LETTERS FROM HARTFORD, 1875.MUCH CORRESPONDENCE WITH HOWELLSOrion Clemens had kept his job with Bliss only a short time.His mental make-up was such that it was difficult for him to hold any position long.
He meant to do well, but he was unfortunate in his efforts.His ideas were seldom practical, his nature was yielding and fickle.He had returned to Keokuk presently, and being convinced there was a fortune in chickens, had prevailed upon his brother to purchase for him a little farm not far from the town.But the chicken business was not lively and Orion kept the mail hot with manuscripts and propositions of every sort, which he wanted his brother to take under advisement.
Certainly, to Mark Twain Orion Clemens was a trial.The letters of the latter show that scarcely one of them but contains the outline of some rainbow-chasing scheme, full of wild optimism, and the certainty that somewhere just ahead lies the pot of gold.Only, now and then, there is a letter of abject humiliation and complete surrender, when some golden vision, some iridescent soap-bubble, had vanished at his touch.Such depression did not last; by sunrise he was ready with a new dream, new enthusiasm, and with a new letter inviting his "brother Sam's" interest and investment.Yet, his fear of incurring his brother's displeasure was pitiful, regardless of the fact that he constantly employed the very means to insure that result.At one time Clemens made him sign a sworn agreement that he would not suggest any plan or scheme of investment for the period of twelve months.Orion must have kept this agreement.He would have gone to the stake before he would have violated an oath, but the stake would have probably been no greater punishment than his sufferings that year.
On the whole, Samuel Clemens was surprisingly patient and considerate with Orion, and there was never a time that he was not willing to help.
Yet there were bound to be moments of exasperation; and once, when his mother, or sister, had written, suggesting that he encourage his brother's efforts, he felt moved to write at considerable freedom.
To Mrs.Jane Clemens and Mrs.Moffett, in Fredonia, N.Y.:
HARTFORD, Sunday, 1875.
MY DEAR MOTHER AND SISTER,--I Saw Gov.Newell today and he said he was still moving in the matter of Sammy's appointment--[As a West Point cadet.]--and would stick to it till he got a result of a positive nature one way or the other, but thus far he did not know whether to expect success or defeat.
Ma, whenever you need money I hope you won't be backward about saying so --you can always have it.We stint ourselves in some ways, but we have no desire to stint you.And we don't intend to, either.
I can't "encourage" Orion.Nobody can do that, conscientiously, for the reason that before one's letter has time to reach him he is off on some new wild-goose chase.Would you encourage in literature a man who, the older he grows the worse he writes? Would you encourage Orion in the glaring insanity of studying law? If he were packed and crammed full of law, it would be worthless lumber to him, for his is such a capricious and ill-regulated mind that he would apply the principles of the law with no more judgment than a child of ten years.I know what I am saying.
I laid one of the plainest and simplest of legal questions before Orion once, and the helpless and hopeless mess he made of it was absolutely astonishing.Nothing aggravates me so much as to have Orion mention law or literature to me.
Well, I cannot encourage him to try the ministry, because he would change his religion so fast that he would have to keep a traveling agent under wages to go ahead of him to engage pulpits and board for him.
I cannot conscientiously encourage him to do anything but potter around his little farm and put in his odd hours contriving new and impossible projects at the rate of 365 a year--which is his customary average.
He says he did well in Hannibal! Now there is a man who ought to be entirely satisfied with the grandeurs, emoluments and activities of a hen farm--If you ask me to pity Orion, I can do that.I can do it every day and all day long.But one can't "encourage" quick-silver, because the instant you put your finger on it it isn't there.No, I am saying too much--he does stick to his literary and legal aspirations; and he naturally would select the very two things which he is wholly and preposterously unfitted for.If I ever become able, I mean to put Orion on a regular pension without revealing the fact that it is a pension.
That is best for him.Let him consider it a periodical loan, and pay interest out of the principal.Within a year's time he would be looking upon himself as a benefactor of mine, in the way of furnishing me a good permanent investment for money, and that would make him happy and satisfied with himself.If he had money he would share with me in a moment and I have no disposition to be stingy with him.
Affly SAM.
Livy sends love.
The New Orleans plan was not wholly dead at this time.Howells wrote near the end of January that the matter was still being debated, now and then, but was far from being decided upon.He hoped to go somewhere with Mrs.Howells for a brief time in March, he said.Clemens, in haste, replied:
To W.D.Howells, in Boston:
HARTFORD, Jan.26, 1875.
MY DEAR HOWELLS,--When Mrs.Clemens read your letter she said: "Well, then, wherever they go, in March, the direction will be southward and so they must give us a visit on the way." I do not know what sort of control you may be under, but when my wife speaks as positively as that, I am not in the habit of talking back and getting into trouble.Situated as I am, I would not be able to understand, now, how you could pass by this town without feeling that you were running a wanton risk and doing a daredevil thing.I consider it settled that you are to come in March, and I would be sincerely sorry to learn that you and Mrs.Howells feel differently about it.