The Louisville Courier-Journal

1885: January 6

Cable and Twain's Reading

Despite the rain there was a large audience at Leiderkranz Hall last night to hear Cable and Mark Twain read. Mr. Cable last year prepared for himself a welcome to Louisville, and the people were ready with a hearty greeting for Mr. Clemens.

Mr. Cable's selections were familiar to the audience, as was the manner of his interpretation, but they lost none of their charm on this account. "Narcisse" and "Kate Riley" and "Richling" and "Restofalo" delighted every one last night with their strange and fascinating humor, of which one never wearies, but the most striking and effective of the pieces recited by Mr. Cable was "Mary Richling's Night Ride." There is no more pathetic, no more moving story in all Mr. Cable has written than that which recounts the weary wandering of "Mary Richling." Caught in the North when the war broke over the land with her child, whom her husband has never seen, she started for New Orleans, confident she could somewhere pierce the line. One disappointment followed another, but the brave-hearted woman never lost courage. Finally it seemed all obstacles were conquered, and, under the guidance and protection of a spy, she rode through the lines, avoiding the pickets and escaping the scouts. It is this last ride Mr. Cable reads with such dramatic force, and it is wise to repeat it to-night.

Mark Twain's humor is indescribable, as it is inimitable. His "Tragic Tale of a Fishwife," in its wild absurdities and extravagant incongruities, was greeted with continuous laughter, the appreciation of the situation, no doubt, being heightened by the recollection that last winter there was in Louisville a professor who promised to teach the German language in six weeks, and in the audience there were several score who once thought they had learned it in that time. Mark Twain promises to-night, in addition to regular programme, to tell the story of the "Jumping Frog." There should be to-night even a larger audience than on last night, and it is to be hoped those who secure seats in advance will obtain them, and the annoyance experienced last night be avoided.

The following is the programme for this evening:

1. From Dr. Sevier--Narcisse's Views on Chirography.
Raoul Innerarity announces his marriage....Geo. W. Cable
2. Certain Personal Episodes....Mark Twain
3. From the Grandissimes--Selection....Geo. W. Cable
4. Why I lost the Editorship....Mark Twain
5. From Dr. Sevier--Mary's Night Ride...Geo. W. Cable
6. Selection...Mark Twain.
 

The Louisville Courier-Journal

1885: January 7

THE second reading by Mark Twain and Mr. Cable at Leiderkranz Hall drew a crowded house last night. The evening was in every way delightful and both gentlemen were applauded again and again. Mark Twain's story of "How he Ceased to be an Editor" and Mr. Cable's account of "Mary Richling's Midnight Ride" were the hits of the evening.


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