The Broad Compass of the Heavens

American Minute from William J. Federer

"The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" was his first popular story, written while in San Francisco.

He then sailed to the Holy Land and wrote Innocents Abroad.

While on this trip, he saw the picture of his friend's sister, Olivia Langdon of Elmira, New York, and he fell in love.

Immediately upon his return, he met and married Olivia. His name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, born NOVEMBER 30, 1835.

In Innocents Abroad, 1869, Mark Twain wrote: "We dismounted on those shores which the feet of the Saviour had made holy ground...One of the most astonishing...observations is the exceedingly small portion of the earth from which sprang the new flourishing plant of Christianity."

Mark Twain continued: "The longest journey our Saviour ever performed was from here to Jerusalem - about...one hundred and twenty miles....He spent His life, preaching His Gospel, and performing His miracles, within a compass no larger than an ordinary county of the United States."

Mark Twain wrote: "In the starlight, Galilee has no boundaries but the broad compass of the heavens, and is a theatre meet for great events; meet for the birth of a religion able to save the world."

William J. Federer is a nationally recognized author, speaker, and president of Amerisearch, Inc, which is dedicated to researching our American heritage. The American Minute radio feature looks back at events in American history on the dates they occurred, is broadcast daily across the country and read by thousand on the internet.