文摘

In the morning of life came a good fairy with her basket, and said:

Some days ago a correspondent sent in an old typewritten sheet, faded by age, containing the following letter over the signature of Mark Twain:

The origin of this distressful thing was this--and I assert here that every fact in the following resume can be amply proved by the official records of the General Government.

I have resigned. The government appears to go on much the same, but there is a spoke out of its wheel, nevertheless.

I was feeling blithe, almost jocund. I put a match to my cigar, and just then the morning's mail was handed in. The first superscription I glanced at was in a handwriting that sent a thrill of pleasure through and through me.

'Yes, I will tell you anything about my life that you would like to know, Mr. Twain,' she said, in her soft voice, and letting her honest eyes rest placidly upon my face, 'for it is kind and good of you to like me and care to know about me.'