TWAIN WOULD BE AN EXHIBIT.
Writes President Francis He Will Give Bribe for a Prize.
ST. LOUIS, June 13. - A letter from Samuel L. Clemens, (Mark Twain,) written prior to his wife's death, was received by President Francis of the World's Fair to-day. In part it follows:
"It has been a dear wish of mine to exhibit myself at the great fair and get a prize, but circumstances beyond my control have interfered. I used to get a medal for good spelling in school in Missouri half a century ago, and I ought to be able to repeat now. I got it several times by trading medals and giving boot. I am willing to give boot now if -- However, those days are forever gone by in Missouri, and perhaps it is better so.
"I suppose you will get a prize because you have created the most prodigious and, in all ways, the most wonderful fair the planet has even seen."
President Francis to-day received a letter from President Nicholas Murray Butler of Columbia University, stating that an anonymous donor had given the university $5,000, "to be applied toward assisting deserving and needy students of Columbia University to visit the Louisiana Purchase Exposition during the Summer vacation."
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[Note: The New York Times did not publish the most comprehensive text of Twain's letter that is included in this article. A more accurate version of this letter did appear in the Chicago Daily Tribune of this same date (June 14, 1904). The following is the letter that appeared in the Chicago Daily Tribune:
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Villa di Quarto, Firenze, May 26. -- Dear Gov. Francis: It has been a dear wish of mine to exhibit myself at the great fair and get a prize, but circumstances beyond my control have interfered, and I must remain in Florence. Although I have never taken prizes anywhere else, I used to take them in school in Missouri half a century ago, and I ought to be able to repeat now if I could have a chance. I used to get the medal for good spelling every week, and I could have had the medal for good conduct if there hadn't been so much corruption in Missouri in those days; still, I got it several times by trading medals and giving boot. I am willing to give boot now if -- However, those days are forever gone by, in Missouri, and perhaps it is better so. Nothing ever stays the way it was in this changeable world. Although I cannot be at the fair, I am going to be represented there, anyway, by a portrait by Prof. Gelli. You will find it excellent. Good judges say it is better than the original. They say it has all the merits of the original and keeps still besides. It sounds like flattery, but it is just true. I suppose you will get a prize because you have created the most prodigious and, in all ways, the most wonderful fair the planet has even seen. Well, you have indeed earned it. MARK TWAIN. |
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