Mark Twain Had A Penchant For “Collecting” Young Girls
He used to call them his “Angel Fish.”
Samuel Clemens, more popularly known by his pen name, Mark Twain, was an esteemed writer, humorist, and a confessed mystic — as already known to most of us.
His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) — books that kindled a spirit of adventure and discovery in children and even adults.
But what many of us do not know is that Mark Twain was also a collector.
In an autobiographical dictation of 12 February 1908, Clemens explained:
I suppose we are all collectors. As for me, I collect pets: young girls — girls from ten to sixteen years old; girls who are pretty and sweet and naive and innocent — dear young creatures to whom life is a perfect joy and to whom it has brought no wounds, no bitterness, and few tears (Cooley, p. xvii).
Mark Twain collected young girls.
Suppose Mark Twain had tweeted this; it would look something like this:
