Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven
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Note to Adobe eBook Customers: The Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader version is printable, but there is a known problem printing to printers that do not use the PostScript page description language. This problem occurs with some HP LaserJet, Epson Stylus inkjet, and Epson impact printers. Consult your printer's documentation to find out if it is PostScript compatible. This does not affect your ability to read the book on screen. The genesis of this story is well documented. In December 1866, Twain sailed partway from San Francisco to New York aboard the steamship America, captained by the boisterous Edgar "Ned" Wakeman. Captain Wakeman clearly intrigued Twain, who mentioned him in letters back to the San Francisco newspaper Alta California. In 1868, Twain again encountered Captain Wakeman in port in Panama. In a letter to the Chicago Republican (August 17, 1868), he describes paying the Captain a visit aboard his steamer, where "the old gentleman told his remarkable dream." The dream is not described in the letter or elsewhere, but is most certainly the foundation for Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven.Although a fragment the Extract has been called "one of his very best pieces" by Twain critic Everett Emerson. It reflects Twain's thinking on enduring issues, such as "What constitutes goodness?" In his San Francisco days, Twain described himself as a Moral Phenomenon. Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven gives us a glimpse of what that phenomenon meant to him.
