The words Mark Twain, or Samuel Clemens (however one prefers to refer to him), spoke in memory of his late wife demonstrate the importance to him of childhood, which can certainly be seen in so many of his lauded works. He said that she was “both girl and woman” when he met her; these qualities, partly exhibited in her “free laugh,” extended to the very last days of her life. The glory days of childhood would always be important to the great American humorist. A pathos is added to this observation when one learns of the tragedies surrounding the children in the author’s life.
          The first child born to Twain and his wife, Olivia, was a premature son, Langdon. His survival at birth was dubious, yet he continued on until dying of diphtheria in 1872. Twain blamed himself for the child’s death, as he had taken him out for a ride in the cold air. Twain’s action did not cause Langdon’s death, but the guilt was still unavoidable. Three daughters, Susy, Jean and Clara, were born to the couple. Susy and Jean predeceased their father; he was only outlived by Clara.
          Twain is easily the creator of literature’s best-loved children. His mischievous Tom Sawyer and simple, good-hearted Huckleberry Finn have defined the epitome of boyhood for generations. When Americans look at boys playing, there must be some part, albeit at times subtle and subconscious, that compares them with the adventures of these two marvelous creations. Although Twain purports that the characters in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer were based on his own childhood acquaintances, perhaps there is more to the story. If the casual reader can feel the nostalgia and innocent beauty of this novel and its sequel, Huckleberry Finn, the writer must have felt its impact even more deeply. It is the very nature of writing that the creator feels and sees his characters. On some level, Twain must have thought of his own son pulling the famous whitewashing trick. Aunt Polly could not tolerate Tom’s tricks, but Sam Clemens would have given much to see his own son carry it out.
          Belief in the purity of childhood is evident as Twain looks back at Huck Finn. This bad seed was variously identified as Frank Finn, the son of Hannibal, Missouri’s town drunk, and as Tom Blankenship, the boy with whom no decent child was allowed to associate. Twain identifies both as having the proverbial “heart of gold” and as having gone on in life to be justices of the peace. Perhaps he mixed up the name. Either way, the concept was that there was no truly bad boy. Huck, Frank and Tom were denigrated by adults who just did not understand them. The adult Clemens did not fall into this trap.
          His devotion to his children was evident in how touched he was that his pig-tailed daughter Susy took on the task of writing his biography. This endeavor touched Twain as being the highest compliment he had ever experienced from any source. Her family life was happy, and she described Twain with the glowing eye of an idealizing young daughter. He was funny, intelligent, and attractive, although she admitted to his temper. This last condescension to his lack of perfection might well have been due to the off-color vocabulary to which she and her sisters heard him give vent when he thought himself safe from prying ears. Twain describes his wife editing his work while he and the children argued about her deletions. When Susy’s and Twain’s accounts are considered together, they lead to a feeling of any idyllic time.
          The size of Twain’s heart for children may be gauged by his 1895 encounter with a fourteen year old Helen Keller. He was so impressed by her natural talents that he persuaded a friend to set up a scholarship fund. She had passed the test for Radcliffe but could not afford the tuition. Some have made it seem that he did not know how to relate to children who had grown into adulthood. This is certainly not the case. His friendship with Helen Keller remained even as this remarkable girl matured.
          The happy time of familial joy was not to last. Susy died in 1896 at the age of 23, while Twain, his wife and Clara were abroad. He was not able to be at his child’s burial. Twain’s writings after this time take on a decidedly more somber tone. Olivia died in 1904. Having endured so much, many men would have wallowed in self-pity and taken to reclusiveness. Twain, however, enjoyed the company of children and they were frequently children to be seen at his New York house. Shortly before Twain left this plane, he endured the death of his twenty-nine year old daughter Jean, who had long suffered from epilepsy (although various aspects of her life indicate there was some deeper problem at work).
          Twain seems to have been estranged from his one surviving child, Clara. She married the Russian pianist Ossip Gabriolowitch. Her father, the man who seemed to understand children so well, died before the birth of his only grandchild.
          Clara died in 1962 and Nina Clemens Gabrilowitch, the grandchild Twain never saw, died with alcohol and pills in her room in 1966. This is part of the tragedy of Twain’s life: that his only granddaughter did not inherit the purity of her grandfather’s wit or her grandmother’s grandmother’s eternal girlish qualities. These traits were of a lost generation and died with Twain.

 
"Twain and Children -- Some Thoughts"  by Allan Azouz
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