Transcript of postal card, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 29 December 1882, 4. The letter was also printed in the Boston Herald (there is an undated clipping in CU-MARK), and doubtless other newspapers as well. The first printing, from which the present text must have derived, has not been identified. The Post-Dispatch introduced the letter as follows: “Mark Twain failed to answer a letter written to him by Sergeant Ballantine. After waiting a reasonable time the latter was so exasperated at not receiving an answer that he mailed Twain a sheet of paper and a postage stamp as a gentle reminder. Mr. Clemens wrote back on a postal.”