Monday, November 30, 2009

Happy 174th Birthday, Mark Twain



http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2009/11/happy_174th_birthday_mark_twain.php



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Samuel Langhorne Clemensa.k.a. Mark Twain, was born on this day in 1835.

Arguably America's greatest writer and certainly the finest from Missouri, Twain grew up in Hannibal. But did you know his birthplace was the even tinier town ofFlorida, Missouri?

In 2000, the Census recorded just 9 residents living in Florida -- a significant decline since Twain's birth in the mid-1800s.

Wrote Twain of his birthplace:
"The village contained a hundred people and I increased the population by 1 per cent. It is more than many of the best men in history could have done for a town."