CLEMENS, Samuel L. (“Mark Twain”) (1835-1910). Autograph letter signed (“SL. Clemens”) to Margery H. Clinton, New York, 2 December 1907. 1 page on bifolium, 8vo (152 x 102 mm), on personal stationary, old fold. MARK TWAIN THE “PILOT”. Clemens thanks a long-time friend for sending him a remembrancer, or birthday card (he had just turned 72 years old on November 30th). Inquiring about her safe passage home, he concludes with a joking reference to his own time piloting steamboats on the Mississippi River: “I am glad you got safely home. If I had piloted you all through as inefficiently as I began, I’m afraid you wouldn’t have reached home at all”. Twain described his boyhood in Life on the Mississippi, stating that “there was but one permanent ambition” among his comrades: to be a steamboatman. Twain became a licensed steamboat pilot in 1859 after apprenticing under Horace Bixby who took Twain on as a cub pilot to teach him the river between New Orleans and St. Louis. He enjoyed the work and became familiar with the river, its channels, and its hazards, however, the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 brought an end to commercial traffic on the Mississippi River, and Twain’s career as a steamboat pilot came to an abrupt halt. After leaving the river, Twain tried his hand at various jobs, including gold prospecting and journalism. It was during his time as a journalist that he adopted the pen name “Mark Twain,” a term used by riverboatmen to indicate that the water was deep enough for safe passage. While Twain’s career as a steamboat pilot was relatively short-lived, lasting from 1859 to 1861, it played a significant role in shaping his perspective and providing material for his later writings. His experiences on the Mississippi River often found their way into his stories, contributing to the vivid and authentic portrayal of life along the river in his literary works. According to Robert H. Hirst, General Editor of the Mark Twain Project at The Bancroft Library, this appears to be the very first letter (of some five or six that survived) to Margery H. Clinton, the young daughter of Charles W. and Emily G. Clinton. Margery became known to Twain as “the plumber”, or “official plumber”, occasionally signing her letters to him “Margery Clinton, O.P.” She continued to visit Twain more or less frequently, with and without her parents, until his death in 1910 (see accompanying TLS, dated 22 July 1983).