to meet the Chief Executive.  His own letter to Howells, later, probably does not give the real reason of his failure, but it will be amusing to those who recall the erratic personality of George Francis Train.  Train and Twain were sometimes confused by the very unlettered; or pretendedly, by Mark Twain’s friends.

To W. D. Howells, in Boston: 

Baltimore, May 1, ’77.  My dear Howells,—­Found I was not absolutely needed in Washington so I only staid 24 hours, and am on my way home, now.  I called at the White House, and got admission to Col.  Rodgers, because I wanted to inquire what was the right hour to go and infest the, President.  It was my luck to strike the place in the dead waste and middle of the day, the very busiest time.  I perceived that Mr. Rodgers took me for George Francis Train and had made up his mind not to let me get at the President; so at the end of half an hour I took my letter of introduction from the table and went away.  It was a great pity all round, and a great loss to the nation, for I was brim full of the Eastern question.  I didn’t get to see the President or the Chief Magistrate either, though I had sort of a glimpse of a lady at a window who resembled her portraits. 
                                   Yrs ever,
          
                                   Mark.

Howells condoled with him on his failure to see the President, “but,” he added, “if you and I had both been there, our combined skill would have no doubt procured us to be expelled from the White House by Fred Douglass.  But the thing seems to be a complete failure as it was.”  Douglass at this time being the Marshal of Columbia, gives special point to Howells’s suggestion.

Later, in May, Clemens took Twichell for an excursion to Bermuda.  He had begged Howells to go with them, but Howells, as usual, was full of literary affairs.  Twichell and Clemens spent four glorious days tramping the length and breadth of the beautiful island, and remembered it always as one of their happiest adventures.  “Put it down as an Oasis!” wrote Twichell on his return, “I’m afraid I shall not see as green a spot again soon.  And it was your invention and your gift.  And your company was the best of it.  Indeed, I never took more comfort in being with you than on this journey, which, my boy, is saying a great deal.”

To Howells, Clemens triumphantly reported the success of the
excursion.

To W. D. Howells, in Boston: 

Farmington Avenue, Hartford, May 29, 1877.  Confound you, Joe Twichell and I roamed about Bermuda day and night and never ceased to gabble and enjoy.  About half the talk was—­“It is a burning shame that Howells isn’t here.”  “Nobody could get at the very meat and marrow of this pervading charm and deliciousness like Howells;” “How Howells would revel in the quaintness, and the simplicity