Mark Twain's Letters — Volume 2 (1867-1875)
in of another such e
party went to Munich,
quarters. Clemens cl
, that he took the pa
gh thirty years later,
shown the letter, he
a lie." He wrote, als
aulein Dahlweiner: "Ac
winter we spen
Howells,
rlstrasse
ulein Da
Nov. 1
p at 6 in the morning and a noble view of snow-peaks glittering in the rich light of a full moon while the hotel-devils lazily deranged a breakfast for us in the dreary gloom of blinking candles; then a solid 12 hours pull through the loveliest snow ranges and snow-draped forest-and at 7 p.m. we hauled up, in drizzle and fog, at the domicile which had been engaged for us ten months before. Munich did seem the horriblest place, the most desolate place, the most unendur
Dahlweiner. We got a larger parlor-an ample one-threw two communicating bedrooms into one, for the children, and now we are entirely comfortable. The only apprehen
r had so little trouble before. The next time anybody has
se we are all glad the girl is gone to Venice-for there is no place like Venice. Now I easily understand that the old man couldn't go, because you have a purpose in sending Lyddy by herself: but you could send the old man over in another ship, and we particularly want him along. Suppose you don't need him there? What of that? Can't you let him feed the doves? Can't you let him fall in the canal occasional
me, he was there, and gave us preserved rose-leaves to eat, and talked about you, and Mrs. Howells, and Winnie, and brought out his photographs, and showed us a picture of "the library of your new house," but not so-it was the stud
ributors' Club." That "Contributors' Club" was a most happy idea. By the way, I think that the man who wrote the paragrap
keep that old pipe in
s you will remember. Last night she had the usual dream. This morning she stood apart (after telling it,) for some time, looking vacantly at the floor, and absorbed in meditation. At last
ven in a dream, in occasionally being the eater, instead of always t
our letter and Winnie's, and I
I send lov
ev
A
ning at this time in t
party, was "The Lady
enlarging the part
y charac
rd birthday came in Mu
o his mother we get a
old Bavarian city. Ce
r and more profitable
usion of things lef
mens and Mrs. Mo
Karls
MUNICH
sterday and started down-hill toward old age. This fac
xercise I need, and all I take. We staid three weeks in Venice, a week in Florence, a fortnight in Rome, and arrived here a couple of weeks ago. Livy and Miss Sp
d study German at the same time: so I have dropped the latter, and do
or months now. In Venice they were on the water in the gondola most of the time, and were great friends with our gondolier; and in Rome and
n love to you all and
f
ur
A
ETURN TO AMERICA. TH
ell in Munich. Each
Fraulein Dahlwei
er, did not settl
ant work-room" prov
e discovered he cou
ready to give up
letter that follo
oncerning his own p
lls, which he was
ant
apter mentioned in
p Abroad.' It was p
te Elephant' in a
ich he had now foun
other than "Simon
regarded so high
e millionaire merc
olen in the expec
Howells,
Jan. 2
hotograph. I did imagine that everything had been said about life at sea that could be said, but no matter, it was all a failure and lies, nothing but lies with a thin varnish of fact,-only you have stated it as it absolutely is. And only you see people and their ways, and their insides and outsides as they are, and make them talk as they do talk. I think you are the very greatest artist in these tremendous mysteries that ever lived. There doesn't seem to be anything that can be concealed from your awful all-seeing eye. It must be a cheerful thing for one to live with you and be awar
I threw a chapter into my present book in which I have very extravagantly burlesqued the detective business-if it is possible to burlesque that business extravagantly. You know I was going to send you that detective
t believe that that character exists in literature in so well-developed a condition as it exists in Orion's person. Now won't you put Orion in a story? Then he will go handsomely into a play aft
I was so glad there was not a single sting and so many goo
to yo
s
A
re till midd
there is an incident
unting for a lost sock
bronn. The account of
hell, seems eve
mburger Cheese and the
" did not find place i
ame volume with the el
otes of "An Id
the Swiss note-book, w
s letter reflect
. Twichell,
, Jan
ss, to keep from waking Livy, and proceeded to dress in the pitch dark. Slowly but surely I got on garment after garment-all down to one sock; I had one slipper on and the other in my hand. Well, on my hands and knees I crept softly around, pawing and feeling and scooping along the carpet, and among chair-legs for that missing sock; I kept that up; and still kept it up and kept it up. At first I only said to myself, "Blame that sock," but that soon ceased to answer; my expletives grew steadily stronger and stronger,-and at last, when I found I was lost, I had to sit flat down on the floor and take hold of something to keep from lifting the roof off with the profane explosion that was
e thing began to suggest themselves. So I lay on the sofa, with note-book and pencil, and transferred th
writing of this one simply impossible, and let me gracefully out; I was about to write to Bliss and propose some other book, when the confounded thing turned up, and down went my heart into my boots. But there was now no
ook than I did, for I like my work, now, exceedingly, and often turn out ov
m dressed elaborately in walking costume-knapsacks, canteens, field-glasses, leather leggings, patent walking shoes, muslin folds around their hats, with long tails hanging down behind, sun umbrellas, and Alpenstocks. They go all the way to Wimpfen by rail-thence to Heilbronn in a chance vegetable cart drawn by a donkey and a cow; I shall fetch them home on a raft; and if other people shall perceive tha
't waste the time-I haven't the slightest desire to loaf, but a consuming desire to work, ever since I got back my swing. And you see this book is either going to be compared with
acquire a critical knowledge of the German language. My MS already shows that the two latter objects are accomplished. It shows that I am moving about as an Artist and a Philologist, and unaware that the
king of his friends-they are the parties who busy themselves with seeing things for people. But I'm bound to have him in. I'm putting in the yarn about the Limburger cheese and the box of guns, too-mighty glad Howells declined it. It seems to gather richness and flavor with
hear it with the ears of the body, but what a voice it was!-and how real. Deep down in my memory it is sounding yet. Alp calleth unto Alp!-that stately old Scriptural wording is the right one for God's Alps and God's ocean. How puny we were in that awful presence-and h
f it is. Well, time and time again it has seemed to me that I must drop everything and flee to Switzerland once more. It is a longing-a deep, strong,
children were frolicing around me and Julia was sitting in my lap; you and Harmony and both families of Warners had finished their welcomes and wer
A
of this letter, if possible. They will
Mark Twain, whether
detailed occurrence, w
tle distance, from his
is ever present, his i
lans for improving his
one of the most huma
manity excluded every
eds to be acquired.
way by the impulse of
e was never able to s
und to succeed. Mark
especially with Howe
erest of religion fou
followi
Howells,
Feb. 9
answer to it, when Mrs. Clemens shut down on it, and said it was cruel, and made me send the money and simply wish his lecture success
rd and the heart-breakingly pathetic more closely joined together? Mrs. Clemen
his lecture, yet in one inking of his pen he has already
atest work would be lost to the world. I could write Orion's simple biography, and make it effective, too, by merely stating the bald fac
drew from the deaconship in a Congregational Church and the Superintendency of its Sunday School, in a speech in which he said that for many
A few days before the Presidential election, he came out in a speech and publicly wen
f speakers. He wrote me jubilantly of what a ten-strike he was going to make with that speech. All
received when I came forward; so I seemed unable to get the fire into my speech which I had calculated u
and show it to another? Not a word of comp
as to write a burlesq
mn for stories, he concluded to write some for the same price
a week and meekly observed that the foreman swore at
$900 and he went to a ten-house village a miles above Keokuk on the river bank-this place was a railway station. He soon asked for m
mine paid his interest quarterly, and this enabled me to use my capital twice in 6 months instead of only once. But alas, when the debt at last reached $1800 or $2500 (I have forgotten which) the interest ate too formidably into his borrowings, and so he quietly ceased to pay i
this case. He has waggled it around through various courts and made some booming speeches on it. The negro children have grown up and married off, now, I believe, and their litigated town-lot has been dug up and carted off by somebody-but Orion still infests the courts with his documents and makes the welkin ring with his venerable case. The second year, he didn't make anything. The thi
America as "Mark Twain's Brother"-that to be on the bills. S
and ran a bold tilt against total abstinence and the Red Ribb
let a mail intervene; so by the time my letter reached
n the middle of the last chapter, last March, to digest the matter of an infidel book which he proposed to write; and
, but take it up and use it. One can let his imagination run riot in portrayin
erry one be yours. Poor old Methusaleh,
ev
A
and inclosed with the fo
Feb. 9
yment out of his changes, and transformations and transfigurations as a steadfast man gets out of standing still and pegging at the same old monotonous thing all the time. That is to say, I don't see why a kaleidoscope shouldn't enjoy itself as much as a telescope, nor a grindstone have as good a time as a whetstone, nor a barometer as good a time as a yardstick. I don't feel like girding at you any more about fickleness of purpose, because I recogn
would make a deep and cruel wound in your heart and in your pride. It was decidedly unwise in you to think for a moment of coming before a community who knew you, with such a course of lectures; because Keokuk is not unaware that you have been a Swedenborgian, a Presbyterian, a Congregationalist, and a Methodist (on probation), and that just a year ago you were an infidel. If Keokuk had gone to your lecture course, it would have gone to be amused, not instructed, for when a man is known to have no set
inis
ny ways was hardly le
again revealed in h
d he possessed the dr
he importance to him
own in a letter like t
y of nature which
. Twichell,
Feb. 2
is a rattling good one. But I have not sot down here to answer your le
ned and freshly strapped razor won't cut, but after strapping on the hand as a final operation, it will cut.-So I sent out for an oil-stone; none to be had, but messenger brought back a little piece of rock the size of a Safety-match box-(it was bought in a shoemaker's shop) bad flaw in middle of it, too, but I put 4 drops of fine Olive oil on it, picked out the razor marked "Thursday" because it was never any account and would be no loss if I spoiled it-gave it a brisk and reckless honing for 10 minutes, then tried it on a hair-it wouldn't cut. Then I trotted it through a vigorous 20-minute course on a razo
xt Thursday-address,
h l
E
A
easant quarters at the
ring, and the traveler
ench capital. Mark T
se of the noises of t
in the hotel and made
he said: "I sleep like
d of a lion that wr
e book in six weeks;
. He was looking aft
to Frank Bliss, of T
e frontpiece, which,
its origin. To Bliss h
by pasting a popular
d Biblical one-shall
be engraved
bad in France and they
in England. They had
or Brown, whose health
n blamed himself hars
ed would have meant s
hat time the real rea
uncertainty of trains
to reach Liverpool
th characteristic sel
stinacy on his part ha
rpool, on the eve of s
good-b
n Brown, i
TEL, LIME STR
. (
e were at last obliged to give up the idea of seeing you at all. It is a great disappointment, for we wanted to show you how much "Megalopis" has grown (she is 7 now) and what a fine creature her sister is, and how prettily they both speak German. There are six persons in my party, and they are as difficult to cart around as nearly any other menagerie would be. My wife and Miss Spaul
and if my instinct and experience are worth anything, it is the very worst hotel on earth, without any exception. W
, and in the kindest remembrance to "Joc
y yo
. CL
79, that Mark Twain re
seventeen months of h
and had added gray ha
that he looked older
t his hair had t
nished his book of tr
from complete-and h
t Quarry Farm. When, a
Howells, Clemens wrote
ells hastily sent a l
ep of a torpid conscie
o write you; but I lov
glad that you are home
you come home with
ens, toiling away at h
spect of other plan
ver failed t
Howells,
Sept.
me so far. So we will say Hartford or Belmont, about the beginning of November. The date of our return to Hartfo
tlantic stuff in my head, but
? Orion is a field which grows richer and richer the more he mulches it with each new top-dressing of religion or other guano. Drop me an immediate line about this, won't you? I imagine I see Orion on the stage, always gentle, always melancholy, always changing his politics and religion, and trying to reform the world, a
the outer darkness, after 30 years' rab
st abounding love to you and yo
s
A
interested Howells,
tter of using Orion
taken the skeleton of
... I really have a co
other into drama. You
ou like with him, but
rable hurt on h
Orion Clemens had a k
would have enjoyed him
Indeed, it is more th
at the thought of
e next letter one migh
t of this plan, and w
mat
Howells,
, Oct.
ready written. Afterward he began to sell off his furniture, with the idea of hurrying to Leadville and tackling silver-mining-threw up his law den and took in his sign. Then he wrote to Chicago and St. Louis newspapers aski
y's sign, "though it only creaks and catches no flies;" but last night's letter informs me that he has retackled the religious question, hired a distant den to write in, applied to my mother for $50 to re-buy his furniture, which has advanced in va
fierce upstirring, and if it would not get it when Grant enters the meeting place I must doubtless "lay" for the final resurrection. Can you and Hay go? At the same time, confound it, I doubt if I can go myself, for this book isn't done yet. But I would give a heap to be there. I
ind, you can stop over here on your way, I wish you would do it, and telegraph me. Getting pretty hungry to see you
s
A
eat Commanders," menti
al Grant after his jou
one continuous ovati
d commanders were sti
Chicago to do him hon
there was anything p
indications. Mark Tw
ce been completely "d
felt that the sight
commander would stir
even in that earlier
him through the Mis
e become a hero to Ma
lemens favored the ide
ceding letter an invit
reunion; but by this
er he wrote has
iam E. Stron
N AVENUE,
28,
CH'M, AND GENTLEME
chance, for I have not had a thorough stirring up for some years, and I judged that if I could be in the banqueting hall and see and hear the veterans of the Army of the Tennessee at the moment that their old commander entered the room, or rose in his place to speak, my system would get the kind of upheaval it needs. General Grant's progress acr
for an office. However, I consume your time, and also wander from the point-which is, to thank you for the courtesy of your invitation, and yield
reat r
Gent
truly
. CL
emen, but the card of invitation went to Elmira
ent. He reconsidered
the committee had requ
sque in the idea of t
rainy fortnight thro
now to join in welcome
to be something more t
several days, wit
s, and muc
Chicago in good seas
ns intimately present
yment and his own
y written after the m
in it was Dr. A.
"Doctor" of In
lemens, i
SE, CHICAG
life to me-hurt in Chicago fire and lay menaced with death a long time, but the Innocents Abroad kept her mind in a cheerful attitude, and so, with the doctor's help for the body she pulled through.... They drove me to Dr. Jackson's and I had an hour's visit with Mrs. Jackson.
Fred G
I would like you to come and have a talk
ittle girl nearly as big as Bay but only three years old. They wanted me to come in and spend an evening, after the banquet, with them and Gen. Grant, after this grand pow-wow is over, but I said I was going home Friday. Then
ng songs and made speeches till 6 o'clock this morning. Nobody got in the least degree "under the influence," and we had a pleasant time. Read awhile in bed, slept till 11, shaved,
nteenth was issued for me. I was there, looking down on the packed and struggling crowd when Gen. Grant came forward and was saluted by the cheers of the multitude and the waving of ladies' handkerchiefs-for the windows and roofs of all neighboring buildings were massed full of life. Gen. G
any-stay where you are-I'll
l General, and you should have heard the cheers. Gen. Logan was g
y cloak and his plumed chapeau, sitting as erect and rigid as a statue on his immen
P.M., and got it, but brought Gen. Willard, who lent me his for the rest of my stay, and will g
rmy of the Tennessee will receive Gen. Grant, and where Gen. Sherman w
y darling, and am hoping t
A
sion, which he descr
at Haverley's Theatr
morning, or at least s
a night of
lemens, i
, Nov.
f position and attitude were also frequent. But Grant!-he was under a tremendous and ceaseless bombardment of praise and gratulation, but as true as I'm sitting here he never moved a muscle of his body for a single instant, during 30 minutes! You could have played him on a stranger for an effigy. Perhaps he never would have moved, but at last a speaker made such a particularly ripping and blood-stirring remark about him that the audience rose and roared and yelled and stamped and clapped an entire minute-Grant sitting as serene as ever-when Gen. Sherman stepped to him, laid his hand affectionately on his shoulder, bent respectfully down and whispered
ch-the old savage-eyed rascal-three or four feet behind Gen. Sherman, and as he had been in nearly every battle
Indian, in General's uniform, striking a heroic attitude and g
scraps in the drawer and
morning and drank little or nothing. Went
A
d letter that we get
to Howells, which, in
need not be
owever, must n
ike to see a bullet-sh
the gaze of a thousan
seen it since they s
n they were in their p
t, their first comman
going mad over the fla
dy struck up, 'When we
ould have heard the th
ars stream down. If I
se things, nor be able
, my boy, g
Mark Twain's speech h
house. He had been in
but had replied that
n once. There was one
erlooked on these oc
toast. In his letter
freely of his person
t all, and with that c
ailed him to
lemens, i
, Nov.
fter 5 in
,-oh, it was just the supremest combination of English words that was ever put together since the world began. My soul, how handsome he looked, as he stood on that table, in the midst of those 500 shouting men, and poured the molten silver from his lips! Lord, what an organ is human speech when it is played by a master! All these speeches may look dull in print, but how the lightni
I mounted on top of the dinner table, but it was only on account of my name, nothing more-they were all tired and wretched. They let my first sentence go in silence, till I paused and added "we stand on common ground"-then they burst forth like a hurricane and I saw that I had them! From that time on, I stopped at the end of each sentence, and let the tornado of applause and laughter sweep around me-and when I c
e told me he laughed till the tears came and every bone in his body ached. (And do you know, the biggest part of the success
ll always be grateful to you for coming." General Pope came to bunt me up-I was afraid to speak to him on that theatre stage last night, thinking it might be presumptuous to tackle a man so high up in military history. Gen. Schofield, and other historic men, paid their compliments. Sheridan was ill and c
I live a hundred years, I'll always be grateful for your speech-Lord what a supreme thing it was." But I told him it wasn't any use to talk, he had walked off with the
rest easy, they would go at once, at this unholy hour of the night and compel the railways to do their duty by me
listening to speeches, and I never ate a single bite or took a sup of anything but ice water, so if I seem ex
good bye and God bless you and the Ba
A
u want to-I saw some
icago speech, when we find him, a few days later, writing to Ingersoll for a perfect copy to read to a young girls' cl
obert G.
RD, De
to a miracle. I wish I could hear you speak these splendid chapters before a great audience-to read them by myself and hear the boom of the appl
memory had been able to correct all the errors. I read it to the Saturday Club (of young gi
y Yo
. CL
r Mark Twain's Whittie
fects. Now, in 1879,
breakfast to Dr. Oli
ited. He was not eage
ries of two years bef
er, he agreed to atte
wain never lacked co
lf. To Howel
Howells,
, Nov. 2
nd be heard among the very earliest-else it would be confoundedly awkward for me-and for
be there at all; but Warner took th
, reminds me of Susie's newest and very earnest lon
a child's head, once, and
ev
. CL
t well. Clemens, onc
nservatively, it may
tribute to Doctor Hol
nowledgment, the kind
dinner of two years be
aster, and this time h
y restored in h
HOWELLS. "THE PRINCE AND THE PAU
-[A Tramp Abroad.]-
Paris, and later
me to an end. In De
ing on it, and he
, rather by a decree
ip. This was early
his difficulties, a
ding
Howells,
D, Jan.
ct ever since I saw you-I have been fighting a life-and-death battle with this infernal book and hoping to get done some day. I required 300 pages of MS, and I have written near 600 since I saw you-and tore it all up except 288. This I was about to tear up yesterday and begin again, when
t is painfuller than another, may
line I should ever write on this book. (A book which required 2600
Sea off my back, where he has been roosting for more than a year and a half. Next time I make a contrac
and am also mighty glad you have begun the next (this is also from a man who knows the felicity of that, and means stra
ut up-must drop
ev
A
k Twain wrote to his
rst hint of a ventur
part in the Hartford
en years. This was th
in the end, all but
ut a brief mention o
r itself is not wort
chine" appear with in
d here its first ment
ther that he undertake
ssion in which nothing
asanova's memories,
ny literary suggestion
egan at once piling up
a
himself, having got '
ith enthusiasm on a st
y Farm-a story for ch
Little Prince and The
o Howells his delig
Howells,
D, Mch.
untenance (and half as much learning and still more genius and imagination) and after that, the rightful small King has a rough time among tramps and ruffians in the country parts of Kent, whilst the small bogus King has a gilded and worshipped and dreary and restrained and cussed time of it on the throne-and this all goes on for three wee
r penalties upon the King himself and allowing him a chance to see the rest of them applied to others-all of which
siderable damning with faint praise out of her, but this time it is all the other way. She is become the ho
of it is beyond praise. The language is so beautiful, the passion so fine, the plot so ingenious, th
ee's" and the "thou's" had a pleasant sound, since it is the language of the Pr
Ev
A
ve," mentioned in this
done for Law
e, was forwarding his
brother's approval, so
d anxious, that Ho
e Atlantic. We may im
commendation
ion C
6,
,-It is a model
, perhaps, but he can't say decidedly, "This writer is not such a simpleton as he has been letting on to be." Keep him in that state of mind. If, whe
not try to find those places, else you will mar them further by trying to better them. It is peri
longed in an earlier chapter, do not go back, but jam it in where
re, but have not needed to make any
sease badly, and thenceforth
B
A
bring himself to print
ling to make. "It wru
fter I had finished i
ing." Howells added th
de one acquainted with
Twain, and that these
a true prophecy, fo
acked most of its vita
, without those faithf
continued, as he bega
ntribution to literatu
heology and discussion
haps, as many as two
ould undert
always busy with plans
nt, some semi-seriou
nce he proposed a "Mod
fication for members
"I am the only membe
quite aggravated type,
stop dead still wit
upon reflection I have
. Therefore, I have h
inction of membership
hough I have had some
sgood, Fields, Higgi
Howells, Mrs. Clemen
he s
the only reason he ha
he was too modest-too
get over this diffi
ghly of the Club and i
dinner at the public e
may put my name down a
Howells applauded the
said that she knew o
. Her manner of sayin
ad named were not,
. I have sent your le
modesty. He will th
s you or I; whereas, o
tted on su
ells is, in the main,
as to become in tim
, the matter of cop
interest in the subje
Canada, and the rights
ica. We have already
Lowell, Longfellow, a
d come of this plan
he hesitated when he f
to work a hardship t
"My notions have might
copyright classics, i
e. These things must
ls of the country.....
acy, and thus save me
anyway, and I'd like c
pposing t
ells, in Bel
, June 6
sit is going to get mixed, and you'll have been here and gone again just about the time I get back. Bother it all, I wanted to astonish you wit
as managed to do the right thing for once, and said "I opened the conservatory doors, took the library off the alarm, and spread everything open, so that there wasn't any obstruction between him and the cellar." Language wasn't capable of conveying this woman's disgust. But the sense of what she said, was, "He couldn't have done any harm in the conservatory-so you must
she knows how to a
s sent for, and responded; Susie Warner down, abed; Mrs. George Warner threatened with death during several hours; her son Frank, whilst imitating the marvels in Barnum's circus bills, thrown from his aged horse and brought home insensible: Warner's friend Max Yortzburgh, shot in the back by
hese stirring times, and don't intend to go to work again till we go away for the Summer, 3 or 6 weeks hence. So I am writing
a time like this when all legislation must have a political and Presidential bearing, else Congress won't look at it. So have ch
President-is approval the proper word? I find it is the
ffection t
s
A
rous to send strang
wain. They were so apt
n the wrong mood. Howe
lt was only amusing i
of their
ells, in Bel
9,
l-meaning corpse was the Boston young man, but lawsy bless me, horribly dull company. Now, old man, unless you have great confidence in Mr. X's judgment, you ought to make him submit his article to you before he prints it. For only think how true I was to you: Every hour that h
time, and Mrs. Clemens cor
ev
A
to ask that man to l
afraid of was that you
so I tried to put i
nt you to board peop
ng. I suppose I have m
preternaturally keen
u. (How does tha
l-a remarkable letter-
we get a happy hint o
ground a glimpse of M
refle
ichell, in
RM, Aug.
r frog," I should think he was convicting himself of being a pretty poor sort of observer.... I will not go into details; i
ht about by throwing this new security on the market. Four weeks ago the children st
e
a
ey [
in [an
a
. 4., and am become No. 5. Some time ago it used to be nip and tuck between
y, and read and smoke and scribble and have a good time. Last evening Livy s
would have done if he ha
at abscess c
elieve
de a co
d so booming with fresh young blood and bountiful life, and sappy cynicisms about girls, has since climbed the Alps of fame and stood against the sun one brief tremendous moment with the world's eyes upon him, and then-f-z-t-! where is he? Why the only long thing, the
b, I mean, who are holding this yellow paper in your hand in 1960,) save yourself the trouble of looking further; I know how pathetically trivial our small concerns will seem to you, and I will not let your eye profane them. No, I ke
A
Mark Twain was working
to a letter to Aldric
s a pleasant letter,
mentioned was 'The
rich, in Pon
Sept.
its Mrs. Clemens just right, for she is having a reading holiday, now, for the first time in same months; so between-times, when the new baby is asleep and stren
ween sixty and eighty thousand words-about the size of your book. I
it. In my opinion, this universal applause over his book is going to land that man in a Retreat inside of two months. I notice the papers say mighty fine things abo
. Clemens asks me to send her warmest regards to
s
A
a journalist in San F
Soule, who had a desk
ose days highly consi
hom were younger and
never been an importa
me still local, and
ed to have a volume
ed standing. Because
and a warm friend in
uld turn to him now, a
ould turn
Howells,
, Oct.
Soule he needn't write you, but simply send the MS. to you. O dear, dear, it is dreadful to be an unrecognized po
him-if he contracts with the undersigned he will experience a change in that programme that will make the enamel peel off his teeth for very surprise-and joy. No, that last is what Mrs. Clemens thinks-but it's not so. The proposed work is growing, mightily, in my estimation, day by day; and I'm
s
A
s might have found val
ommend them to Osgood
n regard to him, and I
fellow! I can imagine
gle not to be
, was inevitable. So
try at all. No publi
give them
otchman" mentioned in
who had a plan to enga
of anthology of the w
though the other plan
time grew
with Bliss for the pu
an had been made on a
'The Innocents Abroa
,' and to 10 per cent
ater percentages fair
however, had never bee
more than once urged h
lf-profit basis. T
p Abroad' was made on
d his first statement
der earlier conditions
sfaction; at least,
s advantage. It produ
an excuse to place h
of inde
emens, in K
, Oct
binding,) that I have lost considerably by all this nonsense-sixty thousand dollars, I should say-and if Bliss were alive I would stay with the concern and get it all back; for on each new book I would require
about $75 a month-so I shall tell Mr. Perkins to make your check that amount per month, hereafter, while our income is able to afford it. This ends the loan business; and hereafter you can reflect that you are living not on borrowed money but on money which you hav
tell; she has blue eyes and brown hair, and three chins, and is very fat and happy; and at one time
thing urgent to say, except that a basket full of letters has accumulated in the 7 days that I ha
love
A
encl
The Prince and Paup
Howells for conside
's and I like it immen
ted out some things th
t is such a book as I
of fury there is to
ublishing the story a
accepted seriously ov
rred to in the next l
c book, the story told
e a bull t
Howells,
Eve,
t the book-so, on the whole, I've concluded to publish intrepidly, in
ime. Smith's an enjoyable fellow. I liked Barrett, too. And the oysters were as g
and unassailable array and had studied them out and got them by heart-all with the trembling half-hearted hope of getting Grant to add his signature to a sort of petition to the Viceroy of China; but Grant took in the whole situation in a jiffy, and before Joe had more than fairly
s as if he had come to borrow a dollar, and been of
dark. Merry Chris
Ev
A
l Mission, mentioned i
titution, projected e
ng Wing. The mission w
high honor in which G
through him it might
ncerned and naturally
o following the retur
m General Grant, in w
erful and most influe
great friendship for m
of the same thing si
government, that the
from this country
Chang was experienci
or possibly he was n
ssion did n
S AND OTHERS. ASSISTING A YO
Twain's admiratio
ird-term President
eld. He had made sp
n just ended, and
rt. Upon Garfield's
tled to no special f
ferred at length cou
ough made for a
t James A. Garfie
, Jany.
GAR
n persons wanting office have asked me "to
never complied. I could not without exposing the fact that I hadn
equently I am not risking anything. So I am writing this as a simple citizen. I am not drawing on my fund of influence at all. A simple citizen may express a desire with all propriety, in the matter of a recommendation to office, and so I beg permission to hope that you will retain Mr. Douglass in his present office of Marshall of the Distri
ing to the point, his history would move me to sa
reat r
, Ge
s tr
. CL
of his way any time
ldhood associations w
felt that the white ma
orced bondage. He woul
e would as likely as n
ngregation. Once, in
ne too politely phrase
annoyed and about to
mens, who was
church, and if so thi
how to write a polis
anner changed so sud
to, and it will be use
ery man colored until
Howells,
, Feb. 2
o have a thing to do, but you shall work if you want to. On the evening of March 10th, I am going to read to the colored folk in the African Church here (no whites admitted except such as I bring with me), and a choir of colored folk will sing jubilee songs. I count on a good time, and shall
ssions, but I came home feeling as one does who realizes that he has done a neat thing for once and left no flaws or loop-holes. Well, Livy said she had never told me to invite Charley and she hadn't dreamed of inviting Susy, and moreover
A
were always privately
e along the way of ac
dramatic schools; yo
ge and to travel abroa
colored students, on
nother through th
name of Gerhardt in
mportant, or at least
e following letter giv
or
Howells,
and Conf
, Feb. 2
S,-Well, here
irritable mood, for the barber was up stairs waiting and his hot water getting cold, when the colored George returned from answering the bell and
bent scowling over that person, and began a succession of ru
uestion and answer were going on. She had risen to her feet with the first question; and there she stood, with her pretty f
ight-forwardly; and bravely, and most winningly simply and earne
tatue in clay, and would I be so kind as to come and look at it, and tell him
t know anything about art-the
come down the first day that fell idle-and as I conducted her to the door, I tamed more and more, and said I would come during the very next week-"We shall be so glad-but-but, would you please come early in the week?-the statue is just finished and we are so anxious-and-and-we did hope you could come this week-and"-well, I came down another peg, and said I would come Monday, as
its office. Warner fought, as I had done; and he was in the midst of an article and very busy; but no matter, she won him completely. He laid aside h
n't fail." He was in love with the girl, and with her husband too, and said he b
machine shop, the wife kept no servant, she was there alone. She had a little parlor, with a chair or two and a sofa; and the artist-husband's hand was visible in a couple of plaster busts, one of the wife, and another of a neighbor
he corner, and presently there stood the clay statue, life size-a graceful girlish creature, nude to the waist, and holding up
the image and so remained-a thing I didn't
it's
any an hour-and you can't think how it does tire one! But I don't mind it. He works all day
was perfectly charming, this girl's innocence and purity--exhibiting her naked self, as it were, to a stranger and alone, and never once dreaming that there was the slightest
table family-(I am able to believe anything she says.) And she told me how "Karl" is 26 years old; and how he has had passionate longings all his life
sn't he had
never had
d a noble eye-and he was as simple and natural, and as beautiful in spirit as his wife was. But she
ense of $350. Livy and Clara went there next day and came away enchanted. A few nights later the Gerhardts kept their promise and came here for
s enough in it to make up for them"-whereat the young wife danced around as delighted as a child. When we came away, Champney said, "I did not want to say too much there, but the truth is, it seems to me an extraordinary performance for an untr
way bewitched with those people and marveling at the winning innocence of the young wife, who dropped naturally into model-attitude beside the statue (which is
is full of genius, too. It is such a statue as the man of average talent would achieve after two years training in the schools. And the boldness of the fellow, in going straight to nature! He is an apprentice-his work shows that, all over; but the stuff
with the thing that was in her mind. She said, "Go privately and star
w-storm-and there was a stirring time. Th
he young wife dancing and jubilating behind, this latter cried out imp
k and they were going to tack
hink Livy would mind my telling you these things, b
ev
A
Champney, a portrait-p
sculptor, J
sently off to Paris, w
reality; in due time
m a
of Joel Chandler Harri
ly read them aloud, n
ote Harris, expressing
the negro stories of h
e urged Harris to lo
lec
oud feather in Uncle-
ow what higher honor
rtford public arm in
inality for the storie
rd Uncle Remus are sim
ker and the calendar.
nd asked for the out
out of Mark Twain
dler Harris,
N.Y.,
will bag. In reality the stories are only alligator pears-one merely eats them for the sake of the salad-dressing. Uncle Remus is most deftly drawn, and is a lovable and delightful creation; he, and the little boy, and their relations with each o
ne of your questions with full confidence-thus: Make it a subscription book. Mighty few books that come strictly under the head of literature will sell by subscription; but if Uncle Remus won't, the gift of p
I should have recommended Osgood to you. He inaugurates hi
d to interrupt my yarn about "The Gol
e not written it so, for I can't spell it in your matchless way. It i
and the impressive pauses and eloquent silences, and subdued utterances, toward the end of the yarn (which chain the attention of the child
this one. By this time there was but a ghastly blaze or two flickering about the back-log. We would huddle close about the old man, and begin to shudder with the first famil
t is as common and familiar as the Tar Baby. Work up the at
e a body garrulous-b
ly
. CL
was one that Clemens
as very effecti
Tell a Story," it app
iving the outlines of
hat he had dug up its
, as we gather from
dler Harris,
FORD
wn upon the negro estimate of values by his willingness to risk his soul and his mighty peace forever for the sake of a silver sev'm-punce. And this f
ll in a day or two. Meantime you must not take it ill if I d
r two at our house in Hartford. If you will, I will snatch Osgood down from Boston, and you won't ha
rely
. CL
d, to whom the next le
literary crowd, a grac
iving at the success b
a gentle, irresponsi
always, by one or an
remember that durin
London, winter of 1873
ecretary. At a later
s with the great telep
of this letter, Stodd
fort of the Sandwich I
iterary
Stoddard, in the
D, Oct.
not only slide off to Heaven before you have earned a right to g
and shut ourselves up in the healing solitudes of the crater of Haleakala and get a good rest; for the mails do not intrude there, nor yet the telephone and the telegraph. And after resting, we wou
sake of the children; whereas, I have always had a tenderness for parents too, so, for her sake and mine, I sigh for the incendiary. When the evening comes and th
s on the stocks all the time, but I seldom add a satisfactory chapter to one of them at home. Yes, and it is all because my time is taken up with answering the letters of strangers. It can't be done through a short hand amanuensis-
when I can't work; I am resolved that hereafter I won't be. What I have always longed for, was the pri
rs
A
y good: up to your very best I think. I
Howells,
D, Oct.
here, will convince anybody that reads it; a body cannot help being convinced by it. That is th
t. There was an opulent abundance of things I didn't know; and consequently no need t
earn, here, the more of them God throws at his head. This fellow's postal card has set the vision of those gracious islands before my mind, again, with not a leaf withered, nor a rainbow
ve and
ev
A
in this letter was
"blunder" about the b
oes not know; but per
st in the early editi
without lo
ound it necessary to p
his copyright. He usua
vishly entertained by
r, 1881, he made one o
e and the Pauper, thi
In letters written ho
ur Frechette mentioned
tion. "Clara" was Mi
anied Mr. and Mrs. Cle
ter she became Mrs. J
e has already appeared
me
lemens, i
L, Nov.
h female faces, distinctive English costumes, strange and marvelous English gaits-and yet such honest, ho
of Mount Royal, it being a cold, dry, s
lovi
A
lemens, i
nday, Novemb
lock-so I am lying abed this morning. I would not give sixp
n in the form of a rebus illus
that they could read writing; especially je
ing their feet and thrashing their arms on the corner yonder: but I also look out upon the spot where the first white men stood, in the neighborhood of four hundred years ago, admiring the mighty stretch of leafy solitudes, and bei
anded in, a minute ago, but it was only that note from Sylveste
e children, and ask them to g
A
lemens, i
, Sund
ursday, and by Osgood's advice I accepted it. I would have accepted anyway, and very cheerfully but for the delay of two days-for I was purposing
their affairs-especially the children, who were wallowing around everywhere, like snow images, and having a mighty good time. I wish I could describe the winter costume of the young girls, but I can't. It is grave
ight, last night, these were very picturesque. I did wish you were here to see these
art, and give my re
A
at W. D. Howells wou
was not very well tha
e weeks, "most of the
e been to begin with.
ave a good appetite,
" Clemens, returning t
at explai
Howells,
D, Dec.
-your inability to connect, on the Canadian ra
mising myself half an hour's look at you, in Belmont; but you
ly before me. There's a man who can tell such things himself (by word of mouth,) and has as sure an eye for detecting a th
, and was cleaning up and fixing around, diligently. Joe conceived the idea of getting some talk out of him. Now that never would have occurred to me. So he dropped in under the man's elbow, dogged him patiently around, prodding him with questions and getting irritated snarls
see the living spectacle, the flash of flag and tongue-flame, the rolling smoke, and hear the booming of the guns; and for the first time also, he heard the reasons for that wild charge delivered from the mouth o
produce that giant's picturesque and admirable history. But dern h
While Away,") who educated Yung Wing in her family when he was a little boy; and I came near not getting to bed at all,
; so, congratulations upon your mending health, and
s
A
er-I spare
OWELLS. WASTED FURY. OLD SCENES
profession and promine
wspaper comment. Jest,
s disturbed him, as
receive favorable noti
as not grieved by adve
ll written, usually a
sarcasms and innuendo
he believed them prom
ers he ever wrote,
his confession of vio
his acknowledgment o
n weakness. It should
generally very good f
act seemed to mag
Howells,
D, Jan.
feel that, at this moment. Not a single profane word has issued from my lips this mornin-I have not even had the impuls
substance, this: Since Reid's return from Europe, the Tribune had been flinging sneers and brutalities at me with such persistent frequency "as to attract general remark." I was an angered-which is just as good an expression, I take it, as an hungered. Next, I learned that Osgood, amon
When I got my plan finished, it pleased me marvelously. It was in six or seven sections, each section to be used in its turn and by itself; the assault to begin at once with No. 1, and the
of me, knowing that a malignant book would hurt nobody but the fool who wrote it. I got thoroughly in love with this work; for I saw that I was going to write a book which the very devils and angels themselves would delight to read, and which would draw disapproval from nobody but the hero of it, (and Mrs. Clemens, who was bitter against th
t be well to make sure that the attacks have been 'almost daily'?-and to also make sur
ference which had been made to me in the Tribune from Nov. 1st to date. On my ow
me indignant Englishman in the Pall Mall Gazette who pays me the vast compliment of gravely rebuking some imaginary ass who has set me up in the neighborhood of Rabelais; 3. A remark of the Tribune's about the Montreal dinner, touched with an almos
affronts? The whole offense, boiled down, amounts to just this: one uncourteous remark of the Tribune about my book-not me between Nov. 1 and Dec. 20; and a couple of foreign criticisms (of my writings, not me,) between Nov. 1 and Jan. 26! If I can't stand that amount of friction, I certainly need reconstruc
ning the New York New England dinner, while merely (in the same breath,) mentioning that similar let
houldn't have done it, for I am too lazy, now, in my sere and yellow leaf, to be willing to work for anything but love..... I kind of envy you people who are permitted for your righteousness' sake to dwell in a boarding house; not that I should always want to live in one
rs
A
ady known something o
was an immense relie
that you would get si
il I knew that yo
appears again in the
p South about this tim
osition or suggestion
lic, and tell, or read
ris was abnormally di
yest full-grown man" h
rought home evidently
form
dler Harris,
D, Apl.
iv
would ever be able to muster a sufficiency of reckless daring to make you comfortable and at ease before an audience
id say; but he intimated the trip could be delayed a while, if necessary. If this is so, sup
pyright] when he gets there; he will find himself in a hopeless confusion as to what is the correct thing to do. Now Osgood is the only man in
h of April-thence we propose to drift southward, stopping at
nd use a fictitious name (C. L. Samuel, of New York.) I don'
op me a line, now, and as we approach that city I
't be able. We shall go back up the river
ential because my movements must be kept secret, else I s
ne-agent. He makes those people pay three or four times as much as an artic
Sinc
. CL
n affliction," wrote
age would be a terribl
ident man does beco
ore impudence than hi
et
d, but his courage b
and assembled listener
aught unawares at a Ti
his agony was such th
ton he avoided that c
rgia an
ion with Osgood, as pl
little party took the
toward New Orleans.
and his assumed name
the trip to New Orlean
d we may believe that
ose Southern author
mens also met his ol
up the river with him
use, as in the old d
. Louis, he continued
nnibal an
lemens, i
ILL. May
e promised Osgood, and must stick it out; otherwis
Garth, three miles from town, in their spacious and beautiful house. They were children with me, and afterwards schoolmates. Now they have a daughter 19 or 20 years old. Spent an hour, yesterday, with A. W. Lamb, who was not married when I saw him last. He
hery and wrinkled, the fire is gone out in its eyes, and the spring from its step. It will be dust and ashes w
with a heart brimming full of thoughts and images of you and S
A
en saddened by learni
Dr. John Brown, of
had known as "Jock,"
urn to
n Brown, i
D, June
mourning for your father were not uttered that morning, for his works had made him known and loved all over the land. To Mrs. Clemens and me, the loss is personal; and our grief the grief one feels for one who was peculiarly near and dear. Mrs. Clemens has never ceased to
My wife and I join in affectionate remembrances and greetings to
fully
. CL
l "Megalops." He
r father? We have none but the on
at the age of forty-
st point of achievemen
Silas Lapham, which w
er of 1882, attracted
took first place amon
d of his life, loved
he said: "Most authors
lls's moon shines and
f The Rise of Silas La
es, the sincerity of w
open criticisms of
ive
ells, in Bel
ading and your writing is-remarkable. I mean, in the effects produced and the impression left behind. Why, the one is to the other as is one of Joe Twichell's yarns repeated by a somnambulist. Goodness gracious, you read me a chapte
the form of it as being familiar-but that is all. That is, I remember it as pyrotechnic figures which you set up before me, dead and cold, but ready for the match-and now I see them touched off and all a
riter take note of before. And they are set before the reader with amazing accuracy. How very drunk, and how re
alleck was so deliciously humorous when you read it to me-but dear me, it's
catch it in the magazine, I give a page 20 or 30 minutes in which to gently and thoroughly filter into me. Your humor is so very subtle, and elusive-(wel
er oblit
d schoolmates in Hann
n those early days he
d another schoolmate,
ly respected and a gr
dy been mentioned in t
arth, in
D, July
and in fact we all had to fly around in a lively way and undo the patient preparations of weeks-rehabilitate the dismantled house, unpack the trunks, and so on. A couple of days later, the eldest child was taken down with so fierce a fever that she w
bachelors-and they probably wanted to carry the disease to the children of former flames of theirs. The house i
your
. CL
owells was in Europe,
his Mississippi book,
e. It was usually so
them was not cumulati
the menace of his pub
letters, meant to be
always contribute to
Humor which they had
g, Howells had writte
he reading at Elmira,
sissipp
on, Howells writes of
Osgood, Hutton, John
o Oxford, feasting, es
et you choose your d
r, and have passages t
go to your room....
r a little while?...
been most pleasantl
in my face, and talk f
to the best house o
t this could not be en
t and a book that ref
Howells,
CONN. Oc
ments of the story are prodigious. All along I was afraid it would be impossible for you to keep up so splendidly to the end; but you were only, I see now, striking eleven. It is in these last ch
of the night, until the thing is done, or break down at it. The spur and burden of the contract are intolerable to me. I can endure the irritation of it no longer. I went to work at nine o'clock yesterday morning, and went to bed an hour after midnight. Result of the day, (mainly stolen from books, tho' cred
s as
A
otor,' "which is to enrich us beyond the dreams of avarice.... We could have a lot of fun writing it, and you could go home with some of the good old Etruscan malaria in your bones,
some measure, at least, around the character, or rather from the peculiarities, of Orion Clemens. The Cable mentioned in Mark Twain's reply is, o
wells, in S
, Nov. 4
me, I should swiftly finish this now apparently interminable book. But I cannot come, because I am
the book. However, at last I have said with sufficient positiveness that I will finish the book at no particular date; that I will not hurry it; that I will not hurry myself; that I will take things easy and comfortably, write when I choose to write, leave it alone when I so prefer. The printers must wait, the artists, the canvassers, and all the rest. I have got everything at a dead standstill, and that is where it ought to
it would be to me, to hire him on a good salary not to manage it. Do you observe the same old eagerness, the same old hurry, springing from the fear that if he does not move with the utmost swiftness, that colossal opportunity will escape him? Now just fancy this same frantic plunging after vast opportunities, going on week after week with this same man, during fifty entire years, and he has not yet learned, in the slightest degree, that there isn't any occasion to hurry; that his vast opportunity will always wait; and that whether it waits
nnocence, and utterly blemishless piety, the Apostles were mere policemen to Cable; so with this in mind you must imagine him at a midnight dinner in Boston the other night, where we gathered around the board of the Summerset Club; Osgood, full, Boyle O'Reilly, full, Fairchild responsively loaded, and Aldrich and myself
ence; but we have to leave these delights to you; there is n
s as
A
. A GUEST OF THE MARQUIS OF LORNE. THE HIST
son, finished the Miss
or publication. It was
Clemens was to furnis
percentage for handli
ark Twain's advent
ppy in Florence as he
rwhelmed him. In Febr
e been the most ridicu
assed. We have spent
we cared nothing, an
d yet, and what part o
nd distraction. Of cou
ay. I wring my hands a
weeks have been waste
y the infernal social
dn't e
m the burden of his o
s and news; also of sy
his time was "A Woma
, was Marshall Jewell,
ter, he was Minister
tates Postma
owells, in
, March
ments upon them. But all the world go there to look and listen, and are apparently well satisfied. And they ought to be fully satisfied, if the lecturer would only keep still, or die in the first act. But he described how retired tradesmen and farmers in Holland load a lazy scow with the family and the household effects, and then loaf along the waterways of the low countries all the summer long, paying no visits, receiving none, and just lazying a heavenly life out in their own private unpestered society, and doing their literary work, if they have any, wholly uninterrupted. If you had hired such a boat and sent for us we should have a coupl
raise. I hear no dissent from this verdict. I did not know there was an untouched personage
slave." Of course the highest pleasure to be got out of freedom, and having nothing to do, is labor. Therefore I labor. But I take my time about it. I work one hour or four as happens to suit my mind, and quit when I please. And so these days are days of entire enjoyment. I told Clark the other day, to jog along c
idely and sincerely regretted. Win. E. Dodge, the father-in-law of one of Jewell's daughters, dropped suddenly dead the day before Jewell died, but Jewell died without knowing that. Jewell's widow went down to New York, to Dodge's house, the day after Jewell's funeral, and was to return here day before yesterday, and she did-in a coffin. She fell dead, of heart disease, while her trunks were being packed for her return home. Florence Strong, one of Jewell's daughters, who liv
you several times. I shall try
st regards t
s as
A
r trip to Canada in th
the Mississippi book
ess, the Marquis of
m to be his guest at R
ourse, and was handsom
oria and her husband,
na
ord he found that Osgo
Clemens had prepared
gh originally issued w
uide of the Conversat
uide of the Conversa
olino, with an introd
]-Evidently the "New
e soul with but sligh
uld be obtained from
English idioms are of
is one, take
e happies enough for
n the lit
s quaint book might am
n what he considered t
o
inton, in Ot
D, June
will amuse her "some at most" if she has not seen it before, and will still amuse her "some at least," even if she has inspected it a hundred times already. So I will send the book to you, and you who know all about the proper observances will protect me from indi
e?-and I beg to make my sincere compliments to you, also, for your infinit
ly
. CL
tes a year back, the book is only
L
Venice, in April, mani
"Something that would
ne nights," so perha
hat they devote the m
letter from Mallory
hurchman, but also the
Howells play. Twenty y
and he wrote, now: "T
ncing. I feel like th
the Cardi
a in July. Clemens se
f his own undertakings
The Adventures of Hu
t Quarry Farm. He ha
d taken it up again in
clusion. This time, h
and the story w
Howells,
July 2
ver travel again, till you go aloft or alow. Charley Clark has gone to the other sid
t she is pulling up, now. The children are booming, and my health is
f ago. Why, it's like old times, to step right into the study, damp from the breakfast table, and sai
ouple of days and read and smoke, and then go it again for 6 or 7 days. I have finished one small book, and am away along in a big 433 one that I half-fi
re's a raft episode from it in second or th
aste-got an overplus; and if I were at home, we wou
then maybe a week at Indian
you are all back; and
s
A
ns and family,
July 2
iv
urishing. I haven't had such booming working-days for many years. I am piling up manuscript in a really astonishing way. I believe I shall c
rk and carried it out. It took me all day. I measured off 817 feet of the road-way in our farm grounds, with a foot-rule, and then divided it up among the English reigns, from the Conq
om the front door-some of them close together, like Richard II, Richard Cromwell, James II, &c., and some prodigiously wide apart, like Henry III,
it indoors-in a far more voluminous way, as to mu
supper'
to
d b
A
turally get excited ov
ssibilities. Not more
ly employed him to a
the game was to teach.
became a sort of mi
holds, at Keokuk and a
the idea of "learning
, even if unintentiona
me of speed as w
as noticed that the ne
tion of a history game
this h
Howells speaks of an E
of introduction. "He s
a good taste in litera
books in his pockets,
Howells,
w, but revise. I've written eight or nine hundred MS pages in such a brief space of time that I mustn't name the number of days; I shouldn't believe it myself, and of course couldn't expect you to. I used to restrict myself to 4 or 5 hours a
note from him saying he was going to print part of my letter, and was going to do it b
kind. When I wrote you, I thought I had it; whereas I was only merely entering upon the initiatory difficulties of it. I might have known it wouldn't be an easy jo
ith them. And much obliged to you, too. There's plenty of worse people than the nobilities. I we
ittle tribe will give us the necessary furlough; and if we can't get it, you
ink I see W
rom Clark, which
you all
MEN
l has become of that man. He was to spend t
e shipwreck and the mystery-I like it. Mrs. Crane thinks it's the best story you've written y
says I haven't. Damn it, a body can't think of everything; but a woman
, yet. Well, we do send the love of
L
delay and postpone
ells and Clemens a
entire month of O
id put in a portion
ng out their old i
Colonel Sellers, o
rted old visionary
actor Raymond had
onel Sellers's char
nce never belied h
s in his dramatic
let their imaginat
The reader can jud
American Claimant
later build
ey thought it a gre
es" laughing over
and they thought th
ormance. They deci
haughtily, indiffe
actors would b
scalculation. Ray
orable to the idea
id not present his
he end he returned
already been made
ould continue
ABLE'S GREAT APRIL FOOL. "HUCK FINN" IN PRESS
gering attack of the
play of the Prince
"too thin and sligh
another of Tom Sa
trace of the MS. ex
these ventures, fo
ad sickness in
Howells,
7,
er, once domesticated, is a permanent member of the family. Money may desert you, friends forsake you, enemies grow indifferent to you, but the
amily makes me shudder; I believe I would alm
thy. Oh, the intrusion of this hideou
den motive will illustrate a but-little considered fact in human nature; that the religious folly you are born in you will die in, no matter what apparently reasonabler religious folly may seem to have taken its place meanwhile, and abolished and obliterated it. I start Bill Ragsdale at 12 years of age, and the he
r business. When we came to dramatize, we can draw a
s
A
Sandwich Islands sto
er. His head filled u
plans, reading-tour
oes not appear in the
ant factor, neverthe
lars a month for con
rk Twain's finances
nxiety for a profitab
bring a quick and gen
his
d Charles L. Webster,
as selling agent for t
also planning to let W
Huck
oven his ability as a
ding combination, whic
and Howells, an
ls did not warm to th
an. Cable came to visi
the mumps, so that
tpo
ellers play were most
In February, Howells
to our play I wish you
so
ime, and out of grat
r his host. He was a s
gh way. He sent a "pri
red and fifty of Mar
distinguished literar
them should send a re
so that it would arri
sponded. Mark Twain's
ed with letters, aski
able autograph." The
: "I am making a coll
iters, and having re
ould like to add yo
n this was that Gabri
e was thoroughly detes
the letters puzzle
and character of the j
e letters was from Bl
ocents Abroad. Cutte
say, doggerel. Mark T
leasan
Bloodgood H. Cutt
ECK, LON
, TO HIS FRIEND AN
L. CLEM
gest in each
nd ask your
that, I wi
ong voyage
time You wrote in pro
each place, And the qu
in my me
live I'll
hink of t
that were w
nds think it
Autograph w
u will it
nd cheer your d
s tr
OOD H.
Howells,
D, Apl
n't recovered it yet, entirely-I mean the generosit
n pile it on. It will cost me a pang every time I think of it, but this anguish will be eingebusst to me in the joy and comfort I shall get out of the not having to read the verfluchtete proofs myself. But if you have repented of your augenblichlich
he P & P cost me the l
that he would be gla
fs of Huck Finn, wh
and. Replying to C
now, he wrote: "It i
y, unless I am goin
bby motives which I
if I examine it.
e may be permitted
e fewer and less s
d in g
wells was reading p
mer, he wrote: "if I
k Finn I shouldn't
roofs; even as it
ill always find
of the Blaine-Clev
y with many othe
supporting Clevel
mething of the aspe
s one of scandal a
e young sculptor, K
years' study in Pa
qualifie
Howells,
Aug. 2
l his aspects? Man, "know thyself "-and then thou wilt despise thyself, to a dead moral certainty. Take three quite good specimens-Hawley, Warner, and Charley Clark. Even I do not loathe Blaine more than th
burned down in Hartford the other day, uninsured-for who in the world would ever think of ins
weeks hard work gone to the dogs. The news flew, and everybody on the farm flocked to the arbor and grouped themselves about the wreck in a profound and moving silence-the farm-help, the colored servants, the German nurse, the ch
ldn't word it, I suppose. But he went to work, and by dark had everything thoroughly well under way for a fresh start in the morning; and in three days' time had built a
s
A
wants a bust, be sure and re
erminedly for Blain
. "I do not believe
him of, and I know
Cleveland, his pri
f most men, but a
ritical, lop-sided
ll the shame of unch
destroyed politica
ould take their wive
t, but if he marrie
n' they would not
d th
sound logic, in tha
mens far fr
Howells,
Sept.
y and the party. Certainly allegiance to these is well; but as certainly a man's first duty is to his own conscience and honor-the party or
But you know now that they are proven, and it seems to me that that bars you and al
for an improper man) even though the party and the country go to destruction in consequence. It is not parties that make or save countries or that build them to
his country and not to his party. Don't be offended; I mean no offence.
E
A
to be any further di
emens. Their letters f
ion of
wn political conscienc
his party; at least
Cleveland enthusias
a Republican who woul
of an eleventh-hour
whatever
ierce, i
D, Oct.
te for Blaine is because they feel that they cannot help themselves. Do not you believe that if Mr. Edmund
him? since his protest would relieve him from all responsibility; and he couldn't surely find fault with people for forcing a compliment upon him. And do not yo
the feet of the adversary at the eleventh hour; would it not be wholesome to vary this
teeth of all the protesting and blaspheming he could do in
ef Independents, and see if they won't call a sudden convention and whoop the thing
gards to you an
T
. CL
t out on their readi
ly-assorted pair: C
to habits, neat, pr
inning Cable undert
ch evening, but thi
tly omitted by req
ble was up bright an
and Sunday-school
hotel, in bed, r
ND CABLE. PUBLICATION OF "HUCK FINN."
ome respects the most
ng, in Mark Twain's li
into the publishing b
r of all publishing ad
. S. Grant. Clemens
when he arranged wi
ississippi book, and
es; he had intended
pretty thoroughly di
s. Even the Library of
rant, had put together
blisher failed, duri
dreamed of undertak
s of the G
ed that Grant could
et, he had urged the
n. Howells, in his 'My
see Grant, then a memb
how they lunched on b
-by restaurant. It was
at Clemens-very like
great commander to p
nancier, as he believ
however large, di
nvinced that he was wi
by him would p
ame a failure more dis
nfall of his firm th
neral Grant was utter
arently without the me
the great War Series
eral Grant, hard-pres
or more articles, and
interested in the i
here the story of how
into the hands of Mark
Webster & Co., the de
e Mark Twain: A Biog
the moment to other m
s. Clemens and Cabl
nada, and in Februar
re invited by the Toqu
ir weekly excursions
reasons given by Mar
is to Mr. George Il
e Camera, and many
the Toque Blew Snow-
February
ight
ll day in order to be rested and equipped for talking an hour at night, and yet in my case and Cable's it is so. Unless I get a great deal of rest, a ghastly dulness settles down upon me on the platform, and turns my performa
world would delight me more than to come to their house without naming time or terms on my own pa
gards to the Cl
incere
. CL
reach the end of the C
summing up of Mark Tw
of his travels. It mu
ark Twain's attitude t
was as rigidly ortho
were never anything b
Howells,
. Feb.
my four-months platform campaign is ended at last. It has been a curious experience. It h
o know and study Cable daily and hourly. Mind you, I like him; he is pleasant company; I rage and swear at him sometimes, but we do not quarrel; we get along mighty happily to
eek. He is very anxious to get our Sellers play and play it under changed names
E
A
re often at the house
885, and it must have
s on the great occa
t was on the last day
ion that the bill wa
ll General with full p
he congressional cloc
ight become a law bef
t had by this time de
in feebl
Mrs. Clemens
K, Mar.
he expiring congress late this morning retired him with full General's rank and accompanying emoluments
. CL
tioned before of Mark
able habit of them. He
lling to invest mo
one of thousands such
then received letters
ter wrote him that he
tford banker and adv
r I made that purchase
red shares and that yo
asking for further in
s fol
. J--, in
TON, Mc
th of the stock at $110, and I own it yet. He sold me $10,000 worth of another rose-tinted stock about the same time. I have got that yet, also. I judge that a peculiarity of B--'s stocks is that they are of the staying kind. I think you should have asked somebody else whether I was a shrewd man or not for two reasons: the stock was advertised in a religious paper, a circumstanc
Truly
. CL
n was having a wide s
e sales were large. I
siastic. Here and the
uck's morals were not
ttees. The first inst
; and would seem not
r-pub
Webster, i
18,
tip-top puff which will go into every paper in the country. They have expelled Huck from thei
L
ee Trade Club had some
slight put upon his bo
the Huck Finn incide
to honorary
"authors' readings,"
isted at these funct
or another. From th
nment given for the L
's opinion of Howells'
rov
Howells,
D, May
ation and thought, I guess. And practice at the Tave
bsolute proof of good reading. But you couldn't read worth a damn a few years ago. I do not say
easy to see that he was still on the verge of it a month or two ago; but I continued to hope-but not expect that h
ou had better send down and get it. I told him, the other day, that an order
us the Wilderness and Appomattox stand for all time in his own word
ty well, thes
s
A
d," wrote Howells, "t
me some hope that I
... but I would never
ld help it. You simply
hat house up in the h
led
Howells,
July 2
nly author; I am restricted to you,
nding flashes of single-sentence poetry, philosophy, wit, and what not, and nearly died from the overwork. I wouldn't read another of those books for a farm. I did try to read one other-Daniel Deronda. I d
d both parts aloud to the family. It is a beautiful story, and makes a body laugh all the time, and cry inside, and feel so old and so forlorn; and gives him gracious glimpses of his lost youth that fill him with a measureless regret, and build up in him a cloudy sense of his having been a prince, once, in some enchanted far-off land, and of being an exile now, and desolate-and Lord, no chance ever to get back there again! That is th
s
A
stand Mark Twain's enj
Daniel Deronda and T
t did not convey its p
. It is interesting t
ment Howells wrote: "W
le as possible; they g
ch I am supposed to be
your eyes..... Did y
read it, not merely f
ng, suffering, sinnin
and most natural Engl
ten
teadily on his book, d
slips of paper when he
t Mt. McGregor and br
hat enough of his boo
for his family, and
twice as much by
July. On the 23d of th
re was a newspaper di
the great chieftain
ebate, though in the f
y of preser
," on the proper pla
k as a place of sepulchre for General Grant, and the objectors are strenuous that Washington i
ider posterity rather than our own generation. We should select a grave which will not m
er past attempts are a fair warning that when the day comes she will do it. Then the city of Washington will lose its consequence and pass out of the public view and public t
ian of a grave which is destined to become almost the most conspicuous in the world's history. Twenty centuries from now New York
on and strongest object
ound." Let us give ours
Grant's body lies, th
. CL
A, Ju
s is very long, but it
omitted in any part.
had long been a matt
ge. Every one had hear
, remarked something
t kind of whisky Grant
other generals. Henry
on the dead soldier,
matter nor to make too
n to the publisher of
advance copy
ard Beeche
. Y. Sept
tracts for the Memoirs. Before he sailed he came to me with a
the Memoirs while I am absent, even tho
it at any time. So I did all of that-said the order should stand undisturbed to the end. If a principal could dissolve his promise as innocently as he can di
.........
e West that Mr. Lincoln said he wished he could find out what brand of whisky that fellow used, so he could furnish it to some of the other generals. Franklin saw Grant tumble from his horse drunk, while reviewing troops in New Orleans. The fall gave him a good deal of a hurt. He was then on the
of the frequent spreeing
........
om the service. At last the report had to be made out; and then, so greatly was the captain beloved, that he was privately informed, and was thus enabled to rush his resignation to Washington ahead o
entioned liquor to me was about la
s urge whisky and champagne; but I can't take the
o sore over what had been said about his habit that he wanted to persuade others and likewise himse
hat at the suggestion of his physicians he had reduced his smoking to one cigar a day. T
root, not the trunk. It's the perfect way and the only true way (I speak from experience.) How I do hate those enemies of
tatements without shade or color or malice with a frankness and a child-like naivety, indeed, which is enchanting-and stupefying. West Point seems to teach them that, among other priceless things not to be got in any other col
.......
over a single drink and several cigars with Van Vliet and Sherman and Sena
full of the appreciation of it. I have sat with him by the hour listening to Jim Nye's yarns, and I reckon you know the style of Jim Nye's
General Grant: "Put the drunkenness in the Memoir
k. He was sore, there. As much of the book as I
ints of Gen. Grant's character-s
ace-it is not fair to visit our fault upon them-let him alone;" so they did let him alone, under compulsion, until the great heart that was his shield was taken away; then-well they simply couldn't stand him, and so they were excusable for determining to discharge him-a thing which they mortally hated to do, and by lucky accident were saved from the necessity of doing;) his toughness as a bargainer when doing business for other people or for his country (witness his "terms" at Donelson, Vicksburg, etc.; Fred Grant told me his father wound up an estate for the widow and orphans of a friend in St. Louis-it took several years; at the end every complication had been straightened out, and the property put upon a prosperous basis; great sums had passed through his hands, and when he handed over the papers there were vouchers to show what had been done with every penny) and his trusting, easy, unexacting fashion when doing business for himself (at that same time he was paying out money in driblets to a man who was running his farm for him-and in his first Presidency he paid every one of those driblets again (total, $3,000 F. said,) for he hadn't a scrap of paper to show that he had ever paid them before; in his dealings with me he would not listen to terms which would place my money at risk and leave him protected-the thought plainly gave him pain, and he put it from him, waved it off wi
ey may be of some trifle of use, and they may not-they at least verify known traits of his character. My Autobiography is pretty freely dictated, but my idea is to jack-plane it a little bef
rely
. CL
Library of Humor came
885 Howells associate
contract provided th
ot published by the
sell out his interest
in addition to the fiv
mount considered to b
t author and compiler
rs the details of
Howells,
, Oct. 1
iv
publish or not. Yet I fully recognize that I have no sort of moral right to let that ancient and procrastinated contract hamper you in any way, and I most certainly won't. So, it is my decision,-after thinking over and rejecting the idea of trying to buy permission of the Harpers for $2,500 to use your name, (a proposition which they would hate to refuse to a man in a perplexed po
30 days old (Jan. 1st) before the relief money will begin to flow in. From now till the first of January every dollar is as valuable to me as it could be to a famishing tramp. If you can wait till then-I mean without discomfort, without incon
ng outside the door of plenty-obstructed by a Yale time-lock which is set for Jan. 1st. I can stand it
arpers. I have noticed that good me
rs
A
begin to get some id
ng venture, and a brie
ut of pl
sued in two volumes.
nts' canvass was just
most clairvoyant visio
d sets. The actual sa
February 27, 1886, Ch
largest single royalt
The amount of it was
checks increased the
double this figure. I
midst of the ca
ve days the sales (i.
veraged 3,000 sets (6,
Mrs. Grant's income d
00 a
Howells,
NORM
K, Dec.
he may possibly forget it; so I write lest I forget it too. Remind me, if he should forget. When I postponed you lately, I did it becaus
at you are in Auburndale, bu
of the first edition. I got nervous and came down to help hump-up the binderies; and I mean to stay here pretty much all the time till the first days of March, when the second volume will issue. Shan't have so much troub
while delivering eleven books he took 7 new subscriptions. But we shall b
s
A
r was Mark Twain's fif
ers generally, and esp
er, Stockton and man
ed a fine poem; also
al request of Miss G
as a sort of crowning
time in his life were
r; he had a beautiful
eat prosperity. The r
cess. His latest bo
ad added largely to
e Grant Memoirs had b
e recognized, not on
but as its most envi
hday, had come this la
dd a touch of glory t
in his note of
Wendell Holm
w to see what would happen-well, it was great and fine and beautiful to see, and made me feel as the victor feels when the shouting hosts march by; and if you also could have seen it you would have said the account was squared. For I have brought them up in your company, as in the company of a warm and friendly and beneficent but far-distant sun; and so, for you to do this thing was for the sun to send
d am I, but more because it has drawn the sting of my fiftieth year; taken away the pain
rence and
rely
. CL
own hand: "Did Miss
pread out for answer w
y? I stopped my corre
until the lin
Romance
Romance
Xuanhuan
Fantasy
Romance
Romance