登陆注册
5380500000235

第235章

We discover in the foregoing letter that the long European residence was drawing to an end.More than nine years had passed since the closing of the Hartford house--eventful years that had seen failure, bereavement, battle with debt, and rehabilitated fortunes.All the family were anxious to get home--Mark Twain most anxious of all.

They closed Dollis Hill House near the end of September, and put up for a brief period at a family hotel, an amusing picture of which follows.

To J.Y.M.MacAlister, in London:

Sep.1900.

MY DEAR MACALISTER,--We do really start next Saturday.I meant to sail earlier, but waited to finish some studies of what are called Family Hotels.They are a London specialty, God has not permitted them to exist elsewhere; they are ramshackle clubs which were dwellings at the time of the Heptarchy.Dover and Albemarle Streets are filled with them.The once spacious rooms are split up into coops which afford as much discomfort as can be had anywhere out of jail for any money.All the modern inconveniences are furnished, and some that have been obsolete for a century.The prices are astonishingly high for what you get.The bedrooms are hospitals for incurable furniture.I find it so in this one.They exist upon a tradition; they represent the vanishing home-like inn of fifty years ago, and are mistaken by foreigners for it.Some quite respectable Englishmen still frequent them through inherited habit and arrested development; many Americans also, through ignorance and superstition.The rooms are as interesting as the Tower of London, but older I think.Older and dearer.The lift was a gift of William the Conqueror, some of the beds are prehistoric.They represent geological periods.Mine is the oldest.It is formed in strata of Old Red Sandstone, volcanic tufa, ignis fatuus, and bicarbonate of hornblende, superimposed upon argillaceous shale, and contains the prints of prehistoric man.It is in No.149.Thousands of scientists come to see it.They consider it holy.They want to blast out the prints but cannot.Dynamite rebounds from it.

Finished studies and sail Saturday in Minnehaha.

Yours ever affectionately, MARK TWAIN.

They sailed for New York October 6th, and something more than a week later America gave them a royal welcome.The press, far and wide, sounded Mark Twain's praises once more; dinners and receptions were offered on every hand; editors and lecture agents clamored for him.

The family settled in the Earlington Hotel during a period of house-hunting.They hoped eventually to return to Hartford, but after a brief visit paid by Clemens alone to the old place he wrote:

To Sylvester Baxter, in Boston:

NEW YORK, Oct.26, 1900.

DEAR MR.BAXTER,--It was a great pleasure to me to renew the other days with you, and there was a pathetic pleasure in seeing Hartford and the house again; but I realize that if we ever enter the house again to live, our hearts will break.I am not sure that we shall ever be strong enough to endure that strain.

Sincerely yours, S.L.CLEMENS.

Mr.and Mrs.Rogers wished to have them in their neighborhood, but the houses there were not suitable, or were too expensive.Through Mr.Frank Doubleday they eventually found, at 14 West Tenth Street, a large residence handsomely furnished, and this they engaged for the winter."We were lucky to get this big house furnished," he wrote MacAlister in London."There was not another one in town procurable that would answer us, but this one is all right--space enough in it for several families, the rooms all old-fashioned, great size."The little note that follows shows that Mark Twain had not entirely forgotten the days of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn.

To a Neighbor on West Tenth Street, New York:

Nov.30.

DEAR MADAM,--I know I ought to respect my duty and perform it, but I am weak and faithless where boys are concerned, and I can't help secretly approving pretty bad and noisy ones, though I do object to the kind that ring door-bells.My family try to get me to stop the boys from holding conventions on the front steps, but I basely shirk out of it, because Ithink the boys enjoy it.

My wife has been complaining to me this evening about the boys on the front steps and under compulsion I have made some promises.But I am very forgetful, now that I am old, and my sense of duty is getting spongy.

Very truly yours, S.L.CLEMENS.

End Letters Vol.5

by Mark Twain VOLUME V.

MARK TWAIN'S LETTERS 1901-1906

同类推荐
  • Heretics

    Heretics

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说难提释经

    佛说难提释经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 瑜伽论

    瑜伽论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • The Burning Spear

    The Burning Spear

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Candide

    Candide

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 罪全书3

    罪全书3

    本书根据真实案例改编而成,涉案地名人名均为化名。十起恐怖凶杀案,就发生在我们身边,每一个都是曾被媒体严密封锁,当局讳莫如深的奇案大案。四个超级警察,各怀绝技,从全国警察队伍中挑选而出,组成中国特案组,对各地发生的特大罪案进行侦破。此文中十起特大案件都是首次公布内幕,每一案都会颠覆你对人性的认知,让你不寒而栗。这是一场正义与邪恶的较量!这是一场光明与黑暗的角逐!
  • 世子妃超萌哒

    世子妃超萌哒

    她,本为天下第一妖女,倾尽一切助他登上九五之尊,却不想新皇登基即是她独孤家族灭亡之时。当天下第一妖女独孤月重生在皇商之女蓝乔玥身上,她发誓,势要灭他夏侯一族倾他皇朝。复仇路艰难,高冷将军来助阵。看她如何携手将军搅动风云,于乱世中立于不败之地。只是,某只高冷将军为何屡屡对她动手动脚!?将军:“娘子,敌军来袭,怎么办?”蓝乔玥:“杀!”将军:“娘子,敌军首领已被擒获,如何处置?”蓝乔玥:“杀!”将军:“娘子,我饿了,怎么办?”蓝乔玥:“凉拌!”将军:“娘子,我要吃你!”蓝乔玥:“......”
  • 唐少真香的日常

    唐少真香的日常

    【男主重生1v1he】“我很想你。”这是她第一次见他,深黑瞳眸盛满化不开的深情。“你谁?麻烦滚远一点。”这是她第二次见他,依旧是深黑的眼,却充满了不屑一顾的冷漠。“我只是想来看看你,多看一眼,我便赚到一眼。”这是她第三次见他,在自己被撬开了窗户的卧室里,在黑灯瞎火的床边。第四次,她终于露出微笑,一个过肩摔把人砸到地上,“唐大少爷,不管您是不是精分我都麻烦你从此有多远滚多远,否则我就真的要......”她半蹲下来,对着那张错愕的俊脸友好的微笑,一字一顿道,“打断你的腿了。”·一次课外打工,竟被唐氏继承人莫名告白,从此还被卷入豪门纠纷......顾绒表示,其他我都受得了,唐大爷你能不能别精分了!
  • 刺杀李鸿章

    刺杀李鸿章

    清光绪二十一年二月初九李鸿章就已经离开北京到了天津。到二月十七,经过总理衙门多次与日本方面函电交涉,李鸿章才在天津乘上了德国丰裕商业公司的“礼裕”号商船,在礼裕号上住了一夜之后,第二天早上才起锚开船向日本驶去。中国特使文华殿大学士李鸿章乘坐的官船上悬挂着德国国旗和“中国头等全权大臣”的杏黄飞虎旗。船头上站着掌旗掌棍掌刀掌槊等仪卫,座舱门口站着一干卫士。这个老迈的中国官员被日本方面点名定为议和代表后,终于踏上了去日本的乞和旅途。德国丰裕商业公司是一个专与中国做生意的大公司,他们这艘吃水二千吨的礼裕号大船被临时用来作为中国官员的座船。
  • 黄色院落

    黄色院落

    《黄色院落》讲述了一个江南地区旧家族从兴盛走向衰落的故事。这是一个荒谬叙事。作者在文中把陌生感和怪异感表现为常规化,通过充满暗喻的叙述、描写、对话培养了人物性格,并将人物跟家庭和社会发生了关联,最终上升为文学艺术。这是有一定难度的,也极为难得的。
  • 只唯留守君一人

    只唯留守君一人

    程巧巧扮演着别人的身份,寻找一样东西,找到之后随手带了其他物品,最后又要还回去,再次穿越。有几次莫名其妙穿了回去就在最危险的时刻,可沈陌面临着危机。与沈陌发生了很多事情。最后也说明了身份,可就算是这样,沈陌还是喜欢这么一个来路不明的女子,“虽然她不是她。”树被烧了,无法穿越回去,从此就留在那个朝代里。但偶然的一天。。。。。。
  • 一品嫡妃,农女驯夫记

    一品嫡妃,农女驯夫记

    一个是整日撕逼的深闺女。一个是文弱病娇的公子爷。本来八竿子打不着的两人却因为一次逼婚而错点了鸳鸯。看病治人?还是种田养家?是听女婿的?还是听媳妇的话。莫急莫急,娘子啊,不仅要医人,养家,还要生一堆胖娃娃!且看这位深闺女如何突破种种困难,种田养殖,发家致富,左抱帅锅,右抱钱财,走向人生巅峰!
  • 完美纪元

    完美纪元

    一代天骄,死于非命。大陆迸裂,谁主沉浮。汤屋山海,末日轮回。世间神话,重现人间。一位长城山脚走出的少年,在末日废墟后存活,大世的到来,传说中的仙人,神话中的佳话,科技与仙术的碰撞,复活的历史,现实与未来。
  • 人民的主张:1789—1814法国革命史

    人民的主张:1789—1814法国革命史

    本书以较近的距离、严谨的态度、丰富的史实和新颖的观点讲述了法国大革命、热月政变、督政府时期、执政府时期和第一帝国这一系列重大历史事件。在此书中,作者用阶级斗争的观点分析了法国大革命这一历史巨变,明确指出“革命是不可避免的”。他颂扬法国革命摧毁了旧社会,也认为恐怖统治与拿破仑一世专政都是法国阶级斗争的必然结果,预言复辟王朝必将为资产阶级政权所代替。
  • 比尔·盖茨用人的11条准则

    比尔·盖茨用人的11条准则

    比尔·盖茨带领的微软公司在二十多年里一直在飞速地发展,微软公司的软件大军像当年的蒙古军队一样横扫世界。那么比尔·盖茨是如何领导这么一支庞大的队伍勇往直前的呢?这大概是最值得管理学家们反思的地方。