Actually, he was in the habit of jotting
on the margin of the page, opposite to some startling characterization
or diabolic joke: "Not to be published until ten (or twenty, or thirty)
years after my death." One day I heard him vent his pent-up rage, in
bitter and caustic words, upon a certain strenuous, limelight American
politician. I could not resist the temptation to ask him if this, too,
were going into the Autobiography. "Oh yes," he replied, decisively.
"Everything goes in. I make no exceptions. But," he added
reflectively, with the suspicion of a twinkle in his eye, "I shall make
a note beside this passage: 'Not to be published until one hundred and
fifty years after my death'!"
Mark Twain had numerous "doubles" scattered about the world. The number
continually increased; once a month on an average, he would receive a
letter from a new "double," enclosing a photograph in proof of the
resemblance. Mark once wrote to one of these doubles as follows:
MY DEAR SIR--
Many thanks for your letter, with enclosed photograph.
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