3 September 1877 • Elmira, N.Y. (MS: CSmH, UCCL 01477)
It is 16 hours’ journey to Cleveland from here, & with a stroke of your reckless pen you cut it down to 6!1explanatory note We are always wanting to go out there to the end of the world, but it is too far for Livy’s strength—at least by land. But I propose to tackle the difficulty from the other side. It cannot be as far from San Francisco as it is from here; so we are going around, in the spring, & approach you from Asia.
I may not do this, but it is an elegant idea, nevertheless. No, our plan for the spring is this: To leave, the 1st of May, & settle down in some good old city of Germany, & never stir again for 6 months. Then come home. Clara Spaulding will doubtless go with h us.2explanatory note Of course you and Mollie wouldn’t consent to settle down in a German town for 6 months, but why not go along in the same ship with us, tarry a spell, make your little distressful European pilgrimage, then pick us up & fetch us home? Bring the head of the house, or Charley & his wife, to take care of the gang—for I should lose some of the crowd if I tried to take charge of it. If I don’t get you people I will take a full-fledged guide, right from New York. I’m not a good executive officer.3explanatory note in margin: (A lie repented of.)
Mother is up here on the hill, this being the last day of our summer vacation. She sends her especial & particular loves, Livy joins her, & so do I,—to you & Mollie & all.
When are you coming to Hartford to visit us?
Why do you always dodge this question?
We certainly would have come to see you if it had been within the possibilities.
We go home tomorrowⒶemendation.
Mrs A. W. Fairbanks | Care “Herald” | Cleveland | Ohio. postmarked: elmira n.y. sep 4 10am and cleveland sep ◊Ⓐemendation
References
- Henry E. Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, Calif.
- 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 to Mrs. Fairbanks. Edited by Dixon Wecter. San Marino, Calif.: Huntington Library. 1949
- SLC (Samuel Langhorne Clemens). Mark Twain’s Letters, Volume 2: 1867–1868. Edited by Harriet Elinor Smith, Richard Bucci, and Lin Salamo. The Mark Twain Papers. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Also online at MTPO[bib32371]. 1990
- Fairbanks, Lorenzo Sayles. Genealogy of the Fairbanks Family in America, 1633–1897. Boston: American Printing and Engraving Company. 1897
- University of California, Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library, Berkeley
MS, CSmH, call no. HM 14293.
MTMF , 209–10.
See Huntington Library in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.