Virginia, May 20.
My Dear Mollie:
I have had nothing but trouble & vexation since the Sanitary trip, & now this letter comes to aggravate me a [thousand ]times worse. If it were from a man, I would answer it with a challenge, as the easiest way of getting out of a bad scrape, although I know I am in the wrong & would not be justified in doing such a thing. I wrote the squib the [ladies ]letter refers to, & although I could give the names of the parties who made the offensive remarks I shall not do it, because they were said in drunken jest and no harm was meant by them. But for a misfortune of my own, they never would have seen the light. That misfortune was, that that item about the sack of flour slipped into the paper without either my consent or Dan’s.1 We kept that Sanitary spree up for several days, & I wrote & laid that [ I item ] before Dan when I was not sober (I shall not get drunk again, Mollie,)—and said he, “Is this a joke?” I told him “Yes.” He said he would not like such a joke as that to be perpetrated upon him, & that it would wound the feelings of the ladies of Carson. He asked me if I wanted to do that, & I said “No, of course not.” He threw it on the table While we were talking, the manuscript lay on the table, & we forgot it & left it there when we went to the theatre, & we I never thought of it again until I received this letter tonight, for I have not read a copy of the Enterprise for a week. I suppose the foreman, prospecting for copy, found it, & seeing that it was in my [handwriting, ] thought it was to be published, & carried it off.2
Now Mollie, whatever blame there is, rests with me alone, for if I had not been just had just sense enough to submit the article to Dan’s better judgment, it would have been published all the same, & not by any mistake, either. Since it has made the ladies angry, I am sorry the thing occurred, & that is all I can do, for you will see yourself that their communication is altogether unanswerable. I cannot publish that, & explain it by saying the affair was a silly joke, & that I & all concerned were drunk. No—I’ll die first.
Therefore, do one of two things: Either satisfy those ladies that I [dealt ]honorably by them when I consented to let Dan suppress that article upon his assertion that its would publication would [wound ]their feelings—or else make them appoint a man to avenge the wrong done them, with weapons in fair & open field.
They will understand at a glance that I cannot submit to the humiliation of publishing myself as a liar (according to the terms of their letter,) & they will also understand so long as I have the other alternative of either challenging or being challenged.
Mollie, the Sanitary expedition has been very disastrous to me. Aside from this trouble, (which I feel worst,) deepest,) I have two other quarrels on my hands, engendered on that [day., ]& as yet I cannot tell how either of them is to end.3
Mollie, I shall say nothing about this business until I hear from you. If they insist upon [ pu the ]publication of that letter, I shall still refuse, but Dr Ross shall hear from me, for I suspect that he is at the bottom of the whole business.4
Your affectionate
Brother,
Sam
Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary
THE “ENTERPRISE” LIBEL OF THE
LADIES OF CARSON. Carson City, May 21st, 1864. Virginia Daily Union: The
following communication, in reply to a libelous article which
appeared in the Enterprise of the 18th inst. [actually 17
May], was sent to that journal for publication, but thus
far no notice has been taken of it. By inserting it in your columns,
you will confer a favor upon the ladies whose names are appended,
and, perhaps, draw a reply from
“Mark Twain,” the author of the scurrilous
item. Citizen. Carson City, May 18th, 1864. Editors of Enterprise: In your issue of yesterday, you
state “that the reason the Flour Sack was not taken from
Dayton to Carson, was because it was stated that the money raised at
the Sanitary Fancy Dress Ball, recently held in Carson for the St.
Louis Fair, had been diverted from its legitimate course, and was to
be sent to aid a Miscegenation Society somewhere in the East; and it
was feared the proceeds of the sack might be similarly disposed
of.” You apparently mollify the statement by saying
“that it was a hoax, but not all a hoax, for an effort is
being made to divert those funds from their proper
course.” In behalf of the ladies who originated and
assisted in carrying out the programme, let us say that the whole
statement is a tissue of falsehoods, made for
malicious purposes, and we demand the
name of the author. The ball was gotten up in aid of the Sanitary
Commission, and not for the St. Louis Fair.
At a meeting of the ladies, held in this city last week, no decision
was arrived at as to whether the proceeds of the ball should be sent
to St. Louis or New York, but one thing was
decided, that they should go to the aid of the sick and
wounded soldiers, who are fighting the battles of our country, and for no other purpose. The only discussion
had upon the subject was, whether the funds should be forwarded to
St. Louis or New York, and this grew out of a circular received from
St. Louis, by one of the members, stating “that a portion
of the proceeds of the St. Louis Fair, were to be applied to the aid
of the Freedmen’s Society.” In order to have
no mistake in the matter, and that the funds should all be applied
to the Sanitary Commission, it was proposed by some of the ladies
that the money be sent to New York, but no final decision was
arrived at. In conclusion, let us say that the ladies having the
matter in charge, consider themselves capable of deciding as to what
shall be done with the money, without the aid of outsiders, who are
probably desirous of acquiring some glory by
appropriating the efforts of the ladies to themselves. Mrs. W. K. Cutler, President. Mrs. H. F. Rice, Vice President. Mrs. S. D. King, Treasurer. Mrs. H. H. Ross, Sec’y San. Ball. The ladies signing the above card, sent it to
the editors of the “Enterprise,” and not to
any individual. The assumption in “Enterprise”
of May 24th, that they were expecting an answer from
“Mark Twain,” except through the
“Enterprise,” is his, not theirs. Citizen.
When a question is first sounded it [ the Enterprise] inhales much of the
wind of the occasion, bubbles up high, shows out empty,
braggart-like, and then goes down sniveling or sneering. In the
instance of patriotism and philanthropy its sensibility is excited
while the drums beat, then it is irrepressibly prominent and
liberal. Returning to the even course of its instincts, it regrets
its gifts and sublimates its manners into the most contemptible self
praise, introduced through falsifying insinuations against its
neighbors. Calling the Enterprise’s insinuations
“despicable” and without “parallel in
unmanly public journalism,” the Union
charged: “Such an item could only emanate from a person whose
employer can find in his services a machine very suitable to his own
manliness” (“‘How Is
It?’—How It is,” Virginia City Union, 19 May 64, 2). Clemens immediately replied
with an Enterprise editorial, which provoked the
responses he protests in the next letter.
Source text(s):Previous publication:
L1, 287–290; MTEnt, 190–91.
Provenance:Probably Moffett Collection; see p. 462.
Emendations and textual notes:
thousand • thou-| ssand [‘s’ over ‘s’]
ladies • [sic]
I item • [‘i’ over ‘I’]
handwriting • hand-|writing
dealt • dealltt [‘t’ over ‘lt’]
wound • woulnd [‘n’ over ‘l’]
day., • [comma over period]
pu the • [‘the’ over ‘pu’]
