Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 . Mark Twain, New York, to Joseph H. Twichell, 1868 Nov 28
Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library

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About the electronic version


Mark Twain, New York, to Joseph H. Twichell, 1868 Nov 28
Twain, Mark, 1835-1910

Creation of machine-readable version: Lisa Spiro, Electronic Text Center

Creation of digital images: Special Collections, University of Virginia Library

Conversion to TEI.2-conformant markup:

Text prepared by the 1997-98 Graduate Fellow Lisa Spiro for the University of Virginia Library Electronic Text Center. ca. 10 kilobytes

This version available from the University of Virginia Library.
Charlottesville, Va.

   Publicly accessible


http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/modeng/modengT.browse.html
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/railton/index2.html

Note: Images of the manuscript have been included.
Note: The bottom of the last page of the letter is torn, leaving a gap at the beginning of the last sentence. We are assuming that the word "I" appears in the gap.
Note: The electronic text contains a transcription of the letterhead and the preprinted segments of the dateline, as well as of Twain's manuscript which fills in the date and annotates the letter as "Private." In the list of the names at the head of the document, the third name, Wm. A. Ma(?)terstock, was difficult to decipher. We have transcribed it as "Mauterstock," with a fair degree of certainty.
Note: An unidentified hand has written "158" in the upper right corner of the first manuscript page of the letter. This annotation has not been transcribed.
About the print version


Mark Twain, New York, to Joseph H. Twichell, 1868 Nov 28

Mark Twain, pseud. Samuel Langhorne Clemens
Note: This letter is included in the Papers of Mark Twain Collection in the Clifton W. Barrett Library of American Literature.

   Prepared for the University of Virginia Library Electronic Text Center.

   The lineation of the manuscript has been preserved.


Published: 1868


English prose; non-fiction LCSH 24 bit color; 300 dpi
Revisions to the electronic version
June 1997 corrector Lisa Spiro, Electronic Text Center
Added TEI header and tags, transcribed text, and preserved original lineation.



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Slote, Woodman & Co.,
Blank Book Manufacturers,
Nos. 119 & 121 William Street,
P.O. Box 21.
Daniel Slote,
Webster Woodman,
Wm. A. Mauterstock,
Frank Bowman.

New York, Nov. 28 1868


Private.

My Dear J. H. :

   Sound the loud timbrel! --
& let yourself out to your to your [sic] most
prodigious capacity -- for I have fought
the good fight & lo! I have won! Re-
fused three times -- warned to quit, once
-- accepted at last! -- & beloved! --
Great Caesar's ghost, if there were a
church in town with a steeple high
enough to make it an object, I would
would go out & jump over it! And
I persecuted her parents for 48 hours
& at last they couldn't stand the siege
any longer & so they made a conditional
surrender: &mdash: which is to say, if she
[ [illeg.]] makes up her mind thoroughly
& eternally, & I prove that I have
done nothing criminal or particularly
shameful in the past, & establish a
good character in the future & settle
down, I may take the sun out of their



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domestic firmament, the angel out of
their fireside heaven. [Thunders of
applause.] She felt the first symp-
toms last Sunday -- my lecture, Mon-
day night, brought the disease to the
surface -- Tuesday & Tuesday night
she avoided me & would not do more
than be simply polite to me because
her parents said NO absolutely ( al-
most,) -- Wednesday they capitulated &
marched out with their side-arms
-- Wednesday night -- she said over
& over & over again that she loved
me but was sorry she did & hoped
it would yet pass away &mdash Thursday
I was telling her what [ a] splendid
magnificent fellows you & your
wife were, & when my enthusiasm
got the best of me & the tears sprang
to my eyes, she just jumped up &
said she was glad & proud [ [illeg.]] she
loved me! -- & Friday night I left
(to save her sacred name from the



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tongues of the gossips -- & the last
thing she said was: "Write im-
mediately & just as often as you
can!" Hurra! [Hurricanes
of applause.] There's the history of it.

   Oh no -- there isn't any per-
sistence about me -- certainly
not. But I am so happy I want
to scalp somebody.

   My fervent love to you both.
Write me, now &mdash address [ [illeg.]] 121
William street.

   I walk in the clouds again.
[unclear: ] bow my reverent head -- thy blessing!


Mark