Samuel L. Clemens to Montgomery Schuyler, 30 July 1876 · Elmira, N.Y

Source: Mark Twain House and Museum, Hartford, Conn ([CtHMTH])

Cue: "I don't forget you & I"

Source format: "MS"

Letter type: "[standard letter]"

Notes:

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Revision History: Paradise, Kate

Published on MTPO: 2022

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To Montgomery Schuyler
30 July 1876 • Elmira, N.Y. (MS: CtHMTH, UCCL 11917)

Elmira, N. Y. July 30.

My Dear Schuyler:1

I don’t forget you & I ain’t ungrateful to you, neither; but I thought of a couple of things when I was casting about for a journal to jam that squib into. The main one, was, that as Mr. Marble was gone,2explanatory note I judged you had all been thrown out of the fifth story window after him. And the other was, that I being a Republican (if anything, politically—which I doubt), it would not be in good taste for me to slur this e miserable & entirely damnable administration through a Democratic paper.

I wrote a very elaborate squib for the World a month ago—& burned it, it not being satisfactory to me. That shows that I don’t forget you, dam you, & that I desire the prosperity of the paper, too, & am careful not to do things that might injure it. A man of less exquisite principle would have sentⒶemendation you the principle article.

And whenever, in coming months, I shall chance to write a squib, a passing squib, I shall either send it to you or burn it——the former if it be worthy, the latter if not. A body couldn’t say fairer than that, I know. With my kindest to Wheeler 3explanatory note & the rest of you—

Yrs Ever

Samℓ. L. Clemens

Textual Commentary

Source text(s):

MS, CtHMTH.

Previous Publication:

MicroPUL, reel 1.

Explanatory Notes

1 Montgomery Schuyler (1843–1914) became a feature writer and critic for the New York World in 1865. He also wrote for magazines, primarily on literature and architecture. Clemens replied to his letter of 25 July, transcribed on 22 July 1876 to the Editors of the New York Evening Post, n. 6.

2 Manton M. Marble (1834–1917) was owner and editor of the New York World from 1862 until he resigned and sold his interest in May 1876. Under his guidance the World became the country’s most influential Democratic newspaper. A strong supporter of Samuel J. Tilden in his bid for the presidency, Marble is credited with writing the 1876 national party platform (“Sale of the New York ‘World,’ and What It Means,” Chicago Tribune, 24 May 1876, 4; “Manton Marble, Publicist, Dead,” New York Times, 25 July 1917, 11).

3 Andrew Carpenter Wheeler (1835–1903), a journalist and author who wrote under the name “Nym Crinkle,” was the music and drama critic for the New York World who had written an unsigned review of Colonel Sellers in September 1874 (L6: 18 Sept 1874 to Stillson, 232–33; Appendix D, “Reviews of the Gilded Age Play,” 645–51).

Emendations and Textual Notes

Ⓐ sent ● sent | sent rewritten for clarity

References

Mark Twain House and Museum, Hartford, Conn.
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
SLC (Samuel Langhorne Clemens). Mark Twain’s Letters, Volume 6: 1874–1875. Edited by Michael B. Frank and Harriet Elinor Smith. The Mark Twain Papers. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Also online at MTPO[bib32371]. 2002

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