letter. It is the letter of a boy of seventeen who is beginning to

take himself rather seriously--who, finding himself for the first

time far from home and equal to his own responsibilities, is willing

to carry the responsibility of others. Henry, his brother, three

years younger, had been left in the printing-office with Orion, who,

after a long, profitless fight, is planning to remove from Hannibal.

The young traveler is concerned as to the family outlook, and will

furnish advice if invited. He feels the approach of prosperity, and

will take his mother on a long-coveted trip to her old home in the

spring. His evenings? Where should he spend them, with a free

library of four thousand volumes close by? It is distinctly a

youthful letter, a bit pretentious, and wanting in the spontaneity

and humor of a later time. It invites comment, now, chiefly because

it is the first surviving document in the long human story.

He was working in the printing-office of John A. Gray and Green, on

Cliff Street, and remained there through the summer. He must have

written more than once during this period, but the next existing

letter--also to Sister Pamela--was written in October. It is

perhaps a shade more natural in tone than the earlier example, and

there is a hint of Mark Twain in the first paragraph.

To Mrs. Moffett, in St. Louis:

The Letters Of Mark Twain, Complete