Great Names On a cold winter"s night in 1835, Halley"s Comet blazed across the sky, as it did every 75 years. In a small house in a village in Missouri, the wail of a newborn baby shattered the night. He was the family"s fifth child. They called him Samuel Langhorne Clemens. When Halley"s Comet once again crossed the skies above the earth, Samuel Langhorne Clemens quietly took his leave of the world and followed the comet into history. His works remain alive, bringing pleasure to generation after generation of children and adults around the world.