21 April 1882 • SS Gold Dust
en route from St. Louis, Mo., to Vicksburg, Miss. (MS, correspondence card: CU-MARK, UCCL 02203)
slcLivy darling, I am in solitary possession of the pilot house of the steamer Gold Dust, with the familiar wheel & compass & bell ropes around me. We are taking in coal. I came up here at a quarter to 8 (½ an hour ago,) while the dog watch was still on, & before the regular watch began—consequently I’ve had a brief acquaintanceship with both pilots. I’m all alone, now (the pilot whose watch it is, told me to make myself entirely at home, & I’m doing it[)].
Thus far our fictitious name[s] are a sufficient protection; but we had to get out of St Louis in a hurry, because I got to meeting too many people who knew me. We swore them to secrecy, & left by the first boat.
It is a magnificent day, & the hills & levels are masses of shining green, with here & there a white-blossoming tree. I love you, sweetheart.
Mrs. S. L. Clemens | Hartford | Conn on the flap: slc first postmark illegible postmarked: hartford conn. apr 24 12am
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
- Microfilm Edition of Mark Twain’s Manuscript Letters Now in the Mark Twain Papers. Prepared by Anh Quynh Bui, Victor Fischer, Michael B. Frank, Robert H. Hirst, Lin Salamo, and Harriet Elinor Smith. 11 vols. Berkeley: The Bancroft Library. 2001
MS, correspondence card, CU-MARK.
LLMT, 207–8; MicroML, reel 4.
See Samossoud Collection in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.