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

From Samuel L. and Olivia L. Clemens
to John Brown
4 September 1874 • Elmira, N.Y.
(MS facsimiles and transcripts: Christie 1981, lot 70;
MTL, 1:224–26; and two others, UCCL 01122)

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slc/mt farmington avenue, hartford.

Quarry Farm,
Near Elmira, N.Y. Sep. 4.

Dear Friend:

I have [been ] writing fifty pages of manuscript d a day, on an average, for some time, now, on a book, ‸(a story)‸ & consequently have been so wrapped up in it & so dead to everything else, that I have fallen mighty short in letter-writing.1 But night before last I discovered that thats day’s chapter was a fail[ure, in conception, [moral, ] truth to [nature & ] execution—enough [blemishes ] to impair the [excellence ] of almost any chapter—[& so, ] I must burn up the day’s work [& do ] it all over again. It was plain that I had worked myself out, pumped myself dry. So I knocked off, [& ] went to playing billiards for a change.2 I haven’t had an idea or [fancy ] for two days ] [now —an excellent time to write to friends who have plenty of ideas & fancies of their [own ] & so will prefer [an offering ] of the heart before those of the head.] [Day after [tomorrow ] I go to a neighboring city to see a five-act drama of mine brought [out, ] & suggest amendments in [it, ] & would about as soon spend a night in the Spanish Inquisition as sit there & be tortured with all the adverse criticisms I can contrive to imagine the audience is indulging in.3 But whether the play be successful or not, I hope I shall never feel obliged to see it performed a second time.4 My interest in my work dies a sudden & violent death when the work is done.

I have invented & patented a pretty good [sort of ] scrap-book (I [think,) ] but I have backed down from letting it be known as mine just at present—for I can’t stand being under discussion on a play & a scrap-book [at one & ] the same [time!] ] 5 [I shall be away two days, & then return [& take ] our tribe to New York, where we shall remain [5 ] days buying furniture for the new [house ] & then go to Hartford & settle solidly down for the winter. After [all that ] fallow time I ought to be able to go to work again on the book. We shall reach Hartford about the middle of September, I judge.

We have spent the past four months up here on top of a breezy [hill ] six hundred feet high, some few miles from Elmira, N. Y., & overlooking that [town, ] (Elmira is my wife’s [birth-place, ] & that of Susie & the new baby). This little summer [house ] on the [hill-top ] (named Quarry Farm because there’s a quarry on it,) belongs to my wife’s sister, Mrs. Crane. [A ] photographer came up the other day & wanted to make some views, & shall send you the result per this mail.6 [ My ] study is a snug little octagonal den, with a coal-grate, 6 big windows, one little one, & a wide doorway (the latter opening upon the distant town.)] [ [no ¶] On hot days I spread the study wide open, anchor my papers down with [brickbats ] & write in the midst of [hurricanes ], clothed in the same thin linen we make [shirt bosoms ] of]. [The study is nearly on the peak of the hill; it is right in front of the little perpendicular wall of rock left where they used to quarry [stone ]. [ On ] the peak of the hill is an old arbor roofed with bark & covered with vine you call the “American [creeper ]”—its green is [already ] bloodied with red ]. The study [is 30 yards below the old arbor and 100 yards above the dwelling-house—it] [is remote from all noise.] 7

. . . .

[The group represents the vine-clad carriageway in front of the farm-house. On the left is Megalopis sitting in the lap of her German nurse-maid.8 I am sitting behind them. Mrs. Crane is in the center. Mr. Crane next to her. Then Mrs. Clemens & the new baby. Her Irish nurse stands at her back. Then comes the table waitress, a young negro girl, born free. Next to her is Auntie Cord (a fragment of whose history I have just sent to a magazine). She is the cook; was in slavery more than forty years; & the self-satisfied wench, the last of the group, is the little baby’s American nurse-maid. In the middle distance my mother-in-law’s coachman (up on errand) has taken a position unsolicited to help out the picture.9 No, that is not true. He was waiting there a minute or two before the photographer came. In the extreme background, under the archway, you glimpse my study ].

. . . .

[Now isn’t the whole thing pleasantly situated?

In the picture of me in the study you glimpse (through the left-hand window) the little rock bluff that rises behind the pond, and the bases of the little trees on top of it. The small square window is over the fireplace; the chimney divides to make room for it. Without the [stereoscope ] it looks like a framed picture. All the study windows have Venetian blinds; they long ago went out of fashion in America but they have not been replaced with anything half as good yet.

The study is built on top of a tumbled rock-heap that has morning-glories climbing about it & a stone stairway leading down through & dividing it.

There now—if you have not time to read all this, turn ] it over to “Jock” & drag in the Judge to help.10

Mrs. Clemens must put in a late picture of Susie—a picture which she maintains is good, but which I think is a slander on the child.

We revisit the Rutland street home many a time in fancy, for we hold every individual in it in happy & grateful memory. We offer our Goodbye—

Your friend

Samℓ. L. Clemens

P. S. I gave the P.O. Department a blast in the papers about sending misdirected letters of mine back to the writers for reshipment, & got a blast in return, through a New York daily, from the New York postmaster. But I notice that misdirected letters find me, now, without any unnecessary fooling around.11

S. L. C.

[note from OLC (1 MS page) on verso of last leaf missing]

[enclosure:] 12

Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary

Editorial Signs

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1 Clemens had not answered Brown’s letter of 18 July (see 1–3 Aug 74 to Dickinson).

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2 The book was The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Clemens canceled the last paragraph on manuscript page 500 and destroyed the rest of what was then chapter 17 (chapter 18 in the published book). On the back of page 500 he wrote, “Condemn rest of Chapter.” He did not resume writing or complete what became most of that chapter’s final two paragraphs until sometime after his return to Hartford on 19 September (TS, 148, 583; SLC 1982, 1:xi–xiii).

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3 Clemens was in Buffalo, at the Academy of Music, on the evening of Monday, 7 September, for the opening of a week-long tryout of the Gilded Age play. The audiences were receptive, while critics responded much as their counter-parts in Rochester recently had (see 31 Aug 74 to Raymond, n. 2). The Buffalo Express, Clemens’s former paper, observed:

As a production of Mark Twain, the humorist, the play will undoubtedly be received by the public with considerable favor. There are numerous good things in it, and the character of Colonel Sellers is particularly strong in a humorous sense. The language of the part indicates plainly the originality and wit of the famous humorist. Dramatically the play is weak and unsatisfactory. In its present unfinished state it would be unjust to the distinguished author to pass judgment upon it. The obvious necessity of padding the dialogue and working up the scenes more effectively is doubtless appreciated by Mr. Clemens, and in course of time the piece will be improved materially. If the court-room scene in the last act was written as a satire it is a success. If introduced for dramatic effect it is a ridiculous failure. . . .

At the close of the fourth act Mr. Clemens was called to the front of the private box in which he was sitting and induced to make a speech, as follows: “I didn’t expect to be called out here to-night, and so I didn’t prepare a speech. Had I known I was to be called upon I should certainly have written out something, but I relied entirely upon Mr. Raymond and the other actors and actresses. The fact is I was as much affected by my own play that—that—” [here Mr. Clemens’ emotion overcame him, while the audience applauded uproariously.] “I sincerely hope none of you will ever write a play to be produced upon the opening night. [Laughter.] When a play is produced upon the opening night, the effect upon its author is almost too much for him to stand; on any other night he can bear it much more easily and comfortably. As I said before, I was not prepared to be called out, and cannot give you the real nice good speech I would like to. Wishing that I could do more for you, I have to thank you again for this unexpected attention.” [Prolonged applause.] (“The ‘Gilded Age,’” 8 Sept 74, 1)

The Buffalo Courier reviewer, possibly Clemens’s friend David Gray, called Raymond’s performance “a master-piece which will not be divorced from the stage for years to come” and was carefully understated in his criticism of the play:

“The Gilded Age,” as a drama, is not quite complete, and Mr. Clemens’ presence in the city now is with reference to ascertaining how far it falls short of meeting the popular requirements. Nowhere do we find any intimation that Mark Twain intended to write a great drama, or one in which the dramatic unities should be preserved; but we do find an unmistakable intention of putting upon the boards a play which the people would like. As far as he has proceeded in his work he has achieved success, and he only needs to go a little further to perfect a drama which the public will unqualifiedly endorse. We might indicate to him a few shortcomings, but he is here himself; he is a competent critic, and the amendments will more readily suggest themselves to him than they would even to the most eager of censors. (“Academy of Music—‘The Gilded Age,’” 8 Sept 74, 2)

The Commercial Advertiser and the Evening Post both praised Raymond, but did not remark at any length on the play (Buffalo Commercial Advertiser: “Academy of Music.—Mark Twain’s New Play,” 8 Sept 74, 3; Buffalo Evening Post: “‘Colonel Sellers,’” 8 Sept 74, 3; “Academy of Music,” 9 Sept 74, 3; Buffalo Express: “Amusements,” 8 Sept 74, 1; “Academy of Music,” 10 Sept 74, 1).

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4 Clemens attended the New York City opening as well as the hundredth performance there, making curtain speeches on both occasions (see Appendix D and pp. 328–31).

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5 For details of the invention and marketing of “Mark Twain’s Patent Self-Pasting Scrap Book,” see L5, 143–46.

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6 Photographer Elisha Van Aken had called on Clemens on 29 July (see 29 July 74 to OC) and perhaps subsequently. On 2 September he presented Clemens with a bill for $31.45 (paid the following day) for 120 “Stereo Views,” 7 “Imperial” views, 12 Imperial “Cards of child,” and 12 “Card de Visites” of a child (bill in CU-MARK). Although no prints of the two “child” photographs have been identified, it is clear that they were of Susy, for on 20 September the Clemenses still had “no pictures of our new baby” (20 Sept 74 to Parish). “Imperial” was “a size of photographic mount which varies between 6 7/8 in. by 10 in. and 7 7/8 in. by 9 7/8 in.” (Jones, 299).

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7 For discussion of the missing portions of this letter and the assembling of the surviving text, see the textual commentary.

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8 Rosina Hay (b. 1851 or 1852) was hired to be Susy’s nursemaid in January 1874, replacing Ellen (Nellie) Bermingham, who had held the post since May 1872. Olivia wrote to Mollie Clemens, “I have found a little German maid who is entirely accustomed to children and comes highly recommended. She was taking care of children in Fenwick when we were there” (11 and 14 Jan 74, NPV; for Fenwick Hall, see 14 Mar 75 to Langdon, n. 5). In an Autobiographical Dictation of 3 October 1906, Clemens recalled that Hay remained with them for twelve years. He characterized her as “a remarkable girl. She was very lively, and active, and spirited, with a strong sense of humor, and she had a rollicking laugh that came easily and was as catching as the smallpox” (CU-MARK; information courtesy of the Mark Twain House; L5, 92–93, 641 n. 4). For another photograph of her, see p. 681.

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9 The Irish nurse was Maggie O’Day; the table waitress, the American nursemaid, and Mrs. Langdon’s coachman have not been identified.

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10 Brown’s son, John, and Alexander Nicolson.

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11 Clemens alluded to his letter of 16 June to the editor of the Boston Advertiser. The riposte from New York postmaster Thomas L. James has not been found in available files of the New York Herald, Evening Post, Evening Express, Times, or Tribune. On 30 June—evidently alluding to the “blast,” but possibly to Clemens’s Advertiser complaint—the New York Herald remarked, “As for the post office man, Twain owes him one” (“Personal Intelligence,” 30 June 74, 6; Wilson 1874, “City Register,” 11).

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12 The enclosed photographs by Van Aken do not survive with the letter, although three have been identified from Clemens’s comments. Two of them are reproduced here. The third, the stereoscopic image taken in his study, was identical to the one he had sent to Howells two days earlier, in the previous letter, where it is reproduced. Brown’s response to the present letter survives only in part (CU-MARK):

UCLC32050

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Brown alluded to his volumes of essays and stories, Horae Subsecivae (“spare hours”), published in 1858 and 1861; he issued a third in 1882 (L5, 428 n. 2). He preferred Olivia without “the false hair extras” she often used (L5, 426). “Miss Hossack” has not been identified; this may have been an unexplained allusion to the Clemenses’ friend Clara Spaulding.

Description of Texts and Provenance

Source text(s):

MS facsimile, Christie 1981, lot 70, is copy-text for ‘

slc/mt . . . fail-’ (221.1–9). MS facsimile, Christie 1992, lot 43, is copy-text for ‘it . . . about’ (223.10–19). There is no copy-text for the remainder of the letter. The text is based on four incomplete transcripts, each of which derives independently from the MS. The contents of each are listed below, even where the MS facsimile is copy-text:

P1	MTL, 1:224–26 ‘Quarry . . . noise.’ (221.2–222.19) ‘Now . . . S. L. C.’ (222.35–223.24)
P2	MTB, 1:509 ‘I . . . letter-writing.’ (221.5–8) ‘On . . . of.’ (222.11–14) ‘The group . . . study.’ (222.21–33)
P3	Christie 1981, lot 70 ‘I . . . days,’ (221.5–14) ‘Day . . . time!’ (221.16–27)
P4	Christie 1992, lot 43 ‘I . . . study’ (221.5–222.18) ‘is . . . noise.’ (222.19)

P1 is the most complete source, since it includes all of the present text except for the paragraph ‘The group . . . study.’ (222.21–33), which is unique to P2. Since P1 and P2 do not overlap, the insertion of the P2 text within the P1 text is conjectural. Since Paine used ellipses in P1 at 222.19 to signal an omission, the paragraph from P2 has been inserted at that point. The present text is clearly not complete, however. Both Christie’s catalogs (P3 and P4) state that Olivia wrote a one-page note on the verso of the last leaf. The text of this note was not available to the editors. P3 and P4 also describe the letter as sixteen pages long, “12mo.” If Clemens wrote his usual average of 90 to 100 words per page, the recovered text (approximately 1,000 words) would fill only ten or eleven pages, and is therefore missing about four pages, or 450 to 600 words. P3 further notes that the letter included “some 12 pages” of “explanations of photographs.” Since the present text contains only about 500 words of such description, it seems likely that the missing five or six pages consisted of additional “explanations.” Editorial ellipses have been inserted at 222.34 in the present text to suggest the second place where material was probably omitted (that is, in addition to 222.20). All variants among the four transcripts are reported below. Although by 1981 the letter enclosed no photographs, P1 printed the outside view of the study (as well as a single-image version of the interior view reproduced as a stereopticon with 2 Sept 74 to Howells), and is the source of the image reproduced here. The group photograph accompanied the letter when Paine published it in Harper’s Monthly Magazine (Paine 1912, 114), as part of his series of extracts from the biography; that printing is the source of the image reproduced here. (The Harper’s text contains even less of the text than does P2, and provides no uniquely authorial readings.) The size of the original photographs is not known. Additional photographs were enclosed, which remain unidentified.

glyph Previous publication: L6, 221–227.

glyph Provenance:Adopted readings followed by ‘(C)’ are editorial emendations of the source readings. All ellipses are editorial; ellipses present in rejected readings are described as ‘[3 ellipses]’.

glyph Emendations, adopted readings, and textual notes:

MS facsimile, Christie 1981, lot 70, is copy-text for ‘ slc/mt . . . fail-. . .’ (221.1–9). MS facsimile, Christie 1992, lot 43, is copy-text for ‘it . . . about’ (223.10–19). There is no copy-text for the remainder of the letter. The text is based on four incomplete transcripts, each of which derives independently from the MS. The contents of each are listed below, even where the MS facsimile is copy-text:

[MS facsimile (1981) is copy-text for ‘ slc/mt . . . fail-’ (221.1–9)]

[there are multiple sources for ‘ure . . . turn’ (221.9–223.10)]

[MS facsimile (1992) is copy-text for ‘it . . . about’ (223.10–19); P1 is the unique source for ‘sending . . . S. L. C.’ (223.19–24)]

been • beeen [miscorrected]

ure . . . days, (P1, P3, P4) • [not in] (P2)

moral, (P3, P4) • moral‸ (P1)

nature & (P3, P4) • nature, and (P1)

blemishes (P3) • blemished (P4); blemish (P1)

excellence (P1, P4) • Excellence (P3)

& so, (P3) • and so, (P4); and so (P1)

& do (P3, P4) • and do (P1)

& (P3, P4) • and [here and hereafter] (P1)

fancy (P3, P4) • a fancy (P1)

now . . . head. (P1, P4) • [not in] (P2, P3)

own (P4) • own, (P1)

an offering (P4) • the offerings (P1)

Day . . . time! (P1, P3, P4) • [not in] (P2)

tomorrow (P3, P4) • to-morrow (P1)

out, (P1, P4) • out‸ (P3)

it, (P1) • it‸ (P3); it; (P4)

sort of (P1, P3) • sort of a (P4)

think,) (P4) • think‸) (P1, P3)

at one & (P3, P4) • at (P1)

time! [no ¶] I (P4) • time! [¶] I (P1); time! (P3)

I . . . town.) (P1, P4) • [not in] (P2, P3)

& take (P4) • to take (P1)

5 (P4) • five (P1)

house (P4) • house, (P1)

all that (P1) • that (P4)

hill (P4) • hill, (P1)

town, (P4) • town; (P1)

birth-place, (P4) • birthplace (P1)

house (P1) • home (P4)

hill-top (P1) • hill top (P4)

[no ¶] A (P4) • [¶] A (P1)

[no ¶] My (P4) • [¶] My (P1)

[no ¶] On . . . of. (P1, P4) • [¶] On . . . of. (P2); [not in] (P3)

brickbats (P1, P2) • brick-bats (P4)

hurricanes (P4) • the hurricanes (P1); the hurricane (P2)

shirt bosoms (P4) • shirts (P1, P2)

The study . . . red. The study (P4) • The study . . . red. The Study; (P1); [not in] (P2, P3)

stone (P4) • stones (P1)

On (P1) • On (P4)

creeper (P4) • Creeper (P1)

already (P4) • almost (P1)

is 30 . . .—it (P1) • [3 ellipses] (P4); [not in] (P2, P3)

is remote from all noise. | . . . . (C) • is remote from all noise. [3 ellipses]; (P4); is remote from all noises. [3 ellipses]; (P1); [not in] (P2, P3)

The group . . . study. | . . . . (C) • The group [he says] . . . study. (P2); [not in] (P1, P3, P4)

Now . . . turn (P1) • [not in] (P2, P3, P4)

stereoscope (C) • sterescope (P1)