31 October 1881 • Hartford, Conn. (Katherine K. Walker, “An Open Letter to Mark Twain,” New York Independent 35, 4 January 1883, 6; transcription and MS facsimile, Swann Auction Galleries catalog, sale no. 2228, 4 Nov 2010, lot 213: UCCL 09233)
Laws bless you, I done it apurpose. Nobody ever gets my name right, (witness the enclosedⒶemendation first two envelopsⒶemendation I fished out of the waste-basket this moment), therefore I never put anybody else’s name right, unless it is specially requested.Ⓐemendation
Come, now, please write that article &Ⓐemendation dispatch it to the magazine. Mine has gone where it won’tⒶemendation appear in print for several months, I judge—so you see,Ⓐemendation yours would be almost certain to come out ahead of mine.Ⓐemendation Do it, & I will retire from my rigid rule & spell your name right—always.Ⓐemendation
I had a mindⒶemendation to phrenograph (yes, that’s correct) thisⒶemendation letter to you, for the sake of the experiment; but was afraid you might think I only did it to save three cents, whereasⒶemendation upon my word & sacred honorⒶemendation I wish I may never die if such a sordid thought as that ever entered my head for a moment. So I beg you to believe that if I did Ⓐemendation phrenograph it, the thing was done &Ⓐemendation gone before I had time to reflect &Ⓐemendation take it back. One of the inconvenientest things about this phrenography is,Ⓐemendation that you can’t run it over & fix it right & slick it up—no,Ⓐemendation it goes in the rough.
All variants between the source texts are reported here. The readings identified by the siglum ‘MTP’ are editorial emendations of the source readings made because none is deemed correct by itself.
References
- 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
The transcribed text in Swann is printed in all italic type, which is here silently ignored. Walker herself acknowledged in a 29 January 1883 letter to Clemens “the swift punishment I recd at the hands of the Independent’s type-setters, who made fine hash & a chinese puzzle out of my pen script.” That must refer at least in part to the manifestly confused transcription of this letter, which included as part of Clemens’s text words that were clearly uttered by Walker. See the emendations below.