| | 223 | Author: | Thornton, W. M. | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Letter from W. M. Thornton to Carter Thornton, April 14, 1896; [a
machine-readable transcription]  | | | | Published: | 1995 | | | | Description: | I sent off a long
letter to mamma on yesterday. Tonight
I hear that her second draft has come
and so I shall scratch this note off
for you and begin to think that you
are really coming home again, when
the money for your steamer tickets has
to be sent on. I shall surely be glad
to see you. The two troubled, sorrow-
ful years seem very long and very lone-
ly and I wonder now that I could
brave a second and a worse one after
the unhappy first. Today real dig-
ging began for our new buildings.
The other contracts are not yet let out
and will not be until May. But it
makes us all feel more cheerful to have
any actual work going on. Jack had
a card from Mrs. Stapleton this even-
ing announcing her safe arrival at
Hamburg. She is with you long since,
of course, and you have extracted all
her news. I trust she is more cheerful
under the German skies and that
the climate and life will be good
for her. She is fond of music and
will enjoy that, I know; and I think
she will be glad to be with your
mamma and Janet once more. Is
it not queer how your mamma's
little canary has perked up since
he got home? He never sang a note
from the day he left the UVa on his
journey to Montana. A few days
after I got him back I heard him
apparently trying his throat, and
now he wakes me almost every
morning, warbling away as soon as the skies brighten—
not so sweetly as of old, but still real singing again. He
would be a little buzzard, however, if he did not sing now.
The Spring is fairly opening, the air is soft and mild, and
the mocking birds are fluting away for dear life. This little
fellow is ashamed to be left out of the concert. I shall
send your mamma two announcements which will inter-
est and amuse her — one of Becnel's graduation as Doc-
tor of Medicine at the Tulane (I told her of meeting him
there) — the other of Mayberry's marriage to Miss Rhett
of Charleston. I think that is doing pretty well for both
of our old friends. The Dramatic Club had to postpone
their Easter entertainment because of Jennie Randolph's
illness. They telegraphed for Lizzie Harrison to take her place
and Lizzie is to come; but she will need some time to learn
the part and rehearse thoroughly and so the play was put
off for two or three weeks. Mary Stuart went off yesterday
to Roanoke on a visit and to be for a time under her Uncle
Willie's professional care. The poor little child looks badly
and I am afraid no doctor can do a great deal for her.
Her cheerfulness and high spirit are undaunted however;
she is always bright and gay and full of interest in life.
Dearest love to all of you from the Doc up to mamma. Write me
a line when you can. We are all well, and the various invalids of
our community are all doing nicely. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 224 | Author: | Thornton, John T. | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Letter from John T. Thornton to Mrs. E. Rosalie Thornton, Oct. 27, 1895 [a
machine-readable transcription] | | | | Published: | 1995 | | | | Description: | I write to let you know of a most
fearful calamity which has befallen the dear old
University. This morning I heard cries of fire and
found that the Annex was in flames. Everyone
was running to the Rotunda and soon a large
crowd was assembled. No water could be gotten as
high as the flames, only a miserable little stream
of water about six feet in length came from the
hose when at the level of the ground. In response
to telegrams, Lynchburg and Richmond sent
their engines by special trains, but the Lynchburg
engine was delayed in the road and did not
arrive within an hour of the expected time.
I received a telegram from Richmond when the
fire had been almost put out & wired back not
to send the engine. Their was nothing to do but
to try to keep the fire from Buckmaster's and
Tuttle's houses and to save all that was within
the Rotunda and annex. They tried to blow
up the portico between the Annex and the
rotunda in the hope that, if the engine should
arrive in time, the lib Rotunda might be saved
But all to no purpose. Soon the flames had gained
possession of the Rotunda and nothing is now
left standing but the bare and ruined walls.
The boys worked like fiends to save all that was
possible. Kent estimates that only 1/10 of the books
was saved but he is wrong—In my opinion at
least 1/3 or over were saved. The Austin Collection was
lost entirely. The statue of Jefferson, Minor's bust,
the pictures were saved in fairly good condition.
The School of Athens was lost. Uncle Frank's valuable
physical apparatus was carried out but the greater
part so broken as to be practically useless.
Only 25000 insurance wh. no where near covers
the loss. Is estimated that 75000 will scarcely
rebuild the rotunda and annex to say nothing
of loss in books and instruments. No change in
lectures which will continue as usual, the classes
meeting in Wash Hall, Temperance Hall, Museum
and Professor's offices. Papa is back in his old
room — 5 W.L. where the chairman's office will be.
Papa is so busy that he cannot write to you to
night and told me to let you know of the loss.
Am so exhausted myself that I cannot write much.
The Professors are taking it bravely — not lamenting
the past but making plans for the future.
You can imagine how distressed everyone is.
I myself, now that the excitement has worn
off, am getting more and more miserable
every minute and I can't expressed to you
my sorrow. I love this old University with all
my heart and if I who am comparatively young
am so grieved what must be the distress of those
old professor's who have worked for the University
so long and lectured so often within those
now ruined walls! What a number of blows have
struck this University within the year you have been
away! Misfortune after misfortune has crippled
its usefulness and now that this crowning glory of
the University, this building planned and built by
Jefferson, this splendid library, our so famous copy
of the School of Athens, the dear old clock that
never kept time, should be destroyed seems the
seems to be the crowning evil and the worst that
this Nemesis who pursues us could let fall on
our heads. Horrible! horrible! horrible! The things
gets worse the more I think about it. However
lamentations do no good. We can only depend
on state aid and the generosity of our alumni.
Have just opened a telegram from Geo. Anderson of
Richmond saying that he wanted to start a
subscription immediately. Telegrams of sympathy
come from all sides. O'Ferral seems especially
interested. That is a good sign that the state will help
us. Some taking a cheerful view of the situation
say that in the end it will benefit the U Va. by
bringing her more before the people. Cannot offer
any opinion on that subject. Thank you very much
for the beautiful pair of gloves and more especially for
thinking of me and of my 20th anniversary. Had
intended to write you a special letter of thanks to-day
but am too tired and miserable. Love to the children
and yourself. Excuse hasty scribble, & believe me | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 225 | Author: | Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Letter, Mark Twain, Hartford, CT, to Fred J. Hall, 1890 Dec 27 [a machine-readable transcription] | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Description: | I don't believe Whitford.
Webster was too big a coward
to bring a suit when advised
against it. The real mistake
was in trusting law business
to an ignorant, blethering
gas-pipe like Whitford.
I am not saying this in
hatred, for I do not dislike
Whitford. He is simply a
damned fool — in Court —
& will infallibly lose every
suit you put into his hands.
If you are going to have
any [illeg.]lawsuits with Gill,
I beg that you will either
compromise or have
some other law conduct
the thing. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 226 | Author: | Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The Regular Toast. Woman—God Bless Her [a machine-readable transcription] | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Description: | The toast includes
the sex, universally: it is to Woman,
comprehensively, wheresoever
she may be found. Let us con-
sider her ways. First, comes the
matter of dress. This is a most
important consideration, in a
subject of this nature, & must
be disposed of before we can
intelligently proceed to examine the profounder
depths of the theme. For text, let
us take the dress of two antipodal
types — the savage woman of
Central Africa, & the cultivated
daughter of our high modern
civilization. Among the
Fans, a great negro tribe, a woman,
when dressed for breakfast, or
home, or to go to market, or go out
a pick-up dinner, or to sit at home,
or to go out calling, or to a simple or to take a simple tea with
friends & neighbors, or to go out
calling, does not wear anything
at all but just her complexion.
That is all; that is her entire
outfit. It is the lightest cos-
tume in the world, but is made
of the darkest material. It has
often been mistaken for mourning.
It is the trimmest, & neatest, & grace-
fulest costume that is now in
fashion; it wears well, is fast
colors, doesn't show dirt; you
don't have to send it down town
to wash, & have some of it come
back scorched with the flat-iron, &
some of it with the buttons ironed
off, & some of it petrified with
starch, & some of it chewed by the
calf, & some of it rotted with
acids, & some of it exchanged
for other customers' things that
haven't any virtue but holiness,
& don't fit you anyhow,
& ten-twelfths of the pieces over-
charged for, & the rest of the dozen
stolen"mislaid." And it always fits; it is the
perfection of a fit. And it is the
handiest dress in the whole realm
of fashion. It is always ready, always "done up."
When you call on a Fan lady &
send up your card, the hired
girl never says, "Please take
a seat, madam is dressing —
she will be down in three-quarters
of an hour." No, madam is
always dressed, always ready
to receive; & before you can get
the door-mat before your eyes, she
is in your midst. And the hired
girl never has to say to a lady
visitor, "Please excuse madam,
she is undressing;" & even if
she ever had to bring such an
excuse at all, she wouldn't say
it in that way: she would say,
"Please excuse madam, she's skins,
not herself!" Then again, the
Fan ladies don't go to church to
see what each other has got on;
& they don't go back home & describe
it & slander it. The farthest they
ever go is to say some little biting
thing about the ultra fashionables | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 230 | Author: | Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Letter, Mark Twain, Langham Hotel, London, to (Elisha) Bliss, (1873) Jul 7 [a machine-readable transcription] | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Description: | Finally concluded
not to go to Paris.
So you can take
the Herald letters &
put them in a pam-
phlet along with the
Enclosed article
about the Jumping
Frog in French,
(which is entirely new)
& then add enough
[Written in margin:
I enclose Prefatory remarks,
"To the Reader." You can mention,
if you choose, that the Frog article
has not been printed before.
of my old sketches to
make a good fat
25 cent pamphlet
& let it slide — but
don't charge more
than 25c nor less.
If you haven't a
Routledge edition of
my sketches to select
from you will find
one at my house or
Warner's. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 232 | Author: | Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Letter, Mark Twain, Hartford, CT, to "Miss Harriet," 1876 Jun 14 [a machine-readable transcription] | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Description: | I am a long
time answering your
letter, my dear Miss
Harriet, but then you
must remember that
it is an equally long
time since I received
it — so that makes us
even, & nobody to blame
on either side. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 234 | Author: | Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Letter, Mark Twain, New York, to "Dear Folks" (Jane Clemens et al), 1867 Apr 15 [a machine-readable transcription] | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Description: | I need not have hurried
here so fast, but I didn't know
that. All passages had to be se-
cured & the Twelve hundred & fifty
dollars fare paid in to-day the
15th, for the Holy Land Excursion,
& so I had to be here I thought —
but the first man I met this
morning was the chief of the
Alta bureau with a check
for $1,250 in his hand & a tele-
graphic dispatch from the
proprietors of the Alta say-
ing "Ship Mark Twain in the
Holy Land Pleasure Excursion
& pay his passage." So we
just went down & attended to the
matter. We had to wait awhile,
because the chief manager was
not in & we did not make our-
selves known. A newspaper
man came in to get & asked
how many names were booked
& what notabilities were going, &
a fellow (I don't know who he
was, but he seemed to be connected
with the concern,) said "Lt. Gen.
Sher-
man, Henry Ward Beecher & Mark
Twain are going, & probably Gen.
Banks!" I thought that was very good — an exceedingly good joke for
a poor ignorant clerk. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 235 | Author: | Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Letter, Mark Twain, Hartford, CT, to (George) Bentley, 1877 Sep 15 [a machine-readable transcription] | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Description: | I sent you No. 1 of
a series of 4 articles which
I have been writing for
the Atlantic Monthly, &
with this I enclose No. 2.
I saw Mr. Chatto in New
York lately, & told him
he could have these ad-
vance sheets for one
of his magazines in case
you did not wish to use
them. I have just writ-
ten Mr. Chatto that I have
not heard from you &
therefore cannot inform
him whether you want
the advance sheets or
not. I have suggested
that he inquire of you. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 237 | Author: | Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Mark Twain, New York, to Joseph H. Twichell, 1868 Nov 28 [a machine-readable transcription] | | | | Published: | | | | | Description: | Sound the loud timbrel! —
& let yourself out to your to your most
prodigious capacity — for I have fought
the good fight & lo! I have won! Re-
fused three times — warned to
quit, once
— accepted at last! — & beloved! —
Great Caesar's ghost, if there were a
church in town with a steeple high
enough to make it an object, I would
would go out & jump over it! And
I persecuted her parents for 48 hours
& at last they couldn't stand the siege
any longer & so they made a conditional
surrender: — which is to say, if
she
[illeg.] makes up her mind thoroughly
& eternally, & I prove that I have
done nothing criminal or particularly
shameful in the past, & establish a
good character in the future & settle
down, I may take the sun out of their
domestic firmament, the angel out of
their fireside heaven. [Thunders of
applause.] She felt the first symp-
toms last Sunday — my lecture, Mon-
day night, brought the disease to the
surface — Tuesday & Tuesday night
she avoided me & would not do more
than be simply polite to me because
her parents said NO absolutely
(al-
most,) — Wednesday they capitulated &
marched out with their side-arms
— Wednesday night — she said over
& over & over again that she loved
me but was sorry she did & hoped
it would yet pass away — Thursday
I was telling her what a splendid
magnificent fellows you & your
wife were, & when my enthusiasm
got the best of me & the tears sprang
to my eyes, she just jumped up &
said she was glad & proud [illeg.] she
loved me! — & Friday night I left
(to save her sacred name from the
tongues of the gossips — & the last
thing she said was: "Write
im-
mediately & just as often as
you
can!" Hurra! [Hurricanes
of applause.] There's the history of it. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 238 | Author: | Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Letter to Elisha Bliss | | | | Published: | 2001 | | | | Description: | Finally concluded not to go to Paris. So you can take the Herald letters & put them in a
pamphlet along with the enclosed article about the Jumping Frog in French, (which is entirely
new) & then add enough [along side of paper: I enclose prefatory remarks, "To the
Reader." You can mention, if you choose, that the Frog article has not been printed before] of
my old sketches to make a good fat 25 cent pamphlet & let it slide — but don't
charge more than 25 c[ents] nor less. If you haven't a Routledge edition of my
sketches to select from you will find one at my house or Warner's. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
|
