Sherman House,
Chicago, Jan. 7.
My Dear dear dear dear dear dear dear Livy—(that is the tamest [word ] that ever I saw—you have to repeat it 6 or [ 7 ] seven times to make it express anything)—I shall heap some more newspaper abuse on this house when I get a chance. It does them good. They give me their best room, now, & treat me like a lord.1
I am tired again, Livy. There were many visitors in, during the afternoon, & I got no chance to lie down & rest. This is the tenth letter I have written since I finished the lecture to-night. {They want me to lecture here [again 2 I ] have to write these letters—there isn’t any getting around it—they are answers to letters received. But don’t you know, I was so disappointed, when they gave me a batch of letters today & I ran them over & found not a line from you. No—not disappointed, because exact I had felt just as sure as I could be, that a letter would reach Cleveland after I left, & be re-mailed to Chicago. But bless your old heart, you are just as good as you can be, & I forgive you. Forgive you, indeed!—I am all gratitude to you for what you do write.
I have a religious experience (Indianapolis) to tell you about, when I see you—I can’t write it, well.3 Considering that I must get up [& ] start at 7 in the morning on a 9-hour [railway ] trip, I had bet[t]er be getting to bed.4 I was ever so smart, to write last to you, to-night, Livy—otherwise those other letters never would have been written. I wrote you from Rockford, last night—did you get it? I sent a porter to mail the letter.
You won’t need a long letter from me to-night, for I enclose a couple to make up. Now perhaps I ought not to have begge asked Mrs. Fairbanks to write you, because it is so fatiguing & troublesome to you to write letters, & you have so much of it to do. But in about a week you must answer her letter—& you will, won’t you? She is a noble, good woman. I am enclo I will spare you just one day to write her—no more—all the other days you must write to me, Livy dear. I am going to enclose her to-days note in this, whether she likes it or not—I like it.
Livy, please put Cleveland, Jan. 22, & Norwalk, Ohio, Jan. 21, in the list of lectures I left you.
The other enclosed letter is from a most estimable young lady whose friendship I acquired in St Louis two years ago. She is a thorough Christian. She was [ a near ne [a] near neighbors ] of ours, & my mother & sister are very fond of her, & of all her family.5 The letter won’t interest you, but I thought I would send it because it would be such a good hint to you to send me all the letters which young gentlemen may chance to write to you, Livy—{& then I will go & break their necks for them!}
I am going to bed, now, for I am in a hurry to get to Monmouth, where I know I shall get a letter from you. Leaving you in the loving protection of the Savior, & the gentle guardianship of the angels, I bid you good-bye, & kiss you good-night, my darling Livy.
Devotedly & always,
Samℓ. L. C.
[enclosure:]
‸{Preceding this was a formal invitation to lecture for the orphans in [Cleveland, ].}‸ 6
There—Have n’t I done that properly? but it is painful this being parlaiamentary. It would suit Col. Kinney but not me. 7
Mr. Fairbanks sent your shirts to Chicago Monday—We miss you—all of us, but when I feel quite dreary, I go up and open your door to regale my senses with the still lingering perfume of your cigars—
“You may break, you may miss the vase if you
will
But the scent of the roses will hang round it
still.”
8
Touchingly appropriate— ‸{Isn’t that plaintive, Livy?}‸
Allie 9 is quite as inconsolable as Hattie Lewis., whose comical estimate of your devotion amuses me exceedingly. 10 I shall write to Livy in the morning—but I’m a goose to do it, for what could I say that she [end of page]
[on back of letter as folded:]
Miss Olivia L. Langdon
Present.
Politeness of Charlie.
[docketed by OLL:] 23rdExplanatory Notes | Textual Commentary
I will remark, in passing, that the Sherman
House is a good hotel, but I have seen better. They gave me a room
there, away up, I do not know exactly how high, but water boils up
there at 168⁰. I went up in a dumb waiter which was
attached to a balloon. It was not a suitable place for a bedchamber,
but it was a promising altitude for an observatory. The furniture
consisted of a table, a camp stool, a wash-bowl, a German Dictionary
and a patent medicine Almanac for 1842. I do not know whether there
was a bed or not—I didn’t notice. (SLC 1868) The Sherman House was designed in 1861 by “the supreme
architect of the Chicago hotel, William Boyington.” It
“rose up in six stories of finely cut Athens marble, could
accommodate 300 guests, and always had an orchestra playing in its grand
dining room.” The imposing structure had “a
frontage of one hundred and eighty feet on Clark Street and one hundred
fifty on Randolph Street” and cost, with furnishings, half a
million dollars. It was destroyed by fire in 1871 (Lowe, 66, 95, 114; Masters, 111).
recital was interspersed with anecdotes, comparisons, and incidents,
which were highly interesting, and frequently utterly ridiculous and
absurd. At other times the audience were enraptured with the
charming oratorical powers of the speaker. ... The lecture
through-out was one of Mark-ed ability, and was listened to by a
delighted audience. (“The American Vandal
Abroad,” Chicago Times, 8 Jan 69,
3) Clemens next lectured in Chicago, on “Roughing It,”
in December 1871 (Fatout 1960, 166–67).
Source text(s):Previous publication:
L3, 18–21; LLMT, 356, brief paraphrase; MTMF, 64, brief excerpt.
Provenance:see Samossoud Collection, p. 586.
Emendations and textual notes:
word • wor [d] |word [written off edge of page onto next page following ‘received.’ at 18.12; blotted]
7 • [badly formed]
again.}I • again.}—|I
& • [doubtful ‘a &’]
railway • rail-|way
a near ne[a] near neighbors • a near ne near neighbors [‘a near ne’ written off edge of page onto next page preceding signature]
Cleveland, • [deletion implied]
