第99章

LETTERS, 1877.TO BERMUDA WITH TWICHELL.PROPOSITION TO TH.NAST.

THE WHITTIER DINNER

Mark Twain must have been too busy to write letters that winter.

Those that have survived are few and unimportant.As a matter of fact, he was writing the play, "Ah Sin," with Bret Harte, and getting it ready for production.Harte was a guest in the Clemens home while the play was being written, and not always a pleasant one.He was full of requirements, critical as to the 'menage,' to the point of sarcasm.The long friendship between Clemens and Harte weakened under the strain of collaboration and intimate daily intercourse, never to renew its old fiber.It was an unhappy outcome of an enterprise which in itself was to prove of little profit.The play, "Ah Sin," had many good features, and with Charles T.Parsloe in an amusing Chinese part might have been made a success, if the two authors could have harmoniously undertaken the needed repairs.It opened in Washington in May, and a letter from Parsloe, written at the moment, gives a hint of the situation.

From Charles T.Parsloe to S.L.Clemens:

WASHINGTON, D.C.May 11th, 1877.

MR.CLEMENS,-- I forgot whether I acknowledged receipt of check by telegram.Harte has been here since Monday last and done little or nothing yet, but promises to have something fixed by tomorrow morning.

We have been making some improvements among ourselves.The last act is weak at the end, and I do hope Mr.Harte will have something for a good finish to the piece.The other acts I think are all right, now.

Hope you have entirely recovered.I am not very well myself, the excitement of a first night is bad enough, but to have the annoyance with Harte that I have is too much for a beginner.I ain't used to it.The houses have been picking up since Tuesday Mr.Ford has worked well and hard for us.

Yours in, haste, CHAS.THOS.PARSLOE.

The play drew some good houses in Washington, but it could not hold them for a run.Never mind what was the matter with it; perhaps a very small change at the right point would have turned it into a fine success.We have seen in a former letter the obligation which Mark Twain confessed to Harte--a debt he had tried in many ways to repay--obtaining for him a liberal book contract with Bliss;advancing him frequent and large sums of money which Harte could not, or did not, repay; seeking to advance his fortunes in many directions.The mistake came when he introduced another genius into the intracacies of his daily life.Clemens went down to Washington during the early rehearsals of "Ah Sin."Meantime, Rutherford B.Hayes had been elected President, and Clemens one day called with a letter of introduction from Howells, thinking to meet the Chief Executive.His own letter to Howells, later, probably does not give the real reason of his failure, but it will be amusing to those who recall the erratic personality of George Francis Train.Train and Twain were sometimes confused by the very unlettered; or pretendedly, by Mark Twain's friends.

To W.D.Howells, in Boston:

BALTIMORE, May 1, '77.

MY DEAR HOWELLS,--Found I was not absolutely needed in Washington so Ionly staid 24 hours, and am on my way home, now.I called at the White House, and got admission to Col.Rodgers, because I wanted to inquire what was the right hour to go and infest the, President.It was my luck to strike the place in the dead waste and middle of the day, the very busiest time.I perceived that Mr.Rodgers took me for George Francis Train and had made up his mind not to let me get at the President; so at the end of half an hour I took my letter of introduction from the table and went away.It was a great pity all round, and a great loss to the nation, for I was brim full of the Eastern question.I didn't get to see the President or the Chief Magistrate either, though I had sort of a glimpse of a lady at a window who resembled her portraits.

Yrs ever, MARK.

Howells condoled with him on his failure to see the President, "but," he added, "if you and I had both been there, our combined skill would have no doubt procured us to be expelled from the White House by Fred Douglass.But the thing seems to be a complete failure as it was." Douglass at this time being the Marshal of Columbia, gives special point to Howells's suggestion.

Later, in May, Clemens took Twichell for an excursion to Bermuda.

He had begged Howells to go with them, but Howells, as usual, was full of literary affairs.Twichell and Clemens spent four glorious days tramping the length and breadth of the beautiful island, and remembered it always as one of their happiest adventures."Put it down as an Oasis!" wrote Twichell on his return, "I'm afraid I shall not see as green a spot again soon.And it was your invention and your gift.And your company was the best of it.Indeed, I never took more comfort in being with you than on this journey, which, my boy, is saying a great deal."To Howells, Clemens triumphantly reported the success of the excursion.

To W.D.Howells, in Boston:

FARMINGTON AVENUE, HARTFORD, May 29, 1877.