14 May 1880 • Hartford, Conn. (MS: NPV, UCCL 01804)
My advice to Orion (strenuously expressed) was to drop his book utterly, & give his undivided attention to his newspaper work. If he does his whole duty by the latter, he will require all his odd time to rest in. No reporter will long remain useful who fritters away his resting time in writing on a book. At Orion’s time of life, a very little over-work will be mighty bad for him.
Now the minute he has at last gone to earning a living, do you want him to go to planning a holiday? Let the holiday alone—it will take care of itself when the proper time comes. If Orion leaves his post for a holiday before he has become indispensalble to the Gate City, he will run a sharp risk of finding that the Gate City prefers his successor.
Better wait, & let things take their natural course.
They are yelling for me to come to dinner.
All send love.
References
- Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
- 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
- Webster, Samuel Charles. Mark Twain, Business Man. Edited by Samuel Charles Webster. Boston: Little, Brown and Co. 1946
MS, Jean Webster McKinney Papers, Special Collections, NPV.
MTBus , 130.
See McKinney Family Papers in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.