10 November 1874 • Hartford, Conn. (Transcripts: Wall, 23, and CU-MARK, UCCL 01147)
Bless you, don’t worry about those ancient poems—because they will “keep.” ⒶemendationMy mother is the only antiquary in the tribe, Ⓐemendationso you may expect her to hurry you up, but I am always serene Ⓐemendation
You mention some more relatives, Ⓐemendation & Ⓐemendationthe very day your letter came Ⓐemendationmy ancient friend ⒶemendationWatterson of the Louisville Courier-Journal Ⓐemendationwrote to say his mother was a Lampton & cousin Ⓐemendationto my mother who Ⓐemendationwas a Kentucky Lampton.1explanatory note And to think that only six short months ago ⒶemendationI hadn’t Ⓐemendationa relative in the world to borrow money from. Truly the goodness of God is beyond Ⓐemendationunderstanding.
No copy-text. The text is based on two transcripts, each of which derives independently from the MS:
Elizabeth Baskerville Wall transcribed the MS in 1941 and published it in the Roanoke (Virginia) Times (P1). (Her article included one other letter to Parish, written on 19 or 20 November 1874.) In 1950 the MS was transcribed by Kenneth E. Crouch, who provided a TS (P2) to the Mark Twain Papers. Crouch described the MS as “written on monogrammed stationery with letters or initials SLC and engraved Farmington Avenue, Hartford.”
L6 , 277.
In 1941 the MS, already incomplete, belonged to Emma Parish’s nephew, G. E. Heller (a senator in the Virginia legislature). By 1950 the MS was on display in the Bedford County Museum, of which Mrs. Heller was curator; its present location is not known.
Adopted readings followed by ‘(C)’ are editorial emendations of the source readings.