Tom Quartz

[karitaru]

What is meant by clay-soiled in Twain's "Tom Quartz"?
It strikes me as an adjective meant to describe this man Dick Baker, something along the lines of "down to earth."
Or does simply intend for clay-soiled to describe his boot being clay-soiled all the time.

All the sites in the internet give me geological meanings, but I think it is not the case with this story.

Thank you.

[MrPedantic]

Hello Karitaru

It looks like "dirtied with clay" to me (perhaps clothes and footwear).

Have a good Thursday,

MrP

[karitaru]

dirtied with clay

Sounds reasonable. I'll go with that.
Thank you MrPedantic.
P.S: After reading the paragraph one more time, it looks like this is the most logical answer since he put slouchly dressed and clay-soiled in the same part without a comma.

[MrPedantic]

MrP