I'm curious. As the 1853 letter to his mother was published in the Hannibal journal that same fall, why doesn't that count as the earliest published use? --- On Sun, 5/2/10, Robert Hirst <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > From: Robert Hirst <[log in to unmask]> > Subject: that makes it two wrong > To: [log in to unmask] > Date: Sunday, May 2, 2010, 10:09 AM > Barb Schmidt points out that the 1 > November 1856 Snodgrass letter > beats the "River Intelligence." > > Kerry Driscoll points out that Letter IV of "Letters from > the Earth" > (October-November 1909) beats the letter to Dorothy Quick. > > Now why did I stay up all night to get my answers? >