(1880s)
In writing “A Letter from the Comet” Mark Twain at first made a false start. He began with the comet's disdainful comments on its supposed discoverer, after whom it had lately been named:
Sir: So it appears I am “the Brooks Comet.” Is it because one Brooks “discovered” me? I beg pardon; if any discovering has been done, the shoe is on the other foot: for I discovered Brooks; he1 was in his cradle at the time. At any rate I could have discovered him, if I had considered the thing important enough to make it worth my while to leave business some billions of miles removed, and come here and do it. I was elderly before Mr. Brooks was born; I was discovered before Mr. Brooks was thought of; I shall still be an
The paragraph breaks off in midsentence; the manuscript then starts anew along somewhat different lines.
This piece might have been prompted by news of any one of the several comets discovered by William Robert Brooks which drew public attention in the 1880s. The manuscript is on a paper that Mark Twain was using during that decade.
Clemens canceled “at least” before writing “he.”
Sir: There are several things I would like to inquire about if I may. I come here every seventy-one years, and look about me a while, and get acquainted with names, faces, and events of the day; then comes my long absence of seventy-one years, and next time I arrive the people I knew have either disappeared or have changed so much that I cannot recognize them. This is strange and annoying.Ⓐalteration in the MS And it was not always so. It is only a peculiarity of recent times. Did you know a man by the name of Adam?—fine well-made fellowⒶalteration in the MS dressed in skins, who used to live near you in a garden which he called Eden? And did you know his wife—she that was—but I forget now what her name was before she was married. What ever became of him?—and her? I used to see him every time I came. During thirteen of my visits to this part of the universe I saw him every time. Consequently he came to be a very familiar object to me, and in time I got to looking forwardⒶalteration in the MS with pleasure to my customary visit because I should see Adam again. He was a person who was always adding to himself new interests, too. When I first knew him, he was farming by himself, and had no neighbors; but after that, his family began to come on, and the last time I saw him they numbered many thousands. But when I came the fourteenth time, he had moved. Since then I have always kept a lookout for him, but have never discovered a trace of him. I do not know how to account for this. This [begin page 439] is such a little bit of a world, that I cannot understand how I am always managing to overlook him. Large as Sirius is, I do not overlook anybody there. I always see my friends there, every time I go. I have not missed a friendly face there in thirty million years.Ⓐalteration in the MS Yet here is Adam, whom I used to run across every little while until the other day—then he suddenly disappears, and permanently. If you know his address, I shall be under many obligations if you will give it to me. I would also like to have the addresses of a couple of other men whom you may possibly know—Methuselah and Noah; I do not remember their first names. I have the impression that I saw the latter quite recently—I should say five or seven hundred years ago—and no doubt I did; but I am quite sure I have not met himⒶalteration in the MS since.
The manuscript is copy-text. There are no emendations and no textual notes.