Autobiography of Mark Twain

by Mark Twain

  There’s nobody for me to attack in this matter even with soft and gentle ridicule—and I shouldn’t ever think of using a grown up weapon in this kind of a nursery. Above all, I couldn’t venture to attack the clergymen whom you mention, for I have their habits and live in the same glass house which they are occupying. I am always reading immoral books on the sly, and then selfishly trying to prevent other people from having the same wicked good time. (“Mark Twain on ‘Huck Finn,’” New York Tribune, 22 Aug 1902, 9)

  Embarrassed by the controversy, the library reversed its decision and lifted its ban.

  30.3 Brander Matthews’s opinion of the book] Matthews, a leading critic and a friend of Clemens’s (see AutoMT1, 548 n. 255.24), praised Huckleberry Finn at great length in the Saturday Review for 31 January 1885, soon after first publication. He saw the book as much more than just a sequel to Tom Sawyer, noting that “the skill with which the character of Huck Finn is maintained is marvellous. We see everything through his eyes—and they are his eyes and not a pair of Mark Twain’s spectacles.” Matthews called Clemens “a literary artist of a very high order,” and especially appreciated “the sober self-restraint” with which he “lets Huck Finn set down, without any comment at all, scenes which would have afforded the ordinary writer matter for endless moral and political and sociological disquisition” (Matthews 1885, 153). And in a later essay, “The Penalty of Humor,” published in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine for May 1896, Matthews observed that “no one of our American novelists has ever shown more insight into the springs of human action or more dramatic force than is revealed in Huck Finn’s account of the Shepherdson-Grangerford feud, and of the attempt to lynch Colonel Sherburn” (Matthews 1896, 900).

  30.10–11 Seeing you the other night at the performance of “Peter Pan”] Peter Pan, based on the book by J. M. Barrie, opened a successful run at the Empire Theatre in New York on 6 November 1905. It starred the popular actress Maude Adams (1872–1953) in what became her most famous role. Clemens, who saw the play on 15 November, called it “consistently beautiful, sweet, clean, fascinating, satisfying, charming, and impossible from beginning to end” (“A Joyous Night with ‘Peter Pan,’” New York Times, 7 Nov 1905, 9; “Samuel L. Clemens Interviews the Famous Humorist, Mark Twain,” Seattle Star, 30 Nov 1905, 8, in Scharnhorst 2006, 528; Schmidt 2009; 16 Nov 1905 to Frohman, Lyon draft in CU-MARK).

  30.13–14 “warn’t no more quality than a mud cat.”] “He was well born, as the saying is, and that’s worth as much in a man as it is in a horse, so the widow Douglas said, and nobody ever denied that she was of the first aristocracy in our town; and pap he always said it too, though he warn’t no more quality than a mud-cat, himself “(HF 2003, 142).

  30.20 Asa Don Dickinson] After leaving the Brooklyn Public Library in 1906, Dickinson (1876–1960) worked as a librarian in New York, Kansas, Washington, and Pennsylvania before finishing his distinguished career at Brooklyn College. He also was a prolific author and anthologist. In 1935 he published “Huckleberry Finn Is Fifty Years Old—Yes; But Is He Respectable?” in which he gave a very brief account of how and when Huck Finn was written, as well as an account of his correspondence with Clemens (Asa Don Dickinson 1935).

  30.27–29 21 Fifth Ave. . . . Dear Sir] The source of this letter text is Lyon’s handwritten record copy of Clemens’s original manuscript. In his 1935 article Dickinson published a facsimile of the holograph letter that he actually received (Asa Don Dickinson 1935, 184; see also the note at 30.38–40).

  30.38–40 Huck’s character . . . is no better than those of Solomon, David, Satan] In the holograph letter that Clemens sent to Dickinson, this passage reads: ”Huck’s character . . . is no better than God’s (in the Ahab chapter & 97 others,) & those of Solomon, David, Satan” (Asa Don Dickinson 1935, 184). Clemens canceled “God’s (in the Ahab chapter & 97 others,)”—the only revision he made—on Lyon’s copy of this letter, which he inserted in the dictation.

  31.24–25 report had sprung up that I had written a letter some months before to the Brooklyn Public Library] The report had probably “sprung up” because Dickinson—as he later explained—read the letter aloud at a librarians’ meeting: “Needless to say, it fluttered the library dovecotes not a little, and all agreed that silence was golden. Mark Twain’s name had a publicity value in those days only comparable to [Franklin] Roosevelt’s in this. Public interest in his lightest word was unbounded and as uncontrollable as a prairie fire” (Asa Don Dickinson 1935, 183).

  31.34–37 Miss Lyon . . . sent them away mightily pleased with her, but empty] In her diary entry for 27 March Lyon noted that

  all day reporters have been flitting in & out trying to get Mr. Clemens to say something because Huck Finn & Tom Sawyer are reported as under ban in a Brooklyn library. Mr. Clemens hasn’t anything to say—he never does have—except from the depths of that glory of a bed & for private ears— Those reporters wanted to get hold of the letter he wrote to Mr. Asa Don Dickinson—“a most characteristic & most damnedest letter”—but it would be a damaging letter. (Lyon 1906, entry for 27 Mar)

  32.5–6 I wrote Mr. Dickinson . . . to be wise and wary] In a short letter of 26 March Clemens instructed Dickinson: “Be wise as a serpent & wary as a dove! The newspaper boys want that letter—don’t you let them get hold of it. They say you refuse to allow them to see it without my consent. Keep on refusing, & I’ll take care of this end of the line” (Lyon record copy, CU-MARK). In his article Dickinson quoted from this letter, which he said arrived with “a special delivery stamp” (Asa Don Dickinson 1935, 185). On 27 March, Clemens took care of his “end of the line” by releasing this statement about the Brooklyn library’s treatment of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer:

  “It is all a matter of indifference to me. As I understand it, the librarian has not placed the books upon a restricted list, but has put them in the list of books for adults so grown up people can have the opportunity of reading them. They were heretofore given out to children only. Now they can be read by everybody.

  “The letter I wrote was a personal one, and I would not care to have it made public. I don’t think my books are harmful to children, but I don’t care to go into a discussion about that at this time.” (“Topics in New York,” New York Sun, 28 Mar 1906, 5, reprinting the Baltimore Sun)

  32.39–40 where Choate and I made our public appeal in behalf of the blind] On 29 March 1906 Clemens and Joseph Choate spoke at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, at the inaugural meeting of the New York State Association for Promoting the Interests of the Blind (see AutoMT1, 649 n. 464.17–19).

  Autobiographical Dictation, 10 April 1906

  33.14–21 I find one from a little girl . . . the ocean] Clemens quotes a letter of 31 March 1906 (not from “twenty-one years ago”) from Elizabeth Owen Knight (1894–1981) (CU-MARK; Rasmussen 2013, letter 164). He probably read aloud to his stenographer the portion of the letter he wanted to quote, “but he substituted two different titles for the ones in the original: where the present text has “Huck Finn” and “Tom Sawyer,” the original letter reads “Tom Sawyer” and Tom Sawyer abroad.”

  33.28–29 Ambassador White’s autobiography, and I find the book charming, particularly where he talks about me] Andrew Dickson White (1832–1918) was a preeminent educator and diplomat. Among other achievements, he was a cofounder, with Ezra Cornell, of Cornell University, and served as its first president (1868–85). Later he served as the U.S. minister to Russia (1892–94) and ambassador to Germany (1897–1902). In his two-volume autobiography, published in 1905, he recalled:

  My first visit to the upper Mississippi left an indelible impression on my mind. No description of that vast volume of water slowly moving before my eyes ever seemed at all adequate until, years afterward, I read Mark Twain’s “Tom Sawyer,” and his account of the scene when his hero awakes on a raft floating down the great river struck a responsive chord in my heart. It was the first description that ever answered at all to the picture in my mind. (Andrew Dickson White 19
05, 2:379)

  White was evidently recalling chapter 19 of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, not Tom Sawyer. But it must have been this paragraph that charmed Clemens. White’s other references to him are perfunctory (Andrew Dickson White 1905, 2:82, 203, 231).

  34.3–9 Willard Fiske was a poor and untaught and friendless boy . . . Cornell University] Daniel Willard Fiske (1831–1904), a journalist, editor, and book collector, was a professor of Northern European languages and the head librarian at Cornell University from its inauguration in 1868 until his resignation in 1883. Clemens met him through their mutual friend, Charles Dudley Warner (see the note at 34.27–28; AutoMT1, 541–42 n. 239.23–24). Between 1845 and 1848 he had received schooling at Cazenovia Seminary, in Cazenovia, New York, and at Hamilton College, in Clinton, New York. According to his biographer, Fiske met Bayard Taylor (1825–78) in New York in 1850. In the summer of that year he went abroad to study Scandinavian languages and literature, and they apparently renewed their friendship in Europe sometime in the next few years (Horatio S. White 1925, 5, 10–16). Taylor, already a published poet and travel writer, later served as U.S. secretary of legation at St. Petersburg (1862–63) and U.S. minister to Germany (1878).

  34.10–12 Mr. McGraw . . . had a lovely young daughter] John McGraw (1815–77), a founding trustee and great benefactor of Cornell University, made his fortune in the lumber industry. Clemens may have confused him with Ezra Cornell, the university’s cofounder, who became wealthy through his partnership with Samuel Morse, inventor of the telegraph. Jennie McGraw (1840–81) was his only child.

  34.27–28 she invited Fiske and Charles Dudley Warner and his wife to make a trip up the Nile] Warner, Clemens’s Hartford neighbor and his collaborator on The Gilded Age, had been a fellow student and Psi Upsilon fraternity brother of Fiske’s at Hamilton College, becoming his lifelong friend. Although he and his wife, Susan, visited Egypt during an 1874–76 excursion, they did not accompany Jennie McGraw and Fiske when they traveled there in the winter of 1880–81, after their marriage (3 Oct 1874 to Howells, L6, 248 n. 3; Horatio S. White 1925, 63, and Fiske to Andrew D. White, 27 Nov 1880, 426–27).

  34.29 the old-fashioned dahabieh] A native sailing vessel, somewhat resembling a houseboat.

  34.35–37 she wanted to marry Fiske . . . he was not willing to accept the fortune] Before his marriage in Berlin on 14 July 1880, Fiske signed a document renouncing his right to his wife’s property (Morris Bishop 1962, 226). He later recalled:

  I declined, when I had the opportunity, by her own offer, to learn the contents of her will; I signed, without an instant’s hesitation, the prenuptial contract, refusing to take any advantage hereafter of the rights that I might derive from the Prussian marriage laws . . . and when I saw her sad death weekly drawing nearer, I persisted in my resolution to make no suggestion which might pecuniarily benefit myself. I would not have exchanged the chance of losing one additional week of her life for all the money she had. (Horatio S. White 1925, 104)

  34.42–35.2 Mrs. Fiske made a will . . . left the residue of the fortune to Cornell University] The estate of Jennie McGraw Fiske was estimated to be as much as $3 million. She bequeathed $300,000 to her husband, $550,000 to family members, and $290,000 to Cornell for the construction of three buildings; Cornell was also the sole residuary legatee (New York Times: “Trying to Annul a Will,” 7 Sept 1883, 5; “Cornell Loses a Legacy,” 20 May 1890, 9; Morris Bishop 1962, 227). Fiske assumed that the mansion under construction in Ithaca above Cayuga Lake—which the newlyweds had planned over the course of “many a pleasant Nile evening”—was bequeathed to him as well. In fact, the will “contained no provision for the completion of the house nor for its support” (Fiske to Boardman, 29 May 1890, Horatio S. White 1925, 105; “Two Millions Lost,” San Francisco Chronicle, 4 June 1890, 3; Morris Bishop 1962, 227).

  35.4–5 He could not live in the Ithaca house on any such income as that. He did not try to live in it] According to the historian of Cornell University, Fiske “realized that the income on $300,000 would not suffice to keep the house in proper style.” White “saw it as his dream home for an Art Gallery. Everyone supposed that Fiske would occupy it, as custodian for the University,” but that plan was never realized (Morris Bishop 1962, 227).

  35.15 Charley Warner, who drew the will] Warner earned a law degree in 1858, but he made his career in journalism and literature. He did not draw Jennie Fiske’s will, which was prepared by Douglass Boardman, the university’s chief counsel and a justice on the state supreme court (Andrew Dickson White 1905, 1:419–20; “Two Millions Lost,” San Francisco Chronicle, 4 June 1890, 3).

  35.16–25 the University might claim the little palace . . . Fiske resisted the University’s claim and the University brought suit] The executors asserted that Fiske was entitled to absolutely nothing beyond the $300,000 bequeathed him, claiming not only the house but its contents; according to some reports, these included Jennie Fiske’s personal effects. It was actually Fiske who initiated the lawsuit, in 1883, in an attempt to break the will. After numerous conflicts with Boardman and the trustees (especially Henry W. Sage), he finally became “furiously indignant” when he learned of the university’s deceit (see the note at 36.32–41; Fiske to Boardman, 29 May 1890, Horatio S. White 1925, 104–5). The case became a cause célèbre in the newspapers. Some of them represented Fiske as a fortune hunter carrying out a “diabolical and long-matured plot to win millions” (Morris Bishop 1962, 229–30). Others printed unsubstantiated (and no doubt exaggerated) reports of the university’s cruelty, like this one in the San Francisco Chronicle:

  If he wished his wife’s wedding-ring and his wife’s wedding-dress he would have to buy them at the highest figure they would command, and in a similar manner and at a like rate he paid for every souvenir and present she had in her possession. Professor Fiske made a proposition to give Cornell University at his death every dollar he was worth if they would let him live in his wife’s house, and he met with a scornful refusal. (“Two Millions Lost,” San Francisco Chronicle, 4 June 1890, 3)

  35.37 I furnished him the conditions in the same old way] Clemens’s scheme for getting a job, by first working without pay, is the subject of his Autobiographical Dictation of 27 March 1906 (see AutoMT1, 446–51).

  36.8 the young man of whom I have been talking] Charles P. Bacon (1859?–1916) was one of the Cornell students in whom Fiske took a special interest, and for several years he lived with Fiske and his mother on campus. He earned his degree in 1879. Clemens may have pointed him toward the Elmira Gazette, not the Hartford Courant (where Fiske had worked briefly). At any rate, it was the Gazette that Bacon edited during the journalistic phase of his career (New York Times: “Cornell Loses a Legacy,” 20 May 1890, 9; “Charles P. Bacon,” 20 June 1916, 11; “Two Millions Lost,” San Francisco Chronicle, 4 June 1890, 3).

  36.13–15 David B. Hill of Elmira . . . a very distinguished lawyer and a big politician] Hill (1843–1910) was the leader of the New York State Democratic party. He served briefly as mayor of Elmira (1882), then was state lieutenant governor (1882–85), governor (1885–91), and U.S. senator (1892–97).

  36.32–41 young Bacon had this happy idea . . . It is the university, now, that has no show] At the time of Mrs. Fiske’s bequest, White and Boardman were both aware of the restriction in the university’s charter. But Boardman argued that it was “intended simply to prevent the endowment of corporations beyond what the legislature might think best for the commonwealth,” and assured White that “if the attorney-general did not begin proceedings against us to prevent our taking the property, no one else could; and that he would certainly never trouble us” (Andrew Dickson White 1905, 1:419–21). Nevertheless, in 1882 the university amended its charter in an attempt to secure the bequest. Fiske “exploded” when he learned that

  the charter revision was designed (though ex post facto) to remove this disability, that according to state law no decedent having a husband could leave more than half her estate to charity, that
Judge Boardman . . . had sedulously—and improperly—refrained from informing Fiske of his rights, and that the trustees in the know had surrounded Fiske with a wall of concealment. (Morris Bishop 1962, 228)

  It was at this point, on the eve of his departure for Europe in 1883, that Fiske signed the papers initiating the suit.

  37.1–4 Bacon won the case . . . that first lawsuit of his was also his last one] In 1890, after seven years of litigation, the case was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, which awarded the entire estate to Fiske; his attorney received a fee of $180,000. Bacon remained close friends with David B. Hill, serving as his confidential adviser during Hill’s term as governor of New York, and (despite Clemens’s assertion that it was his first and only case) continued to practice law for many years (Morris Bishop 1962, 231–32; “Charles P. Bacon,” New York Times, 20 June 1916, 11). Ultimately Cornell was not greatly injured by the loss of the lawsuit. Henry W. Sage, at one time John McGraw’s partner in the lumber industry, donated over $200,000 for a new library building, together with an endowment of $300,000. And Fiske bequeathed his valuable book collection and nearly $600,000 (Horatio S. White 1925, 96–97, 237–38; “Mr. Sage’s Gift to Cornell,” New York Times, 24 May 1889, 1; for Sage see AutoMT1, 599 n. 377.14).

  Autobiographical Dictation, 11 April 1906

  37.19–20 I think it likely that in . . . “Roughing It” I have mentioned Frank Fuller] Roughing It makes no mention of Fuller. See the note at 37.27.

  37.27 the Secretary of the Territory, Frank Fuller—called Governor, of course] Fuller (1827–1915) had not yet arrived in Utah Territory in the summer of 1861 when the Clemens brothers passed through on their way to Carson City. Alfred Cumming, the current governor, was a secessionist, and had returned to his native Georgia the previous May, knowing that President Lincoln would not reappoint him. He was replaced by Territorial Secretary Francis H. Wootton, who also soon resigned. Fuller, appointed by Lincoln to replace Wootton, became the acting governor upon his arrival in Salt Lake City on 10 September 1861 and held the position for three months, until the newly appointed governor arrived in December (New York Times: “Affairs in Utah,” 17 June 1861, 5; 8 July 1861, 2). Clemens and Fuller actually met in Virginia City in 1862; they developed their acquaintance in San Francisco in 1863 or 1864 and then in New York in 1867, where Fuller acted as Clemens’s lecture manager. They remained lifelong friends. After his time in Utah, Fuller, who had studied medicine and dentistry, had a varied career as a newspaperman, dentist, broker of mining stocks, railroad official, insurance agent, entrepreneur, and indefatigable speculator. In 1906 he was still proprietor of the Health Food Company, which he had established in New York in 1874, and reportedly a millionaire (L2: link note preceding 15 Jan 1867 to Hingston, 5; 23 Apr 1867 to Stoddard, 33–34 n. 7; RI 1993, notes on 591–92; Schmidt 2002; “Frank Fuller Dead,” New York Times, 20 Feb 1915, 5).