Details
CLEMENS, SAMUEL LANGHORNE. Autograph letter signed ("Saml.") to his wife Livy in Ouchy, near Lausanne; St. Nicholas, Switzerland, 26 [August 1878]. 4 pages, 12mo, in pencil on light brown paper torn from a notebook, right margin of first sheet slightly ragged, a few words a shade faint, with original postmarked envelope (torn).
TRAMPING ABROAD
In early August 1878 Clemens and his long-time friend Joseph Twitchell set out to gather "material and adventures for a European travel book. The two went off on the 'tramp abroad' of the book's title [A Tramp Abroad, 1880], a walking tour -- by rail, carriage, and boat, as it turned out -- through the Black Forest and the Swiss Alps to Lausanne and Geneva" -- Justin Kaplan, Mr. Clemens & Mark Twain (New York, 1966), p. 212.
"We came through a-whooping, to-day, 6 hours tramp up steep hills & down steep hills, in mud & water shoe-deep, & in a steady pouring rain...I was as chipper & fresh as a lark all the way & arrived without the slightest sense of fatigue. But we were soaked, & my shoes full of water, so we at once stripped & went to bed for 2 1/2 hours while our traps were thoroughly dried, & our boots greased in addition...I have just telegraphed you to wire the family news to me at Riffle tomorrow. I do hope you are all well & having as jolly a time as we are -- for I love you sweetheart..." Running diagonally through the text on the third page Clemens has drawn a slight sketch of a mountain range and captioned it "The great mountain profile."
TRAMPING ABROAD
In early August 1878 Clemens and his long-time friend Joseph Twitchell set out to gather "material and adventures for a European travel book. The two went off on the 'tramp abroad' of the book's title [A Tramp Abroad, 1880], a walking tour -- by rail, carriage, and boat, as it turned out -- through the Black Forest and the Swiss Alps to Lausanne and Geneva" -- Justin Kaplan, Mr. Clemens & Mark Twain (New York, 1966), p. 212.
"We came through a-whooping, to-day, 6 hours tramp up steep hills & down steep hills, in mud & water shoe-deep, & in a steady pouring rain...I was as chipper & fresh as a lark all the way & arrived without the slightest sense of fatigue. But we were soaked, & my shoes full of water, so we at once stripped & went to bed for 2 1/2 hours while our traps were thoroughly dried, & our boots greased in addition...I have just telegraphed you to wire the family news to me at Riffle tomorrow. I do hope you are all well & having as jolly a time as we are -- for I love you sweetheart..." Running diagonally through the text on the third page Clemens has drawn a slight sketch of a mountain range and captioned it "The great mountain profile."