25 November 1884 • Washington, D.C. (MS: CU-MARK, UCCL 03037)
Splendid times, Livy dear! A Congregational church packed with people—$750 in the house. The most responsive audience you ever saw. We did make them shout, from the first word to the last. I say “we,” for the honors were exactly equal—as they are pretty much always areⒶemendation, now. I worked the ghost story right, this time, & made them jump out of their skins.
Been down & played 2 games of billiards with Robert Allen, & am just back. I ate two meals today, & a vast supper at 10. 40 this evening.
Have just got another letter from that dear old Ben, full of good things. They are darling good children to me. As much as I prize a letter from you, I don’t exact them, for your hands are plenty full enough, with my infernal correspondence; so you must never feel at all obliged to write. Make the children do it. Good night, sweetheart, I love you dearly,
Those people have not turned up, & I shan’t hunt for them.
Mrs. S. L. Clemens | Hartford | Conn across left end: Be sure & read | Frank Millet’s story in | Harper. | flourish return address: returnⒶemendation to s. l. clemens, hartford, conn., if not delivered within 10 days. postmarked: washington d.c. nov 25 1884 11 30am and rec’d. hartford. conn. nov 26 1884 3am
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
- 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, CU-MARK.
MicroML, reel 5.
see Samossoud Collection in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.