22 September 1871 • Buffalo, N.Y. (MS: Axelrod, UCCL 10498)
The Young Men’s Association here want me to lecture, & they are a pretty decent lot. In fact the Sec’y has almost made me feel like talking in Buffalo.1explanatory note However, I have made such a caterwaul at you the other day on the subject that I am ashamed to discuss Buffalo with you. So I merely told him to write you & if it all fell right I would talk. I did not tell him my price is $200—you can do that yourself if you choose to open negotiations. But that GAR are not no niceⒶemendation people.
We are packing our furniture & shipping it to Hartford & we are in a mess—house upside down—my wife sick—can’t leave her bed for perhaps a week yet—& yet we must take possession of our house in Hartford Oct. 1.2explanatory note
Did I offend with my last letter? I didn’t mean to, but I am such an ass that I do most things ass foremost.
Do you ask if I know my mind? No, I don’t. Never have had an experience of the kind.
letter docketed: boston lyceum bureau. redpath & fall. sep 26 1871 and Twain Mark. | Buffalo N. Y. | Sept. 22nd ”71.
Frederick L. Danforth, cashier at a local iron and steel works, was corresponding secretary of the Young Men’s Association of Buffalo and a member of its lecture committee. Clemens had joined the association in 1869. Several of his friends were members, including Josephus N. Larned, George H. Selkirk, David Gray, and John J. McWilliams. After Clemens left Buffalo, he continued to think well of the organization. In 1885, at the request of one of its young members, James Fraser Gluck, he donated half of the manuscript of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to the Young Men’s Association Library, and in 1887 he sent the remaining half via Larned (Buffalo Directory 1871, 52, 164, 309; William H. Loos, personal communication; Loos, 1–2; 12 Nov 85 to Gluck, NBu; Gluck to SLC, 11 July 87, CU-MARK).
Although Olivia may have been ill, she was also in her first months of pregnancy with Olivia Susan (Susy) Clemens, who was born on 19 March 1872. Two days before this letter, the Buffalo Courier had printed the following notice about the Clemenses’ house:
Mark Twain’s Residence.—For the benefit of those who are making inquiry as to the price of Mark Twain’s residence, on Delaware street, just above Virginia street, we would state that the house is a new brick, of modern pattern, three stories high, Mansard roof, with bath-room, warm and cold water and gas in all the rooms—13 in number, beside the kitchen and laundry; heating furnace, dry and roomy cellar, and all the modern improvements. The wainscoting is black walnut and maple, the doors heavy black walnut, and the interior finish generally is artistic and complete.
Attached to the house is a two-story brick barn, complete in all its appointments, with gas and water. The lot is 65 feet front, 130 feet deep, and is one of the most desirable locations in the city. The furniture is not for sale, and the price asked for house and barn is $20,000. This is in answer to several questions inquiring “what Mark Twain asks for his house.” Hume & Sanford are the agents. (20 Sept 71, 2)
MS, collection of Todd M. Axelrod.
L4 , 459–460; Bangs, lot 81, brief excerpt.
The present location of the MS, sold to an unidentified purchaser in 1900 and owned by Axelrod in 1983, is not known. •
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.