18 June 1872 • Hartford, Conn. (MS: DLC, UCCL 00757)
Hartford, June 18.
(I will explain the seeming ostentation of the above date, since it is framed as it is for the express purpose of avoiding , ostentation, & at the same time snubbing the English affectation which has led the owner of this property to give it a fanciful name, as if it were a ducal seat;1explanatory note I do not occupy the whole of Forest street, but only an unnumbered & impossibly-to-be-designated section or corner of it.)
I am content, now that the book has been praised in the Tribune—& so I thank you with all that honest glow of gratitude that comes into a mother’s eyes when a stranger praises her child.2explanatory note Indeed, it is my sore spot that my publisher, in a frenzy of economy, has sent not a copy of my book to any newspaper to be reviewed, but is only always going to do it—so I seem to be publishing a book that attracts not the slightest mention. It is small consolation to me when he says, “Where is the use of it?—the book is 4 months & one week old, we are printing the 75th thousand, & are still behind the orders.” If I say, “If you had had the book noticed in all the papers you would be now printing the 150th thousand, maybe,” the wisdom falls upon a sodden mind that refuses to be enlightened.3explanatory note But I am content, now, & I thank you.
And I thank you also for expressing your kindly & thoroughly welcome sympathy for our irreparable loss. We did feel such a jubilant pride in our boy. You know how honest is the conviction that the child that is gone was the one only spirit that was perfect. When we shall feel “reconciled,” God only can tell. To us it seems a far away time, indeed.
The Hookers’ “fanciful name” for their house has not been found. For the Clemenses’ facetious name, see 4 Jan 72 to OLCclick to open link.
Moulton’s review of Roughing It appeared in her column, “Literary Notes,” in the New York Tribune of 10 June 1872:
For pure fun, I know of nothing which has been published this year to compare with “Roughing It,” by Mark Twain (Samuel S. Clemens), a New-England, though not a Boston, issue. It is a large and handsome book, full of the funniest possible illustrations. In his preface the author penitently deplores the fact that there is information in the volume, concerning an interesting episode in the history of the Far West—the rise, growth, and culmination of the silver-mining fever in Nevada. ... Having thus deprecated censure for any misplaced wisdom which may be gleaned from his pages, the author commences his irresistible tale. It is funny everywhere; perhaps it is funniest of all when he sojourns in Salt Lake City, and learns to understand the Mormons through the revelations of their Gentile neighbors. (Moulton)
Moulton then paraphrased or quoted several episodes from the book.
This criticism of Bliss is clearly disingenuous, since the responsibility for withholding review copies, at least until April, was Clemens’s alone (see 19 Apr 72 to Bliss, n. 2click to open link). For reviews of the book see RI 1993 , 882–90.
MS, Papers of Ellen Louise Chandler Moulton, Library of Congress (DLC).
L5 , 108–109.
After Moulton’s death in 1908, her daughter gave the “bulk of her correspondence,” comprising autograph letters from a great many distinguished persons, to DLC (Whiting 1910, 292–93).
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.