to him always with the thought of
bereavement, waiting somewhere just behind. The news of an
approaching wedding saddened him and there was nearly always a
somber tinge in his congratulations, of which the following to a dear
friend is an example:
To Father Fitz-Simon, in Washington:
June 5, '08. DEAR FATHER FITZ-SIMON,--Marriage--yes, it is the
supreme felicity of life, I concede it. And it is also the supreme tragedy
of life. The deeper the love the surer the tragedy. And the more
disconsolating when it comes.
And so I congratulate you. Not perfunctorily, not lukewarmly, but with
a fervency and fire that no word in the dictionary is strong enough to
convey. And in the same breath and with the same depth and sincerity,
I grieve for you. Not for both of you and not for the one that shall go
first, but for the one that is fated to be left behind. For that one there is
no recompense.--For that one no recompense is possible.
There are times--thousands of times--when I can expose the half of my
mind, and conceal the other half, but in the matter of the tragedy of
marriage I feel too deeply for that, and I have to bleed it all out or shut
it all in. And so you must consider what I have been through, and am
passing through and be charitable with me.
Make the most of the sunshine! and I hope it will last long--ever so
long.
I do not really want to be present; yet for friendship's sake and because
I honor you so, I would be there if I could. Most sincerely your friend,
S. L. CLEMENS.
The new home at Redding was completed in the spring of 1908, and on
the 18th of June, when it was entirely fitted and furnished, Mark Twain
entered it for the first time. He had never even seen the place nor
carefully examined plans which John Howells had made for his house.
He preferred the surprise of it, and the general avoidance of detail. That
he was satisfied with the result will be seen in his letters. He named it
at first "Innocence at Home"; later changing this title to "Stormfield."
The letter which follows is an acknowledgment of an interesting
souvenir from the battle-field of Tewksbury (1471), and some relics of
the Cavalier and Roundhead Regiments encamped at Tewksbury in
1643.
To an English admirer:
INNOCENCE AT HOME, REDDING, CONNECTICUT, Aug. 15, '08.
DEAR SIR,--I highly prize the pipes, and shall intimate to people that
"Raleigh" smoked them, and doubtless he did. After a little practice I
shall be able to go further and say he did; they will then be the most
interesting features of my library's decorations. The Horse-shoe is
attracting a good deal of attention, because I have intimated that the
conqueror's horse cast it; it will attract more when I get my hand in and
say he cast it, I thank you for the pipes and the shoe; and also for the
official guide, which I read through at a single sitting. If a person
should say that about a book of mine I should regard it as good
evidence of the book's interest. Very truly yours, S. L. CLEMENS.
In his philosophy, What Is Man?, and now and again in his other
writings, we find Mark Twain giving small credit to the human mind as
an originator of ideas. The most original writer of his time, he took no
credit for pure invention and allowed none to others. The mind, he
declared, adapted, consciously or unconsciously; it did not create. In a
letter which follows he elucidates this doctrine. The reference in it to
the "captain" and to the kerosene, as the reader may remember, have to
do with Captain "Hurricane" Jones and his theory of the miracles of
"Isaac and of the prophets of Baal," as expounded in Some Rambling
Notes of an Idle Excursion.
By a trick of memory Clemens gives The Little Duke as his suggestion
for The Prince and the Pauper; he should have written The Prince and
the Page, by the same author.
To Rev. F. Y. Christ, in New York:
REDDING, CONN., Aug., '08. DEAR SIR,--You say "I often owe my
best sermons to a suggestion received in reading or from other exterior
sources." Your remark is not quite in accordance with the facts. We
must change it to--"I owe all my thoughts, sermons and ideas to
suggestions received from sources outside of myself." The simplified
English of this proposition is--"No man's brains ever originated an
idea." It is an astonishing thing that after all these ages the world goes
on thinking the human brain machinery can originate a thought.
It can't. It never has done it. In all cases, little
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