On 4/15/08 10:18 AM, "Steve Courtney" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > And after Susie died in 1896, Clemens wrote that Twichell was the only one he > wanted to correspond with because he had "the touch that heals, not > lacerates." Hartford. Nov.2.1897 Dear old Mark; We have been reading, and re-reading, and again reading your ³In Memoriam² with the accompaniment of a gray autumn sky and the falling leaves to blend with its unspeakable heart=breaking sadness; its aching, choking pathos. It sets all chords of memory and of love a tremble. It renews the pain of the sense of Lifeıs inscrutable mystery, and of the mystery of human experience. It renews, also, (may I say?) the deep and solemn gladness of the faith that God in whose awful Hand we all are held, is, when you get to the end of things, Love. But I will not talk about it: in fact it seems to impose hush and silence upon me. This, however, I would say: if there be those who are thinking ³Can this be Mark Twain?² I am not one of them. I have long known that it was in you to chant the music of the hidden soul conversing with the Fathomless Elements, and as I followed your yearning throbbing song of Grief and inextinguishable Regret, my inward comment was ³It is he: none other than my Mark Twain.² Mark: it made me love you so that it hurt; and, of course, I felt Livy and the girls behind you; the whole dear group was there; with the beloved Shadow in the midst; and bending over all, the angel of Tears and Sorrow. ³Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning², says the Old book. God send you the dawn of that fulfillment soon. But I trust He is already sending it. . . . . Yours everlastingly Oh, Iıve got lots to tell you! Joe Harold K. Bush, Ph.D Associate Professor Dept. of English, Saint Louis University St. Louis, MO 63108 314-977-3616 (w); 314-771-6795 (h) <www.slu.edu/colleges/AS/ENG/faculty/hbush.html> Quote of the moment: "Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something." --Henry David Thoreau