MT as Y

During Livy's last illness, the doctors felt she needed to be kept so quiet that her husband was only allowed into her room for a few minutes every day. Thus for over a year MT regularly wrote notes which her caretakers took into Livy, signing most of the notes "Y," an abbreviation for "Youth," which had long been Livy's own special name for her husband. MT began writing these notes in 1903, while the couple lived in the States, and continued writing them after they moved to Florence. The experts at the Mark Twain Project date this note from April, 1904, just two months before Livy's death.

Marjorie Fleming was a Scottish child who died early in the 19th century at the age of 8, leaving a diary full of thoughts and words that seemed precocious for a young girl; this was first published fifty years after her death, and then re-edited a number of times. MT is quoting here from an edition that had just appeared. I have to admit I'm not certain how Livy, who never stopped grieving for Susie Clemens, might have reacted to the reference to a mother who has lost a child.