Elmira, May 8.
My Dear Mr. Perkins.
Of course the first thought was a cordial impulse to say Yes, take the horse & carriage freely & welcome; & Mrs. Clemens still says it—but don’t you do it! I know that everything she has in the world has always been heartily free to her friends except that highest-prized wedding-gift of her father, the horse & carriage.1 She would still say yes, & so do you more substantial wrong than I shall by coming out with superior honesty & saying Do not do [it. But ] I confess I could not be so plain & honest with every family of friends as I hope & believe I can with yours—for yours will believe that I am not actuated by any mean or selfish motive. I know that that small carriage & that old red horse rank next in Livy’s affections to her child; so I make bold to say no when she says yes: for accidents are always happening, & can’t be helped; & if you used these pets of hers & an accident happened to them & you found out then, too late, it ‸in‸ what high sacredness she held them, you would say “If we had only known of this before we would not have shouldered the responsibility & run the risk.” I am plain with you, because I think friends who pretend to be st loyal ought to be straightforward with each other—& because I believe you would be so to us. But I find it mighty, mighty hard to say this same no; & I most honestly wish we had another horse & carriage that had no associations, & no value but their money value, so I could say to ‸Mamie &‸ the children2 (as I would say, cheerfully & honestly) “Take them & wear them entirely out!—& as free & as welcome as if you belonged to the family.”
I know of nothing else we have got that they are not welcome to.
Your reference to the sidewalk matter reminds me that I am a citizen of Hartford—a fact which I was forgetting; for since we have moved ‸perched‸ away up here on top of the hill near heaven I have the feeling of being a sort of scrub angel & am more moved to help shove the clouds around, & get the stars on deck promptly, & keep all things trim & [ship-shape ] in the firmament than to bother myself with the humble insect-interests & occupations of the distant [earth. But ] still, the pecuniary difference between a four-foot & a six-foot side-walk is a thing which even a new angel cannot afford to snub—& if you & Hall carry your point there is one such spirit here on high that will flap his wings & [rejoice.3
] now I find a squib in my pocket which I wrote before I left Hartford, with a vague idea of laying it before the authorities. I enclose it for fun.
I kept bothering & bothering till I decided that Downey would not be able to do the increased work at our new place, & as I presently had an opportunity of hiring our old Patrick, I did so, & wrote Downey that I wished him to collect his wages till the end of June & go now or whenever he chose, but to put a reliable man in his place till Patrick could get there—& telegraph me. I did hate to discharge Downey, & would not have done it but for the fact that he would find by the middle of autumn that he couldn’t do the work—& then he would have to go & I might have trouble filling his place. So I did an unpleasant t but a wise thing.4
I have written a letter as long as a newspaper article—but there’s nothing doing in this part of heaven now, & so the cherubim & the seraphim must gossip. Madam & the baby are well & hearty & we all send no end of love to our soon-to-be near neighbors the Perkinses all.5
Ys
S. L. Clemens.
[enclosure, in pencil:] 6
F To the City Authorities.
Gentlemen:—Why is it necessary to renew & widen the sidewalk in Asy Farmington avenue [ west ] from Forest street westward? And why make a six-foot walk all the way to the bridge? I grant you that usually ‸heretofore‸ there is ‸has been‸ need of a wide walk there, because the traffic is ‸was‸ very great—but there is no longer such pressing need, for one of the school children who used to go along there is sick, & the other one has moved away.
Resident.
Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary
Source text(s):Previous publication:
L6, 137–139.
Provenance:The MS was one of ninety-two items found in the files of the Hartford law
firm of Howard, Kohn, Sprague and Fitzgerald; they were donated as the
Perkins Collection in January 1975 by William W. Sprague. Charles Perkins
was a partner in this law firm (then called Perkins and Perkins) until his
death in 1917 (“Large File of Twain Letters Discovered in Area
Law Firm,” Hartford Courant, 11 Mar
1975).
Emendations and textual notes:
it. But • it.—|But
ship-shape • ship-|shape
earth. But • earth.—|But
rejoice. [¶] And • rejoice.—| [¶] And
west • west- |
