unanimous approval and disregard of the copyrights of author and
publisher."

It was the Western humour, and the quaintly untrammelled American
intelligence, focussed upon diverse and age-encrusted civilizations,
which caught the instantaneous fancy of a vast public. It was a virgin
field for the humorous observer; Europe had not yet become the
playground of America. It was rather a _terra incognita_, regarded with
a sort of reverential ignorance by the average American tourist. By the
range of his humour, the pertinency of his observation, and the vigour
of his expression he awoke immediate attention. And he aroused a deeply
sympathetic response in the hearts of Americans by his manly and
outspoken expression--his respect for the worthy, the admirable, the
praiseworthy, his scorn and detestation for the spurious, the specious
and the fraudulent. In this book, for the first time, he strikes the
key-note of his life and thought, which sounds so clearly throughout all
his later works. It is the true beginning of his career.

On his return to the United States in November, he resumed his newspaper
work, this time at the National Capital. On his arrival there he found
a letter from Elisha Bliss, of the 'American Publishing Company',
proposing a volume recounting the adventures of the "Excursion," to be
elaborately illustrated, and sold by subscription on a five per cent.
royalty. He eagerly accepted the offer and set to work on his notes.

"I knew Mark Twain in Washington," says Senator William M. Stewart of
Nevada, in his reminiscences 'A Senator of the Sixties', "at a time when
he was without money. He told me his condition, and said he was very
anxious to get out his book. He showed me his notes, and I saw that
they would make a great book, and probably bring him in a fortune. I