Irishman Speaks - Conor Cunneen

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This speech shows that not only was Mark Twain an inspirational and motivational humorist, but he also had a unique ability to write wonderful prose and to paint pictures with words. Anyone who has read Huckleberry Finn will appreciate his ability to connect with audiences which is not something that many inspirational humorous keynote speakers can do.

QUEEN VICTORIA

ADDRESS TO THE BRITISH SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES CLUB, AT

DELMONICO'S, MONDAY, MAY 25, IN HONOR OF QUEEN VICTORIA'S

BIRTHDAY

Mr. Clemens told the story of his duel with a rival editor: how

he practised firing at a barn door and failed to hit it, but a

friend of his took off the head of a little bird at thirty-five

yards and attributed the shot to Mark twain. The duel did not

take place. Mr. Clemens continued as follows:

It also happened that I was the means of stopping duelling in Nevada, for

a law was passed sending all duellists to jail for two years, and the

Governor, hearing of my marksmanship, said that if he got me I should go

to prison for the full term. That's why I left Nevada, and I have not

been there since.

You do me a high honor, indeed, in selecting me to speak of my country

in this commemoration of the birthday of that noble lady whose life was

consecrated to the virtues and the humanities and to the promotion of

lofty ideals, and was a model upon which many a humbler life was formed

and made beautiful while she lived, and upon which many such lives will

still be formed in the generations that are to come--a life which finds

its just image in the star which falls out of its place in the sky and

out of existence, but whose light still streams with unfaded lustre

across the abysses of space long after its fires have been extinguished

at their source.

As a woman the Queen was all that the most exacting standards could

require. As a far-reaching and effective beneficent moral force she had

no peer in her time among either, monarchs or commoners. As a monarch

she was without reproach in her great office. We may not venture,

perhaps, to say so sweeping a thing as this in cold blood about any

monarch that preceded her upon either her own throne or upon any other.

It is a colossal eulogy, but it is justified.

In those qualities of the heart which beget affection in all sorts and

conditions of men she was rich, surprisingly rich, and for this she will

still be remembered and revered in the far-off ages when the political

glories of her reign shall have faded from vital history and fallen to a

place in that scrap-heap of unverifiable odds and ends which we call

tradition. Which is to say, in briefer phrase, that her name will live

always. And with it her character--a fame rare in the history of

thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers, since it will not rest

upon harvested selfish and sordid ambitions, but upon love, earned and

freely vouchsafed. She mended broken hearts where she could, but she

broke none.

What she did for us in America in our time of storm and stress we shall

not forget, and whenever we call it to mind we shall always remember the

wise and righteous mind that guided her in it and sustained and supported

her--Prince Albert's. We need not talk any idle talk here to-night about

either possible or impossible war between the two countries; there will

be no war while we remain sane and the son of Victoria and Albert sits

upon the throne. In conclusion, I believe I may justly claim to utter

the voice of my country in saying that we hold him in deep honor, and

also in cordially wishing him a long life and a happy reign.