Twain’s carefree days did not last long, His father used their house as collateral for a friend’s loan, and the creditor took possession when the loan failed. A physician who lived diagonally across the street from the family offered to let them live in his home, which was called the Pilaster House because of its decorative columns. The Clemens family moved into that house sometime in late 1846. On March 24, 1847, John Clemens died. His wife. Jane Lampton Clemens, and their oldest son, Orion, managed to regain possession of the little house on Hill Street, and the family moved back into it that summer. These events dampened but did not extinguish Twain’s cheerful disposition.

  For the next six years, Twain, his brother Henry, and his sister Pamela live with their mother in the family home. Twain began taking odd jobs after school to bring in extra cash. Within a year of his father’s death, he quit school and became an apprentice printer, and when his brother Orion bought the Hannibal Journal in 1851, Twain went to work for him as a printer and editorial assistant. The stories he wrote for Orion’s paper, his first publications, taught him that he much preferred writing to typesetting. Thus, when he decided to leave Hannibal in May 1853, he already had an inkling of his future career.  

  当马克·吐温撰写《汤姆·索亚历险记》和《哈克贝里·费恩历险记》时，他把密苏里的汉尼堡变成了美国文学的圣地（后来他描写它如同一座“沐浴在夏日清晨阳光照射下安宁的小镇”）。在这个国家没有哪一座城镇会比这里能与作家的关系更紧密的了，而且吐温乐于承认它在他取得成功中的作用。

  汉尼堡与吐温的关系始于1893年，当时吐温的父亲，约翰·克莱门斯，决定离开密苏里州佛罗里达的小村子，迁往东35英里（56公里）位于密西西比河岸边那座大点儿的、繁荣些的汉尼堡。当一家人在那里居了大约一个星期后，吐温（当时叫塞缪尔·克莱门斯）度过了四岁的生日。然而他差点儿没能成为哪儿的长期居民，因为他的身体很差以至于父母担心他可能会夭折。

  在全家人住在汉尼堡的头几年里，吐温太小还不能完全理解他周围发生的变化。约翰·克莱门斯尽管受过做律师的训练，可还是要靠开店铺和做房地产的投机买卖来养家糊口。但当这些生意失败后，克莱门斯不得不推迟了他为家人建一个长久安乐窝的计划。

  大概到了1843年，他的注意力开始转向法律行业，这个决定为全家带来了一些经济保障并且使他能盖一栋房子了。房子是1843年开始盖的，第二年全家乔迁新居。这栋两层的简易木板房座落在临近镇中心的希尔街，当时几乎没有人去注意这栋被全家人称作家的房子。厨房，餐厅和起居室在一层，三间卧室和一间小藏衣室在楼上。

  也就在全家乔迁新居时，吐温的身体戏剧般地好转了。他不再被迫过着肃静的室内生活，而可以在汉尼堡的街道上随处闲逛，攀爬周围的小山，探寻这里的洞穴以及在当地的水潭里嬉戏。他陶醉在新获得的自由中，几乎所有的空闲时间他都在外面和镇子里的其他们孩子玩耍并且很快就成了小头头儿。在这帮孩子中有个叫汤姆·布兰肯希普的，他住在离吐温家不到一个街区的一栋年久失修的房子里，并与吐温成了好朋友。在吐温众多的伙伴中也有女孩子。住在街对面一个叫做劳拉·霍金斯的女孩，吐温时常找她逗闷。liuxuepaper.com