To James R. Osgood
25 January 1876 • Hartford, Conn.
(MS: MH-H, UCCL 01302)
(SUPERSEDED)

H—d, Jan. 25

My Dear Osgood—

Yes I would like it if you would watch Mr. Gill & post me. But the lawyer says Gill has taken my nom de plume out of the book although he has left the article in it. Of course this destroys the possibility of my s try suing him for violating trade-mark, & I don’t wish to sue him for anything else.

Now wasn’t our lawyer a lame & impotent d—d fool to compromise with Gill with Gill’s mere word as the only security that he would keep his promise?1 The more I see of lawyers, the more I despise them. They seem to be natural, born, cowards, & on top of that they are God damned idiots. I suppose our law firm are above average; & yet it would be base flattery to say that their heads contain any thing more valuable than can be found in a new tripe.

Mind you keep your promise & stop off & see me.

Yrs

Clemens

Explanatory Notes

Editorial Signs

Click to add citation to My Citations.

1 Ultimately Gill did not make good on his promise to remove Clemens’s pen name from Burlesque (see 17 Jan 76 to Osgood, n. 1, and L6, 511–12). The lawyer who had made the ineffectual compromise has not been identified.

Description of Texts and Provenance

Copy-text:

MS, MH-H, Rogers Room.

Previous publication: MTLP, 94–95.

Provenance:The Henry M. Rogers and Kathleen Rogers Collection was donated in 1930.