To
Jane L. Clemens and family
24 October–27 October 1868 • Hartford, Conn. (Paraphrase: OC to MEC, 30 Oct 68, CU-MARK UCCL 11442)
24 October–27 October 1868 • Hartford, Conn. (Paraphrase: OC to MEC, 30 Oct 68, CU-MARK UCCL 11442)
We had an excellent letter from Sam,1explanatory note inquiring kindly after you and me and my machine,2explanatory note and conveying the idea that he is likely to become a Christian.
He has a friend, a Presbytarian minister,3explanatory note about his own age, with whom and his wife he spends much time; and Mrs. Fairbanks, (dear good woman) and others, write him sermons. His book is to not to be issued till March. He is going to commence his lecturing soon—beginning at Cleveland.
Explanatory Notes
1 This paraphrase of Clemens’s letter survives in a letter written on 30 October by
Orion Clemens, living with his mother and sister in St. Louis, to Mollie, visiting
her family in Keokuk (she had apparently joined Orion in St. Louis the previous spring).
Since three days of transit time must be allowed for a letter to reach St. Louis from
Hartford, the latest date Clemens’s now-lost letter could have been sent was 27 October
(Alexander W. Randall, 82). But Orion's 30 October letter responded to Mollie’s “note of day before yesterday
just received”—that is, 28 October. It seems most likely that Mollie’s note of 28
October was an immediate response to a letter from Orion written on 26 October (although
it remains possible that she was answering a letter received from his some days earlier).
If as of 26 October Orion had not yet received his brother’s letter, then, still allowing
for three days’ transit time, it could have been sent no earlier than 24 October.
3 Joseph H. Twichell, actually a Congregational minister (see the previous letter).
The Clemenses were Presbytarians, even though Annie Moffett had for a time attended
a Congregational Sunday school (MTBus, 24; Angel, 215).
Paraphrase in Orion Clemens to Mary E. (Mollie) Clemens, 30 Oct 68, Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley (CU-MARK).
none known.
Orion Clemens’s letter survives as part of the Moffett Collection. Samuel Clemens's letter may have been destroyed in 1904
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.