OK. Sister-in-law. But there was a great quote associated with the billiard room: “There ought to be a room in this house to swear in. It’s dangerous to have to repress an emotion like that…Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.” Arianne Laidlaw Sacramento On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 7:29 PM, Rick Talbot <[log in to unmask]>wrote: > Did any of you READ this? It's funny. > > Bret and Kate Mckay wrote: > Mark Twain would often [ is twenty years "often"?] summer with his sister > [huh?] who lived in Elmira, New York. Needing a place where he could get > some work done, Twain built himself [who built it? ] a writing hut [hut? > What happened to octagon?] on his sister's [her again] property. Free from > distractions and inspired by the setting, Twain could write in peace and > quiet. In this sanctuary of manliness, ["manliness"? what did Twain say of > it?] Twain wrote some of his most widely read and manly works: Life on the > Mississippi, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and Adventures of > Huckleberry Finn. > > I love how Twain described his man space in an 1874 letter to William Dean > Howells: > > "It is the loveliest [ now THAT'S a manly way to put it!]study you ever > saw.octagonal with a peaked roof, each face filled with a spacious > window.perched in complete isolation on the top of an elevation that > commands leagues of valley and city and retreating ranges of distant blue > hills. It is a cozy nest [yeah, that's manly]and just room in it for a > sofa, > table, and three or four chairs, and when the storms sweep down the remote > valley and the lightning flashes [hey, is this guy..]behind the hills > beyond > and the rain beats upon the roof over my head-imagine the luxury of it." > [luxury? Cozy? Lovely? This guy sounds more like an interior decorator than > a man cave dweller] > > Cheers, Twainiacs. > Rick > > Richard Talbot > 1531 West Idaho Avenue > Falcon Heights, MN 55108-2118 > (651) 646-6624 > (651) 280 8734 > [log in to unmask] > > -----Original Message----- > From: Mark Twain Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John H. > Muller > Sent: Saturday, August 31, 2013 5:20 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: Mark Twain and Man Caves > > Fred Douglass checking in, too! > > > On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 6:18 PM, John Bird <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > > Mark Twain makes the list twice, famous man caves. Serious error about > > Quarry Farm, though: > > > > http://www.artofmanliness.com/2010/07/27/famous-man-caves/ > > > > ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ > > John Bird > > [log in to unmask] > > > > > > -- > John Muller > 202.236.3413 l [log in to unmask] > Capital Community News l Greater Greater Washington l Huffington Post DC > *Frederick Douglass in Washington, D.C: The Lion of > Anacostia< > http://www.amazon.com/Frederick-Douglass-Washington-D-c-Anacostia/ > > dp/1609495772/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=H42HP4SBZ8OA&coliid=I34O > MAR1SV8L9G> > * [The History Press, 2012] - Winner of 2013 DC > READS<http://www.dclibrary.org/dcreads> > http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/Douglassi > http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/JohnMul > Forthcoming: "Mark Twain in Washington, D.C.: The Adventures of a Capital > Correspondent" [The History Press, Fall 2013] > -- Arianne Laidlaw A '58