To
Charles Warren Stoddard
22 October 1877 • Hartford, Conn. (MS, correspondence card: CU-MARK, UCCL 01490)
22 October 1877 • Hartford, Conn. (MS, correspondence card: CU-MARK, UCCL 01490)
Monday, P.M.
slcDear Charley: My wife has plunged me into an abyss of genuine remorse, by saying,
“What! didn’t you go to the
station with Mr. Stoddard?” I said, “You know I only go when there are ladies, or
when the gentlemen do not know
the way.” “She said, “But this is such a dismal day. It is so forlorn 
to send anybody away alone.” I realized it in an instant & I have felt like a brute
ever since—but I
do assure you my conduct was innocent & only heedless—but it was hellish, nevertheless.1explanatory note
Now you promise me to come again & give me one more chance. Will you?
Yrs Ever
Mark.
We all thoroughly enjoyed your visit, my boy—all the tribe of us.
Explanatory Notes
1 The arrival and departure dates of Stoddard’s visit to Hartford have not been discovered.
He was definitely there on Saturday, 20 October, when Twichell wrote in his journal,
“Saw Charles Warren Stoddard the Author at M.T.’s.” On Sunday, 21 October, Stoddard
signed Olivia Clemens’s diary (Twichell 1874–1916; OLC 1877–1902). He probably left on Monday, 22 October, the last day of a long rainstorm, and the
probable date of this letter (Hartford Courant: “Brief Mention,” 22 Oct 1877, 23 Oct 1877, 2).
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
- Christie, Manson and Woods International, New York City
- Sotheby’s, New York, N.Y.
- Microfilm Edition of Mark Twain’s Previously Unpublished Letters. Prepared by Anh Quynh Bui, Victor Fischer, Michael B. Frank, Robert H. Hirst, Lin Salamo, and Harriet Elinor Smith. 8 vols. Berkeley: The Bancroft Library. 2001
- Twichell, Joseph H. “Personal Journal.” MS of 12 volumes, Joseph H. Twichell Collection, CtY-BR[bib10615]. 1874–1916
- OLC (Olivia Langdon Clemens). Diary of twenty-five leaves, written intermittently between 1877 and 1902, CU-MARK. 1877–1902
MS, correspondence card, CU-MARK.
Christie’s catalog, sale of 21–22 February 1989, Part V, lot 1772, excerpts; Sotheby’s catalog, sale of 29 October 1996, lot 268, excerpts; MicroPUL, reel 1.
The MS was offered for sale in 1942 by City Book Auction, 27–28 March 1942, lot 247. Sometime afterwards, it became part of the Estelle Doheny Collection at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, California. When the Doheny Collection was sold in 1989, Victor and Irene Murr Jacobs purchased the MS from Christie’s and sold it through Sotheby’s in 1996 to CU-MARK.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.