To Pamela A. Moffett
6 March 1881 • Hartford, Conn.
(Handwritten transcripts by Pamela A. Moffett and typed transcript by or for Albert Bigelow Paine: CU-MARK, UCCL 09523)
[Hartford, Mch 6/81.
My Dear Sister—]
[O,] dear, don’t ever send me anything that you value. I haven’t any idea where Sam’s letter [is.] I don’t think you told me to return it; & if you should tell me such a thing I should be most likely to put it off a day or two & then never think of it again. [If the Howards are in a position to guarantee 25 per cent the first [year,] I don’t imagine they will have any trouble about getting their stock [subscribed.] We made up $200,000 to start an [engine-building] factory here, one night a couple of months ago, on the mere [prospect] of a profitable [business,—no] guaranty. I took all the stock I could [get,] which was [$14,500-worth;] but if they had [guaranteed] 25 per cent the first year, I reckon a body would have had to move [quicker] than [I] generally [move,] [to] get [any].]
[Everybody’s well, & all send love.
Sam.]
Textual Commentary
Source text(s):| Tr1 | Transcript in Pamela A. Moffett to Orion and Mary E. (Mollie) Clemens, 19 March 1881, CU-MARK, UCLC 47232, from ‘O,’ (1.3) through ‘again.’ (1.6). |
| Tr2 | Transcript in Pamela A. Moffett to Samuel E. Moffett, 20 and 21 March 1881, CU-MARK, UCLC 30192, from ‘If’ (1.6) through ‘any.’ (1.12). |
| Tr3 | Typed transcript by or for Albert Bigelow Paine, CU-MARK. |
Previous publication:
MicroPUL, reel 2, as two separate letters dated 17 February–16 March 1881 (UCCL 09523) and 1? March 1881 (UCCL 09497).
Provenance:
See Mark Twain Papers, Moffett Collection, and Paine Transcripts, respectively, in Description of Provenance.
Emendations, adopted readings, and textual notes:
All variants between the source texts are reported here. The readings identified by the siglum ‘MTP’ are editorial emendations of the source readings made because none is deemed correct by itself.
Hartford . . . Sister— (Tr3) • [not in] (Tr1, Tr2)
[¶] O, (MTP) • [no ¶] O, (Tr1); [¶] ~. (Tr3); [not in] (Tr2)
is. (Tr3) • ~; (Tr1); [not in] (Tr2)
If . . . any. (Tr2, Tr3) • [not in] (Tr1)
year, (Tr2) • ~. (Tr3)
subscribed. (Tr3) • ~‸ (Tr2)
engine-building (Tr3) • ~‸~ (Tr2)
prospect (Tr2) • prospect (Tr3)
business,—no (MTP) • business,— no (Tr2); business,- no (Tr3)
get, (Tr2) • ~; (Tr3)
$14,500-worth; (MTP) • $14,500 worth; (Tr2); $14,500- worth; (Tr3)
guaranteed (Tr2) • guaranteed (Tr3)
quicker (Tr3) • faster faster [the revision is presumably the copyist's, not the author's] (Tr2)
I (Tr2) • I (Tr3)
move, (Tr3) • ~‸ (Tr2)
to (Tr2) • To (Tr3)
any (Tr2) • any (Tr3)
[¶] Everybody's . . . Sam. (Tr3) • [not in] (Tr1, Tr2)
