August 8 Monday – Richard Watson Gilder of Century Magazine had written Sam (unlisted in MTP’s Incoming file). Sam responded:

Oh, I didn’t know what you meant by “the play.” But it has occurred to me that you mean that 3-act German-English farce, — & so you’ve cost me a day — & I couldn’t spare it, by George! I’ve gone over it & revised…[MTP].

Sam had sent it out for typesetting and offered to send it to Gilder when it arrived. If Gilder liked it, Sam advised having Edward Windsor Kemble (1861-1933) do a few illustrations for it. Kemble had illustrated Huckleberry Finn. Note: Century would publish this work, Meisterschaft: In Three Acts in January 1888. Sam originally wrote it sometime in 1886-7 as entertainment for the family. Gelencser writes:

“Mark Twain humorously criticizes language as a mode of communication and proves that, especially among lovers, language often serves only as an obstacle to true understanding.”

[And]

“From the American perspective, Heine’s poem, Meisterschaft, Ollendorf, and the awful German language, which Twain so successfully mocks in this uniquely innovative play, represent the superficiality and restriction of European culture and values” [MT Encyc. 507-8]. Note: in Meisterschaft Sam quoted four lines from Heinrich Heine’s (1797-1856) poem, “Du Bist wie eine Blume!” [Gribben 305].

Sam then wrote to Charles Van Schuyver, compositor, about setting proof for Meisterschaft. Sam added a note to the MS that was stricken on publication in the Century:

There is some tolerably rancid German here & there in this piece. It is attributable to the proof-reader. M.T. [MTP].