To Pamela A. Moffett
14 January 1869 • Davenport, Iowa
(MS and transcript made for Albert Bigelow Paine: NPV and CU-MARK, UCCL 00233)

Private.}0

My Dear Sister:

I lectured here [to-night]—& have lately lectured in several Michigan towns, & in Akron, Ohio, Fort Wayne, Ind., Indianapolis, Rockford, Monmouth, Galesburg, Chicago, Peoria, Decatur, & Ottawa, Ill—& a lecture every night—& now have to talk in Iowa City, Sparta, Wis., Toledo, Ohio, Norwalk, Cleveland, & a lot of places in Illinois, Michigan, & New York City & New York State, & am getting awfully tired of it.1 I spend about half as much money as I make, I think, though I have managed to save about a thousand dollars, so far—don't think I shall save more than a thousand more.2

One of Mrs. Pavey's daughters (she married a doctor & is living in an Illinois town & has sons larger than I am,) was in the audience at Peoria. Had a long talk with her. She came many miles to be there.3 Saw a nephew of Tom Collins in Decatur.4

The Societies all want to engage me to lecture for them next year, but [I can’t promise—I don’t want to lecture any more. I want to get at something else.]

[portion of MS page missing (about 65 words—17 of them now restored from Paine transcript)]

That is all of the private.5 Had a letter from Miss Lou Conrad the other day—was near where she lives, but had not time to go there.6

What do you think of Norwich, N.Y., for a home? I think it will exactly suit you. You can run to New York or visit the sea-side whenever you please, from there.7

No, you can't board & lodge in New York City in any sort of respectable & comfortable style for less than $25 to $35 a week apiece.

In the spring go yourself, or send Orion8—or both of you go—to Norwich, & you will rent or buy a house & be delighted. I only wish I could live [there. I] am to lecture every night till Feb. 2. Shall be in Cleveland, Ohio, one day only—Jan. 22.

Affectionately

Sam.

Love to all.

Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary

Editorial Signs

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0The present text, notes, and apparatus supersede those previously published in L3, 43–44. L3’s version is available here.

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1For the dates of Clemens’s appearances in these places, see the Lecture Schedule, 1868–1870.

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2Between 17 November 1868, when his tour began, and the date of this letter, Clemens’s gross earnings were at least $2,300. He earned a fee of $100 for each performance, but evidently paid his own travel, lodging, and meal costs. As befitted a newcomer to the field, his normal fee was half that of some of his competitors, such as Petroleum Vesuvius Nasby (20 and 21 Jan 1869 to OLL, n. 1; L2, 246, 282, 294).

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3Jesse H. Pavey (1798?–1853), a brutal Hannibal tavern keeper during Clemens’s youth, and his wife, Catharine (b. 1800?), had a large family that included at least seven daughters. Clemens’s visitor might have been any one of four of them—Julia, Sarah, Fanny, or Susan. In 1897, in “Villagers of 1840–3,” he identified her as “Mrs. Strong.” The Paveys had left Hannibal for St. Louis by mid-1850. In 1855, while working in St. Louis as a printer, Clemens boarded with the widowed Catharine Pavey (for his recollections of this family, see Inds, 98–99, 340–41).

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4Thomas K. Collins (1822–85), a dry goods merchant, was one of Hannibal’s foremost businessmen (Inds, 94, 102, 315). His nephew has not been identified.

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5Pamela must have torn away the top two-thirds of this page, which presumably contained Clemens’s progress report on his courtship, even before passing the letter on to other members of the family in St. Louis. She thereby complied with his November 1868 request for strict confidentiality—“I make no exceptions” (L2, 295).

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6Clemens sent Louisa Conrad’s letter to Olivia Langdon (see 7 Jan 1869 to OLL from Chicago, n. 5).

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7Clemens repeated his previous recommendation (of 24 December) that his sister move with her family to Norwich, in Chenango County, New York, approximately 140 miles from New York City (L2, 326–27, 348). She now lived with her mother, two children, and the family’s German maid, Margaret, at 1312 Chesnut Street in St. Louis, where she also took in boarders. The family remained at that address until May 1869, the first of several moves within St. Louis. In April 1870, they moved to Fredonia, in westernmost New York, close to Lake Erie and about forty miles from Clemens’s Buffalo home (11 May 1869 to JLC; 1 Apr 1870 to Jervis and Olivia Lewis Langdon, TS in CU-MARK; 21 Apr 1870 to OC, CU-MARK; Edwards 1868, 537, 953; Edwards 1869, 569; MTBus, 47, 103, 112).

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8Orion and Mollie Clemens apparently lived in St. Louis throughout 1869 (with Mollie sometimes visiting her parents in Keokuk, Iowa). It is not known whether they were currently living with Pamela.

Description of Texts and Provenance

Source text(s):

MS, Jean Webster McKinney Papers, Special Collections, NPV, and transcript made for Albert Bigelow Paine (Tr), CU-MARK. The surviving MS now consists of about three and one-third leaves, inscribed on the rectos only. Pages 1, 2 (‘Private . . . but I can't’), and 4 (‘home? . . . Love to all.’) survive intact, but a portion of page 3 (preceding ‘That is all . . . N.Y., for a’) was cut off, probably by Pamela Moffett, and does not survive. When the MS was transcribed for Albert Bigelow Paine, however, more of the page did survive, and the text is emended to include seventeen words that are part of the transcription but no longer part of the MS.

Previous publication:

MTBus, 103–4, partial publication; L3, 43–44, partial publication.

Provenance:

See McKinney Family Papers and Paine Transcripts in Description of Provenance.

Emendations and textual notes:Adopted readings followed by ‘(MTP)’ are editorial emendations of the source readings.

to-night (MTP) • to- | night (MS)

I can't . . . else. (Tr) • [seventeen words not in] (MS)

there. I (MTP) • ~.—| ~ (MS)