They had acquired more ground.  One morning in the spring Mark Twain had looked out of his window just in time to see a man lift an ax to cut down a tree on the lot which lay between his own and that of his neighbor.  He had heard that a house was to be built there; altogether too close to him for comfort and privacy.  Leaning out of the window he called sonorously, “Woodman, spare that tree!” Then he hurried down, obtained a stay of proceedings, and without delay purchased the lot from the next-door neighbor who owned it, acquiring thereby one hundred feet of extra ground and a greenhouse which occupied it.  It was a costly purchase; the owner knew he could demand his own price; he asked and received twelve thousand dollars for the strip.

In November, Clemens found that he must make another trip to Canada.  ’The Prince and the Pauper’ was ready for issue, and to insure Canadian copyright the author must cross the line in person.  He did not enjoy the prospect of a cold-weather trip to the north, and tried to tempt Howells to go with him, but only succeeded in persuading Osgood, who would do anything or go anywhere that offered the opportunity for pleasant company and junket.

It was by no means an unhappy fortnight.  Clemens took a note-book, and there are plenty of items that give reality to that long-ago excursion.  He found the Canadian girls so pretty that he records it as a relief now and then to see a plain one.  On another page he tells how one night in the hotel a mouse gnawed and kept him awake, and how he got up and hunted for it, hoping to destroy it.  He made a rebus picture for the children of this incident in a letter home.

We get a glimpse just here of how he was constantly viewing himself as
literary material—­human material—­an example from which some literary
aspect or lesson may be drawn.  Following the mouse adventure we find it
thus dramatized: 
    Trace Father Brebeuf all through this trip, and when I am in a rage
    and can’t endure the mouse be reading of Brebeuf’s marvelous
    endurances and be shamed.

And finally, after chasing the bright-eyed rascal several days, and throwing things and trying to jump on him when in my overshoes, he darts away with those same bright eyes, then straightway I read Brebeuf’s magnificent martyrdom, and turn in, subdued and wondering.  By and by the thought occurs to me, Brebeuf, with his good, great heart would spare even that poor humble mousie—­and for his sake so will I—­I will throw the trap in the fire—­jump out of bed, reach under, fetch out the trap, and find him throttled there and not two minutes dead.

They gave him a dinner in Montreal.  Louis Frechette, the Canadian poet, was there and Clemens addressed him handsomely in the response he made to the speech of welcome.  From that moment Frechette never ceased to adore Mark Twain, and visited him soon after the return to Hartford.