To Olivia L. Clemens
8 May 1882 • SS City of Baton Rouge en route from New Orleans, La., to St. Louis, Mo.
(MS, in pencil: CU-MARK, UCCL 02189)
On board Baton Rouge, May 8.
We are moving along up the river pretty swiftly, Livy darling, & by Friday I expect to get a letter from you in St Louis. It was a very genuine pleasure to receive such a nice long letter from you just before leaving New Orleans. I went to bed a trifle after midnight last night, & got up at 4 & was in the pilot house in a tolerably thick fog until breakfast. The dense foliage was beautiful in the fog. Every time we made a crossing we would be out of sight of land for some minutes, & then the great groves, like the faintest & filmiest spectres, would loom into view. They did not seem real, [but] only the spirits of trees. When we got closer—say within 600 yards—the reflections of the trees (where they stood on overflowed ground) in the glassy water, were stronger & darker than the trees themselves. We had a rattling nice storm yesterday afternoon: strong wind, blue-black sky, crawly white waves, vast sheets of driving rain, superb bursts of lightning, & a most inspiring cannonade of big thunder. And after it a couple of rainbows, & the level rays of the sinking sun turning the Natchez hills into a kind of green-tinted conflagration. It was the kind of effect we get out of the low afternoon sun at home; & I thought of it shining on you loved ones at dinner & pouring a glory upon Emmeline & the gold walls of the library.
Good bye, my darling, it’s as hot as Hades——but I love you & the kids.
Saml.
[in ink:] Mrs. S. L. Clemens | Hartford | Conn [return address:] return to s. l. clemens, hartford, conn., if not delivered within 10 days. [postmarked:] memphis tenn. may 10 10am [and] rec’d. hartford conn. may 12 10am
Textual Commentary
Source text(s):Previous publication:
Provenance:
See Samossoud Collection in Description of Provenance.
Emendations and textual notes:
but • but but [corrected miswriting]
