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24 March 1876 • Hartford, Conn.
(MS, in pencil: CSmH, UCCL 01316)
(SUPERSEDED)
Hartford, Mch 24.1
Dear Mother:
As soon as you departed, Livy arranged a writing table near the conservatory, so that I could have the writing conveniences I had been wailing about so much. She put a box, called a writing desk, on this table—a box which opens in the middle & discloses two closed lids; inside of those lids are paper, pens, stamps, ink, & stamped envelops. To get either of those lids open pushes patience to the verge of profanity, & then you find that the article you want is under the other lid. She put a delicate glass vase on top of that box & arranged pots of flowers round about it. Lastly she leaned a large picture up against the front of the table. Then she stood off & beamed upon her work & observed, with the Almighty, that it was “good.” So she went aloft to her nap with a satisfied heart & a soul at piece. ‸peace.‸ When she returned, two hours later, I had accomplished a letter, & the evidences of it were all around. The large picture has gone to the shop to be re-framed, the writing desk has returned to the devil from whom it must have come, but the flower pots & the glass vase are beyond the help of man, with thanks be to God, as little Johnny Howells says. Since that day I have gone back to precarious letter-writing, with a pencil, upon encumbered surfaces & under harassment & persecution, as before. But convenience me no more women’s conveniences, for I will none of them.
I ain’t going to write that lady, because it isn’t pleasant to say no to a stranger, & you know that that is what I should say, of course. Holland is differently situated. He is full of twaddle all the time, & so it is simply a relief to him to uncork.2
We enormously enjoyed your visit—what there was of it, but it was far too short. Mollie 3 remains in my head as the darlingest, daintiest, sweetest vision of this long, long time. She must come again, just as soon as possible, for time & sophistication will begin their hateful work by & by. I don’t know when any visit has been so heartily enjoyed by us as yours & Mollie’s.
I’m to lecture 3 times in N. Y. for a benevolent object next week, & then I won’t do another charitable or kindly thing this year.4 Shall hope to go to Nast with Charlie.5 Love to the lot of ye.
Samℓ.
Explanatory Notes
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Previous publication:
MTMF, 184–86.
Provenance:
See Huntington Library in Description of Provenance.