25 and 26 August 1869 • Buffalo, N.Y. (MS: CU-MARK, UCCL 00341)
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Will Livy enclose the enclosed book notices to Bliss, 147 Asylum? 1explanatory note
My Livy, my faithful little wife, this is the last letter I shall write before I see you—& I use the pencil because I am in bed & cannot well use ink.2explanatory note in margin: You little rat, there is no letter for me this morning {Thursday.} Larned, & a Mr. Johnson3explanatory note & I, took a small row-boat, to-night, & went out into the Lake, & around a jutting stone breakwater, intending to reach a sandy beach beyond, & go in bathing—but the wind rose & a heavy sea came on & pitched the poor little shell about in the wildest way—& the spray came over the size side, & a capsize was imminent. Think of poor Larned in such a sea, far from shore, in water a hundred feet deep & he not able to swim. I tell you I felt a good deal more concern for him than I “let on.” And then both of them wanted to land (I was steering,) but I knew that would never do, in such a surf—such a poor little boat wouldn’t have lived a quarter of a second—& so I headed her out in the Lake again & they had to fight those great waves all the way back again—& I tell you the planning of how to take hold of a drowning man without letting him get hold of me, (those people who can’t swim always get frightened & do that,) was as tangled a question as I have had on my mind lately—but we seemed bound to go over presently. We didn’t, though, darling, because I do know how to handle a boat—& we weathered that breakwaterⒶemendation in safety. And to this moment I cannot think of any safe way of taking hold of a drowning man. If it were you, I wouldn’t feel any concern—because I would say, “Place your hands on my shoulders, Livy, & kick out when I do with your legs & you are just as safe here for the next hour or two as you could be anywhere”—& you would do that trust me & do it, & it would be all right & the little rascal wouldn’t be afraid. But Ⓐemendation I felt ever so much more comfortable when we got in the smooth water again inside the breakwater.
Honey, I shall start home at 3 P.M. Friday (I think that is the hour,) & arrive about 8 I guess4explanatory note—I don’t expect to telegraph—& I hope you will let me kiss you when I come—I have almost forgotten my what a kiss is like—I wonder how people can go off on long voyages of yⒶemendation months & years & leave their wives at home. They are not Livies or they couldn’t.
I am reading the sermon, & I like it. I have already read all the places the dainty little fingers marked, & have gone back to start at the beginning. I see tⒶemendation enough to know I shall like the sermon.5explanatory note Bless your darling heart—nobody has such a dear, good, precious, priceless, darling little sweetheart as I have, & I do love,Ⓐemendation you Livy, with all my whole heart—& I love you more & more every day & am so satisfied, & restful & peaceful in your love, & can never be tossed on the sea of life again.
in ink: Miss Olivia L. Langdon | Elmira | N. Y. return address: office of the buffalo express 14 east swan st., buffalo, n. y. postmarked: buffalo n.y. aug 26 docketed by OLL: 108th
The enclosures, notices of The Innocents Abroad gleaned from the Buffalo Express’s exchanges, have not survived. Almost without exception, reviews were enthusiastic in their praise, and Bliss used extracts in a variety of advertising matter, including a supplement to the canvasser’s prospectus that included twenty-eight different newspaper notices published before the end of August (APC 1869, 1–4). Since assuming his post on the Express in mid-August, Clemens could have seen (and might have enclosed) at least the following reviews, all of which Bliss used in his supplement: “Literary,” New York Evening Express, 14 Aug 69, 2; “Mark Twain’s New Book,” New York Leader, 14 Aug 69, 5; “Literary,” Newark Advertiser, 14 Aug 69, 1; “The Innocents Abroad,” New York Evening Post, 16 Aug 69, 1; “Mark Twain’s New Book,” New York Sun, 16 Aug 69, 2; “‘Mark Twain’ . . .,” New York World, 16 Aug 69, 5; “Mark Twain as a Pilgrim,” Salem (N.J.) National Standard, 18 Aug 69, 2; “Mark Twain’s Travels,” Springfield (Mass.) Republican, 18 Aug 69, 2; “‘Mark Twain’ . . .,” Providence Journal, 19 Aug 69, 2; “From the numerous extracts . . .,” Providence Morning Herald, 20 Aug 69, 2; “The Innocents Abroad,” New York Liberal Christian, 21 Aug 69, 3; “New Publications,” New York Times, 23 Aug 69, 2; “Recent Publications,” Paterson (N.J.) Guardian, 23 Aug 69, 2.
Clemens planned to go to Elmira on the afternoon of Friday, 27 August, for the weekend visit he had postponed the week before (see 21 Aug 69 to OLLclick to open link).
Probably William H. Johnson, head bookkeeper at the Buffalo Express (Buffalo Directory, 345; “Twain Success Puzzle to His Old Office Boy,” Buffalo Courier-Express, 24 Feb 1929, sec. S, 8).
The Erie Railway’s “Lightning Express” boarded daily in Buffalo at 2:50 p.m., arriving in Elmira at 8:23 (“Travelers Guide,” Buffalo Express, 26 Aug 69, 2).
Doubtless by the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher. Olivia continued to send Clemens copies of Beecher’s published sermons.
MS, Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley (CU-MARK).
L3 , 322–24; LLMT , 359, brief paraphrase.
See Samossoud Collection, p. 586.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.