是什麼樣的母親教養出馬克吐溫（1835-1910）這位幽默大師呢？

母親四十歲時生了一場大病幾乎去世，但她卻活到八十八歲。她總是對人、對事抱著濃厚的興趣，從不覺得無聊，反而成為疾病打不倒的敵人。
My mother, Jane Lampton Clemens, died in her 88th year, a mighty age for one who at 40 was so delicate of body as to be accounted an invalid who would soon pass away. But the invalid who, forgetful of self, takes great interest in everything and everybody, as she did, and to whom a dull moment is an unknown thing, is a formidable adversary for disease.

母親不擅言詞，但只要碰上令她同情或惹她生氣的事，她就像一位辯論家講的頭頭是道。我們家有個黑人小孩，他從馬利蘭州被賣到密西西比州的漢尼巴市。他鎮日唱歌、吹口哨，又喊又笑，我受不了這些噪音就叫他閉嘴。母親流著淚說：「他好可憐！唱歌能讓他忘記悲傷，我也放心；他安靜時我會猜他是在想家，他再也見不到母親了。你再大一點你就會懂，你也會很開心聽到他歌唱。」
 "Poor thing, when he sings it shows me that he is not remembering, and that comforts me; but when he is still I am afraid he is thinking. He will never see his mother again. If you were older you would understand, and that friendless child's noise would make you glad."

除了我偷藏在口袋及縫紉盒裡的蛇和蝙蝠，母親什麼都不怕。鎮上有個壯碩粗暴的科西嘉人，一天手持粗繩要打女兒。沒有人敢惹他，母親卻敞開大門保護他的女兒，還教訓他一頓，他說他天不怕、地不怕，母親是第一個讓他害怕的人。母親雖已年邁卻仍起個大早去看馬戲團進城的遊行。她熱愛遊行、演講、集會、露營，更絕不錯過葬禮。她參加葬禮的原因是如果她不去的話，「他們」以後也不會來她的葬禮。
She was never too old to get up early to see the circus procession enter town. She adored parades, lectures, conventions, camp meeting, etc, and she never missed a funeral. She excused this preference by saying that, if she did not go to other people's funerals, they would not come to hers.

八十二歲那年，母親執意前往密西西比河谷早期定居者居民大會，路程雖然遙遠，她卻像年輕人一般興奮。才到會場她立刻打聽從聖路易市來的Barrett醫生，不料他當天早上已經離開。母親的興致沒了，馬上打道回家。原來他是母親十八歲的初戀情人，因誤會分手，母親賭氣馬上和父親結婚。這個情傷埋在她心頭六十四年了卻沒有任何人知道。這件事之後她的記憶慢慢退去，她寫信給已經去世四十年的同學，還很納悶為何沒有回信。母親鮮明又可愛的個性，可以在我寫的小說「湯姆歷險記」裡的波麗姑媽身上發現。
She had kept that pathetic burden in her heart 64 years without any of us suspecting it. Before the year was out, her memory began to fail. She would write letters to schoolmates who had been dead 40 years, and wonder why they never answered. Jane Lampton Clemens' character, striking and lovable, appears in my books as Tom Sawyer's Aunt Polly.