To Mary Mason Fairbanks
24 January 1881 • Hartford, Conn.
(MS, correspondence card: CSmH, UCCL 04130)

Jan. 24.

slcP. S. (to the letter which is in my head & which I have not time to get out.) You come here & see us, when you arrive east, & we will talk. I hate writing——however, that has become a platitude in my mouth. I finished a book last week, & am shirking all other duties in order to give the whole remnant of my mind to a most painstaking revision of it—for this book is not a humorous but a serious work, & may damn me, tho’ Livy says No. I do wish you would come & read it in MS & judge it, before it goes to the printers. Will you? You shall have till March 1st—5 weeks.

Lovingly

Saml.

[cross-written on front of card:] Livy & all the babies join me & beg you to come, & bring Mollie.

Mrs. A. W. Fairbanks | Weddell House | Cleveland | Ohio

[return address:] return to s. l. clemens, hartford, conn., if not delivered within 10 days.

[postmarked:] hartford conn. jan 24 6pm [and] [◊◊am recd.]

[remainder of postmark illegible]

Textual Commentary

Editorial Signs

Description of Texts and Provenance

Source text(s):

MS, CSmH, call no. HM 14309.

Previous publication:

MTMF, 255.

Provenance:

See Huntington Library in Description of Provenance.

Emendations and textual notes:

◊◊am recd. • [◊◊]am [◊e]cd. [badly inked]