Mrs. Clemens did not share his enthusiasm in these various enterprises.  She did not oppose them, at least not strenuously, but she did not encourage them.  She did not see their need.  Their home was beautiful; they were happy; he could do his work in deliberation and comfort.  She knew the value of money better than he, cared more for it in her own way; but she had not his desire to heap up vast and sudden sums, to revel in torrential golden showers.  She was willing to let well enough alone.  Clemens could not do this, and suffered accordingly.  In the midst of fair home surroundings and honors we find him writing to his mother: 

    Life has come to be a very serious matter with me.  I have a
    badgered, harassed feeling a good part of my time.  It comes mainly
    from business responsibilities and annoyances.

He had no moral right to be connected with business at all.  He had a large perception of business opportunity, but no vision of its requirements—­its difficulties and details.  He was the soul of honor, but in anything resembling practical direction he was but a child.  During any period of business venture he was likely to be in hot water:  eagerly excited, worried, impatient; alternately suspicious and over-trusting, rash, frenzied, and altogether upset.

Yet never, even to the end of his days, would he permanently lose faith in speculative ventures.  Human traits are sometimes modified, but never eliminated.  The man who is born to be a victim of misplaced confidence will continue to be one so long as he lives and there are men willing to victimize him.  The man who believes in himself as an investor will uphold that faith against all disaster so long as he draws breath and has money to back his judgments.

CXXXIX

FINANCIAL AND LITERARY

By a statement made on the 1st of January, 1882, of Mark Twain’s disbursements for the preceding year, it is shown that considerably more than one hundred thousand dollars had been expended during that twelve months.  It is a large sum for an author to pay out in one year.  It would cramp most authors to do it, and it was not the best financing, even for Mark Twain.  It required all that the books could earn, all the income from the various securities, and a fair sum from their principal.  There is a good deal of biography in the statement.  Of the amount expended forty-six thousand dollars represented investments; but of this comfortable sum less than five thousand dollars would cover the legitimate purchases; the rest had gone in the “ventures” from whose bourne no dollar would ever return.  Also, a large sum had been spent for the additional land and for improvements on the home—­somewhat more than thirty thousand dollars altogether—­while the home life had become more lavish, the establishment had grown each year to a larger scale, the guests and entertainments had become more and, more numerous, until the actual household expenditure required about as much as the books and securities could earn.