by Mark Twain
330.32 Mrs. ———] Perhaps Susy meant Susan Warner (Mrs. Charles Dudley Warner), whose name she left blank elsewhere in her biography (AutoMT1, 587 n. 346.9).
330.34 “Mind Cure” theory] In the late nineteenth century the terms “mind cure“ and “mental cure” were used in a general way for the belief that disease was the result of negative thoughts, and could therefore be cured by mental effort alone. Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health, published in 1875, was just one of the many books that promoted this idea. Clemens said in 1894 that Lilly Gillette Foote, Susy and Clara’s governess since about 1880, was (at least by the early 1890s) an “eloquent enthusiast upon mind-cure,” and it may have been she who encouraged the family to experiment with it (3 Aug 1894 to OLC, CU-MARK; Ober 2003, 210–18; for Foote see AutoMT1, 579–80 n. 326.13–21). Clemens remained fascinated with the healing power of the mind until the end of his life, despite his skepticism about Christian Science and other religious applications of the philosophy. He returns to the subject in the Autobiographical Dictation of 27 December 1906.
331.1–2 Miss Holden the young lady who is doctoring in the “Mind Cure” theory] Unidentified.
331.3 Mrs. George Warners] Lilly Gillette Warner (see AD, 8 Aug 1906, note at 166.15).
331.39–41 We have just had our Prince and Pauper pictures taken . . . the lady Jane scene was perfect] The photographs were taken by Horace L. Bundy of Hartford, exactly one year after the Clemens children first performed their version of the play (see AD, 8 Aug 1906). The group picture that Susy calls the “Interview,” with Margaret (Daisy) Warner as the pauper (Tom Canty) and herself as the prince (Edward VI), is published in the photo gathering of Volume 1 (AutoMT1, following page 204). The “lady Jane scene,” with Clara as Lady Jane Grey and Daisy Warner as the pauper in the prince’s clothing, can be found in this volume, the photograph section.
332.28–30 Fifteen years were to pass before . . . re-utter that daring opinion and print it] Howells commented in print on Clemens’s underlying earnestness and philosophical seriousness as early as 1875, in his review of Sketches, New and Old: “There is another quality in this book which we fancy we shall hereafter associate more and more with our familiar impressions of him, and that is a growing seriousness of meaning in the apparently unmoralized drolling, which must result from the humorist’s second thought of political and social absurdities” (Howells 1875, 749). His reviews of A Tramp Abroad, The Prince and the Pauper, and later works were even more emphatic about this serious vein (Howells 1880, 1881).
332.35–36 Two years after she passed out of my life I wrote a philosophy . . . three persons who have seen the manuscript] Between April and July 1898 Clemens wrote the first draft of What Is Man? in Vienna and Kaltenleutgeben, and continued to work on it through at least September 1905. In December 1906, when this text was dictated, What Is Man? had actually been printed and privately distributed; his reference to it as a “manuscript” that only “three persons” have seen reflects his use here of earlier material—his manuscript footnotes to Susy’s biography (SLC 1901–2a; see AD, 25 June 1906, note at 142.14).
333.3 Mr. Jesse Grant] Ulysses S. Grant’s youngest son (AutoMT1, 482 n. 76.1).
333.28 Miss Corey] Susan (Susy) Corey (b. 1865?), a graduate of the Stuttgart Conservatory in 1884, taught music and piano to Susy and Clara Clemens in Hartford in the mid-1880s and also participated in—sometimes as a teacher or coach—the German classes that Olivia and the girls attended. She was the daughter of Ella J. Corey (b. 1841?), an old friend of Olivia’s from Elmira (Buffalo Courier: “Musical Personals and Miscellany,” 22 Aug 1885, and “Social Topics,” 13 Sept 1885, unknown pages; N&J3, 631; OLC to SLC, 14 Nov 1884 and 16 Jan 1885, CtHMTH; 17 and 18 May 1869 to OLL, L3, 243 n. 4; Chemung Census 1870, 914:302A).
333.38 Mamma and papa Clara and Daisy have gone to New York to see the “Mikado.”] The four left for New York on Friday, 16 April 1886, and saw one of the final performances of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Mikado by the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company at the Fifth-Avenue Theatre (“Amusements,” New York Times, 16 Apr 1886, 7; N&J3, 234; 12 Apr 1886 to Howells, MH-H, in MTHL, 2:553).
334.11–13 at my side was Cable . . . seven grandchildren in stock, and a brand-new wife] On 24 November 1906 sixty-two-year-old George Washington Cable married his second wife, Eva Colegate Stevenson of Kentucky (d. 1923), “a woman of forty-eight, of charming social accomplishments, a beautiful musician, large in mind and heart, of a mirthful temper and ardent affections,” as he wrote to Andrew and Louise Carnegie (Turner 1956, 335–36; “Mrs. Eva Stevenson Cable,” New York Times, 8 June 1923, 19). Louise Stewart Bartlett Cable (b. 1846), his first wife and the mother of his children, had died in 1904, after thirty-five years of marriage (Rubin 1969, 249–50).
Autobiographical Dictation, 26 December 1906
334.17–18 a letter from England from a gentleman whose belief in phrenology is strong] The letter, dated 7 December 1906, was from Frederic Whyte (1867–1941), a former Reuters correspondent, editor at Cassell and Company (1889–1904), and prolific writer and translator (Archives Hub 2011). Whyte wrote, “I have induced the Editor of the Daily Graphic to open the columns of that journal to a discussion of the subject not merely by men of science but also by other writers and observers whose views will be of interest and value,” and “I am most anxious to have a few lines from you” (CU-MARK).
334.24–26 In London, 33 or 34 years ago . . . I went to Fowler under an assumed name] Lorenzo N. Fowler (1811–96) was an active phrenologist, lecturer, and author. He and his older brother, Orson Squire Fowler (1809–87), both graduated from Amherst College. In addition to the books they coauthored (see the note at 335.1–3), Lorenzo wrote Synopsis of Phrenology and Physiology (1844) and Marriage: Its History and Philosophy, with Directions for Happy Marriages (1846). After leaving the family’s New York publishing house in 1863, he moved to London, but continued to write for the firm’s Phrenological Journal. Throughout the 1870s he conducted examinations in his Fleet Street offices near Ludgate Circus (Stern 1969, 210; 1971, 188). No record of Clemens’s 1872–73 visits, other than this account, has been found.
335.1–3 Fowler and Wells stood at the head . . . publications had a wide currency] Lorenzo and Orson Fowler coauthored and published their first book, Phrenology Proved, Illustrated, and Applied, in 1836. Two years later they began the Phrenological Journal in Philadelphia, and in 1842 they founded a publishing firm in New York. In 1844 Orson continued the business with his brother-in-law, Samuel R. Wells (1820–75), establishing the firm of Fowler and Wells. Their dozens of books, written primarily by Orson, were hugely popular; among them were Physiology, Animal and Mental (1842), Self-Culture and Perfection of Character (1843), Love and Parentage Applied to the Improvement of Offspring (1844), Amativeness; or, Evils and Remedies of Excessive and Perverted Sexuality (1844), and A Home for All; or, The Gravel Wall, and Octagon Mode of Building (1849). By 1850 there were probably almost half a million of their “various productions . . . in the hands of the American public” (Stern 1971, 84). In 1863 the Fowler brothers withdrew from the firm, which was continued by other family members, under a series of names, until 1904.
335.27 the voice of the doubter was not heard in the land] A play on Song of Solomon 2:12, “The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.”
336.32–337.2 William T. Stead made a photograph . . . was totally destitute of the sense of humor] The character “estimates” were solicited by William T. Stead (1849– 1912), a radical journalist, political reformer, and spiritualist. In 1890 he had given A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court an enthusiastic review in his new journal, the Review of Reviews, which proved to be one of the few positive notices to appear in Britain. He corresponded with Clemens at that time, and after meeting him by chance on an Atlantic crossing in March 1894, he recruited Clemens’s assistance in the palm-reading experiment. He published prints of Clemens’s h
ands in the July 1894 issue of his psychical research quarterly, Borderland, and invited “experts” to read and respond. The readings of four palmists were published in October 1894; that issue of the magazine has not been found, but Clemens saw a copy and commented on them in a letter to Stead. He gave the palmists limited praise, noting that only one of them “claims that the sense of humor exists in my make-up; the other three are silent as to that” (30 Nov 1894 to Stead [2nd], ViU; Stead 1895; CY, 26–27; Baylen 1964).
337.3–4 six professional palmists of distinguished reputation here in New York City] The readings of three of these palmists are included in the Autobiographical Dictation of 28 January 1907.
337.11–12 The speech which I made before the copyright committees . . . in a Congressional document] Clemens’s speech of 7 December 1906 was published in the Government Printing Office’s Copyright Hearings, December 7 to 11, 1906 (SLC 1906i). See the Autobiographical Dictation of 18 December 1906.
337.23 “Sufficient unto the day.”] From the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6:34.
337.34 The Decalogue] The Ten Commandments.
338.41–42 I was to be called before the Copyright Committee of the House of Lords] See the Autobiographical Dictation of 24 November 1906, note at 290.17–19.
339.26 Lord Thwing] Henry, first Baron Thring. See the Autobiographical Dictation of 24 November 1906, note at 288.18.
339.39–41 it was recognized that books had perpetual copyright . . . in Queen Anne’s time] Edward Everett Hale, who spoke immediately before Clemens, said, “The whole business of copyright law came in in Queen Anne’s time by statute, when they supposed they were giving a benefit to authors” (Hale 1906, 114; for Hale see AD, 4 Feb 1907, note at 424.10–13). The Statute of Anne, effective from 1710 to 1842, was the first governmental regulation of copyright. Previously, copyrights had been enforced by the Stationers’ Company, a printers’ guild, and were vested in publishers, who purchased them in perpetuity from authors. The new law established the first term limit of copyright, granting it to authors for fourteen years, renewable for another fourteen.
340.17 Cape-to-Cairo Railway] Cecil Rhodes’s projected railroad and steamer line, stretching for about three thousand miles from Cape Town at the southern tip of Africa to Cairo in the north, was never completed. In 1906 about two-thirds of the route was in service (“From the Cape to Cairo,” New York Times, 20 Aug 1906, 3).
340.19 William Penn, who bought for forty dollars’ worth of stuff the giant area of Pennsylvania] William Penn (1644–1718) developed land in the American colonies granted to him by King Charles II, and purchased more from the indigenous people, in 1682–84. Clemens seems to be confusing him with Peter Minuit, who—according to legend—bought Manhattan in 1626 for about twenty-four dollars.
340.38–39 like that of 1714, under Queen Anne] Queen Anne died in 1714; Clemens alludes to the statute of 1710 (see the note at 339.39–41).
341.1 Lord Macaulay, who made a speech on copyright] See the Autobiographical Dictation of 24 November 1906, note at 289.33–35.
341.10–11 Mrs. Stowe’s two daughters . . . they had their living very much limited] Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) was phenomenally successful; about 310,000 copies had been printed by early 1863, and it continued to earn her regular payments of several thousand dollars a year. In 1893, however, the copyright expired. Her royalty payment, which in 1892 had been $6,694, fell to only $697 in 1895. In “Concerning Copyright. An Open Letter to the Register of Copyrights,” published in January 1905, Clemens noted, “The profits on ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ continue to-day; nobody but the publishers get them—Mrs. Stowe’s share ceased seven years before she died; her daughters receive nothing from the book. Years ago they found themselves no longer able to live in their modest home, and had to move out and find humbler quarters” (SLC 1905b, 3–4; Winship 2012; AutoMT1, 574 n. 310.37–38). Stowe’s twin daughters, Harriet Beecher Stowe (1836–1907) and Eliza Tyler Stowe (1836–1912), never married. They lived with (and cared for) their parents in a cottage neighboring the Clemenses’ house on Forest Street in Hartford. After the author’s death in 1896, they moved to Simsbury, Connecticut, to be near their brother Charles (Beecher Stowe Center 2011).
341.27 perpetual copyright upon the Old and New Testaments] See the Autobiographical Dictation of 24 November 1906, note at 291.4–8.
Autobiographical Dictation, 27 December 1906
342.12 Mind Cure] See the Autobiographical Dictation of 21 December 1906 and the note at 330.34.
345.28–36 Fourth of July dinner . . . Lord Wolseley] See the Autobiographical Dictation of 31 July 1906 (and the note at 157.13–17), in which Clemens first relates this anecdote about “Luck” and meeting Lord Wolseley at the 1900 Fourth of July dinner.
Autobiographical Dictation, 28 December 1906
346.22–27 “Whoop Says She.” . . . from one of Charles Reade’s books, I think] The original typescript of this dictation attributes this anecdote to “Charles Reid”—evidently the stenographer’s error for Charles Reade (1814–84), the popular British novelist. Clemens had been acquainted with Reade since 1872 and had read and liked many of his books, including The Cloister and the Hearth (1861); the “Whoop Says She” anecdote, however, is not by him. It derives from chapter 30 of Miss Van Kortland, published anonymously in 1870 by American novelist Frank Lee Benedict (1834–1910) (Benedict 1870; MTB, 1:462; Gribben 1980, 2:571–73).
347.30 Like Gargery Wot larks] “What larks” was Joe Gargery’s catchphrase in Great Expectations.
348.1–3 Andrew Lang’s affectionate hand-shake . . . painstaking care] This birthday tribute to Mark Twain by Andrew Lang (1844–1912), a Scottish novelist, poet, folklorist, and literary critic, was published in his column, “At the Sign of the Ship,” in the February 1886 issue of Longman’s Magazine (Andrew Lang 1886). If this was Susy’s source, she made minor alterations and omitted most of the following passage from the introductory paragraph: “When he gets among pictures and holy places perhaps we all feel that he is rather an awful being. But on a Mississippi boat, or in a bar-room, or editing (without sufficient technical information) an agricultural journal, or bestriding a Celebrated Mexican Plug, or out silver-mine hunting, or on the track of Indian Joe, Mark is all himself.”
348.7–8 For Booth Dinner. (This speech was given to Susy, and never used or printed] Clemens’s claim that this speech was “never used” conceals one of his rare failures as an after-dinner speaker. He had delivered this speech at a Players club dinner honoring Edwin Booth (1833–93), held at Delmonico’s Restaurant on the evening of 30 March 1889. The club hosted the event in gratitude for Booth’s having given it the deed to his Stanford White mansion at 16 Gramercy Park (New York Times: “The Players’ Clubhouse,” 1 Jan 1889, 5; “The Booth Supper,” 1 Apr 1889, 4). Brander Matthews, who was present, recalled: “he did not say a word about the distinguished guest; he actually took for his topic the long clam of New England—and what was worse, this inappropriate offering was read from manuscript!” “We hung our heads,” wrote another guest, “hoping that it would soon be over” (Matthews 1922, 273; Morgan 1910, 69–70). The speech does not appear in Susy’s biography, which ends with an entry written on 4 July 1886.
348.8 Long Clam] The long-necked clam, Mya arenaria.
349.28–29 I consider Depew the Long Clam of the great world of intellect and oratory] See the Autobiographical Dictation of 1 June 1906.
349.32 Pilla] The nickname of Mildred Howells (1872–1966), the Howellses’ youngest child, who in later life became a successful poet, watercolor artist, and illustrator (“Mildred Howells,” New York Times, 20 Apr 1966, 47).
349.35–350.3 in “Silas Lapham” he wrote a sentence about a Jew . . . decided to take out the sentence] Howells received three letters from Jewish readers while The Rise of Silas Lapham was being serialized in the Century Magazine from November 1884 to August 1885. One of these, by Cyrus L. Sulzberger, editor of the American Hebrew, urged him to re
move a passage in chapter 2 before the novel was published as a book. In it, Silas asserts that although “there aint any sense in it,” Jews “send down the price of property” when they move into a neighborhood. Sulzberger claimed the remark was “unworthy of the author,” could serve no literary purpose, and that “the sentiment is violently dragged in for no other ascertainable reason than to pander to a prejudice against which all educated and cultured Jews must battle.” Howells replied on 17 July 1885, “I supposed that I was writing in reprobation of the prejudice of which you justly complain, but my irony seems to have fallen short of the mark.” Despite his annoyance at being misunderstood, he did remove the passage—and a similar one later in the chapter—before the book was published (Arms and Gibson 1943, 119–22; Howells 1884, 22–23, 25; Howells 1980, 124–25).
350.5–22 Mr. Wood an equantance of his, new a rich Jew who read papa’s books . . . always well taken care of] Charles Erskine Scott Wood’s “equantance” was Morris W. Fechheimer (1844–86), who had remarked that Clemens never ridiculed or satirized Jews in his writings. Clemens wrote Wood on 22 January 1885, “I have never felt a disposition to satirize the Jews . . . . We do not satirize people whom we singularly respect—one would do it but indifferently well, and be ashamed of it when done,” and gave as his reasons essentially what Susy reports here (photocopy of TS in CU-MARK; “Morris W. Fechheimer,” The West Shore, Apr 1886, 115; for Wood see AD, 31 July 1906, note at 155.13–15). After seeing the letter, Fechheimer replied to Clemens on 5 February: