Susy’sⒶapparatus note BiographyⒶapparatus note—John Hay incident—Giving the young girl the French novel—SusyⒶapparatus note and her father escort Mrs. Clemens to train, then go over Brooklyn Bridge—On the way to Vassar they discuss German profanity— Mr. Clemens tells of the sweet and profane German nurse—The arrival at Vassar and the dreary reception—Told by SusyⒶapparatus note—The reading, etc.— Mr. Clemens’s opinion of girls—He is to talk to the Barnard girls this afternoon.
From Susy’s Biography.Ⓐapparatus note
TheⒶapparatus note next dayⒺexplanatory note mamma planned to take the four o’clock car back to Hartford. We rose quite early that morning and went to the Vienna Bakery and took breakfast there. From there we went to a German bookstore and bought some German books for Clara’s birthday.Ⓐapparatus note
Dear me, the power of association to snatch mouldy dead memories out of their graves and make them walk! That remark about buying foreign books throws a sudden white glare upon the distant past; and I see the long stretch of a New York streetⒶapparatus note with an unearthly vividness, and John Hay walking down it, grave and remorseful. I was walking down it too, that morning, and I overtook Hay and asked him what the trouble was. He turned a lusterless eye upon me and said:
[begin page 393]“My case is beyond cure. In the most innocent way in the world I have committed a crime which will never be forgiven by the sufferers, for they will never believe—oh, well, no, I was going to say they would never believe that I did the thing innocently. The truth is they will know that I acted innocently, because they are rational people; but what of that? I never can look them in the face again—nor they me, perhaps.”
Hay was a young bachelor, and at that time was on the TribuneⒶapparatus note staff. He explained his trouble in these words, substantially:
“When I was passing along here yesterday morning on my way down townⒶapparatus note to the office, I stepped into a bookstore where I am acquainted, and asked if they had anything new from the other side. They handed me a French novel, in the usual yellow paper cover, and I carried it away. I didn’t even look at the title of it. It was for recreation-readingⒶapparatus note, and I was on my way to my work. I went mooning and dreaming along, and I think I hadn’t gone more than fifty yards when I heard my name called. I stopped, and a private carriage drew up at the sidewalk and I shook hands with the inmates—mother and young daughter, excellent people. They were on their way to the steamer to sail for Paris. The mother said,Ⓐapparatus note
“ ‘IⒶapparatus note saw that book in your hand and I judged by the look of it that it was a French novel. Is it?’Ⓐapparatus note
“IⒶapparatus note said it was.
“She said, ‘Do let me have it, so that my daughter can practiseⒶapparatus note her French on it on the way over.’
“Of course I handed her the book, and we parted. Ten minutes ago I was passing that bookstore again, and some devil’s inspiration reminded me of yesterdayⒶapparatus note and I stepped in and fetched away another copy of that book. Here it is. Read the first page of it. That is enough. You will know what the rest is like. I think it must be the foulest book in the French language—one of the foulest, anyway. I would be ashamed to offer it to a harlot—but, oh dear, I gave it to that sweet young girl without shame. Take my advice; don’t give away a book until you have examined it.”
From Susy’s Biography.Ⓐapparatus note
ThenⒶapparatus note mamma and I went to do some shopping and papa went to see General Grant. After we had finnished doing our shopping we went home to the hotel together. When we entered our rooms in the hotel we saw on the table a vase full of exquisettⒶapparatus note red roses. Mamma who is very fond of flowers exclaimed “OhⒶapparatus note I wonder who could have sent them.”Ⓐapparatus note We both looked at the card in the midst of the roses and saw that it was writtenⒶapparatus note on in papa’s handwriting, it was written in German. “LiebesⒶapparatus note Geshchenk onⒶapparatus note die Mamma.”Ⓐapparatus note (IⒶapparatus note am sure I didn’t say “on”—that is Susy’sⒶapparatus note spelling, not mineⒺexplanatory note; also I am sure I didn’t spell Geschenk so liberally as all that. S.L.C.)Ⓐapparatus note Mamma was delighted. Papa came home and gave mamma her ticket; and after visiting a while with her went to see Major Pond and mamma and I sat down to our lunch. After lunch most of our time was taken up with packing, and at about three o’clock we went to escort mamma to the train. We got on board the train with her and stayed with her about five minutes and then we said good-bye to her and the train started for Hartford. It was the first time I had ever beene away from home without mamma in my life, although I was 13 yrs. old. Papa and I drove back to the hotel and got Major Pond and then went to see the Brooklyn BridgeⒺexplanatory note we went across it to [begin page 394] Brooklyn on the cars and then walked back across it from Brooklyn to New York. We enjoyed looking at the beautiful scenery and we could see the bridge moove under the intense heat of the sun. We had a perfectly delightful time, but weer pretty tired when we got back to the hotel.
The next morning we rose early, took our breakfast and took an early train to Poughkeepsie. We had a very pleasant journey to Poughkeepsie. The Hudson was magnificent—shrouded with beautiful mist. When we arived at Poughkeepsie it was raining quite hard; which fact greatly dissapointed me because I very much wanted to see the outside of the buildings of VasserⒶapparatus note College and as it rained that would be impossible. It was quite a long drive from the station to Vasser College and papa and I had a nice long time to discuss and laugh over German profanity. One of the German phrases papa particularly enjoys is “OⒶapparatus note heilige maria Mutter Jesus!Ⓔexplanatory note”Ⓐapparatus note Jean has a German nurse, and this was one of her phrases, there was a time when Jean exclaimed “Ach Gott!”Ⓐapparatus note to every trifle, but when mamma found it out she was shocked and instantly put a stop to it.Ⓐapparatus note
It brings that pretty little German girlⒶapparatus note vividly before me—a sweet and innocent and plump little creatureⒶapparatus note with peachy cheeks; a clear-souled little maiden and without offenceⒶapparatus note, notwithstanding her profanities, and she was loaded to the eyebrows with them. She was a mere child. She was not fifteen yet. She was just from Germany, and knew no EnglishⒺexplanatory note. She was always scattering her profanities around, and they were such a satisfaction to me that I never dreamed of such a thing as modifying her. For my own sake, I had no disposition to tell on her. Indeed I took pains to keep her from being found out. I told her to confine her religious exercisesⒶapparatus note to the children’s quarters, and urged her to remember that Mrs. Clemens was prejudiced against pieties on week daysⒶapparatus note. To the children, the little maid’s profanities sounded natural and proper and right,Ⓐapparatus note because they had been used to that kind of talk in Germany, and they attached no evil importance to it. It grieves me that I have forgotten those vigorous remarks. I long hoarded them in my memory as a treasure. But I remember one of them still, because I heard it so many times. The trial of that little creature’s life was the children’s hair. She would tug and strain with her comb, accompanying her work with her misplaced pieties. And when finally she was through with her triple job she always fired up and exploded her thanks toward the sky, where they belonged, in this form: “Gott sei Dank ich bin schon fertig mit’m Gott verdammtes Haar!Ⓔexplanatory note”Ⓐapparatus note (I believe I am not quite brave enough to translate it.)Ⓐapparatus note
From Susy’s Biography.Ⓐapparatus note
WeⒶapparatus note at length reached Vassar College and she looked very finely, her buildings and her grounds being very beautiful. We went to the front doore and rangⒶapparatus note the bellⒶapparatus note. The young girl who came to the doore wished to know who we wanted to see. Evidently we were not expected. Papa told her who we wantedⒶapparatus note to see and she showed us to the parlor. We waited, no one came; and waited, no one came, still no one came. It was beginning to seem pretty awkward, “OhⒶapparatus note well this is a pretty piece of business,”Ⓐapparatus note papa exclaimed. At length we heard footsteps coming down the long corridor and Miss C, (the lady who had invited papa) came into the room. She greeted papa very pleasantly and they had a nice little chatt together. Soon the lady principal also entered and she was very pleasant and agreable. She showed us to our rooms and said she would send for us when dinner was ready. We went into our rooms, but we had nothing to do for half an hour exept to watch the rain drops [begin page 395] as they fell upon the window panes. At last we were called to dinner, and I went down without papa as he never eats anything in the middle of the day. I sat at the table with the lady principal and enjoyed very much seingⒶapparatus note all the young girls trooping into the dining-room. After dinner I went around the College with the young ladies and papa stayed in his room and smoked. When it was supper time papa went down and ate supper with us and we had a very delightful supper. After supper the young ladies went to their rooms to dress for the evening. Papa went to his room and I went with the lady principalⒺexplanatory note. At length the guests began to arive, but papa still remained in his room until called for. Papa read in the chapell. It was the first time I had ever heard him read in my life—that is in public. When he came out on to the stage I remember the people behind me exclaimed “OhⒶapparatus note how queer he is! Isn’t he funny!”Ⓐapparatus note I thought papa was very funny, although I did not think him queer. He read “A Trying Situation”Ⓐapparatus note and “The Golden Arm,”Ⓐapparatus note Ⓔexplanatory note a ghost story that he heard down South when he was a little boy. “The Golden Arm”Ⓐapparatus note papa had told me before, but he had startled me so that I did not much wish to hear it again. But I had resolved this time to be prepared and not to let myself be startled, but still papa did, and very very much; he startled the whole roomful of people and they jumped as one man. The other story was also very funny and interesting and I enjoyed the evening inexpressibly much. After papa had finished reading we all went down to the collation in the dining-room and after that there was dancing and singing. Then the guests went away and papa and I went to bed. The next morning we rose early, took an early train for Hartford and reached Hartford at ½ past 2 o’clock. We were very glad to get back.Ⓐapparatus note
How charitably she treats that ghastly experience! It is a dear and lovely disposition, and a most valuable one, that can brush away indignities and discourtesies and seek and find the pleasanter features of an experience. SusyⒶapparatus note had that disposition, and it was one of the jewels of her character that had come to her straight from her mother. It is a feature that was left out of me at birth. And, at seventy, I have not yet acquired it. I did not go to Vassar College professionally, but as a guest—as a guest,Ⓐapparatus note and gratis. Aunt Clara (now Mrs. John B.Ⓐapparatus note Stanchfield) was a graduate of Vassar and it was to please her that I inflicted that journey upon SusyⒶapparatus note and myself. The invitation had come to me from both the lady mentioned by SusyⒶapparatus note and the President of the College—a sour old saint who has probably been gathered to his fathers long ago; and I hope they enjoy him; I hope they valueⒶapparatus note his society. I think I can get along without it, in either end of the next world.
We arrived at the College in that soaking rain, and SusyⒶapparatus note has described, with just a suggestion of dissatisfaction, the sort of reception we got. SusyⒶapparatus note had to sit in her damp clothes half an hour while we waited in the parlor; then she was taken to a fireless room and left to wait there again, as she has stated. I do not remember that President’s name, and I am sorry. He did not put in an appearance until it was time for me to step upon the platform in front of that great garden of young and lovely blossoms. He caught up with me and advanced upon the platform with me and was going to introduce me. I said in substance:
“YouⒶapparatus note have allowed me to get along without your help thus far,Ⓐapparatus note and if you will retire from the platform I will try to do the rest without it.”
IⒶapparatus note did not see him any more, but I detest his memoryⒺexplanatory note. OfⒶapparatus note course my resentment did not extend to the students, and so I had an unforgetableⒶapparatus note good time talking to them. And I think [begin page 396] they had a good time too, for they responded “as one man,”Ⓐapparatus note to use Susy’sⒶapparatus note unimprovable phrase.
Girls are charming creatures. I shall have to be twice seventy years old before I change my mind as to that. I am to talk to a crowd of them this afternoon, students of Barnard College, (the sex’sⒶapparatus note annex to Columbia University,)Ⓐapparatus note and I think I shall have just asⒶapparatus note pleasant a time with those lassiesⒶapparatus note as I had with the Vassar girls twenty-one years ago.
title Wednesday, March 7, 1906] The first page of this dictation is reproduced in facsimile in the Introduction (figure 16).
next day] Susy described the morning of 30 April 1885 in New York City, the day after Clemens’s participation in an Authors’ Reading (see AD, 26 Feb 1906, note at 383.10–11).
Liebes Geshchenk . . . Susy’s spelling, not mine] Correctly spelled, it should read, “Liebes Geschenk an die Mama,” which can be roughly translated as “Loving gift to Mama.”
went to see the Brooklyn Bridge] The Brooklyn Bridge had been open to the public for less than two years, since 24 May 1883, after nearly fourteen years of construction.
O heilige . . . Jesus!] “O holy Mary mother of Jesus!”
that pretty little German girl . . . knew no English] Jean’s young German nurse with a penchant for cursing first came to work for the Clemenses on 16 August 1883, replacing Rosina Hay, who left that day to prepare for her wedding. Clemens wrote his mother the same day, “We like the new girl exceedingly, & she speaks a good clean German, as easy to understand as English” (16 Aug 1883 to JLC, CU-MARK).
Gott sei Dank . . . Haar!] “Thank God I’m really finished with the God damned hair!”
lady principal] Abby F. Goodsell was the lady principal of Vassar, “chief executive aid of the President in the direction of the Teachers, and in the government of the students” in 1875–77 and 1881–91. Among other duties she offered “maternal supervision” of the students, provided housing, and oversaw public and social events (Vassar College 2008a).
He read “A Trying Situation” and “The Golden Arm,”] Both “A Trying Situation,” taken from chapter 25 of A Tramp Abroad, and “The Woman with the Golden Arm” (which Clemens sometimes called “A Ghost Story”) were regularly on the program for the 1884–85 “Twins of Genius” tour with George Washington Cable ( N&J3, 69; see “My Autobiography [Random Extracts from It],” note at 217.25–27).
President of the College . . . I detest his memory] Samuel L. Caldwell (1820–89), a Baptist minister, had been president of Vassar College since 1878. Caldwell wrote Clemens on 3 April 1885, thanking him for his willingness to speak and inviting him and Olivia to stay, and again on 9 April 1885, assuring him that they had sufficient guest chambers for him and Susy and that “the Lady Principal, I am sure, can make your daughter happier than she will be at a hotel” (CU-MARK). Clemens immediately accepted (11 Apr 1885 to Caldwell, NPV). Caldwell was an inexperienced administrator, and in 1884 the alumnae became especially dissatisfied with his inadequate efforts to attract students. They were backed by the Board of Trustees, and on 9 June 1885, five weeks after Clemens gave his readings in honor of Founder’s Day, they accepted Caldwell’s resignation (Vassar College 2008b; Daniels 2008).
Source documents.
TS1 (incomplete) Typescript, leaves numbered 419, 422–29 (all of 420 and most of 421 are missing), made from Hobby’s notes and revised: ‘Wednesday . . . innocent way’ (392 title–393.1); ‘From Susy’s . . . years ago.’ (393.28–396.6). (Page 419 is reproduced in facsimile in the Introduction, figure 16, p. 49.)TS3 Typescript, leaves numbered 51–59, made from the revised TS1 and further revised.
TS4 Typescript, leaves numbered 808–16, made from the revised TS1.
NAR 6pf Galley proofs of NAR 6, typeset from the revised TS3 and further revised, ViU (the same extent as NAR 6).
NAR 6 North American Review 183 (16 November 1906), 964–69: ‘From Susy’s . . . years ago.’ (392.28–396.6).
The (nearly) two pages missing from TS1 were discarded by Paine when he edited the dictation for MTA . He preserved three lines from the bottom of page 421, which he pasted to the bottom of page 419, partially covering up some of the text, which is nevertheless still legible. Harvey reviewed TS1 in August 1906 for possible publication in the NAR and selected the entire dictation. Hobby incorporated the revisions that Clemens made on TS1 into both TS3 and TS4. (The pages of TS2 that must have contained this dictation, 558–66, are now lost.) TS4 has no authority for the text that survives in TS1. Where TS1 is missing, however, TS4 was collated and its variants reported, because TS3 and TS4 derive independently from TS1 and therefore either may incorporate authorial readings not present in the other. When TS3 and TS4 agree, they confirm the readings of the missing portion of TS1. TS4 includes a phrase that is lacking in TS3: ‘and some devil’s inspiration reminded me of yesterday’ (393.22). The omission of this phrase from TS3 is deemed an error, and the TS4 reading is adopted here. Clemens revised TS3 to serve as printer’s copy for NAR 6, where it appears between excerpts from the ADs of 26 February and 22 March 1906.
Marginal Notes on TS1 and TS3 Concerning Publication in the NAR