On Thu, 24 Jun 1999, Kenneth M. Sanderson wrote:

> Gregg:
>
> Well, what did Mr. Duhigg find for you?

P 439 of the Twain-Howells Letters,  22 August, 1883, "I must speculate in
something, such being my nature."  He foudn it in Vol three of _N&J_,
where it appears, among other things, as a chapter title!

>
> What I found was: "But I was born with the speculative instinct and I did
> not want that temptation put in my way." (Notebook 32, TS p. 14, cited in
> _Mark Twain's Correspondence with Henry Huttleston Rogers_, 337n1). 'Tis a
> poor thing, but 'tis mine own.
>
> I do have a feeling that, like the punch lines to jokes that appear over
> and over in his notebooks, Clemens probably expressed his awareness of his
> inclination to speculate many times, in many places--though not often
> enough, one might say.
>
> You do come up with interesting requests for help.
>
> Ken
>
I'm happy to keep your days interesting.

Gregg