LETTERS, 1906, TO VARIOUS PERSONS.THE FAREWELL LECTURE.A SECONDSUMMER IN DUBLIN.BILLIARDS AND COPYRIGHT
MARK TWAIN at "Pier Seventy," as he called it, paused to look backward and to record some memoirs of his long, eventful past.The Autobiography dictations begun in Florence were resumed, and daily he traveled back, recalling long-ago scenes and all-but-forgotten places.He was not without reminders.Now and again there came some message that brought back the old days--the Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn days--or the romance of the river that he never recalled other than with tenderness and a tone of regret that it was gone.An invitation to the golden wedding of two ancient friends moved and saddened him, and his answer to it conveys about all the story of life.
To Mr.and Mrs.Gordon:
21 FIFTH AVENUE, Jan.24, '06.
DEAR GORDONS,--I have just received your golden-wedding "At Home" and am trying to adjust my focus to it and realize how much it means.It is inconceivable! With a ****** sweep it carries me back over a stretch of time measurable only in astronomical terms and geological periods.
It brings before me Mrs.Gordon, young, round-limbed, handsome; and with her the Youngbloods and their two babies, and Laura Wright, that unspoiled little maid, that fresh flower of the woods and the prairies.
Forty-eight years ago!
Life was a fairy-tale, then, it is a tragedy now.When I was 43 and John Hay 41 he said life was a tragedy after 40, and I disputed it.Three years ago he asked me to testify again: I counted my graves, and there was nothing for me to say.
I am old; I recognize it but I don't realize it.I wonder if a person ever really ceases to feel young--I mean, for a whole day at a time.My love to you both, and to all of us that are left.
MARK.
Though he used very little liquor of any kind, it was Mark Twain's custom to keep a bottle of Scotch whiskey with his collection of pipes and cigars and tobacco on a little table by his bed-side.
During restless nights he found a small quantity of it conducive to sleep.Andrew Carnegie, learning of this custom, made it his business to supply Scotch of his own special importation.The first case came, direct from Scotland.When it arrived Clemens sent this characteristic acknowledgment.
To Andrew Carnegie, in Scotland:
21 FIFTH AVE.Feb.10, '06.
DEAR ST.ANDREW,--The whisky arrived in due course from over the water;last week one bottle of it was extracted from the wood and inserted into me, on the instalment plan, with this result: that I believe it to be the best, smoothest whisky now on the planet.Thanks, oh, thanks: I have discarded Peruna.
Hoping that you three are well and happy and will be coming back before the winter sets in.
I am, Sincerely yours, MARK.
It must have been a small bottle to be consumed by him in a week, or perhaps he had able assistance.The next brief line refers to the manuscript of his article, "Saint Joan of Arc," presented to the museum at Rouen.
To Edward E.Clarke:
21 FIFTH AVE.Feb., 1906.
DEAR SIR,--I have found the original manuscript and with great pleasure Itransmit it herewith, also a printed copy.
It is a matter of great pride to me to have any word of mine concerning the world's supremest heroine honored by a place in that Museum.
Sincerely yours, S.L.CLEMENS.
The series of letters which follows was prepared by Mark Twain and General Fred Grant, mainly with a view of advertising the lecture that Clemens had agreed to deliver for the benefit of the Robert Fulton Monument Association.It was, in fact, to be Mark Twain's "farewell lecture," and the association had really proposed to pay him a thousand dollars for it.The exchange of these letters, however, was never made outside of Mark Twain's bed-room.Propped against the pillows, pen in hand, with General Grant beside him, they arranged the series with the idea of publication.Later the plan was discarded, so that this pleasant foolery appears here for the first, time.
PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL
(Correspondence)
Telegram Army Headquarters (date)
MARK TWAIN, New York,--Would you consider a proposal to talk at Carnegie Hall for the benefit of the Robert Fulton Monument Association, of which you are a Vice President, for a fee of a thousand dollars?
F.D.GRANT, President, Fulton Monument Association.
Telegraphic Answer:
MAJOR-GENERAL F.D.GRANT, Army Headquarters,--I shall be glad to do it, but I must stipulate that you keep the thousand dollars and add it to the Monument fund as my contribution.
CLEMENS.
Letters:
DEAR MR.CLEMENS,--You have the thanks of the Association, and the terms shall be as you say.But why give all of it? Why not reserve a portion --why should you do this work wholly without compensation?
Truly yours FRED.D.GRANT.
MAJOR GENERAL GRANT, Army Headquarters.
DEAR GENERAL,--Because I stopped talking for pay a good many years ago, and I could not resume the habit now without a great deal of personal discomfort.I love to hear myself talk, because I get so much instruction and moral upheaval out of it, but I lose the bulk of this joy when I charge for it.Let the terms stand.
General, if I have your approval, I wish to use this good occasion to retire permanently from the platform.
Truly yours S.L.CLEMENS.
DEAR MR.CLEMENS,--Certainly.But as an old friend, permit me to say, Don't do that.Why should you?--you are not old yet.
Yours truly, FRED D.GRANT.
DEAR GENERAL,--I mean the pay-platform; I shan't retire from the gratis-platform until after I am dead and courtesy requires me to keep still and not disturb the others.