“It Was An Accident, I Swear!”

In high school, I worked as a tour guide in Mark Twain’s small octagonal study in Elmira, NY.

I took my job very seriously. Although I was only required to recite a memorized script, I became an expert (at least in my mind) on Mark Twain’s time in Elmira.

In between tours, I sat at the author’s table. There I read some of America’s greatest works of fiction in the very room in which they were written. I also devoured Twain biographies and several dusty volumes of local history for context. I really delved into the topic and was proud of being able to answer almost any question about Mark Twain.

While my primary responsibility was to lead tours, I also had the more menial job of cleaning the shack.

Once, as I was clearing the outside of the study of cobwebs with a broom, I saw a huge spider in front of the window. Without thinking, I swung the broom to kill the spider.

“Smash!”

As I looked at the thousands of glass shards on the floor, I noticed that it had been one of only a few remaining original panes.

The spider slowly scuttled away, unharmed.

(I’ve never been a good aim.)

Mortified at what I’d done, I imagined the imminent sirens and flashing red and blue lights. I could only imagine what happens to kids who deface the town’s most treasured monument.

Resigning to my fate, I called my supervisor.

To my surprise, she assured me that it was ok, that this could have happened to anyone.

Following her instructions, I swept up the slivers of wavy hand-made glass and threw them in the waste bin. Well, most of them.

I kept a small shard as a relic.

I still have it.

It’s a one-of-a-kind — a piece of glass that Samuel Clemens looked through as he sat and looked down at the Chemung River and mused over the manuscripts of "Tom Sawyer", "Huck Finn", and "A Connecticut Yankee".

Although I broke the window by accident (I swear!), I couldn’t resist taking a piece of that window.

It's what Mark Twain himself would have done.