lazy man, and certainly he was likely to avoid an undertaking not suited to his gifts, but he had energy in abundance for work in his chosen field.  To have piled up a correspondence of that size in the time, and under the circumstances already noted, quality considered, may be counted a record in the history of travel letters.

They made him famous.  Arriving in New York, November 19, 1867, Mark Twain found himself no longer unknown to the metropolis, or to any portion of America.  Papers East and West had copied his Alta and Tribune letters and carried his name into every corner of the States and Territories.  He had preached a new gospel in travel literature, the gospel of frankness and sincerity that Americans could understand.  Also his literary powers had awakened at last.  His work was no longer trivial, crude, and showy; it was full of dignity, beauty, and power; his humor was finer, worthier.  The difference in quality between the Quaker City letters and those written from the Sandwich Islands only a year before can scarcely be measured.

He did not remain in New York, but went down to Washington, where he had arranged for a private secretaryship with Senator William M. Stewart,—­[The “Bill” Stewart mentioned in the preceding chapter.] whom he had known in Nevada.  Such a position he believed would make but little demand upon his time, and would afford him an insight into Washington life, which he could make valuable in the shape of newspaper correspondence.

But fate had other plans for him.  He presently received the
following letter: 

                   From Elisha Bliss, Jr., in Hartford
                office of the American publishing company.

Hartford, Conn, Nov 21, 1867. 
Samuel L. Clemens Esq. 
Tribune Office, New York.

Dr. Sir,—­We take the liberty to address you this, in place of a letter which we had recently written and was about to forward to you, not knowing your arrival home was expected so soon.  We are desirous of obtaining from you a work of some kind, perhaps compiled from your letters from the East, &c., with such interesting additions as may be proper.  We are the publishers of A. D. Richardson’s works, and flatter ourselves that we can give an author as favorable terms and do as full justice to his productions as any other house in the country.  We are perhaps the oldest subscription house in the country, and have never failed to give a book an immense circulation.  We sold about 100,000 copies of Richardson’s F. D. & E. (Field, Dungeon and Escape) and are now printing 41,000, of “Beyond the Mississippi,” and large orders ahead.  If you have any thought of writing a book, or could be induced to do so, we should be pleased to see you; and will do so.  Will you do us the favor to reply at once, at your earliest convenience. 
                                   Very truly, &c.,
                                                  E. Bliss, Jr. 
                                                       Secty.