Letter from Mark Twain to Governor Francis about Exhibiting His Portrait at the St. Louis World's Fair, 1904

Entire text of letter:

"Villa di Quarto, Florence, Italy" stationery

May 26, [19]04

Dear Governor Francis:

It has been a dear wish of mine to exhibit myself at The Great Fair & get a prize but circumstances beyond my control have interfered, & I must remain in Florence. Although I have never taken prizes anywhere else I used to take them in school in Missouri half a century ago, & I ought to be able to repeat, now, if I could have a chance. I used to get the medal for good spelling every week, & I could have had the medal for good conduct if there hadn't been so much corruption in Missouri in those days, still, I got it several times by trading medals & giving boot. I am willing to give boot now, if--however, those days are forever gone by in Missouri, & perhaps it is better so. Nothing ever stays the way it was, in this changeable world.

Although I cannot be at the Fair, I am going to be represented there, anyway, by a portrait by Professor Gelli. You will find it excellent. Good judges here say it is better than the original. They say it has all the merits of the original, & keeps still besides. It sounds like flattery, but it is just true. I suppose you will get a prize, because you have created the most prodigious & in all ways most wonderful Fair the planet has ever seen. Very well, you have indeed earned it, & with it the gratitude of the State of The Nation.

Sincerely Yours

[signed] Mark Twain