Summary:  On the occasion of Mark Twain’s death, Adam tells his grandson a story that Mark told him about Adam’s brothers.

rating:  K+  WC = 1091

What Would Adam Do?

1910 Elmira, NY at Mark Twain’s gravesite.

“Did you know him well, Grandfather?” Adam Cartwright stood with his youngest grandson and the only one who didn’t already live on the Ponderosa.

“Yes and no, Benji. I knew him when he was a young man working on the Territorial Enterprise. I met him again when I traveled about six years later, but then I only knew him from letters and his writing after that until we were both much older and reminiscing. I asked him what he remembered best about our family, and he told me a story that I had never known.”

“What did he tell you?”

“It was a story about my younger brothers, your Great Uncles, Hoss and Joe.”

1875 Denver, CO

Leaning against the bar, Joe Cartwright looked ahead at the mirror that showed his big brother Hoss standing at his side. “Well, Hoss, the cattle drive is finally over. The men are paid, we sent a money order to the bank for deposit, and we still have a lot of cash. What should we do?”

Hoss took some time to think about his answer. “I dunno. I’ve just been thinking. I miss Adam. I wish he was here. We don’t hear from him much, and I was wondering what he was doing.”

Standing up straight from the bar where he had been leaning and nursing a beer, Joe was smiling one of those smiles he always got when he was scheming. “That’s it, Hoss.”

“What’s it?” Hoss was a bit worried.

“We’ll just do what Adam would do. You know, what would he do if he was in Denver and had a bunch of money to spend?”

“He did like a glass of good whisky at the end of a drive, and then he’d probably go to dinner at some fancy restaurant, and order up some fancy food. He might go shoot some billiards later, and maybe even find a woman to spend some time with. Course he’d probably see some play or some such too.”

“Well?” Joe had a hopeful expression.

Hoss grinned. “Yeah, let’s do it!”

For the next two days, Hoss and Joe did whatever they thought Adam might do. They purchased black shirts and pants and wore them wherever they went. They had that whisky as well as the dinner. That was one of Hoss’ favorite things to do. They attended a play and laughed so hard they almost fell on the floor. At dinner after the theatre, they were surprised to see Sam Clemens in the restaurant. He joined them for dinner and was surprised to see them dressed all in black so they told Sam what they were doing. He found it heartwarming that the brothers would try to get over missing Adam by doing what they were doing, and he spent some time with them over the next two days enjoying their antics and suggesting more based on his knowledge of their older brother, Adam.

So, the next night, they had drinks, cigars, and watched another play. When they exited the theater, they saw a group of men beating on another man. They rushed in to help because as Hoss said, that’s what Adam would have done. What they found was that the fighters were very determined and required quite a bit of persuasion of the fist variety to get them to stop, and that their victim was a young black man who had recently started up a blacksmith shop in town. A skilled worker, he was drawing a lot of business, and his white rivals had decided to put him out of business one way or another. His shop was ruined, and he was badly beaten. After getting the man to a doctor, the three men sat in the office and waited to be sure the man was all right and to pay any medical bills he might incur.

“Well, now what do we do, Hoss?” Joe had no scheme in mind to suit this kind of occasion.

“I ain’t sure what we oughta do.”

Sam interjected. “If I might make a suggestion. Your brother Adam was very much opposed to how the colored people are treated in this country. Perhaps you could ask this young man to travel with you to Nevada. There you could help him establish a business.”

“He’s right, Joe. That’s exactly the kind of thing Adam would do. We still got almost five hundred dollars left. That ought to give him a good start.”

“All right, we’ll do it. Let’s go ask him if that’s what he wants to do.”

Lincoln Jordan listened with interest to their idea.  Within a year, he had established himself as a valuable member of Virginia City’s community.  Jordan products were well known and greatly in demand.

1910 Elmira, NY

“Did they do that, Grandfather?”

“Yes, they did. They did ask Sam not to write about it, and he apparently thought that meant they should tell me instead of him telling me. They never said a word, and now Sam’s gone. I’ll never know if there was any more to that story. He told me in confidence so I can’t ask my brothers about it. Now I’ve told you in confidence too.”

“What does in confidence mean?”

“It means it’s a secret. Now you and I share this secret.”

“Oh. Are you sad about your friend, Grandfather?”

“No, Sam’s troubles are over. As the Bible says ‘God will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. These things have passed away.’ He’s at peace now. Now let’s go. We have to get to the train. Your mother and grandmother are waiting for us by now. Are you ready for this move?”

“I am, Grandfather. Can we go to the Jordan shop again?  And I want to live on the Ponderosa, and ride horses like you did. In his letter, Papa said he was building a nice house for all of us. He said you and Grandmother were going to live in a wing. Grandfather, what’s a wing in a house?”

So Adam explained to his grandson what a wing of a house was and lots more as they traveled to rejoin the rest of the family on the Ponderosa. His father was no longer there, but he was finally going home for good.

Tags:  Adam Cartwright, Family, Hoss Cartwright, Joe / Little Joe Cartwright, Mark Twain / Sam Clemens