Cowboy’s fine letter to Helen Keller—Mr. Clemens comments upon such literature.
Last summer I dictated some remarks upon a subject which I find myself unable to describe in a single phrase. I was talking about a letter twenty-seven years old, which had fallen into my hands by accident—a letter written by a westernⒶtextual note girl who was in deep trouble—a moving letter, a pathetic letter, couched in wrecked and ruined grammar and spelling, but eloquent with the eloquence which comes from the heart, and is always imperial, whether it be clothed in rags or in cloth of gold; also I quoted and discussed a letter a quarter of a century old, written by Captain Ned Wakeman, spelt, punctuated, and constructed as only that extraordinary mariner could spell, punctuate, and construct—Ⓐtextual notea letter out of his heart, and as rich in the eloquence of sincerity and feeling as was the westernⒶtextual note girl’s. I also remarked upon a passage in Susy’s BiographyⒶtextual note of me—a passage from her heart, and sweetly eloquent—and spelt as only Susy could spellⒺexplanatory note.
In this talk I was trying to show that when the heart speaks it has no use for the conventions; it can rise above them, and the result is literature Ⓐtextual note, and not to be called by any less dignified name. I think I was also proposing to show that sometimes the productions of the unschooled mind get evenⒶtextual note an added grace and power out of fresh and free and lawless grammar and orthography. If that was my position, I consider it strongly reinforced by a letter which has come to my hands this morning; it was written to Helen Keller something more than three years ago, at the time that she published her history of her life, and it came from a cowboy in the FarⒶtextual note West, whose spelling, grammar, and construction do most engaginglyⒶtextual note set at easy and unembarrassed defiance all the laws that govern those artificialities; but the result is unqualifiedly satisfactory, just the same, and miles and miles above the reach of criticism; it comes out of a soundⒶtextual note good heart, and out of a most wise and level head, and is literature Ⓐtextual note—and not commonplace literature, but literature of a high class; the architect of itⒶtextual note is a thinker, an observer, a philosopher, and has also a touch of poetry in him:Ⓐtextual note he perceives why Helen is happy, and the reason for it; he has not failed to perceive that Miss Sullivan (Mrs. Macy,)Ⓐtextual note Ⓔexplanatory note is a wonderful woman, and, [begin page 414] in her way, as wonderful as Helen herself. There is an irresistible charm about his simple and natural fashion of employing the technicalities of his trade in his reflections upon Helen and her teacher—those reflections wherein he shrewdly notes a mental kinship between Helen and the blind steer, and wherein he approves of Miss Sullivan’s theory as being right and judicious in the education of a colt—Helen being the colt; likewise a “bronco.”Ⓐtextual note His interest and his sympathyⒶtextual note proceed from his heart—that good heart which moved him to teach the little “Gurman” boy and girl “United States.”Ⓐtextual note It will be noticed that some of his words and names get a deliciousness from his fresh and unconventional spellings of them which they never possessed before—for instance, his new rendering of Booker Washington’s patronymic. It is fine to see his great and just admiration of Miss Sullivan and her marvelous work; after he has signed his letterⒶtextual note he still has to come back to it in a postscript. And it is pleasant to see that he is his natural and incomparable self to the last, and doesn’t have to go away from home to find a telling figure whereby to express his thought. It is long since I have seen so delightful a letter as his; it is literature, high literature, and not to be successfully imitated by any art taught in the schools or known to the trained journeyman of the trade; it ranks away up side by side with Susy’s Biography and Captain Ned Wakeman’s letter. Read it.Ⓐtextual note
16 Miles By. Elko, Nev.Ⓐtextual note Nov. 29 1903.
Miss Helen Keller
Dear Friend
I sent to Dubleday and Page, New York, for your book, and have just finished reading it. As I am batching and the Evenings drag I thought I rite you and tell you how very interesting your book is. I enjoyed reding it. And Miss Sulivan Letters are just fine. You seemd to be as Happy as all the rest of the Girls, you ought to be becose you cant see the Cloudy days. Reding your Book puts me in mind of a large Drove of Cattle I hurded one Sumer, there was a Blind 2 year Old Steer in the bunch and he seemed to do as well as the rest. he would go through the gates and timber and over Ruff places and would get lost from the rest. Iff the Wind was in the South he would feed on the North Side. and Vice VerseyⒶtextual note. he was always out to one side and near the middle of the bunch. Iff he wanted to Get on the other side he would drop behind never go in Front. I used to watch him and wonder how he always new when I was close. But what we lack somebody else makes up, for instant a Eastern Man comes West and they call him a Tender Foot. And when a Western Man goes East they call him a Yap. I see in the Kansas City Star that the President of Harvard Coladge says when a Western Man goes East he ought to take a good WashⒺexplanatory note. He for gets that the Watter here is used up for Eregation.
Some day in the future I expect you will rite another Book on your Life, Unless you get a Man. iff you do it will take your hole Life to Train him. Don’t you think it would be very interesting to your Readers to have a sketch on Miss Sullivan Life or rather on her Gurlhud days in your book you speak of her beingⒶtextual note nearly Blind. Id like to Reed of her parrents, I think she has don more for Education and the People than Miss Francis WilardⒺexplanatory note. She is a grand Woman and you ought to Sing her prases all of your Life.
I think your little Black plamateⒶtextual note Marthy WashingtonⒺexplanatory note iff she had such a Woman as Miss Sulivan for a Teacher and Gardian her chance would of bin good to have [begin page 415] bin a second Bucker Washington. I see in the paper that when that Duke told King Edward he was ingadged to Miss May Golet the King sed he was glad of it. He sed Ingland neded her moneyⒺexplanatory note.
Our country needs more Wimmen like your Teacher. She give up her prospects it seems of a home and famly to be a Teacher, and as a Teacher for the Blind she is surly nextⒶtextual note the top of the Lader. And she has kept you Climing Climing. Her theory of teaching Children is all rite I think I was Teaching a little Gurman Boy and Girl United States in S. Dakota and after reding Miss Sulivan letter I can see now that they lurned Inglish faster runing around the place with me than in School I broke Horses all my life and I think Miss Sulivan theory is all rite in a Colt let them lurn by Experence.
I think when she went to Alabama and took charge of that little Bronco it proved it
B. B. PageⒶtextual note
P.S.
When Lue Dilen beet the World record at Memphis, Tenn, They didn forget to Name her Driver Ⓐtextual note.Ⓔexplanatory note
Last summer I dictated some remarks . . . spelt as only Susy could spell] Clemens discusses the correspondence pertaining to the “western girl” in the Autobiographical Dictation of 18 June 1906; Ned Wakeman’s letter is in the dictation of 29 August 1906; and a passage from Susy’s biography of Clemens is excerpted and praised in that of 8 August 1906.
letter which has come to my hands . . . Miss Sullivan (Mrs. Macy,)] Clemens received—presumably from Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan—a typed copy of this letter by B. B. Page (of whom nothing has been learned beyond what is in the letter itself). Keller had published The Story of My Life in 1903 (see the ADs of 20 Nov 1906 and 17 Jan 1907).
I see in the Kansas City Star . . . he ought to take a good Wash] In May 1903 President Charles William Eliot of Harvard was reported as saying that western delegates to an upcoming Boston conference should visit Revere Beach because “a bath may be good for them” (“Do Westerners Need Baths?” Kansas City Star, 22 May 1903, 1).
Miss Francis Wilard] Frances Willard (1839–98) was a nationally known political figure, espousing temperance reform, labor rights, and women’s rights.
your little Black plamate Marthy Washington] Helen Keller was unable to remember the real name of the childhood companion she called Martha Washington in The Story of My Life, an African American girl who was adept at understanding Keller’s wishes before she had any language (Keller 1903, 10–13; 2005, 79).
that Duke told King Edward he was ingadged to Miss May Golet . . . Ingland neded her money] The engagement of the impoverished duke of Roxburghe to May Goelet, reputedly America’s richest heiress, was announced in September 1903. The Los Angeles Times reported that King Edward VII “regards all such marriages with high approval, being painfully aware that English society needs money more than anything to keep it alive” (“Duke to Wed May Goelet,” Chicago Tribune, 3 Sept 1903, 5; “ ‘Well Done Roxburghe,’ Says the King,” Los Angeles Times, 14 Sept 1903, 2).
Lue Dilen beet the World record . . . Name her Driver] Lou Dillon, a trotting mare, covered a mile in exactly two minutes at Readville, Massachusetts, on 24 August 1903, setting a world record. Her driver was Millard Saunders (“Lou Dillon Trots a Mile in Two Minutes,” New York Times, 25 Aug 1903, 1).
Source documents.
Page transcript Typed transcript of letter from B. B. Page to Helen Keller, 29 November 1903: ‘16 Miles . . . her Driver.’ (414.18–415.17).TS1 ribbon Typescript, leaves numbered 1759–64, made from Hobby’s notes and Page transcript, revised.
TS1 carbon Typescript carbon, leaves numbered 1759–64, revised.
For the dictated part of the text, Hobby typed from her notes; for the text of the B. B. Page letter, she followed a typed transcript whose origin is not obvious, but which was perhaps given to Clemens by Anne Sullivan Macy or her husband. The transcript, which has been revised by Clemens, is our source for the letter text. Clemens revised TS1 ribbon and transferred his changes to TS1 carbon, which he further revised. In one place, his revisions vary; he deleted (TS1 ribbon) or abbreviated (TS1 carbon) his own adjuration to the reader, about the Page letter: ‘Read it, and be thankful for the privilege.’ The version on TS1 carbon is adopted as his latest preference for the wording.
In TS1 ribbon, Clemens left the text of the letter unmarked; perhaps he did not review it. In TS1 carbon, which he was preparing for a possible NAR installment, he did review it, and made two alterations. He canceled the heading ‘Copy of Letter to Helen Keller.’; he had let it stand (and had underscored it) in the transcript. It is unclear whether this deletion pertains to magazine publication; we omit the heading. He also underscored the final word of Page’s letter (‘Driver’). There seems no reason to reject this. Two failures to transfer revisions from TS1 ribbon are also considered to be inadvertent—‘Biography’ (at 413.21) and ‘(Mrs. Macy,)’ (413.37). Clemens’s notations on the AD of 18 June 1906 show that at one time he intended to create an NAR installment that combined the present dictation with excerpts from that AD and that of 8 August 1906, but it was never published.
Marginal Notes on TS1 carbon Concerning Publication in NAR
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