5 December 1867 • Washington, D.C. (MS: CCamarSJ, UCCL 00169)
I ha Ⓐemendationsuppose I have made you, mad, too, maybe, but with all my heart I hope I haven’t. You wasn’t particularly civil to an old & defeated chess antagonist, the day you left the ship, but I declare to goodness (pardon the expression,) I cannot bear malice for that. Mr. Beach told me in New York, that even Mrs. Fairbanks felt hurts about that best-natured squib that ever was written (I refer to the one in the HeraldⒶemendation,) & Charlie, Langdon has not dropped me a line.1explanatory note Mrs. Fairbanks has, though, & scolds—scolds hard—but she can’t deceive this Prodigal Son—I detect the good nature & the forgiveness under it all.
I lost the sermon at Mr. Beecher’s, because I left for Washington long before Sunday came round.2explanatory note
Nothing but the happy occurrence of St Valentine’s Day at this unexpected season of the year could have given me an excuse to write to a young lady whom I have known so long, esteemed so well & met in so many continents, I suppose, though it seems absurd enough to me that one should be privileged only once a year Ⓐemendationto say a friendly word in cases like these.
But I wanted to know whether you are maliciously disposed or not—& moreover I wanted to know whether you have barred pew No. 54 against me or not.3explanatory note Beware how you close the church against the seeker a Ⓐemendation sinner, old fellow—you wot not what mischief you may do.
I perceive by the almanac that St Valentine’s Day will continue in force until just a week from to-dayⒶemendation. That is mighty particularly fortunate for me, Miss Emma, because now you can sit down and dash off an answer to this, immediately. And I am perfectly well satisfied that you are kind enough & good enough to do it, too.
I am Ⓐemendationbehaving myself, now, in a whi way which would entirely satisfy Mrs. Fairbanks.
(over).
P.S. It was not I that wrote the critical article in the Herald signed “A Passenger.” It was Dr Jackson.4explanatory note I do
Emma (Beach) Thayer recalled in 1907 that at night on board the ship Clemens “used to play chess with me and I now think that he purposely let me win—I was only seventeen” (Thayer to A. B. Paine, 22 June 1907, Davis 1967, 2). For the Herald letter, see 20 Nov 67 to JLC and familyclick to open link (2nd of 2).
Clemens left New York for Washington on Thursday evening, 21 November. On the Sunday following his departure, the “ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper” were “to be administered in the Plymouth Church” by Henry Ward Beecher and “the water used will be from the River Jordan, and the wine from the city of Jerusalem. Captain Duncan, of the steamer Quaker City, brought these supplies.” The topic of Beecher’s sermon on that occasion is not known. The Beaches had been attending Plymouth Church since 1854, although Emma was not formally admitted until 1866, when she became of age (“Mr. Beecher’s Church To-morrow,” New York Evening Post, 23 Nov 67, 3; Thompson, 238).
Pews in Plymouth Church were auctioned every January for a fixed valuation plus a premium. In 1867 the Beaches occupied pew number 56 (not 54), for which they paid $100 rent and a $280 premium (“Sale of Pews in Beecher’s Church,” New York World, 10 Jan 67, 2; Thompson, diagrams following 236, 240).
“The Quaker City Pilgrimage. A Malcontent Passenger’s Story of the Excursion—The Serio-Comic Features of the Enterprise” appeared as a letter to the editor in the New York Herald for 21 November (Abraham Reeves Jackson 1867).
MS, Estelle Doheny Collection, The Edward Laurence Doheny Memorial Library, St. John’s Seminary, Camarillo, Calif. (CCamarSJ).
L2 , 126–127; MTMF , 2, brief excerpt; Christie, lot 1186, excerpts.
see Doheny Collection, pp. 511–12.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.