28 December 1881 • Hartford, Conn. (MS: CU-MARK, UCCL 02127)
You can rest right down on it, every time. I did not choose the word lightly, or with haste; & but after thought, & unhurried seeking for the right word; rejecting several that were near to being the right one, yet but which failed, by a shade, to reflect to the full the thing which was in my mind. I am careless about minor words, but never not about key-words—I mean, I don’t weigh the powder for the blank carotridges, but I do for the bullets. And look here: it wasn’t my idea to send you that ridiculous General-Butler toy; it was Stone’s—he wanted to sell it, I reckon. He said some minister ought to have it, to beguile his mind away, for a moment, from the contemplation of the woes & foolishnesses & littlenesses of the creeping things he is commissioned by his office to save or damn; & so I said send it to Dr Burton—for it struck me that his idea was sound. And when a toy-fiend exhibits an idea, he one marvels, & he is sore afraid, & his reason fails him, & he doth the thing which is thoughtless.
Merry Christmas.
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
- Wecter, Dixon. The Love Letters of Mark Twain. Edited by Dixon Wecter. New York: Harper and Brothers. 1949
MS, CU-MARK.
MicroML, reel 4.
See Appert Collection in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.