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18 November 1868 • Cleveland, Ohio
(MS facsimile: CtY, UCCL 02764)
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Cleveland, Nov. 18.
Mr. President
of the S. & K.1
Allow me the privilege (in haste,) of remembering myself most kindly to my esteemed & honored brethren of the S & K.—whom God preserve!
Fraternally
Mark Twain
[enclosure:] 2
Yrs Truly |
Explanatory Notes
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1
On 5 November Clemens became an honorary member of the Scroll and Key, a secret society for Yale College
seniors and alumni, founded in 1842 for the pursuit of fellowship, moral and literary self-improvement, and
charity. Clemens’s membership was sponsored by Joseph Twichell, who had been active in the
society since 1859, his senior year. Twichell requested permission for Clemens to join under a provision
that allowed for the election of public figures who had attained eminence in literature or art (Maynard
Mack, 46, 214–15 n. 14).
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2Clemens enclosed his card, together with some
“paragraphs”—possibly reviews of his Cleveland lecture—which do not
survive (see the next letter).
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MS facsimile. The editors have not seen the MS, which is in a scrapbook in the Scroll and Key Society
archives, Department of Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library (CtY, call no. “Scrapbook:
C.S.P. 1869. Vol. 2. Junior and Senior. 378.74 YL 10 v. 2”). A photocopy of the MS was made available to the
Mark Twain Papers through the kindness of Radley H. Daly and the Scroll and Key Society.
Previous publication:
L2, 281; Maynard Mack, 214–15 n. 14.
Provenance:
The MS has remained, since its receipt in 1868, in the possession of the Scroll and Key Society.