Mark Twain

THE MARK TWAIN HOUSE The Mark Twain House, an architectural oddity that belonged to one of America's most beloved writers, is open to you at www.marktwainhouse.org. This monumental site features a virtual tour of Twain's Hartford, Conn., home, complete with quotes from Twain biographers and the man himself. Milestones in Twain's life at Hartford are spread across a timeline in the History section. In the Just for Kids section, you can try to find all of the names of Twain's cats in a word search.

Eric Alexander Quintet Since his recording debut in 1991, tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander has cut 13 albums. His latest is The Second Milestone, which includes renditions of the show tune "Matchmaker Matchmaker," a song that pays tribute to jazz legend Herbie Hancock, and two Latin-inspired tunes. You can groove to the jazzman's many styles -- from bop to avant garde -- when the Eric Alexander Quintet performs from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday at the Teamsters Union Hall, 6000 Erdman Ave. The concert is sponsored by the Left Bank Jazz Society.

All stories, like all lives, are mysteries, writes Michael Malone. We listen to them, he says, to meet strangers and learn their plots. "We are private eyes searching for clues to our connections. Safe in fiction, we are testing our hearts." This month's mysteries give our hearts an exhilarating workout beginning with Malone's latest, First Lady, (Sourcebooks, 430 pages, $24). Malone's 1983 Uncivil Seasons is the best mystery I've ever read. It had everything: beautiful writing, complex characters who beckon you to their world, social commentary and a page-turning plot.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: The Only Authoritative Text, by Mark Twain, edited by Victor Fischer and Lin Salamo, with original illustrations by E.W. Kemble and John Harley (The Mark Twain Library, 561 pages, $14.95). Any Mark Twain enthusiast knows that in 1990 significant parts of the original manuscript of Huck Finn -- lost for 100 years --were found in a Los Angeles attic. That material, along with an exhaustive re-examination of other sources and interpretations, has been incorporated into this text.

TWO YEARS AGO, a provocative study made headlines nationwide: Legalization of abortions in the 1970s had reduced crime rates in the 1990s. Two months ago, a little-publicized study reached the opposite conclusion: Legalized abortion actually raised the adult murder rate in the 1990s. Statistics, it seems, rarely have been more ubiquitous in public discourse, nor more questionable and confusing. Whether it's unborn criminals, census undercounts, or divorce rates, the American public and news media have been getting hard lessons lately in "numeracy" - literacy in numbers.

THE ADVENTURES OF Mark Twain never saw any place where morality and huckleberries flourish as they do here," Mark Twain wrote in 1868 about Hartford, Conn. -- where he was to spend 19 years, raise a family, publish eight works and entertain international celebrities. A new guide offered by the Connecticut Office of Tourism and the Mark Twain House directs visitors to 17 sites associated with the author, and tells their stories. Talcott Mountain, for example, was a favorite destination for Twain, who used to ramble through the hills commenting on the world with his close friend, the Rev. Joseph Twitchell (whose former church is also part of the self-guided tour)

IF YU think the speling rulez for the Inglish and Jerman languajez shood be clir and consistent, then reed on. Few things in life are as emotionally controversial as changing a language. For example, folks in Germany, Austria and Switzerland are violently divided over proposals to reduce bewildering German spelling regulations from 212 to 112 and cut down the exasperating rules governing the use of commas from 52 to nine. The German-speaking countries agreed to this simplification in 1998.

About this page: Appearing monthly during the summer (also on July 23 and Aug. 13), this page will provide youngsters and their parents with age-appropriate readings suggested by local experts and regional libraries. Also included are activities and fun facts for entertainment and learning. One-room schoolhouses were once a fixture in towns across the United States. Maryland is home to a handful, including one nicknamed Little Red on St. Clement's Island. Call: 301-769-2222. The West was also won through words, giving the United States some literary greats.

John Michael Lehane, a sailor, lawyer and proper Irishman who flew combat missions over Vietnam as a young Marine Corps pilot, was buried Saturday after dying of heart failure at the helm of his boat, Jay Bird, on the Chesapeake Bay. The Roland Park resident was 57.A lifelong Baltimorean, Mr. Lehane attended local Roman Catholic schools and George Washington University before joining the Marines and shipping out for Southeast Asia in 1966. Twice shot down, he suffered major injuries when he ejected from an F-4 Phantom in 1967 and received the Purple Heart.

Bret Harte(1836-1902)Harte began his career writing sketches but gained wide public notice with his short stories. He helped launch the Californian and he edited the Overland Monthly.A collection of his writings titled "The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Stories" was published in 1870.Harte's characters used a dialect that Mark Twain described as "no one on heaven or earth had ever used till Harte invented it."Harte helped make San Francisco the literary capital of the West.-- Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia of LiteraturePub Date: 06/06/99