To Orion and Mary E. (Mollie) Clemens
15 May 1872 • Elmira, N.Y.
(MS: CU-MARK UCCL 00747)

My Dear Bro & [ B ] Sister—

We arrived last night from Cleveland. Your letter was a great comfort to us, since it speaks so [ cleer cheeringly ] of Mollie & the rest of the household affairs.1 We find Langdon enjoying a heavy cough & the suffering & irritation consequent upon developing six teeth in nine days. He is as white as alabaster, and is weak; but he is pretty jolly about half the time.2 The new baby is as fat as butter, & wholly free from infelicities of any kind. She weighed 4¼ pounds at birth—weighs about 9 now.

Livy is pretty well, but yesterday’s [ ju journey ] told upon her considerably—together with the bad news—she heard none of it till last night—I had kept it from her.3 She feels grateful to you & Mollie, & unquestionably to Mary Burton likewise.

[ Mary Margaret’;s ] testifies that Ellen is hard to get along with. That would be evidence enough, without any other, for it must be a hard case indeed that Margaret couldn’t get along with. The case is overwhelming, backed up as it is by so much other good evidence. Therefore I want you to discharge Ellen, & pay her 2 ‸ one ‸ week‸’;‸s more wages than is coming to her in lieu of two ‸the usual one ‸ week‸’;‸s notice to quit. But ‸just what is coming to her—which will be $40 next Saturday.‸ I want her to leave the premises without ‸unnecessary‸ delay—& I want you to lock every drawer & keep a sharp lookout against her purloining anything. This is only a mere precaution—nothing more—I would take it against anybody I did not know.4

Hire the cook Mrs. Burton speaks of.—the Apthorp’s5 girl’s cousin, if I remember rightly.

The latest & best lawn mower costs $25. Buy one.

Ask Chas. Perkins if he wants you to give him points in my lawsuit. But give m none otherwise.6

I send $100 for house money. Pay no bills except such as you make yourself. Let all others wait. I will find out what is coming to Ellen so you can pay her off.

Yr Bro

Sam.

Mas enjoyed Cleveland & is flourishing.

We saw Sammy & Annie a moment but did not stop at Fredonia.

P. S. Let Patrick7 select the mower himself.

If Ellen stays till Saturday, there will be [ $44 ‸$40.‸ ] coming to her. Therefore, pay her $44. $40. (i. e. a week extra,) ‸(& no more,)‸ & let her go at once.

Sam.

If you need more money, write.

[ over. ]

Now Livy is not willing to pay Ellen a week’s extra wages in lieu of a week’s [notice ] to quit, but I am. Therefore, if she wants it, pay her $44, & make no words about it.8

Sam.

Orion Clemens Esq | Cor Forest & Hawtho[r]ne sts | Hartford | Conn. [return address:] return to j. langdon & co., elmira, n. y., if not delivered within 10 days. [postmarked:] [elmira n y. may] 15

Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary

Editorial Signs

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1 Orion and Mollie Clemens had been staying at the Hartford house since at least 11 May, preparing it for the return of the Clemenses (MEC and OC to SLC and OLC, 17 May 72, CU-MARK). Their letter is not known to survive.

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2 In his response to the present letter, written on 17 May, Orion commented that “Langdon’s picture is very fine,” noting that “for his age ... Langdon writes a good hand” (see note 6). Clemens had evidently sent Orion and Mollie a photograph of Langdon, ostensibly inscribed by him. A photograph of Langdon taken at eighteen months, probably another print of the one Clemens sent, is reproduced in Photographs and Manuscript Facsimiles.

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3 The “bad news” was trouble with the household staff, discussed in the next paragraph.

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4 Margaret, the children’s nursemaid, had accompanied the Clemenses to Elmira. Ellen was probably not housekeeper and cook Ellen White, who had been employed in Buffalo and Elmira in 1870 and 1871. She was more likely the cook hired in late 1871, who, as Mollie mentioned in her 17 May letter (see note 8), had at least one child (L4, 358, 412 n. 3, 491, 504, 506 n. 8).

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5 Miss E. D. Apthorp lived nearby, at 15 Hawthorn Street (Geer 1872, 27).

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6 See 20 Mar 72 to Bliss (draft), n. 2. Orion wrote a long reply, which he may have enclosed with his and Mollie’s letter of the same date (note 8):

UCLC47067

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7 Patrick McAleer, who had been with the family since their Buffalo residence, was dismissed soon after this, apparently for drinking; he was replaced by a man named Downey (L4, 55 n. 5; 20–23 July 72 to MEC). Clemens would happily rehire McAleer in the spring of 1874 (8 May 74 to Charles E. Perkins, CtHMTH; 10 June 74 to OC and MEC, CU-MARK).

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8 Mollie answered Clemens’s letter:

UCLC47066

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Orion’s “idol,” as Mollie termed it, was probably the paddle wheel invention he had been working on for some years (L4, 396 n. 3, 457–58 n. 1). Mollie also alluded to her daughter, Jennie, who had died in 1864. Orion completed the letter, writing in the margin of the first page:

Ellen came this afternoon for her things, and Mollie paid her $34, all she claimed, and took her receipt, from March 14 to May 12. Mollie says tell Miss Clara Spaulding that the “Spanish” Doctor proved to be an Irishman unable to talk Spanish. The engagement to Miss Eaton was only one of three in Hartford, all of which went to pieces and he went to Savannah.

We are glad Ma went with you, and that Livy is getting well over the fatigue. L Our love to our nephew and niece and the rest of the family. (CU-MARK)

Miss Eaton was living in the George H. Warner household for periods of time in 1871 and 1872, employed in sewing work. She may have been related to Mrs. E. M. Eaton, who ran the Hartford boarding house at which Orion and Mollie Clemens lived in the same years (Elisabeth G. Warner, 2; Elisabeth G. Warner to George H. Warner, 13 Nov 71 and 3 June 72, CU-MARK; L4, 445 n. 2; 19 Mar 72 to OC [1st]).

Description of Texts and Provenance

Source text(s):

MS, Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley (CU-MARK).

Previous publication: L5, 86–90; MTMF 162, brief excerpt.

Provenance:see Mark Twain Papers in Description of Provenance.

Emendations and textual notes:

B • [partly formed ]

cleer cheeringly • cle hereringly

ju journey • juourney

Mary Margaret’;s • Marygaret’;s

$44. ‸$40.‸ • $44 0.

over. • [simulated small capitals underscored twice]

notice • notiece

elmira n y. may • elmi[ra] n [y][m]ay [badly inked]