Tuscola, 27th
Livy Darling—
I made an ass of myself leaving a mean hotel at midnight to hunt up another a good one 20 miles away. Train was [behind] time & didn’t get me here till 2.30 AM—& wasn’t it bitter cold—the coldest night of the season. No one at the depot. Hunted up the hotel myself & carried my own [baggage. Found] every bed in the house occupied—so I had to sit up, in a fireless office the rest of the night.1 My [ spe splendid] overcoat earned its cost—every cent of it.2 My body was not cold for a moment—but all the dirty shirts & things I could [ pile i ] find in my valise wouldn’t keep my legs warm. I wouldn’t tell who I was, or I could have fared better—I was too savage.
Got breakfast at 7.30, & then pitched into my new lecture & memorized the last half of it. So I know it all, now, & can begin to use it the moment I get away from the Chicago Tribune country.
Lectured on Ward [tonight]. I [ got ] had got through work in time to take a brief, nice nap before talking—consequently was uncommonly bright & fresh.3
Am in splendid condition, now to go on working till 1 o’clock——you see they have changed the [time-table], & so I have to be up the entire night to-night again. But I am in hight vigor & don’t mind it.
I do hope the cubbie is well again—shall be anxious to get your letter tomorrow & learn how he is.4
I am going to kiss you good night, my darling, & get at my work. I can do a great deal between this & train time.
Kiss mother & the baby for me, & believe that I love you with all my heart, my darling.
Samℓ.
Mrs. Samℓ. L. Clemens | Cor Forest & Hawthorne | Hartford | Conn [postmarked:] [tuscola ill]. dec 29
Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary
But as the present letter shows, Olivia also reported the baby’s condition in subsequent letters which
Clemens had already received. Anna Dickinson lectured on “Demagogues and Workingmen” (“Anna
Dickinson this Evening,” Hartford Courant, 20 Dec 71, 2). “Emma” may have
been Olivia’s Elmira friend Emma Sayles.
Source text(s):
Previous publication:
L4, 524–26; MFMT, 48–49, excerpt.
Provenance:see Samossoud Collection in Description of Provenance.
Emendations and textual notes:
behind • beohind
baggage. Found • baggage.—|Found
spe splendid • spelendid
pile i • [second ‘i’ partly formed]
tonight • to-|night
got • [‘t’ partly formed]
time-table • time-timable
tuscola ill. dec 29 • [tcol] a ill. dec 2[9] [badly inked]