PERSONAL.
The paragraph now going the rounds of the press to the effect that I am going to withdraw from Buffalo [&] the Buffalo Express is entirely [foundationless]. I am a permanency here. I am prospering well enough to please my friends & distress my enemies, & consequently am in a state of tranquil satisfaction. I will regard it as a favor if those journals that printed the item referred to will also mention this correction.1
Samuel L. Clemens.
“Mark Twain.”
Buffalo, March 7.
Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary
We give the above very cheerfully.
“Mark” is so original a genius that his
shortest items are worth copying, and he always tells us something
new. In the above, for example, he gives us not only a new word, but
a new idea. We never heard a man styled a
“permanency” before. And for the first time,
also, we learn that “Mark” has
“enemies.” We supposed he was
everybody’s friend and vice versa.
(“Personal,” 8 Mar 70, 3) The Cleveland Herald also amended its January item
with a paraphrase of Clemens’s letter (“Notes and
Comments,” 10 Mar 70, 2).
Source text(s):Previous publication:
L4, 89; In addition to the copy-text, “Personal,”
Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, 8 Mar 70, 3;
“City and Neighborhood,” Elmira Advertiser, 9 Mar 70, 4, excerpt; “Notes and
Comments,” Cleveland Herald, 10 Mar 70, 2,
paraphrase.
Emendations and textual notes:
& • and [also at 89.5 (twice)]
foundationless • foundationaless
