Sunday:1
My Dear Sister:
I keep forgetting about that bill for carriage hire. I didn’t want it sent to me. I gave ma $50 express‸ly‸ ing intending it to pay interest on what I owed her, & to pay any extra expenses we caused, like carriage hire &c.
About the Naval Academy I am perplexed. Every Congressman without doubt has his own pet; the vacancies are scarce; they are bespoken early;. Are you sure that you cannot get the vacancy that is to occur in your district two years hence? But of course you can’t know. It will belong to a Congressman who is not yet elected. So will all future vacancies. Present vacancies are of course bespoken already—or none exist.
The truth is, you stand your best chance where you are, no doubt. You are known there, the boy is known; & when that future Congressman is nominated will be the time to apply to him. If Sammy were sent into a new District purposely to rob some poor lad there of his chance for Annapolis, it might be shrewd sagacity but mighty poor morality. We must drop that idea. The more I think of it, the more repulsive it becomes. Is your present Congressman bound to be re-elected? If so, find out why he wouldn’t appoint Sammy. I would take it upon myself to try to make him show cause why. 2
You think & plan—I will, also.
[in margin: Am writing the Secretary of War about the matter.]All well
Yrs affly
S. L. Clemens
I would consider it perfectly fair for Sammy to go to Annapolis from St. Louis. No boy there has a fuller or better right. And there are more chances from so large a district.3
Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary
The number of cadet-midshipmen allowed at the Academy
is one for every Member or Delegate of the House of Representatives,
one for the District of Columbia, and ten appointed annually at
large. After March 5 of each year the Secretary of the Navy notifies
each Member or Delegate of any vacancy that may exist in his
district. The nomination of a candidate to fill this vacancy is made
upon the recommendation of the Member or Delegate; but if not made
by July 1 of that year the Secretary of the Navy is required to fill
the vacancy. The nomination of candidates from the District of
Columbia and at large is made by the President. (Soley, 151) For additional admission requirements that would have
applied to Samuel, see the next letter, nn. 3, 4.
Source text(s):
Previous publication:
L6, 210–211.
Provenance:see Mark Twain Papers in Description of Provenance.
Emendations and textual notes:
olc • [SLC rotated the stationery clockwise 90 degrees, so that the monogram appears on its side in the upper right corner]