June 2 Saturday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam finished his May 29, 30, 31 to Charlotte Teller Johnson.
LATER. / In a curious way we have discovered that the village hello-girl is prodigiously interested in all messages that proceed from this house, & was as prodigiously interested in them last year. Very well, I did not personally use the telephone at all last year & have personally used it only once this year. I’m done! I was intending to use it again to-morrow, but I shan’t. If I ever use it personally again it will be a case of unavoidable necessity [Written in the margins:] Charlotte, the only ambition of my life it to be good & pure & sweet, & so I wish to ask your advice. I find that in this dictated rough-draft of my answer to my brother-in- law General Langdon, I have unconsciously & inadvertently used profanity. I am in some distress about it, & would like to have your advice. I never use profanity except when writing to clergymen. Do you think it wrong to use profanity when writing to other people? If you do, I will not do it any more. I will do just as you say.
Also—another point. To-day the dentist drove here from Keene, 15 miles, to begin some repairs on my teeth, & I liked him so much that I wanted to do something to show it, so I invited him to the funeral. Jean & Miss Lyon were very indignant, & after he was gone, they said I ought to be ashamed of myself for forcing such an attention upon a person I had never th seen before. I said I meant no harm, & I didn’t tell him the right date anyway; I told him the 6 . Now Charlotte, he is nice; do you think I did wrong? If you think so, I will send him word not to come. I will do just as you say, for I think more of your judgment than I do of theirs. You are my friend, while they—well, I regard them as mere accidental acquaintances.
I will remind you that you promised to write me every fortnight—& here it is a month & not a line from you yet. You never fell short of a promise before. I want to hear from you. Are you in good spirits, & cheerful? I hope so. But I think you must be very tired. Is the osteopath threatening consumption again? You intimated it. Is he repeating it? [MTP]. Note: Sam enclosed Charles Langdon’s May 23 and his response.
Isabel Lyon’s journal:
2½ hours dictating this morning, & the long story of Mr. Clemens’s unfortunate alliance with Webster has been finished. Five days he has been at it, grinding it out. As he has walked the porch he has made frequent appeals to his watch in sheer weariness, hoping to find that 12 o’clock has been reached.
There are a lot of old bound volumes of Little’s Living Age in the house & Mr. Clemens has taken them as his reading, but finding about only one readable article in a volume. It’s a pretty dull collection, & solid, not a break made by a remark & today as Mr. Clemens opened one of them he said it was “like looking at an asphalt pavement” for dull monotony [MTP TS 76-77]. Note: it was unusual for Sam to dictate on weekends.
Charles J. Langdon wrote to Sam, enclosing a check for $25 for a coupon of the Atlanta Gas Co, from the estate of Susie Clemens.
You will see that notwithstanding in your last letter you consigned me to the infernal regions because of my kindly attempt to help you in your farming undertaking that I have not yet taken my departure. This is largely due to the fact that I prefer to wait for you as I think you can show me about the place to which you sent me better than most any other guide that I could get [MTP].
Clemens’ A.D. this day included: Examination of the books & punishment of Frank M. Scott, who had stolen $26,000— Webster refuses books which Clemens wishes published & accepts worthless ones—He is succeeded by Fred Hall—Charles L. Webster accepts Edmund Clarence Stedman’s “Library of American Literature” which caused the firm to fail —Clemens starts on his lecturing tour around the world & in 13 months pays off all his indebtedness—James W. Paige, & the type-setting machine [MTP: Autodict2; MTE 186-95].
LATER. / In a curious way we have discovered that the village hello-girl is prodigiously interested in all messages that proceed from this house, & was as prodigiously interested in them last year. Very well, I did not personally use the telephone at all last year & have personally used it only once this year. I’m done! I was intending to use it again to-morrow, but I shan’t. If I ever use it personally again it will be a case of unavoidable necessity [Written in the margins:] Charlotte, the only ambition of my life it to be good & pure & sweet, & so I wish to ask your advice. I find that in this dictated rough-draft of my answer to my brother-in- law General Langdon, I have unconsciously & inadvertently used profanity. I am in some distress about it, & would like to have your advice. I never use profanity except when writing to clergymen. Do you think it wrong to use profanity when writing to other people? If you do, I will not do it any more. I will do just as you say.
Also—another point. To-day the dentist drove here from Keene, 15 miles, to begin some repairs on my teeth, & I liked him so much that I wanted to do something to show it, so I invited him to the funeral. Jean & Miss Lyon were very indignant, & after he was gone, they said I ought to be ashamed of myself for forcing such an attention upon a person I had never th seen before. I said I meant no harm, & I didn’t tell him the right date anyway; I told him the 6 . Now Charlotte, he is nice; do you think I did wrong? If you think so, I will send him word not to come. I will do just as you say, for I think more of your judgment than I do of theirs. You are my friend, while they—well, I regard them as mere accidental acquaintances.
I will remind you that you promised to write me every fortnight—& here it is a month & not a line from you yet. You never fell short of a promise before. I want to hear from you. Are you in good spirits, & cheerful? I hope so. But I think you must be very tired. Is the osteopath threatening consumption again? You intimated it. Is he repeating it? [MTP]. Note: Sam enclosed Charles Langdon’s May 23 and his response.
Isabel Lyon’s journal:
2½ hours dictating this morning, & the long story of Mr. Clemens’s unfortunate alliance with Webster has been finished. Five days he has been at it, grinding it out. As he has walked the porch he has made frequent appeals to his watch in sheer weariness, hoping to find that 12 o’clock has been reached.
There are a lot of old bound volumes of Little’s Living Age in the house & Mr. Clemens has taken them as his reading, but finding about only one readable article in a volume. It’s a pretty dull collection, & solid, not a break made by a remark & today as Mr. Clemens opened one of them he said it was “like looking at an asphalt pavement” for dull monotony [MTP TS 76-77]. Note: it was unusual for Sam to dictate on weekends.
Charles J. Langdon wrote to Sam, enclosing a check for $25 for a coupon of the Atlanta Gas Co, from the estate of Susie Clemens.
You will see that notwithstanding in your last letter you consigned me to the infernal regions because of my kindly attempt to help you in your farming undertaking that I have not yet taken my departure. This is largely due to the fact that I prefer to wait for you as I think you can show me about the place to which you sent me better than most any other guide that I could get [MTP].
Clemens’ A.D. this day included: Examination of the books & punishment of Frank M. Scott, who had stolen $26,000— Webster refuses books which Clemens wishes published & accepts worthless ones—He is succeeded by Fred Hall—Charles L. Webster accepts Edmund Clarence Stedman’s “Library of American Literature” which caused the firm to fail —Clemens starts on his lecturing tour around the world & in 13 months pays off all his indebtedness—James W. Paige, & the type-setting machine [MTP: Autodict2; MTE 186-95].
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