<Tr> <Th> Signature </Th> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <P> Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835--April 21, 1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer . Among his novels are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1875) and its sequel, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), the latter often called "The Great American Novel". </P> <P> Twain was raised in Hannibal, Missouri, which later provided the setting for Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn . He served an apprenticeship with a printer and then worked as a typesetter, contributing articles to the newspaper of his older brother Orion Clemens . He later became a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River before heading west to join Orion in Nevada . He referred humorously to his lack of success at mining, turning to journalism for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise . His humorous story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", was published in 1865, based on a story that he heard at Angels Hotel in Angels Camp, California where he had spent some time as a miner . The short story brought international attention and was even translated into French . His wit and satire, in prose and in speech, earned praise from critics and peers, and he was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty . </P> <P> Twain earned a great deal of money from his writings and lectures, but he invested in ventures that lost most of it--notably the Paige Compositor, a mechanical typesetter that failed because of its complexity and imprecision . He filed for bankruptcy in the wake of these financial setbacks, but he eventually overcame his financial troubles with the help of Henry Huttleston Rogers . He chose to pay all his pre-bankruptcy creditors in full, even after he had no legal responsibility to do so . </P>

Mark twain first piece of writing that garnered attention