After a year of correspondence, Aldrich and Twain finally met when the latter visited New York City; their friendship grew in the following years and Aldrich and his wife occasionally visited Twain's home in Hartford, CT. Twain explains that "when it came to making fun of a folly, a silliness, a windy pretense, a wild absurdity, Aldrich the brilliant, Aldrich the sarcastic, Aldrich the ironical, Aldrich the merciless, was a master . . . However, I am overlooking one important detail: he could do all this, and would do it with enthusiasm, if it were somebody else's foolish memorial, but it would not occur to him to make fun of it if the function was in his own honor, for he had very nearly as extensive an appreciation of himself and his gifts as had the late Edmund Clarence Stedman" (469). Twain goes on to say that while he greatly enjoyed Aldrich's company, he could not stand Mrs. Aldrich; T. B. Aldrich "was delightful company, but we never saw a great deal of him because we couldn't have him by himself" (470).
