If you and Mrs.Howells cannot be there by half past 4, I'll not plan to arrive till the later train-time (6,) because I don't want to be there alone--even a minute.Still, Joe Twichell will doubtless go with me (forgot that,) he is going to try hard to.Mrs.Clemens has given up going, because Susy is just recovering from about the savagest assault of diphtheria a child ever did recover from, and therefore will not be entirely her healthy self again by the 8th.
Would you and Mrs.Howells like to invite Mr.and Mrs.Aldrich? I have a large proscenium box--plenty of room.Use your own pleasure about it --I mainly (that is honest,) suggest it because I am seeking to make matters pleasant for you and Mrs.Howells.I invited Twichell because Ithought I knew you'd like that.I want you to fix it so that you and the Madam can remain in Boston all night; for I leave next day and we can't have a talk, otherwise.I am going to get two rooms and a parlor; and would like to know what you decide about the Aldriches, so as to know whether to apply for an additional bedroom or not.
Don't dine that evening, for I shall arrive dinnerless and need your help.
I'll bring my Blindfold Novelette, but shan't exhibit it unless you exhibit yours.You would simply go to work and write a novelette that would make mine sick.Because you would know all about where my weak points lay.No, Sir, I'm one of these old wary birds!
Don't bother to write a letter--3 lines on a postal card is all that Ican permit from a busy man.
Yrs ever MARK.
P.S.Good! You'll not have to feel any call to mention that debut in the Atlantic--they've made me pay the grand cash for my box!--a thing which most managers would be too worldly-wise to do, with journalistic folks.But I'm most honestly glad, for I'd rather pay three prices, any time, than to have my tongue half paralyw4 with a dead-head ticket.
Hang that Anna Dickinson, a body can never depend upon her debuts! She has made five or six false starts already.If she fails to debut this time, I will never bet on her again.
In his book, My Mark Twain, Howells refers to the "tragedy" of Miss Dickinson's appearance.She was the author of numerous plays, some of which were successful, but her career as an actress was never brilliant.
At Elmira that summer the Clemenses heard from their good friend Doctor Brown, of Edinburgh, and sent eager replies.
To Dr.John Brown, in Edinburgh:
ELMIRA, NEW YORK, U.S.June 22, 1876.
DEAR FRIEND THE DOCTOR,-- It was a perfect delight to see the well-known handwriting again! But we so grieve to know that you are feeling miserable.It must not last--it cannot last.The regal summer is come and it will smile you into high good cheer; it will charm away your pains, it will banish your distresses.I wish you were here, to spend the summer with us.We are perched on a hill-top that overlooks a little world of green valleys, shining rivers, sumptuous forests and billowy uplands veiled in the haze of distance.We have no neighbors.It is the quietest of all quiet places, and we are hermits that eschew caves and live in the sun.Doctor, if you'd only come!
I will carry your letter to Mrs.C.now, and there will be a glad woman, I tell you! And she shall find one of those pictures to put in this for Mrs.Barclays and if there isn't one here we'll send right away to Hartford and get one.Come over, Doctor John, and bring the Barclays, the Nicolsons and the Browns, one and all!
Affectionately, SAML.L.CLEMENS.
From May until August no letters appear to have passed between Clemens and Howells; the latter finally wrote, complaining of the lack of news.He was in the midst of campaign activities, he said, writing a life of Hayes, and gaily added: "You know I wrote the life of Lincoln, which elected him." He further reported a comedy he had completed, and gave Clemens a general stirring up as to his own work.
Mark Twain, in his hillside study, was busy enough.Summer was his time for work, and he had tried his hand in various directions.His mention of Huck Finn in his reply to Howells is interesting, in that it shows the measure of his enthusiasm, or lack of it, as a gauge of his ultimate achievement To W.D.Howells, in Boston:
ELMIRA, Aug.9, 1876.
MY DEAR HOWELLS,--I was just about to write you when your letter came--and not one of those obscene postal cards, either, but reverently, upon paper.
I shall read that biography, though the letter of acceptance was amply sufficient to corral my vote without any further knowledge of the man.
Which reminds me that a campaign club in Jersey City wrote a few days ago and invited me to be present at the raising of a Tilden and Hendricks flag there, and to take the stand and give them some "counsel." Well, Icould not go, but gave them counsel and advice by letter, and in the kindliest terms as to the raising of the flag--advised them "not to raise it."Get your book out quick, for this is a momentous time.If Tilden is elected I think the entire country will go pretty straight to--Mrs.
Howells's bad place.
I am infringing on your patent--I started a record of our children's sayings, last night.Which reminds me that last week I sent down and got Susie a vast pair of shoes of a most villainous pattern, for I discovered that her feet were being twisted and cramped out of shape by a smaller and prettier article.She did not complain, but looked degraded and injured.At night her mamma gave her the usual admonition when she was about to say her prayers--to wit:
"Now, Susie--think about God."
"Mamma, I can't, with those shoes."