"There was a moment of throbbing suspense, and then,
to the surprise and comfort of the party, it was plain
that the august presence had gone by, for its dreadful noises were receding.
Uncle Dan'l headed a cautious reconnoissance in the direction of the log.
Sure enough `The Lord' was just turning a point a short distance up the river,
and while they looked, the lights winked out and the coughing
diminished by degrees and presently ceased altogether.

"`H'wsh! Well now dey's some folks says dey ain't no 'ficiency in prah.
Dis chile would like to know whah we'd a ben now if it warn't fo' dat prah?
Dat's it. Dat's it!'"

There follows a discussion as to whether or not the prayer caused
the apparition to go by, of which of course Uncle Dan'l has no doubt.
The apparition reappears and Uncle Dan'l betakes himself to prayer again,
this time a long way off.

I wrote the authors of `The Gilded Age' and asked the source
of `Uncle Daniel's Apparition and Prayer'. Mr. Clemens kindly replied
that he is the author of the piece, and that it is pure fiction
without either history or tradition back of it.

A comparison of the two stories shows some differences.
The scene in the one case is the Alabama River, in the other the Mississippi.
Moreover, the PERSONNEL is different. The Negro man in Twain's story
is about forty, in Lanier's he is old and has been blind for forty years.
Another difference Mr. Sidney Lanier points out to his wife
in his letter of October 1, 1874: "Cliff's and my `Power of Prayer'
will come out in the Scribner's; probably in the `Etchings'