c
Buf. 19th.
Dear J. H.—
All is well with us, I believe—though for some days the baby [ has was] ‸quite‸ ill. We [ cond consider] him nearly restored to health now, however. Asky my [ bo brother] about us—you will find him at Bliss’s publishing office where [he] is gone to edit Bliss’s new paper.—left here last Monday.1 Make his & his wife’s acquaintance. Take Mrs. T. to see them f as soon as they are fixed.
Livy is up, & the prince keeps her busy & anxious these latter days & nights, but I am a bachelor up stairs & don’t have to jump up & get the soothing-syrup—though I would as soon do it as not, I assure you. {Livy will be almost certain to read this letter.}
Tell Harmony (Mrs. T.) that I do hold the baby, & do it pretty handily, too, although with occasional apprehensions that his [ h ] loose head will fall off. I don’t have to quiet him—he hardly ever utters a cry. He is always thinking about something. He is a patient, good little baby. And
Smoke? I always smoke from 3 till 5 on Sunday afternoons—& in New York the other day I smoked a week, day & [night. But] [when Livy] is well I smoke only those 2 hours on Sunday. I’m “boss” of the habit, now, & shall never let it boss me any more. Originally, I quit solely on Livy’s account (not that I believed there was the faintest reason in the matter, but just as I would deprive myself of sugar in my coffee if she wished it, or quit wearing socks if the she thought them immoral), but& I stick to it yet on Livy’s account, & shall always continue to do so, without a pang.2 But somehow it seems a [pity] that you quit, for Mrs. T. [didn’t] mind it if I remember [rightly]. Ah, it is turning one’s [back] upon a kindly Providence to spurn away from us the good creature he sent to make the breath of life a luxury as well as a necessity, enjoyable as well as useful, to go & quit smoking when there ain’t any sufficient excuse for [it. Why] my old boy, when they used to tell me I would shorten my life ten years by smoking, I they little knew the devotee they were wasting their puerile words upon—they little knew how I trivial & valueless I would regard a decade that had no smoking in it! Ha! But I won’t persuade you, Twichell—I won’t until I see you again—for but then we’ll smoke for a week together & then shut off again.
I would have gone to Hartford from New York last Saturday3 but I got so homesick I couldn’t. But maybe I’ll come soon.
{graphic group: 1 horizontal circle inline overlay}
No, Sir, catch me in a the metropolis again, to get homesick.
I didn’t know [ Warren Warner] had a book out.4
We send oceans & continents of love—I have worked myself down, to-day.
Yrs always
Mark.
Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary
Source text(s):Previous publication:
L4, 275–649; MTB, 1:417–18, excerpts; MTL, 179–80, with omission; LLMT, 139, brief excerpt; MTMF, 143 n. 1, brief excerpt.
Provenance:It is not known when Twichell’s papers were deposited at CtY, although it is likely that he
bequeathed them to the university upon his death in 1918 (L2, 570).
Emendations and textual notes:
has was • h was
cond consider • condsider
bo brother • borother
h • [partly formed]
night. But • night.— [B]ut [obscured by glue]
when Livy • w[he]n [Li]vy [obscured by glue]
pity •
[
]ity [torn]
didn’t •
[]idn’t [torn]
rightly •
[r]ightly [torn]
back • [b]ack [torn]
it. Why • it.—|Why
& • & & [rewritten for clarity]
weeks.} • [deletion of period implied]
Warren Warner • Warrenrner
