms, along with a small wardrobe room, were upstairs. About the time the family moved into their new home. Twain’s health improved dramatically. Instead of having to lead a quiet indoor life, he could roam the streets of Hannibal. Climb the surrounding hills, explore the area’s caves and splash about in local swimming holes. He reveled in his newfound freedom, spending nearly all his free time playing outdoors with the other boys in town and soon becoming a leader. One member of his gang was Twain’s and became a close friend. Twain’s many comrades also included girls. Across the street lived one named Laura Hawkins, with whom he often flirted. Twain’s carefree days did not last long, His father used their house as collateral for a friend’s loan, and the creditor took possession when the loan failed. A physician who lived diagonally across the street from the family offered to let them live in his home, which was called the Pilaster House because of its decorative columns. The Clemens family moved into that house sometime in late 1846. On March 24, 1847, John Clemens died. His wife. Jane Lampton Clemens, and their oldest son, Orion, managed to regain possession of the little house on Hill Street, and the family moved back into it that summer. These events dampened but did not extinguish Twain’s cheerful disposition. For the next six years, Twain, his brother Henry, and his sister Pamela live with their mother in the family home. Twain began taking odd jobs after school to bring in extra cash. Within a year of his father’s death, he quit school and became an apprentice printer, and when his brother Orion bought the Hannibal Journal in 1851, Twain went to work for him as a printer and editorial assistant. The stories he wrote for Orion’s paper, his first publications, taught him that he much preferred writing to typesetting. Thus, when he decided to leave Hannibal in May 1853, he already had an inkling of his future career. 當馬克·吐溫撰寫《湯姆·索亞歷險記》和《哈克貝里·費恩歷險記》時，他把密蘇里的漢尼堡變成了美國文學的聖地（後來他描寫它如同一座“沐浴在夏日清晨陽光照射下安寧的小鎮”）。在這個國家沒有哪一座城鎮會比這裏能與作家的關係更緊密的了，而且吐溫樂於承認它在他取得成功中的作用。 漢尼堡與吐溫的關係始於1893年，當時吐溫的父親，約翰·克萊門斯，決定離開密蘇里州佛羅里達的小村子，遷往東35英里（56公里）位於密西西比河岸邊那座大點兒的、繁榮些的漢尼堡。當一家人在那裏居了大約一個星期後，吐溫（當時叫塞繆爾·克萊門斯）度過了四歲的生日。然而他差點兒沒能成爲哪兒的長期居民，因爲他的身體很差以至於父母擔心他可能會夭折。 在全家人住在漢尼堡的頭幾年裏，吐溫太小還不能完全理解他周圍發生的變化。約翰·克萊門斯儘管受過做律師的訓練，可還是要靠開店鋪和做房地產的投機買賣來養家餬口。但當這些生意失敗後，克萊門斯不得不推遲了他爲家人建一個長久安樂窩的計劃。 大概到了1843年，他的注意力開始轉向法律行業，這個決定爲全家帶來了一些經濟保障並且使他能蓋一棟房子了。房子是1843年開始蓋的，第二年全家喬遷新居。這棟兩層的簡易木板房座落在臨近鎮中心的希爾街，當時幾乎沒有人去注意這棟被全家人稱作家的房子。廚房，餐廳和起居室在一層，三間臥室和一間小藏衣室在樓上。 也就在全家喬遷新居時，吐溫的身體戲劇般地好轉了。他不再被迫過着肅靜的室內生活，而可以在漢尼堡的街道上隨處閒逛，攀爬周圍的小山，探尋這裏的洞穴以及在當地的水潭裏嬉戲。他陶醉在新獲得的自由中，幾乎所有的空閒時間他都在外面和鎮子裏的其他們孩子玩耍並且很快就成了小頭頭兒。在這幫孩子中有個叫湯姆·布蘭肯希普的，他住在離吐溫家不到一個街區的一棟年久失修的房子裏，並與吐溫成了好朋友。在吐溫衆多的夥伴中也有女孩子。住在街對面一個叫做勞拉·霍金斯的女孩，吐溫時常找她逗悶。 吐溫無憂無慮的日子沒過多久。父親將他們的房子做了抵押，以便向一個朋友貸款，當貸款還不上後這個債主佔了抵押物。一位住在他家斜對面的醫生主動提出讓他們住在他家，他的家因爲有裝飾性的柱子而被稱爲“壁柱屋”。在1846年末的一個時候克萊門斯一家搬進了那棟房子。1847年3月24日，約翰·克萊門斯去世。其妻簡·蘭普頓·克萊門斯和長子奧利翁，設法重新得到了希爾街那棟小屋的產權，並在那年夏天舉家搬了回去。這些事很喪氣，但並沒有改變吐溫愉悅的個性。 以後的六年間，吐溫的哥亨利，妹妹帕梅拉及母親住在自己的家裏。吐溫在放學後開始打零工來掙些錢貼補家用。父親去世的一年後，他輟了學並在印刷廠當起學徒，1851年當他哥哥奧利翁買下《漢尼堡雜誌》時，吐溫去那裏給他幹活，當了一名印刷工兼編輯助理。他爲奧利翁的報紙寫的故事，也是他的處女作，使他明白與排字工作相比自己更喜歡寫作。於是，當他在1853年5月決定離開漢尼堡時，他對將來的事業已有了初步的勾畫。
