The excerpt from Mark Twain's memoir "Life on the Mississippi" (1883) and the short story "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras" (1865) painted America as a country built on human greed, deceit, opportunity, and tall tales.
"The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" was based on a story Twain heard in the Angels Camp mining town in California. The short-story collection also called, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches," was Twain's first book and contains 27 short stories and sketches.
In "Life on the Mississippi" (1883), Twain recounts his time as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River before the American Civil War and records a trip he took along the Mississippi from St. Louis to New Orleans years after the War.
Of interest, there's a bill on the table in California right now that could make the now-endangered red-legged frog the state's state amphibian. California's red-legged frog stars in the tale "The Celebrating Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." Find out more from East County Magazine.
↧