Twain, Mark (pen name of Samuel Clemens) (1835-1910) American humorist
whose pseudonym was adopted from his days as a Mississippi steamboat pilot,
"mark twain" meaning "two fathoms deep." He introduced colloquial speech
into American writing and was the most popular writer of his time.
Political Economy (1903)
Possibly written in 1870, Political Economy was included in
Sketches New and Old (1903). This comic piece has almost nothing
to do with the serious subject of political economy, but relates
instead Twain's unfortunate (and costly) experience with an
unscrupulous lightning-rod salesman.
