In May, William Dean Howells, Clemens' good friend and editor of the Atlantic Monthly, informed Clemens that he was going to publish his own review of Colonel Sellers in the June issue of the Atlantic and that it would shine favorably on Raymond. On May 7th, Clemens responded, in part:
I'm glad you are shouting for Raymond; & if I were there I would look through the MS & see if there was a crevice where you might casually remark that Raymond has not taken a vague suggestion from the novel & by his genius created a fine original character from it, but has simply faithfully reproduced the Sellers in the book. For this fellow had the impudence to tell me in Boston (he got it from the newspapers) that the above was the state of the case—whereas the truth is that the finer points in Sellers' character are a trifle above Raymond's level. . .
But Twain did not want to sound petty, or to suggest that he should be getting the attention that Raymond was garnishing—he goes on to say:
I think I am rather small potatoes myself for caring two cents if the world does hail Raymond as the gifted creator of sellers. The Actual truth is, that nobody created Sellers—I simply put him on paper as I found him in life (he is a relative of mine. . . ) (13)
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