4 December 1871 • Geneva, N.Y. (MS: CU-MARK, UCCL 00685)
Livy darling, I am thus far.1explanatory note Coming up from Homer I got acquainted with Rev. Mr. Foster, Episcoapal City Missionary of Syracuse, a noble, splendid fellow—a Twichell. He tells yarns, smokes occasionally, has weaknesses & lovable vices, just like a good, genuine human being, instead of a half-restored theological corpse like some pea preachersⒶemendation. Sails right into the meat & marrow of a thing with a whole-heartedⒶemendation cordiality that makes you think what a pity it is there are so many people in the world who never know what it is to have anything more than a mere lukewarm, half-way interest in the pleasures & duties that fall to their lot.2explanatory note
Foster was a Colonel, & was in 14 battles in the war—was in active service from the beginning of the war to the end of it. Only entered the ministry a year ago. But I think it requires more than war pluck to be a city missionary & wade into filthy Irish slums & back streets & face the insults & the hateful beastliness that offend eyes & not Ⓐemendation nose & spirit in such places. Foster looks about my age, but he has several children—the eldest a clerk in a bank, aged 17! I don’t know Foster’s age. I gave him “Waterloo,” & told him to read it & then mail it to you, as I had marked it somewhat.3explanatory note I guess we’ll have him up to Hartford, some day, & let him see Twichell.4explanatory note
Last night when the lecture was over, two ladies came forward heartily & shook me by the hand & called me “Sam Clemens, the very same old Sam”—& when the explanations came out, by & by, they were two-little-girl friends of my early boyhood—children with me when I was half as old as Sammy Moffett. They both saw me once, ten years ago, but I did not see them. ( OneⒶemendation had hasⒶemendation been married 13 years & the other about 20. One was Mary Bacon & the other Kitty Shoot. They seemed like waifs from some vague world I had lived in ages & ages & ages ago—myths—creatures of a dream.5explanatory note
Livy dear, I didn’t see Dr Taft—he wasn’t in. I suppose I forgot to tell Patrick. You just send for the doctor & have a talk with him—or send Mrs Twichell to him.6explanatory note
I suppose the watches haven’t reached you yet. Livy darling, my diamonds are a daily & nightly & unceasing delight to me, they are so beautiful. I thank you with all my might, my darling.7explanatory note
Saw Dr Merrill last night & treated him the best I knew how.8explanatory note
Livy dear, my shirts are doubtless lying in the Express office, since you don’t speak of their arrival.
With lots of love for you, & Mother & the cubbie.
Mrs. Samℓ. L. Clemens | Cor Forest & Hawthorne | Hartford | Conn. postmarked: geneva Ⓐemendation n.y. dec 5
On 4 December Clemens lectured on Artemus Ward in Geneva to “a good house—good in numbers, and appreciative in character,” but the Geneva Gazette was unimpressed, noting that he appeared “very—tired, some might denominate it even less complimentarily” (“‘Mark Twain’ was favored . . . ,” 8 Dec 71, 3).
James P. Foster had an equally positive impression of Clemens, whom he described in a letter signed “J. P. F.,” in the Syracuse Journal of 6 December:
Your correspondent was on Monday 4 December introduced to Mr. Clemens, and was his fellow passenger in a long railroad ride, and is confident . . . that he is possessed of a good generous heart. The writer has seen something of the literary “Bohemians” of the world, and Mr. Clemens is not of such. It is doubtless hard for him to dissociate the ridiculous even from the sublime,—but he has refined instincts, and his humor will do our young men, and old ones, a substantial good. (Foster)
Waterloo: A Sequel to The Conscript of 1813, an English translation of a historical novel by Émile Erckmann and Alexandre Chatrian (New York: Charles Scribner and Co., 1869). On 7 January 1872 Olivia reported that she had still not received the book from Foster (CU-MARK).
Foster was three or four years older than Clemens. He had much in common with Joseph H. Twichell, a fellow clergyman, family man, and Civil War veteran. Foster had risen to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the 128th New York Infantry. Twichell had served from 1861 to 1864 as chaplain of an infantry regiment in the 71st New York Volunteers (Heitman, 2:101; Strong, 20–37).
The two women had not approached Clemens “last night,” but rather on 2 December, after his lecture in Homer. Mary E. Bacon (b. 1842?) was the only daughter of Catherine Lakenan Bacon (b. 1817) and George Bacon (1809–74), Hannibal’s leading wholesale grocer; her married name is unknown. Mildred Catherine (Kitty) Shoot (b. 1840?), was one of the daughters of Mary Pavey Shoot (b. 1822?) and William Shoot (1809–92), the proprietor of Hannibal’s finest hotel and co-owner of a livery stable. She had married Charles P. Heywood (1833–1909), the paymaster of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad and later a United States revenue collector, in 1858 ( Inds , 347–48; Holcombe, 908, 954–55; Portrait , 279–80; Hannibal Census, 307; Mildred C. Heywood to SLC, 15 Jan 1910, CU-MARK).
Here Clemens began replying to the following letter, which Olivia had sent to Geneva (CU-MARK):
llc
My darling, it is a bitter cold night, the wind blows and it seems very wintry—
I have had no letter from you yet— Don’t you feel rather sorry for me? the mails must be very irregular between here and where you lectured Monday night—
I have invited Miss Lee to take dinner with me us tomorrow. Mr and Mrs Warner are away for Thanksgiving—
Be sure and tell me what Dr. Taftt said—
I will try to remember to enclose in this an invitation that has come from Dr Merrill for you to stop with them when you are in Geneva, if you refuse it, do it very kindly and make him feel satisfied and contented about your refusing, for he is a good old friend of ours, you remember he sent us plants, grape vines and so on for our wedding gift—
Youth I have been quite busy today and am somewhat tired tonight (although I had a nice nap this afternoon) so that must be my excuse for sending you such a short letter, if you have as great a dread of my letters as you have of all others, you will be rather relieved at that—
The baby has not felt quite usually well today has a little cold—and his gums hurt him—
Your Livy—
Clemens’s attempt to consult with Dr. Cincinnatus A. Taft, doubtless about Olivia’s pregnancy, occurred at the end of his 18–20 November visit to Hartford, apparently while Patrick McAleer was driving him to the railroad station (15 Nov 71 to OLC, n. 8click to open link). Miss Lee may have been Susan Lee Warner’s sister.
The “diamonds” must have been a gift for Clemens’s thirty-sixth birthday (30 November). Several weeks later a lecture reviewer noted the “glittering diamond ring” that he wore while performing (“Mark Twain,” Pittsburgh Gazette, 12 Jan 72, 4). For Olivia’s report on the watches, see 5 Dec 71 to OLC, n. 2click to open link.
George V. R. Merrill (b. 1841) had moved to Elmira as a young boy and was apparently a longtime friend of the Langdon family’s. After distinguished service as a surgeon in the Civil War, he did not resettle in Elmira until 1873; as Olivia’s 29 November letter indicates, he was now living in Geneva (Towner, “Personal References,” 108). It is possible that Clemens misdated his meeting with Merrill and in fact met him on 2 December, the same night he met his old Hannibal friends. In any event, he did not accept Merrill’s invitation to stay at his house.
MS, Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley (CU-MARK).
L4 , 506–9; LLMT , 362, brief paraphrase.
See Samossoud Collection in Description of Provenance.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.