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 | | From: | Les Brown | | Subject: | "A railway station with a town attached"? | | Date: | Fri, 14 Jan 2005 01:45:52 GMT |
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 | Did Mark Twain (Samuel Clements) ever call Maryborough, Victoria:
"A railway station with a town attached"?
See:
http://www.brownfam.com.au/mark%20twain.htm
Les Brown
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| | From: | Bill Bolton | | Subject: | Re: "A railway station with a town attached"? | | Date: | Fri, 14 Jan 2005 07:41:30 GMT |
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| Les Brown wrote:
> Did Mark Twain (Samuel Clements) ever call Maryborough, Victoria:
>
> "A railway station with a town attached"?
It appears to be someone's embelishment of the extract below that
Samuel Clemens actually did write:
"Don't you overlook that Maryborough station, if you take an
interest in governmental curiosities. Why, you can put the
whole population of Maryborough into it, and give them a sofa
apiece, and have room for more."
FOLLOWING THE EQUATOR, A JOURNEY AROUND THE WORLD
CHAPTER XXXI: The Express Train-'A Hell of a Hotel at
Maryborough'-Clocks and Bells - Railroad Service.
Cheers,
Bill
Bill Bolton
Sydney, Australia
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| | From: | Robert Lee | | Subject: | Re: "A railway station with a town attached"? | | Date: | Fri, 14 Jan 2005 05:56:37 GMT |
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| I've read the book very thoroughly and looked for that comment. It's not
there, so if he said it, it was reported in the press, and that I have not
investigated.
In addition to what's quoted in the Brown's website, he had this to say
about Maryborough:
'Well, of course when they build and run eighty stations at a loss, and a
lot of palace-stations and clocks like Maryborough's at another loss, the
government has got to economize somewhere, hasn't it? Very well - look at
the rolling stock! That's where they save the money. Why, that train from
Maryborough will consist of eighteen freight-cars and two passenger-kennels;
cheap, poor, slovenly; no drinking water, no sanitary arrangements, every
imaginable inconvenience; and slow? - oh, the gait of cold molasses; no
air-brake, no springs, and they'll jolt your head off every time they start
or stop. That's where they make their little economies, you see. They'll
spend tons of money to house you palatially while you wait fifteen minutes
for a train, then degrade you to six hours' convict transportation to get
the foolish outlay back.'
In fact Twain used the device of a conversation with an imaginary clergyman
to tell this story, and this was the clergyman's account of travelling to
Maryborough. He also said this of his trip form Ballarat to Benigo via
Maryborough and Castlemaine:
'It has actually taken nine hours to come from Ballarat to Bendigo. We could
have saved seven by walking. However, there was no hurry.'
He was VERY unimpressed with VR's service on this line. Perhpas he wasn't
alone and this was why, not all that long later, this was where the McKeen
railcars were used.
"Les Brown" wrote in message
news:ai8eu09t9rdctga1tp83mqfsatv3vpd01r@4ax.com...
> Did Mark Twain (Samuel Clements) ever call Maryborough, Victoria:
>
> "A railway station with a town attached"?
>
> See:
>
> http://www.brownfam.com.au/mark%20twain.htm
>
> Les Brown
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| | From: | David Bennetts | | Subject: | Re: "A railway station with a town attached"? | | Date: | Fri, 14 Jan 2005 14:28:24 +1100 |
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"Les Brown" wrote in message
news:ai8eu09t9rdctga1tp83mqfsatv3vpd01r@4ax.com...
> Did Mark Twain (Samuel Clements) ever call Maryborough, Victoria:
>
> "A railway station with a town attached"?
>
> See:
>
> http://www.brownfam.com.au/mark%20twain.htm
>
> Les Brown
Interesting question Les, it's now written in legend and even the GG
repeated it last November in a speech.
Only way to verify it now may be to contact a medium and see if you can get
thru to the late Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain to verify. Good for the
tourist industry though in quoting the famous American.
Regards
David Bennetts
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| | From: | WAMRC | | Subject: | Re: "A railway station with a town attached"? | | Date: | Sat, 15 Jan 2005 08:39:28 +0800 |
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| In the forward to the story "To Melbourne By Train", from Jim Haynes &
Russel Hannah's excellent "All Aboard! Tales of Australian Railways"
(http://shop.abc.net.au/browse/product.asp?productid=236898), it is
written that the "The Maryborough Advertiser" repeated the quote some
50 years after Mark/Samuel performed his original lecture tour. Samuel
Clements lecture tour was in 1895 so The Maryborough Advertiser must
have written this some time in the late 1940's:
Mark Twain is credited with designating the town as 'a railway station
with a town attached'. The designation has frequently been quoted,
both in terms of criticism and praise. After all we would not be
stretching the imagination so far as our railway station is concerned,
because it is a structure which still stands as a monument to its
builders and gives the town more than ordinary distinction.
It would well be one of those "greatest quotes never actually said",
but it looks like it dates back a long way in any case.
Regards,
Ross.
WAMRC (Inc.)
http://www.istnet.net.au/~wamrc
On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 01:45:52 GMT, Les Brown
wrote:
>Did Mark Twain (Samuel Clements) ever call Maryborough, Victoria:
>"A railway station with a town attached"?
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| | From: | William Pearce | | Subject: | Re: "A railway station with a town attached"? | | Date: | Sun, 16 Jan 2005 17:29:50 +1100 |
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| Looking through my paperback copy of 'Mark Twain in Australia and New
Zealand', it appears that Twain was travelling in a train to Maryborough and
got into conversation with a gentleman who he (Twain) judged to be a
'dissenting minister'. It was this 'minister' who made the derogatory
comments about the Maryborough, its hotel and station and the V.R. in
general. And they were very derogatory! Twain merely recorded these
statements in his book.
Regards,
Bill.
"WAMRC" wrote in message
news:bsogu0ltgv46keflq5tt9qms8sluqtgl29@4ax.com...
> In the forward to the story "To Melbourne By Train", from Jim Haynes &
> Russel Hannah's excellent "All Aboard! Tales of Australian Railways"
> (http://shop.abc.net.au/browse/product.asp?productid=236898), it is
> written that the "The Maryborough Advertiser" repeated the quote some
> 50 years after Mark/Samuel performed his original lecture tour. Samuel
> Clements lecture tour was in 1895 so The Maryborough Advertiser must
> have written this some time in the late 1940's:
>
> Mark Twain is credited with designating the town as 'a railway station
> with a town attached'. The designation has frequently been quoted,
> both in terms of criticism and praise. After all we would not be
> stretching the imagination so far as our railway station is concerned,
> because it is a structure which still stands as a monument to its
> builders and gives the town more than ordinary distinction.
>
> It would well be one of those "greatest quotes never actually said",
> but it looks like it dates back a long way in any case.
>
> Regards,
> Ross.
> WAMRC (Inc.)
> http://www.istnet.net.au/~wamrc
>
> On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 01:45:52 GMT, Les Brown
> wrote:
>
> >Did Mark Twain (Samuel Clements) ever call Maryborough, Victoria:
> >"A railway station with a town attached"?
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