NOTICE . . . Per G. G., Chief of Ordnance.] Mark Twain’s manuscript draft did not include the phrase, “persons attempting to [begin page 376] find a Moral in it will be banished,” which he added in revision, probably on the typed printer’s copy (see Manuscript Facsimiles, p. 564). In “A Little Note to M. Paul Bourget” (1897) Mark Twain quoted this entire “Notice” and indicated that its purpose was ironic, to “playfully warn the public against taking” his book “seriously” (SLC 1897a, 232). If “G. G., Chief of Ordnance” refers to a real person, his identity remains uncertain. The initials could stand for General Grant: Mark Twain had been acquainted with Ulysses S. Grant (1822–85) since 1870, and occasionally, in 1885, referred to him privately by these initials ( N&J3 , 108, 128, 135, 156; L4 , 167, 168–69 n. 5). But Grant never signed himself in this way, nor was he ever chief of ordnance, the high-ranking officer responsible for the army’s munitions and weaponry. The initials “G. G.” do not correspond to any actual chief of ordnance from 1815 through 1900 (Heitman, 1:44). More likely, they are a playful (albeit private) reference to George Griffin (1849?–97), who worked in the Hartford household as the family butler from 1875 to 1891. Griffin, born a Maryland slave, had served as body servant to a Union general, Charles Devens (1820–91), during the Civil War (SLC 1906a, 9, 30–31; SLC to Howells, 4 Nov 75, MH-H, in L6 , 581–82). According to Clemens’s “A Family Sketch” (1906), Griffin was “handsome, well built, shrewd, wise, polite, always good-natured, cheerful to gaiety, honest, religious, a cautious truth-speaker, devoted friend to the family, champion of its interests. . . . He was the peace-maker in the kitchen . . . for by his good sense & right spirit & mollifying tongue he adjusted disputes in that quarter before they reached the quarrel-point” (SLC 1906a, 9–10). But it was a combination of Griffin’s role as peace-maker and two incidents involving firearms that qualified him playfully as “Chief of Ordnance.” He was chief among the household servants, entrusted with the security of the house during the family’s absences. During one such absence, in July 1877, Griffin fired from the house upon three “ruffians” in the street who were yelling insults directed at Clemens. “George shot at them twice,” Clemens reported to Olivia, “but unluckily failed to get them; they threatened him, then, & he went down in the yard & very gallantly defied the gang” (SLC to OLC, 17 July 77 [1st of 2], CU-MARK, in LLMT , 198). Clemens recalled another occasion, in the “early days” of Griffin’s employment at the Hartford house, when George applied to use the family firearm, this time in defense of his own honor: