To Joseph H. and Harmony C. Twichell
11 June 1874 • Elmira, N.Y.
(MS: CtY-BR, UCCL 01097)

Elmira, June 11.

My Dear old Joe & Harmony:

The baby is here & is the great American Giantess—weighing 7¾ pounds, & all solid meat. We had to wait a good long time for her, but she was full compensation when she did come.1 The labor pains fooled along during the evening, after a fashion; became more pronounced at midnight & so continued till 7 AM; then very severe for 15 minutes, & the trouble was over. Mrs. Gleason & Della came up early in the evening & went to bed right away, up stairs, & neither of them were ever called till 15 minutes before the babe was born. Livy don’t call for people till she needs them. She waltzed through this ordeal, walking the floor & sewing baby clothes in the bravest possible way. And even I was cool—slept a good part of the time. I am ashamed of that, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open. And besides, this baby has fooled along so much that I hadn’t much confidence in it. It is an admirable child, though, & has intellect. It puts its fingers against its brow & thinks. It was born with a caul, & so of course possesses the gift of second sight.2 The Modoc was delighted with it, & gave it her doll at once. There is nothing selfish about the Modoc. She is fascinated with the new baby. The Modoc rips & tears around out doors, most of the time, & consequently is as hard as a pine knot & as brown as an Indian. She is bosom friend to all the chickens, ducks, turkeys & guinea hens on the place. Yesterday as she marched along the winding path that leads up the hill through the red clover beds to the summer-house, there was a long procession of these fowls stringing contentedly after her, led by a stately rooster who can look over the Modoc’s head. The devotion of these [valssals ] has been purchased with daily largess of Indian meal, & so the Modoc, attended by her body-guard, moves in state wherever she goes.

Susie Crane has built the lovleliest study for me, you ever saw. It is octagonal, with a peaked roof, each octagon filled with a [ p ] spacious window, & it sits perched in complete isolation on top of an elevation that commands leagues of valley & city & retreating ranges of distant blue hills. It is a cosy nest, with just room in it for a sofa & a table & three or four charirs—& when the storms sweep down the remote valley & the lightning flashes above the hills beyond, & the rain beats upon the roof over my head, imagine the luxury of it! It stands 500 feet above the valley & 2½ miles from it.3

However, one must not write all day. We send continents of love to you & yours.

Affectionately

Mark.

Mrs. Gleason’s father, whom she worshiped, died the morning of the day she had to come up here to look after Livy.4

Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary

Editorial Signs

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1 Clara’s birth evidently had been expected in May, although in mid-March Clemens told Aldrich she was “not due for 3 months yet” (15 and 16 Mar 74 to Aldrich; 4 Jan 74 to OLC).

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2 Common superstition held that a caul—a piece of the fetal membrane covering the head of a newborn—imparted second sight, good luck, eloquence, protection against drowning, and general invulnerability (Opie and Tatem, 66–67; Jobes, 1:299).

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3 Susan Crane hired Alfred Thorp, Potter’s associate, to design the unusual study, which had a latticework frieze and other decorative details resembling those of the Clemenses’ Hartford house (Mark Twain House, 5; Halsey, 32).

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4 Reuben Brooks (1786–1874) had died suddenly, “as though he was indeed going to sleep,” on Sunday, 7 June. A native of Winhall, Vermont, he spent most of his life farming there, and also served as a justice of the peace, town clerk, and representative in the Vermont legislature. He had lived in Elmira with his daughter and son-in-law for the past twenty years (“He Fell Asleep,” Elmira Advertiser, 8 June 74, 4).

Description of Texts and Provenance

Source text(s):

MS, Joseph H. Twichell Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University (CtY-BR).

Previous publication: L6, 157–159; Paine 1912, 116, excerpt; MTB, 1:508, excerpt; MTL, 1:219–20, with omission; Harnsberger, 15, excerpt.

Provenance:Twichell’s papers were passed on to his children. Although CtY received some items in 1951 from Joseph H. Twichell and Mrs. Charles Ives, his son and daughter, the main collection was donated in 1967 by Charles P. Twichell, his grandson.

Emendations and textual notes:

valssals • [‘l’] partly formed

p • [partly formed]