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Hartford Jan. 28
One’s sins are bound to come home to roost, Miss Higgins! Every mail brings me letters of kindly abuse from the stricken ones—this morning the troubles proves to have reached West to Wisconsin. But Well, I’m resolved I’ll never, never do so any more!1
Sincerely Yours
Samℓ. L. Clemens.
P. S. Will you kindly make my peace with Mr. J. Lawrence Kearny, & tell him I have truly repented & now take nothing but sack-cloth & ashes for dinner?
2Explanatory Notes
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1
Clemens’s sin was “A Literary Nightmare,” which appeared in the Atlantic
Monthly for February 1876 (SLC 1876). Enthusiasm for its hypnotic
“Punch, brothers! punch” jingle (which Clemens did not write but merely quoted) was instantaneous and
widespread (see 29 Jan 76 to Twichell, and L6, 577 n. 1). The letter of kindly abuse from Wisconsin does not survive.
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2
James Lawrence Kearny (1846–1921), was a journalist and author. No details of
his acquaintance with Clemens and the unidentified Higgins have been discovered
(“J. L. Kearny Is Called to Rest,” Perth Amboy [N.J.] Evening
News, 17 Dec 1921, 1, 5).
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MS, VtMiM.
Previous publication:
MicroPUL, reel 1.
Provenance:
Acquired by VtMiM on 4 October 1938.