...and on the gentian subject, there's that tale of the day Clemens "tried
out" 1601 on Twichell in the fall of 1876 on their regular eight-mile walks
from Nook Farm to Bartlett's Tower on Talcott Mountain:


“There was a grove of hickory trees by the roadside, six miles out, and
close by it was the only place in that whole region where the fringed
gentian grew. On our return from the Tower we used to gather the gentians,
then lie down upon the grass upon the golden carpet of fallen hickory leaves
and read it by the help of these poetical surroundings. We used to laugh
ourselves lame and sore over the cupbearer's troubles.”



Steve Courtney
Terryville, CT