Autobiography of Mark Twain (154 page)

349.23–26 Lambtons of Durham . . . broke into the peerage] The Lambton family’s residence in County Durham, England, can be traced nearly to the time of the Norman Conquest (1066). John George Lambton (1792–1840) was created first earl of Durham in 1833; his
grandson, also John George Lambton (1855–1928), became the third earl in 1879. Jane Clemens’s paternal grandfather, William Lampton (1724–90), who evidently belonged to a collateral branch of the family, emigrated to Virginia about 1740 (Burke 1904, 528–29; Debrett 1980, P409; Selby 1973, 112; Keith 1914, 3–4, 7).

349.29–33 Jere. Clemens . . . shot old John Brown’s Governor Wise in the hind leg in a duel] Clemens mistook the identities of both combatants. It was not Jeremiah Clemens but Sherrard Clemens who fought O. Jennings Wise—a
son
of Henry Alexander Wise, the governor of Virginia from 1856 to 1860, when abolitionist John Brown was active. Sherrard Clemens was severely wounded in the right thigh; Wise was uninjured (see “My Autobiography [Random Extracts from It],” note at 205.18; 21 June 1866 to JLC and PAM,
L1
, 346 n. 6; “The Wise and Clemens Duel,” New York
Times
, 24 Sept 1858, 2).

350.4 trick on Grandma, about the whipping] This incident occurs in chapter 1 of
Tom Sawyer
.

350.15–17 Grandma couldn’t make papa go to school . . . those who were more studious in early life] Susy found this information in the April 1885 interview with Jane Clemens. She quoted nearly verbatim the last sentence in the following paragraph:

When Sam’s father died, which occurred when Sam was eleven years of age, I thought then, if ever, was the proper time to make a lasting impression on the boy and work a change in him, so I took him by the hand and went with him into the room where the coffin was and in which the father lay, and with it between Sam and me I said to him that here in this presence I had some serious requests to make of him, and that I knew his word, once given, was never broken. For Sam never told a falsehood. He turned his streaming eyes upon me and cried out: “Oh mother, I will do anything, anything you ask of me, except to go to school; I can’t do that!” That was the very request I was going to make. Well, we afterwards had a sober talk, and I concluded to let him go into a printing office to learn the trade, as I couldn’t have him running wild. He did so, and has gradually picked up enough education to enable him to do about as well as those who were more studious in early life. (“Mark Twain’s Boyhood. An Interview with the Mother of the Famous Humorist,” New York
World
, 12 Apr 1885, 19, reprinting the Chicago
Inter-Ocean
)

350.30–31 It was Henry . . . the thread . . . had changed color] See
Tom Sawyer
, chapter 1.

351.5 If the incident of the broken sugar-bowl is in “Tom Sawyer”] It is in chapter 3.

351.39 to give the cat the Pain-Killer] See
Tom Sawyer
, chapter 12. Perry Davis’s Pain-Killer was invented in 1840 and enjoyed widespread success. The label indicated that it could be taken internally “for Chills, Cramps, Colic” or applied externally for “Sore Throat, Sprains, Bruises, Chilblains.” Its main ingredient was alcohol, with added camphor and cayenne pepper (Ober 2003, 54–60).

351.42–352.1 Mr. Pavey’s negro man] Jesse H. Pavey was the proprietor of a Hannibal tavern until 1850, when he moved his family to St. Louis (
Inds
, 340).

352.3–6 cholera days of ’49 . . . chose Perry Davis’s Pain-Killer for me] Cholera visited the Mississippi valley perennially throughout Clemens’s youth. After its appearance in New Orleans in February 1849 it soon spread northward along the Mississippi River. Numerous deaths in Hannibal caused fear of a major epidemic like the one that was ravaging St. Louis, and the Pain-Killer was used as a preventive (Holcombe 1884, 297–98; Wecter 1952, 213–14; Ober 2003, 45–54).

352.19–20 I don’t remember what my explanation was . . . may not be the right one] Tom’s “explanation” was as follows:

“Now, sir, what did you want to treat that poor dumb beast so, for?”

“I done it out of pity for him—because he hadn’t any aunt.”

“Hadn’t any aunt!—you numscull. What has that got to do with it?”

“Heaps. Because if he’d a had one she’d a burnt him out herself! She’d a roasted his bowels out of him ’thout any more feeling than if he was a human!” (SLC 1982, 96)

353.3 Tom Nash was a boy of my own age—the postmaster’s son] Clemens’s schoolmate Thomas S. Nash was the son of Abner O. Nash (1804?-59) and his second wife. In “Villagers of 1840–3” (1897) Clemens noted that he became a house painter. Abner Nash was a former storekeeper and president of Hannibal’s Board of Trustees; although his “mother was Irish, had family jewels, and claimed to be aristocracy,” he had been forced to declare bankruptcy in 1844 and accept a low-paying postmastership in 1849 (
Inds
, 96, 337–38).

353.23 closing one was scarlet fever, and he came out of it stone deaf] In the working notes for the “St. Petersburg Fragment,” the second extant version of “The Mysterious Stranger,” Clemens wrote that “Tom Nash’s mother took in a deserted child; it gave scarlet-fever death to 3 of her children & deaf[ness] to 2” (
MSM
, 416; see also
Inds
, 96).

353.28–29 Four years ago . . . receive the honorary degree of LL.D.] Clemens traveled to Missouri in late May–early June 1902, to receive an honorary LL.D. from the University of Missouri at Columbia (4 June). He also spent a few days in both St. Louis and Hannibal, his final visit to the scenes of his childhood and youth (New York
Times:
“Degree for Mark Twain,” 5 June 1902, 2; “Mark Twain among Scenes of His Early Life,” 8 June 1902, 28; Notebook 45, TS pp. 14–17, CU-MARK).

353.38–40 Papa was about twenty years old . . . he said “Yes, mother, I will,”] Of course this too came from the interview with Jane Clemens:

He was about twenty years old when he went on the Mississippi as a pilot. I gave him up then, for I always thought steamboating was a wicked business, and was sure he would meet bad associates. I asked him if he would promise me on the Bible not to touch intoxicating liquors nor swear, and he said: “Yes, mother, I will.” He repeated the words after me, with my hand and his clasped on the holy book, and I believe he always kept that promise. (“Mark Twain’s Boyhood. An Interview with the Mother of the Famous Humorist,” New York
World
, 12 Apr 1885, 19, reprinting the Chicago
Inter-Ocean
)

354.5–6 I was for a short time a Cadet of Temperance] Started in 1846 in Germantown, Pennsylvania, the Cadets of Temperance was a youth auxiliary of the Sons of Temperance. Initiates pledged to abstain from alcohol and tobacco. The Hannibal “Section” was founded in 1850, and Clemens was among the earliest members; his signature is the first on its manuscript “Constitution.” His friend Tom Nash and his brother Henry were also members. By his own report Clemens resigned in early July 1850. His name figures in a manuscript list of cadets dated “Nov. 25 1850,” possibly recording members delinquent in paying dues. His experience as a cadet is transferred to Tom in
Tom Sawyer
, chapter 22, and these ritualized temperance meetings are burlesqued in “The Autobiography of a Damned Fool,” chapter 4 (SLC 1877b; Eddy 1887, 340; SLC 1867h; Wecter 1952, 152–54; Cadets of Temperance [1850];
S&B
, 149–53).

354.32 Mr. Garth] See the Autobiographical Dictation of 9 March 1906, note at 401.30–34.

355.2 We used to trade old newspapers (exchanges)] The post office allowed a newspaper publisher to send a single “exchange copy” to an unlimited number of papers, free of postage. This arrangement functioned as a primitive wire service, with news items being picked up and circulated nationwide. Having perused and clipped articles from the “exchanges,” a newspaper office would throw them away (Kielbowicz 1989, 141–61).

355.13–14 However, I feel sure that I have written . . . “Following the Equator.”] See
Following the Equator
, chapter 1.

355.17–22 papa had been a pilot . . . out to Nevada to be his secretary . . . Quaker City] See the Autobiographical Dictations of 12 January 1906 (note at 270.1) and 29 March 1906, as well as “Notes on ‘Innocents Abroad.’ ”

355.30–32 That first meeting . . . five days later] See the Autobiographical Dictation of 1 February 1906, note at 320.32–34.

356.3–4 She became an invalid . . . and she was never strong again while her life lasted] The nature of Olivia’s ailment has been much debated. She became ill earlier, and recovered later, than Clemens allowed for in this dictation. Already “in very delicate health” at the age of fourteen (1860), she was treated by doctors and spent time at the Elmira Water Cure. Showing little improvement, she was sent to a sanatorium in Washington, D.C., and then to the Institute of Swedish Movement Cure in New York City, which prescribed kinesipathy (curative muscle movements). She spent more than two years there before returning home to Elmira. The visit from “Dr.” Newton (see the note at 356.7–8) occurred on 30 November 1864. Olivia’s case was recalled by Newton’s private secretary, writing about the cures wrought during that period:

One of these was at Elmira, N.Y., where Dr. N. went to treat Miss Libbie Langdon, whom he cured, and she has since married the author known as “Mark Twain.” Dr. N. found her suffering with spinal disease; could not be raised to a sitting posture in her bed for over four years. She was almost like death itself. With one characteristic treatment he made her to cross the room with assistance, and in a few days the cure was complete. (Newton 1879, 294)

Langdon family letters and papers, however, show that despite Newton’s visits Olivia’s health was still seriously impaired. She had a second visit from Newton on 3 June 1865, and was still unable to walk almost a year after that. A second stay at the Movement Institute in 1866 recovered her considerably; she regained her mobility but, as Clemens says, her health remained fragile (Skandera-Trombley 1994, 83–85, 90, 92–94).

356.7–8 Dr. Newton, a man who was regarded in both worlds as a quack] James Rogers Newton (1810–83), a businessman from Newport, Rhode Island, performed massively attended public “healings” in both America and England. He was not well regarded by either the scientific or the religious community. He seems to have had no medical training, and attributed his powers variously to “magnetic force,” “controlling spirits,” and “the Father that dwelleth in me.” His usual practice was “the laying on of hands,” but some remedies were less conventional: one patient suffering from tuberculosis was told “Go, take a male chicken, cut off the head, split it in the back, and place it, warm, on your breast” (Newton 1879, 206–71, 112–13, 38; “Rev. Dr. Buckley and Newton the Healer” 1883, 519; Ober 2003, 129–34). There is no independent documentation of Clemens’s own meeting with Newton (356.37–40).

356.11 Andrew Langdon] Langdon (1835–1919) was Olivia’s first cousin.

356.22–27 Newton made some passes . . . “Now we will walk a few steps, my child.”] Paine revised this passage on the typescript as follows, presumably in order to lend the whole transaction a more conventional, Christian cast:

Newton
made some passes about her head with his hands;
_^
opened the windows—long darkened—and delivered a short, fervent prayer;
_^
then he put an arm behind her shoulders and said “Now we will sit up, my child.”

The family were alarmed, and tried to stop him, but he was not disturbed, and raised her up. She sat several minutes, without nausea or discomfort. Then Newton said
that that would do for the present, he would come again next morning; which he did. He made some passes with his hands and said,
“Now we will walk a few steps, my child.”

Paine partly explained himself in the margin, saying “He came but once ABP” (TS1, 309–10). The historical record shows that Paine was mistaken.

357.5–8 There were three or four proposals of marriage . . . stay a week] Clemens’s courtship of Olivia was accomplished between his lecturing engagements in the fall of 1868. In early September she turned down his offer of marriage, but by the end of November, after two more refusals, she accepted. Clemens slightly exaggerated when he said his planned visit was extended by three days (357.8, 358.23): Olivia wrote on the day of his departure, 29 September, that he had planned to stay one day, and stayed one more because of his accident (
L2:
7 and 8 Sept 1868 to OLL, 247–49; 28 Nov 1868 to Twichell, 293–94; OLL to Hooker, 29 Sept 1868, CtHSD).