Elmira, June 4.
Dear Mother—
I have been in bed, reading & smoking, two or three hours, but I do not yet discover any inclination to go to sleep. I suppose it is because I am waiting for the morning to come, so that I can see Livy. Don’t know what else. I am in love with Livy. I think considerable of her. I had a dreadful time making this conquest, but that is all over, you know, & now I have to set up nights trying to think what I’ll do next. I believe I will commence & rehearse it all over again. I like it.
To-day the last chapters of the proof came, & to-morrow we shall finish reading & be done with the tiresome book forever. I am ever so glad of it, & I do not want another task like it [shortly. I ] lost very nearly all my interest in it, long ago. It makes just about 650 or [ 65 660 ] pages, & so is not too bulky, after all.
We have all given you scissors1 for not stopping here, & I warn you that you will catch it livelier still if you go by again. Mr. Langdon sticks to his fell threat to follow you to Cleveland & stay 3 weeks if you repeat this iniquity—he does more than stick to it—
. . . .
Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary
Source text(s):
Previous publication:
L3, 261–262; MTMF 98–99.
Provenance:see Huntington Library, pp. 582–83.
Emendations and textual notes:
shortly. I • shortly.—|I
65 660 • 6560