CHAPTERS FROM MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY .-- VIII.
BY MARK TWAIN.
[Sidenote: (1864.)] [_Dictated in 1906._] In those early days duelling suddenly became a fashion in the new Territory of Nevada, and by 1864 everybody was anxious to have a chance in the new sport, mainly for the reason that he was not able to thoroughly respect himself so long as he had not killed or crippled somebody in a duel or been killed or crippled in one himself.
At that time I had been serving as city editor on Mr.Goodman's Virginia City "Enterprise" for a matter of two years.

I was twenty-nine years old.

I was ambitious in several ways, but I had entirely escaped the seductions of that particular craze.

I had had no desire to fight a duel; I had no intention of provoking one.

I did not feel respectable, but I got a certain amount of satisfaction out of feeling safe.