2 Chapter 1 In with the Comet

Chapter 1 In with the Comet "There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy's life when he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for treasure." —Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens, the man who became famous as Mark Twain, was born in a two-room house in Florida, Missouri. The date was November 30, 1835.

HALLEY'S COMET A COMET IS A BALL OF DUST, GASES, SNOW, AND ICE THAT TRAVELS AROUND THE SOLAR SYSTEM. WE CAN SEE COMETS EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE, WHEN THEY TRAVEL CLOSE TO THE SUN. THE SUN'S HEAT GIVES THE COMET A TAIL OF GAS AND DUST, FORMING A BRIGHT STREAK IN THE SKY. HALLEY'S COMET IS THE MOST FAMOUS OF THESE "COSMIC SNOWBALLS." IT WAS NAMED FOR THE BRITISH ASTRONOMER EDMOND HALLEY IN 1758. HALLEY REALIZED THAT COMET SIGHTINGS IN 1531, 1607, AND 1682 WERE ACTUALLY ALL SIGHTINGS OF THE SAME COMET. HALLEY'S COMET RETURNS ABOUT EVERY SEVENTY-SIX YEARS. IT WILL BE BACK IN 2061.

Halley's comet, which appears only once every 76 years, streaked across the sky that night. Was the brilliant light a sign? Sam's mother, Jane, hoped so. Her "Little Sammy" had arrived two months early. He was so small and frail that she feared he wouldn't live. In those days, many children—including three of Sam's six brothers and sisters—did not live past childhood. But Sam Clemens survived, and he gave his mother a good deal of trouble in the process.

In 1839, Sam's family moved to the larger town of Hannibal, Missouri. Sam's father, John Clemens, was a lawyer and shopkeeper. John hoped to leave hard times behind.

While John struggled to support the family in Hannibal, Sam struggled to pay attention in school. He attended Mrs. Horr's log schoolhouse on Main Street. Sam was a terrific speller and loved to read, but he was restless and excitable. He often broke the rules or played hooky. Hannibal was a river town between two bluffs that overlooked the mighty Mississippi River. Sam called it a "boy's paradise." He and his friends would sneak away to an island in the river to fish, swim, and smoke corncob pipes. Other days, they played in the woods. They pretended to be pirates, Indians, and Robin Hood and his Merry Men.

There were also caves downriver where the boys went looking for treasure. It was exciting and scary to explore dark, underground passages. Sam once got lost in the caves, and he almost drowned in the river nine times! "You gave me more uneasiness than any child I had," his mother told him. (Sam later said he thought she enjoyed it.) The Mississippi River brought the world to Sam Clemens's doorstep. In the days before cars or