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Preface
Most of the adventures recorded1 in this book really occurred; one or two were experiences of my own, the rest those of boys who were schoolmates of mine. Huck Finn is drawn2 from life; Tom Sawyer also, but not from an individual -- he is a combination of the characteristics of three boys whom I knew, and therefore belongs3 to the composite order of architecture4.
The odd5 superstitions touched upon were all prevalent6 among children and slaves in the West at the period of this story - that is to say7, thirty or forty years ago.
Although my book is intended mainly for the entertainment of boys and girls, I hope it will not be shunned8 by men and women on that account9, for part of my plan has been to try to pleasantly10 remind adults of what they once were themselves, and of how they felt and thought and talked, and what queer11 enterprises they sometimes engaged in.
Mark Twain
Hartford, 1876.
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