"Susy and Mark Twain" by Edith Colgate Salsbury, page 393 reads "Sam: The
authorship of the beautiful lines which my wife and I inscribed upon Susy's
gravestone was untraceable for a time.  We had found them in a book in
India, but had lost the book and with it the author's name.  But in time an
application to the editor of "Notes and Queries" furnished me the author's
name . . . and it has been added to the verses upon the gravestone."  Also,
in "Mark Twain, A Biography" by Albert Beigelow Paine, page 1024 reads
"These lines at first were generally attributed to Clemens himself.  When
this was reported to him he ordered the name of the Australian poet, Robert
Richardson, cut beneath them.  The word "southern" in the original read
"northern," as in Australia the warm wind is from the north.  Richardson
died in England in 1901."

Ruth Davis, Tourist Assistant
Mark Twain Birthplace SHS
----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, August 03, 2000 9:30 AM
Subject: Poem on Susy's headstone


> I have had a request to make available online the original text of
> Robert Richardson's poem -- lines from which Twain adapted for Susy's
> headstone.  Alan Gribben in _Mark Twain's Library: A Reconstruction_
> gives the official title as "Requiem" alternately titled "To Annette."
> Our reference librarian has been unable to locate a source for the
> complete text of the poem in _Granger's Index of Poetry_ or other
> various reference sources.
>
> Are there any recommended sources where the complete text of the
> original poem can be found? Or...
> The name of the book in which Twain originally found the poem?
>
> Thanks,
> Barb