(1907)
This title appears on the typescript and may have been supplied by Mark Twain; there is no title on the manuscript. In this sketch, headed “Dictated 1907,” Clemens recalls a performance by a group of children of “a brief little drama of ‘The Prince and Pauper’ ” as an event of “Twenty-two-or-three years ago, in Cleveland.” He and George W. Cable gave a reading in Cleveland in December 1884, probably on the seventeenth.1 They would very likely have visited Mrs. Mary Mason Fairbanks, the “Mother” Fairbanks whom Clemens had first known as a passenger on the Quaker City cruise to the Holy Land, so the drama may have been staged at the Fairbanks home, as Clemens recalled. The play certainly was performed in Hartford at the end of the year by a group of children as a surprise arranged by Mrs. Clemens.2 Clemens may have mistakenly placed this event in Cleveland.
The Little Nelly of the incident cannot be certainly identified but may have been Helen Morton Cox, the young daughter of Cable's sister, An- [begin page 46] toinette Cox; Clemens called Helen “Miss Nellie,”3 and she and others of Cable's family may have been at the Hartford house while Cable himself was staying there.
Paul Fatout, Mark Twain on the Lecture Circuit (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1960), p. 218; see also MT&GWC , p. 72.
Twenty-two-or-threeⒶalteration in the MS years ago, in Cleveland, a thing happened which I still remember pretty well.Ⓐalteration in the MS Out in the suburbs,Ⓐhistorical collation it was—on the lake; the Fairbankses had bought a large house and a great place there, and were living sumptuously, after Mr. Fairbanks's long life of struggle and privation in building up the Cleveland Herald to high place and prosperity. I was there a week,Ⓐalteration in the MS and the Severances came out to dinner twice, and they and “Mother Fairbanks” and I talked over the old times we had enjoyed togetherⒶalteration in the MS in the “Quaker City,”Ⓐhistorical collation when we were “Innocents Abroad.” Meantime, every dayⒶalteration in the MS Mother Fairbanks was busy staging a brief little drama of “The Prince and Pauper” and drilling the children from town who were to play it.
One of theseⒶalteration in the MS children was Nelly (nevermindtherestofthenameⒶhistorical collation) and she was a prodigy—a bright and serious andⒶalteration in the MS pretty little creature of nine, who was to play Lady Jane GreyⒶemendation. She had a large reputation as a reciter of poetry and little speeches before company in her mother's drawing-room at home; she did her work charmingly, and the sweetest charm about it was the aged gravity and sincerity and earnestness which she put into it. Latterly she had added a new laurel: she had composed a quaint little story, “out of her own head,”Ⓐalteration in the MS and had de- [begin page 48] lighted a parlor-audience with it and made herself the envy of all the children around.
The Prince and Pauper play was to be given in my honor, and I had a seat in the centreⒶhistorical collation of the front row; a hundred and fifty friends of the house were present in evening costume, old and young and both sexes, theⒶhistorical collation great room was brilliantly lighted, the fine clothes made the aspect gay, everybody was laughing and chatting and having a good time, the curtain was about ready toⒶhistorical collation rise.
A hitch occurred. Edward VI, (to be played by a girl,Ⓐhistorical collation) hadⒶalteration in the MS been belated, it would takeⒶalteration in the MS a quarter of an hour to dress her for her part. This announcement was made, and Mother Fairbanks retired to attend to this function,Ⓐalteration in the MS and took Nelly's mother with her to help. Presently the audience began to call for little Nelly to come on the stage and do her little story. Nelly's twin sister brought her on, and sat down in a chair beside her and folded her pudgy hands in her lap, and beamed upon the house her joy in the ovation which Lady Jane received. Lady Jane got another round when she said she had made a new story out of her ownⒶalteration in the MS head and would recite it—which she proceeded to do, with none of her sweet solemnities lacking. To-wit:
Once there were two ladies, and were twins, and lived together, Mary and Olivia Scott, in the house they were born in, and all alone, for Mr. and Mrs. Scott were dead, now. After a while they got lonesome and wished they could have a baby, and said God will provide.
(You could feel the walls give, the strain upon suppressed emotion was so great.)
So when the baby came they were very glad, and the neighbors surprised.
(The walls spread again, but held.)
And asked where they got it and they said by prayer, which is the only way.
(There was not a sound in the audience except the muffled volleying of bursting buttons and the drip of unrestrainable tears. With a gravity not of this world, the inspired child went on:)Ⓐemendation
But there was no way to feed it at first, because it had only gums and could not bite, then they prayed and God sent a lady which had several and showed them how, then itⒶalteration in the MS got fat and they were so happy you can- [begin page 49] not think; and thought oh, if they could have some more—and prayed again and got them, because whatever you pray for in the right spirit you get it a thousand fold.
(I could feel the throes and quivers coursing up and down the body of the ripe maiden lady at my left, and she buried her face in her handkerchief and seemed to sob, but it was not sobbing. TheⒶalteration in the MS walls were sucking in and bellying out, but they held. The two children on the stage were a dearⒶalteration in the MS and lovely picture to see, the face of the one so sweetly earnest, the other's face so speakingly lit up with pride in her gifted sister and with worshipping admiration.)
And God was pleased the way they were so thankful to have that child, and every prayer they made they got another one, and by the time fall came they had thirteen, and whoever will do the right way can have as many, perhaps more, for nothing is impossible with God, and whoever puts their trust in Him they will have their reward, heaped up and running over. When we think of Mary and Olivia Scott it should learn us to have confidence. End of the tale—good byeⒶhistorical collation.
The dear little thing! She made her innocent bow, and retired without a suspicion that she had been an embarrassment. Nothing would have happened, now, perhaps, if quiet could have been maintained for a few minutes, so that the people could get a grip upon themselves, but the strain overpowered my old maid partnerⒶalteration in the MS and she exploded like a bomb; a general and unrestrained crash of laughter followed, of course, theⒶhistorical collation happy tears flowed like brooks, and no one was sorry of the opportunity to laugh himself out and get the blessed relief that comes of that privilege in such circumstances.
I think the Prince and Pauper went very well—I do not remember; but the other incident stays by me with great and contenting vividness —the picture and everything.Ⓐalteration in the MS
“Little Nelly” was written as a literary sketch, but Mark Twain later had a typescript prepared in order to incorporate the piece in his Autobiographical Dictations. The typescript survives in a ribbon and a carbon copy; Mark Twain revised neither. Ordinarily, the absence of authorial revision in a typescript would lead one to disregard it entirely in establishing the text. But the typescript is not identical to the manuscript, and the variation is different in kind from the transcription errors usually encountered in direct copies. The title appears only in the typescript, for instance, and in two places (48.3–8 and 49.19–26) long breathless sentences are broken into shorter sentences quite different in tone. Mark Twain could have supplied the title orally or on a now-lost title page, and the typist could have introduced the other variants through the usual misreading and mechanical error; but external evidence read in conjunction with the variants points to two other possible hypotheses.
Like all the Autobiographical Dictations, the typescript bears the rubric “Dictated” and the date. This need not indicate that Mark Twain actually dictated the work, for he frequently turned manuscript destined for the autobiography over to the copyist, who typed the heading as a matter of convention, not fact. Nevertheless, he did at times read manuscript to his typist, altering passages as he did so. It may be that “Little Nelly” was dictated in this way; certainly the changes to shorter, more easily read sentences are consonant with oral transmission of the work.
It is also possible that a revised typescript, now lost, intervened between the manuscript and the surviving transcription. A note on the carbon, probably Paine's, reads “Copies Elsewhere.” Paine also altered the first sentence of the work on the carbon (adding the words italicized here) to make it read “Twenty-two-or-three years ago, when I was in Cleveland, on a reading tour a thing happened which I still remember well.” If this revision was made at the same time as the notation “Copies Elsewhere,” the fact that Paine chose the carbon to edit may indicate that it was the ribbon copy which was elsewhere. But it is conceivable that Mark Twain initiated the revision on an earlier typescript, that—as frequently happens—the typist overlooked his interlineation, and that Paine, checking the new typescript against the old, corrected the error. In that case “Copies Elsewhere” (which appears to have been written with a harder or sharper pencil than the revision) would be Paine's recollection at some later time that he had compared two versions of the essay.
Attractive as these possibilities are, they remain speculation; the evidence is insufficient to fix the relationship between the manuscript and typescript. The present text, therefore, is based upon the manuscript, the only text which is certainly authorial. Only the title is taken from the typescript. Because of the typescript's uncertain authority, however, a special collation listing all typescript variants is provided in the textual apparatus. Even those variants which are unquestionably typing errors are included, so that the readings which may be authorial can be judged in context.
There are no textual notes.