To John Russell Young
25 November 1867 • Washington, D.C.
(MS: DLC, UCCL 00161)

Dear Mr Young

I have neglected until this last moment (5 PM) to write you that Mr Bennett Jr offers me an occasional correspondence for with the Herald—impersonal, of course, I suppose.1 I spoke to your brother2—he said I had better write you. I wish to remain on the Tribune, with [signature. ]—on the Herald without, will not make any difference will it?

I will not answer Mr. Bennett finally until I hear from you.

Very Truly

Sam Clemens

[letter docketed:] File

Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary

Editorial Signs

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1 Either Young did, in fact, object to this division of loyalties, or Clemens wrote nothing for the Herald which is still identifiable as his, at least not until February 1868, when James Gordon Bennett, Jr., offered him a more tempting assignment: see 24 Jan 68 to JLC and PAM, n. 1. Bennett had been managing editor of the Herald since 1866. His father, who founded the Herald in 1835, continued to exercise significant editorial control until his death in 1872.

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2 James Rankin Young, Washington bureau chief of the Tribune.

Description of Texts and Provenance

Source text(s):

MS, Papers of John Russell Young, Library of Congress (DLC).

Previous publication: L2, 115–116.

Provenance:donated to DLC in 1924 by Mrs. John Russell Young and Gordon R. Young.

Emendations and textual notes:

signature. • [deletion implied]