Autobiography of Mark Twain

by Mark Twain

  107.19–20 William E. Dodge’s house, or . . . at Cleveland Dodge’s] William E. Dodge and his son, philanthropist and financier Cleveland H. Dodge (1860–1926), both owned estates in Riverdale. Their wealth derived from the family business, founded by William’s father (of the same name), which dealt in metals (“Dodge Family Gets $20,000,000 Estate,” New York Times, 28 July 1926, 21; Riverdale Census 1900, 1127:10A; Social Register 1902, 100; see AutoMT1, 558 n. 269.24–26).

  107.20–21 George W. Perkins’s house] Perkins (1862–1920), a partner in J. P. Morgan and Company and vice-president of the New York Life Insurance Company, was another Riverdale neighbor. In mid-1903 he bought the house the Clemenses were leasing; by then it was owned by Frank A. Munsey, who had purchased it in April 1902 from Appleton’s heirs. In recent years Perkins had become one of the most important financiers on Wall Street, and was now purchasing contiguous properties on the Hudson River to create a large estate (“Perkins the Wonder,” Los Angeles Times, 10 May 1903, B4; 30 June 1903 to Perkins, NRivd2; “Literary and Trade Notes,” Publishers’ Weekly, 26 Apr 1902, 1014; Wave Hill 2011).

  107.29–30 I have already told a sufficiency of the history of our eight months’ occupancy of that infamous place] See “Villa di Quarto” (AutoMT1, 230–49 and notes on 539–42).

  Autobiographical Dictation, 11 June 1906

  109.7 Franklin MacVeagh] MacVeagh (1837–1934) was a Chicago businessman, lawyer, and banker who later (in 1909–13) served as secretary of the treasury. In early June 1906 he went to Europe, returning to his summer home in Dublin in August. Clemens had socialized with him in Dublin the previous summer (“News of the Society World,” Chicago Tribune, 20 May 1906, 13; Lyon 1906, entry for 25 Aug).

  109.16 household consisting of six or eight persons] The Dublin household included Jean Clemens, Isabel Lyon, Albert Bigelow Paine, stenographer-typist Josephine Hobby, and the following staff: Jean’s maid (Anna), a cook (Mary), a coachman (George O’Connor), and a “waitress” (Katherine). In addition, they enjoyed the company of Jean’s dog (Prosper) and three kittens “rented” for the season (Lyon 1906, entries for 18 June, 30 Aug, and 18 Oct; JC 1900–1907, entry for 30 Apr 1906).

  109.17–20 Alexander Selkirk . . . horrible place] Alexander Selkirk (1676–1721) was marooned for over four years on an uninhabited island three hundred and fifty miles off the coast of Chile. His ordeal, which is thought to have inspired Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719), is also the subject of William Cowper’s “Verses Supposed to Be Written by Alexander Selkirk” (1782), which Clemens slightly misquotes here.

  109.37–110.4 Early in April came the great irruption of Vesuvius . . . account by the Younger Pliny of the overwhelming of Herculaneum and Pompeii] A major eruption of Vesuvius began in 1905 and climaxed the following year. Between 5 and 18 April 1906 repeated eruptions destroyed several towns and killed hundreds of people. Detailed accounts of the disaster appeared daily in the New York Times (Banks and Read 1906, 338–50). Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, known as Pliny the Younger (A.D. 62?–?113), was a prominent and wealthy Roman. From a location across the bay of Naples, he witnessed the eruption of Vesuvius which buried Herculaneum and Pompeii under volcanic debris in a.d. 79. Several years later he described the event in two letters to the historian Tacitus. On 10 April the New York Times published English translations of Pliny’s letters (“When Vesuvius Buried Pompeii in A.D. 79,” 2).

  110.18 obliteration of San Francisco by earthquake and fire] The San Francisco earthquake of 18 April 1906, and the fires that erupted in its wake, destroyed over twenty-eight thousand buildings, killed some three thousand people, and rendered homeless more than half of the city’s population. The damage totaled over $8 billion in today’s dollars (Cherny 2008).

  Autobiographical Dictation, 12 June 1906

  111.18 One friend of mine] Unidentified.

  111.21 a young couple] Unidentified.

  111.27–29 thirty-eight years since I last saw San Francisco . . . chief and only reporter] Clemens describes his 1864 job at the Morning Call in the Autobiographical Dictation of 13 June 1906. He left San Francisco in December 1866, returning only once, for several months, in 1868 (AutoMT1, 509 n. 150.1–2).

  111.35–112.14 husband of Madame Sembrich . . . little creature was not frightened] Marcella Sembrich (1858–1935), born in Austrian Poland, was a child prodigy on the piano and violin who ultimately became an operatic soprano. She performed at many European venues before making her New York debut in 1883, and sang with the Metropolitan Opera Company from 1898 to 1909. Her husband, Guillaume Stengel-Sembrich (1846–1917), was a pianist and one of Sembrich’s teachers. The Metropolitan company arrived in San Francisco the day before their opening performance on 16 April, and were scheduled to present thirteen different operas in as many days (“Guillaume Stengel Dies at the Gotham,” New York Times, 16 May 1917, 13; San Francisco Chronicle: “Amusements,” 18 Mar 1906, 42; “Grand Opera Stars Arrive,” 16 Apr 1906, 7). Clemens may have taken the details of his dictation from a story in the New York Times of 25 April, which reported Sembrich’s account of her ordeal. She explained that during her first attempt to return to her room in the St. Francis Hotel she met a “second shock, which sent me hurrying to the street”:

  But I could not stay out without some sort of wear other than my night clothes, and I went back a second time. It was a climb of six flights of stairs, and on the third floor the third shock came. I kept on and got this suit I have on and my jewels. . . . We bundled blankets, some crackers, and a little whisky into a wagon and went to the beach near the Presidio. Thousands of people had gathered there, and there were many animals. Among Chinese, Japanese, negroes, and all races we slept that night on the beach, nothing between us and the sky save our blankets. (“Conried’s Singers Hug and Kiss Him,” New York Times, 25 Apr 1906, 6)

  Sembrich and Clemens were acquainted: the previous November she had written to congratulate him on his seventieth birthday. He thanked her, and wrote her again on 30 April, “Welcome back to life again, dear Madame Sembrich, after that stupendous adventure!” (1 Dec 1905 and 30 Apr 1906 to Sembrich, NBolS).

  112.18–24 I was in what was called the “Great Earthquake” . . . because I was a newspaper reporter, and was thankful] On 8 October 1865 an earthquake caused significant damage to buildings not only in San Francisco but as far away as San Jose and Santa Cruz. At that time Clemens was corresponding for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise and had just agreed to write dramatic criticism for the San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle (ET&S2, 289, 294, 297). He wrote several humorous sketches about the event: two letters to the Enterprise (“The Cruel Earthquake,” SLC 1865b, and “Popper Defieth Ye Earthquake,” SLC 1865c); a brief article in the Dramatic Chronicle (“Earthquake Almanac,” SLC 1865d); and a longer account in the New York Weekly Review (“The Great Earthquake in San Francisco,” SLC 1865f).

  112.30–34 Professor William James . . . had no feeling of fright or fear] Psychologist and philosopher William James (1842–1910) taught at Harvard University from 1873 to 1907, and was a visiting lecturer at Stanford when the earthquake occurred. Clemens was familiar with at least two of his works: The Principles of Psychology (1890) and The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902) (Gribben 1980, 1:351). The two men had also corresponded in 1900 about the efficacy of Jonas Kellgren’s treatments for heart disease, and they shared an interest in “mind cure” (17 Apr 1900 and 23 Apr 1900 to James, MH-H; AD, 21 Dec 1906, note at 330.34). The “published letter” Clemens alludes to here was an article entitled “On Some Mental Effects of the Earthquake,” published in the Youth’s Companion for 7 June 1906 (80:283–84). In it James described his reaction when the temblor was “shaking the room exactly as a terrier shakes a rat”:

  The emotion consisted wholly of glee and admiration; glee at the vividness which such an abstract idea or verbal term as “earthquake” could put on when translated into sensible reality and verified concretely; and admiration at the way in which the frail little
wooden house could hold itself together in spite of such a shaking. I felt no trace whatever of fear; it was pure delight and welcome. . . .

  I ran into my wife’s room, and found that she, although awakened from sound sleep, had felt no fear, either. Of all the persons whom I later interrogated, very few had felt any fear while the shaking lasted. (William James 1983, 331–32)

  113.7–20 “little Ward,” . . . had reached the age of sixty-five] Lewis P. Ward (1837–1903) was a compositor on the San Francisco Alta California when Clemens shared a room with him in San Francisco in 1865. A Civil War veteran, he also taught gymnastics and performed in fencing exhibitions. When the two old friends corresponded briefly in 1888–89, Ward found Clemens to be the “same whole-souled, good fellow that you were when I last saw you, 24 years ago” (San Francisco Census 1900, 107:3A; Goodman to SLC, 2 Oct 1903, CU-MARK; National Park Service 2012; CofC, 223; Ward to SLC, 23 Feb 1889, CU-MARK; for Steve Gillis see AutoMT1, 569 n. 295.5–15).

  113.21–23 Steve Gillis and his brother Jim . . . young sons and daughters of the family] Clemens mentions boarding with the Gillis family in San Francisco—in 1864 and again in 1865—in the Autobiographical Dictation of 19 January 1906. He became friends with Steve Gillis when working on the Enterprise in Virginia City, and stayed with Jim and Billy Gillis in their cabin at Jackass Hill in the winter of 1864–65 (see AutoMT1, 295, 569 n. 295.5–15).

  113.38–114.4 I am the eldest son of the eldest of the Gillis sisters . . . he was thirty-seven] The eldest Gillis sister, Theresa Ann (1843–1929), married Henry Williams, a stockbroker born in England. In 1906, her eldest (and only surviving) son was Henry Alston Williams (1864–1941). The other Gillis sisters were Mary Elizabeth (Mollie, 1846–1916) and Francina California (1849–1916) (Evans, Gillis, and Williams 1970).

  Autobiographical Dictation, 13 June 1906

  114.23–26 I was a reporter on the Morning Call . . . Mr. Barnes’s idea, and he was the proprietor] Clemens was the local reporter for the Call from June to October 1864. For George Barnes, see AutoMT1, 536 n. 226.36–37.

  114.33–34 court interpreter . . . familiar with fifty-six Chinese dialects] Charles T. Carvalho (1834?–70), the official court interpreter, was a native of Java (“Death of Charles T. Carvalho,” San Francisco Bulletin, 31 Jan 1870, 3; CofC, 76–77; San Francisco Mortality Schedules 1870, 74).

  115.12 “Uncle Remus”] Author Joel Chandler Harris (AutoMT1, 532–33 n. 217.25–27; see also AD, 16 Oct 1906).

  115.16–17 I took the pen and spread this muck out in words and phrases] Much of Clemens’s local reporting is collected in Clemens of the “Call”; for the theater and crime news described here see “The Stage” (CofC, 93–98) and “Part Two: Crime and Court Reporter” (CofC, 139–205).

  115.38–39 The Call could not afford to publish articles criticising the hoodlums for stoning Chinamen] Clemens had previously described this incident in a May 1870 Galaxy article, “Disgraceful Persecution of a Boy”: “Brannan street butchers set their dogs on a Chinaman who was quietly passing with a basket of clothes on his head; and while the dogs mutilated his flesh, a butcher increased the hilarity of the occasion by knocking some of the Chinaman’s teeth down his throat with half a brick” (SLC 1870a, 723). Later in 1870 he used the attack in a Galaxy sketch entitled “Goldsmith’s Friend Abroad Again,” in which some jeering young men set a fierce dog on a Chinese man. Two policemen at first ignore him, then beat and arrest him for “being disorderly and disturbing the peace” (SLC 1870b, 571). In an 1880 letter to Howells Clemens recalled the “degraded ‘Morning Call,’ whose mission from hell & politics was to lick the boots of the Irish & throw bold brave mud at the Chinamen” (3 Sept 1880, Letters 1876–1880).

  115.41–116.6 Day before yesterday’s New York Sun . . . from one end of the United States to the other] Clemens describes a “special cable despatch” from the London correspondent for the Sun, published on the front page on 10 June 1906. The article, entitled “Blow to America Abroad,” noted that recent revelations about Chicago meat packers “have come as a climax to a long series of exposures with which American telegrams to English and European papers have teemed for many months,” citing the life insurance scandal in particular (see AutoMT1, 549 n. 257.6–9). The dispatch (the only one that has been found) made no specific reference, however, to the other instances of graft that Clemens mentions, in municipal government and the railroad industry. Stories about corruption in Philadelphia and St. Louis had been appearing in newspapers since at least early 1905. More recently, in May 1906, the officials of the Pennsylvania Railroad had come under scrutiny for granting lower freight charges to coal companies in return for gifts of stock (see, for example, New York Times: “Railroad Officials Got Rich Gifts of Stock,” 17 May 1906, 1; “High Railroad Men Called,” 22 May 1906, 6; Washington Post: “Responsibility for Ring Rule,” 21 Apr 1905, 6; “Nation’s Awakening,” 25 Nov 1905, 5).

  116.7–8 to-day’s lurid exposure, by Upton Sinclair, of the . . . Beef Trust] Upton Sinclair (1878–1968) published his novel The Jungle in serial form in 1905, and it became a best-selling book in early 1906. Its horrifying description of the Chicago stockyards and revelations about the sale of tainted meat awakened public outrage against the Beef Trust (a conglomerate of the three largest Chicago meat-packing firms, Swift, Armour, and Morris). The Sun’s London correspondent commented that even “a cleaning of the Augean stables at Chicago” would not suffice “to restore European belief in American honesty” (“Blow to America Abroad,” New York Sun, 10 June 1906, 1; “Report on Beef Trust,” Wall Street Journal, 5 June 1906, 7). Clemens wrote to Sinclair on 22 June 1906: “In dictating the morning’s chapter in my autobiography one day last week, I uttered a paragraph, which indicates that I realize the magnitude and effectiveness of the earthquake which ‘The Jungle’ has set going under the Canned Polecat Trust of Chicago”; he then quoted his own remarks from this dictation (“Mark Twain on ‘The Jungle,’” Eau Claire [Wis.] Leader, 7 Aug 1906, unknown page).

  116.8–10 an exposure which has moved the President . . . hands of the doctor and the undertaker] After reading The Jungle President Roosevelt ordered an investigation and forwarded the resulting report to Congress on 4 June, urging immediate action. The Meat Inspection Act, which he signed into law on 30 June, provided a permanent appropriation for the inspection of animals before and after slaughter, and established regulations to ensure the safety of meat products (“Report on Beef Trust,” Wall Street Journal, 5 June 1906, 7; “Congress Passes Three Big Bills,” Chicago Tribune, 30 June 1906, 1, 4).

  116.10–12 According to that correspondent . . . an honest male human creature left in the United States] The Sun correspondent opined that “it becomes the duty, however painful, of any conscientious correspondent to inform his countrymen of the indictment which the world at large is bringing against them and to warn them that it is not corporate criminals alone who are being arraigned. It is the whole American people who stand to-day at the bar of public opinion before their sister nations” (“Blow to America Abroad,” New York Sun, 10 June 1906, 1).

  116.16–17 swore off my taxes] See AutoMT1, 573 n. 304.11.

  116.39–40 He called him Smiggy McGlural] Clemens’s colleague on the Call was William K. McGrew (1827–1903), who was also undoubtedly the man he recalls here. The nickname “Smiggy McGlural” was borrowed from the title of a humorous song popular in the early 1860s. McGrew was born to a wealthy family, but lost his inheritance in the financial panic of 1857. He took a position on the New York Times, but after the death of his wife he began a series of remarkable travels: he crossed the continent on foot three times and walked from Central America to San Francisco, supporting himself by playing the flute. In 1864 he was a relatively new Call employee, and he went on leave in the fall of 1865. He returned to his position intermittently until 1889, when he resigned to practice law (San Francisco Census 1900, 103:13B; CofC, 18–19, 304 nn. 62–63; ET&S2, 546; Waltz and Engle 2011; San Francisco Chronicle: “A Fat
al Accident,” 3 Oct 1893, 5; “Deaths,” 1 May 1903, 13).

  117.21–22 Morning Call building … nothing was left but the iron bones] The nineteen-story Call building (later known as the Spreckels building), erected in 1897 at Market and Third streets, was for many years the tallest edifice west of the Mississippi. It was badly damaged by the 1906 fire, but its steel frame remained intact, and the building, reconstructed and remodeled, still stands today (Himmelwright 1906, 231–34).

  117.33–37 in the Magnalia . . . nothing left but the man himself] Magnalia Christi Americana; or, The Ecclesiastical History of New-England, from Its First Planting in the Year 1620 unto the Year of Our Lord, 1698 was the greatest work of Puritan minister Cotton Mather (1663–1728). The work was first published in London in 1702; Clemens owned the first American edition, issued in 1820 in two volumes (Gribben 1980, 1:457). The passage that Clemens remembers has not been identified.

  117.40–42 In those ancient times . . . Bret Harte as private secretary of the Superintendent] In 1864 the Call was located in a new brick building at 612 Commercial Street, next door to the United States Branch Mint. The superintendent of the mint, Robert B. Swain (1822–72), rented offices in the building; Harte worked as his secretary from 1863 to 1869, a position that left him ample time to write (CofC, 12, 227–28; 29 Dec 1868 to Langdon, L2, 363 n. 9; Scharnhorst 2000a, 18). Clemens describes Swain’s patronage of Harte in the Autobiographical Dictation of 14 June 1906.

  118.3–5 Harte was doing a good deal of writing for The Californian . . . I was a contributor] Harte edited the Californian from 10 September to 19 November 1864, and was probably responsible for accepting Clemens’s first nine literary contributions to the journal (25 Sept 1864 to JLC and PAM, L1, 314 n. 5). Harte described his “Condensed Novels” as “a humorous condensation of the salient characteristics of certain writers” (Harte 1867). These parodies of well-known authors—such as James Fenimore Cooper, Charles Dickens, and Victor Hugo—were widely praised. The first two appeared in the Golden Era in August 1862, and the series continued in the Californian from July 1865 to June 1866. In 1867 Harte collected all fifteen pieces in Condensed Novels. And Other Papers (New York: G. W. Carleton and Co.) (Scharnhorst 1995, 83–84, 92–98; Scharnhorst 2000a, 25–26).