During our vacation last fall, I had an opportunity to visit the Mark Twain Museum in Hannibal, Missouri. I came across a personal letter written by Mark Twain in the early 1900's. Naturally, the sight of this letter stopped me dead in my tracks. My wife moved on leaving me there transfixed and captivated, leaning over the glass display case containing the letter. I studied it quite a while, made notes, and couldn't get it off my mind the rest of the trip home. I called the director of the museum, Mr. Henry Sweets, and he agreed to send copies of several of Mark twain's letters and notes.

Even if the author of these letters had been unknown, it was apparent that the handwriting belonged to a person of unusual literary capability. Indeed, it would have been difficult to have missed this person's occupation.

The strangest personal pronoun imaginable for a world renowned literary genius showed little ego (ego was expressed elsewhere, however) performed like a walking cane with a tiny circle at the beginning of the hook. You would expect an ego the size of all outdoors from reading his satires of kings, queens, and dignitaries. It brought to mind an inscription we had seen earlier at the base of his statue overlooking his beloved Mississippi River: "His religion was humanity and a whole world mourned for him when he died."

The size of his writing was rather small further attesting to his sincere humility, his marvelous concentration and attention to the myriads of detail so necessary to the accomplished writer. There are many word connections, words strung together in concentration so intense he could not get his pen away from the paper. He had no other thought than getting together his intricate planning of story plots and schemes.

The writing is superbly organized, spacing indicating the need of distance and time for deep and unrushed thought for prolonged meditation and consideration of the many profound interests of his life. Profound, yet laced with his famous dry wit.

Sam Clemens was no ordinary man, we know that for sure. Many people who write and write well have rather few indicators of literary talent in their writing. His writing is unmistakable and full of the scientific literary traits based on empirical research peculiar to the science of graphology. Most likely, he knew little or nothing of the science, which makes his writing a valuable study, reinforcing these scientific meanings of many graphological definitions. Obviously - from these accepted idioms of meaning - he was a person of the pen profession. Very noticeable is the lyric "d," a common stroke used by many literary artists. And, of course, he carried along his figure-eight kit, the "g" configuration used by those gifted for penning their thoughts well. These people have a little bag of tools all their own, a nifty little gift always there and energized when the proper time comes along. And, it helps when the imagination is so very fertile. The pressure of his writing is light allowing the mind to race and soar, exploring subjectively, not getting bogged down in the mire common to the over intense.

The "t" bars are launced above the stem -- lofty ideals transformed into common laughable scenes of children's everyday life. The worthwhile meaning and composition of Life itself espoused into the simple humanity of a midwestern river town where time stands still for barefooted boys and girls in the warm sunshine of life. Mark Twain was a specially blessed man and grew to recognize the distinct difference between glitter and true pristine values.

He has some traits that are almost detrimental to a writer; his connectedness, for instance, is extreme at times involving many connected words across an entire line. There is seldom a break in any word, even long ones, suggesting a restriction of creative thought and expression which is vital to the writer of successful fiction. Usually these formations are reserved for the reception of accepted logical concepts and often inhibit intuitive thought.

There are, to offset this seeming contradiction, many other areas in his writing that reveal these necessary traits.

• There is intuitive instinct in his many threaded characters. Intuition is also a part of the figure-eight "g" formations which he uses throughout his writings.
• His light pressure and speed are unmistakable locations of sensitivity.
• The garland connections find him receptive to the concerns of the oppressed and needy, uncovering his soft and sympathetic heart.
• And, as mentioned earlier, the imagination shown by his high-above-the-stem "t" crossings. This famous man enjoyed the best of two worlds -- logically driven and intuitively blessed. What a marriage.