Autobiography of Mark Twain (147 page)

268.30 In the speech which I made were concealed many facts] Clemens’s speech is reprinted in the Appendix, pp. 657–61.

269.1–6 when I was fifty . . . 1891] The Hartford Monday Evening Club held its first meeting on 18 January 1869. Horace Bushnell (1802–76), the minister of Hartford’s North Church of Christ (later Park Congregational Church) from 1833 to 1859 and the author of numerous important theological works, was the prime mover in the club’s creation. The constitution adopted in February 1869 set the membership at twenty. Despite Clemens’s recollection, the essayists did not regularly follow each other in alphabetical order. Clemens became a member in 1873 and continued on the membership roll until his death in 1910, although he ceased to attend meetings after the family left Hartford in June 1891. The Reverend Francis Goodwin (1839–1923), a prominent Protestant Episcopal clergyman who served several Hartford churches, and was also an architect, became a member in 1877. The topic of the evening at Goodwin’s house that Clemens recalled here, “Dreams,” indicates that the meeting took place on 21 January 1884, when he was forty-eight. Most of the men present were founding members; five joined later, as noted below. Like Clemens, they all remained on the membership list until their deaths (Howell Cheney 1954, passim; “Francis Goodwin” in “Hartford Residents” 1974).

269.14–16 The wives . . . were not allowed to throw any light upon the discussion] “It was the early rule that the wife of the host invited two or three of her intimates to sit with her. . . . At rare times the hostess engaged in the conversation. . . . The predominance of the feeling of members is that the Club should be limited in its audience to men” (Howell Cheney 1954, 6).

269.24–26 J. Pierpont Morgan’s cigars . . . at dinner in Mr. Dodge’s house] John Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913) was the preeminent American banker, financier, and art collector of his day. William E. Dodge (1832–1903) had succeeded his father of the same name (1805–83) as a partner in Phelps, Dodge and Company, leading wholesalers of copper and other metals, and also continued his father’s numerous charitable, religious, and philanthropic activities.

269.34 George, our colored butler] George Griffin. See the Autobiographical Dictation of 6 February 1906.

269.38 Wheeling long nines] Wheeling, West Virginia, had been a center for the manufacture of cigars, particularly cheap cigars, since the 1820s. “Long nine” as a generic term for a cheap cigar was in use at least by 1830 (Ohio County Public Library 2008; Mathews 1951, 2:1000).

270.1 When I was . . . late ’50s] Clemens first boarded the
Paul Jones
, piloted by Horace Bixby, in Cincinnati bound for New Orleans on 16 February 1857. He returned to St. Louis working informally as Bixby’s apprentice, or steersman, on 15 March aboard the
Colonel Cross-man
. He received his license on 9 April 1859, and continued as a pilot until mid-May 1861, when the Civil War put an end to commercial traffic on the river. He recounted his experiences on the river in
Life on the Mississippi
, especially chapters 4–21 (see also the link note following 5 Aug 1856 to HC through 26 Apr 1861 to OC,
L1
, 69–121; Branch 1992, 2–3).

270.12 Rev. Dr. Parker] Edwin Pond Parker (1836–1920), a Congregational clergyman, was pastor of Hartford’s Second Church of Christ from 1860 until 1912, when he became pastor emeritus.

270.15 Rev. Dr. Burton] Nathaniel J. Burton (1824–87) was pastor of Hartford’s Fourth Congregational Church (1857–70) and Park Congregational Church (1870–87).

270.18 Rev. Mr. Twichell] Joseph H. Twichell, pastor of Hartford’s Asylum Hill Congregational Church from 1865 to 1912, was one of Clemens’s closest friends (see “Grant and the Chinese,” note at 73.13).

270.34–35 you can start at the front door and . . . tread on one of them cigars every time] Clemens had included many of the details of this story of the long nines in “Conversations with Satan,” written in 1897–98 (see SLC 2009, 42–44).

271.6–8 the late Colonel Greene . . . President presently] Jacob L. Greene (1837–1905) was breveted lieutenant colonel for distinguished gallantry and faithful and meritorious service during the Civil War. A lawyer, he was secretary of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company from 1871 until 1878 and in the latter year became its president. He joined the Monday Evening Club in 1883 (Heitman 1903, 1:475).

271.29–32 elder Hamersley . . . his son, Will Hamersley . . . Supreme Court] William James Hamersley (1808–77) was a journalist, book publisher, and former Hartford mayor (1853–54, 1862–64). For William Hamersley, see “The Machine Episode,” note at 101.23 (Trumbull 1886, 1:117–18, 385, 612, 620, 624; “Death of the Hon. William James Hamersley,” Hartford
Courant
, 16 May 1877, 2).

272.8–9 Charles E. Perkins] For about ten years (until 1882), Perkins (1832–1917) was Clemens’s Hartford attorney. He became a club member in 1871 (12 Aug 1869 to Bliss,
L3
, 294 n. 4; 8 May 1872 to Perkins,
L5
, 84 n. 1).

272.29 Penitentiary down there at Wethersfield] The Wethersfield (Connecticut) State Prison opened in 1827 and remained in operation until 1963 (Connecticut State Library 2008b).

272.31–32 J. Hammond Trumbull, the most learned man in the United States] Hartford
historian James Hammond Trumbull (1821–97) provided the multilingual chapter headings for
The Gilded Age
.

272.36–37 Governor Henry C. Robinson] Robinson (1832–1900), an attorney and business executive, was mayor of Hartford from 1872 to 1874. Although twice nominated by the Republican Party for governor of Connecticut (in 1876 and 1878), he never held that office (Burpee 1928, 3:41; Connecticut State Library 2008a).

272.39–40 A. C. Dunham . . . capitalist] Austin Cornelius Dunham (1833–1917), awool merchant, inventor, and founder and since 1882 president of the Hartford Electric Light Company, joined the Monday Evening Club in 1870 (3 Oct 1874 to Howells,
L6
, 248 n. 3; Connecticut Light and Power 2008).

273.3–5 Franklin was a . . . West Pointer . . . Mexican war . . . Civil War at the time that McClellan was commander-in-chief ] General William Buel Franklin (1823–1903) graduated first in the West Point class of 1843, then served capably with the army’s Topographical Engineers, and in the Mexican War (1846–48). His Civil War service, in part under General George B. McClellan, was checkered, however. Despite successes, he was blamed, evidently unfairly, for the Union loss at Fredericksburg (1862) and served the rest of his army career in relative obscurity. After his resignation from the army in 1866 he became vice-president of Colt’s Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company in Hartford, a post he held until 1888. He joined the Hartford Monday Evening Club in 1871 (“Franklin Dead,” Hartford
Courant
, 9 Mar 1903, 13).

273.11–12 Johnson was a member of Trinity . . . most brilliant member of the Club] Charles Frederick Johnson (1836–1931), a literary historian, critic, and poet, was a professor of mathematics at the U.S. Naval Academy from 1865 to 1870 and then a professor of English literature, active and emeritus, at Trinity College in Hartford from 1883 until his death. He became a member of the Monday Evening Club in 1886 (“Prof. Charles F. Johnson,” New York
Times
, 10 Jan 1931, 11).

273.38 not able to sink the shop] Not able to refrain from “talking shop.”

274.14–22 In 1858 I was a steersman . . . never wanted my mother to know about that dream] Clemens recounted his and his nineteen-year-old brother Henry’s employment aboard the steamer
Pennsylvania
in chapters 18–20 of
Life on the Mississippi
. He began his temporary service under Captain William Brown in November 1857. On 13 June 1858 three or four of the
Pennsylvania’s
boilers exploded and the boat sank, causing the deaths of between fifty and a hundred and fifty passengers and crew, including Henry and Captain Brown (see also the note at 275.20–21). Mentioned in this passage are Captain John S. Klinefelter (1810–85) and Horace E. Bixby (1826–1912), who supervised Clemens’s piloting apprenticeship (for Clemens’s on-the-spot account of the
Pennsylvania
disaster and Henry’s death, see 15 June 1858 to Moffett through 21 June 1858 to Moffett,
L1
, 80–86; see also Branch 1985). At the time of this dictation, Clemens had not described his prophetic dream of Henry in that book
or elsewhere; he later published this account in the
North American Review
, as part of the series of “Chapters from My Autobiography,” in April 1907 (NAR 16). Clemens’s niece, Annie Moffett, said in recollections published by her son in 1946 that Jane Clemens did know of the dream, and

often talked about it. He had told them about it before he went away, but the family were not impressed; indeed they were amused that he took it so seriously.

The story as the family used to tell it was not quite like Uncle Sam’s version. They said his dream occurred in the daytime. The family including Henry were in my mother’s room and Sam was asleep in the next room. He came in and told them what he had dreamed. My grandmother said he went back and dreamed the same dream a second and third time, but I think that was her embellishment. (
MTBus
, 37)

274.32 our brother-in-law, Mr. Moffett] William A. Moffett, a St. Louis commission merchant, married Clemens’s older sister, Pamela Ann, in 1851 (link note preceding 24 Aug 1853 to JLC,
L1
, 2; see the Appendix “Family Biographies” (p. 655).

275.20–21 I had the fight . . . I be left ashore at New Orleans] In chapter 19 of
Life on the Mississippi
Clemens recalled his fight with Brown. In order to prevent him from assaulting Henry with “a ten-pound lump of coal,” he had used “a heavy stool” to hit “Brown a good honest blow which stretched him out.” The incident evidently occurred on 3 June 1858. Although Captain Klinefelter was sympathetic to Clemens, his inability to replace Brown, and Brown’s refusal to continue supervising Clemens, led to his being left in New Orleans (
L1:
link note following 1 June 1857 to Taylor, 75; 18 June 1858 to MEC, 82 n. 2).

275.28 hurricane-deck . . . wheel-house] The hurricane deck usually was the third deck. “The name was derived from the ever-present breeze that made it a favorite viewing place on warm evenings. It was the location of the boat’s large signal bell.” Wheelhouses covered the paddlewheels (“Glossary of Steamboat Terms” 2008; for diagrams of a typical Mississippi River steamboat, see
HF 2003
, 405).

275.33–34 I have already told in “Old Times on the Mississippi.”] In chapter 20 of
Life on the Mississippi
, Clemens wrote that after Henry was thrown into the river by the explosion, he returned to the burning boat to help others before he was overcome by his own injuries. But in an article written in late June or early July 1858, in which he precisely reconstructed the effect of the explosion on Henry, Clemens made no mention of this heroism (reproduced in facsimile in Branch 1985, 36). Here, as elsewhere, Clemens refers to
Life on the Mississippi
as “Old Times on the Mississippi,” the series of
Atlantic Monthly
articles that were reprinted in chapters 4–17 and form the core of the book (SLC 1875a; see 18 June 1858 to MEC,
L1
, 84 n. 7).

276.3–4 Dr. Peyton . . . fatal effects were soon apparent. I think he died about dawn] Clemens recalled Thomas F. Peyton in an 1876 letter: “What a magnificent man he was! What healing it was just to look at him & hear his voice!” (25 Oct 1876 to Unidentified,
Letters 1876–1880)
. Henry died on 21 June 1858; Clemens’s identification of the immediate cause of death as an inadvertent overdose of morphine has not been confirmed.

277.37 his daughter, Mrs. Wood] Julia Curtis Twichell (b. 1869) had been married to New York lawyer Howard Ogden Wood (1866–1940) since 1892 (“Twichell,” in “Hartford Residents” 1974; New York
Times:
“Wood–Twichell,” 27 Apr 1892, 5; “Howard Ogden Wood, a Philanthropist, 74,” 17 June 1940, 15).

277.41–278.11 house of James Goodwin . . . granite mansion for his father] James Goodwin (1803–78) had owned a mail stage line and afterward was a director of the Hartford and New Haven Railroad and an incorporator and president of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, the largest of Hartford’s insurance firms and one of the largest in the United States, with assets of over $40 million by 1875. The house his son designed and built for him on Woodland Street in Hartford was “one of the most extensive private houses in the city, and one of marked architectural importance” (see 3 July 1874 to OLC,
L6
, 176–77 n. 4).

279.7 Morris paper] Wallpaper designed by English author and artist William Morris (1834–96) and produced by his firm.

279.24 MRS. MORRIS’S ILLNESS TAKES A SERIOUS TURN] Clemens’s allusion to William Morris, in the previous paragraph, evidently triggered his recall of the completely unrelated Mrs. Minor Morris, and prompted him to have this article from the 11 January 1906 New York
Times
pasted into the typescript of this dictation. He had discussed Mrs. Morris’s experience in the White House of President Theodore Roosevelt at length in his dictation of 10 January. The article mentions William Howard Taft (1857–1930), at this time secretary of war; John Morris Sheppard (1875–1941), Democratic congressman from Texas; Charles Henry Grosvenor (1833–1917), Union veteran and Republican congressman from Ohio; Sereno Elisha Payne (1843–1914), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, one of the most powerful Republican congressmen; and Marlin Edgar Olmsted (1847–1913), Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, an authority on parliamentary procedure.