Warner and I planned to get somebody to criticise the statue whose judgment would be worth something.So I laid for Champney, and after two failures I captured him and took him around, and he said "this statue is full of faults--but it has merits enough in it to make up for them"--whereat the young wife danced around as delighted as a child.When we came away, Champney said, "I did not want to say too much there, but the truth is, it seems to me an extraordinary performance for an untrained hand.You ask if there is promise enough there to justify the Hartford folk in going to an expense of training this young man.I should say, yes, decidedly; but still, to make everything safe, you had better get the judgment of a sculptor."Warner was in New York.I wrote him, and he said he would fetch up Ward --which he did.Yesterday they went to the Gerhardts and spent two hours, and Ward came away bewitched with those people and marveling at the winning innocence of the young wife, who dropped naturally into model-attitude beside the statue (which is stark naked from head to heel, now--G.had removed the drapery, fearing Ward would think he was afraid to try legs and hips) just as she has always done before.
Livy and I had two long talks with Ward yesterday evening.He spoke strongly.He said, "if any stranger had told me that this apprentice did not model that thing from plaster casts, I would not have believed it."He said "it is full of crudities, but it is full of genius, too.It is such a statue as the man of average talent would achieve after two years training in the schools.And the boldness of the fellow, in going straight to nature! He is an apprentice--his work shows that, all over;but the stuff is in him, sure.Hartford must send him to Paris--two years; then if the promise holds good, keep him there three more--and warn him to study, study, work, work, and keep his name out of the papers, and neither ask for orders nor accept them when offered."Well, you see, that's all we wanted.After Ward was gone Livy came out with the thing that was in her mind.She said, "Go privately and start the Gerhardts off to Paris, and say nothing about it to any one else."So I tramped down this morning in the snow-storm--and there was a stirring time.They will sail a week or ten days from now.
As I was starting out at the front door, with Gerhardt beside me and the young wife dancing and jubilating behind, this latter cried out impulsively, "Tell Mrs.Clemens I want to hug her--I want to hug you both!"I gave them my old French book and they were going to tackle the language, straight off.
Now this letter is a secret--keep it quiet--I don't think Livy would mind my telling you these things, but then she might, you know, for she is a queer girl.
Yrs ever, MARK.
Champney was J.Wells Champney, a portrait-painter of distinction;Ward was the sculptor, J.Q.A.Ward.
The Gerhardts were presently off to Paris, well provided with means to make their dreams reality; in due time the letters will report them again.
The Uncle Remus tales of Joel Chandler Harris gave Mark Twain great pleasure.He frequently read them aloud, not only at home but in public.Finally, he wrote Harris, expressing his warm appreciation, and mentioning one of the negro stories of his own childhood, "The Golden Arm," which he urged Harris to look up and add to his collection.
"You have pinned a proud feather in Uncle-Remus's cap," replied Harris."I do not know what higher honor he could have than to appear before the Hartford public arm in arm with Mark Twain."He disclaimed any originality for the stories, adding, "I understand that my relations toward Uncle Remus are similar to those that exist between an almanac maker and the calendar." He had not heard the "Golden Arm" story and asked for the outlines; also for some publishing advice, out of Mark Twain's long experience.
To Joel Chandler Harris, in Atlanta:
ELMIRA, N.Y., Aug.10.
MY DEAR MR.HARRIS,--You can argue yourself into the delusion that the principle of life is in the stories themselves and not in their setting;but you will save labor by stopping with that solitary convert, for he is the only intelligent one you will bag.In reality the stories are only alligator pears--one merely eats them for the sake of the salad-dressing.
Uncle Remus is most deftly drawn, and is a lovable and delightful creation; he, and the little boy, and their relations with each other, are high and fine literature, and worthy to live, for their own sakes;and certainly the stories are not to be credited with them.But enough of this; I seem to be proving to the man that made the multiplication table that twice one are two.
I have been thinking, yesterday and to-day (plenty of chance to think, as I am abed with lumbago at our little summering farm among the solitudes of the Mountaintops,) and I have concluded that I can answer one of your questions with full confidence--thus: Make it a subscription book.
Mighty few books that come strictly under the head of literature will sell by subscription; but if Uncle Remus won't, the gift of prophecy has departed out of me.When a book will sell by subscription, it will sell two or three times as many copies as it would in the trade; and the profit is bulkier because the retail price is greater.....
You didn't ask me for a subscription-publisher.If you had, I should have recommended Osgood to you.He inaugurates his subscription department with my new book in the fall.....
Now the doctor has been here and tried to interrupt my yarn about "The Golden Arm," but I've got through, anyway.
Of course I tell it in the negro dialect--that is necessary; but I have not written it so, for I can't spell it in your matchless way.It is marvelous the way you and Cable spell the negro and creole dialects.