12 January 1869 • Ottawa, Ill. (MS: CU-MARK, UCCL 00230)
grand river valley railroad company.
Jan 4th 186 9
In compliance with my pledge at Jackson I herewith enclose you an article from the Lansing Republican one from the Charlotte Argus by Prof. Ingham & another from the Charlotte Republican by some very good judge who styles himself “Brownie.”2explanatory note
How have you fared s since we dined on partridge? I do not forget that man meal Ⓐemendation nor the woebegone expression of our colored “brother” as you catechised him concerning the bill of fare in demand.
You may rest assured that your name will find an acceptable place upon our list another winter if we shall survive or escape the strokes of the that Ⓐemendation professional Reaper thus long.
Have you heard anything from Marshall a nice old town on the Mich Central about 30 miles west of Jackson. They are in need of a lecture to fill one of Anna Dickinson’s appointments that she has taken up for some cause. I have reccommended Ⓐemendation you to one of their committee & he promised to write you at Cleveland direct.3explanatory note They were anxious to hear how your efforts were received here & at Lansing. If you are to come there I might possibly manage to hear your gentle voice.
on back of enclosure as folded:
This is from a splendid fellow
—a friend I made in Charlotte.4explanatory note
This comment is a gloss on the fourth paragraph of the enclosure, the covering letter for which is lost. For several reasons, it seems likely that Clemens sent John Morris’s letter to Langdon on the day after he sent its enclosures to Mary Mason Fairbanks (see the previous letter). His signature is consistent with the way he signed himself to Langdon, and to his family in St. Louis, but to few others. (He did not sign himself “Sam” to Olivia until 13 February, and to Mrs. Fairbanks and to Twichell he was more often “Mark.”) And on 14 January he told Olivia: “I wrote Charlie from Ottawa—did he get it?” His anxiety is explained by a $150 deposit for 13 January in the cash account Langdon was maintaining for him (the bookkeeper presumably used the date of the check rather than the date of receipt) (“Samℓ. L. Clemens Esq In acc with C. J. Langdon,” statement dated “Elmira Aug 9th 1869,” CU-MARK). Clemens may have reached Ottawa late on the night of 12 January; he lectured there the following evening.
See the reviews that appeared in the Charlotte Republican click to open letter and the Lansing State Republican click to open letter (on 30 and 31 December 1868, respectively). The review by “Prof. Ingham,” who has not been further identified, has not been found.
Anna Elizabeth Dickinson (1842–1932), the fiery lecturer on abolition and women’s rights, was one of the stars of the lyceum circuit, earning as much as $200 per lecture, twice Clemens’s rate (see L2 , 337 n. 6). She was also a much-admired friend of the Langdons’. Doubtless Clemens would have expected them to be gratified by his selection to replace her in Marshall, where he performed on 25 January. For Dickinson’s opinion of Clemens and his of her, see 22 Jan 69 to OLL, n. 2click to open letter.
Morris has not been further identified.
MS, Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley (CU-MARK).
L3 , 29–30; MTMF , 66, brief quotations.
See Mark Twain Papers, pp. 585–86.