"The
main part of our house in Hartford is built, & the servants have
moved in...It is going to be a delightful
house, & of good size--111 x 87 feet on the ground & 3 stories
high...The house
does not look large, but has a
modest aspect. It is on high ground, & in such a glorious breezy
place, overlooking a small
sloping bank, with a
small running brook at the base." letter to
Francis D. Finlay, 4.23.1874, Elmira, NY, as quoted in Mark
Twain's
Letters, Vol. 6
"You
may look at the house or the grounds from any point of view, you
choose, & they are simply exquisite. It
is a quiet, murmurous, enchanting poem done in the solid elements of
nature. The
house & the barn do not seem
to have been set up on the grassy slopes & levels by laws &
plans &
specifications--it seems as if they grew up out
of the ground &
were part & parcel of nature's handiwork. The harmony of size,
shape,
color--everything--is
harmonious. It is a home--& the word never
had so much meaning before."
letter to Olivia L. Clemens, 7.3.1874,
Hartford, CT, as quoted in Mark
Twain's Letters, Vol. 6
