5–15? April 1873 • Hartford, Conn. (Globe 1 [May 73]: 28–29, UCCL 00894)
I don’t know of any correction that I can offer. I perceive that the writer has discovered my besetting weakness, which is unreflecting &Ⓐemendation rather ungraceful irritability.
It isn’tⒶemendation a pleasant trait.
I have some pleasant ones, but modesty compels me to hide them from the world, so no one gets the benefit of them but myself.1explanatory note
Clemens was reacting to a brief unsigned article, “Mark Twain as a Buffalo Editor,” published in the first number of The Globe: A Magazine of Literary Record and Criticism. The anonymous author had evidently worked on the Buffalo Express in 1869, when Clemens became one of its editors and owners, and although he praised “the fresh, agreeable editorial paragraphs that bore, so unmistakably, the stamp of Twain’s matchless sarcasm and humor,” he also gave a frank portrait of him:
A quiet, reserved and irritable man, he gave his fellow citizens little opportunity to annoy him with their attentions or questions. Although courteous upon all occasions he was wont to turn a cold shoulder to the staring Paul Prys. The writer has often seen some luckless offending individual scourged beneath the stinging lash of his sarcasm. Mr. Clemens is a bitterly sarcastic man—humorists, as a rule are so—and his uncurbed independence of expression often leads him into unpleasant encounters. His editorial career, when he was one of the proprietors of the Buffalo Express illustrated this quality to a very noticeable extent. The manner in which he wielded the journalistic sceptre was more that of an impatient autocrat than an humble American citizen. (Globe 1 [Apr 73]: 6)
William Caryl Cornwell (1851–1932) was the editor and illustrator of the Globe, which named his brother Edward L. Cornwell as its publisher. (In 1869, when Clemens probably met him, Cornwell was a bank clerk, and more recently had been a bookkeeper for the Third National Bank of Buffalo.) The first issue of their magazine appeared in Buffalo on 3 April, and William Cornwell evidently sent Clemens a copy, asking for comment. If Clemens replied promptly, he probably wrote this letter before mid-April; he certainly wrote it before 29 April, because the next day the contents of the second issue of the Globe (published on 2 May) were reported to include “A Letter from Mark Twain to the Globe” (“The Globe,” Buffalo Courier: 4 Apr 73, 2; 30 Apr 73, 2; 2 May 73, 2). Only the extract that the Globe printed is known to survive, introduced by Cornwell himself:
We have received a letter from Mr. Clemens, from which, although it is addressed to the Editor personally, we cannot but make a very brief but very characteristic extract. He says in reference to the article concerning himself in the April number of the Globe: ...
Those who know Mr. Clemens can testify to the thorough good fellowship and unfailing good humor which make him so pleasant a companion, as well as to the staunch adherence which he manifests as a friend.
During his stay among us afflictions in his family prevented an extended intercourse, but those who did meet the distinguished humorist will never forget to be his friends. (“Editor’s Portfolio,” Globe 1 [May 73]: 28–29)
Although the Globe continued publication until March 1875, Cornwell did not go on to become a journalist, but remained in banking. In 1877 he became a cashier for the Bank of Buffalo, which he then managed until 1892. In the latter year he organized the City Bank of Buffalo, becoming its president. Two years later he helped found the New York State Bankers’ Association, serving as its first president. Cornwell enjoyed painting for recreation throughout his life, and in 1910 invented a new method for reproducing works of art on glass. No further communication between him and Clemens is known (Severance, 231; Buffalo Directory: 1869, 43, 260; 1871, 303; 1872, 38).
“A Letter from Mark Twain,” Globe 1 (May 73): 28–29.
L5 , 329–330.