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Add to My Citations To Joseph H. Twichell
29 or 30 December 1875 • Hartford, Conn.
(MS: Twichell, 1:152, UCCL 01291)
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‸Religious‸ Conundrum suggested by my present disease.

Question: If a Congress of Presbyterians is a [Presby tery ], what is a Congress of dissenters?

Andswer: A Dysentery.1

Joe, you can sell the above to some religious paper or get it off on Dean Sage as original.

Yrs Ever

Mark

Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary

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1 Clemens created this conundrum on the evening of 29 December and wrote it out for Twichell then or the next day (see 16 Dec 75 to Conway, n. 2). Twichell pasted it into his journal under the date of receipt, “Dec 30.” (Twichell, 1:152). Clemens’s indisposition, although not its specifics, was deemed newsworthy. The New York World of 30 December reported: “Mark Twain is recovering from a recent illness” (“Personal,” 5).



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MS, pasted into Twichell, 1:152, under the date “Dec. 30,” Joseph H. Twichell Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University (CtY-BR).

glyphglyphPrevious publication:glyph L6, 606.

glyphglyphProvenance:glyphTwichell’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.

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Presby tery • [‘resb’ underlined twice, and ‘tery’ underlined once; first ‘y’ not underlined]