Evening star., 1946-02-03
Behind the Scenes
In Mark Twoin's
Publishing House
MARK TWAIN, BUSINESSMAN
Edited by Samuel Charles Web
ster. (Little, BrO11n. S4.)

ster. (Little, BrOlDn; $4.)
The purpose of this book is to
vindicate the editors father. The
editors father was Charles L. Web
ster, the husband of Mark Twain's
niece, Annie Moffett, and Marks
partner in the publishing business.
In the volume, Mark Twain in
Eruption" which was written in
1906 and came out under the editor
ship of Bernard De Voto in 1910,
there were derogatory references to
Mr.. Webster for his management
of the publishing venture.
AS the son puts it in his fore
word to the present volume, Mark
Twain attributes the failure of his
publishing house, Charles l.. Web
ster & Co., entirely to my father
- who had retired six years be-
fore the failure occurred" He then
states that the company was one
of the foremost in America up to
his fathers retirement and an
nounces that he will refute Marks
charges out of Marks own mouth.
Several hundred of Marks hitherto
unpublished letters, covering the
whole course of the publishing buSi-
ness, have been in his family's pos
session since they were written. He
uses these to answer the accusa-
tions made in the Eruption" They
answer them. Love Mark though
you may, you cannot escape the
fact that he contradicted himself
most discourteously. And that the
discourtesy fell on the head of
man who had served him well.
Dear Charley"
Mr.. Webster became Marks buSi-
ness partner and New York rep
resentative in 1881. Mark, who was
living in Hartford, protested that he
did not want to be bothered with
business affairs. Mr.. Webster, ad-
dressed always as Dear Charley"
was to attend to everything of a
business nature for him. He had
full powers. Then, having made
that setup and retired, allegedly, to
his Connecticut ivory tower, Mark
proceeded to lombard poor Charley
daily, and sometimes more than
daily, with letters and kilograms
which one can only describe as
passionately vivacious. In 1887
Charley retired because he had had
a complete breakdown. The wonder
to the reader is that he survived
SO long.
The summed-up effect of the
correspondence is simply that of
the violent energy of genius ex-
pressing itself in some of its less
by-productS. Mark was
writing his greatest books in this
period. But he was also inventing
patent bed clamps to keep babies
from throwing off the covers, hav-
ing trouble with his furnace, fight
ing infringement-real and imag-
his copyrights, needing
new sofas and water heaters for his
home, disputing bills with plumb
ers, trying to find jobs for hardup
relatives, devising elaborate games
for the teaching of English his
tory, experimenting with new ma
chimes for molding bookbinders'
brass stamps, fighting dozens OF
lawsuits, engaging in feverish stock
ventures, taking an interest in the
love affairs and going on
lecture tours. Somehow he saw all
these matters as falling within a
business partners province. Ex-
as if each new crisis were
the first and only one, he poured |
out his demands and complaints on |
The long suffering Charley's desk. A
typical letter is the one of october |
Is, 1858.
The Demands He Made.
In its first paragraph he directs
to send SIS monthly to an
relative. Then he ar
ranges a plan-Charley to execute
It-for having barracks built to shell
ter the guards standing by Gen.
Grants Tomb Then he urgently |
orders Charley to read all his mail,
whether marked personal or not,
and forward only what he cannot
answer himself, and follows up the
order by adding that he has left
some suggestion" for Charley's
guidance in the Office. Then come
,wo paragraphs about pending law
suit, which brings the letter proper
70 an end. A postscript adds,
Down on the pavement in front of
5chwartz's Is an old man who sells
:heap toys. I got gold watch and
,hain of him for a quarter or some
;uch price-for Jean; and I have
broken it. Let your boy go down
md get another and mail it to me;
or Jeans heart is broken"
Repeatedly through the years he
demands that Charley render him
iaily accounts of the progress of ali
lis multitudinous irons through the
ire, adding that it should not be
much trouble as usually there will
De nothing to report, but that he
Mark will then be at ease, since he
will know that there was nothing.
nd nowhere does he utter any
serious reproach or even make any
serious disagreement. His final
letter is as amiable as his
1rst one. But in 1906, when he
wrote the Eruption" he was able
% complain that he was Mr.. Web
'ter's slave" and that his tyrannical
partner had ruined the publishing
business.
His Ill-Fated Invention.
What ruined the publishing busi-
1ess was, as has already been well
the impossible drain on
Marks finances which was created
oy his sponsorship of the Paige type
setting machine. The present COL
ection of letters furnishes renewed
evidence of the fabulous sums which b
1e poured out for that ill-fated in
Yention. 1
The volume is not limited to the !
,eriod of the publishing business.
Mr. Webster, making a clean sweep {
If all the letters which remain in (
he possession of the Clemens FAM L
ly, finds correspondence dating back
% Marks boyhood. This material, |,
however, is of only incidental inter-