With love to you both,
Ever yours,
S. L. C.


In the foregoing letter we get the first intimation of Mark Twain's
failing health. The nephew who had died was Samuel E. Moffett, son
of Pamela Clemens. Moffett, who was a distinguished journalist--an
editorial writer on Collier's Weekly, a man beloved by all who knew
him--had been drowned in the surf off the Jersey beach.


To W. D. Howells, Kittery Point, Maine:

Aug. 12, '08.
DEAR HOWELLS,--Won't you and Mrs. Howells and Mildred come and give us as
many days as you can spare, and examine John's triumph? It is the most
satisfactory house I am acquainted with, and the most satisfactorily
situated.

But it is no place to work in, because one is outside of it all the time,
while the sun and the moon are on duty. Outside of it in the loggia,
where the breezes blow and the tall arches divide up the scenery and
frame it.

It's a ghastly long distance to come, and I wouldn't travel such a
distance to see anything short of a memorial museum, but if you can't
come now you can at least come later when you return to New York, for the
journey will be only an hour and a half per express-train. Things are
gradually and steadily taking shape inside the house, and nature is