s step. It will be dust and
ashes when I come again.

He had never seen the far upper river, and he found it very satisfying.
His note-book says:

The bluffs all along up above St. Paul are exquisitely beautiful
where the rough and broken turreted rocks stand up against the sky
above the steep, verdant slopes. They are inexpressibly rich and
mellow in color; soft dark browns mingled with dull greens--the very
tints to make an artist worship.

In a final entry he wrote:

The romance of boating is gone now. In Hannibal the steamboat man is no
longer the god.

CXLI. LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY

Clemens took a further step toward becoming a publisher on his own
account. Not only did he contract to supply funds for the Mississippi
book, but, as kaolatype, the chalk-engraving process, which had been
lingeringly and expensively dying, was now become merely something to
swear at, he had his niece's husband, Webster, installed as Osgood's New
York subscription manager, with charge of the general agencies. There
was no delay in this move. Webster must get well familiarized with the
work before the Mississippi book's publication.

He had expected to have the manuscript finished pretty promptly, but the
fact that he had promised it for a certain time paralyzed his effort.
Even at the farm he worked without making much headway. At the end of
October he wrote Howells:

The weather turned cold, and we had to rush home, while I still
lacked thirty thousand words. I had been sick and got delayed. I
am going to write all day and two-thirds of the night until the
thing is done or break down at it. The spur and burden of the
contract are intolerable to me. I can endure the irritation of it
no longer. I went to work at nine o'clock yesterday morning and
went to bed an hour after midnight. Result of the day (mainly
stolen from books though credit given), 9,500 words, so I reduced my
burden by one-third in one day. It was five days' work in one. I
have nothing more to borrow or steal; the rest must all be written.
It is ten days' work and unless something breaks it will be finished
in five.

He had sworn once, when he had finally finished 'A Tramp Abroad', that
he would never limit himself as to time again. But he had forgotten that
vow, and was suffering accordingly.

Howells wrote from London urging him to drop everything and come over to
Europe for refres