Hartford Sept. 14,
Dear Mother:
We just had [to. There] wasn’t any other way. To this day Livy isn’t over the trip [railroad] trip she took to Fredonia & Canandaigua two years ago.1 But even if she could have made the journey to Cleveland herself, we never could catch both children well enough at the same time to go with us, & Livy wouldn’t venture to leave them behind. Don’t you see? I didn’t exercise “judgment” in the matter. That is out of my line; I just followed the eternal necessities of the case.
But now look here; you & Mr. Fairbanks & Mollie are young & strong & frisky,2 & it will be no trick at all for you Trinity to skip up to Hartford, on your eastern trip, & you’ve got to do it. If you don’t, I shall be “chilled.” We are trying to get a pair of horses. Then we can trot you around. Last time you were here our old hearse-horse was lame, & we hard had a hard time getting [around.3 He] is lame yet—been lame all his life.
We got home three days ago, & your letter has followed us.4 Livy & I are [first-rate], & the children pretty well. You will need to see the youngest; she has added many graces, & 2 or 3 new words.
We shall not go to the Centennial. I went there in July, & staid nearly a whole day; then I got discouraged & returned home. I became satisfied that it would take me two, or possibly 3 days, to examine such an array of articles with anything like just care & deliberation.5
Now are you coming here? Will you? Won’t you? Come, now, & we will talk it all over & see where you are to blame.
Livy sends a power of love & I duplicate it.
Samℓ.
Mrs. A. W. Fairbanks | Care “Herald” | Cleveland | Ohio [return address:] if not delivered within 10 days, to be returned to [postmarked:] hartford [conn.] sep 15 12m [and] [cleveland o. carrier ◊◊◊m]
Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary
Olivia’s “railroad trip” took place in August 1874 (link note following 1–3 Aug 1874 to Dickinson, L6, 205). The Clemenses had last visited Cleveland in May 1872. Upon their return they found eighteen-month-old Langdon ill, and he died from diphtheria about two weeks later, on 2 June. Mrs. Fairbanks urged them to visit again in 1874 and 1875, without success, and they disappointed her once more in September 1877 (19 Mar–8 May 1872 to Unidentified, L5, 65 n. 1; L6: 26? June 1874 to Brown, 168 n. 1; 23 Apr 1875 to Fairbanks, 454–56; 3 Sept 1877 to Fairbanks).
Mrs. Fairbanks was forty-eight, her husband, Abel, was fifty-nine, and their daughter, Mollie, was almost twenty (Lorenzo Sayles Fairbanks 1897, 551–52; link note following 8 June 1867 to McComb, L2, 66).
In March 1876, during Mrs. Fairbanks’s most recent visit (13 Feb 1876 to Fairbanks, n. 3).
The International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures, and Products of the Soil and Mine, the first world’s fair held in
the United States, was held in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park from 10 May until 10 November 1876. It filled two hundred and thirty-six acres and
included more than two hundred specially constructed buildings containing exhibits from around the globe. Clemens had been at the
exhibition on 1 July to participate in its American centennial celebration (23 Feb 1876 and 8 June 1876, both to Etting).
Mrs. Fairbanks and her family were there
during their October–November “eastern trip,” but were unable, however, to visit Hartford (Annual Cyclopaedia 1876, 262–81; Fairbanks to SLC, 6 Nov 1876, CU-MARK).
Source text(s):Previous publication:
MTMF, 202.
Provenance:
See Huntington Library in Description of Provenance.
Emendations and textual notes:
to. There • ~.— | ~
railroad • rail- | road
around. He • ~.— | ~
first-rate • first- | rate
conn. • con[n◊] [badly inked]
cleveland o. carrier ◊◊◊m • c[◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊] carrier [◊◊◊m] [torn away and badly inked; number of characters uncertain]
