Project Gutenberg 2004-06-25 Public domain in the USA. 163 Twain, Mark 1835 1910 Clemens, Samuel Langhorne Twain, Mark (Samuel Clemens) Sketches New and Old, Part 1. Wikipedia page about this book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sketches_New_and_Old My watch: an instructive little tale -- Political economy -- The jumping frog -- Journalism in Tennessee -- The story of the bad little boy -- The story of the good little boy -- A couple of poems by Twain and Moore -- Niagara. Produced by David Widger "Sketches New and Old, Part 1" by Mark Twain is a collection of humorous essays and stories written in the late 19th century. The book presents a variety of Twain's sharp observations on everyday life, culture, and human behavior, often through a satirical lens. Themes explored include political economy, the absurdities of journalism, and the follies of human nature, with a comedic twist. The opening portion of the book includes a preface where Twain describes the contents and introduces some of the sketches that follow. Notably, he begins with a whimsical tale about his troublesome watch which malfunctions spectacularly after a series of repairs. In this sketch, Twain humorously recounts his interactions with various watchmakers and the absurdity of the watch's resulting behavior. He then transitions into another comedic piece on political economy, where he is hilariously interrupted multiple times by a salesman's overzealous attempt to sell lightning rods, illustrating the challenges of focusing on thoughtful discourse amidst mundane distractions. Through these anecdotes, Twain set the tone for a collection rich in wit and irony, combining personal narrative with broader social commentary. (This is an automatically generated summary.) file:///public/vhost/g/gutenberg/html/files/5836/5836-h/images/bookcover.jpg Reading ease score: 71.2 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. en Humorous stories, American United States -- Social life and customs -- Fiction PS Text Category: Humour Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches Category: American Literature 153050 2025-07-03T05:34:18.815853 text/html 135684 2020-12-29T04:44:37 text/html 2111419 2025-07-03T05:34:22.034893 application/epub+zip 2112660 2025-07-03T05:34:19.635843 application/epub+zip 112346 2025-07-03T05:34:19.125925 application/epub+zip 2169954 2025-07-03T05:34:23.987895 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 2148786 2025-07-03T05:34:21.684919 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 150184 2022-09-03T09:03:36.042825 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 128650 2025-07-03T05:34:18.445006 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 128580 2020-12-29T04:44:37 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 19610 2025-07-03T05:34:24.116883 application/rdf+xml 12679 2025-07-03T05:34:19.365891 image/jpeg 2005 2025-07-03T05:34:19.183847 image/jpeg 2083225 2020-12-29T04:44:37 application/octet-stream application/zip 51453 2020-12-29T04:44:37 application/octet-stream application/zip 2104701 2025-07-03T05:34:18.901841 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia