The passage is published in MARK TWAIN’S NOTEBOOKS AND JOURNALS, Vol 3,
1883-1891, p. 606. UCal Press, 1979.

Barb

On Tuesday, March 2, 2021, Dave Davis <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Thanks! I have since found the lines (quoted elsewhere in WWW-land, but not
> with a citation:
>
> "Huck comes back, 60 years old, from nobody knows where—and crazy. Thinks
> he is a boy again, and scans always every face for Tom and Becky, etc. Tom
> comes at last from . . . wandering the world and tends Huck, and together
> they talk the old times, both are desolate, life has been a failure, all
> that was lovable, all that was beautiful, is under the mold. They die
> together. ” -- 1891 (?)
>
> On Tue, Mar 2, 2021 at 5:16 PM Bird, John C. <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > I believe it is in the Notebooks, although I do not have the volumes
> handy.
> >
> > John
> >
> >
> >
> > Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
> >
> >
> >
> > -------- Original message --------
> > From: Dave Davis <[log in to unmask]>
> > Date: 3/2/21 5:09 PM (GMT-05:00)
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: [EXTERNAL] Citation to a discussion of the MT fragment about Tom
> > and Huck as old men
> >
> > IIRC, he jotted down about 10 lines of a projected tale in which Huck
> > returns as a senile old man, not realizing that he's been gone from St.
> > Petersburg for decades, and begins asking around for their old friends;
> > after which sad scene, Tom is located and calms him down, comforting him
> > ...
> >
> > And that's all. Where did I read that? It's not in anything I have on my
> > shelf, except possibly the (full) Autobiography?
> >
> > Thanks for any and all pointers.
> >
> > /DDD
> >
> > CAUTION: This message originated from an external source
> >
>