To William Dean Howells
13 July 1875 • Hartford, Conn.
(MS: NN-B, UCCL 02492)

July 13.

My Dear Howells:1

Just as soon as you consented I realized all the atrocity of my request, & straightway blushed & weakened. I telegraphed my theatrical agent to come here & carry off the MS & copy it.2

But I will glad[l]y send it to you if you will do as follows: dramatize it if you perceive that you can, & take, for your remuneration, half of the first $6,000 which I receive for its representation on the stage. You could alter the plot entirely, if you chose. I would help in the work, most cheerfully, after you had arranged the plot. I have my eye upon two young girls who can play “Tom” & “Huck.” I believe a good deal of a drama can be made of [it. Come]—can’t you tackle this in the odd hours of your vacation?—or later, if you prefer?

I do wish you could come down once more before your holiday. I’d give anything!

Twichell heard from. Has caught his first 20-pounder.3

I’m looking for the music along, but it hasn’t arrived yet.4

Mrs. Clemens is doing tolerably well, only. Susie well again.5

Yrs Ever

Mark

Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary

Editorial Signs

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1 Clemens answered the following letter (CU-MARK), which answered his unrecovered reply to Howells’s letter of 6 July (5 July 75 to Howells, n. 8):

UCLC32195

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The Howellses planned to stay in Shirley Village, a Shaker community about thirty-five miles northwest of Cambridge, and then travel to Quebec to visit Howells’s father, the American consul there (Howells 1979, 100 n. 2; 21 June 74 to Howells, n. 2).

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2 Clemens hired H. W. Bergen, who traveled on tour with Raymond and kept a record of the proceeds and expenses of his performances, to make a copy of the Tom Sawyer manuscript. It was not until early November, however, that Clemens gave it to Howells to review (Bergen to SLC, 15 May 75, 22 May 75, CtHMTH; MTB, 1:518–19; amanuensis copy of the MS, almost certainly in Bergen’s hand, at MoFlM; 4 Nov 75 to Howells, n. 7).

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3 Between 30 June and 17 July Twichell took a “grand salmon fishing trip” to New Brunswick, Canada, “at the invitation and at the expense” of Dean Sage; on 6 July he wrote ecstatically to his wife, Harmony, about this first catch (Twichell, 1:111–15; Sage). Clemens had apparently seen or had a report of this letter, for there is no evidence that Twichell wrote directly to him.

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4 Evidently the music that Howells had intended to enclose in his letter of 6 July.

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5 Howells replied (CU-MARK):

UCLC32197

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Howells’s story was “Private Theatricals,” published in the Atlantic from November 1875 through May 1876. The play may have been The Parlor Car, completed by mid-February 1876 (see 29 Oct 74 to Daly, n. 4, and 5 July 75 to Howells, n. 1; see also 14 July 75 to Waring).

Description of Texts and Provenance

Source text(s):

MS, Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations (NN-B).

Previous publication: L6, 509–11; Paine 1912, 252, and MTB, 1:548, excerpt; Paine 1917, 786, and MTL, 1:260, with omission; MTHL, 1:95.

Provenance:see Howells Letters in Description of Provenance.

Emendations and textual notes:

it. Come • it.—|Come