He wrote for
the papers on which he served as printer; and he actually read the
matter he set up in type. By observation on his travels, by study of
the writing of others, Clemens acquired information, knowledge of life,
and ingenuity of expression. He hadn't served his ten--years'
apprenticeship as a printer for nothing. In the process of setting up
tons of good and bad literature, he had learned--half unconsciously--to
appraise and to discriminate. In the same half-unconscious way, he was
actually gaining some inkling of the niceties of style. After he began
"learning the river," Clemens once wrote a funny sketch about Captain
Sellers which made a genuine "hit" with the officers on the boat. The
sketch fell into the hands of the "river-editor" of the 'St. Louis
Republican', found a place in that journal, and was widely copied
throughout the West. On the strength of it, Clemens became a sort of
river reporter, and from time to time published memoranda and comic
squibs in the 'Republican'.
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