already in press. He would withdraw his apology in the next number

of Every Saturday, if Mark Twain said so. Mark Twain's response

this time assumed the proportions of a letter.

****

To Thomas Bailey Aldrich, in Boston:

472 DELAWARE ST., BUFFALO, Jan. 28.

DEAR MR. ALDRICH,--No indeed, don't take back the apology! Hang it,

I don't want to abuse a man's civility merely because he gives me the

chance.

I hear a good deal about doing things on the "spur of the moment"--I

invariably regret the things I do on the spur of the moment. That

disclaimer of mine was a case in point. I am ashamed every time I think

of my bursting out before an unconcerned public with that bombastic

pow-wow about burning publishers' letters, and all that sort of

imbecility, and about my not being an imitator, etc. Who would find out

that I am a natural fool if I kept always cool and never let nature come

to the surface? Nobody.

247

The Letters Of Mark Twain, Complete