29 or 30 December 1875 • Hartford, Conn. (MS: Twichell, 1:152, UCCL 01291)
Religious Conundrum suggested by my present disease.
Question: If a Congress of Presbyterians is a Presby tery Ⓐemendation, what is a Congress of dissenters?
Andswer: A Dysentery.1explanatory note
Joe, you can sell the above to some religious paper or get it off on Dean Sage as original.
Clemens created this conundrum on the evening of 29 December and wrote it out for Twichell then or the next day (see 16 Dec 75 to Conway, n. 2click to open link). Twichell pasted it into his journal under the date of receipt, “Dec 30.” (Twichell, 1:152). Clemens’s indisposition, although not its specifics, was deemed newsworthy. The New York World of 30 December reported: “Mark Twain is recovering from a recent illness” (“Personal,” 5).
MS, pasted into Twichell, 1:152, under the date “Dec. 30,” Joseph H. Twichell Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University (CtY-BR).
L6 , 606.
Twichell’s papers were passed on to his children. Although CtY received some items in 1951 from Joseph H. Twichell and Mrs. Charles Ives, his son and daughter, the main collection was donated in 1967 by Charles P. Twichell, his grandson.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.