(June 1907)
The charge that the punishments inflicted by God through nature were likely to be incredibly cruel and severe was often made by Clemens in his later writings, perhaps most pointedly in his Autobiographical Dictation of 23 June 1906:
The ten-thousandfold law of punishment is rigorously enforced against every creature, man included. The debt, whether made innocently or guiltily, is promptly collected by Nature—and in this world, without waiting for the ten-billionfold additional penalty appointed—in the case of man—for collection in the next.1
The ordeal of seeing a loved one undergo successive periods of extreme suffering, with intervening periods of relief that restored hope just to have it mocked again, was only too familiar to Clemens. The letter that he wrote on 12/13 May 1904, several weeks before the death of his wife, Olivia, describes one of these distressing sequences:
For two entire days, now, we have not been anxious about Mrs. Clemens (un-berufen). After 20 months of bed-ridden solitude and bodily misery she all of a sudden ceases to be a pallid shrunken shadow, and looks bright and young and pretty. She remains what she always was, the most wonderful creature of fortitude, patience, endurance and recuperative power that ever was. But ah, dear, it won't last; this fiendish malady will play new treacheries upon her, and I shall go [begin page 125] back to my prayers again—unutterable from any pulpit! . . . May 13 10 a. m. I have just paid one of my pair of permitted 2 minutes visits per day to the sick room. And found what I have learned to expect—retrogression, and that pathetic something in the eye which betrays the secret of a waning hope.2
During the years that followed, Jean Clemens suffered recurrent epileptic seizures, prolonging Clemens' ordeal. Miss Lyon recorded his reactions to adverse news of Jean's condition on 2 February 1906, noting in her journal that Jean had attacks at 9 a.m., 6 p.m., and 10 p.m.:
I had a very plain talk with Mr. Clemens this morning about Jean's condition & told him how on Tuesday I had talked with Dr. Quintard. The dreadfulness of it all swept over him as I knew it would and with that fiercest of all his looks in his face, he blazed out against the swindle of life & the treachery of a God that can create disease & misery & crime—create things that men would be condemned for creating.
Clemens' expression of relief after the death of Jean had come on 24 December 1909 is a further indication of what he had been enduring:
And so I am already rejoicing that she has been set free. . . . For sixteen years Jean suffered unspeakably, under the dominion of her cruel malady, and we were always dreading that some frightful accident would happen to her that would stretch her mutilated upon her bed for the rest of her life—or, worse—that her mind would become affected; but now she is free, and harm can never come to her more.3
The “R. C.” who reads the history of Mrs. Fannie Griscom's case in “The Private Secretary's Diary” is probably a recording clerk, one of the “official sleuths in the employ of the Recording Angel.” The cabinet members “F., S., and H. G.” are of course the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The date of composition is established by Mark Twain's reference in the text to June 1907.
Monday. Ⓐemendation The CabinetⒶalteration in the MS met at the usual hour. Present,Ⓐalteration in the MS F., S., and H. G.
The case of Mrs. Fannie Griscom was taken up.
The R. C. read the history of it, beginning with the record of Sunday, June 17, 1858, forty-nine years ago, when the said Fannie was 4 years old. She and her little brother and sister were playing circus in the spare chamber,Ⓐalteration in the MS and were discovered by their papa, who severely scolded them for breaking the Sabbath; then prayed for them; after which he ordered them to sit still for an hour and reflect upon the enormity of their conduct; after which, he left them, closing the door behind him.
At the end of half an hour the remembrance of a funny incident of the previous week came suddenly into the mind of the said Fannie, and she, being taken unawares, broke out in a shriek of joyous laughter.
Georgie and Hattie promised not to tell, and kept their pledge.
These facts being conveyed to heaven by official sleuths in the employ of the Recording AngelⒶemendation, the Cabinet was convened in extra session to discuss them and award the penalties.
Penalties were pronounced against Georgie and Hattie for concealing their sister's sin from their papa. See Auxiliary Record of that date.
The crime of the said Fannie was then taken up. After various penalties had been suggested by S. and H. G., the Father, disallowing them, said—
[begin page 127]F. Let her be wasted by scarlet fever—preliminarily. Let the after-effects begin to appear four years later, and continue at intervals of several years during the rest of her life.
Accordingly it is of record that—
The next day, Monday, June 18, 1858, the child was taken very ill with scarlet fever. In agony the father and mother prayed night and day begging the Lord to reveal to them wherein they had sinned and brought this retribution. By command of the Cabinet this prayer was not answered.
At the end of three weeks of great peril the disease began to modify, and the child's health was presently restored. In broken voices, and with tears of happiness the parents poured out their praises and their gratitude to the All-Merciful, who in HisⒶemendation infinite kindness had spared their undeserving child.
These encomiums were registered, and June 18, 1861 was appointed for the beginning of the after-effects.
On that date the child, being then 8 years of age, caught a severe cold, which settled in her ear and produced exceeding great pain, and her life was threatened. In agony the parents prayed to the LordⒶalteration in the MS, beseeching HimⒶemendation to acquaint them with the sin which had brought upon them this heavy judgment.
By command of the Cabinet this prayer was not answered.
A tumor formed in the child's head, and became a running sore, and in time it burst, and rent the drum of the ear, causing semi-deafness. During four years the sufferer's misery was very great, the flux of fetid matter meantime continuing.
A cure was then effected by a foreign physician; and the child, now 12 years of age, entered upon a long season of rest.
These facts being reported to the Cabinet by the R. C., God the Father spokeⒶtextual note, saying—
F. Let her have peace until she is 37 years old, then let her punishment be resumed.
Accordingly, on the 18th of June, 1890,Ⓐalteration in the MS the said Fannie, being now mother of a family, was seizedⒶemendation with a desolating pain at the back of the diseased ear, and surgeons were summoned. They said an operation might kill her, but without it death must quickly come. Therefore they cut a hole in her skull, back of the ear, and some relief was afforded;Ⓐalteration in the MS [begin page 128] she gradually mended, during 8 weeks, when the pains returned.
The operation was re-performed, and a larger hole cut in the skull.
After four months the operation was again performed, the patient begging the surgeons to kill her and end her sufferings.
But she now grew steadily better, and in two years became strong and well, but with the side of her face drawn down by the operations, and her speech affected.
Thenceforth until now (June 1907) she has had intervals of comfort, with longer intervals of distressing pain between, and the matter was now taken up once more by the CabinetⒶalteration in the MS and its further needs discussed.
After careful examination of the Record, it appearing that the said Fannie had now suffered 45 years for the flagrant sin committed by her when she was 4 years old, it was decreed (only the H. G. dissenting) that she should not be punished further in her own person for her misconduct, but that she should now be forgiven and the punishment continued in the person of her eldest son, in the form of softening of the brain, and in his son, (when he should have one) in the form of idiotcy.
The manuscript is copy-text.