To William M. Clemens
16 January 1881 • Hartford, Conn. (Clemens 1894, p. 12, and sales catalog:
American Art Association, 14 and 15 May 1914, lot 236,
UCCL 01893)
16 January 1881 • Hartford, Conn. (Clemens 1894, p. 12, and sales catalog:
American Art Association, 14 and 15 May 1914, lot 236,
UCCL 01893)
Hartford, Jan. 16.Ⓐemendation
My Dear BoyⒶemendation:
How can I advise another man wisely, out of such a capital as a life filled with mistakes? Advise him how to avoid the like? No—for opportunities to make the same mistakes do not happen to any two men. Your own experiences may possibly teach you, but another man’s can’t. I do not know anything for a person to do but just peg along, doing the things that offer, &Ⓐemendation regretting them the next day. It is my way &Ⓐemendation everybody’s.
Truly yours,
S. L. ClemensⒶemendation.
Emendations and Textual Notes
All variants between the source texts are reported here. The readings identified by the siglum ‘MTP’ are editorial emendations of the source readings made because none is deemed correct by itself.
Ⓐ
Jan. 16. (#MTP) ●
Jan. 16, 1881. (#P1)
January 16, [1881] reported, not quoted
(#P2)
Ⓐ
& (#MTP) ●
and (#P1, #P2)
Ⓐ
& (#MTP) ●
and (#P1, #P2)
Ⓐ
Clemens (#MTP) ●
Clemens
(#P1)
The text is based on two printed sources, each of which derives independently from the MS.
Clemens 1882, 20, and the source texts. The 1882 printing contains no distinctly authorial variants and therefore cannot be assumed to derive independently from the MS.
The MS was offered for sale in 1914 from the collection of the Reverend Thomas R. Slicer. Its present whereabouts are unknown.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.