Autobiography of Mark Twain

by Mark Twain

  10.30–32 It appears that four of my ancient letters were sold . . . twenty-nine dollars respectively] Clemens’s source was probably the New York Tribune of 3 April, which published a fuller excerpt of his letter to Nast than did the Times. The Tribune reported:

  A friend of the Nast family, whose name was not given, paid $43 for a letter of the humorist to Mr. Nast, proposing a joint lecture tour. . . . Hitherto Mark Twain’s autograph letters have not brought more than $5 or $6. The same man paid $28 and $27 respectively for two other Twain letters. A fourth was sold to another buyer for $29. (“For Twain Letter, $43,” 7)

  10.37–38 a letter of General Grant’s sold at something short of eighteen dollars] “The highest price paid for any of several autograph letters of General Grant was $18” (“For Twain Letter, $43,” New York Tribune, 3 Apr 1906, 7).

  11.2 Dr. J. Ross Clemens] James Ross Clemens (1866–1948), one of Clemens’s second cousins, was a native of St. Louis. He received his medical education at Cambridge University and the Royal College of Surgeons in London. Beginning in 1902 he practiced in St. Louis and was a professor of children’s diseases at St. Louis University. From 1916 until 1918 he was dean of the Creighton University Medical School in Omaha. He also was a poet and playwright (“Dr. Clemens, Cousin of Mark Twain, Dies,” St. Louis Post Dispatch, 19 July 1948, 3B).

  11.12–15 “Say the report is greatly exaggerated.” . . . it keeps turning up, now and then, in the newspapers] In a notebook entry for 2 June 1897 Clemens reported that his reply to the inquiry about his possible death was “in substance this: ‘James Ross Clemens, a cousin, was seriously ill here two or three weeks ago, but is well now. The report of my illness grew out of his illness; the report of my death was an exaggeration. I have not been ill’” (Notebook 41, TS p. 28, CU-MARK). The remark was soon reported in newspapers around the world. Clemens inserted the word “greatly” when he revised the dictation for publication in the North American Review (NAR 2), and this is the best-known version of the quotation.

  Autobiographical Dictation, 4 April 1906

  11.28 MRS. MORRIS CASE IN SENATE] Clemens dictated the following instruction to his stenographer, who included it in her typescript of the dictation: “Under to-day’s date, Miss Hobby, please paste in this clipping from the morning paper.” Hobby attached a clipping of the article on Mrs. Morris’s case from the New York Times of 4 April.

  12.6–14 Mr. Barnes’s successor as Assistant Secretary . . . These four men are prizefighters] M. C. Latta was chosen to be Roosevelt’s new assistant secretary. James J. Corbett (1866–1933) and James J. Jeffries (1875–1953) were former heavyweight champions; Robert P. Fitzsimmons (1862–1917) was a former middleweight, light-heavyweight, and heavyweight champion; Augustus Ruhlin (1872–1912) was a journeyman heavyweight, never a champion (New York Times: “Latta Gets Barnes’s Job,” 26 June 1906, 7; “Ruhlin Dies Suddenly,” 14 Feb 1912, 9; “Robt. Fitzsimmons Dies of Pneumonia,” 22 Oct 1917, 15).

  12.18–19 differs from all other autobiographies, except Benvenuto’s, perhaps] Cellini’s was one of the autobiographical works that Clemens most admired (see AutoMT1, 5, 600 n. 378.32–34).

  12.36 Here is some more about the Nast sale] The article ’30 Cents for McCurdy Poem,” from the New York Times of 4 April, continues the discussion that Clemens began in the Autobiographical Dictation of 3 April.

  13.1–2 Theodore Roosevelt as Police Commissioner, Colonel of the Rough Riders, Governor, and President] Roosevelt was president of the New York Board of Police Commissioners in 1895–97. In 1898 he became colonel of the Rough Riders, the volunteer cavalry regiment he helped organize to fight in the Spanish-American War. He served as governor of New York in 1899–1900 and, as vice-president of the United States, became the twenty-sixth president on 14 September 1901, when William McKinley died eight days after being shot by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist.

  13.5 Richard A. McCurdy’s autograph letter] McCurdy (1835–1916), president of the Mutual Reserve Life Insurance Company from 1885 to 1905, was one of the insurance executives whose illegal activities were uncovered by the New York State legislative investigation of 1905–6. See the Autobiographical Dictation of 10 January 1906 (AutoMT1, 257, 549 n. 257.6–9).

  13.8 J. H. Manning, a son of the late Daniel Manning] Daniel Manning (1831–87) was a journalist and newspaper owner, prominent Democratic politician, and President Cleveland’s first secretary of the treasury (1885–87). His son, James H. Manning (1854–1925), was a reporter and then the managing editor for the Albany (N.Y.) Argus, his father’s paper, and was also an Albany banker and business executive who served two terms as that city’s mayor (1890–94) (Reynolds 1911, 1:213–14; “Died,” New York Times, 7 July 1925, 19).

  13.11 I will be married on the 30th of June coming] General Philip H. Sheridan (see AutoMT1, 472 n. 67.5) was married in Chicago on 3 June 1875 to Irene Rucker, the twenty-two-year-old daughter of General D. H. Rucker, an assistant quartermaster general and a member of Sheridan’s staff (“Gen. Sheridan’s Wedding,” New York Times, 4 June 1875, 1).

  13.16 P.S. and M.I.] Postscript and, presumably in jest, military intelligence.

  13.20–21 the dress of Laura Keene, worn on the night of Lincoln’s assassination . . . the stain was made by his blood] Laura Keene (1826?–73) was a well-known actress and a pioneer female theater manager and producer. She was appearing in the popular comedy Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre in Washington on 14 April 1865, when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated there.

  13.22–24 Gen. W. T. Sherman’s letter . . . Sumner, Greeley, Walt Whitman] General William Tecumseh Sherman (see AutoMT1, 473 n. 68.10); Charles Sumner (1811–74), senator from Massachusetts (1851–74), an organizer of the Republican party, and a fierce opponent of slavery and proponent of equal rights for all; Horace Greeley (see AutoMT1, 506 n. 145.1); and poet Walt Whitman (1819–92).

  13.26 William M. Tweed and his companion, Hunt, under arrest] From the mid-1850s until his arrest in December 1871, William M. (“Boss”) Tweed (1823–78) and his Democratic party Tammany Hall cohorts defrauded New York City of as much as $200 million through systematic graft and election fraud. Thomas Nast’s scathing cartoons in Harper’s Weekly were instrumental in bringing down the Tweed Ring. Tweed escaped from prison in December 1875 and fled, with one William Hunt, to Cuba and then to Spain. Identified by Spanish officials partly through a Nast cartoon in Harper’s Weekly, Tweed was arrested, along with Hunt, in September 1876. He died in prison (Hershkowitz 1977, 280–99; see also AD, 9 Jan 1907, note at 362.13).

  13.40–41 this morning’s stirring news from Russia . . . clipping is about me] Clemens refers to a report of 4 April in the New York Times about the possibility of military conflict between Russia and China over the Russian presence in Manchuria (“Chinese-Russian Friction,” New York Times, 4 Apr 1906, 4). The article about him that is inserted instead is from the same issue.

  14.1 MARK TWAIN TALKS TO COLLEGE WOMEN] The article about Clemens’s talk at the Women’s University Club appeared in the New York Times on 4 April. The members of this social club were college graduates, and many of them were teachers (“The City’s Women’s Clubs,” New York Times, 25 Nov 1894, 18).

  14.41 On the 19th of this month, at Carnegie Hall] On 19 April 1906 Clemens spoke at Carnegie Hall on behalf of the Robert Fulton Memorial Association; see the Autobiographical Dictation of 20 March 1906 (AutoMT1, 425–28, 630–31 nn. 426.13–15, 426.20–21).

  15.1 a yarn about a walking tour with the Rev. Joseph Twichell] The Reverend Joseph H. Twichell was pastor of the Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford and Clemens’s lifelong friend (AutoMT1, 479 n. 73.13). For the yarn see the note at 16.28–29.

  15.3–4 MARK TWAIN ADORED . . . AT WOMEN’S UNIVERSITY CLUB] This second article about Clemens’s club appearance was from the New York World of 4 April.

  15.41 Miss Maida Castelhun, the President] Maida Castelhun (1872–1940) graduated from the University of California in 1894. She was a French and Norw
egian translator as well as a novelist, poet, and biographer (“Miss Castelhun Becomes a Bride,” San Francisco Chronicle, 25 May 1906, 1).

  16.18 the Blue Jay story] One of Clemens’s most frequent recitations, from chapters 2 and 3 of A Tramp Abroad (1880).

  16.28–29 the story of Twichell and himself . . . hunted for a lost sock] The story is from chapter 13 of A Tramp Abroad, where Twichell figures as “Harris.”

  16.35–37 Susy’s Biography shows . . . old goat who was President there] For the excerpts from Susy Clemens’s biography of Clemens that describe their 1 May 1885 visit to Vassar and the poor treatment they received from Samuel L. Caldwell, the school’s president, see the Autobiographical Dictation of 7 March 1906 (AutoMT1, 379, 394–95, 607 nn. 394.41, 395.12, 395.29–42). Clemens lectured at Smith College several years later, on 26 November 1888 and again on 21 January 1889 (N&J3, 435–36).

  16.41–42 The occasion was a benefit arranged by Vassar . . . to aid poor students] The Vassar Students’ Aid Society raised almost a thousand dollars with an afternoon event at the Hudson Theatre on 2 April 1906, which included dramatic and musical entertainment as well as a candy sale. The New York Times reported that “Mark Twain was the centre of one admiring group in a lower stage box” (“Three New Plays at Vassar Aid Benefit,” 3 Apr 1906, 9).

  17.21–22 I delivered a moral sermon to the Barnard girls . . . a few weeks ago] For the 7 March 1906 Barnard College lecture, see the Autobiographical Dictation of 8 March 1906 (AutoMT1, 396, 607–8 nn. 396.13–19, 396.22–25).

  18.10 There was no Mrs. Faulkner among the Quaker City’s people] Clemens’s memory was correct. For a complete list of passengers, see “Passengers and Crew of the Quaker City,” L2, 385–87.

  Autobiographical Dictation, 5 April 1906

  18.34–36 Miss Mary Lawton . . . will be a great name some day] It is not known when Clemens met actress Mary Lawton (1870?–1945), but by late 1905 he had begun to take an interest in her career: on 16 November he wrote to Charles Frohman, “Thank you very much for the appointment—I shall instruct Miss Lawton to arrive there on time” (Lyon draft in CU-MARK; see the note at 18.36–19.3). Within a few months Lawton was a regular guest at the Clemens home, and she became a special friend of Clara Clemens’s. She began to appear regularly on the stage in 1906, and remained a success at least through the early 1920s, enacting both leading and supporting roles. She subsequently achieved equal, if not greater, notice as the author of a series of “as told to” memoirs, including A Lifetime with Mark Twain: The Memories of Katy Leary, for Thirty Years His Faithful and Devoted Servant (Lawton 1925, xii–xiii; Lyon 1906, entries for 3, 11, and 24 Mar).

  18.36–19.3 Fay Davis . . . asked Charles Frohman if he would let Miss Lawton try that part] Davis (1872–1945), a comic and dramatic actress successful both in the United States and in London, began appearing on 12 February 1906 in The Duel, a play by Henri Lavedan, at the Hudson Theatre, one of the New York theaters managed by brother producers Daniel (1851–1940) and Charles (1860–1915) Frohman. Clemens’s effort on behalf of Mary Lawton was partly successful (no text of his cablegram to Charles has been found). The Duel closed in New York on 14 April, but late that month or early the next, in the road company, Mary Lawton was given the part formerly played by Fay Davis. Despite excellent reviews she was quickly fired on the orders of Otis Skinner, the lead actor and head of the company. Clemens protested the firing in a vitriolic letter of 7 May to Skinner (possibly not sent), addressing him as “Dear little Otis” and calling him a “homunculus,” not a man. He suggested that Skinner was jealous of the “outbursts of applause” Lawton had received, and condemned him for the contract imposed on her:

  Miss Lawton was to play a week for you on trial, & provide stage-clothes at her own expense. She saved you fifty dollars a day; her work was entirely satisfactory to your audiences; it won the praises of your troupe; it won the praises of your manager; it won your own praises, freely & frankly expressed. The trial-week completed, you hadn’t the courage to dismiss her yourself, but put that humiliating office upon your manager. . . . You did not even offer to pay for the stage-clothes you had obliged her to buy. You knew, from the beginning—confess it!—that you intended to use her to save expenses, & then dismiss her. In other words, that you meant to rob her. Would you mind telling me what it feels like to be an Otis Skinner? (Photocopy in CU-MARK)

  No answer from Skinner has been found (New York Times: “Amusements,” 4 Feb 1906, X5, and 14 Apr 1906, 18; “Fay Davis Is Dead; Noted Actress, 72,” 27 Feb 1945, 19; Hayman to SLC, 23 Apr 1906, CU-MARK).

  19.4–7 Ellen Terry . . . will retire in due form at a great banquet in London] Terry (1847–1928), who made her debut on 28 April 1856, achieved international renown for her acting in Shakespeare’s plays as well as in works by the leading playwrights of her day. On 11 April 1906 the New York Times reported that “a movement was started recently in London for the celebration of Miss Ellen Terry’s fiftieth anniversary on the stage, when the aim is to give a jubilee banquet in her honor on April 28, and also to raise a fund that will enable her to spend the remainder of her days in comfort.” Mark Twain, the paper noted, was among those who “have declared themselves in full sympathy with the cause” (“Ellen Terry’s Jubilee,” 11). Her jubilee celebrations began at His Majesty’s Theatre in London on the evening of 27 April 1906, following her performance in The Merry Wives of Windsor, and continued on her actual anniversary the next day (New York Times: “Ellen Terry’s Jubilee,” 28 Apr 1906, 7; “Ellen Terry’s Anniversary,” 29 Apr 1906, X8; “Ellen Terry Dies in Her 81st Year; Puts Ban on Grief,” 22 July 1928, 1).

  19.14 Age has not withered, nor custom staled] Compare Antony and Cleopatra, 2.2.

  19.17–18 Sir Henry Irving . . . thirty-four years ago in London] Irving (1838–1905), the internationally famous Shakespearean actor, was Ellen Terry’s stage partner from 1878 to 1902. Clemens met Irving, and evidently Terry, in London in the fall of 1872, after seeing Irving perform at the Lyceum Theatre (6 July 1873 to Fairbanks, L5, 405 n. 6).

  19.30–32 So I wrote Hammond Trumbull . . . the learned man of America at that time] See AutoMT1, 272, 559–60 n. 272.31–32. Clemens discusses Trumbull further in the Autobiographical Dictation of 30 January 1907.

  19.34–39 then his answer came . . . was a Chinese one] The exchange that Clemens recalls occurred in July 1874 while he was writing Colonel Sellers, his popular play based on The Gilded Age. During the first week of that month, while on a business trip to Hartford from his family’s summer residence at Quarry Farm near Elmira, he called on Trumbull to consult about his “splendid inspiration” for a novel ending to Colonel Sellers. He then followed up with a telegram to Trumbull (not known to survive), abandoning the idea. But on 22 July Trumbull wrote, complying with his request. The letter barely filled two pages, but did report four possible precedents for Clemens’s idea, including a Chinese version and one borrowed “from the Sanskrit.” On Trumbull’s envelope, Clemens noted: “J. Hammond Trumbull, the Philologist. About the proposed ‘dream’ feature of my play of ‘Col. Sellers.’” Nothing further has been learned about this “‘dream’ feature” (CU-MARK; link note following 28 June 1874 to Dickinson, L6, 170–71).

  20.6–8 new State of Nevada . . . Nye was certain to get a Senatorship] See the Autobiographical Dictation of 2 April 1906, note at 6.8–9.

  20.8–22 Orion was so sure to get the Secretaryship . . . He had not received a vote] Orion was not the only candidate nominated, nor did he avoid attending the Republican convention or fail to receive any votes. He was one of four candidates and came in a distant second in the voting on 11 October 1864. He may, however, have refused to do the saloon campaigning that was commonplace. On 7 November 1865 he was elected to the Nevada State Assembly, but served for only a few months (see Fanning 2003, 98–101, 104, 110–11). For details of Orion’s religious vagaries, including his excommunication from the Presbyterian Church in 1879 and his attempt to publish a refutation of the Bible in 1
880, see 9 Feb 1879 to Howells, Letters 1876–1880; N&J2, 209 n. 95; and Fanning 2003, 168, 174–78, 196–97.

  20.23–24 His rich income ceased . . . He put up his sign as attorney at law] Orion was admitted to the Nevada bar on 14 March 1865 (Fanning 2003, 100; see also AD, 2 Apr 1906, note at 5.23–24).

  20.31 I had taken up my residence in San Francisco] Clemens had “taken up residence” in San Francisco after leaving Virginia City, Nevada, at the end of May 1864 (link note following 28 May 1864 to Cutler, L1, 302).

  20.32–35 Mr. Camp . . . told me to buy some shares in the “Hale and Norcross.” ] Herman Camp, whom Clemens had first known in Virginia City and San Francisco in the early 1860s, was one of the first locators on the Comstock Lode and an active speculator in Nevada mining stock. The Hale and Norcross Silver Mining Company operated a claim on the southern portion of the lode (13 Dec 1865 to OC and MEC, L1, 327 n. 1).

  20.35–21.5 I bought fifty shares . . . when at last I got out I was very badly crippled] Clemens did own stock in the Hale and Norcross mine (almost certainly never as much as fifty shares), but his purchase and sales prices have not been documented. Although several of his surviving letters to Orion written in 1864–65 include mentions of the stock, they contain no requests for money. Clemens probably bought his shares when he visited San Francisco in May and June 1863, during which time their value rose precipitously from $915 to over $2,000. Certainly by May 1864, when he moved to San Francisco from Virginia City, he had some holdings. Over the next nine months the share price fluctuated dramatically, ranging from a low of $200 in August up to $1,000 in November and then back to under $300 by February 1865. Clemens evidently sold some of his shares before visiting Jackass Hill in the winter of 1864–65, but still owned two of them in the spring of 1865, when he was listed in an assessment delinquency notice. In 1868 he recalled, “Hale & Norcross, whereof I sold six feet at three hundred dollars a foot, is worth two thousand, now” (SLC 1868a; L1: 26 May 1864 to OC, 299, 300–301 n. 4; 13 and 14 Aug 1864 to OC and MEC, 309 n. 5; 11 Nov 1864 to OC, 319 n. 5; “San Francisco Stock and Exchange Board,” San Francisco Evening Bulletin, issues of Jan–Feb 1865).