Civil War Union Soldier. Journalist. Publisher. Humorist. Teacher. The son of an Episcopalian clergyman, he began his working life as a linen dealer in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. He later moved to Philadelphia with his linen business, and also moved on to a new career in journalism. He served for two years in the Civil War with the Union Army. Later Clark worked as a reporter and an editor, and later as a book reviewer for the Philadelphia Inquirer. He then became a drama and music critic for, and part owner of Philadelphia's The Evening Bulletin, and part owner of a trade journal called the Textile Record. He regularly published columns under his pseudonym "John Quill." He was a member of the 19th century American literary movement that came to be known as the "Literary Comedians." It included the likes of Josh Billings, Mark Twain, and Rev. Petroleum V. Nasby. He adopted the pen name Max Adeler, and, in 1874, published Out of the Hurly Burly: or, Life in an Odd Corner--a book which established him as an international author. It was for Hurly Burly that Clark was honored with a gold medal by Franz Joseph of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He also wrote Elbow Room: A Novel without a Plot (1876), and The Quakeress (1905). A number of his stories are set in his adopted hometown of Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, which he called a "town among the hills ... [with] a very charming Indian name." His novella The Fortunate Island (1882) is considered by some literary critics to be the inspiration for Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889). Clark's travesties of the obituary lyric remain classics in the genre. His autobiography, A Family Memoir, was published in 1995. He taught fellow Conshohocken resident, J. Ellwood Lee in Sunday School and encouraged his work. Later, when Lee established his company, he invited Clark to be on the Board of Directors. Lee was the husband of Clara Lukens, daughter of steel magnate and Conshohocken burgess, Lewis A. Lukens.