nnial. I was
driven nearly distracted by his long account of Mr. Howells and his
wanderings. I would keep asking if they ever got there, he would never
answer but made me listen to a very minute account of everything that
they did. At last I found them back where they started from.

If you find misspelled words in this note, you will remember my
infirmity and not hold me responsible.

Affectionately yours,

LIVY L. CLEMENS.

In spite of his success with the Sellers play and his itch
to follow it up, Mark Twain realized what he believed to be
his literary limitations. All his life he was inclined to
consider himself wanting in the finer gifts of character-
shading and delicate portrayal. Remembering Huck Finn, and
the rare presentation of Joan of Arc, we may not altogether
agree with him. Certainly, he was never qualified to
delineate those fine artificialities of life which we are
likely to associate with culture, and perhaps it was
something of this sort that caused the hesitation confessed
in the letter that follows. Whether the plan suggested
interested Howells or not we do not know. In later years
Howells wrote a novel called The Story of a Play; this may
have been its beginning.

*****

To W. D. Howells, in Boston:

FARMINGTON AVENUE, HARTFORD, Apl. 26, 1875.

MY DEAR HOWELLS,--An actor named D. H. Harkins has been here to ask me
to put upon paper a 5-act play which he has been mapping out in his mind
for 3 or 4 years. He sat down and told me his plot all through, in a
clear, bright way, and I was a deal taken with it; but it is a line of
characters whose fine shading and artistic development requires an abler
hand than mine; so I easily perceived that I must not make the attempt.
But I liked the man, and thought there was a good deal of stuff in him;
and therefore I wanted his play to be written, and by a capable hand,
too. So I suggested you, and said I would write and see if you would be
willing to undertake it. If you like the idea, he will call upon you
in the course of two or three weeks and describe his plot and his
characters. Then if it doesn't strike you favorably, of course you can
simply decline; but it seems to me well worth while that you should hear
what he has to say. You could also "average" him while he talks, and
jud