Mark Twain Project :: Letters :: : an electronic text

To Emma Parish
19 or 20 November 1874 • Hartford, Conn.
(Transcripts: Wall, 23, and CU-MARK, UCCL 01142)

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[2 MS pages (about 180 words) missing] 1

[Susie? Susie ]resembles us [ both ]. She has her mother’s personal comeliness & her father’s sweetness of disposition. When she gets in a fury [& ]breaks furniture, that is a merit all her own—[not ]inherited—at least only in a general way. I break a good deal of [furniture, ]but it is only to see how it is [made. ]

We have had some pictures of Clara (the fresh baby) taken a day or two [ago, ]but the photographer has not sent them to us [yet—] [otherwise I would send one to you. ] 2

I am [glad, with you, ]that your studying days are nearly over. I [would ]rather teach than study, [10 ]to [one; ]the former [kills ]two birds with one [stone—it ]increases one’s own knowledge & helps another fellow creature along at the same time.3

Your Cousin [Livy ]sends her love, but I have to do her [writing, ]because I want to build up her strength. I [don’t ]allow her to do [anything ]at all but sit around & try to get strong.

You’ll pardon this paper—plenty down [stairs—]but what I lack [today ]is [energy. Good-bye, ]

[Yr. ]cousin,

S. L. C.

[hartford, 1874–5 ]

dear sir:

i thank you very much for your [invitation, ]but am compelled to decline [it, ]as i am not lecturing at all this season, other duties rendering this course necessary.

yours [truly, ]

mark [twain. ] 4

Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary

Editorial Signs

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1 This fragment of a letter was reportedly not part of Clemens’s 10 November letter to Parish, also a fragment. The two surviving pages were numbered “3” and “4” (see the textual commentary).

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2 Olivia noted in her album that this photograph of Clara, her first, was taken when she was five months old—that is, on or shortly after 8 November 1874 (see p. 682). Howells had received his own print by Monday, 23 November (see 20 Nov 74 to Howells [2nd], n. 1), which indicates that the photograph was taken on 17 or 18 November, as soon as Clemens returned from Boston, and delivered to him late on Friday, November 20, or early the next day. Since Clemens mentioned here that it had been “taken a day or two ago” but was not yet ready, he must have written the present letter on 19 November or early the following morning. In addition, his remarks here about breaking furniture resemble comments he made in his first letter of 20 November to Howells.

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3 Parish “taught in Pittsylvania county,” in her native Virginia, “and later married Dr. George A. Cole, of the University of Arkansas” (Wall). During their joint careers at the university, which began in 1894, she taught mathematics, history, and Latin, and he taught mathematics, bookkeeping, and agriculture (information courtesy of the University of Arkansas Libraries).

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4 Clemens wrote this letter on the blank sides of two of the printed form letters that he used to decline lecture invitations for the 1874–75 season. No other instance of this form has been found.

Description of Texts and Provenance

Source text(s):

No copy-text. The text is based on two transcripts, each of which derives independently from the MS:

P1	Wall, 23
P2	TS (CU-MARK)

Elizabeth Baskerville Wall transcribed the MS in 1941 and published it in the Roanoke (Virginia) Times (P1). (Her article included one other letter to Parish, written on 10 November 1874.) In 1950 the MS was transcribed by Kenneth E. Crouch, who provided a TS (P2) to the Mark Twain Papers. The letter originally consisted of four pages, of which only the last two survive, both written on the backs of printed form letters: the first surviving page (ending with the word “yet—” at 288.8) was numbered “3,” and the second was numbered “4.” Clemens used these form letters to decline lecture invitations for the 1874–75 season. No exact duplicate of this form letter has been found, but the same printed text is preserved on the one that Clemens used for the 1872–73 lecture season, which is identical except for the date (see L5, 267, 320).

glyph Previous publication: L6, 288–289.

glyph Provenance:In 1941 the MS, already incomplete, belonged to Emma Parish’s nephew, G. E. Heller (a senator in the Virginia legislature). By 1950 the MS was on display in the Bedford County Museum, of which Mrs. Heller was curator; its present location is not known.

glyph Emendations, adopted readings, and textual notes:

No copy-text. The text is based on two transcripts, each of which derives independently from the MS:

Adopted readings followed by ‘(C)’ are editorial emendations of the source readings.

Susie? Susie (P2) • Susie (P1)

both (P2) • both (P1)

& (P2) • and [here and hereafter] (P1)

not (P2) • ot (P1)

furniture, (P1) • furniture‸ (P2)

made. (P2) • made! (P1)

ago, (P1) • ago‸ (P2)

yet— (P2) • yet . . . (P1)

otherwise . . . you. (P2) • [not in] (P1)

glad, with you, (P2) • glad (P1)

would (P2) • had (P1)

10 (P1) • ten (P2)

one; (P2) • one— (P1)

kills (P1) • kills’s (P2)

stone—it (P2) • stone. It (P1)

Livy (P2) • Livy, (P1)

writing, (P1) • writing‸ (P2)

don’t (P2) • do not (P1)

anything (P1) • any thing (P2)

stairs— (P2) • stairs, (P1)

today (P1) • to-day (P2)

energy. Good-bye, (P2) • energy. (P1)

Yr. (P2) • Your (P1)

hartford, 1874–5. (C) • Hartford, 1874–5 (P1); Hartford.—————1874–5. (P2)

invitation, (P2) • invitation‸ (P1)

it, (P2) • it‸ (P1)

truly, (P1) • truly‸ (P2)

twain. (P1) • twain‸ (P2)