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My guess is that after writing that letter, Lincoln looked out of the window and said to himself, "Just a minute. Maybe I ought not to be so hasty. It's easy for me to sit here in the quiet of the White House to order him to attack; but if I had been up at Gettysburg and if I had seen as much blood as Meade has seen during the last week, and if my ears had been pierced with the screams and shrieks of the wounded and dying, maybe I wouldn't be so anxious to attack either. Anyhow, it is water under the bridge now. If I send this letter, it will only arouse hard feelings and impair all his further usefulness as a commander."
我估计，林肯写完信以后，望了望窗外，心里想：“等等，也许我不该匆忙下结论。我安坐在白宫里下命令叫他进攻是很容易，但假如我也在葛底斯堡，和米德将军一样见到过去这一周里那么多的流血，假如我的耳朵也充满了伤员和将死的士兵的尖叫声，也许我也不会那么急于进攻了。反正这件事已经过去了。假如我发出这封信，只会引起反感，使他不再能成为一名有用的指挥官。”
Mark Twain lost his temper occasionally and wrote letters that turned the paper brown. For example, he once wrote to a man who had made him angry: "The thing for you is a burial permit. You have only to speak and I will see that you get it." On another occasion he wrote to an editor about a proofreader's attempts to "improve my spelling and pronunciation." He ordered: "Set the matter according to my copy hereafter and see that the proofreader retains his suggestions in the mush of his decayed brain."
马克·吐温有时候也会发脾气，发脾气以后就写信，其愤怒的言辞往往能把信纸都烤焦了。比如，有一次，他给一个惹他生气的人写了一封信，说道：“你需要的是一张埋葬许可证。你只要说一声，我保证你能马上领到。”还有一次，他给一个编辑写了一封信，讲到一个校对员如何“试图纠正我的拼写和发音”。他给那个编辑下令说：“从现在起，就按照我的稿样 排版。让那个校对员把改动我稿子的建议统统都留在他那一堆正在腐烂的脑浆里。”
The writing of these stinging letters made Mark Twain feel better. They allowed him to blow off steam, and the letters didn't do any real harm, because Mark's wife secretly lifted them out of the mail. They were never sent.
写完这些挖苦人的信以后，马克·吐温感到痛快多了。它们让他出了气。而这些信其实也并没有给人造成伤害，因为他的夫人偷偷把它们从邮件里抽了出来，这些信根本就没有寄出去。
