“The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras Country” was his first popular story, written while in San Francisco. He then sailed to Palestine and wrote “Innocents Abroad.” While on this trip, he saw the picture of his friend’s sister, Olivia, and fell in love. Immediately upon his return, he met and married her and, under her encouragement, his writing greatly improved. His name was Mark Twain, born this day, Nov. 30, 1835. Regarding the Holy Land, Mark Twain wrote: “Our Saviour … spent His life, preaching His Gospel, and performing His miracles, within a compass no larger than an ordinary county of the United States.”
