The Letters Of Mark Twain, Volume 1, 1853-1866
Author: Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) Genre: LiteratureThe Letters Of Mark Twain, Volume 1, 1853-1866
ow of nearly four year
rrespondent or his l
from this time hav
ographical
remained in Muscatin
and he presently retur
itor on the Evening N
a young man named B
ste for the English c
o Keokuk, had casuall
his office to that ci
d not seem worth whi
mmercial printing. The
th fair prospects. He
re the assistants, an
rom St. Louis on a vi
oard induced him to
ifficult to pay the f
ership, which perhaps
ice methods would seem
bout at this point tha
s written. The write
e Clemens having by t
r daughter,
and Mrs. Moffe
wa, June 1
eir work. I have nothing to do with the book-if I did I would have the two book hands do more work than they do, or else I would drop it. It is not a mere supposition that they do not work fast enough-I know it; for yesterday the two book hands were at work all day, Henry and Dick all the afternoon, on the advertisements, and they set up five pages and a half-and I set up two pages and a quarter of the same matter after supper, night before last, and I don't work fast on such thing
ur
A
this is my 3rd
er celebrated for his
he office tried his ne
ve been rather happy
there, and he was a f
ied, and when one day
account of the riches
mazon, he promptly dec
the great South-Ameri
omentous decision. It
mporarily absent-pr
nry C
August 5
nt to see with my own eyes, and form my own opinion. But you know what Orion is. When he gets a notion into his head, and more especially if it is an erroneous one, the Devil can't get it out again. So I know better than to combat his arguments long, but apparently yielded, inwardly determined to go clear through. Ma knows my determination, but even she counsels me to keep it from Orion. She says I can treat him as I did her when I started to St. Louis and went to New York-I can start to New York and go to South America! Although Orion talks grandly about furnishing me with fifty or a hundred dollars in six weeks, I could not depend upon him for ten dollars, so I ha
own to Quincy today to esco
te
Bro
A
the life of Mark Twain
s found their way t
he plan, probably fo
a fifty-dollar bill
ets of Keokuk, and aft
set out for the Amazo
ew Or
d and left for the Am
tement which we may
cou
nnati that winter (1
e been preserved from
okuk weekly, the Satur
lication, and are ra
chief feature being
ar no relation to this
ged, self-educated Sco
losophies, who left an
al l
ce more the journey to
mazon altogether in th
s boyhood and youth Sa
ame the long-deferre
mer, the Paul Jones, t
Clemens idling in th
he old ambition, and
he terms finally agree
ed dollars, one hundre
ed the course and was
full elsewhere, and
ters fail to co
rips up the Missouri R
, or "cub," over to o
ung Clemens, in love
riors, had a happy tim
own was illiterate an
r association pilot a
her cor
that the letters beg
hen young Clemens, no
nearly a year. Life
nd in this letter we
ich in those days S
ns and Wife, i
IS, March
art the men, and all would go well till the yawl would bring up on a heavy cake of ice, and then the men would drop like so many ten-pins, while Brown assumed the horizontal in the bottom of the boat. After an hour's hard work we got back, with ice half an inch thick on the oars. Sent back and warped up the other yawl, and then George (the first mentioned pilot,) and myself, took a double crew of fresh men and tried it again. This time we found the channel in less than half an hour, and landed on an island till the Pennsylvania came along and took us off. The next day was colder still. I was out in the yawl twice, and then we got through, but the infernal steamboat came near running over us. We went ten miles further, landed, and George and I cleared out again-found the channel first trial, but got caught in the gorge and drifted helplessly down the river. The Ocean Spray came along and started into the ice after us, but although she didn't succeed in her kind intention of taking us ab
uring wood piles, counting coal boxes, and other clerkly duties, which he performed satisfactorily. He
route, somehow or other. Remember the direction: "S.L.C., Steamer Pennsylvania Care Duval & Algeo, Wharfboat, Memphis." I c
you will remain so, if you never get richer. I seldom venture to thin
ow. We have had a rough time during the last 24 hours working through
e companies (their engines in mourning-firemen in uniform,) the various benevolent societies in uniform and mourning, and a multitude of citizens and s
-just-abo
bro
A
e gather from this le
her as a newspaper co
om Cincinnati, alrea
e, we get an intimati
ure of the "land"-tha
ern Tennessee which,
a heritage for his ch
ad "millions in it" f
, as Orion Clemens lon
of three ge
s letter is, of course
explorer. Any book o
in, and in those day
rning Henry, and hi
the story of a traged
-[Mark Twain: A Biogr
ched briefly here. Hen
brother the enmity of
the date of the foreg
nia, an unprovoked at
rother Sam to the res
hands of the future
n, decided to quit t
the river by another
on the main tragedy,
ed to it. Samuel Cleme
o days behind the Penn
ched the Greenville,
blown up just below M
and fifty
At six o'clock of a
ixty miles below Memp
ith fearful results. H
ill alive when his bro
few days later. Samu
himself responsible fo
t he was overwrought b
hing, yet the anguish
e
Onion
., Friday, Ju
before, that the great God might let this cup pass from me-that he would strike me to the earth, but spare my brother-that he would pour out the fulness of his just wrath upon my wicked head, but have mercy, mercy, mercy upon that unoffending boy. The horrors of three days have swept over me-they have blasted my youth and left me an old man before my time. Mollie, there are gra
lared him-turned him half way around and struck him in the face!-and him nearly six feet high-struck my little brother. I was wild from that moment. I left the boat to steer herself, and avenged the insult-and the Captain said I was right-that he would discharge Brown in N. Orleans if he could get another p
up with a southern sun and freezing in the wind till the Kate Frisbee came along. His wounds were not dressed till he got to Memphis, 15 hours after the explosion. He was senseless and motionless for 12 hours after that. But may God bless Memphis, the noblest city on the face of the earth. She has done her duty by these poor afflicted creatures-especially Henry, for he has had five-aye, ten, fifteen, twenty times the care and attention that any one else has had. Dr. Peyton, the best physician in Memphis (he is exactly like the portraits of Webster) sat by him for 36 hours. There are 32
, and pray for my p
ortunate
L. C
here two day
wain never really reco
h-that it was respons
e face of the world's
wore in
ver, and in September
ess than eighteen mont
w Orleans pilot, and
partner on an importan
makes the period of h
t this is merely an
fact, an apt pupil an
as
nly lifted to a posit
t of those days was a
regarded as princely
onth was large for a
became the head of t
n years older, but h
sent the younger broth
y counselor and finan
f his new position, a
entally, we notice a
onger writes "be
o Orion Clemens. Writt
r troubles and your plans out of the reach of meddlers, until the latter a
gnorant of-and she makes a little fuss about it when her suspicions are awakened; but that makes no difference-. I know that it is better that she be kept in the dark concerning all things of an unpleasant nature. She upbraids me occasionally for giving her only the bright side of my affa
ave lived 5 minutes in such a tornado. And I am also lucky in having a berth, while all the young pilots are idle. This is the luckiest circumstance that ever befell me. Not on account of the wages-for that is a secondary consideration-but from the fact that the City of Memphis is the largest boat in the trade and the hardest to pilot, and consequently I can get a reputation on her, which is a thing I never could accomplish on a tra
it me to "blow my horn," for I derive a living pleasure from these things, and I must confess that when I go to pay my dues, I rather like to let the d--d rascals get a glimpse of a
rience of change; perhaps both captain and pilot liked the pursuit of the ideal. In the light-hearted letter that follow
mith, in Jackson, Cape
Oct. 31 [pr
ou, because she did not know when I wo
age apply on board, or to-but-I have forgotten the agent's name-however, it makes no difference-and as I was saying, or had intended to say, Aunt Betsey, probably, if you are ready to come up, you had better take the "Ben Lewis," the best boat in the packet line. She will be at Cape Girardeau at noon on Saturday (day after tomorrow,) and will
its most malignant form. Hopes are entertained of my recovery, however. At the
f this world-but I haven't t
od
CLEM
his "attack" again, th
e not frequent enough
that he was associate
again with one of t
He was reveling in t
omance of it. No othe
t the age to enjoy ju
olden, overween
emens, in K
IS, Mch
triking likeness, your humour is much finer than his, and far better expressed. Tom Hood's wit, (in his letters) has a savor of labor about it which is very disagreeable. Your letter is good. That port
, also. What a man wants with religion in thes
u saw the first. We took the opera glass, and examined its beauties minutely, for the naked eye cannot discern the little wayside flowers, and soft shadows and patches of sunshine, and half-hidden bunches of grass and jets of water which form some of its most enchanting features. There is no slurring of perspective effect about it-the most distant-the minutest object in it has a marked and distinct personality-so that you may count the very leaves on the trees. When you first see the tame, ordinary-looking picture, your first impulse is to turn your back upon it, and say "Humbug"-but your third visit will find your brain gasping and
rmed by Miss Castle and myself. She was perfectly willing for me to dance until 12 o'clock at the imminent peril of my going to sleep on the after watch-but th
ssion which is commonly ignored in polite society, they were "hell-bent" on stealing some of the luscious-looking oranges from branches which overhung the fences, but I restrained them. They were not aware before that s
CL
ard of Miss Castle, w
ccompanied Jane Clemen
leans, but we may gues
e, Ella Creel. One wis
ed account of that lo
olden age that has va
s of Wa
tural youthful desire
, and we may find hi
commend them-in part
hurch's trees, but Go
e the place
at boat he was on at t
ixby again, on the Alo
t in port i
emens, in K
" N. ORLEANS,
Therefore I'll answer after we are under way again. Yesterday, I had many things to do, but Bixby and I got with the pilots of two other boats and went off dissipating on a ten dollar dinner at a French restaurant breathe it not
ed and acknowledge
h
L. C
haps, that when he bec
from his pledge in th
did not upset him,
these dissipations. H
upon which he was pr
orts it in his next l
. The clairvoyant of
day. Clemens had been
concluded to make the
o his brother is fragm
us of the pil
er to Orion Clemen
NS Februa
eet 2 and one quarter-would weigh 116-has black eyes and hair-is poli
each other. Then she asked my age. Then she put her hands before her eyes a moment, and commenced t
ngth holds out against the longest sieges, without flagging; still, the upper part of your lungs, the top of them is slightly affected-you must take care of yourself; you do not drink, but you use entirely too much tobacco; and you must stop it; mind, not moderate, but stop the use of it totally; then I can almost promise you 86 when you will surely die; otherwise look out for 28, 31, 34, 47, and 65; be careful-for you are not of a long-lived race, that is on your father's si
hich prove
en suspected by any save you and me, since you keep such matters to yourself-but you fought your way, and hid the long struggle und
u flatter w
hand to mouth-now you are in easy circumstances-for which you need give credi
C. Whi
You will continue upon the water for some time yet; you will not retire finally until ten years from now.... What is your brother's age? 35-and a lawyer? and in pursuit of an office? Well, he stands a better chance than the other two, and he may get it; he is too visionary-is always flying off on a new hobby; this wil
years hence, or th
on-let him drop that for the present, and devote himself to his business and
r pursuits will be literary-try the law-you will certainly succeed. I am done now. If you have any qu
ler's was just as good as going to the opera, and the cost scarcely a trifle more-ergo, I will disguise myself and go again,
re always fussing about change, so I sent them a hundred and twenty quar
A
t to credit Madame Ca
ead the letters of Sa
by those that have su
for him was hardly wa
his past performance
day only because they
me Mark Twain. The sq
d to the New Orleans
to his pilot associate
twenty-five years old
ion at that age. Mar
e had not even develo
basis of Madame Capre
ood guesser on several
as Clemens hims
em, however: the prox
ose at hand for secon
the Caprell letter was
n had made his last t
he nation was plunge
fli
of this immediate per
ting in a private comp
soldiering for two r
e had had enough of w
was more of a Union
ssionist, as he ha
y to be rather infirm
ct to change without
in a bor