‘Twain' highlights library friends' meeting

COLUMBUS - Wally Seiler took his audience back in time Sunday during a program at the Columbus Public Library.

Dressed in period costume with the trademark white hair and bushy mustache of Mark Twain, Seiler portrayed the humorist, novelist, writer and lecturer, drawing laughter and applause.

“It has nothing to do with me, everybody loves Mark Twain,” Seiler said.

His presentation began with a lecture on a variety of social subjects written about by Twain, including politics and healthy lifestyle choices. He followed with a reading from one of Twain's novels, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” and a question and answer period.

Seiler, who is vice president of the Bank of the West in Alliance, said he has been portraying Twain for about 35 years and doesn't expect to run out of new material anytime soon.

“Twain wrote constantly,” Seiler said. “He wrote absolutely constantly.”

Mark Twain was the pen name of Samuel Clemens, who was born in 1835 in Missouri and died in 1910 in Redding, Conn. His works include historical fiction and nonfiction. Besides “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” other widely recognizable works of fiction by Twain include “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” and “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.”

Seiler's performance was made possible by a grant from the Nebraska Humanities Council.

Sunday's program took place during the inaugural meeting of the Friends of the Columbus Public Library, an organization dedicated to advocating use of the local library. Steering committee chairman Melodee Pedersen said members can choose how active they wish to be - anything from volunteering two hours a month at the library to merely reminding people of the library's resources when the opportunity arises. Anyone signing up before Thursday will be given free admission - a $5 value - Thursday to the library's annual book sale “Preview Night.” The sale takes place through Monday.

Also taking place Sunday was the election of the first board of directors and officers for the Friends of the Columbus Public Library. President is Marilyn Zehring; vice president, Diane Klug; secretary, Melodee Pedersen; treasurer, Jim Dean; and members at large, Juan Lara, Elizabeth Parker and Mary Pietz.

More information on the non-profit organization and monthly newsletters are available at the library.