1 May 1881 • 1st of 2 • Hartford, Conn. (MS: NPV, UCCL 01944)
Private.
I have a large plan laid out. The first division of it is this:
I want you to manage to give Dan the to give Dan the impression (& it will be true), that I have often wondered why he confined himself to saying that the $5,000 borrowed of me in ’78 just before failing, being a debt of honor, he should eventually see that it was paid in full, instead of 20 or 30 per c cents on the dollar like the rest of the firm’s debts. I have wondered at his merely saying this, & never offering me ei the firm’s note ante-dated to the early part of ’78 (inasmuch as his saying it would not protect me if he died suddenly).—It has half-way made me doubt him, sometimes. The moment you hear him say he is willing to furnish that note (as he will say, if you do your part neatly & with grace,) make him furnish it on the spot—don’t let him put it off till next day.
That is the first move. One at at time. I think I see my way clearly for some distance ahead of me.
Where are you living?
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
- Microfilm Edition of Mark Twain’s Previously Unpublished Letters.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
MS, Jean Webster McKinney Family Papers, Special Collections, NPV.
MicroPUL, reel 2.
See McKinney Family Papers in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.