Genes of Mark Twain

 

Mark Twain (1835-1910) was - and still is - a beloved American writer, essayist and humorist. He is one of those people who gained a lasting popularity by works that seem to have caught something important in the self-perception of a nation: His fictive characters like e.g. Tom from in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" (1876) and its sequel "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (1884) stand out as "true Americans", but - and that's the great part of it - you don't have to be an American to love them. Twain was called "The father of American literature", but as it is he also was a father in the world of realities as he had four children, i.e. one son who died in early infancy and three daughters. Sadly enough, two of these three girls also died young and only one, Clara, married and had one child, her daughter Nina Gabrilowitsch.

Clara Langdon Clemens

It seems that the surviving Twain-daughter had some traits in common with the fictional boy-characters her father had created. She was prone to mishaps as she had an inkling for adventurous exploits like e.g. sledding down steep slopes. When growing up she not only dreamed of being her own woman, away from her family of a, at that time, mortally sick mother and sister, and an absent father, but also of becoming an opera star. However, that career wish was never fulfilled although she on several occasions performed succesfully as a recital singer. She also had some fame as a fine pianist, but she married a genuine musical prodigy, the Russian pianist‚ composer‚ and conductor Ossip Gabrilowitsch. They had one child, namely their daughter‚ Nina (1910-1966), who was to become the last one in the Twain-bloodline as she never married, but remained a spinster all through her life. When Ossip Gabrilowitsch died in 1936 Clara married another Russian musician, Jacques Samoussoud, and lived with him in California until she herself died, 88 years old.

 Nina with her parents, Clara and Ossip Gabrilowitsch

The only grand-daughter of Mark Twain wasn't a female "Tom Sawyer", but she exhibited some traits that have been seen as something she had inherited from her famous grandfather, namely alcoholism. Something he himself didn't own up to. When she was found dead in 1966 she was surrounded by empty whisky bottles and something that indicated a grave narcotics problem. She never met her famous grandfather who died four months before she was born, but she felt related to him in many ways which made her chose his family name "Clemens", naming herself Nina Clemens Gabrilowitsch. As it was she lived off her inheritance from him after she had had to drop her dreams of becoming a great photographer. 

Her life was spent in travels and one gets the impression that she somehow never started to grow into the person she might have become had she not chosen drugs and spirits as the most important to her. She did have a somewhat mysterious affair with an artist by the name of Carl Roters for several years. Clara did not approve of him as she thought he was to blame for her daughter's drinking, but he himself said that he didn't want to marry her because of her addiction to alcohol and drugs. In 1941he married someone else. 

The only descendant of "the father of the American literature", Mark Twain seems so very bleak and colorless that she in my opinion resembles a "ghost" of what might have been, but which never became a reality. Well, she wasn't either her grandfather or her mother, and somehow she seems to have lacked most of what constituted their personality. She is in many ways a very mysterious individual and it has been said about her that she is the least known relative of Mark Twain which is quite sad as she was his only true descendant.

Mark Twain on a visit to the laboratory of Nikola Tesla, 1894

https://marktwainhouse.org/about/mark-twain/sam-clemens-family/twains-children/ 

 

https://marktwainstudies.com/finding-the-lost-diary-of-mark-twains-granddaughter-nina-gabrilowitsch/ 

 

http://www.twainquotes.com/19660119.html 

 

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gabrilowitsch-2 

 

https://lordsofthedrinks.org/2015/03/28/mark-twain-the-drunken-father-of-american-literature/ 

 

Wikipedia

 

Miner in Spain: Adventures of an English Noblewoman

 

The only painting of Mary that survives is allegorical, by Lanscroon, on the ceiling of the library in Powis Castle. Mary represents Minerva, the Roman goddess of truth and wisdom, and is seated on a cloud

I was looking for pictures of the highly reputed English poet Mary Herbert when I stumbled upon the name of another Mary Herbert, i.e. the English countess, Lady Mary Herbert de Powis (1684-1775), who went mining in Spain after emigrating in 1729. She must have been a very adventurous woman with a strong belief in herself to do anything that much out of character for an English noblewomen in the 1800th century. (Actually, that's one of the main reasons why I like her).

 

The mother of Mary Herbert de Powis

England may not have had a spiritual hold of someone like Mary Herbert de Powis who was brought up a Catholic in Belgium. After all, Catholics were not popular in England anymore, as the special English/Anglican "Protestantism" was the "order of the day". The father of Mary, the Marquess - later Duke - of Powis, had been imprisoned because of his Catholic/Jacobite sympathies, but was later restored to his title and estates. However, religion was the pivotal point of the day and both of the Catholic king James II's daughters by Anne Hyde, the queens Mary and Anne, were brought up as protestants at the order of their uncle, King Charles II, although he himself was a more or less secret Catholic. 

Mary's family seat: The impressive Powis Castle in Wales

Anyway, somehow Mary Herbert de Powis attained a contract with the Compania Espanola to work the Pozo Rico silver mine. How she got that idea is a mystery, but she may have been duped by a certain well-known schemer by the name of Abbe Paretti. (That in itself is an interesting story that someone, but not me, might find interesting to dive into ....) Mary's contract with Compania Espanola included draining the mine, and she recruited cheap labour for that, but I think "something" went very wrong from the start as her Spanish adventure included an arrest and law suits when she tried to leave Spain. Before that she had had to sack the Irish lead-miner that her father had found for her as she saw him as totally unsuitable for the job. At the same time she kept refusing to marry her life long suitor, Count Joseph Cage, whom she had assigned as the manager of the mine. Strangely enough there are suggestions that they did marry so what's right? I'm not sure, but somehow they were together for a long time.

Portrait from 1743 of the brother of Count Joseph Cage, Lord Thomas Cage, 1st Viscount Cage

Anyway, Mary and her team succeeded in draining the mine down to level 6, but after some time it was obvious that Compania Espaniola had no intentions of paying her. Something which, of course, lead to various lawsuits. Not until 8 years later she won her case and in all that time she had to stay in Spain, watching how the mine filled with water once again. However, it's obvious from documents that although she won there were still several disagreements about who did what, and who had the rights to do anything. The story of the English noblewoman of the 1800th century who tried her hand at mining in Spain is interesting, but I don't see it is fully solved. Also the case has a postlude of Mary taking part in the Spanish medicine and hat-making industry. At that time the Spanish king Ferdinand VI had robbed her legal rights of the mines and bestowed them on someone else who had claimed that her materials for medicine and hats were inferior to his. Something that seems to have made Mary fume with rage as she ravaged the mine, sacked the workers, and disposed of the horses and mules before handing it over. 

Wikipedia

 

https://www.houseofnames.com/fc.asp?s=noble+family+of+Cage&rw=yes

Mary died in September 1775, aged 89, and was laid to rest at the chapel in the Temple, Paris. The full story of Lady Mary Herbert de Powis is supposedly told in the 120-page biography "The Duchess of Rio Tinto, the story of Mary Herbert and Joseph Gage"

The Jealous Fathers

  

Balanced parenthood

One of my friends sadly died from breast cancer at a young age. Her life was in some ways quite tragic or, at best, not very easy. One of her main problems was the man she had married and who was the father of her son. Before she gave birth he seemed to be OK with this addition to the family, but afterwards he did and said something that revealed his true feelings: He may have loved the IDEA of a son and fatherhood, but he sure didn't like the REALITIES of it. Or, put another way, he - the father of this small family - didn't like his status to drop into a position of "second in the family". Up till then he definitely felt to be "King of the hill" and his wife didn't challenge that delusion by pointing out the fact that she was the main breadwinner of the family. 

I think both of them loved the child, but the father behaved in a strange manner when he saw the small baby boy with his mother. She breast fed him and did a lot to fulfill his baby needs, but that seems to have started a a most unexpected reaction in her husband: At one point when she sat with the happily sucking baby he came over and pinched her arm viciously. As that was the arm that held the baby it was not a very wise thing to do which she pointed out to him. She had no reply, excuses from him or any kind of explanations, but she noticed that he seemed "strange" and very observant of what she was doing whenever she breast fed their child. Could the reason for this be the sex of the baby? Would he have been less jealous of a baby had it been a girl? We shall never know, but I wonder how many women who have experienced something like that ....

https://nz.news.yahoo.com/graphic-novelist-tortured-fianc-e-203110582.html?guccounter=1 

 

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-jealousy-5190471 

 

Wikipedia

Did Jesus Exist as A Historical Character?

 

These days we celebrate the Christian Easter which means that we commemorate and honor the sacrifice of the Jewish carpenter who was believed to be the only son - in the flesh - of the Biblical god, Yahweh. Everything leading up to that sacrifice is shrouded in not very likely legends and myths bordering on fairy tales, but is that all they are, or are these old stories remnants of historical facts? I, for one, don't believe in either the Immaculate Birth or the godly paternity of the main character of this world-famous story, i.e. Jesus, but I find some passages of The Bible describing it very beautiful, thought-provoking and utterly wise. However, not believing in e.g. the Immaculate Birth and the godly paternity of Jesus is not the same as not being interested in knowing about him as a historical person, or put another way: Did he ever walk this planet like the rest of us or is everything about him myths related by his 12 disciples and, many years later, turned into a book called The Bible? 

He has a grave, but is not to be found in it, either because he did arise or because his dead body was removed by his faithful disciples, eager to protect the myth about him and his status as Messiah. Some believe that he didn't die, but fled with Mary Magdalen whom he honored as a genuine disciple and who may actually have been his wife. However, once again we are being led away from the main point in the story of the messianic carpenter: Did he exist as a person whom his contemporaries might see walking the streets as they did or was he a figment of the imagination, only living in the minds of the faithful disciples?

We know that according to his biography he was considered one of several Jewish prophets at the time. In his teachings he was a political rebel who may even be called a "socialist" by the standards of today, fighting for the poor as he was. He was executed as a rebel against The State, so why aren't there regular documents telling the story of his rebellion? Well, in a way there are as he and his followers were mentioned twice by e.g. the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus in his "Jewish Antiquities" which is a 20-volume history book, written around 93 AD. Jesus was presumably born 6-4 BC and he died AD c. 30-33 so he was not a contemporary of him and his disciples.

Jesus is also mentioned by Tacitus. He is not the main character for him, but mentioned he is as his followers were blamed for the fire that the emperor Nero used to get room for the new buildings he wanted to build. That means that the Christians were the scapegoats of Nero and Tacitus is explicit in his short description of their messiah. I admit that that's a sort of backward biography of Jesus, but no matter what it can't be explained away as a fantasy by Christian believers: Jesus did exist as did his followers because otherwise Nero had not been able to use them the way he did.

 https://www.britannica.com/topic/Easter-holiday

 

https://www.bartehrman.com/historicity-of-jesus/ 

 

https://www.bibleref.com/John/10/John-10-39.html 

 

https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/jesus-historical-jesus/did-jesus-exist/ 

 

Wikipedia

The Female Serial-Killer Chisako Kakehi

 

As is well-known most murderers are men, and most murder victims are women. Much, much too many women loose their life over male sexuality and the "need" to gain sexual satisfaction. Many of these female victims are sex-workers and the male murderers - who came to them for sex - somehow seem to confuse this fact with a sick belief in their moral obligation or just "right" to kill them in an attempt to "clean up" society. It's as sick as it can be, to, so-to-speak, "drain the swamp", etc., etc. by removing these women whose job it is to give the sexual satisfaction sought by their killers. Women, on the other hand, murder for money or feelings of love turned hatred, but not to gain sexual satisfaction. They don't rape their victims which very, very often happen in male-murdering-women-murders.  

I, for one believe that many more female murderers get away with their crimes than is known. Very often they don't use weapons that leaves a tell-tale mess which is what men do. No, many murderous women resort to poison which may not be detected at a glance like e.g. knife wounds. It has been the custom not to see women who murder several people as serial-killers. Somehow this appellation has been reserved for men, but there are female serial-killers - and maybe even more than we think. One of them is the Japanese Chisako Kakehi (born 1946), who was convicted for murdering four men, but who presumably killed at least seven others. She was arrested in 2014 when a routine autopsy revealed cyanide in the body of her dead husband.

At first she denied any responsibility, but in 2017 she confessed the murder which she said happened out of a deep-rooted hatred of her husband. Two days later she retracted her confession, even denying any remembrance of it. Her lawyers tried to make a case for her being demented and not responsible for her actions, but that didn't work well with the judge: She received a death warrant, but there hasn't been set a date of her execution yet. Actually she will only be informed that her sentence is being carried out on the morning of her execution which to me looks very cruel. I don't know if that's because she is a woman who in some ways has behaved like a male man, but there hasn't been that many executions in Japan so maybe she isn't going to have "a date with the executioner?

 

 https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/gsh/Booklet_5.pdf

 

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20230209/Understanding-the-minds-of-female-serial-killers.aspx

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2840383/Woman-arrested-Japans-latest-black-widow-case.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/12/chisako-kakehi-japan-black-widow-confesses-to-killing-fourth-husband

https://bjs.ojp.gov/female-murder-victims-and-victim-offender-relationship-2021

 

Wikipedia

Damned if you do, and damned if you don't, you're killed anyway  

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I saw this posting on Reddit and it presents an angle to the subject of women being murdered which I must confess that I've never thought of before. Having thought it over agree 100%, so

Why is femicide not considered a hate crime?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Feminism/comments/1bg855u/why_is_femicide_not_considered_a_hate_crime/  

"If you attack or kill someone strictly because of their identity, religion, sexuality, "race, etc. it’s considered a hate crime. You are charged extra and more harshly. Men kill THREE women a day for the same reason, and they are not charged with hate crime. I’ve actually never even seen a man in America be charged with a hate crime, just oversees (mexico, you’re awesome) So why are women excluded from protection? Men would not be killing /beating/ raping us if we weren’t women. Men will specifically target us because we are easy prey, and have a vagina that they can take advantage of. I often hear the argument that it’s because it’s a domestic situation. You could say that the husband killed the wife because they got into a dispute that was not about gender, but ultimately the wife was killed because she is mostly likely weaker and smaller. It would have to be case by case, obviously if a husband kills his wife over a “non gender topic” then he would not be charged with a hate crime. I’m talking more about women that are attacked randomly. (Please keep this a friendly conversation! I’m not trying to fight or be mean with anyone ❤️)"

These murders are going on all over the world, but we have heard more about the worst atrocities in Muslim countries than of those in Western non-Muslim areas. However, that doesn't mean that The West, i.e. Christian societies, go free of rightful accusations. Murdering women has been a special "male sport" for ages, and in America right now there is a tightening of the shackles of the victims, so to speak, and women are losing out on many other issues like e.g. abortion. Actually, certain states are trying to turn their female citizens into some kind of "cattle" by claiming that they are not the true owners of their inborn uterus: Girls (children!!!!) and women are being criminalized for abortions even when their health is at stake if they don't have them. All of this is part of a pattern that gets more and more clear to those who know how to see, and it's not acceptable ....

 

https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/GSH2018/GSH18_Gender-related_killing_of_women_and_girls.pdf 

 

Wikipedia

 

I Saw A White Bird Today ....

 

My fable or short story, "I Saw A White Bird Today", is from my antology, "Animals, Humans and So On" (SAXO)

I Saw a White Bird Today

I saw a big, white bird today
No wait, I saw a picture of a big white bird today
and actually there were not one, but two birds

One very big and ferocious one
the other smaller and a victim for a murderer in feathers
Yeah, and both were in the air, flapping their wings

The small one being eaten alive by the other one
a beak deep inside its back, but none the less alive
what struck me was their twin quality, Cain and Abel
the killer was a seagull and so was its victim
forever the big Cain killing his smaller brother Abel

By the way, do seagulls eat seagulls?
Well, do humans obliterate humans?

And didn’t I avert my eyes from this unbearable cruelty
because it wasn’t real, only a picture of something real?
Maybe we should stick with the pictures and throw out
what’s only all too real in the world of realities?