To
John M. Hay
6? January 1871 • Buffalo, N.Y.
(Paraphrase: Joseph Bucklin Bishop, 777,
and Thayer, 1:375, UCCL 11849)
On the first appearance of [“J. B.,”] Mark Twain wrote to [me,] saying that I was all wrong making him an [engineer,]—that only a pilot could have done what I represented him as doing.1
Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary
The mutual acquaintances Hay alluded to were Bret Harte and David Gray. Clarence A. Seward (1828–97),
nephew and adopted son of William H. Seward, was a former judge advocate general of New York State, a Civil War veteran, and
currently a lawyer in New York City. On the back of Hay’s letter, Clemens wrote: “Col. John Hay with poem
‘Jim Bludso.’ ” His response to Hay’s proposed revision is not known, nor has the weekly
Tribune’s reprinting of it been found, but in the version of the poem Hay collected in Pike County Ballads and Other Pieces later in 1871 Jim Bludso remained an engineer. On 14 January Hay wrote
again, turning down Clemens’s offer of a partnership in the Buffalo Express and remarking: I cannot forbear telling you how much I have been encouraged and gratified by your generous commendation of my verses. I have
sometimes thought that the public appreciation was a compound of ignorance and surprise—but when you, who know all about
the Western life and character, look at one of my little pictures and say it is true, it is comfortable beyond measure. (CU-MARK)
Source text(s):| P1 | Joseph Bucklin Bishop, 777 |
| P2 | Thayer, 1:375 |
Previous publication:
L4, 299–300.
Emendations, adopted readings, and textual notes:
No copy-text. The text of this paraphrase, in a letter from Hay to Joseph Bucklin Bishop, 11 Jan 89, is based on two published transcriptions of it.
P1 was probably transcribed directly from the MS of Hay’s letter, which Bishop owned in 1906; and P2 either from the MS or from a carbon copy in Hay’s letterbook (Thayer, 1:vii–viii).
“J. B.,” (P1) • ‸J. B.,‸ (P2)
me, (P2) • me‸ (P1)
engineer, (P2) • engineer‸ (P1)
