Mental telegraphy—Letter from Mr. Jock Brown—Search for Dr. John Brown’s letters a failure—Mr. TwichellⒶapparatus note and his wife, Harmony, have an adventure in Scotland—Mr. Twichell’sⒶapparatus note picture of a military execution—Letter relating to foundation of the Players Club—The mismanagement which caused Mr. Clemens to be expelled from the ClubⒶapparatus note—He is now an honorary member.
Certainly mental telegraphy is an industry which is always silently at work—oftener than otherwise, perhaps,Ⓐapparatus note when we are not suspectingⒶapparatus note that it is affecting our thought. A few weeks ago when I was dictating something about Dr. John BrownⒺexplanatory note of Edinburgh and our pleasant relations with him during six weeks there, and his pleasant relations with our little child, SusyⒶapparatus note, he had not been in my mind for a good while—a year, perhaps—but he has often been in my mind since, and his name has been frequently upon my lips and as frequently falling from the point of my pen. About a fortnight ago I began to plan an article about him and about Marjorie Fleming, whose first biographer he was, and yesterday I began the articleⒺexplanatory note. To-day comes a letter from his son JockⒺexplanatory note, from whom I had not previously heard for a good many years. He has been engaged in collecting his father’s letters for publication. This labor would naturally bring me into his mind with some frequency, and I judge that his mind telegraphed his thoughts to me across the Atlantic. I imagine that we get most of our thoughts out of somebody else’s head, by mental telegraphyⒺexplanatory note—and not always out of heads of acquaintances but, in the majority of cases, out of the heads of strangers; strangers far removed—Chinamen, Hindoos, and all manner of remote foreigners whose language we should not be able to understand, but whose thoughts we can read without difficulty.
7 Greenhill Place
Edinburgh Ⓐapparatus note
8th March, 1906.
Dear MrⒶapparatus note ClemensⒺexplanatory note,
I hope you remember me, Jock, son of DrⒶapparatus note John Brown. At my father’s death I handed to DrⒶapparatus note J. T. Brown all the letters I had to my father, as he intended to write his life, being his cousin and life long friend. He did write a memoir, published after his death in 1901, but he made no use of the lettersⒺexplanatory note and it was little more than a critique of his writings. If you care to see it I shall send it. Among the letters which I got back in 1902 were some from you and MrsⒶapparatus note Clemens. I have now got a large number of letters written by my father between 1830 and 1882 and intend publishing a selection in order to give the public an idea of the man he was. This I think they will do. Miss E. T. MacLaren is to add the necessary notes. I now write to ask you if you have letters from him and if you will let me see them and use them. I enclose letters from yourself and MrsⒶapparatus note Clemens which I should like to useⒺexplanatory note, 15 sheets typewritten. Though I did not write as I should to you on the death of MrsⒶapparatus note Clemens, I was very sorry to hear of it through the papers, and as I now read these letters, she rises before me, gentle and loveableⒶapparatus note as I knew her. I do hope you will let me use her letter, it is most beautiful. I also hope you will let me use yours. . . .Ⓔexplanatory note Ⓐapparatus note
I am
Yours very sincerely
John BrownⒶapparatus note
We have searched for Doctor John’s letters but without success. I do not understand this. There ought to be a good many, and none should be missing, for Mrs. Clemens held Doctor John in such love and reverence that his letters were sacred things in her eyes and she preserved them and took watchful care of them. During our ten years’ absence in Europe many letters and like memorials became scattered and lost, but I think it unlikely that Doctor John’s have suffered this fate. I think we shall find them yetⒺexplanatory note.
These thoughts about JockⒶapparatus note bring back to me the Edinburgh of thirty-three years ago, and the thought of Edinburgh brings to my mind one of Reverend Joe Twichell’sⒶapparatus note adventures. A quarter of a century ago, Twichell and Harmony, his wifeⒺexplanatory note,Ⓐapparatus note visited Europe for the first time, and made a stay of a day or two in Edinburgh. They were devotees of Scott, and they devoted that day or two to ransacking Edinburgh for things and places made sacred by contact with the Magician of the NorthⒺexplanatory note. Toward midnight, on the second night, they were returning to their lodgings on foot; a dismal and steady rain was falling, and by consequence they had George streetⒶapparatus note all to themselves. Presently the rainfall became so heavy that they took refuge from it in a deep doorway, and there in the black darkness they discussed with satisfaction all the achievements of the day. Then JoeⒶapparatus note said:
“It has been hard work, and a heavy strain on the strength, but we have our reward. There isn’t a thing connected with Scott in Edinburgh that we haven’t seen or touched—not one. I mean the things a stranger could have access to. There is one we haven’t seen, but it’s not accessible—a private collection of relics and memorials of Scott of great interest, but I do not know where it is. I can’t get on the track of it. I wish we could, but we can’t. We’ve got to give the idea up. It would be a grand thing to have a sight of that collection, Harmony.”Ⓐapparatus note
A voice out of the darkness said “Come up stairsⒶapparatus note and I will show it to you!”Ⓐapparatus note
And the voice was as good as its word. The voice belonged to the gentleman who owned the collection. He took Joe and HarmonyⒶapparatus note up stairsⒶapparatus note, fed them and refreshed them; and while they examined the collection he chatted and explained. When they left at two in the morning they realized that they had had the star time of their trip.
JoeⒶapparatus note has always been on hand when anything was going to happen—except once. He got delayed in some unaccountableⒶapparatus note way, or he would have been blown up at Petersburg when the mined defencesⒶapparatus note of that place were flung heavenward in the Civil WarⒶapparatus note Ⓔexplanatory note.
When I was in Hartford theⒶapparatus note other day he told me about another of his long string of providential opportunities. I think he thinks Providence is always looking out for him when interesting things are going to happen.Ⓐapparatus note This was the execution of some deserters during the Civil WarⒶapparatus note. When we read about such things in history we always have one andⒶapparatus note the same picture—blindfolded men kneeling with their heads bowed; a file of stern and alert soldiers fronting them with their muskets ready; an austere officer in uniform standing apart who gives sharp terse orders, “Make ready. Take aim. Fire!”Ⓐapparatus note There is a belchⒶapparatus note of flame and smoke, the victims fall forward expiring, the file shoulders arms, wheels, marches erect and stiff-legged off the field, and the incident is closed.
Joe’sⒶapparatus note picture is different. And I suspect that it is the true one—the common one. In this picture the deserters requested that they might be allowed to stand, not kneel; that they might not be blindfolded,Ⓐapparatus note but permitted to look the firing file in the eye. Their request wasⒶapparatus note granted. [begin page 431] TheyⒶapparatus note stood erect and soldierly; they kept their color, they did not blench; their eyes were steady. But these things could not be said of any other person present.Ⓐapparatus note A General of BrigadeⒶapparatus note sat upon his horse white-faced—white as a corpse. The officer commanding the squad was white-faced—white as a corpse. The firing file were white-faced,Ⓐapparatus note and their forms wobbledⒶapparatus note so that the wobbleⒶapparatus note was transmitted to their muskets when they took aim. The officer of the squad could not command his voice,Ⓐapparatus note and his tone was weak and poor, not brisk and stern. When the file had done its deadly work it did not march away martially erect and stiff-leggedⒶapparatus note Ⓔexplanatory note. It wobbledⒶapparatus note.
This picture commends itself to me as being the truest one that any one has yet furnished of a military execution.
In searching for Dr. Brown’s letters—a failure—we have made a find which we were not expecting. Evidently it marks the foundation of the Players Club, and so it has value for me.
Daly’s TheatreⒶapparatus note
under the management of Augustin Daly. managers office. Ⓐapparatus note
New York, Jan 2d 1888.Ⓐapparatus note
Mr AugustinⒶapparatus note Daly will be very much pleased to have MrⒶapparatus note S. L. Clemens meet MrⒶapparatus note Booth, MrⒶapparatus note Barrett and MrⒶapparatus note Palmer and a few friends at LunchⒶapparatus note on Friday nextⒶapparatus note January 6thⒶapparatus note (at one oclockⒶapparatus note in Delmonico’s) to discuss the formation of a new club which it is thought will claim your interest.
R. S. V. P.Ⓐapparatus note
All the founders,Ⓐapparatus note I think,Ⓐapparatus note were present at that luncheon—among them Booth, Barrett, Palmer, General Sherman, Bispham, Aldrich, and the rest. I do not recall the other names. I think LaurenceⒶapparatus note Hutton states in one of his books that the Club’s name—The Players—had been already selected and accepted before this luncheon took place, but I take that to be a mistake. I remember that several names were proposed, discussed, and abandoned at the luncheon; that finally Thomas BaileyⒶapparatus note Aldrich suggested that compact and simple name, The Players; and that even that happy title was not immediately accepted. However the discussion was very brief. The objections to it were easily routed and driven from the field, and the vote in its favor was unanimousⒺexplanatory note.
I lost my interest in the Club three years ago—for cause—but it has lately returned to me, to my great satisfaction. Mr.Ⓐapparatus note Booth’s bequest was a great and generous one—but he left two. The other one was not much of a benefaction. It was MagonigleⒶapparatus note, a foolish old relative of his who needed a support. As Secretary he governed the Club and its Board of Managers like an autocrat from the beginning until three or four months ago, when he retired from his position superannuatedⒺexplanatory note. From the beginning, I left my dues and costs to be paid by my business agent in Hartford—Mr. Whitmore. He attended to all business of mine. I interested myself in none of it. When we went to Europe in ’91 I left a written order in the Secretary’s office continuing Whitmore in his function of paymaster of my club dues. Nothing happened until a year had gone by. Then a bill for dues reached me in Europe. I returned it to MagonigleⒶapparatus note and reminded him of my order, which had not been changed. Then for a couple of years the bills went to Whitmore, after which a bill came to me in Europe. I returned it with the previous remarks repeated. But about every two years the sending of bills to me would be resumed. I sent them back with the usual remarks. Twice the bills were accompanied by offensive letters from the [begin page 432] Secretary. These I answered profanely. At last we came home, in 1901Ⓐapparatus note. No bills came to me for a year. Then we took a residence at Riverdale-on-the-Hudson, and straightway came a Players bill for dues. I was aweary, aweary, and I put it in the waste-basket. Ten days later the bill came again, and with it a shadowy threat. I waste-basketed it.Ⓐapparatus note After another ten days the bill came once more, and this time the threat was in a concreted condition. It said very peremptorily that if the bill were not paid within a week I would be expelled from the ClubⒶapparatus note and posted as a delinquent. This went the way of its predecessors into the waste-basket. On the named day I was expelled and posted—and I was much gratified, for I was tired of being MagonigledⒶapparatus note every little while.
Robert Reid, David Munro, and other special friends in the ClubⒶapparatus note were astonished and put themselves in communication with meⒺexplanatory note to find out what this strange thing meant. I explained to them. They wanted me to state the case to the Management and require a reconsideration of the decree of expulsion, but I had to decline that proposition. And therefore things remained as they were until a few months ago when the MagonigleⒶapparatus note retired from the autocracy. The boys thought that my return to the ClubⒶapparatus note would be plain and simple sailing now, but I thought differently. I was no longer a member. I could not become a member without consenting to be voted for like any other candidate, and I would not do that. The Management had expelled me upon the mere statement of a clerk that I was a delinquent. Neither they nor the clerk could know whether I ever received those bills and threats or not, since they had been transmitted by the mail. They had not asked me to testify in my defenceⒶapparatus note. Their books would show that I had never failed to pay, and pay promptly. They might properly argue from that that I had not all of a sudden become a rascal, and that I might be able to explain the situation if asked. The Board’s whole proceeding had been like all the Board’s proceedings from the beginning—arbitrary, insolent, stupid. That Board’s proper place, from the beginning, was the idiot asylum. I could not allow myself to be voted for again,Ⓐapparatus note because from my view of the matter I had never lawfully and legitimately ceased to be a member. However, when Providence disposed of MagonigleⒶapparatus note, a way fair and honorable to all concerned was easily found to bridge the separating crack. I was made an honorary member, and I have been glad to resume business at the old stand.
mental telegraphy] This was Clemens’s term for thought transference or mind-to-mind communication, the possibility of which had fascinated him at least since 1875, when he attributed it to “mesmeric sympathies” (29 Mar and 4 Apr 1875 to Wright, L6, 434). He had explored the phenomenon in two Harper’s Monthly articles: “Mental Telegraphy” in December 1891 and “Mental Telegraphy Again” in September 1895 (SLC 1891b; SLC 1895).
A few weeks ago when I was dictating something about Dr. John Brown] See the Autobiographical Dictations of 2 and 5 February 1906.
article about him and about Marjorie Fleming . . . and yesterday I began the article] “Marjorie Fleming, the Wonder Child,” published in the December 1909 number of Harper’s Bazar (SLC 1909d).
his son Jock] John (“Jock”) Brown (b. 1846), whom Clemens had met in Scotland in 1873 (22 and 25 Sept 1873 to Brown, L5, 441 n. 4; John Brown 1907, 60).
7 Greenhill Place . . . Dear Mr Clemens] Hobby transcribed Brown’s original typed letter, now in the Mark Twain Papers, into the typescript of this dictation.
Dr J. T. Brown . . . made no use of the letters] John Taylor Brown (1811–1901), a Scottish newspaper editor, was Dr. John Brown’s cousin and biographer. He wrote the entry on Brown for the Dictionary of National Biography and also Dr. John Brown: A Biography and a Criticism, published in 1903 (John Taylor Brown 1903).
I enclose letters from yourself and Mrs Clemens which I should like to use] Brown included six letters from Samuel and Olivia Clemens, written between 1874 and 1882, in Letters of Dr. John Brown, published in 1907 (John Brown 1907, 351, 353–54, 357–58, 360–61). Elizabeth T. McLaren wrote the biographical introductions as well as the notes for the volume. She also wrote Dr. John Brown and His Sister Isabella, published in 1889, two copies of which Jock Brown sent to the Clemenses (McLaren 1889; Brown to SLC, 28 Dec 1889 and 25 Jan 1890, CU-MARK; Gribben 1980, 1:444).
yours. . . . ] Clemens omitted the rest of Brown’s letter, which mentioned his marriage to his cousin, “M. McKay,” and their two children, aged twelve and fourteen, whose photographs he enclosed (Brown to SLC, 8 Mar 1906, CU-MARK).
During our ten years’ absence . . . we shall find them yet] In June 1891, partly as a result of Clemens’s losses on the Paige typesetter, which made upkeep of the family house in Hartford difficult, and partly to allow Olivia Clemens to seek treatment for heart strain, the Clemenses left for what became a nine-year exile in Europe ( N&J3, 574). The letters from John Brown were found. Seventeen of them, dated between 1873 and 1879, survive in the Mark Twain Papers.
Harmony, his wife] Twichell married Julia Harmony Cushman (1843–1910) in 1865 (18 Oct 1868 to OLL, L2, 269 n. 2).
Magician of the North] While anonymously publishing the string of popular novels that began with Waverley in 1814, Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832) was referred to as “the Wizard of the North” and “the Great Magician.” It was not until 1827 that Scott admitted his authorship.
at Petersburg . . . in the Civil War] On 30 July 1864, while Petersburg, Virginia (which protected the southern approaches to Richmond), was under siege by Ulysses S. Grant’s forces, a large mine was exploded beneath the Confederate emplacements. Twichell, serving as a Union chaplain, was near Petersburg in June and July 1864, but finished his tour of duty about three weeks before the explosion (Twichell 2006, 306–9).
Joe’s picture is different . . . the file . . . did not march away martially erect and stiff-legged] In a letter of 14 and 16 June 1863 to his stepmother, Jane Walkley Twichell, Twichell described one such execution, of a deserter to whom he had ministered:
They seated him on his coffin, tied his elbows behind him, bound a handkerchief over his eyes and opened his shirt front so that his bosom was bared. . . . At a signal six muskets were raised, cocked and aimed—the distance was about 10 paces. Another signal and the dread suspense was broken. He swayed a little forwards, then with a single convulsive straitening of his body, fell back over the coffin. Then a Sergeant and one man stepped up and discharged their pieces through his head, although five bullets had already pierced his breast. This is a custom—dictated by humanity—in all military executions. They lifted the body into the coffin—a plain pine box. It was over. . . . The scene on the field now changed from one of utter stillness to one of noise and motion. Orders were shouted along the lines of troops, and the march was resumed as if nothing had happened. (CtY-BR, in Twichell 2006, 239, 241–42)
Daly’s Theatre . . . vote in its favor was unanimous] Daly’s letter was transcribed into this dictation from his original manuscript, now in the Mark Twain Papers. In 1888 Daly’s Theatre, at Broadway and 30th Street, was one of New York’s leading theaters, featuring a resident company of well-known actors in elaborate productions of Shakespeare, as well as popular plays of the day (“Amusements,” New York Times, 1 Jan 1888, 3, 7). In Talks in a Library with Laurence Hutton, first published in 1905 and reprinted several times, Hutton gave this account of the naming of The Players:
Booth had long desired to do something in a tangible and in an enduring way for the good of his profession; and various schemes were fully discussed during a fortnight’s cruise on the steam-yacht Oneida in the summer of 1886. The party consisted of Mr. E. C. Benedict, the owner of the beautiful vessel, Mr. Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Lawrence Barrett, Mr. William Bispham, Booth, and myself. . . . The notion of a club for actors was then proposed. Mr. Aldrich with a peculiarly happy inspiration suggested its name, “The Players,” and the general plan of the organisation was gradually outlined. (Hutton 1909, 86–87)
Another account of Aldrich’s “happy inspiration” confirmed that it occurred aboard the Oneida, but put the date as 27 July 1887 (Lanier 1938, 18–19). Clemens replied to Daly’s invitation to the 6 January 1888 organizational luncheon, “Schon güt! I’ll be there”; it was probably on that occasion that he heard a reprise of the naming anecdote (3 Jan 1888 to Daly, TS in MH-H). For further discussion of The Players club see the Autobiographical Dictation of 10 January 1906 and notes.
Magonigle . . . he retired from his position superannuated] John Henry Magonigle (1830–1919), Edwin Booth’s longtime friend and business manager, was the brother-in-law of Booth’s wife. He was the superintendent, but never the secretary, of The Players club, and also, from 1906 to 1919, a member. Letters from Magonigle to Clemens and to Franklin Whitmore dated 16 February 1891 and 6 May 1891, respectively, both attempting to collect unpaid dues, survive in the Mark Twain Papers. They were part of the dispute that Clemens describes in this dictation (“John Henry Magonigle Dies at 89,” New York Times, 23 Dec 1919, 9; Winter 1893, 47 n. 1; Lanier 1938, 358, 376).
Source documents.
Brown to SLC Typed letter, Brown to SLC, 8 Mar 1906: ‘7 Greenhill . . . John Brown.’ (429.22–42).Daly to SLC MS letter, Augustin Daly to SLC, 2 January 1888: ‘Daly’s Theatre . . . R. S. V. P.’ (431.12–19).
TS1 Typescript, leaves numbered 514–25, made from Hobby’s notes, Brown to SLC, and Daly to SLC, and revised.
TS2 Typescript, leaves numbered 661–71, made from the revised TS1 and further revised.
Hobby incorporated the revisions that Clemens made on TS1 into TS2, whose middle section (about Twichell) he further revised for possible publication in the NAR, but it never appeared there.
Marginal Notes on TS2 Concerning Publication in the NAR