with a note to Thomas L. James, New York Postmaster
18 November 1879 • Hartford, Conn. (MS: MoSW, UCCL 01721)
Read the enclosed & return it to me so I can answer it. I want to know whether to decline or accept—& so, to act intelligently, I must know whether it is going to be an enormous occasion or only a moderate one. Who is Mr. Dawson, & what is he? If this is an occasion big enough to rake in Whales like Grant & Victoria’s daughter, how is it that they construct an Invitation Committee out of such wordy, flippant & obscure timber as this Mr. Dawson? I never heard of him before. Isn’t it barely possible that he is expecting a park of heavy artillery which won’t arrive, & that he hopes to rope in my “Swamp Angel” on these false pretenses?
Look into this, Frank, will you? I can’t afford to attend any but the very biggest kind of blow-outs—neither can I afford to miss the biggest kind of blow-outs.
With this family’s warmest regards to you both—
Work this secretly——but you know how.
Mr. James, have I got to put the address of the Windsor on, according to the new law, or will you let this go, just this once, & greatly oblige Yrs Truly M. T. | I don’t know the address. Gov. Frank Fuller | Windsor Hotel | New York | N. Y. return address: If not delivered, please return to “Mark Twain,” Hartford, Ct. postmarked: hartford conn. nov 18 4pm and new-york rec’d. nov 19 1 pm 79 and h 11 19 8
MS, George N. Meissner Collection, University Library, MoSW.
MicroPUL, reel 1.
Donated in about 1960 by the family of businessman and collector George N. Meissner (1872–1960).