How the Author Was Sold in Newark by Mark Twain. Short summary

5 seconds

The author was giving a lecture in New Ark. He was asked to make an old relative laugh. But he turned out to be blind and deaf.

1 minute

The author indignantly tells the story of giving a lecture at a society in New Ark, America. Some young man came up to him and asked if he could elicit laughter or tears from their old uncle. He had lost the ability to feel anything because of his illness.

Mark Twain smugly replied that yes, he would have no choice but to laugh, cry, or die.

The uncle was seated in the second row. During the lecture, the author tried so hard that he outdid himself. He poured out anecdotes and funny stories, one funnier than the next. The audience was dying with laughter, but the uncle’s face showed no emotion.

The author acknowledged his defeat. He sat sadly until the president of the society asked him what he was so upset about. Mark Twain complained to him that he had failed to make the old man in the second row laugh. The president told him that he was not surprised because the old man was blind and deaf.