Hello!
        It is a pleasure to be able to address everyone as a body of
workers, with interests and drives, in something we truly enjoy: the life
and work of Mark Twain, Samuel L. Clemens.  Obviously, the mirth of a full
life is contagious.
        But, rather than cast about scholarly ejaculations, praise full
only of our own insights, let us be calm and patient, like so many other
species of predators.  It seems now, so many are ready to posit conjecture
as profundity.  If only some could see around their own thought, they
would find so many circles, forming so many holes.  It seems ever so taxing
to ask for a careful reading, divested of the various puerile biases some
carry around with them.  It seems possible, in some circles, to be
under challenged, to not have enough to think about, without creating new,
fictitious problems of one's own.  A strange brand of scholarship, but it
fills the pockets. (Or so it seems.)
        Speaking of scholarship, I wanted to pass around an unsolicited
and unendorsed piece of gossip (which many of you already know as fact).
_Roughing_It_ is in the California Press and it is a beauty of a work.
You will seldom find such fine editorial work as that displayed by Harriet
Elinor Smith, Edgar Marquess Branch, Lin Salamo, and Robert Pack Browning
in any text.  Bar none.  The Introduction alone is well worth the price of
adding this volume to any collection.  The lucidity of the prose, combined
with the command of literary fact, seems ethereal, at times sublime, full
of careful thought.  To read the text, as it is presented here, is to at
last, encounter it.  The Explanatory Notes and the Textual Apparatus are
simply spellbinding.  Such depth of detail is precious and rare.  Get it
when you can.
        Any way, I have made a nuisance of myself.  Please feel free to
drop us a line at [log in to unmask]  As the Editorial Assistant, I
will be listening for your queries.  If you would like to visit the
Project at any time during a sojourn through the Bay, contact us, and
maybe we can see each other.  The Project is always open to researchers
needing texts, photos, and professional insight.  Drop by.
        By the way, if any of you are into to SGML, drop me a line.  I am
starting to plunge into this subject and would like your insights.  Thank
You.

Sincerely,

Simon J. Hernandez