THE MARK TWAIN OF MISSOURI MEDICINE

This particular 14-year-old boy, born on Dec. 21, 1839, in what became Vernon County, Missouri, had a strong appetite for knowledge. But in the rural 1850s heartland he found little in the way of formal book learning. To pursue an education, he left home. His calloused hands paid testimony to his labors as a farm worker during the summer months, while in the winter months he attended school. Later, to pay for advanced studies, he took a job driving a dirt cart during construction of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad. It paid off. In 1866 Willis Percival King, in which his playful prose painted pictures of Missouri pioneers.