29 May 1869 • Elmira, N.Y. (MS: CU-MARK, UCCL 00307)
Livy darling, precious little Comforter, you have cast out the devil that possessed me for the present, & all is well. I have kept the promises & obeyed the instructions. All is well—all will be well. I am grateful beyond all power of speech to express, for such a patient, wise, gentle, loving darling to lift me above myself & give me peace. You are the only person that is always master & conqueror of all my moods—& you are this through a persistence that never flags, a patience that never tires & never is disheartened, & a love that is invincible. Sleep in peace, darling—& blessings rest upon you.
Livy | Present.
The tone and content of this letter, which was hand delivered to Olivia in Elmira, suggest 29 May 1869 as the most likely date of composition.
References
- University of California, Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library, Berkeley
- Machlis, Paul, ed. Union Catalog of Clemens Letters. Edited by Paul Machlis. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press. [In some cases, UCCL catalog numbers cited in this volume supersede those assigned in 1986 and reflect corrections or additions to the catalog since publication. An updated version of the catalog can be consulted via the Letters Search page at MTPO.] 1986
- SLC (Samuel Langhorne Clemens). Mark Twain’s Letters, Volume 3: 1869. Edited by Victor Fischer, Michael B. Frank, and Dahlia Armon. The Mark Twain Papers. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Also online at MTPO[bib32371]. 1992
- CC (Clara Langdon Clemens, later Gabrilowitsch and Samossoud). My Father, Mark Twain. New York: Harper and Brothers. 1931
MS, Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley (CU-MARK). Clemens wrote this letter on a strip of paper measuring about 3 by 8½ inches, torn from the endpaper of a ledger book (ruled on one side only in blue with red dividing rules), that shows evidence of having had ink inscription on the missing portion.
L3 , 254; MFMT 237.
see Samossoud Collection, p. 586.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.