To William Dean Howells
20 February 1875 • Hartford, Conn.
(MS: MH-H, UCCL 01195)

Feb. 20.

My Dear Howells:1

After all, I find I cannot go to Boston.2 And what grieves me as much, is, that I have to give up the river trip, too.

So I’ll trim up & finish 2 or 3 more river sketches for the magazine (if you still think you want them), & then buckle in on another book for Bliss, finish it then end of May, & then either make the river trip or drop it indefinitely.3 I give up the river trip, now, because I find our mother cannot remain here with my wife, but must return to her own home & finish her building enterprises—namely, her house.4

We are looking forward with the pleasantest anticipations to your visit, & we want you to give us just as many days as you can. We shall be utterly out of company, & you can choose your own rooms, & change them & take ours if they don’t suit.5

Yrs Ever

Mark.

Explanatory Notes

Editorial Signs

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1 Clemens replied to the following letter (CU-MARK), which answered his of 14? February:

UCLC32109

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Samuel Dean (“Uncle Sam”) was one of Howells’s four maternal uncles—the others were Alexander, Jesse, and William—all of whom had pursued careers as pilots, captains, and owners of steamboats on the Ohio River, based in Pittsburgh. “No. 5” was the May installment of “Old Times on the Mississippi” (Howells 1975, 10, 12–13, 26–31; Howells 1979, 465; Emerson Gould, 636–37; Thurston, 121).

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2 See the next letter.

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3 Clemens wrote two more articles for his “Old Times” series, published in the June and August issues of the Atlantic. The “book for Bliss” probably was The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, completed in July, rather than Mark Twain’s Sketches, New and Old, which was ready by the end of March.

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4 Mrs. Langdon left for Elmira on 23 February, after a visit of nearly four weeks. The work on her house had been ongoing for several months. On 12 May 1874, the Elmira Advertiser had reported: “The Langdon House is to undergo numerous improvements, changes and enlargements during the coming summer” (untitled item, 4; George H. Warner to Elisabeth G. Warner, 23 Feb 75, CU-MARK).

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5 The Howellses planned to visit Hartford in March (1 Mar 75 to Howells, n. 1).

Description of Texts and Provenance

Source text(s):

MS, Houghton Library, Harvard University (MH-H, shelf mark bMS Am 1784 [98]).

Previous publication: L6, 390–391; MTHL, 1:67.

Provenance:see Howells Letters in Description of Provenance.