Hartford, April 29.
Dear Capt.
The bearer is my friend and London helpmeet, Mr. Samuel C. Thompson. He would like to sail with us, [May ]17th in the “Batavia” & I would exceedingly like it myself. I hope that the ship is not so full but that a shelf can be found for him to dispose himself upon.1
My [wife ]and I send warm regards.
Your friend
Mark Twain.
Capt. Jno. E. Mouland
Steamer Batavia.
Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary
Clemens complained of forgetfulness; lost much by not writing things down at once; thought of learning short hand, but found the only way to learn would be to hire a teacher to live with him till he mastered it. . . . Also he wished he could have with him the coming summer in England a suitable person to help take notes. An Englishman would not notice things that would strike Americans as peculiar. And in some cases a substitute could go when he wanted to go somewhere else. Having been a sailor I had thought of taking a healthful summer holiday by shipping before the mast for a voyage or two, and doing a little sight seeing about the ports. But it occurred to me that I might get up short hand and go for the summer with Clemens if he wanted me. He seemed pleased at the idea. I had occasion to run down to New York. Monson’s was the leading system in shorthand. He was in Park Row. I had a talk with him and got a copy of his work. . . . I put in all my spare time for six weeks, teaching and timing myself. . . . Then I went again to see Clemens. Dudley Warner was with him in his study, manuscript all around, hurrying to finish “The [G]ilded Age.[”] . . . He wanted me to go over in the same steamer, and all the state rooms had been engaged weeks before, his on the Cunarder “Batavia.” Warner suggested that Clemens write to the Captain, Mouland. The latter [[and]] Clemens were chummy. The Captain had visited him and he preferred to cross by the Batavia when possible. (Thompson, 76–78)
Clemens “wrote and handed” the present letter to Thompson: “In New York I took my letter to the Captain and he went over to the main office and got me a birth in the last state room aft on the port side” (Thompson, 79–80). Thompson taught himself a system of shorthand developed by James E. Munson (1835–1906), who had published the first edition of his Complete Phonographer in 1866 (New York: Robert H. Johnston and Co.). Munson had been a law reporter since 1857, and later became the official stenographer for the Superior Court of New York. He based his shorthand on the phonetic symbols invented by Isaac Pitman, which he modified to “adapt the system to the requirements of the reporter” (Munson, title page, iii, v; Westby-Gibson, 138; see also L2, 311 n. 8).
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Previous publication:
L5, 359–360.
Provenance:
Thompson’s autobiography was purchased by CU-MARK in 1978 with funds donated by Elinor R. Heller.
Emendations and textual notes:
May • Mey
wife • Wife