3 November 1884 • Hartford, Conn. (MS: CU-MARK, UCCL 03018)
Yes, I think I know how you feel about it, judging by what I feel myself—or rather, did feel, at the time that Mrs. Carlyle’s blistering letters appeared, bracketed all through with Carlyle’s rather-late-in-the-day ejaculations of gushy remorse & noisy affection. It was grisly fun, then, to seek the critics pick their way through the simoom sim simoom- -swept wastes of that old Sahara’s character, hunting for the two or three fresh-water springs & green places that lurked many horizon-widths apart in it, & raising whoopjamboree◊hoos of idolatrous admiration over them when found. And I could have written bile, & blasphemy & horse-laughter about it all, then, but the time went by; & times & inspirations to do things come but once, not twice.
But he is an angel, now. If of the one other-world, he is already educated; if other of the other, his education is mainly before him.
Miss Corinne Howells | Fort Hamilton | New York Harbor. return address: return to s. l. clemens, hartford, conn., if not delivered within 10 days. postmarked: hartford, conn. Nov 3 84 11 am and fort hamilton,Ⓐemendation n.y. nov 5 and brooklyn, n.y. rec’d nov 4 84 6 pm
MS, CU-MARK.
MicroPUL, reel 2.
The MS was owned in 1947 by the niece of the addressee, Ruth Cornell Cook, who provided a transcript of the letter and envelope to CU-MARK. Anne K. Peterson gave the letter and envelope to CU-MARK in 2009.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.