40 3 1
[in pencil] ‸Object coul[d]n’t been to convert, because already converted.‸
[in ink] The Bishop has said that the natives missionaries have done more harm than good, & that the natives would be have been far better off if they had never come ‸gone‸ there—which is to say that idolatry, & human sacrifices, and possible cannibalism, and wars, & famines, & the cruelties & barbarities practised upon the masses in former times by the chiefs, were far better than the education & civilization, & the peace & plenty & liberty & happiness conferred in later times upon these natives by the missionaries. In the face of
[cross-written on the page] 1
[Original] MS. of
first lecture.
Written, October, 1866.
San Francisco.
Yrs Truly
Samℓ. L. Clemens
Mark Twain.
April, 1873.
Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary
Source text(s):
Previous publication:
L5, 333–334.
Provenance:bequeathed to MH-H in 1951 by engineer and bibliophile William B. Osgood Field
(1870–1949).
Emendations and textual notes:
Original • Originial