Will I come? O hell-yes!—as the en◇ergetic Arkansaw student said to Rev. Tw Joe Twichell in the Black Forest when Joe asked him if he was home-sick. O hellyes! I’ll come a day or two before the 3d (if Mrs. Clemens will permit), & stay a day or two after it anyway.

Hang it, I wish John Hay & his wife would give us a call, next time they look in on you. David Gray is coming, by & by, & you must see him & get better acquainted with that rare spirit. By the way, in my letter to you, speaking of Hay, I said “The presence of such a man in politics is like a vase of attar of roses in a glue-factory—it can’t extinguish the stink, but it modifies it.” Mrs. Clemens said, “That will apply to Gen. Hawley, too—take it out of your letter & put it in your speech when you introduce Hawley to his audience—your speech needs a snapper on the end of it, for it flats out, as it is at present—& just say stench, that is strong enough.” It was pretty good advice, & I followed it.

Orion is really writing quite a readable book. He uses an assumed name—fearing to injure me with pious people if he used his own—& he goes for religion in a very capable & dignified way.

Mrs. Clemens usually helps me beat ingenious autograph-hunters like the enclosed, but her hands are frightfully full, just now. Will you ask Winnie or John to write on the postal cards & ship them. Let both be dated Boston Hartford, & signed “S L Clemens—Per J. L. McWilliams.” I have written form of reply across the end of one of the cards & at the bottom of the note-sheet. It is wonderful how that little “per” does take the stuffing out of an autograph.

We-all send a power of love to you-all.