The Only Known Surviving Leaf of Twain’s Short Story “In Praise of Women,” in 1872

By 1872, Twain was already a popular figure on the lecture circuit. In August, he sailed for England, about which he planned to write a book. In September, operating from his London base, he met with the London literary establishment, made speeches, lectured (and claimed to avoid lecturing when possible), met Ambrose Bierce, and humorously complained about pirated editions of his work. He also commented on women’s suffrage, and with the subject of women on his mind, he prepared a satiric short story lampooning the attitudes of the day that placed women on a pedestal while keeping them in a cage.

The Royal Scottish Corporation is a charity that helps Scots in London suffering hardship or seeking to rebuild or improve their lives. It was founded in 1665 and remains active today. Twain was invited to speak at its anniversary festival in 1872, and he prepared a tale on the subect “In Praise of Women.” At the banquet, responding to the toast “The Ladies,” Twain rose and delivered his remarks; The London Observer newspaper printed them the next day. In 1875, Twain had this tale printed in “Sketches New and Old”, a group of fictional stories that included “The Jumping Frog”.

The story contains Twain’s humorous thoughts on history and the place of women and men in it, and contains mangled historical references (“What a great tidal wave of grief swept over us all when Joan of Arc fell at Waterloo. [Much laughter] Who does not sorrow for the loss of Sappho, the sweet singer of Israel? [Laughter]”. To close, he waxed more serious, saying “Woman is all that she should be – gentle, patient, long suffering, trustful, unselfish, full of generous impulses. It is her blessed mission to comfort the sorrowing, plead for the erring, encourage the faint of purpose, succor the distressed, uplift the fallen, befriend the friendless in a word, afford the healing of her sympathies and a home in her heart for all the bruised and persecuted children of misfortune that knock at its hospitable door. [Cheers.] And when I say, God bless her, there is none among us who has known the ennobling affection of a wife, or the steadfast devotion of a mother, but in his heart will say, Amen! [Loud and prolonged cheering].”

Early in the 20th century, the brief original manuscript of this story (perhaps just nine pages long) was apparently broken up. We say apparently because our research can account for one page, but not any others, and that one page was in the inventory of legendary autograph dealer Thomas Madigan in 1930. This is that very leaf from the “Scottish Banquet” tale, also known as “In Praise of Women,” perhaps the only page of this wonderful story to survive, and with the Madigan provenance.

Autograph Manuscript, London, fall of 1872, in which Twain attempts to recall a famous poem honoring the perfect woman; he cannot, and bungles his intended quote. “…the pathetic story culminates in that apostrophe–so wild, so regretful, so full of mournful retrospection. The lines run thus: ‘Alas! Alas! Alas! Alas! A-las! A–‘ and so on. I do not remember the rest; but, taken together, it seems to me that poem is the noblest tribute to woman that human genius has ever brought forth–and I feel that if…” Twain continued, not within this manuscript, “I were to talk hours I could not do my great theme completer or more graceful justice than I have now done in simply quoting that poet’s matchless words. The phases of the womanly nature are infinite in their variety. Take any type of woman, and you shall find in it something to respect, something to admire, something to love. And you shall find the whole joining you heart and hand.” This is a very early Twain holograph; “Tom Sawyer” was still four years in the future.