The Mysterious Stranger Manuscripts (Literature)
Page 44
The skeletons of Adam's predecessors outnumbered the later representatives of our race by myriads, and they rode upon undreamt-of monsters of the most extraordinary bulk and aspect. They marched ten thousand abreast, our walls receding and melting away and disappearing, to give them room, and the earth was packed with them as far as the eye could reach. Among them was the Missing Link. That is what 44 called him. He was an undersized skeleton, and he was perched on the back of a long-tailed and long-necked creature ninety feet long and thirty-three feet high; a creature that had been dead eight million years, 44 said.
For hours and hours the dead passed by in continental masses, and the bone-clacking was so deafening you could hardly hear yourself think. Then, all of a sudden 44 waved his hand and we stood in an empty and soundless world.
Chapter 34
AND You are going away, and will not come back any more.
"Yes," he said. 'We have comraded long together, and it has been pleasant-pleasant for both; but I must go now, and we shall not see each other any more."
"In this life, 44, but in another? We shall meet in another, surely, 44?"
Then all tranquilly and soberly he made the strange answer-
'There is no other."
A subtle influence blew upon my spirit from his, bringing with it a vague, dim, but blessed and hopeful feeling that the incredible words might be true-even must be true.
"Have you never suspected this, August?"
"No-how could I? But if it can only be true-"
"It is true."
A gush of thankfulness rose in my breast, but a doubt checked it before it could issue in words, and I said-
"But-but-we have seen that future life-seen it in its actuality, and so-"
"It was a vision-it had no existence."
I could hardly breathe for the great hope that was struggling in me-
"A vision?-a vi-"
"Life itself is only a vision, a dream."
It was electrical. By God I had had that very thought a thousand times in my musings!
"Nothing exists; all is a dream. God-man-the world,-the sun, the moon, the wilderness of stars: a dream, all a dream, they have no existence. Nothing exists save empty space-and you!"
,tIi„
"And you are not you-you have no body, no blood, no bones, you are but a thought. I myself have no existence, I am but a dream -your dream, creature of your imagination. In a moment you will have realized this, then you will banish me from your visions and I shall dissolve into the nothingness out of which you made me . . . . .
"I am perishing already-I am failing, I am passing away. In a little while you will be alone in shoreless space, to wander its limitless solitudes without friend or comrade forever-for you will remain a Thought, the only existent Thought, and by your nature inextinguishable, indestructible. But I your poor servant have revealed you to yourself and set you free. Dream other dreams, and better! ... .
"Strange! that you should not have suspected, years ago, centuries, ages, aeons ago! for you have existed, companionless, through all the eternities. Strange, indeed, that you should not have suspected that your universe and its contents were only dreams, visions, fictions! Strange, because they are so frankly and hysterically insane-like all dreams: a God who could make good children as easily as bad, yet preferred to make bad ones; who could have made every one of them happy, yet never made a single happy one; who made them prize their bitter life, yet stingily cut it short; who gave his angels eternal happiness unearned, yet required his other children to earn it; who gave his angels painless lives, yet cursed his other children with biting miseries and maladies of mind and body; who mouths justice, and invented hell-mouths mercy, and invented hell-mouths Golden Rules, and foregiveness multiplied by seventy times seven, and invented hell; who mouths morals to other people, and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then tries to shuffle the responsibility for man's acts upon man, instead of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness, invites this poor abused slave to worship him! .. . .
You perceive, now, that these things are all impossible, except in a dream. You perceive that they are pure and puerile insanities, the silly creations of an imagination that is not conscious of its freaksin a word, that they are a dream, and you the maker of it. The dream-marks are all present-you should have recognized them earlier . . . . .
"It is true, that which I have revealed to you: there is no God, no universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all a Dream, a grotesque and foolish dream. Nothing exists but You. And You are but a Thought-a vagrant Thought, a useless Thought, a homeless Thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities!"
He vanished, and left me appalled; for I knew, and realized, that all he had said was true.
THE END
THIS LIST of marginalia includes those of Albert Bigelow Paine and F. A. Duneka as well as Mark Twain, but nothing added later than that has been included. The notes have been printed as written; the color of ink is specified only when it indicates that the note was written later than the manuscript page. Superscript letters and numbers have been lowered to the line. The notes have been keyed into the text approximately where they appear, and the location of the note on the manuscript page has been indicated.
The Chronicle of Young Satan
MANUSCRIPT
TYPESCRIPT
Schoolhouse Hill
MANUSCRIPT
No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger
MANUSCRIPT
TYPESCRIPT
BECAUSE Mark Twain's notes bear directly on the texts and branch out in so many imaginative paths indirectly, the notes are translated into type as faithfully as possible.
They have been grouped on the basis of physical characteristics, comparisons with the manuscript, the matter treated within each set, internal cohesion, and topical references. When Mark Twain numbered his pages, his numbers have been printed. In addition, I have given a number to each manuscript leaf within a sequence.
No emendations have been made in Mark Twain's holograph notes. His ampersand has been retained, except in the case of the notebook entry. Single underlinings are presented as italics, double underlinings are rendered in small capital letters. Cancellations are included and marked by angle brackets, thus ( ); substitutions by vertical arrows, thus tj, though context usually makes substitutions clear without the arrows; added words or phrases, by carets, thus n A; additions at some later date in pencil or ink different from the original by boldface, thus Marie; and editorial explanation by square brackets, thus [ ]. Mark Twain's alternate readings are separated by slashes, thus Fischer/Stein. Doubtful readings are in square brackets, preceded by question marks.
St. Petersburg Fragment
Group A
These notes, on two sheets of Hotel Metropole stationery in black ink, were probably written just after Mark Twain's arrival in Vienna in 1897.' The notes on p. A-2 eventually found expression in "Three Thousand Years Among the Microbes" (WWD, pp. 433-553).
A-1
I
C. F. Always comparing himself with God.
People discussed: An Atheist now Catholic Why? Catholic now Atheist. Why?
Crazy Fields lost wife, then child; because wife nursed sm. pox patient who had no friend;
Tom Nash's n mother A took in a deserted child; it gave scarletfever death to 3 of her children & deaf[ness] to 2.
But don't look at merely the unhappy-consider the happy. Answer: Happiness is merely a preparation (a trap); their turn is coming; absolutely none escape.
The King? The young queen with her P Albert? Her turn will come. None escape.
A-2
CRAZY
VANITY
No support like it. Flattery-to think you are doing or suffering under the immediate notice of God & as a compliment to him & a glory-well, it will enable a man to be comfortable with the pains & rottenness
es of 50 vile diseases upon him.
The first thing to do is to feed this vanity-show, by microbes he is God's especial pet
He is to find the diseases & tortures & microbes, & old Ferg will explain their function in rushing the glory of God
The Chronicle of Young Satan
Group A
This first group is probably the earliest set of working notes for "The Chronicle of Young Satan." It was written in pencil on a sheet of heavy buff paper identical to the original pp. 1-96 of the manuscript, probably in November 1897 before the composition of the first chapter. Later notes were added in ink after the first chapter was written, but before the second was begun.' These ink additions have been rendered in boldface type. A-2, on the verso, includes notes and a canceled paragraph from Mary Baker Eddy's Science and Health.
A-1
I
A-2
Ch. V.
We'll sing the wine-cup & the lass
(Finite belief can never do justice to (t)Truth in any direction. It limits all things & would compress Mind, which is infinite, beneath a skull-bone. Such belief can neither apprehend nor worship the Infinite, & seeks to divide the one Spirit into many, to accommodate its finite sense of the divisibility of soul & substance.)
Group B
This group of notes is composed of five half-sheets of lightweight, cream-colored stock identical to MS pp. 86-376 and 387-392. B-1, written in ink, is a plan for continuing the story, and was apparently written before Mark Twain reserved ten pages from his first section of the story and began the second section of manuscript in May 1899.3 The other four pages are written in pencil. The note "Tell me my fortune for one day ahead-& Sep's for life. Did it." and the notes about Satan's glimpses into the past and future anticipate the episodes in the manuscript written after June 1900. Thus, the notes were probably written after Mark Twain laid the manuscript aside in October 1899, but before he resumed work in June 1900.
B-1
NOTES.
A Public inquire, Who is he?
Police want his details in their book. Refuses. Arrested. A
S. will come "every day."
Jealousy of WiP
S. after 3 days furnishes details of the 4 games, with notes to Wil, whose envy & jeal are further inflamed.
S. gets generally acquainted-also with Peter.
W. tattles about the extraordinary music, to array pub. opinion against S. Talks this to draw fury away from Marget & settle it upon S.
S. associates freely with the worst & the best-they are all trivialities to him.
Says animals are far below the angels, but far above men.
The days go on. People want to deed the village to the Virginbut Prince Konigsberg objects, being owner.
Young princess Adelheid falls in l[ove] with S. He is indifferent, of course.
Trial of Peter-he not present. Is begged by the boys to go & confer an immense happiness upon him to pay for his captivity & make him forget it. "I will-what shall it be?" "You choose it." He confers a happy insanity-imaginary kingship. Will not restore him-knows a happy insanity is best for all men. (Uses the figure of temporary kingship in a play as difference bet. man & angel, whose glory is permanent.
B-2
God has never kept the Sabbath. Doesn't even bank his fires Sat night, like the furnaces. [Written on separate MS page used by ABP to identify the working notes, and with the notation in his hand "Notes Mys. Stranger."]
B-3
I
On a trip to the Garden of Eden the eating of the apple is reproduced, & they notice that it is bitter, for Adam makes a wry face. He eats but half & throws it away. F. picks it up, furtively, & long afterward gets Satan drunk & he eats it-the idea being to give him the Moral Sense & Christianise him.
When sober he recognizes what has happened, & bitterly re proaches them. His great powers are gone, disease invades him, he has no way to earn his living; he begs it; will not accept help from them; becomes swiftly old & feeble; people no longer afraid of him; he is persecuted, but remains a heretic; so they torture him, convict him, damn him & burn him.
B-4
2
A Adam's Fall. A
Did the higher animals cat of the apple? No. But Adam's eating it brought suffering & death to them? Yes. Where is the justice in that?
Tell me my fortune for one day ahead-& Sep's for life. Did it.
Stoning the Jews. (passing remark)
Disease-germs. (Plague)
The make is a large part, & cannot be changed-from rabbit to tiger.
Seawonhake & Stella. Dana & chambermaid. The one's manliness was theory unsolidified by experience-& barren.
B-5
I
A Nobility. A
Let us make a trip into the future & see what they've got.
Civ. has advanced in many ways & you must grant that the nobility have assisted by notice & encouragement? No. They have never helped in any progress. Nor the priest. (religion). The church the aristocracy & the King stand for obstruction-they chock the wheels whenever they can. Progress moves in spite of them-then you lickspittle slaves get down on your knees & give them the praisejust as you do God for mercies never received.
Aristocracies are bred from villainies & whores.
Group C
These notes, in pencil, are on five consecutively numbered half-sheets of lightweight ochre stock, 71%6" by 41%6", with vertical chain-lines 1 %8" apart. Mark Twain was reviewing pp. 1-85 of the manuscript; the numbers in the notes refer to manuscript pages. He may have written these notes just before his resumption of work in the summer of 1900.' Additions in ink have been rendered in boldface type.
C-1
1
Date, 1702.
Eseldorf, the village.
Gretel Marx, the dairyman's widow.
Prince Konigsberg.
Young princess Adelheid his daugh, (22) 18.
prince Adelbert, 17 ignorant & insolent.
The Hussite Woman Adler
Father Adolf, the villain; belonged to the village Council & lorded it there, he is called "Town Bull" & "Hell's Delight" privately. Drunken & witty blackguard. Sings in a thundering bass "We'll sing the wine-cup & the lass." Swears "by God" & generally. profane words.
A No fear of the Devil-celebrated for it A
Church of Our Lady of the Dumb Creatures
They try to bum the Hussite Adler as a witch; Satan enters into her & the fires do him no harm. [circled in pencil]
Box-Gottfried Nan [added diagonally across the beginning of the entry above]
The village is solemnly deeded to the Virgin & she collects the taxes to a farthing. [circled in pencil]
Make an incident of Host & Suicide (11) Satan enters into the suicide & walks away
C-2
2
with the stake through him. [circled in pencil]
Make incident of plague-procession [halfcircled in pencil] (12.)
The Interdict [circled in pencil]
The Dev. is always assuaged Dec. 9 (12)
14. One pilgrim to Rome got 14,000 years' for climbing steps of St. John Lateran on his knees, & came back & sold out in detail, 500 years at a time, & got rich.
Father Peter, village priest.
Marget, his niece-18.
Bishop Aloysius. (old fool)
21. Peter out 2 yrs-Adolf has his flock
Wilhelm Meidling, lawyer & M's sweetheart
22. Solomon Isaacs the creditor
THE 3 BOYS:
' It is not clear whether Mark Twain meant "Rupert" and "Marie" which are interlined above "Baumann" and "son of judge" to be separate entries or alternative readings.
Seppi Wohlmever bright son of "Golden Stag" & I, Theordor Fischer, son of organist &c &c &c.
C-3
3
Castle Allerheiligenburg.
29 Satan appears. [circled in pencil]
44. In hell.
The boys go there with him, & find lost friends, who beg for help. [
circled in pencil]
45 [circled in pencil]
Satan on Human Race
46. Make him build a city & drown it with a bucket of water.
C-4
4
The village toughs pick a row with Satan, & make him fight. [halfcircled in pencil]
S. as horse, dog, cat, &c.
EMPEROR (or Gd. Duke?)
sends for him-has heard of him-is curious to see him. S. contemptuous-won't go. "Let him come here if he wants to see me." "Arrest him, guard!" They fail. Garrison sent for. It fails. Report to Vienna. Emperor comes-not in good humor-long journey. Satan talks plainly to him-laughs at his office & his Church & priests.
49. S's music.
G5
5
50. PHILIP TRAUM (Satan's public name.
Satan shall proclaim & fully set forth the doctrine of SELFISHNESS whether it be printable or not.
And the rest of it. Moral Sense &c
64
1100 ducats odd. A (1107) A He will use 200 & put the rest at interest.
72. Father Peter wears spec(k)s.
73. Marie Lueger, Marget's AinfluentialA pupil
Marget falls in love with S. He plays spinet & speaks of the "Music of the spheres"
76. Adolf's "ancient priory up the valley."
80. Papas & the rest think the boys are lying about the 1107 ducats.
83. Old Ursula, Peter's cook &c
Group D
These notes, on two half-sheets of Joynson Superfine paper, numbered consecutively, contain a reworking of Father Peter's trial and what seems to be an anticipation of the love-rivalry episode. They were probably written some time after Mark Twain's resumption of work in May 1899 but before June 1900. On the verso are canceled pp. 42-43 of an unidentified manuscript about publishing.