The other letter mentioned was written to the ‘Christian Union’, inspired by a tale entitled, “What Ought We to Have Done?” It was a tale concerning the government of children; especially concerning the government of one child—­John Junior—­a child who, as it would appear from the tale, had a habit of running things pretty much to his own notion.  The performance of John junior, and of his parents in trying to manage him, stirred Mark Twain considerably—­it being “enough to make a body’s blood boil,” as he confesses—­and it impelled him to set down surreptitiously his impressions of what would have happened to John Junior as a member of the Clemens household.  He did not dare to show the communication to Mrs. Clemens before he sent it, for he knew pretty well what its fate would be in that case.  So he took chances and printed it without her knowledge.  The letter was published July 16, 1885.  It is too long to be included entire, but it is too illuminating to be altogether omitted.  After relating, in considerable detail, Mrs. Clemens’s method of dealing with an unruly child—­the gentleness yet firmness of her discipline—­he concludes: 

The mother of my children adores them—­there is no milder term for it—­and they worship her; they even worship anything which the touch of her hand has made sacred.  They know her for the best and truest friend they have ever had, or ever shall have; they know her for one who never did them a wrong, and cannot do them a wrong; who never told them a lie, nor the shadow of one; who never deceived them by even an ambiguous gesture; who never gave them an unreasonable command, nor ever contented herself with anything short of a perfect obedience; who has always treated them as politely and considerately as she would the best and oldest in the land, and has always required of them gentle speech and courteous conduct toward all, of whatsoever degree with whom they chanced to come in contact; they know her for one whose promise, whether of reward or punishment, is gold, and always worth its face, to the uttermost farthing.  In a word, they know her, and I know her, for the best and dearest mother that lives—­and by a long, long way the wisest....

In all my life I have never made a single reference to my wife in print before, as far as I can remember, except once in the dedication of a book; and so, after these fifteen years of silence, perhaps I may unseal my lips this one time without impropriety or indelicacy.  I will institute one other novelty:  I will send this manuscript to the press without her knowledge and without asking her to edit it.  This will save it from getting edited into the stove.

Susy’s biography refers to this incident at considerable length.  She states that her father had misgivings after he had sent it to the Christian Union, and that he tried to recall the manuscript, but found it too late.  She sets down some comments of her own on her mother’s government, then tells us of the appearance of the article: