body not to brake her heart and to be a "better boy." (Cox, 23) His time spent in Ament's shop was not paid, but he was fed and clothed. He learned to set type and sometimes worked as reporter or assistant editor. Clemens found a great interest in reading during this time and he truly read everything he could get his hands on. He also began enjoying reading a large amount of history. Being brought up in a family of slaveholders, Clemens experienced a lot of brutality and injustice toward slaves. He was taught that it was completely normal and legal for white men to kill "niggers" over an awkwardly done job and he didn't argue. However, as a little boy, he felt inside that what his father did was wrong and immoral. Many incidents and adventures with slaves that young Sam witnessed wound up in his books decades later. Clemens left Ament's shop and went to work with Orion, his older brother, in 1851. His brother offered to pay three and a half-dollars a week but money never seemed to be around. Orion owned a newspaper called the Hannibal Journal and he hired both Sam and his younger brother Henry to be typesetters. However, Sam did more than typeset for Orion. He also wrote for the Journal occasionally. Usually he wrote humorous sketches, but sometimes he also wrote satirical stories, local news reports, and poetry. Samuel first used the pen name Mark Twain for his letters published in the Virginia City, Territorial Enterprise in 1863. Mark Twain is a steamboater's term meaning 2 fathoms or 12 feet of water. ...
