No, I only employed the stenographer to take rough notes, nothing more. I should not think of dictating a book or an article for publication. I am not able to believe that a readable book could be built in any such way. I have had a great deal of experience in dictating to a stenographer—when I am at home I write my letters in that way—and in my opinion, it is a thing which has but a single virtue, speed. It is quick, but the literary result is miraculously awkward, stilted, feeble and infelicitous.

Very truly yours,

S. L. Clemens