28 March 1885 • Hartford, Conn. (MS draft, CU-MARK, and “Mark Twain and Massachusetts,” Boston Advertiser, 2 April 1885, p. 2: UCCL 14140 and 03179)
Dear Sir — I amⒶemendation in receipt of your favor of the 24th inst.,Ⓐemendation conveying the gratifying intelligence that I have been made an honorary member of the Free Trade Club of Concord, Massachusetts., &Ⓐemendation I desire to express to the ClubⒶemendation, through you, my grateful sense of the high compliment thus paid me
ItⒶemendation does look as if Massachusetts were in a fair way to embarrass me with kindnesses this year. In the first place a Massachusetts JudgeⒶemendation has just decided, in open court,Ⓐemendation that a Boston publisher may sellⒶemendation not only his own property in a free & unfettered way, but may alsoⒶemendation as freely sell property which does not belong to him,Ⓐemendation but to me—Ⓐemendationproperty which he has not bought, &Ⓐemendation which I have not sold. Under this ruling I am now advertising that judge’s homestead for sale; &Ⓐemendation if I make as good a sum out of it as I expectⒶemendation I shall go on & sell outⒶemendation the rest of his property.
In the next place, a committee of the public library of your town haveⒶemendation condemned & excommunicated my last book, &Ⓐemendation doubled its sale. This generous action of theirs must necessarily benefit me in one or two additional ways. For instance, it will deter other libraries from buying the book; & you are doubtless aware that one book in a public library prevents the sale of a sure ten & a possible hundred of its mates. And secondlyⒶemendation it will cause the purchasers of the book to read it, out of curiosity, instead of merely intending to do soⒶemendation after the usual way of the world & library committees; & then they will discover, to my great advantage & their own indignant disappointment, that there is nothing objectionable in the book,Ⓐemendation after all.
And finally, the Free Trade Club of Concord comes forward & adds to the splendid burden of obligations already conferred upon me by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, an honorary membership which is more worthⒶemendation than all the rest, just at this juncture, since it endorsesⒶemendation me as worthy to associate with certain gentlemen whom even the moral icebergs of the Concord library committee are bound to respect.
May the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts endure forever, is the heartfelt prayer of one,Ⓐemendation who, long a recipient of her mere general good will, is proud to realize that he is at last become her pet.
Thanking you again, dear sir &Ⓐemendation gentlemen, I remainⒶemendation
MS draft, as revised by Clemens and Howells, CU-MARK, emended from“Mark Twain and Massachusetts,” Boston Advertiser, 2 April 1885, p. 2, which was presumably set from a fair copy of the draft, now lost. All variants between the final readings of the draft (MS) and the Advertiser (BA) are recorded here; BA variants are adopted only when they are deemed authorial changes made on the fair copy. Three variants establish that there was such a fair copy. (1) the date in the draft, ‘Hartford, March,’ has been made specific in BA, ‘Hartford, March 28, 1885’; (2) a word cancelled by Howells, “sell out”, has been restored in BA; (3) a grammatical correction made by Howells, “have ‸has‸” is not adopted in BA..
see source text; the manuscript draft was published in MTHL, 2: 526–27 (photofacsimile), 877–78 (transcription); MicroML, reel 5.