A Family Sketch and Other Private WritingsThis book publishes, for the first time in full, the two most revealing of Mark TwainÕs private writings. Here he turns his mind to the daily life he shared with his wife Livy, their three daughters, a great many servants, and an imposing array of pets. These first-hand accounts display this gifted and loving family in the period of its flourishing. Mark Twain began to write ÒA Family SketchÓ in response to the early death of his eldest daughter, Susy, but the manuscript grew under his hands to become an exuberant account of the entire household. His record of the childrensÕ sayingsÑÒSmall FoolishnessesÓÑis next, followed by the related manuscript ÒAt the Farm.Ó Also included are selections from LivyÕs 1885 diary and an authoritative edition of SusyÕs biography of her father, written when she was a teenager. Newly edited from the original manuscripts, this anthology is a unique record of a fascinating family. Ê |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
A Family Sketch | 13 |
A True Story Repeated Word for Word | 43 |
A Record of the Small Foolishnesses | 51 |
At the Farm | 95 |
Mark Twain | 105 |
About the Texts | 165 |
About the Illustrations | 173 |
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Common terms and phrases
asked aunt Clara aunt Susie Autobiography Beecher began biography born breakfast Buffalo Bill Charles child Clara Spaulding Crane daughter dear delightful donkey editor Elmira Family Sketch father funny George German nurse Grant hand Harriet Beecher STOWE Hartford house heard Henry Ward Beecher Jean Jews jist knew Lady Jane Grey Langdon letter lived Livy Livy's mamma Mamma and papa manuscript Mark Twain House Mark Twain Papers Mark Twain Project Mary Mary Mapes Dodge Mind Cure Miss months morning mother never niggers night nursery o’clock Olivia papa’s Patrick play pretty Prince and Pauper published punishment Quarry Farm Rosa Shelley Fisher Fishkin shuvels Sir Ector Small Foolishnesses Sour Mash Susan Susie's Susy Clemens Susy’s talk tell thing thought told took wanted Warner wife William Dean HOWELLS words write written wrote York