From Samuel L. and Olivia L. Clemens
to Francis E. Bliss and Frances T. French
15 September 1870 • Buffalo, N.Y.
(MS: CtHMTH, UCCL 00505)

Buf. Sept. 15.

Dear Frank—

We are obliged to send regrets, as we have a young lady friend permanently & seriously ill in the house (typhoid fever,) & the doctor gives us no encouragement that we & the hired nurses can cease to watch her for a month or two to come. We are obliged to send regrets to Charley Langdon also, (my wife’s brother), whose wedding comes off at the homestead in [Elmira] the middle of October.1

But we just wish you & the pro[s]pective bride2 the same amount of peace, & restful comfort, & absolute & unalloyed happiness as our new married life is filled with, fully aware that in wishing you this we are wishing you the sum of all earthly good.

Sincerely Yours,

[Samℓ .] L. Clemens
and Mrs. Samℓ. L. Clemens.

[Mrs Mr.] and eventually Mrs Frank Bliss, Hartford.

Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary

Editorial Signs

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1 See 13 Oct 70 to Fairbanks.

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2 Bliss and French were married at the bride’s home in Mount Holyoke, Massachusetts, on 28 September (“Married,” Hartford Times, 30 Sept 70, 2; “Hartford Residents,” Bliss Family, 1).

Description of Texts and Provenance

Source text(s):

MS, Mark Twain House, Hartford (CtHMTH).

Previous publication: L4, 194.

Provenance:Donated to CtHMTH in 1965 by George H. Gilman as part of the Elisha French Bliss Collection.

Emendations and textual notes:

Elmira • Elmrira

Samℓ. • [‘ℓ’ over miswritten ‘m’]

Mrs Mr. • Mr. s [‘s’ partly formed; deletion implied]