June 18 Monday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam finished his June 16, 17 to Charlotte Teller Johnson.
Monday. I keep forgetting to warn you that if you write me by way of Ireland I may never get the letter. There’s only one way to account for a now-&-then due letter that didn’t come: the “New Hampshire” was spelt out, the P.O. clerks, in their haste, started it for Dublin, Ireland, by way of Hampshire, England. P.O. clerks are not made by God, but by hand. Now they’re going via France! On May 26 a letter full of bills for payment started from home, addressed “Dublin, New Hampshire,” & didn’t reach me until June 14. In mid-ocean the steamer’s mail-clerks discovered the error & put the letter ashore at Cherbourg for return. It came back decorated with French 15-centime stamps of the “Due” species—& not payable by the United States, who made the mistake, but by me, who didn’t. Of such is the human race!
Write it “Dublin, N.H.,” with a big, big, N.H., Charlotte. Most P.O. clerks are near-sighted, & the rest are dead [MTP].
Sam also wrote to daughter Clara at 21 Fifth Ave. N.Y. enclosing his photo from The Weekly Digest.
Clara dear, if any of these photographs are in the house, examine them & see if you can detect this nightgowned child that is whispering in my ear. A lady in Norfolk Va. has made the discovery, but she has emphasized the pillow-wrinkles with her pencil to help me make out the shape. There are 3 different negatives, but the child is in them all.
I am mighty glad you are to have Lilly Burbank with you, as long as we can’t have her with us, which I wish we could. Now you will be happy, & not lonesome. We are in luck, too. Mr. Allison has been scouring the country for kittens for us, & to-day they have come. Beautiful little creatures, & just weaned; a gray one & two black ones with white gloves & half- masks.They are on my bed helping me write. And so this place is no longer the Lodge of Sorrow (my name for it), nor the House of Mirth (Miss Lyon’s name for it[ )] .
Mrs. Johnson [Charlotte Teller Johnson] sent her play—in the rough, for it was pushed through in 5 weeks—& it is fine & strong & brisk. Five acts. I read it aloud to Miss Lyon Friday, & sent it back—it was needed, for copying—but it will be returned to me presently, then I will send it to Norfolk or will read it to you when you come, whichever you prefer. I’m not overworking— oh, my land no! I dictate 2 hours in the morning, about 4 days per week; and read & revise an hour or two, afternoons, with Miss Lyon for audience. I do nothing, after that, but cripple time —I can’t really kill it. I’ve done about 3 volumes the size of Huck Finn since Jan. 9, & I think they’re mighty satisfactory. Love to you, dear; & much the same to Miss Lilly [MTP]. Note: MTP catalogs this as “18 or 19 June,” though Sam, losing track of the date, headed it June 20. The postmark is 5 a.m., Dublin June 19. Since it is doubtful Sam wrote it earlier than 5 a.m. on June 19, it is placed on June 18. Miss Emily W. Burbank.
Clemens’ A.D. this day included: The five letters written by three women, twenty-seven years ago, and Clemens’ comments upon them. Bret Harte again [MTP: Autodict2].
Isabel Lyon’s journal: In an old sack of letters sent to SLC from Keokuk about 5 years ago he unearthed a batch of 5 letters this morning which are a romance & a tragedy. Today he dictated in the house & his topic was the 5 letters and their tragedy, a dictation to be published 500 years hence.
Three kittens were brought to Mr. Clemens room by Katherine this morning, & he is going to keep all of them; renting them for $5.00 for the season with the understanding that good homes are provided for them in the fall [MTP TS 85].
Note: Victor Fischer of MTP enlightens about the 5 letters, objects of Sam’s June 18 dictation: “They are not letters to Clemens; they are taken from a sack of letters from strangers to one another that Clemens says he had had for five years. Briefly the letters tell in the first person the story of a young woman who in 1879 claimed that she had gotten pregnant by a married man and pleaded to be taken in and helped by an older woman, after which a complicated story is told, with accusations against her and with her denials.”
The letters have been catalogued by the MTP: Mrs. William Griffiths to Mollie Clemens, Oct. 5, 1879; Mollie Clemens to Mrs. Willam Griffiths Oct. 9, 1879; Mrs. William Griffiths to
Mollie Clemens; Mollie Clemens to Sylvia M. Hunt Oct. 16, 1879; Sylvia M. Hunt to Mollie Clemens Oct. 18, 1879.
Monday. I keep forgetting to warn you that if you write me by way of Ireland I may never get the letter. There’s only one way to account for a now-&-then due letter that didn’t come: the “New Hampshire” was spelt out, the P.O. clerks, in their haste, started it for Dublin, Ireland, by way of Hampshire, England. P.O. clerks are not made by God, but by hand. Now they’re going via France! On May 26 a letter full of bills for payment started from home, addressed “Dublin, New Hampshire,” & didn’t reach me until June 14. In mid-ocean the steamer’s mail-clerks discovered the error & put the letter ashore at Cherbourg for return. It came back decorated with French 15-centime stamps of the “Due” species—& not payable by the United States, who made the mistake, but by me, who didn’t. Of such is the human race!
Write it “Dublin, N.H.,” with a big, big, N.H., Charlotte. Most P.O. clerks are near-sighted, & the rest are dead [MTP].
Sam also wrote to daughter Clara at 21 Fifth Ave. N.Y. enclosing his photo from The Weekly Digest.
Clara dear, if any of these photographs are in the house, examine them & see if you can detect this nightgowned child that is whispering in my ear. A lady in Norfolk Va. has made the discovery, but she has emphasized the pillow-wrinkles with her pencil to help me make out the shape. There are 3 different negatives, but the child is in them all.
I am mighty glad you are to have Lilly Burbank with you, as long as we can’t have her with us, which I wish we could. Now you will be happy, & not lonesome. We are in luck, too. Mr. Allison has been scouring the country for kittens for us, & to-day they have come. Beautiful little creatures, & just weaned; a gray one & two black ones with white gloves & half- masks.They are on my bed helping me write. And so this place is no longer the Lodge of Sorrow (my name for it), nor the House of Mirth (Miss Lyon’s name for it[ )] .
Mrs. Johnson [Charlotte Teller Johnson] sent her play—in the rough, for it was pushed through in 5 weeks—& it is fine & strong & brisk. Five acts. I read it aloud to Miss Lyon Friday, & sent it back—it was needed, for copying—but it will be returned to me presently, then I will send it to Norfolk or will read it to you when you come, whichever you prefer. I’m not overworking— oh, my land no! I dictate 2 hours in the morning, about 4 days per week; and read & revise an hour or two, afternoons, with Miss Lyon for audience. I do nothing, after that, but cripple time —I can’t really kill it. I’ve done about 3 volumes the size of Huck Finn since Jan. 9, & I think they’re mighty satisfactory. Love to you, dear; & much the same to Miss Lilly [MTP]. Note: MTP catalogs this as “18 or 19 June,” though Sam, losing track of the date, headed it June 20. The postmark is 5 a.m., Dublin June 19. Since it is doubtful Sam wrote it earlier than 5 a.m. on June 19, it is placed on June 18. Miss Emily W. Burbank.
Clemens’ A.D. this day included: The five letters written by three women, twenty-seven years ago, and Clemens’ comments upon them. Bret Harte again [MTP: Autodict2].
Isabel Lyon’s journal: In an old sack of letters sent to SLC from Keokuk about 5 years ago he unearthed a batch of 5 letters this morning which are a romance & a tragedy. Today he dictated in the house & his topic was the 5 letters and their tragedy, a dictation to be published 500 years hence.
Three kittens were brought to Mr. Clemens room by Katherine this morning, & he is going to keep all of them; renting them for $5.00 for the season with the understanding that good homes are provided for them in the fall [MTP TS 85].
Note: Victor Fischer of MTP enlightens about the 5 letters, objects of Sam’s June 18 dictation: “They are not letters to Clemens; they are taken from a sack of letters from strangers to one another that Clemens says he had had for five years. Briefly the letters tell in the first person the story of a young woman who in 1879 claimed that she had gotten pregnant by a married man and pleaded to be taken in and helped by an older woman, after which a complicated story is told, with accusations against her and with her denials.”
The letters have been catalogued by the MTP: Mrs. William Griffiths to Mollie Clemens, Oct. 5, 1879; Mollie Clemens to Mrs. Willam Griffiths Oct. 9, 1879; Mrs. William Griffiths to
Mollie Clemens; Mollie Clemens to Sylvia M. Hunt Oct. 16, 1879; Sylvia M. Hunt to Mollie Clemens Oct. 18, 1879.
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