Sincerely yours,

S. L. CLEMENS.

The series of letters which follows was prepared by Mark Twain and

General Fred Grant, mainly with a view of advertising the lecture

that Clemens had agreed to deliver for the benefit of the Robert

Fulton Monument Association. It was, in fact, to be Mark Twain's

"farewell lecture," and the association had really proposed to pay

him a thousand dollars for it. The exchange of these letters,

however, was never made outside of Mark Twain's bed-room. Propped

against the pillows, pen in hand, with General Grant beside him,

they arranged the series with the idea of publication. Later the

plan was discarded, so that this pleasant foolery appears here for

the first, time.

PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL

(Correspondence)

Army Headquarters (date)

MARK TWAIN, New York,--Would you consider a proposal to talk at Carnegie

Hall for the benefit of the Robert Fulton Monument Association, of which

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The Letters Of Mark Twain, Complete