HANNIBAL REDEDICATES TWAIN'S HOME

One of Missouri's famous landmarks will be rededicated this Saturday in Hannibal the boyhood home of Mark Twain. He called this house his home from boyhood until he was almost 18, when he left Hannibal to seek his fortune.

The dedication ceremony and reopening of the restored home and adjoining museum will be held at 11 a.m. at 206 Hill Street. Free tours of the home will follow.

The day before, on Friday, the Mark Twain Foundation has arranged a special performance by Roger Durrett as "Mark Twain Himself." It will be held at the Orpheum Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the performance are $5 and are available at the door. Children under 12 will be admitted for $3.

The story that prefaced this event began in the spring of 1989 when it became recognized that after some 7 million individuals had toured the boyhood home of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain), it was necessary to restore the popular Missouri tourist attraction.

A Restoration Foundation was formed with Charles P. Anton III, president; Dorothy S. Davidson, vice president; James E. Cary, secretary; and Herbert S. Parham, treasurer. The board of directors consisted of 12 members and was later enlarged to 19

A Restoration Campaign Committee was formed with Herb Parham and Jerry Trower, campaign co-chairmen, and a committee of eight dedicated individuals who accomplished wonders. Their goal was to raise $500,000. The fund drive has been very successful.

Residents not only in Missouri but throughout the country were interested in the on-going progress of the restoration work. Just last year over 200,000 persons visited the area and many of the visitors were from overseas. The membership of the Mark Twain Society is large. The society has more than 600 members nationwide, and an additional number live in 50 foreign countries.

As individuals become interested in Mark Twain they usually join the Mark Twain Boyhood Association whose director is Henry Sweets. He supervises the Home and Museum and edits the Bulletin.

Why and how Mark Twain became famous, well loved and admired by both youth and adults is not difficult to explain. He said of himself, "My description is as follows: Born 1835, 5 feet, 8 inches tall, weight about 145 pounds sometimes a bit under, dark brown hair and moustache, full face with very high ears, and light gray, beautiful beaming eyes and a damned good moral character."

He used this description of himself on a passport application in 1878.

Mark Twain died April 21, 1910, which coincided with the return of Halley's comet. The comet returned again, 75 years later, in 1985. At that time, Mark Twain events were observed in the United States and even in some foreign countries where his books are popular.

His thoughts about work. "I Love work. Why, sir, when I have a piece of work to perform, I go away by myself, sit down in the shade, and muse over the coming enjoyment. Sometimes I am so industrious that I muse too long."

Mark Twain was so adventurous it is not unusual for young boys who read about him and his doings to want to be like him. He has always been a role model for boys, especially if they, like Mark, live on the banks of the Mississippi.

His home was very important to him. He recognized that a happy home is the axis about which the family life revolves. Sam's home was simple. His family was poor, but rich in their love and enjoyment of each other.

The remark he made about his home is a classic: "Our house was not an insentient matter--it had a heart, and a soul, and eyes to see us with; and approvals, and solicitudes, and deep sympathies; it was us, and we were in its confidence, and lived in its grace and in the peace of its benediction. We never came home from an absence that its face did not light up and speak out its eloquent welcome--and we could not enter it unmoved."

Cape Girardeau and Jackson both know about the restoration of old houses. The Historical Association of Greater Cape Girardeau restored the Glenn House over a period of years after it was received as a gift in 1969 from the Robert Erlbacher family. In Jackson, the county seat, the Oliver House was purchased in 1965 with funds left over from the city's celebration of the sesquicentennial. The Jackson Heritage Association restored the house. Both restored houses are on the National Register. The Glenn House was placed on the register, Oct. 11, 1979; and the Oliver House, on April 18, 1985.

Today restoration is taking place throughout the country as important landmarks are being saved to enable future generations to be better informed about their roots and the history of the United States.