To
Edward Hastings 17 February 1876 • Hartford, Conn.(Paraphrase: Edward Hastings to SLC, 25 April 1876, CU-MARK, UCCL12943)
the national home for disabled volunteer soldiers.
managers:
the president of the united states. the chief justice. the secretary of
war.—ex officio.
major-general benjamin f. butler, president, lowell, mass.
maj.-gen. john h. martindale, 1st v. p., rochester, n. y. hon. hugh l. bond, baltimore,
maryland.
gov. frederick smyth, 2d v. p., manchester, n. h. dr. erastus b. wolcott, milwaukee, wis.
hon. louis b. gunckel, secretary, dayton, ohio. maj.-gen. thomas o. osborn, chicago, ill.
brig.-gen. john s. cavender, st. louis, mo. maj.-gen. james s. negley, pittsburgh, penn.
officers of southern branch:
capt. p. t. woodfin, deputy governor and treasurer.
dr. w. m. wright, surgeon and acting secretary. capt. h. keyes, steward.
elizabeth city county, va., April 25 187 6
Mark Twain, Hartford. Conn
Sir,
The frank cordiality and sincerity of your letter to
me, dated February 17, assures me that you will not deem me presumptuous in asking
you to gratify the eager expectation of our
men to read your new book “Tom Sawyer”. I can truly say that your books have not reposed on my
ourⒶemendation shelves one hour since I received them, but are in constant use, knowing which will,
I am sure, please you much. You
were right when you wrote that no American author would say “no” to my requests on
behalf of my Comrades, who
will have a respectable, if not a large, collection of books very soon.1explanatory note Of Mr Clemens my comrades know very
little, but with Mark Twain they have formed an acquaintance; and feel for him a regard
at once familiar and respectful, and they would
all be pleased to have the opportunity of showing it.
With unfeigned respect I subscribe myself
Your obedient servant
Edward Hastings
Librarian
Reading-room
4. p.m.
Textual Commentary
Source text(s):
Paraphrase, Edward Hastings to SLC, 25 April 1876, CU-MARK, UCLC 32332.
1 Clemens’s letter of 17 February is known to survive only as a brief paraphrase in
this final request from Hastings. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was not published until December 1876, so Hastings presumably had been alerted to
it by Howells’s early review in the Atlantic Monthly for May 1876, available by mid-April (Howells 1876b). “Answered,” Clemens wrote on Hastings’s envelope; his answer is also not known
to survive.
Paraphrase, Edward Hastings to SLC, 25 April 1876, CU-MARK, UCLC 32332.
See Mark Twain Papers in Description of Provenance.click to open link