Mark Twain

Roughing It Mark Twain

My brother had just been appointed Secretary of Nevada Territory-an office of such majestythat it concentrated in itself the duties and dignities of Treasurer, Comptroller, Secretary of State, and Acting Governor in the Governor's absence. A salary of eighteen hundred dollars a year and thetitle of "Mr. Secretary," gave to the great position an air of wild and imposing grandeur. I was youngand ignorant, and I envied my brother. I coveted his distinction and his financial splendor, butparticularly and especially the long, strange journey he was going to make, and the curious newworld he was going to explore. He was going to travel! I never had been away from home, and thatword "travel" had a seductive charm for me. Pretty soon he would be hundreds and hundreds ofmiles away on the great plains and deserts, and among the mountains of the Far West, and wouldsee buffaloes and Indians, and prairie dogs, and antelopes, and have all kinds of adventures, and maybe get hanged or scalped, and have ever such a fine time, and write home and tell us all about it, andbe a hero. And he would see the gold mines and the silver mines, and maybe go about of anafternoon when his work was done, and pick up two or three pailfuls of shining slugs, and nuggetsof gold and silver on the hillside. And by and by he would become very rich, and return home bysea, and be able to talk as calmly about San Francisco and the ocean, and "the isthmus" as if it wasnothing of any consequence to have seen those marvels face to face