To Orion Clemens
21 February 1868 • Washington, D.C.
(MTL, 1:150–51, UCCL 00198)

224 [F street,
Wash., Feb. 21.]

[My dear Bro.,

I] am glad you do not want the clerkship, for that Patent Office is in such a muddle that there would be no security for the permanency of a place in it. The same remark will apply to all offices here, now, [ &] no doubt will, till the close of the present administration.

Any man who holds a place here, now, stands prepared at all times to vacate it. You are doing, now, exactly what I wanted you to do a year ago.1

We chase phantoms half the days of our lives.

[It ] is well if we learn wisdom even then, [&] save the other half.

I am in for it. I must go on chasing [them—until I marry—] then I am done with literature & all other [bosh,—] that is, literature wherewith to please the general public.

[I] shall write to please myself, then. I hope you will set type till you complete that invention, for surely [government] pap must be nauseating food for a man—a man whom God has enabled to saw wood & be independent.2 It really seemed to me a falling from grace, the idea of going back to San Francisco nothing better than a mere postmaster, albeit the public would have thought I came with gilded honors, & in great glory.

I only retain correspondence enough, now, to make a living for myself, & have discarded all else, so that I may have time to spare for the book. Drat the thing, I wish it were done, or that I had no other writing to do.

This is [the] place to get a poor opinion of everybody in. [There isn’t one man in Washington, in civil office, who has the brains of Anson Burlingame—& I suppose if China had not seized & saved his great talents to the world, this government would have discarded him when his time was up.]

[There are more pitiful intellects in this Congress!] Oh, geeminy! There are few of them that I find pleasant enough company to visit.

I am most infernally tired of Wash. & its “attractions.” To be busy is a man’s only happiness—& I am—otherwise I should [die.]

Yrs. aff

[Sam].

Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary

Editorial Signs

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1 Orion was setting type for the St. Louis Missouri Democrat, working as a “sub” and hoping for a “regular situation.” On 17 February he wrote Mollie:

I worked Saturday in the Democrat newspaper office, from 10 A.M. till 5 P.M., and Sunday from 2 P M till 3.45 A.M. All this work together only amounts to $3.68½.... The foreman of the newspaper at the Democrat office [William McKee], who is an old friend, had put my name on the sub list before I got back from Keokuk, and says it will result in a regular situation. (OC to MEC, 17 Feb 68, CU-MARK)

In a later letter he explained why, in part, his situation was so precarious:

The art of printing is so far, with me, a lost art, that I cannot hold a situation in a job or book office, and I cannot set type fast enough for an evening paper. I have not capital to go into practice of law. So there is nothing left, as I know no other business, but to work on a morning paper. (OC to MEC, 8 Apr 68, CU-MARK)

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2 Orion had been working on some invention since at least the previous November. The device in question may have been the “modest little drilling machine” that was reputed to be “favorably thought of by Munn & Co.” in June of 1870 (OC to MEC, 26 Nov 67, CU-MARK; SLC to PAM, 12 June 70, NPV). Or it may have been a “wood-sawing machine” that Clemens recalled his brother had invented:

He ... patched it together himself, and he really sawed wood with it. It was ingenious; it was capable; and it would have made a comfortable little fortune for him; but just at the wrong time Providence interfered again. Orion applied for a patent and found that the same machine had already been patented and had gone into business and was thriving. (AD, 6 Apr 1906, CU-MARK, in MTA, 2:329)

The phrase “saw wood and be independent” echoes a proverbial steamboat expression, “as independent as a wood-sawyer’s clerk,” which refers to the importance of wood suppliers to the river economy (see L1, 18 n. 6).

Description of Texts and Provenance

Source text(s):

MTL, 1:150–51. Excerpts were also published in chapters 65 and 66 of MTB (1:360–61): ‘We . . . then.’ (197.11–16) and ‘This . . . Congress!’ (197.26–198.3). In addition, MTB paraphrased one sentence that does not appear in MTL: ‘He closes by saying that he rather expects to go with Anson Burlingame on the Chinese embassy.’ (1:360). Although MTL and MTB probably derive independently from a common source, none of the variants found in MTB has been deemed superior to MTL, and none has been adopted, including the paraphrased sentence, which is judged to belong to the next letter, 22? Feb 68 to MEC (see p. 200 n. 3).

Previous publication: L2, 197–198; none known, except for MTL and MTB.

Provenance:The location of the MS is not known.

Emendations and textual notes:

F street . . . 21. • F. Street, Wash., Feb. 21. (1868)

[no ¶] My dear Bro., [¶] I • [¶] My dear Bro.,—I

& • and [also at 197.12*, 14*, 18*, 21*, 23*, 28 (twice)*, 198.5*, 6*]

[¶] It • [no ¶] It (MTB)

& • and [also at 197.14, 28 (twice) (MTB) ]

them— . . . marry— • them, . . . marry, (MTB)

bosh,— • bosh‸— (MTB)

[¶] I • [no ¶] I (MTB)

government • gov-|vernment

the • a (MTB)

There . . . Washington, . . . office, . . . Burlingame— . . . world, . . . up. • There . . . Washington‸ . . . office‸ . . . Burlingame, . . . world‸ . . . up. [follows ‘There . . . Congress!’ (198.3)] (MTB)

[¶] There . . . more . . . Congress! • [no ¶] There . . . some . . . Congress! [precedes ‘There . . . up.’ (197.26–198.2)] (MTB)

die. • die‸

Sam • Sam