26, 27, and 28 March 1885 • Hartford, Conn. (MS draft, in pencil: CU-MARK, UCCL 14140)
Dear Sir—I am in receipt of your favor of the 24th inst., conveying to meⒶemendation the gratifying intelligence that I have been made an honorary member of the Free Trade Club of Concord, Massachusetts., & I desire to express to the Club, through you, my grateful sense of the high compliment thus paid me.
It does look as if Massachusetts is wereⒶemendation in a fair way to embarrass me with kindnesses this year. In the first place a Massachusetts Judge, fresh from the law school, & equipped with a wisdom beyond the wisdom of this world, has just decided, in open court, that a Boston publisher may sell not only his own public property in a free & unfettered way, but may also as freely sell property which does not belong to him, but to me—property which he has not bought, & which I have not sold. Under this ruling I am now advertising that judge’s homestead for sale at two thirds of his own valuationⒶemendation; & if I make as good a sum out of it as I am expecting toⒶemendation I shall go on & sell outⒶemendation the rest of his estate. property,Ⓐemendation at similarly attractive rates. I can afford to do so.Ⓐemendation
In the next place, a committee of the public library of your city village townⒶemendation have hasⒶemendation condemned & excommunicated my last book, & doubled its sale. This generous thought actionⒶemendation of theirs must necessarily benefit me in one or two additional ways. For instance, it it will deter other libraries from buying the book; & you are doubtless aware that one book in a public library prevents the sale of a sure ten & of a possible hundred of its mates. And secondly it will cause the purchasers of the book to read it, out of curiosity, instead of merely intending to do it soⒶemendation after the usual way of the world & library committees; & then they will discover, to my great advantage & their own indignant disappointment, that there is nothing improper in objectionableⒶemendation in the book, after all.
And finally, the Free Trade Club of Concord comes forward & adds to the splendid burden of obligations already conferred upon me by the State CommonwealthⒶemendation of Massachusetts, an honorary membership which is more worth than all the rest, (insert page 6) since in my eyes it is a certificate of social purity, a patent of moral nobility.
May the great State of Massachusetts endure forever, is the heartfelt
which is more worth than all the rest, just at this juncture, since it names endorses me as worthy to associate with certain gentlemen whom even the moral glaciers ?icicles icebergsⒶemendation of the Concord library committee are bound to respect.
May the great State CommonwealthⒶemendation of Massachusetts endure forever, is the heartfeltⒶemendation prayer of one, who, long a recipient of her mere general good will, is proud to realize that he is at last become her pet.
Thanking you again, dear sir & gentlemen, I remain
(known to the Concord Winter School of Philosophy as “Mark Twain.”)
Howells’s cancellations and insertions are identified here, as are Clemens’s rejection or modification of them. All other revisions are Clemens’s own.
MS draft, in pencil, with revisions by W. D. Howells and SLC, CU-MARK. Clemens sent these seven pages as an enclosure with his 26 March letter to Howellsclick to open link. Howells corrected and enclosed them in his return letter of 28 March. Clemens then made further changes, rejecting or accepting Howells’s suggestions. He may also have made further changes that cannot be physically distinguished from earlier ones. He then made a fair copy which included some changes not made on the draft, sending it to Nichols on the same day (see 28 March 1885 to Frank A. Nicholsclick to open link). The location of the fair copy is unknown.
MTHL, 2: 526–27 (photofacsimile), 877–78 (transcription); MicroML, reel 5.