November 13 Sunday – At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam finished his Nov. 6 letter to Richard Watson Gilder. His P.S. focused on the fact that Gilder had already rejected “Platonic Sweetheart”—he was convinced it was another case of “Mental Telegraphy,” which was :
…as quick as the cable & twice as economical. When the word came from Mr. Rogers this morning [not extant] that you had rejected that thing, Mrs. Clemens said, “Now you must go at once & write Mr. Gilder & thank him.” I said, “When I am really grateful I don’t wait, but say it in advance—I attended to this a week ago.” “How?” “By Mental Telegraph.” And I showed her the elder half of this letter [Nov. 6]. …
Some people do not believe in mental telegraphy, but I have had 21 years of experience of it & have written a novel with that as motif (don’t be alarmed—I burned it) & I know considerable about it.
I am never afraid to submit an article to you, because I have perfect confidence in your judgment, when you are sober [MTP].
Sam also sent a curious letter with sixteen of 50 “quatrains” after the form of Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam to Chatto & Windus, and headed the letter “Burn the rhymes” and “Confidential.” “An American friend” had suggested he “try a new thing”—a rare book for collectors. This was not a new idea for Sam but the first mention encountered for this poem he titled “Omar’s Old Age.” Was it a “vicious scheme?” he asked.
“Samples enclosed. Read them, then burn them at once; don’t let any see them or hear about them. In writing me, don’t use a title, but speak of the work as ‘ABC’”

Among the verses sent:
I.
Sleep! for the Sun that scores another Day
Against the Tale allotted you to stay,
Reminding You, is Risen, & now
Serves Notice—ah, ignore it while You may!
IV
The chill Wind blew, & those who stood before
The Tavern murmured, “Having drunk his Score,
Why tarries He with Empty Cup? Behold,
The Wine of Youth once poured, is poured no more—
XXIV
Myself when Young did eagerly frequent
Some shady Houses, & heard Argument
About It & about: but evermore
I liked it well, & in I went.
XXV
Into this Bawdy House, & Why, well knowing,
But Whence, for Wisdom’s sake not showing,
And out of it, the Wine exalting me,
I knew not Whither, windy went, a-blowing.
XXXIII
Our Sphincters growing lax in their dear Art,
Their Grip relinquishing, in Whole or Part,
We fall a Prey to confidence misplaced,
And fart in place where we should not fart.
XXXIV
Behold—The Penis mightier than the Sword,
(The rest of this quatrain is indelicate) [MTP].
Note: it is doubtful these passed Livy’s inspection, and understandable why Sam wanted these burned. He had adopted Victorian sensibilities about sex and such, but clearly had conflict about it. For an interesting and mostly lucid treatment of these issues, including whether or not Sam was a virgin when he married Livy, see “Mark Twain and Sexuality,” by Alexander E. Jones, PLMA, Vol. 71 No. 4 (Sept. 1956) p. 595-616. F. Kaplan calls these “cynical, semi-obscene quatrains” [571]. Welland points out that McClure’s of Jan. 1900 , and in “My Boyhood Dreams,” under the title “To the Above Old people,” published a 20-stanza version of “Omar’s Old Age.” Welland writes:
The nine ‘Chatto’ stanzas omitted from the McClure’s text explain his urgent instruction to Chatto to destroy the manuscript, though no rugby club would be in the least troubled by them. One comprises the single line ‘Behold—The Penis mightier than the Sword’ followed by the parenthesis ‘(The rest of this quatrain is indelicate’. It suggests that the whole thing was intended as a joke, especially as a completed version of that quatrain in a manuscript now at Yale is milder than several others. Even if it was a ‘leg-pull’, of course, Clemens must have been very sure that the recipient would not take umbrage at this sort of humor…[195-6].