August 7 Saturday - In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to Elinor M Howells (Mrs. William Dean Howells),
Dear Mrs, Howells: / Clara thinks that if she knows young Alden’s sister it must be under a married name, as she is doubtful if she has met any Miss Alden.
The osteopath did a great deal more for me in 15 minutes than the physician & 200 doses of medicine did for me in 45 days. I am so sorry Howells got away. / Sincerely Yours / S L. Clemens [MTHL 2: 846]. Note: source informs that Howells had sailed on Aug. 4 with his daughter Mildred (Pilla) for the cure in Carlsbad [n1].
Sam also wrote to J. Wylie Smith in Glasgow, Scotland.
Dear Sir: / My view of the matter has not changed. To-wit, that Christian Science is valuable; that is 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 before Quimby was born; that Mrs. Eddy the fraud, the humbug, organized that force & is entitled to high credit for that. Then, with a splendid sagacity she hitched it to the shirt-tail of a religion—the surest of all ways to secure friends for it, & support. In a fine & 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 ass 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 in Glasgow. Fifty years from how, your posterity will not count them by the hundred but by the thousand. I feel absolutely sure of this. /
Very Truly Yours / ... [MTP}.