Text 5032, 65 rader
Skriven 2007-07-24 23:31:02 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0707247) for Tue, 2007 Jul 24
====================================================

===========================================================================
Mrs. Bush's Remarks to the Press Pool After Tour of Mark Twain House and
Museum
===========================================================================

For Immediate Release Office of the First Lady July 24, 2007

Mrs. Bush's Remarks to the Press Pool After Tour of Mark Twain House and
Museum Mark Twain House Hartford, Connecticut



12:40 P.M. EDT

MRS. BUSH: Hey, everyone, thanks for coming out. I'm so thrilled to have
this chance today to visit Mark Twain's house. The last time I was in
Connecticut I just have not been able to make it here. And as it turned out
it was perfect to be here today because today teachers from around the
country are here for a week of seminars, a seminar that is supported by the
National Endowment for the Humanities. And so I had a chance to meet these
teachers. They're literature teachers and journalism teachers, history
teachers, who are getting to spend an entire week here in Mark Twain's
house, meeting all the most renowned Mark Twain scholars. And it's a huge
thrill for them to get to be here, but it was -- I was really so happy to
get to see them.

So this is a wonderful chance for me to be able to visit arguably our
greatest author's home. Many scholars think that Mark Twain was the first
real American writer; that most writers before Mark Twain wrote in really
sort of the English novel tradition and not only was his style American,
but obviously his subject was so American. So I love having the chance to
be here.

There are also several other things that are interesting about the
restoration of this house. One is that Save America's Treasures funded some
of these rooms. Save America's Treasures is a great program that funds the
restoration of specific American landscape or archives. And this house, the
Mark Twain house has certainly benefited from the Save America's Treasures
funds.

This morning I was in Waterbury to announce the library grant the Waterbury
school district is getting. It's an Improving Libraries through Literacy
grants that are part of the No Child Left Behind Act. And they're getting
the only grant in this state, in Connecticut. There are a number of school
districts around the country who will be receiving grants. The largest
amount of money that a school district can get is $300,000, and they're
getting $299,000, so I think the students of Waterbury school district will
really benefit from the ways the school district will spend money on new
books or technology or teacher and library training.

So that was fun to get to be here -- with our Secretary of Education,
Margaret Spellings; to have the chance both to visit the school district,
announce those grants that go around the country, and then to get to be
here in one of my favorite writer's home.

So thanks everybody, thanks for coming out to be with us.

END 12:43 P.M. EDT

===========================================================================
Return to this article at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/07/20070724-7.html

 * Origin: (1:3634/12)