The1,000,000BankNote.PDF

The £1,000,000 Bank Note by Mark Twain 1 / 37 Contents Part One: From San Francisco to London3 Part Two: An Unusual Bet 5 Part Three: The Letter 8 Part Four: At the Tailors11 Part Five: The Poor Millionaire 14 Part Six: The Dinner Party 16 Part Seven: A Million-Dollar Idea 19 Part Eight: Back to Portland Place 22 Track 1: San Francisco In The 1850s26 Track 2: Sailing Ships 27 Track 3: Sailing on San Francisco Bay 29 Track 4: The English and Betting30 Track 5: Londinium31 Track 6: How Did People Dress In The 1850s?32 Track 7: Money and its origins 33 Track 8: London Today35 Track 9: The Origins of Banking 37 2 / 37 Part One: From San Francisco to London When I was 27 years old, I worked in an office in San Francisco. I did my job well and my future was promising ①. I was alone in the world and I was happy. On Saturday afternoons I didnt work. I sailed my little sailboat② on San Francisco Bay. One Saturday afternoon, I sailed out too far. The strong afternoon wind pushed my sailboat out of the bay, into the Pacific Ocean. That night, when I had lost all hope, a small British brig③ saw me and took me on board. The brig was sailing to London. The voyage was long and stormy. I worked as a sailor to pay for my trip. When I arrived in London, my clothes were old and dirty. I had only one dollar in my pocket. With this dollar, I ate and slept for the first twenty-four hours. During the next twenty-four hours, I didnt eat and I didnt sleep. At about ten oclock the following morning, I went to Portland Place. I saw a child walking past, holding a big pear. The child ate one small piece and then threw the pear onto the street. I stopped and looked at it. I was very hungry and I really wanted that pear. But every time I tried to get it, someone passed by and looked at