Mark Twain's quotation about memory - the mystery of multiple versions

[Garson O'Toole]

Mark Twain formulated a famous quotation about the fallibility of
memory, but the version he published originally in 1907 was modified
significantly in 1912, I think. Further, a third modified version was
published in 1924. (I would appreciate feedback from someone who can
double-check these quotations, or someone who knows about another
variant, or someone who can provide another perspective.)

The 1907 variant was published within a chapter from the autobiography
that Twain was creating. Twain's initial joke was different and
arguably more subtle than the joke given in later versions of the
quotation. Here is an extensive excerpt to show the context.

Cite: 1907 March 1, The North American Review, Memories of a Southern
Farm: A Chapter From Mark Twain's Autobiography – XIII by Mark Twain,
Start Page 449, Quote Page 451, Franklin Square, New York, [University
of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa.] (Verified on microfilm)

My brother Henry was six months old at that time. I used to remember
his walking into a fire outdoors when he was a week old. It was
remarkable in me to remember a thing like that, which occurred when I
was so young. And it was still more remarkable that I should cling to
the delusion, for thirty years, that I did remember it — for of course
it never happened; he would not have been able to walk at that age. If
I had stopped to reflect, I should not have burdened my memory with
that impossible rubbish so long. It is believed by many people that an
impression deposited in a child's memory within the first two years of
its life cannot remain there five years, but that is an error. The
incident of Benvenuto Cellini and the salamander must be accepted as
authentic and trustworthy; and then that remarkable and indisputable
instance in the experience of Helen Keller—however, I will speak of
that at another time. For many years I believed that I remembered
helping my grandfather drink his whiskey toddy when I was six weeks
old, but I do not tell about that any more, now; I am grown old, and
my memory is not as active as it used to be. When I was younger I
could remember anything, whether it had happened or not; but my
faculties are decaying, now, and soon I shall be so I cannot remember
any but the things that happened. It is sad to go to pieces like this,
but we all have to do it.

Twain's joke was counterintuitive because he was arguing, in a sense,
that memory improved as one aged. Impossible and hence inaccurate
memories were rejected. But the version in 1912 changed this.

Cite: 1912, Mark Twain, A Biography: The Personal and Literary Life of
Samuel Langhorne Clemens by Albert Bigelow Paine, Volume 3, Page 1269,
Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York and London. (Google Books full
view)

In a prefatory note to these volumes I have quoted Mark Twain's own
lovely and whimsical admission, made once when he realized his
deviations:

"When I was younger I could remember anything, whether it happened or
not; but I am getting old, and soon I shall remember only the latter."

At another time he paraphrased one of Josh Billings's sayings in the
remark: "It isn't so astonishing, the number of things that I can
remember, as the number of things I can remember that aren't so."

http://books.google.com/books?id=XnRaAAAAMAAJ&q=%22happened+or%22#v=snippet&

In the original quote Twain is saying that as he gets older he is
remembering "things that happened." In the 1912 quote provided by
Albert Bigelow Paine Twain is saying that he remembers things that did
not happen.

In the 1924 version of Twain's autobiography the word "never" has been
inserted into the text of the 1907 quotation.

Cite: 1924, Mark Twain's Autobiography by Mark Twain, Volume 1, Page
95-96, Harper & Brothers, New York and London. (Verified on paper)

For many years I believed that I remembered helping my grandfather
drink his whisky toddy when I was six weeks old, but I do not tell
about that any more, now; I am grown old and my memory is not as
active as it used to be. When I was younger I could remember anything,
whether it had happened or not; but my faculties are decaying now, and
soon I shall be so I cannot remember any but the things that never
happened. It is sad to go to pieces like this, but we all have to do
it.

Garson

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org