Samuel Langhorne Clemens made himself a universal figure through the writings he signed "Mark Twain." But he also had a very special and long-lasting relationship with New York City. In fact, the creator of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn ended up spending considerably more of his life near the Hudson River than on the Mississippi.

The oldest surviving scrap of writing from Clemens' hand, for instance, is a letter home from Manhattan. ("I have taken a liking to the abominable place," he confessed).

In the 1860s, Twain's New York connections helped him rise from a promising reporter and humorist to a national literary figure. In later years he owned a publishing house near Union Square, and he had homes on Fifth Avenue, on West Tenth Street, and in Riverdale.

In old age he was adored as the city's sage and commentator and quoted on every public issue. His funeral, in 1910, blocked traffic outside the Brick Presbyterian Church on Fifth Avenue.

Indeed, many of Mark Twain's comments on the New York of his time would seem very fitting today, with only the names and numbers changed:

• On the city's economy: "They have made 5,000 men wealthy, and for a good round million of her citizens they have made it a matter of the closest kind of scratching to get along."

• On Wall Street's influence: "The people had desired money before his day, but he [Jay Gould] taught them to fall down and worship it."

• On New York manners: "The overcrowding [in the streetcars] has impelled men to adopt the rule of hanging on to a seat when they get it. Occasionally I have seen a man give his place to a lady, but the act betrayed that he was from the provinces."

To renew the friendship and celebrate the humorist's 163rd birthday, Peter Salwen, a New York author and Twain expert, will lead a two-hour walking tour of Mark Twain landmarks in SoHo and Greenwich Village on Saturday, November 17, 2001. (Rain date, Sunday, November 18.)

The tour, a brisk walk and talk liberally sprinkled with Twainian anecdotes and epigrams, starts from Broadway and Spring Street (southwest corner) at one P.M. It lasts approximately 1 1/2 hours and ends with a birthday toast at Twain's turn-of-the-century home on West Tenth Street. Fifteen dollars.

No reservations required, but you can use this quote-capable e-mail form to let us know if you plan to come, and to get additional details.

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