“Supposing you were Cable”––which I’ll be dern’d if I do––I would say to you thus:

“Dear young struggler, such letters-commendatory are not valuable, & I believe I have never written one. But if you will ask old Mr. J. B. Pond to drop Howells a note and ask said Howells to mail to him a letters which I wrote to said Howells a few weeks ago, said Pond will find in said letter a remark about said Cable aforesaid to the effect that the to-wit Cable is about the best amateur reader I have yet heard & will doubtless by & by become the best professional reader on the platform. Furthermore, said remark, if printed with the heading, “Extract from a private letter from Mark Twain to W.D. Howells” will be valuable because it is an unsolicited private opinion.

Now J. B. you just go & act accordingly, while I remain

Address

W.D. Howells,

4 Louisburg Square, Boston