diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 3198-0.txt | 2117 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 3198-0.zip | bin | 0 -> 37608 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 3198-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 39573 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 3198-h/3198-h.htm | 2537 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/mt6lt10.txt | 1930 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/mt6lt10.zip | bin | 0 -> 36336 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/mt6lt11.txt | 1915 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/mt6lt11.zip | bin | 0 -> 37197 bytes |
11 files changed, 8515 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3198-0.txt b/3198-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b996a08 --- /dev/null +++ b/3198-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2117 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Letters Of Mark Twain, Volume 6, +1907-1910, by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Letters Of Mark Twain, Volume 6, 1907-1910 + +Author: Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) + +Release Date: August 20, 2016 [EBook #3198] +Last Updated: February 24, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWAIN LETTERS, VOL. 6 *** + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +MARK TWAIN'S LETTERS 1907-1910 + +VOLUME VI. + +By Mark Twain + + +ARRANGED WITH COMMENT BY ALBERT BIGELOW PAINE + + + + +XLVI. LETTERS 1907-08. A DEGREE FROM OXFORD. THE NEW HOME AT REDDING. + + The author, J. Howard Moore, sent a copy of his book, The Universal + Kinship, with a letter in which he said: “Most humorists have no + anxiety except to glorify themselves and add substance to their + pocket-books by making their readers laugh. You have shown, on many + occasions, that your mission is not simply to antidote the + melancholy of a world, but includes a real and intelligent concern + for the general welfare of your fellowman.” + + The Universal Kinship was the kind of a book that Mark Twain + appreciated, as his acknowledgment clearly shows. + + +***** + + +To Mr. J. Howard Moore: + + Feb. 2, '07. + +DEAR MR. MOORE, The book has furnished me several days of deep pleasure +and satisfaction; it has compelled my gratitude at the same time, since +it saves me the labor of stating my own long-cherished opinions and +reflections and resentments by doing it lucidly and fervently and +irascibly for me. + +There is one thing that always puzzles me: as inheritors of the +mentality of our reptile ancestors we have improved the inheritance by +a thousand grades; but in the matter of the morals which they left us we +have gone backward as many grades. That evolution is strange, and to me +unaccountable and unnatural. Necessarily we started equipped with their +perfect and blemishless morals; now we are wholly destitute; we have no +real, morals, but only artificial ones--morals created and preserved by +the forced suppression of natural and hellish instincts. Yet we are +dull enough to be vain of them. Certainly we are a sufficiently comical +invention, we humans. + + Sincerely Yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + Mark Twain's own books were always being excommunicated by some + librarian, and the matter never failed to invite the attention and + amusement of the press, and the indignation of many correspondents. + Usually the books were Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, the morals of which + were not regarded as wholly exemplary. But in 1907 a small library, + in a very small town, attained a day's national notoriety by putting + the ban on Eve's Diary, not so much on account of its text as for + the chaste and exquisite illustrations by Lester Ralph. When the + reporters came in a troop to learn about it, the author said: “I + believe this time the trouble is mainly with the pictures. I did + not draw them. I wish I had--they are so beautiful.” + + Just at this time, Dr. William Lyon Phelps, of Yale, was giving a + literary talk to the Teachers' Club, of Hartford, dwelling on the + superlative value of Mark Twain's writings for readers old and + young. Mrs. F. G. Whitmore, an old Hartford friend, wrote Clemens + of the things that Phelps had said, as consolation for Eve's latest + banishment. This gave him a chance to add something to what he had + said to the reporters. + + +***** + + +To Mrs. Whitmore, in Hartford: + + Feb. 7, 1907. + +DEAR MRS. WHITMORE,--But the truth is, that when a Library expels a book +of mine and leaves an unexpurgated Bible lying around where unprotected +youth and age can get hold of it, the deep unconscious irony of it +delights me and doesn't anger me. But even if it angered me such words +as those of Professor Phelps would take the sting all out. Nobody +attaches weight to the freaks of the Charlton Library, but when a man +like Phelps speaks, the world gives attention. Some day I hope to meet +him and thank him for his courage for saying those things out in public. +Custom is, to think a handsome thing in private but tame it down in the +utterance. + +I hope you are all well and happy; and thereto I add my love. + + Sincerely yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + In May, 1907, Mark Twain was invited to England to receive from + Oxford the degree of Literary Doctor. It was an honor that came to + him as a sort of laurel crown at the end of a great career, and + gratified him exceedingly. To Moberly Bell, of the London Times, + he expressed his appreciation. Bell had been over in April and + Clemens believed him concerned in the matter. + + +***** + + +To Moberly Bell, in London: + + 21 FIFTH AVENUE, May 3, '07 + +DEAR MR. BELL,--Your hand is in it! and you have my best thanks. +Although I wouldn't cross an ocean again for the price of the ship that +carried me, I am glad to do it for an Oxford degree. I shall plan to +sail for England a shade before the middle of June, so that I can have a +few days in London before the 26th. + + Sincerely, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + He had taken a house at Tuxedo for the summer, desiring to be near + New York City, and in the next letter he writes Mr. Rogers + concerning his London plans. We discover, also, in this letter that + he has begun work on the Redding home and the cost is to come + entirely out of the autobiographical chapters then running in the + North American Review. It may be of passing interest to note here + that he had the usual house-builder's fortune. He received thirty + thousand dollars for the chapters; the house cost him nearly double + that amount. + + +***** + + +To H. H. Rogers, in New York: + + TUXEDO PARK, + May 29, '07. + +DEAR ADMIRAL,--Why hang it, I am not going to see you and Mrs. Rogers at +all in England! It is a great disappointment. I leave there a month from +now--June 29. No, I shall see you; for by your itinerary you are most +likely to come to London June 21st or along there. So that is very good +and satisfactory. I have declined all engagements but two--Whitelaw Reid +(dinner) June 21, and the Pilgrims (lunch), June 25. The Oxford ceremony +is June 26. I have paid my return passage in the Minne-something, but +it is just possible that I may want to stay in England a week or two +longer--I can't tell, yet. I do very much want to meet up with the boys +for the last time. + +I have signed the contract for the building of the house on my +Connecticut farm and specified the cost limit, and work has been begun. +The cost has to all come out of a year's instalments of Autobiography in +the N. A. Review. + +Clara, is winning her way to success and distinction with sure and +steady strides. By all accounts she is singing like a bird, and is not +afraid on the concert stage any more. + +Tuxedo is a charming place; I think it hasn't its equal anywhere. + +Very best wishes to you both. + + S. L. C. + + + The story of Mark Twain's extraordinary reception and triumph in + England has been told.--[Mark Twain; A Biography, chaps. cclvi- + cclix]--It was, in fact, the crowning glory of his career. Perhaps + one of the most satisfactory incidents of his sojourn was a dinner + given to him by the staff of Punch, in the historic offices at 10 + Bouverie Street where no other foreign visitor had been thus + honored--a notable distinction. When the dinner ended, little joy + Agnew, daughter of the chief editor, entered and presented to the + chief guest the original drawing of a cartoon by Bernard Partridge, + which had appeared on the front page of Punch. In this picture the + presiding genius of the paper is offering to Mark Twain health, long + life, and happiness from “The Punch Bowl.” + + A short time after his return to America he received a pretty + childish letter from little Miss Agnew acknowledging a photograph he + had sent her, and giving a list of her pets and occupations. Such a + letter always delighted Mark Twain, and his pleasure in this one is + reflected in his reply. + + +***** + + +To Miss Joy Agnew, in London: + + TUXEDO PARK, NEW YORK. + +Unto you greetings and salutation and worship, you dear, sweet little +rightly-named Joy! I can see you now almost as vividly as I saw you that +night when you sat flashing and beaming upon those sombre swallow-tails. + + “Fair as a star when only one + Is shining in the sky.” + +Oh, you were indeed the only one--there wasn't even the remotest chance +of competition with you, dear! Ah, you are a decoration, you little +witch! + +The idea of your house going to the wanton expense of a flower +garden!--aren't you enough? And what do you want to go and discourage +the other flowers for? Is that the right spirit? is it considerate? is +it kind? How do you suppose they feel when you come around--looking +the way you look? And you so pink and sweet and dainty and lovely and +supernatural? Why, it makes them feel embarrassed and artificial, of +course; and in my opinion it is just as pathetic as it can be. Now then +you want to reform--dear--and do right. + +Well certainly you are well off, Joy: + + 3 bantams; + 3 goldfish; + 3 doves; + 6 canaries; + 2 dogs; + 1 cat; + +All you need, now, to be permanently beyond the reach of want, is one +more dog--just one more good, gentle, high principled, affectionate, +loyal dog who wouldn't want any nobler service than the golden +privilege of lying at your door, nights, and biting everything that came +along--and I am that very one, and ready to come at the dropping of a +hat. + +Do you think you could convey my love and thanks to your “daddy” and +Owen Seaman and those other oppressed and down-trodden subjects of +yours, you darling small tyrant? + +On my knees! These--with the kiss of fealty from your other subject-- + + MARK TWAIN + + + Elinor Glyn, author of Three Weeks and other erotic tales, was in + America that winter and asked permission to call on Mark Twain. An + appointment was made and Clemens discussed with her, for an hour or + more, those crucial phases of life which have made living a complex + problem since the days of Eve in Eden. Mrs. Glyn had never before + heard anything like Mark Twain's wonderful talk, and she was anxious + to print their interview. She wrote what she could remember of it + and sent it to him for approval. If his conversation had been + frank, his refusal was hardly less so. + + +***** + + +To Mrs. Elinor Glyn, in New York: + + Jan. 22, '08. + +DEAR MRS. GLYN, It reads pretty poorly--I get the sense of it, but it +is a poor literary job; however, it would have to be that because +nobody can be reported even approximately, except by a stenographer. +Approximations, synopsized speeches, translated poems, artificial +flowers and chromos all have a sort of value, but it is small. If +you had put upon paper what I really said it would have wrecked your +type-machine. I said some fetid, over-vigorous things, but that was +because it was a confidential conversation. I said nothing for print. My +own report of the same conversation reads like Satan roasting a Sunday +school. It, and certain other readable chapters of my autobiography +will not be published until all the Clemens family are dead--dead and +correspondingly indifferent. They were written to entertain me, not +the rest of the world. I am not here to do good--at least not to do it +intentionally. You must pardon me for dictating this letter; I am sick +a-bed and not feeling as well as I might. + + Sincerely Yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + Among the cultured men of England Mark Twain had no greater admirer, + or warmer friend, than Andrew Lang. They were at one on most + literary subjects, and especially so in their admiration of the life + and character of Joan of Arc. Both had written of her, and both + held her to be something almost more than mortal. When, therefore, + Anatole France published his exhaustive biography of the maid of + Domremy, a book in which he followed, with exaggerated minuteness + and innumerable footnotes, every step of Joan's physical career at + the expense of her spiritual life, which he was inclined to cheapen, + Lang wrote feelingly, and with some contempt, of the performance, + inviting the author of the Personal Recollections to come to the + rescue of their heroine. “Compare every one of his statements with + the passages he cites from authorities, and make him the laughter of + the world” he wrote. “If you are lazy about comparing I can make + you a complete set of what the authorities say, and of what this + amazing novelist says that they say. When I tell you that he thinks + the Epiphany (January 6, Twelfth Night) is December 25th--Christmas + Day-you begin to see what an egregious ass he is. Treat him like + Dowden, and oblige”--a reference to Mark Twain's defense of Harriet + Shelley, in which he had heaped ridicule on Dowden's Life of the + Poet--a masterly performance; one of the best that ever came from + Mark Twain's pen. + + Lang's suggestion would seem to have been a welcome one. + + +***** + + +To Andrew Lang, in London: + + NEW YORK, April 25, 1908. + +DEAR MR. LANG,--I haven't seen the book nor any review of it, but only +not very-understandable references to it--of a sort which discomforted +me, but of course set my interest on fire. I don't want to have to read +it in French--I should lose the nice shades, and should do a lot of +gross misinterpreting, too. But there'll be a translation soon, nicht +wahr? I will wait for it. I note with joy that you say: “If you are lazy +about comparing, (which I most certainly am), I can make you a complete +set of what the authorities say, and of what this amazing novelist says +that they say.” + +Ah, do it for me! Then I will attempt the article, and (if I succeed +in doing it to my satisfaction,) will publish it. It is long since I +touched a pen (3 1/2 years), and I was intending to continue this happy +holiday to the gallows, but--there are things that could beguile me to +break this blessed Sabbath. + + Yours very sincerely, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + Certainly it is an interesting fact that an Englishman--one of the + race that burned Joan--should feel moved to defend her memory + against the top-heavy perversions of a distinguished French author. + + But Lang seems never to have sent the notes. The copying would have + been a tremendous task, and perhaps he never found the time for it. + We may regret to-day that he did not, for Mark Twain's article on + the French author's Joan would have been at least unique. + + Samuel Clemens could never accustom himself to the loss of his wife. + From the time of her death, marriage-which had brought him his + greatest joy in life-presented itself to him always with the thought + of bereavement, waiting somewhere just behind. The news of an + approaching wedding saddened him and there was nearly always a + somber tinge in his congratulations, of which the following to a + dear friend is an example: + + +***** + + +To Father Fitz-Simon, in Washington: + + June 5, '08. + +DEAR FATHER FITZ-SIMON,--Marriage--yes, it is the supreme felicity of +life, I concede it. And it is also the supreme tragedy of life. The +deeper the love the surer the tragedy. And the more disconsolating when +it comes. + +And so I congratulate you. Not perfunctorily, not lukewarmly, but with +a fervency and fire that no word in the dictionary is strong enough to +convey. And in the same breath and with the same depth and sincerity, +I grieve for you. Not for both of you and not for the one that shall +go first, but for the one that is fated to be left behind. For that one +there is no recompense.--For that one no recompense is possible. + +There are times--thousands of times--when I can expose the half of my +mind, and conceal the other half, but in the matter of the tragedy of +marriage I feel too deeply for that, and I have to bleed it all out or +shut it all in. And so you must consider what I have been through, and +am passing through and be charitable with me. + +Make the most of the sunshine! and I hope it will last long--ever so +long. + +I do not really want to be present; yet for friendship's sake and +because I honor you so, I would be there if I could. + + Most sincerely your friend, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + The new home at Redding was completed in the spring of 1908, and on + the 18th of June, when it was entirely fitted and furnished, Mark + Twain entered it for the first time. He had never even seen the + place nor carefully examined plans which John Howells had made for + his house. He preferred the surprise of it, and the general + avoidance of detail. That he was satisfied with the result will be + seen in his letters. He named it at first “Innocence at Home”; + later changing this title to “Stormfield.” + + The letter which follows is an acknowledgment of an interesting + souvenir from the battle-field of Tewksbury (1471), and some relics + of the Cavalier and Roundhead Regiments encamped at Tewksbury in + 1643. + + +***** + + +To an English admirer: + + INNOCENCE AT HOME, REDDING, CONNECTICUT, + Aug. 15, '08. + +DEAR SIR,--I highly prize the pipes, and shall intimate to people that +“Raleigh” smoked them, and doubtless he did. After a little practice I +shall be able to go further and say he did; they will then be the most +interesting features of my library's decorations. The Horse-shoe is +attracting a good deal of attention, because I have intimated that the +conqueror's horse cast it; it will attract more when I get my hand in +and say he cast it, I thank you for the pipes and the shoe; and also +for the official guide, which I read through at a single sitting. If a +person should say that about a book of mine I should regard it as good +evidence of the book's interest. + + Very truly yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + In his philosophy, What Is Man?, and now and again in his other + writings, we find Mark Twain giving small credit to the human mind + as an originator of ideas. The most original writer of his time, he + took no credit for pure invention and allowed none to others. The + mind, he declared, adapted, consciously or unconsciously; it did not + create. In a letter which follows he elucidates this doctrine. The + reference in it to the “captain” and to the kerosene, as the reader + may remember, have to do with Captain “Hurricane” Jones and his + theory of the miracles of “Isaac and of the prophets of Baal,” as + expounded in Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion. + + By a trick of memory Clemens gives The Little Duke as his suggestion + for The Prince and the Pauper; he should have written The Prince and + the Page, by the same author. + + +***** + + +To Rev. F. Y. Christ, in New York: + + REDDING, CONN., Aug., '08. + +DEAR SIR,--You say “I often owe my best sermons to a suggestion received +in reading or from other exterior sources.” Your remark is not quite in +accordance with the facts. We must change it to--“I owe all my thoughts, +sermons and ideas to suggestions received from sources outside of +myself.” The simplified English of this proposition is--“No man's brains +ever originated an idea.” It is an astonishing thing that after all +these ages the world goes on thinking the human brain machinery can +originate a thought. + +It can't. It never has done it. In all cases, little and big, the +thought is born of a suggestion; and in all cases the suggestions come +to the brain from the outside. The brain never acts except from exterior +impulse. + +A man can satisfy himself of the truth of this by a single process,--let +him examine every idea that occurs to him in an hour; a day; in a +week--in a lifetime if he please. He will always find that an outside +something suggested the thought, something which he saw with his eyes or +heard with his ears or perceived by his touch--not necessarily to-day, +nor yesterday, nor last year, nor twenty years ago, but sometime or +other. Usually the source of the suggestion is immediately traceable, +but sometimes it isn't. + +However, if you will examine every thought that occurs to you for the +next two days, you will find that in at least nine cases out of ten +you can put your finger on the outside suggestion--And that ought to +convince you that No. 10 had that source too, although you cannot at +present hunt it down and find it. + +The idea of writing to me would have had to wait a long time if it +waited until your brain originated it. It was born of an outside +suggestion--Sir Thomas and my old Captain. + +The hypnotist thinks he has invented a new thing--suggestion. This is +very sad. I don't know where my captain got his kerosene idea. (It was +forty-one years ago, and he is long ago dead.) But I know that it +didn't originate in his head, but it was born from a suggestion from the +outside. + +Yesterday a guest said, “How did you come to think of writing 'The +Prince and the Pauper?'” I didn't. The thought came to me from the +outside--suggested by that pleasant and picturesque little history-book, +Charlotte M. Yonge's “Little Duke,” I doubt if Mrs. Burnett knows whence +came to her the suggestion to write “Little Lord Fauntleroy,” but I +know; it came to her from reading “The Prince and the Pauper.” In all my +life I have never originated an idea, and neither has she, nor anybody +else. + +Man's mind is a clever machine, and can work up materials into ingenious +fancies and ideas, but it can't create the material; none but the gods +can do that. In Sweden I saw a vast machine receive a block of wood, and +turn it into marketable matches in two minutes. It could do everything +but make the wood. That is the kind of machine the human mind is. Maybe +this is not a large compliment, but it is all I can afford..... + + Your friend and well-wisher + S. L. CLEMENS. + + +***** + + +To Mrs. H. H. Rogers, in Fair Hawn, Mass.: + + REDDING, CONN, Aug. 12, 1908. + +DEAR MRS. ROGERS, I believe I am the wellest man on the planet to-day, +and good for a trip to Fair Haven (which I discussed with the Captain +of the New Bedford boat, who pleasantly accosted me in the Grand Central +August 5) but the doctor came up from New York day before yesterday, and +gave positive orders that I must not stir from here before frost. It is +because I was threatened with a swoon, 10 or 12 days ago, and went +to New York a day or two later to attend my nephew's funeral and got +horribly exhausted by the heat and came back here and had a bilious +collapse. In 24 hours I was as sound as a nut again, but nobody believes +it but me. + +This is a prodigiously satisfactory place, and I am so glad I don't have +to go back to the turmoil and rush of New York. The house stands high +and the horizons are wide, yet the seclusion is perfect. The nearest +public road is half a mile away, so there is nobody to look in, and I +don't have to wear clothes if I don't want to. I have been down stairs +in night-gown and slippers a couple of hours, and have been photographed +in that costume; but I will dress, now, and behave myself. + +That doctor had half an idea that there is something the matter with my +brain... Doctors do know so little and they do charge so much for it. I +wish Henry Rogers would come here, and I wish you would come with him. +You can't rest in that crowded place, but you could rest here, for sure! +I would learn bridge, and entertain you, and rob you. + + With love to you both, + Ever yours, + S. L. C. + + + In the foregoing letter we get the first intimation of Mark Twain's + failing health. The nephew who had died was Samuel E. Moffett, son + of Pamela Clemens. Moffett, who was a distinguished journalist--an + editorial writer on Collier's Weekly, a man beloved by all who knew + him--had been drowned in the surf off the Jersey beach. + + +***** + + +To W. D. Howells, Kittery Point, Maine: + + Aug. 12, '08. + +DEAR HOWELLS,--Won't you and Mrs. Howells and Mildred come and give us +as many days as you can spare, and examine John's triumph? It is +the most satisfactory house I am acquainted with, and the most +satisfactorily situated. + +But it is no place to work in, because one is outside of it all the +time, while the sun and the moon are on duty. Outside of it in the +loggia, where the breezes blow and the tall arches divide up the scenery +and frame it. + +It's a ghastly long distance to come, and I wouldn't travel such a +distance to see anything short of a memorial museum, but if you can't +come now you can at least come later when you return to New York, for +the journey will be only an hour and a half per express-train. Things +are gradually and steadily taking shape inside the house, and nature is +taking care of the outside in her ingenious and wonderful fashion--and +she is competent and asks no help and gets none. I have retired from New +York for good, I have retired from labor for good, I have dismissed my +stenographer and have entered upon a holiday whose other end is in the +cemetery. + + Yours ever, + MARK. + + + From a gentleman in Buffalo Clemens one day received a letter + inclosing an incompleted list of the world's “One Hundred Greatest + Men,” men who had exerted “the largest visible influence on the life + and activities of the race.” The writer asked that Mark Twain + examine the list and suggest names, adding “would you include Jesus, + as the founder of Christianity, in the list?” + + To the list of statesmen Clemens added the name of Thomas Paine; to + the list of inventors, Edison and Alexander Graham Bell. The + question he answered in detail. + + +***** + + +To ------, Buffalo, N. Y. + + Private. REDDING, CONN, Aug. 28, '08. + +DEAR SIR,--By “private,” I mean don't print any remarks of mine. + + .................. +I like your list. + +The “largest visible influence.” + +These terms require you to add Jesus. And they doubly and trebly require +you to add Satan. From A.D. 350 to A.D. 1850 these gentlemen exercised a +vaster influence over a fifth part of the human race than was exercised +over that fraction of the race by all other influences combined. +Ninety-nine hundredths of this influence proceeded from Satan, the +remaining fraction of it from Jesus. During those 1500 years the fear +of Satan and Hell made 99 Christians where love of God and Heaven landed +one. During those 1500 years, Satan's influence was worth very nearly +a hundred times as much to the business as was the influence of all the +rest of the Holy Family put together. + +You have asked me a question, and I have answered it seriously and +sincerely. You have put in Buddha--a god, with a following, at one time, +greater than Jesus ever had: a god with perhaps a little better evidence +of his godship than that which is offered for Jesus's. How then, in +fairness, can you leave Jesus out? And if you put him in, how can you +logically leave Satan out? Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but +it is the lightning that does the work. + + Very truly yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + The “Children's Theatre” of the next letter was an institution of + the New York East Side in which Mark Twain was deeply interested. + The children were most, if not all, of Hebrew parentage, and the + performances they gave, under the direction of Alice M. Herts, were + really remarkable. It seemed a pity that lack of funds should have + brought this excellent educational venture to an untimely end. + + The following letter was in reply to one inclosing a newspaper + clipping reporting a performance of The Prince and the Pauper, given + by Chicago school children. + + +***** + + +To Mrs. Hookway, in Chicago: + + Sept., 1908. + +DEAR MRS. HOOKWAY,--Although I am full of the spirit of work this +morning, a rarity with me lately--I must steal a moment or two for a +word in person: for I have been reading the eloquent account in the +Record-Herald and am pleasurably stirred, to my deepest deeps. The +reading brings vividly back to me my pet and pride. The Children's +Theatre of the East side, New York. And it supports and re-affirms what +I have so often and strenuously said in public that a children's theatre +is easily the most valuable adjunct that any educational institution +for the young can have, and that no otherwise good school is complete +without it. + +It is much the most effective teacher of morals and promoter of good +conduct that the ingenuity of man has yet devised, for the reason that +its lessons are not taught wearily by book and by dreary homily, but by +visible and enthusing action; and they go straight to the heart, which +is the rightest of right places for them. Book morals often get no +further than the intellect, if they even get that far on their spectral +and shadowy pilgrimage: but when they travel from a Children's Theatre +they do not stop permanently at that halfway house, but go on home. + +The children's theatre is the only teacher of morals and conduct and +high ideals that never bores the pupil, but always leaves him sorry when +the lesson is over. And as for history, no other teacher is for a moment +comparable to it: no other can make the dead heroes of the world rise +up and shake the dust of the ages from their bones and live and move and +breathe and speak and be real to the looker and listener: no other can +make the study of the lives and times of the illustrious dead a delight, +a splendid interest, a passion; and no other can paint a history-lesson +in colors that will stay, and stay, and never fade. + +It is my conviction that the children's theatre is one of the very, very +great inventions of the twentieth century; and that its vast educational +value--now but dimly perceived and but vaguely understood--will +presently come to be recognized. By the article which I have been +reading I find the same things happening in the Howland School that +we have become familiar with in our Children's Theatre (of which I am +President, and sufficiently vain of the distinction.) These things among +others; + +1. The educating history-study does not stop with the little players, +but the whole school catches the infection and revels in it. + +2. And it doesn't even stop there; the children carry it home and infect +the family with it--even the parents and grandparents; and the whole +household fall to studying history, and bygone manners and customs and +costumes with eager interest. And this interest is carried along to +the studying of costumes in old book-plates; and beyond that to the +selecting of fabrics and the making of clothes. Hundreds of our children +learn, the plays by listening without book, and by making notes; then +the listener goes home and plays the piece--all the parts! to the +family. And the family are glad and proud; glad to listen to the +explanations and analyses, glad to learn, glad to be lifted to planes +above their dreary workaday lives. Our children's theatre is educating +7,000 children--and their families. When we put on a play of Shakespeare +they fall to studying it diligently; so that they may be qualified to +enjoy it to the limit when the piece is staged. + +3. Your Howland School children do the construction-work, +stage-decorations, etc. That is our way too. Our young folks do +everything that is needed by the theatre, with their own hands; +scene-designing, scene-painting, gas-fitting, electric work, +costume-designing--costume making, everything and all things indeed--and +their orchestra and its leader are from their own ranks. + +The article which I have been reading, says--speaking of the historical +play produced by the pupils of the Howland School-- + +“The question naturally arises, What has this drama done for those who +so enthusiastically took part?--The touching story has made a year +out of the Past live for the children as could no chronology or bald +statement of historical events; it has cultivated the fancy and given to +the imagination strength and purity; work in composition has ceased to +be drudgery, for when all other themes fall flat a subject dealing with +some aspect of the drama presented never fails to arouse interest and a +rapid pushing of pens over paper.” + +That is entirely true. The interest is not confined to the drama's +story, it spreads out all around the period of the story, and gives to +all the outlying and unrelated happenings of that period a fascinating +interest--an interest which does not fade out with the years, but +remains always fresh, always inspiring, always welcome. History-facts +dug by the job, with sweat and tears out of a dry and spiritless +text-book--but never mind, all who have suffered know what that is... + + I remain, dear madam, + Sincerely yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + Mark Twain had a special fondness for cats. As a boy he always + owned one and it generally had a seat beside him at the table. + There were cats at Quarry Farm and at Hartford, and in the house at + Redding there was a gray mother-cat named Tammany, of which he was + especially fond. Kittens capering about were his chief delight. + In a letter to a Chicago woman he tells how those of Tammany + assisted at his favorite game. + + +***** + + +To Mrs. Mabel Larkin Patterson, in Chicago: + + REDDING, CONNECTICUT, + Oct. 2, '08. + +DEAR MRS. PATTERSON,--The contents of your letter are very pleasant +and very welcome, and I thank you for them, sincerely. If I can find a +photograph of my “Tammany” and her kittens, I will enclose it in this. + +One of them likes to be crammed into a corner-pocket of the billiard +table--which he fits as snugly as does a finger in a glove and then he +watches the game (and obstructs it) by the hour, and spoils many a shot +by putting out his paw and changing the direction of a passing ball. +Whenever a ball is in his arms, or so close to him that it cannot be +played upon without risk of hurting him, the player is privileged to +remove it to anyone of the 3 spots that chances to be vacant. + +Ah, no, my lecturing days are over for good and all. + + Sincerely yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + The letter to Howells which follows was written a short time before + the passage of the copyright extension bill, which rendered Mark + Twain's new plan, here mentioned, unneeded--at least for the time. + + +***** + + +To W. D. Howells, in New York: + + Monday, Oct. 26, '08. +Oh, I say! Where are you hiding, and why are you hiding? You promised +to come here and you didn't keep your word. (This sounds like +astonishment--but don't be misled by that.) + +Come, fire up again on your fiction-mill and give us another good +promise. And this time keep it--for it is your turn to be astonished. +Come and stay as long as you possibly can. I invented a new copyright +extension scheme last Friday, and sat up all night arranging its +details. It will interest you. Yesterday I got it down on paper in as +compact a form as I could. Harvey and I have examined the scheme, and +to-morrow or next day he will send me a couple of copyright-experts to +arrange about getting certain statistics for me. + +Authors, publishers and the public have always been damaged by the +copyright laws. The proposed amendment will advantage all three--the +public most of all. I think Congress will pass it and settle the vexed +question permanently. + +I shall need your assent and the assent of about a dozen other authors. +Also the assent of all the large firms of the 300 publishers. These +authors and publishers will furnish said assent I am sure. Not even the +pirates will be able to furnish a serious objection, I think. + +Come along. This place seemed at its best when all around was +summer-green; later it seemed at its best when all around was burning +with the autumn splendors; and now once more it seems at its best, with +the trees naked and the ground a painter's palette. + + Yours ever, + MARK. + + + Clemens was a great admirer of the sea stories of W. W. Jacobs and + generally kept one or more of this author's volumes in reach of his + bed, where most of his reading was done. The acknowledgment that + follows was sent when he had finished Salthaven. + + +***** + + +To W. W. Jacobs, in England: + + REDDING, CONN, + Oct. 28, '08. + +DEAR MR. JACOBS,--It has a delightful look. I will not venture to say +how delightful, because the words would sound extravagant, and would +thereby lose some of their strength and to that degree misrepresent me. +It is my conviction that Dialstone Lane holds the supremacy over all +purely humorous books in our language, but I feel about Salthaven as the +Cape Cod poet feels about Simon Hanks: + + “The Lord knows all things, great and small, + With doubt he's not perplexed: + 'Tis Him alone that knows it all + But Simon Hanks comes next.” + +The poet was moved by envy and malice and jealousy, but I am not: I +place Salthaven close up next to Dialstone because I think it has a +fair and honest right to that high position. I have kept the other book +moving; I shall begin to hand this one around now. + +And many thanks to you for remembering me. + +This house is out in the solitudes of the woods and the hills, an hour +and a half from New York, and I mean to stay in it winter and summer +the rest of my days. I beg you to come and help occupy it a few days the +next time you visit the U.S. + + Sincerely yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + One of the attractions of Stormfield was a beautiful mantel in the + billiard room, presented by the Hawaiian Promotion Committee. It + had not arrived when the rest of the house was completed, but came + in time to be set in place early in the morning of the owner's + seventy-third birthday. It was made of a variety of Hawaiian woods, + and was the work of a native carver, F. M. Otremba. Clemens was + deeply touched by the offering from those “western isles”--the + memory of which was always so sweet to him. + + +***** + + +To Mr. Wood, in Hawaii: + + Nov. 30, '08. + +DEAR MR. WOOD,--The beautiful mantel was put in its place an hour ago, +and its friendly “Aloha” was the first uttered greeting my 73rd birthday +received. It is rich in color, rich in quality, and rich in decoration, +therefore it exactly harmonizes with the taste for such things which was +born in me and which I have seldom been able to indulge to my content. +It will be a great pleasure to me, daily renewed, to have under my +eye this lovely reminder of the loveliest fleet of islands that lies +anchored in any ocean, and I beg to thank the Committee for providing me +that pleasure. + + Sincerely Yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + + +XLVII. LETTERS, 1909. TO HOWELLS AND OTHERS. LIFE AT STORMFIELD. +COPYRIGHT EXTENSION. DEATH OF JEAN CLEMENS + + Clemens remained at Stormfield all that winter. New York was sixty + miles away and he did not often care to make the journey. He was + constantly invited to this or that public gathering, or private + party, but such affairs had lost interest for him. He preferred the + quiet of his luxurious home with its beautiful outlook, while for + entertainment he found the billiard afternoons sufficient. Guests + came from the city, now and again, for week-end visits, and if he + ever was restless or lonely he did not show it. + + Among the invitations that came was one from General O. O. Howard + asking him to preside at a meeting to raise an endowment fund for a + Lincoln Memorial University at Cumberland Gap, Tennessee. Closing + his letter, General Howard said, “Never mind if you did fight on the + other side.” + + +***** + + +To General O. O. Howard: + + STORMFIELD, REDDING, CONNECTICUT, + Jan, 12, '09. + +DEAR GENERAL HOWARD,--You pay me a most gratifying compliment in asking +me to preside, and it causes me very real regret that I am obliged to +decline, for the object of the meeting appeals strongly to me, since +that object is to aid in raising the $500,000 Endowment Fund for Lincoln +Memorial University. The Endowment Fund will be the most fitting of +all the memorials the country will dedicate to the memory of Lincoln, +serving, as it will, to uplift his very own people. + +I hope you will meet with complete success, and I am sorry I cannot be +there to witness it and help you rejoice. But I am older than people +think, and besides I live away out in the country and never stir from +home, except at geological intervals, to fill left-over engagements in +mesozoic times when I was younger and indiscreeter. + +You ought not to say sarcastic things about my “fighting on the other +side.” General Grant did not act like that. General Grant paid me +compliments. He bracketed me with Zenophon--it is there in his Memoirs +for anybody to read. He said if all the confederate soldiers had +followed my example and adopted my military arts he could never have +caught enough of them in a bunch to inconvenience the Rebellion. General +Grant was a fair man, and recognized my worth; but you are prejudiced, +and you have hurt my feelings. + + But I have an affection for you, anyway. + MARK TWAIN. + + + One of Mark Twain's friends was Henniker-Heaton, the so-called + “Father of Penny Postage” between England and America. When, after + long years of effort, he succeeded in getting the rate established, + he at once bent his energies in the direction of cheap cable service + and a letter from him came one day to Stormfield concerning his new + plans. This letter happened to be over-weight, which gave Mark + Twain a chance for some amusing exaggerations at his expense. + + +***** + + +To Henniker-Heaton, in London: + + STORMFIELD, REDDING, CONNECTICUT, + Jan. 18, 1909. + +DEAR HENNIKER-HEATON,--I do hope you will succeed to your heart's desire +in your cheap-cablegram campaign, and I feel sure you will. Indeed +your cheap-postage victory, achieved in spite of a quarter-century of +determined opposition, is good and rational prophecy that you will. +Wireless, not being as yet imprisoned in a Chinese wall of private cash +and high-placed and formidable influence, will come to your aid and make +your new campaign briefer and easier than the other one was. + +Now then, after uttering my serious word, am I privileged to be +frivolous for a moment? When you shall have achieved cheap telegraphy, +are you going to employ it for just your own selfish profit and other +people's pecuniary damage, the way you are doing with your cheap +postage? You get letter-postage reduced to 2 cents an ounce, then you +mail me a 4-ounce letter with a 2-cent stamp on it, and I have to pay +the extra freight at this end of the line. I return your envelope for +inspection. Look at it. Stamped in one place is a vast “T,” and under it +the figures “40,” and under those figures appears an “L,” a sinister and +suspicious and mysterious L. In another place, stamped within a circle, +in offensively large capitals, you find the words “DUE 8 CENTS.” + Finally, in the midst of a desert space up nor-noreastard from that +circle you find a figure “3” of quite unnecessarily aggressive and +insolent magnitude--and done with a blue pencil, so as to be as +conspicuous as possible. I inquired about these strange signs and +symbols of the postman. He said they were P. O. Department signals for +his instruction. + +“Instruction for what?” + +“To get extra postage.” + +“Is it so? Explain. Tell me about the large T and the 40. + +“It's short for Take 40--or as we postmen say, grab 40” + +“Go on, please, while I think up some words to swear with.” + +“Due 8 means, grab 8 more.” + +“Continue.” + +“The blue-pencil 3 was an afterthought. There aren't any stamps for +afterthoughts; the sums vary, according to inspiration, and they whirl +in the one that suggests itself at the last moment. Sometimes they go +several times higher than this one. This one only means hog 3 cents +more. And so if you've got 51 cents about you, or can borrow it--” + +“Tell me: who gets this corruption?” + +“Half of it goes to the man in England who ships the letter on short +postage, and the other half goes to the P.O.D. to protect cheap postage +from inaugurating a deficit.” + +“-------------------” + +“I can't blame you; I would say it myself in your place, if these ladies +were not present. But you see I'm only obeying orders, I can't help +myself.” + +“Oh, I know it; I'm not blaming you. Finally, what does that L stand +for?” + +“Get the money, or give him L. It's English, you know.” + +“Take it and go. It's the last cent I've got in the world--.” + +After seeing the Oxford pageant file by the grand stand, picture after +picture, splendor after splendor, three thousand five hundred +strong, the most moving and beautiful and impressive and +historically-instructive show conceivable, you are not to think I would +miss the London pageant of next year, with its shining host of 15,000 +historical English men and women dug from the misty books of all the +vanished ages and marching in the light of the sun--all alive, and +looking just as they were used to look! Mr. Lascelles spent yesterday +here on the farm, and told me all about it. I shall be in the middle +of my 75th year then, and interested in pageants for personal and +prospective reasons. + +I beg you to give my best thanks to the Bath Club for the offer of its +hospitalities, but I shall not be able to take advantage of it, because +I am to be a guest in a private house during my stay in London. + + Sincerely yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + It was in 1907 that Clemens had seen the Oxford Pageant--during the + week when he had been awarded his doctor's degree. It gave him the + greatest delight, and he fully expected to see the next one, planned + for 1910. + + In the letter to Howells which follows we get another glimpse of + Mark Twain's philosophy of man, the irresponsible machine. + + +***** + + +To W. D. Howells, in New York: + + STORMFIELD, REDDING, CONN., + Jan. 18, '09. + +DEAR HOWELLS,--I have to write a line, lazy as I am, to say how your +Poe article delighted me; and to say that I am in agreement with +substantially all you say about his literature. To me his prose is +unreadable--like Jane Austin's. No, there is a difference. I could read +his prose on salary, but not Jane's. Jane is entirely impossible. It +seems a great pity that they allowed her to die a natural death. + +Another thing: you grant that God and circumstances sinned against Poe, +but you also grant that he sinned against himself--a thing which he +couldn't do and didn't do. + +It is lively up here now. I wish you could come. + + Yrs ever, + MARK + + +***** + + +To W. D. Howells, in New York: + + STORMFIELD, REDDING, CONNECTICUT, + 3 in the morning, Apl. 17, '09. + [Written with pencil]. + +My pen has gone dry and the ink is out of reach. Howells, Did you write +me day-before-day before yesterday, or did I dream it? In my mind's +eye I most vividly see your hand-write on a square blue envelop in the +mailpile. I have hunted the house over, but there is no such letter. Was +it an illusion? + +I am reading Lowell's letter, and smoking. I woke an hour ago and am +reading to keep from wasting the time. On page 305, vol. I. I have just +margined a note: + +“Young friend! I like that! You ought to see him now.” + +It seemed startlingly strange to hear a person call you young. It was a +brick out of a blue sky, and knocked me groggy for a moment. Ah me, the +pathos of it is, that we were young then. And he--why, so was he, but +he didn't know it. He didn't even know it 9 years later, when we saw him +approaching and you warned me, saying, “Don't say anything about age--he +has just turned fifty, and thinks he is old and broods over it.” + +[Well, Clara did sing! And you wrote her a dear letter.] + +Time to go to sleep. + + Yours ever, + MARK. + + +***** + + +To Daniel Kiefer: + + [No date.] + +DANL KIEFER ESQ. DEAR SIR,--I should be far from willing to have a +political party named after me. + +I would not be willing to belong to a party which allowed its members +to have political aspirations or to push friends forward for political +preferment. + + Yours very truly, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + The copyright extension, for which the author had been working so + long, was granted by Congress in 1909, largely as the result of that + afternoon in Washington when Mark Twain had “received” in “Uncle + Joe” Cannon's private room, and preached the gospel of copyright + until the daylight faded and the rest of the Capitol grew still. + Champ Clark was the last to linger that day and they had talked far + into the dusk. Clark was powerful, and had fathered the bill. Now + he wrote to know if it was satisfactory. + + +***** + + +To Champ Clark, in Washington: + + STORMFIELD, REDDING, CONN., June 5, '09. + +DEAR CHAMP CLARK--Is the new copyright law acceptable to me? +Emphatically, yes! Clark, it is the only sane, and clearly defined, and +just and righteous copyright law that has ever existed in the United +States. Whosoever will compare it with its predecessors will have no +trouble in arriving at that decision. + +The bill which was before the committee two years ago when I was down +there was the most stupefying jumble of conflicting and apparently +irreconcilable interests that was ever seen; and we all said “the case +is hopeless, absolutely hopeless--out of this chaos nothing can be +built.” But we were in error; out of that chaotic mass this excellent +bill has been instructed; the warring interests have been reconciled, +and the result is as comely and substantial a legislative edifice as +lifts its domes and towers and protective lightning rods out of the +statute book, I think. When I think of that other bill, which even the +Deity couldn't understand, and of this one which even I can understand, +I take off my hat to the man or men who devised this one. Was it R. U. +Johnson? Was it the Author's League? Was it both together? I don't know, +but I take off my hat, anyway. Johnson has written a valuable article +about the new law--I enclose it. + +At last--at last and for the first time in copyright history we are +ahead of England! Ahead of her in two ways: by length of time and by +fairness to all interests concerned. Does this sound like shouting? +Then I must modify it: all we possessed of copyright-justice before the +fourth of last March we owed to England's initiative. + + Truly Yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + Because Mark Twain amused himself with certain aspects of Christian + Science, and was critical of Mrs. Eddy, there grew up a wide + impression that he jeered at the theory of mental healing; when, as + a matter of fact, he was one of its earliest converts, and never + lost faith in its power. The letter which follows is an excellent + exposition of his attitude toward the institution of Christian + Science and the founder of the church in America. + + +***** + + +To J. Wylie Smith, Glasgow, Scotland: + + “STORMFIELD,” August 7, 1909 + +DEAR SIR,--My view of the matter has not changed. To wit, that Christian +Science is valuable; that it has just the same value now that it had +when Mrs. Eddy stole it from Quimby; that its healing principle (its +most valuable asset) possesses the same force now that it possessed a +million years ago before Quimby was born; that Mrs. Eddy... organized +that force, and is entitled to high credit for that. Then, with a +splendid sagacity she hitched it to... a religion, the surest of +all ways to secure friends for it, and support. In a fine and lofty +way--figuratively speaking--it was a tramp stealing a ride on the +lightning express. Ah, how did that ignorant village-born peasant +woman know the human being so well? She has no more intellect than a +tadpole--until it comes to business then she is a marvel! Am I sorry I +wrote the book? Most certainly not. You say you have 500 (converts) in +Glasgow. Fifty years from now, your posterity will not count them by the +hundred, but by the thousand. I feel absolutely sure of this. + + Very truly yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + Clemens wrote very little for publication that year, but he enjoyed + writing for his own amusement, setting down the things that boiled, + or bubbled, within him: mainly chapters on the inconsistencies of + human deportment, human superstition and human creeds. The “Letters + from the Earth” referred to in the following, were supposed to have + been written by an immortal visitant from some far realm to a + friend, describing the absurdities of mankind. It is true, as he + said, that they would not do for publication, though certainly the + manuscript contains some of his most delicious writing. Miss + Wallace, to whom the next letter is written, had known Mark Twain in + Bermuda, and, after his death, published a dainty volume entitled + Mark Twain in the Happy Island. + + + “STORMFIELD,” REDDING, CONNECTICUT, + Nov. 13, '09. + +DEAR BETSY,--I've been writing “Letters from the Earth,” and if you will +come here and see us I will--what? Put the MS in your hands, with the +places to skip marked? No. I won't trust you quite that far. I'll read +messages to you. This book will never be published--in fact it couldn't +be, because it would be felony to soil the mails with it, for it has +much Holy Scripture in it of the kind that... can't properly be read +aloud, except from the pulpit and in family worship. Paine enjoys it, +but Paine is going to be damned one of these days, I suppose. + +The autumn splendors passed you by? What a pity. I wish you had been +here. It was beyond words! It was heaven and hell and sunset and +rainbows and the aurora all fused into one divine harmony, and you +couldn't look at it and keep the tears back. All the hosannahing strong +gorgeousnesses have gone back to heaven and hell and the pole, now, but +no matter; if you could look out of my bedroom window at this moment, +you would choke up; and when you got your voice you would say: This +is not real, this is a dream. Such a singing together, and such a +whispering together, and such a snuggling together of cosy soft colors, +and such kissing and caressing, and such pretty blushing when the sun +breaks out and catches those dainty weeds at it--you remember that +weed-garden of mine?--and then--then the far hills sleeping in a dim +blue trance--oh, hearing about it is nothing, you should be here to see +it. + +Good! I wish I could go on the platform and read. And I could, if it +could be kept out of the papers. There's a charity-school of 400 young +girls in Boston that I would give my ears to talk to, if I had some +more; but--oh, well, I can't go, and it's no use to grieve about it. + +This morning Jean went to town; also Paine; also the butler; also +Katy; also the laundress. The cook and the maid, and the boy and +the roustabout and Jean's coachman are left--just enough to make it +lonesome, because they are around yet never visible. However, the +Harpers are sending Leigh up to play billiards; therefore I shall +survive. + + Affectionately, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + Early in June that year, Clemens had developed unmistakable symptoms + of heart trouble of a very serious nature. It was angina pectoris, + and while to all appearances he was as well as ever and usually felt + so, he was periodically visited by severe attacks of acute “breast + pains” which, as the months passed, increased in frequency and + severity. He was alarmed and distressed--not on his own account, + but because of his daughter Jean--a handsome girl, who had long been + subject to epileptic seizures. In case of his death he feared that + Jean would be without permanent anchorage, his other daughter, + Clara--following her marriage to Ossip Gabrilowitsch in October + --having taken up residence abroad. + + This anxiety was soon ended. On the morning of December 24th, Jean + Clemens was found dead in her apartment. She was not drowned in her + bath, as was reported, but died from heart exhaustion, the result of + her malady and the shock of cold water. + + [Questionable diagnosis! D.W. M.D.] + + The blow to her father was terrible, but heavy as it was, one may + perhaps understand that her passing in that swift, painless way must + have afforded him a measure of relief. + + +***** + + +To Mrs. Gabrilowitsch, in Europe: + + REDDING, CONN., + Dec. 29, '09. + +O, Clara, Clara dear, I am so glad she is out of it and safe--safe! I am +not melancholy; I shall never be melancholy again, I think. You see, I +was in such distress when I came to realize that you were gone far away +and no one stood between her and danger but me--and I could die at any +moment, and then--oh then what would become of her! For she was wilful, +you know, and would not have been governable. + +You can't imagine what a darling she was, that last two or three +days; and how fine, and good, and sweet, and noble-and joyful, thank +Heaven!--and how intellectually brilliant. I had never been acquainted +with Jean before. I recognized that. + +But I mustn't try to write about her--I can't. I have already poured my +heart out with the pen, recording that last day or two. + +I will send you that--and you must let no one but Ossip read it. + +Good-bye. + + I love you so! + And Ossip. + FATHER. + + +The writing mentioned in the last paragraph was his article 'The +Death of Jean,' his last serious writing, and one of the world's most +beautiful examples of elegiac prose.--[Harper's Magazine, Dec., 1910,] +and later in the volume, 'What Is Man and Other Essays.' + + + + +XLVIII. LETTERS OF 1910. LAST TRIP TO BERMUDA. LETTERS TO PAINE. THE +LAST LETTER. + + Mark Twain had returned from a month's trip to Bermuda a few days + before Jean died. Now, by his physician's advice, he went back to + those balmy islands. He had always loved them, since his first trip + there with Twichell thirty-three years earlier, and at “Bay House,” + the residence of Vice-Consul Allen, where he was always a welcome + guest, he could have the attentions and care and comforts of a home. + Taking Claude, the butler, as his valet, he sailed January 5th, and + presently sent back a letter in which he said, “Again I am leading + the ideal life, and am immeasurably content.” + + By his wish, the present writer and his family were keeping the + Stormfield house open for him, in order that he might be able to + return to its comforts at any time. He sent frequent letters--one + or two by each steamer--but as a rule they did not concern matters + of general interest. A little after his arrival, however, he wrote + concerning an incident of his former visit--a trivial matter--but + one which had annoyed him. I had been with him in Bermuda on the + earlier visit, and as I remember it, there had been some slight + oversight on his part in the matter of official etiquette--something + which doubtless no one had noticed but himself. + + +***** + + +To A. B. Paine, in Redding: + + BAY HOUSE, Jan. 11, 1910. + +DEAR PAINE,--... There was a military lecture last night at the +Officer's Mess, prospect, and as the lecturer honored me with a special +and urgent invitation and said he wanted to lecture to me particularly, +I being “the greatest living master of the platform-art,” I naturally +packed Helen and her mother into the provided carriage and went. + +As soon as we landed at the door with the crowd the Governor came to +me at once and was very cordial, and apparently as glad to see me as +he said he was. So that incident is closed. And pleasantly and entirely +satisfactorily. Everything is all right, now, and I am no longer in a +clumsy and awkward situation. + +I “met up” with that charming Colonel Chapman, and other officers of the +regiment, and had a good time. + +Commandant Peters of the “Carnegie” will dine here tonight and arrange a +private visit for us to his ship, the crowd to be denied access. + + Sincerely Yours, + S. L. C. + + + “Helen” of this letter was Mr. and Mrs. Allen's young daughter, + a favorite companion of his walks and drives. “Loomis” and “Lark,” + mentioned in the letters which follow, were Edward E. Loomis--his + nephew by marriage--named by Mark Twain as one of the trustees of + his estate, and Charles T. Lark, Mark Twain's attorney. + + +***** + + +To A. B. Paine, in Redding: + + HAMILTON, Jan. 21, '10. + +DEAR PAINE,--Thanks for your letter, and for its contenting news of the +situation in that foreign and far-off and vaguely-remembered country +where you and Loomis and Lark and other beloved friends are. + +I have a letter from Clara this morning. She is solicitous, and wants +me well and watchfully taken care of. My, she ought to see Helen and her +parents and Claude administer that trust! + +Also she says: “I hope to hear from you or Mr. Paine very soon.” + +I am writing her, and I know you will respond to your part of her +prayer. She is pretty desolate now, after Jean's emancipation--the only +kindness God ever did that poor unoffending child in all her hard life. + + Ys ever + S. L. C. + + + Send Clara a copy of Howells's gorgeous letter. I want a copy of my + article that he is speaking of. + + + The “gorgeous letter” was concerning Mark Twain's article, “The + Turning-point in My Life” which had just appeared in one of the + Harper publications. Howells wrote of it, “While your wonderful + words are warm in my mind yet, I want to tell you what you know + already: that you never wrote anything greater, finer, than that + turning-point paper of yours.” + + From the early Bermuda letters we may gather that Mark Twain's days + were enjoyable enough, and that his malady was not giving him + serious trouble, thus far. Near the end of January he wrote: “Life + continues here the same as usual. There isn't a flaw in it. Good + times, good home, tranquil contentment all day and every day, + without a break. I shouldn't know how to go about bettering my + situation.” He did little in the way of literary work, probably + finding neither time nor inclination for it. When he wrote at all + it was merely to set down some fanciful drolleries with no thought + of publication. + + +***** + + +To Prof. William Lyon Phelps, Yale College: + + HAMILTON, March 12. + +DEAR PROFESSOR PHELPS,--I thank you ever so much for the +book--[Professor Phelps's Essays on Modern Novelists.]--which I find +charming--so charming indeed, that I read it through in a single night, +and did not regret the lost night's sleep. I am glad if I deserve +what you have said about me: and even if I don't I am proud and well +contented, since you think I deserve it. + +Yes, I saw Prof. Lounsbury, and had a most pleasant time with him. He +ought to have staid longer in this little paradise--partly for his own +sake, but mainly for mine. + +I knew my poor Jean had written you. I shall not have so dear and sweet +a secretary again. + +Good health to you, and all good fortune attend you. + + Sincerely yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + He would appear to have written not many letters besides those to + Mrs. Gabrilowitsch and to Stormfield, but when a little girl sent + him a report of a dream, inspired by reading The Prince and the + Pauper, he took the time and trouble to acknowledge it, realizing, + no doubt, that a line from him would give the child happiness. + + +***** + + +To Miss Sulamith, in New York: + + “BAY HOUSE,” BERMUDA, March 21, 1910. + +DEAR MISS SULAMITH,--I think it is a remarkable dream for a girl of +13 to have dreamed, in fact for a person of any age to have dreamed, +because it moves by regular grade and sequence from the beginning to the +end, which is not the habit of dreams. I think your report of it is a +good piece of work, a clear and effective statement of the vision. + +I am glad to know you like the “Prince and the Pauper” so well and I +believe with you that the dream is good evidence of that liking. I think +I may say, with your sister that I like myself best when I am serious. + + Sincerely yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + Through February, and most of March, letters and reports from him + were about the same. He had begun to plan for his return, and + concerning amusements at Stormfield for the entertainment of the + neighbors, and for the benefit of the library which he had founded + soon after his arrival in Redding. In these letters he seldom + mentioned the angina pains that had tortured him earlier. But once, + when he sent a small photograph of himself, it seemed to us that his + face had become thin and that he had suffered. Certainly his next + letter was not reassuring. + + +***** + + +To A. B. Paine, in Redding: + + +DEAR PAINE,--We must look into the magic-lantern business. Maybe the +modern lantern is too elaborate and troublesome for back-settlement use, +but we can inquire. We must have some kind of a show at “Stormfield” to +entertain the countryside with. + +We are booked to sail in the “Bermudian” April 23rd, but don't tell +anybody, I don't want it known. I may have to go sooner if the pain in +my breast doesn't mend its ways pretty considerably. I don't want to +die here for this is an unkind place for a person in that condition. +I should have to lie in the undertaker's cellar until the ship would +remove me and it is dark down there and unpleasant. + +The Colliers will meet me on the pier and I may stay with them a week or +two before going home. It all depends on the breast pain--I don't want +to die there. I am growing more and more particular about the place. + + With love, + S. L. C. + + + This letter had been written by the hand of his “secretary,” Helen + Allen: writing had become an effort to him. Yet we did not suspect + how rapidly the end was approaching and only grew vaguely alarmed. + A week later, however, it became evident that his condition was + critical. + + + +DEAR PAINE,--.... I have been having a most uncomfortable time for the +past 4 days with that breast-pain, which turns out to be an affection of +the heart, just as I originally suspected. The news from New York is +to the effect that non-bronchial weather has arrived there at last, +therefore if I can get my breast trouble in traveling condition I may +sail for home a week or two earlier than has heretofore been proposed: + + Yours as ever + S. L. CLEMENS, + (per H. S. A.) + + + In this letter he seems to have forgotten that his trouble had been + pronounced an affection of the heart long before he left America, + though at first it had been thought that it might be gastritis. + The same mail brought a letter from Mr. Allen explaining fully the + seriousness of his condition. I sailed immediately for Bermuda, + arriving there on the 4th of April. He was not suffering at the + moment, though the pains came now with alarming frequency and + violence. He was cheerful and brave. He did not complain. He gave + no suggestion of a man whose days were nearly ended. + + A part of the Stormfield estate had been a farm, which he had given + to Jean Clemens, where she had busied herself raising some live + stock and poultry. After her death he had wished the place to be + sold and the returns devoted to some memorial purpose. The sale had + been made during the winter and the price received had been paid in + cash. I found him full of interest in all affairs, and anxious to + discuss the memorial plan. A day or two later he dictated the + following letter-the last he would ever send. + + It seemed fitting that this final word from one who had so long + given happiness to the whole world should record a special gift to + his neighbors. + + +***** + + +To Charles T. Lark, in New York: + + HAMILTON, BERMUDA. + April 6, 1910. + +DEAR MR. LARK,--I have told Paine that I want the money derived from the +sale of the farm, which I had given, but not conveyed, to my daughter +Jean, to be used to erect a building for the Mark Twain Library +of Redding, the building to be called the Jean L. Clemens Memorial +Building. + +I wish to place the money $6,000.00 in the hands of three +trustees,--Paine and two others: H. A. Lounsbury and William E. Hazen, +all of Redding, these trustees to form a building Committee to decide +on the size and plan of the building needed and to arrange for and +supervise the work in such a manner that the fund shall amply provide +for the building complete, with necessary furnishings, leaving, +if possible, a balance remaining, sufficient for such repairs and +additional furnishings as may be required for two years from the time of +completion. + +Will you please draw a document covering these requirements and have it +ready by the time I reach New York (April 14th). + + Very sincerely, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + We sailed on the 12th of April, reaching New York on the 14th, + as he had planned. A day or two later, Mr. and Mrs. Gabrilowitsch, + summoned from Italy by cable, arrived. He suffered very little + after reaching Stormfield, and his mind was comparatively clear up + to the last day. On the afternoon of April 21st he sank into a + state of coma, and just at sunset he died. Three days later, at + Elmira, New York, he was laid beside Mrs. Clemens and those others + who had preceded him. + + + + + THE LAST DAY AT STORMFIELD + + By BLISS CARMAN. + + At Redding, Connecticut, + The April sunrise pours + Over the hardwood ridges + Softening and greening now + In the first magic of Spring. + + The wild cherry-trees are in bloom, + The bloodroot is white underfoot, + The serene early light flows on, + + Touching with glory the world, + And flooding the large upper room + Where a sick man sleeps. + Slowly he opens his eyes, + After long weariness, smiles, + And stretches arms overhead, + While those about him take heart. + + With his awakening strength, + (Morning and spring in the air, + The strong clean scents of earth, + The call of the golden shaft, + Ringing across the hills) + He takes up his heartening book, + Opens the volume and reads, + A page of old rugged Carlyle, + The dour philosopher + Who looked askance upon life, + Lurid, ironical, grim, + Yet sound at the core. + But weariness returns; + He lays the book aside + With his glasses upon the bed, + And gladly sleeps. Sleep, + Blessed abundant sleep, + Is all that he needs. + + And when the close of day + Reddens upon the hills + And washes the room with rose, + In the twilight hush + The Summoner comes to him + Ever so gently, unseen, + + Touches him on the shoulder; + And with the departing sun + Our great funning friend is gone. + + How he has made us laugh! + A whole generation of men + Smiled in the joy of his wit. + But who knows whether he was not + Like those deep jesters of old + Who dwelt at the courts of Kings, + Arthur's, Pendragon's, Lear's, + Plying the wise fool's trade, + Making men merry at will, + Hiding their deeper thoughts + Under a motley array,-- + Keen-eyed, serious men, + Watching the sorry world, + The gaudy pageant of life, + With pity and wisdom and love? + + Fearless, extravagant, wild, + His caustic merciless mirth + Was leveled at pompous shams. + Doubt not behind that mask + There dwelt the soul of a man, + Resolute, sorrowing, sage, + As sure a champion of good + As ever rode forth to fray. + + Haply--who knows?--somewhere + In Avalon, Isle of Dreams, + In vast contentment at last, + With every grief done away, + While Chaucer and Shakespeare wait, + And Moliere hangs on his words, + And Cervantes not far off + Listens and smiles apart, + With that incomparable drawl + He is jesting with Dagonet now. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Letters Of Mark Twain, Volume 6, +1907-1910, by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWAIN LETTERS, VOL. 6 *** + +***** This file should be named 3198-0.txt or 3198-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/9/3198/ + +Produced by David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project +Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation” + or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project +Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +“Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, “Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.” + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +“Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right +of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/3198-0.zip b/3198-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8e7d527 --- /dev/null +++ b/3198-0.zip diff --git a/3198-h.zip b/3198-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a9e6781 --- /dev/null +++ b/3198-h.zip diff --git a/3198-h/3198-h.htm b/3198-h/3198-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7f0549c --- /dev/null +++ b/3198-h/3198-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2537 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Mark Twain's Letters 1907-1910, by Mark Twain + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd7; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Letters Of Mark Twain, Volume 6, +1907-1910, by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Letters Of Mark Twain, Volume 6, 1907-1910 + +Author: Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) + +Release Date: August 21, 2006 [EBook #3198] +Last Updated: February 24, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWAIN LETTERS, VOL. 6 *** + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + + <h1> + MARK TWAIN'S LETTERS 1907-1910 + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + VOLUME VI. + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Mark Twain + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h3> + ARRANGED WITH COMMENT <br /> BY ALBERT BIGELOW PAINE + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <table summary=""> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <b>XLVI.</b><br /> LETTERS 1907-08. A + DEGREE FROM OXFORD. THE NEW HOME AT REDDING. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> <b>XLVII.</b><br /> LETTERS, 1909. TO + HOWELLS AND OTHERS. LIFE AT STORMFIELD. COPYRIGHT EXTENSION. DEATH + OF JEAN CLEMENS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> <b>XLVIII.</b><br /> LETTERS OF 1910. LAST + TRIP TO BERMUDA. LETTERS TO PAINE. THE LAST LETTER. </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + XLVI. LETTERS 1907-08. A DEGREE FROM OXFORD. THE NEW HOME AT REDDING. + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + The author, J. Howard Moore, sent a copy of his book, The Universal + Kinship, with a letter in which he said: “Most humorists have no + anxiety except to glorify themselves and add substance to their + pocket-books by making their readers laugh. You have shown, on many + occasions, that your mission is not simply to antidote the + melancholy of a world, but includes a real and intelligent concern + for the general welfare of your fellowman.” + + The Universal Kinship was the kind of a book that Mark Twain + appreciated, as his acknowledgment clearly shows. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To Mr. J. Howard Moore: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Feb. 2, '07. +</pre> + <p> + DEAR MR. MOORE, The book has furnished me several days of deep pleasure + and satisfaction; it has compelled my gratitude at the same time, since it + saves me the labor of stating my own long-cherished opinions and + reflections and resentments by doing it lucidly and fervently and + irascibly for me. + </p> + <p> + There is one thing that always puzzles me: as inheritors of the mentality + of our reptile ancestors we have improved the inheritance by a thousand + grades; but in the matter of the morals which they left us we have gone + backward as many grades. That evolution is strange, and to me + unaccountable and unnatural. Necessarily we started equipped with their + perfect and blemishless morals; now we are wholly destitute; we have no + real, morals, but only artificial ones—morals created and preserved + by the forced suppression of natural and hellish instincts. Yet we are + dull enough to be vain of them. Certainly we are a sufficiently comical + invention, we humans. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Sincerely Yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Mark Twain's own books were always being excommunicated by some + librarian, and the matter never failed to invite the attention and + amusement of the press, and the indignation of many correspondents. + Usually the books were Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, the morals of which + were not regarded as wholly exemplary. But in 1907 a small library, + in a very small town, attained a day's national notoriety by putting + the ban on Eve's Diary, not so much on account of its text as for + the chaste and exquisite illustrations by Lester Ralph. When the + reporters came in a troop to learn about it, the author said: “I + believe this time the trouble is mainly with the pictures. I did + not draw them. I wish I had—they are so beautiful.” + + Just at this time, Dr. William Lyon Phelps, of Yale, was giving a + literary talk to the Teachers' Club, of Hartford, dwelling on the + superlative value of Mark Twain's writings for readers old and + young. Mrs. F. G. Whitmore, an old Hartford friend, wrote Clemens + of the things that Phelps had said, as consolation for Eve's latest + banishment. This gave him a chance to add something to what he had + said to the reporters. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To Mrs. Whitmore, in Hartford: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Feb. 7, 1907. +</pre> + <p> + DEAR MRS. WHITMORE,—But the truth is, that when a Library expels a + book of mine and leaves an unexpurgated Bible lying around where + unprotected youth and age can get hold of it, the deep unconscious irony + of it delights me and doesn't anger me. But even if it angered me such + words as those of Professor Phelps would take the sting all out. Nobody + attaches weight to the freaks of the Charlton Library, but when a man like + Phelps speaks, the world gives attention. Some day I hope to meet him and + thank him for his courage for saying those things out in public. Custom + is, to think a handsome thing in private but tame it down in the + utterance. + </p> + <p> + I hope you are all well and happy; and thereto I add my love. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Sincerely yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + In May, 1907, Mark Twain was invited to England to receive from + Oxford the degree of Literary Doctor. It was an honor that came to + him as a sort of laurel crown at the end of a great career, and + gratified him exceedingly. To Moberly Bell, of the London Times, + he expressed his appreciation. Bell had been over in April and + Clemens believed him concerned in the matter. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To Moberly Bell, in London: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 21 FIFTH AVENUE, May 3, '07 +</pre> + <p> + DEAR MR. BELL,—Your hand is in it! and you have my best thanks. + Although I wouldn't cross an ocean again for the price of the ship that + carried me, I am glad to do it for an Oxford degree. I shall plan to sail + for England a shade before the middle of June, so that I can have a few + days in London before the 26th. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Sincerely, + S. L. CLEMENS. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + He had taken a house at Tuxedo for the summer, desiring to be near + New York City, and in the next letter he writes Mr. Rogers + concerning his London plans. We discover, also, in this letter that + he has begun work on the Redding home and the cost is to come + entirely out of the autobiographical chapters then running in the + North American Review. It may be of passing interest to note here + that he had the usual house-builder's fortune. He received thirty + thousand dollars for the chapters; the house cost him nearly double + that amount. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To H. H. Rogers, in New York: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + TUXEDO PARK, + May 29, '07. +</pre> + <p> + DEAR ADMIRAL,—Why hang it, I am not going to see you and Mrs. Rogers + at all in England! It is a great disappointment. I leave there a month + from now—June 29. No, I shall see you; for by your itinerary you are + most likely to come to London June 21st or along there. So that is very + good and satisfactory. I have declined all engagements but two—Whitelaw + Reid (dinner) June 21, and the Pilgrims (lunch), June 25. The Oxford + ceremony is June 26. I have paid my return passage in the Minne-something, + but it is just possible that I may want to stay in England a week or two + longer—I can't tell, yet. I do very much want to meet up with the + boys for the last time. + </p> + <p> + I have signed the contract for the building of the house on my Connecticut + farm and specified the cost limit, and work has been begun. The cost has + to all come out of a year's instalments of Autobiography in the N. A. + Review. + </p> + <p> + Clara, is winning her way to success and distinction with sure and steady + strides. By all accounts she is singing like a bird, and is not afraid on + the concert stage any more. + </p> + <p> + Tuxedo is a charming place; I think it hasn't its equal anywhere. + </p> + <p> + Very best wishes to you both. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + S. L. C. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + The story of Mark Twain's extraordinary reception and triumph in + England has been told.—[Mark Twain; A Biography, chaps. cclvi- + cclix]—It was, in fact, the crowning glory of his career. Perhaps + one of the most satisfactory incidents of his sojourn was a dinner + given to him by the staff of Punch, in the historic offices at 10 + Bouverie Street where no other foreign visitor had been thus + honored—a notable distinction. When the dinner ended, little joy + Agnew, daughter of the chief editor, entered and presented to the + chief guest the original drawing of a cartoon by Bernard Partridge, + which had appeared on the front page of Punch. In this picture the + presiding genius of the paper is offering to Mark Twain health, long + life, and happiness from “The Punch Bowl.” + + A short time after his return to America he received a pretty + childish letter from little Miss Agnew acknowledging a photograph he + had sent her, and giving a list of her pets and occupations. Such a + letter always delighted Mark Twain, and his pleasure in this one is + reflected in his reply. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To Miss Joy Agnew, in London: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + TUXEDO PARK, NEW YORK. +</pre> + <p> + Unto you greetings and salutation and worship, you dear, sweet little + rightly-named Joy! I can see you now almost as vividly as I saw you that + night when you sat flashing and beaming upon those sombre swallow-tails. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Fair as a star when only one + Is shining in the sky.” + </pre> + <p> + Oh, you were indeed the only one—there wasn't even the remotest + chance of competition with you, dear! Ah, you are a decoration, you little + witch! + </p> + <p> + The idea of your house going to the wanton expense of a flower garden!—aren't + you enough? And what do you want to go and discourage the other flowers + for? Is that the right spirit? is it considerate? is it kind? How do you + suppose they feel when you come around—looking the way you look? And + you so pink and sweet and dainty and lovely and supernatural? Why, it + makes them feel embarrassed and artificial, of course; and in my opinion + it is just as pathetic as it can be. Now then you want to reform—dear—and + do right. + </p> + <p> + Well certainly you are well off, Joy: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 3 bantams; + 3 goldfish; + 3 doves; + 6 canaries; + 2 dogs; + 1 cat; +</pre> + <p> + All you need, now, to be permanently beyond the reach of want, is one more + dog—just one more good, gentle, high principled, affectionate, loyal + dog who wouldn't want any nobler service than the golden privilege of + lying at your door, nights, and biting everything that came along—and + I am that very one, and ready to come at the dropping of a hat. + </p> + <p> + Do you think you could convey my love and thanks to your “daddy” and Owen + Seaman and those other oppressed and down-trodden subjects of yours, you + darling small tyrant? + </p> + <p> + On my knees! These—with the kiss of fealty from your other subject— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + MARK TWAIN +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Elinor Glyn, author of Three Weeks and other erotic tales, was in + America that winter and asked permission to call on Mark Twain. An + appointment was made and Clemens discussed with her, for an hour or + more, those crucial phases of life which have made living a complex + problem since the days of Eve in Eden. Mrs. Glyn had never before + heard anything like Mark Twain's wonderful talk, and she was anxious + to print their interview. She wrote what she could remember of it + and sent it to him for approval. If his conversation had been + frank, his refusal was hardly less so. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To Mrs. Elinor Glyn, in New York: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Jan. 22, '08. +</pre> + <p> + DEAR MRS. GLYN, It reads pretty poorly—I get the sense of it, but it + is a poor literary job; however, it would have to be that because nobody + can be reported even approximately, except by a stenographer. + Approximations, synopsized speeches, translated poems, artificial flowers + and chromos all have a sort of value, but it is small. If you had put upon + paper what I really said it would have wrecked your type-machine. I said + some fetid, over-vigorous things, but that was because it was a + confidential conversation. I said nothing for print. My own report of the + same conversation reads like Satan roasting a Sunday school. It, and + certain other readable chapters of my autobiography will not be published + until all the Clemens family are dead—dead and correspondingly + indifferent. They were written to entertain me, not the rest of the world. + I am not here to do good—at least not to do it intentionally. You + must pardon me for dictating this letter; I am sick a-bed and not feeling + as well as I might. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Sincerely Yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Among the cultured men of England Mark Twain had no greater admirer, + or warmer friend, than Andrew Lang. They were at one on most + literary subjects, and especially so in their admiration of the life + and character of Joan of Arc. Both had written of her, and both + held her to be something almost more than mortal. When, therefore, + Anatole France published his exhaustive biography of the maid of + Domremy, a book in which he followed, with exaggerated minuteness + and innumerable footnotes, every step of Joan's physical career at + the expense of her spiritual life, which he was inclined to cheapen, + Lang wrote feelingly, and with some contempt, of the performance, + inviting the author of the Personal Recollections to come to the + rescue of their heroine. “Compare every one of his statements with + the passages he cites from authorities, and make him the laughter of + the world” he wrote. “If you are lazy about comparing I can make + you a complete set of what the authorities say, and of what this + amazing novelist says that they say. When I tell you that he thinks + the Epiphany (January 6, Twelfth Night) is December 25th—Christmas + Day-you begin to see what an egregious ass he is. Treat him like + Dowden, and oblige”—a reference to Mark Twain's defense of Harriet + Shelley, in which he had heaped ridicule on Dowden's Life of the + Poet—a masterly performance; one of the best that ever came from + Mark Twain's pen. + + Lang's suggestion would seem to have been a welcome one. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To Andrew Lang, in London: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + NEW YORK, April 25, 1908. +</pre> + <p> + DEAR MR. LANG,—I haven't seen the book nor any review of it, but + only not very-understandable references to it—of a sort which + discomforted me, but of course set my interest on fire. I don't want to + have to read it in French—I should lose the nice shades, and should + do a lot of gross misinterpreting, too. But there'll be a translation + soon, nicht wahr? I will wait for it. I note with joy that you say: “If + you are lazy about comparing, (which I most certainly am), I can make you + a complete set of what the authorities say, and of what this amazing + novelist says that they say.” + </p> + <p> + Ah, do it for me! Then I will attempt the article, and (if I succeed in + doing it to my satisfaction,) will publish it. It is long since I touched + a pen (3 1/2 years), and I was intending to continue this happy holiday to + the gallows, but—there are things that could beguile me to break + this blessed Sabbath. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Yours very sincerely, + S. L. CLEMENS. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Certainly it is an interesting fact that an Englishman—one of the + race that burned Joan—should feel moved to defend her memory + against the top-heavy perversions of a distinguished French author. + + But Lang seems never to have sent the notes. The copying would have + been a tremendous task, and perhaps he never found the time for it. + We may regret to-day that he did not, for Mark Twain's article on + the French author's Joan would have been at least unique. + + Samuel Clemens could never accustom himself to the loss of his wife. + From the time of her death, marriage-which had brought him his + greatest joy in life-presented itself to him always with the thought + of bereavement, waiting somewhere just behind. The news of an + approaching wedding saddened him and there was nearly always a + somber tinge in his congratulations, of which the following to a + dear friend is an example: +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To Father Fitz-Simon, in Washington: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + June 5, '08. +</pre> + <p> + DEAR FATHER FITZ-SIMON,—Marriage—yes, it is the supreme + felicity of life, I concede it. And it is also the supreme tragedy of + life. The deeper the love the surer the tragedy. And the more + disconsolating when it comes. + </p> + <p> + And so I congratulate you. Not perfunctorily, not lukewarmly, but with a + fervency and fire that no word in the dictionary is strong enough to + convey. And in the same breath and with the same depth and sincerity, I + grieve for you. Not for both of you and not for the one that shall go + first, but for the one that is fated to be left behind. For that one there + is no recompense.—For that one no recompense is possible. + </p> + <p> + There are times—thousands of times—when I can expose the half + of my mind, and conceal the other half, but in the matter of the tragedy + of marriage I feel too deeply for that, and I have to bleed it all out or + shut it all in. And so you must consider what I have been through, and am + passing through and be charitable with me. + </p> + <p> + Make the most of the sunshine! and I hope it will last long—ever so + long. + </p> + <p> + I do not really want to be present; yet for friendship's sake and because + I honor you so, I would be there if I could. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Most sincerely your friend, + S. L. CLEMENS. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + The new home at Redding was completed in the spring of 1908, and on + the 18th of June, when it was entirely fitted and furnished, Mark + Twain entered it for the first time. He had never even seen the + place nor carefully examined plans which John Howells had made for + his house. He preferred the surprise of it, and the general + avoidance of detail. That he was satisfied with the result will be + seen in his letters. He named it at first “Innocence at Home”; + later changing this title to “Stormfield.” + + The letter which follows is an acknowledgment of an interesting + souvenir from the battle-field of Tewksbury (1471), and some relics + of the Cavalier and Roundhead Regiments encamped at Tewksbury in + 1643. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To an English admirer: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + INNOCENCE AT HOME, REDDING, CONNECTICUT, + Aug. 15, '08. +</pre> + <p> + DEAR SIR,—I highly prize the pipes, and shall intimate to people + that “Raleigh” smoked them, and doubtless he did. After a little practice + I shall be able to go further and say he did; they will then be the most + interesting features of my library's decorations. The Horse-shoe is + attracting a good deal of attention, because I have intimated that the + conqueror's horse cast it; it will attract more when I get my hand in and + say he cast it, I thank you for the pipes and the shoe; and also for the + official guide, which I read through at a single sitting. If a person + should say that about a book of mine I should regard it as good evidence + of the book's interest. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Very truly yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + In his philosophy, What Is Man?, and now and again in his other + writings, we find Mark Twain giving small credit to the human mind + as an originator of ideas. The most original writer of his time, he + took no credit for pure invention and allowed none to others. The + mind, he declared, adapted, consciously or unconsciously; it did not + create. In a letter which follows he elucidates this doctrine. The + reference in it to the “captain” and to the kerosene, as the reader + may remember, have to do with Captain “Hurricane” Jones and his + theory of the miracles of “Isaac and of the prophets of Baal,” as + expounded in Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion. + + By a trick of memory Clemens gives The Little Duke as his suggestion + for The Prince and the Pauper; he should have written The Prince and + the Page, by the same author. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To Rev. F. Y. Christ, in New York: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + REDDING, CONN., Aug., '08. +</pre> + <p> + DEAR SIR,—You say “I often owe my best sermons to a suggestion + received in reading or from other exterior sources.” Your remark is not + quite in accordance with the facts. We must change it to—“I owe all + my thoughts, sermons and ideas to suggestions received from sources + outside of myself.” The simplified English of this proposition is—“No + man's brains ever originated an idea.” It is an astonishing thing that + after all these ages the world goes on thinking the human brain machinery + can originate a thought. + </p> + <p> + It can't. It never has done it. In all cases, little and big, the thought + is born of a suggestion; and in all cases the suggestions come to the + brain from the outside. The brain never acts except from exterior impulse. + </p> + <p> + A man can satisfy himself of the truth of this by a single process,—let + him examine every idea that occurs to him in an hour; a day; in a week—in + a lifetime if he please. He will always find that an outside something + suggested the thought, something which he saw with his eyes or heard with + his ears or perceived by his touch—not necessarily to-day, nor + yesterday, nor last year, nor twenty years ago, but sometime or other. + Usually the source of the suggestion is immediately traceable, but + sometimes it isn't. + </p> + <p> + However, if you will examine every thought that occurs to you for the next + two days, you will find that in at least nine cases out of ten you can put + your finger on the outside suggestion—And that ought to convince you + that No. 10 had that source too, although you cannot at present hunt it + down and find it. + </p> + <p> + The idea of writing to me would have had to wait a long time if it waited + until your brain originated it. It was born of an outside suggestion—Sir + Thomas and my old Captain. + </p> + <p> + The hypnotist thinks he has invented a new thing—suggestion. This is + very sad. I don't know where my captain got his kerosene idea. (It was + forty-one years ago, and he is long ago dead.) But I know that it didn't + originate in his head, but it was born from a suggestion from the outside. + </p> + <p> + Yesterday a guest said, “How did you come to think of writing 'The Prince + and the Pauper?'” I didn't. The thought came to me from the outside—suggested + by that pleasant and picturesque little history-book, Charlotte M. Yonge's + “Little Duke,” I doubt if Mrs. Burnett knows whence came to her the + suggestion to write “Little Lord Fauntleroy,” but I know; it came to her + from reading “The Prince and the Pauper.” In all my life I have never + originated an idea, and neither has she, nor anybody else. + </p> + <p> + Man's mind is a clever machine, and can work up materials into ingenious + fancies and ideas, but it can't create the material; none but the gods can + do that. In Sweden I saw a vast machine receive a block of wood, and turn + it into marketable matches in two minutes. It could do everything but make + the wood. That is the kind of machine the human mind is. Maybe this is not + a large compliment, but it is all I can afford..... + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Your friend and well-wisher + S. L. CLEMENS. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To Mrs. H. H. Rogers, in Fair Hawn, Mass.: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + REDDING, CONN, Aug. 12, 1908. +</pre> + <p> + DEAR MRS. ROGERS, I believe I am the wellest man on the planet to-day, and + good for a trip to Fair Haven (which I discussed with the Captain of the + New Bedford boat, who pleasantly accosted me in the Grand Central August + 5) but the doctor came up from New York day before yesterday, and gave + positive orders that I must not stir from here before frost. It is because + I was threatened with a swoon, 10 or 12 days ago, and went to New York a + day or two later to attend my nephew's funeral and got horribly exhausted + by the heat and came back here and had a bilious collapse. In 24 hours I + was as sound as a nut again, but nobody believes it but me. + </p> + <p> + This is a prodigiously satisfactory place, and I am so glad I don't have + to go back to the turmoil and rush of New York. The house stands high and + the horizons are wide, yet the seclusion is perfect. The nearest public + road is half a mile away, so there is nobody to look in, and I don't have + to wear clothes if I don't want to. I have been down stairs in night-gown + and slippers a couple of hours, and have been photographed in that + costume; but I will dress, now, and behave myself. + </p> + <p> + That doctor had half an idea that there is something the matter with my + brain... Doctors do know so little and they do charge so much for it. I + wish Henry Rogers would come here, and I wish you would come with him. You + can't rest in that crowded place, but you could rest here, for sure! I + would learn bridge, and entertain you, and rob you. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + With love to you both, + Ever yours, + S. L. C. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + In the foregoing letter we get the first intimation of Mark Twain's + failing health. The nephew who had died was Samuel E. Moffett, son + of Pamela Clemens. Moffett, who was a distinguished journalist—an + editorial writer on Collier's Weekly, a man beloved by all who knew + him—had been drowned in the surf off the Jersey beach. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To W. D. Howells, Kittery Point, Maine: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Aug. 12, '08. +</pre> + <p> + DEAR HOWELLS,—Won't you and Mrs. Howells and Mildred come and give + us as many days as you can spare, and examine John's triumph? It is the + most satisfactory house I am acquainted with, and the most satisfactorily + situated. + </p> + <p> + But it is no place to work in, because one is outside of it all the time, + while the sun and the moon are on duty. Outside of it in the loggia, where + the breezes blow and the tall arches divide up the scenery and frame it. + </p> + <p> + It's a ghastly long distance to come, and I wouldn't travel such a + distance to see anything short of a memorial museum, but if you can't come + now you can at least come later when you return to New York, for the + journey will be only an hour and a half per express-train. Things are + gradually and steadily taking shape inside the house, and nature is taking + care of the outside in her ingenious and wonderful fashion—and she + is competent and asks no help and gets none. I have retired from New York + for good, I have retired from labor for good, I have dismissed my + stenographer and have entered upon a holiday whose other end is in the + cemetery. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Yours ever, + MARK. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + From a gentleman in Buffalo Clemens one day received a letter + inclosing an incompleted list of the world's “One Hundred Greatest + Men,” men who had exerted “the largest visible influence on the life + and activities of the race.” The writer asked that Mark Twain + examine the list and suggest names, adding “would you include Jesus, + as the founder of Christianity, in the list?” + + To the list of statesmen Clemens added the name of Thomas Paine; to + the list of inventors, Edison and Alexander Graham Bell. The + question he answered in detail. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To ———, Buffalo, N. Y. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Private. REDDING, CONN, Aug. 28, '08. +</pre> + <p> + DEAR SIR,—By “private,” I mean don't print any remarks of mine. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + .................. +I like your list. +</pre> + <p> + The “largest visible influence.” + </p> + <p> + These terms require you to add Jesus. And they doubly and trebly require + you to add Satan. From A.D. 350 to A.D. 1850 these gentlemen exercised a + vaster influence over a fifth part of the human race than was exercised + over that fraction of the race by all other influences combined. + Ninety-nine hundredths of this influence proceeded from Satan, the + remaining fraction of it from Jesus. During those 1500 years the fear of + Satan and Hell made 99 Christians where love of God and Heaven landed one. + During those 1500 years, Satan's influence was worth very nearly a hundred + times as much to the business as was the influence of all the rest of the + Holy Family put together. + </p> + <p> + You have asked me a question, and I have answered it seriously and + sincerely. You have put in Buddha—a god, with a following, at one + time, greater than Jesus ever had: a god with perhaps a little better + evidence of his godship than that which is offered for Jesus's. How then, + in fairness, can you leave Jesus out? And if you put him in, how can you + logically leave Satan out? Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it + is the lightning that does the work. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Very truly yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + The “Children's Theatre” of the next letter was an institution of + the New York East Side in which Mark Twain was deeply interested. + The children were most, if not all, of Hebrew parentage, and the + performances they gave, under the direction of Alice M. Herts, were + really remarkable. It seemed a pity that lack of funds should have + brought this excellent educational venture to an untimely end. + + The following letter was in reply to one inclosing a newspaper + clipping reporting a performance of The Prince and the Pauper, given + by Chicago school children. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To Mrs. Hookway, in Chicago: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Sept., 1908. +</pre> + <p> + DEAR MRS. HOOKWAY,—Although I am full of the spirit of work this + morning, a rarity with me lately—I must steal a moment or two for a + word in person: for I have been reading the eloquent account in the + Record-Herald and am pleasurably stirred, to my deepest deeps. The reading + brings vividly back to me my pet and pride. The Children's Theatre of the + East side, New York. And it supports and re-affirms what I have so often + and strenuously said in public that a children's theatre is easily the + most valuable adjunct that any educational institution for the young can + have, and that no otherwise good school is complete without it. + </p> + <p> + It is much the most effective teacher of morals and promoter of good + conduct that the ingenuity of man has yet devised, for the reason that its + lessons are not taught wearily by book and by dreary homily, but by + visible and enthusing action; and they go straight to the heart, which is + the rightest of right places for them. Book morals often get no further + than the intellect, if they even get that far on their spectral and + shadowy pilgrimage: but when they travel from a Children's Theatre they do + not stop permanently at that halfway house, but go on home. + </p> + <p> + The children's theatre is the only teacher of morals and conduct and high + ideals that never bores the pupil, but always leaves him sorry when the + lesson is over. And as for history, no other teacher is for a moment + comparable to it: no other can make the dead heroes of the world rise up + and shake the dust of the ages from their bones and live and move and + breathe and speak and be real to the looker and listener: no other can + make the study of the lives and times of the illustrious dead a delight, a + splendid interest, a passion; and no other can paint a history-lesson in + colors that will stay, and stay, and never fade. + </p> + <p> + It is my conviction that the children's theatre is one of the very, very + great inventions of the twentieth century; and that its vast educational + value—now but dimly perceived and but vaguely understood—will + presently come to be recognized. By the article which I have been reading + I find the same things happening in the Howland School that we have become + familiar with in our Children's Theatre (of which I am President, and + sufficiently vain of the distinction.) These things among others; + </p> + <p> + 1. The educating history-study does not stop with the little players, but + the whole school catches the infection and revels in it. + </p> + <p> + 2. And it doesn't even stop there; the children carry it home and infect + the family with it—even the parents and grandparents; and the whole + household fall to studying history, and bygone manners and customs and + costumes with eager interest. And this interest is carried along to the + studying of costumes in old book-plates; and beyond that to the selecting + of fabrics and the making of clothes. Hundreds of our children learn, the + plays by listening without book, and by making notes; then the listener + goes home and plays the piece—all the parts! to the family. And the + family are glad and proud; glad to listen to the explanations and + analyses, glad to learn, glad to be lifted to planes above their dreary + workaday lives. Our children's theatre is educating 7,000 children—and + their families. When we put on a play of Shakespeare they fall to studying + it diligently; so that they may be qualified to enjoy it to the limit when + the piece is staged. + </p> + <p> + 3. Your Howland School children do the construction-work, + stage-decorations, etc. That is our way too. Our young folks do everything + that is needed by the theatre, with their own hands; scene-designing, + scene-painting, gas-fitting, electric work, costume-designing—costume + making, everything and all things indeed—and their orchestra and its + leader are from their own ranks. + </p> + <p> + The article which I have been reading, says—speaking of the + historical play produced by the pupils of the Howland School— + </p> + <p> + “The question naturally arises, What has this drama done for those who so + enthusiastically took part?—The touching story has made a year out + of the Past live for the children as could no chronology or bald statement + of historical events; it has cultivated the fancy and given to the + imagination strength and purity; work in composition has ceased to be + drudgery, for when all other themes fall flat a subject dealing with some + aspect of the drama presented never fails to arouse interest and a rapid + pushing of pens over paper.” + </p> + <p> + That is entirely true. The interest is not confined to the drama's story, + it spreads out all around the period of the story, and gives to all the + outlying and unrelated happenings of that period a fascinating interest—an + interest which does not fade out with the years, but remains always fresh, + always inspiring, always welcome. History-facts dug by the job, with sweat + and tears out of a dry and spiritless text-book—but never mind, all + who have suffered know what that is... + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + I remain, dear madam, + Sincerely yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Mark Twain had a special fondness for cats. As a boy he always + owned one and it generally had a seat beside him at the table. + There were cats at Quarry Farm and at Hartford, and in the house at + Redding there was a gray mother-cat named Tammany, of which he was + especially fond. Kittens capering about were his chief delight. + In a letter to a Chicago woman he tells how those of Tammany + assisted at his favorite game. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To Mrs. Mabel Larkin Patterson, in Chicago: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + REDDING, CONNECTICUT, + Oct. 2, '08. +</pre> + <p> + DEAR MRS. PATTERSON,—The contents of your letter are very pleasant + and very welcome, and I thank you for them, sincerely. If I can find a + photograph of my “Tammany” and her kittens, I will enclose it in this. + </p> + <p> + One of them likes to be crammed into a corner-pocket of the billiard table—which + he fits as snugly as does a finger in a glove and then he watches the game + (and obstructs it) by the hour, and spoils many a shot by putting out his + paw and changing the direction of a passing ball. Whenever a ball is in + his arms, or so close to him that it cannot be played upon without risk of + hurting him, the player is privileged to remove it to anyone of the 3 + spots that chances to be vacant. + </p> + <p> + Ah, no, my lecturing days are over for good and all. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Sincerely yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + The letter to Howells which follows was written a short time before + the passage of the copyright extension bill, which rendered Mark + Twain's new plan, here mentioned, unneeded—at least for the time. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To W. D. Howells, in New York: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Monday, Oct. 26, '08. + </pre> + <p> + Oh, I say! Where are you hiding, and why are you hiding? You promised to + come here and you didn't keep your word. (This sounds like astonishment—but + don't be misled by that.) + </p> + <p> + Come, fire up again on your fiction-mill and give us another good promise. + And this time keep it—for it is your turn to be astonished. Come and + stay as long as you possibly can. I invented a new copyright extension + scheme last Friday, and sat up all night arranging its details. It will + interest you. Yesterday I got it down on paper in as compact a form as I + could. Harvey and I have examined the scheme, and to-morrow or next day he + will send me a couple of copyright-experts to arrange about getting + certain statistics for me. + </p> + <p> + Authors, publishers and the public have always been damaged by the + copyright laws. The proposed amendment will advantage all three—the + public most of all. I think Congress will pass it and settle the vexed + question permanently. + </p> + <p> + I shall need your assent and the assent of about a dozen other authors. + Also the assent of all the large firms of the 300 publishers. These + authors and publishers will furnish said assent I am sure. Not even the + pirates will be able to furnish a serious objection, I think. + </p> + <p> + Come along. This place seemed at its best when all around was + summer-green; later it seemed at its best when all around was burning with + the autumn splendors; and now once more it seems at its best, with the + trees naked and the ground a painter's palette. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Yours ever, + MARK. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Clemens was a great admirer of the sea stories of W. W. Jacobs and + generally kept one or more of this author's volumes in reach of his + bed, where most of his reading was done. The acknowledgment that + follows was sent when he had finished Salthaven. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To W. W. Jacobs, in England: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + REDDING, CONN, + Oct. 28, '08. +</pre> + <p> + DEAR MR. JACOBS,—It has a delightful look. I will not venture to say + how delightful, because the words would sound extravagant, and would + thereby lose some of their strength and to that degree misrepresent me. It + is my conviction that Dialstone Lane holds the supremacy over all purely + humorous books in our language, but I feel about Salthaven as the Cape Cod + poet feels about Simon Hanks: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “The Lord knows all things, great and small, + With doubt he's not perplexed: + 'Tis Him alone that knows it all + But Simon Hanks comes next.” + </pre> + <p> + The poet was moved by envy and malice and jealousy, but I am not: I place + Salthaven close up next to Dialstone because I think it has a fair and + honest right to that high position. I have kept the other book moving; I + shall begin to hand this one around now. + </p> + <p> + And many thanks to you for remembering me. + </p> + <p> + This house is out in the solitudes of the woods and the hills, an hour and + a half from New York, and I mean to stay in it winter and summer the rest + of my days. I beg you to come and help occupy it a few days the next time + you visit the U.S. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Sincerely yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + One of the attractions of Stormfield was a beautiful mantel in the + billiard room, presented by the Hawaiian Promotion Committee. It + had not arrived when the rest of the house was completed, but came + in time to be set in place early in the morning of the owner's + seventy-third birthday. It was made of a variety of Hawaiian woods, + and was the work of a native carver, F. M. Otremba. Clemens was + deeply touched by the offering from those “western isles”—the + memory of which was always so sweet to him. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To Mr. Wood, in Hawaii: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Nov. 30, '08. +</pre> + <p> + DEAR MR. WOOD,—The beautiful mantel was put in its place an hour + ago, and its friendly “Aloha” was the first uttered greeting my 73rd + birthday received. It is rich in color, rich in quality, and rich in + decoration, therefore it exactly harmonizes with the taste for such things + which was born in me and which I have seldom been able to indulge to my + content. It will be a great pleasure to me, daily renewed, to have under + my eye this lovely reminder of the loveliest fleet of islands that lies + anchored in any ocean, and I beg to thank the Committee for providing me + that pleasure. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Sincerely Yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XLVII. LETTERS, 1909. TO HOWELLS AND OTHERS. LIFE AT STORMFIELD. COPYRIGHT + EXTENSION. DEATH OF JEAN CLEMENS + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Clemens remained at Stormfield all that winter. New York was sixty + miles away and he did not often care to make the journey. He was + constantly invited to this or that public gathering, or private + party, but such affairs had lost interest for him. He preferred the + quiet of his luxurious home with its beautiful outlook, while for + entertainment he found the billiard afternoons sufficient. Guests + came from the city, now and again, for week-end visits, and if he + ever was restless or lonely he did not show it. + + Among the invitations that came was one from General O. O. Howard + asking him to preside at a meeting to raise an endowment fund for a + Lincoln Memorial University at Cumberland Gap, Tennessee. Closing + his letter, General Howard said, “Never mind if you did fight on the + other side.” + </pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To General O. O. Howard: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + STORMFIELD, REDDING, CONNECTICUT, + Jan, 12, '09. +</pre> + <p> + DEAR GENERAL HOWARD,—You pay me a most gratifying compliment in + asking me to preside, and it causes me very real regret that I am obliged + to decline, for the object of the meeting appeals strongly to me, since + that object is to aid in raising the $500,000 Endowment Fund for Lincoln + Memorial University. The Endowment Fund will be the most fitting of all + the memorials the country will dedicate to the memory of Lincoln, serving, + as it will, to uplift his very own people. + </p> + <p> + I hope you will meet with complete success, and I am sorry I cannot be + there to witness it and help you rejoice. But I am older than people + think, and besides I live away out in the country and never stir from + home, except at geological intervals, to fill left-over engagements in + mesozoic times when I was younger and indiscreeter. + </p> + <p> + You ought not to say sarcastic things about my “fighting on the other + side.” General Grant did not act like that. General Grant paid me + compliments. He bracketed me with Zenophon—it is there in his + Memoirs for anybody to read. He said if all the confederate soldiers had + followed my example and adopted my military arts he could never have + caught enough of them in a bunch to inconvenience the Rebellion. General + Grant was a fair man, and recognized my worth; but you are prejudiced, and + you have hurt my feelings. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + But I have an affection for you, anyway. + MARK TWAIN. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + One of Mark Twain's friends was Henniker-Heaton, the so-called + “Father of Penny Postage” between England and America. When, after + long years of effort, he succeeded in getting the rate established, + he at once bent his energies in the direction of cheap cable service + and a letter from him came one day to Stormfield concerning his new + plans. This letter happened to be over-weight, which gave Mark + Twain a chance for some amusing exaggerations at his expense. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To Henniker-Heaton, in London: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + STORMFIELD, REDDING, CONNECTICUT, + Jan. 18, 1909. +</pre> + <p> + DEAR HENNIKER-HEATON,—I do hope you will succeed to your heart's + desire in your cheap-cablegram campaign, and I feel sure you will. Indeed + your cheap-postage victory, achieved in spite of a quarter-century of + determined opposition, is good and rational prophecy that you will. + Wireless, not being as yet imprisoned in a Chinese wall of private cash + and high-placed and formidable influence, will come to your aid and make + your new campaign briefer and easier than the other one was. + </p> + <p> + Now then, after uttering my serious word, am I privileged to be frivolous + for a moment? When you shall have achieved cheap telegraphy, are you going + to employ it for just your own selfish profit and other people's pecuniary + damage, the way you are doing with your cheap postage? You get + letter-postage reduced to 2 cents an ounce, then you mail me a 4-ounce + letter with a 2-cent stamp on it, and I have to pay the extra freight at + this end of the line. I return your envelope for inspection. Look at it. + Stamped in one place is a vast “T,” and under it the figures “40,” and + under those figures appears an “L,” a sinister and suspicious and + mysterious L. In another place, stamped within a circle, in offensively + large capitals, you find the words “DUE 8 CENTS.” Finally, in the midst of + a desert space up nor-noreastard from that circle you find a figure “3” of + quite unnecessarily aggressive and insolent magnitude—and done with + a blue pencil, so as to be as conspicuous as possible. I inquired about + these strange signs and symbols of the postman. He said they were P. O. + Department signals for his instruction. + </p> + <p> + “Instruction for what?” + </p> + <p> + “To get extra postage.” + </p> + <p> + “Is it so? Explain. Tell me about the large T and the 40. + </p> + <p> + “It's short for Take 40—or as we postmen say, grab 40” + </p> + <p> + “Go on, please, while I think up some words to swear with.” + </p> + <p> + “Due 8 means, grab 8 more.” + </p> + <p> + “Continue.” + </p> + <p> + “The blue-pencil 3 was an afterthought. There aren't any stamps for + afterthoughts; the sums vary, according to inspiration, and they whirl in + the one that suggests itself at the last moment. Sometimes they go several + times higher than this one. This one only means hog 3 cents more. And so + if you've got 51 cents about you, or can borrow it—” + </p> + <p> + “Tell me: who gets this corruption?” + </p> + <p> + “Half of it goes to the man in England who ships the letter on short + postage, and the other half goes to the P.O.D. to protect cheap postage + from inaugurating a deficit.” + </p> + <p> + “—————————-” + </p> + <p> + “I can't blame you; I would say it myself in your place, if these ladies + were not present. But you see I'm only obeying orders, I can't help + myself.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I know it; I'm not blaming you. Finally, what does that L stand for?” + </p> + <p> + “Get the money, or give him L. It's English, you know.” + </p> + <p> + “Take it and go. It's the last cent I've got in the world—.” + </p> + <p> + After seeing the Oxford pageant file by the grand stand, picture after + picture, splendor after splendor, three thousand five hundred strong, the + most moving and beautiful and impressive and historically-instructive show + conceivable, you are not to think I would miss the London pageant of next + year, with its shining host of 15,000 historical English men and women dug + from the misty books of all the vanished ages and marching in the light of + the sun—all alive, and looking just as they were used to look! Mr. + Lascelles spent yesterday here on the farm, and told me all about it. I + shall be in the middle of my 75th year then, and interested in pageants + for personal and prospective reasons. + </p> + <p> + I beg you to give my best thanks to the Bath Club for the offer of its + hospitalities, but I shall not be able to take advantage of it, because I + am to be a guest in a private house during my stay in London. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Sincerely yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + It was in 1907 that Clemens had seen the Oxford Pageant—during the + week when he had been awarded his doctor's degree. It gave him the + greatest delight, and he fully expected to see the next one, planned + for 1910. + + In the letter to Howells which follows we get another glimpse of + Mark Twain's philosophy of man, the irresponsible machine. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To W. D. Howells, in New York: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + STORMFIELD, REDDING, CONN., + Jan. 18, '09. +</pre> + <p> + DEAR HOWELLS,—I have to write a line, lazy as I am, to say how your + Poe article delighted me; and to say that I am in agreement with + substantially all you say about his literature. To me his prose is + unreadable—like Jane Austin's. No, there is a difference. I could + read his prose on salary, but not Jane's. Jane is entirely impossible. It + seems a great pity that they allowed her to die a natural death. + </p> + <p> + Another thing: you grant that God and circumstances sinned against Poe, + but you also grant that he sinned against himself—a thing which he + couldn't do and didn't do. + </p> + <p> + It is lively up here now. I wish you could come. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Yrs ever, + MARK +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To W. D. Howells, in New York: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + STORMFIELD, REDDING, CONNECTICUT, + 3 in the morning, Apl. 17, '09. + [Written with pencil]. +</pre> + <p> + My pen has gone dry and the ink is out of reach. Howells, Did you write me + day-before-day before yesterday, or did I dream it? In my mind's eye I + most vividly see your hand-write on a square blue envelop in the mailpile. + I have hunted the house over, but there is no such letter. Was it an + illusion? + </p> + <p> + I am reading Lowell's letter, and smoking. I woke an hour ago and am + reading to keep from wasting the time. On page 305, vol. I. I have just + margined a note: + </p> + <p> + “Young friend! I like that! You ought to see him now.” + </p> + <p> + It seemed startlingly strange to hear a person call you young. It was a + brick out of a blue sky, and knocked me groggy for a moment. Ah me, the + pathos of it is, that we were young then. And he—why, so was he, but + he didn't know it. He didn't even know it 9 years later, when we saw him + approaching and you warned me, saying, “Don't say anything about age—he + has just turned fifty, and thinks he is old and broods over it.” + </p> + <p> + [Well, Clara did sing! And you wrote her a dear letter.] + </p> + <p> + Time to go to sleep. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Yours ever, + MARK. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To Daniel Kiefer: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [No date.] +</pre> + <p> + DANL KIEFER ESQ. DEAR SIR,—I should be far from willing to have a + political party named after me. + </p> + <p> + I would not be willing to belong to a party which allowed its members to + have political aspirations or to push friends forward for political + preferment. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Yours very truly, + S. L. CLEMENS. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + The copyright extension, for which the author had been working so + long, was granted by Congress in 1909, largely as the result of that + afternoon in Washington when Mark Twain had “received” in “Uncle + Joe” Cannon's private room, and preached the gospel of copyright + until the daylight faded and the rest of the Capitol grew still. + Champ Clark was the last to linger that day and they had talked far + into the dusk. Clark was powerful, and had fathered the bill. Now + he wrote to know if it was satisfactory. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To Champ Clark, in Washington: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + STORMFIELD, REDDING, CONN., June 5, '09. +</pre> + <p> + DEAR CHAMP CLARK—Is the new copyright law acceptable to me? + Emphatically, yes! Clark, it is the only sane, and clearly defined, and + just and righteous copyright law that has ever existed in the United + States. Whosoever will compare it with its predecessors will have no + trouble in arriving at that decision. + </p> + <p> + The bill which was before the committee two years ago when I was down + there was the most stupefying jumble of conflicting and apparently + irreconcilable interests that was ever seen; and we all said “the case is + hopeless, absolutely hopeless—out of this chaos nothing can be + built.” But we were in error; out of that chaotic mass this excellent bill + has been instructed; the warring interests have been reconciled, and the + result is as comely and substantial a legislative edifice as lifts its + domes and towers and protective lightning rods out of the statute book, I + think. When I think of that other bill, which even the Deity couldn't + understand, and of this one which even I can understand, I take off my hat + to the man or men who devised this one. Was it R. U. Johnson? Was it the + Author's League? Was it both together? I don't know, but I take off my + hat, anyway. Johnson has written a valuable article about the new law—I + enclose it. + </p> + <p> + At last—at last and for the first time in copyright history we are + ahead of England! Ahead of her in two ways: by length of time and by + fairness to all interests concerned. Does this sound like shouting? Then I + must modify it: all we possessed of copyright-justice before the fourth of + last March we owed to England's initiative. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Truly Yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Because Mark Twain amused himself with certain aspects of Christian + Science, and was critical of Mrs. Eddy, there grew up a wide + impression that he jeered at the theory of mental healing; when, as + a matter of fact, he was one of its earliest converts, and never + lost faith in its power. The letter which follows is an excellent + exposition of his attitude toward the institution of Christian + Science and the founder of the church in America. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To J. Wylie Smith, Glasgow, Scotland: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “STORMFIELD,” August 7, 1909 +</pre> + <p> + DEAR SIR,—My view of the matter has not changed. To wit, that + Christian Science is valuable; that it has just the same value now that it + had when Mrs. Eddy stole it from Quimby; that its healing principle (its + most valuable asset) possesses the same force now that it possessed a + million years ago before Quimby was born; that Mrs. Eddy... organized that + force, and is entitled to high credit for that. Then, with a splendid + sagacity she hitched it to... a religion, the surest of all ways to secure + friends for it, and support. In a fine and lofty way—figuratively + speaking—it was a tramp stealing a ride on the lightning express. + Ah, how did that ignorant village-born peasant woman know the human being + so well? She has no more intellect than a tadpole—until it comes to + business then she is a marvel! Am I sorry I wrote the book? Most certainly + not. You say you have 500 (converts) in Glasgow. Fifty years from now, + your posterity will not count them by the hundred, but by the thousand. I + feel absolutely sure of this. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Very truly yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Clemens wrote very little for publication that year, but he enjoyed + writing for his own amusement, setting down the things that boiled, + or bubbled, within him: mainly chapters on the inconsistencies of + human deportment, human superstition and human creeds. The “Letters + from the Earth” referred to in the following, were supposed to have + been written by an immortal visitant from some far realm to a + friend, describing the absurdities of mankind. It is true, as he + said, that they would not do for publication, though certainly the + manuscript contains some of his most delicious writing. Miss + Wallace, to whom the next letter is written, had known Mark Twain in + Bermuda, and, after his death, published a dainty volume entitled + Mark Twain in the Happy Island. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “STORMFIELD,” REDDING, CONNECTICUT, + Nov. 13, '09. +</pre> + <p> + DEAR BETSY,—I've been writing “Letters from the Earth,” and if you + will come here and see us I will—what? Put the MS in your hands, + with the places to skip marked? No. I won't trust you quite that far. I'll + read messages to you. This book will never be published—in fact it + couldn't be, because it would be felony to soil the mails with it, for it + has much Holy Scripture in it of the kind that... can't properly be read + aloud, except from the pulpit and in family worship. Paine enjoys it, but + Paine is going to be damned one of these days, I suppose. + </p> + <p> + The autumn splendors passed you by? What a pity. I wish you had been here. + It was beyond words! It was heaven and hell and sunset and rainbows and + the aurora all fused into one divine harmony, and you couldn't look at it + and keep the tears back. All the hosannahing strong gorgeousnesses have + gone back to heaven and hell and the pole, now, but no matter; if you + could look out of my bedroom window at this moment, you would choke up; + and when you got your voice you would say: This is not real, this is a + dream. Such a singing together, and such a whispering together, and such a + snuggling together of cosy soft colors, and such kissing and caressing, + and such pretty blushing when the sun breaks out and catches those dainty + weeds at it—you remember that weed-garden of mine?—and then—then + the far hills sleeping in a dim blue trance—oh, hearing about it is + nothing, you should be here to see it. + </p> + <p> + Good! I wish I could go on the platform and read. And I could, if it could + be kept out of the papers. There's a charity-school of 400 young girls in + Boston that I would give my ears to talk to, if I had some more; but—oh, + well, I can't go, and it's no use to grieve about it. + </p> + <p> + This morning Jean went to town; also Paine; also the butler; also Katy; + also the laundress. The cook and the maid, and the boy and the roustabout + and Jean's coachman are left—just enough to make it lonesome, + because they are around yet never visible. However, the Harpers are + sending Leigh up to play billiards; therefore I shall survive. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Affectionately, + S. L. CLEMENS. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Early in June that year, Clemens had developed unmistakable symptoms + of heart trouble of a very serious nature. It was angina pectoris, + and while to all appearances he was as well as ever and usually felt + so, he was periodically visited by severe attacks of acute “breast + pains” which, as the months passed, increased in frequency and + severity. He was alarmed and distressed—not on his own account, + but because of his daughter Jean—a handsome girl, who had long been + subject to epileptic seizures. In case of his death he feared that + Jean would be without permanent anchorage, his other daughter, + Clara—following her marriage to Ossip Gabrilowitsch in October + —having taken up residence abroad. + + This anxiety was soon ended. On the morning of December 24th, Jean + Clemens was found dead in her apartment. She was not drowned in her + bath, as was reported, but died from heart exhaustion, the result of + her malady and the shock of cold water. + + [Questionable diagnosis! D.W. M.D.] + + The blow to her father was terrible, but heavy as it was, one may + perhaps understand that her passing in that swift, painless way must + have afforded him a measure of relief. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To Mrs. Gabrilowitsch, in Europe: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + REDDING, CONN., + Dec. 29, '09. +</pre> + <p> + O, Clara, Clara dear, I am so glad she is out of it and safe—safe! I + am not melancholy; I shall never be melancholy again, I think. You see, I + was in such distress when I came to realize that you were gone far away + and no one stood between her and danger but me—and I could die at + any moment, and then—oh then what would become of her! For she was + wilful, you know, and would not have been governable. + </p> + <p> + You can't imagine what a darling she was, that last two or three days; and + how fine, and good, and sweet, and noble-and joyful, thank Heaven!—and + how intellectually brilliant. I had never been acquainted with Jean + before. I recognized that. + </p> + <p> + But I mustn't try to write about her—I can't. I have already poured + my heart out with the pen, recording that last day or two. + </p> + <p> + I will send you that—and you must let no one but Ossip read it. + </p> + <p> + Good-bye. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + I love you so! + And Ossip. + FATHER. +</pre> + <p> + The writing mentioned in the last paragraph was his article 'The Death of + Jean,' his last serious writing, and one of the world's most beautiful + examples of elegiac prose.—[Harper's Magazine, Dec., 1910,] and + later in the volume, 'What Is Man and Other Essays.' + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XLVIII. LETTERS OF 1910. LAST TRIP TO BERMUDA. LETTERS TO PAINE. THE LAST + LETTER. + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Mark Twain had returned from a month's trip to Bermuda a few days + before Jean died. Now, by his physician's advice, he went back to + those balmy islands. He had always loved them, since his first trip + there with Twichell thirty-three years earlier, and at “Bay House,” + the residence of Vice-Consul Allen, where he was always a welcome + guest, he could have the attentions and care and comforts of a home. + Taking Claude, the butler, as his valet, he sailed January 5th, and + presently sent back a letter in which he said, “Again I am leading + the ideal life, and am immeasurably content.” + + By his wish, the present writer and his family were keeping the + Stormfield house open for him, in order that he might be able to + return to its comforts at any time. He sent frequent letters—one + or two by each steamer—but as a rule they did not concern matters + of general interest. A little after his arrival, however, he wrote + concerning an incident of his former visit—a trivial matter—but + one which had annoyed him. I had been with him in Bermuda on the + earlier visit, and as I remember it, there had been some slight + oversight on his part in the matter of official etiquette—something + which doubtless no one had noticed but himself. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To A. B. Paine, in Redding: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + BAY HOUSE, Jan. 11, 1910. +</pre> + <p> + DEAR PAINE,—... There was a military lecture last night at the + Officer's Mess, prospect, and as the lecturer honored me with a special + and urgent invitation and said he wanted to lecture to me particularly, I + being “the greatest living master of the platform-art,” I naturally packed + Helen and her mother into the provided carriage and went. + </p> + <p> + As soon as we landed at the door with the crowd the Governor came to me at + once and was very cordial, and apparently as glad to see me as he said he + was. So that incident is closed. And pleasantly and entirely + satisfactorily. Everything is all right, now, and I am no longer in a + clumsy and awkward situation. + </p> + <p> + I “met up” with that charming Colonel Chapman, and other officers of the + regiment, and had a good time. + </p> + <p> + Commandant Peters of the “Carnegie” will dine here tonight and arrange a + private visit for us to his ship, the crowd to be denied access. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Sincerely Yours, + S. L. C. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Helen” of this letter was Mr. and Mrs. Allen's young daughter, + a favorite companion of his walks and drives. “Loomis” and “Lark,” + mentioned in the letters which follow, were Edward E. Loomis—his + nephew by marriage—named by Mark Twain as one of the trustees of + his estate, and Charles T. Lark, Mark Twain's attorney. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To A. B. Paine, in Redding: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + HAMILTON, Jan. 21, '10. +</pre> + <p> + DEAR PAINE,—Thanks for your letter, and for its contenting news of + the situation in that foreign and far-off and vaguely-remembered country + where you and Loomis and Lark and other beloved friends are. + </p> + <p> + I have a letter from Clara this morning. She is solicitous, and wants me + well and watchfully taken care of. My, she ought to see Helen and her + parents and Claude administer that trust! + </p> + <p> + Also she says: “I hope to hear from you or Mr. Paine very soon.” + </p> + <p> + I am writing her, and I know you will respond to your part of her prayer. + She is pretty desolate now, after Jean's emancipation—the only + kindness God ever did that poor unoffending child in all her hard life. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Ys ever + S. L. C. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Send Clara a copy of Howells's gorgeous letter. I want a copy of my + article that he is speaking of. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + The “gorgeous letter” was concerning Mark Twain's article, “The + Turning-point in My Life” which had just appeared in one of the + Harper publications. Howells wrote of it, “While your wonderful + words are warm in my mind yet, I want to tell you what you know + already: that you never wrote anything greater, finer, than that + turning-point paper of yours.” + + From the early Bermuda letters we may gather that Mark Twain's days + were enjoyable enough, and that his malady was not giving him + serious trouble, thus far. Near the end of January he wrote: “Life + continues here the same as usual. There isn't a flaw in it. Good + times, good home, tranquil contentment all day and every day, + without a break. I shouldn't know how to go about bettering my + situation.” He did little in the way of literary work, probably + finding neither time nor inclination for it. When he wrote at all + it was merely to set down some fanciful drolleries with no thought + of publication. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To Prof. William Lyon Phelps, Yale College: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + HAMILTON, March 12. +</pre> + <p> + DEAR PROFESSOR PHELPS,—I thank you ever so much for the book—[Professor + Phelps's Essays on Modern Novelists.]—which I find charming—so + charming indeed, that I read it through in a single night, and did not + regret the lost night's sleep. I am glad if I deserve what you have said + about me: and even if I don't I am proud and well contented, since you + think I deserve it. + </p> + <p> + Yes, I saw Prof. Lounsbury, and had a most pleasant time with him. He + ought to have staid longer in this little paradise—partly for his + own sake, but mainly for mine. + </p> + <p> + I knew my poor Jean had written you. I shall not have so dear and sweet a + secretary again. + </p> + <p> + Good health to you, and all good fortune attend you. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Sincerely yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + He would appear to have written not many letters besides those to + Mrs. Gabrilowitsch and to Stormfield, but when a little girl sent + him a report of a dream, inspired by reading The Prince and the + Pauper, he took the time and trouble to acknowledge it, realizing, + no doubt, that a line from him would give the child happiness. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To Miss Sulamith, in New York: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “BAY HOUSE,” BERMUDA, March 21, 1910. +</pre> + <p> + DEAR MISS SULAMITH,—I think it is a remarkable dream for a girl of + 13 to have dreamed, in fact for a person of any age to have dreamed, + because it moves by regular grade and sequence from the beginning to the + end, which is not the habit of dreams. I think your report of it is a good + piece of work, a clear and effective statement of the vision. + </p> + <p> + I am glad to know you like the “Prince and the Pauper” so well and I + believe with you that the dream is good evidence of that liking. I think I + may say, with your sister that I like myself best when I am serious. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Sincerely yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Through February, and most of March, letters and reports from him + were about the same. He had begun to plan for his return, and + concerning amusements at Stormfield for the entertainment of the + neighbors, and for the benefit of the library which he had founded + soon after his arrival in Redding. In these letters he seldom + mentioned the angina pains that had tortured him earlier. But once, + when he sent a small photograph of himself, it seemed to us that his + face had become thin and that he had suffered. Certainly his next + letter was not reassuring. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To A. B. Paine, in Redding: + </p> + <p> + DEAR PAINE,—We must look into the magic-lantern business. Maybe the + modern lantern is too elaborate and troublesome for back-settlement use, + but we can inquire. We must have some kind of a show at “Stormfield” to + entertain the countryside with. + </p> + <p> + We are booked to sail in the “Bermudian” April 23rd, but don't tell + anybody, I don't want it known. I may have to go sooner if the pain in my + breast doesn't mend its ways pretty considerably. I don't want to die here + for this is an unkind place for a person in that condition. I should have + to lie in the undertaker's cellar until the ship would remove me and it is + dark down there and unpleasant. + </p> + <p> + The Colliers will meet me on the pier and I may stay with them a week or + two before going home. It all depends on the breast pain—I don't + want to die there. I am growing more and more particular about the place. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + With love, + S. L. C. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + This letter had been written by the hand of his “secretary,” Helen + Allen: writing had become an effort to him. Yet we did not suspect + how rapidly the end was approaching and only grew vaguely alarmed. + A week later, however, it became evident that his condition was + critical. +</pre> + <p> + DEAR PAINE,—.... I have been having a most uncomfortable time for + the past 4 days with that breast-pain, which turns out to be an affection + of the heart, just as I originally suspected. The news from New York is to + the effect that non-bronchial weather has arrived there at last, therefore + if I can get my breast trouble in traveling condition I may sail for home + a week or two earlier than has heretofore been proposed: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Yours as ever + S. L. CLEMENS, + (per H. S. A.) +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + In this letter he seems to have forgotten that his trouble had been + pronounced an affection of the heart long before he left America, + though at first it had been thought that it might be gastritis. + The same mail brought a letter from Mr. Allen explaining fully the + seriousness of his condition. I sailed immediately for Bermuda, + arriving there on the 4th of April. He was not suffering at the + moment, though the pains came now with alarming frequency and + violence. He was cheerful and brave. He did not complain. He gave + no suggestion of a man whose days were nearly ended. + + A part of the Stormfield estate had been a farm, which he had given + to Jean Clemens, where she had busied herself raising some live + stock and poultry. After her death he had wished the place to be + sold and the returns devoted to some memorial purpose. The sale had + been made during the winter and the price received had been paid in + cash. I found him full of interest in all affairs, and anxious to + discuss the memorial plan. A day or two later he dictated the + following letter-the last he would ever send. + + It seemed fitting that this final word from one who had so long + given happiness to the whole world should record a special gift to + his neighbors. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + To Charles T. Lark, in New York: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + HAMILTON, BERMUDA. + April 6, 1910. +</pre> + <p> + DEAR MR. LARK,—I have told Paine that I want the money derived from + the sale of the farm, which I had given, but not conveyed, to my daughter + Jean, to be used to erect a building for the Mark Twain Library of + Redding, the building to be called the Jean L. Clemens Memorial Building. + </p> + <p> + I wish to place the money $6,000.00 in the hands of three trustees,—Paine + and two others: H. A. Lounsbury and William E. Hazen, all of Redding, + these trustees to form a building Committee to decide on the size and plan + of the building needed and to arrange for and supervise the work in such a + manner that the fund shall amply provide for the building complete, with + necessary furnishings, leaving, if possible, a balance remaining, + sufficient for such repairs and additional furnishings as may be required + for two years from the time of completion. + </p> + <p> + Will you please draw a document covering these requirements and have it + ready by the time I reach New York (April 14th). + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Very sincerely, + S. L. CLEMENS. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + We sailed on the 12th of April, reaching New York on the 14th, + as he had planned. A day or two later, Mr. and Mrs. Gabrilowitsch, + summoned from Italy by cable, arrived. He suffered very little + after reaching Stormfield, and his mind was comparatively clear up + to the last day. On the afternoon of April 21st he sank into a + state of coma, and just at sunset he died. Three days later, at + Elmira, New York, he was laid beside Mrs. Clemens and those others + who had preceded him. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + THE LAST DAY AT STORMFIELD + + By BLISS CARMAN. + + At Redding, Connecticut, + The April sunrise pours + Over the hardwood ridges + Softening and greening now + In the first magic of Spring. + + The wild cherry-trees are in bloom, + The bloodroot is white underfoot, + The serene early light flows on, + + Touching with glory the world, + And flooding the large upper room + Where a sick man sleeps. + Slowly he opens his eyes, + After long weariness, smiles, + And stretches arms overhead, + While those about him take heart. + + With his awakening strength, + (Morning and spring in the air, + The strong clean scents of earth, + The call of the golden shaft, + Ringing across the hills) + He takes up his heartening book, + Opens the volume and reads, + A page of old rugged Carlyle, + The dour philosopher + Who looked askance upon life, + Lurid, ironical, grim, + Yet sound at the core. + But weariness returns; + He lays the book aside + With his glasses upon the bed, + And gladly sleeps. Sleep, + Blessed abundant sleep, + Is all that he needs. + + And when the close of day + Reddens upon the hills + And washes the room with rose, + In the twilight hush + The Summoner comes to him + Ever so gently, unseen, + + Touches him on the shoulder; + And with the departing sun + Our great funning friend is gone. + + How he has made us laugh! + A whole generation of men + Smiled in the joy of his wit. + But who knows whether he was not + Like those deep jesters of old + Who dwelt at the courts of Kings, + Arthur's, Pendragon's, Lear's, + Plying the wise fool's trade, + Making men merry at will, + Hiding their deeper thoughts + Under a motley array,— + Keen-eyed, serious men, + Watching the sorry world, + The gaudy pageant of life, + With pity and wisdom and love? + + Fearless, extravagant, wild, + His caustic merciless mirth + Was leveled at pompous shams. + Doubt not behind that mask + There dwelt the soul of a man, + Resolute, sorrowing, sage, + As sure a champion of good + As ever rode forth to fray. + + Haply—who knows?—somewhere + In Avalon, Isle of Dreams, + In vast contentment at last, + With every grief done away, + While Chaucer and Shakespeare wait, + And Moliere hangs on his words, + And Cervantes not far off + Listens and smiles apart, + With that incomparable drawl + He is jesting with Dagonet now. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Letters Of Mark Twain, Volume 6, +1907-1910, by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWAIN LETTERS, VOL. 6 *** + +***** This file should be named 3198-h.htm or 3198-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/9/3198/ + +Produced by David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project +Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation” + or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project +Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +“Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, “Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.” + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +“Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right +of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + </body> +</html> diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cd177f0 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #3198 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3198) diff --git a/old/mt6lt10.txt b/old/mt6lt10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0f3bbc1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/mt6lt10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1930 @@ +**The Project Gutenberg Etext of Letters Vol. 6, by Mark Twain** +#59 in our series by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. The words +are carefully chosen to provide users with the information they +need about what they can legally do with the texts. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. We need your donations. +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) +organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541 + +As of 12/12/00 contributions are only being solicited from people in: +Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, +Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Montana, +Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, +Texas, Vermont, and Wyoming. + +As the requirements for other states are met, +additions to this list will be made and fund raising +will begin in the additional states. Please feel +free to ask to check the status of your state. + +International donations are accepted, +but we don't know ANYTHING about how +to make them tax-deductible, or +even if they CAN be made deductible, +and don't have the staff to handle it +even if there are ways. + +These donations should be made to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + + +Title: Letters Vol. 6 + +Author: Mark Twain + +Release Date: April, 2002 [Etext #3198] +[Yes, we are about one year ahead of schedule] +[The actual date this file first posted = 02/19/01] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +**The Project Gutenberg Etext of Letters Vol. 6, by Mark Twain** +******This file should be named mt6lt10.txt or mt6lt10.zip****** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, mt6lt11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, mt6lt10a.txt + +This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions, +all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a +copyright notice is included. Therefore, we usually do NOT keep any +of these books in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our books one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to send us error messages even years after +the official publication date. + +Please note: neither this list nor its contents are final till +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our sites at: +http://gutenberg.net +http://promo.net/pg + + +Those of you who want to download any Etext before announcement +can surf to them as follows, and just download by date; this is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext02 +or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext02 + +Or /etext01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. This +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If our value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour this year as we release fifty new Etext +files per month, or 500 more Etexts in 2000 for a total of 3000+ +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +should reach over 300 billion Etexts given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000 = 1 Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +At our revised rates of production, we will reach only one-third +of that goal by the end of 2001, or about 3,333 Etexts unless we +manage to get some real funding. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +Presently, contributions are only being solicited from people in: +Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, +Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Montana, +Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, +Texas, Vermont, and Wyoming. + +As the requirements for other states are met, +additions to this list will be made and fund raising +will begin in the additional states. + +These donations should be made to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, +EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541, +has been approved as a 501(c)(3) organization by the US Internal +Revenue Service (IRS). Donations are tax-deductible to the extent +permitted by law. As the requirements for other states are met, +additions to this list will be made and fund raising will begin in the +additional states. + +All donations should be made to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation. Mail to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Avenue +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 [USA] + + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information at: + +http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +hart@pobox.com forwards to hart@prairienet.org and archive.org +if your mail bounces from archive.org, I will still see it, if +it bounces from prairienet.org, better resend later on. . . . + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +*** + + +Example command-line FTP session: + +ftp ftp.ibiblio.org +login: anonymous +password: your@login +cd pub/docs/books/gutenberg +cd etext90 through etext99 or etext00 through etext02, etc. +dir [to see files] +get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files] +GET GUTINDEX.?? [to get a year's listing of books, e.g., GUTINDEX.99] +GET GUTINDEX.ALL [to get a listing of ALL books] + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etexts, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this etext, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the etext, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + etext or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the etext (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.12.12.00*END* + + + + + +This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + + + +Letters Vol. 6 +by Mark Twain + + + + + +VOLUME VI. +MARK TWAIN'S LETTERS 1907-1910 + + +XLVI + +LETTERS 1907-08. A DEGREE FROM OXFORD. THE NEW HOME AT REDDING + + The author, J. Howard Moore, sent a copy of his book, The Universal + Kinship, with a letter in which he said: "Most humorists have no + anxiety except to glorify themselves and add substance to their + pocket-books by making their readers laugh. You have shown, on many + occasions, that your mission is not simply to antidote the + melancholy of a world, but includes a real and intelligent concern + for the general welfare of your fellowman." + + The Universal Kinship was the kind of a book that Mark Twain + appreciated, as his acknowledgment clearly shows. + + + To Mr. J. Howard Moore: + + Feb. 2, '07. +DEAR MR. MOORE, The book has furnished me several days of deep pleasure +and satisfaction; it has compelled my gratitude at the same time, since +it saves me the labor of stating my own long-cherished opinions and +reflections and resentments by doing it lucidly and fervently and +irascibly for me. + +There is one thing that always puzzles me: as inheritors of the mentality +of our reptile ancestors we have improved the inheritance by a thousand +grades; but in the matter of the morals which they left us we have gone +backward as many grades. That evolution is strange, and to me +unaccountable and unnatural. Necessarily we started equipped with their +perfect and blemishless morals; now we are wholly destitute; we have no +real, morals, but only artificial ones--morals created and preserved by +the forced suppression of natural and hellish instincts. Yet we are dull +enough to be vain of them. Certainly we are a sufficiently comical +invention, we humans. + Sincerely Yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + Mark Twain's own books were always being excommunicated by some + librarian, and the matter never failed to invite the attention and + amusement of the press, and the indignation of many correspondents. + Usually the books were Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, the morals of which + were not regarded as wholly exemplary. But in 1907 a small library, + in a very small town, attained a day's national notoriety by putting + the ban on Eve's Diary, not so much on account of its text as for + the chaste and exquisite illustrations by Lester Ralph. When the + reporters came in a troop to learn about it, the author said: "I + believe this time the trouble is mainly with the pictures. I did + not draw them. I wish I had--they are so beautiful." + + Just at this time, Dr. William Lyon Phelps, of Yale, was giving a + literary talk to the Teachers' Club, of Hartford, dwelling on the + superlative value of Mark Twain's writings for readers old and + young. Mrs. F. G. Whitmore, an old Hartford friend, wrote Clemens + of the things that Phelps had said, as consolation for Eve's latest + banishment. This gave him a chance to add something to what he had + said to the reporters. + + + To Mrs. Whitmore, in Hartford: + + Feb. 7, 1907. +DEAR MRS. WHITMORE,--But the truth is, that when a Library expels a book +of mine and leaves an unexpurgated Bible lying around where unprotected +youth and age can get hold of it, the deep unconscious irony of it +delights me and doesn't anger me. But even if it angered me such words +as those of Professor Phelps would take the sting all out. Nobody +attaches weight to the freaks of the Charlton Library, but when a man +like Phelps speaks, the world gives attention. Some day I hope to meet +him and thank him for his courage for saying those things out in public. +Custom is, to think a handsome thing in private but tame it down in the +utterance. + +I hope you are all well and happy; and thereto I add my love. + Sincerely yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + In May, 1907, Mark Twain was invited to England to receive from + Oxford the degree of Literary Doctor. It was an honor that came to + him as a sort of laurel crown at the end of a great career, and + gratified him exceedingly. To Moberly Bell, of the London Times, + he expressed his appreciation. Bell had been over in April and + Clemens believed him concerned in the matter. + + + To Moberly Bell, in London: + + 21 FIFTH AVENUE, May 3, '07 +DEAR MR. BELL,--Your hand is in it! and you have my best thanks. +Although I wouldn't cross an ocean again for the price of the ship that +carried me, I am glad to do it for an Oxford degree. I shall plan to +sail for England a shade before the middle of June, so that I can have a +few days in London before the 26th. + Sincerely, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + He had taken a house at Tuxedo for the summer, desiring to be near + New York City, and in the next letter he writes Mr. Rogers + concerning his London plans. We discover, also, in this letter that + he has begun work on the Redding home and the cost is to come + entirely out of the autobiographical chapters then running in the + North American Review. It may be of passing interest to note here + that he had the usual house-builder's fortune. He received thirty + thousand dollars for the chapters; the house cost him nearly double + that amount. + + + To H. H. Rogers, in New York: + + TUXEDO PARK, + May 29, '07. +DEAR ADMIRAL,--Why hang it, I am not going to see you and Mrs. Rogers at +all in England! It is a great disappointment. I leave there a month +from now--June 29. No, I shall see you; for by your itinerary you are +most likely to come to London June 21st or along there. So that is very +good and satisfactory. I have declined all engagements but two--Whitelaw +Reid (dinner) June 21, and the Pilgrims (lunch), June 25. The Oxford +ceremony is June 26. I have paid my return passage in the Minne- +something, but it is just possible that I may want to stay in England a +week or two longer--I can't tell, yet. I do very much want to meet up +with the boys for the last time. + +I have signed the contract for the building of the house on my +Connecticut farm and specified the cost limit, and work has been begun. +The cost has to all come out of a year's instalments of Autobiography in +the N. A. Review. + +Clara, is winning her way to success and distinction with sure and steady +strides. By all accounts she is singing like a bird, and is not afraid +on the concert stage any more. + +Tuxedo is a charming place; I think it hasn't its equal anywhere. + +Very best wishes to you both. + S. L. C. + + + The story of Mark Twain's extraordinary reception and triumph in + England has been told. --[Mark Twain; A Biography, chaps. cclvi- + cclix]-- It was, in fact, the crowning glory of his career. Perhaps + one of the most satisfactory incidents of his sojourn was a dinner + given to him by the staff of Punch, in the historic offices at 10 + Bouverie Street where no other foreign visitor had been thus + honored--a notable distinction. When the dinner ended, little joy + Agnew, daughter of the chief editor, entered and presented to the + chief guest the original drawing of a cartoon by Bernard Partridge, + which had appeared on the front page of Punch. In this picture the + presiding genius of the paper is offering to Mark Twain health, long + life, and happiness from "The Punch Bowl." + + A short time after his return to America he received a pretty + childish letter from little Miss Agnew acknowledging a photograph he + had sent her, and giving a list of her pets and occupations. Such a + letter always delighted Mark Twain, and his pleasure in this one is + reflected in his reply. + + + To Miss Joy Agnew, in London: + + TUXEDO PARK, NEW YORK. +Unto you greetings and salutation and worship, you dear, sweet little +rightly-named Joy! I can see you now almost as vividly as I saw you that +night when you sat flashing and beaming upon those sombre swallow-tails. + + "Fair as a star when only one + Is shining in the sky." + +Oh, you were indeed the only one--there wasn't even the remotest chance +of competition with you, dear! Ah, you are a decoration, you little +witch! + +The idea of your house going to the wanton expense of a flower garden!-- +aren't you enough? And what do you want to go and discourage the other +flowers for? Is that the right spirit? is it considerate? is it kind? +How do you suppose they feel when you come around--looking the way you +look? And you so pink and sweet and dainty and lovely and supernatural? +Why, it makes them feel embarrassed and artificial, of course; and in my +opinion it is just as pathetic as it can be. Now then you want to +reform--dear--and do right. + +Well certainly you are well off, Joy: + +3 bantams; +3 goldfish; +3 doves; +6 canaries; +2 dogs; +1 cat; + +All you need, now, to be permanently beyond the reach of want, is one +more dog--just one more good, gentle, high principled, affectionate, +loyal dog who wouldn't want any nobler service than the golden privilege +of lying at your door, nights, and biting everything that came along--and +I am that very one, and ready to come at the dropping of a hat. + +Do you think you could convey my love and thanks to your "daddy" and Owen +Seaman and those other oppressed and down-trodden subjects of yours, you +darling small tyrant? + +On my knees! These--with the kiss of fealty from your other subject-- + + MARK TWAIN + + + Elinor Glyn, author of Three Weeks and other erotic tales, was in + America that winter and asked permission to call on Mark Twain. An + appointment was made and Clemens discussed with her, for an hour or + more, those crucial phases of life which have made living a complex + problem since the days of Eve in Eden. Mrs. Glyn had never before + heard anything like Mark Twain's wonderful talk, and she was anxious + to print their interview. She wrote what she could remember of it + and sent it to him for approval. If his conversation had been + frank, his refusal was hardly less so. + + + To Mrs. Elinor Glyn, in New York: + + Jan. 22, '08. +DEAR MRS. GLYN, It reads pretty poorly--I get the sense of it, but it is +a poor literary job; however, it would have to be that because nobody can +be reported even approximately, except by a stenographer. +Approximations, synopsized speeches, translated poems, artificial flowers +and chromos all have a sort of value, but it is small. If you had put +upon paper what I really said it would have wrecked your type-machine. +I said some fetid, over-vigorous things, but that was because it was a +confidential conversation. I said nothing for print. My own report of +the same conversation reads like Satan roasting a Sunday school. It, and +certain other readable chapters of my autobiography will not be published +until all the Clemens family are dead--dead and correspondingly +indifferent. They were written to entertain me, not the rest of the +world. I am not here to do good--at least not to do it intentionally. +You must pardon me for dictating this letter; I am sick a-bed and not +feeling as well as I might. + Sincerely Yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + Among the cultured men of England Mark Twain had no greater admirer, + or warmer friend, than Andrew Lang. They were at one on most + literary subjects, and especially so in their admiration of the life + and character of Joan of Arc. Both had written of her, and both + held her to be something almost more than mortal. When, therefore, + Anatole France published his exhaustive biography of the maid of + Domremy, a book in which he followed, with exaggerated minuteness + and innumerable footnotes, every step of Joan's physical career at + the expense of her spiritual life, which he was inclined to cheapen, + Lang wrote feelingly, and with some contempt, of the performance, + inviting the author of the Personal Recollections to come to the + rescue of their heroine. "Compare every one of his statements with + the passages he cites from authorities, and make him the laughter of + the world" he wrote. "If you are lazy about comparing I can make + you a complete set of what the authorities say, and of what this + amazing novelist says that they say. When I tell you that he thinks + the Epiphany (January 6, Twelfth Night) is December 25th--Christmas + Day-you begin to see what an egregious ass he is. Treat him like + Dowden, and oblige"--a reference to Mark Twain's defense of Harriet + Shelley, in which he had heaped ridicule on Dowden's Life of the + Poet--a masterly performance; one of the best that ever came from + Mark Twain's pen. + + Lang's suggestion would seem to have been a welcome one. + + + To Andrew Lang, in London: + + NEW YORK, April 25, 1908. +DEAR MR. LANG,--I haven't seen the book nor any review of it, but only +not very-understandable references to it--of a sort which discomforted +me, but of course set my interest on fire. I don't want to have to read +it in French--I should lose the nice shades, and should do a lot of gross +misinterpreting, too. But there'll be a translation soon, nicht wahr? +I will wait for it. I note with joy that you say: "If you are lazy about +comparing, (which I most certainly am), I can make you a complete set of +what the authorities say, and of what this amazing novelist says that +they say." + +Ah, do it for me! Then I will attempt the article, and (if I succeed in +doing it to my satisfaction,) will publish it. It is long since I +touched a pen (3 years), and I was intending to continue this happy +holiday to the gallows, but--there are things that could beguile me to +break this blessed Sabbath. + Yours very sincerely, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + Certainly it is an interesting fact that an Englishman--one of the + race that burned Joan--should feel moved to defend her memory + against the top-heavy perversions of a distinguished French author. + + But Lang seems never to have sent the notes. The copying would have + been a tremendous task, and perhaps he never found the time for it. + We may regret to-day that he did not, for Mark Twain's article on + the French author's Joan would have been at least unique. + + Samuel Clemens could never accustom himself to the loss of his wife. + From the time of her death, marriage-which had brought him his + greatest joy in life-presented itself to him always with the thought + of bereavement, waiting somewhere just behind. The news of an + approaching wedding saddened him and there was nearly always a + somber tinge in his congratulations, of which the following to a + dear friend is an example: + + + To Father Fitz-Simon, in Washington: + + June 5, '08. +DEAR FATHER FITZ-SIMON,--Marriage--yes, it is the supreme felicity of +life, I concede it. And it is also the supreme tragedy of life. The +deeper the love the surer the tragedy. And the more disconsolating when +it comes. + +And so I congratulate you. Not perfunctorily, not lukewarmly, but with a +fervency and fire that no word in the dictionary is strong enough to +convey. And in the same breath and with the same depth and sincerity, +I grieve for you. Not for both of you and not for the one that shall go +first, but for the one that is fated to be left behind. For that one +there is no recompense.--For that one no recompense is possible. + +There are times--thousands of times--when I can expose the half of my +mind, and conceal the other half, but in the matter of the tragedy of +marriage I feel too deeply for that, and I have to bleed it all out or +shut it all in. And so you must consider what I have been through, and +am passing through and be charitable with me. + +Make the most of the sunshine! and I hope it will last long--ever so +long. + +I do not really want to be present; yet for friendship's sake and because +I honor you so, I would be there if I could. + Most sincerely your friend, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + The new home at Redding was completed in the spring of 1908, and on + the 18th of June, when it was entirely fitted and furnished, Mark + Twain entered it for the first time. He had never even seen the + place nor carefully examined plans which John Howells had made for + his house. He preferred the surprise of it, and the general + avoidance of detail. That he was satisfied with the result will be + seen in his letters. He named it at first "Innocence at Home"; + later changing this title to "Stormfield." + + The letter which follows is an acknowledgment of an interesting + souvenir from the battle-field of Tewksbury (1471), and some relics + of the Cavalier and Roundhead Regiments encamped at Tewksbury in + 1643. + + + To an English admirer: + + INNOCENCE AT HOME, REDDING, CONNECTICUT, + Aug. 15, '08. +DEAR SIR,--I highly prize the pipes, and shall intimate to people that +"Raleigh" smoked them, and doubtless he did. After a little practice I +shall be able to go further and say he did; they will then be the most +interesting features of my library's decorations. The Horse-shoe is +attracting a good deal of attention, because I have intimated that the +conqueror's horse cast it; it will attract more when I get my hand in and +say he cast it, I thank you for the pipes and the shoe; and also for the +official guide, which I read through at a single sitting. If a person +should say that about a book of mine I should regard it as good evidence +of the book's interest. + Very truly yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + In his philosophy, What Is Man?, and now and again in his other + writings, we find Mark Twain giving small credit to the human mind + as an originator of ideas. The most original writer of his time, he + took no credit for pure invention and allowed none to others. The + mind, he declared, adapted, consciously or unconsciously; it did not + create. In a letter which follows he elucidates this doctrine. The + reference in it to the "captain" and to the kerosene, as the reader + may remember, have to do with Captain "Hurricane" Jones and his + theory of the miracles of "Isaac and of the prophets of Baal," as + expounded in Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion. + + By a trick of memory Clemens gives The Little Duke as his suggestion + for The Prince and the Pauper; he should have written The Prince and + the Page, by the same author. + + + To Rev. F. Y. Christ, in New York: + + REDDING, CONN., Aug., '08. +DEAR SIR,--You say "I often owe my best sermons to a suggestion received +in reading or from other exterior sources." Your remark is not quite in +accordance with the facts. We must change it to--"I owe all my thoughts, +sermons and ideas to suggestions received from sources outside of myself. +The simplified English of this proposition is--"No man's brains ever +originated an idea." It is an astonishing thing that after all these +ages the world goes on thinking the human brain machinery can originate a +thought. + +It can't. It never has done it. In all cases, little and big, the +thought is born of a suggestion; and in all cases the suggestions come to +the brain from the outside. The brain never acts except from exterior +impulse. + +A man can satisfy himself of the truth of this by a single process,--let +him examine every idea that occurs to him in an hour; a day; in a week +--in a lifetime if he please. He will always find that an outside +something suggested the thought, something which he saw with his eyes or +heard with his ears or perceived by his touch--not necessarily to-day, +nor yesterday, nor last year, nor twenty years ago, but sometime or +other. Usually the source of the suggestion is immediately traceable, +but sometimes it isn't. + +However, if you will examine every thought that occurs to you for the +next two days, you will find that in at least nine cases out of ten you +can put your finger on the outside suggestion--And that ought to convince +you that No. 10 had that source too, although you cannot at present hunt +it down and find it. + +The idea of writing to me would have had to wait a long time if it waited +until your brain originated it. It was born of an outside suggestion-- +Sir Thomas and my old Captain. + +The hypnotist thinks he has invented a new thing--suggestion. This is +very sad. I don't know where my captain got his kerosene idea. (It was +forty-one years ago, and he is long ago dead.) But I know that it didn't +originate in his head, but it was born from a suggestion from the +outside. + +Yesterday a guest said, "How did you come to think of writing 'The Prince +and the Pauper?' I didn't. The thought came to me from the outside-- +suggested by that pleasant and picturesque little history-book, Charlotte +M. Yonge's "Little Duke," I doubt if Mrs. Burnett knows whence came to +her the suggestion to write "Little Lord Fauntleroy," but I know; it came +to her from reading "The Prince and the Pauper." In all my life I have +never originated an idea, and neither has she, nor anybody else. + +Man's mind is a clever machine, and can work up materials into ingenious +fancies and ideas, but it can't create the material; none but the gods +can do that. In Sweden I saw a vast machine receive a block of wood, and +turn it into marketable matches in two minutes. It could do everything +but make the wood. That is the kind of machine the human mind is. Maybe +this is not a large compliment, but it is all I can afford..... + Your friend and well-wisher + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + To Mrs. H. H. Rogers, in Fair Hawn, Mass.: + + REDDING, CONN, Aug. 12, 1908. +DEAR MRS. ROGERS, I believe I am the wellest man on the planet to-day, +and good for a trip to Fair Haven (which I discussed with the Captain of +the New Bedford boat, who pleasantly accosted me in the Grand Central +August 5) but the doctor came up from New York day before yesterday, and +gave positive orders that I must not stir from here before frost. It is +because I was threatened with a swoon, 10 or 12 days ago, and went to New +York a day or two later to attend my nephew's funeral and got horribly +exhausted by the heat and came back here and had a bilious collapse. In +24 hours I was as sound as a nut again, but nobody believes it but me. + +This is a prodigiously satisfactory place, and I am so glad I don't have +to go back to the turmoil and rush of New York. The house stands high +and the horizons are wide, yet the seclusion is perfect. The nearest +public road is half a mile away, so there is nobody to look in, and I +don't have to wear clothes if I don't want to. I have been down stairs +in night-gown and slippers a couple of hours, and have been photographed +in that costume; but I will dress, now, and behave myself. + +That doctor had half an idea that there is something the matter with my +brain. . . Doctors do know so little and they do charge so much for +it. I wish Henry Rogers would come here, and I wish you would come with +him. You can't rest in that crowded place, but you could rest here, for +sure! I would learn bridge, and entertain you, and rob you. + With love to you both, + Ever yours, + S. L. C. + + + In the foregoing letter we get the first intimation of Mark Twain's + failing health. The nephew who had died was Samuel E. Moffett, son + of Pamela Clemens. Moffett, who was a distinguished journalist--an + editorial writer on Collier's Weekly, a man beloved by all who knew + him--had been drowned in the surf off the Jersey beach. + + + To W. D. Howells, Kittery Point, Maine: + + Aug. 12, '08. +DEAR HOWELLS,--Won't you and Mrs. Howells and Mildred come and give us as +many days as you can spare, and examine John's triumph? It is the most +satisfactory house I am acquainted with, and the most satisfactorily +situated. + +But it is no place to work in, because one is outside of it all the time, +while the sun and the moon are on duty. Outside of it in the loggia, +where the breezes blow and the tall arches divide up the scenery and +frame it. + +It's a ghastly long distance to come, and I wouldn't travel such a +distance to see anything short of a memorial museum, but if you can't +come now you can at least come later when you return to New York, for the +journey will be only an hour and a half per express-train. Things are +gradually and steadily taking shape inside the house, and nature is +taking care of the outside in her ingenious and wonderful fashion--and +she is competent and asks no help and gets none. I have retired from New +York for good, I have retired from labor for good, I have dismissed my +stenographer and have entered upon a holiday whose other end is in the +cemetery. + Yours ever, + MARK. + + + From a gentleman in Buffalo Clemens one day received a letter + inclosing an incompleted list of the world's "One Hundred Greatest + Men," men who had exerted "the largest visible influence on the life + and activities of the race." The writer asked that Mark Twain + examine the list and suggest names, adding "would you include Jesus, + as the founder of Christianity, in the list?" + + To the list of statesmen Clemens added the name of Thomas Paine; to + the list of inventors, Edison and Alexander Graham Bell. The + question he answered in detail. + + + To-----------, Buffalo, N. Y. + + Private. REDDING, CONN, Aug. 28, '08. +DEAR SIR,--By "private," I mean don't print any remarks of mine. + + .................. +I like your list. + +The "largest visible influence." + +These terms require you to add Jesus. And they doubly and trebly require +you to add Satan. From A.D. 350 to A.D. 1850 these gentlemen exercised a +vaster influence over a fifth part of the human race than was exercised +over that fraction of the race by all other influences combined. Ninety- +nine hundredths of this influence proceeded from Satan, the remaining +fraction of it from Jesus. During those 1500 years the fear of Satan and +Hell made 99 Christians where love of God and Heaven landed one. During +those 1500 years, Satan's influence was worth very nearly a hundred times +as much to the business as was the influence of all the rest of the Holy +Family put together. + +You have asked me a question, and I have answered it seriously and +sincerely. You have put in Buddha--a god, with a following, at one time, +greater than Jesus ever had: a god with perhaps a little better evidence +of his godship than that which is offered for Jesus's. How then, in +fairness, can you leave Jesus out? And if you put him in, how can you +logically leave Satan out? Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but +it is the lightning that does the work. + Very truly yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + The "Children's Theatre" of the next letter was an institution of + the New York East Side in which Mark Twain was deeply interested. + The children were most, if not all, of Hebrew parentage, and the + performances they gave, under the direction of Alice M. Herts, were + really remarkable. It seemed a pity that lack of funds should have + brought this excellent educational venture to an untimely end. + + The following letter was in reply to one inclosing a newspaper + clipping reporting a performance of The Prince and the Pauper, given + by Chicago school children. + + + To Mrs. Hookway, in Chicago: + Sept., 1908. +DEAR MRS. HOOKWAY,--Although I am full of the spirit of work this +morning, a rarity with me lately--I must steal a moment or two for a word +in person: for I have been reading the eloquent account in the Record- +Herald and am pleasurably stirred, to my deepest deeps. The reading +brings vividly back to me my pet and pride. The Children's Theatre of +the East side, New York. And it supports and re-affirms what I have so +often and strenuously said in public that a children's theatre is easily +the most valuable adjunct that any educational institution for the young +can have, and that no otherwise good school is complete without it. + +It is much the most effective teacher of morals and promoter of good +conduct that the ingenuity of man has yet devised, for the reason that +its lessons are not taught wearily by book and by dreary homily, but by +visible and enthusing action; and they go straight to the heart, which is +the rightest of right places for them. Book morals often get no further +than the intellect, if they even get that far on their spectral and +shadowy pilgrimage: but when they travel from a Children's Theatre they +do not stop permanently at that halfway house, but go on home. + +The children's theatre is the only teacher of morals and conduct and high +ideals that never bores the pupil, but always leaves him sorry when the +lesson is over. And as for history, no other teacher is for a moment +comparable to it: no other can make the dead heroes of the world rise up +and shake the dust of the ages from their bones and live and move and +breathe and speak and be real to the looker and listener: no other can +make the study of the lives and times of the illustrious dead a delight, +a splendid interest, a passion; and no other can paint a history-lesson +in colors that will stay, and stay, and never fade. + +It is my conviction that the children's theatre is one of the very, very +great inventions of the twentieth century; and that its vast educational +value--now but dimly perceived and but vaguely understood--will presently +come to be recognized. By the article which I have been reading I find +the same things happening in the Howland School that we have become +familiar with in our Children's Theatre (of which I am President, and +sufficiently vain of the distinction.) These things among others; + +1. The educating history-study does not stop with the little players, +but the whole school catches the infection and revels in it. + +2. And it doesn't even stop there; the children carry it home and infect +the family with it--even the parents and grandparents; and the whole +household fall to studying history, and bygone manners and customs and +costumes with eager interest. And this interest is carried along to the +studying of costumes in old book-plates; and beyond that to the selecting +of fabrics and the making of clothes. Hundreds of our children learn, +the plays by listening without book, and by making notes; then the +listener goes home and plays the piece--all the parts! to the family. +And the family are glad and proud; glad to listen to the explanations and +analyses, glad to learn, glad to be lifted to planes above their dreary +workaday lives. Our children's theatre is educating 7,000 children--and +their families. When we put on a play of Shakespeare they fall to +studying it diligently; so that they may be qualified to enjoy it to the +limit when the piece is staged. + +3. Your Howland School children do the construction-work, stage- +decorations, etc. That is our way too. Our young folks do everything +that is needed by the theatre, with their own hands; scene-designing, +scene-painting, gas-fitting, electric work, costume-designing--costume +making, everything and all things indeed--and their orchestra and its +leader are from their own ranks. + +The article which I have been reading, says--speaking of the historical +play produced by the pupils of the Howland School-- + +"The question naturally arises, What has this drama done for those who so +enthusiastically took part?--The touching story has made a year out of +the Past live for the children as could no chronology or bald statement +of historical events; it has cultivated the fancy and given to the +imagination strength and purity; work in composition has ceased to be +drudgery, for when all other themes fall flat a subject dealing with some +aspect of the drama presented never fails to arouse interest and a rapid +pushing of pens over paper." + +That is entirely true. The interest is not confined to the drama's +story, it spreads out all around the period of the story, and gives to +all the outlying and unrelated happenings of that period a fascinating +interest--an interest which does not fade out with the years, but remains +always fresh, always inspiring, always welcome. History-facts dug by the +job, with sweat and tears out of a dry and spiritless text-book--but +never mind, all who have suffered know what that is. . . + I remain, dear madam, + Sincerely yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + Mark Twain had a special fondness for cats. As a boy he always + owned one and it generally had a seat beside him at the table. + There were cats at Quarry Farm and at Hartford, and in the house at + Redding there was a gray mother-cat named Tammany, of which he was + especially fond. Kittens capering about were his chief delight. + In a letter to a Chicago woman he tells how those of Tammany + assisted at his favorite game. + + + To Mrs. Mabel Larkin Patterson, in Chicago: + + REDDING, CONNECTICUT, + Oct. 2, '08. +DEAR MRS. PATTERSON,--The contents of your letter are very pleasant and +very welcome, and I thank you for them, sincerely. If I can find a +photograph of my "Tammany" and her kittens, I will enclose it in this. + +One of them likes to be crammed into a corner-pocket of the billiard +table--which he fits as snugly as does a finger in a glove and then he +watches the game (and obstructs it) by the hour, and spoils many a shot +by putting out his paw and changing the direction of a passing ball. +Whenever a ball is in his arms, or so close to him that it cannot be +played upon without risk of hurting him, the player is privileged to +remove it to anyone of the 3 spots that chances to be vacant. + +Ah, no, my lecturing days are over for good and all. + Sincerely yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + The letter to Howells which follows was written a short time before + the passage of the copyright extension bill, which rendered Mark + Twain's new plan, here mentioned, unneeded--at least for the time. + + + To W. D. Howells, in New York: + + Monday, Oct. 26, '08. +Oh, I say! Where are you hiding, and why are you hiding? You promised +to come here and you didn't keep your word. (This sounds like +astonishment--but don't be misled by that.) + +Come, fire up again on your fiction-mill and give us another good +promise. And this time keep it--for it is your turn to be astonished. +Come and stay as long as you possibly can. I invented a new copyright +extension scheme last Friday, and sat up all night arranging its details. +It will interest you. Yesterday I got it down on paper in as compact a +form as I could. Harvey and I have examined the scheme, and to-morrow or +next day he will send me a couple of copyright-experts to arrange about +getting certain statistics for me. + +Authors, publishers and the public have always been damaged by the +copyright laws. The proposed amendment will advantage all three--the +public most of all. I think Congress will pass it and settle the vexed +question permanently. + +I shall need your assent and the assent of about a dozen other authors. +Also the assent of all the large firms of the 300 publishers. These +authors and publishers will furnish said assent I am sure. Not even the +pirates will be able to furnish a serious objection, I think. + +Come along. This place seemed at its best when all around was summer- +green; later it seemed at its best when all around was burning with the +autumn splendors; and now once more it seems at its best, with the trees +naked and the ground a painter's palette. + Yours ever, + MARK. + + + Clemens was a great admirer of the sea stories of W. W. Jacobs and + generally kept one or more of this author's volumes in reach of his + bed, where most of his reading was done. The acknowledgment that + follows was sent when he had finished Salthaven. + + + To W. W. Jacobs, in England: + + REDDING, CONN, + Oct. 28, '08. +DEAR MR. JACOBS,--It has a delightful look. I will not venture to say +how delightful, because the words would sound extravagant, and would +thereby lose some of their strength and to that degree misrepresent me. +It is my conviction that Dialstone Lane holds the supremacy over all +purely humorous books in our language, but I feel about Salthaven as the +Cape Cod poet feels about Simon Hanks: + + "The Lord knows all things, great and small, + With doubt he's not perplexed: + 'Tis Him alone that knows it all + But Simon Hanks comes next." + +The poet was moved by envy and malice and jealousy, but I am not: I place +Salthaven close up next to Dialstone because I think it has a fair and +honest right to that high position. I have kept the other book moving; +I shall begin to hand this one around now. + +And many thanks to you for remembering me. + +This house is out in the solitudes of the woods and the hills, an hour +and a half from New York, and I mean to stay in it winter and summer the +rest of my days. I beg you to come and help occupy it a few days the +next time you visit the U.S. + Sincerely yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + One of the attractions of Stormfield was a beautiful mantel in the + billiard room, presented by the Hawaiian Promotion Committee. It + had not arrived when the rest of the house was completed, but came + in time to be set in place early in the morning of the owner's + seventy-third birthday. It was made of a variety of Hawaiian woods, + and was the work of a native carver, F. M. Otremba. Clemens was + deeply touched by the offering from those "western isles"--the + memory of which was always so sweet to him. + + + To Mr. Wood, in Hawaii: + + Nov. 30, '08. +DEAR MR. WOOD,--The beautiful mantel was put in its place an hour ago, +and its friendly "Aloha" was the first uttered greeting my 73rd birthday +received. It is rich in color, rich in quality, and rich in decoration, +therefore it exactly harmonizes with the taste for such things which was +born in me and which I have seldom been able to indulge to my content. +It will be a great pleasure to me, daily renewed, to have under my eye +this lovely reminder of the loveliest fleet of islands that lies anchored +in any ocean, and I beg to thank the Committee for providing me that +pleasure. + Sincerely Yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + + +XLVII + +LETTERS, 1909. TO HOWELLS AND OTHERS. LIFE AT STORMFIELD. COPYRIGHT +EXTENSION. DEATH OF JEAN CLEMENS + + Clemens remained at Stormfield all that winter. New York was sixty + miles away and he did not often care to make the journey. He was + constantly invited to this or that public gathering, or private + party, but such affairs had lost interest for him. He preferred the + quiet of his luxurious home with its beautiful outlook, while for + entertainment he found the billiard afternoons sufficient. Guests + came from the city, now and again, for week-end visits, and if he + ever was restless or lonely he did not show it. + + Among the invitations that came was one from General O. O. Howard + asking him to preside at a meeting to raise an endowment fund for a + Lincoln Memorial University at Cumberland Gap, Tennessee. Closing + his letter, General Howard said, "Never mind if you did fight on the + other side." + + + To General O. O. Howard: + + STORMFIELD, REDDING, CONNECTICUT, + Jan, 12, '09. +DEAR GENERAL HOWARD,--You pay me a most gratifying compliment in asking +me to preside, and it causes me very real regret that I am obliged to +decline, for the object of the meeting appeals strongly to me, since that +object is to aid in raising the $500,000 Endowment Fund for Lincoln +Memorial University. The Endowment Fund will be the most fitting of all +the memorials the country will dedicate to the memory of Lincoln, +serving, as it will, to uplift his very own people. + +I hope you will meet with complete success, and I am sorry I cannot be +there to witness it and help you rejoice. But I am older than people +think, and besides I live away out in the country and never stir from +home, except at geological intervals, to fill left-over engagements in +mesozoic times when I was younger and indiscreeter. + +You ought not to say sarcastic things about my "fighting on the other +side." General Grant did not act like that. General Grant paid me +compliments. He bracketed me with Zenophon--it is there in his Memoirs +for anybody to read. He said if all the confederate soldiers had +followed my example and adopted my military arts he could never have +caught enough of them in a bunch to inconvenience the Rebellion. General +Grant was a fair man, and recognized my worth; but you are prejudiced, +and you have hurt my feelings. + But I have an affection for you, anyway. + MARK TWAIN. + + + One of Mark Twain's friends was Henniker-Heaton, the so-called + "Father of Penny Postage" between England and America. When, after + long years of effort, he succeeded in getting the rate established, + he at once bent his energies in the direction of cheap cable service + and a letter from him came one day to Stormfield concerning his new + plans. This letter happened to be over-weight, which gave Mark + Twain a chance for some amusing exaggerations at his expense. + + + To Henniker-Heaton, in London: + + STORMFIELD, REDDING, CONNECTICUT, + Jan. 18, 1909. +DEAR HENNIKER-HEATON,--I do hope you will succeed to your heart's desire +in your cheap-cablegram campaign, and I feel sure you will. Indeed your +cheap-postage victory, achieved in spite of a quarter-century of +determined opposition, is good and rational prophecy that you will. +Wireless, not being as yet imprisoned in a Chinese wall of private cash +and high-placed and formidable influence, will come to your aid and make +your new campaign briefer and easier than the other one was. + +Now then, after uttering my serious word, am I privileged to be frivolous +for a moment? When you shall have achieved cheap telegraphy, are you +going to employ it for just your own selfish profit and other people's +pecuniary damage, the way you are doing with your cheap postage? You get +letter-postage reduced to 2 cents an ounce, then you mail me a 4-ounce +letter with a 2-cent stamp on it, and I have to pay the extra freight at +this end of the line. I return your envelope for inspection. Look at +it. Stamped in one place is a vast "T," and under it the figures "40," +and under those figures appears an "L," a sinister and suspicious and +mysterious L. In another place, stamped within a circle, in offensively +large capitals, you find the words "DUE 8 CENTS." Finally, in the midst +of a desert space up nor-noreastard from that circle you find a figure +"3" of quite unnecessarily aggressive and insolent magnitude--and done +with a blue pencil, so as to be as conspicuous as possible. I inquired +about these strange signs and symbols of the postman. He said they were +P. O. Department signals for his instruction. + +"Instruction for what?" + +"To get extra postage." + +"Is it so? Explain. Tell me about the large T and the 40. + +"It's short for Take 40--or as we postmen say, grab 40" + +Go on, please, while I think up some words to swear with." + +"Due 8 means, grab 8 more." + +"Continue." + +"The blue-pencil 3 was an afterthought. There aren't any stamps for +afterthoughts; the sums vary, according to inspiration, and they whirl in +the one that suggests itself at the last moment. Sometimes they go +several times higher than this one. This one only means hog 3 cents +more. And so if you've got 51 cents about you, or can borrow it--" + +"Tell me: who gets this corruption?" + +"Half of it goes to the man in England who ships the letter on short +postage, and the other half goes to the P.O.D. to protect cheap postage +from inaugurating a deficit." + +"-------------------" + +"I can't blame you; I would say it myself in your place, if these ladies +were not present. But you see I'm only obeying orders, I can't help +myself." + +"Oh, I know it; I'm not blaming you. Finally, what does that L stand +for?" + +"Get the money, or give him L. It's English, you know." + +"Take it and go. It's the last cent I've got in the world -------." + +After seeing the Oxford pageant file by the grand stand, picture after +picture, splendor after splendor, three thousand five hundred strong, the +most moving and beautiful and impressive and historically-instructive +show conceivable, you are not to think I would miss the London pageant of +next year, with its shining host of 15,000 historical English men and +women dug from the misty books of all the vanished ages and marching in +the light of the sun--all alive, and looking just as they were used to +look! Mr. Lascelles spent yesterday here on the farm, and told me all +about it. I shall be in the middle of my 75th year then, and interested +in pageants for personal and prospective reasons. + +I beg you to give my best thanks to the Bath Club for the offer of its +hospitalities, but I shall not be able to take advantage of it, because I +am to be a guest in a private house during my stay in London. + Sincerely yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + It was in 1907 that Clemens had seen the Oxford Pageant--during the + week when he had been awarded his doctor's degree. It gave him the + greatest delight, and he fully expected to see the next one, planned + for 1910. + + In the letter to Howells which follows we get another glimpse of + Mark Twain's philosophy of man, the irresponsible machine. + + + To W. D. Howells, in New York: + + STORMFIELD, REDDING, CONN., + Jan. 18, '09. +DEAR HOWELLS,--I have to write a line, lazy as I am, to say how your Poe +article delighted me; and to say that I am in agreement with +substantially all you say about his literature. To me his prose is +unreadable--like Jane Austin's. No, there is a difference. I could read +his prose on salary, but not Jane's. Jane is entirely impossible. It +seems a great pity that they allowed her to die a natural death. + +Another thing: you grant that God and circumstances sinned against Poe, +but you also grant that he sinned against himself--a thing which he +couldn't do and didn't do. + +It is lively up here now. I wish you could come. + Yrs ever, + MARK + + + To W. D. Howells, in New York: + + STORMFIELD, REDDING, CONNECTICUT, + 3 in the morning, Apl. 17, '09. + [Written with pencil]. +My pen has gone dry and the ink is out of reach. Howells, Did you write +me day-before-day before yesterday, or did I dream it? In my mind's eye +I most vividly see your hand-write on a square blue envelop in the +mailpile. I have hunted the house over, but there is no such letter. +Was it an illusion? + +I am reading Lowell's letter, and smoking. I woke an hour ago and am +reading to keep from wasting the time. On page 305, vol. I. I have +just margined a note: + +"Young friend! I like that! You ought to see him now." + +It seemed startlingly strange to hear a person call you young. It was a +brick out of a blue sky, and knocked me groggy for a moment. Ah me, the +pathos of it is, that we were young then. And he--why, so was he, but he +didn't know it. He didn't even know it 9 years later, when we saw him +approaching and you warned me, saying, "Don't say anything about age--he +has just turned fifty, and thinks he is old and broods over it." + +[Well, Clara did sing! And you wrote her a dear letter.] + +Time to go to sleep. + Yours ever, + MARK. + + + To Daniel Kiefer: + + [No date.] +DANL KIEFER ESQ. DEAR SIR,--I should be far from willing to have a +political party named after me. + +I would not be willing to belong to a party which allowed its members to +have political aspirations or to push friends forward for political +preferment. + Yours very truly, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + The copyright extension, for which the author had been working so + long, was granted by Congress in 1909, largely as the result of that + afternoon in Washington when Mark Twain had "received" in "Uncle + Joe" Cannon's private room, and preached the gospel of copyright + until the daylight faded and the rest of the Capitol grew still. + Champ Clark was the last to linger that day and they had talked far + into the dusk. Clark was powerful, and had fathered the bill. Now + he wrote to know if it was satisfactory. + + + To Champ Clark, in Washington: + + STORMFIELD, REDDING, CONN., June 5, '09. +DEAR CHAMP CLARK--Is the new copyright law acceptable to me? +Emphatically, yes! Clark, it is the only sane, and clearly defined, and +just and righteous copyright law that has ever existed in the United +States. Whosoever will compare it with its predecessors will have no +trouble in arriving at that decision. + +The bill which was before the committee two years ago when I was down +there was the most stupefying jumble of conflicting and apparently +irreconcilable interests that was ever seen; and we all said "the case is +hopeless, absolutely hopeless--out of this chaos nothing can be built." +But we were in error; out of that chaotic mass this excellent bill has +been instructed; the warring interests have been reconciled, and the +result is as comely and substantial a legislative edifice as lifts its +domes and towers and protective lightning rods out of the statute book, +I think. When I think of that other bill, which even the Deity couldn't +understand, and of this one which even I can understand, I take off my +hat to the man or men who devised this one. Was it R. U. Johnson? Was +it the Author's League? Was it both together? I don't know, but I take +off my hat, anyway. Johnson has written a valuable article about the new +law--I enclose it. + +At last--at last and for the first time in copyright history we are ahead +of England! Ahead of her in two ways: by length of time and by fairness +to all interests concerned. Does this sound like shouting? Then I must +modify it: all we possessed of copyright-justice before the fourth of +last March we owed to England's initiative. + Truly Yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + Because Mark Twain amused himself with certain aspects of Christian + Science, and was critical of Mrs. Eddy, there grew up a wide + impression that he jeered at the theory of mental healing; when, as + a matter of fact, he was one of its earliest converts, and never + lost faith in its power. The letter which follows is an excellent + exposition of his attitude toward the institution of Christian + Science and the founder of the church in America. + + + To J. Wylie Smith, Glasgow, Scotland: + + "STORMFIELD," August 7, 1909 +DEAR SIR,--My view of the matter has not changed. To wit, that Christian +Science is valuable; that it has just the same value now that it had when +Mrs. Eddy stole it from Quimby; that its healing principle (its most +valuable asset) possesses the same force now that it possessed a million +years ago before Quimby was born; that Mrs. Eddy. . . organized that +force, and is entitled to high credit for that. Then, with a splendid +sagacity she hitched it to. . . a religion, the surest of all ways to +secure friends for it, and support. In a fine and lofty way-- +figuratively speaking--it was a tramp stealing a ride on the lightning +express. Ah, how did that ignorant village-born peasant woman know the +human being so well? She has no more intellect than a tadpole--until it +comes to business then she is a marvel! Am I sorry I wrote the book? +Most certainly not. You say you have 500 (converts) in Glasgow. Fifty +years from now, your posterity will not count them by the hundred, but by +the thousand. I feel absolutely sure of this. + Very truly yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + Clemens wrote very little for publication that year, but he enjoyed + writing for his own amusement, setting down the things that boiled, + or bubbled, within him: mainly chapters on the inconsistencies of + human deportment, human superstition and human creeds. The "Letters + from the Earth" referred to in the following, were supposed to have + been written by an immortal visitant from some far realm to a + friend, describing the absurdities of mankind. It is true, as he + said, that they would not do for publication, though certainly the + manuscript contains some of his mgt delicious writing. Miss + Wallace, to whom the next letter is written, had known Mark Twain in + Bermuda, and, after his death, published a dainty volume entitled + Mark Twain in the Happy Island. + + + "STORMFIELD," REDDING, CONNECTICUT, + Nov. 13, '09. +DEAR BETSY,--I've been writing "Letters from the Earth," and if you will +come here and see us I will--what? Put the MS in your hands, with the +places to skip marked? No. I won't trust you quite that far. I'll read +messages to you. This book will never be published--in fact it couldn't +be, because it would be felony to soil the mails with it, for it has much +Holy Scripture in it of the kind that . . . can't properly be read +aloud, except from the pulpit and in family worship. Paine enjoys it, +but Paine is going to be damned one of these days, I suppose. + +The autumn splendors passed you by? What a pity. I wish you had been +here. It was beyond words! It was heaven and hell and sunset and +rainbows and the aurora all fused into one divine harmony, and you +couldn't look at it and keep the tears back. All the hosannahing strong +gorgeousnesses have gone back to heaven and hell and the pole, now, but +no matter; if you could look out of my bedroom window at this moment, you +would choke up; and when you got your voice you would say: This is not +real, this is a dream. Such a singing together, and such a whispering +together, and such a snuggling together of cosy soft colors, and such +kissing and caressing, and such pretty blushing when the sun breaks out +and catches those dainty weeds at it--you remember that weed-garden of +mine?--and then--then the far hills sleeping in a dim blue trance--oh, +hearing about it is nothing, you should be here to see it. + +Good! I wish I could go on the platform and read. And I could, if it +could be kept out of the papers. There's a charity-school of 400 young +girls in Boston that I would give my ears to talk to, if I had some more; +but--oh, well, I can't go, and it's no use to grieve about it. + +This morning Jean went to town; also Paine; also the butler; also Katy; +also the laundress. The cook and the maid, and the boy and the +roustabout and Jean's coachman are left--just enough to make it lonesome, +because they are around yet never visible. However, the Harpers are +sending Leigh up to play billiards; therefore I shall survive. + Affectionately, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + Early in June that year, Clemens had developed unmistakable symptoms + of heart trouble of a very serious nature. It was angina pectoris, + and while to all appearances he was as well as ever and usually felt + so, he was periodically visited by severe attacks of acute "breast + pains" which, as the months passed, increased in frequency and + severity. He was alarmed and distressed--not on his own account, + but because of his daughter Jean--a handsome girl, who had long been + subject to epileptic seizures. In case of his death he feared that + Jean would be without permanent anchorage, his other daughter, + Clara--following her marriage to Ossip Gabrilowitsch in October-- + having taken up residence abroad. + + This anxiety was soon ended. On the morning of December 24th, jean + Clemens was found dead in her apartment. She was not drowned in her + bath, as was reported, but died from heart exhaustion, the result of + her malady and the shock of cold water. + [Questionable diagnosis! D.W.] + + The blow to her father was terrible, but heavy as it was, one may + perhaps understand that her passing in that swift, painless way must + have afforded him a measure of relief. + + + To Mrs. Gabrilowitsch, in Europe: + + REDDING, CONN., + Dec. 29, '09. +O, Clara, Clara dear, I am so glad she is out of it and safe--safe! I am +not melancholy; I shall never be melancholy again, I think. You see, I +was in such distress when I came to realize that you were gone far away +and no one stood between her and danger but me--and I could die at any +moment, and then--oh then what would become of her! For she was wilful, +you know, and would not have been governable. + +You can't imagine what a darling she was, that last two or three days; +and how fine, and good, and sweet, and noble-and joyful, thank Heaven!-- +and how intellectually brilliant. I had never been acquainted with Jean +before. I recognized that. + +But I mustn't try to write about her--I can't. I have already poured my +heart out with the pen, recording that last day or two. + +I will send you that--and you must let no one but Ossip read it. + +Good-bye. + I love you so! + And Ossip. + FATHER. + + +The writing mentioned in the last paragraph was his article 'The Death of +Jean,' his last serious writing, and one of the world's most beautiful +examples of elegiac prose. --[Harper's Magazine, Dec., 1910, and later in +the volume, 'What Is Man and Other Essays.' + + + + +XLVIII + +LETTERS OF 1910. LAST TRIP TO BERMUDA. LETTERS TO PAINE. +THE LAST LETTER + + Mark Twain had returned from a month's trip to Bermuda a few days + before Jean died. Now, by his physician's advice, he went back to + those balmy islands. He had always loved them, since his first trip + there with Twichell thirty-three years earlier, and at "Bay House," + the residence of Vice-Consul Allen, where he was always a welcome + guest, he could have the attentions and care and comforts of a home. + Taking Claude, the butler, as his valet, he sailed January 5th, and + presently sent back a letter in which he said, "Again I am leading + the ideal life, and am immeasurably content." + + By his wish, the present writer and his family were keeping the + Stormfield house open for him, in order that he might be able to + return to its comforts at any time. He sent frequent letters--one + or two by each steamer--but as a rule they did not concern matters + of general interest. A little after his arrival, however, he wrote + concerning an incident of his former visit--a trivial matter--but + one which had annoyed him. I had been with him in Bermuda on the + earlier visit, and as I remember it, there had been some slight + oversight on his part in the matter of official etiquette--something + which doubtless no one had noticed but himself. + + + To A. B. Paine, in Redding: + + BAY HOUSE, Jan. 11, 1910. + +DEAR PAINE,-- . . . There was a military lecture last night at the +Officer's Mess, prospect, and as the lecturer honored me with a special +and urgent invitation and said he wanted to lecture to me particularly, +I being "the greatest living master of the platform-art," I naturally +packed Helen and her mother into the provided carriage and went. + +As soon as we landed at the door with the crowd the Governor came to me +at once and was very cordial, and apparently as glad to see me as he said +he was. So that incident is closed. And pleasantly and entirely +satisfactorily. Everything is all right, now, and I am no longer in a +clumsy and awkward situation. + +I "met up" with that charming Colonel Chapman, and other officers of the +regiment, and had a good time. + +Commandant Peters of the "Carnegie" will dine here tonight and arrange a +private visit for us to his ship, the crowd to be denied access. + Sincerely Yours, + S. L. C. + + + "Helen" of this letter was Mr. and Mrs. Allen's young daughter, + a favorite companion of his walks and drives. "Loomis" and "Lark," + mentioned in the letters which follow, were Edward E. Loomis--his + nephew by marriage--named by Mark Twain as one of the trustees of + his estate, and Charles T. Lark, Mark Twain's attorney. + + + To A. B. Paine, in Redding: + + HAMILTON, Jan. 21, '10. +DEAR PAINE,--Thanks for your letter, and for its contenting news of the +situation in that foreign and far-off and vaguely-remembered country +where you and Loomis and Lark and other beloved friends are. + +I have a letter from Clara this morning. She is solicitous, and wants me +well and watchfully taken care of. My, she ought to see Helen and her +parents and Claude administer that trust! + +Also she says: "I hope to hear from you or Mr. Paine very soon." + +I am writing her, and I know you will respond to your part of her prayer. +She is pretty desolate now, after Jean's emancipation--the only kindness +God ever did that poor unoffending child in all her hard life. + Ys ever + S. L. C. + + + Send Clara a copy of Howells's gorgeous letter. I want a copy of my + article that he is speaking of. + + + The "gorgeous letter" was concerning Mark Twain's article, "The + Turning-point in My Life" which had just appeared in one of the + Harper publications. Howells wrote of it, "While your wonderful + words are warm in my mind yet, I want to tell you what you know + already: that you never wrote anything greater, finer, than that + turning-point paper of yours." + + From the early Bermuda letters we may gather that Mark Twain's days + were enjoyable enough, and that his malady was not giving him + serious trouble, thus far. Near the end of January he wrote: "Life + continues here the same as usual. There isn't a flaw in it. Good + times, good home, tranquil contentment all day and every day, + without a break. I shouldn't know how to go about bettering my + situation." He did little in the way of literary work, probably + finding neither time nor inclination for it. When he wrote at all + it was merely to set down some fanciful drolleries with no thought + of publication. + + + To Prof. William Lyon Phelps, Yale College: + + HAMILTON, March 12. +DEAR PROFESSOR PHELPS,--I thank you ever so much for the book--[Professor +Phelps's Essays on Modern Novelists.]--which I find charming--so charming +indeed, that I read it through in a single night, and did not regret the +lost night's sleep. I am glad if I deserve what you have said about me: +and even if I don't I am proud and well contented, since you think I +deserve it. + +Yes, I saw Prof. Lounsbury, and had a most pleasant time with him. He +ought to have staid longer in this little paradise--partly for his own +sake, but mainly for mine. + +I knew my poor Jean had written you. I shall not have so dear and sweet +a secretary again. + +Good health to you, and all good fortune attend you. + Sincerely yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + He would appear to have written not many letters besides those to + Mrs. Gabrilowitsch and to Stormfield, but when a little girl sent + him a report of a dream, inspired by reading The Prince and the + Pauper, he took the time and trouble to acknowledge it, realizing, + no doubt, that a line from him would give the child happiness. + + + To Miss Sulamith, in New York: + + "BAY HOUSE," BERMUDA, March 21, 1910. +DEAR MISS SULAMITH,--I think it is a remarkable dream for a girl of 13 to +have dreamed, in fact for a person of any age to have dreamed, because it +moves by regular grade and sequence from the beginning to the end, which +is not the habit of dreams. I think your report of it is a good piece of +work, a clear and effective statement of the vision. + +I am glad to know you like the "Prince and the Pauper" so well and I +believe with you that the dream is good evidence of that liking. I think +I may say, with your sister that I like myself best when I am serious. + Sincerely yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + Through February, and most of March, letters and reports from him + were about the same. He had begun to plan for his return, and + concerning amusements at Stormfield for the entertainment of the + neighbors, and for the benefit of the library which he had founded + soon after his arrival in Redding. In these letters he seldom + mentioned the angina pains that had tortured him earlier. But once, + when he sent a small photograph of himself, it seemed to us that his + face had become thin and that he had suffered. Certainly his next + letter was not reassuring. + + + To A. B. Paine, in Redding: + +DEAR PAINE,--We must look into the magic-lantern business. Maybe the +modern lantern is too elaborate and troublesome for back-settlement use, +but we can inquire. We must have some kind of a show at "Stormfield" to +entertain the countryside with. + +We are booked to sail in the "Bermudian" April 23rd, but don't tell +anybody, I don't want it known. I may have to go sooner if the pain in +my breast doesn't mend its ways pretty considerably. I don't want to die +here for this is an unkind place for a person in that condition. I +should have to lie in the undertaker's cellar until the ship would remove +me and it is dark down there and unpleasant. + +The Colliers will meet me on the pier and I may stay with them a week or +two before going home. It all depends on the breast pain--I don't want +to die there. I am growing more and more particular about the place. + With love, + S. L. C. + + + This letter had been written by the hand of his "secretary," Helen + Allen: writing had become an effort to him. Yet we did not suspect + how rapidly the end was approaching and only grew vaguely alarmed. + A week later, however, it became evident that his condition was + critical. + + +DEAR PAINE,--. . . . I have been having a most uncomfortable time for +the past 4 days with that breast-pain, which turns out to be an affection +of the heart, just as I originally suspected. The news from New York is +to the effect that non-bronchial weather has arrived there at last, +therefore if I can get my breast trouble in traveling condition I may +sail for home a week or two earlier than has heretofore been proposed: + Yours as ever + S. L. CLEMENS, + (per H. S. A.) + + + In this letter he seems to have forgotten that his trouble had been + pronounced an affection of the heart long before he left America, + though at first it had been thought that it might be gastritis. + The same mail brought a letter from Mr. Allen explaining fully the + seriousness of his condition. I sailed immediately for Bermuda, + arriving there on the 4th of April. He was not suffering at the + moment, though the pains came now with alarming frequency and + violence. He was cheerful and brave. He did not complain. He gave + no suggestion of a man whose days were nearly ended. + + A part of the Stormfield estate had been a farm, which he had given + to Jean Clemens, where she had busied herself raising some live + stock and poultry. After her death he had wished the place to be + sold and the returns devoted to some memorial purpose. The sale had + been made during the winter and the price received had been paid in + cash. I found him full of interest in all affairs, and anxious to + discuss the memorial plan. A day or two later he dictated the + following letter-the last he would ever send. + + It seemed fitting that this final word from one who had so long + given happiness to the whole world should record a special gift to + his neighbors. + + + To Charles T. Lark, in New York: + + HAMILTON, BERMUDA. + April 6, 1910. +DEAR MR. LARK,--I have told Paine that I want the money derived from the +sale of the farm, which I had given, but not conveyed, to my daughter +Jean, to be used to erect a building for the Mark Twain Library of +Redding, the building to be called the Jean L. Clemens Memorial Building. + +I wish to place the money $6,000.00 in the hands of three trustees,-- +Paine and two others: H. A. Lounsbury and William E. Hazen, all of +Redding, these trustees to form a building Committee to decide on the +size and plan of the building needed and to arrange for and supervise the +work in such a manner that the fund shall amply provide for the building +complete, with necessary furnishings, leaving, if possible, a balance +remaining, sufficient for such repairs and additional furnishings as may +be required for two years from the time of completion. + +Will you please draw a document covering these requirements and have it +ready by the time I reach New York (April 14th). + Very sincerely, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + We sailed on the 12th of April, reaching New York on the 14th, + as he had planned. A day or two later, Mr. and Mrs. Gabrilowitsch, + summoned from Italy by cable, arrived. He suffered very little + after reaching Stormfield, and his mind was comparatively clear up + to the last day. On the afternoon of April 21st he sank into a + state of coma, and just at sunset he died. Three days later, at + Elmira, New York, he was laid beside Mrs. Clemens and those others + who had preceded him. + + + + + THE LAST DAY AT STORMFIELD + + By BLISS CARMAN. + + At Redding, Connecticut, + The April sunrise pours + Over the hardwood ridges + Softening and greening now + In the first magic of Spring. + + The wild cherry-trees are in bloom, + The bloodroot is white underfoot, + The serene early light flows on, + Touching with glory the world, + And flooding the large upper room + Where a sick man sleeps. + Slowly he opens his eyes, + After long weariness, smiles, + And stretches arms overhead, + While those about him take heart. + + With his awakening strength, + (Morning and spring in the air, + The strong clean scents of earth, + The call of the golden shaft, + Ringing across the hills) + He takes up his heartening book, + Opens the volume and reads, + A page of old rugged Carlyle, + The dour philosopher + Who looked askance upon life, + Lurid, ironical, grim, + Yet sound at the core. + But weariness returns; + He lays the book aside + With his glasses upon the bed, + And gladly sleeps. Sleep, + Blessed abundant sleep, + Is all that he needs. + + And when the close of day + Reddens upon the hills + And washes the room with rose, + In the twilight hush + The Summoner comes to him + Ever so gently, unseen, + Touches him on the shoulder; + And with the departing sun + Our great funning friend is gone. + + How he has made us laugh! + A whole generation of men + Smiled in the joy of his wit. + But who knows whether he was not + Like those deep jesters of old + Who dwelt at the courts of Kings, + Arthur's, Pendragon's, Lear's, + Plying the wise fool's trade, + Making men merry at will, + Hiding their deeper thoughts + Under a motley array,-- + Keen-eyed, serious men, + Watching the sorry world, + The gaudy pageant of life, + With pity and wisdom and love? + + Fearless, extravagant, wild, + His caustic merciless mirth + Was leveled at pompous shams. + Doubt not behind that mask + There dwelt the soul of a man, + Resolute, sorrowing, sage, + As sure a champion of good + As ever rode forth to fray. + + Haply--who knows?--somewhere + In Avalon, Isle of Dreams, + In vast contentment at last, + With every grief done away, + While Chaucer and Shakespeare wait, + And Moliere hangs on his words, + And Cervantes not far off + Listens and smiles apart, + With that incomparable drawl + He is jesting with Dagonet now. + + [Copyright, 1910, by Collier's Weekly.] + + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Letters Vol. 6 by Mark Twain + diff --git a/old/mt6lt10.zip b/old/mt6lt10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7a76a7b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/mt6lt10.zip diff --git a/old/mt6lt11.txt b/old/mt6lt11.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8372ab2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/mt6lt11.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1915 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Letters of Mark Twain, Vol. 6 +#59 in our series by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before distributing this or any other +Project Gutenberg file. + +We encourage you to keep this file, exactly as it is, on your +own disk, thereby keeping an electronic path open for future +readers. Please do not remove this. + +This header should be the first thing seen when anyone starts to +view the etext. Do not change or edit it without written permission. +The words are carefully chosen to provide users with the +information they need to understand what they may and may not +do with the etext. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These Etexts Are Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get etexts, and +further information, is included below. We need your donations. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) +organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541 + + + +Title: The Letters Of Mark Twain, Vol. 6 + +Author: Mark Twain + +Release Date: April, 2002 [Etext #3198] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on February 19, 2001] +[Most recently updated: December 1, 2001] + +Edition: 11 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Letters of Mark Twain, Vol. 6 +******This file should be named mt6lt11.txt or mt6lt11.zip****** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, mt6lt12.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, mt6lt11a.txt + +This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep etexts in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our etexts one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our sites at: +http://gutenberg.net or +http://promo.net/pg + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +etexts, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any Etext before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03 + +Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2001 as we release over 50 new Etext +files per month, or 500 more Etexts in 2000 for a total of 4000+ +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +should reach over 300 billion Etexts given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000 = 1 Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +At our revised rates of production, we will reach only one-third +of that goal by the end of 2001, or about 4,000 Etexts. We need +funding, as well as continued efforts by volunteers, to maintain +or increase our production and reach our goals. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of November, 2001, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, +Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, +Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, +Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, +Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, +and Wyoming. + +*In Progress + +We have filed in about 45 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +All donations should be made to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fundraising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fundraising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information at: + +http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etexts, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this etext, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the etext, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + etext or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the etext (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.10/04/01*END* + + + + + +This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + + + +MARK TWAIN'S LETTERS 1907-1910 + +ARRANGED WITH COMMENT BY ALBERT BIGELOW PAINE + + + +VOLUME VI. + + +XLVI + +LETTERS 1907-08. A DEGREE FROM OXFORD. THE NEW HOME AT REDDING + + The author, J. Howard Moore, sent a copy of his book, The Universal + Kinship, with a letter in which he said: "Most humorists have no + anxiety except to glorify themselves and add substance to their + pocket-books by making their readers laugh. You have shown, on many + occasions, that your mission is not simply to antidote the + melancholy of a world, but includes a real and intelligent concern + for the general welfare of your fellowman." + + The Universal Kinship was the kind of a book that Mark Twain + appreciated, as his acknowledgment clearly shows. + + + To Mr. J. Howard Moore: + + Feb. 2, '07. +DEAR MR. MOORE, The book has furnished me several days of deep pleasure +and satisfaction; it has compelled my gratitude at the same time, since +it saves me the labor of stating my own long-cherished opinions and +reflections and resentments by doing it lucidly and fervently and +irascibly for me. + +There is one thing that always puzzles me: as inheritors of the mentality +of our reptile ancestors we have improved the inheritance by a thousand +grades; but in the matter of the morals which they left us we have gone +backward as many grades. That evolution is strange, and to me +unaccountable and unnatural. Necessarily we started equipped with their +perfect and blemishless morals; now we are wholly destitute; we have no +real, morals, but only artificial ones--morals created and preserved by +the forced suppression of natural and hellish instincts. Yet we are dull +enough to be vain of them. Certainly we are a sufficiently comical +invention, we humans. + Sincerely Yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + Mark Twain's own books were always being excommunicated by some + librarian, and the matter never failed to invite the attention and + amusement of the press, and the indignation of many correspondents. + Usually the books were Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, the morals of which + were not regarded as wholly exemplary. But in 1907 a small library, + in a very small town, attained a day's national notoriety by putting + the ban on Eve's Diary, not so much on account of its text as for + the chaste and exquisite illustrations by Lester Ralph. When the + reporters came in a troop to learn about it, the author said: "I + believe this time the trouble is mainly with the pictures. I did + not draw them. I wish I had--they are so beautiful." + + Just at this time, Dr. William Lyon Phelps, of Yale, was giving a + literary talk to the Teachers' Club, of Hartford, dwelling on the + superlative value of Mark Twain's writings for readers old and + young. Mrs. F. G. Whitmore, an old Hartford friend, wrote Clemens + of the things that Phelps had said, as consolation for Eve's latest + banishment. This gave him a chance to add something to what he had + said to the reporters. + + + To Mrs. Whitmore, in Hartford: + + Feb. 7, 1907. +DEAR MRS. WHITMORE,--But the truth is, that when a Library expels a book +of mine and leaves an unexpurgated Bible lying around where unprotected +youth and age can get hold of it, the deep unconscious irony of it +delights me and doesn't anger me. But even if it angered me such words +as those of Professor Phelps would take the sting all out. Nobody +attaches weight to the freaks of the Charlton Library, but when a man +like Phelps speaks, the world gives attention. Some day I hope to meet +him and thank him for his courage for saying those things out in public. +Custom is, to think a handsome thing in private but tame it down in the +utterance. + +I hope you are all well and happy; and thereto I add my love. + Sincerely yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + In May, 1907, Mark Twain was invited to England to receive from + Oxford the degree of Literary Doctor. It was an honor that came to + him as a sort of laurel crown at the end of a great career, and + gratified him exceedingly. To Moberly Bell, of the London Times, + he expressed his appreciation. Bell had been over in April and + Clemens believed him concerned in the matter. + + + To Moberly Bell, in London: + + 21 FIFTH AVENUE, May 3, '07 +DEAR MR. BELL,--Your hand is in it! and you have my best thanks. +Although I wouldn't cross an ocean again for the price of the ship that +carried me, I am glad to do it for an Oxford degree. I shall plan to +sail for England a shade before the middle of June, so that I can have a +few days in London before the 26th. + Sincerely, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + He had taken a house at Tuxedo for the summer, desiring to be near + New York City, and in the next letter he writes Mr. Rogers + concerning his London plans. We discover, also, in this letter that + he has begun work on the Redding home and the cost is to come + entirely out of the autobiographical chapters then running in the + North American Review. It may be of passing interest to note here + that he had the usual house-builder's fortune. He received thirty + thousand dollars for the chapters; the house cost him nearly double + that amount. + + + To H. H. Rogers, in New York: + + TUXEDO PARK, + May 29, '07. +DEAR ADMIRAL,--Why hang it, I am not going to see you and Mrs. Rogers at +all in England! It is a great disappointment. I leave there a month +from now--June 29. No, I shall see you; for by your itinerary you are +most likely to come to London June 21st or along there. So that is very +good and satisfactory. I have declined all engagements but two--Whitelaw +Reid (dinner) June 21, and the Pilgrims (lunch), June 25. The Oxford +ceremony is June 26. I have paid my return passage in the Minne- +something, but it is just possible that I may want to stay in England a +week or two longer--I can't tell, yet. I do very much want to meet up +with the boys for the last time. + +I have signed the contract for the building of the house on my +Connecticut farm and specified the cost limit, and work has been begun. +The cost has to all come out of a year's instalments of Autobiography in +the N. A. Review. + +Clara, is winning her way to success and distinction with sure and steady +strides. By all accounts she is singing like a bird, and is not afraid +on the concert stage any more. + +Tuxedo is a charming place; I think it hasn't its equal anywhere. + +Very best wishes to you both. + S. L. C. + + + The story of Mark Twain's extraordinary reception and triumph in + England has been told.--[Mark Twain; A Biography, chaps. cclvi- + cclix]--It was, in fact, the crowning glory of his career. Perhaps + one of the most satisfactory incidents of his sojourn was a dinner + given to him by the staff of Punch, in the historic offices at 10 + Bouverie Street where no other foreign visitor had been thus + honored--a notable distinction. When the dinner ended, little joy + Agnew, daughter of the chief editor, entered and presented to the + chief guest the original drawing of a cartoon by Bernard Partridge, + which had appeared on the front page of Punch. In this picture the + presiding genius of the paper is offering to Mark Twain health, long + life, and happiness from "The Punch Bowl." + + A short time after his return to America he received a pretty + childish letter from little Miss Agnew acknowledging a photograph he + had sent her, and giving a list of her pets and occupations. Such a + letter always delighted Mark Twain, and his pleasure in this one is + reflected in his reply. + + + To Miss Joy Agnew, in London: + + TUXEDO PARK, NEW YORK. +Unto you greetings and salutation and worship, you dear, sweet little +rightly-named Joy! I can see you now almost as vividly as I saw you that +night when you sat flashing and beaming upon those sombre swallow-tails. + + "Fair as a star when only one + Is shining in the sky." + +Oh, you were indeed the only one--there wasn't even the remotest chance +of competition with you, dear! Ah, you are a decoration, you little +witch! + +The idea of your house going to the wanton expense of a flower garden!-- +aren't you enough? And what do you want to go and discourage the other +flowers for? Is that the right spirit? is it considerate? is it kind? +How do you suppose they feel when you come around--looking the way you +look? And you so pink and sweet and dainty and lovely and supernatural? +Why, it makes them feel embarrassed and artificial, of course; and in my +opinion it is just as pathetic as it can be. Now then you want to +reform--dear--and do right. + +Well certainly you are well off, Joy: + +3 bantams; +3 goldfish; +3 doves; +6 canaries; +2 dogs; +1 cat; + +All you need, now, to be permanently beyond the reach of want, is one +more dog--just one more good, gentle, high principled, affectionate, +loyal dog who wouldn't want any nobler service than the golden privilege +of lying at your door, nights, and biting everything that came along--and +I am that very one, and ready to come at the dropping of a hat. + +Do you think you could convey my love and thanks to your "daddy" and Owen +Seaman and those other oppressed and down-trodden subjects of yours, you +darling small tyrant? + +On my knees! These--with the kiss of fealty from your other subject-- + + MARK TWAIN + + + Elinor Glyn, author of Three Weeks and other erotic tales, was in + America that winter and asked permission to call on Mark Twain. An + appointment was made and Clemens discussed with her, for an hour or + more, those crucial phases of life which have made living a complex + problem since the days of Eve in Eden. Mrs. Glyn had never before + heard anything like Mark Twain's wonderful talk, and she was anxious + to print their interview. She wrote what she could remember of it + and sent it to him for approval. If his conversation had been + frank, his refusal was hardly less so. + + + To Mrs. Elinor Glyn, in New York: + + Jan. 22, '08. +DEAR MRS. GLYN, It reads pretty poorly--I get the sense of it, but it is +a poor literary job; however, it would have to be that because nobody can +be reported even approximately, except by a stenographer. +Approximations, synopsized speeches, translated poems, artificial flowers +and chromos all have a sort of value, but it is small. If you had put +upon paper what I really said it would have wrecked your type-machine. +I said some fetid, over-vigorous things, but that was because it was a +confidential conversation. I said nothing for print. My own report of +the same conversation reads like Satan roasting a Sunday school. It, and +certain other readable chapters of my autobiography will not be published +until all the Clemens family are dead--dead and correspondingly +indifferent. They were written to entertain me, not the rest of the +world. I am not here to do good--at least not to do it intentionally. +You must pardon me for dictating this letter; I am sick a-bed and not +feeling as well as I might. + Sincerely Yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + Among the cultured men of England Mark Twain had no greater admirer, + or warmer friend, than Andrew Lang. They were at one on most + literary subjects, and especially so in their admiration of the life + and character of Joan of Arc. Both had written of her, and both + held her to be something almost more than mortal. When, therefore, + Anatole France published his exhaustive biography of the maid of + Domremy, a book in which he followed, with exaggerated minuteness + and innumerable footnotes, every step of Joan's physical career at + the expense of her spiritual life, which he was inclined to cheapen, + Lang wrote feelingly, and with some contempt, of the performance, + inviting the author of the Personal Recollections to come to the + rescue of their heroine. "Compare every one of his statements with + the passages he cites from authorities, and make him the laughter of + the world" he wrote. "If you are lazy about comparing I can make + you a complete set of what the authorities say, and of what this + amazing novelist says that they say. When I tell you that he thinks + the Epiphany (January 6, Twelfth Night) is December 25th--Christmas + Day-you begin to see what an egregious ass he is. Treat him like + Dowden, and oblige"--a reference to Mark Twain's defense of Harriet + Shelley, in which he had heaped ridicule on Dowden's Life of the + Poet--a masterly performance; one of the best that ever came from + Mark Twain's pen. + + Lang's suggestion would seem to have been a welcome one. + + + To Andrew Lang, in London: + + NEW YORK, April 25, 1908. +DEAR MR. LANG,--I haven't seen the book nor any review of it, but only +not very-understandable references to it--of a sort which discomforted +me, but of course set my interest on fire. I don't want to have to read +it in French--I should lose the nice shades, and should do a lot of gross +misinterpreting, too. But there'll be a translation soon, nicht wahr? +I will wait for it. I note with joy that you say: "If you are lazy about +comparing, (which I most certainly am), I can make you a complete set of +what the authorities say, and of what this amazing novelist says that +they say." + +Ah, do it for me! Then I will attempt the article, and (if I succeed in +doing it to my satisfaction,) will publish it. It is long since I +touched a pen (3 1/2 years), and I was intending to continue this happy +holiday to the gallows, but--there are things that could beguile me to +break this blessed Sabbath. + Yours very sincerely, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + Certainly it is an interesting fact that an Englishman--one of the + race that burned Joan--should feel moved to defend her memory + against the top-heavy perversions of a distinguished French author. + + But Lang seems never to have sent the notes. The copying would have + been a tremendous task, and perhaps he never found the time for it. + We may regret to-day that he did not, for Mark Twain's article on + the French author's Joan would have been at least unique. + + Samuel Clemens could never accustom himself to the loss of his wife. + From the time of her death, marriage-which had brought him his + greatest joy in life-presented itself to him always with the thought + of bereavement, waiting somewhere just behind. The news of an + approaching wedding saddened him and there was nearly always a + somber tinge in his congratulations, of which the following to a + dear friend is an example: + + + To Father Fitz-Simon, in Washington: + + June 5, '08. +DEAR FATHER FITZ-SIMON,--Marriage--yes, it is the supreme felicity of +life, I concede it. And it is also the supreme tragedy of life. The +deeper the love the surer the tragedy. And the more disconsolating when +it comes. + +And so I congratulate you. Not perfunctorily, not lukewarmly, but with a +fervency and fire that no word in the dictionary is strong enough to +convey. And in the same breath and with the same depth and sincerity, +I grieve for you. Not for both of you and not for the one that shall go +first, but for the one that is fated to be left behind. For that one +there is no recompense.--For that one no recompense is possible. + +There are times--thousands of times--when I can expose the half of my +mind, and conceal the other half, but in the matter of the tragedy of +marriage I feel too deeply for that, and I have to bleed it all out or +shut it all in. And so you must consider what I have been through, and +am passing through and be charitable with me. + +Make the most of the sunshine! and I hope it will last long--ever so +long. + +I do not really want to be present; yet for friendship's sake and because +I honor you so, I would be there if I could. + Most sincerely your friend, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + The new home at Redding was completed in the spring of 1908, and on + the 18th of June, when it was entirely fitted and furnished, Mark + Twain entered it for the first time. He had never even seen the + place nor carefully examined plans which John Howells had made for + his house. He preferred the surprise of it, and the general + avoidance of detail. That he was satisfied with the result will be + seen in his letters. He named it at first "Innocence at Home"; + later changing this title to "Stormfield." + + The letter which follows is an acknowledgment of an interesting + souvenir from the battle-field of Tewksbury (1471), and some relics + of the Cavalier and Roundhead Regiments encamped at Tewksbury in + 1643. + + + To an English admirer: + + INNOCENCE AT HOME, REDDING, CONNECTICUT, + Aug. 15, '08. +DEAR SIR,--I highly prize the pipes, and shall intimate to people that +"Raleigh" smoked them, and doubtless he did. After a little practice I +shall be able to go further and say he did; they will then be the most +interesting features of my library's decorations. The Horse-shoe is +attracting a good deal of attention, because I have intimated that the +conqueror's horse cast it; it will attract more when I get my hand in and +say he cast it, I thank you for the pipes and the shoe; and also for the +official guide, which I read through at a single sitting. If a person +should say that about a book of mine I should regard it as good evidence +of the book's interest. + Very truly yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + In his philosophy, What Is Man?, and now and again in his other + writings, we find Mark Twain giving small credit to the human mind + as an originator of ideas. The most original writer of his time, he + took no credit for pure invention and allowed none to others. The + mind, he declared, adapted, consciously or unconsciously; it did not + create. In a letter which follows he elucidates this doctrine. The + reference in it to the "captain" and to the kerosene, as the reader + may remember, have to do with Captain "Hurricane" Jones and his + theory of the miracles of "Isaac and of the prophets of Baal," as + expounded in Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion. + + By a trick of memory Clemens gives The Little Duke as his suggestion + for The Prince and the Pauper; he should have written The Prince and + the Page, by the same author. + + + To Rev. F. Y. Christ, in New York: + + REDDING, CONN., Aug., '08. +DEAR SIR,--You say "I often owe my best sermons to a suggestion received +in reading or from other exterior sources." Your remark is not quite in +accordance with the facts. We must change it to--"I owe all my thoughts, +sermons and ideas to suggestions received from sources outside of myself." +The simplified English of this proposition is--"No man's brains ever +originated an idea." It is an astonishing thing that after all these +ages the world goes on thinking the human brain machinery can originate a +thought. + +It can't. It never has done it. In all cases, little and big, the +thought is born of a suggestion; and in all cases the suggestions come to +the brain from the outside. The brain never acts except from exterior +impulse. + +A man can satisfy himself of the truth of this by a single process,--let +him examine every idea that occurs to him in an hour; a day; in a week +--in a lifetime if he please. He will always find that an outside +something suggested the thought, something which he saw with his eyes or +heard with his ears or perceived by his touch--not necessarily to-day, +nor yesterday, nor last year, nor twenty years ago, but sometime or +other. Usually the source of the suggestion is immediately traceable, +but sometimes it isn't. + +However, if you will examine every thought that occurs to you for the +next two days, you will find that in at least nine cases out of ten you +can put your finger on the outside suggestion--And that ought to convince +you that No. 10 had that source too, although you cannot at present hunt +it down and find it. + +The idea of writing to me would have had to wait a long time if it waited +until your brain originated it. It was born of an outside suggestion-- +Sir Thomas and my old Captain. + +The hypnotist thinks he has invented a new thing--suggestion. This is +very sad. I don't know where my captain got his kerosene idea. (It was +forty-one years ago, and he is long ago dead.) But I know that it didn't +originate in his head, but it was born from a suggestion from the +outside. + +Yesterday a guest said, "How did you come to think of writing 'The Prince +and the Pauper?'" I didn't. The thought came to me from the outside-- +suggested by that pleasant and picturesque little history-book, Charlotte +M. Yonge's "Little Duke," I doubt if Mrs. Burnett knows whence came to +her the suggestion to write "Little Lord Fauntleroy," but I know; it came +to her from reading "The Prince and the Pauper." In all my life I have +never originated an idea, and neither has she, nor anybody else. + +Man's mind is a clever machine, and can work up materials into ingenious +fancies and ideas, but it can't create the material; none but the gods +can do that. In Sweden I saw a vast machine receive a block of wood, and +turn it into marketable matches in two minutes. It could do everything +but make the wood. That is the kind of machine the human mind is. Maybe +this is not a large compliment, but it is all I can afford..... + Your friend and well-wisher + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + To Mrs. H. H. Rogers, in Fair Hawn, Mass.: + + REDDING, CONN, Aug. 12, 1908. +DEAR MRS. ROGERS, I believe I am the wellest man on the planet to-day, +and good for a trip to Fair Haven (which I discussed with the Captain of +the New Bedford boat, who pleasantly accosted me in the Grand Central +August 5) but the doctor came up from New York day before yesterday, and +gave positive orders that I must not stir from here before frost. It is +because I was threatened with a swoon, 10 or 12 days ago, and went to New +York a day or two later to attend my nephew's funeral and got horribly +exhausted by the heat and came back here and had a bilious collapse. In +24 hours I was as sound as a nut again, but nobody believes it but me. + +This is a prodigiously satisfactory place, and I am so glad I don't have +to go back to the turmoil and rush of New York. The house stands high +and the horizons are wide, yet the seclusion is perfect. The nearest +public road is half a mile away, so there is nobody to look in, and I +don't have to wear clothes if I don't want to. I have been down stairs +in night-gown and slippers a couple of hours, and have been photographed +in that costume; but I will dress, now, and behave myself. + +That doctor had half an idea that there is something the matter with my +brain. . . Doctors do know so little and they do charge so much for +it. I wish Henry Rogers would come here, and I wish you would come with +him. You can't rest in that crowded place, but you could rest here, for +sure! I would learn bridge, and entertain you, and rob you. + With love to you both, + Ever yours, + S. L. C. + + + In the foregoing letter we get the first intimation of Mark Twain's + failing health. The nephew who had died was Samuel E. Moffett, son + of Pamela Clemens. Moffett, who was a distinguished journalist--an + editorial writer on Collier's Weekly, a man beloved by all who knew + him--had been drowned in the surf off the Jersey beach. + + + To W. D. Howells, Kittery Point, Maine: + + Aug. 12, '08. +DEAR HOWELLS,--Won't you and Mrs. Howells and Mildred come and give us as +many days as you can spare, and examine John's triumph? It is the most +satisfactory house I am acquainted with, and the most satisfactorily +situated. + +But it is no place to work in, because one is outside of it all the time, +while the sun and the moon are on duty. Outside of it in the loggia, +where the breezes blow and the tall arches divide up the scenery and +frame it. + +It's a ghastly long distance to come, and I wouldn't travel such a +distance to see anything short of a memorial museum, but if you can't +come now you can at least come later when you return to New York, for the +journey will be only an hour and a half per express-train. Things are +gradually and steadily taking shape inside the house, and nature is +taking care of the outside in her ingenious and wonderful fashion--and +she is competent and asks no help and gets none. I have retired from New +York for good, I have retired from labor for good, I have dismissed my +stenographer and have entered upon a holiday whose other end is in the +cemetery. + Yours ever, + MARK. + + + From a gentleman in Buffalo Clemens one day received a letter + inclosing an incompleted list of the world's "One Hundred Greatest + Men," men who had exerted "the largest visible influence on the life + and activities of the race." The writer asked that Mark Twain + examine the list and suggest names, adding "would you include Jesus, + as the founder of Christianity, in the list?" + + To the list of statesmen Clemens added the name of Thomas Paine; to + the list of inventors, Edison and Alexander Graham Bell. The + question he answered in detail. + + + To-----------, Buffalo, N. Y. + + Private. REDDING, CONN, Aug. 28, '08. +DEAR SIR,--By "private," I mean don't print any remarks of mine. + + .................. +I like your list. + +The "largest visible influence." + +These terms require you to add Jesus. And they doubly and trebly require +you to add Satan. From A.D. 350 to A.D. 1850 these gentlemen exercised a +vaster influence over a fifth part of the human race than was exercised +over that fraction of the race by all other influences combined. Ninety- +nine hundredths of this influence proceeded from Satan, the remaining +fraction of it from Jesus. During those 1500 years the fear of Satan and +Hell made 99 Christians where love of God and Heaven landed one. During +those 1500 years, Satan's influence was worth very nearly a hundred times +as much to the business as was the influence of all the rest of the Holy +Family put together. + +You have asked me a question, and I have answered it seriously and +sincerely. You have put in Buddha--a god, with a following, at one time, +greater than Jesus ever had: a god with perhaps a little better evidence +of his godship than that which is offered for Jesus's. How then, in +fairness, can you leave Jesus out? And if you put him in, how can you +logically leave Satan out? Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but +it is the lightning that does the work. + Very truly yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + The "Children's Theatre" of the next letter was an institution of + the New York East Side in which Mark Twain was deeply interested. + The children were most, if not all, of Hebrew parentage, and the + performances they gave, under the direction of Alice M. Herts, were + really remarkable. It seemed a pity that lack of funds should have + brought this excellent educational venture to an untimely end. + + The following letter was in reply to one inclosing a newspaper + clipping reporting a performance of The Prince and the Pauper, given + by Chicago school children. + + + To Mrs. Hookway, in Chicago: + Sept., 1908. +DEAR MRS. HOOKWAY,--Although I am full of the spirit of work this +morning, a rarity with me lately--I must steal a moment or two for a word +in person: for I have been reading the eloquent account in the Record- +Herald and am pleasurably stirred, to my deepest deeps. The reading +brings vividly back to me my pet and pride. The Children's Theatre of +the East side, New York. And it supports and re-affirms what I have so +often and strenuously said in public that a children's theatre is easily +the most valuable adjunct that any educational institution for the young +can have, and that no otherwise good school is complete without it. + +It is much the most effective teacher of morals and promoter of good +conduct that the ingenuity of man has yet devised, for the reason that +its lessons are not taught wearily by book and by dreary homily, but by +visible and enthusing action; and they go straight to the heart, which is +the rightest of right places for them. Book morals often get no further +than the intellect, if they even get that far on their spectral and +shadowy pilgrimage: but when they travel from a Children's Theatre they +do not stop permanently at that halfway house, but go on home. + +The children's theatre is the only teacher of morals and conduct and high +ideals that never bores the pupil, but always leaves him sorry when the +lesson is over. And as for history, no other teacher is for a moment +comparable to it: no other can make the dead heroes of the world rise up +and shake the dust of the ages from their bones and live and move and +breathe and speak and be real to the looker and listener: no other can +make the study of the lives and times of the illustrious dead a delight, +a splendid interest, a passion; and no other can paint a history-lesson +in colors that will stay, and stay, and never fade. + +It is my conviction that the children's theatre is one of the very, very +great inventions of the twentieth century; and that its vast educational +value--now but dimly perceived and but vaguely understood--will presently +come to be recognized. By the article which I have been reading I find +the same things happening in the Howland School that we have become +familiar with in our Children's Theatre (of which I am President, and +sufficiently vain of the distinction.) These things among others; + +1. The educating history-study does not stop with the little players, +but the whole school catches the infection and revels in it. + +2. And it doesn't even stop there; the children carry it home and infect +the family with it--even the parents and grandparents; and the whole +household fall to studying history, and bygone manners and customs and +costumes with eager interest. And this interest is carried along to the +studying of costumes in old book-plates; and beyond that to the selecting +of fabrics and the making of clothes. Hundreds of our children learn, +the plays by listening without book, and by making notes; then the +listener goes home and plays the piece--all the parts! to the family. +And the family are glad and proud; glad to listen to the explanations and +analyses, glad to learn, glad to be lifted to planes above their dreary +workaday lives. Our children's theatre is educating 7,000 children--and +their families. When we put on a play of Shakespeare they fall to +studying it diligently; so that they may be qualified to enjoy it to the +limit when the piece is staged. + +3. Your Howland School children do the construction-work, stage- +decorations, etc. That is our way too. Our young folks do everything +that is needed by the theatre, with their own hands; scene-designing, +scene-painting, gas-fitting, electric work, costume-designing--costume +making, everything and all things indeed--and their orchestra and its +leader are from their own ranks. + +The article which I have been reading, says--speaking of the historical +play produced by the pupils of the Howland School-- + +"The question naturally arises, What has this drama done for those who so +enthusiastically took part?--The touching story has made a year out of +the Past live for the children as could no chronology or bald statement +of historical events; it has cultivated the fancy and given to the +imagination strength and purity; work in composition has ceased to be +drudgery, for when all other themes fall flat a subject dealing with some +aspect of the drama presented never fails to arouse interest and a rapid +pushing of pens over paper." + +That is entirely true. The interest is not confined to the drama's +story, it spreads out all around the period of the story, and gives to +all the outlying and unrelated happenings of that period a fascinating +interest--an interest which does not fade out with the years, but remains +always fresh, always inspiring, always welcome. History-facts dug by the +job, with sweat and tears out of a dry and spiritless text-book--but +never mind, all who have suffered know what that is. . . + I remain, dear madam, + Sincerely yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + Mark Twain had a special fondness for cats. As a boy he always + owned one and it generally had a seat beside him at the table. + There were cats at Quarry Farm and at Hartford, and in the house at + Redding there was a gray mother-cat named Tammany, of which he was + especially fond. Kittens capering about were his chief delight. + In a letter to a Chicago woman he tells how those of Tammany + assisted at his favorite game. + + + To Mrs. Mabel Larkin Patterson, in Chicago: + + REDDING, CONNECTICUT, + Oct. 2, '08. +DEAR MRS. PATTERSON,--The contents of your letter are very pleasant and +very welcome, and I thank you for them, sincerely. If I can find a +photograph of my "Tammany" and her kittens, I will enclose it in this. + +One of them likes to be crammed into a corner-pocket of the billiard +table--which he fits as snugly as does a finger in a glove and then he +watches the game (and obstructs it) by the hour, and spoils many a shot +by putting out his paw and changing the direction of a passing ball. +Whenever a ball is in his arms, or so close to him that it cannot be +played upon without risk of hurting him, the player is privileged to +remove it to anyone of the 3 spots that chances to be vacant. + +Ah, no, my lecturing days are over for good and all. + Sincerely yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + The letter to Howells which follows was written a short time before + the passage of the copyright extension bill, which rendered Mark + Twain's new plan, here mentioned, unneeded--at least for the time. + + + To W. D. Howells, in New York: + + Monday, Oct. 26, '08. +Oh, I say! Where are you hiding, and why are you hiding? You promised +to come here and you didn't keep your word. (This sounds like +astonishment--but don't be misled by that.) + +Come, fire up again on your fiction-mill and give us another good +promise. And this time keep it--for it is your turn to be astonished. +Come and stay as long as you possibly can. I invented a new copyright +extension scheme last Friday, and sat up all night arranging its details. +It will interest you. Yesterday I got it down on paper in as compact a +form as I could. Harvey and I have examined the scheme, and to-morrow or +next day he will send me a couple of copyright-experts to arrange about +getting certain statistics for me. + +Authors, publishers and the public have always been damaged by the +copyright laws. The proposed amendment will advantage all three--the +public most of all. I think Congress will pass it and settle the vexed +question permanently. + +I shall need your assent and the assent of about a dozen other authors. +Also the assent of all the large firms of the 300 publishers. These +authors and publishers will furnish said assent I am sure. Not even the +pirates will be able to furnish a serious objection, I think. + +Come along. This place seemed at its best when all around was summer- +green; later it seemed at its best when all around was burning with the +autumn splendors; and now once more it seems at its best, with the trees +naked and the ground a painter's palette. + Yours ever, + MARK. + + + Clemens was a great admirer of the sea stories of W. W. Jacobs and + generally kept one or more of this author's volumes in reach of his + bed, where most of his reading was done. The acknowledgment that + follows was sent when he had finished Salthaven. + + + To W. W. Jacobs, in England: + + REDDING, CONN, + Oct. 28, '08. +DEAR MR. JACOBS,--It has a delightful look. I will not venture to say +how delightful, because the words would sound extravagant, and would +thereby lose some of their strength and to that degree misrepresent me. +It is my conviction that Dialstone Lane holds the supremacy over all +purely humorous books in our language, but I feel about Salthaven as the +Cape Cod poet feels about Simon Hanks: + + "The Lord knows all things, great and small, + With doubt he's not perplexed: + 'Tis Him alone that knows it all + But Simon Hanks comes next." + +The poet was moved by envy and malice and jealousy, but I am not: I place +Salthaven close up next to Dialstone because I think it has a fair and +honest right to that high position. I have kept the other book moving; +I shall begin to hand this one around now. + +And many thanks to you for remembering me. + +This house is out in the solitudes of the woods and the hills, an hour +and a half from New York, and I mean to stay in it winter and summer the +rest of my days. I beg you to come and help occupy it a few days the +next time you visit the U.S. + Sincerely yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + One of the attractions of Stormfield was a beautiful mantel in the + billiard room, presented by the Hawaiian Promotion Committee. It + had not arrived when the rest of the house was completed, but came + in time to be set in place early in the morning of the owner's + seventy-third birthday. It was made of a variety of Hawaiian woods, + and was the work of a native carver, F. M. Otremba. Clemens was + deeply touched by the offering from those "western isles"--the + memory of which was always so sweet to him. + + + To Mr. Wood, in Hawaii: + + Nov. 30, '08. +DEAR MR. WOOD,--The beautiful mantel was put in its place an hour ago, +and its friendly "Aloha" was the first uttered greeting my 73rd birthday +received. It is rich in color, rich in quality, and rich in decoration, +therefore it exactly harmonizes with the taste for such things which was +born in me and which I have seldom been able to indulge to my content. +It will be a great pleasure to me, daily renewed, to have under my eye +this lovely reminder of the loveliest fleet of islands that lies anchored +in any ocean, and I beg to thank the Committee for providing me that +pleasure. + Sincerely Yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + + +XLVII + +LETTERS, 1909. TO HOWELLS AND OTHERS. LIFE AT STORMFIELD. COPYRIGHT +EXTENSION. DEATH OF JEAN CLEMENS + + Clemens remained at Stormfield all that winter. New York was sixty + miles away and he did not often care to make the journey. He was + constantly invited to this or that public gathering, or private + party, but such affairs had lost interest for him. He preferred the + quiet of his luxurious home with its beautiful outlook, while for + entertainment he found the billiard afternoons sufficient. Guests + came from the city, now and again, for week-end visits, and if he + ever was restless or lonely he did not show it. + + Among the invitations that came was one from General O. O. Howard + asking him to preside at a meeting to raise an endowment fund for a + Lincoln Memorial University at Cumberland Gap, Tennessee. Closing + his letter, General Howard said, "Never mind if you did fight on the + other side." + + + To General O. O. Howard: + + STORMFIELD, REDDING, CONNECTICUT, + Jan, 12, '09. +DEAR GENERAL HOWARD,--You pay me a most gratifying compliment in asking +me to preside, and it causes me very real regret that I am obliged to +decline, for the object of the meeting appeals strongly to me, since that +object is to aid in raising the $500,000 Endowment Fund for Lincoln +Memorial University. The Endowment Fund will be the most fitting of all +the memorials the country will dedicate to the memory of Lincoln, +serving, as it will, to uplift his very own people. + +I hope you will meet with complete success, and I am sorry I cannot be +there to witness it and help you rejoice. But I am older than people +think, and besides I live away out in the country and never stir from +home, except at geological intervals, to fill left-over engagements in +mesozoic times when I was younger and indiscreeter. + +You ought not to say sarcastic things about my "fighting on the other +side." General Grant did not act like that. General Grant paid me +compliments. He bracketed me with Zenophon--it is there in his Memoirs +for anybody to read. He said if all the confederate soldiers had +followed my example and adopted my military arts he could never have +caught enough of them in a bunch to inconvenience the Rebellion. General +Grant was a fair man, and recognized my worth; but you are prejudiced, +and you have hurt my feelings. + But I have an affection for you, anyway. + MARK TWAIN. + + + One of Mark Twain's friends was Henniker-Heaton, the so-called + "Father of Penny Postage" between England and America. When, after + long years of effort, he succeeded in getting the rate established, + he at once bent his energies in the direction of cheap cable service + and a letter from him came one day to Stormfield concerning his new + plans. This letter happened to be over-weight, which gave Mark + Twain a chance for some amusing exaggerations at his expense. + + + To Henniker-Heaton, in London: + + STORMFIELD, REDDING, CONNECTICUT, + Jan. 18, 1909. +DEAR HENNIKER-HEATON,--I do hope you will succeed to your heart's desire +in your cheap-cablegram campaign, and I feel sure you will. Indeed your +cheap-postage victory, achieved in spite of a quarter-century of +determined opposition, is good and rational prophecy that you will. +Wireless, not being as yet imprisoned in a Chinese wall of private cash +and high-placed and formidable influence, will come to your aid and make +your new campaign briefer and easier than the other one was. + +Now then, after uttering my serious word, am I privileged to be frivolous +for a moment? When you shall have achieved cheap telegraphy, are you +going to employ it for just your own selfish profit and other people's +pecuniary damage, the way you are doing with your cheap postage? You get +letter-postage reduced to 2 cents an ounce, then you mail me a 4-ounce +letter with a 2-cent stamp on it, and I have to pay the extra freight at +this end of the line. I return your envelope for inspection. Look at +it. Stamped in one place is a vast "T," and under it the figures "40," +and under those figures appears an "L," a sinister and suspicious and +mysterious L. In another place, stamped within a circle, in offensively +large capitals, you find the words "DUE 8 CENTS." Finally, in the midst +of a desert space up nor-noreastard from that circle you find a figure +"3" of quite unnecessarily aggressive and insolent magnitude--and done +with a blue pencil, so as to be as conspicuous as possible. I inquired +about these strange signs and symbols of the postman. He said they were +P. O. Department signals for his instruction. + +"Instruction for what?" + +"To get extra postage." + +"Is it so? Explain. Tell me about the large T and the 40. + +"It's short for Take 40--or as we postmen say, grab 40" + +Go on, please, while I think up some words to swear with." + +"Due 8 means, grab 8 more." + +"Continue." + +"The blue-pencil 3 was an afterthought. There aren't any stamps for +afterthoughts; the sums vary, according to inspiration, and they whirl in +the one that suggests itself at the last moment. Sometimes they go +several times higher than this one. This one only means hog 3 cents +more. And so if you've got 51 cents about you, or can borrow it--" + +"Tell me: who gets this corruption?" + +"Half of it goes to the man in England who ships the letter on short +postage, and the other half goes to the P.O.D. to protect cheap postage +from inaugurating a deficit." + +"-------------------" + +"I can't blame you; I would say it myself in your place, if these ladies +were not present. But you see I'm only obeying orders, I can't help +myself." + +"Oh, I know it; I'm not blaming you. Finally, what does that L stand +for?" + +"Get the money, or give him L. It's English, you know." + +"Take it and go. It's the last cent I've got in the world--." + +After seeing the Oxford pageant file by the grand stand, picture after +picture, splendor after splendor, three thousand five hundred strong, the +most moving and beautiful and impressive and historically-instructive +show conceivable, you are not to think I would miss the London pageant of +next year, with its shining host of 15,000 historical English men and +women dug from the misty books of all the vanished ages and marching in +the light of the sun--all alive, and looking just as they were used to +look! Mr. Lascelles spent yesterday here on the farm, and told me all +about it. I shall be in the middle of my 75th year then, and interested +in pageants for personal and prospective reasons. + +I beg you to give my best thanks to the Bath Club for the offer of its +hospitalities, but I shall not be able to take advantage of it, because I +am to be a guest in a private house during my stay in London. + Sincerely yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + It was in 1907 that Clemens had seen the Oxford Pageant--during the + week when he had been awarded his doctor's degree. It gave him the + greatest delight, and he fully expected to see the next one, planned + for 1910. + + In the letter to Howells which follows we get another glimpse of + Mark Twain's philosophy of man, the irresponsible machine. + + + To W. D. Howells, in New York: + + STORMFIELD, REDDING, CONN., + Jan. 18, '09. +DEAR HOWELLS,--I have to write a line, lazy as I am, to say how your Poe +article delighted me; and to say that I am in agreement with +substantially all you say about his literature. To me his prose is +unreadable--like Jane Austin's. No, there is a difference. I could read +his prose on salary, but not Jane's. Jane is entirely impossible. It +seems a great pity that they allowed her to die a natural death. + +Another thing: you grant that God and circumstances sinned against Poe, +but you also grant that he sinned against himself--a thing which he +couldn't do and didn't do. + +It is lively up here now. I wish you could come. + Yrs ever, + MARK + + + To W. D. Howells, in New York: + + STORMFIELD, REDDING, CONNECTICUT, + 3 in the morning, Apl. 17, '09. + [Written with pencil]. +My pen has gone dry and the ink is out of reach. Howells, Did you write +me day-before-day before yesterday, or did I dream it? In my mind's eye +I most vividly see your hand-write on a square blue envelop in the +mailpile. I have hunted the house over, but there is no such letter. +Was it an illusion? + +I am reading Lowell's letter, and smoking. I woke an hour ago and am +reading to keep from wasting the time. On page 305, vol. I. I have +just margined a note: + +"Young friend! I like that! You ought to see him now." + +It seemed startlingly strange to hear a person call you young. It was a +brick out of a blue sky, and knocked me groggy for a moment. Ah me, the +pathos of it is, that we were young then. And he--why, so was he, but he +didn't know it. He didn't even know it 9 years later, when we saw him +approaching and you warned me, saying, "Don't say anything about age--he +has just turned fifty, and thinks he is old and broods over it." + +[Well, Clara did sing! And you wrote her a dear letter.] + +Time to go to sleep. + Yours ever, + MARK. + + + To Daniel Kiefer: + + [No date.] +DANL KIEFER ESQ. DEAR SIR,--I should be far from willing to have a +political party named after me. + +I would not be willing to belong to a party which allowed its members to +have political aspirations or to push friends forward for political +preferment. + Yours very truly, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + The copyright extension, for which the author had been working so + long, was granted by Congress in 1909, largely as the result of that + afternoon in Washington when Mark Twain had "received" in "Uncle + Joe" Cannon's private room, and preached the gospel of copyright + until the daylight faded and the rest of the Capitol grew still. + Champ Clark was the last to linger that day and they had talked far + into the dusk. Clark was powerful, and had fathered the bill. Now + he wrote to know if it was satisfactory. + + + To Champ Clark, in Washington: + + STORMFIELD, REDDING, CONN., June 5, '09. +DEAR CHAMP CLARK--Is the new copyright law acceptable to me? +Emphatically, yes! Clark, it is the only sane, and clearly defined, and +just and righteous copyright law that has ever existed in the United +States. Whosoever will compare it with its predecessors will have no +trouble in arriving at that decision. + +The bill which was before the committee two years ago when I was down +there was the most stupefying jumble of conflicting and apparently +irreconcilable interests that was ever seen; and we all said "the case is +hopeless, absolutely hopeless--out of this chaos nothing can be built." +But we were in error; out of that chaotic mass this excellent bill has +been instructed; the warring interests have been reconciled, and the +result is as comely and substantial a legislative edifice as lifts its +domes and towers and protective lightning rods out of the statute book, +I think. When I think of that other bill, which even the Deity couldn't +understand, and of this one which even I can understand, I take off my +hat to the man or men who devised this one. Was it R. U. Johnson? Was +it the Author's League? Was it both together? I don't know, but I take +off my hat, anyway. Johnson has written a valuable article about the new +law--I enclose it. + +At last--at last and for the first time in copyright history we are ahead +of England! Ahead of her in two ways: by length of time and by fairness +to all interests concerned. Does this sound like shouting? Then I must +modify it: all we possessed of copyright-justice before the fourth of +last March we owed to England's initiative. + Truly Yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + Because Mark Twain amused himself with certain aspects of Christian + Science, and was critical of Mrs. Eddy, there grew up a wide + impression that he jeered at the theory of mental healing; when, as + a matter of fact, he was one of its earliest converts, and never + lost faith in its power. The letter which follows is an excellent + exposition of his attitude toward the institution of Christian + Science and the founder of the church in America. + + + To J. Wylie Smith, Glasgow, Scotland: + + "STORMFIELD," August 7, 1909 +DEAR SIR,--My view of the matter has not changed. To wit, that Christian +Science is valuable; that it has just the same value now that it had when +Mrs. Eddy stole it from Quimby; that its healing principle (its most +valuable asset) possesses the same force now that it possessed a million +years ago before Quimby was born; that Mrs. Eddy. . . organized that +force, and is entitled to high credit for that. Then, with a splendid +sagacity she hitched it to. . . a religion, the surest of all ways to +secure friends for it, and support. In a fine and lofty way-- +figuratively speaking--it was a tramp stealing a ride on the lightning +express. Ah, how did that ignorant village-born peasant woman know the +human being so well? She has no more intellect than a tadpole--until it +comes to business then she is a marvel! Am I sorry I wrote the book? +Most certainly not. You say you have 500 (converts) in Glasgow. Fifty +years from now, your posterity will not count them by the hundred, but by +the thousand. I feel absolutely sure of this. + Very truly yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + Clemens wrote very little for publication that year, but he enjoyed + writing for his own amusement, setting down the things that boiled, + or bubbled, within him: mainly chapters on the inconsistencies of + human deportment, human superstition and human creeds. The "Letters + from the Earth" referred to in the following, were supposed to have + been written by an immortal visitant from some far realm to a + friend, describing the absurdities of mankind. It is true, as he + said, that they would not do for publication, though certainly the + manuscript contains some of his mgt delicious writing. Miss + Wallace, to whom the next letter is written, had known Mark Twain in + Bermuda, and, after his death, published a dainty volume entitled + Mark Twain in the Happy Island. + + + "STORMFIELD," REDDING, CONNECTICUT, + Nov. 13, '09. +DEAR BETSY,--I've been writing "Letters from the Earth," and if you will +come here and see us I will--what? Put the MS in your hands, with the +places to skip marked? No. I won't trust you quite that far. I'll read +messages to you. This book will never be published--in fact it couldn't +be, because it would be felony to soil the mails with it, for it has much +Holy Scripture in it of the kind that . . . can't properly be read +aloud, except from the pulpit and in family worship. Paine enjoys it, +but Paine is going to be damned one of these days, I suppose. + +The autumn splendors passed you by? What a pity. I wish you had been +here. It was beyond words! It was heaven and hell and sunset and +rainbows and the aurora all fused into one divine harmony, and you +couldn't look at it and keep the tears back. All the hosannahing strong +gorgeousnesses have gone back to heaven and hell and the pole, now, but +no matter; if you could look out of my bedroom window at this moment, you +would choke up; and when you got your voice you would say: This is not +real, this is a dream. Such a singing together, and such a whispering +together, and such a snuggling together of cosy soft colors, and such +kissing and caressing, and such pretty blushing when the sun breaks out +and catches those dainty weeds at it--you remember that weed-garden of +mine?--and then--then the far hills sleeping in a dim blue trance--oh, +hearing about it is nothing, you should be here to see it. + +Good! I wish I could go on the platform and read. And I could, if it +could be kept out of the papers. There's a charity-school of 400 young +girls in Boston that I would give my ears to talk to, if I had some more; +but--oh, well, I can't go, and it's no use to grieve about it. + +This morning Jean went to town; also Paine; also the butler; also Katy; +also the laundress. The cook and the maid, and the boy and the +roustabout and Jean's coachman are left--just enough to make it lonesome, +because they are around yet never visible. However, the Harpers are +sending Leigh up to play billiards; therefore I shall survive. + Affectionately, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + Early in June that year, Clemens had developed unmistakable symptoms + of heart trouble of a very serious nature. It was angina pectoris, + and while to all appearances he was as well as ever and usually felt + so, he was periodically visited by severe attacks of acute "breast + pains" which, as the months passed, increased in frequency and + severity. He was alarmed and distressed--not on his own account, + but because of his daughter Jean--a handsome girl, who had long been + subject to epileptic seizures. In case of his death he feared that + Jean would be without permanent anchorage, his other daughter, + Clara--following her marriage to Ossip Gabrilowitsch in October-- + having taken up residence abroad. + + This anxiety was soon ended. On the morning of December 24th, jean + Clemens was found dead in her apartment. She was not drowned in her + bath, as was reported, but died from heart exhaustion, the result of + her malady and the shock of cold water. + [Questionable diagnosis! D.W.] + + The blow to her father was terrible, but heavy as it was, one may + perhaps understand that her passing in that swift, painless way must + have afforded him a measure of relief. + + + To Mrs. Gabrilowitsch, in Europe: + + REDDING, CONN., + Dec. 29, '09. +O, Clara, Clara dear, I am so glad she is out of it and safe--safe! I am +not melancholy; I shall never be melancholy again, I think. You see, I +was in such distress when I came to realize that you were gone far away +and no one stood between her and danger but me--and I could die at any +moment, and then--oh then what would become of her! For she was wilful, +you know, and would not have been governable. + +You can't imagine what a darling she was, that last two or three days; +and how fine, and good, and sweet, and noble-and joyful, thank Heaven!-- +and how intellectually brilliant. I had never been acquainted with Jean +before. I recognized that. + +But I mustn't try to write about her--I can't. I have already poured my +heart out with the pen, recording that last day or two. + +I will send you that--and you must let no one but Ossip read it. + +Good-bye. + I love you so! + And Ossip. + FATHER. + + +The writing mentioned in the last paragraph was his article 'The Death of +Jean,' his last serious writing, and one of the world's most beautiful +examples of elegiac prose.--[Harper's Magazine, Dec., 1910,] and later in +the volume, 'What Is Man and Other Essays.' + + + + +XLVIII + +LETTERS OF 1910. LAST TRIP TO BERMUDA. LETTERS TO PAINE. +THE LAST LETTER + + Mark Twain had returned from a month's trip to Bermuda a few days + before Jean died. Now, by his physician's advice, he went back to + those balmy islands. He had always loved them, since his first trip + there with Twichell thirty-three years earlier, and at "Bay House," + the residence of Vice-Consul Allen, where he was always a welcome + guest, he could have the attentions and care and comforts of a home. + Taking Claude, the butler, as his valet, he sailed January 5th, and + presently sent back a letter in which he said, "Again I am leading + the ideal life, and am immeasurably content." + + By his wish, the present writer and his family were keeping the + Stormfield house open for him, in order that he might be able to + return to its comforts at any time. He sent frequent letters--one + or two by each steamer--but as a rule they did not concern matters + of general interest. A little after his arrival, however, he wrote + concerning an incident of his former visit--a trivial matter--but + one which had annoyed him. I had been with him in Bermuda on the + earlier visit, and as I remember it, there had been some slight + oversight on his part in the matter of official etiquette--something + which doubtless no one had noticed but himself. + + + To A. B. Paine, in Redding: + + BAY HOUSE, Jan. 11, 1910. + +DEAR PAINE,--. . . There was a military lecture last night at the +Officer's Mess, prospect, and as the lecturer honored me with a special +and urgent invitation and said he wanted to lecture to me particularly, +I being "the greatest living master of the platform-art," I naturally +packed Helen and her mother into the provided carriage and went. + +As soon as we landed at the door with the crowd the Governor came to me +at once and was very cordial, and apparently as glad to see me as he said +he was. So that incident is closed. And pleasantly and entirely +satisfactorily. Everything is all right, now, and I am no longer in a +clumsy and awkward situation. + +I "met up" with that charming Colonel Chapman, and other officers of the +regiment, and had a good time. + +Commandant Peters of the "Carnegie" will dine here tonight and arrange a +private visit for us to his ship, the crowd to be denied access. + Sincerely Yours, + S. L. C. + + + "Helen" of this letter was Mr. and Mrs. Allen's young daughter, + a favorite companion of his walks and drives. "Loomis" and "Lark," + mentioned in the letters which follow, were Edward E. Loomis--his + nephew by marriage--named by Mark Twain as one of the trustees of + his estate, and Charles T. Lark, Mark Twain's attorney. + + + To A. B. Paine, in Redding: + + HAMILTON, Jan. 21, '10. +DEAR PAINE,--Thanks for your letter, and for its contenting news of the +situation in that foreign and far-off and vaguely-remembered country +where you and Loomis and Lark and other beloved friends are. + +I have a letter from Clara this morning. She is solicitous, and wants me +well and watchfully taken care of. My, she ought to see Helen and her +parents and Claude administer that trust! + +Also she says: "I hope to hear from you or Mr. Paine very soon." + +I am writing her, and I know you will respond to your part of her prayer. +She is pretty desolate now, after Jean's emancipation--the only kindness +God ever did that poor unoffending child in all her hard life. + Ys ever + S. L. C. + + + Send Clara a copy of Howells's gorgeous letter. I want a copy of my + article that he is speaking of. + + + The "gorgeous letter" was concerning Mark Twain's article, "The + Turning-point in My Life" which had just appeared in one of the + Harper publications. Howells wrote of it, "While your wonderful + words are warm in my mind yet, I want to tell you what you know + already: that you never wrote anything greater, finer, than that + turning-point paper of yours." + + From the early Bermuda letters we may gather that Mark Twain's days + were enjoyable enough, and that his malady was not giving him + serious trouble, thus far. Near the end of January he wrote: "Life + continues here the same as usual. There isn't a flaw in it. Good + times, good home, tranquil contentment all day and every day, + without a break. I shouldn't know how to go about bettering my + situation." He did little in the way of literary work, probably + finding neither time nor inclination for it. When he wrote at all + it was merely to set down some fanciful drolleries with no thought + of publication. + + + To Prof. William Lyon Phelps, Yale College: + + HAMILTON, March 12. +DEAR PROFESSOR PHELPS,--I thank you ever so much for the book--[Professor +Phelps's Essays on Modern Novelists.]--which I find charming--so charming +indeed, that I read it through in a single night, and did not regret the +lost night's sleep. I am glad if I deserve what you have said about me: +and even if I don't I am proud and well contented, since you think I +deserve it. + +Yes, I saw Prof. Lounsbury, and had a most pleasant time with him. He +ought to have staid longer in this little paradise--partly for his own +sake, but mainly for mine. + +I knew my poor Jean had written you. I shall not have so dear and sweet +a secretary again. + +Good health to you, and all good fortune attend you. + Sincerely yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + He would appear to have written not many letters besides those to + Mrs. Gabrilowitsch and to Stormfield, but when a little girl sent + him a report of a dream, inspired by reading The Prince and the + Pauper, he took the time and trouble to acknowledge it, realizing, + no doubt, that a line from him would give the child happiness. + + + To Miss Sulamith, in New York: + + "BAY HOUSE," BERMUDA, March 21, 1910. +DEAR MISS SULAMITH,--I think it is a remarkable dream for a girl of 13 to +have dreamed, in fact for a person of any age to have dreamed, because it +moves by regular grade and sequence from the beginning to the end, which +is not the habit of dreams. I think your report of it is a good piece of +work, a clear and effective statement of the vision. + +I am glad to know you like the "Prince and the Pauper" so well and I +believe with you that the dream is good evidence of that liking. I think +I may say, with your sister that I like myself best when I am serious. + Sincerely yours, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + Through February, and most of March, letters and reports from him + were about the same. He had begun to plan for his return, and + concerning amusements at Stormfield for the entertainment of the + neighbors, and for the benefit of the library which he had founded + soon after his arrival in Redding. In these letters he seldom + mentioned the angina pains that had tortured him earlier. But once, + when he sent a small photograph of himself, it seemed to us that his + face had become thin and that he had suffered. Certainly his next + letter was not reassuring. + + + To A. B. Paine, in Redding: + +DEAR PAINE,--We must look into the magic-lantern business. Maybe the +modern lantern is too elaborate and troublesome for back-settlement use, +but we can inquire. We must have some kind of a show at "Stormfield" to +entertain the countryside with. + +We are booked to sail in the "Bermudian" April 23rd, but don't tell +anybody, I don't want it known. I may have to go sooner if the pain in +my breast doesn't mend its ways pretty considerably. I don't want to die +here for this is an unkind place for a person in that condition. I +should have to lie in the undertaker's cellar until the ship would remove +me and it is dark down there and unpleasant. + +The Colliers will meet me on the pier and I may stay with them a week or +two before going home. It all depends on the breast pain--I don't want +to die there. I am growing more and more particular about the place. + With love, + S. L. C. + + + This letter had been written by the hand of his "secretary," Helen + Allen: writing had become an effort to him. Yet we did not suspect + how rapidly the end was approaching and only grew vaguely alarmed. + A week later, however, it became evident that his condition was + critical. + + +DEAR PAINE,--. . . . I have been having a most uncomfortable time for +the past 4 days with that breast-pain, which turns out to be an affection +of the heart, just as I originally suspected. The news from New York is +to the effect that non-bronchial weather has arrived there at last, +therefore if I can get my breast trouble in traveling condition I may +sail for home a week or two earlier than has heretofore been proposed: + Yours as ever + S. L. CLEMENS, + (per H. S. A.) + + + In this letter he seems to have forgotten that his trouble had been + pronounced an affection of the heart long before he left America, + though at first it had been thought that it might be gastritis. + The same mail brought a letter from Mr. Allen explaining fully the + seriousness of his condition. I sailed immediately for Bermuda, + arriving there on the 4th of April. He was not suffering at the + moment, though the pains came now with alarming frequency and + violence. He was cheerful and brave. He did not complain. He gave + no suggestion of a man whose days were nearly ended. + + A part of the Stormfield estate had been a farm, which he had given + to Jean Clemens, where she had busied herself raising some live + stock and poultry. After her death he had wished the place to be + sold and the returns devoted to some memorial purpose. The sale had + been made during the winter and the price received had been paid in + cash. I found him full of interest in all affairs, and anxious to + discuss the memorial plan. A day or two later he dictated the + following letter-the last he would ever send. + + It seemed fitting that this final word from one who had so long + given happiness to the whole world should record a special gift to + his neighbors. + + + To Charles T. Lark, in New York: + + HAMILTON, BERMUDA. + April 6, 1910. +DEAR MR. LARK,--I have told Paine that I want the money derived from the +sale of the farm, which I had given, but not conveyed, to my daughter +Jean, to be used to erect a building for the Mark Twain Library of +Redding, the building to be called the Jean L. Clemens Memorial Building. + +I wish to place the money $6,000.00 in the hands of three trustees,-- +Paine and two others: H. A. Lounsbury and William E. Hazen, all of +Redding, these trustees to form a building Committee to decide on the +size and plan of the building needed and to arrange for and supervise the +work in such a manner that the fund shall amply provide for the building +complete, with necessary furnishings, leaving, if possible, a balance +remaining, sufficient for such repairs and additional furnishings as may +be required for two years from the time of completion. + +Will you please draw a document covering these requirements and have it +ready by the time I reach New York (April 14th). + Very sincerely, + S. L. CLEMENS. + + + We sailed on the 12th of April, reaching New York on the 14th, + as he had planned. A day or two later, Mr. and Mrs. Gabrilowitsch, + summoned from Italy by cable, arrived. He suffered very little + after reaching Stormfield, and his mind was comparatively clear up + to the last day. On the afternoon of April 21st he sank into a + state of coma, and just at sunset he died. Three days later, at + Elmira, New York, he was laid beside Mrs. Clemens and those others + who had preceded him. + + + + + THE LAST DAY AT STORMFIELD + + By BLISS CARMAN. + + At Redding, Connecticut, + The April sunrise pours + Over the hardwood ridges + Softening and greening now + In the first magic of Spring. + + The wild cherry-trees are in bloom, + The bloodroot is white underfoot, + The serene early light flows on, + Touching with glory the world, + And flooding the large upper room + Where a sick man sleeps. + Slowly he opens his eyes, + After long weariness, smiles, + And stretches arms overhead, + While those about him take heart. + + With his awakening strength, + (Morning and spring in the air, + The strong clean scents of earth, + The call of the golden shaft, + Ringing across the hills) + He takes up his heartening book, + Opens the volume and reads, + A page of old rugged Carlyle, + The dour philosopher + Who looked askance upon life, + Lurid, ironical, grim, + Yet sound at the core. + But weariness returns; + He lays the book aside + With his glasses upon the bed, + And gladly sleeps. Sleep, + Blessed abundant sleep, + Is all that he needs. + + And when the close of day + Reddens upon the hills + And washes the room with rose, + In the twilight hush + The Summoner comes to him + Ever so gently, unseen, + Touches him on the shoulder; + And with the departing sun + Our great funning friend is gone. + + How he has made us laugh! + A whole generation of men + Smiled in the joy of his wit. + But who knows whether he was not + Like those deep jesters of old + Who dwelt at the courts of Kings, + Arthur's, Pendragon's, Lear's, + Plying the wise fool's trade, + Making men merry at will, + Hiding their deeper thoughts + Under a motley array,-- + Keen-eyed, serious men, + Watching the sorry world, + The gaudy pageant of life, + With pity and wisdom and love? + + Fearless, extravagant, wild, + His caustic merciless mirth + Was leveled at pompous shams. + Doubt not behind that mask + There dwelt the soul of a man, + Resolute, sorrowing, sage, + As sure a champion of good + As ever rode forth to fray. + + Haply--who knows?--somewhere + In Avalon, Isle of Dreams, + In vast contentment at last, + With every grief done away, + While Chaucer and Shakespeare wait, + And Moliere hangs on his words, + And Cervantes not far off + Listens and smiles apart, + With that incomparable drawl + He is jesting with Dagonet now. + + [Copyright, 1910, by Collier's Weekly.] + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Letters Vol. 6 by Mark Twain + diff --git a/old/mt6lt11.zip b/old/mt6lt11.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5c76735 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/mt6lt11.zip |