 | Mark Twain`s speeches; with an introduction by William Dean Howells. |  |
A NEW GERMAN WORD.
To aid a local charity Mr. Clemens appeared before a fashionable audience in Vienna, March 10, 1899, reading his sketch "The Lucerne Girl," and describing how he had been interviewed and ridiculed. He said in part:
I HAVE not sufficiently mastered German to allow my using it with impunity. My collection of fourteen-syllable German words is still incomplete. But I have just added to that collection a jewel-a veritable jewel. I found it in a telegram from Linz, and it contains ninety-five letters:
Personaleinkommensteuerschatzungskommissionsmitgliedsreisekosten-rechnungserganzungsrevisionsfund
If I could get a similar word engraved upon my tombstone I should sleep beneath it in peace.
| Mark Twain`s speeches; with an introduction by William Dean Howells. | |