To Jane Lampton Clemens
6 November 1873 • Hartford, Conn.
(Transcript: CU-MARK, UCCL 00980)

. . . .

I meant to make a proposition to Orion in New York, but was hurried and lost the [opportunity.] It is this—you can tell him. He will never get a place in New York that will pay him more than [$15] a week ($60 a month)—and if he got such a place he would soon lose it anyway.1 I loaned I gave him $100 & will have to help him every now and then if he stays there. Now if he were in Fredonia he would be a comfort to your old age, and that is a better thing and a kinder thing than slaving night & day in [a] New York newspaper sty. So if he will live in Fredonia & will make no effort to leave there, I will pay him a [pension] of [$15 a week as long as he is idle or can make no more than $10] a week. If he should be able at any time to make [more] than [$10] a week I should expect him to release an equivalent portion of my $15.2

But I hamper this proposition with strict [condition] that he is not to live in the same house with you or Pamela under any circumstances whatever, I will not pay him a cent or lend him a cent while he is under your roof. I am willing that the pension shall be as high as $20 a week if necessary while he is [absolutely] idle, but not when at work. Let him work for nothing on the Fredonia paper, but keep diligently & faithfully at work every day of his life, & the [pension] shall cheerfully go on—but he must not stay idle a single day under the excuse that he cannot get pay for his work. No man can be [contented] unless he is hard at work—[&] happily Orion is not lazy, but is fond of work.

If Orion is a wise man he will accept this [proposition, If] he knows himself, he will accept it. Anybody who accurately knows him will certainly advise him to accept it. Anybody who knows what newspaper work in New York is, will say, In the name of God accept any proposition that will avoid that.

Orion may read my letter if he wants to. It has no harsh thought in it, [but] is kindly meant, as from brother to brother, & is simply a plain unvarnished [common-sense] view of the situation.

Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary

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1 Mollie Clemens made this (partial) copy of Clemens’s letter to his mother, identifying it as an “Extract of a letter from S L. C. to Ma, dated Hartford Nov 6. 1873,” presumably to send to Orion in New York City. The original letter has not been found. In recent weeks Orion had been struggling to find employment in New York, applying at newspaper offices for work as an editorial writer, proofreader, or typesetter, while Mollie stayed in Fredonia with Jane Clemens and Annie Moffett (Pamela was on a trip to the Midwest). On 5 November Orion described to Mollie a temporary position he had found, reading proof for the Evening Post:

I had my hopes quite lifted up till to-night. I thought I should get a regular situation, at $25 a week, with hours from 9:30 to 4:30, and though that was an hour longer than the Telegram hours, I would rather take the place than risk waiting for the Telegram. But to-night I was informed that they count ten hours a days work at the Post for proofreaders, like their other weekly hands, and that they are paying me by the hour at that rate, paying $22 a week all round. For that sum, if employed regularly, I would be expected to commence at half past seven in the morning and work till five or half past six, as need may be for my services. ... I am sadly disappointed, for I had begun to think of telegraphing you to-night to come on. Now as I shall be obliged to ask you to stay there till the first of January. (CU-MARK)

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2 On 3 November Orion wrote Mollie: “Sam gave me a check for $100 on the St. Nicholas Hotel which I am to collect day after to-morrow, and I will send you half. No, I believe it’s Friday I am to collect it. He has to see to having money in the Hartford bank to respond” (CU-MARK). Since talking with Orion in New York Clemens had adopted a more generous policy than the one Orion reported in his 5 November letter to Mollie: “I am sorry Sam has announced his determination to let me have no more money. I do not think I would do so towards him. However, I might, under similar circumstances” (CU-MARK).

Description of Texts and Provenance

Source text(s):

Transcript, handwritten by Mollie Clemens, Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley (CU-MARK).

Previous publication: L5, 470–474.

Provenance:see Mark Twain Papers in Description of Provenance.

Emendations and textual notes:

opportunity. • opportunity,.

$15 • $15

pension • w pension

$15 ... $10 • $15 ... $10

more • ◇ more

$10 • 10 $10

condition • conditions

absolutely • abso - ‸lutely‸ |

pension • th pen‸|sion

contented • conteneted

& • & &

proposition, If • pro‸|position, If [sic]

but • but,

common-sense • common-|sense