ldn't it be? Practice helps.

P. S. I thought I had sent all our loves to all of you, but Mrs. Clemens
says I haven't. Damn it, a body can't think of everything; but a
woman thinks you can. I better seal this, now--else there'll be more
criticism.

I perceive I haven't got the love in, yet. Well, we do send the love of
all the family to all the Howellses.

S. L. C.

There had been some delay and postponement in the matter of
the play which Howells and Clemens agreed to write. They
did not put in the entire month of October as they had
planned, but they did put in a portion of that month, the
latter half, working out their old idea. In the end it
became a revival of Colonel Sellers, or rather a caricature
of that gentle hearted old visionary. Clemens had always
complained that the actor Raymond had never brought out the
finer shades of Colonel Sellers's character, but Raymond in
his worst performance never belied his original as did
Howells and Clemens in his dramatic revival. These two,
working together, let their imaginations run riot with
disastrous results. The reader can judge something of this
himself, from The American Claimant the book which Mark
Twain would later build from the play.

But at this time they thought it a great triumph. They had
"cracked their sides" laughing over its construction, as
Howells once said, and they thought the world would do the
same over its performance. They decided to offer it to
Raymond, but rather haughtily, indifferently, because any
number of other actors would be waiting for it.

But this was a miscalculation. Raymond now turned the
tables. Though favorable to the idea of a new play, he
declared this one did not present his old Sellers at all,
but a lunatic. In the end he returned the MS. with a brief
note. Attempts had already been made to interest other
actors, and would continue for some time.

XXIV. LETTERS, 1884, TO HOWELLS AND OTHERS. CABLE'S GREAT APRIL FOOL.
"HUCK FINN" IN PRESS. MARK TWAIN FOR CLEVELAND. CLEMENS AND CABLE.

Mark Twain had a lingering attack of the dramatic fever that
winter. He made a play of the Prince and Pauper, which
Howells pronounced "too thin and slight and not half long
enough." He made another of Tom Sawyer, and probably