Vol 3 Section 0583

June – On a Tuesday, from 1410 W. 10^th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote to Joe Twichell.

Well, it is funny. The country’s political morals & ideals have sunk pretty nearly to zero in the past two years, but I had not suspected that anybody had dropped to the point of thinking the clergy bribable. Seriously, it is an astonisher. Could it have happened 20 years ago? No, it couldn’t. I don’t know but that this is zero.

In your excellent speech I discover no reference to foreign missions, & I am glad. Whenever you ask people to support them, Joe, do bar China. Their presence there is forbidden by the Bible, & by every sentiment of humanity & fair-dealing; & they have done vast mischief there. I would bar no other country, I believe, but they have no business in China. Besides, there is plenty for them to do at home. In the presence of the home-missionary even the worst of us stand uncovered; there are no limits to our reverence for him; but when it comes to idiot Christian pirates like Ament, & professional hypocrites & liars like Rev. Judson Smith of the American Board we are disrespectful & indecent.

Sam felt that “that old mud-turtle” Smith and the “talky” Ament were doing Sam’s work for him [MTP].

Note: there were four Tuesdays this month: 4^th, 11^th, 18^th, 25^th.

June 1 Saturday – Sam’s notebook: “Charlottesville, Va.?” [NB 44 TS 11].

At 1410 W. 10^th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote to R.G. Newbegin of R.G. Newbegin Co., distributor for Mark Twain’s Uniform Edition.

I shall be glad if, in offering the Collected Edition of my books to the public, you will claim for it, on my part, only this, & no more: that I have prepared it with care, & that it is the only complete collection of my works that has been made… / P.S. I am sorry if your canvassers complain of it as a hardship that the Harpers advertise 9 of my books under the heading “Mark Twain’s Best Books,” but what would they have me to do? I must concede that the Harpers are within their rights…It is merely their own judgment that the 9 are my best…and in addition you have seven which I rate above any that are in the Harper list, with the exception of 4, viz., Huckleberry Finn, Yankee at the Court of King Arthur, The Prince & Pauper, & Personal Reflections of Joan of Arc… [MTP: American Art Assoc. catalogs, Nov. 24, 1924, Item 114]. Note: see entries for Mar. and Mar. 27.

E. Leon wrote from Osterfeld, Germany to Sam, asking for “a few lines, written by your hand” [MTP]. Note:

Sam wrote on the left margin of this letter but not related to it, to H.H. Rogers on June 14.

Franklin G. Whitmore wrote to Sam, forwarding the May 31 invitation rec’d there from Sherman Callender for Sam to attend an informal dinner for Rev. Dr. W.S. Ament, of China! [MTP].

June 2 Sunday

June 3 Monday – At 1410 W. 10^th  in N.Y.C., Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers on an envelope from

Whitmore’s long letter of May 23:

“These have come from Whitmore but not the big check-book.

“I have been hard at work ever since the time you didn’t turn up at Mr. Broughton’s, but I am coming down soon” [MTHHR 461]. Note: for the enclosures, see source n2.

SLC used mourning border for most letters from Susy’s death on, then from Livy’s death on.