Mark Twain allegedly was born during a visit from Halley’s Comet and died upon its return some 76.8 years later. Twain certainly has a lot of mystic about his legacy. His death and final words are up for debate as well. While this may be morbid, it’s therapeutic to spend time deciphering the last words of the dead if only to understand our own mortality and what they have to say before crossing over. In this post, we are going to look at Mark Twain’s last words, and see how they are in fact a little sadder than one would think.
Twain’s Last Words (or scribbles)
Twain died of angina pectoris, according to reports, and lay bedridden leading up to his death. Being a legendary author, there are a few versions of his death.
One Version of Events
Conflicting stories exist for most things in history. After all, the winners are the ones writing about history. Or, in this case, those who were there to witness the end times of popular authors. According to some, Twain did not speak his last words; rather, he wrote them.
Twain had been bedridden with sickness and was hardly conscious in his last weeks of life. This may have something to do with his 20-cigar-a-day habit affecting his ability to breath. Regardless, he woke up on the day of his death and briefly spoke to his daughter, Clare, before requesting his glasses to write a note. The scribbles of his note were the last words he jotted before falling back asleep and dying sometime later.
Allegedly, all he only wrote: “Goodbye. If we meet…”
Another Version of Events
Another story, and one of the more popular stories of his death, says that Twain held Clara’s hand and uttered, “If we meet…” before falling to sleep and dying “several hours later.” What he wanted to say is a mystery.
Similarly, he may have asked for his glasses.
Grief, as it has been written, plagued Twain for most of his life. In a 1910 article by the Arizona Journal-Miner, the author states that Twain, “died of a broken heart.”
“Feeling unequal to the conversation, he said, ‘Give me my glasses.’ These were his last words. Laying them aside, he first sank into a reverie, and later into final unconsciousness.”
Why His Death is One Shrouded in Sorrow
Whether true or not, I think there is something peaceful about his death in the second story. After the loss of his wife and two daughters–one to spinal meningitis and another to accidental drowning–one can only imagine the heartache he must have felt at the end of his life. As stated elsewhere on the blog, Twain cared deeply about his family. To pass away quietly while holding his only remaining daughter’s hand sounds lovely to someone who had lived through so much pain and loss. Therefore, it doesn’t really matter what Mark Twain’s last words were, because he had lived and died with those he cared about the most.
Author and friend, William Dean Howells wrote a eulogy for Twain and stated:
“Twain saw the humor of life, for ever he portrays real types with force and truth, to make them permanent … His most audacious sallies were terse and yet strongly grave. As a moralist, he showed his love of humanity and his hatred of sham, and this sense of duty formed his most ironic and debonair preachments.”
