Walk with Others, Part II

“The true charm of pedestrianism does not lie in the walking, or in the scenery, but in the talking,” said Mark Twain. “It is no matter whether one talks wisdom or nonsense, the case is the same; the bulk of the enjoyment lies in the wagging of the gladsome jaw and the flapping of the sympathetic ear.”

Don’t know about you, but I can’t think of anything that would be more fun than chatting with the one who created Huckleberry Finn. Following is my favorite passage from Adventures where the widow Douglas tries to “civilize” young Huck by telling him Bible stories.

“After supper she got out her book and learned me about Moses and the Bulrushers, and I was in a sweat to find out all about him; but by and by she let it out that Moses had been dead a considerable long time; so then I didn’t care no more about him, because I don’t take no stock in dead people.”

One of Twain’s (whose real name was Samuel Clemens) closest friends was his pastor, Joseph Twichell, who often joined the famous author on walks to the top of Connecticut’s Talcott Mountain. I like to think Twain tried out his irreverent humor on his clergy friend, and I’m pretty sure he kept Twichell in stitches.

Not everyone gets a walking partner as funny as Mark Twain, but I suspect most of us choose ours partly for the conversation, and a good sense of humor certainly doesn’t hurt.

** In tomorrow’s blog I’ll tell about an unlikely walking companion of President Ronald Reagan.