What rhetorical device does Twain use by referencing this well-known proverb

Even though the proverb was not posted here, this question is still perfectly answerable.

The rhetorical device Twain uses by referencing a well-known proverb is allusion.

Explanation:

Allusion is a figure of speech in which a reference is made to something or someone that has significance. The author does not explain much, since he/she assumes the audience knows who or what he/she refers to.

For instance, if someone says a woman is as beautiful as Helen of Troy, we would understand he/she means that woman is extremely beautiful. Helen of Troy is a famous character from the Iliad, by Homer, and she was the most beautiful woman in the world. The person making the allusion will not explain this fact, since it is well know.

Therefore, if Twain is referring to a well-known proverb, he is making an allusion to it.

I agree with Lowell's analysis.

Explanation:

In Lowell's analysis we can see that when we get attached to places we have been and the concepts of hospitality and friendship in that place we tend to expect the same things to happen elsewhere and this will not always be possible. As in the text above, the author talks about the new england having changed with the times and not being the kind and welcoming place he used to know, it seems another totally different and vile place.

We can agree with him, since time really changes places, people, rules and many other things, forcing us to readjust everything again.

An excerpt from the text that proves this is "Mr. Frost’s is not the kindly New England of Whittier, not the humorous and sensible one of Lowell ... where a civilization is decaying to give place to another and very different one. ”