For some reason, when I begin to think about the Fourth of July, Mark Twain pops up in my head. He and Independence Day are for some reason as inseparably linked in my mind as are July 4th and hot dogs, ice cream, and mom’s apple pie.
I think it’s because Twain was truly an American. He traveled the continent and caught the flavor of a nation busy at building itself. That’s part of it. But he’s…