Mark Twain Day by Day

 


 

Mark Twain Day by Day

An Annotated Chronology

Of the Life of Samuel L. Clemens

Volume One (1835-1885)

Second Edition

 

 

 

David H. Fears


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© 2008, 2014 David H Fears

All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

 

Second Edition, volume one

First Printing 2013

 

ISBN # 0-9714868-2-4

ISBN13 : 978-0-9714868-2-9

 

Library of Congress Control Number: 2007927972

 

Published by Horizon Micro Publishing, LLC

 

 

Books available directly from the publisher:

                                                                 

                                                                  Horizon Micro Publishers, LLC

                                                                  P.O. Box 266

                                                                  Banks, OR 97106

                                                                  [email protected]; https://MarkTwainDayByDay.webs.com

 

 

Acknowledgments

 

Thanks to my wife, Kimberley for her love and support. Special thanks to Thomas A. Tenney for his continual support, anecdotes, and advice, to whom this 2nd edition volume is dedicated. Without his many calls, this project would have been completed six months earlier (though perhaps not as complete). Thanks to JoDee Benussi for sharing mountains of paper and extra books. Thanks to the folks at the Mark Twain Project, especially Robert Hirst and Victor Fischer, who really do possess quite a good sense of humor, and who gave freely of their time, advice, and opinions, as well as permissions for use of MTP material. Thanks also for help and contributions made by the following: Barb Schmidt, Robert Slotta, Kevin Mac Donnell, Robert Monroe, Martin Zehr, Ron Vanderhye & Carol Beales for permission from the James S. Copley Library, La Jolla, Ca., and Debby Applegate, the 2007 Pulitzer prize winner for Henry Ward Beecher’s biography. Lastly, thanks to certain readers of the MT ListServ who have encouraged my efforts, including Jason Horn, Michael McBride, Arianne Laidlaw, Wes Britton, and Steve Crawford. A personal thanks also to Duncan Carter at Portland State University for his friendship and encouragement even though he favors Dickens over Twain, as well as David W. Robinson for his steadfast faith in my ability in the face of much evidence to the contrary.

 

 


 

 


 

 

 

Dedicated To

 

Thomas A. Tenney (1931-2012)

Scholar, editor, friend, who made this work possible.

This second edition completes his vision.

 


 

 

 

What a wee little part of a person’s life are his acts and his words! His real life is led in his head, and is known to none but himself. All day long, and every day, the mill of his brain is grinding, and his thoughts, not those other things, are his history. His acts and his words are merely the visible, thin crust of his world, with its scattered snow summits and its vacant wastes of water—and they are so trifling a part of his bulk! a mere skin enveloping it. The mass of him is hidden—it and its volcanic fires that toss and boil, and never rest, night nor day. These are his life, and they are not written, and cannot be written. Every day would make a whole book of eighty thousand words—three hundred and sixty-five books a year. Biographies are but the clothes and buttons of the man—the biography of the man himself cannot be written.

M.T.

 


 

Foreword

 

“David H. Fears’s log of Samuel Clemens’ life is often downright interesting in itself for Twainians. Furthermore, they will get a heightened sense of the whirligig he somehow shaped into an ongoing presence—his now well-known business activities, his tireless socializing, his dealings with plumbers, and his paying bills for groceries (including pilsener beer and cigars, of course). As for Mark Twain authors, Fears will help resolve some cruxes while setting up others unsuspected until now. I’m envious that my generation didn’t have this resource when we were starting out.” – LOUIS J. BUDD – Professor Emeritus at Duke University, author of Mark Twain: Social Philosopher

 

“More fascinating and far better documented than any existing biography of Mark Twain, this study provides a window into every waking—and for that matter, sleeping—moment of Twain’s hyperactive life. Many scholars before David Fears had contemplated undertaking this staggeringly daunting but incredibly useful project….All students of Mark Twain should give heartfelt thanks for this masterful accomplishment. Fears interweaves even Twain’s most quotidian activities into a textured fabric, threading helpful explanations where needed. This book now qualifies as the single most essential reference work in Mark Twain scholarship. We will be indebted to David Fears forever.” – ALAN GRIBBEN – Author of Mark Twain’s Library: A Reconstruction

 

“Mr. Fears must be fearless! To undertake such an immense project certainly requires courage. Going day-by-day in Twain’s life gives valuable information regarding Twain’s multi-faceted literary, business, and speculative career. Despite the short length of the quotations the flavor of Twain is there: his attention to household matters, his caring role as husband and father, his experience with publishers, the wide-ranging friendships and his biting wit. Fears’ volumes will be a major contribution to Mark Twain Studies.” ­– HOWARD G. BAETZHOLD – Author of Mark Twain & John Bull

 

“In these pages there is a rich record of the life, works, and Twain’s family and friends.” – THOMAS A. TENNEY, author of Mark Twain A Reference Guide; editor of The Mark Twain Journal.

 

David H. Fears’s enormous Mark Twain Day By Day: An Annotated Chronology of the Life of Samuel L. Clemens…takes Twain’s activities all the way from [1835-1910]. A huge index even lists such things as Twain’s donations and individual gifts. Surely all Twain scholars and editors will want to have this research available in their campus or personal libraries. This massive project, undertaken by an independent scholar unsupported by grants, subventions, or even a conventional publisher, has to rank as one of the most extraordinary individual efforts by any one student of Twain ever to see print.” – ALAN GRIBBEN, American Literary Scholarship 2010.

 

 

 


Introduction (from First Ed.)

 

Samuel Langhorne Clemens lived 74 years, 4 months, and 23 days—or 27,171 days. At 27 years of age he began using the nom de plume, “Mark Twain,” which most Americans have known him by since. It is understatement to say that his life was a full one. His life has become an area of study that can occupy a lifetime and still reward researchers with fresh insights into the man, his era, and the human condition.

      Some 40 years ago I gained an undergraduate degree in history, and started but did not finish a graduate program, focusing on the Populist Movement of the 1880s and 90s. I was surprised then to discover that Mark Twain had visited my hometown, Portland Oregon, in 1895 on a world tour. It was a fact I tucked away for four decades, till I turned back to graduate school after careers in business and computers. I often wondered what Sam did here in the Rose City—what did he see? Whom did he talk with, and what words of wisdom and mirth did he leave on our stage? Those musings were the beginning of this work.

      Sam Clemens has remained a fresh interest since that time, possibly because I may be something of a humorist myself, and most certainly have always been a “willful boy.” Or, possibly because I have a passionate feeling for cats, or for writing, or for women, and God knows I enjoy a good glass, though I gave up cigars in my twenties, something Sam was never able to do, and should he have, I’d have perhaps another decade of chronology in front of me.

      By the time I returned to the ivory tower for my masters, I was senior to all of my professors. I’d had fifteen or so short stories published and was hard at work on a few detective novels, and I studied composition theory and Huck Finn. I sat in some of the same classrooms I had four decades before. My thesis work involved original research on correlating writing apprehension and writing myth. Composition theory and fiction writing were my passion, and I was blessed to be able to teach English Composition for two career colleges—or try to anyway, since for many propeller heads, the idea of writing an essay was akin to root canal work without anesthetic.

      About this work, I confess to being naïve and chuckleheaded about the scope of the project at the beginning. I am still naïve and chuckleheaded enough to believe I will finish a second volume, just begun. I remember being astonished that with all the miles of paper about Mark Twain, no one had yet published a detailed daily chronology. I started by using the MT Project volumes of letters. Like a man struggling on the foothills of Mt. Everest I kept a steady pace. I was dedicated, if at times overwhelmed, but ploughed on through standard works and adding bookcases as I went.

      I smouched (as Sam would say) a vision of a readable, enjoyable, daily chronology, as made possible by one hundred years of scholarship. But a chronology with a difference—one that is essentially a narrative of the man’s life, by lining up, highlighting and summarizing as many of those 27,171 days as possible. As my friend Tom Tenney would say, “a different sort of biography.”

      Many times I have concluded there is simply too much information, too little time. The minutiae of this man’s life often threatened to rob my joyful climb. Seemingly everything was interesting, everything needed—what to include, leave out? The biographer has the luxury of excluding the mundane; a detailed chronology should not. Sam was on the go for most of his life, touching hundreds, if not thousands, of places, speaking and lecturing hundreds of time, and writing thousands of notes and letters (by some educated estimates, 50,000 letters written and received), both personal and professional—not to mention his vast array of literary works. Before the term “multi-tasking” was coined, Sam lived it.

      To study the life of Mark Twain is to study America’s passage from the nineteenth to the twentieth centuries, and also to understand what is quintessentially the American spirit. Other scholars and biographers have articulated these realities much better than I am able, so I’ll leave it there.

      The dual purpose of the book is to give the general reader a more comprehensive chronology of Sam’s incredible life, and to aid researchers in locating taking-off places for further study. The book is a general reference guide for dates, places and events, built mainly from the scholarship of others who have invested lifetimes in their passion, and of my humble diggings through primary and secondary sources.

      A chronology can be another way of reading a life story. Where was Sam on a particular day? What was he doing, thinking about? Whom did he interact with? Moreover, what is the significance of the events? How much do we know; what might we deduce? What is missing that would enlighten our understanding? Who were those in Sam’s life now mostly forgotten by history? What was the relationship with those closest to him, his friends and allies as well as his antagonists? Hopefully, this work might begin to answer some of those questions for some readers. Or, simply create more questions.

      It is definitely true that the world knows him as Mark Twain, but to me that was his stage persona, the humorist, and the unparalleled writer. I maintain that the man—the heart and soul of the man—is, and always has been, simply, Sam. Academics often call him “S.L.C.” which is fine but does not serve the purpose of intimate narrative. Most of his friends called him “Sam,” and his best friend Howells called him simply, “Clemens.” His wife called him “Youth” in person and “Mr. Clemens” when writing to others. In many ways his nom de plume hid his real face, and purposely so. My use of Sam is perhaps a reflection of the intimacy I feel with him, both as a fellow writer and a human being. Plus, it has the advantage of making the entries shorter and you’ve got to call the man something.

      This book is not offered as major discovery of primary sources as yet unprinted, though I have visited the Mark Twain Project and waded through many primary documents; neither is it an analysis in the normal sense of the word, but a day-by-day timeline extricated from most known major historical sources in print. I have not attempted to present any historical “thesis” or position on the significance of Twain’s life or works, aside from those events that are often pointed to as turning points in his path. I have offered few opinions on issues, only some where I could not resist. I have not knowingly told any “stretchers,” nor have I made this work essentially my “take” on the man. Neither have I set out to discredit or show up any of the recognized Mark Twain scholars, by pointing out errors or omissions in their work. Where there is disagreement on a particular date/place/experience, I attempt to present the various sides.

      I was principally guided in the effort by the Berkeley MTP’s multi-volume works, both in print and electronic of Mark Twain’s Letters as well as other letters available there. I have reviewed most of the major biographies, from Albert Bigelow Paine’s 1912 work, through contemporary studies by Kaplan, Powers, Perry, Hoffman, and others. We all owe a great debt to those scholars who devoted their energies and talents to the tedious and time-consuming research tasks: Albert Bigelow Paine, Bernard DeVoto, Dixon Wecter, Henry Nash Smith, Justin Kaplan, Andrew Hoffman, Ron Powers, James D. Wilson, Kenneth Andrews, Hamlin Hill, Margaret Sanborn, all the tireless workers of the Mark Twain Project—and many, many others. I could not have put this book together without them. I deeply appreciate the guidance and support of Thomas A. Tenney, retired English professor at the Citadel, and also Editor of the Mark Twain Journal since 1982. Barbara Schmidt, another retired educator who is no doubt busier now with research and her Mark Twain website (www.twainquotes) and ListServ responsibilities, has also been very helpful.

      I do not pretend that this work is without error, or that it stands complete. There are many errors in biographies and secondary sources, and even in Sam’s dates and memory. Other sources remain elusive. Not all sources are equally credible. This work is certainly not the last word. I ask the scholar, expert, or interested fan of Sam Clemens to inform me of errors and omissions, so that addenda might be published in forthcoming volumes.

      Entries should be read in context. That is, by reviewing dates before and after any particular entry, a deeper understanding of the elements may emerge.

      Last, I emphasize that this work is a beginning. There is so much work left to do. But, what other American life is so worthy of study?    

 

David H. Fears 2005-2007 


Forward for the Second Edition:

 

Since the first edition was released in 2008, three volumes have followed, improved in many respects from the original first volume. Many additions and corrections have surfaced since 2008. This second edition of the first volume incorporates over a hundred additions and corrections, including those posted on the website. Also, several noteworthy works on Twain have been published which inform this new edition, especially: Thomas Reigstad’s important work, Scribblin’ for a Livin’ which updates and revises the much-neglected Buffalo period of Twain’s life; and David C. Antonucci’s work on the Tahoe episodes, Fairest Picture: Mark Twain at Lake Tahoe. Other publications have also been reviewed.

 

Most important, my scholarship and scope improved as I continued through volumes two through four, bringing the realization of the shortcomings of volume one. Incoming letters were mostly not examined for the first edition, and are not summarized, paraphrased, or excerpted here. In many cases, having the incomings greatly illuminates Clemens’ letters, though when Kevin Mac Donnell first mentioned the need for these I thought him mad and was dumbstruck. The sheer increase in work at first stalled me. Then, as I worked along through the final three volumes I understood the increased value of this reference work that accrued by including those incoming letters to Clemens. A small handful of letters shown in the catalogue were not found at the Mark Twain Project. Often misfiling or burial beneath staff papers may account for these. When they are forthcoming I will put them on the website.

 

I’ve been asked a few times why on earth I’d set forth on such a daunting project. Because I love Mark Twain? Because it’s never been done? To organize the vast array of data that exists? Possibly all are valid reasons and partly to blame or credit for this work. But I’ve sensed lately that I simply wanted to get closer to the man, to avoid the cherry-picking and incomplete pictures given to us by various biographers, though not to say they are not valuable. But incomplete. Livy called Samuel Clemens a name that reflected his eternal boy-ness: “Youth.” In that way I am a kindred spirit to Twain, to Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn and all those boys ages two to a hundred-two who, in their hearts, do not take note of old age and who keep an outlook of fun, curiosity, and yes, humor throughout life. I, too, am “Youth.” I often say things to people I don’t know that embarrass my better half, things I see as humorous. Perhaps their reactions provide a crude but instant way of seeing into them and finding if they too have a kindred spirit. After my first visit to the Mark Twain Project I wrote a short essay on whether or not the people there had a sense of humor (I judged, mostly, they do). I discovered later that several academics on a Mark Twain website do not have a sense of humor. I no longer frequent the place. The academics I deal with in my own part-time teaching and most all of my students have a perfectly muscular sense of humor.

 

After the thousands of hours spent on research for this four-volume work (and the second edition for the first volume), I do feel closer to the man, in many ways a giant who rose above the vicissitudes and sorrows of life to cling to his humor. Without humor, what would Mark Twain be? What would I be? What is man without humor? Not much, I suspect. I still believe that analyzing humor sucks the marrow from it (as Clemens also believed), though the sourpuss academics I speak of would disagree. I can think of no greater aim for my own life than to remain a “Youth” in my outlook and relationships, and to do so requires a fresh, positive view of all that is humorous and interesting in life.

 

I was saddened by the deaths of Tom Tenney, Lou Budd, and Howard Baetzhold—all of whom gave this work a glowing “puff” when it had only begun. There is no connection with their glowing praise and early departure, and only Alan Gribben now survives of those original four testimonials. I hope he’s well. To paraphrase Clemens, I’m not feeling well myself.

 

Finally, I owe much to the Mark Twain Project at UC Berkeley, especially Victor Fischer and Robert Hirst. I cannot express my thanks fully—to do so would take another four volumes.

 

David H. Fears 2014


Conventions Used

 

Dates: I have followed the conventions used by the University of California Press on the volumes of Mark Twain’s Letters, except I have added the day of the week. To wit:

 

October 5 Thursday – Sources indicate this is a confirmed date, or a deduced date from events or

other evidence. Firm dates come before conjectured or circa dates and date ranges.

 

October 3? Tuesday –    

The question mark indicates a conjecture of October 3. Conjecture dates are listed separately.

 

June 24–29 Saturday –

A span of dates joined by a dash indicates a less specific conjecture: the date or dates of composition are thought to fall within this span. Day of the week is ascribed to the last date in the span. The last date in a period is noted by its day of the week. Such entries are listed separately.

 

June 24 to 29 Saturday – Not a conjecture, but an assertion that some event ran from June 24 through June 29. Such date ranges are listed separately.

 

May 2 and 3 Friday –

Not a conjecture, but an assertion that the event or activity occurred at least in part on both days. Such inclusive dates are listed separately.

 

May 1 Friday ca. –

A conjecture of circa a date, month, year or season. Similar to May 1st? but with less specificity. May also be specified as “on or before,” or “on or after.” Circa dates are listed separately.

 

February –

Items for which only a month is known, or for magazine-type publications issued for a given month.

 

1863 –

Items for which a year is known, but not a month or date.

 

Note: Dates are arranged in order; spans of dates and single dates are sorted by the first date in a span. Conjectured dates are usually separate from known or consensus dates. Thus there are separate entries for May 1 Friday, and May 1? Friday; May 17 Thursday would follow May 12–20 Sunday. Occasionally entries are labeled “Mid-month” or “End of Month” or “Early Spring,” etc. Confirmed dates are listed first.

 

Attribution/Names:

 

Where unsigned articles have been ascribed to Sam Clemens by major researchers, I have followed their lead but specified, “attributed.” “Sam” when shown without surname is used throughout to mean Mark Twain/ Samuel L. Clemens; likewise “Livy” designates Olivia Louise Clemens; “Susy” has been chosen for Olivia Susan Clemens over the spelling “Susie,” which is seen in earlier references to her. “Jane Clemens” is used for Sam’s mother, “Pamela” or “Pamela Moffett” for his sister, “Orion” for his brother. For certain dominant people in Sam’s life, or dominant within certain periods, last

 

    names only are given: Howells, Twichell, Cable, etc. Middle names are usually omitted, in favor of a middle initial; some middle initials are omitted, when reference is clearly to one person, such as Hjalmar Boyesen. “Frank” is often given for “Francis”; “Joe” for Joseph, when the person was a familiar figure in Sam’s life, such as Joe Twichell, Frank Bliss, etc.

 

Citations:

 

MLA formatting is followed for in-text and Works Cited, with exceptions made for MT “standard” abbreviations such as MTBus or MTLTP (see abbreviations), and follow the MT Project’s conventions when possible. Use of [brackets] for in-text citations, as well as editor’s inserts within quoted text.

 

Some exceptions are made to standard MT scholarly convention, such as MTL with volume numbers used for the MTP volumes, whereas this abbreviation in the past was used for Paine’s volumes of letters, which I cite as MTLP, if I use them at all. A few conventions are modified, such as LM instead of LoM for Life on the Mississippi. See Abbreviations.

 

Nearly every date given requires a citation, though some are calculated from sources. Because both primary and secondary sources are used, errors and omissions may have been introduced. Hopefully, more study of primary sources will amend such shortcomings.

 

Editor’s opinions:

 

The few opinions on events or interpretation of an entry follow all citation designators as well as extra information following “Note”; These remarks are offered as simply one man’s view, and every effort has been made to keep them short and pithy, without obstacle to the meaning of the listing. Of course, I hold title to many more opinions than the few exposed here. Admittedly, a work of this scope carries errors and inconsistencies. That’s what future appendixes and supplements are for.

 

Bold Entries, Quotations:

 

All references to dates are bold, save for those within quotes. Also bold are first mentions of persons and places (including lecture halls, etc.) within each date entry. Subjects and titles are not bold. Indented are letter, newspaper excerpts (boxed) and longer commentaries from biographers and scholars. This may aid ease of reading, finding one’s place and appearance.


ABBREVIATIONS

 

CY                    Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

ET&S   1: 2:     Early Tales & Sketches. Vol. 1, 1851-1864. Vol. 2, 1864-1865. Edited by

Edgar M. Branch and Robert H. Hirst. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979-81.

GA                   The Gilded Age

IA                     Innocents Abroad

LLMT               The Love Letters of Mark Twain. Edited by Dixon Wecter. New York: Harper & Bros 1949

LM                   Life on the Mississippi

MMT                My Mark Twain, by William Dean Howells. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1910.

MTA                 Mark Twain’s Autobiography. Edited by Albert Paine. 2 vols. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1924.

MTB                 Mark Twain A Biography, by Albert Paine, 4 vols. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1912.

MTHL 1: 2:       Mark Twain-Howells Letters: The Correspondence of Samuel L. Clemens and William Dean Howells. Edited by Henry Nash Smith and William M. Gibson. 2 vols. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1960.

MTJ                 Mark Twain Journal. Edited by Thomas A. Tenney.

MTL 1: – 6:       Mark Twain’s Letters. Volumes 1-6. 1853-1875. Edited by Edgar M. Branch, et al. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988-2002.

MTLE 1: – 5:    Mark Twain’s Letters, Electronic Volumes 1-5. 1876-1880. Mark Twain Project.

MTLP               Mark Twain’s Letters. 2 vols. Edited by Albert Bigelow Paine. New York: Harper & Bros 1917.

MTLTP             Mark Twain’s Letters to His Publishers, 1867-1894. Edited by Hamlin Hill. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967.

MTMF              Mark Twain To Mrs. Fairbanks. Edited by Dixon Wecter. San Marino: Huntington Press, 1949.

MTP                 Mark Twain Project/Papers, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

MTPO              Mark Twain Project Online, University of California, Berkeley.

MT & GWC      Mark Twain and George W. Cable, by Alan Turner.

MTNJ 1: – 3:     Mark Twain’s Notebooks & Journals. Volumes 1 – 3. 1855-1891. Edited by Frederick Anderson, et al. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979.

MTS&B            Mark Twain’s Satires & Burlesques. Franklin R. Rogers, ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967.

MTTMB            Mark Twain’s Travels With Mister Brown. New York: Alfred A. Knopf 1940.

P&P                 The Prince and the Pauper

ViU                  Barrett Collection, University of Virginia


 [ page 1 ]Births of Margaret, Benjamin, Pleasant and Samuel Clemens – Move from Tennessee to Florida, Missouri – Financial Panic and Hard Times – Henry Clemens Born

 Sister Margaret Died – John Marshall Clemens Became Judge – Moved to Hannibal Sammy Survived Infancy

 

1835

 

November 30 Monday – Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910) was born two months premature in the hamlet of Florida, Missouri to John Marshall Clemens (1798-1847) and Jane Lampton Clemens (1803-1890). The baby was named Samuel, for John’s father; Langhorne, for the friend of John Marshall’s who had helped him in his youth in Virginia.

 

26-year-old Dr. Thomas Jefferson Chowning (1809-1854) delivered baby Sam in the absence of the family physician, Dr. Hugh Meredith (1806-1864). The birthplace was a little frame house on South Mill Street [Wecter 43]. Sam was born sickly. His mother later recalled, “When I first saw him I could see no promise in him” [Powers, MT A Life 8].

 

Halley’s Comet had reached its perihelion on Nov. 17. It would return again in 1910, reaching its greatest visibility on Apr. 19 of that year, two days before Sam’s death.

 

John Marshall’s ancestors had come from England to Virginia [Wecter 3-7]. A generation later they moved over the Alleghenies and kept pushing west [8]. Sam’s grandfather, his namesake, was five when America declared independence in 1776. In 1803, the year of the Louisiana Purchase, Samuel B. Clemens (1770-1805) moved west into what would become West Virginia. He had married a Quaker named Pamelia (“Parmelia”) Goggin (1775-1844) and took their first of five children, John Marshall Clemens, named in honor of the first Chief Justice of the U.S. John Marshall married Jane Lampton on May 6 1823 [15].

 

Samuel Langhorne Clemens was the sixth child. The Clemens family moved to Florida, Missouri about June 1, 1835 from Tennessee [Wecter 39]. Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) was President of the United States, and the Alamo was four months away. The South’s pastoral economy was firmly upheld by slavery and the North’s industrial economy waxed stronger. The early 1830s were a period of inflationary boom. The Federal government encouraged the speculative fever by selling millions of acres of public lands in western states like Michigan and Missouri. The West had spread to the edge of the Great Plains, and like many other families who had not found bounty in the East, the Clemens family moved into Missouri, the outpost of civilization, looking for the good life. Dreams of wealth in such an environment seemed realistic.

 

1836

 

May 21 Saturday – John Marshall Clemens purchased a somewhat larger house on the south side of Main Street in Florida, Missouri for $1,050 from Sam’s grandfather, Benjamin Lampton (1770-1837), who had occupied the house and moved to the country [Wecter 46].

 

Sam was small and sickly, not expected to live. He was often in bed under the care of his mother, Jane Clemens, who told stories of Indians chasing her grandmother, also named Jane. His mother was aided in his care by his older siblings: Orion b.1825, Pamela b.1827, Margaret b.1830, Benjamin b.1832. Another boy child, Pleasant Hannibal (both family names) died at three months, b.1828 or 1829 [MTL 1: 382]. [ page 1401 ] [ page 1400 ] [ page 1399 ] [ page 1398 ] [ page 2 ]

 

John Marshall was involved in the project of making Salt River navigable as well as a plan to build a railroad between the town of Paris, Mo. and the smaller village of Florida. He frequented citizens’ meetings in the region and became well known in Pike, Ralls, and Monroe counties. He also spoke to members of the Legislature at Jefferson City.

 

November 30 Wednesday – Baby Sam’s first birthday.

 

1837

 

February – Big plans were afloat for developing the area. The Missouri Legislature appointed John Marshall to head a commission of six members to promote a Florida & Paris railroad. The same Legislature also encouraged John Marshall, together with John Adams Quarles (1802-1876), Dr. Hugh Meredith and others to found a school to be called The Florida Academy [Varble 125]. An educational foundation was set up with Marshall and Quarles as trustees. John Marshall was also involved in schemes to make the Salt River into a minor Mississippi [Wecter 47; Varble 125].

 

Text Box: March 4 Saturday – Martin Van Buren was sworn in as 
as the 8th president  
of the United States 
 
 

 

 

 

 


March 18 Saturday – Sam’s grandfather, Benjamin Lampton, age 67, died in Florida, Mo. [Wecter 47].

 

May 10 Wednesday – The early part of the decade saw an inflationary boom, which led to The Panic of 1837. The crisis occurred when every bank stopped payment in specie (gold and silver coinage). The West was badly hit by the panic, and would not recover for four or five years. The Clemens family would struggle financially for years, in part due to this panic.

 

November 6 Monday – John Marshall Clemens was sworn in as a judge of the Monroe County court. Wecter calls this the “zenith of his professional life and one that fixed upon him ever after the title of ‘Judge’” [Wecter 48]. He received two dollars a day while the court met [49]. John had trained to be a lawyer and was very exacting in his work. His letters show the graceful Spenserian script which educated people of the day displayed. Sam got his exacting nature from his father, and his humor and red hair from his mother. John Marshall built a one-story house, known as the “double house” on the land he’d bought before Sammy was born [Wecter 49; Powers MT A Life 14].

 

November 30 Thursday – Sam’s second birthday.

 

 [ page 3 ]
1838

 

First half of year – The Clemens family moved to their third house in Florida, Mo. Wecter says “probably before the birth of their youngest child, Henry Clemens, on June 13” [Wecter 49]. They sold their second Florida house to John Quarles for a sum that reflected settlement of unpaid debts from the dissolved store partnership [49].

 

July 13 Friday – Henry Clemens, the youngest child of John Marshall Clemens and Jane Lampton Clemens was born in Florida, Mo. [MTL 1: 382]. Henry was the model for Sid Sawyer in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, a boy upright in every way, not at all like his older brother Sam.

 

August ca. – Shortly after Jane Clemens recovered from childbirth, thirteen-year-old Orion was dragged along a picket fence by two oxen. He was saved from death or injury by Jane and a peg leg man who happened to be passing [Varble 127].

 

August 8 Wednesday – John Marshall Clemens’ term on the Monroe County court expired [Selby 1].

 

November 30 Friday – Sam’s third birthday.

 

 

1839

 

February – John Quarles had married Martha Ann “Patsy” Lampton (1807-1850), Jane’s younger sister, and opened a store at Florida, Missouri the year before the Clemens family arrived. In this month he closed his successful store at Florida and bought 70 acres of good farmland. A few months later he added 160 acres more [Wecter 50]. The farm was three and a half miles northwest of town. Quarles kept slaves (Some claim as many as 30 slaves, some eleven, and some as few as six) [Powers, Dangerous 41; Powers MT A Life 11; Dempsey 4]. Frequent visits to the Quarles Farm allowed Sam to hunt and fish, and gave him intimate contact with blacks. Stories told by his uncle John and also by older blacks fed Sam with grist for his later tales. (See The Twainian, Mar. 1942 for an insightful article on Quarles.)

 

A family story about three-year-old Sam, retold years later by his niece, Annie Moffett Webster (1852-1950).

 

“When Sam was about three he was distressed because he had ‘no tail bebind.’ He said, ‘The dog has a tail bebind, the cat has a tail bebind, and I haven’t any tail bebind at all at all.’ His uncle (I think it was his Uncle Hannibal) made a tail of paper and pinned it on his little dress, and he went around very proud and happy” [MTBus 44].

 

August, mid – About this time one-year-old Henry Clemens “eluded the colored boy who was caring for him and toddled into the hot embers at a soap kettle. While he was being tended by Jane Clemens and neighbor Mrs. Penn, Henry’s sister Margaret fell ill [Varble 127]. Sam sleepwalked into sister Margaret’s bedroom and tugged at her blanket. Nineteenth century rural America called this act “plucking at the coverlet,” an act presaging death. The family took this as a sign that little Sammy had “second sight” [Wecter 51].

 

August 17 Saturday – Nine-year-old sister Margaret died of “bilious fever” (typhoid or malaria). It was the first of many family deaths Sam would suffer. Wecter gives this date as Aug. 19 [51].

 [ page 4 ]

November 13 Wednesday – John Marshall Clemens sold properties around Florida for $3,000 to speculator Ira Stout. At the same time, John purchased a quarter of a city block in Hannibal on the Mississippi, about forty miles east of Florida, for what Wecter calls “the thumping price of $7000 paid in full” [Wecter 51-2; Powers, MT A Life 21]. Note: “Hannibal” was also a family name with no connection to the town. It may be argued that John paid too much for the quarter block in Hannibal.

 

November 20 Wednesday ca. – John Marshall sold another large parcel, 326 acres near the Ralls County line, for $2000 to Ira Stout  [Wecter 52].

 

November, mid-late – The Clemens family moved to Hannibal: John, Jane, Orion, Pamela, Benjamin, Sammy (nearly age four), the baby Henry, and a slave girl Jennie. Paine, in Boy’s Life of Mark Twain says the family lived first at Pavey’s Hotel (later Planter’s Hotel). The Paveys later moved to St. Louis. Wecter gives the time of the move as “about mid-November” [56].

 

The first home for the Clemens was the Virginia House, a rickety two-story hotel close to the river at the northwest corner of Main and Hill Streets [Varble 129].

 

John Marshall traveled to St. Louis soon after the family’s arrival. There he stayed with his half-sister Ann “Polly” Hancock (d.1893), and her English husband William Saunders (d.1885). John Marshall sought a loan from a distant relative James Clemens, Jr. (1791-1878) in order to make token payments on stock he needed to open a store in Hannibal. The two men had not met but had corresponded as youths. The loan was given; John Marshall returned to Hannibal and opened a store on the main floor; the family lived on the second floor. [Varble 131-2; Powers, MT A Life 21].

 

Sam grew up on the river, in that “sleepy white washed town” which was to be his theatre of boyhood. Here he knew dreams, adventure, terror and sorrow. Sam Clemens would immortalize Hannibal in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn [Powers, Dangerous 50].

 

November 30 Saturday – Sam’s fourth birthday.

 

December, mid – John Marshall had been drafted for a border war with Iowa over a disputed boundary, but the matter was settled by this time [Wecter 56].

 


 

 [ page 5 ]
Sammy’s Idyllic Childhood – Summers at Quarles Farm – First Schooling

Brother Benjamin Died – Family Moved to Hill Street House – Murder Witnessed

Many Adventures – Cholera, Measles and Death – John Marshall Clemens Died

Sam the Printer’s Devil

 

Sam’s boyhood days in Hannibal, from ages four to eleven were filled with adventures, escapades and personalities many of which were to find their way into his many novels years later. Among those that might have taken place anytime during this decade were: The sale, beating and killings of slaves. Accidents on the river; Corpses washing up at Hannibal; Cave adventures, including the cadaver kept in McDowell’s Cave; Town drunks, including the Blankenship clan, Tom (b.1831?) being Sam’s model for Huck Finn. Injun Joe. Judge Clemens keeping the peace with a hammer on the head of two rowdies; Pranks at school. Sam’s claims of near drowning nine times; Rafting adventures; Hunting, fishing; Gang hangouts; Falling through the ice on the river; Steamboats arriving at the Hannibal docks; The swimming hole in Bear Creek; Jim Wolfe’s descent in his flying nightshirt into a candy pull; Sam dancing naked and “playing bear” in the moonlight while two girls watched in secret behind a shade, etc.

 

Most of these boyhood adventures cannot be pinned to a date, or even to a specific year. Wecter does a good job of identifying many of them, and Powers writes a powerful treatment of the psychological makeup of these boyhood years in Dangerous Waters. Some listings of Sam’s boyhood friends are found here and there. A picture taken in 1922 of Sam’s surviving childhood friends included Norval “Gull” Brady (1839-1929), Dr. B.Q. Stevens, John Ro Bards (1838-1925), Moses D. Bates Jr., Mrs. Laura Hawkins Frazer (1837-1928), and T.G. Dulaney; not pictured and deceased at that time: S.H. Honeyman, Jimmy McDaniel, B.O. Farthing, and Ed Pierce [The Fence Painter, Winter 1986/1987 Vol. VI No.4 Hannibal, Mo.]. Other friends are listed in various dated entries. See especially Feb. 6, 1870 to Will Bowen for several escapades remembered.

 

In his Nov. 30, 1906 A.D., Clemens recalled minstrel shows in Hannibal:

 

      I remember the first negro-minstrel show I ever saw. It must have been in the early ‘40s. It was a new institution. In our village of Hannibal, on the banks of the Mississippi, we had not heard of it before, and it burst upon us as a glad and stunning surprise.

      The show remained a week, and gave a performance every night. Church members did not attend these performances, but all the worldlings flocked to them, and were enchanted. …    

      The minstrels appeared with coal-black hands and faces, and their clothing was a loud and extravagant burlesque of the clothing worn by the plantation slave of the time….Standing collars were in fashion in that day, and the minstrel appeared in a collar which engulfed and hid the half of his head and projected so far forward that he could hardly see sideways over its points. His coat was sometimes made of curtain calico, with a swallow-tail that hung nearly to his heels and had buttons as big as a blacking box. His shoes were rusty, and clumsy, and cumbersome, and five or six sizes too large for him. There were many variations upon this costume, and they were all extravagant, and were by many believed to be funny.

      The minstrel used a very broad negro dialect; he used it competently, and with easy facility, and it was funny—delightfully and satisfyingly funny [AMT 2: 294]. Note: see source for more.

 

A later work by Clemens is “Villagers of 1840-3.” The MTP says this about it:

 

The most intriguing of the factual works, however, is “Villagers of 1840-3,” published here in its entirety for the first time [see MTPO]. This extended series of notes about life in ante-bellum Hannibal contains over one-hundred capsule biographies of the town’s residents, including Mark Twain’s own family. Written in 1897, forty-four years after Samuel Clemens left his boyhood home, it is a remarkable feat of memory, compelling both as a historical and a literary document. Evidently Mark Twain intended to use it as a master list of possible characters for any subsequent stories he might set in St. Petersburg or [ page 6 ] Dawson’s Landing, his imaginary re-creations of Hannibal [MTPO]. Note: Sam gave his father the name of “Judge Carpenter.”

The Aberdeen (S.D.) Daily News, 4 Jan. 1905, p. 2, “Mark Twain’s Pranks” reported reminiscences by Captain H. Lacy, who was born in Hannibal in 1839. Lacy claims it was not Jim Wolfe who was the victim of the famous skeleton-in-bed prank (sometime in the 1840s), but “a tramp printer named Snell,” who “blew into Hannibal one day and was given work on the paper.” Lacy claimed to be along on the prank; his account offers not only a different victim than has been imagined (see MTL 1: 18n4; also Ch. 23 TA) but a different outcome:

      He was an uncommunicative sort of fellow, but a good worker and obedient. Sam decided to bring him out of his reserve and to do it borrowed a skeleton from a doctor’s office and slipped it into the printer’s bed. Then we got around to a window about bedtime to see what was going to happen. The print pulled off his shoes, piled his clothes over on the floor and blew out the light. The next thing we supposed would be a yell and a printer shooting out of the window in his nightshirt. But there wasn’t anything of the sort. There was a sleepy yawn and:

      “Get over on your own side, darn you.”

      We heard the ghastly bedmate of Snell fall to the floor, and then everything was quiet except for the snoring of the sleeping printer. The joke had failed, and we went up to our rooms in disgust.

Next day Snell didn’t show up, and we began to feel a little hopeful that maybe the trick had worked after all. But we were again disappointed. Snell was in a gin mill, boiling drunk and having the time of his life.

      “Killed erm man deader’n a red Injun,” he yelled, “an shell corpsus fer dollar an’ sheventy-five! Wow!”

      He had rolled the skeleton up in a sheet and sold it to another doctor!

 

The Chapman Troupe came through Hannibal annually in the 1840s until 1847. For 35 years the troupe was perhaps the most celebrated theatrical family in the West. Mary Parks Chapman (1813-1880) was one of the seven children in the show and later had 20! children herself. Sammy Clemens undoubtedly saw one or all of the Hannibal performances as they were advertised as children welcome [MTP]. Note: see Dec. 16, 1865 for a letter from Mary to Clemens.

 

See “A Memory” a sketch which ran in the Galaxy for Aug. 1870, about Sammy’s relationship to his father.

 

 

 [ page 7 ]

1840

 

U.S. Census reported 1,034 people living in Hannibal, up from the sixty families that were there in the Panic of 1837 [Wecter 57]. Hard times came to the Clemens family during the first years of the decade. Judge John Marshall Clemens was forced to sell Jennie, the slave girl brought from Virginia. “She was tall, well formed, nearly black, and brought a good price” [MTB 41]. For a time, things improved. John Marshall borrowed money from his wealthy cousin James Clemens, Jr. A wealthy Whig attorney in St. Louis, and from James A.H. Lampton (1824-1879), Jane’s half-brother who lived near Florida, Missouri. John Marshall opened another store with “already bookish, absent-minded, inept,” fifteen-year-old Orion behind the counter [Wecter 57].

 

Spring – Sam started school at Mrs. Horr’s school in Hannibal, a small log cabin at the southern end of Main Street, near Bear Creek. Elizabeth Horr (ca.1790-1873) and daughter Miss Lizzie were the only teachers. On Sam’s first day of school he broke a rule twice and was told to go find a switch for his punishment. He kept looking for smaller and smaller switches until he came back with a cooper’s shaving (a cooper is a barrel maker). Later, Miss Mary Ann Newcomb (1809-1894) would help at the school [Wecter 54]. Sam, during his last visit to Hannibal in 1902, would say: “I owe a great deal to Mary Newcomb, she compelled me to learn to read” [Wecter 84]. McGuffey’s Readers were the new rage.

 

In his Aug. 15, 1906 A.D. Sam recalled his first school: “There were no public schools in Hannibal in those early years, but there were two private schools in Hannibal—terms twenty-five cents per week per pupil, and collect it if you can. Mrs. Horr taught the children, in a small log house…; Mr. Sam Cross taught the young people of larger growth in a frame schoolhouse on the hill” [AMT 2: 177].

 

July 28 and 29 Wednesday – The Log Cabin Campaign rally on Market Street in Hannibal would surely have included John Marshall, a devout Whig. Jane Lampton Clemens loved parades and funerals. Four and a half year old Sam no doubt witnessed the celebration [Wecter 58]. Note: For more about Jane Clemens as recalled by her granddaughter Annie Moffett Webster in Fredonia, see May 22, 1870 entry.

 

October – John Marshall sold on credit about $1,000 for merchandise bought wholesale to one Ira Stout, who then used the new bankruptcy laws to avoid payment. Ultimately this led to the loss of the Clemens home [Wecter 56].

 

November 30 Monday – Sam’s fifth birthday.

 

1841

 

Sam’s father traveled to Tennessee hoping to collect old debts and raise money on the infamous Tennessee Land, some 75,000 acres, which became a millstone to the family; the land was ultimately sold in the 1880s for not much more than John Marshall paid for it. John took a slave, Charlie, to sell, but did not get what he expected. In fact the trip was a total failure, costing Sam’s father about $200 [Powers, Dangerous 124-5]. Together, John Marshall and son Orion had a remarkable string of business failures. Sam would come to nearly support his older brother, mixing a sense of duty with exasperation.

 

February 7 Sunday – Sam’s sister Pamela joined the First Presbyterian Church of Hannibal [Dempsey 55].

 [ page 8 ]

February 18 Thursday – Sam’s mother, Jane Clemens, joined the First Presbyterian Church of Hannibal [Dempsey 55]. Note: Dempsey found no record that John Marshall Clemens or his sons ever joined the church.

 

February 22 Monday – Sam’s mother, Jane Clemens, was baptized at the First Presbyterian Church of Hannibal [Dempsey 55].

 

September – John Marshall Clemens sat on a jury at Palmyra which condemned and sent to the penitentiary three abolitionists for a term of twelve years [Dempsey 42; Wecter 72]. Note: See Dempsey, chapters 5 & 6, for a full account of the “crime” and trial of James Burr, George Thompson, and Alanson Work, “the biggest criminal case in Marion County.”

 

October 13 Wednesday – The Clemenses were forced to transfer the title of their home property to James Kerr, a St. Louis dry-goods merchant to whom they were most indebted [Wecter 70]. Note: The indebtedness may have stemmed from funds John Marshall borrowed to buy the Tennessee Land, incurred before the family moved to Hannibal.

 

November 30 Tuesday – Sam’s sixth birthday.

 

1842

 

 

January 5 or 7 Friday – Sam’s father wrote on his failed trip of being unable to collect debts or even to sell Charlie for $40 in Vicksburg [MTB 43]. Powers suggests he sold Charlie for ten barrels of tar [Powers, Dangerous 124]. Wecter cites the letter date as Jan. 5 and the sale for tar as Jan. 24 [74].

 

May 12 Thursday – Ten-year-old Benjamin L. Clemens died after a weeklong, unexplained illness. “Bilious fever” they sometimes called such illnesses. Sam was six. He remembered his parents’ grief; Orion recalled that his parents kissed—the only time the Clemens children had seen them do this [MTB 44]; Powers writes that it was Sam who remembered; it’s likely both recalled the event. In her grief, Sam’s mother made all the children approach the bedside of Benjamin and touch his dead cheek. For Sam, this act left an impression, and once again, Sam felt partly responsible for a family death.

 

Sam’s father, already a judge, was elected justice of the peace, but fees were few and far between. (Powers: “probably in 1842”; Paine [MTB 41] states this was in 1840, Wecter [103] also in 1842).

 

July 17 Sunday ca. – (After this day) – Sam’s brother, Orion, now seventeen and a “very good journeyman printer,” obtained a position in St. Louis, and was able to send support home for the family, three dollars out of ten per week [MTB 44]. (Powers characterizes it as Orion being “sent off.”) Orion wrote home that he was trying to imitate the life of Benjamin Franklin, even to the extent of living on bread and water. While in St. Louis until 1849, Orion made friends with attorney Edward Bates (1793-1869) and began studying law in his office. Bates would later secure Orion an appointment as secretary to the Nevada Territory, a connection that led Sam west and into history [170].

 

August 12 Friday – Though a boy of nearly seven, Sam probably was witness to the sinking of the side wheel steamboat Glaucus at Hannibal. Such an event would have brought the whole town out to gawk. Sam noted the sinking in his notebook in 1883 [MTNJ 3: 30n52].

 [ page 9 ]

October 13 Thursday – Exactly one year before, John Marshall and Jane Clemens lost their real estate in Hannibal, interest being transferred to James Kerr, St. Louis merchant and debt holder. On this day the property was auctioned but failed to meet the amount of the debt [Dempsey 49].

 

November 30 Wednesday – Sam’s seventh birthday.

 

1843

 

Sam’s father caught him in a lie. John Marshall Clemens did not often punish his children, for his stern mien often did the trick. The family had made one or two moves since coming to Hannibal, and Sam recalled his father’s punishment in a house they’d only been in a year. During 1843 Sam’s father was building the family a new house [MTB 44]. Some sources site 1844 for the move in.

 

Sam attended his second Sunday school in the basement of the Presbyterian Church. The first had been for two or three years prior in “a shabby little brick Methodist church on the public square called the Old Ship of Zion” [Wecter 86].

 

Summer – This was the first year of long summer visits to the Quarles Farm, about three and a half miles northwest of the old Clemens home in Florida, Mo.. These visits would continue until Sam was eleven or twelve (1847-8). Sam was seven on this first visit. He loved his uncle John Quarles, a warm, affable, hospitable, country man who told jolly jokes and played with the children. Quarles made hunting trips through the woods. His wife Aunt Patsy set a marvelous table; they had eight children and about thirty slaves (some sources say far fewer). These idyllic summers were grist for many of Sam’s later stories. Sam had a favorite playmate cousin a year younger than him, Tabitha Quarles (1836-1917), they called “Puss.” He loved cats (his mother had at one time nineteen felines about!). Puss recalled:

 

When he arrived at the farm father would lift his big carpet bag out of the wagon and then would come Sam with a basket in his hand. The basket he would allow no one except himself to carry. In the basket would be his pet cat. This he had trained to sit beside himself at the table. He would play contentedly with a cat for hours, and his cats were very fond of him and very patient when he tried to teach them tricks [Wecter 92].

 

Significant was Sam’s exposure and relationship with the Negroes, especially with Aunt Hanner, Uncle Dan’l (b.1805?) and Uncle Ned, the latter a slave of his father’s in the Florida days, and the source of the “Golden Arm” story [Wecter 46].

“It was on the farm that I got my strong liking for the race, and my appreciation of certain of its fine qualities” [Nieder 6].

 

Sam made a sketch of Uncle Dan’l, using that name in The Gilded Age. He later acknowledged that the Dan’l was the model for Huck’s friend Jim. Lorch writes “it was probably from John Quarles that Mark Twain first heard the Jumping Frog story, an ancestral version of the one he later heard in the barroom at Angel’s Camp in California” [Nieder 10].

 

September 4 Monday – Sam played hooky from school and got home at night, so he climbed into his father’s first floor office, only to discover a corpse, James McFarland, a local farmer stabbed by Vincent Hudson in a drunken argument about a plow. Since John Marshall Clemens was a judge, the body was taken to his office to be embalmed the next day. This was the first recorded murder in Hannibal [Wecter 104].

 [ page 10 ]

October 27 Friday – James Kerr, as trustee, sold the Clemens home to James Clemens Jr., of St. Louis, a cousin of John Marshall Clemens. The price on the abstract was $300. The legal description: “the west 20 feet and 6 inches of the east 101 feet of lot 1 in block 9 in the original town of Hannibal” [Hannibal Courier-Post, Mar. 6, 1935 p10b].

 

Late Fall – On Mar. 11, 1883 the N.Y. Times, p.4 ran an article, “Judge Clemens” and attributed it from “Communication to the St. Louis Missouri Republican.” The article described John Marshall Clemens as a “stern unbending man of splendid common-sense, and was, indeed, the autocrat of the little dingy room on Bird-street, where he held his court” [as Justice of the Peace]. An excerpt: 

Late in the Fall of 1843 the case of Allen B. McDonald against Jacob Smith was on trial. Judge Clemens was presiding with his usual dignity, and the court-room was filled with witnesses and friends of the parties to the suit. The Hon. R.F. Lakenan, still living and in political life, represented the plaintiff, and old “Horse” Allen, now dead, was counsel for defendant. Frank Snyder, a peaceable citizen, had given his testimony in favor of defendant Smith, and resumed his seat, when McDonald, with an exasperating air, made a face at him. As quick as thought Snyder whipped out an old pepper-box revolver and emptied every barrel at McDonald, slightly grazing Mc’s head with one shot, hurting no one else, but filling the room with smoke and consternation. In the confusion that followed, Judge Clemens, doubtless remembering McDonald’s many mean tricks, instantly concluded that he was the aggressor, and gathering up a hammer that lay near by, he dealt him a blow that sent him senseless and quivering to the floor. The irate court was complete master of the situation. 

Note: Wecter p.104-5 and notes, takes issue with some of the details of the Republican’s story, noting that “R.F. Lakenan did not come to Hannibal to practice law until two years after the date of the incident. Other versions appear in HMC, p.914 [Holcombe’s History of Marion County, Missouri] and Paine, Biography, p.45. In MTP, DV 47, ‘Villagers,’ Mark Twain writes: ‘Judge Carpenter [Clemens] knocked McDonald down with a mallet and saved Charley Schneider,’ and in another note refers to ‘McDonald the desperado (plasterer).’” 

 

November 30 Thursday – Sam’s eighth birthday.

 

December – The Clemens family moved out of the Virginia House and into 206 Hill Street, which forever more would be considered Sam’s boyhood home. Sam shared a second-story bedroom with his brother Henry [Powers, MT A Life 34].

 

1844

 

Hannibal by 1844 took pride in four general stores, three sawmills, two planing mills, three blacksmith shops, two hotels, three saloons, two churches, two schools, a tobacco factory, a hemp factory, and a tan yard, as well as a flourishing distillery up at the still house branch. West of the village lay “Stringtown,” so called because its cabins and stock pens were strung out along the road. Small industry was the lifeblood of the town [Wecter 60].

 

The Clemenses had moved into Sam’s boyhood home, built by his father on Hill Street in Hannibal. Across the street lived the Hawkins family. Laura Hawkins (Frazer) (1837-1928), a blonde daughter, was a romantic interest of young Sam’s. She later became the model for Becky Thatcher in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Tom Blankenship was a friend of Sam’s who lived up Hill Street. The Blankenships were infamous drunks and ne’er-do-wells; Sam based Huck on Tom Blankenship, a model for rebelliousness in the face of all authority [Powers, MT A life 34].

 

Summer – A measles epidemic swept through Hannibal. Sam’s mother was obsessed with keeping her children from contracting the disease, but Sam decided to expose himself. Sam snuck into his friend Will Bowen’s house and bedroom. He was discovered and chased away, but tried again and slipped into bed [ page 11 ] with Will. Rediscovered by Will’s angry mother, Sam was taken home, but contracted measles. “I have never enjoyed anything in my life any more than I enjoyed dying that time” [Powers, Dangerous 85].

Will Bowen (1836-1893) later became a steamboat pilot with Sam, and the two would maintain a unique correspondence and relationship throughout their lives. Will had an older brother Barton (1830?-1868) and a younger brother Sam (1838?-1878).

 

October 22 Tuesday – Sam watched worshippers from the Millerite sect (led by William Miller) wrap themselves in robes and climb the steep hill to Lover’s Leap, expecting the world to end. In his visit back to Hannibal in 1902, Sam and pal John Briggs (1837-1907) went up Holliday’s Hill and pointed over the valley.

 

“There is where the Millerites put on their robes one night to go up to heaven. None of them went that night John but no doubt many of them have gone since” [Wecter 89].

 

September 14 Saturday – Henry, a Negro, was tried and convicted in Judge Clemens’ court of “menacing” with a knife. State law prohibited slaves from having weapons. John Marshall Clemens found Henry guilty and imposed punishment of 20 lashes to be given publicly. Dempsey writes, “Nine-year-old Sam liked to play about Hannibal on pretty fall days. A public whipping would have been high entertainment in 1844 Hannibal” [54].

 

November 30 Saturday – Sam’s ninth birthday (he didn’t want to be called “Sammy” any longer.) In his 1906 Autobiography, Sam claimed to be a private smoker from age nine, and a public one after his father’s death, in 1847 [Neider 43].

 

1845

 

1845 – From Sam’s Autobiography:

 

I recall Mary Miller. She was not my first sweetheart, but I think she was the first one that furnished me with a broken heart. I fell in love with her when she was eighteen and I nine—but she scorned me, and I recognized this was a cold world….I soon transferred my worship to Artimisia Briggs, who was a year older than Mary Miller. When I revealed my passion to her she did not scoff at it. She did not make fun of it. She was very kind and gentle about it. But she was also firm, and said she did not want to be pestered by children.

 

And there was Mary Lacy. She was a schoolmate. But she was also out of my class because of her advanced age. She was pretty wild and determined and independent. She was ungovernable, and was considered incorrigible. But that was all a mistake. She married, and at once settled down and became in all ways a model matron…[AMT 2: 212-13].

 

January 24 Friday – Sam witnessed the premeditated murder of “Uncle” Samuel Smarr (1788?-1845), shot at close range by William P. Owsley. Smarr was carried into the drugstore of Dr. Orville Grant, the very house that poverty would soon force the Clemens to move into. Sam squeezed into the room where they laid the dying Smarr and watched [Wecter 106]. Note: The scene would be grist for Colonel Sherburn’s cold-blooded killing of Boggs, the town drunk, in chapters 21-22 of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

 

February 24 Monday – Hannibal, Mo. was granted a city charter [Hannibal Courier-Post, Mar. 6, 1935 p10b].

 

March 19 Wednesday – From the Hannibal, Mo. Library web site: “In 1840 many citizens of Hannibal, Missouri felt a need for a public library. Judge John Marshall Clemens (Mark Twain’s father), [ page 12 ] Zachariah Draper (1798-1856), Dr. Hugh Meredith, and Samuel Cross (1812-1886) took on the responsibility of this task. They organized the Hannibal Library Institute. On March 19, 1845 this library was chartered by the General Assembly of Missouri. The books were kept in Dr. Meredith’s office in a building at the corner of Main and Bird Streets. This was not a free library. Users paid a membership fee that entitled them access to the 425 books.” In the spring of 1849 Cross led a group of Hannibal citizens to California, settling in Sacramento; he then practiced law and later became a judge [AMT 2: 1906].

[https://www.hannibal.lib.mo.us/about_the_library.htm].

 

Summer – Sam stowed away on a steamboat headed south. He was found by a crewmember and put ashore thirty miles down river, at the town of Louisiana, Mo. There he spent the night with Lampton relatives. The next day they returned him home.

 

August 24 Sunday – In Hannibal, John Marshall Clemens wrote to Orion in St. Louis. He enclosed a course of twenty oral lectures on grammar by Professor Hull. John was taking Hull’s class and promised to outline the material and send it on to Orion, who might benefit in the printer’s trade from such lessons. Sam was nearly ten years old and probably received the same instruction at home [MTBus 9-10].

 

August 25-26 Tuesday – The Philadelphia North America reported on Aug. 26, “Affray at Hannibal, Mo.”—a fight between Dr. Orville R. Grant and a man named Railey, who stabbed Grant with a spear attached to his cane. In his Dec. 2, 1906 A.D. Sam recalled the man’s name as Dr. Reyburn [AMT 2: 590].

 

Fall – In either 1844 or 1845, Sam left the dame school for a “good common school” on Center Street near the town square, taught by a middle-aged Irishman, William O. Cross [Powers, D. Waters 93].

 

November 6 Thursday – Record of Jimmy Finn’s death [MTP].

 

November 30 Sunday – Sam’s tenth birthday.

 

1846

 

Hard times forced the family to move in with Dr. Orville R. Grant’s family (above Grant’s Drug store; Grant 1815?-1854). Jane Clemens cooked for both families in exchange for rent. For more on the Grant family see AMT 2: 590].

 

John Marshall Clemens led a civic group organizing a rail line from Hannibal to St. Joseph. The line was chartered and completed twelve years after his death.

 

March 14 Saturday – William P. Owsley, was acquitted of murdering Samuel Smarr by a Palmyra jury. [Wecter 108]. 

Text Box: May 13, 1846 - The United States Declared War on Mexico  

 

 


Summer – Cholera claimed 30 lives in Hannibal. Many fled the town [Wecter 213].

 

August – Hannibal slave dealer William Beebe sued and gained a judgment against John Marshall Clemens for $126.50 stemming from debts for the store [Wecter 112]. 

 [ page 13 ]

September 10 Thursday – John Marshall Clemens wrote to Buffum & Co., in New York concerning sale of the Tennessee Land. John had canceled the agency of Meredith & McCullough and gave “exclusive sale of my Tennessee lands for two years on the terms propose.—That you will be at the expense of agencies and advertising as in your letter mentioned; and will make sales as speedily and advantageously as possible” [MTBus 11]. Note: The Tennessee Land created a rift between Sam and Orion in later years, and hung around the family’s neck until the 1880s.

 

October 16 Friday – James Clemens, Jr. leased the Hill Street house to Orion Clemens for a period of 25 years at a rental of $28 per year [Hannibal Courier-Post, Mar. 6, 1935 p10b].

 

November – John Marshall Clemens chaired a citizens’ committee to promote a macadamized road between Hannibal and St. Joseph, Mo. [Wecter 110]. 

 

Henry La Cossitt, new to Hannibal, established the Democratic Gazette [Wecter 201]. Note: Wecter surmises that Sam Clemens was briefly an apprentice for the Gazette.

 

November 5 Thursday – Hannibal Gazette announced John Marshall Clemens’ candidacy for clerk of the circuit court in 1847’s election.

 

November 6 Thursday – County records show $8.25 for coffin Jimmy Finn, pauper, town drunk and model for Huck Finn’s Pap [Wecter 150].

 

November 30 Monday – Sam’s eleventh birthday.

 

Winter of 1846-7 – Now president of the Hannibal Library Institute, John Marshall Clemens worked for the establishment of a Masonic college in Hannibal [Wecter 111]. 

 

December 17 Thursday – Hannibal slave dealer William Beebe was granted a writ of attachment ordering the sheriff to sell “the goods and chattels and real estate of the said John M. Clemens” [Wecter 112].

 

 

1847

 

In his Dec. 2, 1906 A.D., Clemens recalled their house:

 

In 1847 we were living in a large white house on the corner of Hill and Main streets—a house that still stands, but isn’t large now, although it hasn’t lost a plank; I saw it a year ago and noticed that shrinkage. My father died in it in March of the year mentioned, but our family did not move out of it until some months afterward. Ours was not the only family in the house, there was another, Dr. Grant’s [AMT 2: 301].

 

March 11 Thursday – John Marshall Clemens rode to the village of Palmyra (the county seat) to attend a judicial hearing that would clear him in a debt matter. Riding home he was chilled by a sleet storm. He became ill from the shock to his system. Judge Ezra Hunt of the Circuit Court at Palmyra “accepted John M. Clemens’ reasonable plea that his own unpaid claims against Beebe be considered as an offset to Beebe’s demands upon him—and with that decision the case fades from the records” [Wecter 112]. John Marshall may have traveled to Palmyra for this particular hearing [115].

 [ page 14 ]

March 24 Wednesday – John Marshall Clemens died of pneumonia at the age of 49. Paine gives some of John’s last words: “Cling to the land,” he whispered. “Cling to the land, and wait. Let nothing beguile it away from you” [MTB 73].

 

Orion’s comments about his father were included in Sam’s Jan. 29, 1907 A.D. In part:

 

My father may have hastened the ending of his life by the use of too much medicine. He doctored himself from my earliest remembrance. During the latter part of his life he bought Cook’s pills by the box and took one or more daily [AMT 2: 409]. Note: Cook’s Pills were a combination of strong laxatives used to treat many ailments.

 

Sam recalled never having heard his father laugh, and seeing the only kiss his father had given in his presence, a deathbed kiss to Sam’s sister Pamela. The stern, hardworking aspect of Sam’s father underlined the influence he received from his mother. That night, through the keyhole, Sam and Orion witnessed an “autopsy” (or, some sort of post-mortem examination) of his father, a traumatizing event [Powers, MT A Life 43]. Fanning posits the exam took place due to Jane’s suspicions that John Marshall had contracted a venereal disease [14]. (See June 14, 1880 entry on Howell’s reaction to Orion’s lost autobiography.)

 

March 25 Thursday – John Marshall Clemens was buried in the Old Baptist Cemetery a mile and a half from Hannibal. Sam walked in his sleep this night and a few others. In 1876 John Marshall and Henry Clemens were later transferred to the newer Mount Olivet Cemetery, southwest of Hannibal [Wecter 118-9]. The following obituary ran in the Hannibal Gazette:

 

      Died in this city on yesterday, the 24th inst., after a protracted and painful illness, John M. Clemens, Esq., in the 49th year of his age.

      Unwelcome and awful the visits of death always are. But in this instance, he has not only overwhelmed a family in grief—he has filled a community with sorrow.

      Judge Clemens has been for many years a citizen of North Eastern Missouri and of Hannibal. He had been honored by several public stations which he filled with credit to himself and advantage to the community. He was noted for his good sense and a clear discriminating mind. These added to a high sense of justice and moral rectitude, made him a man of uncommon influence and usefulness. His public spirit was exercised zealously and with effect upon every proper occasion. His efforts to establish a library and institute of learning in our city were such as to entitle him to all commendation, and his untimely death is felt on this account as well as many others as a loss to the whole community….As a good and useful citizen, a lover of his kind, and an honest man, John M. Clemens will hold a place in the recollection of all who knew him [Hannibal Courier-Post, Mar. 6, 1935 p.13C].

 

April – A torchlight parade celebrated victories in the Mexican War. Sam no doubt was there, watching the pomp and a huge transparency showing “Old Zac at Buena Vista.” A band played and the streets were full of cheering townspeople [Wecter 123].

 

April 12 Monday – Orion leased the house on Hill Street from James Clemens, Jr. , a wealthy St. Louis cousin, who bought some of John Marshall’s property [Wecter 102]. Jane and children moved back into the Hill Street house. Sister Pamela, (named for an aunt and sometimes spelled “Pamelia,” and always pronounced as such) now twenty, had been giving piano and guitar lessons in the villages of Florida and Paris, Mo. (Sam became proficient in both) She moved back to take care of her mother Jane.

 

April 14 Wednesday – The doors of J.D. Dawson’s school, later immortalized in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, opened in Hannibal. Dawson’s son, like Henry Clemens and Sid Sawyer, was a model boy, except that the Dawson boy added priggishness. It was in this school that Sam experienced many of the pranks and games that would fill the novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn [Wecter 132; Powers, D. Waters 93]. Note: John D. Dawson (b.1812?).  [ page 15 ]

 

From Sam’s 1906 recollection of his schoolmates:

 

I remember Andy Fuqua, the oldest pupil—a man of twenty-five. I remember the youngest pupil, Nannie Owsley, a child of seven. I remember George RoBards, eighteen or twenty years old, the only student who studied Latin. I remember vaguely the rest of the twenty-five boys and girls. I remember Mr. Dawson very well. I remember his boy, Theodore, who was as good as he could be. In fact he was inordinately good, extravagantly good, offensively good, detestably good—and he had pop-eyes—and I would have drowned him if I had had a chance. In that school we were all about on an equality, and, so far as I remember, the passion of envy had no place in our hearts, except in the case of Arch Fuqua—the other one’s brother. Of course we all went barefoot in the summertime. Arch Fuqua was about my own age—ten or eleven…He was our envy, for he could double back his big toe and let it fly and you could hear it snap thirty yards. There was not another boy in the school that could approach this feat. He had not a rival as regards a physical distinction—except in Theodore Eddy, who could work his ears like a horse. But he was no rival, because you couldn’t hear him work his ears; so all the advantage lay with Arch Fuqua [MTA 2: 179-80]. Note: Archibald Fuqua (b.1833?).

 

April 23 Friday – The Marion County Court appointed Orion administrator of John Marshall Clemens’ estate [Wecter 120]. 

 

Spring and Summer – Sam clerked in a grocery store until he was fired for eating too much sugar. He enrolled at Dawson’s School a few weeks after the death of his father. He worked many odd jobs during these months. He clerked for a bookstore, delivered newspapers, helped out at a blacksmith’s, and even studied law, but gave it up “because it was so prosy and tiresome” [Ch. 42 of Roughing It; Wecter131].

 

May 6 Thursday – The Hannibal Gazette reported that Sparhawk & Layton were giving nightly lectures and demonstrations at Hawkins’ saloon on “human magnetism” (hypnosis). Such subjects as mesmerizing and phrenology excited the town when “experts” arrived. In a few years Sam would engage in outdoing another boy who’d been put in a trance. See AMT 2: 589.

 

May 21 Friday – An appraisal of John Marshall Clemens’ property was filed in Marion County. The most valuable item was “6 volumes Nicholsons Encyclopedia.” Orion inherited the volumes, which went to Sam’s library after Orion and Mollie’s deaths [Gribben 507].

 

August 13 Friday – One of Sam’s playmates, Clint Levering, age ten, drowned after falling out of an empty flatboat while playing with “a number of his playmates.” Sam was no doubt among these boys, as he remembered the tragedy in his notebook and wrote of it in Life on the Mississippi, Chapter 54, where Sam called him “Lem Hackett.” (See May 13, 1882 entry.)

 

August 19 Thursday – Reported in the Hannibal Journal: While exploring on Sny Island and Bird Slough with pals John Briggs and Will Bowen, the boys went wading. Tom Blankenship’s older brother “Bence” Blankenship had discovered a runaway slave, Neriam Todd, hiding on the island weeks before, and had secreted food to him until a group of men chased the slave into the water and lost him. When the boys waded, “suddenly the negro rose before them, straight and terrible, about half the length out of the water.” Thinking the corpse was after them, the boys fled in terror [Wecter 148].

 

September – Sam’s memory wasn’t always accurate. He recalled being “taken from school at once upon my father’s death and placed in the office of the Hannibal Courier,” working for Joseph P. Ament. The Courier, however, was not established in Hannibal until 1848. Wecter says Sam no doubt delivered extras for Henry La Cossitt, owner of the Gazette, in particular after the victorious battle of Chapultepec in the Mexican War, in Sept. 1847 [Wecter 122-3]. [ page 16 ]

 

November 30 Tuesday – Sam’s twelfth birthday.

 

1848

 

Text Box: January 24, 1848 – Gold discovered at Sutter’s Mill in California

 

 

 

Text Box: February 2, 1848 - Mexico and the United States signed the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

 

 

 

 

February 19 Saturday – Orion made a temperance speech in Hannibal [Wecter 294n5].

 

May 3 Wednesday – 24-year-old Joseph Ament purchased the Hannibal Gazette and moved his Missouri Courier to Hannibal. He established his newspaper in the second-floor Gazette offices on Main Street, over Brittingham’s Drugstore [Dempsey 155]. The merged papers went under the name of the Hannibal Gazette [Benson 2].

 

June – The family now in worse financial straits than ever, Sam landed his first full-time job as a printer’s devil for the Missouri Courier, owned by Joseph P. Ament. He worked only a half block from the family home. The journalism field has prepared many a great writer, and typesetting words is where Sam Clemens got his start. A printer’s devil made up pages one letter at a time. Sam was paid meals only and two suits of clothes a year, but got only one, a suit way too big for him. “I had to turn up his pants to my ears just to make them short enough.” Wecter gives the date as “the end of May or beginning of June” [202].

 

Sam would be an apprentice for two years. During this time he worked with Thomas P. “Pet” McMurry,  a journeyman printer in his twenties; and apprentices William T. League (1832-1870), Richard Rutter, and Wales R. McCormick, “a large lad of eighteen whose hilarious sense of humor, practical jokes, and stories amused and sometimes irritated Sam” [Lorch 11; Dempsey 155]. Note: see Sam’s 1906 remembrance of Wales, MTA 2: 276; also his Dec. 3, 1907 to W.H. Powell, which mentions these and others.

 

Summer – Either this summer or the prior was the last year of annual visits to Quarles Farm near Florida, Mo These visits to the farm where hunting was allowed (the Clemens boys were never allowed guns), food was bountiful, and Sam thought the slaves (who were never sold or split up from families) were the most joyous people in his boyhood [Wecter 91].

 

October 12 Thursday – The Hannibal Gazette, where Sam was apprenticing, changed its name to the Missouri Courier [Benson 2]

 

November 30 Thursday – Sam’s thirteenth birthday.

 

December – The California gold rush was on. Hannibal felt the impact. Emigrants rushed to Hannibal and St. Joseph, eager to travel west. Some 300 Hannibal residents would head west. Sam later ran into a few of his townspeople in California. By the last week in December, Hannibal newspapers reported that the “gold dust of California” is “carrying away crowds of our citizens” [Wecter 216]. [ page 17 ]

 

1849

 

Sometime this year, Sam found a page in the street about Joan of Arc, which began his fascination with the figure. Younger brother Henry told Sam about the young maid’s life and fiery end (Wecter cites Isabel Van Kleek Lyon (1868-1958), Mark Twain’s secretary in his later years, as claiming Sam consulted his mother about Joan of Arc). Nevertheless, the chance find of a loose page sparked a desire to read and learn everything he could about medieval history [Wecter 211]. Note: It’s possible this find ultimately sparked Prince and the Pauper as well as Connecticut Yankee. Sam considered his book on Joan his best work.

 

A group of Hannibal citizens led by Samuel Cross left for California and the gold rush.

 

On October 3, 1902 Clemens wrote William Dean Howells that he “ran away twice; once at about 13, & once at 17. There is not much satisfaction in it, even as a recollection. It was a couple of disappointments, particularly the first one” [MTHL 2: 746]. Note: the runaway at age 13 would have been in 1849.

 

Sam assigns this year to an ice-skating episode with Tom Nash, the postmaster’s son. Tom fell in the river in a desperate attempt to regain the shore. Sam writes,

 

“He took to his bed, sick, and had a procession of diseases. The closing one was scarlet fever, and he came out if it stone deaf” [MTA 2: 97-8].

 

Text Box: March 5, 1849 - Zachary Taylor was sworn in as the 12th President of the United States 
 
 

 

 

 

 


Summer, early – Hannibal suffered from a cholera epidemic.

 

Fall –Sam remembered in his Autobiography the scene of practicing for his part as a bear in his sister’s autumn party. He’d chosen a vacant house to try out moves for his part, and went there with a “little black boy, Sandy….” Not noticing a screen in the corner and costumes on a hook, Sam pranced about in his birthday suit until “a smothered burst of feminine snickers” came from the other side of the screen, which had enough holes to make it interesting for the voyeurs. After a clamorous escape, Sam avoided girls for several weeks. He would discover the identity of one of the peepers 47 years later, in Calcutta, India [MTA 1: 127-9].

 

September, first week – The telegraph came to Hannibal. Dempsey calls the event Hannibal’s “technological coming of age.” Before the telegraph, news came from boats from St. Louis or across the river in Quincy, Illinois. The intersection of Main and Hill Streets became known as “Telegraph Corner” [Dempsey 125]. At the Courier, Sam was well regarded, and was put in charge of gathering telegraph information on the Mexican War and other news that came over the wire [Benson 6-7].

 

October 26 Friday – The U.S. Senator from Missouri, Thomas Hart Benton (1782-1858) was an “occasional visitor to town,” and on this day gave a “large rally of Hannibalians in fiery vein.” Wecter notes that “Sam Clemens shared Tom Sawyer’s emotions when the ‘greatest man in the world…Mr. Benton, an actual United States Senator, proved an overwhelming disappointment—for he was not twenty-five feet high’ ” [Wecter 195].

 [ page 18 ]

October 30 Tuesday – The date of the horrendous attack by a slave named Ben, owned by Thomas Glasscock (Glascock), a Marion County farmer, upon twelve-year-old Susan Bright, and her ten-year-old brother Thomas Bright, who were looking for walnuts in the woods. See Dempsey, chapter 13 for a full account [Dempsey 126].

 

November 8 Thursday – “Glasscock’s Ben” was accused of killing Thomas Bright with a rock, then raping his twelve-year-old sister, Susan Bright, and mutilating her. He was hanged early the next year.

 

Yellow fever hit Hannibal in early winter, as well as another siege of cholera [Wecter 214].

 

November 30 Friday – Sam’s fourteenth birthday.

 

December 4 Tuesday – “Glasscock’s Ben” was convicted and sentenced to be hanged on Jan. 11, 1850 [Dempsey 130].

 

December 6 Thursday – Joseph P. Ament’s newspaper printed a long account of the Glasscock’s Ben trial. The Negro was found guilty and sentenced to death. Sam was a printer devil at Ament’s Missouri Courier. Two comic verses (“Amalgamation here we view,…” and “Abigail Brown, with a span new gown….”) ran with marriage announcements and a note that the printer was “duly remembered.” Branch attributes these to Sam [“Chronological” 113].


 [ page 19 ]
School Days – A Proper Hanging – Cadets Cannot Smoke

Aunt Patsy Passes – Orion the Newspaperman

 

Sam had four different schoolteachers in Hannibal: Mrs. Horr, Miss Newcomb, J.D. Dawson, and William O. Cross [Wecter 211]. Wecter concludes that the chance find of a page about Joan of Arc seemed to stimulate Sam to learn more than all these teachers put together [211]. Paine says that Sam learned a little German by ear from the village shoemaker, briefly tackled Latin, and about five years later was teaching himself French. Paine also writes that Sam claimed to have read the Bible through “before I was 15 years old” [MTB 1281].

 

Music, often in church, was part of Sam’s early years. Here are two inserts of an 1869 Song Book, annotated some 20 years later, by Clemens. Many of these he heard in 1850. Designated as 1850 are A Life on the Ocean Wave, A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea, Bell Brandon, By the Blue Alsatian Mountains, and Larboard Watch:

 

January 11 Friday – Glasscock’s Ben Negro was hanged before a huge crowd—the first legal execution in the history of Marion County. In Villagers of 1840-3 Sam wrote in 1897:

 

“The Hanged Nigger. He raped and murdered a girl of 13 in the woods. He confessed to forcing three young women in Virginia, and was brought away in a feather bed to save his life—which was a valuable property” [Wecter 215].

 

Note: Dempsey writes, “there is no evidence in the court records or newspaper accounts that Ben killed anyone in Virginia or that he was too valuable to be hanged there…This story seems to be an invention of Clemens’s, which, like other of his inventions, occasionally shows up in history books” [131].

 [ page 20 ]

January 29 Tuesday – Yellow fever still raged in Hannibal. Sam’s sister Pamela wrote Orion in St. Louis:

 

“I suppose you have not been attacked with the yellow fever, that by the way is raging so her that it is feared it will carry off nearly half the inhabitants, if it does [not] indeed depopulate the town. In consequence of it many of our best citizens intend starting for California so soon as they can make preparations” [Wecter 214].

 

January 30 Wednesday – Jane Clemens wrote Orion about the availability of the Hannibal Journal, a paper her late husband had always wanted to buy [Wecter 224].

 

April – Sam joined the “Cadets of Temperance” in order to wear the regalia and march in parades. The organization began about May 1847, with a cadet branch opening three years after. During the late 1840s, temperance crusades were common in the country. A requirement of cadets was to abstain from drinking, swearing, and smoking. Sam joined to wear the uniforms and march in the May Day and Fourth of July parades. Then he quit, counting it too high a price to pay. Sam would try several times in his life to quit smoking, but was always unsuccessful. He later professed that the only sensible rule of abstinence was never to smoke more than one cigar at a time. The roster of Cadets included Henry Clemens, Tom Nash (b.1835?), Jimmy McDaniel, John D. Meredith (1837-1870), and others. Sam’s name on the roster was marked “withd” meaning “withdrew” [Wecter 153-4]. Note: Dr. Meredith had two sons, John D. (above) and Charles (b.1833?) [MTP].

 

April 6 Saturday – Arnold Buffum wrote Pamela Clemens that the price of the Tennessee Land had gone down to ten cents per acre. Pamela forwarded the letter to Orion in St. Louis, saying “Ma thinks you had better accept Buffum’s proposal and let him sell a portion of the land in that way, say half or more, limiting him to the quantity.” Pamela was suspicious that Buffum simply wanted the land for himself [MTBus 17]. John Marshall Clemens had placed great hope for the family’s future in the land he paid four or five hundred for in the 1830s, and even cautioned them to hang on to it on his deathbed. Orion may have simply been inept, or failed to sell the land out of respect to his dead father.

 

April 11 Thursday – Sam witnessed a killing on this date.

 

“…the young California emigrant who was stabbed with a bowie knife by a drunken comrade; I saw the red life gush from his breast” [Wecter 219].

May – A traveling mesmerizer (hypnotist) stopped in Hannibal for a two-week show. Sam volunteered to be a subject, but unlike another boy, failed to go under. When Sam saw all the attention that others got when hypnotized he volunteered again and went along with a ruse that fooled everyone. He even allowed himself to be stuck with needles without flinching, convincing even his mother [Neider 50-58]. Well, Sam could easily fool his mother about many things (or thought he could).

 

May 1 Wednesday – Sam marched in the May Day parade with the Cadets of Temperance [Wecter 153].

 

May 3 Friday – A fragment of the Tennessee Land was sold for $50. Orion may have used this money and savings to start a new paper in Hannibal in September [Wecter 225].

 

June 27 Thursday – “Doing’ a Dandy,” a sketch of Sam’s ran in Ament’s Courier under the pseudonym of “Fred Ballard” [Wecter 247].

 

Summer – Orion returned to Hannibal [Wecter 225].

 [ page 21 ]

July 4 Thursday – Sam marched in the parade with the Cadets of Temperance, and later recollected that he picked up a cigar butt from the street, smoked it, and quit the group [Wecter 153].

 

Text Box: July 10, 1850 - Millard Fillmore was sworn in as the 13th President of the United States 
 
 

 

 

 

 


July 23 Tuesday – Aunt Martha Ann (Patsy) Quarles died. She was Jane Lampton Clemens’ sister. Less than two years later, John Quarles sold his farm [Wecter 290n20].

 

September 6 Friday – Orion began printing the Hannibal Western Union, a weekly Whig newspaper. Sam probably continued working for Joseph Ament the first few months Orion established the newspaper [Wecter 225]. Note: Dempsey gives the date as Sept. 5 [158].

 

Text Box: September 18, 1850 
Fugitive Slave Act - Compromise of 1850 Approved

 

 

 

 

November 14 Thursday – The Hannibal Western Union printed an article, “Humorous Content Upon the Excellence of a Wedding Cake,” byline “Devil,” attributed by Branch to Sam Clemens [Branch, “Chronological” 113].

November 29 Friday – Sam had his picture taken holding the typestick containing “SAM” on the eve of his fifteenth birthday [MTP].

 

November 30 Saturday – Sam’s fifteenth birthday.


 [ page 22 ]
Sam Worked for Orion – First Humorous Articles

Sister Pamela Married Well – Part of Tennessee Land Sold

 

January – Sam ended his commitment to Joseph Ament of the Missouri Courier and went to work with brother Henry for Orion, who promised him a salary of $3.50 a week. Orion was never able to pay Sam a penny. Orion secured cousin Dr. Jim Lampton and uncle John Quarles as sales agents [A. Hoffman 28]. Sam served Orion daily as a printer and editorial assistant. Sam’s attitude toward his older brother was established in the period of his work on the Courier. Wecter called his attitude “a mixture of affection and contempt, which later days hardened into an amalgam of generosity and sadism” [Wecter 225-6].

 

January 9 Thursday – A fire broke out one door from the print shop where Sam worked with brothers Orion, Henry, and a newcomer who was the butt of many of Sam’s practical jokes, Jim Wolfe. This episode was the basis for a humorous sketch printed a week later [Wecter 236].

 

January 16 Thursday – Sam began his new position on Orion’s newspaper; he wrote a comic piece, “A Gallant Fireman,” lampooning Jim Wolfe, their new apprentice and his dim-witted reaction to a minor fire at a shop next door to the Western Union [ET&S 1: 61]. (Note: Dempsey cites this article as the first known authored by Sam [158].) Sam tried to add vigor to the paper by using local color and frontier language, while Orion filled the paper with moralistic pieces, dull compositions and summaries of national news. The brothers, so different in temperament and style, created conflict which doomed collaboration on the newspaper. As the man of the family, Orion tried to exert control over Sam, but was feckless in the face of the challenge; Sam was bound not to accept any such control.

 

May – A municipal ordinance passed forcing farmers to sell their eggs through the city market. Sam put a letter to the editor in the Hannibal Western Union sarcastically praising this “most eggscellent, eggs-plicit, eggs-travagant and eggs-traordinary ordinance.” Throughout the summer, Sam attempted to inject humor, local interest and pep into Orion’s otherwise dull newspaper [Wecter 239].

 

June 5 Thursday – Orion’s newspaper, the Hannibal Journal, reported on this day that steamboats “were burying their passengers at every wood yard, both from cabin and deck.” Cholera had hit the river again, claiming 24 citizens of Hannibal [Wecter 214].

 

July 10 Thursday – The Hannibal Western Union printed an unsigned article, “The New Costume,” attributed to Sam [Camfield, bibliog.]. It seems likely that Sam wrote other sketches and articles for Orion’s paper, now lost. Note: Dempsey attributes the article to “one of the Clemens boys” [209].

 

August 28 Thursday – The last day the Hannibal Western Union printed under that name [Benson 7].

 

August, late – Orion took over the Hannibal Journal from “Big Joe” Buchanan’s son, “Little Joe.” Big Joe went to California in the spring of 1850 with his brother Robert [Wecter 239, 223]. Note: Robert (1802-1875), Joseph S. Buchanan (b.1806) [MTP].

 

September 4 Thursday – Orion, from his old office on Bird Street, brought out the first issue of the consolidated Hannibal Journal and Western Union [Wecter 239]. Five months later the name was shortened. Orion had acquired the extinct Hannibal Weekly Dollar Journal which ran a few months in 1849-50 (by Robert Buchanan and Samuel Raymond), as well as the subscription list, and so named the paper from the Hannibal Western Union to the Hannibal Western Union and Journal, and to the shorter, Hannibal Journal [Dempsey 136].

 [ page 23 ]

September 9 Tuesday – Orion shortened the name of his weekly paper from the Hannibal Journal and Western Union to the Hannibal Journal [Benson 7].

 

September 20 Saturday – Sister Pamela (Pamelia), who just turned 24 a week before, married well on this day. Her new husband, William Anderson Moffett (1816-1865) was a successful Hannibal merchant who sold out his interests and moved with his new wife to St. Louis where he established a successful wholesale business. With the growth of Western Territories, St. Louis grew rapidly. The pair married in Green County, Kentucky. Pamela was visiting her Aunt Pamelia and Will Moffett was traveling to visit his Virginia relatives for the first time since he and his brother had left home. Since they had planned a trip to Niagara Falls, they decided to combine the trips [MTBus 19].

 

Fall – The Clemens family received notice of the sale of part of their Tennessee Land, the asset that the late John Marshall Clemens had put so much faith in. The farmer who purchased the land then discovered it unfit to farm, so Orion went to Tennessee to resolve the issue. His trip took two months and was a total failure. Soon after his return the Journal office burned. Orion moved it to the Hill Street house where the family lived; they all got the paper back up and running [A. Hoffman 29].

 

Colonel Edward Zane Carroll Judson (1823-1886), who wrote under the pseudonym of Ned Buntline, came to Hannibal to lecture on “Cuba and Her Martyrs.” Judson was the author of The Black Avenger of the Spanish Main, to which Sam referred in his sketch “Jul’us Caesar” and also in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer [Wecter 195; Gribben 362]. Note: Fifteen year old Sam Clemens would undoubtedly have seen Judson speak, having read his “dime novel” works, which Sam later called “Wildcat Literature.” Judson’s arrival was heralded by Orion’s Hannibal Journal.

 

November 30 Sunday – Sam’s sixteenth birthday.

 

December 29 Monday – A piece by Orion datelined “Near Glasgow, Ky., Dec. 29, 1851” ran in the Journal on Jan. 22, 1852 upon Orion’s return, showing that he left Hannibal on his fruitless trip to Tennessee, somewhat before this date, probably just after Christmas [Wecter 242].

 


 

 [ page 24 ]
Satire & Pen Names – Sam Played Editor When Orion was Away

Final Appearance in the Hannibal Journal

 

January 8 Thursday – “The Editor is absent,” announced the Hannibal Journal editorial. Orion was still away [Wecter 242].

 

January 15 Thursday – “The Editor is still absent” [Wecter 242].

 

January 22 Thursday – Orion announced his return in the paper [Wecter 242].

 

January 29 Thursday – The Journal was able to beat the other town papers to a story about a fire—this one in the Journal office. Orion collected insurance money and soon restarted the paper. The Journal, like most of Orion’s endeavors, never made a profit [Wecter 243]. On page 2 of the Hannibal Journal and Western Union a lot of Orion Clemens’ is advertised for sale to satisfy a tax assessment [Hannibal Courier-Post, Mar. 6, 1935 p13c].

 

February – Orion moved the Journal “to the room over Stover & Horr’s Clothing Store, on Main Street” [Wecter 243].

 

April 9 Friday – The Saluda, a side-wheel, wooden hull packet, 223 tons, christened in 1846, sank in 1850 but eventually was raised and restored. On Apr. 9, 1852, Good Friday, with Mormon emigrants aboard, the boat was headed for Council Bluffs, Iowa. Upon arriving at Lexington, the current was swift. Pilot Charles S. LaBarge pushed her too hard and her boilers blew. Pilot and Master Belt and about 75 others died. It was the worst disaster to that time on the Missouri River. At that time, Sam was still in Hannibal, working on Orion’s newspaper, the Journal and must have heard and even reported the news. Still when Samuel E. Belt wrote Sam on Feb. 12, 1905 asking for his recollection of the disaster, Isabel Lyon answered for Clemens:

 

“Mr. Clemens wishes me to say that if he ever knew anything about the Saluda disaster it long ago went out of his memory” [MTP].

 

March 25 Thursday – Sam wrote the descriptive piece, “Hannibal Missouri,” which he submitted to the Philadelphia American Courier, published on May 8, 1852 [ET&S 1: 68]. In this glowing description of his hometown, Sam included the Mississippi River, the St. Joseph Railroad, and the cave south of town. Dempsey points out he “completely omitted any reference to slaves or slavery” [168].

 

May – The Journal moved above T.R. Selme’s on Main Street opposite the Post Office [Dempsey 158].

 

May 1 Saturday – The Carpet Bag, a Boston journal that provided rustic humor, and was often sent to Western towns, carried a 425-word sketch of Sam’s titled “The Dandy Frightening the Squatter.” It was signed with Sam’s initials, “S.L.C.” The sketch related a steamboat passenger showing off to female passengers by acting brave, only to be one-upped by a Hannibal man [A. Hoffman 29]. No payment was made, but the glory was all Sam’s. This may be one of the two pieces that Sam mistakenly recalled having contributed to the Philadelphia Saturday Evening Post [ET&S 1: 63].

Note: Sam would have been familiar with The Carpet Bag, edited by Benjamin Shillaber (1814-1890), because wholesale agents in the West distributed it widely. Plus, Orion quoted articles from the humor publication more than a dozen times between Mar. 4 and June 3, 1852 [“Benjamin Shillaber and his ‘Carpet Bag’, by Cyril Clemens, The New England Quarterly Vol. 14, No. 3, Sept. 1941 p.527; See also My Own Story by J.T. Trowbridge (1903) p. 181-2].

 [ page 25 ]

In an interesting side note, eighteen-year-old Charles Farrar Browne (1834-1867), known after 1858 as Artemus Ward, had been working as a compositor for The Carpet Bag over the past year, and probably set the type for the May 1 issue [538]. Shillaber’s most important literary work was The Life and Sayings of Mrs. Partington (1854), a popular work in Sam’s library years later [Gribben 641].

 

May 8 Saturday – The Philadelphia American Courier ran “Hannibal, Missouri,” a description of Hannibal by Sam (dated Mar. 25, 1852). This was heady stuff for a mere sixteen-year-old. Sam used these successes to brag to various females in the town and to throw them up to Orion. Easterners were curious about the Western frontier; many Eastern papers sought articles about the West [A. Hoffman 30]. Again, no payment was made for these articles.

 

Summer – Sam, now sixteen, swam the Mississippi River to the Illinois side, then turned back and swam back to Hannibal without landing. It was two miles round trip, and on the return leg Sam got a cramp and had to navigate home with only his arms [MTB 57].

 

July 1 Thursday – Sam became an uncle with the birth of Annie E. Moffett to Sam’s sister Pamela Ann and her husband, William Anderson Moffett. Annie would always be a favorite of Sam’s; she married Charles Luther Webster (1851-1891) in 1875, the man Sam would hire to run his publishing business [MTL 1: 382].

 

Orion had been forced to move the Journal into the living room of his mother’s house on Hill Street. Jim Wolfe moved in with the family and shared Sam’s bedroom. One night a cow wandered into the parlor, knocked over a type-case, and “ate a couple of composition rollers” [Wecter 244].

 

July 15 Thursday – Sam wrote a facetious piece of “the Dog Law” which from that day forth ordered all canines to be licensed at a dollar a head and wear collars. An early case of Sam pulling legs—readers’ legs, not dogs’ [Wecter 249].

 

The Hannibal Journal (formerly the Hannibal Western Union) printed an unsigned article, “Paragraph on a Military Company Formed by Town Boys,” attributed to Sam [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

July 24 Saturday – Sam reported that a calf had been bitten by a mad dog. A not-so-serious proposal, signed “A Dog-be-deviled Citizen,” called for all dogs to be exterminated. The dog pieces brought Ament’s Hannibal Courier to the defense of dogs, and the Hannibal Tri-Weekly Messenger also joined in. It’s likely that Orion humored Sam these small needles in print, or perhaps did not notice the humor in them. Such was Orion’s nature, humorless, oblivious [Wecter 249].

 

August, late – Ament’s Hannibal Courier and the Hannibal Tri-Weekly Messenger printed pieces defending the town dogs [Wecter 249].

 [ page 26 ]

September 9 Thursday – Orion left town for a week and turned the paper over to Sam, who printed gossip to liven things up. He printed an account titled “A Family Muss” about fighting among an Irish family on Holliday’s Hill. Sam used the pen name “W. Epaminondas Adrastus Perkins,” and showed the sort of fictionalizing of news he would later develop in Nevada and California [Wecter 249; ET&S 1: 69].

 

September 16 Thursday – Sam satirized Josiah T. Hinton, the new editor of the competing Hannibal Tri-Weekly Messenger, in an article, “Local Resolves to Commit Suicide.” See insert. It seems Hinton had been a jilted lover, so went to the river one night to drown himself, but could not follow through. Sam heard of this and wrote his article along with engravings he fashioned from wood blocks, picturing the editor testing the water’s depth. After the editor retaliated, Sam published two more ridiculing sketches. In a rage, the editor stormed the Journal’s office, only to find seventeen-year-old Sam sitting calmly in the editor’s chair [A. Hoffman 30]. Also during Orion’s absence, Sam’s first use of a pen name appeared: W. Epaminondas Adrastus Perkins (See Sept. 9 entry.) Perkins was soon changed to “Blab” [Powers, Dangerous 199].

 

Posing as an observer of local society and morals, Sam satirized a drunk and family on Holliday’s Hill. Such subjects were not usually mentioned in newspapers. Sam through Blab, reported with sarcasm on the wife beating by the drunk as “an extreme case of matrimony.” Sam also wrote other pieces with the W.E.A.B. or Blab nom de plume, “Historical Exhibition—A No.1 Ruse,” and “Blabbing Government Secrets!” [ET&S 1: 78]. “Editorial Agility” appeared unsigned and is attributed to Sam [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

September 23 Thursday – “Blab’s Tour”; “Letter to ‘Mr. Editor’” byline Blab; “Letter to ‘Mr. Editor’” byline A Dog-be-Deviled Citizen,” [Camfield, bibliog.] and “‘Pictur’ Department,” were printed with additional thrusts at the Messenger’s “Local.” Orion returned; Blab announced, “I have retired from public life to the shades of Glascock’s Island” [Wecter 253; ET&S 1: 72-4]. Blab announced his final appearance in the Journal [ET&S 1: 83].

 

November 4 Thursday – “Conubial Bliss,” another unsigned sketch of Sam’s about a rowdy Irishman on “Holliday’s Hill” appeared in the Hannibal Journal [ET&S 1: 85]:

 

A squalid family living on the side of Holliday’s Hill is under the ‘protection’ of a big fellow who once in a while, say about every afternoon, gets drunk and ‘cuts up’ considerably. Sometimes he gathers the baby and goes staggering and stumbling and pitching about over the hill, to the great dismay of his wife. Having amused himself in this manner till tired, he lays down the child, and ‘lams’ its mama; and if the unwashed, tow-headed boarder, who stands by with his hands in his pockets, offers to interfere he ‘lams’ him too. Within a few days past, his amusements of this sort have been charmingly varied:—such as taking sheets and dresses from the clothes line, and tearing them into ribbons; smashing up the cooking stove, throwing a brick at his wife’s head, [ page 27 ] and chasing her around the house with a ten foot pole. Quite a contrast, doubtless the poor woman thinks, when her mind wanders back to the courtship and the ‘honey-moon!’ Well, we are all subject to change—except printers; they never have any spare change [ET&S 1: 86].

 

November 25 Thursday – Orion’s newspaper, the Hannibal Journal, commented on Joseph Ament’s sale of the Hannibal Missouri Courier:

 

[Ament’s ability had] made him an efficient supporter of his party principles, while his courtesy and uniformly manly course, procured him many friends among his opponents. We heartily wish him success wherever he may bend his steps, and in whatever business he may undertake—except making proselytes to his party [Benson 6]. Note: the two papers had been political rivals.

 

November 30 Tuesday – Sam’s seventeenth birthday.

 

 

 


 [ page 28 ]
A Drunk Burned – Sam Again in Charge – Grumbler vs. Rambler – Assistant’s Column Sam Left Hannibal for St. Louis –New York City Typesetter

Philadelphia’s Better Than New York

 

January 23 Sunday – Sam gave a drunk some matches for his pipe. Later that night the drunk was arrested and jailed in a brick house by the river. At 2 AM the jail caught fire from the drunk’s pipe and people could only watch as the man burned to death. It was an episode that loaded more guilt on Sam, and in 1870 he recalled the death in a letter to his boyhood pal, Will Bowen: “we accidentally burned up that poor fellow in the calaboose” [MTL 4: 51]. Just how the fire started, no one could tell, yet Sam carried guilt from that episode his entire life. (Date calculated from Orion’s Jan. 27 account in the Journal) [Wecter 254].

 

March, early – An accident at the Journal ruined several columns of type, as reported by the Messenger on Mar. 5. Orion announced the paper would now be a daily as well, to make up for lost editions, under the name the Hannibal Daily Journal [Benson 7].

 

Text Box: March 4, 1853 – Franklin Pierce 
 was sworn in as the 
14th President of the United States 
 
 

 

 

 

 


April 16 Saturday– The Journal printed an unsigned comic verse, “On Miss Anna Bread,” attributed to Sam [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

April 29 Friday – Two humorous pieces appeared in the Journal over the name “Rambler,” one a report of a stagecoach that crashed through a cellar, and the other a report that “some French gentleman or gentlemen” stole “two hams only” from Brittingham’s pork house [Wecter 257].

 

May 5 Thursday – Orion once again left the Journal in Sam’s hands. Sam printed three stanzas of vernacular humor in verse “The Heart’s Lament,” dated May 4, under the pen name, “Rambler,” one he would use again in 1858 for the St. Louis Missouri Democrat. The rival Messenger paper was outselling the Journal, now a daily, and Sam was overburdened with getting the paper out. Brother Henry Clemens was a slow and careless typesetter, who probably didn’t like the work; Sam had to keep long hours to correct Henry’s errors [Wecter 257; ET&S 1: 88-90].

 

May 6 Friday – An unsigned article printed in the Daily Journal: “The Editor left yesterday for St. Louis,” is attributed to Sam [Camfield, bibliog.]. “This must be our excuse if the paper is lacking in interest.” Sam made up a controversy about a love poem to “Katie of H——L,” confusing on purpose Hannibal and Hell and again signed “Rambler He then proceeded to write objections back and forth. Another unsigned article and headline hoax, “Terrible Accident!” was printed in the Journal and is attributed to Sam. Lastly, an unsigned item, “Two paragraphs ridiculing Abner Gilstrap,” is also attributed to Sam. On his return, Orion finally gave Sam his own column, which ran only three issues. [Wecter 257-8; Camfield bibliog.].

 

May 7 Saturday – Two items ran in the Hannibal Journal, one signed “Grumbler” and one unsigned and attributed to Sam—“Letter to ‘Mr. Editor’,” and “Married in Podunk” [Camfield, bibliog.]. Sam introduced “Grumbler” to continue a dialogue protesting, “Rambler’s” verses to “Katie in Hell.”

 [ page 29 ]

May 9 Monday – Two items ran in the Journal, one signed “Rambler” and one unsigned and attributed to Sam—“For the Daily Journal,” and “Nonsense Riddle. Making a Bid for Subscription Remittances” [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

May 10 Tuesday – A signed “Grumbler” Journal item titled, “To Rambler,” continued the back and forth faux controversy. “Sunday Amusements,” an article written for the Journal, and signed only “J” is attributed to Sam [ET&S 1: 376]. This verbal sparing anticipated the exercises with “The Unreliable,” a rival Virginia City journalist.

 

May 12 Thursday – Four items appeared in the Journal using Sam’s various pen names or unsigned and attributed to him: “Drunken Spree on the Ferry Boat,” (unsigned); “For the Daily Journal,”(signed by “Peter Pencilcase’s Son, John Snooks”); “Increase in the Population of England for 1853,” (unsigned); and a poem, “Separation,” (“Rambler”) [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

May 13 Friday –Wecter says that Sam gave “his most polished effort just as Orion returned” [260]. This Journal article was titled, “Oh, She has a Red Head,” signed by “Son of Adam,” a defense of all who had red hair, claiming that Jefferson and Adam and even Jesus Christ had red hair [ET&S 1: 102]. This time, however, Orion allowed Sam’s humor to continue in the paper [Wecter 260].

 

Also appearing in the Journal this day was an unsigned piece, “About Rambler and his Enemies,” attributed to Sam; an unsigned/attributed editorial note praising the Red Head piece; another “For the Daily Journal,” signed by “Rambler,” and “Two Short Editorials on Abner Gilstrap,” unsigned and attributed [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

May 14 Saturday – Sam wrote “News Item About Steamboat Arrivals,” in the Journal as “Rambler,” praising the “charming” steamboat Kate Kearney, which “came walking the water like a thing of life” [Branch, “Steersman” 206n10]. Orion, upon his return he printed an editorial “commanding the peace [as]. in the manner of Judge Clemens” [Wecter 259]. “It is a great bore to us,” wrote Orion in the Journal, “and doubtless to the public generally.” Sam’s fun was somewhat dampened [Wecter 259].

 

May 18 Wednesday – Westward emigrant parties were making their way through Hannibal—Mormons headed to Salt Lake and gold seekers to California. The Hannibal Daily Journal of this date ran a typical notice:

 

Several California teams passed through here this morning. Messrs. T.W. Bunberry, A.J. Price, and Sam’l Fry started this morning with a good, light wagon and four yoke of fine oxen [Benson 22].

 

Even a few of Sam’s companions went with their families. Sam would recall:

 

“I remember the departure of the cavalcade when it spurred Westward. We were all there to see and to envy. And I can still see that proud little chap sailing by on a great horse….We were all on hand to gaze and envy when he returned, two years later, in unimaginable glory—for he had traveled” [MTA 2: 183]

 

May 20 Friday – An unsigned/attributed “Editorial Comment on Abner Gilstrap” appeared in the Journal [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

May 23 Monday – Sam wrote in “Our Assistant’s Column” of the Journal that the steamboat Jennie Deans had put ashore two children stricken with cholera [Branch, “Steersman” 206n10]. More importantly, Sam poked fun at the rival town of Quincy, Illinois (“one horse town with stern wheel prospects”), and insulted the Bloomington (Missouri) Republican [Wecter 261]. Sam was an instigator, forever trying to stir up fun and controversy in an otherwise boring newspaper. Also in the column was a satire of “The Burial [ page 30 ] of Sir John Moore” titled, “The Burial of Sir Abner Gilstrap, Editor of the Bloomington ‘Republican’”[ET&S 1: 106; MTL 1: 2].

 

May 25 Wednesday – Sam wrote another “Assistant’s Column” in the Journal [MTL 1:2].

 

A notice first ran in the Journal: “WANTED! AN APPRENTICE OF THE PRINTING BUSINESS. APPLY SOON.” The ad ran for two weeks.

 

Wecter concludes this date marked Sam’s departure from Hannibal [Wecter 263]. Sam had promised his mother that he would abstain from cards and liquor [Wecter 262].

May 26 Thursday – Sam wrote his last “Assistant’s Column” inserting a paragraph about the Crystal Palace in New York City. He wrote that the fifteen to twenty thousand persons who were “continually congregated” there engaged in “drunkenness and debauching…carried on to their fullest extent.” Sam was thinking about leaving Hannibal by this time, and New York may have already been his desired destination, but he spoke only of St. Louis to his mother [Wecter 262; MTL 1:2].

 

May 27Friday June, early – By this time Sam was in St. Louis to find his way in the world. Paine writes he took a night boat to St. Louis [MTB 94]. Sam likely stayed with his sister Pamela and found work as a typesetter. He vowed never to let a place trap him again. Orion was so depressed that he did not publish another edition of the Journal for a month [Powers, Dangerous 217].

 

June 2 Thursday – Four unsigned news articles appeared in the Journal attributed to Sam days after he left town: “Friday Evening, May 27, 1853,” “Saturday Evening, May 28, 1853,” “Monday Evening, May 30, 1853. Small Pox Gone,” and “Tuesday Evening, May 31, 1853” [Camfield, bibliog.]. It is likely that Sam had left these, either complete or for Orion to finish and use as he saw fit. Sam’s only other items in the Journal were two letters home that ran in September.

 

June 11 Saturday – Orion failed to get out the Hannibal Daily Journal for a whole month, beginning on this date. In one sense, Sam never truly left Hannibal—he carried it in his heart and memory and poured it out into The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Hannibal in those pages would become a universal boyhood home, an icon like the man himself. Sam would visit again in 1882 to gather material for Life on the Mississippi, and the last time in 1902. In many ways Sam Clemens would always be the boy of Hannibal—his wife Livy would call him “youth.”

 

“White town drowsing in the sunshine of a summers morning…the great Mississippi, the majestic, the magnificent Mississippi, rolling its mile-wide tide along, shining in the sun…” [LM ch.4].

 

Summer – St. Louis in the summer of 1853 was a burgeoning city of 100,000 souls, the largest city of the West. The city offered Western freedom together with many of the luxuries and affectations of the East. For a young man from Hannibal, such a city must have been dazzling. Sam had kept plans secret from his family, to work in St. Louis long enough to make fare to New York City. Sam had read stories about the World’s Fair there, The Crystal Palace Fair, and he’d included them in his Journal column. He probably stayed with the Moffetts and set type for the St. Louis Evening News.

 

In 1903 Sam remembered “the time in St. Louis in ’53, aged 17 ½, that I took the shy pretty girl from up country to Ben DeBar’s theatre” to see The Toodles, A Domestic Drama in Two Acts (1832 by Richard John Raymond) and then couldn’t get his too-tight shoes on after the performance [Gribben 570]. This was a play he would see again Jan. 12, 1864 in Carson City and report on. The girl he took is unidentified.

 [ page 31 ]

August 19 Friday – At 8 AM Sam boarded a boat and started a journey by train and boat to New York. He did not tell his mother about the trip, which took about five days. From St. Louis to Alton, Ill by the sidewheeler steamer Cornelia, 11:00 AM, from Alton to Springfield on the partly completed Chicago and Mississippi Railroad; by Frink’s stage to Bloomington, Ind. [MTL 1: 5n2]. Dempsey notes that the train station was “just a few blocks” from the law office of Abraham Lincoln [232].

 

August 20 Saturday – Sam took the Illinois Central line to LaSalle, then the Chicago and Rock Island into Chicago, arriving at 7 PM [MTL 1: 5n2; Dempsey 232]. He “laid over all day Sunday” [MTL 1: 3].

 

August 21 Sunday – Sam took the 9 PM Michigan Central to Toledo, Ohio, then to Monroe, Michigan on the Northern Indiana and Michigan Southern railroads [Dempsey 232]. In his letter he wrote he traveled from Chicago to Monroe, Michigan “by railroad, another day” [MTL 1: 3].

 

August 22 Monday – 8 AM “from Monroe, across Lake Erie, in the fine Lake palace, ‘Southern Michigan,’ to Buffalo, another day. Sam would revisit Buffalo and Niagara Falls in 1869 [MTL 1: 3; Reigstad 59]. Dempsey: “He traveled to Buffalo, New York, aboard the steamer Southern Michigan” [Dempsey 232].

 

August 23 Tuesday – 7 AM “from Buffalo to Albany, on the “Lightning Express” railroad, another day” [MTL 1: 3; Powers, MT A Life 64]. Dempsey gives this train trip as beginning at 8 A.M. [232].

 

August 24 Wednesday – “…and from Albany to New York, by Hudson river steamboat [Isaac Newton], another day—an awful trip, taking five days, where it should have been only three” [MTL 1: 3]. Sam arrived in New York City at 5 AM with “two or three dollars in his pocket and a ten-dollar bill concealed in the lining of his coat” [MTB 95; MTL 1: 5n2; Powers, MT A Life 64]. (See letter of this date for a more exacting suggested itinerary.)

 

Sam wrote his mother Jane Clemens  with a somewhat backhanded apology for shocking her at his destination. He then described an exhibit of what would later become “the wild men of Borneo,” and a brief mention of the Crystal Palace and the Marble Palace. Sam found lodging in a mechanics’ boarding house on Duane Street [MTL 1: 3-5; MTB 96].

 

My Dear Mother: you will doubtless be a little surprised, and somewhat angry when you receive this, and find me so far from home; but you must bear a little with me, for you know I was always the best boy you had, and perhaps you remember the people used to say to their children—“Now don’t do like Orion and Henry Clemens but take Sam for your guide!”

Well, I was out of work in St. Louis, and didn’t fancy loafing in such a dry place, where there is no pleasure to be seen without paying well for it, and so I thought I might as well go to New York. I packed up my “duds” and left for this village, where I arrived, all right, this morning.

It took a day, by steamboat and cars, to go from St. Louis to Bloomington, Ill; another day by railroad, from there to Chicago, where I laid over all day Sunday; from Chicago to Monroe, in Michigan, by railroad, another day; from Monroe, across Lake Erie, in the fine Lake palace, “Southern Michigan,” to Buffalo, another day; from Buffalo to Albany, by railroad, another day; and from Albany to New York, by Hudson river steamboat, another day—an awful trip, taking five days, where it should have been only three. I shall wait a day or so for my insides to get settled, after the jolting they received, when I shall look out for a sit; for they say there is plenty of work to be had for sober compositors.

The trip, however, was a very pleasant one. Rochester, famous on account of the “Spirit Rappings” was of course interesting; and when I saw the Court House in Syracuse, it called to mind the time when it was surrounded with chains and companies of soldiers, to prevent the rescue of McReynolds’ nigger, by the infernal abolitionists. I reckon I had better black my face, for in these Eastern States niggers are considerably better than white people.

I saw a curiosity to-day, but I don’t know what to call it. Two beings, about like common people, with the exception of their faces, which are more like the “phiz” of an orang-outang, than human. They are white, though, like other people. lmagine a person about the size of Harvel Jordan’s oldest boy, with small lips and [ page 32 ] full breast, with a constant uneasy, fidgety motion, bright, intelligent eyes, that seems as if they would look through you, and you have these things. They were found in the island of Borneo (the only ones of the species ever discovered,) about twenty years ago. One of them is twenty three, and the other twenty five years of age. They possess amazing strength; the smallest one would shoulder three hundred pounds as easily as I would a plug of tobacco; they are supposed to be a cross between man and orang-outang; one is the best natured being in the world, while the other would tear a stranger to pieces, if he did but touch him; they wear their hair “Samson” fashion, down to their waists. They have no apple in their throats, whatever, and can therefore scarcely make a sound; no memory either; what transpires to-day, they have forgotten before to-morrow; they look like one mass of muscle, and can walk either on all fours or upright; when let alone, they will walk to and fro across the room, thirteen hours out of the twenty-four; not a day passes but they walk twenty-five or thirty miles, without resting thirty minutes; I watched them about an hour and they were “tramping” the whole time. The little one bent his arm with the elbow in front, and the hand pointing upward, and no two strapping six footers in the room could pull it out straight. Their faces and eyes are those of the beast, and when they fix their glittering orbs on you with a steady, unflinching gaze, you instinctively draw back a step, and a very unpleasant sensation steals through your veins. They are both males and brothers, and very small, though I do not know their exact hight. I have given you a very lengthy description of the animals, but I have nothing else to write about, and nothing from here would be interesting anyhow. The Crystal Palace is a beautiful building—so is the Marble Palace.11 If I can find nothing better to write about, I will say something about these in my next.

em spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem space[ closing and signature missing] [MTPO].

August 29 Monday – Sam got “a permanent situation…in a book and job office and went to work.” He was paid 23 cents per 1000 ems, the lowest rate. He worked in the fifth floor office of John A. Gray, 95-97 Cliff Street [MTL 1: 9; Powers, MT A Life 65]. His earnings were four dollars a week; he managed to save as much as fifty cents a week [MTB 96].

 

August 31 Wednesday – In New York, Sam wrote to his mother, Jane Clemens, of his new position, his rooming house, a derogatory description of “brats” in the city, and food.

 

My dear Mother:

New York is at present overstocked with printers; and I suppose they are from the South, driven North by the yellow fever. I got a permanent situation on Monday morning, in a book and job office, and went to work. The printers here are badly organized, and therefore have to work for various prices. These prices are 23, 25, 28, 30, 32, and 35 cents per 1,000 ems. The price I get is 23 cents; but I did very well to get a place at all, for there are thirty or forty—yes, fifty good printers in the city with no work at all; besides, my situation is permanent, and I shall keep it till I can get a better one. The office I work in is John A. Gray’s, 97 Cliff street, and, next to Harper’s, is the most extensive in the city. In the room in which I work I have forty compositors for company. Taking compositors, pressmen, stereotypers, and all, there are about two hundred persons employed in the concern. The “Knickerbocker,” “New York Recorder,” “Choral Advocate,” “Jewish Chronicle,” “Littell’s Living Age,” “Irish ——,” and half a dozen other papers and periodicals are printed here, besides an immense number of books. They are very particular about spacing, justification, proofs, etc., and even if I do not make much money, I will learn a great deal. I thought [Thomas] Ustick was particular enough, but acknowledge now that he was not old-maidish. Why, you must put exactly the same space between every two words, and every line must be spaced alike. They think it dreadful to space one line with three em spaces, and the next one with five ems. However, I expected this, and worked accordingly from the beginning; and out of all the proofs I saw, without boasting, I can say mine was by far the cleanest. In St. Louis, Mr. Baird said my proofs were the cleanest that were ever set in his office. The foreman of the Anzeiger told me the same—foreman of the Watchman the same; and with all this evidence, I believe I do set a clean proof.

My boarding house is more than a mile from the office; and I can hear the signal calling the hands to work before I start down; they use a steam whistle for that purpose. I work in the fifth story; and from one window I have a pretty good view of the city, while another commands a view of the shipping beyond the Battery; and the “forest of masts,” with all sorts of flags flying, is no mean sight. You have everything in the shape of water craft, from a fishing smack to the steamships and men-of-war; but packed so closely together for miles, that when close to them you can scarcely distinguish one from another. [ page 33 ]

Of all the commodities, manufactures—or whatever you please to call it—in New York, trundle-bed trash—children I mean—take the lead. Why, from Cliff street, up Frankfort to Nassau street, six or seven squares—my road to dinner—I think I could count two hundred brats. Niggers, mulattoes, quadroons, Chinese, and some the Lord no doubt originally intended to be white, but the dirt on whose faces leaves one uncertain as to that fact, block up the little, narrow street; and to wade through this mass of human vermin, would raise the ire of the most patient person that ever lived. In going to and from my meals, I go by the way of Broadway—and to cross Broadway is the rub—but once across, it is the rub for two or three squares. My plan—and how could I choose another, when there is no other—is to get into the crowd; and when I get in, I am borne, and rubbed, and crowded along, and need scarcely trouble myself about using my own legs; and when I get out, it seems like I had been pulled to pieces and very badly put together again.

Last night I was in what is known as one of the finest fruit saloons in the world. The whole length of the huge, glittering hall is filled with beautiful ornamented marble slab tables, covered with the finest fruit I ever saw in my life. I suppose the fruit could not be mentioned with which they could not supply you. It is a perfect palace. The gas lamps hang in clusters of half a dozen together—representing grapes, I suppose—all over the hall.

em spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem space[closing and signature missing]

P.S. The printers have two libraries in town, entirely free to the craft; and in these I can spend my evenings most pleasantly. If books are not good company, where will I find it? [MTL 1: 9-12]. Note: for more on the publications Sam listed in the first paragraph, see p.11n4 in source; for more on the Printers’ Free Library and Reading Room see n.10. Thomas Watt Ustick (b. 1800/01) prominent St. Louis printer.

 

September 3? Saturday – In New York, Sam wrote at 2 AM to his sister, Pamela Moffett in St. Louis. After describing Crystal Palace of the World’s Fair, he wrote that the daily visitors average 6,000, double Hannibal’s population, and that the city’s water was supplied by the Croton Aqueduct from a reservoir in Westchester County, some thirty eight miles away. Such figures impressed Sam. After descriptions he wrote of family:

 

I am very sorry to learn that Henry has been sick. [in margin: Write, and let me know how Henry is] He ought to go to the country and take exercise; for he is not half so healthy as Ma thinks he is. If he had my walking to do, he would be another boy entirely. Four times every day I walk a little over one mile; and working hard all day, and walking four miles, is exercise—I am used to it now, though, and it is no trouble. Where is it Orion’s going to? Tell Ma my promises are faithfully kept; and if I have my health I will take her to Ky. in the spring—I shall save money for this. Tell Jim and all the rest of them to write, and give me all the news. I am sorry to hear such bad news from Will and Captain Bowen. I shall write to Will soon. The Chatham-square Post Office and the Broadway office too, are out of my way, and I always go to the General Post Office; so you must write the direction of my letters plain, “New York City, N. Y.,” without giving the street or anything of the kind, or they may go to some of the other offices. (It has just struck 2 A.M. and I always get up at 6, and am at work at 7.) You ask where I spend my evenings. Where would you suppose, with a free printers’ library containing more than 4,000 volumes within a quarter of a mile of me, and nobody at home to talk to? I shall write to Ella soon. Write soon.

Truly your Brother

Sam

P.S I have written this by a light so dim that you nor Ma could not read by it [MTL 1: 13]. Note: Ella Evelina Hunter married James A.H. Lampton, Jane’s younger (by 21 years) half-brother, in Nov. 1849. Paine misidentified Ella as Ella Creel who lived in Keokuk; Twain didn’t visit Keokuk until 1855.

 

September 5 Monday – Orion printed Sam’s Aug. 24 letter to his mother as an unsigned article in the Hannibal Journal [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

September 10 Saturday – Orion printed Sam’s Aug. 31 letter to his mother as an unsigned article in the Hannibal Journal [Camfield, bibliog.].

 [ page 34 ]

September 22 Thursday – Orion sold the Hannibal Journal and moved the family to Muscatine, Iowa, where he soon started another paper, the Muscatine Journal with a partner, John Mahin [MTL 1: 18n3; Powers, Dangerous 229-30].

 

September 30 Friday – The Muscatine Journal published its first edition. Orion sent a copy to Sam, who later submitted letters for Orion to use in the paper [Powers, Dangerous 230].

 

October 8 Saturday – In New York, Sam wrote to Pamela, saying he hadn’t written to any of the family for some time and gave the reason that he had “been fooling myself with the idea that I was going to leave New York, every day for the last two weeks. I have taken a liking to the abominable place…” He confessed he didn’t know where the family was, due to his receipt some days before of the final issue of the Journal. He supposed they were in St. Louis. Sam told of seeing Edwin Forrest in the role of Spartacus in the play Gladiator at the Broadway Theater. He told her not to worry about him, that he would be as “independent as a woodsawyer’s clerk” [MTL 1: 16-18].

 

October 19–21 Friday – Sam left New York for Philadelphia. The trip lasted four and a half hours, by steamboat from New York to South Amboy, New Jersey and from there by train to Camden, ferry across the Delaware River. In several letters, Sam decided he liked Philadelphia much more than New York [MTL 1: 28n20]. Paine briefly mentions a boarding-house roommate, an Englishman named Sumner who now and then grilled herring, which was “regarded as a feast” [MTB 98].

 

October 26–? 28 Friday – In Philadelphia, Sam wrote to Orion and Henry. He received the last edition of the Journal, which carried a notice that the paper had been sold,

“…and I very naturally supposed from that, that the family had disbanded, and taken up winter quarters in St. Louis. Therefore, I have been writing to Pamela, till I’m tired of it, and have received no answer.”

 

Most of the letter was description of Philadelphia, local customs and Sam’s reactions to the city. He continued the “Katie in H——l” joke by ending Orion’s section with “Tell me all that is going on in H——l” [MTL 1: 19].

 

November 11 Friday – Sam’s letter from Philadelphia of Oct. 26 to Orion and Henry was printed in the Muscatine Journal [MTL 1: 19].

 

November 23 Wednesday – Sam went to the third anniversary ball and banquet of Philadelphia Typographical Union No. 2. Publishing people met to discuss how to raise money for a monument to Benjamin Franklin [MTL 1: 28].

 

November 28 Monday – In Philadelphia, Sam wrote brother Orion after receiving his letter, not extant.

 

My Dear Brother:

I received your letter to-day. I think Ma ought to spend the winter in St Louis. I don’t believe in that climate—it’s too cold for her. [in Muscatine]

The printers’ annual ball and supper came off the other night. The proceeds amounted to about $1.000. The printers, as well as other people are endeavoring to raise money to erect a monument to Franklin, but there are so many abominable foreigners here (and among printers, too,) who hate everything American, that I am very certain as much money for such a purpose could be raised in St Louis, as in Philadelphia[.] I was in Franklin’s old office this morning,—the “North American” (formerly “Philadelphia Gazette”), and there were at least one foreighner for every American at work there.

How many subscribers has the Journal got? What does the job-work pay? and what does the whole concern pay? I have not seen a copy of the paper yet.

I intend to take Ma to Ky., anyhow, and if I possibly have the money, I will attend to the deeds too. [ page 35 ]

I will try to write for the paper occasionally, but I fear my letters will be very uninteresting, for this incessant night work dulls one[’s] ideas amazingly.

From some cause, I cannot set type near so fast as when I was at home. Sunday is a long day, and while others set 12 and 15,000, yesterday, I only set 10,000. However, I will shake this laziness off, soon, I reckon.

I always thought the eastern people were patterns of uprightness; but I never before saw so many whisky-swilling, God-despising heathens as I find in this part of the country. I believe I am the only person in the Inquirer office that does not drink. One young fellow makes $18 for a few weeks, and gets on a grand “bender” and spends every cent of it.

How do you like “free-soil?[”] I would like amazingly to see a good, old-fashioned negro. My love to all

Truly your brother

Sam [MTL 1: 28-9].

 

November 30 Wednesday – Sam’s eighteenth birthday.

 

December 4 Sunday – In Philadelphia, Sam wrote a letter to Orion’s newspaper, the Muscatine Journal, describing the layout of the city, the “unaccountable feeling of awe” one feels when entering the Old State House in Chestnut Street where the Declaration of Independence was passed by Congress on July 4, 1776. He also told of a local practice of “free-and-easy” at saloons, which was a sort of karaoke laugh-fest. Sam noted the attraction of “two fat women, one weighing 764, and the other 769 pounds, to ‘astonish the natives’ ” [MTL 1: 30-1].

 

December 5 Monday – In Philadelphia, Sam wrote a short note to sister Pamela: 

 

My Dear Sister:

I have already written two letters within the last two hours, and you will excuse me if this is not lengthy. If I had the money, I would come to St. Louis now, while the river is open; [i.e., not frozen] but in the last two or three weeks I have spent about thirty dollars for clothing, so I suppose I shall remain where I am. I only want to return to avoid night work, which is injuring my eyes. I have received one or two letters from home, but they are not written as they should be; and know no more about what is going on there, than the man in the moon. One only has to leave home to learn how to write an interesting [letter] to an absent friend when he gets back. I suppose you board at Mrs. Hunter’s yet—and that, I think, is somewhere in Olive street above Fifth. Phila is one of the healthiest places in the Union. I wanted to spend this winter in a warm climate; but it is too late now. I don’t like our present prospect for cold weather at all.

Truly your brother

Sam [MTL 1: 33]. Paine says Sam was “clearly homesick” [MTB 101].

 

December 16 Friday – Sam’s letter of Dec. 4 was printed in the Muscatine Journal [MTL 1: 30].

 

December 24 Saturday – In Philadelphia, Sam wrote to the Muscatine Journal, describing the weather, a recent fire, the price of turkeys at $7 [MTL 1: 34-5].

 

 

 

 


 [ page 36 ]
 Short Washington Vacation – Philadelphia to New York

Return to St. Louis and Muscatine – Orion Ties the Knot

 

 

January 6 Friday – Sam’s letter of Dec. 24 from Philadelphia ran in the Muscatine Journal [MTL 1: 34].

 

February 3 Friday – Sam wrote another letter to the Muscatine Journal, which was printed unsigned as “From Philadelphia Correspondence of the Journal.” He described going to a reception for Captains Low and Crighton, visiting heroes to Philadelphia from the rescue of survivors in the steamship San Francisco on December 25, 1853. The reception was probably on Feb. 2 [MTL 1: 39n3]. Sam also wrote of the Philadelphia Ledger’s habit of inserting doggerel poetry in obituaries; Paine claimed that Sam submitted a few of these to the Ledger, but “never confessed that” [MTB 98].

 

February 15 Wednesday – Clemens took a night train in Philadelphia, which would arrive in Washington the next morning [Bliss 1].

 

February 16Thursday – Sam arrived at the Baltimore and Ohio station in Washington, D.C. for a short vacation that he called “a flying trip.” It is possible he stayed until Washington’s Birthday. Paine says he did not work there [MTL 1: 44; 11; 3; Bliss 1].

 

February 17 to 19 Sunday – In Washington, D.C., Sam wrote to the Muscatine Journal. He took a “stroll” around the capitol waiting for Congress to sit (Feb. 17) [MTL 1: 43n1]. even though the snow was “falling so thickly I could scarcely see across the street.” He described various buildings, including the unfinished Washington Monument. On Feb.19 he added description of the Smithsonian. Sam was particularly taken by the Museum of the Patent Office, where Bliss writes he spent four hours [9]. He ended with a note about seeing Edwin Forrest playing Othello at the National Theater on Feb. 17.

 

Sam, now eighteen, would next visit Washington in 1867, a 32-year-old man. By then the city would be greatly changed, but Washington’s Monument wouldn’t be completed until 1885, at 555 feet, the tallest structure in the world. In the Senate Chamber, Sam observed that the senators:

 

…dress very plainly, as they should, and all avoid display, and do not speak unless they have something to say—and that cannot be said of the Representatives. Mr. Cass is a fine looking old man; Mr. Douglass, or ‘Young America’ looks like a lawyer’s clerk, and Mr. Seward is a slim, dark, bony individual, and looks like a respectable wind would blow him out of the country [MTL 1: 41].

 

Notes: Lewis Cass (1782-1866) Secretary of State under Buchanan; Stephen A. Douglas (1813-1861), Lincoln’s competitor for the presidency; William H. Seward (1801-1872) Secretary of State under Lincoln. Douglas was promoting the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which would pass three months later. For a more thorough treatment of Sam’s first stop in Washington, see Donald Tiffany Bliss’ 2012 work, Mark Twain’s Tale of Today.

 

February 23 Thursday – By this date, Sam had returned to Philadelphia. He worked for about two weeks on the Ledger and North American [MTL 1: 44]. Bliss writes he returned on this day [11].

 

March, mid – Sam returned to New York. There are no letters for this period, so the reasons are unclear, but it was probable that he lost his job, given that his pay in Philadelphia was more than he’d received in New York. It’s also possible that Sam was growing restless, having been away from home nearly a year. There are unclaimed letters for Sam in Philadelphia dated Mar. 10 and also Mar. 17, indicating he had gone to New York by Mar. 10. Sam’s memory of this period was vague, and it seems likely it was one of [ page 37 ] struggle. Unemployment was high for printers after fires at the major publishers, Harper & Bros., and Cooledge & Bros. in Dec. 1853 [MTL 1: 45]. Sam’s Washington correspondence was printed in the Muscatine Journal in March [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

March 24 Friday – Sam’s letter of Feb. 17 and 18 was printed in the Muscatine Journal [MTL 1: 40].

 

April –Sam may have returned home as early as April, as there is no mention of him working in New York during this period in later letters or notes.

 

Summer, late – Sam, “obliged by financial stress to go home,” does so. In 1906 Sam recalled:

 

“I went back to the Mississippi Valley, sitting upright in the smoking-car two or three days and nights. When I reached St. Louis I was exhausted. I went to bed on board a steamboat that was bound for Muscatine. I fell asleep at once, with my clothes on, and didn’t wake again for thirty-six hours –” [Neider 95; MTL 1: 45-6].

 

August 7 Monday – In St. Louis, Sam boarded with the Paveys, formerly of Hannibal. Sam’s roommate was Jacob H. Burrough (1827-1883) “a journeyman chairmaker with a taste for Dickens, Thackeray, Scott, and Disraeli” [MTB 103]. (See also MTNJ 1: 37n45, & Nov. 1, 1876 letter to Jacob H. Burrough.)

 

In a Dec. 15, 1900 letter to Jacob’s son, Frank E. Burrough (1865-1903), Sam recalled the boarding house:

 

“It was a large, cheap place, & had in it a good many young fellows who were students at a Commercial College. I was a journeyman printer, freshly fledged, your father was a journeyman chairmaker….He & I were comrades & close friends” [MTNJ 1: 37n45].

 

Election rioting broke out between the Know-Nothings (anti-immigration) and German and Irish immigrants in St. Louis. Sam went with a friend to an armory and drilled with a militia that had been formed to put down the riots. When word came that the mob was in force in the lower end of the city, Sam asked his friend to hold his musket while he got a drink. Sam didn’t return. The riot was quelled in two days. Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) had attended one Know-Nothings meeting in the city [MTL 1: 46; Powers, MT A Life 69].

 

September 1 Friday ca. – In the first entry for Sept., 1854, Francis Jackson of Boston Massachusetts’ Anti-Slavery Society, made this entry:

 

“Samuel Clemens passage from Missouri Penetentiary [sic] to Boston—he having been imprisoned there two years for aiding fugitives to escape…$24.50” [Sattelmeyer 294].

 

Note: In “Did Sam Clemens Take the Abolitionists for a Ride?” Sattelmeyer speculates that Sam played a trick on Jackson and the abolitionists, writing for financial support for non-existent aid to fugitive slaves, and impersonating an abolitionist. Sattelmeyer’s article further speculates that Sam’s rail fare back home may have been a debt Sam needed to repay.

 

Fall, Winter—There is some controversy whether Sam worked on the Muscatine Journal and stayed a few months there, or whether he went to St. Louis after a short visit with family. Paine takes this latter position [MTB 102]. Powers claims Sam got rehired as a typesetter on the St. Louis Evening News [Powers, MT A Life 68].

 

November 30 Thursday – Sam’s nineteenth birthday.

 [ page 38 ]

December 19 Tuesday –Orion Clemens married Mary Eleanor (Mollie) Stotts, in Keokuk, Iowa. Orion was visiting there. They left the next morning for Muscatine, but when she became homesick, Orion moved them back to Keokuk.


 

 [ page 39 ]
St. Louis – Letters to the Muscatine Tri-Weekly Journal

Orion & Mollie Moved to Keokuk; Sam Followed – Visit back home

 Oh! to be a Cub Pilot – Worked for Orion in Keokuk – Warsaw, Illinois – Back in Keokuk

 

 

February 13 Tuesday – Sam was once more in St. Louis, back at his former job at the Evening News. Sam lived during this period with the Pavey family [See also MTNJ 1: 37n45].

 

He attended a play, The Merchant of Venice, put on by the Thespian Society. Sam wrote on Feb. 16: “I had always thought that this was a comedy, until they made a farce of it” [MTL 1: 48n8].

 

February 15 Thursday –Sam was awakened by a fire a block and a half away from his rooming house, one that destroyed some valuable horses [MTL 1: 47].

 

February 16 Friday –Sam dated his letter this day to the editors of the Muscatine Tri-Weekly Journal (his brother Orion and Charles E. H. Wilson) [MTL 1:46-9]. He related the fire and a list of other happenings in St. Louis, including a play of Merchant of Venice. Later that night, Sam awoke to a man beating a woman with a stave in the street, raving she had broken his heart.

 

“I felt sorry for the poor heart-broken creature, and wished with all my heart it might please Providence to remove him from his troubles by putting it into the Sheriff’s head to hang the scoundrel before morning” [MTL 1: 48].

 

February 24–26 Monday – In St. Louis, Sam dated a letter to the Muscatine Journal and summarized St. Louis news, including the new route for St. Louis mail west—it would no longer go to New York first. He also related massacres by Indians in New Mexico. Though progressive beyond his time on racial matters, Sam didn’t care much for Indians. The letter ran on Mar. 9 [MTL 1: 50-51].

 

February 28 Wednesday – Sam’s letter of Feb. 16 ran in the Muscatine Journal [MTL 1: 46].

 

March 1 Thursday – Sam dated a letter from St. Louis to the Muscatine Tri-Weekly Journal [MTL 1: 54].

 

March 5 Monday – Sam dated another letter from St. Louis to the Tri-Weekly Journal [MTL 1: 54].

 

March 9 Friday – Sam’s letter dated Feb. 24 from St. Louis ran on page 2 of the Muscatine Tri-Weekly Journal [Branch, “Three New Letters” 4].

 

March 12 Monday – Sam’s letter of Mar. 1 ran in the Muscatine Tri-Weekly Journal as a featured article, “Special Correspondence.” Sam wrote about the killing of Benjamin Brand, Deputy Marshall, by Bob O’Blennis, a wealthy gambler and livery-stable owner.

 

Bob O’Blennis has long been celebrated as the most abandoned and reckless outlaw in St. Louis—and but for his money, would have been roasting in the infernal regions long before this. Mr. Brand is not the first man he ever killed. If all the curses I have heard heaped up on his head to-day were to go into effect, I almost doubt if a place could be invented hot enough for him [MTL 1: 54].

 

 Note: No letters are known to survive for the next fourteen and a half months [MTL 1: 58].

 

March 14 Wednesday – Sam’s letter of Mar. 5 ran in the Muscatine Tri-Weekly Journal.

 [ page 40 ]

The examination of witnesses in the O’Blennis murder case will be concluded to-night. The excitement which this tragedy created has subsided, but the people are till anxious to know how the trial will terminate—though, to tell the truth, few expect justice to be done. I doubt if there are a hundred people in St. Louis that do not think O’Blennis ought to be hung, and the number is still less that expect him to be punished at all. Since Jackson and Ward escaped hanging, people seem to have very little confidence in courts of justice [MTL 1: 55].

 

Mid 1855–late 1856 – Sam wrote a sketch titled, “Jul’us Caesar” that remained unpublished. Branch puts the date in this period [ET&S 1: 110].

 

June–July – Forty-nine of Sam’s notebooks survive, and the first notebook was from this period. It holds random entries on important and trivial matters, interspersed with information on phrenology, French lessons, and chess lessons. There were also entries relating to family business, a theological controversy, and laundry lists. Entries were first made in St. Louis, then in Keokuk, Iowa, and later during a trip to the villages of Hannibal, Florida, and Paris, Missouri [MTNJ 1: 11].

 

June, early – Orion sold his interest in the Muscatine Journal to James W. Logan [MTL 1: 58].

 

June 9 Saturday – Orion and Mollie moved to Keokuk, Iowa [MTL 1: 58]. Powers says this move took place “around the end of March 1855” [MT A Life 69].

 

June 11 Monday – Orion became the new owner of the Ben Franklin Book and Job Office printers [MTL 1: 58]. Selby writes that Orion “took possession” this day [6].

 

June, mid – Sam left St. Louis for Keokuk, Iowa, two hundred miles away [MTL 1: 58]. The town had a population of 6,500. Sam was nineteen and had already lived in quite a few places.

 

June 16 Saturday – Sam’s name appeared in a list of unclaimed letters in St. Louis, indicating he had left the city by this date [MTL 1: 58].

 

June 27 Wednesday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

“ …sent out to wash the following: 1 pair heavy Pants; 1 ‘ light do; 4 white Shirts; 4 ’ collars; 2 pair white cotton Socks; 1 summer cravat; 2 white Handkerchiefs; 1 pair twilled Drawers; 1 linen summer Coat/17 [x]. 6/102” [MTNJ 1: 35].

 

Note: Sam used semicolons in a laundry list! He was a printer. He also loved semicolons.

 

June 29 Friday – The Keokuk Dispatch described a man believed by the MTP editors to be Sam:

 

      We know a man in this city who would make a prime editor, and we believe that if he has any “genius” at all, it runs in that direction, “ ‘cos” he says there is not a single paper published in town worth reading—and he says that not one of them has any news—and if he published a paper, he says he would make news, and lots of it, and spirited news, too.

      We propose to have all the papers in the city to club together and secure the services of this chap, and have spirited news; it will pay—we bet on it. What do you all say about hiring this editorial genius? He will save us the expense of a telegraph. Everybody in the morning will be up at four to get the spirited news, and everybody will take the paper” [MTL 1: 58].

 

July, mid – Sam visited Hannibal and traveled to the villages of Paris and Florida to provide care and dispose of family property. In Florida he visited his uncle John Quarles, who had sold the old Quarles [ page 41 ] Farm. He then continued down river to St. Louis, where he tried to become a Mississippi River cub pilot. Orion had supplied Sam with a letter of introduction to their wealthy cousin, James Clemens, Jr. Sam hoped that James might help him secure an apprenticeship as a cub. Sam had no luck. He returned to Keokuk, where he was in his brother’s employ, which meant little, if any, salary, although officially he was offered five dollars per week plus board [MTL 1: 59; MTB 104].

 

In 1906, Sam remembered Dick Higham, a coworker at his Orion’s office in Keokuk:

 

Dick, a good-natured, simple-minded, winning lad of seventeen, was an apprentice in my brother’s small printing office in Keokuk, Iowa. He had an old musket and he used to parade up and down with it in the office, and he said he would rather be a soldier than anything else. The rest of us laughed at him and said he was nothing but a disguised girl, and that if he were confronted by the enemy he would drop his gun and run.

      But we were not good prophets [MTA 2: 251]. Note: Higham died a hero in Ed Marsh’s company during the war, shot in the forehead at Ft. Donelson.

 

July 16 Monday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

“Florida, Mo., 16 July, 55:—Introduced to Miss Jule Violett, Miss Em Tandy, and Miss Em Young”

 

These three young ladies, 16, 17 and 19 years of age respectively, were residents of Florida, Mo.. Emily G. Young’s older sister, Sarah, married Benjamin Quarles, oldest son of Sam’s uncle John Quarles [MTNJ 1: 34n37]. From the same day in his notebook: “ ‘Reading Room’ on door of Hotel, Paris – reading variety consists of Jayne’s Med. Almanac and a pamphlet copy of “Lives of Beaumont & Fletcher” [MTNJ 1: 37]. Even in the small Hannibal town library, Sam had enjoyed four or five hundred volumes, and Sam had used a free printer’s library in New York with four thousand volumes, so it is likely Sam was dumbfounded by the paucity of reading material in Paris, Mo., and thus made this entry.

 

September 14 Friday – Sam became an uncle for the second time with the birth of Jennie Clemens to Orion and Mollie Clemens [MTL 1: 383].

 

November – Sam’s uncle John Quarles freed his slave, Uncle Daniel, age 50 [Rasmussen 106].

 

November 30 Friday – Sam’s twentieth birthday.

 

End of year – Sam probably left Orion’s employ late in the year to set type across the river in Warsaw, Illinois [MTL 1: 59]. Powers claims that “Sam blew up over phantom wages and quit.” Either it was temporary employment or Sam regretted the move, because he was back in Keokuk in the New Year [Powers, MT A Life 70]. After the birth of his daughter, Orion took on the compiling of Keokuk’s first city directory, leaving the rest of the business operations to Sam.

 


 [ page 42 ]
First Dinner Speech – Dreams of S. America & Coca Riches – First Sweethearts

 Keokuk, St. Louis and Snodgrass Letters – Cincinnati Typesetter – Macfarlane

 

Early months – Sam began to itch to go to South America after reading an account of coca and the money that might be made harvesting the plant and distributing it in the U.S. [Powers, Dangerous 241]. In 1910, in “The Turning Point of My Life,” Sam remembered a two-volume work on the exploration of the Amazon, that it “told an astonishing tale about coca, a vegetable product of miraculous powers…” [MTL 1: 68n7].

 

January 17 Thursday – Sam spoke without prepared remarks to the Keokuk printers at a celebration of the 150th anniversary of Ben Franklin’s birth. It was perhaps Sam’s first after dinner speech, presaging his fame as a platform speaker. Sam Clemens as “Mark Twain” would be a great entertainer, perhaps the first American icon of the twentieth century.

 

By this time he was back in Orion’s employ, working alongside his seventeen-year-old brother, Henry Clemens, at 52 Main Street on the third floor. “Henry and Sam slept in the office, and Dick [Higham] came in for social evenings. These were likely to be lively evenings.” A young man named Edward Brownell from the ground floor bookstore also joined the evening entertainment [MTB 104-7]. Brownell once told Sam he was “too lazy to ever write a book” [107].

 

Professor Isbell, a music teacher on the second floor objected loudly to the noise, so that the next night the boys set up a game of ten pins using empty wine bottles, with rocks for balls (Henry declined to play.) Sam and Dick Higham ignored the teacher banging on the door. The next night they marched and drilled, no doubt causing much racket. When the teacher tried being pleasant with his objections, saying it disturbed his students, Sam said, “Why didn’t you mention it before? To be sure we don’t want to disturb the young ladies.” They gave up the ruckus, with Sam even joining in one of the singing classes [MTB 105].

 

January 19 Saturday – The Keokuk Gate City, page 7, reported on Sam’s speech under the headline: “The Printer’s Festival. Birthday of Benjamin Franklin” [Selby 7].

 

April 20 Sunday – Sam wrote his sister-in-law, Mollie Clemens, a conventional poem titled “To Mollie” [ET&S 1: 118].

 

May, early – Sam wrote a poem, titled, “Lines Suggested by a Reminiscence, and Which You Will Perhaps Understand,” to Ann Virginia Ruffner (b.1838?) [ET&S 1: 120].

 

May 7 Wednesday – Sam, in Keokuk, wrote a poem “To Jennie,” at the departure of Ann Virginia Ruffner [ET&S 1: 124]. (This is erroneously reported as 1853 in some sources.)

 

May 20 Tuesday – The steam ferry between Keokuk and Hamilton, Illinois struck a snag and sand up to the guards near the Illinois shore, leaving only its top deck above water. There were no fatalities. Clemens was on board and referred to “the loss of that bridge almost finished my career” in his letter of May 25 to Annie Taylor (Ann Elizabeth Taylor 1840-1916) [MTL 1: 62n1]. Note: no other reference to this event was found, and it is somewhat strange that Sam never referred or embellished the event, as he often did. Was his implication that he was aboard merely a play for Annie’s sympathy?

 

May 21 and May 25 Sunday – Sam wrote Annie Taylor a humorous letter. Sam stayed in Keokuk over a year. He enjoyed the companionship of Henry and Mollie’s circle of women friends.

 [ page 43 ]

[This first part written on May 21 is lost]

of the hurricane deck is still visible above the water. Here is another “Royal George” —I think I shall have to be a second Cowper, and write her requiem.

Sunday, May 25.

Well, Annie, I was not permitted to finish my letter Wednesday evening [May 21]. I believe Henry, who commenced his a day later, has beaten me. However, if my friends will let me alone I will go through today. Bugs! Yes, B-U-G-S! What of the bugs? Why, perdition take the bugs! That is all. Night before last I stood at the little press until nearly 2 o’clock, and the flaring gas light over my head attracted all the varieties of bugs which are to be found in natural history, and they all had the same praiseworthy recklessness about flying into the fire. They at first came in little social crowds of a dozen or so, but soon increased in numbers, until a religious mass meeting of several millions was assembled on the board before me, presided over by a venerable beetle, who occupied the most prominent lock of my hair as his chair of state, while innumerable lesser dignitaries of the same tribe were clustered around him, keeping order, and at the same time endeavoring to attract the attention of the vast assemblage to their own importance by industriously grating their teeth. It must have been an interesting occasion—perhaps a great bug jubilee commemorating the triumph of the locusts over Pharaoh’s crops in Egypt many centuries ago. At least, good seats, commanding an unobstructed view of the scene, were in great demand; and I have no doubt small fortunes were made by certain delegates from Yankee land by disposing of comfortable places on my shoulders at round premiums. In fact, the advantages which my altitude afforded were so well appreciated that I soon began to look like one of those big cards in the museum covered with insects impaled on pins.

The big “president” beetle (who, when he frowned, closely resembled Isbell when the pupils are out of time) rose and ducked his head and, crossing his arms over his shoulders, stroked them down to the tip of his nose several times, and after thus disposing of the perspiration, stuck his hands under his wings, propped his back against a lock of hair, and then, bobbing his head at the congregation, remarked, “B-u-z-z!” To which the congregation devoutly responded, “B-u-z-z!” Satisfied with this promptness on the part of his flock, he took a more imposing perpendicular against another lock of hair and, lifting his hands to command silence, gave another melodious “b-u-z-z!” on a louder key (which I suppose to have been the key-note) and after a moment’s silence the whole congregation burst into a grand anthem, three dignified daddy longlegs, perched near the gas burner, beating quadruple time during the performance. Soon two of the parts in the great chorus maintained silence, while a treble and alto duet, sung by forty-seven thousand mosquitoes and twenty-three thousand house flies, came in, and then, after another chorus, a tenor and bass duet by thirty-two thousand locusts and ninety-seven thousand pinch bugs was sung—then another grand chorus, “Let Every Bug Rejoice and Sing” (we used to sing “heart” instead of “bug”), terminated the performance, during which eleven treble singers split their throats from head to heels, and the patriotic “daddies” who beat time hadn’t a stump of a leg left.

It would take a ream of paper to give all the ceremonies of this great mass meeting. Suffice it to say that the little press “chawed up” half a bushel of the devotees, and I combed 976 beetles out of my hair the next morning, every one of whose throats was stretched wide open, for their gentle spirits had passed away while yet they sung—and who shall say they will not receive their reward? I buried their motionless forms with musical honors in John’s hat.

Now, Annie, don’t say anything about how long my letter was in going, for I didn’t receive yours until Wednesday—and don’t forget that I tried to answer it the same day, though I was doomed to fail. I wonder if you will do as much?

Yes, the loss of that bridge almost finished my earthly career. There is still a slight nausea about my stomach (for certain malicious persons say that my heart lies in that vicinity) whenever I think of it, and I believe I should have evaporated and vanished away like a blue cloud if John—indefatigable, unconquerable John—had not recovered from his illness to relieve me of a portion of my troubles. I think I can survive it now. John says “der chills kill a white boy, but sie (pronounced see) can’t kill a Detch-man.”

I have not now the slightest doubt, Annie, that your beautiful sketch is perfect. It looks more and more like what I suppose “Mt. Unpleasant” to be every time I look at it. It is really a pity that you could not get the shrubbery in, for your dog fennel is such a tasteful ornament to any yard. Still, I am entirely satisfied to get the principal beauties of the place, and will not grieve over the loss. I have delighted Henry’s little heart by delivering your message. Give the respected councilman the Latin letter by all means. If I understood the lingo well enough I would write you a Dutch one for him. Tell Mane I don’t know what Henry thinks of the verb “amo,” but for some time past I have discovered various fragments of paper scattered about bearing the [ page 44 ] single word “amite,” and since the receipt of her letter the fragments have greatly multiplied and the word has suddenly warmed into “amour” —all written in the same hand, and that, if I mistake not, Henry’s, for the latter is the only French word he has any particular affection for. Ah, Annie, I have a slight horror of writing essays myself; and if I were inclined to write one I should be afraid to do it, knowing you could do it so much better if you would only get industrious once and try. Don’t you be frightened—I guess Mane is afraid to write anything bad about you, or else her heart softens before she succeeds in doing it. Don’t fail to remember me to her—for I perceive she is aware that my funeral has not yet been preached. Ete paid us a visit yesterday, and we are going to return the kindness this afternoon. Good-by.

Your friend,

Sam [MTPO].

 

Sam befriended the Taylor girls, Annie Taylor, and sisters Mary Jane Taylor (1837-1916), age nineteen and a student at Iowa Wesleyan University and Esther (“Ete”) Taylor (b.1836). They were the daughters of Hawkins Taylor (b.1810?), a former steamboat captain. At this time he was a prominent businessman, well thought of, highly literate and articulate. His interests included promoting education. It is likely that Sam admired such a man, and friendships with his daughters were valued. Powers and others claim Sam was in love with Annie, but Sam’s only surviving letter to her is signed “Your friend, Sam” [MTL 1: 62]. Interestingly, Paine in MTB does not write about Annie.

 

May 24 Saturday – Esther TaylorEte”), Annie and Mary Jane’s twenty-one-year-old sister paid Sam a visit [MTL 1: 62 & n9].

 

June 10 Tuesday – In Keokuk, Sam wrote his mother, Jane Clemens, and sister Pamela in St. Louis. Jane was now living with her daughter. See insert, courtesy of MTP: Vassar College Library.

My Dear Mother & Sister:

      I have nothing to write. Everything is going on well. The Directory is coming on finely. I have to work on it occasionally, which I don’t like a particle. I don’t like to work at too many things at once. They take Henry and Dick away from me too. Before we commenced the Directory, I could tell before breakfast just how much work could be done during the day, and manage accordingly—but now, they throw all my plans into disorder by taking my hands away from their work. I have nothing to do with the book—if I did I would the two book hands do more work than they do, or else I would drop. It is not a mere supposition that they do not work fast enough—I know it; for yesterday the two book hands were at work all day, Henry and Dick all the afternoon, on the advertisements, and they set up five pages and a half—and I set up two pages and a quarter of the same matter after supper night before last, and I don’t work fast on such things. They are either excessively slow motioned or very lazy. I am not getting along well with the job work. I can’t work blindly—without system. I gave Dick a job yesterday, which I calculated he could set in two hours and I could work off in three, and therefore just finish it by supper time, but he was transferred to the Directory, and the job, promised this morning, remains untouched. Through all the great pressure of job work lately, I never before failed in a promise of the kind.

John is gone—disappeared. I think he has ran away to get away from his brutal old father. [ page 45 ]

Your son

Sam.

Excuse brevity—this is my 3d letter to-night.

 

[Notes: Sam wrote that the directory Orion was working on was “coming on finely.” Sam had to work on it sometimes and he complained about disliking it. Sam wrote at least one line of the Keokuk City Directory. He listed himself as an “Antiquarian.” Orion printed two editions of the directory, the second in 1857. He printed several hundred copies too many; the profits were disappointing. MTL 1: 63-5].

 

June 25 Wednesday – Sam inscribed: “Samuel L. Clemens / 1856. / June 25th, 1856” on a copy of J.L. Comstock’s Elements of Geology (1851).

 

August 3 Sunday – Sam spent Sunday afternoon with the Taylor girls, and wrote the following Wednesday that he “brought away a big bouquet of Ete’s (Esther Taylor) d——d stinking flowers” [MTL 1: 66].

 

August 5Tuesday – Henry Clemens wrote to Sam from St. Louis (his letter is not extant). Sam replied the same day as follows:

 

My Dear Brother:

Annie is well. Got your letter, postmarked 5th about two hours ago—come d—d quick, (to be a little profane.) Ward and I held a long consultation, Sunday morning, and the result was that us two have determined to start to Brazil, if possible, in six weeks from now, in order to look carefully into matters there (by the way, I forgot to mention that Annie is well,) and report to Dr. Martin in time for him to follow on the first of March. We propose going via. New York. Now, between you and I and the fence you must say nothing about this to Orion, for he thinks that Ward is to go clear through alone, and that I am to stop at New York or New Orleans until he reports. But that don’t suit me. My confidence in human nature does not extend quite that far. I won’t depend upon Ward’s judgment, or anybody’s else—I want to see with my own eyes, and form my own opinion. But you know what Orion is. When he gets a notion into his head, and more especially if it is an erroneous one, the Devil can’t get it out again. So I knew better than to combat his arguments long, but apparently yielded, inwardly determined to go clear through. Ma knows my determination, but even she counsels me to keep it from Orion. She says I can treat him as I did her when I started to St. Louis and went to New York—I can start to New York and go to South America.! (This reminds me that—Annie is well.) Although Orion talks grandly about furnishing me with fifty or a hundred dollars in six weeks, I am not such an ass as to think he will retain the same opinion such an eternity of time—in all probability he will be entirely out of the notion by that time. Though I don’t like to attribute selfish motives to him, you could see yourself that his object in favoring my wishes was that I might take all the hell of pioneering in a foreign land, and then when everything was placed on a firm basis, and beyond all risk, he could follow himself. But you would soon discover, when the time arrived, that he couldn’t leave Mollie and that “love of a baby.” With these facts before my eyes, (I must not forget to say that Annie is well,) I could not depend upon Orion for ten dollars, so I have “feelers” out in several directions, and have already asked for a hundred dollars from one source (keep it to yourself.) I will lay on my oars for a while, and see how the wind sets, when I may probably try to get more. Mrs. Creel is a great friend of mine, and has some influence with Ma and Orion, though I reckon they would not acknowledge it. I am going up there to-morrow, to press her into my service. I shall take care that Ma and Orion are plentifully supplied with South American books. They have Herndon’s Report now. Ward and the Dr. and myself will hold a grand consultation to-night at the office. We have agreed that no more shall be admitted into our company.

Emma Graham has got home, and Bettie Barrett has gone up the country. I may as well remark that Annie is well. I spent Sunday afternoon up there, and brought away a big bouquet of Ete’s d—d stinking flowers, (I mean no disrespect to her, or her taste,)[.] Any single one of the lot smells worse than a Sebastopol “stink-pot.” Between you and I, I believe that the secret of Ma’s willingness to allow me to go to South America lies in the fact that she is afraid I am going to get married! Success to the hallucination. Annie has not heard from the girls yet. I believe the Guards went down to Quincy to-day to escort our first locomotive home.  [ page 46 ]

The report that Belle and Isbell are about to be married, is still going. Dick was engaged in sticking up Whig office hand bills at last accounts.

Write soon.

Your Brother,

Sam

P. S. I will just add that Annie is WELL [MTPO; MTL 1: 65-7]. The former source notes: Mary Ann Creel (b. 1822 or 1823), Mollie Clemens’s cousin, was the eldest daughter of Colonel William S. Patterson (1802–89), Iowa pioneer and legislator and Keokuk pork packer, postmaster, and later three-time mayor. She was married to Jane Clemens’s cousin Robert P. Creel (b. 1815), a brickmason who owned a successful construction business. In 1856 he was a member of the Iowa legislature, and in 1862 became mayor of Keokuk

 

Other notes: Several times he mentions “Annie is well,” signifying his admiration for Annie Taylor, or perhaps rubbing it in that the young lady was spending time with Sam and not Henry. He tells Henry to come d——d quick because he wants him to accompany him and Dr. Joseph S. Martin, a Keokuk physician, and a man named Ward (not further identified) to Brazil. He cautions Henry not to tell Orion of his plans, but conveys that their mother is willing for him to go “lies in the fact that she is afraid I am going to get married!” This may be a reference to the time Sam is spending with Annie Taylor. Paine says [MTB 110] that Martin and Ward “gave up the plan, probably for lack of means,” but Sam would continue to think about travel to the Amazon, which would spur his trip to New Orleans where he signed on as a cub pilot under Horace Ezra Bixby (1826-1912). Sam’s cousin, Jeremiah Clemens (1814-1865), published a scheme to build an empire on the Amazon and open trade in coca. This was one of many get-rich-quick schemes that would attract Sam during his lifetime [Powers, Dangerous 241].

 

October, early – Sam walked along the main street of Keokuk in swirling snow, and found a fifty-dollar bill. Astounded, he later recounted, “It was a fifty-dollar bill—the only one I had ever seen, and the largest assemblage of money I had ever seen in one spot” [Powers, Dangerous 243]. He advertised it but after five days with no claimant he felt he’d done enough:

 

“By and by I couldn’t stand it any longer. My conscience had gotten all that was coming to it. I felt that I must take that money out of danger” [MTB 111].

 

The trip to the Amazon was now possible. Sam planned to work his way down the Mississippi and board a ship for Brazil. He got Orion to use his influence with the head manager, George Rees, who agreed to pay $5 each for some humorous travel sketches he would send to the Keokuk Daily Post [MTB 112; Powers, Dangerous 243]. Sam then departed Keokuk, bound for the Amazon. The found fifty was but one of several miraculous incidents that would serve as turning points in Sam’s life—or so he later liked to claim.

 

October 13 Monday – Sam made a brief stay in St. Louis, staying with his mother, and sister. He attended the St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Association Fair. He wrote a sketch of it, titled “The Great Fair at St. Louis,” signed, “SAM,” which appeared in the Keokuk Post on Oct. 21 and then in the Saturday Post on Oct. 25 [MTL 1: 69].

 

October 18 Saturday – Still in St. Louis, Sam wrote the first Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass letter, burlesquing Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar [Gribben 626]. Sam used dialect, and grammatical and spelling errors to characterize a country bumpkin getting the worst of it in the big city. It was a literary strategy that would come to fruition in many of his future works. Snodgrass was also the last pen name Sam used prior to Mark Twain, in Nevada, Feb. 1863. Sam earned five dollars each for these letters, his first payments for freelance writing [MT Encyclopedia, Abshire 694]. “It is likely that he departed on Oct. 18 and arrived in Keokuk the following day” [MTL 1: 69-70].

 

October 19 Sunday – Sam arrived in Keokuk, Iowa (see Oct. 18 entry). [ page 47 ]

 

October 21 Tuesday – “The Great Fair at St. Louis,” signed, “SAM,” appeared in the Keokuk Post [ET&S 1: 378].

 

October 22 Wednesday ca. – Sam traveled by river packet to Quincy, Illinois [MTL 1: 70].

 

October 23 to 24 Friday –Sam traveled by train to Chicago and Indianapolis to Cincinnati [MTL 1: 70]. Branch gives on or about Oct. 24 as the date Sam arrived in Cincinnati [Branch, “Bixby” 2].

 

October, late – In Cincinnati Sam found employment as a typesetter for T. Wrightson and Co., one of the city’s leading printers. He worked there into the next spring, some six months [MTL 1: 70]. Sam’s time in Cincinnati is one of the “least documented of his life…” [MT Encyclopedia, Poole 145] but he did write two more Snodgrass letters while there. Sam lived in a boarding house. Long hours at work plus discussions with other boarders didn’t allow Sam much time for writing. In a chapter entitled “A Scotchman Named Macfarlane,” Paine writes of a “long, lank, unsmiling Scotchman” [MTB 114-15] who Sam supposedly spent many evenings with that winter. Macfarlane’s ideas paralleled many of Sam’s later misogynistic and controversial views, such as those expressed in What is Man? in 1906 [MTB 114-5]. Some researchers have theorized that Macfarlane was an invention of Sam’s, a “mask that he wore to express many of his more controversial ideas” [MT Encyclopedia, Poole 146]. Baker posits that Sam may have recalled Macfarlane as “McFarland,” a typesetter who also worked at Wrightson’s from 1855-60 and lived at different boarding houses each year [Baker 303]. Note: see young Henry Macfarlane, Late-Mar. 1866—could this be the same person?

 

November 1 Saturday – Sam’s first Snodgrass letter dated Oct. 18from St. Louis titled, CORRESPONDENCE ran in the Keokuk Saturday Post.

Gee Whillikens! Mister Editors, if you could a been there jest then, you’d a thought that either old Gabriel had blowed his horn, or else there was houses to rent in that locality. I reckon there was nigh onto forty thousand people setting in that theatre—and sich an other fannin, and blowin, and scrapon, and gigglin, I hain’t seen since I arrived in the United States. Gals! Bless your soul, there was gals there of every age and sex, from three months up to a hundred years, and every cherubim of ‘em had a fan and an opery glass and a-tongue—probably two or three of the latter weepon, from the racket they made. No use to try to estimate the oceans of men and mustaches—the place looked like a shoe brush shop [MT Encyclopedia, Abshire 694; Camfield, bibliog.].

November 14 Friday – Sam dated his second Snodgrass letter from Cincinnati [MT Encyclopedia, Abshire 694].

 

November 18 Tuesday – An untitled sketch, dated Nov. 8 and signed “L,” about a Cincinnati boarding house ran in the Keokuk Post. It is attributed to Clemens [ET&S 1: 382; MTL 1: 70]. Britton examines the piece and makes a case for it being Sam’s, and Mcfarlane being autobiographical rather than fictitious [16-17]. Note: Britton mistakenly writes the sketch was published on Nov. 8, but it was dated Nov 8 and published Nov. 18.

 

November 29 Saturday – The second Snodgrass letter dated Nov. 14, SNODGRASS’ RIDE ON THE RAILROAD ran in the Keokuk Post [MT Encyclopedia, Abshire 694; Camfield, bibliog.].

 

November 30 Sunday – Sam’s 21st birthday.

 

December 6 Saturday – Sam’ second Snodgrass letter ran again in the Keokuk Saturday Post [Schmidt].


 [ page 48 ]
Left For the Amazon – New Orleans & Change of Plans – Bixby’s Influence

Official Cub Pilot – Learning the Big Muddy

 

 

1857 – Sometime during his stay in Keokuk Clemens saw Henry Clay Dean (1822-1887), eccentric philosopher who inspired Twain’s 1905 “The War Prayer.” In Ch. 57 of LM, Twain described Dean:

 

Keokuk, a long time ago, was an occasional loafing-place of that erratic genius, Henry Clay Dean. I believe I never saw him but once; but he was much talked about when I lived there. This is what was said of him:

 

He began life poor and without education. But he educated himself—on the curbstones of Keokuk. He would sit down on a curbstone with his book, careless or unconscious of the clatter of commerce and the tramp of the passing crowds, and bury himself in his studies by the hour, never changing his position except to draw in his knees now and then to let a dray pass unobstructed; and when his book was finished, its contents, however abstruse, had been burned into his memory, and were his permanent possession. In this way he acquired a vast hoard of all sorts of learning, and had it pigeonholed in his head where he could put his intellectual hand on it whenever it was wanted. [Note: see also Rasmussen 107-8].

 

January – On Dec. 29, 1905 Sam answered a question from an unidentified person:

 

“Yes I did lay aside the ‘stick’ to resume it no more forever; but January 1857 was the time it happened, & Keokuk, Iowa the place” [MTP]. Note: the “stick” was the typesetter’s line of type. Sam soon after began his steam boat career.

 

January 23 Friday – In Keokuk, Henry Clemens wrote to Sam.

 

Your letters seem to be very strongly afflicted with a lying-in-the-pocket propensity; for no sooner had I read your last, but one, than it was consigned to one of the pockets of my overcoat, from whose “vasty depths” I have but this moment fished it up, to answer it.

 

You seem to think Keokuk property is so good to speculate in, you’d better invest all your spare change in it, instead of going to South America [MTBus 31-2]. Note: The writing seems familiar, doesn’t it? Henry may have been the perfect alter ego of Sam, but he was as literate at the young age of eighteen.

 

February 16 Monday – Sam boarded the packet Paul Jones (353 tons), on its way from Pittsburgh, for passage to New Orleans, commanded by Hiram K. Hazlett and piloted by Horace E. Bixby (1826-1912), and Jerry Mason [Branch, “Bixby” 2]. Branch presents evidence for this date over Apr. 15.

 

Sam claimed in his autobiography that his intention was to travel to the Amazon, but could not find passage once in New Orleans. His other longtime dream of becoming a steamboat pilot then took over and he approached Bixby about becoming his assistant. Bixby had a sore foot, which made standing at the wheel painful, so Sam did “a lot of steering” for him. Sam’s impressions of the Paul Jones:

 

“I was in Cincinnati . . . I packed my valise, and took passage on an ancient tub called the PAUL JONES for New Orleans. For the sum of sixteen dollars I had the scarred and tarnished splendors of ‘her’ main saloon principally to myself, for she was not a creature to attract the eye of wiser travelers” [ LM Ch.5].

 

February 17 Tuesday – The Paul Jones was “heavily loaded with ordnance for the Baton Rouge arsenal” [Branch, “Bixby” 3]. As the boat neared Louisville it ran onto rocks near Dick Smith’s wharf and stuck for more than 24 hours.

 

February 19 Thursday – The Paul Jones left Louisville [Branch, “Bixby” 3]. [ page 49 ]

 

February 23 Monday – The Paul Jones reached Memphis [Branch, “Bixby” 3].

 

February 28 Saturday – The Paul Jones reached New Orleans [Branch, “Bixby” 2]. In his Autobiography:

 

…I inquired about ships leaving for Para and discovered that there weren’t any and learned that there probably wouldn’t be any during that century. It had not occurred to me to inquire about these particulars before leaving Cincinnati, so there I was. I couldn’t get to the Amazon. I had no friends in New Orleans and no money to speak of. I went to Horace Bixby and asked him to make a pilot out of me. He said he would do it for five hundred dollars, one hundred dollars cash in advance. So I steered for him to St. Louis, borrowed the money from my brother-in-law, and closed the bargain [Neider 98]. Note: William Moffett, sister Pamela’s husband, was the lender.

Text Box: March 4, 1857 - James Buchanan was sworn in as the 15th President of the United States. 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 


March 4 Wednesday – Commanded by Patrick Yore and piloted by Horace Bixby, the Colonel Crossman (415 tons) left New Orleans with Sam aboard bound for St. Louis [Branch, “Bixby” 2]. Sam was 21, Horace 31 and considered one of the great steamboat pilots of his time [Rasmussen 34]. Bixby had started as a lowly mud clerk (unpaid) at age eighteen. He had a temper but cooled off fast. “When I say I’ll learn a man the river, I mean it. And you can depend on it. I’ll learn him or kill him” [Rasmussen 35]. Powers describes him as “A small sturdy man…he had a prominent nose, a firmly set mouth, and hair brushed all the way across his head from a low part. He would survive a steamboat explosion near New Madrid, Mo. in 1858, pilot heroically for the Union flotilla during the Civil War, achieve greatness in his trade, and outlive Sam Clemens by two years, dying a few months after the Titanic sank in 1912, in a St. Louis suburb” [Powers, Dangerous 246]. For more about the Crossman, see Branch, “Bixby” 6-7.

 

Text Box: March 6, 1857  
Dred Scott Case Decided

 

 

 

 

March 14 Saturday – Sam dated his third and last Snodgrass letter from Cincinnati: SNODGRASS, IN A ADVENTURE [MTL 1: 70; Camfield, bibliog.]. Branch points out that on this date Sam was on the Colonel Crossman and concludes Sam updated his manuscript on board [Branch, “Bixby” 2].

 

March 15 Sunday – The Colonel Crossman arrived in St. Louis [Branch, “Bixby” 2].

 

April 10 Friday – The third and last Snodgrass letter dated Mar. 14 from Cincinnati ran in the Keokuk Post. The title, SNODGRASS, IN A ADVENTURE [MT Encyclopedia, Abshire 694].

 

April 29 Wednesday – Sam left St. Louis on the Crescent City (688 tons), bound for New Orleans. Bixby and Sam would make this run on the Crescent three times [Branch, “Bixby” 2].

 

May 4? Monday – The Crescent City arrived in New Orleans.

 

May 8–9? Saturday – The Crescent City left New Orleans bound for St. Louis [Branch, “Bixby” 2].

 [ page 50 ]

May 16–19? Tuesday – The Crescent City arrived in St. Louis [Branch, “Bixby” 2].

 

Note: approximate dates with ? are calculated from Branch’s assertion of three round trips rather than two, and his updating of information from MTL 1: 71.

 

Once in St. Louis, Sam went first to cousin James Clemens, Jr., and then to brother-in-law William Moffett to secure the loan of $100 with which to pay Bixby a down payment [MTL 1: 71].

 

May 22 Friday – The Crescent City left St. Louis bound for New Orleans, with Sam as the official cub pilot. From this date until May 1861, Sam learned and worked his new trade as a steamboat pilot. He made exceptional pay once licensed and loved the work. Only the closing of river traffic with the Civil War cost Sam this job. It is one of the side benefits of the war that Sam was forced off the river and into the West to discover his true calling. Still, without those years on the Mississippi, Sam might never have reached his pinnacle as the “Lincoln of our literature” [MTL 1: 71].

 

May 27 Wednesday – Sam arrived in New Orleans on the Crescent City, cub under Horace Bixby. Nearly all of Sam’s piloting was between New Orleans and St. Louis, some 1,300 miles. Bixby taught Sam that he must memorize every mile of the trip, that each side of the river, coming and going was different, and that at night nothing looked the same. To make it more difficult, the river was constantly shifting its banks. Sam was boggled by what was required of him [MTL 1: 71].

 

May 31 Sunday – Sam visited the French market in the morning. He wrote of it the next day to Annie.

June 1 Monday – In New Orleans, Sam wrote to Annie Taylor lamenting her “ancient punctuality.”

 

[postscript in pencil:]

P. S.—I have just returned from another cemetery—brought away an orange leaf as a memorial—I inclose it.

New Orleans, June 1st. 1857.

My Dear Friend Annie

I am not certain what day of the month this is, (the weather being so warm,) but I expect I have made a pretty close guess.

Well, you wouldn’t answer the last letter I wrote from Cincinnati? I just thought I would write again, anyhow, taking for an excuse the fact that you might have written and the letter miscarried. I have been very unfortunate with my correspondence; for, during my stay of nearly four months in Cincinnati, I did not get more than three or four letters beside those coming from members of our own family. You did write once, though, Annie, and that rather “set me up,” for I imagined that as you had got started once more, you would continue to write with your ancient punctuality. From some cause or other, however, I was disappointed—though it could hardly have been any fault of mine, for I sat down and answered your letter as soon as I received it, I think, although I was sick at the time. Orion wrote to me at St. Louis, saying that Mane told him she would correspond with me if I would ask her. I lost no time in writing to her—got no reply—and thus ended another brief correspondence. I wish you would tell Mane that the Lord won’t love her if she does so.

However, I reckon one page of this is sufficient.

I visited the French market yesterday (Sunday) morning. I think it would have done my very boots good to have met half a dozen Keokuk girls there, as I used to meet them at market in the Gate City. But it could not be. However, I did find several acquaintances—two pretty girls, with their two beaux—sipping coffee at one of the stalls. I thought I had seen all kinds of markets before—but that was a great mistake—this being a place such as I had never dreamed of before. Everything was arranged in such beautiful order, and had such an air of cleanliness and neatness that it was a pleasure to wander among the stalls. The pretty pyramids of fresh fruit looked so delicious. Oranges, lemons, pineapples, bananas, figs, plantains, watermelons, blackberries, raspberries, plums, and various other fruits were to be seen on one table, while the next one bore a load of radishes, onions, squashes, peas, beans, sweet potatoes—well, everything imaginable in the vegetable line—and still further on were lobsters, oysters, clams—then milk, cheese, cakes, coffee, tea, nuts, apples, hot rolls, butter, etc.—then the various kinds of meats and poultry. Of course, the place was crowded [ page 51 ] (as most places in New Orleans are) with men, women and children of every age, color and nation. Out on the pavement were groups of Italians, French, Dutch, Irish, Spaniards, Indians, Chinese, Americans, English, and the Lord knows how many more different kinds of people, selling all kinds of articles—even clothing of every description, from a handkerchief down to a pair of boots, umbrellas, pins, combs, matches—in fact, anything you could possibly want—and keeping up a terrible din with their various cries.

Today I visited one of the cemeteries—a veritable little city, for they bury everybody above ground here. All round the sides of the inclosure, which is in the heart of the city, there extends a large vault, about twelve feet high, containing three or four tiers of holes or tombs (they put the coffins into these holes endways, and then close up the opening with brick), one above another, and looking like a long 3- or 4-story house. The graveyard is laid off in regular, straight streets, strewed with white shells, and the fine, tall marble tombs (numbers of them containing but one corpse) fronting them and looking like so many miniature dwelling houses. You can find wreaths of flowers and crosses, cups of water, mottoes, small statuettes, etc., hanging in front of nearly every tomb. I noticed one beautiful white marble tomb, with a white lace curtain in front of it, under which, on a little shelf, were vases of fresh flowers, several little statuettes, and cups of water, while on the ground under the shelf were little orange and magnolia trees. It looked so pretty. The inscription was in French—said the occupant was a girl of 17, and finished by a wish from the mother that the stranger would drop a tear there, and thus aid her whose sorrow was more than one could bear. They say that the flowers upon many of these tombs are replaced every day by fresh ones. These were fresh, and the poor girl had been dead five years. There’s depth of affection! On another was the inscription, “To My Dear Mother,” with fresh flowers. The lady was 62 years old when she died, and she had been dead seven years. I spent half an hour watching the chameleons—strange animals, to change their clothes so often! I found a dingy looking one, drove him on a black rag, and he turned black as ink—drove him under a fresh leaf, and he turned the brightest green color you ever saw.

I wish you would write to me at St. Louis (I’ll be there next week) for I don’t believe you have forgotten how, yet. Tell Mane and Ete [Mary Jane Taylor and Esther Taylor] “howdy” for me.

Your old friend

Sam. L. Clemens [MTL 1: 71].

Notes: Interestingly, Sam did not brag about being a cub pilot, or say anything about piloting or his ambitions. It is thought this was his last letter to Annie. On this date the Crescent City left for St. Louis. 

 

June 9 Tuesday – Crescent City arrived St. Louis. Note: The following steamboat schedules are taken from [MTL 1: 387-90].

 

June 17 Wednesday – Crescent City left for New Orleans.

 

June 23 Tuesday – Crescent City arrived New Orleans.

 

June 28 Sunday – Crescent City left for St. Louis.

 

July 7 Tuesday – Crescent City arrived St. Louis.

 

July 11 Saturday – Sam and possibly Bixby transferred to the Rufus L. Lackland (710 tons) and departed St. Louis for New Orleans. Sam’s comments about the Lackland:

 

I took lodgings at Mrs. Marmadale’s, John, higher up in Locust street, towards the big church—I mean the one in the construction of which the least little bit in the world of Christian vanity sticks out—for, do you know, John, that that edifice reminds me of the steamers JOHN J. ROE and R. J. LACKLAND? Yes, she does. You admire the craft at a distance, but when you step aboard you are astonished to find that what you thought was all cabin, isn’t and what you thought was all church, isn’t, either, by considerably more than a good deal. No, John, it’s all sham. There’s a bulkhead amidships, and behind is a place devoted to bale-rope and buckets, in the one case, and prayer-meeting in the other [Schmidt – from July 21, 1859 New Orleans Crescent, “Soleather Cultivates His Taste for Music”].

Note: Recently added to Schmidt’s website is the following note: [ page 52 ]

“New research by Michael Marleau indicates that during this time frame Clemens most likely made a trip up the Missouri River with pilot Horace Bixby aboard the D. A. JANUARY. Edgar Branch never placed Clemens on the Missouri River and had previously theorized that Clemens was on board the RUFUS J. LACKLAND from 11 July to 3 August 1857. Further research by Michael Marleau includes a new interpretation of Clemens’ personal journals and indicates the 1859 dates are the most likely dates of service for the RUFUS J. LACKLAND as a licensed pilot.”

Until such time as Marleau’s new citations are published, with dates and places for the purported Missouri River leg, the chronology will continue to present Edgar Branch’s conclusions. If Marleau’s information is confirmed, it would affect dates July 11 through Aug. 3 on the Lackland, and also re-date Sam’s comments about the steamboat (above) to July 21, 1859 in the New Orleans Crescent.

July 19 Sunday – Rufus L. Lackland arrived New Orleans.

 

July 23 Thursday – Rufus L. Lackland left for St. Louis.

 

August 3 Monday – Rufus L. Lackland arrived St. Louis.

 

August 5 Wednesday – Sam, cub pilot, was now under Zebulon “Zeb” Leavenworth (1830-1877) and/or Sobieski “Beck” Jolly (1831-1905) on the John J. Roe (691 tons). Bixby wanted to work the more lucrative Missouri and Sam had chosen to stay on the Mississippi run. The steamboat left St. Louis this date for New Orleans. It was a freighter and not allowed to carry passengers. Sam, about the Roe:

 

I served a term as steersman in the pilot house. She was a freighter . . . It was a delightful old tug and she had a very spacious boiler-deck—just the place for moonlight dancing and daylight frolics. She was a charmingly leisurely boat and the slowest one on the planet. Up-stream she couldn’t even beat an island; down-stream she was never able to overtake the current. But she was a love of a steamboat [Neider 79]. Note: in his A.D. of July 30, 1906 Clemens said that Zeb Leavenworth was a giant like his brother, Mark Leavenworth, and that “Jolly was very handsome, very graceful, very intelligent, companionable—a fine character—and he had the manners of a duke” [AMT 2: 150].

 

August 14 Friday – John J. Roe arrived New Orleans.

 

August 18 Tuesday – John J. Roe left for St. Louis.

 

August 29 Saturday – John J. Roe arrived St. Louis.

 

September 2 Wednesday – John J. Roe left for New Orleans.

 

September 10 Thursday – John J. Roe arrived New Orleans.

 

September 15 Tuesday – John J. Roe left for St. Louis.

 

September 24 Thursday – John J. Roe arrived St. Louis.

 

October 9 Friday – Sam, cub pilot, now under Horace Bixby again with co-pilot, possibly Isaiah Sellers (1802-1864) on the William M. Morrison (662 tons). On this date the steamboat left St. Louis [Schmidt].

 

October 16 Friday – William M. Morrison arrived New Orleans.

 [ page 53 ]

October 19 Monday – William M. Morrison left for St. Louis.

 

October 26 Monday – William M. Morrison arrived St. Louis.

 

November 2 Monday – Sam was now under the infamous William Brown, co-pilot George Ealer (1829-1866) on the steamboat Pennsylvania (486 tons). The ship left this date for New Orleans. In Chapters 18-19 of Life on the Mississippi, Sam recounted the conflict with Brown:

 

“…a middle-aged, long, slim, bony, smooth-shaven, horse-faced, ignorant, stingy, malicious, snarling, fault-hunting, mote-magnifying tyrant.”

 

From their first meeting, nothing Sam did was right for Brown. Cub Sam would lie in his bunk at night thinking of creative ways to kill Brown. Imagination was all that was left to Sam, since it was a “penitentiary offense” to strike a steamboat pilot. The other cub on board was George Ritchie, who was blessed with serving watch only for the co-pilot George Ealer, as amiable as Brown was nasty. Whenever Sam took the wheel for Ealer’s watch, Ritchie would mimic Brown, which got old fast with Sam. The conflict between Brown and Sam would peak the next June [Schmidt].

 

November 8 Sunday – Pennsylvania arrived in New Orleans.

 

November 10 Tuesday – Pennsylvania left for St. Louis. With Brown gone, George Ealer was most likely the pilot.

 

November 16 Monday – Pennsylvania arrived in St. Louis.

 

November 18 Wednesday – Pennsylvania left for New Orleans.

 

November 24 Tuesday – Pennsylvania arrived in New Orleans.

 

November 26 Thursday – Pennsylvania left for St. Louis. About thirty miles above New Orleans it was struck by the Vicksburg and lost its wheelhouse. The boat was laid up for repairs near New Orleans for eleven weeks. Some accounts say the two boats were racing, an illegal but common activity for steamboats. On Mar. 19, 1858, Sam would give testimony for a lawsuit in the matter. His remarks include observations of the boat:

I was on the PENNSYLVANIA as Steersman at the time of the collision in November last. I was not at the wheel at the time. At the moment of the collision I was standing on the Sky light deck, aft of the Pilot house…..I think that at the instant the VICKSBURG struck us that one of her engines was still going—and my reason for thinking so is, that she did not recede from us after she struck, but kept pressing on—the crash of timbers continued—the deck swayed under me, and I thought I heard the noise of her engines. It was over a minute after the VICKSBURG struck us, before she began to back away from us. After the boats came together, I heard the Captain of the VICKSBURG call to Captain Klinefelter, and I understood him to say that he (Capt White) “Knew that the VICKSBURG would run from the bar.” I am learning the river—have been learning it, now, about ten months. At that time I had been on the PENNSYLVANIA about three trips. The PENNSYLVANIA steers very easily, I was in the Pilot house that night before supper, and I noticed that she steered well—that is her general character for steering. The PENNSYLVANIA is a first class boat every way—she is large, and well finished for a passenger boat. The officers and crew which the PENNSYLVANIA had at the time of the collision were all of them capable sober and patient. When I was on the extreme stern of the PENNSYLVANIA as above stated, Capt Klinefelter was there—I do not know where he was after that. After the collision the VICKSBURG towed the PENNSYLVANIA to the right hand shore. The VICKSBURG then backed off. I am not exactly certain whether I was in a position to see her when she left us. I do not think she landed after she left us—I think she just backed out, and went up the river. I am certain [ page 54 ] she did. John Klinefelter et. al. vs. Steamer Vicksburg, J. M. White, Master, National Archives [Marleau, “Eyewitness” 18-19].

 

November 27 to December 12 Saturday – Sam worked as a night watchman on the freight docks from seven in the evening until seven in the morning. He earned three dollars a night [Neider 100].

 

November 30 Monday – Sam’s 22nd birthday.

 

December 13 Sunday – Sam was a steersman under Joseph Edward Montgomery (1817-1902) on the D.A. January, which left New Orleans on this date. The captain was Patrick Yore. Montgomery would later serve as a commodore of the Confederacy’s river fleet, which was destroyed in June 1862 at Memphis.

 

December 22 Tuesday – D.A. January arrived in St. Louis.

 

December, late – Sam no doubt spent the holidays with his family before returning to New Orleans [MTL 1: 75].

 


 [ page 55 ]
Dream River and Dream Laura – Disaster Forewarned – A Pounding in the Pilot House

 Henry Dead from Pennsylvania Explosion – More Steamboats, More Work

 

 

January 14 Thursday – Sam may have made the return trip on the New Falls City, an 880 ton side-wheeler freshly built that month, with Captain Montgomery. The licensed pilots at this time were Chauncy Cable and Zeb Leavenworth. Sam possibly offered his steering services in exchange for passage [MTL 1: 75].

 

January 20 Wednesday – New Falls City arrived in New Orleans.

 

February 6 Saturday – The Pennsylvania, now repaired and refitted, left New Orleans with William Brown as pilot, George Ealer as co-pilot, John Simpson Klinefelter (1810-1885) as Captain. Sam had procured a job for Henry as “mud clerk,” so called because the job required leaping to shore in places where there was no pavement or dock. The job did not pay, but was a way to rise in the ranks. Henry Clemens was nineteen, and would make six trips with his brother Sam [Powers, MT A Life 84].

 

February 14 Sunday – Pennsylvania arrived in St. Louis.

 

February 17 Wednesday – Pennsylvania left for New Orleans. The Mississippi was choked with ice, but Captain Klinefelter thought the boat could handle it. They went aground several times.

 

February 18 Thursday – Due to ice, the Pennsylvania had only managed to reach Rush Tower, some 40 miles south of St. Louis.

 

February 19 Friday – The Pennsylvania reached Cairo, Illinois in the afternoon. Other boats had either elected to stay in St. Louis or were aground.

 

February 25 Thursday – Pennsylvania arrived in New Orleans.

 

February 27 Saturday – Pennsylvania ,left for St. Louis

 

March 9 Tuesday – Pennsylvania arrived in St. Louis. Sam wrote to Orion and Mollie about the difficult trip of Feb. 17, which took twenty days, six or seven more than usual for the round trip.

 

Dear Brother and Sister:

I must take advantage of the opportunity now presented to write you, but I shall necessarily be dull, as I feel uncommonly stupid. We have had a hard trip this time. Left Saint Louis three weeks ago on the Pennsylvania. The weather was very cold, and the ice running densely. We got 15 miles below town, landed the boat, and then one pilot, Second Mate and four deck hands took the sounding boat and shoved out in the ice to hunt the channel. They failed to find it, and the ice drifted them ashore. The pilot left the men with the boat and walked back to us, a mile and a half. Then the other pilot and myself, with a larger crew of men started out and met with the same fate. We drifted ashore just below the other boat. Then the fun commenced. We made fast a line 20 fathoms long, to the bow of the yawl, and put the men, (both crews) to it like horses, on the shore. Brown, the pilot, stood in the bow, with an oar, to keep her head out, with and I took the tiller. We would start the men, and all would go well till the yawl would bring up on a heavy cake of ice, and then the men would drop like so many ten-pins, while Brown assumed the horizontal in the bottom of the boat. After an hour’s hard work we got back, with ice half an inch thick on the oars. Sent back and warped up the other yawl, and then George [Ealer] (the first mentioned pilot,) and myself, took a double crew of fresh men and tried it again. This time we found the channel in less than an hour, and landed on island till the Pennsylvania came along and took us off. The next day was colder still. I was out in the yawl twice, and [ page 56 ] then we got through, but the infernal steamboat came near running over us. We went ten miles further, landed, and George and I cleared out again—found the channel first trial, but got caught in the gorge and drifted helplessly down the river. The Ocean Spray came along and started into the ice after us, but although she didn’t succeed in her kind intention of taking us aboard, her waves washed us out, and that was all we wanted. We landed on an island, built a big fire and waited for the boat. She started, and ran aground! It commenced raining and sleeting, and a very interesting time we had on that barren sandbar for the next four hours, when the boat got off and took us aboard. The next day was terribly cold. We sounded Hat Island, warped up around a bar and sounded again—but in order to understand our situation you will have to read Dr. Kane. It would have been impossible to get back to the boat. But the Maria Denning ,was aground at the head of the island—they hailed us,—we ran alongside and they hoisted us in and thawed us out. We had then been out in the yawl from 4 o’clock in the morning till half past 9 without being near a fire. There was a thick coating of ice over men, yawl, ropes, and everything else, and we looked like rock-candy statuary. We got to Saint Louis this morning, after an absence of 3 weeks—that boat generally makes the trip in 2.

Henry was doing little or nothing here, and I sent him to our clerk to work his way for a trip, by measuring woodpiles, counting coal boxes, and other clerkly duties, which he performed satisfactorily. He may go down with us again, for I expect he likes our bill of fare better than that of his boarding house.

I got your letter at Memphis as I went down. That is the best place to write me at. The post office here is always out of my route, somehow or other. Remember the direction: “S.L.C., Steamer Pennsylvania, Care Duval & Algeo, Wharfboat, Memphis.” I cannot correspond with a paper, because when one is learning the river, he is not allowed to do or think about anything else.

I am glad to see you in such high spirits about the land, and I hope will remain so, if you never get richer. I seldom venture to think about our landed wealth, for “hope deferred maketh the heart sick.”

I did intend to answer your letter, but I am too lazy and too sleepy, now. We had had a rough time during the last 24 hours working through the ice between Cairo and Saint Louis, and I have had but little rest.

I got here too late to see the funeral of the 10 victims by the burning of the Pacific hotel in 7th street. Ma says there were 10 hearses, with the fire companies (their engines in mourning—firemen in uniform,)—the various benevolent societies in uniform and mourning, and a multitude of citizens and strangers, forming, altogether, a procession of 30,000 persons! One steam fire-engine was drawn by four white horses, with crape festoons on their heads.

Well, I am—just—about—asleep—

Your brother

Sam

[MTL 1: 76]. Notes: from the source: Elisha Kent Kane (1820–57), a U.S. Navy surgeon, participated in two unsuccessful Arctic expeditions in the 1850s in search of Sir John Franklin, the explorer who died in 1847 while trying to find a northwest passage to the Orient. Kane published two popular accounts of the expeditions. Also: “Clemens artfully inscribed his closing and signature to suggest a gradual loss of control over his pencil.” See other notes in source.

 

March 11 Thursday – Pennsylvania left for New Orleans.

 

March 17 Wednesday – Pennsylvania arrived in New Orleans.

 

March 19 Friday – Sam gave a deposition in a lawsuit (Klineflelter, et al, vs. Vicksburg) over the collision between the Pennsylvania and the Vicksburg on Nov. 26, 1857. See that entry. Sam was a steersman on the Pennsylvania at that time [Marleau, “Eyewitness” 18].

 

March 20 Saturday – Pennsylvania left for St. Louis.

 

March 27 Saturday – Pennsylvania arrived in St. Louis.

 

March 31 Wednesday – Pennsylvania left for New Orleans.

 

April 6 Tuesday – Pennsylvania arrived in New Orleans. [ page 57 ]

 

April 10 Saturday – Pennsylvania left for St. Louis.

 

April 16 Friday – Pennsylvania arrived in St. Louis.

 

April 20 Tuesday – Pennsylvania left for New Orleans.

 

April 26 Monday – Pennsylvania arrived in New Orleans.

 

April 30 Friday – Pennsylvania left for St. Louis.

 

May 5 Wednesday – Pennsylvania arrived in St. Louis.

 

May 10 Monday – Pennsylvania left for New Orleans.

 

May 16 Sunday – Pennsylvania arrived in New Orleans. While there, Sam met fourteen-year-old Laura Wright (1845-1932). They spent most of the three days together. Sam was then twenty-two, but the age difference was not unusual in those days. Laura was with her father, Judge Foster P. Wright of Warsaw, Missouri, visiting her uncle, William C. Youngblood and her cousin Zeb Leavenworth on the John J. Roe. Sam went to visit Zeb and Beck Jolly, old mates from past trips. In his Autobiography Sam described Laura:

 

…that slip of a girl of whom I have spoken—that instantly elected sweetheart out of the remoteness of interior Missouri—a frank and simple and winsome child who had never been away from home in her life before…I was not four inches from that girl’s elbow during our waking hours for the next three days…I could see her with the perfect distinctness in the unfaded bloom of her youth, with her plaited tails dangling from her young head and her white summer frock puffing about in the wind of that ancient Mississippi time…[Neider 80].

 

Years later, Laura would marry a Mr. Dake. Sam claimed to have only seen Laura once, but they corresponded and Sam did visit Warsaw again (see May 13, 1880 entry for letter from Thomas H. Murray). There are echoes of Sam’s affection for Laura in several of his writings [MTL 1: 114n7; MT Encyclopedia, Baetzhold 799]. Note: Powers cites Sam’s notebook: May 6, 1858, of leaving Laura, but on that date the Pennsylvania was in St. Louis. All sources give New Orleans as their place of meeting.

 

May 20 Thursday – Pennsylvania left for St. Louis. When the boat was backing out, Sam had to leap for the rail from the John J. Roe, ending his visit with Laura Wright. Years later he would send her a thousand dollars in response to a letter asking for help. The loves of Sam’s life were invariably put on haloed pedestals, none more so than Laura Wright [MT Encyclopedia Baetzhold 799; Powers MT A Life 82].

 

May 27 Thursday – Pennsylvania arrived in St. Louis.

 

May 29 Saturday – In St. Louis, Sam dreamed of Henry “lying in a metallic burial case in the sitting-room, supported on two chairs” [MTB 134]. He related the dream the next morning to his sister Pamela Moffett and family, who later recalled him taking it quite serious. Henry and Sam were staying with their sister for a three-day layover. Sam left St. Louis on May 30 [MTL 1: 387] so he must have had the dream on May 29.

 

May 30 Sunday – Pennsylvania left for St. Louis.

 [ page 58 ]

June 3 Thursday – Mid-morning: [Powers, MT A Life 85] Pilot William Brown called Sam’s brother Henry Clemens a liar, and started after him with a big chunk of coal. Sam stepped in between and “stretched him out” with a heavy stool. Sam then “stuck to him and pounded him with my fists a considerable time – I do not know how long, the pleasure of it probably made it seem longer than it really was…” For a few minutes no one was steering the ship. Called on the carpet in Captain John Klinefelter’s cabin, Sam was questioned about the fight. The Captain said he was “deuced glad of it!” and advised Sam to further thrash Brown on shore. Brown refused to stay on the same boat with Sam, so was let off in New Orleans. This is the only violent act Sam was ever known to commit, though he threatened or wished more than a few other times.

 

June 4 Friday – Pilot William Brown forbade Sam entrance to the pilothouse for the rest of the trip. Sam was “ ‘an emancipated slave’ listening to George Ealer’s flute and his readings from Oliver Goldsmith and Shakespeare. Sometimes he played chess with Ealer, and learned a trick which he would use himself in the long after-years—that of taking back the last move and running out the game differently when he saw defeat” [MTB 137].

 

June 5 Saturday – After the Pennsylvania arrived in New Orleans on this date, Brown left the boat. Captain Klinefelter offered Sam a co-pilot position back up the river, but Sam did not feel ready. He left the boat with the understanding he would rejoin it after Brown was replaced. Henry Clemens stayed on the Pennsylvania as a mud clerk.

 

June 8 Tuesday – Sam and Henry chatted until midnight on the levee. It was their last conversation.

 

The subject of the chat, mainly, was one which I think we had not exploited before—steamboat disasters. One was then on its way to us, little as we suspected it; the water which was to make the steam which should cause it was washing past some point fifteen hundred miles up the river while we talked—but it would arrive at the right time and the right place. We doubted if persons not clothed with authority were of much use in cases of disaster and attendant panic; still, they might be of some use; so we decided that if a disaster ever fell within our experience we would at least stick to the boat, and give such minor service as chance might throw in the way. Henry remembered this, afterward, when the disaster came, and acted accordingly [Life on the Mississippi, Ch. 20].

 

June 9 Wednesday – The Pennsylvania left New Orleans at 5 PM without Sam and with Henry Clemens aboard. Klinefelter had been unable to hire another pilot, attributed by Powers to the pilot’s union [Powers, MT A Life 86].

 

June 11 Friday – Two days behind Henry on the Pennsylvania, Sam left New Orleans bound for St. Louis on the Alfred T. Lacey with Captain John P. Rodney and Sam’s Hannibal friend Barton S. Bowen, pilot [MTL 1: 82n3].

 

June 13 Sunday – 70 miles south of Memphis at about 6 A.M., the steamboat Pennsylvania’s boilers exploded, severely injuring Henry Clemens. Henry was blown free of the ship, but swam back to help rescue passengers. Either Henry did not realize the extent of his own injuries, or was scalded in his attempts to help. About 150 people were killed, including pilot William Brown. Klinefelter helped with the rescue and received only minor injuries. Henry was taken aboard the Kate Frisbee to Memphis, some sixty miles up river from the disaster [MTL 1: 80n1].

 

June 14 Monday – Henry Clemens arrived at Memphis at 3 A.M. with 31 other victims, some twenty-one hours after the explosion and after several transfers, including the Kate Frisbee. Henry was taken to the Memphis Exchange, a makeshift hospital. 100-degree heat increased the suffering of the wounded [Powers, MT A Life 87; MTL 1: 84n7].

 [ page 59 ]

June 15 Tuesday – The Lacey docked in Memphis and news of the explosion reached Sam [MTL 1: 82-3n3]. He rushed to the Memphis Exchange. He sent a telegram to brother-in-law William Moffett: “Henrys recovery is very doubtful” [MTL 1: 80].

 

June 15 to 18 Friday – Sam stayed by brother Henry’s side.

 

June 18 Friday – Sam wrote to “Dear Sister Mollie” (Orion’s wife) about Henry’s situation:

 

Dear Sister Mollie: / Long before this reaches you, my poor Henry, my darling, my pride, my glory, my all, will have finished his blameless career, and the light of my life will have gone out in utter darkness. O, God! This is hard to bear. Hardened, hopeless,—aye, lost—lost and ruined sinner as I am—I, even I, have humbled myself to the ground and prayed as never man prayed before, that the great God might let this cup pass from me,—that he would strike me to the earth, but spare my brother—that he would pour out the fullness of his just wrath upon my wicked head, but have mercy, mercy, mercy upon that unoffending boy. The horrors of three days have swept over me—they have blasted my youth and left me an old man before my time. Mollie, there are grey hairs in my head to-night. For forty-eight hours I labored at the bedside of my poor burned and bruised, but uncomplaining brother, and then the star of my hope went out and left me in the gloom of despair. Then poor wretched me, that was once so proud, was humbled to the very dust—lower than the dust—for the vilest beggar in the streets of Saint Louis could never conceive of a humiliation like mine. Men take me by the hand and congratulate me, and call me “lucky” because I was not on the Pennsylvania when she blew up! My God forgive them, for they know not what they say.

Mollie you do not understand why I was not on that boat—I will tell you. I left Saint Louis on her, but on the way down, Mr. Brown, the pilot that was killed by the explosion (poor fellow,) quarreled with Henry without cause, while I was steering—Henry started out of the pilothouse—Brown jumped up and collared him—turned him half way around and struck him in the face!—and him nearly six feet high—struck my little brother. I was wild from that moment. I left the boat to steer herself, and avenged the insult—and the Captain said I was right—that he would discharge Brown in N. Orleans if he could get another pilot, and would do it in St. Louis anyhow. Of course both of us could not return to St. Louis on the same boat—no pilot could be found, and the Captain sent me to the A. T. Lacey, with orders to her Captain to bring me to Saint Louis. Had another pilot been found, poor Brown would have been the “lucky” man.

I was on the Pennsylvania five minutes before she left N. Orleans, and I must tell you the truth, Mollie—three hundred human beings perished by that fearful disaster. Henry was asleep—was blown up—then fell back on the hot boilers, and I suppose that rubbish fell on him, for he is injured internally. He got into the water and swam to shore, and got into the flatboat with the other survivors. He had nothing on but his wet shirt, and he lay there burning up with a southern sun and freezing in the wind till the Kate Frisbee came along. His wounds were not dressed till he got to Memphis, 15 hours after the explosion. He was senseless and motionless for 12 hours after that. But may God bless Memphis, the noblest city on the face of the earth. She has done her duty by these poor afflicted creatures—especially Henry, for he has had five—aye, ten, fifteen, twenty times the care and attention that any one else has had. Dr. Peyton, the best physician in Memphis (he is exactly like the portraits of Webster,) sat by him for 36 hours. There are 32 scalded men in that room, and you would know Dr. Peyton better than I can describe him, if you could follow him around and hear each man murmur as he passes—“May the God of Heaven bless you, Doctor!” The ladies have done well, too. Our second Mate, a handsome, noble-hearted young fellow, will die. Yesterday a beautiful girl of 15 stooped timidly down by his side and handed him a pretty bouquet. The poor suffering boy’s eyes kindled, his lips quivered out a gentle “God bless you, Miss,” and he burst into tears. He made them write he[r] name on a card for him, that he might not forget it.

Pray for me, Mollie, and pray for my poor sinless brother.

Your unfortunate Brother,

Samℓ. L. Clemens.

P. S. I got here two days after Henry [MTL 1: 80-82]. Note: see notes in source and chapters 18-20 LM. This tragedy was one of the singular events of Clemens’ life, creating great grief and guilt.

 

Sam’s brother-in-law, William A. Moffett, in St. Louis, telegraphed Sam in Memphis, asking:

 [ page 60 ]

“Will it be better for your Mother to come down / Answer / W.A. Moffett” [MTP].

 

June 21 Monday – Henry Clemens died. Sam was grief-stricken. Images of a prior dream about Henry’s death haunted Sam, and magnified the trauma of Henry’s final sufferings. Sam telegraphed William Moffett: “Henry died this morning leave tomorrow with the Corpse.”

 

Henry had always been the model of innocence and uprightness, contrasting with Sam’s rebellious instigator. The injustice of Henry’s death was a blow that shaped Sam’s life, and increased the guilt he always carried. He felt tremendous guilt for securing the clerk job for Henry, for not being on the Pennsylvania on its last trip, and for not protecting his younger brother [MTL 1: 85; Powers, MT A Life 87-9].

 

June 25 Friday – Sam arrived in Hannibal with Henry’s body aboard the steamer Hannibal City. Henry buried the same day next to his father, John Marshall Clemens in the Old Baptist Cemetery. In 1876 Sam would have both bodies moved to Mount Olivet Cemetery [MT A Life 88-9]. Dempsey writes: “After emancipation, the Baptist church in Hannibal kicked its black members out of the church. Most white people quite burying in the old Baptist Cemetery, though blacks continued burying there….Mt. Olivet became the fashionable cemetery for white Hannibal Protestants” [154].

 

June 26 Saturday – The Clemens family buried Henry [A. Hoffman 55]. Sometime during the year Sam wrote “My Brother, Henry Clemens.” The piece was later found clipped in one of Sam’s scrapbooks; the newspaper that printed it remains unknown [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

July 11 Sunday – Sam, cub pilot under Samuel A. Bowen (1838?-1878), co-pilot George G. Ealer, Captain John P. Rodney left St. Louis for New Orleans on the Alfred T. Lacey. Sam loved Ealer, who read Shakespeare, played the flute and was fond of chess. Sam remembered steering for Bowen. This was the only round trip that the Lacey made that month [MTL 1: 86].

 

July 16 Friday – Alfred T. Lacey arrived in New Orleans.

 

July 21 Wednesday – Alfred T. Lacey left for St. Louis.

 

July 28 Wednesday – Alfred T. Lacey arrived in St. Louis.

 

August 4 Wednesday – The shorter run from St. Louis to Memphis and back allowed Sam to stay closer to his family after the death of Henry and make weekly visits. The John H. Dickey (403 tons) left St. Louis on this date with Sam’s old friend Sam A. Bowen, pilot and Daniel J. Able (b.1825?) captain. Andrew Hoffman claims Bart Bowen got Sam the position as steersman with his brother Sam Bowen “in order to get Sam back on the river” [55].

 

Sam knew Daniel Able from Hannibal days. On these runs Sam saw the growth of the cotton trade. A lot of money was being made. Besides weekly visits home, Sam also had time to write. He penned three articles about the Dickey, Captain Able, and the City of Memphis for three newspapers [55]. Branch also gives this date for Sam’s return to the river [Branch, “Dickey” 195].

 

August 7 Saturday – The John H. Dickey left Memphis. In these runs there was either one-day layover or no layover. All departures were Wednesdays from St. Louis, Saturday from Memphis.

 

August 11 Wednesday – The John H. Dickey left St. Louis.

 

August 14 Saturday – The John H. Dickey left Memphis. [ page 61 ]

 

August 18 Wednesday – The John H. Dickey left St. Louis.

 

August 21 Saturday – The John H. Dickey left Memphis.

 

August 25 Wednesday – The John H. Dickey left St. Louis.

 

August 28 Saturday – The John H. Dickey left Memphis.

 

August 30 Monday – Sam dated the article he signed as “Rambler” this day [Branch, “Dickey” 196]. This was the same pen name Sam had used for the Hannibal Journal from Apr. 29 through May 14, 1853.

 

September 1 Wednesday – Sam’s article was printed in the St. Louis Missouri Democrat using the pen name “Rambler” [Branch, “Dickey” 196]. The John H. Dickey left St. Louis.

 

September 4 Saturday – The John H. Dickey left Memphis.

 

September 8 Wednesday – The John H. Dickey left St. Louis.

 

September 11 Saturday – The John H. Dickey left Memphis.

 

September 12 Sunday – Heavy fog delayed the Dickey’s arrival in St. Louis [Branch, “Dickey” 198].

 

September 15 Wednesday – The John H. Dickey left St. Louis.

 

September 16 Thursday – The John H. Dickey laid over at Cairo for six hours, where Senator Stephen A. Douglas was speaking in his campaign against Abraham Lincoln [Branch “Dickey” 198].

 

September 18 Saturday – The John H. Dickey left Memphis.

 

September 22 Wednesday – The John H. Dickey left St. Louis.

 

September 25 Saturday – The John H. Dickey left Memphis.

 

September 29 Wednesday – The John H. Dickey left St. Louis.

 

October 2 Saturday – The John H. Dickey left Memphis.

 

October 5 Tuesday – The John H. Dickey arrived at St. Louis and unloaded 1006 bales of cotton, “the largest lot brought on any one boat this season” [Branch, “Dickey” 198].

 

October 6 Wednesday – The John H. Dickey left St. Louis.

 

October 9 Saturday – The John H. Dickey left Memphis.

 

October 13 Wednesday – The John H. Dickey left St. Louis.

 

October 16 Saturday – The John H. Dickey left Memphis.

 [ page 62 ]

October 20 Wednesday – The Dickey was laid up for repairs, so Sam and probably Sam Bowen and Captain Able, made the St. Louis to Memphis run on the White Cloud (345 tons).

 

October 22 Friday – Sam’s article was printed in the St. Louis Missouri Republican using the signature “C” [Branch, “Dickey” 199-200]. Note: MTPO Notes on Aug. 1, 1876 to Cist calls this “chatty river correspondence.”

 

October 23 Saturday – The White Cloud left Memphis.

 

October 24 Sunday – Sam’s article, “Memphis—The Cotton Trade—Illinois Politics—What Tennessee Thinks of Them,” was printed in the Memphis Daily Appeal [Branch, “Dickey” 201].

 

October 30 Saturday – Sam left St. Louis on the New Falls City (880 tons; built in January of that year, the largest ship Sam served on. Sam took passage on the boat in January as well) Pilot Horace Bixby, Captain James B. Woods.

 

November 8 Monday – New Falls City arrived in New Orleans.

 

November 10 Wednesday – New Falls City left for St. Louis.

 

November 17 Wednesday- New Falls City arrived in St. Louis.

 

November 19 Friday – New Falls City left for New Orleans.

 

November 26 Friday – New Falls City arrived in New Orleans.

 

November 29 Monday – New Falls City left for St. Louis.

 

November 30 Tuesday – Sam’s 23rd birthday.

 

December 8 Wednesday – New Falls City arrived in St. Louis.

 

December 13 Monday – Sam and Horace Bixby left St. Louis on the Aleck Scott (709 tons) under Captain Robert A. Reilly. Sam remarked on the Aleck Scott:

 

I will remark, in passing, that Mississippi steamboatmen were important in landsmen’s eyes (and in their own, too, in a degree) according to the dignity of the boat they were on. For instance, it was a proud thing to be of the crew of such stately craft as the ‘Aleck Scott’ or the ‘Grand Turk.’ Negro firemen, deck hands, and barbers belonging to those boats were distinguished personages in their grade of life, and they were well aware of that fact, too. – Life on the Mississippi [MTL 1: 14].

 

The Aleck Scott was the last steamboat Sam served on as cub pilot. His next assignment was pilot on the Alfred T. Lacey.

 

December 21 Tuesday– The Aleck Scott arrived in New Orleans.

 

December 24 Friday – The Aleck Scott left New Orleans.

 

 


 [ page 63 ]
Pilot’s License – Sgt. Fathom & Captain Isaiah Sellers

 Running Aground and Heroism – Working the River

 

 

January 1 Saturday – The Aleck Scott arrived in St. Louis.

 

January 4 Tuesday – The Aleck Scott left for New Orleans.

 

January 11 Tuesday – The Aleck Scott arrived in New Orleans.

 

January 15 Saturday – The Aleck Scott left for St. Louis.

 

January 27 Thursday – The Aleck Scott arrived in St. Louis.

 

February 1 Tuesday – The Aleck Scott left for New Orleans.

 

February 11 Friday – The Aleck Scott arrived in New Orleans

 

February 16 Wednesday – The Aleck Scott left for St. Louis

 

February 27 Sunday – The Aleck Scott arrived in St. Louis

 

March 1 Tuesday – The Aleck Scott left for New Orleans.

 

March 8 Tuesday – The Aleck Scott arrived in New Orleans

 

March 9 and 11 Friday – In New Orleans, Sam began a long letter to sister Pamela Moffett, that he finished on Mar. 11. He wrote of the Mardi Gras, and Maria Piccolomini, an Italian “princess” singer Here, in part:

. . . . [first part not extant]

beginning of Lent, and all good Catholics eat and drink freely of what they please, and, in fact, do what they please, in order that they may be the better able to keep sober and quiet during the coming fast. It has been said that a Scotchman has not seen the world until he has seen Edinburgh; and I think that I may say that an American has not seen the United States until he has seen Mardi-Gras in New Orleans.

I posted off up town yesterday morning as soon as the boat landed, in blissful ignorance of the great day. At the corner of Good-Children and Tchoupitoulas streets, I beheld an apparition!—and my first impulse was to dodge behind a lamp-post. It was a woman—a hay-stack of curtain calico, ten feet high—sweeping majestically down the middle of the street (for what pavement in the world could accommodate hoops of such vast proportions?) Next I saw a girls of eighteen, mounted on a fine horse, and dressed as a Spanish Cavalier, with long rapier, flowing curls, blue satin doublet and half-breeches, trimmed with broad white lace—(the balance of her dainty legs cased in flesh-colored silk stockings)—white kid gloves—and a nodding crimson feather in the coquettishest little cap in the world. She removed said cap and bowed low to me, and nothing loath, I bowed in return—but I could n’t help murmuring, “By the beard of the Prophet, Miss, but you’ve mistaken your man this time—for I never saw your silk mask before—nor the balance of your costume, either, for that matter.” And then I saw a hundred men, women and children in fine, fancy, splendid, ugly, coarse, ridiculous, grotesque, laughable costumes, and the truth flashed upon me—“This is Mardi-Gras!” It was Mardi-gras—and that young lady had a perfect right to bow to, shake hands with, or speak to, me, or any body else she pleased. The streets were soon full of “Mardi-gras,” representing giants, Indians, nigger minstrels, monks, priests, clowns,— every birds, beasts,—everything, in fact, that one could imagine. The “free-and-easy” women turned out en masse—and their costumes and actions were very trying to modest eyes. The finest sight I saw during the day was a band of twenty stalwart men, splendidly arrayed as Comanche Indians, flying and yelling down the street on horses as finely decorated as themselves. It was [ page 64 ] worth going a long distance to see the performances of the day—but bless me! how insignificant they seemed in comparison with those of the night, when the grand torchlight procession of the “Mystic Krewe of Comus” was added. …[MTL 1: 87-91]. Note: the Krewe was established in 1856; prior to that the celebrations was exclusively Catholic, informal, and not regular. Six Anglo businessmen met in a secret society to improve Mardi Gras, inspired by Milton’s Comus. The torchlight procession was one of their additions.

 

March 11 Friday – In New Orleans, Clemens finished the Mar. 9 letter to his sister:

 

New Orleans, Friday 11th.

I saw our little Princesses, Countesses, or whatever they are—the Piccolominis—in St. Charles street yesterday. They came down from Memphis in the cars, I believe. Their first concert takes place to-night, and we shall leave this afternoon. So we shall not hear the young lady sing. We had a souvenir of the warbler written on our sla old slate, but some sacrilegious scoundrel rubbed it out. It was “Je suis fachèr qu’il faut que nous allons de ce batteau à la Memphis.” (“I am sorry that we must leave the boat at Memphis.”) To which I replied en mauvais française, “Nous seront nous aussi très fachèr.” (We shall be very sorry, also.) Ben was going to “head” it “The Lament of the Irish Emigrant,” & sell the old slate to Barnum for five hundred dollars. Ben said he had a very interesting conversation with the “old dowager,” Madame Pic. He remarked—“I imagine, Madame, that if it would only drizzle a little more, the weather would soon be in splendid condition for young ducks!” And she replied—“Ah, mio, mio,—une petè—I not can ondersthand not!” “Yes’m, it’s a great pity you can’t ondersthand not, for it has cost you the loss of a very sage remark.” And she followed with a tremendous gush of the musical language. Then Benjamin—“Yes, madame, you’re very right—very right indeed. I acknowlege the justice of your remarks, but the devil of it is, I’m a little in the dark as to what you’ve been saying all the time!”

In eight days from this, I shall be in Saint Louis, but I am afraid if I am not careful I’ll beat this letter there.

My love to all,

Your brother

Sam [MTL 1: 87-91].

 

The Aleck Scott left for St. Louis.

 

March 19 Saturday – The Aleck Scott arrived in St. Louis

 

March 21 Monday – The Aleck Scott left for New Orleans.

 

March 27 Sunday – The Aleck Scott arrived in New Orleans

 

March 31 Thursday – The Aleck Scott left for St. Louis

 

April 8 Friday – The Aleck Scott arrived in St. Louis

 

April 9 Saturday – Sam was granted a license as a full steamboat pilot from the Department of Commerce in St. Louis. Until May 1861, Sam had the “best job in the world.” Note: Until copies of Sam’s pilot license surfaced in the late 1930s, it was thought by Paine, DeVoto and others (from Sam’s autobiographical estimates of eighteen months from his apprenticeship under Bixby,) that the date was Sept. 9, 1858. Sam may have recollected being allowed to pilot crafts without passengers prior to the issuance of his license, which would have been lawful at that time [The Twainian, Nov. 1939].

May 4 Wednesday – Now a full pilot, Sam left St. Louis on the Alfred T. Lacey, copiloted by Bart Bowen (brother of Sam and Will Bowen), under Captain John P. Rodney, for New Orleans. “A pilot, in those days, was the only unfettered and entirely independent human being that lived in the earth” [LM; MTL 1: 14].

 [ page 65 ]

Isaiah Sellers’ letter to the New Orleans Picayune:

 

Vicksburg, May 4, 1859.

My opinion for the benefit of the citizens of New Orleans: The water is higher this far up than it has been since 1815. My opinion is that the water will be four feet deep in Canal Street before the first of next June. Mrs. Turner’s plantation at the head of Big Black Island is all under water, and it has not been since 1815. I. Sellers

 

The item served as grist for Sam’s “Sergeant Fathom” spoof [MTB 1593].

 

May 8 Sunday – Sam used the pen name of “Sergeant Fathom” and wrote a piece parodying Isaiah Sellers, the river’s “only genuine Son of Antiquity” [LM, Ch. 50]. Sellers had been a fixture on the Mississippi since Missouri became a state. He wrote “river intelligence” for various newspapers. According to Andrew Hoffman, Sam thought Sellers was “egotistical, long-winded, and incapable of trimming a tale to his audience—the last sin unforgivable in Sam’s eyes” [58]. No story another pilot could tell was beyond being outdone by Sellers. Sam’s fellow pilots had the piece published in the New Orleans Crescent in this month. Sellers was so mortified he never again wrote for a newspaper. Sam later claimed he took the name Mark Twain (which means “two fathoms”—12 feet—or enough for most steamboats to navigate) from Sellers after his death, but no record has ever been found of Sellers using the name, and when Sam first used the name, Sellers was still alive (he died in 1864). An excerpt from Sam’s parody of Sellers:

 

You can form some conception, by these memoranda, of how high the water was in 1763. In 1775 it did not rise so high by thirty feet; in 1790 it missed the original mark at least sixty-five feet; in 1797, one hundred and fifty feet; and in 1806, nearly two hundred and fifty feet. These were ‘high-water’ years. The ‘high waters’ since then have been so insignificant that I have scarcely taken the trouble to notice them. Thus, you will perceive that the planters need not feel uneasy. The river may make an occasional spasmodic effort at a flood, but the time is approaching when it will cease to rise altogether.

In conclusion, sir, I will condescend to hint at the foundation of these arguments: When me and De Soto discovered the Mississippi I could stand at Bolivar Landing (several miles above “Roaring Waters Bar”) and pitch a biscuit to the main shore on the other side, and in low water we waded across at Donaldsonville. The gradual widening and deepening of the river is the whole secret of the matter [ET&S 1: 126-133].

 

Powers asserts that Bart Bowen submitted the piece to the New Orleans Crescent [MT A Life 94].

 

May 10 Tuesday – Alfred T. Lacey arrived in New Orleans.

 

May 14 Saturday – Alfred T. Lacey left for St. Louis.

 

May 17 Tuesday – Sam’s Isaiah Sellers satire “River Intelligence” was published in the New Orleans Crescent, signed by “Sergeant Fathom.” Sellers were so offended he vowed never again to write for the newspapers [ET&S 1: 126]. Sam would use “Sellers” as the name of his main character in the Gilded Age, another know-it-all, if somewhat more sympathetic.

 

May 21 Saturday – Alfred T. Lacey arrived in St. Louis.

 

June 25 Saturday – Sam piloted the J.C. Swon, (678 tons) under Captain Isaac H. Jones. Left for New Orleans.

 

July 1 Friday – J.C. Swon arrived in New Orleans

 [ page 66 ]

July 3 Sunday – J.C. Swon left for St. Louis.

 

July 6 Wednesday – Sam wrote to John T. “Tom” Moore from Memphis. Moore was a mud clerk on the Roe when Sam was a cub pilot there. The letter appeared in the Arkansaw Traveler July 14, 1883; the original has not been found and its authenticity is in doubt, though many elements argue for it being Sam’s [MTL 1: 91-2, n2; MTB 156]. Note: this may be the same Tom Moore that presented Sam for Masonic membership.

 

My Dear John:—

I have made many attempts to answer your letter which received a warmth of welcome perspiringly in keeping with the present system of hot weather; but somehow I have failed. Now, however, I screw myself down to the pleasant task. It is a task, let me tell you, and it is only by the courtesy of friendship that I can call it pleasant.

I have been wondering lately what in the name of Mexican cultivation and flatboat morality is to become of people, anyhow. Years, now, I have been waiting for the summers to become cooler, but up to the present moment of agony I see no change. I wish there was some arrangement by which we could have the kind of weather we want; but then I suppose I would call for an arrangement by which we could make a living without work. What a fool old Adam was. Had everything his own way; had succeeded in gaining the love of the best looking girl in the neighborhood, but yet unsatisfied with his conquest he had to eat a miserable little apple. Ah, John, if you had been in his place you would not have eaten a mouthful of the apple, that is if it had required any exertion. I have often noticed that you shun exertion. There comes in the difference between us. I court exertion. I love to work. Why, sir, when I have a piece of work to perform, I go away to myself, sit down in the shade and muse over the coming enjoyment. Sometimes I am so industrious that I muse too long.

No, I am not in love at present. I saw a young lady in Vicksburg the other day whom I thought I’d like to love, but John, the weather is too devilish hot to talk about love; but oh, that I had a cool, shady place, where I could sit among gurgling fountains of perfumed ice-water, an’ be loved into a premature death of rapture. I would give the world for this—I’d love to die such a glorious and luxurient death.

Yours,

SAM CLEMENS [MTPO].

 

July 9 Saturday – J.C. Swon arrived in St. Louis

 

July 13 Wednesday – J.C. Swon left for New Orleans.

 

July 19 Tuesday – J.C. Swon arrived in New Orleans.

 

July 21 Thursday – J.C. Swon left for St. Louis. A sketch, “Soleather Cultivates His Taste for Music,” appeared in the New Orleans Crescent, signed by “Soleather,” attributed by Branch to Samuel Clemens [Branch, “A Chronological”; MTL 1: 93n2]. (See July 11, 1857 entry for Sam’s comments about the Rufus J. Lackand, and a note on Marleau’s recent research disputing these dates)

 

July 28 Thursday – J.C. Swon arrived in St. Louis.

 

August 1 Monday – Sam wrote a piece of fiction intended for newspaper publication titled “The Mysterious Murders in Risse.” It was never published [ET&S 1: 134].

 

August 2 Tuesday – Sam left St. Louis as pilot of the Edward J. Gray, (823 tons) Bart Bowen, Captain. Here was another majestic boat for Sam to pilot.

 

August 10 Wednesday – The Edward J. Gray arrived New Orleans.

 

August 12 Friday – The Edward J. Gray left for St. Louis. [ page 67 ]

 

August 19 Friday – The Edward J. Gray arrived St. Louis.

 

August 24 Wednesday – The Edward J. Gray left for New Orleans.

 

September 1 Thursday – The Edward J. Gray arrived New Orleans.

 

September 3 Saturday – The Edward J. Gray left for St. Louis.

 

September 9 Friday – The Edward J. Gray arrived St. Louis.

 

September 13 Tuesday – The Edward J. Gray left for New Orleans.

 

September 21 Wednesday – The Edward J. Gray arrived New Orleans.

 

September 23 Friday – The Edward J. Gray left for St. Louis.

 

October 1 Saturday – The Edward J. Gray arrived St. Louis.

 

October 2 to 25 Tuesday – Sam stayed “at home awhile” in St. Louis until he learned that he was to pilot the A.B. Chambers [MTL 1: 95n4].

 

October 13? Thursday – Sam wrote to Elizabeth W. Smith (Aunt Betsy b.1794 or 5) from St. Louis. Smith was not really Sam’s aunt, but a friend of his mother. As he explained it in his Autobiography,

 

She wasn’t anybody’s aunt in particular, she was aunt to the whole town of Hannibal; this was because of her sweet and generous and benevolent nature and the winning simplicity of her character …She and my mother were very much alive; their age counted for nothing; they were fond of excitement, fond of novelties, fond of anything going that was of a sort proper for members of the church to indulge in…they were always ready for Fourth of July processions, Sunday-school processions, lectures, conventions, camp-meetings, revivals in the church—in fact, for any and every kind of dissipation that could not be proven to have anything irreligious about it—and they never missed a funeral.” Sam used Elizabeth Smith as a model for at least three stories, “Those Extraordinary Twins,” “Hellfire Hotchkiss,” and The Mysterious Stranger [MTL 1: 93-6].

 

Dear Aunt Betsey:

Ma has not written you, because she did not know when I would get started down the river again—and I could not write, because, between you and I, Aunt Betsey, for once in my life I didn’t know any more than my own mother—she could not tell when she and the coal-tinted white tom-cat might hope to get rid of me, and I was in the same lamentable state of ignorance myself.

You see, Aunt Betsey, I made but one trip on the packet after you left, and then concluded to remain at home awhile. I have just discovered, this morning, that I am to go to New Orleans on the Col. Chambers—“fine, light-draught, swift running passenger steamer—all modern accommodations—and improvements—through with dispatch—for freight or passage apply on board or to”—but—I have forgotten the agent’s name—however, it makes no difference—and as I was saying, or had intended to say, Aunt Betsey, that probably, if you are ready to come up, you had better take the “Ben Lewis,” the best boat in the packet line. She will be at Cape Girardeau at noon on Saturday (day after tomorrow,) and will reach here at breakfast time Sunday. If Mr. Hamilton is Chief Clerk,—very well. I am slightly acquainted with him. And if Messrs. Carter, Gray and Dean Somebody (I have forgotten his other name,) are in the pilot-house—very well again—I am acquainted with them. Just tell Mr. Gray, Aunt Betsey—that I wish him to place himself at your command.

All the family are well except myself—I am in a bad way again—disease, Love, in its most malignant form. Hopes are entertained of my recovery, however. At the dinner-table, I—excellent symptom—I am still as “terrible as an army with banners.”  [ page 68 ]

Aunt Betsey—the wickedness of this world—but I haven’t time to moralize this morning.

Good-bye.

Sam. Clemens

P. S.—All send their love [MTL 1: 93-96; see source notes]

 

October 26 Wednesday – Sam left for St. Louis as the pilot of the A.B. Chambers (410 tons), copilots James C. DeLancey and Will Bowen; Captain George W. Bowman.

 

November 7 Monday – A.B. Chambers arrived in New Orleans.

 

November 9 Wednesday – A.B. Chambers left for St. Louis.

 

November 20 Sunday – A.B. Chambers arrived in St. Louis.

 

November 23 Wednesday – A.B. Chambers left for New Orleans.

 

November 30 Wednesday – Sam’s 24th birthday.

 

December 4 Sunday – A.B. Chambers arrived in New Orleans.

 

December 8 Thursday – A.B. Chambers left for St. Louis.

 

December 17 Saturday – A.B. Chambers arrived in St. Louis.

 

December 20 Tuesday – A.B. Chambers left for New Orleans.

 

December 22 or 23 Friday – The Chambers ran aground five miles south of Commerce, Mo., where the channel flowed between Power’s Island and Goose Island—a notorious trap. It was soon stuck hard with ice piling up around it. Out of wood, the captain ordered Sam and seven others to take a yawl and row up river to fetch a flatboat with wood. Sam’s judgment in directing the craft avoided certain death by any other course [MTL 1: 95n4]. (See this note for the full story as told by Grant Marsh, first mate.)

 

December 29 Thursday – A.B. Chambers reached Cairo, Illinois.

 

December 31 Saturday – A.B. Chambers arrived in New Orleans.


 [ page 69 ]
Pilot Skills on a 300-footer – The Unfettered life – Sam the Mason

 

January 7 Saturday – A.B. Chambers arrived in New Orleans.

 

January 10 Tuesday – A.B. Chambers left for St. Louis.

 

January 20 Friday – A.B. Chambers arrived in St. Louis.

 

February 1 Wednesday – A.B. Chambers left for New Orleans.

 

February 11 Saturday – A.B. Chambers arrived in New Orleans.

 

February 14 Tuesday – A.B. Chambers left for St. Louis.

 

February 24 Friday – A.B. Chambers arrived in St. Louis.

 

March 21 Wednesday – According to records accessed at the Department of Commerce, Steamboat Inspection Service in St. Louis in 1925, Sam’s pilot license, initially issued Apr. 9, 1859 was renewed on this day [The Twainian, January 1940].

 

March 25 Sunday – Sam became pilot of the City of Memphis (865 tons) and left St. Louis this day with co-pilot Wesley Jacobs, Captain Joseph E. Montgomery. Here was a 6-boiler, 300-foot behemoth of a boat. Branch asserts that Sam was a skillful pilot [Branch, “Mark Twain: The Pilot” 30].

“One time I mistook Capt. Ed Montgomery’s coat hanging on the big bell for the Capt. himself and waiting for him to tell me to back I ran into a steamboat at New Orleans” [MTNJ 2: 536].

April 2 Monday – City of Memphis arrived in New Orleans.

 

April 4 Wednesday – City of Memphis left for St. Louis.

 

April 11 Wednesday – City of Memphis arrived in St. Louis.

 

April 14 Saturday – City of Memphis left for New Orleans.

 

April 21 Saturday – City of Memphis arrived in New Orleans.

 

April 24 Tuesday – City of Memphis left for St. Louis.

 

May 1 Tuesday – City of Memphis arrived in St. Louis.

 

May 4 Friday – City of Memphis left for New Orleans.

 

May 9 Wednesday – A family story told by Annie Moffett Webster disclosed Sam’s political leaning in 1860 (Annie was 8 years old). That year a third political party of old Whigs and former Know-Nothings called the Constitutional Union Party met in Baltimore and nominated John Bell of Tennessee for president and Edward Everett of Massachusetts for vice president.

 

“In 1860 we moved to 1312 Chestnut Street. This was a presidential year and one in which there was great difference of opinion because of the split in the Democratic Party. My father was for Douglas and Uncle Sam [ page 70 ] was for Bell and Everett. I was in a quandary until Uncle Sam settled my allegiance by giving me a Bell and Everett button” [MTBus 47].

 

Since the Bell-Everett ticket was formed this week, Sam’s gift of the button to his niece would have to be after this date and before the election in November.

 

May 14 Monday – City of Memphis arrived in New Orleans.

 

May 15 Tuesday – City of Memphis left for St. Louis.

 

May 22 Tuesday – City of Memphis arrived in St. Louis.

 

May 24 Thursday – City of Memphis left for New Orleans.

 

May 27 Sunday – The St. Louis Missouri Republican published “a brief, matter-of-fact river report signed by him [Sam] and Wesley Jacobs, his City of Memphis copilot”

 

May 31 Thursday – City of Memphis arrived in New Orleans.

 

June 3 Sunday – City of Memphis left for St. Louis.

 

June 10 Sunday – City of Memphis arrived in St. Louis.

 

June 13 Wednesday – City of Memphis left for New Orleans.

 

June 19 Tuesday – City of Memphis encountered a storm about 11 AM at Terrapin Bend, 28 miles north of Vicksburg.

 

June 22 Friday – City of Memphis arrived in New Orleans.

 

June 24 Sunday – City of Memphis left for St. Louis.

 

June 27? Wednesday – Sam wrote brother Orion while on the City of Memphis (surviving fragments here):

What is a government without energy? And what is a man without energy? Nothing—nothing at all. What is the grandest thing in “Paradise Lost”—the Arch-Fiend’s terrible energy! What was the greatest feature in Napoleon’s character? His unconquerable energy! Sum all the gifts that man is endowed with, and we give our greatest share of admiration to his energy. And to-day, if I were a heathen, I would rear a statue to Energy, and fall down and worship it!

I want a man to—I want you to—take up a line of action, and follow it out, in spite of the very devil.

. . . .

yourself from the reputation of a visionary. I am not talking nonsense, now—I am in earnest. I want you to keep your troubles and your plans out of the reach of meddlers,—until the latter are consummated—so that, in case you fail, no one will know it but yourself. Above all things (between you and I,) never tell Ma any of your troubles. She never slept a wink the night your last letter came, and she looks distressed yet. Write only cheerful news to her. You know that she will not be satisfied so long as she thinks anything is going that she is ignorant of,—and she makes a bitter fuss about it when her suspicions are awakened:—but that makes no difference—I know that it is better that she be kept in the dark concerning all things of an unpleasant nature. She upbraids me occasionally for giving her only the bright side of my affairs—(but unfortunately for her she has to put up with it, for I know that troubles which I curse awhile and forget, would disturb her slumbers for some time.) (Par. No. 2.—Possibly because she is deprived of the soothing consolation of swearing.) Tell her the good news and me the bad.

Putting all things together, I begin to think I am rather lucky than otherwise—a notion which I was slow to take up. The other night I was about to round to for a storm—but concluded that I could find a smoother bank somewhere. I landed 5 miles below. The storm came—passed away and did not injure us. I Coming up, day before yesterday, I looked at the spot I first chose, and half the trees on the bank were torn to shreds. We couldn’t have lived 5 minutes in such a tornado. And I am also lucky in having a berth, while all [ page 71 ] the young pilots are idle. This is the luckiest circumstance that ever befell me. Not on account of the wages—for that is a secondary consideration—but from the fact that the CITY OF MEMPHIS is the largest boat in the trade and the hardest to pilot, and consequently I can get a reputation on her, which is a thing I never could accomplish on a transient boat. I can ‘bank’ in the neighborhood of $100 a month on her, and that will satisfy me for the present (principally because the other youngsters are sucking their fingers.) Bless me! what a pleasure there is in revenge! and what vast respect Prosperity commands! Why, six months ago, I could enter the “Rooms,” and receive only a customary fraternal greeting—but now they say, “Why, how are you, old fellow—when did you get in?” And the young pilots, who used to tell me, patronisingly, that I could never learn the river, cannot keep from showing a little of their chagrin at seeing me so far ahead of them. Permit me to “blow my horn,” for I derive a living pleasure from these things. And I must confess that when I go to pay my dues, I rather like to let the d—d rascals get a glimpse of a hundred dollar bill peeping out from amongst notes of smaller dimensions, whose faces I do not exhibit! You will despise this egotism, but I tell you there is a “stern joy” in it [MTL 1: 96-99].

 

June 28 Thursday – City of Memphis arrived at Cairo [MTL 1: 99 n2].

 

July 1–2 Monday – City of Memphis arrived in St. Louis.

 

July 28 Saturday – Sam piloted the Arago (268 tons), co-pilot J.W. Hood, Captain George P. Sloan. The boat left St. Louis on this date bound for Vicksburg.

 

August 3 Friday – The Arago arrived in Vicksburg.

 

August 4 Saturday – The Arago Left Vicksburg for Cairo, Illinois.

 

August 10 Friday – Sam witnessed the aurora borealis (“it was very beautiful, but it did not last very long”) and mentions it in his letter the following day.

 

August 11 Saturday – The Arago arrived in Cairo. Sam wrote from Cairo, Illinois to Susan I. (Belle) Stotts, sister of Orion’s wife, Mollie.

 

Dear Belle:

Confound me if I wouldn’t eat up half a dozen of you small girls if I just had the merest shadow of a chance this morning. Here I am, now, about 3 weeks out from Keokuk, and 2 from St. Louis, and yet I have not heard a word from you—and may not, possibly, for 2 or 3 more weeks, as we shall go no further up the river at present, but turn back from here and go to New Orleans.

Just go on, though—go on. I have had a pleasant trip, and there is consolation in that. I quarreled with the mate, and “made it up” with him; and I quarreled with him again, and made it up again; and quarreled and “made up” the third time—and I have got the shell of half a watermelon by me now, ready to drop on his head as soon as he comes out of the “Texas,”—which will produce quarrel No. 4, if I have made my calculations properly.

Yes, and I have disobeyed the Captain’s orders over and over again, which produced a “state of feeling” in his breast, much to my satisfaction—(bless your soul, I always keep the law on my side, you see, when the Chief Officer is concerned,) and I am ready now to quarrel with anybody in the world that can’t whip me. Ah me, I feel as strong as a yoke of oxen, this morning, and nothing could afford me greater pleasure than a pitched battle with you three girls. It can’t be, though. However, I’ll “fix” the mate when he comes out.

Belle, you ought to see the letter I wrote last night for a friend of mine. He is fearfully love-sick, and he feared he should die, if he didn’t “pour out his soul” (he said—“stomach,” I should say,) in an epistolary form to the “being,” (Ella Creel knows what that word means,) who has entrapped his virgin affections. Poor devil—he said “Make it the letter sweet—fill it full of love,” and I did, as sure as you live. But if the dose don’t turn the young lady inside out, she must certainly be endowed with the stomach of an ostrich. [ page 72 ]

But did you girls see the Aurora Borealis last night (Friday?) It was very beautiful, but it did not last long. It reckon you girls had been home from choir-meeting about an hour when I saw it—or perhaps you were out on the bluff. Somebody remarked “Snag ahead!” and I lost the finest part of the sight.

Now, Belle, can’t you write to me, right away, to “Care of Eclipse Wharf Boat, Memphis, Tenn?” Of course you can, if you will. I sent you 2 pieces of instrumental music and a song to Ella Creel from Vicksburgh—did they arrive safely?

Oh, confound Cairo.

Good-bye my dear

Sam [MTL 1: 99-102].

 

August 12 Sunday – The Arago left for New Orleans.

 

August 20 Monday – The Arago arrived in New Orleans.

 

August 22 Wednesday – The Arago left for St. Louis.

 

August 30 Thursday – With J.W. Hood, his Arago copilot, Sam wrote “Pilot’s Memoranda,” a burlesque on pilot journaling. The piece was published over a year later in the St. Louis Missouri Republican [ET&S 1: 142]. This date is also given as the Republican publication date [MTNJ 1: 50n1;MTPO].

 

August 31 Friday – The Arago arrived in St. Louis.

 

September 8 Saturday – “Special River Correspondence” ran in the St. Louis Missouri Republican but is not now believed to be written by Sam [MTPO notes with Aug. 1, 1876 to Cist].

 

September 19 Wednesday – Sam piloted the Alonzo Child (493 tons), co-pilots Horace Bixby, Will Bowen, Sam Brown; Captains David DeHaven and James O’Neal. This was the last steamboat that Sam would pilot. The Alonzo Child left on this date for New Orleans.

 

September 28 Friday – The Alonzo Child arrived in New Orleans

 

September 29 Saturday – The Alonzo Child left for St. Louis. Before leaving, Sam wrote a short note from New Orleans to his brother Orion.

 

Dear Brother:

I just received yours and Mollies letters yesterday—they had been here 2 weeks—forwarded from St Louis. We got here yesterday—will leave at Noon, to-day. Of course I have had no time, in 24 hours, to do anything—therefore I’ll answer after we are under way again. Yesterday I had many things to do, but Bixby and I got with the pilots of two other boats and went off dissipating on a ten dollars dinner at a French restaurant—breathe it not unto Ma!—where we ate Sheep-head-fish with mushrooms, shrimps and oysters—birds—coffee with brandy burnt in it, &c &c,—ate, drank & smoked, from 1 P. M. until 5 o’clock, and then—then—the day was too far gone to do anything.

To-day I ordered the alligator boots—$1200. Will send ’em up next trip. Please find enclosed—and acknowledge receipt of $2000

In haste

Sam. L. Clemens [MTL 1: 102].

 

October 6 Saturday – The Alonzo Child arrived in St. Louis.

 

October 9 Tuesday – The Alonzo Child left for New Orleans.

 

October 20 Saturday – The Alonzo Child arrived in New Orleans [ page 73 ]

 

October 21 Sunday – The Alonzo Child left for St. Louis

 

October 28 Sunday – The Alonzo Child arrived in St. Louis.

 

October 31 Wednesday – The Alonzo Child left for New Orleans.

 

November 5 Monday – Samuel Erasmus Moffett was born to Pamela and William Moffett. Sam was an uncle for the third time [MTL 1: 383].

 

November 9 Friday – The Alonzo Child arrived in New Orleans

 

November 10 Saturday – The Alonzo Child left for St. Louis.

 

November 11 Sunday – Sam ran the Alonzo Child aground, about seventy-three miles above New Orleans at the Houmas Plantation. It remained stuck for 28 hours [MTL 1: 105 n2].

 

November 12 Monday – A rising tide freed the Alonzo Child [MTL 1: 105n2].

 

November 18 Sunday – The Alonzo Child arrived in St. Louis.

 

November 21 Wednesday – Sam wrote from St. Louis to his brother Orion and family about running the Alonzo Child aground, about prices of poultry, eggs, and apples in New Orleans. Sam, ever the speculator, wrote:

 

My Dear Brother:

At last, I have succeeded in scraping together moments enough to write you. And it’s all owing to my own enterprise, too—for, running in the fog, on the coast, in order to beat another boat, I grounded the “Child” on the bank, at nearly flood-tide, where we had to stay until the “great” tide ebbed and flowed again (24 hours,) before she floated off. And that dry-bank spell so warped and twisted the packet, and caused her to leak at such a rate, that she had to enter protest and go on the dock, here, which delays us until Friday morning. We had intended to leave today. As soon as we arrived here last Sunday morning, I jumped aboard the “McDowell” and went down to look at the river—grounded 100 miles below here—25 miles this side of the “crossing” which I started down to look at—stayed aground 24 hours—and by that time I grew tired and returned here to be ready for to-day. I am sorry now that I did not hail a down-stream boat and go on—I would have had plenty of time.

The New Orleans market fluctuates. If any man doubts this proposition, let him try it once. Trip before last, chickens sold rapidly on the levee at $700 per doz—last trip they were not worth $300. Trip before last, eggs were worth $35 @ 40cper doz—last trip they were selling at 12½— which was rather discouraging, considering that we were in the market with 3,600 dozen, which we paid 15 cents for—together with 18 barrels of apples, which were not worth a d—m— We expected to get $6 or 7 per bbl. for them. We stored the infernal produce, and shall wait for the market to fluctuate again. But in the meantime, Nil desperandum—I am deep in another egg purchase, now.

I am ashamed of myself for not having sent you any money for such a long time. But the fact is, I’ll be darned if I had it. I went to the clerk awhile ago and asked him “how we stood?” “Twenty-two days’ wages—$183.33⅓.” “Deduct my egg speculation and give me the balance.” And he handed me $3500! So much for eggs. I gave the money to Ma. However, we shall have been here 4 days to-morrow. I’ll go and collect that and divide with you.

When I go to Memphis, Mo, I will see what can be done about produce in your part of the country.

Now, as I understand the “house,” business, you can get a big, respectable house to live in for $11000 a year—per. centage—which is cheap enough rent it seems to me—and 10 years to pay the principal—in law. Take it—and take the whole town on the same terms if you can get it. Furnish the house nicely, and move into it—and then, if you’ll invite me, I’ll be happy to pay you a visit. Let me know how much money you [ page 74 ] want to furnish the house with. About the other house I can tell nothing. If it be best to purchase—why—pitch in. I’ll raise the money in some way. You owe Uncle Billy Patterson and old Jimmy Clemens Jr.  money—and if they were to die, their administrators would “gobble up” everything you’ve got. Therefore, put no property in your own name—either put your share in Ma’s name and my half in my own, or else put it all in Ma’s or mine—Ma’s will do me—and you, too, I reckon. If you can buy both houses with “law and 10 per cent,” take them—but see that the contract is carefully written out. Because, for one reason, the law business of an influential man like Downing is worth a great deal more money in the influence it carries with it, than simply the money which is paid for it. Yes—you might advertize for cheap lots in your local paper. But perhaps you had better wait until I see whether this last egg speculation of mine is going to “smash” me or not.

Blast it—you didn’t ask Belle where she got that stone—and if I don’t get another pretty soon I’ll lose the setting—and it’s fine gold, and I want to save it.

“In conclusion”—Pamela has got a baby—which you may have heard before this. She is now reposing on her honors—seemingly well satisfied with the personal appearance of the very unexpected but not unwelcome young stranger—and deeming the matter “glory enough for one day.” (Sub rosa—a very small amount of this kind of glory would go a good way with the subscriber—if I were married—“which” I am not married, owing to the will of Providence and the “flickering” of my last.) And her nurse is almost the counterpart of Mrs. Gamp in “Martin Chuzzlewit”—who used to say—“No—no—which them is the very words I have said more nor once to Mrs. Harris—No, m’a’m—I am opposed to drinking, I says—not that I mean to say that I do nor I don’t, or I will or I won’t, myself. But what I say, is, ‘leave the bottle on the mantle-shelf, and let me put my lips to it when I’m so disposed.[’]” I don’t mean to say that this Mrs. Gamp drinks—but I do say she looks just like the other Mrs. Gamp.

Like all the letters of the family, this is to you and Mollie and Jennie—all. And as I am “strapped”—and pushed for time, we’ll sing the doxology, as follows—hoping to hear from all of you soon:

 

“In the world’s great field of battle,

In the bivuac of life,

Be not like dumb, driven cattle—

Be a hero in the strife.”

Amen.

 

Vôtre frère,

Sam. L. Clemens [MTL 1: 103-6].

 

Notes: The baby Sam spoke of, implying a premature birth, was his nephew, Samuel Erasmus Moffett, on Nov. 5, to sister Pamela, her second child. Premature birth seemed to run in the family. Downing is unidentified. The verse at the end is from Longfellow’s Voices of the Night (1839).

 

November 23 Friday – The Alonzo Child left for New Orleans.

 

November 30 Friday – Sam’s 25th birthday.

 

December 1 Saturday – The Alonzo Child arrived in New Orleans.

 

December 4 Tuesday – The Alonzo Child left for St. Louis.

 

December 11 Tuesday – The Alonzo Child arrived in Cairo, Illinois, where it laid up until Jan. 8 1861 due to ice in the river.

 

December 26 Wednesday – Sam petitioned to join the Polar Star Masonic Lodge Number Seventy-nine of St. Louis, the largest in the state. In so doing, he promised “to conform to all the ancient established usages and customs of the fraternity” [MTL 1: 106-7; Strong, 88]. Sam would rise to the level of Master Mason by July 10, 1861 [Jones 364].

 


 [ page 75 ]
Trouble Brewed – Fortune Teller – Orion Commissioned Secretary of Nevada Terr.

River Traffic Closed – Marion Ranger Fun – St. Jo Westward; Roughing It to Carson Mine Feet Speculation – Aurora – Conflagration on Lake Tahoe

Humboldt and Mining Fever – “a small rude cabin” at Unionville

 

 

January 7 Monday – Brother Orion wrote Sam from Memphis. His letter of introduction to Samuel Taylor Glover (1813-1884) was intended to obtain a letter of introduction to Edward Bates (1793-1869), Lincoln’s attorney general. Orion hoped to get a government position to provide his family with a stable income and to pay debts

 

We had a had a hearty laugh, as well as some of our acquaintances of the feminine gender (in my absence) heads of families, over your last letter. … I am greatly obliged to you for the Tri-weekly Republican till 1st next April. You could hardly have made me a more acceptable present. Jennie is equally delighted with her books. I have read them all through [MTL 1: 114n9].

 

January 8 Tuesday – The Alonzo Child left Cairo for St. Louis.

 

January 11 Friday – The Alonzo Child arrived in St. Louis.

 

January 14 Monday – The Alonzo Child left for New Orleans.

 

January 21 Monday to March 30, 1861 – Ten letters signed by Quintus Curtius Snodgrass were published on various dates in the New Orleans Daily Crescent. Until 1964, most scholars attributed these letters to Sam. Alan Bates then presented an article showing that the dates penned and published would have precluded them from being Sam’s [Bates 31-7]. Could Sam have assigned them dates different than the day of composition? Or, are they, as Bates claims, “the tedious productions of an obscure newspaper reporter”? (See also Claude Brinegar’s 1963 article, “A Statistical Test of Authorship,” Journal of American Statistical Assoc. (March, p.85-96), and references in Tenney.

 

January 24 Thursday – The Alonzo Child arrived in New Orleans

 

January 29 Tuesday – The Alonzo Child left for St. Louis.

 

Text Box: February 4, 1861 – The Confederate States of America were formed, with Jefferson Davis as President

 

 

 

 

February 5 Tuesday – The Alonzo Child arrived in Cairo, and did not continue to St. Louis due to icy river conditions.

 

February 6 Wednesday – Sam was in Cairo, Illinois. He wrote his brother Orion and sister-in-law, Mary (Mollie) Clemens:

 

My Dear Brother:

After promising Mrs. Holliday a dozen times—(without anything further than a very remote intention of fulfilling the same,) to visit the fortune teller—Mad. Caprell—I have at last done so. We lay in New Orleans a week; and towards the last, novelties begun to grow alarmingly scarce; I did not know what to do next—Will Bowen had given the matter up, and gone to bed for the balance of the trip; the Captain was on [ page 76 ] the Sugar Levee, and the clerks were out on business. I was revolving in my mind another foray among the shipping, in search of beautiful figure-heads or paragons of nautical architecture, when I happened to think of Mrs. Holliday; and as the Devil never comes unattended, I naturally thought of Mad. Caprell immediately after, and then I started toward the St. Charles Hotel for the express purpose of picking up one of the enchantress’s bills, with a view to ascertaining her whereabouts—or, in simpler language, where she was supposed to “hang out.” The bill said 37 Conti, above Tchoupitoulas—terms, $2 for gentlemen in my situation, i.e. unaccompanied by a lady.

Arrived at the place, the bell was answered by a middle-aged lady (who certainly pitied me—I saw it in her eye,) who kindly informed me that I was at the wrong door—turn to the left. Which I did. And stood in the Awful Presence. She is a very pleasant little lady—rather pretty—about 28—say 5 feet 2¼—would weigh 116—has black eyes and hair—is polite and intelligent—uses good language, and talks much faster than I do.

She invited me into the little back parlor, closed the door; and we were—alone. We sat down facing each other. Then she asked my age. And then she put her hand before her eyes a moment, and commenced talking as if she had a good deal to say, and not much time to say it in. Something after this style:

“Yours is a watery planet; you gain your livelihood on the water; but you should have been a lawyer—there is where your talents lie; you might have distinguished yourself as an orator; or as an editor; you have written a great deal; you write well—but you are rather out of practice; no matter—you will be in practice some day; you have a superb constitution; and as excellent health as any man in the world; you have great powers of endurance; in your profession, your strength holds out against the longest sieges without flagging; still, the upper part of your lungs—the top of them, is slightly affected—and you must take more care of yourself; you do not drink, but you use entirely too much tobacco; and you must stop it; mind, not moderate, but stop the use of it, totally; then, I can almost promise you 86, when you will surely die; otherwise, look out for 28, 31, 34, 47 and 65; be careful—for you are not of a long-lived race, that is, on your father’s side; you are the only healthy member of your family, and the only one in it who has any thing like the certainty of attaining to a great age—so, stop using tobacco, and be careful of yourself; in nearly all respects, you are the best sheep in your flock; your brother has an excellent mind, but it is not as well balanced as yours; I should call yours the best mind, altogether; there is more unswerving strength of will, & set purpose, and determination and energy in you than in all the balance of your family put together; in some respects you take after your father, but you are much more like your mother, who belongs to the long-lived, energetic side of the house. (But Madam, you are too fast—you have given me too much of these qualities.) No, I have not. Don’t interrupt me. I am telling the truth. And I’ll prove it. Thus: you never brought all your energies to bear upon an object, but what you accomplished it—for instance, you are self-made, self-educated. (Which proves nothing.) Don’t interrupt. When you sought your present occupation, you found a thousand obstacles in your way—obstacles which would have deterred nineteen out of any twenty men—obstacles unknown,—not even suspected by any save you and I, since you keep such matters to yourself,—but you fought your way through them, during a weary, weary length of time, and never flinched, or quailed, or never once wished to give over the battle—and hid the long struggle under a mask of cheerfullness, which saved your friends anxiety on your account. To do all this requires the qualities which I have named. (You flatter well, Madam.) Don’t interrupt. Up to within a short time, you had always lived from hand to mouth—now, you are in easy circumstances—for which you need give credit to no one but yourself. The turning-point in your life occurred in 1847–8 (Which was?)—a death, perhaps; and this threw you upon the world and made you what you are; it was always intended that you should make yourself; therefore, it was well that this calamity occurred as early as it did; you will never die of water, although your career upon it in the future seems well sprinkled with misfortune; but I intreat you to remember this: no matter what your circumstances are, in September, of the year in which you are 28, don’t go near the water—I will not tell you why, but by all that is true and good, I charge you, while that month lasts, keep away from the water (which she repeated several times, with much show of earnestness—“make a note on’t,” & let’s see how much the woman knows.) Your life will be menaced in the years I have before-mentioned—will be in imminent peril when you are 31—if you escape, then when you are 34—neither 47 or 65 look so badly; you will continue upon the water for some time yet; you will not retire finally until ten years from now; two years from now, or a little more, a child will be born to you! (Permit me to hope, Madam, in view of this prospective good luck, that I may also have the jolly good-fortune to be married before that time.) Well, you are a free-spoken young man. Of course you will. (Make another note, Orion—I think I’ve caught her up a played-out chute in a falling river this time—but who knows?) And mind—your whole future welfare depends upon your getting married as soon as you can; don’t smile—don’t laugh—for it is just as true as truth itself; if you fail to marry within two years from now, [ page 77 ] you will regret that you paid so little attention to what I am saying now; don’t be foolish, but go and marry—your future depends upon it; you can get the girl you have in your eye, if you are a better man than her mother—she (the girl) is; the old gentleman is not in the way, but the mother is decidedly cranky, and much in the way; she caused the trouble and produced the coolness which has existed between yourself and the young lady for so many months past—and you ought to break through this ice; you won’t commence, and the girl won’t—you are both entirely too proud—a well-matched pair, truly; the young lady is—(but I didn’t ask after the young lady, Madam, and I don’t want to hear about her.) There, just as I said—she would have spoken to me just as you have done. For shame! I must go on. She is 17—not remarkably pretty, but very intelligent—is educated, and accomplished—and has property—5 feet 3 inches—is slender—dark-brown hair and eyes—you don’t want to see her? Oh, no—but you will, nevertheless, before this year is out—here in New Orleans (mark that,) too—and then—look out! The fact of her being so far away now—which is the case, is it not?—doesn’t affect the matter. You will marry twice—your first wife will live (I have forgotten the number of years,)—your second choice will be a widow—you[r] family, finally, all told, will number ten children (slow—Madam—slow—and stand by to ship up—for I know you are out of the channel,) some of them will live, and some will not at—(there’s consolation in the latter, at least.) Yes, ten is the number. (You must think I am fond of children.) And you are, although you pretend the contrary—which is an ugly habit; quit it; I grant you that you do not like to handle them, though. What is your brother’s age? 33?—and a lawyer?—and in pursuit of an office? Well, he stands a better chance than the other two, and, he may get it—he must do his best—and not trust too much to others, either—which is the very reason why he is so far behind, now; he never does do anything, if he can get anybody else to do it for him; which is bad; he never goes steadily on till he attains an object, but nearly always drops it when the battle is half won; he is too visionary—is always flying off on a new hobby; this will never do—tell him I said so. He is a good lawyer—a very good lawyer—and a fine speaker—is very popular, and much respected, and makes many friends; but although he retains their friendship, he loses their confidence, by displaying his instability of character; he wants to speculate in lands, and will, some day, with very good success; the land he has now will be very valuable after a while (say 250 years hence, or thereabouts, Madam,)—no—less time—but never mind the land, that is a secondary consideration—let him drop that for the present, and devote himself to his business and politics, with all his might, for he must hold offices under government, and 6 or 8 years from this time, he will run for Congress. You will marry, and will finally live in the South—do not live in the north-west; you will not succeed well; you will live in the South, and after a while you will possess a good deal of property—retire at the end of ten years—after which your pursuits will be literary—try the law—you will certainly succeed. I am done, now. If you have any questions to ask—ask them freely—and if it be in my power, I will answer without reserve“—without reserve.”

I asked a few questions of minor importance—paid her $2 and left—under the decided impression that going to the fortune-teller’s was just as good as going to the Opera, and cost scarcely a trifle more—ergo, I would disguise myself and go again, one of these days, when other amusements failed.

Now isn’t she the devil? That is to say, isn’t she a right smart little woman? I have given you almost her very language to me, and nothing extenuated, nor set down aught in malice. Whenever she said anything pointed about you, she would ask me to tell you of it, so that you might profit by it—and confound me if I don’t think she read you a good deal better than she did me. That Congress business amused me a little, for she wasn’t far wide of the mark you set yourself, as to time. And Pa’s death in ’47–8, and the turning-point in my life, was very good. I wonder if there is a Past and future chronological table of events in a man’s life written in his forehead for the special convenience of these clairvoyants? She said Pa’s side of the house was not long-lived, but that he doctored himself to death. I do not know about that, though. She said that up to 7 years, I had no health, and then mentioned several dates after that when my health had been very bad. But that about that girl’s mother being “cranky,” and playing the devil with me, was about the neatest thing she performed—for although I have never spoken of the matter, I happen to know that she spoke truth. The young lady has been beaten by the old one, though, through the romantic agency of intercepted letters, and the girl still thinks I was in fault—and always will, I reckon, for I don’t see how she’ll ever find out the contrary. And the woman had the impudence to say that although I was eternally falling in love, still, when I went to bed at night, I somehow always happened to think of Miss Laura before I thought of my last new flame—and it always would be the case (which will be devilish comfortable, won’t it, when both she and I (like one of Dickens’ characters,) are Another’s?) But drat the woman, she did tell the truth, and I won’t deny it. But she said I would speak to Miss Laura first—and I’ll stake my last shirt on it, she missed it there. [ page 78 ]

So much for Madame Caprell. Although of course, I have no faith in her pretended powers, I listened to her in silence for half an hour, without the greatest interest, and I am willing to acknowledge that she said some very startling things, and made some wonderful guesses. Upon leaving, she said I must take care of myself; that it had cost me several years to build up my constitution to its present state of perfection, and now I must watch it. And she would give me this motto: “L’ouvrage de l’année est détruit dans un jour,”—which means, if you don’t know it, “The work of a year is destroyed in a day.”

We shall not go to St. Louis. Turn back from here, to-morrow or next day. When you want money, let Ma know, and she will send it. She and Pamela are always fussing about small change, so I sent them a hundred and twenty quarters yesterday—fiddler’s change enough to last till I get back, I reckon.

Votre frère,

Sam.

Dear Mollie:

  You owe me one. em spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem space(over

(To be continued.)

Ton frère,

Sam Clemens [MTP drop in letters].

 

Note: Madame Caprell told him his career would be made in literary efforts; that he must quit smoking immediately, and that a turning point occurred in his life in 1847-8 (Sam’s father died Mar. 24, 1847, when Sam was eleven). Sam quit smoking a couple of times but always took it back up [MTL 1: 107-112]. See source notes.

 

February 8 Friday – The Alonzo Child left Cairo for New Orleans.

 

February 16 Saturday – The Alonzo Child arrived in New Orleans.

 

February 18 Monday – The Alonzo Child left for St. Louis. The committee on petitions for the Polar Star Lodge Number Seventy-nine of St. Louis reported favorably on Sam’s petition for membership. Sam was recommended by John M. Leavenworth (b.1835?) brother of Zeb, and John T. “Tom” Moore. Sam Clemens was duly elected to receive the Masonic first degree [Jones 364; Strong 88]. Note: Moore was a “mud clerk” on the Roe; see July 6, 1859 and Feb. 18, 1861; also letter from Karl Gerhardt of May 5, 1909 mentioning Moore.

 

February 25 Monday – The Alonzo Child arrived in St. Louis.

 


February 27 Wednesday – The Alonzo Child left for New Orleans. Sam took his mother, cousin Ella Creel (b. 1840), and Miss Castle of St. Louis on a pleasure trip from St. Louis with 20 or 30 other couples to New Orleans aboard the Alonzo Child [MTL 1: 118n4].

Text Box: March 4, 1861 – Abraham Lincoln  
Sworn in as 16th  
President of the United States

 

 

 

 

 

March 6 Wednesday – The Alonzo Child arrived in New Orleans with Sam’s pleasure cruise contingent [MTL 1: 118n4].

 

March 7 Thursday – The likely day that Sam took his mother and the girls around New Orleans in a carriage and rode out to Lake Pontchartrain “in the cars.” See Mar. 18 entry, letter to Orion.

 

March 8 Friday – The Alonzo Child left for St. Louis with Sam’s pleasure cruise contingent.

 [ page 79 ]

March 15Friday – The Alonzo Child arrived in St. Louis. The pleasure cruise was completed.

 

March 18 Monday – Sam was in St. Louis with his mother, Jane Clemens, and sister, Pamela. He wrote Orion on this date about visiting a museum and seeing Frederic E. Church’s oil painting, Heart of the Andes. He also wrote of his mother’s disapproval of a dance, the Schottische (like the Polka) that he, his sister, and Miss Castle took part of [MTL 1: 116]. Note: The source for this letter in the printed volume was Paine’s text; Here are transcribed parts of the letter that have surfaced since, from MTP’s “drop-in” letter file, as follows:

 

      You have paid the preacher! Well, that is good, also. What a man wants with religion in these breadless times, surpasses my comprehension.

      Pamela and I have just returned from a visit to the most wonderfully beautiful painting….When you first see the tame, ordinary-looking picture, your first impulse is to turn your back upon it, and say Humbug—but your third visit will find your brain gasping and straining with futile efforts to take all the wonder in…

…

      Ma was delighted with her trip, but she was disgusted with the girls for allowing me to embrace and kiss them—and she was horrified at the Schottische as performed by Miss Castle and myself….But then she is an old fogy, you know.

      I took Ma and the girls in a carriage, round that portion of New Orleans where the finest gardens and residences are to be seen, and although it was a blazing hot, dusty day, they seemed highly delighted. To use an expression which is commonly ignored in polite society, they were “hell-bent” on stealing some of the luscious-looking oranges from branches which overhung the fences, but I restrained them….We went out to Lake Pontchartrain in the cars [MTP, drop-in letters]. Note: Paine made several changes to this letter, notably cutting out Sam calling his mother “an old fogy.”

 

March 20 Wednesday – The Alonzo Child left for New Orleans. According to records accessed at the Department of Commerce, Steamboat Inspection Service in St. Louis in 1925, Sam’s pilot license, initially issued Apr. 9, 1859 was renewed a second time on this day [The Twainian, January 1940].

 

March 26Tuesday – The Alonzo Child arrived in New Orleans.

 

March 27Wednesday – Orion received news of his commission as Secretary of Nevada Territory [ET&S 1: 12].

 

March 28Thursday – The Alonzo Child left for St. Louis.

 

April 5 Friday – The Alonzo Child arrived in St. Louis.

 

April 9 Tuesday – The Alonzo Child left for New Orleans.

 

Text Box: April 12 –Confederates fired on Fort Sumter; the Civil War began

 

 

 

 

April 16Tuesday – The Alonzo Child arrived in New Orleans.

 

April 18Thursday – The Alonzo Child left for St. Louis. From Sam’s 1905 notebook entry:

 

Alonzo Ch. heard of firing on Fort Sumter, April 18 at Vicksburg on way down (the day after it happened.) We hoisted stars & bars & played Dixie [Bates 36]. Note: Ft. Sumter was bombarded on Apr. 12, 1861.

 [ page 80 ]

April 20 Saturday – Orion Clemens received his commission as Secretary of Nevada Territory [MTL 1: 121n3].

 

April 25 Thursday – The Alonzo Child arrived in St. Louis.

 

April 26 Friday – Sam boarded the Hannibal City to Hannibal. Sam wrote Orion of his intention to travel to Hannibal to collect a debt (probably the $200 Will Bowen had borrowed). He asked Orion to bring or buy the book, Armageddon by Samuel D. Baldwin.

 

“My Dear Brother: / I am on the wing for Hannibal, to collect money due me. I shall return to St. Louis to-morrow.

      “Orion bring down ‘Armageddon’ with you if you have it. If not, buy it.” [MTL 1: 120]. Note: Armageddon, by Samuel D. Baldwin (1845); see source notes on this book.

 

April 27 Saturday – Orion arrived in Keokuk with his wife and daughter. That night he left alone for St. Louis to see his mother, brother, and sister [MTL 1: 121n3].

 

April 28 Sunday – Sam boarded the Die Vernon as a passenger for the return trip to St. Louis, where he spent a few days with his family [MTL 1: 120n2].

 

May 2Thursday – The Alonzo Child left for New Orleans.

 

May 8 Wednesday – The Alonzo Child arrived in New Orleans. This was Sam’s last trip as a steamboat pilot. Captain DeHaven was a rabid secessionist who decided after reaching New Orleans not to return north, forcing Sam to find another way home.

May 14 Tuesday – Sam departed New Orleans as a passenger on the Nebraska. Commercial traffic was halted. This was the last boat allowed through the Union blockade at Memphis. Sam’s days as a river pilot were over, though he did not know it at the time. He would later wax nostalgic and eloquent about his idyllic career on the river. Just as his idyllic days of boyhood in Hannibal had abruptly ended, so too did his time on “the best job in the world.”

Paine gives the name of the boat as the Uncle Sam:

 “I’ll think about it,” he said. “I’m not very anxious to get up into a glass perch and be shot at by either side. I’ll go home and reflect on the matter” [MTB 161].

 

May 21 Tuesday – Sam arrived in St. Louis. Sam hid out in the Moffett residence, fearful of being arrested by Union agents and forced to pilot a gunboat. He stayed there for a few weeks [MTL 1: 121]. During his stay he was invited to visit his cousin James Lampton, also in St. Louis. James was Jane Lampton Clemens’ first cousin, and the model for Colonel Mulberry Sellers in The Gilded Age. Sam stayed at James’ house for a few days. It was during this stay when the famous “turnips and water” dinner was served.

 

When Sam came home one day he was given the key to the neighbor’s house, owned by George Schroter (or Schroeter) (1813?-1896?), Will Moffett’s business partner. The Schroter family was in Hannibal and it was thought Sam would be safer in their St. Louis house. One day a man who gave the name “Smith” came looking for Sam and his mother recognized him as a friend of Sam’s. The man came with the project of forming a Confederate company in the Hannibal area to join General Sterling “Old Pap” Price (1809-1867). Sam accepted and began the Marion Rangers fiasco [MTBus 60].

 [ page 81 ]

May 22 Wednesday – The Polar Star Masonic Lodge Number Seventy-nine of St. Louis initiated Sam Clemens an Entered Apprentice, the next step up [Jones 364]. Note: Strong gives May 21 for the initiation [88].

 

June 12 Wednesday – Sam was probably no longer hiding out at his sister’s, for on this date he was raised to Master Mason (second degree) in the Polar Star Masonic Lodge Number Seventy-nine of St. Louis [Jones 364].

 

June 15 Saturday ca. – The Missouri state government had fled from Jefferson City by this date. Absalom Grimes wrote in his memoirs that he, Sam Bowen and Clemens were in Hannibal and were ordered to report to General Grey in St. Louis. (This may have been General Henry Gray, Jr. (1816-1892) spelled “Grey” by Grimes.) They made the trip on the Hannibal City and were instructed to be pilots carrying soldiers up the Missouri River, in pursuit of Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson (1806-1862). The three escaped and returned to Hannibal [Dempsey 266-7].

 

June, mid – Back in Hannibal, Sam joined his merry band of play soldiers, the Marion Rangers, a ragtag bunch of friends who took up the Southern “cause.” In 1885 Sam wrote a humorous account of these two weeks in “The Private History of a Campaign that Failed,” where all names except Ed Stevens were fictitious [Rasmussen 370-1]. The group of old Hannibal schoolmates included William Ely, Asa Glasscock, Absalom Grimes, John D. Meredith, Sam Bowen, John L. RoBards, Perry Smith, and Ed Stevens [Budd, “Collected” 955-6; MTB 166]. The article below adds Tom Lyon and Charley Mills.

 

From the special Mark Twain Centennial edition of the Hannibal Courier-Post, Mar. 6, 1935 p.9b:

 

Grimes said he went to his home in Ralls county after their return and a short time later when the war fever reached Ralls county he heard that a brigade of troops had assembled at the home of Nuck Matson, near New London….There he found his pilot friends, Sam Clemens and Sam Bowen and other young men he knew, among them being Charley Mills, Jack Coulter, Tom Lyon, Ed Stephens and Asa Fuqua. He joined them.

 

At the home of Col. John Ralls the company met a similar group who called themselves the Salt River Tigers. The Tigers were organized, which led Mark Twain’s group to believe they should elect officers.

 

In the ensuing election William Ely was elected captain, Asa Glascock became first lieutenant, Mark Twain was elected second lieutenant, with Sam Bowen as sergeant and Tom Lyon orderly sergeant. “After all the officers were elected we had three or four men to serve as privates,” Grimes said.

 

They took the name Ralls County Rangers and called upon Mark Twain for a speech. After much persuading he got upon a log and made a bashful speech which probably would have amazed the thousands who heard him years later on the lecture tour.

 

The ranger episode ended with Sam suffering a painful boil, a sprained ankle and several burns when he fell from a hayloft which caught fire from a smoker’s pipe. He convalesced at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Nuck Matson, near New London. By then the company has disbanded. (See Confederate Mail Runner by Absalom Grimes, 1926 for more.)

 

June 20 Thursday – Sam’s article, “Report on the Hannibal Home Guard” was printed in the Missouri State Journal [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

July, early – Sam returned to St. Louis. Sometime in the first half of the year (Budd says “probably written in early 1861”) [“Collected” 1000] before leaving for the West, Sam wrote an untitled tale (“Ghost Life [ page 82 ] on the Mississippi”) not published until 1948, but which was “a milestone in Clemens’ early development as a writer. “Despite certain inconsistencies and weaknesses in the narrative handling, the tale revealed a growing literary maturity and a distinct ability to construct serious fiction of some length” [ET&S 1: 146]. Sam used a pen name, “WILLIAM JONES—PRESENTED BY HIS FATHER.”

 

July 2 Tuesday – Orion Clemens received final instructions for his appointment as secretary of Nevada Territory [RI UC 1993 explanatory notes 574].

 

July 4 Thursday – Orion left his family in Keokuk and joined Sam, ready to travel to Nevada to take his new position as territorial secretary. He persuaded Sam to go with him, since Sam had the wherewithal to pay passage, and Orion did not. Sam did not request a “demit” (an official termination) from the Masons, which means he allowed himself to be suspended, and eventually not be a member [Jones 364].

 

July 10 Wednesday – The Polar Star Masonic Lodge Number Seventy-nine of St. Louis awarded Sam his third degree [Strong 88].

 

July 11 Thursday – Orion took an oath of office before a Supreme Court Justice in St. Louis. It was the one prestigious position of Orion’s life, owed to his persistent campaigning for Lincoln in 1860 and his connection with Edward Bates, who had been appointed Attorney General [Powers, MT A Life 102].

 

July 18 Thursday – Orion and Sam left St. Louis on the Sioux City for St. Joseph, Missouri [MTL 1: 122 citing Mollie Clemens’ Journal]. In Roughing It, Sam wrote:

 

“— a trip that was so dull, and sleepy, and eventless, that it has left no more impression on my memory than if its duration had been six minutes…”

 

A. Hoffman gives this date as July 10, 1861 [62]. July 18 seems more likely.

 

July 25 Thursday – Orion issued receipt for $300 down and $100 balance in 30 days, for a coach trip to leave from St. Joseph, Missouri.

 

 

 

UPDATES FOR: Trip Out West From  [ page 83 ]

July 26, 1861 to Aug. 14, 1861

Information added from Orion’s journal of the trip and other materials is found in the 1993 UC edition of RI, Supplement A, p.769-81. Orion’s Journal has been lost, but on Sept. 8, 1861, a few days after arriving in Carson City, Orion copied the journal, probably in its entirety, into a letter for his wife Mollie. Some of Orion’s entries correct entries in the first printing of MTDBD Vol. I.; several add important information Sam did not include in RI itself. The entire section is redone here from both RI and Orion’s journal. Instead of using “1 days out, 2 days out….19 days out,” changes are made to “2nd day out, 3rd day out,” etc., to be more in keeping with the language and chronology of RI and Orion’s journal. The reader should understand that RI was written with Orion’s journal entries in hand, requested by Sam to Orion in a letter of Mar. 10, 1871. Orion’s contemporary journal seems more accurate than Sam’s recollections some decade later. Print run One used Sam’s RI entries.

 

July 26 Friday – Sam and Orion leave St. Joseph for Nevada on the Overland Stage.

 

By eight o’clock [a.m.] everything was ready, and we were on the other side of the river. We jumped into the stage, the driver cracked his whip, and we bowled away and left “the States” behind us. It was a superb summer morning, and all the landscape was brilliant with sunshine [Ch 2, RI].

 

Left St. Joseph. Started on the plains about ten miles out. The plains here are simply prairie [Orion 769].

 

July 27 Saturday – 2nd day out – The coach broke down and was repaired.

 

By and by we passed through Marysville [KS], and over the Big Blue and Little Sandy [creeks]; thence about a mile, and entered Nebraska. About a mile further on, we came to the Big Sandy—one hundred and eighty miles from St. Joseph….As the sun was going down, we saw the first specimen of an animal known familiarly … as the “jackass rabbit.” He is well named. …and has the most preposterous ears that ever were mounted on any creature but a jackass [Ch 3, Roughing It].

Crossed the Nebraska line about 180 miles from St. Joseph. Here we saw the first Jack Rabbit. They have larger bodies, longer legs and longer ears than our rabbits [Orion RI 1993, 769].

 

July 28 Sunday – 3rd day out –

So we flew along all day. At 2 PM the belt of timber that fringes the North Platte and marks its windings through the vast level floor of the Plains came in sight. At 4 PM we crossed a branch of the river, and at 5 PM we crossed the Platte itself, and landed at Ft. Kearney, fifty-six hours out from St. Joe – THREE HUNDRED MILES! [Ch 4, Roughing It].

Saw the first prairie wolf, and first antelope, and first prairie dogs and villages. Also came in sight of the long range of Sand Hills. 2 P.M. Timber of Platte in sight. 7 miles further arrived at Ft. Kearney, 296 miles from St. Joseph [Orion RI 1993, 770].

 

July 29 Monday – 4th day out –

 

Along about an hour after breakfast we saw the first prairie-dog villages, the first antelope, and the first wolf. If I remember rightly, this latter was the regular coyote…The coyote is a living, breathing allegory of Want. He is always hungry. He is always poor, out of luck, and friendless. The meanest creatures despise him, and even the fleas would desert him for a velocipede (Ch 5, Roughing It).

 

July 30 Tuesday – 5th day out –

…we arrived at the “Crossing of the South Platte,” alias “Julesburg,” alias “Overland City,” four hundred and seventy miles from St. Joseph—the strangest, quaintest, funniest frontier town that out untraveled eyes had ever stared at and been astonished with (Ch 6, Roughing It) . 

Arrived at the “Crossing” of the South Platte…at 11 A.M….. Saw to-day first Cactus. 1:20 P.M. across the South Platte [Orion RI 1993, 770]. [ page 84 ]

 

July 31 Wednesday – 6th day out –

 

…just before dawn, when about five hundred and fifty miles from St. Joseph, our mud wagon broke down. We were to be delayed five or six hours, and therefore we took horses, by invitation, and joined a party who were just starting on a buffalo hunt. It was noble sport galloping over the plain in the dewy freshness of the morning, but our part of the hunt ended in disaster and disgrace, for a wounded buffalo bull chased the passenger Bemis nearly two miles, and then he forsook his horse and took to a lone tree (Ch 7, Roughing It).

        Sunrise. Court House Rock, Chimney Rock, and Scott’s Bluffs, in sight. At noon passed through Scott’s Bluff’s pass, 580 miles from St. Joseph. This was the first high ground, since entering upon the plains. All was vast, prairie, until we reached Ft. Kearney. Soon afterwards, we struck the barren region, and thenceforward we had a level expanse covered with sage brush…. After we crossed the South Platte we found a great deal of cactus…. About 6 P.M., crossed the range of Sand hills which had been stretching along our left in sight, since Sunday. We crossed this long low range near the scene of the Indian mail robbery and massacre in 1856…[Orion RI 1993, 770].

 

August 1 Thursday – 7th day out –

 

We passed Ft. Laramie in the night, and on the seventh morning out we found ourselves in the Black Hills, with Laramie Peak at our elbow (apparently) looming vast and solitary – a deep, dark, rich indigo blue in hue, so portentously did the old colossus frown under his beetling brow of storm cloud. 676 miles out from St. Joseph (Ch 9, Roughing It).

        Found ourselves this morning in the “Black Hills,” with “Laramie Peak,” looming up in large proportions. This peak is 60 miles from Fort Laramie, which we passed in the night. We took breakfast at “Horseshoe” station, forty miles from Fort Laramie…After dinner we climbed to the yellow pines. This afternoon passed, near La Parelle station, the little canon in which the Express rider was last night when a bullet from the Indians on the side of the road passed through his coat. …At noon we passed a Morm[on] train 33 wagons long. They were nooning [Orion RI 1993, 770].

 

August 2 Friday – 8th day out –

 

About midnight, at a station we stopped to change horses, a dispute arose between our conductor and four drivers who were at the Station. The conductor came to me for a pistol, but before I could hand it to him, one of the men came up and commenced cursing him. Another then came up and knocked the conductor down, cutting a bad gash in his upper lip…. I had not heard the fuss before the pistol was called for, and supposed it was the Indians, who, it was said, would be dangerous along this part of the road. The four drivers were drunk [Orion RI 1993, 771].

 

August 3 Saturday – 9th day out – This is the date for the breakfast at Rocky Ridge station with the desperado Joseph Alfred (Jack) Slade, in RI ch. X 80-9 (1996 Oxford facsimile of first ed.) [MTL 4: 196n2]. Orion’s journal:

 

Saturday, Aug. 3. Breakfast at Rock Ridge Station, 24 miles from “Cold Spring,” and 871 miles from St. Joseph. A mile further on is “South Pass City” consisting of four log cabins, one of which is the post office, and one unfinished. Two miles further on saw for the first time, snow on the mountains, glittering in the sun like settings of silver [Orion RI 1993, 771]. Note: In his Mar. 11, 1871 letter to Sam, Orion confessed that they had seen Slade at Rocky Ridge, but at the time had not known who he was: “There was nothing then in a name to attract us to Slade, and yet I remember something of his appearance while totally forgetting all the others” [778].

 

August 4 Sunday – 10th day out – Sam and Orion ate a memorable meal at Green River station—fresh antelope steaks, hot biscuits, and good coffee. Years later they said it was the only meal on the trip between St. Joseph and Salt Lake that they were “really thankful for.” A stagecoach inn state park and museum now invites tourists in Fairfield, Utah. Orion’s journal [RI 1993, 771]:

 

Crossed Green River. It is something like the Illinois, except that it is a very pretty clear river. The place we crossed was about 70 miles from the summit of the South Pass. Uinta mountains in sight, with snow on them, and portions of their summits hidden by the clouds. About 5 P.M. arrived at Fort Bridger, on Black’s fork of Green river, 52 miles from the crossing of Green river, about 120 miles from the South Pass, and 1025 miles from St. Joseph.

 

August 5 Monday – 11th day out – Orion’s journal:

 

52 miles further on, near the head of Echo Canyon, were encamped 60 soldiers from Camp Floyd. Yesterday they fired upon 300 or 400 Utes, whom they supposed gathered for no good purpose.  [ page 85 ]

        4 P.M., arrived on the summit of “Big Mountain,” 15 miles from Salt Lake City, when the most gorgeous view of mountain peakes yet encountered, burst on our sight.

        Arrived at Salt Lake City at dark, and put up at the Salt Lake House. There are about 15,000 inhabitants. The houses are scattering, mostly small frame, with large yards and plenty of trees. High mountains surround the city. On some of these perpetual snow is visible. Salt Lake City is 240 miles from the South Pass, or 1148 miles from St. Joseph [Orion RI 1993, 771-2].

 

August 6 Tuesday – 12th day out – The brothers rested in Salt Lake City. Sam and Orion’s layover at Salt Lake allowed them to bathe and stock up for the remainder of the trip. After donning white shirts, the pair was introduced to Brigham Young (1801-1877). Sam described Young as “a quiet, kindly, easy-mannered, dignified, self-possessed old gentleman…” [Roughing It, Ch. 13]. Note: no entry in Orion’s journal for this day.

 

August 7 Wednesday – From Orion’s journal:

 

“Bathed in the warm spring. Mountains in the morning, Southwest and East enveloped in clouds” [Orion RI 1993, 772].

 

Frank Fuller (1827-1915) was in Utah, and was even acting governor for one day. Sam would be greatly aided by Fuller later in New York, and often called him “governor.” In 1906 Sam mistakenly recalled meeting Fuller in Salt Lake, but Fuller did not arrive there until Sept. 10, 1861. The Frank who showed the Clemens brothers around was Francis H. Wootten, then secretary of Utah [MTPO].

 

[Wootten] gave us a very good time during those two or three days that we rested in Great Salt Lake City. He was an alert and energetic man; a pushing man; a man who was able to take an interest in anything that was going—and not only that, but take five times as much interest in it as it was worth, and ten times as much as anybody else could take in it—a very live man [MTA 2: 350].

 

August 8 Thursday – Orion’s journal shows the Clemens brothers moved on early from Salt Lake City.

 

“Arrived at Fort Crittenden—(Camp Floyd) 8 A.M., 45 miles from Salt Lake City. Arrived at the edge of the desert, 95 miles from Salt Lake City, at 4 P.M.” [Orion RI 1993, 772].

 

August 9 Friday – 15th day out – Orion’s journal [Orion RI 1993, 772].:

 

Sunrise. Across the desert, 45 miles, and at the commencement of the “little Desert.” 2 o’clock, across the little desert, 23 miles, and 163 miles from Salt Lake, being 68 miles across the two deserts, with only a spring at Fish Creek Station to separate them. They are called deserts because there is no water in them. They are barren, but so is the balance of the route.

 

August 10 Saturday – 16th day out – Sam encountered the Goshute Indians,  “at the entrance of Rocky Canyon, two hundred and fifty miles from Salt Lake.” Sam never cared much for Indians (Roughing It Ch.19). Orion’s journal reported that this night was “very cold.”

 

August 11 Sunday – 17th day out – Orion wrote that the driver informed them that the mountain peaks they passed this day were the highest they’d yet seen. The night was “very cold” though the days were “very warm.”

 

“…we passed the highest mountain peaks we had yet seen, and although the day was very warm the night that followed upon its heels was wintry cold and blankets were next to useless” [RI ch. 20].

 

August 12 Monday – 18th day out –

 

“…we encountered the eastward-bound telegraph constructors at Reese River station and sent a message to His Excellency Governor Nye at Carson City (distant one hundred and fifty-six miles)” [RI ch. 20].

 [ page 86 ]

August 13 Tuesday – 19th day out –   “…we crossed the Great American Desert – forty memorable miles of bottomless sand, into which the coach wheels sunk from six inches to a foot. We worked our passage most of the way across. That is to say, we got out and walked” [RI ch. 20].

 

August 14 Wednesday – the pair arrived in Carson City, Nevada. The 20-day trip is recounted in Roughing It. The Clemens brothers boarded with Mrs. Margret Murphy, a “genial Irish-woman…a New York retainer of Governor Nye” [MTB 176]. Note: Murphy was “Bridget O’Flannagan” in RI [RI 1993, 613]. In 1860 the population of Carson City was a mere 701 souls and Virginia City 2,437; in 1861 Carson had doubled to 1,466; Virginia City had exploded to 12,704 [Mack’s Nevada: a History of the State, 1936].

 

Antonucci writes:

 

In the dormitory at Ormsby House and around Mrs. Murphy’s dining table, Sam heard “a world of talk” about the wonders of Lake Tahoe, called Lake Bigler in 1861. Members of the Irish Brigade had been there and established a timber claim in anticipation of a lumbering boom. Sam’s curiosity and newly kindled desire to make a similar claim motivated him to visit the lake. The Irish Brigade offered the use of their rowboat beached at the northeast corner of the lake and access to their food and supplies cache on the North Shore [95]. Note: editorial emphasis. See Sept. 14-17.

 

Stewart names members of the Irish Brigade in his MTJ article, “Sam Clemens’s Friends at Lake Tahoe”:

 

“The brigade’s formal name was ‘John Nye & Co.’ Listed in the partnership agreement are P.G. Childs, John Nye, John Ives, James E. Coulter, Johannes C. Slott, I.M. Luther, J.H. Kinkead, W.H. Wagner, James Neary, Thomas Smithson and John C. Burche” [100-101]. Editorial emphasis.

 

Sam once visited the Chinese Free Mason Hall in Carson, probably shortly after arriving [Jones 364].

 

August 24 Saturday – Horatio G. Phillips (“Raish”) and Robert M. Howland (1838-1890), nephew of governor Nye, came down from Aurora to Carson City. They had several working mines and claims in the Esmeralda district. Sam met them shortly after their arrival, as they ate at Mrs. Murphy’s boarding house [Mack 132-3]. Sam later became partners in Aurora claims; Howland was to be that city’s marshal [MTB 176].

 

September, early – Sam traveled to Aurora, Nevada, in the Esmeralda mining district. In the late summer of 1861, both the Esmeralda and the Humboldt mining districts were the focus of gold fever. Sam would quickly acquire interests in both regions [Mack 126].

 

September 8 Sunday – Jane Lampton Clemens and Pamela A. Moffett wrote to Sam, letter not extant but mentioned in Twain’s Oct. 25 to Pamela [MTL 1: 129-136].

 

Horatio G. Phillips sold Sam fifty feet (shares) worth $10 each in claims of the Black Warrior Gold & Silver Mining Co. in Aurora, Esmeralda district [MTL 1: 134n4].

 

September 10 Tuesday – Sam left Aurora. John D. Kinney (1840?-1878) arrived in Carson City from Cincinnati on this day or the next [MTL 1:126n2].

 

September 12? Thursday – Sam arrived back in Carson City and wrote to Orion’s wife, Mary E. (Mollie) Clemens. Fragment survives:

 [ page 87 ]

well, although I believe I never had the pleasure of her acquaintance,) and left for California the same day; and I told him plainly that I did not believe it, and wouldn’t, if he swore it—for I didn’t, Mollie, and did[n’t] think Billy could be as stupid as that. On the contrary, I thought he was the most talented boy that Keokuk had ever produced. But when I got back, Orion confirmed Billy’s statement—so, you see, I am forced to believe that—(that they are both liars.) If I ever were to marry, I should would certainly stay at home a week, even if the Devil were in town with a writ for my arrest.

Why don’t Ma and Pamela write? Please kiss Jennie for me——

(P. S.—And tell her when she is fifteen years old, I will kiss her myself——)

(P. S.—If she is good-looking.)

P. S.—Don’t get “huffy.”

P. S.—Write.

Thine,

Sam. L. Clemens [MTL 1: 123].

 

September 13 Friday ca. – Sam met John D. Kinney of Cincinnati (or day before) [MTL 1: 126n3].

 

September 14–17 Tuesday – Sometime between these dates, Sam and John D. Kinney traveled to Lake Bigler (Tahoe), where they spent four days building a shack for a timber claim, then allowed their campfire to get away from them and were forced to flee from a wildland fire (not burning larger trees) [MTL 1: 126n3].

Antonucci writes of Lake Bigler at this time:

 

In Mark Twain’s time, Lake Tahoe was a place of astounding beauty, pristine scenery, and rich untapped resources. Far from the uninhabited wilderness that Mark Twain portrayed in Roughing It, the South and East shores were teeming with travelers and freight wagons headed east to opportunity waiting in the burgeoning mining industry in the Nevada Territory. Strung along this road to opportunity were crowded way stations and ranches that served the massive movement of humanity, animals and goods. Camped in its scenic meadows and still pristine forest were Washoe families living out their final days of aboriginal innocence. The forests, meadows and marshes hosted a dense and diverse population of wildlife. Spawning fish filled its streams bank to bank and immense schools of fish swam in its depths. Nevertheless, Tahoe was on the brink of sweeping change. Mark Twain saw it in its final pristine form and wrote eloquently about its virtue without ever acknowledging it eventual fate at the hands of timber barons, water seekers, ranchers and landowners [77-78]. Note: Antonucci gives Sept. 14-19 as this first trip, though the MTP shows Sept. 14-17. Antonucci gives the distance at 11.7 miles; and that Twain and Kinney walked it, taking a wagon road to the northeast shore of the Lake [96]. See Antonucci for details on each of the four days. Map courtesy of Antonucci.

 

September 18 to 21 Saturday – In Carson City, Sam wrote his mother, Jane Clemens, of the events at Lake Bigler:

 

When we got up in the morning, we found that the fire had made its way to within 4 or 5 steps of us on the [ page 88 ] South side. We looked like lava men, covered as we were with ashes, and begrimed with smoke. We were very black in the face, but we soon washed ourselves white again [MTL 1: 124].

 

Sam’s letter also reflected homesickness:

 

Remember me to all my St. Louis and Keokuk friends, and tell Challie and Hallie Benson that I heard a military band play “What are the Wild Waves Saying?” the other night, and it reminded me very forcibly of them. It brought Ella Creel and Belle across the Desert too in an instant, for they sang the song in Orion’s yard the first time I ever heard it. It was like meeting an old friend. I tell you I could have swallowed that whole band, trombone and all, if such a compliment would have been any gratification to them [126]. Note: the Benson girls, daughters of James L. Benson of St. Louis; Haille Benson (b. 1847) sometimes spelled “Hallie”; Chaille Benson, sometimes “Challie”.

 

September 22–28 Saturday – This is the date range the MTP offers for possible second trip to Lake Bigler [MTL 1: 127n7]. See RI, Ch. 22 for details. Antonucci gives “no earlier than September 21 and ending no later than September 30” for such a trip [83]. Both sources give the purpose of the trip as completing work on their timber claim. See Oct. 25 to his sister. Both sources claim Twain made later trips to Bigler, but give no dates. The former source cites MTB 1: 180. Antonucci writes:

 

The conclusion of the Lake Tahoe chapters in Roughing It, has Twain making “many trips to the lake” after the initial timber claim adventure and enduring “many a hair-breadth escape and blood-curdling adventure.” Twain did make two or three more destination trips to Lake Tahoe and about 12 through trips along the South Shore on his way to San Francisco but never incurred the “many a hair-breath escape and blood-curdling adventure” he supposes [87]. Note: Antonucci credits many of Twain’s accounts to exaggeration.

 

September 18–30 Monday – (After Sam’s return from Lake Bigler and before the legislature convened on Oct. 1) In Carson City, Sam and George B. Turner (1829-1885) wrote per William M. Gillespie (1838-1885) to Orion, sending a “form for message” about a book of handwritten model forms. Sam explained, “From Hon. Chief Justice Turner—I sent your book by Dorsey, Orion—why the devil didn’t Turner send it to you himself while he was in the States?” [MTL 1: 128]. Note: Dorsey unidentified. During the first sessions Gillespie coached Sam in parliamentary procedures, and won the nickname, “Young Jefferson’s Manual” [MTB 219].

 

October 1 Tuesday – The legislative session opened at Carson City. Orion presided over the House of Representatives until the election of officers was made. Sam was an $8 per day clerk for Orion [MTL 1: 129n3].

 

October 25 Friday – Sam replied to his sister, Pamela A. Moffett’s Sept. 8 (not extant) concerning timber and mining claims he filed on Lake Bigler. In part:

 

My Dear Sister: / I have just finished reading your letter and Ma’s, of Sept. 8th. How in the world could they have been so long in coming? You ask if I have forgotten my promise to lay a claim for Mr. Moffett? By no means. I have already laid a timber claim on the borders of a Lake (Bigler) which throws Como in the shade—and if we succeed in getting one Mr. Jones to move his saw-mill up there, Mr. Moffett can just consider that claim better than bank stock. [Charles] Jones says he will move his mill up next Spring. In that claim I took up about two miles in length by one in width—and the names in it are as follows: “Sam. L. Clemens, Wm. A. Moffett, Thos. Nye” and three others. It is situated on “Sam Clemens Bay”—so named by Capt. Nye”—and it goes by that name among the inhabitants of that region. I had better stop about “the Lake,” though—for whenever I think of it I want to go there and die, the place is so beautiful. I’ll build a country seat there one of these days that will make the Devil’s mouth water if he ever visits the earth. Jim Lampton will never know whether I laid a claim there for him or not until he comes here himself [MTL 1: 129-130]. Note: Charles Jones, owner of Clear Creek Mill, did not relocate. Captain John Nye was the Governor’s brother; see n. 2 in source. Jim Lampton was Sam’s uncle, James A.H. Lampton; see n. 3. Sam [ page 89 ] also encouraged uncle James A.H. Lampton to come out. On Oct. 26 he also wrote his mother a long description of the territory [MTL 1: 129; 134n3].

 

What became of Sam’s timber claim?

 

Antonucci speculates that Twain never completed the timber claim due to unreliable maps and the discovery that the intended land claim was actually in California, not Nevada: “Government agents would have held in abeyance the approval of Clemens’ claim until General Land Office surveys underway at the time could provide plats showing the details of government land ownership and more importantly, the state-territorial boundary between California and Nevada. When these approved plats became available, they showed the location of Clemens’ claim was about 2-3 miles inside the state of California and therefore, ineligible for the land preemption program in the Nevada Territory. Twain never spoke on record or wrote about the timber claim after October 1861. No other information or public records on the timber claim have been located, so we may never know for sure the reason for the failed enterprise” [138-9].

 

October 26 Saturday – Sam wrote a long letter to his mother that was printed in the Keokuk Gate City, describing mining, weather, local flora, houses and society. In part:

 

Nevada Territory is fabulously rich in gold, silver, copper, lead, coal, iron, quicksilver, marble, granite, chalk, slate, plaster of Paris (gypsum,) thieves, murderers, desperadoes, ladies, children, lawyers, Christians, gamblers, Indians, Chinamen, Spaniards, sharpers, cuyotes, (pronounced ki-yo-ties,) preachers, poets and jackass-rabbits. Furthermore, it never rains here, and the dew never falls. No flowers grow here, and no green thing gladdens the eye. The birds that fly over the land carry their provisions with them. Only the crow and the raven tarry with us….When my old friends ask me how you like Nevada, what reply shall I make? Tell them I am delighted with it. It is the dustiest country on the face of the earth—but I rather like the dust. And the days are very hot—but you know I am fond of hot days [MTL 1: 136].

 

October 29 Tuesday – Sam wrote to Horatio G. Philips, “Raish” from Carson City on mining matters. He noted the first rainfall since his arrival in Carson City. It was about this time that Sam got what Paine calls “the real mining infection,” and became active in speculation

 

Dear ’Ratio:

Bob [Robert Muir Howland]showed me your letter yesterday, in which you say that the “Averill Mill” is crushing our “Black Warrior” rock for its contents. All success to the “Black Warrior” and Horatio G. Phillips! Amen. This looks like business—and hath an encouraging sound to it. I wish they would “strike it rich” shortly, for I want to caretsendcaret a fine “Black Warrior” specimen to the London World’s Fair by the Nevada commissioner, when he is appointed. From a despatch received by Tom Nye to-day from his father, the Captain, we are led to hope that that noisy old youth will arrive here about next Saturday. I have no doubt the “Cap.” would be very much pleased to received a slice of the “Black Warrior.”

My brother is very particularly delighted with the “Black Warrior[”]—and I have told him that some day I’ll give him a foot! He is looking for money every day, now, from Washington. And when it comes, I shall expect to take you by the hand again in Aurora.

Bob has got such a jolly long tongue, and keeps it wagging so comfortably, that I have not been able to ask him yet, whether he succeeded in selling your “Fresno” or not. Did he?—and have you saved your mother’s place?—because I would like to know these things, as I have a mother at home myself, and naturally feel interested. I was sorry, though, that you were obliged to sacrifice feet in that claim, for I am told that it is very fine. Since it had to go, though, I was sorry I was not able to buy it myself.

I told Bob that you ought to come up here and see about getting the county clerkship down there, and I explained to him why you ought to come up. I was talking to my brother, though, a while ago, and he says the Governor will make no appointments down there until the California Legislature adjourns, so that he may have the sense of that body upon the boundary question. One thing I have thought of often, but have not spoken of—and that is, that the Governor may be absent when those appointments are made, and then my brother will have to make them himself. (Burn this letter, Ratio.) [ page 90 ]

Verily, it is raining—the first specimen of that kind that has fallen under my notice since I have been in Carson. It is pleasant to the sight, and refreshing to the senses—yea, “even as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.”

The wings of Death overshadow us to-day—for this clouded sun is the last that one of our boys will ever look upon in life. Wagner, the civil engineer. I believe you do not know him. He surveyed with Lander’s party for two years. He is one of the few at whom the shafts of Slander were never aimed, and against whom the hand of Malice was never lifted. The fact of his dying here among comparative strangers, with no relative within thousands of miles of him and no woman to lay the blessing of her hand upon his aching head; and soothe his weary heart to its last sleep with the music of her woman’s voice, will shed a gloom over us all, when the sad event is consummated. May you die at home, Ratio, is the aspiration of

Your Friend,

   Sam. L. Clemens

Write me often—and I will reply promptly [MTL 1: 140].

Notes: Robert Muir Howland (1838-1890); Will H. Wagner, member of John Nye & Co.; Frederick West Lander (1821–1862), engineer, explorer, and soldier. See source notes.

 

November 17 Sunday – Jane Clemens wrote a paragraph to Sam and Orion (“To the boys”), enclosed in a letter to Orion and Mollie Clemens: “We are all delighted to receive your letters saying you have such good prospects” [MTP].

 

November 20 Wednesday – Sam’s Oct. 26 letter to his mother ran in the Keokuk Gate City [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

November 30 Saturday – Sam’s 26th birthday. See insert of Clemens, age 26, from Player’s Club “Milestones” (1930)

 

December 1 Sunday – Sam sold a black horse with white face to William H. Clagett (Billy) for $45 [MTL 1: 169n18]. Note: Thought to be the original “ Genuine Mexican Plug” of ch. 24, RI.

 

December 4 Wednesday –Sam acknowledged payment for completion of his term as clerk [ET&S 1: 12].

 

December 8 Sunday – Horatio G. Phillips “Raish” wrote to Sam, surprised his last letter had not been rec’d. He wanted to go with Sam to Humboldt to examine Sam’s claims there but had to “superintend the work in the Tunnel & have not got the means to take the trip with.” He follows with mining misc. [MTP].

 

December 11 Wednesday ca. – With a bad case of mining fever, Sam set out for the newly opened Humboldt region with three other men: Keokuk friend William H. Clagett (“Billy”) (1838-1901), Augustus W. Oliver (“Gus”; b. 1835) recently appointed probate judge of Humboldt County, and Cornbury S. Tillou, Carson City blacksmith and jack-of-all-trades. It was a 200-mile trip that took eleven days [MTL 1: 149-50 & n4]. Mack writes that the party did not leave until after Dec. 10, delayed by a fight in the legislature over the county-capital bill [126].

 

“Hurry was the word! We wasted no time. Our party consisted of four persons—a blacksmith sixty years of age, two young lawyers, and myself [Clagett, Oliver, and Tillou]. We bought a wagon and two miserable old horses. We put 1,800 pounds of provisions and mining tools in the wagon and drove out of Carson on a chilly December afternoon” [MTB 183].

 

Once back in Carson City Sam would write his mother a long account of this trip on Jan. 30. In Roughing It, Sam wrote of a “small, rude cabin” that he and his three traveling companions built in Unionville in Dec. 1861 [Roughing It, Ch. 28].

 [ page 91 ]

December 16 Monday ca. – On the fifth day out, the party of Clemens-Clagett-Oliver-Tillou, two horses, dogs Curney & Tom came to Ragtown, the last settlement on the Carson River. Beyond: the 40-mile Desert.

 

December 16 to 17 Tuesday ca. – The men crossed the desert in what Mack calls “ one terrifying drive of twenty-three hours without stopping for so much as a bite to eat, a drink of water, or a minute’s rest…” [127]. In the desert they saw all manner of:

 

“…skeletons and carcasses of dead beasts of burden, and charred remains of wagons; and chains, and bolts and screws, and gun-barrels, and such things of a like heavy nature as weary, thirsty emigrants, grown desperate, have thrown away, in the grand hope of being able, when less encumbered, to reach water” [MTL 1: 148].

 

December 22 Sunday ca. – In a blinding snowstorm, Sam’s party finally reached Unionville, Humboldt Mining District. Captain Hugo Pfersdorff laid out the town earlier in the year [Mack 129]. Sam’s letter to his mother of Jan. 30, 1862 claims this trip took eleven days [MTL 1: 149].

 

December 22–31 Tuesday – From Sam’s Jan. 30, 1862 letter to his mother, we read that “Billy [Clagett]  put up his shingle as Notary Public, and Gus [Oliver] put up his as Probate Judge” [MTL 1: 150]. Sam would not stay long.


 [ page 92 ]
Mining Excursions, More Feet, Backbreaking Labor – Esmeralda – Aurora

 Josh Letters Yielded Offer – Territorial Enterprise Reporter  Goodman, McCarthy, De Quille & the Boys – Petrified Man Hoax  Covering the Territorial Legislature     January, first half – Sam’s excursion to Unionville, in Buena Vista Mining District, and back to Carson City by way of Honey Lake Smith’s (a trading post on the road to Carson City) and Virginia City, took all of seven weeks [MTL 1: 150n3]. Sam described this trip in chapters 27-33 of Roughing It and in chapter 27 of Innocents Abroad. Travel to the northern regions of the territory was hazardous in January due to heavy rains.

 

January, second half – Sam quit the backbreaking labor after one week. Disillusioned by the exaggerated claims of easy wealth, Sam set out to return to Carson City. He made the return trip from Unionville with Captain Hugo Pfersdorff and Colonel John B. Onstine [MTL 1: 152n13]. Mack includes Cornbury S. Tillou (but calls him “Mr. Ballou”, the same name Sam gave him in RI) in this group, and says they “left Unionville in a blinding snowstorm” [126, 133]. Stuck at the trading post for eight days, due to high water, and at Virginia City for another week for the same reason, they got lost in a snowstorm and feared death, but found their way the next day (Roughing It, Ch. 27-33).

 

January 28 Tuesday – Sam paid Hugo Pfersdorff $100 for feet in the Alba Nueva ledge [MTL 1: 152n10].

 

January 29 Wednesday – Sam and party arrived back in Carson City. The journey was arduous. Sam began a letter to his sister-in-law Mollie about his reaction to the news that his old mule “Paint-Brush” was in Union hands. Sam had ridden the animal during his brief play as a Confederate volunteer in June 1861.

 

Dear Mollie:

“Paint-Brush” in the hands of the enemy! God forgive me! this is the first time I have felt melancholy since I left the United States. And he is doing service for the enemy. But against his will. Ah, me, Mollie—there would be consolation—priceless consolation in the fact which I have italicised, were it not that that is a natural failing with the poor devil—everything he ever did do, he did against his will. His most insignificant services, even for me, were done under protest. Of course I mean that whenever he did condescend to do anything in accordance with my wishes, and that was not an everyday occurrence, at all, he showed his unwillingness in a marked manner—but he was a willing soul to do things after his own fashion. And of course he generally consulted his own judgment—because: You remember, (as I perceive by your language,) that between me and the pillow on the saddle, there was a very Mine of trouble—and between the saddle and the ground there was another Mine of trouble, viz; the Mule. And the saddle was always loose,—therefore, I was afraid it might turn; and I could not cinch it tighter, as the cinch was old, and I feared it might break. So, you see, when in the saddle, I lived as one astraddle of a magazine—for, had I combatted the mule’s wishes to any great extent, he would have retaliated by jumping gullies, or rolling on the ground, or running away—and the consequences, to me, of such conduct, would have been a matter of small concern to him.

But if I had the “Paint Brush” here, Mollie, I would “feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him.” I would board him on sage-brush, and cinch him till he couldn’t breathe, and ride him sixty miles a day. He would be a wonderfully useful animal to me. However, if he has gone over to the enemy, let him go. He can’t be depended on anyhow—he’ll desert at the first opportunity; if he don’t fall in a camp-kettle and get drowned.

Well, Mollie, I think July will be soon enough, because I think that by that time some of our claims will be paying handsomely, and you can come in “high-tone” style, as Tom Nye, says. And we could have a house fit to live in—and servants to do your work. You know it is all very well for a man’s wife to talk about how much work she can do—but actually doing it is a thing that don’t suit my notions. That part of the business belongs to the servants. I am not married yet, and I never will marry until I can afford to have servants enough to leave my wife in the position for which I designed her, viz:—as a companion. I don’t want to sleep [ page 93 ] with a three-fold Being who is cook, chambermaid and washerwoman all in one. I don’t mind sleeping with female servants as long as I am a bachelor—by no means—but after I marry, that sort of thing will be “played out,” you know. (But Lord bless you, Mollie, don’t hint this depravity to the girls.) No, Madam, I am anxious for you to stay just where you are until you can live here in a handsome house and boss your own servants—even if it should be until the first July after the Millenium! If you come here before you ought to come, Mollie, and I hear people say “the Secretary’s wife does her own cooking”—I’ll tell every such person that the Secretary’s wife is subject to fits of derangement! Mind, now, I’m not going to have any one-horse business here after you arrive. D-o-n-’t get in a hurry, Madam. The world wasn’t made in a day [MTL 1: 143-6].

 

January 30 Thursday – In Carson City, Sam wrote an account of the trip to Humboldt to his mother [MTL 1: 146-152]. The letter was printed in the Keokuk Gate City on Mar. 6.

 

My Dear Mother:—

“How sleep the brave who sink to rest,

Far, far from the battle-field’s dreadful array,

With cheerful ease and succulent repast,

Nor ask the sun to lend his streaming ray.”

Bully, isn’t it? I mean the poetry, madam, of course. Doesn’t it make you feel just a little “stuck up” to think that your son is a—Bard? And I have attained to this proud eminence without an effort, almost. You see, madam, my method is very simple and easy—thus: When I wish to write a great poem, I just take a few lines from Tom, Dick and Harry, Shakspeare, and other poets, and by patching them together so as to make them rhyme occasionally, I have accomplished my object. Never mind the sense—sense, madam, has but little to do with poetry. By this wonderful method, any body can be a poet—or a bard—which sounds better, you know.

But I have other things to talk about, now—so, if you please, we will drop the subject of poetry. You wish to know where I am, and where I have been? And, verily, you shall be satisfied. Behold, I am in the middle of the universe—at the centre of gravitation—even Carson City. And I have been to the land that floweth with gold and silver—Humboldt. (Now, do not make any ridiculous attempt, ma, to pronounce the “d,” because you can’t do it, you know.) I went to the Humboldt with Billy C., and Gus., and old Mr. Tillou. With a two-horse wagon, loaded with eighteen hundred pounds of provisions and blankets—necessaries of life—to which the following luxuries were added, viz: Ten pounds of Killikinick, two dogs, Watt’s Hymns, fourteen decks of cards, “Dombey and Son,” a cribbage board, one small keg of lager beer and the “carminia sacrae

At first, Billy drove, and we pushed behind the wagon. Not because we were fond of it, ma—Oh, no—but on Bunker’s account. Bunker was the “near” horse, on the larboard side. Named after the Attorney General of this Territory. My horse—you are acquainted with him, by reputation, already—and I am sorry you do not know him personally, ma, for I feel towards him, sometimes, as if he were a blood relation of our family—he is so infernally lazy, you know—my horse, I was going to say—was the “off” horse on the starboard side. But it was on Bunker’s account, principally, that we pushed behind the wagon. For whenever we came to a hard piece of road, that poor, lean, infatuated cuss would fall into a deep reverie about something or other, and stop perfectly still, and it would generally take a vast amount of black-snaking and shoving and profanity to get him started again; and as soon as he was fairly under way, he would take up the thread of his reflections where he left off, and go on thinking, and pondering, and getting himself more and more mixed up and tangled in his subject, until he would get regularly stuck again, and stop to review the question.

And always in the meanest piece of road he could find.

In fact, Ma, that horse had something on his mind, all the way from here to Humboldt; and he had not got rid of it when I left there—for when I departed, I saw him standing, solitary and alone, away up on the highest peak of a mountain, where no horse ever ventured before, with his pensive figure darkly defined against the sky—still thinking about it.

Our dog, Tom, which we borrowed at Chinatown without asking the owner’s permission, was a beautiful hound pup, eight months old. He was a love of a dog, and much addicted to fleas. He always slept with Billy and me. Whenever we selected our camp, and began to cook supper, Tom, aided and abetted by us three boys, immediately commenced laying his plans to steal a portion of the latter; and with our assistance, he generally succeeded in inserting his long, handsome nose into every dish before anybody else. This was [ page 94 ] wrong, Ma, and we know it—so, to atone for it, we made Mr. Tillou’s dog stand around whenever he attempted any such liberties. And when our jolly supper was swallowed, and the night was on the wane, and we had finished smoking our pipes, and singing songs, and spinning yarns, and telling lies, and quoting scripture, and all that sort of thing, and had begun to look for a soft place on the ground to spread our blankets on, Tom, with immense sagacity, always assisted in the search, and then with becoming modesty, rewarded himself by taking first choice between the blankets. No wonder we loved the dog.

But, Mr. Tillou’s dog, “Curney,” we utterly despised. He was not a long, slender, graceful dog like Tom, but a little mean, white, curly, grinning whelp, no bigger than a cat—with a wretched, envious, snappish, selfish disposition, and a tail like an all-wool capital O, curled immodestly over his back, and apparently wrenched and twisted to its place so tightly that it seemed to lift his hind legs off the ground sometimes. And we made Tom pester him; and bite his tail; and his ears; and stumble over him; and we heaped trouble and humiliation upon the brute to that degree that his life became a burden to him. And Billy, hating the dog, and thirsting for his blood, prophesied that Curney would come to grief. And Gus and I said Amen. And it came to pass according to the words of the prophet. Thus.

On the fifth day out, we left the village of Ragtown, and entered upon the Forty-five mile Desert, where the sand is of unknown depth, and locomotion of every kind is very difficult; where the road is strewn thickly with the skeletons and carcasses of dead beasts of burden, and charred remains of wagons; and chains, and bolts and screws, and gun-barrels, and such things of a like heavy nature as weary, thirsty emigrants, grown desperate, have thrown away, in the grand hope of being able, when less encumbered, to reach water.8 We left Ragtown, Ma, at nine o’clock in the morning, and the moment we began to plow through that horrible sand, Bunker, true to his instincts, fell into a reverie so dense, so profound, that it required all the black-snaking and shoving and profanity at our disposal to keep him on the move five minutes at a time. But we did shove, and whip and blaspheme all day and all night, without stopping to rest or eat, scarcely, (and alas! we had nothing to drink, then.) And long before day-light we struck the Big Alkali Flat—and Curney came to grief; for the poor devil got alkalied—in the seat of honor. You see he got tired, traveling all day and all night, nearly—immensely tired—and sat himself down by the way-side to rest. And lo! the iron entered his soul (poetical figure, Ma.) And when he rose from that fiery seat, he began to turn somersets, and roll over and over and kick up his heels in the most frantic manner, and shriek, and yelp and bark, and make desperate grabs at his tail, which he could not reach on account of his excitement and a tendency to roll over; and he would drag himself over the ground in a sitting posture, (which afforded him small relief, you know,) and then jump up and yelp, and scour away like the wind, and make a circuit of three hundred yards, for all the world as if he were on the Pony Express. And we three weary and worn and thirsty wretches forgot our troubles, and fell upon the ground and laughed until all life and sense passed out of us, and the colic came to our relief and brought us to again, while old Mr. Tillou wiped his spectacles, and put them on, and looked over them, and under them, and around them, in a bewildered way, and “wondered,” every now and then, “what in the h—ll was the matter with Curney.”

We thought,—yea, we fondly hoped, ma,—that Curney’s time had come. But it was otherwise ordained. Mr. Tillou was much exercised on account of his dog’s misery, and, sharing his misery, we recommended a bullet as a speedy remedy, but the old gentleman put his trust in tallow, and Curney became himself again, except that he walked behind the wagon for many hours with humble mien, and tail transformed from a brave all-wool capital O to a limp and all-wool capital J, and gave no sign when Tom bit his ears or stumbled over him.

We took up our abode at Unionville, in Buena Vista Mining District, Humboldt county, after pushing that wagon nearly 200 miles, and taking eleven days to do it in. And we found that the “National” lead there was selling at $50 per foot, and assayed $2,496 per ton at the Mint in San Francisco. And the “Alba Nueva,” “Peru,” “Delirio,” “Congress,” “Independence,” and others, were immensely rich leads. And moreover, having winning ways with us, we could get “feet” enough to make us all rich one of these days. And again that mills would be in operation there by the 1st of June. And in the Star District, O. B. O’Bannon, of Keokuk, was flourishing, and had plenty of “feet,” and in the Santa Clara District, Harroun and Jo. Byers of Memphis, Mo., likewise and ditto. And Billy put up his shingle as Notary Public, and Gus put up his as Probate Judge, and I mounted my horse (in company with the Captain and the Colonel) and journeyed back to Carson, leaving them making preparations for a prospecting tour; and before I can go to Esmeralda and get back to Humboldt, they will have laid, with the certainty of fate, the foundation of their fortunes. It’s a great country, ma. [ page 95 ]

Now, ma, I could tell you how, on our way back here, the Colonel and the Captain and I got fearfully and desperately lousy; and how I got used to it and didn’t mind it, and slept with the Attorney General, who wasn’t used to it, and did mind it; but I fear my letter is already too long. Therefore—sic transit gloria mundi, e pluribus unum forever! Amen. (Latin, madam—which you don’t understand, you know).

S. L. C. [MTL 1: 146-152; MTPO drop in letters].

 

February 1 Saturday – In Carson City, Sam wrote and sent ore specimens to his brother-in-law, William A. Moffett [MTL 1: 153].

 

February 8 and 9 Sunday – In Carson City Sam wrote a long letter to his mother, and sister, Pamela about possibly traveling to California. He speculated that he’d like to return to St. Louis by July by steamer. More mining dreams and talk [MTL 1: 155-63].

 

February, mid – Between mid-February and the end of July, 1862, Sam wrote several letters (the exact number is unknown; none survive) he signed, “Josh” to the Virginia City Enterprise—including Story of an old horse; Chief Justice George Enoch Turner‘s (1828-1885) oratory; burlesque Fourth of July. Sam also wrote descriptions of mining claims until August. Sam was not paid for these letters, but William H. Barstow of the Enterprise business office noticed them and was instrumental in getting Sam hired on as a reporter [Rasmussen 264; MTL 1: 201n8]. Note: this last source gives April as “about the time Sam began writing the [Josh] letters.”

 

In his Oct. 2, 1906 A.D. Clemens recalled writing the spoof of a Judge Turner speech, which was published in the Enterprise, followed by Sam being offered the city editorship while the editor was away on a two month trip east—a development Sam attributed to one of his luckiest accidents [AMT 2: 238-9].

 

February 28Friday – Sam wrote from Carson City to William Clagett about mining matters and the Civil War, principally the Union forces driving Missouri Confederates into Arkansas and Grant’s capture of Forts Henry and Donelson. Sam’s letter reflected his sympathies were with the South [MTL 1: 163].

 

March 1 Saturday – Sam acquired another 25 feet in the Horatio mine. He and his brother Orion then held 100 feet [MTL 1: 162n8].

 

March 2 Sunday – Jane Clemens wrote to Sam, her letter not extant but referred to in Sam’s Apr. 2 [MTL 1: 180].

 

March 8 and 9 Sunday – Sam, still in Carson City, wrote to William Clagett (Billy) on various subjects and his intent to go to the Esmeralda district “next week”

 

Dear Billy:

As a good opportunity offers, I have embraced it to send you some legal and letter paper, and a copy of the laws. I send the pencils, pens, &c., because I don’t know whether you have run out of such things or not. If you have got plenty of stationery, maybe Sam [Montgomery] and Tom [Smith] have not. I also send you some more envelops. The Colonel proposes to start to-morrow or next day.

I hunted up Fall, but he would not sell me his ground for Sam. Then I told him he had better go to Unionville and “nurse” a good thing while he had it. He said he would.

John Kinney has gone to the States, via San Francisco.

Your Father has purchased the Keokuk “Journal,”—so he will hardly come out here this year—hey?

I have heard from several reliable sources that Sewall will be here shortly, and has sworn to whip me on sight. Now what would you advise a fellow to do?—take a thrashing from the son-of-a-bitch, or bind him over to keep the peace? I don’t see why he should dislike me. He is a yankee,—and I naturaly love a yankee.

I stole a bully dog the other day—but he escaped again. Look out for one. That other dog, over whose fate a dark mystery hangs, has not revisited the glimpses of the moon yet, in this vicinity, although he has [ page 96 ] been seen in a certain locality—whereof it would be Treason to speak. D—n the beast—does he intend to haunt us like a nightmare for the balance of his days?

The Governor’s Cavalcade left for California the other day. Some of the retainers I will name: the Governor and Gov. Roop, Boundary-line Commissioners; accompanied by Mr. [George] Gillson, Mr. [John] Kinkead and others—and followed by Bob Howland, Chief Valet de Chambre to His Excellency, and Bob Haslan, Principal Second Assistant ditto ditto. What do you make of that, for instance? There were quite a number in the Cavalcade, and Haslan brought up the rear on a mule. Bob Howland expects to sell some ground in San Francisco.

You say the “Annie Moffett Company”—isn’t that the name of the ledge, too? I hope so.

I would like to write you some news, Billy, but unfortunately, I haven’t got any to write. I couldn’t write it, though, if I had, for I am in a bad humor, and am only writing anyhow, because I hate to lose the opportunity. You see I have been playing cards with Bunker, and the d—d old Puritan wouldn’t play fairly—and I made injurious remarks and jumped the game.

I send a St. Louis Republican for Tom. There is something in it from “Ethan Spike.”

Enclosed please find Mr. Cox’s Speech.

If you and Dad intend coming down, Billy, with the wagon, don’t fail to write and say about what time you will be here. I leave for Esmeralda next week some time, with Major General BBBunker, L.L.D., Esq—provided “nothing happens.” But this do happen in this country, constantly. In fact, it is about the d—est country in the world for things to happen in. My calculations never come out right. However, as I said before, We May be Happy Yet.

Remember me kindly to the boys—not forgetting “the old man,” of course. I have labored hard to get a copy of “Fannie Hill” for him to read, but I have failed sadly.

Sunday.—I intended to finish this letter to-day, but I went to church—and busted! For a man who can listen for an hour to Mr. White, the whining, nasal, Whangdoodle preacher, and then sit down and write, without shedding melancholy from his pen as a ducks water slides from a duck’s back, is more than mortal. Or less. I fear I shall not feel cheerful again until the beans I had for dinner begin to operate.

Which reminds me of that afternoon in Sacramento cañon, when I gained such a brilliant victory over Oliver and Mr. Tillou, and drove them in confusion and dismay from behind my batteries.

We have not heard from home for some time, and I have only written two letters to St Louis since I arrived here.

John D. Winters has sold out his interest in the Ophir for a hundred thousand dollars.

J. L. G. and his father are still flourishing in Chinatown. Mr. Bunker saw them there the other day.

Tom Nye is down at Fort Churchill. Write, at your earlies[t] convenience.

Your sincere friend

Sam L. Clemens [MTL 1: 169; also drop-in].

 

Notes: Isaac N. Roop (1822-1869) provisional governor of N. Terr (1859-60); The Colonel was John B. Onstine; John D. Winters (1830-1900), member of the 1861 territorial House of Representatives; Samuel S. Cox (1824-1889)’ J.L.G. and father are unidentified. See notes on MTPO for this letter which give many details.

 

March 20 Thursday – Sam wrote his mother a hilarious letter about Indians out west. Sam shot down his mother’s assumed fanciful visions about Indians which she reflected in her last letter:

 

MY DEAR MOTHER:—

Lo! the poor Indian, whose untutored mind,

Impels him, in order to raise the wind,

To double the pot and go it blind,

Until he’s busted, you know.

I wrote the three last lines of that poem, Ma, and Daniel Webster wrote the other one—which was really very good for Daniel, considering that he wasn’t a natural poet. He used to say himself, that unabridged dictionaries was his strong suit. Now if you should happen to get aground on those two mysterious expressions in the third line, let me caution you, Madam, before you reach after that inevitable “Whole Duty of Man,” that you’ll not be likely to find any explanation of them in that useful and highly entertaining [ page 97 ] volume, because I’ve got that learned author cornered at last—got the dead-wood on him, Ma—and you’ll get no consolation out of him, you know; for those are Poker expressions—technical terms made use of in the noble game of Poker. And Poker not being a duty of man at all, is probably not even mentioned in that book; therefore, I have got him, Madam, where he can neither trump nor follow suit.

Bully for me.

But you said in your last, “Do tell me all about the lordly sons of the forest, and the graceful and beautiful sq-squaws, (what an unpleasant word,) sweeping over the prairies on their fiery steeds, or chasing the timid deer, or reposing in the shade of some grand old tree, lulled by the soft music of murmuring brooks and warbling birds—do.”

Gently, now,—gent-ly, Madam. You can’t mean the Pi-Utes, or the Washoes, or the Shoshones, do you? Because if you do, you are barking up the wrong tree, you know; or in other words, you’ve got the wrong sow by the ear, Madam. For among those tribes there are no lordly sons of the forest, for the ferocious reason that there are no forests of any consequence here. At any rate, I am confident that those fellows are never designated by that name in this Territory. Generally speaking, we call them sons of the devil, when we can’t think of anything worse. And they don’t sweep over the prairies on their fiery steeds,—these Washoes, and Pi-Utes and Shoshones, don’t,—because they haven’t got any, you know. And there are no prairies, Ma, because sage-brush deserts don’t come under that head, in this portion of Paradise Lost. Nor they don’t chase the timid deer; nor they don’t repose in the shade of some grand old tree; nor they don’t get lulled by the soft music of murmuring brooks and warbling birds. None of them. Because, when the timid deer come prospecting around here, and find that hay is worth one hundred and fifty dollars a ton, and sage-brush isn’t good to eat, they just turn their bob-tails toward the rising sun and skedaddle, my dear. And all that about these Pi-Utes sunning themselves in the shade of the grand old trees, is a grand old humbug, you know—on account of the scarcity of the raw material. Also the item about the warbling birds. Because there are no warbling birds here, except magpies and turkey-buzzards. And they don’t warble any to signify, because, if they fooled their time away with that sort of nonsense they would starve to death, suddenly. I tell you, Madam, that when a buzzard moves his family into Nevada Territory, he soon discovers that he has got to shin around and earn his living by the sweat of his brow, and that singing is played out with him. Moreover, Ma, you know as well as any one what a great puffed-up, stupid buzzard looks like, so you can picture the bird to yourself as I invariably see him here—standing solemnly on a decomposed ox, (and looking for the world as if he had his hands under his coat-tails,) with his head canted to one side, his left leg advanced to steady himself, and chewing a fragrant thing of entrails with their ends dangling about his portly bosom. I ask you in all candor, Madam, if the best disposed buzzard in the world could warble under such circumstances? Scasely. But wouldn’t it make a bully coat-of-arms for the Territory?—neat and appropriate, and all that? And wouldn’t it look gay on the great seal, and the military commissions, and so forth, and so on, and cetera? I proposed it, but the Secretary of the Territory said it was “disgusting.” So he got one put through the Legislature with star-spangled banners and quartz mills and things in it. And nary buzzard. It is all right, perhaps—but I know there are more buzzards than quartz-mills in Nevada Territory. I understand it though—he wanted the glory of discovering and inventing and designing the coat-of-arms of this great Territory—savvy?—with a lot of barbarous latin about “Volens and Potens”;—(able and willing, you know,[)] which would have done just as well for my buzzard as it does for his quartz-mills.

But if you want a full and correct account of these lovely Indians—not gleaned from Cooper’s novels, Madam, but the result of personal observation—a strictly reliable account, which you could bet on with as much confidence as you could on four aces, you will find that on that subject I am a Fund of useful information to which the whole duty of man isn’t a circumstance. For instance: imagine this warrior Hoop-de-doodle-do, head chief of the Washoes. He is five feet seven inches high; has a very broad face, whose coat of red paint is getting spotty and dim in consequence of accumulating dirt and grease; his hair is black and straight, and dangles about his shoulders; his battered stove-pipe hat is trimmed all over with bits of gaudy ribbon and tarnished artificial flowers, and he wears it sometimes over his eyes, with an exceedingly gallus air, and sometimes on the back of his head; on his feet he wears one boot and one shoe—very ancient; his imperial robe, which almost drags the ground, is composed of a vast number of light-gray rabbit-skins sewed together; but the crowning glory of his costume, (which he sports on great occasions in corduroy pants, and dispensing with the robe,) is a set of ladies’ patent extension steel-spring hoops, presented to him by Gov. Nye—and when he gets that arrangement on, he looks like a very long and very bob-tailed bird in a cage that isn’t big enough for him. Now, Ma, you know what the warrior Hoop-de-doodle-doo looks like—and if you desire to know what he smells like, let him stand by the stove a moment, but have your hartshorn handy, for I [ page 98 ] tell you he could give the stink-pots of Sebastopol four in the game and skunk them. Follow him, too, when he goes out, and burn gun powder in his footsteps; because wherever he walks he sheds vermin of such prodigious size that the smallest specimen could swallow a grain of wheat without straining at it, and still feel hungry. You must not suppose that the warrior drops these vermin from choice, though. By no means, Madam—for he knows something about them which you don’t; viz, that they are good to eat. There now. Can you find anything like that in Cooper? Perhaps not. Yet I could go before a magistrate and testify that the portrait is correct in every particular. Old Hoop himself would say it was “heap good.”

This morning I had a visit from three of the head-chief Hoop-de-doodle-doo’s wives—graceful, beautiful creatures, called respectively, Timid-Rat, Soaring Lark and Gentle Wild-Cat. (You see, like all Indians, they glory in high-sounding names.) They had broad, flat faces, which were dirty to the extreme of fashion, they wore the royal rabbit skin robe, their stringy matted hair hung nearly to their waists, they had forgotten their shoes, and left their bonnets at home, only one of them wore jewelry, the Timid Rat around whose leathery throat was suspended a regal necklace composed of scraps of tin. Their shapelessness caused them to resemble three great muffs. The young chief Bottled Thunder was with the party, bottled up in a sort of long basket and strapped to the back of the Soaring Lark.

Also a juvenile muff, in the person of the Princess Invisible Rainbow, with a cigar box strapped to her back, containing a bogus infant made of rags—which leads me to suspect that a weakness for doll-babies is not a result of education, but an instinct, which comes as natural to any species of girl as keeping clothing store does to a jew.

You see, ma, I was taking breakfast with a friend, this morning, and the Princesses came and rested their elbows on the window sill and thrust their heads in, like three very ancient and smoky portraits trying to get out of their frame. They examined the breakfast leisurely, and criticised it in their own tongue; they pointed at each article of food, with their long, skinny fingers, and asked each other’s opinion about it; and they kept an accurate record of each mouthful we took, and figured up the total, occasionally. After awhile the Gentle Wild Cat remarked: “May be whity man no heap eat um grass-hopper?” (their principal article of diet, ma,) and John replied, “May be whity man no heap like um grass-hopper—savvy!” And thus the Lark: “May be bimeby Injun heap ketch um sage-hen.” “Sage-hen heap good—bully!” said John. You see, these savages speak broken English, madam, and you’ve got to answer accordingly, because they can’t understand the unfractured article, you know. We held further conversation with them, of the same interesting character, after which we closed the “talk” by giving them a bar of soap and a cup of coffee for breakfast, and requesting them to leave, which they did, after they had begged a few old shirts, boots, hats, etc., and a deck of cards. They adjourned to the wood pile, and resolved to poker a little—for these Indians are inveterate gamblers, ma. First they “dealt” and “antied,” threw up their “hands,” and “doubled the pot,” and dealt again. This time the Gentle Wild Cat “went blind,” to the extent of a pair of boots; the Timid Rat “saw the blind,” although it took a check shirt and a Peruvian hat to “come in;” the Soaring Lark “straddled the blind,” which created a sensation, you know, and seemed to cause the other ladies great anxiety of mind, as to whether the Lark held an “ace full,” or was only “bluffing.” However, when an Indian gets to gambling he doesn’t care a cent for expenses, so they rallied and “came in” handsomely. And the way old clothes were piled up there, when the betting had fairly commenced, was interesting. As soon as one Princess would bet a hat, another would “see that hat” and “go a pair of socks better;” until the Timid Rat had staked her darling necklace, and the Gentle Wild Cat’s last shirt was on the pile. At this stage of the game, great excitement prevailed, and the Soaring Lark was in despair, for she couldn’t “come in.” Presently, aware that she was the centre of an absorbing interest, and appreciating the grandeur of her position, she grew desperate and gallantly “called” her opponents, for she unstrapped the Bottled Thunder, and bet that mighty Prince against the game, and all hands said bully for the Lark. The denouement was thrilling. The Gentle Wild Cat showed four aces, and thereby “busted” the party, madam, because four aces can’t be beaten, you know. Make a note of that on the fly-leaf of your Whole Duty of Man, for future reference. You will find it useful, if you ever turn Injun, for then your dusky compatriots will not think much of you if you don’t gamble.

Now, if you are acquainted with any romantic young ladies or gentlemen who dote on these loves of Indians, send them out here before the disease strikes in.

S. L. C.

 

[MTL 1: 174]. (Printed in the Keokuk Gate City, June 25, 1862).

 [ page 99 ]

April 2 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Carson City to his mother about Orion, ladies back home, trying to rent a better office for Orion, the death of an acquaintance at Fort Donelson, and other goings on.

 

My Dear Mother:

Yours of March 2d, has just been received. I see I am in for it again—with Annie. But she ought to know that I was always stupid. She used to try to teach me lessons from the Bible, but I never could understand them. Don’t she remember telling me the story of Moses, one Sunday, last Spring, and how hard she tried to explain it and simplify it so that I could understand it—but I couldn’t? And how she said it was strange that while her ma and her grandma and her uncle Orion could understand anything in the world, I was so dull that I couldn’t understand the “ea-siest thing?” And don’t she remember that finally a light broke in upon me and I said it was all right—that I knew old Moses himself—and that he kept a clothing store in Market street? And then she went to her ma and said she didn’t know what would become of her uncle Sam—he was too dull to learn anything—ever! And I’m just as dull yet. Now I have no doubt her letter was spelled right, and was correct in all particulars—but then I had to read it according to my lights; and they being inferior, she ought to overlook the mistakes I make—especially, as it is not my fault that I wasn’t born with good sense. I am sure she will detect an encouraging ray of intelligence in that last argument.

Lord bless me, who can write where Orion is. I wish he had been endowed with some conception of music—for, with his diabolical notions of time and tune he is worse than the itch when he begins to whistle. And for some wise but not apparent reason, Providence has ordained that he shall whistle when he feels pleasant—notwithstanding the fact that the barbarous sounds he produces are bound to drive comfort away from every one else within ear-shot of them. I have got to sit still and be tortured with his infernal discords, and fag-ends of tunes which were worn out and discarded before “Roll on—Sil-ver Moo-oon” became popular, strung together without regard to taste, time, melody, or the eternal fitness of things, because, if I should boil over and say I wish his music would bust him, there’d be a row, you know. For I discovered, by accident, that he looks upon his Variations as something of an accomplishment, and when he does warble, he warbles very complacently. I told him once, on the plains, that I couldn’t stand his cursed din—that he was worse than a rusty wheel-barrow—and if he did not stop it I would get out of the coach. Now he didn’t say “get out and be d—d,” but I know he thought it, Ma, and if I were you I would just touch him up a little, and give him some advice about profane swearing—not so as to hurt his feelings, you know, but just to give him to understand, in a general way, that you don’t lend your countenance to that sort of thing. You’re his mother, you know, and consequently, it is your right, and your business and comes within the line of your duties, as laid down in the Articles of War. Now I could do it—I could stir him up in such a way—I could read him a lecture that would make him “grit his teeth” and d—n all creation for a week, bless you. But then I am not his mother, you know, consequently it is not in my line—it must come from you—don’t you see?

Now to my thinking, Miss Louisa Conrad and Miss Chipman are young ladies of remarkably fine taste—and an honor to St. Louis. Did Miss Conrad live “opposite” when I was at home? If she did, and you had described her, I would know who you mean. When I was in St. Louis, no young ladies lived “opposite” except those handsome Texas girls who dressed in black—and they lived opposite Mr. Schroter’s.

I am waiting here, trying to rent a better office for Orion. I have got the refusal after next week of a room 16 × 50 on first floor of a fire-proof brick—rent, eighteen hundred dollars a year. Don’t know yet whether we can get it or not. If it is not rented before the week is up, we can.

I was sorry to hear that Dick was killed. I gave him his first lesson in the musket drill. We had half a dozen muskets in our office when it was over Isbell’s Music Rooms. I asked Isbell to invite me and the other boys to come every Friday evening and hear his Choral Society, composed of ladies and gentlemen, rehearse—but he refused, and I told him I would spoil their fun. And I did, Madam. I enrolled Dick and Henry and the two Dutch boys into a military Company, took command of it, and ordered them to meet at the office every Friday evening for drill. I made them “order arms” oftener than necessary, perhaps, and they always did it with a will. And when those muskets would come down on the floor, it was of no use, you know—somebody had to have a headache—and nobody could sing. Isbell said he would “give in,” (Civil authorities, you know, are bound to knuckle to the military.) But he begged so hard that I relented, and compromised with him. And “for and in consideration” of certain things expressed between us, I agreed not to drill on a certain special occasion, when he was to have a number of invited guests. And we didn’t drill. But I was too many for him, anyhow, Madam. We got some round stones and some bottles, and we opened a ten-pin alley over his head, simultaneously with the opening of his concert. He said the ten-pin alley was worse than the drill—so we compromised again. But I wrote a burlesque on his principal anthem, and taught it to [ page 100 ] the boys. And the next Friday, when our Choral Society opened its lungs, the other one had to “dry up.” So we compromised again. And went back to the drill—and drilled, and drilled, until Isbell went into a decline—which culminated in his death at Pike’s Peak. And served him right. Dick enjoyed the sport amazingly, and never missed a drill, no matter how the weather was, although he lived more than a mile from the office. He was a lubberly cuss, like me, and couldn’t march gracefully, but he could “order arms” with any body. I couldn’t very easily forget Dick, for besides these things, he assisted in many a villainous conspiracy against Isbell’s peace of mind, wherein his Choral Class were not concerned.

Tell Carrie Schroter I will give her a lump of gold out of any mine or claim I have got—but she must send Dan Haines after it. I want to see Dan, anyhow.

Of course we can excuse Pamela from writing, while her eyes are sore. It is a pity her eyes distress her so much. She will have to try what Lake Bigler can do for them one of these days. I feel certain that it would cure any-body’s sore eyes, just to look at that Lake.

Ma, I perceive that you have a passion for funerals and processions yet—and I suppose Annie has, too. The paper Pamela sent has not arrived yet, containing an account of the celebration on the 22d, and I am afraid it will not come before I leave here. I would like much to see it.

Orion has heard of Mr. Mayor, but I have not, and I don’t know where the devil to go to look for him. Why don’t he come and see us? He knows we are here. Yes, I remember Miss Adda King. She was very good-looking, too, God forever bless her everlasting soul, but I don’t know her from John the Baptist—or any other man. However, I like to have them mentioned, you know. I must keep the run of every body.

I hope I am wearing the last white shirt that will embellish my person for many a day—for I do hope that I shall be out of Carson long before this reaches you. Love to all.

Very Respectfully

            Sam.

[MTL 1: 180-3]. Notes: Annie Moffett, Sam’s niece. Source gives Brook Sisters as possibly the “handsome Texas girls,” and Miss Chipman unidentified. George Schroter (b. 1813 or 1814), Wm. Moffett’s business partner since 1855 or 6. “Dick” was Richard Higham, a printer under Orion at Keokuk in 1856; he was killed at Ft. Donelson; Clemens included an account of Richard in his Auto. Dictation of Mar. 26, 1906. See entry Vol IV. Caroline (Carrie) Schroter (b. 1833 or 1834), wife of Wm. Moffett’s partner. Daniel Haines (b. 1836 or 1837) was Carrie’s brother. Mr. Mayor and Miss Adda King are unidentified.

All during March and April it snowed and rained with winds in the high Sierras [Mack 155].

April 2–13 Sunday – Sam went south 120 miles to the Esmeralda mining district with Thomas C. Nye, the governor’s brother, arriving sometime between these dates [MTL 1: 184-5n1]. There he joined Robert M. Howland and Horatio (“Raish”) Phillips. This is where Sam shared the tiny cabin that was restored and moved to a Reno park in 1924 only to be destroyed by vandals in 1944 [The Twainian, Nov.-Dec. 1948 p 4].

 

April 10? Thursday – Sam wrote a plea for money from Orion for mining prospects in Aurora in a letter that is now lost but quoted by Paine [MTL 1: 184n1].

 

April 13 Sunday – Sam wrote from Aurora to Orion about Indian hostilities he had come through. Also about the mining prospects in the Esmeralda. Sam needed money.

 

P.S. Remember me                                         Send me some stamps—3 and 10 cent.

to Tom & Lockhart

Esmeralda, 13th April, 1862

My Dear Brother:

Wasson got here night before last, “from the wars.” Tell Lockhart he is not wounded and not killed—is altogether unhurt. He says the whites left their stone fort before he and Lieut. Noble got there. A large amount of provisions and ammunition which they left behind them fell into the hands of the Indians. They had a pitched battle with the savages, some fifty miles from the fort, in which Scott, (sheriff,) and another man were killed. This was the day before the soldiers came up with them. I mean Noble’s men and those under Cols. Evans and Mayfield, from Los Angeles. Evans assumed the chief command—and next morning the forces were divided into three parties, and marched against the enemy. Col. Mayfield was killed, [ page 101 ] and Sargeant Gillespie also. Noble’s Corporal was wounded. The California troops went back home, and Noble remained, to help drive the stock over here. And, as Cousin Sally Dillard says this is all that I know about the fight.

Work not yet begun on the H. & Derby—haven’t seen it yet. It is still in the snow. Shall begin on it within 3 or 4 weeks—strike the ledge in July. Guess it is good—worth from $30 to $50 a foot in California.

Why didn’t you send the “Live Yankee” deed—the very one I wanted? Have made no inquiries about it, much. Don’t intend to until I get the deed. Send it along—by mail—d—n the Express—have to pay 3 times for all express matter; once in Carson and twice here. I don’t expect to take the saddle-bags out of the Express office. I paid 25 cts for the Express deeds.

Man named Gebhart [Gephart] shot here yesterday while trying to defend a claim on Last Chance Hill. Expect he will die.

Tell Mr. Upton that Green hasn’t paid me yet—he’ll have no money for several days. Tell him the two men would not acknowledge the deed. All I can do is to get the witness, (Miller,) to acknowledge it. He will be in town in a day or two. I gave the deed to Mr. DeKay.

These mills here are not worth a d—n—except Clayton’s—and it is not in full working trim yet.

Send me $20 $40 or $50—by mail—immediately.

Write to Billy not to be in a hurry, for I can’t get things fixed to suit me here for some time—can’t say how long.

The “Red Bird[”] is probably good—can’t work on the tunnel on account of snow. The “Pugh” I have thrown away—shan’t re-locate it. It is nothing but bed-rock croppings—too much work to find the ledge, if there is one. Shan’t record the “Farnum” until I know more about it—perhaps not at all.

“Governor” under the snow.

“Douglas[”] & Red Bird are both recorded.

I have had opportunities to get into several ledges, but refused all but three—expect to back out of two of them.

Stint yourself as much as possible, and lay up $100 or $150, subject to my call. I go to work to-morrow, with pick and shovel. Something’s got to come, by G—, before I let go, here.

Col. Young’s says you must rent Kinkead’s room by all means—Government would rather pay $150 a month for your office than $75 for Gen. North’s. Says you are playing your hand very badly, for either the Government’s good opinion or anybody’s else, in keeping your office in a shanty. Says put Gov. Nye in your place and he would have a stylish office, and no objections would ever be made, either. When old Col. Youngs talks this way, I think it time to get a fine office. And I wish you would take that office, and fit it up handsomely, so that I can quit telling people that by this time you are handsomely located, when I know it is no such thing.

I am living with ’Ratio Phillips. Send him one of those black portfolios—by the stage, and put a couple of penholders and a dozen steel pens in it.

If you should have occasion to dispose of the long desk before I return, don’t forget to break open the middle drawer and take out my things. Envelop my black cloth coat in a newspaper and hang it in the back room.

Don’t buy anything while I am here—but save up some money for me. Don’t send any money home. I shall have your next quarter’s salary spent before you get it, I think. I mean to make or break here within the next 2 or 3 months.

Yrs,

Sam

 

[MTL 1: 185]. Notes: Sam worked briefly in Clayton’s quartz mill in late June [AMT 2: 566] The Clemens brothers eventually owned about $5,000 worth of claims in the Esmeralda but didn’t gain back even the face value. The P.S. was to Thomas C. Nye, the governor’s nephew, and Jacob T. Lockhart, US Indian agent, both residing in Carson. “Cousin Sally Dilliard” is a reference to a lady talked about in Hamilton C. Jones’ burlesque sketch. M. Upton, Carson dry-goods dealer; William De Kay, deputy county clerk of the Esmeralda district. Gephart was shot in a gun fight with John Copeland and others over ownership of a mining claim. Joshua Elliot Clayton, well-known S.F. mining engineer, owned a mill east of Aurora. “Write to Billy” refers to William Dixon of Keokuk. Colonel Samuel Youngs (1803-1890); John W. North (1815-1890), at this time assoc. justice of the territorial supreme court. See notes in source for more details.

 [ page 102 ]

April 17 Thursday – Orion wrote to Sam, his letter not extant but referred to in Sam’s of Apr. 24.

 

April 17 and 19 Saturday – Sam wrote from Aurora to Orion about various mining prospects [MTL 1: 189].

 

April 18 Friday – Sam, still in Aurora, wrote Billy Clagett about various mining prospects [MTL 1: 192].

 

April 24 Thursday – Sam began a letter from Aurora to Orion about money and mining that he finished on Apr. 25. Sam was upset that Orion had invested in other areas after promising not to.

 

My Dear Bro:

Yours of 17th, per express, just received. Part of it pleased me exceedingly, and part of it didn’t. Concerning the latter, for instance: You have promised me that you would leave all mining matters, and everything involving an outlay of money, in my hands. Now it may be a matter of no consequence at all to you, to keep your word with me, but I assure you I look upon it in a very different light. Indeed I fully expect you to deal as conscientiously with me as you would with any other man. Moreover, you know as well as I do, that the very best course that you and I can pursue will be, to keep on good terms with each other—notwithstanding which fact, we shall certainly split inside of six months if you go on in this way. You see I talk plainly. Because I know what is due me, and I would not put up with such treatment from any body but you. We discussed that Harroun business once before, and it was decided, then, that he was not to receive a cent of money. But you have paid him $50. And you agreed to pay a portion of Perry’s expenses, &c., although, as I gather from the tone of your letter, you knew, at that very moment, that you were breaking your word with me, and also, that all the money you might expend in that project would go to the devil without ever benefitting you a penny. As soon as Perry left your presence, you cursed yourself for being so easily persuaded, and resolved that he might pay his own prospecting expenses, without hope of assistance from you. Now wouldn’t it have been better to have saved yourself all this by simply pronouncing the talismanic “No,” which always sticks in your throat? And would it not be as well, even at this late day, to say to him that by a solemn promise made to me, you are debarred from expending money on prospecting tours, &c., in search of Mill Sites, (which is probably the d—dest strangest phantom that ever did flit before the dazed eyes of a prospector since that genus came into existence,) without first getting me to agree to it. That you have tried me, but it wouldn’t work. That I have already backed down from paying Pfersdorff’s expenses, and will never consent again, while the world stands, to help pay another man’s expenses. I don’t know where the Mountain House is, but I do know that if there is a mill site near the Mountain House worth having, Mr. Perry will arrive there a long time after it was taken up. But as for all the ledges he can find between now and next Christmas, I would not supply his trip with lucifer matches for a half interest in them. Sending a man fooling around the country after ledges, for God’s sake!—when there are hundreds of feet of them under my nose here, begging for owners, free of charge. G—d d—n it, I don’t want any more feet, and I won’t touch another foot—so you see, Orion, as far as any ledges of Perry’s are concerned, (or any other, except what I examine first with my own eyes), I freely yield my right to share ownership with you.

Now, Orion, I have given you a piece of my mind—you have it in full, and you deserved it—for you would be ashamed to acknowledge that you ever broke faith with another man as you have with me. I shall never look upon Ma’s face again, or Pamela’s, or get married, or revisit the “Banner State,” until I am a rich man—so you can easily see that when you stand between me and my fortune (the one which I shall make, as surely as Fate itself,) you stand between me and home, friends, and all that I care for—and by the Lord God! you must clear the track, you know!

The balance of your letter, I say, pleases me exceedingly. Especially that about the H. & D. being worth from $30 to $50 in Cal. It pleases me because, if the ledges prove to be worthless, it will be a pleasant reflection to know that others were beaten worse than ourselves. ’Raish  sold a man 30 feet, yesterday, at $20 a foot, although I was present at the sale, and told the man the ground wasn’t worth a d—n. He said he had been hankering after a few feet in the H. & D. for a long time, and he had got them at last, and he couldn’t help thinking he had secured a good thing. We went and looked at the ledges, and both of them acknowledged that there was nothing in them but good “indications.” Yet the owners in the H. & D. will part with anything else sooner than with feet in those ledges. Well, the work goes slowly—very slowly on, in the tunnel, and we’ll strike it some day. But—if we “strike it rich,”—I’ve lost my guess, that’s all. I expect that the [ page 103 ] way it got so high in Cal. was, that Raish’s brother, over there was offered $75000 for 20 feet of it, and he refused.

Yes, the saddlebags were all right. I had nothing to pay on them. With letters, though, the case is different. Have to pay for them at both ends of the route. Raish says money can’t be sent by mail. It’s a d—d curious mail, isn’t it?

The next excellent news is the $50, although I suppose I could have worried along with something less for a week or two.

But the best news of all is, your resolution to take Kinkead’s office; and when you come to furnish it, look at what the Country paid in that way for Turner’s office, and see if you can’t “go” a few dollars “better.” But the carpet—let that eclipse everything in town. I feel very much relieved, to think you will be out of that d—d coop shortly.

Lieut. Noble and his men are here. Three deserted yesterday. One was caught to-day and put in irons.4

Couldn’t go on the hill to-day. It snowed. It always snows here, I expect.

Don’t you suppose they have pretty much quit writing, at home?

When you receive your next ¼’rs salary, don’t send any of it here until after you have told me you have got it. Remember this. I am afraid of that H. & D.

They have struck the ledge in the Live Yankee tunnel, and I told the President, Mr. Allen, that it wasn’t as good as the croppings. He said that was true enough, but they would hang to until it did prove rich. He is much of a gentleman, that man Allen.

Remember me to Tom Nye and Lockhart.

And ask Gasherie why the devil he don’t send along my commission as Deputy Sheriff. The fact of my being in California, and out of his county, would amount to a d—n with me, in the performance of my official duties.

I have nothing to report, at present, except that I shall find out all I want to know about this locality before I leave it.

Did you tell Upton what I told you in my last?

How do the Records pay?

Yr. Bro.

      Sam

P.S.—Put off Harroun, now, until his pay comes out of the ledges. Phillips and I will see him this summer [MTL 1: 194]. Note: De Witt Harroun and J.A. Byers were Missouri acquaintances of Orion. D.J. Gasherie served two terms (1862-4) as Ormsby County sheriff, and was a minor character in two of Clemens’ 1863 sketches for the Territorial Enterprise. See source notes for more details.

 

April 25 Friday – In the morning in Aurora, Clemens finished the Apr. 24 to his brother:

 

P. S.—Friday Morning.—I am in a better humor this morning, but as you deserved a blowing-up, why, I will not deprive you of it. I am on my way now, with picks, &c., to work on my pet claim. If it proves good, you will know all about it some day—if it don’t, you will never even learn its name. So, wait, and banish hope—for I have Resolved, that it is like most Esmeralda ledges, viz: worthless. I went down with Lieut. Noble, awhile ago, to get Wasson’s order conveying the guns of the “Esmeralda Rifles” to his (N.’s) custody. The people here regret being deprived of these arms, as the Secessionists have declared that in case Cal. accedes to the new boundaries, Gov. Nye shall not assume jurisdiction here. Noble will perhaps remain here a fortnight, and hopes are entertained that Gen. Wright may be prevailed upon to allow the arms to remain here. All this has been told the Governor in a letter sent from here by mail. If that letter is still in Carson (or the P.O.,) express it to Frisco. It’s in a white mail envelop thus directed: “His Excellency Gov. Nye, Carson City, Nevada Territory.” (true copy: teste.)

[in ink, crosswise over the previous paragraph:]

Ratio, wishes you to ask Gen. Bunker, if he is still in Carson, to see Cradlebaugh, when he gets to Washington, and get him to use his best endeavors toward securing his brother’s appointment to the Naval School. Ratio will make the Gen. a handsome present of a good mining claim for his trouble [MTL 1: 197]. Note: John Cradlebaugh, elected as Nevada’s territorial delegate to the 37th Congress. See source notes for more, now online MTPO.

 [ page 104 ]

April 28 Monday – Sam wrote from Aurora to Orion about progress and hopes on various mining ledges. He also noted the family’s reaction back home to his last letter to the Keokuk Gate City:

 

“Ma and Pamela seem to be down on my last to the Gate City. Well, what’r they going to do about it—be Jes–s?—(though I would hate to ask them the question, you bet[)]” [MTL 1: 200].

 

About this time he began contributing letters, under the pen name “Josh” to the Territorial Enterprise. It may be that Sam’s letters home of Jan. 30 and Mar. 20 printed in the Keokuk Gate City were given such favorable response that Sam felt he could make a few dollars sending letters of local color to other newspapers. Sam had previously made money sending “E. Blab”’s humorous letters to newspapers [MTL 1: 199].

 

May 4 Sunday – Sam began a letter in Aurora to Orion that he finished on May 5. He writes about each Aurora speculation and about Orion’s gold sample sent. Clearly, Sam still had the fever [MTL 1: 201].

 

May 5 Monday – Sam finished his May 4 to Orion. He needed $20 [MTL 1: 203-4].

 

May 9 Friday – The Clemens Gold and Silver Mining Co. was formed to work 800 feet of the Monitor ledge, on Middle Hill in Aurora. The partners were: Sam Clemens, Calvin H. Higbie (d.1914), Daniel H. Twing, and J.D. LaRue. The company was incorporated on Feb. 27, 1863 with Twing and two others; Sam was not mining by then [MTL 1: 211n1]. Note: In his Aug. 10, 1906 A.D. Sam recalled Higbie as,

 

“—a most kindly, engaging, frank, unpretentious, unlettered, and utterly honest, truthful, and honorable giant; practical, unimaginative, destitute of humor, well endowed with good plain common sense, and as simple-hearted as a child” [AMT 2: 168].

 

May 11–12 Monday – In Aurora, Sam wrote to Orion, reminding him of his need for money. Mention was made of his old pilot teacher, Horace Bixby and his service in the Union flotilla. Sam also wrote of a childhood friend: “It would be refreshing if they would catch Will Bowen and hang him.” Will was the boy with measles when 8-year-old Sam snuck into his room and slept next to him in order to catch the disease. Will also owed Sam $200, which may explain Sam’s remark [MTL 1: 205].

 

May 17 Saturday – Sam wrote from Aurora to Orion about a tiff with three other armed miners who entered and worked Sam’s claim. Such claim jumps could be dangerous business, and Sam referred to the killing of one Gephart on Apr. 11 over such a conflict [MTL 1: 215]. Transcribed from MTP’s “drop-in” letter file:

 

I thought it was a blank deed which Sam Montgomery sent me.

 

Send those Spanish spurs that hang in the office, out to “Thomas Messersmith, care of Billy Clagett,” by some safe person. I wore them in from Humboldt.

…

That is well. Let Mollie stay where she is, for the present.

 

Perhaps you had better send me your note to Teall.

 

Never send anything by that d—-d stage again, that can come by MAIL, as I have said before. The pkg envelops cost me 50 cents.

…

I hope Barstow will leave the “S.L.C.” off my Gate City letters, in case he publishes them. Put my Enterprise letters in the scrap book—but send no extracts from them East.

 [ page 105 ]

You perceive that I am not in a high good humor. For several reasons. One—Raish came home from the mill this morning, after working the whole night, and found a letter from Bob [Howland?], in which he learned that no sale had been effected. This reduced his spirits to the lowest possible notch, for he is out of money, or nearly so….Another thing is, two or three of the old “Salina” company entered our hold on the Monitor yesterday morning, before our men got there, and took possession, armed with revolvers. And according to the d—d laws of the forever d—d country, nothing but District Court (and there ain’t any) can touch the matter….We went up and demanded possession, and they refused. Said they were in the hole, armed, and meant to die in it, if necessary….Now you understand the shooting scrape in which Gephart was killed the other day.

…

Ask Tom to give my dear love to Miss P.—she with the long curls, out there under the hill.

Yr. Bro. Sam.

P.S.—Crooker is strapped, and is anxious for you to get his scrip and sell it at as good price as you can, and send him the money.

 

Charge the fee—nobody remits fees for me here, by a d—d sight. Charge everybody fees. Col. Youngs wants you to see Kidder or Gen. North and ask when the California boundary will be run and finished….We enter suit to-morrow to get possession of the Monitor.

 

Note: Colonel Samuel Youngs (1803-1890). MTL annotations reveal that “Miss P.” was Carrie Pixley. William E. Teall sold Orion 25 mining feet in 1861. D.C. Crooker was a clerk at the district recorder’s office who had mining claims with Robert Howland; Sam mentioned Crooker in earlier letters, on Apr. 17 and May 4. This P.S. was not in the printed volume, but in “drop-in” letters.

 

May 31 Saturday – The Esmeralda Star of this date ran an article on the mineral wealth in the district, and in particular gave an excited boost to the Wide West mine. Other papers also ran this article boosting the stock. Shortly after this report, Calvin Higbie obtained a sample from the Wide West and determined it was not Wide West rock [Mack 165-6]

 

June – Sometime during the month Cal Higbie, after several attempts, entered the Wide West mineshaft and broke off a sample from the ledge. He returned to the cabin he shared with Sam and “with smothered excitement” announced that it was “a blind lead”—that is, one that does not show on the surface of the claim. Mack explains the significance: “Since the ‘Wide West’ Company did not know of the blind lead down in the shaft, it was public property, and therefore Cal and Sam could locate it for their own” [166].

 

The pair took in a third partner, Mr. Allen, the foreman of the Wide West, and put up a notice that night, then registered their claim at the recorder’s office before ten o’clock. According to the rules then in place, those who located claims had to do “a fair and reasonable amount of work on their claims within ten days” [Mack 166-8]. Such was not to be.

 

June 2Monday – Sam’s money was running low; he wrote from Aurora to Orion for more [MTL 1: 216].

 

June 9 Monday – Sam wrote from Aurora to Orion, mostly about the lack of progress [MTL 1: 218].

 

June 22 Sunday – Sam wrote from Aurora to Orion about work on the “Annipolitan” and “Flyaway” claims. He drew a picture of a successful mine in relation to his claims. After mining talk he wrote:

 

…. I have been here as long, now, as it is in my nature to stay in one place—and from this out I shall feel as much like a prisoner as if I were in the county jail. I believe I have not spent six months in one place (unless I was in Keokuk, that long,) since 1853—ten years ago—and God knows I want to be moving to-day. Well, this is the first time I have uttered a complaint since I have been here, but it is not the first time I have felt one. Christ! how sick I am of these same old humdrum scenes. [ page 106 ]

Those Enterprise fellows make perfect nonsense of my letters—like all d—d fool printers, they can’t follow the punctuation as it is in the manuscript. They have, by this means made a mass of senseless, d—d stupidity out of my last letter.

I received $25 from you nearly a week ago, I believe. I am sorry it has to come from the school fund,—for I am afraid it might be called for, you know. Did you get my letter about the business of Barstow—and his letter? Do not hint to Gillesp anything about it.

Put all of Josh’s letters in my scrap book. I may have use for them some day.

If you should ever remove the long desk from your office, don’t forget to take out my letters and traps from the middle drawer.

You have heard nothing from your last quarter’s salary, I suppose.

It is time now to begin your arrangements for a supply of stationery for the Legislature, I should think.

I have quit writing for the “Gate.” I haven’t got time to write. I half intended writing east to-night, but I hardly think I will. Tell Mollie I will not offend again. I see by a Boston paper that Colorado Territory expects to export $40,000,000 (bullion, I believe,) this year. Nevada had better look to her laurels.

Your Bro.

Sam

[MTL 1: 220]. Note: William Martin Gillespie (1838-1885) was planning to start a newspaper. See source notes.

 

June 25 Wednesday – Sam wrote a short note from Aurora to Orion about mines and money:

 

My Dear Bro:

The mail will close in a few moments. D—n Johnson [Lode] and the whole tribe. I am sick of that old crib you are in. I received $25 per Express day before yesterday. If Gillespie gets up a large paper, it will suit me exactly to correspond for it. I shall not refuse pay, either, although $4 or $5 a week could hardly be called extensive when you write by the “column,” you know. I am his man, though. Let me know further about his paper—and let it not fail as utterly as the Laws did.

No—haven’t struck anything in the “Annipolitan.” No—down 12 feet—am not afraid of it. It will come out well I think. It don’t cost Flyaway $50 per ton for crushing—only $20. Clayton wanted to help the boys. We shan’t touch the Monitor until the 1st July, at least. Haven’t got an Enterprise of the 8th. Raish sent it to the Bay. I gave [D.C.] Crooker the bill. He looked at the law and found 30 cents a mile allowed—which makes his claim worth 30 or $35 anyhow. Thank you for writing home for me. They’ve struck good pay rock in another shaft within 50 yards of Annipolitan hole. Assays $75.

Yr. Bro,

Sam

[MTL 1: 223]. Note: Sam worked briefly in Clayton’s quartz mill in late June [AMT 2: 566].

 

Sam’s letter of Mar. 20 to his mother about Indians out West was printed in the Keokuk Gate City [MTL 1: 174].

 

Summer, mid – After this time Horatio Phillips probably left the group, as he was no longer mentioned in Sam’s letters. Sam took on a new partner, Calvin Higbie, the only experienced miner in the bunch. Mack describes him (see also MTA 2: 257-62):

 

“‘…a man of great stature, who was muscled like a giant. He could handle a long-handled shovel like an emperor, and he could work patiently and contentedly twelve hours on a stretch without ever hastening his pulse or his breath.’ Cal, who was a hard-rock practical miner, gave Sam the benefit of his mining experience, as Ballou had done on the Humboldt trip” [162].

 

July, 1 Tuesday ca. – In Chapter 41 of Roughing It, Sam wrote that he nursed John Nye, the Governor’s brother, for nine days at Gardiner’s Nine Mile Ranch. The Esmeralda Star reported on July 12 that Nye was “an invalid, lying upon his back, all stiffened and swollen up by that excruciating disease—inflammatory rheumatism” [MTL 1: 226n1]. Sam’s letter of July 9 puts his servitude at approximately this date. While Sam was nursing Nye, he assumed Higbie was doing the mandatory claim work on the “blind [ page 107 ] lead.” Cal had followed another path (looking into a cement mine); Higbie assumed Sam was doing the claim work. The required ten days passed. Sam and Cal had been millionaires for ten days. Note: Sam’s dedication of RI was to Higbie and the ten days they’d been millionaires together.

 

July 9 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Aurora to Orion. In part:

 

I am here again. Capt. Nye, as his disease grew worse, grew so peevish and abusive, that I quarreled with him and left. He required almost constant attention, day and night, but he made no effort to hire anyone to assist me. He said he nursed the Governor three weeks, day and night—which is a d—d lie, I suspect. He told Mrs. Gardiner he would take up the quarrel with me again when he gets well. He shall not find me unwilling. Mr. and Mrs. G. dislike him, and are very anxious to get rid of him [MTL 1: 224].

 

 Sam also instructed his brother on how to handle money, and warned him not to tell anyone that his salary had arrived, especially Horatio Phillips; he advised on debts to pay off.

 

“I caught a violent cold at Clayton’s, which lasted two weeks, and I came near getting salivated, working in the quicksilver and chemicals. I hardly think I shall try the experiment again. It is a confining business, and [I] will not be confined, for love nor money” [225].

 

Sam also wrote about his new partner and “steadfast friend” Calvin H. Higbie, “a large, strong man” with the “perseverance of the devil.”

 

July 13 Sunday – An Aurora correspondent, probably Sam, reported that the Wide West mine and the Pride of Utah mine had “run together.” The Pride men “built a fire of such aromatic fuel as old boots, rags, etc., in the bottom of their shaft, and closed up the top, thus converting the Wide West shaft into a chimney,” which temporarily stopped work [RI 1993, explanatory notes 643].

 

 

July 21 Monday – Sam wrote from Aurora to Orion:

 

This is to introduce to you my obliging friend H.G. Phillips, whom you have often heard of but never seen, I believe. Whatever assistance you can be to him during his stay in Carson will be properly appreciated. If you wish to know more of my concerns here than I have told you, Raish can give you the information. Yr Bro, Sam [MTP]. Note Compare this sentiment with Sam’s July 9 warning letter. Horatio G. Phillips (“Raish”).

 

July 23 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Aurora to Orion about losing out on the “blind lead” and not owning a foot in the “Johnson ledge” of that claim. After that opening paragraph, he wrote:

 

Well, I am willing Mollie should come, provided she brings John with her. John would do well here. Are you in the new office yet?

I have written Judge Turner—but I didn’t tell him Johnny had written me—don’t you. I have offered to sell all my half the ground to him except the Fresno for $700—or $400, if he will give me his Fresno. I don’t want the d—d ground. If Judge Turner is not there, and will not be there soon, take his letter out of the office and send it to him.

I have not your letter by me now, and I do not remember all that was in it. At any rate, with regard to Phillips, don’t depart from my instructions in my last. He is a d—d rascal, and I can get the signatures of 25 men to this sentiment whenever I want them. He shall not be paid out of the Record fund. Tell him if he can’t wait for the money, he can have his ground back, and welcome—that is, 12½ feet of it—or 25, for that matter, for it isn’t worth a d—n, except that the work on it will hold it until the next great convulsion of nature injects gold and silver into it.

My debts are greater than I thought for. I bought $25 worth of clothing, and sent $25 to Higbie, in the cement diggings. I owe about 45 or $50, and have got about $45 in my pocket. But how in the h—1 I am going to live on something over $100 until October or November, is singular. The fact is, I must have something to do, and that shortly, too. I want that money to pay assessments with. And if Turner don’t [ page 108 ] accept my offer right away, I’ll make a sale of that ground d—d soon. I don’t want to sell any of it, though until the Fresno tunnel is in. Then I’ll sell the extension.

Now write to the Sacramento Union folks, or to Marsh, and tell them I’ll write as many letters a week as they want, for $10 a week—my board must be paid. Tell them I have corresponded with the N. Orleans Crescent, and other papers—and the Enterprise. California is full of people who have interests here, and it’s d—d seldom they hear from this country. I can’t write a specimen letter—now, at any rate—I’d rather undertake to write a Greek poem. Tell ’em the mail & express leave here three times a week, and it costs from 25 to 50 cents to send letters by that blasted express. If they want letters from here, who’ll run from morning till nights collecting materials cheaper. I’ll write a short letter twice a week for the present for the “Age,” for $5 per week. Now it has been a long time since I couldn’t make my own living, and it shall be a long time before I loaf another year.

No, you needn’t pay Upton. I took all sorts of pains, and run after men every day for two weeks trying to fix up that business of his here, about his house, and d—n him, he has never even answered my letters on the subject. If I sell any of Johnny’s ground, he shall be paid.

I want to have a shaft sunk 100 feet on the Monitor, but I am afraid to try it, for want of money. Don’t send any money home.

If I can think of it I will enclose that scrap about the old scissors, and you can paste it in my scrap book. Who the devil was that James Clemens, I wonder? Pamela enters into no explanations.

We can’t decide what is to be done with the Fresno until DeKay gets back from Mono.

If I get the other 25 feet in the Johnson ex., I shan’t care a d—n. I’ll be willing to curse awhile and wait. And if I can’t move the bowels of these hills this fall, I will come up and clerk for you until I get money enough to go over the mountains for the winter.

Yr. Bro,

Sam

[MTL 1: 228; MTPO]. Notes: John = John E. K. Stotts (b.1828), Mollie Clemens’s older brother, wholesale dry-goods salesman and Keokuk merchant. Johnny = John D. Kinney of Cincinnati. Marsh = Andrew J. Marsh, Nevada legislative correspondent of the Sacramento Union. Pamela’s letter referred to is not extant, nor is the James Clemens identified.

 

July 28 Monday – Sam wrote from Aurora to Orion, who had been sending some of Sam’s letters to various editors. Sam also had trouble with Horatio G. Phillips, calling him a liar and listing five lies told about mines and claims, including the Annipolitan, the Derby and the Monitor:

 

Well you keep the d—d son of a tinker out of his money as long as you can, and I shall be satisfied. He is a New York man. And if you can find me 4 white men among your Northern-born acquaintances, I’ll eat them if they wish it. There are good men in the North, but they are d—d scarce. …

I am much obliged to Reardon, Murphy, Lockhart and Gallaher for the favor they show my letters. Barstow has written me offering pay, and I have answered him. And while I think of it, don’t commit yourself to Gillespie—I want a finger in that printing, with Barstow, if G. don’t start his paper. The Enterprise is making ready, with new type, &c.

      Do you still receive the “Gate?”

      I will think over the “Harper” proposition [MTP, drop-in letters].

 

Note: significantly, this letter shows Sam’s early preference for working on the Enterprise—William H. Barstow’s offer of pay, new type, etc., though Sam wanted to see if William Gillespie’s plan of starting a newspaper came off. It did not. Gillespie was the legislative reporter who had showed Sam the ropes in Carson. Sam no doubt felt loyalty toward him.

 

July 30 Wednesday – In Aurora, Sam wrote to Orion about William H. Barstow’s offer and mining information

 

My Dear Bro:

Your letter to the Union was entirely satisfactory. I hope you will receive an answer right away, because Barstow has offered me the post of local reporter for the Enterprise at $25 a week, and I have [ page 109 ] written him that I will let him know next mail if possible, whether I can take it or not. If G. is not sure of starting his paper within a month, I think I had better close with Barstow’s offer.

Old Snyder, who owns in the H & D says it’s a big thing on account of the water and mill-site, even if it does have to lie still a while. Possibly he may be right.

Yes, the 50 feet in the Monitor, is worth what we paid for the H & D. I acknowledge that much.

Of course I don’t want to correspond with the Age until I know whether I shall remain here or not. So it makes no difference.

Yes—I wish John [Stotts]  would come. These claims of ours would soon sing a different song.

Oh, no, Johnny wasn’t expert at drawing deeds, by a d—d sight. I think Turner will discover that he managed to worry along, though, at it. He’s a d—d liar, too. He knows right well that his deed don’t convey him all the ground. Certainly—certainly—I have no doubt we shall understand each other. He shall understand me, at least. He can’t scare me with his legal threats either, such as he insinuated in his letter to me. He wants to know what I gave? Tell him that ranks as a “leading question.” As to the balance, I told him my deed conveys all of the ground to me—and that Johnny told me to deed half of it to him if he had not returned by the 1st July. I should think my words were explicit enough. I wrote the Judge as soon as I heard he was in Carson. I don’t care a d—n whose money bought the ground. Now I shan’t answer the Judge’s letter until I am in a good humor. I think my deed bears date March 1st, but I can’t go up to the Co. Rec.’s to see to-night, and I have not thought of it sooner. I have had a sort of general offer of $25 for my 25 feet of Mountain Flower, & have accepted. I told my agent (I don’t sell ground myself,) to sell the Judge’s at the same price, according to the Judge’s instructions to me, and he did so. The bargain will probably be closed within 3 or 4 days, and if the Judge don’t like the price he must speak before it is too late. The price suits me, since I can do no better. The balance of the ground won’t sell now, but the Fresno will be either valuable or worthless in a few weeks. I have started a man out to sell fifty feet in that for Judge Turner.

Oh, I don’t blame the Captain [John Nye] for being ill-natured when he was sick. The confinement made me so. I was what the yankees call “ugly,” you know.

I suppose Billy will know what to do with the National ground. If he thinks it best to sell, I will send him J.’s letter as authority.

What’s the matter with the mill out there? What’s the matter with Tillou? Why work the case-rock, if the ledge is 4 feet wide. I would not think it impossible to work a 4-foot shaft.

Yr. Bro.

      Sam

[MTL 1: 231]. Note: Old Snyder was J.L. Snyder, partner with Horatio G. Phillips, Robert M. Howland and Clemens in the Horatio & Derby tunnel project in Aurora.

 

July, end – Sam’s mining fever waned. To make ends meet, he began sending letters to various papers. His “Josh” letters to the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise had created some interest, and brother Orion’s finances were strained from increasing mining expenses. Sam’s legislative friend, William Barstow, worked in the Enterprise business office and convinced the paper’s owner, Joseph T. Goodman (1838-1917), that Sam was just the sort of writer the paper needed. Barstow wrote Sam, offering him a job as a reporter at $25 a week [MTL 1: 231].

 

August, early – Sam’s letter of July 30 to Orion stated that Sam wrote to Barstow asking when he might be needed [MTL 1: 231]. Note: Clearly, Sam was stalling for time to decide or perhaps time to see if any of the promising claims would present him with wealth, or perhaps if William Gillespie would start a newspaper (he did not). Sam may have felt that returning to a newspaper job was a step backward.

 

August 7 Thursday – Sam vacillated, hating to admit failure as a miner. He wrote from Aurora to Orion, telling him of Barstow’s offer of $25 week as a reporter on the Territorial Enterprise. Sam decided to think on the matter. His decision shaped the course of his life.

 

My Dear Bro:

Barstow wrote that if I wanted the place I could have it. I wrote him that I guessed I would take it, and asked him how long before I must come up there. I have not heard from him since. [ page 110 ]

Now I shall leave at midnight to-night, alone and on foot for a walk of 60 or 70 miles through a totally uninhabited country, and it is barely possible that mail facilities may prove infernally “slow” during the few weeks I expect to spend out there. But do you write Barstow that I have left here for a week or so, and in case he should want me he must write me here, or let me know through you. You see I want to know something about that country out yonder.

The Contractors say they will strike the Fresno next week. After fooling with those assayers a week, they concluded not to buy “M. Flower” at $50, although they would have given five times the sum for it four months ago. So I have made out a deed for one-half of all Johnny’s ground and acknowledged and left it in Judge F. K. Bechtel’s hands, and if Judge Turner wants it he must write to Bechtel and pay him his Notary fee of $1.50. I would have paid that fee myself, but I want money now as I leave town to-night. However, if you think it isn’t right, you can pay the fee to Judge Turner yourself.

Hang to your money now. I may want some when I get back.

Col. Youngs sends his regards, & says he will have our census completed & send up to you to-morrow, & we ought to have a larger representation—although the law said census must be taken in May—but he couldn’t help it, d—n’em they wouldn’t run the line.

Yes, I will scrape up some specimens—have got a lot—but they’re a d—d nuisance about a cabin. I picked up some splendid agates & such things, but I expect they are all lost by this time.

No—I shan’t pay Upton—just yet.

See that you keep out of debt—to anybody[.]Bully for Bunker. Write him that I would write him myself, but I am to take a walk to-night & haven’t time. Tell him to bring his family out with him. He can rely upon what I say—and I say the land has lost its ancient desolate appearance; the rose and the oleander have taken the place of the departed sage-brush; a rich black loam, garnished with moss, and flowers, and the greenest of grass, smiles to Heaven from the vanished sand-plains; the “endless snows” have all disappeared, and in their stead—or to repay us for their loss, the mountains rear their billowy heads aloft, crowned with a fadeless and eternal verdure; birds, and fountains, and trees—tropical trees—everywhere!—and the poet dreampt of Nevada when he wrote:

“—and Sharon waves, in solemn praise,

Her silent groves of palm.”

and to-day the royal Raven stands on a fragrant carcass and listens in a dreamy stupor to the songs of the thrush and the nightingale and the canary—and shudders when the gaudy-plumaged birds of the distant South sweep by him to the orange groves of Carson. Tell him he wouldn’t recognise the d—d country. He should bring his family by all means.

I intended to write home, but I haven’t done it.

Yr. Bro.em space Sam.

P. S. Put the enclosed slips in my scrap book. [MTL 1: 233]. Note: the two lines of poem from “Calm on the listening ear of night” (1834) by Edmund Hamilton Sears. The scrapbook mentioned is lost. Frederick K. Bechtel (b.1823) commissioner of deeds for Nevada Terr. Benjamin B. Bunker, attorney general of Nevada Terr.

 

Arthur B. Perkins, (1891-1977) the “first historian” of the Santa Clarita Valley, puts forth a theory about Sam’s wanderings during this week. Perkins claims to have seen a stagecoach entry made at Lyon’s Station, the nearest stage stop to Soledad Canyon, some fifty miles north of Los Angeles, where a gold discovery had just been made. This would have Sam traveling 600 miles round trip, which is possible, but less likely. The stagecoach entries have not survived, but such theories about Sam’s “Long Walk” have [Lennon 17].

 

Sam sold his mining interests to Judge George Turner. From a Christie’s sale (Lot 59 Sale 8444; May 17, 1996; avail. Online) a document written and signed by Samuel Clemens: 

 

By this indenture “Samuel L. Clemens of Mono Co., Cal.,” agrees to sell to “George Turner, of Carson City, Nevada Territory” for $1,000 his interests in “certain veins or lodes of rock containing precious metals…gold and silver bearing quartz, rock and earth therein.” In the blank space provided Clemens has carefully listed the shares (measured by feet) in 15 different claims (the names of which reflect the geographic origin of the prospectors): “Fifty (50) feet in the Sciola; 62 ½ in “Ottawa;” Fifty (50) in the “Allamoocha”; 6 ¼ in 1st Ex. S. “Winnomucca;” 25 feet in the “Tom Thumb;” 50 in the “Fresno;” 12 ½ feet in the “Horatio;” 100 feet in [ page 111 ] the 1st N.E.Ex. Fresno;” 50 feet in the “Rosetta;” 100 in the “Potomac;” 12 ½ in the “Daniel Boone”; 12 ½ feet in the “Boston”; 12 ½ in the “Great Mogul;” 12 ½ in the “Long Island;” 25 feet in the “Mountain Flower.” [See also MTL 1: 233n4 and 235n2.]

 

August 15 Friday – Sam returned from his hike, but still had not decided whether to take William Barstow’s offer. His entire future would hang on his decision. This same day he wrote from Aurora to his sister Pamela but didn’t mention newspaper prospects, which suggests Sam was still undecided.

 

My Dear Sister:

I mailed a letter to you and Ma this morning, but since then I have received yours to Orion and me. Therefore, I must answer right away, else I may leave town without doing it at all. What in thunder are pilot’s wages to me? which question, I beg humbly to observe, is of a general nature, and not discharged particularly at you. But it is singular, isn’t it, that such a matter should interest Orion, when it is of no earthly consequence to me? I never have once thought of returning home to go on the river again, and I never expect to do any more piloting at any price. My livelihood must be made in this country—and if I have to wait longer than I expected, let it be so—I have no fear of failure. You know I have extravagant hopes, for Orion tells you everything which he ought to keep to himself—but it’s his nature to do that sort of thing, and I let him alone. I did think for awhile of going home this fall—but when I found that that was and had been the cherished intention and the darling aspiration every year, of these old care-worn Californians for twelve weary years—I felt a little uncomfortable, but I stole a march on Disappointment and said I would not go home this fall. I will spend the winter in San Francisco, if possible. Do not tell any one that I had any idea of piloting again at present—for it is all a mistake. This country suits me, and—it shall suit me, whether or no. . . .

Dan Twing and I and Dan’s dog, “cabin” together—and will continue to do so for awhile—until I leave for—

The mansion is 10 × 12, with a “domestic” roof. Yesterday it rained—the first shower for five months. “Domestic,” it appears to me, is not water-proof. We went outside to keep from getting wet. Dan makes the bed when it is his turn to do it—and when it is my turn, I don’t, you know. The dog is not a good hunter, and he isn’t worth shucks to watch—but he scratches up the dirt floor of the cabin, and catches flies, and makes himself generally useful in the way of washing dishes. Dan gets up first in the morning and makes a fire—and I get up last and sit by it, while he cooks breakfast. We have a cold lunch at noon, and I cook supper—very much against my will. However, one must have one good meal a day, and if I were to live on Dan’s abominable cookery, I should lose my appetite, you know. Dan attended Dr. Chorpenning’s funeral yesterday, and he felt as though he ought to wear a white shirt—and we had a jolly good time finding such an article. We turned over all our traps, and he found one at last—but I shall always think it was suffering from yellow fever. He also found an old black coat, greasy, and wrinkled to that degree that it appeared to have been quilted at some time or other. In this gorgeous costume he attended the funeral. And when he returned, his own dog drove him away from the cabin, not recognizing him. This is true.

You would not like to live in a country where flour was $40 a barrel? Very well, then, I suppose you would not like to live here, where flour was $100 a barrel when I first came here. And shortly afterwards, it couldn’t be had at any price—and for one month the people lived on barley, beans and beef—and nothing beside. Oh, no—we didn’t luxuriate then! Perhaps not. But we said wise and severe things about the vanity and wickedness of high living. We preached our doctrine and practised it. Which course I respectfully recommend to the clergymen of St. Louis.

Where is Beck Jolly? and Bixby?

Your Brother

       Sam

[MTL 1: 235-6]. Notes: Daniel H. Twing, one of Sam’s mining partner. On Feb. 18, 1863, Clemens gave Twing a special power of attorney over his mining interests. Clemens and Twing, were partners in the Clemens Gold and Silver Mining Co. Dr. F. Chorpenning was shot by William Pooler on July 28 “for being too attentive” to Pooler’s estranged wife [n.4].

 

August, late – Sam arrived at the Virginia City Enterprise, a “small rickety frame building at the corner of A Street and Sutton Avenue,” [Fatout, MT in VC 11] (later a large brick building on C Street) to take the [ page 112 ] job. According to Paine, Sam claimed he walked the 130 miles from Aurora and arrived in the afternoon of a “hot, dusty August day” and drawled to Denis E. McCarthy (1840-1885) one of the owners:

 

“My starboard leg seems to be unshipped. I’d like about one hundred yards of line; I think I am falling to pieces. I want to see Mr. Barstow, or Mr. Goodman. My name is Clemens, and I’ve come to write for the paper” [MTB 205].

 

Powers claims Sam’s first words at the Enterprise were, “Dang my buttons, if I don’t believe I’m lousy” [MT A Life 110].

 

William R. Gillis (Billy) (1840-1929) remembered a third, quite long, and different exchange in his 1930, Gold Rush Days with Mark Twain.

 

Whatever Sam uttered, William Wright (1829-1898), no middle initial, according to Joe Goodman to Paine, Apr. 5, 1912, (The Twainian July-Aug 1956 p4), a celebrity known in ink as Dan De Quille (sometimes written as Dan De Quille) was appointed the task of getting Sam settled in town. Dan and Sam became fast friends and later roommates.

 

Note: As for Sam’s “Long Walk,” Such an effort seems out of character. The route would have taken Sam through Carson City; some traffic was on the road; it’s probable Sam got a lift for at least part of the journey. Fatout agrees:

“He always maintained that he was too hard up to afford stage fare, hence walked the whole way. But he was generally averse to walking when he could ride, and the road was well traveled by many ore wagons plying between Aurora and Carson City. It is hard to believe that sociable drivers did not offer him a lift” [MT in VC 7].

 

Fatout also lists the Enterprise reporters: Dan De Quille, Captain Joe Plunkett, Rollin M. Daggett (1831-1901), Charles A.V. Putnam (b.1823?), Howard P. Taylor “and others.” Joe Goodman, “a versatile writer with a reputation as a poet, handled his temperamental employees with a loose rein that was good for both staff and paper. The efficient business management of Dennis (Jerry) Driscoll (1823-1876) made profits roll in. Organization was more big-city than that of any other Western paper outside of San Francisco, and pungent writers gave the Enterprise a virility and humor that made it popular, prosperous, and influential” [11]. Note: Putnam’s reminiscence of the Enterprise days ran in the Salt Lake City Tribune, April 25, 1898.

 

September 9 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Aurora, California/Nevada Territory to Billy Clagett, congratulating him on being elected to represent Humboldt County in the Territorial Legislature. Most of his letter deals with “the disgusting subject” of the Civil War and its losses. In part:

 

For more than two weeks I have been slashing around in the White Mountain District, partly for pleasure and partly for other reasons. And old Van Horn was in the party. He knows your daddy and the whole family, and every old citizen of Keokuk. He left there in ’53. He built parson Hummer’s Pavilion—and parson Williams’ house, and a dozen others. He says he used to go with your father when he stumped the district, and sing campaign songs. He is a comical old cuss, and can keep a camp alive with fun when he chooses. We had rare good times out there fishing for trout and hunting. I mean to go out there again before long.

I saw a man last June who swore that he knew of rich placer diggings within 100 miles of Humboldt City. What became of our placers, that we intended to visit last May?

Have you still a good opinion of those claims in Santa Clara?

Billy, I can’t stand another winter in this climate, unless I am obliged to. I have a sneaking notion of going down to the Colorado mines 2 months from now.  [ page 113 ]

Remember me to Dad [Cornbury S. Tillou] and the boys.

Enclosed please find that power of Attorney.

Times have never grown brisk here until this week. I don’t think much of the camp—not as much as I did. Old fashioned winter & snow lasted until the middle of June.

Your old friend

Sam L C

[MTL 1: 238]. Note: William Van Horn, age about 42 at this time.

 

September 16 Tuesday – Sam’s article, “ANOTHER INNOCENT MAN KILLED,” appeared in the Territorial Enterprise. Since the shooting was on Sunday and the paper did not print on Mondays, Marleau thinks this Tuesday was “likely the first day Samuel L. Clemens reported for the Territorial Enterprise” [“Some Early” 12].

 

October 1 Wednesday – “The Indian Troubles on the Overland Route,” attributed to Sam, ran in the Local Column of the Enterprise. The article was about an Indian attack on emigrants [Fatout, MT in VC 12]. Sam later mentioned such an exaggerated approach to the news in his first days on the paper. Nearly all copies of the Enterprise for the period Sam worked there have been lost, but many papers in the West borrowed and reprinted from other newspapers. This article was reprinted on Oct. 5 by the Marysville, California, Daily Appeal. [Fatout, MT Speaks 1-4]. Also, attributed, in the LOCAL COLUMN:

A GALE. – About 7 o’clock Tuesday evening (Sept. 30th) a sudden blast of wind picked up a shooting gallery, two lodging houses and a drug store from their tall wooden stilts and set them down again some ten or twelve feet back of their original location, with such a degree of roughness as to jostle their insides into a sort of chaos. There were many guests in the lodging houses at the time of the accident, but it is pleasant to reflect that they seized their carpet sacks and vacated the premises with an alacrity suited to the occasion. No one hurt [ET&S 1: 389].

October 2–6 Monday – From the Enterprise:

 

LOCAL COLUMN

 

Translated – If a man’s sign blowing heavenward is a proof of it, than Justice Atwill was translated yesterday, and is doubtless holding Court in Paradise this morning for his shingle, bearing the legend “Justice,” was seen sailing over the Summit of Mount Davidson [Marleau, “Some Early” 12].

 

October 4 Saturday – The hoax known as “The Petrified Man” ran in the Enterprise, and was re-printed by many newspapers in the West—some swallowed it whole, and some, after a few days, saw the joke [Fatout, MT Speaks 4; Mack 213].

 

PETRIFIED MAN

A petrified man was found some time ago in the mountains south of Gravelly Ford. Every limb and feature of the stony mummy was perfect, not even excepting the left leg, which has evidently been a wooden one during the lifetime of the owner – which lifetime, by the way, came to a close about a century ago, in the opinion of a savan who has examined the defunct. The body was in a sitting posture, and leaning against a huge mass of croppings; the attitude was pensive, the right thumb resting against the side of the nose; the left thumb partially supported the chin, the fore-finger pressing the inner corner of the left eye and drawing it partly open; the right eye was closed, and the fingers of the right hand spread apart. This strange freak of nature created a profound sensation in the vicinity, and our informant states that by request, Justice Sewell or Sowell, of Humboldt City, at once proceeded to the spot and held an inquest on the body. The verdict of the jury was that “deceased came to his death from protracted exposure,” etc. The people of the neighborhood volunteered to bury the poor unfortunate, and were even anxious to do so; but it was discovered, when they attempted to remove him, that the water which had dripped upon him for ages from the crag above, had coursed down his back and deposited a limestone sediment under him which had glued him to the bed rock [ page 114 ] upon which he sat, as with a cement of adamant, and Judge S. refused to allow the charitable citizens to blast him from his position. The opinion expressed by his Honor that such a course would be little less than sacrilege, was eminently just and proper. Everybody goes to see the stone man, as many as three hundred having visited the hardened creature during the past five or six weeks [ET&S 1: 159].

 

In other words, the petrified man was thumbing his nose at Sam’s readers. It’s a wonder anyone took this “find” seriously, but many did! Note: Budd lists four newspaper reprintings from Oct. 9 to 18, “which appear to be derived independently from the Territorial Enterprise printing” [“Collected” 1001].

 

October 12 Sunday – Orion’s wife Mollie arrived in Carson City with their seven-year-old daughter, Jennie Clemens, after a steamer trip to San Francisco a week before. Sam was still in Virginia City [MTL 1: 242n1].

 

October 13–16 Thursday – An article of Sam’s, title missing, appeared in the Enterprise:

William Young of Long Valley arrived in Virginia, lately, with a drove of cattle, sold the same, and put the proceeds in his saddlebags and the saddlebags on his horse. He then adjourned to the dance house, and having partaken of the sinful pleasures of that place, he came back and found that somebody had carried off saddlebags, money and all during his absence. The fact of his leaving the horse and saddlebags lying around loose in the street at night is sufficient proof of Young’s confidence in the honesty of our citizens and the fact that the thief didn’t take the horse also when he took the money, is sufficient proof that that confidence was not entirely misplaced [Marleau, “Some Early” 12]. Note: Text recovered by Marleau from Sacramento Daily Union, Oct. 17 1862.

October 20 Monday – Mollie Clemens and daughter and Jennie arrived in San Francisco and were met by Orion. They left immediately for Carson [MTP card file quotes Mack]. Sam was aware of their arrival, as he wrote to them the next day.

 

October 21 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Virginia City to Orion & Mollie about how he made up the story “Petrified Man?” which several newspapers took as an actual scientific discovery. “I got it up to worry Sewall,” he wrote. G.T. Sewall was a judge of Humboldt County who was antagonistic toward Sam, probably over some governmental duties of Orion, and had withheld information from reporters in an officious and irritating way [MTL 1: 241].

 

October, late – Sam wrote up his visit to the Spanish Mine and it was published in the Enterprise as “The Spanish Mine.” No copies of the Enterprise for that time are extant, but estimates from reprints make this time probable. An excerpt:

 

THE SPANISH MINE

This comprises one hundred feet of the great Comstock lead, and is situated in the midst of the Ophir claims. We visited it yesterday, in company with Mr. Kingman, Assistant Superintendent, and our impression is that stout-legged people with an affinity to darkness, may spend an hour or so there very comfortably. A confused sense of being buried alive, and a vague consciousness of stony dampness, and huge timbers, and tortuous caverns, and bottomless holes with endless ropes hanging down into them, and narrow ladders climbing in a short twilight through the colossal lattice work and suddenly perishing in midnight, and workmen poking about in the gloom with twinkling candles—is all, or nearly all that remains to us of our experience in the Spanish mine [ET&S 1: 160-6].

 

November to December – Sam neglected his letter writing for this period and continued to work as a reporter for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise.

 [ page 115 ]

November 1–7 Friday – Local Column, Enterprise, two items from Sam: “Silver Bricks” and “Building Lots” (Text recovered by Michael Marleau from reprinting in The Mining and Scientific Press of Nov. 8, 1862) [Marleau, “Some Early” 12].

November 1–10 Monday – Sam follows up: LOCAL COLUMN

THE PETRIFIED MAN. – Mr. Herr Weisnicht has just arrived in Virginia City from the Humboldt mines and regions beyond. He brings with him the head and one foot of the petrified man, lately found in the mountains near Gravelly Ford. A skillful assayer has analyzed a small portion of dirt found under the nail of the great toe and pronounces the man to have been a native of the Kingdom of New Jersey. As a trace of “speculation” is still discernible in the left eye, it is thought the man was on his way to what is now the Washoe mining region for the purpose of locating the Comstock. The remains brought in are to be seen in a neat glass case in the third story of the Library Building, where they have been temporarily placed by Mr. Weisnicht for the inspection of the curious, and where they may be examined by any one who will take the trouble to visit them [ET&S 1: 392].

November 11 to December 20 Saturday – The second Territorial Legislature of Nevada was in session. Sam covered the session. According to Henry Nash Smith, “It is not clear how often he mailed dispatches back to Virginia City, but by bringing together two passages from his reminiscences one may infer that he sent a daily factual report and a weekly letter of a more personal and humorous cast” [34].

 

November 14 Friday – On the fourth day of the Legislative proceedings, The Speaker of the House announced as reporters entitled to seats, Clement T. Rice, of the Virginia City Daily Union; Samuel L. Clemens, Territorial Enterprise; and Andrew J. Marsh of the Sacramento Union [Marsh 451].

 

November 30 Sunday – Sam’s 27th birthday.

 

December 5 Friday – One of Sam’s weekly letters, “Letter from Carson City” was dated this day and printed sometime in December in the Enterprise [Smith 35]. The letter included: “Alford vs. Dewing,” “Internal Improvements,” and “Williams Map.” Sam was the “Committee” in the first extant weekly letter:

REPORT ON WILLIAMS MAP

Your committee, consisting of a solitary but very competent individual, to whom was referred Col. Williams’ road from a certain point to another place, would beg most respectfully to report:

Your committee has had under consideration said map.

The word map is derived from the Spanish word “mapa,” or the Portuguese word “mappa.” Says the learned lexicographer Webster, “in geography a map is a representation of the surface of the earth, or any part of it, drawn on paper or other material, exhibiting the lines of latitude and longitude, and the positions of countries, kingdoms, states, mountains, rivers, etc.”

Your committee, with due respect to the projector of the road in question, would designate what is styled in the report a map, an unnatural and diabolical scrawl, devoid of form, regularity or meaning.

Your committee has in times past witnessed the wild irregularity of the footprints of birds of prey upon a moist sea shore. Your committee was struck with the strong resemblance of the map under discussion to some one of said footprints.  [ page 116 ]

Your committee, during his juvenile days, has watched a frantic and indiscreet fly emerge from a pot or vase containing molasses; your committee has seen said fly alight upon a scrap of virgin paper, and leave thereon a wild medley of wretched and discordant tracks; your committee was struck with the wonderful resemblance of said fly-tracks to the map now before your committee.

Yet your committee believes that the map in question has some merit as an abstract hieroglyphic.

Your committee, therefore, recommends, the Council concurring, that the aforesaid map be photographed, and that one copy thereof, framed in sage brush, be hung over the Speaker’s chair, and that another copy be donated to the Council, to be suspended over the chair of the President of that body, as a memento of the artistic skill and graphic genius of one of our most distinguished members – a guide to all future Pi-Utes. All of which is respectfully submitted [Smith 37].

 

December 12 Friday – Another of Sam’s Weekly, “Letter from Carson City” was dated this day and printed sometime in December in the Enterprise [Smith 38].

 

The ladies have not smiled much on this Legislature, so far. Thirty-two of our loveliest visited the halls night before last, though, which is an encouraging symptom. I cannot conscientiously say they smiled, however, for the Revenue bill was before the House…The ladies were well pleased with the night session, though—they enjoyed it exceedingly—in many respects it was much superior to a funeral [Smith 41].

December 13–19 Friday – Sam’s article “The Pah-Utes” is published sometime between these dates in the Enterprise, and reprinted in the Marysville, California Appeal for Dec. 21.

THE PAH-UTES

Ah, well – it is touching to see these knotty and rugged old pioneers—who have beheld Nevada in her infancy, and toiled through her virgin sands unmolested by toll-keepers; and prospected her unsmiling hills, and knocked at the doors of her sealed treasure vaults; and camped with her horned-toads, and tarantulas and lizards, under her inhospitable sage brush; and smoked the same pipe; and imbibed lightning out of the same bottle; and eaten their regular bacon and beans from the same pot; and lain down to their rest under the same blanket—happy, and lousy and contented—yea, happier and lousier and more contented than they are this day, or may be in the days that are to come; it is touching, I say, to see these weather-beaten and blasted old patriarchs banding together like a decaying tribe, for the sake of the privations they have undergone, and the dangers they have met—to rehearse the deeds of the hoary past, and rescue its traditions from oblivion! The Pah-Ute Association will become a high and honorable order in the land—its certificate of membership a patent of nobility. I extend unto the fraternity the right hand of a poor but honest half-breed, and say God speed your sacred enterprise [ET&S 1: 170].

 

December 16 Tuesday ca. – An article attributed to Sam that was reprinted Dec. 18 in the Sacramento Daily Bee ran in the Enterprise. Sam was in Carson City and reported on the excitement of the hotly debated “corporation bill” which prohibited that “the majority of stock in all Nevada mining companies be owned by residents of the Territory, that company offices be established there, and that corporations formed under the laws of other states and territories be prohibited from doing business in Nevada” [Fatout, MT in VC 24]. Nevada miners were tired of seeing “Montgomery street speculators” play with their assets. Sam wrote:

 

Great excitement exists. Half the population is drunk—the balance will be before midnight. The flags are flying, and a general looseness prevails. Four hundred guns are now being fired on the Plaza [24]. Note: the bill was signed but later made of no effect.

 [ page 117 ]

December 19 Friday – By legislative act, Sam was made recording secretary of the Washoe Agricultural, Mining and Mechanical Society. The position paid $300 per year. He served until the completion of the society’s fair in Oct. 1863 [MTL 1: 266].

 

December 23 Tuesday – Sam’s article dated Dec. 23 ran in the Enterprise sometime later in the month. It was republished in the Placer Weekly Courier of Forest Hill, Placer County on Jan. 17, 1863.

A BIG THING IN WASHOE CITY OR THE GRAND BULL DRIVERS’ CONVENTION

Carson, Midnight December 23d.

Eds., Enterprise:

On the last night of the session, Hon. Thomas Hannah announced that a Grand Bull Drivers’ Convention would assemble in Washoe City, on the 22d, to receive Hon. Jim Sturtevant and the other members of the Washoe delegation. I journeyed to the place yesterday to see that the ovation was properly conducted. I traveled per stage. The Unreliable of the Union went also — for the purpose of distorting the facts. The weather was delightful. It snowed the entire day. The wind blew such a hurricane that the coach drifted sideways from one toll road to another, and sometimes utterly refused to mind her helm. It is a fearful thing to be at sea in a stagecoach. We were anxious to get to Washoe by four o’clock, but luck was against us: we were delayed by stress of weather; we were hindered by the bad condition of the various toll roads; we finally broke the after spring of the wagon, and had to lay up for repairs. Therefore we only reached Washoe at dusk. Messrs. Lovejoy, Howard, Winters, Sturtevant, and Speaker Mills had left Carson ahead of us, and we found them in the city. They had not beaten us much, however, as I could perceive by their upright walk and untangled conversation. At 6 P.M., the Carson City Brass Band, followed by the Committee of Arrangements, and the Chairman of the Convention, and the delegation, and the invited guests, and the citizens generally, and the hurricane, marched up one of the most principal streets, and filed in imposing procession into Foulke’s Hall. The delegation, and the guests, and the band, were provided with comfortable seats near the Chairman’s desk, and the constituency occupied the body-pews. The delegation and the guests stood up and formed a semicircle, and Mr. Gregory introduced them one at a time to the constituency. Mr. Gregory did this with much grace and dignity, albeit he affected to stammer and gasp, and hesitate, and look colicky, and miscall the names, and miscall them again by way of correcting himself, and grab desperately at invisible things in the air — all with a charming pretense of being scared.

… 

The supper and the champagne were excellent and abundant, and I offer no word of blame against anybody for eating and drinking pretty freely. If I were to blame anybody, I would commence with the Unreliable — for he drank until he lost all sense of etiquette. I actually found myself in bed with him with my boots on. However, as I said before, I cannot blame the cuss; it was a convivial occasion, and his little shortcomings ought to be overlooked. When I went to bed this morning, Mr. Lovejoy, arrayed in fiery red night clothes, was dancing the war dance of his tribe (he is President of the Paiute Association) around a spittoon and Colonel Howard, dressed in a similar manner, was trying to convince him that he was a humbug. A suspicion crossed my mind that they were partially intoxicated, but I could not be sure about it on account of everything appearing to turn around so. I left Washoe City this morning at nine o’clock, fully persuaded that I would like to go back there again when the next convention meets. [Mack. 224-27]. Note: John K. Lovejoy; Theodore Winters; others not identified.

 

December 27 Saturday – A. J. Simmons, later speaker of the house in the Nevada legislature, sold Sam ten feet in the Butte ledge, Tehema Mining Company for $1,000, and ten feet in the Kentucky ledge, Union Tunnel Company, both in Santa Clara district of Humboldt County [MTL 1: 278 n8]. Dan De Quille left Virginia City by overland stagecoach as planned for a nine-month visit to his home in Iowa. Benson writes that the expected absence of De Quille was one reason Barstow offered Sam a position [72]. It was feared by some that Dan would not return (see May 1, 1863 entry and the following Dec. 28).

 [ page 118 ]

December 28 Sunday – Sam’s article, “The Illustrious Departed,” ran in the Enterprise:

 

Old Dan is gone, that good old soul, we ne’er shall see him more — for some time. He left for Carson yesterday, to be duly stamped and shipped to America, by way of the United States Overland Mail. As the stage was on the point of weighing anchor, the senior editor dashed wildly into Wasserman’s and captured a national flag, which he cast about Dan’s person to the tune of three rousing cheers from the bystanders. So, with the gorgeous drapery floating behind him, our kind and genial hero passed from our sight; and if fervent prayers from us, who seldom pray, can avail, his journey will be as safe and happy as though ministering angels watched over him. Dan has gone to the States for his health, and his family. He worked himself down in creating big strikes in the mines and keeping all the mills in this district going, whether their owners were willing or not. These herculean labors gradually undermined his health, but he went bravely on, and we are proud to say that as far as these things were concerned, he never gave up — the miners never did, and never could have conquered him. He fell under a scarcity of pack-trains and hay wagons. These had been the bulwark of the local column; his confidence in them was like unto that which men have in four aces; murders, robberies, fires, distinguished arrivals, were creatures of chance, which might or might not occur at any moment; but the pack-trains and the hay-wagons were certain, predestined, immutable! When these failed last week, he said “Et tu Brute,” and gave us his pen. His constitution suddenly warped, split and went under, and Daniel succumbed. We have a saving hope, though, that his trip across the Plains, through eighteen hundred miles of cheerful hay stacks, will so restore our loved and lost to his ancient health and energy, that when he returns next fall he will be able to run our five hundred mills as easily as he used to keep five-score moving. Dan is gone, but he departed in a blaze of glory, the like of which hath hardly been seen upon this earth since the blameless Elijah went up in his fiery chariot [ET&S 1: 171-4].

 

December 30 Tuesday – Sam’s Local Column was published in the Enterprise: “Board of Education,” “Blown Down,” “At Home,” “The School,” “Sad Accident,” “Thrilling Romance,” “Fire Almost,” “Private Party,” and “Our Stock Remarks”:

 

Owing to the fact that our stock reporter attended a wedding last evening, our report of transactions in that branch of robbery and speculation is not quite as complete and satisfactory as usual this morning [ET&S 1: 175-6].

1862 or 1863 – 16th of unidentified month – Enterprise item by Sam. No title.

There is a rumor on the streets yesterday that there was a party of guerrillas somewhere in the vicinity of the Sink of the Carson, 500 strong. They are said to be well armed, having with them two or three batteries of artillery. The story goes that two of their number deserted and gave information of their whereabouts, etc., to Gov. Nye and that the Governor is now taking measures to squelch ‘em. We think their numbers are underrated: it is our firm belief that there are at least 50,000 guerrillas to every acre of ground about the Sink in the shape of mosquitos and gailinippers [Marleau, “Some Early” 11].

[Text recovered by Michael Marleau from reprinting in unidentified newspaper clipping. Reprinted in Mark Twain Journal, Fall 2004, 12]


 [ page 119 ]
Busy Reporter & Local Editor – “Mark Twain” & “Unreliable”

 Bohemian of the Sagebrush – Lingering in S.F. – Burned out Sam – Mineral Baths

 Bloody Massacre – Constitutional Convention – Third House – Artemus

 

1863 or 1864 – An article (title lost) describing the clergymen in Virginia City appeared in the Enterprise [Schmidt].

Text Box: January 1, 1863 
Lincoln Issued  
Emancipation Proclamation

 

 

 

 

January 1 Thursday – “More Ghosts” ran in the Local Column of the Enterprise. The item spoofs through objection an article that appeared in the paper in the last week of Dec., 1862 about a “haunted house” on E Street in Virginia City: “Are we to be scared to death every time we venture into the street? May we be allowed to quietly go about our business, or are we to be assailed at every corner by fearful apparitions?” [ET&S 1: 177-8]. Also published:

NEW YEAR’S DAY

Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink, and swore his last oath. To-day, we are a pious and exemplary community. Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever. We shall also reflect pleasantly upon how we did the same old thing last year about this time. However, go in, community. New Year’s is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls, and humbug resolutions, and we wish you to enjoy it with a looseness suited to the greatness of the occasion [ET&S 1: 180].

January 1–9 Friday – Sam’s article SULPHUR DEPOSIT appeared sometime between these dates in the Enterprise.

L. Dow Huntsman who reached Carson on Monday from Humboldt county, brought to the office several specimens of pure sulphur with him, which had been taken from a small mountain of that material, situated about twenty miles west of Unionville. That locality may be in close proximity to the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, and it may not. Yet we are of the opinion that this item will change the destination of a good many moderate Christians who are now preparing to emigrate to Humboldt. However, it will give the regulars a better chance than they generally have in mining regions [Marleau, “Some Early” 12]

[Text recovered by Michael Marleau from reprintings in Sacramento Daily Union of January 10, 1863 and The Mining and Scientific Press of January 19, 1863.]

January 4 Sunday – one item about the Storey Ball, “Election,” “Public School,” “New Years Extension,” “Supreme Court,” “Ball in Carson,” “Mass,” “Fireman’s Meeting,” and “Recorder’s Court.”

NEW YEARS EXTENSION. — Yesterday was New Years Day for the ladies. We kept open house, and were called upon by seventy-two ladies — all young and handsome. This stunning popularity is pleasant to reflect upon, but we are afraid some people will think it prevented us from scouting for local matters with our usual avidity. This is a mistake; if anything had happened within the county limits yesterday, those ladies would have mentioned it [ET&S 1: 396-8]. [ page 120 ]

January 6 Tuesday – Sam’s Enterprise Local Column: “Free Fight,” “Humbolt Stocks,” “Jno. D. Kinney,” “Milstead,” “Board of Education” [ET&S 1: 399].

 

January 7 Wednesday – Sam attended the Odd Fellow’s Ball in Gold Hill. His hat was stolen [ET&S 1: 181]. In his Apr. 6, 1906 Autobiographical Dictation, Clemens likely recalled the ball for this day. Relating being in Washington Square, NYC and running into a woman on the street who recognized him:

 

I had known only one Etta Booth in my lifetime, and that one rose before me in an instant, and vividly. It was almost as if she stood alongside of this fat little antiquated dame in the bloom and diffidence and sweetness of her thirteen years, her hair in plaited braids down her back and her fire-red frock stopping short at her knees. Indeed I remembered Etta very well. And immediately another vision rose before me, with that child in the centre of it and accenting its sober tint like a torch with her red frock. … The scene was a great ball-room in some ramshackle building in Gold Hill or Virginia City, Nevada. There were two or three hundred stalwart men present and dancing with cordial energy. And in the midst of the turmoil Etta’s crimson frock was swirling and flashing; and she was the only dancer of her sex on the floor. Her mother, large, fleshy, pleasant and smiling, sat on a bench against the wall in lonely and honored state and watched the festivities in placid contentment. She and Etta were the only persons of their sex in the ball-room. Half of the men represented ladies, and they had a handkerchief tied around the left arm so that they could be told from the men. I did not dance with Etta, for I was a lady myself. I wore a revolver in my belt, and so did all the other ladies—likewise the gentlemen. It was a dismal old barn of a place, and was lighted from end to end by tallow-candle chandeliers made of barrel-hoops suspended from the ceiling, and the grease dripped all over us [AMT 2: 24]. Note: see Sept. 10, 1877 to Etta.

 

 January 8 Thursday – The Enterprise printed Sam’s article, “Unfortunate Thief,” excoriating the man who stole his hat at the Gold Hill Ball.

 

We have been suffering from the seven years’ itch for many months. It is probably the most aggravating disease in the world. It is contagious. That man has commenced a career of suffering which is frightful to contemplate; there is no cure for the distemper—it must run its course; there is no respite for its victim, and but little alleviation of its torments to be hoped for; the unfortunate’s only resource is to bathe in sulphur and molasses and let his finger nails grow. Further advice is unnecessary—instinct will prompt him to scratch [ET&S 1: 182].

 

The Sanitary Commission also held a ball in Virginia City that Sam attended [ET&S 1: 183].

 

January 10 Saturday – Sam’s Enterprise Local Column: “Due Notice,” “New Court House,” “Music,” and “The Sanitary Ball”:

 

We were feeling comfortable, and we had assumed an attitude—we have a sort of talent for posturing—a pensive attitude, copied from the Colossus of Rhodes—when the ladies were ordered to the center. Two of them got there, and the other two moved off elegantly, but they failed to make a connection. They suddenly broached to under full headway, and there was a sound of parting canvas. Their dresses were anchored under our boots, you know. It was unfortunate, but it could not be helped. Those two beautiful pink dresses let go amidships, and remained in a ripped and damaged condition to the end of the ball. We did not apologize, because our presence of mind happened to be absent at the very moment that we had the greatest need of it. But we beg permission to do so now.

 

 “Due Notice” was a pun about the Czar of Russia [ET&S 1: 185-9].

 

January 11–21 Wednesday – Sam’s Enterprise Local Column: “The High Price of Pork” [ET&S 1: 401]. Two litigants spent six or seven hundred dollars litigating ownership of two pigs worth perhaps twenty dollars.

 [ page 121 ]

January 15 Thursday – Sam’s article “A Big Thing in Washoe City” ran about this day in the Enterprise, and two days later in the Placer Weekly Courier [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

January 23? Friday – Sam’s article “A Sunday in Carson” about a murder ran on this date in the Enterprise [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

January 28 Wednesday – Sam sat up all night to take the stage to Carson City where he spent the first week of February. Between Jan. 22 and Jan. 28 he wrote “Territorial Sweets” which appeared in the Enterprise [ET&S 1: 190].

 

January 31 Saturday – Sam was in Carson City to send news back to the Territorial Enterprise. He sent at least three letters back, including the first article known to be signed “Mark Twain” [MTL 1: 245-6]. Throughout his life, Sam stuck to the story that he’d taken the name from Captain Isaiah Sellers, but researchers have never found any use of that name by Sellers. Another story ascribes the name to a barroom handle given to Sam when he ordered two drinks on credit. Of course, the term was a steamboat designation for twelve feet of water, barely enough for passage of a large steamboat. It was a call often heard on the river, and one Sam would have heard many times as a boy.

 

Notes: For an interesting and in-depth analysis of how Sam acquired his pseudonym, see Cardwell’s “Samuel Clemens’ Magical Pseudonym,” The New England Quarterly (June, 1975) p 175-93. Cardwell notes that the date given by Paine in the Biography and widely used, Feb. 2, 1863 is “almost surely wrong.” At the 2013 Mark Twain Convention in Elmira, Kevin Mac Donnell presented another theory, that of the “Mark Twain” name being in the Jan. 26, 1861 Vanity Fair article of “Phunny Phellow” that Twain could have seen in 1861 or, more likely at Carson in 1863, where copies of comedy sketches were archived and sometimes used as filler for local papers. Did Sam see the article? If so, did he decide to use it as his “brand” without disclosing the source? Years later he falsely claimed it was used by Capt. Isaiah Sellers after his death, but no evidence of Sellers using the handle has been found and Sam’s first known use of the name was a year before Seller’s death. For Mac Donnell’s full report see [Bibliography Number 6, Mark Twain Journal Spring/Fall 2012 50: 1 & 2, pp. 9-47].

 

Sam probably finished this third known “Letter from Carson City,” on this date, first using “Mark Twain” [ET&S 1: 192]. Painting a hilarious scene of a party at the Governor’s house, Sam thwacked the “Unreliable” mercilessly:

 

…he eluded me and planted himself at the piano; when he opened his cavernous mouth and displayed his slanting and scattered teeth, the effect upon that convivial audience was as if the gates of a graveyard, with its crumbling tombstones, had been thrown open in their midst… [Smith 52].

 

February 3 Tuesday – The article “Letter from Carson City,” signed, “Yours, dreamily, Mark Twain” ran in the Enterprise. This is the first article so signed. In this piece Sam pokes fun at his rival, Clement T. Rice, the “Unreliable” [MTL 1: 246].

EDS. ENTERPRISE: I feel very much as if I had just awakened out of a long sleep. I attribute it to the fact that I have slept the greater part of the time for the last two days and nights. On Wednesday, I sat up all night, in Virginia, in order to be up early enough to take the five o’clock stage on Thursday morning. I was on time. It was a great success. I had a cheerful trip down to Carson, in company with that incessant talker, Joseph T. Goodman. I never saw him flooded with such a flow of spirits before. He restrained his conversation, though, until we had traveled three or four miles, and were just crossing the divide between Silver City and Spring Valley, when he thrust his head out of the dark stage, and allowed a pallid light from the coach lamp to illuminate his features for a moment, after which he returned to darkness again, and sighed and said, “Damn it!” with some asperity. I asked him who he meant it for, and he said, “The weather out there.” As we approached Carson, at about half past seven o’clock, he thrust his head out again, and gazed earnestly in the direction of that city — after which he took it in again, with his nose very much frosted. He propped the end [ page 122 ] of that organ upon the end of his finger, and looked down pensively upon it — which had the effect of making him appear cross-eyed — and remarked, “O, damn it!” with great bitterness. I asked him what he was up to this time, and he said, “The cold, damp fog — it is worse than the weather.” This was his last. He never spoke again in my hearing. He went on over the mountains, with a lady fellow-passenger from here. That will stop his clatter, you know, for he seldom speaks in the presence of ladies [ET&S 1: 194-8].

Sam wrote another, “Letter from Carson,” which was printed on Feb. 5.

 

February 5 Thursday – Sam’s “Letter from Carson” ran in the Enterprise and included: Sturtevant & Curry wedding, a murder case, and mining companies, and “The Unreliable”:

 

…I even felt like doing the Unreliable a kindness, and showing him, too, how my feelings toward him had changed. So I went and bought him a beautiful coffin, and carried it up and set it down on his bed, and told him to climb in when his time was up. Well, sir, you never saw a man so affected by a little act of kindness as he was by that. He let off a sort of war-whoop, and went to kicking things about like a crazy man, and he foamed at the mouth, and went out of one fit and into another faster than I could take them down in my note-book. I have got thirteen down, though, and I know he must have had two or three before I could find my pencil [ET&S 1: 202].

 

February 6 Friday – Another “Letter from Carson” [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

February 8 Sunday – Another “Letter from Carson,” headed “Thursday Morning,” (Feb. 5) was published in the Enterprise.

“The ways of the Unreliable are past finding out…I never saw such an awkward, ungainly lout in my life. He had on a pair of Jack Wilde’s pantaloons, and a swallow-tail coat…and they fitted him as neatly as an elephant’s hide would fit a poodle” [ET&S 1: 207-8].

 

February 9 Monday – “Isreal Putnam” (likely a pseudonym) wrote to Sam, referring to his new pen name.

 

Mark Twain: I received so good a compliment for you this morning that I am bound to communicate it to you. John Nugent inquired of me who Mark Twain was, and added that he had not seen so amusing a thing in newspaper literature in a long while as your letter in the Enterprise this morning. I gave him an account of you “so far as I knew.” I suppose you know that Nugent was John Phoenix’s most intimate friend. While we were talking about you, Mr. Nugent showed me an unpublished letter of the great humorist who is now in heaven.

      I didn’t suppose it was necessary for me to write this to you but I thought I would, because praise from Nugent is “praise from Sir Hubert Stanley,” as it were. (Oh! the last three words are original with me, you know.) But considering the critique of the Union on you the other day, I thought I would administer to you a strengthening plaster, if you felt like weakening, you know. / Yours, hoping you will not weaken, / “Isreal Putnam” [MTP].

 

Notes: likely a reaction to Sam’s Feb. 8 to the Enterprise. Charles A.V. Putnam was a colleague on the paper, and this may be from him. The Enterprise was not published on Mondays, so the reference may refer to Feb. 8 letter, in which Twain wrote of the “Unreliable,” Clement T. Rice of the Union making an ass of himself at a wedding (so it’s possible Rice sent this letter). John Nugent (1821-1880), former owner-editor of the S.F. Herald; John Phoenix was the pen name of George Derby (1823-1861); the Stanley phrase came from a play by Thomas Morton (1764-1838) and was commonly used during the late 1800s. Twain used the phrase himself in his May 3, 1907 note to Whitelaw Reid, upon replying to Reid’s cable announcing Twain’s honorary doctor of letters degree. See entry Vol IV.

 

February, early – Sam stayed in Carson City for about a week, according to his Feb. 16 letter to his mother, and sister [MTL 1: 244]. [ page 123 ]

 

February 12 or 22 Sunday – Sam’s second visit to the Spanish Mine was written up and published in the Enterprise as “The Spanish” [ET&S 1: 160-1]. Sam threw in a verbal poke at his Union rival:

 

“…and by way of driving the proposition into heads like the Unreliable’s, which is filled with oysters instead of brains…” [ET&S 1: 167].

 

February 16 Monday – Sam wrote from Virginia City to his mother, Jane Clemens, and sister Pamela Moffett.

 

My Dr Mother & Sister:

I suppose I ought to write, but I hardly know what to write about. I am not in a very good humor, to-night. I wanted to rush down and take some comfort for a few days, in San Francisco, but there is no one here now, to take my place. They let me go, about the first of the month, to stay twenty-four hours in Carson, and I staid a week. Perhaps they haven’t much confidence in me now. If they have, I am proud to say it is misplaced. I am very well satisfied here. They pay me six dollars a day, and I make 50 per cent. profit by only doing three dollars’ worth of work.

Well, I have no news to report, unless it will interest you to know that they “struck it rich[”] in the “Burnside” ledge last night. The stock was worth ten dollars a foot this morning. It sells at a hundred to-night. I don’t own it, Madam, though I might have owned several hundred feet of it yesterday, you know, & I assure [you] I would, if I had known they were going to “strike it.” None of us are prophets, though. However, I take an absorbing delight in the stock market. I love to watch the prices go up. My time will come after a while, & then I’ll rob somebody. I pick up a foot or two occasionally for lying about somebody’s mine. I shall sell out one of these days, when I catch a susceptible emigrant. If Orion writes you a crazy letter about the “Emma Gold & Silver Mining Company,” pay no attention to it. It is rich, but he owns very little stock in it. If he gets an eighth share in the adjoining company, though let him blow. It will be all right. He may never get it, however.

What do you show my letters for? Can’t you let me tell a lie occasionally to keep my hand in for the public, without exposing me?

I advertised for Mrs. Hubbard’s brother & David Anderson’s son. Mr. Dreschler called on me two days afterward. He was in robust health; lives in Steamboat Valley, near here; I promised to visit him. He owns ranch & city property, & is well off. Mr. Ellison called on me the same day. He said John Anderson was on his ranch at the Sink of the Carson, 60 miles from here. Anderson will return to St. Louis in the Spring to go to the wars. I sent him some late St. Louis, Louisville and New Orleans papers, & promised to visit him some day. Remember me kindly to Mrs. Hubbard & Fannie.

Pamela, you do not say whether you are getting well or not? I think you will have to spend next Summer at the Fountain of Youth—the fabled spring which the weary Spaniards sought with such a hopeful yearning, and never found. But I have found it, and it is Lake Bigler. No foul disease may hope to live in the presence of such beauty as that. I send the paper to Moffett & Scroter every day; you will find in it all that you do not find in my letters.

I inclose a picture for Margaret Sexton. Had your letter arrived a little sooner, I could have sent it to her myself, as a Valentine.

Yrs affctnly

Sam. L. Clemens

Remember me to all [MTL 1: 244-5].

 

Note from source notes #4: “William H. C. Nash of Hannibal (b. 1829) was a childhood friend of Clemens’s and brother of Mary Nash Hubbard. Nash emigrated to the West in 1849 and remained twenty years, after which he returned to Hannibal and became a merchant; in later years he was city assessor and president of the board of education (Greene, 281; Hannibal Courier-Post, 6 Mar 1935, 7B). None of the other people mentioned in this paragraph has been identified.”

 [ page 124 ]

February 17–22 Sunday – “Silver Bars—How Assayed,” ran in the Enterprise. Branch calls this sketch “a good example of Clemens’ capacity to assimilate technical information to his humorous vision, transforming it yet also presenting the facts in a reasonably intelligent way” [ET&S 1: 210].

 

February 17–26 Thursday – Sam’s item in the Enterprise Local Column:

 

APOLOGETIC. — We are always happy to apologize to a man when we do him an injury. We have wounded William Smiley’s feelings, and we will heal them up again or bust. We said in yesterday’s police record that Bill (excuse the familiarity, William,) was drunk. We lied. It is our opinion that Sam Wetherill did, too, for he gave us the statement. We have gleaned the facts in the case, though, from William himself, and at his request we hasten to apologize. His offense was mildness itself. He only had a pitched battle with another man, and resisted an officer. That was all. Come up, William, and take a drink [ET&S 1: 408]. Note: Samuel Earl Wetherill (b.1838?).

 

February 18 Wednesday – Sam assigned a “special power of attorney” over his mining interests to Daniel H. Twing [MTL 1: 237n2].

 

February 19 Thursday – “Ye Sentimental Law Student,” dated Feb. 14 ran in the Enterprise. Joe Goodman claimed this was the first use of the signature “Mark Twain,” so he may not have known about the Feb. 3 letter. The article is a parody of poetic excess in description of what was not viewable even from the top of the mountains around Virginia City—all laid at the feet of the “Unreliable”  [ET&S 1: 215-9]. Sam’s Local Column included: “LaPlata Ore Company,” “Concert,” and:

THE CHINA TRIAL. — We were there, yesterday, not because we were obliged to go, but just because we wanted to. The more we see of this aggravated trial, the more profound does our admiration for it become. It has more phases than the moon has in a chapter of the almanac. It commenced as an assassination; the assassinated man neglected to die, and they turned it into assault and battery; after this the victim did die, whereupon his murderers were arrested and tried yesterday for perjury; they convicted one Chinaman, but when they found out it was the wrong one, they let him go — and why they should have been so almighty particular is beyond our comprehension; then, in the afternoon, the officers went down and arrested Chinatown again for the same old offense, and put it in jail — but what shape the charge will take this time, no man can foresee: the chances are that it will be about a stand-off between arson and robbing the mail. Capt. White hopes to get the murderers of the Chinaman hung one of these days, and so do we, for that matter, but we do not expect anything of the kind. You see, these Chinamen are all alike, and they cannot identify each other. They mean well enough, and they really show a disinterested anxiety to get some of their friends and relatives hung, but the same misfortune overtakes them every time: they make mistakes and get the wrong man, with unvarying accuracy. With a zeal in behalf of justice which cannot be too highly praised, the whole Chinese population have accused each other of this murder, each in his regular turn, but fate is against them. They cannot tell each other apart. There is only one way to manage this thing with strict equity: hang the gentle Chinamen promiscuously, until justice is satisfied [ET&S 1: 402-3].

 

February 22 Sunday – Sam left Carson City [ET&S 1: 221].

 

February 23 Monday – Sam attended the Firemen’s Ball at Topliffe’s Theater on North C Street in Virginia City [ET&S 1: 223]. The next day, Clement T. Rice (“The Unreliable”) of the Virginia Daily Union wrote:

 

“Mark Twain was at the Fireman’s ball last night dressed in a most ridiculous manner. He had on a linen coat, calf-skin vest, and a pair of white pants, the whole set off with a huge pair of Buffalo shoes and lemon-colored kids” [Marleau, “Some Early” 13].

 

February 24–March 31 Tuesday – “A Sunday in Carson” ran in the Enterprise: [ page 125 ]

 

I arrived in this noisy and bustling town of Carson at noon to-day, per Langton’s express. We made pretty good time from Virginia, and might have made much better, but for Horace Smith, Esq., who rode on the box seat and kept the stage so much by the head she wouldn’t steer. I went to church, of course, — I always go to church when I — when I go to church — as it were. I got there just in time to hear the closing hymn, and also to hear the Rev. Mr. White give out a long metre doxology, which the choir tried to sing to a short-metre tune. But there wasn’t music enough to go around: consequently, the effect was rather singular, than otherwise. They sang the most interesting parts of each line, though, and charged the balance to “profit and loss;” this rendered the general intent and meaning of the doxology considerably mixed, as far as the congregation were concerned, but inasmuch as it was not addressed to them, anyhow, I thought it made no particular difference.

 

By an easy and pleasant transition, I went from church to jail. It was only just down stairs — for they save men eternally in the second story of the new court house, and damn them for life in the first. Sheriff Gasherie has a handsome double office fronting on the street, and its walls are gorgeously decorated with iron convict-jewelry. In the rear are two rows of cells, built of bomb-proof masonry and furnished with strong iron doors and resistless locks and bolts. There was but one prisoner — Swayze, the murderer of Derickson — and he was writing; I do not know what his subject was, but he appeared to be handling it in a way which gave him great satisfaction… [ET&S 1: 222]. Note: D.J. Gasherie

 

February 25 Wednesday – Sam’s Local Column in the Enterprise included: “The Unreliable,” a continuing mock attack on his rival at the Virginia Union, Clement T. Rice, in answer to his article of Feb. 24 on Sam’s dress:

 

“This poor miserable outcast crowded himself into the Firemen’s Ball, night before last, and glared upon the happy scene with his evil eye for a few minutes. He had his coat buttoned up to his chin, which is the way he always does when he has no shirt on” [ET&S 1: 225].

 

Also in the column: “Many Citizens,” “Small Pox,” “School-House,” “Trial To-Day,” “District Court,” “Suicide,” and “Telegraphic” [ET&S 1: 404-7].

 

February 26 Thursday – Sam printed a mock obituary, which Fatout calls “round one” in the trumped-up feud between Sam and his rival, Clement T. Rice, named by Sam “The Unreliable.” (Earlier jabs at Rice had been made, however). It was reprinted in the Marysville Daily Appeal on Feb. 28.

 

REPORTORIAL

He became a newspaper reporter, and crushed Truth to earth and kept her there; he bought and sold his own notes, and never paid his board; he pretended great friendship for [William] Gillespie, in order to get to sleep with him; then he took advantage of his bed fellow and robbed him of his glass eye and his false teeth; of course he sold the articles, and Gillespie was obliged to issue more county scrip than the law allowed, in order to get them back again; the Unreliable broke into my trunk at Washoe City, and took jewelry and fine clothes and things, worth thousands and thousands of dollars; he was present, without invitation, at every party and ball and wedding which transpired in Carson during thirteen years. But the last act of his life was the crowning meanness of it: I refer to the abuse of me in the Virginia Union of last Saturday, and also to a list of Langton’s stage passengers sent to the same paper by him, wherein my name appears between those of “Sam Chung” and “Sam Lee.” This is his treatment of me, his benefactor. That malicious joke was his dying atrocity. During thirteen years he played himself for a white man: he fitly closed his vile career by trying to play me for a Chinaman. He is dead and buried now, though: let him rest, let him rot. Let his vices be forgotten, but let his virtues be remembered: it will not infringe much upon any man’s time.

MARK TWAIN. [ page 126 ]

P. S. — By private letters from Carson, since the above was in type, I am pained to learn that the Unreliable, true to his unnatural instincts, came to life again in the midst of his funeral sermon. and remains so to this moment. He was always unreliable in life — he could not even be depended upon in death. The shrouded corpse shoved the coffin lid to one side, rose to a sitting posture, cocked his eye at the minister and smilingly said, “O let up, Dominie, this is played out, you know — loan me two bits!” The frightened congregation rushed from the house, and the Unreliable followed them, with his coffin on his shoulder. He sold it for two dollars and a half, and got drunk at a “bit house” on the proceeds. He is still drunk [Fatout, MT Speaks 10; ET&S 1: 226-8].

Also, Sam’s article “From the Humboldt River Region” ran in the Enterprise about this date [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

February 27 Friday – Dennis Driscoll (1823-1876), bookkeeper for the Enterprise, wrote Dan De Quille about the paper being shorthanded and needing him to return from Iowa, where he’d gone to see family. Driscoll wrote that “Barstow had left our employ,” Joe Goodman had gone to San Francisco to meet his mother; Denis McCarthy had gone off to San Francisco to get married and might not return for a month.

 

“You see this leaves me alone. I am attending to business, with Charley Parker on the outside collecting. Biggs in Joe’s place editing and Sam Clemens localizing. Howard Taylor has returned and is foreman on the paper” [From the Collection of The James S. Copley Library, La Jolla, Calif.].

 

March or April – The Enterprise printed Sam’s humorous “Examination of Teachers”:

 

Under the head of ‘Object Teaching,’ we found some ten questions…We barely glanced at the list…when we felt great beads of perspiration starting out of our brow—our massive intellect oozing out. Happening to read a question like this, ‘Name four of the faculties of children that are earliest developed,’ we at once became anxious to get out of the room [ET&S 1: 232].

 

March 1–12 Thursday – Sam’s Local Column in the Enterprise:

 

CALICO SKIRMISH. – Five Spanish women, of unquestionable character, were arraigned before Judge Atwill yesterday, some as principals and some as accessories to a feminine fight of a bloodthirsty description in A street. It was proved that one of them drew a navy revolver and a bowie-knife and attempted to use them upon another of the party, but being prevented, she fired three shots through the floor, for the purpose of easing her mind, no doubt. She was bound over to keep the peace, and the whole party dismissed [ET&S 1: 409].

 

March 4 Wednesday – The Enterprise printed “City Marshal Perry” a Clemens spoof biography of John Van Buren (Jack) Perry, a Virginia City notable re-elected city marshal on Mar. 2 [ET&S 1: 233-8].

 

March 6 Friday – The Washoe Stock and Exchange Board was organized in Virginia City and Sam covered the dinner event for the Enterprise [ET&S 1: 239].

 

March 7 Saturday – Sam’s Enterprise article about the stock board dinner, “Champagne with the Board of Brokers” was another jab at The Unreliable [ET&S 1: 240].

 

March 20 Friday – partial Enterprise article attributed to Sam, title of this column remains unidentified:

 

After remaining for a long time in a partially developed state of agriculturality—so to speak—Honey Lake has shown the features of the Nevada family at last—the earmarks of the Washoe litter—and suddenly cropped out as a mining district. Several promising ledges have been discovered round about Susanville, and the people [ page 127 ] are already beginning to use the language of “feet.” Specimens from two new locations—the Union and the Bridges leads—look exceedingly well. They seem to contain no silver, but are sprinkled with free gold, easily seen with the naked eye.

 

[Schmidt: reprinted in Mark Twain in Virginia City, Paul Fatout, Indiana University Press (1964) 42. Subsequent attempts to locate this item as cited have been unsuccessful. It is possible the date is in error and the item appears in a reprint elsewhere].

March 31 Tuesday – The Enterprise item, “Captain Alpheus Smith,” is attributed to Sam [Fatout, MT in VC 137]. Fatout presents this article to reflect the “furor” made about the Reese River mining district, and as an object lesson that Sam did not “rush off to the diggings,” because he’d “had enough of that.”

April or May 1863 – Sometime during these two months an article titled, “For Lager” appeared in the Enterprise and is attributed to Sam [Schmidt].

April 3 Friday – Sam’s Local Column in the Enterprise: “A Distinguished Visitor,” “Clara Kopka,” “The Lois Ann mine,” “ Island Mill,” “Gould & Curry,” and “Minstrels.”

GOULD & CURRY. — They struck it marvelously rich in a new shaft in the Gould & Curry mine last Saturday night. We saw half a ton of native silver at the mouth of the tunnel, on Tuesday, with a particle of quartz in it here and there, which could be readily distinguished without the aid of a glass. That particular half ton will yield some where in the neighborhood of ten thousand dollars. We have long waited patiently for the Gould & Curry to flicker out, but we cannot discover much encouragement about this last flicker. However, it is of no consequence — it was a mere matter of curiosity anyhow; we only wanted to see if she would, you know.

THE MINSTRELS. — We were present at La Plata Hall about two minutes last night, and heard Sam. Pride’s banjo make a very excellent speech in English to the audience. The house was crowded to suffocation [ET&S 1: 410-12].

April 11–12 Sunday – Sam wrote from Virginia City to his mother, and sister Pamela Moffett.

My Dear Mother & Sister

It is very late at night, & I am writing in my room, which is not quite as large or as nice as the one I had at home. My board, washing & lodging cost me seventy-five dollars a month.

I have just received your letter, Ma, from Carson—the one in which you doubt my veracity about the tape worm, and also about statements I made in a letter to you. That’s right. I don’t recollect what the statements were, but I suppose they were mining statistics. [in margin: Ma, write on whole letter sheets—is paper scarce in St Louis?] I have just finished writing up my report for the morning paper, and giving the Unreliable a column of advice about how to conduct himself in church, and now I will tell you a few more lies, while my hand is in. For instance, some of the boys made me a present of fifty feet in the East India G & S. M. Company, ten days ago. I was offered ninety-five dollars a foot for it, yesterday, in gold. I refused it—not because I think the claim is worth a cent, for I don’t, but because I had a curiosity to see how high it would go, before people find out how worthless it is. Besides, what if one mining claim does fool me?—I have got plenty more. I am not in a particular hurry to get rich. I suppose I couldn’t well help getting rich here some time or other, whether I wanted to or not. You folks do not believe in Nevada, and I am glad you don’t. Just keep on thinking so.

Note: A double murder occurred while Sam was writing and he added this P.S.: “I have just heard five pistol shots down street—as such things are in my line, I will go and see about it.”

John Campbell had murdered two policemen in the early hours of Apr. 12. Sam wrote about the incident in the Enterprise, as a “horrible affair” sometime between Apr. 16 and 18. Sam, also wrote of his hatred for [ page 128 ] Californians, as they “hate Missourians.” His remarks are probably the result of a bitter border dispute between Nevada and California, which put the disposition of Aurora in doubt. In less than a month Sam and Clement T. Rice would spend two months in San Francisco. Sam referred to Rice, a rival but friendly reporter of the Virginia City Union, as the “Unreliable” in their mock feud.

He also asked to be remembered to folks back home:

O, say, Ma, who was that girl—that sweetheart of mine you say got married, and her father gave her husband $100 (so you said, but I suppose you meant $100,000,)? It was Emma Roe, wasn’t it? What in thunder did I want with her? I mean, since she wouldn’t have had me if I had asked her to? Let her slide—I don’t suppose her life has ever been, is now, or ever will be, any happier than mine.

Remember me to Zeb, and Uncle Jim, and Aunt Ella, and Cousin Bettie, and tell the whole party to stay in St. Louis—it is such a slow, old fogy, easy-going humbug of a town. And don’t forget to remember [me] to Mrs. Sexton and Margaret—has Margaret recovered from her illness? And be sure to remember me kindly to our Margaret at home.

Yrs aff

Sam [MTL 1: 246-50].

Notes: Zeb Leavenworth, James and Ella Lampton, the Moffett Servant Margaret, and Elizabeth Ann Lampton (1823-1906) may be “Cousin Bettie,” Jane’s first cousin. Parts of this letter are missing. Emma Comfort Roe (1844-1904) daughter of John J. Roe (1809-1870), wealthy St. Louis merchant for whom the steamboat John J. Roe was named.

On Apr. 11 in the Enterprise, another powerful jab at Unreliable:

ADVICE TO THE UNRELIABLE ON CHURCH-GOING

In the first place, I must impress upon you that when you are dressing for church, as a general thing, you mix your perfumes too much; your fragrance is sometimes oppressive; you saturate yourself with cologne and bergamot, until you make a sort of Hamlet’s Ghost of yourself, and no man can decide, with the first whiff, whether you bring with you air from Heaven or from hell. Now, rectify this matter as soon as possible; last Sunday you smelled like a secretary to a consolidated drug store and barber shop. And you came and sat in the same pew with me; now don’t do that again.

In the next place when you design coming to church, don’t lie in bed until half past ten o’clock and then come in looking all swelled and torpid, like a doughnut. Do reflect upon it, and show some respect for your personal appearance hereafter.

There is another matter, also, which I wish to remonstrate with you about. Generally, when the contribution box of the missionary department is passing around, you begin to look anxious, and fumble in your vest pockets, as if you felt a mighty desire to put all your worldly wealth into it — yet when it reaches your pew, you are sure to be absorbed in your prayer-book, or gazing pensively out of the window at far-off mountains, or buried in meditation, with your sinful head supported by the back of the pew before you. And after the box is gone again, you usually start suddenly and gaze after it with a yearning look, mingled with an expression of bitter disappointment (fumbling your cash again meantime), as if you felt you had missed the one grand opportunity for which you had been longing all your life. Now, to do this when you have money in your pockets is mean. But I have seen you do a meaner thing. I refer to your conduct last Sunday, when the contribution box arrived at our pew — and the angry blood rises to my cheek when I remember with what gravity and sweet serenity of countenance you put in fifty cents and took out two dollars and a half… [ET&S 1: 241].

April 16 Thursday – Sam wrote a letter from Virginia City to his mother, of which a fragment survives.

…

ladies at the other end, who, when they had finished their meal, came by & asked me to come into the parlor after dinner. I accepted, gladly, thinking I had my new friend “in the door” then—as the faro players say—but I was mistaken, you know. He proceeded with me to the parlor door—but for the sake of his friends & [ page 129 ] his innocence, I said nothing uncivil to him, but turned away & went up town, he still following. He staid with me bravely, until I had gone all my usual rounds & a few unusual ones, too, although a fearful snowstorm was raging at the time—and came back to the office with me, where he staid until 8 or 9 o’clock & then went out to feed his oxen—since which time I am happy to inform you, Madam, I have neither seen or heard of him. Remember me kindly to his folks, & especially to Mrs. Dr Douglas.

Bully for Mrs Holliday—she owes me five or ten dollars. Tell Uncle Jim I don’t write, simply because I am too lazy. Nothing but that deep & abiding sense of duty which is a second nature with me, prompts me to write even to my gay & sprightly mother. It is misery to me to write letters. But I say, Ma, don’t let your kind heart be exercised about Poor John Anderson, because in that case I shall get the benefit of it in your next, you know. This country will take the “soft solder” out of him—just let him alone.

Why, certainly, if Mr. Moffett will advance you money on my account Ma, draw liberally—I’ll foot the bill some day.

But I can’t write any more. They have “struck it rich” in the “front ledge” in Gold Hill the other day, & I must go out and find out something more about it. … [MTL 1: 251]. Note: Sam wrote up the strike. See Apr. 17 entry. “Uncle Jim” was James A.H. Lampton; Mrs. Douglas unidentified.

 

April 16–18 Saturday – “Horrible Affair” was published in the Enterprise. Sam wrote that five Indians “had been smothered to death in a tunnel back of Gold Hill.” He included this account in a list of hoaxes some five years after [ET&S 1: 244-7].

 

April 17 Friday – The Enterprise ran Sam’s article “Latest from Washoe” about the Gold Hill discovery [MTL 1: 251-2n3]:

 

The recent discovery at Gold Hill has materially advanced the rates of the claims on the main range, and is really of great importance. The discovery consists of a newly developed ledge, of surprising richness, immediately in front of what has been supposed to be the front vein in that locality. Should the new ledge prove to be permanent and continuous, it will doubtless be claimed as a portion of the main Gold Hill possessions.

 

April 19–30 Thursday – Sam’s Local Column in the Enterprise contained “Electric Mill Machinery,” a short squib reporting a new “infernal” invention to “turn quartz mills” [ET&S 1: 413].

 

April 24 Friday – Sam was up to his old journalism tricks again as he recalled in the Enterprise the excitement of the past week and included a spoof of mining strikes:

 

The grand climax of the epidemic fell yesterday, and in the shape of another mineral discovery. Mr. Mark Twain and the Unreliable made it [another mineral discovery], somewhere in B street, and established their lines of location so ingeniously as to take in the Ophir, the Spanish and other of the richest claims of the Comstock lode. The croppings of the ledge especially taken up by these gentlemen look very imposing…look as natural as if they had been dumped on the spot from a cart…The company shall be known as the Unreliable Auriferous, Argentiferous, Metaliferous Mining Company [MTL 1: 252].

 

May 1 Friday ca. – Sam and Clement Rice (“The Unreliable”) arrived in San Francisco by stagecoach, by way of Henness Pass [Sanborn 195]. This approximate date is confirmed by Joe Goodman’s letter of May 5 to Dan De Quille in Iowa. After pleading with Dan to return to the Enterprise by raising his pay to $40 per week plus a promise to “get the public to hold a donation party twice a year,” and even offering to send travel funds, Joe wrote:

 

“I am doing the local now. Wash Wright is on the editorial. Sam went to San Francisco about a week ago, to remain for an indefinite time — and it is doubtful whether he will be connected with the paper again or not” [From the Collection of The James S. Copley Library, La Jolla, Calif.]

  [ page 130 ]

May 3 Sunday – A column signed by “Mark Twain” but probably written by Joe Goodman ran in the Enterprise toasting Sam’s departure from Virginia City to San Francisco, his first visit there. “He has gone to display his ugly person and disgusting manners and wildcat on Montgomery Street. In all of which he will be assisted by his protégée, the Unreliable” [MTL 1: 253]. A. Hoffman claims these were Goodman’s words, and that Sam took off for San Francisco “about the first of May” [80]. (See May 1 entry.)

 

May 5 to August 10 Monday ca. – A photo of Sam with muttonchops is given this date range at MTP.

 

May 15 Friday – Sam’s sketch “Stories for Good Little Boys and Girls” ran in the Golden Era [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

May 16 Saturday – Sam wrote to the Territorial Enterprise, “Letter from Mark Twain.” The sketch anticipated the fictional “Mr. Brown” and “Mr. Twain” of his 1866 Sandwich Islands Letters to the Sacramento Union [MTL 1: 256n1; ET&S 1: 248-9].

 

May, mid – The first two weeks Sam ran around with an old Hannibal friend he bumped into shortly after arriving in the City, Neil Moss, the son of a rich pork-packer. He also met Bill Briggs (b.1831?), John’s older brother, and one of Sam’s Hannibal gang. He took a horse-drawn omnibus from Portsmouth Square to Ocean House, where he walked along the beach barefoot in the surf. It reminded him of a decade before in New York, when he’d done likewise in the Atlantic: “& then I had a proper appreciation of the vastness of this country—for I had traveled from ocean to ocean…”

 

One night, Clement T. Rice and Sam went to the Bella Union Melodeon on Washington Street to see a variety show. The show featured “lovely and blooming damsels with the largest ankles you ever saw…[dressed] like so many parasols” [Sanborn 197].

 

May 18? Monday – Sam wrote from San Francisco to his mother, and sister Pamela. Two MS pages are missing with about 400 words. The remaining:

 

When I first came down here, I was with Neil Moss every day for about two weeks, but he has gone down to Coso now. He says he is about to realize something from those mines there, after roughing it & working hard for three years. He says he has had a very hard time ever since he has been in California—has done pretty much all kinds of work to make a living—keeping school in the country among other things. He looks just like his father did eight or ten years ago—though a little rougher & more weather-beaten perhaps. The man whom I have heard people call the “handsomest & finest-looking man in California,” is Bill Briggs. I meet him on Montgomery street every day. He keeps a somewhat extensive gambling hell opposite the Russ House. I went up with him once to see it.

I shall remain here ten days or two weeks longer, & then return to Virginia, & go to work again. They want me to correspond with one of these dailies here, & if they will pay me enough, [about nine words torn away] I’ll do it. (The pay is only a “blind”—I’ll correspond anyhow. If I don’t know how to make such a thing pay me—if I don’t know how to levy black-mail on the mining companies,—who does, I should like to know?)

Ma, I have got five twenty-dollar greenbacks—the first of that kind of money I ever had. I’ll send them to you—one at a time, so that if one or two get lost, it will not amount to anything. I have been mighty neglectful about remittances heretofore, Ma, but when I return to Virginia, I’ll do better. I’ll sell some wildcat every now & then, & send you some money. Enclosed you will find one of the rags I spoke of—it’s a ratty-looking animal, anyway. Love to all.

Yrs affctiny

Sam

[MTL 1: 253]. Notes: Neil Moss (b. 1835 or 6) the son of Russell Moss, Hannibal pork-packing firm owner. Bill Briggs (b. 1830 or 31) eldest son of Hannibal’s William Briggs and brother of Sam’s childhood pal John Briggs. Bill became a professional gambler. Between May and August, Sam sent “at least twelve enclosures” of these greenbacks, noted on each letter; only five letters have been discovered. [ page 131 ]

Sam contracted with the San Francisco Morning Call and the Golden Era (a literary weekly) to write a series of letters on Nevada news. These letters appeared in the Call from Aug. through Dec. 1863 [MT Encyclopedia, McFatter 652].

May 19 Tuesday­ – The Fresno Mining Co. issued ten shares of stock to “Samuel L. Clemmens” [sic] in Aurora, Esmeralda mining district. The company was incorporated on Jan. 22, 1863 [Spink Shreves Galleries Sale 121 Lot 487, 2010]. Note: see insert.

May 19–21 Thursday – The “Letter from Mark Twain” written on May 16 was printed in the Enterprise sometime during this period. This is the first letter extant from San Francisco to the paper.

I meant to say something glowing and poetical about the weather, but the Unreliable has come in and driven away refined emotion from my breast. He says: “Say it’s bully, you tallow brained idiot! that’s enough; anybody can understand that; don’t write any of those infernal, sick platitudes about sweet flowers, and joyous butterflies, and worms and things, for people to read before breakfast. You make a fool of yourself that way; everybody gets disgusted with you; stuff! be a man or a mouse, can’t you?” I must go out now with this conceited ass — there is no other way to get rid of him. MARK TWAIN [ ET&S 1: 248-53].

June–July – “Bullion,” and “Decidedly Rich,” items attributed to Sam, ran in the Enterprise [Schmidt].

 

June 1 Monday – Sam was still in San Francisco, but now stayed at the Lick House at Montgomery and Sutter. The Lick House was more opulent than their first stay at the Occidental Hotel at Bush and Montgomery ($2.50 per day) [MTL 1: 256n1, MT Encyclopedia, Zall 651].

 

Sam wrote his mother, and sister Pamela, enclosing another $20 greenback.

 

The Unreliable & myself are still here, & still enjoying ourselves. I suppose I know at least a thousand people here—a great many of them citizens of San Francisco, but the majority belonging in Washoe—& when I go down Montgomery street, shaking hands with Tom, Dick & Harry, it is just like being in Main street in Hannibal & meeting the old familiar faces. I do hate to go back to Washoe [MTL 1: 255].

 

June 4 Thursday – Sam wrote from San Francisco to his mother, and sister Pamela, sending another $20 greenback. “…it seems like going back to prison to go back to the snows & the deserts of Washoe, after living in this Paradise. But then I shall soon get used to it—all places are alike to me” [MTL 1: 256].

 

June 19 Friday – Sam wrote “All About Fashions,” (“Mark Twain – More of Him,”) a piece that was published in revised version in the San Francisco Golden Era on Sept. 27. It was probably published in the Enterprise sometime between June 20 and 24 [ET&S 1: 304]. Note: Budd says between June 21 and June 24, 1863 [“Collected” 1001].  [ page 132 ]

 

June 20 Saturday – Sam wrote from San Francisco to Orion and Mollie—all in a dither about Echo stock, of which he had a small share. Sam had speculated on the stock and helped to raise the price later by writing glowing accounts of the mine to the San Francisco Morning Call [MTL 1: 258].

 

June 21–24 Wednesday – Sam’s LETTER FROM MARK TWAIN – ALL ABOUT FASHIONS was printed in the Enterprise. It was the main body of “Mark Twain—More of Him” written on June 19; see also Sept. 27 entry for reprint in Golden Era [ET&S 1: 304]. An excerpt:

EDS. ENTERPRISE: – I have just received, per Wells-Fargo, the following sweet scented little note, written in a microscopic hand in the center of a delicate sheet of paper — like a wedding invitation or a funeral notice — and I feel it my duty to answer it:

VIRGINIA, June 16.

“MR. MARK TWAIN: – Do tell us something about the fashions. I am dying to know what the ladies of San Francisco are wearing. Do, now, tell us all you know about it, won’t you? Pray excuse brevity, for I am in such a hurry. BETTIE.

“P. S. — Please burn this as soon as you have read it.”

“Do tell us” – and she is in “such a hurry.” Well, I never knew a girl in my life who could write three consecutive sentences without italicising a word. They can’t do it, you know. Now, if I had a wife, and she — however, I don’t think I shall have one this week, and it is hardly worth while to borrow trouble.

Bettie, my love, you do me proud. In thus requesting me to fix up the fashions for you in an intelligent manner, you pay a compliment to my critical and observant eye and my varied and extensive information, which a mind less perfectly balanced than mine could scarcely contemplate without excess of vanity. Will I tell you something about the fashions? I will, Bettie — you better bet you bet, Betsey, my darling. I learned those expressions from the Unreliable; like all the phrases which fall from his lips, they are frightfully vulgar — but then they sound rather musical than otherwise.

A happy circumstance has put it in my power to furnish you the fashions from headquarters — as it were, Bettie: I refer to the assemblage of fashion, elegance and loveliness called together in the parlor of the Lick House last night — (a party given by the proprietors on the occasion of my paying up that little balance due on my board bill) I will give a brief and lucid description of the dresses worn by several of the ladies of my acquaintance who were present. Mrs. B. was arrayed in a superb speckled foulard, with the stripes running fore and aft, and with collets and camails to match; also, a rotonde of Chantilly lace, embroidered with blue and yellow dogs, and birds and things, done in cruel, and edged with a Solferino fringe four inches deep — lovely. Mrs. B. is tall, and graceful and beautiful, and the general effect of her costume was to render her appearance extremely lively [ET&S 1: 309-12].

July – “Gymnasium,” and article attributed to Sam, ran in the Enterprise [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

July–August – “Report on Bullion Production,” attributed to Sam, ran in the Enterprise [Schmidt].

 

July 2 Thursday – Sam arrived back in Virginia City [MTL 1: 254n6]. Sam’s article “The Comstock Mines” ran about this day in the Enterprise [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

July 5 Sunday – Sam’s first in a series of “Mark Twain’s Letters” was dated this day. See July 9 entry for publication [ET&S 1: 254-258].

 [ page 133 ]

July 8 Wednesday – Sam spoke at the dedication of the new Collins House hotel, a great success. Sam had made an equally pleasing speech back in 1856 for the Keokuk printers [MTL 1: 263].

 

July 9 Thursday – The Evening Bulletin reported on Sam’s speech dedicating Virginia City’s newest hotel, the Collins House:

 

Perhaps the speech of the evening was made by Sam. Clemens. Those not familiar with this young man, do not know the depths of grave tenderness in his nature. He almost brought the house to tears by his touching simple pathos [MTL 1: 263].

 

Sam’s first of a series of ten “Mark Twain’s Letters,” written from Virginia City, dated July 5, ran in the San Francisco Morning Call. This letter discussed his return by Henness Pass, the bustle and violence of Virginia City, MaGuire’s new Opera House, and miscellany [ET&S 1: 254-258].

 

July 14–17 Friday – Sam’s unsigned “Extracts” ran between these dates in the Enterprise and were reprinted July 27 in Mining and Scientific Press [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

July 14 Tuesday – The Virginia City Bulletin ran a headline LOOK OUT MARK! After the drama “East Lynne” was incorrectly announced by Sam in the Enterprise for July 15 instead of July 14 and 16. [The Twainian, Nov.-Dec. 1948 p.3].

 

Four hundred and ninety-six hundred thousand incorporations have been filed, in the County Clerk’s office up to date. So Sam Clemens says [The Twainian, Nov-Dec 1948, p3].

 

July 15 Wednesday – Another “Mark Twain’s Letter” (dated July 12) ran in the San Francisco Morning Call. Sam wrote that the dollar value of Echo’s “first class ore goes clear out of sight into the thousands” [MTL 1: 259; Camfield, bibliog.].

 

July 16 Thursday – Sam’s article “Particulars of the Recent ‘Cave’ of the Mexican and Ophir Mines” ran in the Enterprise, and was reprinted in the Evening Bulletin July 21 [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

July 17 Friday – Sam’s article “An Hour in the Caved Mine” ran in the Enterprise [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

July 18 Saturday – In Virginia City, Sam wrote his mother, and sister Pamela and sent another $20 greenback. Sam now roomed in the White House on B Street. The letter was a defense of his money and its source: selling wildcat mining ground that was given to him. He wrote that he:

 

“never gamble[s], in any shape or manner, and never drink anything stronger than claret or lager beer, which conduct is regarded as miraculously temperate in this country” [MTL 1: 260].

 

Another of Sam’s “Mark Twain’s Letter” (dated July 16) ran in the San Francisco Morning Call. Sam wrote of the Ophir mine and a minor cave in there [The Twainian, Jan-Feb 1952, p3].

 

July 23 Thursday – Another “Mark Twain Letter” (dated July 19) ran in the Morning Call. Subheadings: Judicial Broil; Theatricals; General Benevolence; The Caved Mines; About Other Mines: Immigration; Billiard Match [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

July 24 Friday – Orion’s term as acting governor of Nevada Territory ended [ET&S 1: 465].

 [ page 134 ]

July 25 Saturday – The Virginia City Bulletin ran an item about Mark Twain seen coming from the Chinatown section of town with “a feather in his cap we supposed you had turned Pah-Ute.” This could have been an indirect reference to Sam frequenting the red light district [The Twainian, Nov.-Dec. 1948, p.4].

 

July 26 Sunday – Sam and Clement T. Rice were forced out of their White House Hotel rooms by a fire at 11 AM. Sam went solo to a room in an “A” street mansion [MTL 1: 262]. Accounts of the fire appeared the next day in the Virginia City Evening Bulletin, and on July 28 in the Union.  Note: a larger fire burned 70 buildings in late August. In some accounts this fire is confused with the larger conflagration.

 

July 30 Thursday – Sam’s account of his Virginia City fire experience (dated July 26) ran in the San Francisco Morning Call:

 

I discovered that the room under mine was on fire, gave the alarm, and went down to see how extensive it might be….I came near not escaping from the house at all. I started to the door with my trunk, but I couldn’t stand the smoke, wherefore I abandoned that valuable piece of furniture in the hall, and returned and jumped out at the window…Now do you know that trunk was utterly consumed, together with its contents, consisting of a pair of socks, a package of love letters, and $300,000 worth of ‘wildcat’ stocks? Yes, Sir, it was; and I am a bankrupt community. Plug hat, numerous sets of complete harness—all broadcloth—lost—eternally lost. However, the articles were borrowed, as a general thing. I don’t mind losing them [MTL 1: 262-3;ET&S 1: 259].

 

July 31 Friday – The new Enterprise building and its new steam press were completed on North C street [Mack 233]. With all the celebrating of the event Sam’s chronic bronchitis forced him to bed. He asked Clement T. Rice to fill in for him, and Rice did so, taking the opportunity to run a fake “apology” in the Enterprise (see Aug. 1 entry).

 

August 1 Saturday – The Virginia City Bulletin ran a short article, “Gymnasium”

 

“Mark Twain wants a gym in this city. Wouldn’t a bath house afford him as healthy exercise?”

 

To which Sam answered in the Enterprise soon after:

 

“Well, my boy, before that gym is completed, we will put you through some evolutions that will make you think a bath house is a very healthy institution. That is if you don’t ‘dry up’ ” [The Twainian, Nov.-Dec. 1948 p.4].

 

Clement T. Rice, the “Unreliable,” filling in for a sick Mark Twain, took this opportunity to run “APOLOGETIC” in the Enterprise, represented as being from Sam:

 

It is said an “open confession is good for the soul.” We have been on the stool of repentance for a long time, but have not before had the moral courage to acknowledge our manifold sins and wickedness. We confess to this weakness. We have commenced this article under the head of “Apologetic”—we mean it, if we ever meant anything in our life. To Mayor Arick, Hon. Wm. M. Stewart, Marshal Perry, Hon. J.B. Winters, Mr. Olin, and Samuel Witherel, besides a host of others whom we have ridiculed from behind the shelter of our reportorial position, we say to these gentlemen, we acknowledge our faults and in all weakness and simplicity—upon our bended marrow-bones—we ask their forgiveness, promising that in the future we will give them no cause for anything but the best of feeling toward us. To “Young Wilson,” and the “Unreliable,” (as we feel that no apology we can make begins to atone for the many insults we have given them)….We will now go in sackcloth and ashes for the next forty days. What more can we do? [Mack 233-4].

 [ page 135 ]

The Sonora Silver Mining Co. issued five shares of stock to “S. Clements” on this date. The company was incorporated on July 13, 1863, only two weeks prior [Meltzer 59].

 

August 2 Sunday – Sam’s “A Duel Prevented,” was published in the Enterprise. He also telegraphed the Call of the conflict between Joe Goodman of the Enterprise and the “fiery” Thomas Fitch (1838-1923) of the Virginia Union, and the dispatch ran under the headline “Tom Fitch in a Duel—Officer Interposes” [Branch, C of Call 286]. The article is what Branch calls “a personal account of much ado about nothing, a tale of comic frustration” [ET&S 1: 262-6].

 

August 4 Tuesday – While Sam had been laid up with a cold he invited Clement T. Rice to write local items for the Enterprise, even though he was a Union reporter. Rice played a trick and published an “apology” from Sam to Rice. “An Apology Repudiated” appeared in the Enterprise by Sam:

 

We are to blame for giving the ‘Unreliable’ an opportunity to misrepresent us, and therefore refrain from repining to any great extent at the result. We simply claim the right to deny the truth of every statement made by him in yesterday’s paper, to annul all apologies he coined as coming from us, and to hold him up to public commiseration as a reptile endowed with no more intellect, no more cultivation, no more Christian principle than animates and adorns the sportive jackass rabbit of the Sierras. We have done [ET&S 1: 267-9].

 

August 5 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Virginia City to his mother, and sister Pamela, sending another $20 greenback. Sam wrote: “I got burned out about ten days ago—saved nothing but the clothes I had on” [MTL 1: 261].

 

The Virginia City Bulletin cried quits—they’d had enough jousting with Sam, sort of:

 

“At the solicitation of at least 1500 of our subscribers, we will refrain from again entering into a controversy with that beef-eating, blear-eyed, hollow-headed, slab-sided ignoramous—that pilfering reporter, Mark Twain” [The Twainian, Nov.-Dec. 1948 p 4].

 

August 6 Thursday – Another “Mark Twain’s Letter” (dated Aug. 2) ran in the Morning Call. Subheadings: Fire Matters; Agricultural Fair; A Duel Ruined; Theatricals; Territorial Politics; Military Arrest; Washoe Cavalry; Phelan Coming; Steam-Printing in Washoe; Judge Jones Resigned; Carson Races; Mines, Etc.; Building; Foot Race [Camfield, bibliog.; The Twainian, Mar-Apr 1952 p1-2].

 

August 10 Monday ca. – About this time Sam came down with a bad cold. (See letter Aug. 19) [MTL 1: 264]. Note: Sam had suffered on and off with colds, and on Aug. 1, Clement T. Rice filled in for him due to a cold.

 [ page 136 ]

August 11 Tuesday – According to an article in the Virginia City Bulletin,  Sam and Adair Wilson (1841-1912) left in the morning for Lake Bigler (Tahoe):

 

DEPARTED

Those two pilfering reporters, “Mark Twain” and the “Unimportant,” left this morning for Lake Bigler (Tahoe)….They have left two consumptive “arrangements” to supply their places while they are absent. The “Unreliable” [Clement T. Rice] is lying for the “Unimportant” [Adair Wilson] while a quondam county official is endeavoring to sustain a similar reputation for Mark [The Twainian, Nov.-Dec. 1948 p 4].

 

August 12–16 Sunday ca. – Sam spent time at Lake Bigler (Tahoe) with Adair Wilson, the junior local editor of the Virginia City Union. Sam loved the Lake and had praised its clean air to his family, so he likely went to recover from his cold [MTL 1: 265n2]. Andrew Hoffman claims he “fell in with a fast crowd there, staying up late drinking too much champagne” [82].

 

August 13 Thursday – Another of Sam’s “Mark Twain’s Letters” (dated Aug. 8) ran in the Morning Call. Sam wrote again about high yields from the Echo mine. From a high price per share of $140 asked in mid-July, the Echo stock fell to $27 within six months. Subheadings: The City of Virginia; More Fire Companies; Visiting Brethren; Carson Races; Theatricals; Legal Battle; Railroad Meeting; No Democratic Convention; Mining Affairs [MTL 1: 259; Camfield bibliog.].

 

August 17Monday – Sam left Lake Bigler and went to Steamboat Springs, a mineral bath about nine miles northwest of Virginia City. He paid for his stay by writing up the resort for both the Territorial Enterprise and the San Francisco Morning Call [A. Hoffman 82].

August 18 Tuesday – The Enterprise ran “Letter from Mark Twain” [Camfield bibliog.].

August 19 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Steamboat Springs, Nevada Territory, to his mother, and sister Pamela, sending another $20 greenback [MTL 1: 263]. “Letter from Mark Twain” dated Aug.18 ran in the Enterprise [Smith 66].

I must have led a gay life at Lake Bigler, for it seems a month since I flew up there on the Pioneer coach, alongside of Hank Monk, the king of stage drivers. But I couldn’t cure my cold. I was too careless. I went to the lake (Lake Bigler I must beg leave to call it still, notwithstanding, if I recollect rightly, it is known among sentimental people as either Tahoe Lake or Yahoo Lake — however, one of the last will do as well as the other, since there is neither sense nor music in either of them), with a voice like a bull frog, and by indulging industriously in reckless imprudence, I succeeded in toning it down to an impalpable whisper in the course of seven days. I left there in the Pioneer coach at half-past one on Monday morning, in company with Mayor Arick, Mr. Boruck and young Wilson (a nice party for a Christian to travel with, I admit), and arrived in Carson at five o’clock — three hours and a half out. As nearly as I can estimate it, we came down the grade at the rate of a hundred miles an hour; and if you do not know how frightfully deep those mountain gorges look, let me recommend that you go, also, and skim along their edges at the dead of night [Smith 68-70].

The Enterprise ran another “Letter from Mark Twain” datelined “Steamboat Springs, Nevada Territory, August 18, 1863” [Camfield bibliog.].

August 23 Sunday – Sam, still not over his cold, returned to Virginia City from Steamboat Springs [The Twainian, Nov.-Dec. 1948 p 4]. Before returning, he wrote a letter to the Call, published there on Aug. 30 [MTL 1: 265; ET&S 1: 272]. The Enterprise ran another “Letter from Mark Twain” written from Steamboat Springs [Camfield bibliog.].

 [ page 137 ]

August 25 Tuesday – Sam wrote the Territorial Enterprise, describing his visit to Steamboat Springs. His letter was published this date under the title, “Letter from Mark Twain” [MTL 1: 265; Budd, “Collected” 1002]. Sections include: The Springs; The Hotel; The Hospital; The Baths; Good-bye; and:

THE WAKE-UP-JAKE.

A few days ago I fell a victim to my natural curiosity and my solicitude for the public weal. Everybody had something to say about “wake-up-Jake.” If a man was low-spirited; if his appetite failed him; if he did not sleep well at night; if he were costive; if he were bilious; or in love; or in any other kind of trouble; or if he doubted the fidelity of his friends or the efficacy of his religion, there was always some one at his elbow to whisper, “Take a ‘wake-up,’ my boy.” I sought to fathom the mystery, but all I could make out of it was that the “Wake-up Jake” was a medicine as powerful as “the servants of the lamp,” the secret of whose decoction was hidden away in Dr. Ellis’ breast. I was not aware that I had any use for the wonderful “wake-up,” but then I felt it to be my duty to try it, in order that a suffering public might profit by my experience — and I would cheerfully see that public suffer perdition before I would try it again. I called upon Dr. Ellis with the air of a man who would create the impression that he is not so much of an ass as he looks, and demanded a “Wake up-Jake” as unostentatiously as if that species of refreshment were not at all new to me. The Doctor hesitated a moment, and then fixed up as repulsive a mixture as ever was stirred together in a table-spoon. I swallowed the nauseous mess, and that one meal sufficed me for the space of forty-eight hours. And during all that time, I could not have enjoyed a viler taste in my mouth if I had swallowed a slaughter-house. I lay down with all my clothes on, and with an utter indifference to my fate here or hereafter, and slept like a statue from six o’clock until noon. I got up, then, the sickest man that ever yearned to vomit and couldn’t. All the dead and decaying matter in nature seemed buried in my stomach, and I “heaved, and retched, and heaved again,” but I could not compass a resurrection — my dead would not come forth. Finally, after rumbling, and growling, and producing agony and chaos within me for many hours, the dreadful dose began its work, and for the space of twelve hours it vomited me, and purged me, and likewise caused me to bleed at the nose.

I came out of that siege as weak as an infant, and went to the bath with Palmer, of Wells, Fargo & Co., and it was well I had company, for it was about all he could do to keep me from boiling the remnant of my life out in the hot steam. I had reached that stage wherein a man experiences a solemn indifference as to whether school keeps or not. Since then, I have gradually regained my strength and my appetite, and am now animated by a higher degree of vigor than I have felt for many a day. ‘Tis well. This result seduces many a man into taking a second, and even a third “wake-up-Jake,” but I think I can worry along without any more of them. I am about as thoroughly waked up now as I care to be. My stomach never had such a scouring out since I was born. I feel like a jug. If I could get young Wilson or the Unreliable to take a “wake-up Jake,” I would do it, of course, but I shall never swallow another myself — I would sooner have a locomotive travel through me. And besides, I never intend to experiment in physic any more, just out of idle curiosity. A “wake-up-Jake” will furbish a man’s machinery up and give him a fresh start in the world — but I feel I shall never need anything of that sort any more. It would put robust health, and life and vim into young Wilson and the Unreliable — but then they always look with suspicion upon any suggestion that I make [ET&S 1: 272-6].

August 27 Thursday – Sam’s article in the Local Column of the Enterprise was titled, “YE BULLETIN CYPHERETH,” and disputed bullion production statistics printed the previous day by the Virginia City Evening Bulletin [ET&S 1: 415-7].

 

August 28 Friday – 1:40 PM and 10 PM: Sam covered a large fire in Virginia City for the Enterprise. The fire and subsequent riot covered four blocks. Sam sent two dispatches by telegraph to the San Francisco Morning Call in addition to writing up the events for the Enterprise [Branch, C of Call 286-7]. Fatout writes the fire “ravaged most of Virginia west of A Street and south of Pat Lynch’s Saloon, and might have destroyed the whole town if the wind had been in another quarter” [MT in VC 81].

 

A terrific battle raged between Virginia Engine Co. No. 1 and the Nevada Hook and Ladder No. 1. Fatout writes: [ page 138 ]

 

“After the big August fire these firemen collided at the corner of Taylor and C Streets, and at once a wild melee broke out. Fists pounded, faucets and wagon stakes cracked heads, and blood flowed: fifteen men injured, the foreman of the engine company laid out with a trumpet, the city marshal knocked down with a club, one man fatally shot” [MT in VC 81-2]. Note: Sam incorporated this battle in RI, making it an election riot quelled by the peace-loving Buck Fanshaw.

 

August 29 Saturday – Sam’s dispatch “Disastrous Fire at Virginia City—Seventy Buildings Burned” ran in the Morning Call [Branch, C of Call 286].

 

August 30 Sunday – Sam’s “Mark Twain’s Letter”(dated Aug. 20 from Steamboat Springs Hotel) ran in the Morning Call, describing his visit to Steamboat Springs [MTL 1: 265; ET&S 1: 277]. Sam also finished a letter on this date that would be published by the Call on Sept. 3 called “Unfortunate Blunder.”

 

September 3 Thursday – The San Francisco Morning Call published another of Sam’s “Mark Twain’s Letters” (dated Aug. 30). Subheadings: Mass Meetings; The Fire; and, Unfortunate Blunder. This last a sketch of Sam’s about a drunk Irishman in Virginia City who mistook a Presbyterian church service for a Union League meeting [ET&S 1: 284-7].

 

Also in the Call was a dispatch from Sam headlined: THE ELECTION IN VIRGINIA CITY, GOLD HILL, CARSON AND DAYTON, Nev., YESTERDAY—SPLENDID UNION TRIUMPH—SUICIDE OF A PIONEER—JACK MCNABB SHOOTING POLICEMEN—TALK OF A VIGILANCE COMMITTEE, ETC., ETC. [Branch, C of Call 287].

 

September 4–5 Saturday – In the Enterprise: BIGLER VS. TAHOE

I hope some bird will catch this Grub the next time he calls Lake Bigler by so disgustingly sick and silly a name as “Lake Tahoe.” I have removed the offensive word from his letter and substituted the old one, which at least has a Christian English twang about it whether it is pretty or not. Of course Indian names are more fitting than any others for our beautiful lakes and rivers, which knew their race ages ago, perhaps, in the morning of creation, but let us have none so repulsive to the ear as “Tahoe” for the beautiful relic of fairy-land forgotten and left asleep in the snowy Sierras when the little elves fled from their ancient haunts and quitted the earth. They say it means “Fallen Leaf” — well suppose it meant fallen devil or fallen angel, would that render its hideous, discordant syllables more endurable? Not if I know myself. I yearn for the scalp of the soft-shell crab — be he injun or white man — who conceived of that spoony, slobbering, summer-complaint of a name. Why, if I had a grudge against a half-price nigger, I wouldn’t be mean enough to call him by such an epithet as that; then, how am I to hear it applied to the enchanted mirror that the viewless spirits of the air make their toilets by, and hold my peace? “Tahoe” — it sounds as weak as soup for a sick infant. “Tahoe” be — forgotten! I just saved my reputation that time. In conclusion, “Grub,” I mean to start to Lake Bigler myself, Monday morning, or somebody shall come to grief. MARK TWAIN [ ET&S 1: 290].

September 5 Saturday – With the return of Dan De Quille, Sam was freed from his duties as the local editor for the Enterprise. He left the same day for San Francisco on the Carpenter & Hoog stage, to Carson City, where he stayed a day with Orion and Mollie [MTL 1: 265; ET&S 1: 291-5].

 

Years later, De Quille wrote of the conditions in Virginia City upon his return. Sam would return in a few weeks to toil by De Quille’s side. The big fire of 1863 had almost wiped out the town and created a great deal of violence in its aftermath:

 

Thus I “resumed business at the old stand” in the thick of red-hot times—in the midst of flames and war. It was also in the midst of cutting and shooting days—the days of stage robberies, of mining fights, wonderful finds of ore, and all manner of excitements. As may be imagined Mark and I had our hands full, and no grass grew under our feet. There was a constant rush of startling events; they came tumbling over one another as [ page 139 ] though playing at leap-frog. While a stage robbery was being written up, a shooting affray started; and perhaps before the pistol shots had ceased to echo among the surrounding hills, the firebells were banging out an alarm.

 

The crowding of the whole population into that part of town which had escaped the fire led to many bloody battles. Fighters, sports and adventurers, burned out of their old haunts, thronged the saloons and gaming houses remaining, where many of them were by no means welcome visitors [Benson 72].

 

September 6 Sunday – Sam left Carson City on the Pioneer Stage for Sacramento with R.W. Billet [ET&S 1: 291-5]. (See Sept. 17 entry.)

 

September 6 Sunday ca. – (De Quille’s return to Va. City) [Camfield bibliog.]. In the Enterprise: “Literary Manifesto of Mark Twain & De Quille”:

 

LITERARY MANIFESTO

Our duty is to keep the universe thoroughly posted concerning murders and street fighters, and balls, and theaters, and pack-trains, and churches, and lectures, and school-houses, and city military affairs, and highway robberies, and Bible societies, and hay-wagons, and the thousand other things which it is in the province of local reporters to keep track of and magnify into undue importance for the instruction of the readers of a great daily newspaper [MTB 228].

 

September 7 Monday – Sam arrived in Sacramento at 8 A.M [ET&S 1: 295].

 

September 8 Tuesday – Sam arrived in San Francisco. He would spend four weeks relaxing and recuperating. He moved in high society, attending the theater, attending balls, and playing billiards at the Lick House [MTL 1: 265]. In his Autobiographical dictation of Jan. 23, 1907 he related first playing his first games of bowling in San Francisco. It may have well been during or shortly after this four-week period; the source, however, gives 1865. See MTA 2: 380-81 for the tale.

 

September 9 Wednesday – Sam attended the Anniversary Ball of the Society of California Pioneers at Union Hall [ET&S 1: 291].

 

September 13 Sunday – The San Francisco Golden Era reprinted Sam’s sketch, “Bigler vs. Tahoe,” which appeared some unknown time before in the Enterprise. Sam favored Bigler as a name over Tahoe, which he ridiculed [ET&S 1: 288-290].

 

September 17 Thursday – Sam wrote another “Letter from Mark Twain” (dated Sept. 13.) from San Francisco to the Enterprise about the trip over, first to Carson City on the Carpenter & Hoog stagecoach, then by the Pioneer Stage to San Francisco. The letter included a humorous account of Sam’s traveling companion, R.W. Billet, being gawked at by pioneers who thought him black because he had so much dust on him from the stage trip over. [ET&S 1: 291-5].

 

Sam reviewed performances by Adah Isaacs Menken (1835?-1868), actress and poet—two plays, Mazeppa and The French Spy—. Sam wrote that her acting in the former play resembled the contortions of a violent “lunatic”:

She bends herself back like a bow; she pitches headforemost at the atmosphere like a battering-ram; she works her arms, and her legs, and her whole body like a dancing-jack…she “whallops” herself down on the stage, and rolls over as does the sportive pack-mule after his burden is removed.

 In his review of The French Spy, Sam wrote she acted like:

 [ page 140 ]

a frisky Frenchman…as dumb as an oyster, [her] extravagant gesticulations do not seem so overdone…She don’t talk well, and as she goes on her shape and her acting, the character of a fidgety ‘dummy’ is peculiarly suited to her line of business [MTL 1: 276n3; Smith 75; Krause 33]. Note: the first source gives Sept. 17; second source gives no date; Krause gives Sept. 13.

 

Sam would run into the bohemian Adah again in Virginia City. Also included in the letter, “Over the Mountain,” and “Mr. Billet Is Complimented by a Stranger” [ET&S 1: 293-5].

 

September 20 Sunday – The first of three articles Sam wrote for the San Francisco Golden Era appeared: “How to Cure a Cold.” The article was a hit with readers. The Enterprise and the Era were connected by the past work of Goodman, McCarthy and De Quille. Sam recognized the value the Era might have to his career. This piece was revised several times, and appeared later in his Jumping Frog book and was included in Sketches, New and Old (1875) as “Curing a Cold” [ET&S 1: 296-303; Camfield bibliog.].

 

September 23 Wednesday – Joseph E. Lawrence, editor of The Golden Era, wrote Dan De Quille and commented on Sam’s popularity:

 

“They say the Lick House Ladies give Mark Twain a Ball tomorrow evening – Thursday – He’s an immense favorite with them – ever since his description of their June last reunion, which I copy in the GE this week” [From the Collection of The James S. Copley Library, La Jolla, Calif.].

 

September 24 Thursday – In San Francisco, Sam attended the Lick House Ball, held at the popular hotel of the same name [ET&S 1: 313].

 

September 27 Sunday – The Golden Era reprinted “Mark Twain—More of Him.” Sam added a preface to the older article, “All About the Fashions,” that ran in the Enterprise sometime between June 21 and 24. Another article by Sam appeared in the same edition of the Era, “The Lick House Ball” [ET&S 1: 313-319].

 

Tom Fitch of the Virginia City Union printed a challenge in that paper to Joe Goodman for a duel, to be held at Ingraham’s Ranch in Stampede Valley at 9 A.M. the next morning [Mack 271]. The conflict began over political in-fighting within the Union party, “the only political party of any consequence in Nevada” [271]. Ugly words had passed in editorials, and so this day the challenge came. Fatout writes that the dueling weapons were “Colt’s five-shooters, one chamber loaded” [MT in VC 85].

 

September 28 Monday – The location of the duel between Goodman and Fitch was kept a secret until the last so as to avoid the law preventing the contest. Sam and “Young” Wilson rode horseback out to Ingraham’s Ranch. Major George Ferrand and Cyrus Brown were seconds for Goodman; Captain Roe and Captain Fleeson served that capacity for Fitch. After shooting Fitch in the leg (rumor had it he’d announced he would not shoot above the waist), Goodman rode off at the appearance of a stagecoach. Fitch would limp for the rest of his life, but they became good friends after the duel [Mack 271-2]. Fatout claims “police arrested both principals, who were put under bond to keep the peace” [MT in VC 85].

 

Fall – Benson writes:

 

“Ingomar, the Barbarian,” was presented in the opera house in the autumn of 1863. Mark Twain’s connection with this play proved of more than usual significance, because his critique was copied in the East, and we have the first instance of Eastern periodicals printing the Western writings of Mark Twain…. In this Ingomar review, Mark Twain shows a breaking away from the cruder humor that was in evidence in earlier burlesque writings. Gradually he came to depend more and more on cleverness rather [ page 141 ] than coarseness. The critique, besides being reprinted in the West, found its way into the columns of a monthly magazine in the East, Yankee Notions [96-7]. Note: the latter publication was Apr. 1864

 

October – “Time for Her to Come Home,” an article in the Enterprise, is attributed to Sam [Schmidt]. Sam alluded to a periodical Bell’s Life in London and Sporting Chronicle as his source for euphemistic boxing terminology [Gribben 58].

 

October 9 Friday ca. – Sam left San Francisco for Carson City.

 

October 11 Sunday – Sam’s “The Great Prize Fight” was published in the Golden Era [Walker 24].

 

October 12 through 17 Saturday – Sam covered the First Annual Fair of the Washoe Agricultural, Mining and Mechanical Society [MTL 1: 266].

 

October 19 Monday – Sam wrote up the Fair for the Territorial Enterprise. His article, FIRST ANNUAL FAIR OF WASHOE AGRICULTURAL, MINING AND MECHANICAL SOCIETY, was printed sometime later in October (Camfield’s bibliog. lists the print date as Oct. 20). Sections included: Triumphal Parade; Great Pantomime Speech; Races Saturday Afternoon; A Hint to Carson; and, The Fair a Success and a Valuable Lesson [Smith 80-6].

 

October 20 Tuesday ca. – Sam returned to Virginia City. He and Dan De Quille rented rooms together [MTL 1: 266]. (See Oct. 28 entry.)

 

October 26 Monday – The Virginia City Bulletin reported:

 

Mark Twain and Charley Parker of the Bulletin responded to toasts to the press on the housing of the new fire engine [The Twainian, Nov.-Dec. 1948 p 4].

 

October 28 Wednesday – Sam’s hoax, “A Bloody Massacre near Carson,” for which he received a tempest of indignation and protest, ran uncensored in the Enterprise. (Most everything local reporters wrote was uncensored.) This piece was a fiction-hoax of one Pete Hopkins, who’d gone insane and chopped up his wife and seven of his nine children with an axe and club, afterwards riding into Carson City with his throat cut from ear to ear. The story was widely reprinted [Fatout, MT Speaks 15; ET&S 1: 324-6]. The story behind the piece, including Sam’s motivation, is well told by Effie Mona Mack [Ch. 17]. Note: Joe Goodman, in a Dec. 25, 1910 letter to Paine, claimed that Sam named the hoax-man after Pete Hopkins, one of three “celebrated saloon keepers in Carson City at the time” and a great humorist [The Twainian, May-June 1956 p.3].

Sam and Dan De Quille, (William Wright) rented rooms in the new brick Daggett and Myers Building at 25 North B Street, Virginia City. Their rent began this day at $30 per month [Mack 246]. Their parlor-bedroom suite of rooms was across the hall from Tom Fitch and family on the third floor [Fatout, MT in VC 113].

 

Shortly after this time, but perhaps as late as Feb. 1864, Sam wrote “Letter from Dayton” which ran in the Enterprise [ET&S 1: 418].

 

The local reporter of the Gold Hill Daily News reported that Sam had proposed marriage to an unidentified young woman. Sam supposedly said he couldn’t “find nary a [girl] to keep house with. Mark says he ‘popped it’ to one the other day, but she couldn’t see it” [Fanning 86]. Note: This sounds more like ribbing than an accurate account of events.  [ page 142 ]

 

October 29 Thursday – Sam revealed in the Enterprise that the “Bloody Massacre” story was a hoax:

I TAKE IT ALL BACK

The story published in the Enterprise reciting the slaughter of a family near Empire was all a fiction. It was understood to be such by all acquainted with the locality in which the alleged affair occurred. In the first place, Empire City and Dutch Nick’s are one, and in the next there is no “great pine forest” nearer than the Sierra Nevada mountains. But it was necessary to publish the story in order to get the fact into the San Francisco papers that the Spring Valley Water company was “cooking” dividends by borrowing money to declare them on for its stockholders. The only way you can get a fact into a San Francisco journal is to smuggle it in through some great tragedy [ET&S 1: 320-1].

[Schmidt: the text of this article is from C.A V. Putnam’s “Dan De Quille and Mark Twain,” published in the Salt Lake City Tribune on April 25, 1898. It may be based upon memory and incomplete].

October 30 Friday – The Enterprise ran “Clemens’s Reply to the Gold Hill (Nev.) News” [Camfield bibliog.].

 

October 31 Saturday – The “Stock Broker’s Prayer,” a burlesque Lord’s prayer, attributed to Sam, ran in the Amador Weekly Ledger, probably reprinted from an earlier lost Enterprise item:

 

Our father Mammon who art in the Comstock, bully is thy name; let thy dividends come, and stocks go up, in California as it is in Washoe. Give us this day our daily commissions; forgive us our swindles as we hope to get even on those who have swindled us. “Lead” us not into temptation of promising wild cat; deliver us from lawsuits; for thine is the main Comstock, the black sulphurets and the wire silver, from wall-rock to wall-rock, you bet! [Fatout, MT in VC 93]. Note: Edgar Branch claims this as Dan De Quille’s writing [“Apprenticeship” 61].

 

November – One night in November several Virginia City friends gave Sam a fake meerschaum pipe. He made an eloquent speech of thanks before discovering the trick. Dan De Quille later said Sam began “with the introduction of tobacco into England by Sir Walter Raleigh, and wound up with George Washington” [Fatout, MT Speaking 648].

 

Other Enterprise items by Sam were “Still Harping” and “Lives of the Liars or Joking Justified.” “Review of ‘Ingomar the Barbarian’,” and “Artemus Ward – Wild Humorist of the Plains” (summary only exists of the first two) [Schmidt].

 

November 2 Monday – Once again, Sam traveled to Carson City, this time to report on Nevada Territory’s First Constitutional Convention, which ran from Nov. 2 through Dec. 11 [MTL 1: 266].

 

November 7 Saturday – “Letter from Mark Twain,” Carson City, this date, “political convention,” was published later in the month in the Enterprise [Smith 86]. (Camfield places the print date as Nov. 10 [biblio.]).

 

November 11 Wednesday – Activity was slowing in Virginia City, with increased unemployment in the face of high prices. J. Ross Browne (1817-1875), the celebrated traveler, reported in the Stockton Daily Independent:

 

There are more people now in Virginia than the business of the place requires….My belief is that Virginia City will gradually become what Nature intended it to be—a mere depot for the trade and products of the [ page 143 ] Comstock lead….It does not possess a single inducement beyond what is based on mineral productions [Fatout, MT in VC 139-40].

 

November 15 Sunday – Sam dated a letter from Carson City to the Enterprise that was as “casual sequel to the “Bloody Massacre” hoax. The letter was published on Nov. 17.

 

November 17 Tuesday – The Enterprise printed Sam’s “Another Bloody Massacre” written on Nov. 15 from “Letter from Mark Twain.”

 

P.S. — Now keep dark, will you? I am hatching a deep plot. I am “laying,” as it were, for the editor of that San Francisco Evening Journal. The massacre I have related above is all true, but it occurred a good while ago. Do you see my drift? I shall catch that fool. He will look carefully through his Gold Hill and Virginia exchanges, and when he finds nothing in them about Samson killing a thousand men, he will think it is another hoax, and come out on me again, in his feeble way, as he did before. I shall have him foul, then, and I will never let up on him in the world (as we say in Virginia). I expect it will worry him some, to find out at last, that one Samson actually did kill a thousand men with the jaw-bone of one of his ancestors, and he never heard of it before. MARK [ET&S 1: 328-30].

 

November 19 Thursday – Another “Mark Twain’s Letter” (dated Nov. 14) ran in the Morning Call. Subheadings: Nevada Constitutional Convention; Boundary of the State; Right of Suffrage; Corporations; Nevada; Officers; Miscellaneous [Camfield bibliog.].

 

November 21 Saturday – “Lives of the Liars or Joking Justified” ran sometime in mid-Nov. in the Enterprise and on this day in the Gold Hill News [Camfield bibliog.]. “Still Harping” also ran on or about this day in the Enterprise.

 

November 22 Sunday – Sam’s article “On Murders” was published in the Golden Era [Walker 57].

 

November 29 Sunday – Sam’s articles “Ingomar Over the Mountains,” and “Greetings to Artemus Ward” were re-printed in the Golden Era [Walker 57-8]. These pieces were first in the Enterprise sometime earlier in the month, date unknown. The other article, “Play Acting over the Mountains. The Play of ‘Barbarian,’ by Maguire’s Dramatic Troupe at Virginia City!” [Camfield bibliog.]. Note: Camfield conjectures “Announcing Artemus Ward’s Coming” as an Enterprise article for Nov. 20

 

November 30 Monday – Sam’s 28th birthday. He attended the ball and supper at Sutliffe’s Hall by the Virginia City Eagle Engine Company, where he gave a speech [ET&S 1: 331].

 

December 1–3 Thursday – “A Tide of Eloquence” was printed in the Enterprise, and was reprinted in the Golden Era on Dec. 6.

Afterwards, Mr. Mark Twain being enthusiastically called upon, arose, and without previous preparation, burst forth in a tide of eloquence so grand, so luminous, so beautiful and so resplendent with the gorgeous fires of genius, that the audience were spell-bound by the magic of his words, and gazed in silent wonder in each other’s faces as men who felt that they were listening to one gifted with inspiration [Applause] The proceedings did not end here, but at this point we deemed it best to stop reporting and go to dissipating, as the dread solitude of our position as a sober, rational Christian, in the midst of the driveling and besotted multitude around us, had begun to shroud our spirits with a solemn sadness tinged with fear. At ten o’clock the curtain fell [ET&S 1: 332].

December 2 Wednesday – “Mark Twain on Murders” ran in the Morning Call [Camfield bibliog.]. This most likely was another reprint of an Enterprise article from a few days before. [ page 144 ]

 

A teamster was murdered and robbed on the public highway between Carson and Virginia, to-day. Our sprightly and efficient officers are on the alert. They calculate to inquire into this thing next week. They are tired of these daily outrages in sight of town, you know [Fatout, MT in VC 114-5].

 

December 6 Sunday – Sam’s article “A Tide of Eloquence” was reprinted in the Golden Era [Walker 66]. It was printed in the Enterprise sometime in November [Camfield bibliog.].

 

December 8 Tuesday – Another “Letter from Mark Twain,” from Carson City, dated (Dec. 5) ran in the Enterprise. Sections: “Church in Carson,” “Questions of Privilege,” “Mr. Stern’s Speech” [Smith 92-5]. Krause gives all of “Mr. Stern’s Speech” parody [58] and discusses allusions [59-60].

 

December 11 Friday – Sam was voted president of the “Third House” of the legislature, a mock body that met in saloons and burlesqued lawmakers and the process of the legislature. The Third House met at 11 PM. Sam made a speech, the text of which was not recorded [Sanborn 213; Fatout, MT Speaking 648].

 

Sam’s article “Assassination in Carson” (datelined Dec. 10) ran in the Enterprise [Camfield bibliog.].

 

December 12 Saturday – Another “Letter From Mark Twain,” dated this date from Carson City ran on Dec. 15 in the Enterprise.

 

December 15 Tuesday – “Letter from Mark Twain” (dated Dec. 12) ran in the Enterprise [Camfield bibliog.]. Sections: Logan Hotel; No More Mines; State Printer; School Fund; Hank Monk; The Old Pah-Utah; Carson City; and, Final Report. Sam continued to poke fun at the Pi-Utes, a pioneer association of early Nevada settlers.

 

“THE OLD PAH-UTAH”

Lovejoy has issued the first number of his paper at Washoe City, and the above is its name. It is as pretty as a sweetheart, and as readable as a love-letter – and in my experience, these similes express a good deal. But why should Lovejoy spell it Pah-Utah? That isn’t right – it should be Pi-Uty, or Pi-Ute. I speak by authority. Because I have carefully noted the little speeches of self-gratulation of our noble red brother, and he always delivers himself in this wise: “Pi-Uty boy heepy work – Washoe heep lazy.” But if you question his nationality, he remarks, with oppressive dignity: “Me no dam Washoe – me Pi-Ute!” Wherefore, my researches have satisfied me that one of these, or both, is right. Lovejoy ought to know this, even better than me; he came here before May, 1860, and is, consequently, a blooded Pi-Ute, while I am only an ignorant half-breed [ET&S 1: 169]. Note: John K. Lovejoy

 

December 18 Friday – Artemus Ward (Charles Farrar Browne) visited Virginia City, and looked up kindred bohemian spirits at the office of the Territorial Enterprise. His visit lasted until Dec. 29. Sam returned to Virginia City sometime before this period [MTL 1: 266].

 

December 19 Saturday – The Enterprise ran Sam’s Dec. 13 dispatch from Carson City reporting the burlesque proceedings of the “Third House” on the Constitutional Convention [Camfield biblio.; Smith 102-110].

 

December 22 Tuesday – The nationally acclaimed Artemus Ward gave the “Babes in the Woods” lecture at Maguire’s Opera House in Virginia City. Most likely, Sam was in attendance and was greatly influenced by Ward’s acclaim and style. Ward’s lecture was a great success [Powers, MT A Life 132].

 

December 24 and 25 Friday – Christmas – Artemus Ward hung around the Enterprise office during his stay in town. Sam and Dan De Quille showed Ward around during his visit. Joe Goodman described [ page 145 ] the raucous evening that unfolded at Chaumond’s after Ward’s lecture at Silver City, where Ward proposed his well-known toast, “ I give you Upper Canada.” Why? “Because I don’t want it myself” [Fatout, MT in VC 128]:

 

About midnight, as usual, he [Ward] turned up in the Enterprise office and commanded the editorial slaves to have done with their work, as his royal highness proposed to treat them to an oyster supper…Artemus Ward, Mark Twain, Dan de Quille, Denis McCarthy, [Edward P.] Hingston [Ward’s manager]. and myself sat about the table ….Then begun a flow and reflow of humor it would be presumptuous in me to attempt to even outline. It was on that occasion that Mark Twain fully demonstrated his right to rank above the world’s acknowledged foremost humorist…Course succeeded course and wine followed wine, until day began to break. …The first streaks of dawn were brightening the east when we went into the streets.

      “I can’t walk on the earth,” said Artemus. “I feel like walking on the skies, but as I can’t I’ll walk on the roofs.”

      And he clambered up a shed to the tops of the one-story houses, with Mark Twain after him, and commenced a wild scramble from roof to roof.

 

The piece ends with Ward spooning mustard to Sam, astride a barrel on the porch of Fred Getzler’s saloon. It was Christmas day, Dec. 25 Friday [MTL 1: 269-270n5]. Ward then gave a second lecture in the evening [Powers, MT A Life 132].

 

December 25–27 Sunday – Sam’s Local Column in the Enterprise: “A Christmas Gift.” Someone sent Sam a “naked, porcelain doll baby” [ET&S 1: 420]. Note: Did Ward send the doll?

 

December 28 Monday – The Virginia City Evening Bulletin quoted Sam’s article in the Enterprise: “Report of Artemus Ward’s Lecture in Virginia City.” The Enterprise article probably ran a day or two before Dec. 28:

 

There are perhaps fifty subjects treated in it, and there is a passable point in every one of them, and a healthy laugh, also, for any of God’s creatures who hath committed no crime, the ghastly memory of which debars him from smiling again while he lives. The man who is capable of listening to the “Babes in the Wood” from beginning to end without laughing either inwardly or outwardly must have done murder, or at least meditated it, at some time during his life [Mack 296].

 

December 29 Tuesday – Artemus Ward and his manager left Virginia in a mud wagon for Austin, 180 miles away. Fatout reports on the farewell:

 

“Faithful companions gathered to see them off and to bestow going-away presents: a demijohn of whiskey, feet in a mine somewhere behind Mount Davidson, a pouch of tobacco, a bowie knife guaranteed to have killed two men. Mark Twain presented a copy of the Enterprise, Dan De Quille a sackful of hardboiled eggs” [MT in VC 134].

 

Fatout also comments on Ward’s influence on Sam, something that has been widely written of:

 

“In his development as a figure transcending local limits the visit of Ward to Virginia was of major importance. The likenesses between the two are marked and frequent” [MT in VC 130].

 

Sam reported a Virginia City political meeting for the Enterprise. A short article, “Christmas Presents” of Sam’s also ran in the Enterprise [Smith 110; ET&S 1: 421].

 

December 30 Wednesday – Sam went to Carson City. His brother Orion was hopeful of a candidacy for secretary of state. Sam’s article, “The Bolters in Convention” was published in the Enterprise [Smith [ page 146 ] 112-18] and an unsigned article, “A Gorgeous Swindle,” the style of which points decidedly to Sam, and includes a parody of Sir Walter Scott [Smith 118-21; Gribben 617].

 

December 31 Thursday – Sam reported on the Union party convention to select candidates for Nevada’s first state election, scheduled for Jan.19, 1864. Joe Goodman, Sam’s editor, failed to win the nomination for state printer. Orion did win the nomination for secretary of state [MTL 1: 266].

 

Late 1863–Early 1864 – Sam’s article “Chinatown” was written from San Francisco and ran in the Enterprise:

 

CHINATOWN

 

Accompanied by a fellow-reporter, we made a trip through our Chinese quarter the other night. The Chinese have built their portion of the city to suit themselves; and as they keep neither carriages nor wagons, their streets are not wide enough, as a general thing, to admit of the passage of vehicles. At ten o’clock at night the Chinaman may be seen in all his glory. In every little cooped-up, dingy cavern of a hut, faint with the odor of burning Josh-lights and with nothing to see the gloom by save the sickly, guttering tallow candle, were two or three yellow, long-tailed vagabonds, coiled up on a sort of short truckle-bed, smoking opium, motionless and with their lusterless eyes turned inward from excess of satisfaction — or rather the recent smoker looks thus, immediately after having passed the pipe to his neighbor — for opium-smoking is a comfortless operation, and requires constant attention. A lamp sits on the bed, the length of the long pipe-stem from the smoker’s mouth; he puts a pellet of opium on the end of a wire, sets it on fire, and plasters it into the pipe much as a Christian would fill a hole with putty; then he applies the bowl to the lamp and proceeds to smoke – and the stewing and frying of the drug and the gurgling of the juices in the stem would well-nigh turn the stomach of a statue. John likes it, though; it soothes him; he takes about two dozen whiffs, and then rolls over to dream, Heaven only knows what, for we could not imagine by looking at the soggy creature. Possibly in his visions he travels far away from the gross world and his regular washing, and feasts on succulent rats and birds’-nests in Paradise [Roughing It, Ch. 54].


 [ page 147 ]
Third Territorial Legislature – Jennie Clemens Dead

Miscegenation Firestorm – ­“Poltroon and a Puppy”

San Francisco City Beat for the Morning Call – Jackass Hill

 

 

January – A photograph of William H. Clagett, Mark Twain, and A.J. Simmons was taken for the third Territorial Legislature at Carson City. The handwritten caption reads: “three of the suspected men still in confinement in Aurora” [MTL 1: 279].

 

January 1 Friday – On New Year’s Day, Sam wrote in the Territorial Enterprise:

 

“Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink, and swore his last oath” [Fatout, MT Speaks 10-11].

 

Charles F. Browne (Artemus Ward) wrote from Austin, Nev. to Sam

 

My Dearest Love,—I arrived here yesterday a.m. at 2 o’clock. It is a wild, untamable place, but full of lion-hearted boys. I speak to-night. See small bills.

      Why did you not go with me and save me that night?—I mean the night I left you drunk at that dinner party. I went and got drunker, beating, I may say, Alexander the Great, in his most drinkingest days, & I blackened my face at the Melodeon, and made a gibbering, idiotic speech. God-damit! I suppose the Union will have it. But let it go. I shall always remember Virginia [city] as a bright spot in my existence as all others must or rather cannot be, as it were.

      Love to Jo. Goodman and Dan. I shall write soon, a powerfully convincing note to my friends of “The Mercury.” Your notice, by the way, did much good here, as it doubtlessly will elsewhere. The miscreants of the Union will be batted in the snout if they ever dare pollute this rapidly rising city with their loathsome presence.

      Some of the finest intellects in the world have been blunted by liquor.

      Do not, sir—do not flatter yourself that you are the only chastely-humorous writer onto the Pacific slopes.

      Good-bye, old boy—and God bless you! The matter of which I spoke to you so earnestly shall be just as earnestly attended to—and again with very many warm regards for Jo. and Dan., and regards to many of the good friends we met. I am Faithfully, gratefully yours…[MTLP 93-94]. Note: The Union newspaper in Va. City; The NY Sunday Mercury, to which Ward had urged Sam to contribute. See Ward’s second letter of Jan. 21.

 

January 2 Saturday – Sam wrote his mother from Carson City about the fraudulent proceedings of the Nevada convention. He urges his mother to welcome Artemus Ward when he reached St. Louis: “But don’t ask him too many questions about me & Christmas Eve, because he might tell tales out of school.” Ward never went to the Moffett home due to illness. Clemens also asked his mother another favor: “If Fitzhugh Ludlow, (author of the ‘Hasheesh Eater,’) comes your way, treat him well also. He published a high ecomium upon Mark Twain, (the same being eminently just & truthful, I beseech you to believe,) in a San Francisco newspaper [S.F. Golden Era Nov. 22, 1863] [MTL 1: 267]. Fitz Hugh Ludlow (1836-1870) was a NY Bohemian. See source notes for more on Ludlow. See also Sept. 8, 1865 entry.

 

January 4 Monday – Sam, urged by Artemus Ward on his visit, wrote an article for the New York Sunday Mercury on this day titled “Doings in Nevada” [MTL 1: 268n1].

 

January 9 and 10 Sunday – Sam wrote from Carson City to his mother, and sister Pamela. He told them about the New York Sunday Mercury article, which was printed Feb. 7. Overnight Sam wrote “Those Blasted Children,” the two Mercury articles [MTL 1: 271; ET&S 1: 348]. He also wrote to Clement T. Rice, who discussed Sam’s “joking” letter about threats to move the capital of Nevada [Smith 126].  [ page 148 ]

 

January 11 Monday – “Letter from Mark Twain” (dated Jan. 10) ran in the Enterprise [Camfield bibliog.]. Sections: “Politics,” “Baggage,” “Young Gillespie,” “Legislature,” “House Warming,” “Warren Engine Co.,” “Religious,” “Squaires Trial,” “Marsh Children,” and “Artemus.”

ARTEMUS

I received a letter from Artemus Ward, to-day, dated “Austin, January 1.” It has been sloshing around between Virginia and Carson for awhile. I hope there is no impropriety in publishing extracts from a private letter – if there be, I ought not to copy the following paragraph of his:

“I arrived here yesterday morning at 2 o’clock. It is a wild, untamable place, but full of lion-hearted boys. I speak tonight. See small bills. ### I hope, some time, to see you and Kettle-belly Brown in New York. My grandmother — my sweet grandmother — she, thank God, is too far advanced in life to be affected by your hellish wiles. My aunt — she might fall. But didn’t Warren fall, at Bunker Hill? (The old woman’s safe. And so is the old girl, for that matter.—MARK) DO not sir, do not, sir, do not flatter yourself that you are the only chastely-humorous writer onto the Pacific slopes. ### I shall always remember Virginia as a bright spot in my existence, and all others must or rather cannot be, ‘as it were.’”

I am glad that old basket-covered jug holds out. I don’t know that it does, but I have an impression that way. At least I can’t make anything out of that last sentence. But I wish him well, and a safe journey, drunk or sober. / MARK TWAIN [Smith 127-30].

Sam paid $60 in cash to Daggett & Myers for two months rent shared with De Quille [Mack 246].

 

January 12 Tuesday – Sam joined in a photograph of 17 other men in formal garb, legislators and newspaper men, most wore top hats [MTP].

 

Sam enjoyed R.G. Marsh’s Juvenile Comedians perform at the Opera House in Carson City and wrote about it in his “Legislative Proceedings” letter of Jan. 13. The troupe performed in Carson on Jan. 11, 12 and 13, and included William M. (“Billy”) O’Neil in the farce, The Limerick Boy; or Paddy’s Mischief. Sam wrote that O’Neil, on Jan. 11, had been “The drunkest white man that ever crossed the mountains.” George Boulden and Mr. Alexander sang “When this Cruel War is Over, as it Were” and were encored three times. The Marsh group also presented The Toodles which had first been performed in New York in 1848 [Smith 129, 131-2].

 

January 12 to February 20 Saturday – The Third Territorial Legislature met in Carson City. Sam reported on the proceedings for the Enterprise. His daily reports, “LEGISLATIVE PROCEEDINGS,” exist for January 12 to 15, 20, 21, 27, 28, and February 8 to 20. These were humorous weekly updates by Sam on the political goings-on in Carson [For text of these see Schmidt or Smith].

 

Benson points out the contrasting influence that Sam had with his brother Orion, and the increased influence Sam’s writings from Carson gave:

 

“Now, in Carson City, his humor became more substantial writing, more thought-provoking, less ephemeral, and much less coarse than some of his previous writings. No doubt, the fact that he felt that he now had some real influence in public affairs had much to do with the change in content, style, and tone of his articles” [101]. From Sam’s Autobiography:

 

Orion was soon very popular with the members of the legislature, because they found that whereas they couldn’t usually trust each other, nor anybody else, they could trust him. He easily held the belt for honesty in [ page 149 ] that country, but it didn’t do him any good in a pecuniary way, because he had no talent for either persuading or scaring legislators. But I was differently situated. I was there every day in the legislature to distribute compliments and censure with evenly balanced justice and spread the same over half a page of the Enterprise every morning; consequently I was an influence [MTA 2: 307-8].

 

January 14 Thursday – Sam visited the school of Miss Clapp and Mrs. William K. Cutler, accompanying William M. Gillespie, member of the House Committee on Colleges and Common Schools. Sam noted changes in school lessons and tactics since he’d attended.

 

They sing in school, now-a-days, which is an improvement upon the ancient regime; and they don’t catch flies and throw spit-balls at the teacher, as they used to do in my time—which is another improvement, in a general way….The “compositions” read to-day were as exactly like the compositions I used to hear read in our school as one baby’s nose is exactly like all other babies’ noses [Smith 136].

 

January 15 Friday – From “Legislative Proceedings”: HOUSE—FOURTH DAY

 

…we had better let “parliamentary usage” alone for the present, until our former knowledge on the knotty subject returns to our memories. Because Providence is not going to put up with this sort of thing much longer, you know. I observe there is no lighting rod on these county buildings. —MARK TWAIN [Smith 141].

 

January 19 Tuesday – The election was held and Orion won the Secretary of State office. But the electorate, putting Nevada’s statehood in doubt, rejected the new constitution. Fatout describes the scene in Virginia City:

 

Voting day was a carnival in Virginia. Business houses closed, and the holiday spirit brought on a number of good fights, one of the best being a brisk encounter in which a butcher attempted to decapitate his adversary with a cleaver. His aim was poor….Band wagons, representing both sides, rolled around town all day, musicians playing “John Brown’s Body,” “Hail Columbia,” “Yankee Doodle.” Decorating the wagons were garish slogans: “Vote the Constitution and Union,” “Vote Down the Constitution and Taxation,” “Down with the one lead party, Bill Steward and the other Politicians, “White Men vote anywhere—Niggers can’t.” At night a huge transparency opposite Stewart’s law office depicted the burial of the constitution [MT in VC 147].

 

Sam’s article on schools was published in the Enterprise this day or the next [ET&S 1: 333].

 

January 19 or 20 Wednesday – Sam wrote “Letter from Mark Twain,” from Carson City (dated Jan. 14) about schools. The description of “Miss Clapp’s School” is quite similar to the “Examination Evening” scene in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Ch. 21 [ET&S 1: 333-8].

 

January 20 Wednesday – From “Legislative Proceedings”: HOUSE—NINTH DAY

 

Mr. Dean offered a resolution to employ a copying clerk.

Mr. Gillespie offered an amendment requiring the Engrossing and Enrolling Clerks to do this proposed officer’s work. (These two officers are strictly ornamental—have been under wages since the first day of the session—haven’t had anything to do, and won’t for two weeks yet—and now by the eternal, they want some more useless clerical jewelry to dangle to the Legislature. If the House would discharge its extra scribblers, and let the Chief Clerk hire assistance only when he wants it, it seems to me it would be better. —Rep.)

Without considering the appointment of a new jimcrack ornament, and starting his pay six weeks before he goes to work (only thirteen dollars a day), the House adjourned [Smith 141].

 

The Gold Hill Daily News had been pro-constitution, and with the defeat of the bill, ran an announcement of loss:

 [ page 150 ]

The good old ship “Constitution,” Captain Bill Steward, master and George W. Bloor, pilot, will leave the wharf in front of the Bank Exchange, Gold Hill, at sunrise to-morrow morning, for the head of Salt River….Mark Twain is expected to get aboard at Carson City, with the seat of government in his breeches [Fatout, MT in VC 148-9].

 

January 21 Thursday – From “Legislative Proceedings”: HOUSE—TENTH DAY

 

QUESTION OF PRIVILEGE

Mr. Stewart rose to a question of privilege, and said the ENTERPRISE and Union reporters had been moving Ellen Redman’s toll-bridge from its proper position on the Carson Slough to an illegal one on the Humboldt Slough. (I did that. If Ellen Redman don’t like it, I can move her little bridge back again—but under protest. I waded that Humboldt Slough once, and I have always had a hankering to see a bridge over it since.—Mark.)

 

The Gold Hill Daily News continued to rib Sam about the election, calling him the “historian of the Hopkins family,” referring to the Dutch Nick massacre hoax. It was a common theme for opposing newspapers [Fatout, MT in VC 149].

 

Charles F. Browne (Artemus Ward) wrote from Salt Lake City:

 

      My Dear Mark,—I have been dangerously ill for the past two weeks here, of congestive fever. Very grave fears were for a time entertained of my recovery, but happily the malady is gone, though leaving me very, very weak. I hope to be able to resume my journey in a week or so. I think I shall speak in the Theater here, which is one of the finest establishments of the kind in America.

      The Saints have been wonderfully kind to me, I could not have been better or more tenderly nursed at home—God bless them!

      I am still exceedingly weak—can’t write any more. Love to Jo and Dan, and all the rest. Write me at St. Louis. / Always yours… [MTLP]. Note: Sam’s reply is not extant.

 

January 23 Saturday – Sam responded to a request by Seymour Pixley and G.A. Sears, trustees of the First Presbyterian Church of Carson City, to charge a dollar for attendees of the mock “Third House” of the legislature and donate the funds to the church. Sam wrote:

 

Gentlemen:—Certainly. If the public can find anything in a grave state paper worth paying a dollar for, I am willing they should pay that amount or any other. And although I am not a very dusty christian myself, I take an absorbing interest in religious affairs, and would willingly inflict my annual message upon the church itself if it might derive benefit thereby [MTL 1: 272].

 

January 25 Monday – Sam spoke to a sold out benefit for the Third House [A. Hoffman 86]. Paine quoted those who attended as Sam’s “greatest effort of his life” [MTB 246; Fatout, MT Speaking 648]. Sam was presented with a gold watch from wealthy Theodore Winters and Alexander W. (Sandy) Baldwin (1835-1869). The engraving read, “To Gov. Mark Twain,” etc. Sam wrote to his sister Pamela on Mar. 18 [MTL 1: 275].

 

January 26 Tuesday – Jennie Clemens, eight-year-old daughter of Orion and Mollie, took ill. A. Hoffman cites this as “one day after” Sam’s speech [86]. Note: Fanning claims Jennie was stricken on Jan. 29 [91].

 

January 27 Wednesday – Sam’s “Message to the ‘Third House,’ Delivered in Carson City, 27 January” ran on or about this date in the Enterprise. The paper is lost but the piece was reprinted on Jan. 29 and 30 in two other Virginia City newspapers [Camfield bibliog.]. Sam wrote in HOUSE –SEVENTEENTH DAY, Jan. 28 of the speech:

 [ page 151 ]

I delivered that message last night [Jan. 27], but I didn’t talk loud enough—people in the far end of the hall could not hear me. They said “Louder—louder,” occasionally, but I thought that was a way they had—a joke, as it were. I had never talked to a crowd before, and knew none of the tactics of the public speaker…Some folks heard the entire document, though—there is some comfort in that. Hon. Mr. Clagett, Speaker Simmons of the inferior House, Hon. Hal Clayton, Speaker of the Third House, Judge Haydon, Dr. Alban, and others whose opinions are entitled to weight, said they would travel several miles to hear that message again…One of these days, when I get time, I will correct, amend and publish the message, in accordance with a resolution of the Third House ordering 300,000 copies in the various languages spoken at the present day.

 

P.S.—Sandy Baldwin and Theodore Winters heard that message, anyhow, and by thunder they appreciated it, too. They have spent a hundred dollars apiece to San Francisco this morning, to purchase a watch chain for His Excellency Governor Twain. I guess that is a pretty good result for an incipient oratorical slouch like me, isn’t it? I don’t know that anybody tendered the other Governor a testimonial of any kind. MARK TWAIN [Smith 146-7].

 

January 29 Friday – “Carl” (Clement T. Rice) reported from Carson City to the Virginia City Union about Sam’s speech (now lost) to the burlesque assembly known as the “Third House.”

 

Last night [Jan. 27] a large and fashionable audience was called out to hear a message delivered by the Mark Two—otherwise called Twain. Indeed, this was the resuscitation of the celebrated Third House, or rip-snorting gymnasium, prepared for the benefit of outsiders who must orate or bust. Hal. Clayton assumed the chair, and the levities spread spontaneously. Mark Two’s message only helped to keep up the effervescing spirit of the good work in behalf of that same, ever-present gaping skeleton of a church. The benefit on this occasion was large—perhaps $200—which will take the institution in out of the weather and hasten its completion very materially [Smith 145-6].

 

Smith notes that this may have been Sam Clemens’ “first appearance on what seemed to him a public occasion…noteworthy as the beginning of a long and brilliant career as a platform artist” [146].

 

February 1 Monday – Orion and Mollie Clemens’ only daughter and niece of Sam’s, Jennie, died of cerebrospinal meningitis (“spotted fever.”) [MTL 1: 383].

 

Sam’s article “Satirical Account of Bill Stewart’s Party” ran in the Enterprise [Camfield bibliog.].

 

February 3 Wednesday – The Nevada Territorial Legislature adjourned to attend Jennie Clemens’ funeral at 10 AM [MTL 1: 383; Mack 278].

 

February 5 Friday – Sam wrote “Winter’s New House,” published a week later in the Enterprise, along with a second article written this day “An Excellent School” [ET&S 1: 343].

 

February 6 Saturday – Sam wrote to the Territorial Enterprise describing the fierce competition for 72 positions of county notary created by the legislature. “There are seventeen hundred and forty-two applications for notaryships already on file in the Governor’s office.” Sam decided he might as well apply, too. The article, “Concerning Notaries,” appeared in the Enterprise on Feb. 9 and was reprinted in the Golden Era on the 28 [MTL 1: 278n9; Sanborn 224].

 

February 7 Sunday – The New York Mercury ran Sam’s article, “Doings in Nevada” [Powers, MT A Life 134; Camfield bibliog.]. Note: Fatout reports this as “For Sale or to Rent,” a spoof advertising used territorial officials rejected by the voters, and connects this publication to the help of Artemus Ward [MT in VC 131].

 

February 8 to 15 Monday – Sam and Clement T. Rice reported in “Legislative Proceedings” each day. Some pieces were signed, some not. See Smith, p.153-62 for details. [ page 152 ]

 

February 9 Tuesday – Sam’s “Letter from Carson,” with “Concerning Notaries” ran in the Enterprise [Walker 67-70].

 

February 12 Friday – Sam’s article, dated Feb. 5, “Winter’s New House,” ran in the Enterprise. It described the Carson City home of Theodore Winters, who had struck it rich in the Ophir vein and became a principal stockholder in the Spanish Mine. Also in the Enterprise was “An Excellent School” [ET&S 1: 339].

 

February 13 Saturday – “Letter from Mark Twain,” Carson City, was published in the Enterprise. The weekly letter, “The Carson Undertaker,” was an attack on the Carson Independent [Smith 159].

 

February 16 Tuesday – “The Removal of the Capital,” attributed to Sam, ran in the Enterprise. [Smith 162]. Note: see also Aug. 17, 1869.

 

February 21 Sunday – Sam’s sketch “Those Blasted Children,” (written on Jan. 9 and completed during a long night session lasting until 7 AM on Jan. 10) was published in the New York Sunday Mercury [ET&S 1: 348]. Sam’s made-up letter to “Mark Twain” from “Zeb. Leavenworth” contained a “sovereign remedy” for stammering children—sawing off the child’s underjaw. Zeb and Beck Jolly had been Sam’s shipmates on the John J. Roe [MTL 1: 271-2n2].

 

February 27 Saturday – Adah Isaacs Menken (1835?-1868) arrived in Virginia City. In Sept. 1863 Sam saw her in one of her sixty San Francisco performances of Mazeppa, where she rode horseback in nothing but flesh-colored body-tights. Sam wasn’t impressed with her performances. Adah invited Sam to dinner in her hotel room with Dan De Quille and the Bohemian poet Ada Clare (Jane McElhinney, 1836?-1874). Menken’s current husband, her third, poet and dramatic critic Orpheus C. Kerr (Robert H. Newell 1836-1901), was not allowed in the room. The Jewish actress had also been married to John C. Heenan, “Benicia Boy,” the prizefighter, as well as Alexander Isaacs Menken [Benson 94-5].

 

According to De Quille (this may have been a tall tale) the “evening terminated when Clemens, aiming a kick at one of the actress’s numerous dogs, accidentally ‘hit the Menken’s pet corn, causing her to bound from her seat, throw herself on a lounge and roll and roar in agony’” [MTL 1: 277-8n5; Powers, MT A Life 136].

 

February 28 Sunday – Sam’s recent Enterprise article “Concerning Notaries” was reprinted in the Golden Era as “Washoe Wit Mark Twain on the Rampage” [Walker 67; Camfield bibliog.].

 

February 29 Monday – In Virginia City, Sam wrote to J.T. Goodman & Co., asking them to pay Orion $150. This may have been money Sam owed Orion [MTL 1: 273].

 

March 1 Tuesday – Governor James Warren Nye (1815-1876) appointed Sam to a two-year term as notary for Storey County [MTL 1: 279n9]. In his Autobiographical Dictation of Apr. 2, 1906 Sam described Nye:

 

Governor Nye was an old and seasoned politician from New York—politician, not statesman. He had white hair; he was in fine physical condition; he had a winningly friendly face and deep lustrous brown eyes that could talk as a native language the tongue of every feeling, every passion, every emotion. His eyes could out-talk his tongue, and this is saying a good deal, for he was a very remarkable talker, both in private and on the stump. He was a shrewd man; he generally saw through surfaces and perceived what was going on inside without being suspected of having an eye on the matter.

…

Governor Nye was often absent from the Territory. He liked to run down to San Francisco every little while and enjoy a rest from Territorial civilization. Nobody complained, for he was prodigiously popular. He had [ page 153 ] been a stage-driver in his early days in New York, and he had acquired the habit of remembering names and faces, and of making himself agreeable to his passengers. As a politician this had been valuable to him, and he kept his arts in good condition by practice. By the time he had been Governor a year, he had shaken hands with every human being in the Territory of Nevada, and after that he always knew these people instantly at sight and could call them by name. The whole population, of twenty thousand persons, were his personal friends, and he could do anything he chose to do and count upon their being contented with it [AMT 2: 4-5]. Note: Nye had been a district attorney and judge in Madison Co. NY, an attorney in Syracuse, and president of the NYC Metropolitan Police Commission; Lincoln appointed him Governor of N.T. in 1861 [458].

 

March 2 Wednesday – Menken and troupe opened at Maguire’s New Opera House. Sam had written a series of reviews including some severe criticism of other companies who performed in Maguire’s Opera House. No doubt he was on hand for Adah Menken’s Virginia City debut. Benson writes, “Every seat in the house had been sold the day previous…as no one wanted to miss seeing the glamorous star” [95]. The show was not a great success due to Adah’s choice of the play The French Spy for opening night, where she wore too many clothes [Fatout, MT in VC 162].

 

March 3 Thursday – Henry L. Blodgett and Sam. L. Clemens, notaries public, began running advertisements in the Virginia City Evening Bulletin [MTL 1: 279n9].

 

March 4 to 7 Monday – Sam visited Como, Nevada, near Carson City, purpose unknown. Daniel Martin, a past resident of Hannibal owned a saloon in Como, so it’s likely Sam saw him. He would see him again in the Sandwich Islands, and write about a “learned pig” Martin had. Martin claimed the pig could speak seven languages! [MTL 1: 340n3].

 

March 6 Sunday – Sam was “an associate, apparently in a sort of unofficial advisory capacity” for The Weekly Occidental, a new literary paper published by Thomas Fitch and Co. This was an ambitious journal that may have had as many as seven editions. The first five, from Mar. 6 to Apr. 3, 1864 [RI UC 1993 explanatory notes 678]. The contributors were Joe Goodman, Dan De Quille, Dr. R. Eichler, Fitch and Rollin Daggett. It was once thought the publication had only one issue. Fatout describes the publication and its contributors, and writes that Sam was to be in the second issue [MT in VC 169-175]. The “memory of the lost Occidental” is mentioned in Roughing It.

 

Sam’s mother, Jane Clemens wrote from St. Louis to Sam and Orion “To my dear children”. Pamela Moffett also wrote to Sam.

 

From Jane: “Mrs. Kerchivel [sic Kercheval, Helen] from Hannibal spent the day here last week…She wished to be remembered to you all. You have the sympathy of all of your friends as much as any person I ever saw. Jennie was an uncommon smart child she was a very handsome child but I never thought you would raise her, she was a heaven born child, she was two [sic] good for this world.” She also wrote of persons there, & that Dr Meredith died 3 hours before Mrs Rose.

 

From Pamela: “We rec’d your letter post-marked Feb 6st two or three days after Orion’s post-marked 9st. We thought it strange that you would write to Artemas [sic] Ward, and not to us.” She encouraged Sam to turn to Christ. Also wished he would come to the Fair, and spoke of gifts intended to send to the late Jennie Clemens [MTP].

 

March 7 Monday – By this date, Adah Menken was giving the miners what they wanted and what had built her reputation, Mazeppa, where she rode a steed up an incline in flesh colored tights which left little to the imagination. That is, Adah wore the tights, not the steed. Fatout writes: “Julie Bulette, the highly esteemed madam, regal in sables, occupied a stage box. Joe Goodman went all out in unrestrained praise…” [MT in VC 162].

 [ page 154 ]

March 8 Tuesday – Dan De Quille paid Daggett & Myers $75 toward rent owed with Sam [Mack 246].

 

March 10, Thursday – Joseph Alfred Slade (Jack) was hanged at Bannock City, Idaho [RI UC 1993 587].

 

March 18 Friday – Sam wrote from Virginia City to sister Pamela and sent a drawing he made of himself for his niece, Annie Moffett. He wrote about Joe Goodman going to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii): “I wanted to go with Joe, but the news-editor was expecting every day to get sick (he has since accomplished it,) & we could not all leave at once.” Sam also wrote of the gold watch he’d received at the meeting of the Third House of the legislature on Jan. 25 [MTL 1: 275].

 

March 27 Sunday – Sam’s article “Those Blasted Children” ran in the Golden Era [Walker 18].

 

March 31 Thursday – Adah Menken “suddenly left Virginia without saying goodbye to anybody, and returned to San Francisco.” Of course, she had $36,000 worth of comfort plus gifts of stock certificates bearing a naked lady on a galloping stallion, which she sold a year later for $50,000 [Fatout, MT in VC 167]. She died in 1868 at age 33.

 

April 1 Friday – “Another Traitor – Hang Him!” a hoax article in the Enterprise is attributed to Sam [Fatout, MT in VC 180]. Also printed in the Evening Bulletin on Apr. 1 as “Another Goak” [Camfield bibliog.].

 

April 14 Thursday – Sam wrote to Orion, resigning his commission as a notary public for Storey County [MTL 1: 279n9]. No reason was given, but this work was similar to the scraps of work and fees his father, John Marshall Clemens, had sought, and so by association, Sam may have concluded the small fees were not worth the effort. Noted on the letter for Apr. 15 is Orion’s acceptance.

 

April 16 Saturday – Sam and Dan De Quille had been taking fencing lessons from Professor O. V. Chauvel, who ran a gymnasium at 12 North C Street [Mack 251]. The Gold Hill Daily News ran an article about their fencing expertise:

 

It would appear that our two friends, Mark Twain and Dan De Quille, have little faith in the old saying that the pen is mightier than the sword, as they are taking lessons daily in the latter weapon. It is said to be highly amusing to witness these two “roosters,” they sometimes get so terribly in earnest. Then do their blades describe wicked circles, and their nostrils breath forth wrath. We understand that Dan came out of one of these conflicts minus several buttons and one shirtsleeve, and that Twain was in an almost equally dilapidated state [251].

 

April 17–24 Sunday – Sam’s item in the Enterprise Local Column was “Missionaries Wanted.” This humorous drubbing of two locals in a fictional scene was typical of Sam’s barbs for those he wanted to deflate. Such reports won him the title of “wild and unpredictable humorist.”

 

Yesterday morning [John] Gashwiler and Charley Funck, citizens of Virginia City and of the Territory of Nevada, and officers of the great Virginia and Gold Hill Water Company, came rushing into our office in a state of excitement bordering on lunacy… [Note: John W. Gashwiler (1831-1883) “Old Gash”]

 

What followed was the pair demanding that an article in another newspaper be read, the article being only verses from the book of John in the Bible.

 

When men get so far gone that they do not know the Sermon on the Mount from a bid for a water franchise, it is time for them to begin reform and stop taking chances on the hereafter [ET&S 1: 424-5].

 [ page 155 ]

April 19 Tuesday – Ruel Colt Gridley (1829-1870), an “old schoolfellow of Mark Twain’s” and owner of the Gridley Store in Austin, made a wager on the outcome of a city election, with the loser having to carry a fifty-pound sack of flour from Austin to Clifton, a mile and a quarter’s distance [Fatout, MT in VC 186]. Note: the next day the process began which led to the great flour sack promotions for the Sanitary Fund, a forerunner of the American Red Cross (See May 17 entry.)

 

April 20 Wednesday – “Frightful Accident to Dan De Quille,” was printed in the Territorial Enterprise. Branch called this sketch “in Mark Twain’s best vein–a typical product of the mutual raillery he carried on with De Quille, resembling his earlier ‘feuds’ with the Unreliable” [ET&S 1: 359].

 

April 22 Friday – In his Autobiography, Sam wrote of his attempt at a duel with James L. Laird, editor of the Virginia City Union and how it all came about:

 

…inasmuch as it was the 22d of April, 1864, the next morning it would be the three-hundredth anniversary of Shakespeare’s birthday—and what better theme could I want than that? I got the Cyclopaedia and examined it, and found out who Shakespeare was and what he had done, and I borrowed all that and laid it before a community that couldn’t have been better prepared for instruction about Shakespeare than if they had been prepared by art. There wasn’t enough of what Shakespeare had done to make an editorial of the necessary length, but I filled it out with what he hadn’t done—which in many respects was more important and striking and readable than the handsomest things he had really accomplished. But next I was in trouble again. There was no more Shakespeares to work up. There was nothing in past history, or in the world’s future possibilities, to make an editorial out of suitable to that community; so there was but one theme left. That theme was Mr. Laird, proprietor of the Virginia Union [MTA 1: 354-5]. Note: It’s doubtful that Sam needed to “look up” Shakespeare by this time.

 

April 24 Sunday ca. – Sam got his nose bloodied by George F. Dawson at Chauvel’s Fencing Club, a Virginia City gymnasium. Dawson, an Englishman, at the time an assistant editor at the Enterprise, was a skilled boxer [Mack 252; Fatout, MT in VC 184]. Sam clowned around with a pair of boxing gloves, but evidently Dawson thought Sam was threatening, so uncorked a punch to Sam’s unguarded nose. De Quille claimed a “plentiful flow of claret” and a nose “like an egg-plant” that supposedly embarrassed Sam enough for him to take an out of town assignment for the newspaper. Branch says this happened “shortly before Apr. 25” [ET&S 1: 358]. Sam volunteered for an assignment to Silver Mountain (in Alpine County, Calif.) to escape the embarrassing teasing his appearance received [ET&S 1: 358].

 

April 26 Tuesday ca. – Sam left for Silver Mountain to report on mining activity there and to allow his swollen nose to recede for a couple of days.

 

April 28–30 Saturday – “Letter from Mark Twain” from Carson City, was published in the Enterprise.

“I depart for Silver Mountain in the Esmeralda stage at 7 o’clock to-morrow morning. It is the early bird that catches the worm, but I would not get up at that time in the morning for a thousand worms, if I were not obliged to. MARK TWAIN”[Smith 178].

April 30 Saturday – A fragment of Sam’s Enterprise piece about De Quille survives:

DAN REASSEMBLED

The idea of a plebeian like Dan supposing he could ever ride a horse! He! why, even the cats and the chickens laughed when they saw him go by. Of course, he would be thrown off. Of course, any well-bred horse wouldn’t let a common, underbred person like Dan stay on his back! When they gathered him up he was just a bag of scraps, but they put him together, and you’ll find him at his old place in the Enterprise office next week, still laboring under the delusion that he’s a newspaper man [ET&S 1: 364]. [ page 156 ]

The Enterprise item about Gashwiler and Funck was reprinted in the Amador, California, Weekly Ledger [Fatout, MT Speaks 16-7].

 

May – Sometime during May, Sam’s article “Burlesque Life of Shakespeare” ran in the Enterprise [Camfield bibliog.].

 

May 1 Sunday – Sam’s article “Mark Twain and Dan De Quille / Hors de Combat” ran in the Golden Era [Walker 50]. This was essentially a reprint from the Enterprise of “Frightful Accident of Dan De Quille” [Camfield bibliog.].

 

May 1–15 Sunday – “Washoe—‘Information Wanted’” was printed sometime in the first two weeks of May, and reprinted in the Golden Era on May 22. Branch opines that Sam was disenchanted by this point with Silver-Land, principally over the scandal with the ladies of Carson City and the contributions to the Sanitary Fund with the Virginia Union. The sketch is hyperbole about Nevada that Branch calls an “appropriate farewell” [ET&S 1: 365].

 

Nevada was discovered many years ago by the Mormons, and was called Carson county. It only became Nevada in 1861, by act of Congress. There is a popular tradition that God Almighty created it; but when you come to see it, William, you will think differently. Do not let that discourage you, though. The country looks something like a singed cat, owing to the scarcity of shrubbery, and also resembles that animal in the respect that it has more merits than its personal appearance would seem to indicate [ET&S 1: 368].

 

May 5 Thursday – The Sanitary Fancy Dress Ball was held in Carson City in connection with the St. Louis Fair (a larger Sanitary charity event to help the Union wounded veterans).

 

May 15 Sunday – The first meeting in Virginia City for the “Sanitary Fund” was trumpeted from the Virginia City Union:

 

To-day, at 2 o’clock, the long deferred mammoth Sanitary meeting will be held at the Opera House. The announcement ought to fill the house, but when it is remembered that sweet singers, eloquent orators, pretty ladies, and a fine brass band will be in attendance, who can stay away? Turn out for the honor of Nevada! [Benson 106]. Note: the Enterprise no doubt ran similar fare.

 

May 16 Monday – Joe Goodman was again away from Virginia City, and Sam was in editorial charge of the Enterprise [Benson 107]. Sam drafted a “joke” about the funds for the Carson City Ball going to a miscegenation society back East. He showed it to De Quille, who agreed with Sam that it shouldn’t be printed. Sam later guessed the foreman, needing filler, picked it up and printed it [Powers, MT A Life 137].

 

Sam’s article, “History of the Gold and Silver Bars—How They Do Things in Washoe,” ran in the Enterprise [Camfield bibliog.].

 

May 17 Tuesday – In Virginia City, Sam wrote to his mother, Jane Clemens, and sister Pamela about raising money for relief of sick and wounded Union soldiers, called the “sanitary fund.” The Enterprise and the Union bid against each other to raise funds. Sam related Reuel Colt Gridley’s efforts at hauling a flour sack from town to town for the people to bid on as a means of raising funds. This letter was published (and it appears written for publication) in an unidentified St. Louis newspaper [MTL 1: 281-287].

 

Sam’s article “Grand Austin Sanitary Flour-Sack Progress through Storey and Lyon Counties” ran in the Enterprise on or about this date (reprinted, Evening Bulletin May. 19) [Camfield bibliog.].

 [ page 157 ]

Sam’s “joke” appeared in the Enterprise. In an editorial Sam wrote while “not sober” he claimed that the money raised at the Sanitary Fancy Dress Ball in Carson City was to be sent “to aid a Miscegenation Society somewhere in the East.”

May 18 Wednesday – Sam’s EDITORIAL “How Is It?” ran in the Enterprise:

How is it that The Union outbid us for the flour Monday night and now repudiate their bid?
How it is that Union employees refused to pay their subscriptions when they fell due? Did they pledge themselves for a big amount solely to make a bigger display than The Enterprise? Had they any other idea than to splurge?

[Schmidt: reprinted in The Saga of the Comstock Lode, George D. Lyman, (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1957), p. 294, quoting Virginia City Daily Union, May 19, 1864].

An unsigned article “Travels and Fortunes of the Great Austin Sack of Flour” attributed to Sam also ran in the Enterprise [Camfield bibliog.].

 

May 19 Thursday – Four ladies on the Carson City Sanitary Ball Committee drafted a letter of protest to the Enterprise over Sam’s miscegenation editorial. Joe Goodman, back at his desk, tried to ignore the uproar [Powers, MT A Life 138].

 

May 20 Friday – Sam wrote from Virginia City to his sister in law, Mollie Clemens, explaining and apologizing for the appearance of the “joke” of May 17. Sam’s confessed he was not sober when he wrote the miscegenation editorial, and had never intended it to be published. He theorized that after sharing it with Dan De Quille he left it in the office and the foreman found it, thinking it was to be published [MTL 1: 287-290].

 

Another Enterprise editorial continuing the feud with the Union is attributed to Sam [Schmidt].

 

“Anticipating the Gridley Flour-Sack History” attributed to Sam ran on or about this date in the Enterprise (reprinted May 26 Evening Bulletin) [Camfield bibliog.].

 

May 21 Saturday – The Virginia Daily Union reacted to the “libelous article” in the Enterprise signed anonymously by “CITIZEN.” Sam’s humor was too raw for these folks, and a full-blown scandal was on. In a further squabble over each newspaper’s contribution to the Sanitary fund, Sam was called “an unmitigated liar, a poltroon and a puppy” in the pages of the Virginia Daily Union. On this same day, Sam wrote to James L. Laird, a partner in the publishers of the Union, demanding a public retraction “of the insulting articles I have mentioned, or satisfaction.”

 

James L. Laird of the Virginia Daily Union answered Sam:

 

…in short, Mr. Wilmington has prior claim upon your attention. When he is through with you, I shall be at your service. If you decline to meet him after challenging him, you will prove yourself to be what he has charged you with being: “a liar, a poltroon and a puppy,” and as such, cannot of course be entitled to the consideration of a gentleman [MTL 1: 294].

 

Not satisfied with this reply shifting blame to J.W. Wilmington, Sam wrote Laird a second note:

 

In the columns of your paper you have declared your own responsibility for all articles appearing in it, and any farther attempt to make a catspaw of any other individual and thus shirk your responsibility that you [ page 158 ] had previously assumed will show that you are a cowardly sneak. I now peremptorily demand of you the satisfaction due to a gentleman—without alternative.

 
Sam sent a third letter, in ever-stronger terms, at 9 PM, demanding satisfaction [MTL 1: 290-2].

 

J.W. Wilmington wrote to Sam, stating flatly “I have nothing to retract” [MTL 1: 292; MTPO].

 

May 22 Sunday – Sam’s article “Washoe” was published in the Golden Era [Walker 54].

 

May 23 Monday – Sam wrote Ellen G. Cutler (Mrs. William K. Cutler), president of the Carson City Sanitary Ball committee his apologies for the unintended printing of the “joke.” Sam wrote, “I address a lady, in every sense of the term” [MTL 1: 296].

 

James L. Laird of the Virginia Daily Union wrote again answering Sam [MTL 1: 295].

 

May 24 Tuesday – Sam printed under the title “Miscegenation,” an article in the Enterprise explained the hoax with an apology to the ladies of Carson City. Sam also printed all of his letters in the scrape with the Union, plus those of Laird, Wilmington, and Gillis in the Enterprise, numbering them I through VII (See Smith 191-6 for text). He then called Laird a coward, liar and a fool. In 1872 Sam claimed that a duel was averted when Steve Gillis (Stephen Edward Gillis; 1838-1918) during pistol practice, shot the head off a sparrow and conned Laird’s seconds that Sam had done it [MTL 1: 296]. Note: This story has the ring of fiction.

 

Sam’s “Personal Correspondence” ran in the Enterprise [Camfield bibliog.]. Note: this is probably the above mentioned.

 

May 25 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Virginia City to Orion and Mollie. Orion had been appointed president of the Ormsby County sanitary committee, and Sam wrote, “I am mighty sick of that fund…” Sam expressed a desire for the whole controversy to go away [MTL 1: 298].

 

Charles P. Pope (1832-1899), actor & theatrical manager, wrote to Sam, sending a trout he caught in Lake Tahoe. The letter itself is not extant but Walter Leman wrote of it in Memories of an Old Actor (1866): “That splendid trout was boxed up and sent to Mark Twain, for the delectation of the newspaper fellows of the Enterprise, with a letter from Charley Pope, and I fully believe that he told them he caught it; if he did I forgive him…” [MTP].

 

May 26 Thursday – Sam wrote Orion asking for $200:

 

…if you can spare it comfortably. However, never mind—you can send it to San Francisco if you prefer. Steve [Gillis]  & I are going to the States. We leave Sunday morning per Henness Pass. Say nothing about it of course. We are not afraid of the grand jury, but Washoe has long since grown irksome to us, & we want to leave it anyhow.

 

His letter also stated that they wished to stay in San Francisco a month [MTL 1: 299]. The two flaps over the Sanitary fund had soured Sam on Virginia City. The Henness Pass route did not go through Carson City, where some folks were not placated by Sam’s apologies. It was time for Sam to move on. That Sam asked Orion for money reveals his strong desire to leave, and also the up and down nature of his finances while in Virginia City. He’d sent hundreds home, banked thousands, but had to borrow money when he left town. The Virginia Daily Union ran the Carson City Ladies’ Letter of protest for three days [Powers, MT A Life 138].

 [ page 159 ]

May 28 Saturday – Sam wrote William K. Cutler in receipt of his challenge to a duel.  “Having made my arrangements—before I received your note—to leave for California, & having no time to fool away on a common bummer like you, I want an immediate reply to this” [MTL 1: 301].

 

Note: Cutler had come up from Carson City and Steve Gillis placated him and convinced him to leave town. In some accounts it has been erroneously given that Sam Clemens ran from a duel, the reason for his leaving Virginia City. Examination of these letters and news accounts prove otherwise. Sam was still the same man who “pounded” Pilot William Brown.

 

In San Francisco the first issue of the Californian appeared, with Charles Henry Webb (1834-1905) as editor and publisher, and Francis Bret Harte as chief contributor. Webb wrote under the pseudonyms of Inigo and John Paul. A note about Sam’s controversy with Laird of the Union was mentioned [Benson 118]. See also AMT 2: 484 for more on Webb.

 

May 29 Sunday – Sam, Joe Goodman, and Steve Gillis left Virginia City for San Francisco. Goodman wrote to Paine in 1911 that he’d intended to ride only a short way with the pair, but that the company was “too good and I kept clear on to San Francisco” [MTL 1: 302].

 

May 30 Monday – Sam and Steve Gillis settled at the Occidental Hotel.

 

June–July – In a few weeks Sam and Steve would move from the more expensive Occidental to cheaper rooms, but they continued to take meals at the Occidental, where the food was great and the company stimulating. There Sam met and enjoyed Martha Hunter Hitchcock, wife of Dr. Charles McPhail Hitchcock (1813?-1885), medical director for the Army of the Pacific. Martha was a regular contributor to the Alta California and active in local literary circles. She introduced Sam to her literary circle, which included: Ina Coolbrith (1841-1928), Bret (Francis) Harte (1836-1902), Ambrose G. Bierce (1842-1914?), Fitz Hugh Ludlow (1836-1870), Joe Lawrence (editor of The Golden Era), Charles H. Webb (1834-1905; founder of The Californian), and Charles Warren Stoddard (1843-1909), young friend of Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894). Stoddard wrote poetry for the Era under the name Pip Pepperwood [Rasmussen 444]. In London years later, Sam would hire Stoddard because he admired his character and his piano playing [Sanborn 243-4].

 

Dr. & Mrs. Hitchcock had an 18-year-old daughter, Lillie (Eliza Wychie Hitchcock 1843-1929), a cross-dressing, cigar smoking, poker-playing girl who, on a dare, rode a cowcatcher on the Napa railroad. Sam was fascinated by Lillie, and spent many hours with her.

 

“She was a brilliant talker…It always seemed funny to me that she & I could be friends, but we were—I suppose because under all her wild & repulsive foolery, that warm heart of her would show.”

 

Note: Sam would later sketch a character, “Hellfire” after Lillie in an unfinished work, and also the character of Shirley Tempest in the 1877 play of Ah Sin, in collaboration with Bret Harte [Sanborn 245].

 

June, Mid – Sam wrote his Territorial Enterprise readers that the Occidental was “ ‘Heaven on the half shell’ – a welcome respite from the sagebrush and desolation of Washoe” [MTL 1: 302].

 

June 6 Monday – Sam secured employment as a local reporter for the San Francisco Morning Call at forty dollars a week [Branch, C of Call 16]. His duties included local news, public meetings, and local theater productions. His hours were long and irregular. He wrote candidly about the racial and social injustices he saw, particularly about the Chinese. These articles were censored or discarded by the paper’s conservative editor, but many were printed by the Enterprise. Sam would grow bored with the job and [ page 160 ] considered an offer as a government pilot on the Mississippi at $300 a month [MTL 1: 302; MT Encyclopedia, McFatter 652-3]. Steve Gillis got a job as a typographer at the Evening Bulletin [Sanborn 243].

 

June 7 Tuesday – A local item in the Call, “Burglar Arrested” is attributed to Sam [Branch, C of Call 289].

 

June 11 Saturday – A local item in the Call, “Another Chapter in the Marks Family History” is attributed to Sam [Branch, C of Call 289].

 

June 12 Sunday – Sam gave a presentation speech at Maguire’s Opera House in San Francisco to Major Edward C. Perry, who had raised the Aquila, sunk at a city pier [Fatout, MT Speaking 1-3]. A local item in the Call, “Beasts in the Semblance of Men” is attributed to Sam [Branch, C of Call 289].

 

June 13 Monday – Sam’s piece, titled “Parting Presentation,” about the presentation of a cane to Major Edward C. Perry, ran on the front page of the Alta California. This was Sam’s first signed publication following his move from Nevada [ET&S 2: 5]. Emerson observes the speech “was intended to be amusing; ‘Mark Twain’ was clearly a humorist” [24].

 

June 15 Wednesday – A local item in the Call, “Petty Police Court Transactions” is attributed to Sam [Branch, C of Call 289].

 

June 17–23 Thursday – The article “‘Mark Twain’ in the Metropolis” was probably first printed sometime between these dates in the Territorial Enterprise, copies of which were lost [ET&S 2: 9]. (See June 26 entry)

 

The Morning Call

 

Sam’s stay at the Morning Call was from June 7 to Oct. 11, 1864. As the primary local reporter during these four months, it is estimated the Call published approximately 5,400 local items, ranging from one-sentence notices to lengthy articles. Listed here are 471 items, from Clemens of the Call, by Edgar Branch, [24] attributed to Sam. Local items were not signed, yet for a great part of this period Branch believes Sam was the only local reporter (though Sam limited his hours at one point, so this is not clear, nor it is clear how much local material others contributed.) Certainly after Sept. 17 (see entry) other reporters were used. Editors may have also written some items. In 1906 Sam remembered his position as the sole city reporter.

 

The paper had increased circulation to about 10,000 from its beginnings in December 1856, the largest of any daily. James J. Ayers (1830-1897) and George E. Barnes (d.1897) were the primary owners when Sam applied for work. The newspaper was called “The Washerwoman’s Paper,” since it was the cheapest daily (every day except Monday) at 12 & ½ cents per week. It consisted of four eight-column pages, 18 ½ by 23 ½ inches. The Alta California and the Bulletin sold at 50 cents per week. Sam took the job to get a stake together, and almost from the beginning he hated the drudgery of routine and the late working hours. There was not the freedom of the Territorial Enterprise. After four months, Sam was let go [24].

 

From TwainQuotes, Barbara Schmidt’s website: “It is safe to speculate that there are many, many more articles by Twain that were written for the Call that are not listed—articles that are simple and mundane daily news reports—often one sentence in length—that do not have the ‘snap’ that is often an unmistakable characteristic of Twain’s authorship. That spectacular Twain ‘snap’ was often an emotional release fired off amidst the drudgery of a job that Twain himself described as ‘killingly monotonous and [ page 161 ] wearisome . . . fearful drudgery, soulless drudgery, and almost destitute of interest.’ (Twain’s reminiscences of his work on the Call appear in Mark Twain in Eruption, p. 254-260.)”

 

June 21 Tuesday – A local item in the Call, “Short-Hand Law Reporter” is attributed to Sam [Branch, C of Call 289].

 

June 23 Thursday – A local item in the Call, “Another of Them” is attributed to Sam [Branch, C of Call 289].

 

June 25 Saturday – Two local items in the Call, “A Trip to Cliff House,” and “Charge Against a Police Officer,” are attributed to Sam [Branch, C of Call 289].

 

June 26 Sunday – Sam’s articles, “In the Metropolis,” and “ The Evidence in the Case of Smith vs Jones,” were published in the Golden Era [Walker 77; ET&S 2: 13]. This latter article was an early experiment with reliance on dialogue, dramatic narrative, and rhythm of dialect.

 

June 28 Tuesday – The following six local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam:

 

“Hackmen Arrested,” “Accessions to the Ranks of the Dashaways,” “Missionaries Wanted for San Francisco,” “Board of Supervisors,” “Charges Against a Police Officer,” (About Lewis P. Ward) “Swill Peddlers” [Branch, C of Call 289].

 

June 29 Wednesday – Two local items in the Call, “The Kahn of Tartary,” and “Police Court” are attributed to Sam [Branch, C of Call 289].

 

June 30 Thursday – Two local items in the Call, “Municipal Records,” and “The Sacrilegious Hack-Driver,” are attributed to Sam [Branch, C of Call 289].

 

July 1 Friday – The following five local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “The Old Thing,” “House at Large,” “School Children’s Rehearsal,” “Police Commissioners,” and “More Steamship Suits Brewing” [Branch, C of Call 289].

 

July 2 Saturday – The following four local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Policeman Suspended,” “The Swindle Case,” “Chance for the Hotels,” and “Stole a Shirt” [Branch, C of Call 289].

 

July 3 Sunday – Sam’s article “Early Rising, As Regards Excursions to the Cliff House” was published in the Golden Era. The piece is “manifestly an attempt to elaborate the experience of his own recent trip into a humorous, essentially literary sketch” [Walker 83; ET&S 2: 22].

 

The following five local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “The Secesh Highwaymen,” “Theatrical Record. City,” “Nabbed,” “Young Thieves,” and “Those Thieves” [Branch, C of Call 289-90].

 

July 4 Monday – Sam’s “Original Novelette,” an imitation of John Phoenix in a form popularized by Bret Harte and Charles Webb, was published in the Call [Wilson 195; ET&S 2: 31].

 

The following three local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam:

      “A Sheep-Stealer Caught,” “Original Novelette,” and “An ‘Altagraph’,” [Branch, C of Call 290].

 

Dan De Quille paid $40 to Daggett & Myers  toward rent owed with Sam [Mack 246].

 [ page 162 ]

July 6 Wednesday – The following four local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Shirt Stealing,” “Fourth of July,” “The Racing Stock in the Procession,” and “Banner Presentation” [Branch, C of Call 290].

 

July 7 Thursday – “Homicide—Coroner’s Inquest,” in the Call is attributed to Sam [Branch, C of Call 290].

 

July 8 Friday – The following five local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Swill Music,” “Arrested for Bigamy,” “Insane,” “En Route,” and “The Bigamist” [Branch, C of Call 290].

 

July 9 Saturday – The following six local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Buglary—The Burglar Caught in the Act,” “Break in the Water Works,” “Opium Smugglers,” “Young Offender,” “United States Circuit Court,” and “The Bigamist” [Branch, C of Call 290].

 

July 10 Sunday – The following two local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Green-back Theft,” and “The Bigamist” [Branch, C of Call 290].

 

July 12 Tuesday – The following five local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Police Court Testimony,” “United States Circuit Court,” “Astounding Cheek,” “Chinese Slaves,” and “The Bigamy Case” [Branch, C of Call 290].

 

July 13 Wednesday – The following four local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Its Opponents,” “Insane,” “New Board Rooms,” and “Board of Education” [Branch, C of Call 290].

 

July 14 Thursday – The following five local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Calaboose Theatricals,” “Not Insane,” “A Wife-Smasher in Limbo,” “Runaway,” and “Inspection of Fortifications” [Branch, C of Call 290].

 

July 15 Friday – Sam wrote to William Wright (Dan De Quille) from the Occidental Hotel, San Francisco. He asked Dan to get George Dawson to send Sam money owed. He then related hilarious impressions of himself and Steve by the landlady at the Occidental, about a visitor who’d gone there to find the pair, but they’d moved on. Sam noted that a famous actor had left for the Sandwich Islands, which may have continued to pull Sam’s imagination [MTL 1: 304]. The article “Disposed of” in the Call is attributed to Sam [Branch, C of Call 290].

 

July 16 Saturday – The following five local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “The ‘Coming of Man’ Has arrived,” “Moses in the Bulrushes Again,” “A Gross Outrage,” “The Comanche,” and “Remarkable Clock” [Branch, C of Call 290-1].

 

July 17 Sunday – The following six local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Independent Candidate for Stockton,” “More Cigar Smoking,” “The County Prison,” “Progress of the Camanche—the Libel,” “Juvenile Criminals,” and “Two Infernally Accommodating” [Branch, C of Call 291].

 

July 19 Tuesday – The following five local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Assault,” “ Real del Monte,” “Camanche Matters,” “Police Court,” and “State Prisoners” [Branch, C of Call 291].

 

July 20 Wednesday – The following four local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “A Stage Robber Amongst Us,” “The Poetic Rabies,” “Police Court,” and “Police Appelants” [Branch, C of Call 291].

 

July 21 Thursday – The following six local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Police Applicants,” “Amazonian Pastimes,” “More Young Thieves,” “Attempted Mayhem,” and “Detective Rose Again” [Branch, C of Call 291]. [ page 163 ]

 

July 22 Friday – The following eight local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam:

 

“The Boss Earthquake,” “The Police Court Besieged,” “Good Effects of a High Tariff,” “Rough on Keating,” “A Scene at the Police Court—The Hostility of Color,” “First Regiment Election,” “Arrest of a Secesh Bishop,” and “Astonishing Freak of Nature” [Branch, C of Call 291].

 

July 23 Saturday – The following six local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Demoralizing Young Girls,” “Rape,” “The Nose-Biter,” “Oh! That Mine Enemy Would Make a Speech!,” “Discharged,” and “False Pretenses” [Branch, C of Call 291].

 

July 24 Sunday – The following five local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Startling!—The Latest General Order,” “Obscene-Picture Dealers,” “A Merited Penalty,” “The ‘Nina Tilden’,” and “Police Court Doings” [Branch, C of Call 291].

 

July 26 Tuesday – The following three local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Vending Obscene Pictures,” “Lewd Merchandise,” and “ Concerning Hackmen” [Branch, C of Call 292].

 

July 27 Wednesday – The following three local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Family Jar,” “Bail Forfeited,” and “Police Court” [Branch, C of Call 292].

 

July 28 Thursday – The following two local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Munificent Donation,” and “Sliding Scale of Assault and Battery” [Branch, C of Call 292].

 

July 29 Friday – The following two local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Obscene Information,” and “On a Pleasure Trip” [Branch, C of Call 292].

 

July 30 Saturday – The following ten local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam:

 

“Trot Her Along,” “More Sanitary Molasses,” “Washoe Mining Festivals,” “ Mrs. O’Farrell,” “The Sinking Ship Deserted,” “Caving In,” “ “Emancipation Celebration,” “End of the Rape Case,” “Police Court,” and “After Sundries” [Branch, C of Call 292].

 

July 31 Sunday – The following ten local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam:

 

“The Camanche,” “Disgusted and Gone,” “Burglary,” “Custom House Resignations,” “Dr. Bellows Safe,” “Go to the Sea-Side,” “Another Lazarus,” “County Jail Addition,” “One Day for Reflection,” and “Police Court” [Branch, C of Call 292].

 

August 2 Tuesday – The following seven local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam:

 

“Somber Festivities,” “Relieved,” Enlisted for the War,” “Fall of a Flag-staff,” “Assault to Kill,” “Refused Greenbacks,” and “Board of Supervisors” [Branch, C of Call 292].

 

August 3 Wednesday – The following six local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam:

 

“Runaway,” “Democratic Meeting at Hayes’ Park,” “More Stage Robbers and Their Confederates Captured,” “Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire,” “A Movement in the Buckeye,” and “Attempted Suicide” [Branch, C of Call 292-3].

 [ page 164 ]

August 4 Thursday – The following six local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam:

 

“Otium Cum Dignitate,” “Recovered,” “A Long Fast for Poor Dame Partlet,” “The Tournament,” “Police Calendar,” and “Fruit Swindling” [Branch, C of Call 293].

 

August 5 Friday – The following nine local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam:

 

“Soldier Murdered by a Monomaniac,” “Misfortune Gobbleth the Lovely,” “Gentle Julia, Again,” “Gridley,” “Still Going,” “For Seal Rock and the Cliff House,” “Observing the Day,” “Almost an Item,” and “For Gambling” [Branch, C of Call 293].

 

August 6 Saturday – The following six local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Another Obscene Picture Knave Captured, etc.,” “The Fitzgerald Inquest,” “Attention, Hackmen,” “Police Drill,” “Judicial Strategy,” and “Arrested for Theft” [Branch, C of Call 293].

 

August 7 Sunday – The following nine local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam:

 

“Attempted Suicide,” “The Makee Molasses,” “The People’s Excursion,” “To Be Mended,” “Forfeited Bail,” “Locked Up,” “Row Among the Doctors,” “A Dead Dog Case,” and “Shop Lifting” [Branch, C of Call 293].

 

August 9 Tuesday – The following four local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Distinguished Arrivals,” “Assault by a House,” “Escaped,” and “Mysterious” [Branch, C of Call 293].

 

August 10 Wednesday – The following eight local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam:

 

“Our U.S. Branch Mint,” “They Got Her Out,” “Intelligence Office Row,” “The Murderer Kennedy—A Question of Jurisdiction,” “It Was True,” “Collision,” “A New Star,” and “Board of Education” [Branch, C of Call 293-4].

 

August 11 Thursday – The following five local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Police Judge’s Budget,” “Meteoric,” “Small Business,” “An Accumulation of Copperheads,” and “Young Celestial Derelicts” [Branch, C of Call 294].

 

August 12 Friday – Sam wrote from San Francisco to his mother. Sam had joined the San Francisco Olympic Club and praised the blessings of exercise, saying it has added twenty years to his life. Sam commented about his article, “What a Sky-Rocket Did,” printed in the Call on this date. The article is another hoax, this time about a rocket crashing through a tenement roof, at the expense of a former member of the city’s board of supervisors, William Crawley Hinckley [MTL 1: 305-6].

 

Branch writes that Lewis P. WardLittle Ward”; d.1905) was “probably…responsible for Clemens” joining the Olympic Club. “Ward was a compositor for the Alta California and a “well known gymnast” [C of the Call 223]. In his June 12, 1906 A.D. Clemens dictated that Ward was a compositor for the San Francisco Morning Call:

 

…and he used to go with little Steve Gillis and me to the beer saloons in Montgomery street when work was over, at two o’clock in the morning, and where I used to sit around till dawn and have a restful, pleasant time, while little Ward and Steve—weighing ninety-five pounds each—good-naturedly picked quarrels with any strangers over their size who seemed to need entertainment, and they always thrashed those strangers with their fists. I never knew them to suffer a defeat. [AMT 2:113].

 [ page 165 ]

Four other local articles were also in the Call and attributed to Sam: “Sanitary Fund,” “War of the Fruit Dealers,” “School Children’s Rehearsal,” and “Growing” [Branch, C of Call 294].

 

August 13 and 14 Sunday – Sam wrote from San Francisco to Orion and Mollie. He copied part of his letter of Aug. 12 to his mother, and made light of it [MTL 1: 307]. Sam and Steve Gillis, with six other newspapermen, took the 8:30 AM train for San Jose, which at that time was about the same size as Hannibal. After drinks at the Continental Hotel, the group strolled the streets of San Jose. After lunch at the hotel, the group hired buggies and rode twelve miles to Warm Springs, a spot where well-to-do San Franciscans took rest. There they had dinner and spent hours in the bar [Sanborn 247]. ET&S 2: 49 gives the party’s number as “eight newspapermen and Lewis Leland, proprietor of the Occidental Hotel”. Note: Lewis Leland (1834-1897).

 

The following eight local articles for Aug. 13 in the Call are attributed to Sam:

 

“Dr. Bellows’ Address Last Evening,” “A Drunken Duodecemvirate,” “More of the Fine Arts and Police Literature,” “Billy the Boatman,” “Fruiterers Fined,” “Sundries,” “The Camanche,” and “Won’t You Walk Into My Parlor” [Branch, C of Call 294].

 

The following three local articles for Aug. 14 in the Call are attributed to Sam: “A Hotel Thief Arrested,” “Another Clothing Thief,” and “The Washoe Convention” [Branch, C of Call 294].

 

August 16 Tuesday – The following eight local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam:

 

“The Hotel Thief,” “Lively Times at the Bella Union,” “An Ill-advised Prosecution,” “A Sharp Woman,” “Rival Water Companies,” “Enlargement of the Spleen,” “Manes of an Old Ejectment Laid,” and “An Unprofitable Operation” [Branch, C of Call 294].

 

August 17 Wednesday – The following six local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Aggravating a Pawnbroker,” “School Director Pope and the Call,” “Judge Shepheard’s School of Discipline,” “Conjugal Infelicity,” “A Peace-Maker,” and “The Bella Union Imbrogilo” [Branch, C of Call 294].

 

August 18 Thursday – The following eight local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam:

 

“Washoe Congressional Gossip,” “Daring Attempt to Assassinate a Pawnbroker in Broad Daylight!,” “Man Run Over,” “The Soap Factory Nuisance,” “Fire at Hayes’ Valley,” “Launch of the New Stockton Steamer,” “Insolent Hackmen,” and “Damages for Personal Injury” [Branch, C of Call 294-5].

 

August 19 Friday – Four sketches appeared in the Morning Call while Sam was working there as a local reporter. They are unsigned but were in his scrapbooks and were publicly attributed to Sam by Albert S. Evans (d.1872), who was the object of ridicule in the last two sketches. The first of these was, “The New Chinese Temple.” For the other three sketches see Aug. 21, 23, and 24 entries [ET&S 2: 38; Branch, Clemens 295]. Two other local items in the Call are attributed to Sam: “The Wounded Boy,” and “Who Goes with the Money?” [Branch, C of Call 295].

 

August 20 Saturday – The following six local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Who Lost Them,” “The Same Subject Continued,” “A Revolutionary Patriot,” “More Abuse of Sailors,” “Suit Against a Mining Superintendent,” and “Mary Kane” [Branch, C of Call 295].

 [ page 166 ]

August 21 Sunday – The second of Sam’s four sketches was printed in the Call, “The Chinese Temple.” Four other local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Arms Taken in Charge by the Authorities,” “False Rumor,” “Still Improving,” and “It is the Daniel Webster” [Branch, C of Call 295].

 

August 23 Tuesday – The third of Sam’s four sketches was printed in the Call, “The New Chinese Temple.” Six other local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “No Earthquake,” “Inexplicable News from San Jose,” “Camanche Items—Sanitary Contributions,” “Rain,” “Board of Supervisors,” and “Sentenced Yesterday” [Branch, C of Call 295].

 

August 24 Wednesday – The fourth of Sam’s four sketches was printed in the Call,  “Supernatural Impudence.” Five other local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Birney and Bunsby,” “Ingratitude,” “A Dark Transaction,” “Police Contributions,” and “Police Record” [Branch, C of Call 295].

 

August 25 Thursday – The following five local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “War of the Races,” “Henry Meyer,” “The Ladies’ Fair,” “Judgments Against the ‘Sir George Grey’,” and “The Theatres, Etc: Metropolitan” [Branch, C of Call 295-6].

 

August 26 Friday – The following four local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Mechanics’ Fair,” “Who Killed Him?,” “Good From Louderback,” and “A Confederacy Caged” [Branch, C of Call 296].

 

August 27 Saturday – Sam’s article, “How to Cure Him of It,” appeared in the Call.  This “permanent cure” was for a barking dog and would make the dog “as quiet and docile as a dried herring” (a double handful of strychnine, dissolved in a quart of Prussic acid) [ET&S 2: 57].

 

Five other local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “The Fair,” “Arrest of Another of the Robbing Gang,” “More Hawaiian Donations,” “Who Lost Evangeline?,” and “The Forlorn Hope” [Branch, C of Call 296].

 

August 28 Sunday – The following five local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Fair,” “Determined on Suicide,” “The Red, Black, and Blue,” “A Chicken Case,” and “Don’t Bury Your Money in Oyster Cans” [Branch, C of Call 296].

 

August 30 Tuesday – The following six local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Police Calendar,” “Dismissed,” “Fined,” “Board of Supervisors,” “Enthusiastic Hard Money Demonstration,” and “Chinese Railroad Obstructions,” below: [Branch, C of Call 296].

 

The Chinese in this State are becoming civilized to a fearful extent. One of them was arrested the other day, in the act of preparing for a grand railroad disaster on the Sacramento Valley Railroad. If these people continue to imbibe American ideas of progress, they will be turning their attention to highway robbery, and other enlightened pursuits. They are industrious.

 

August 31 Wednesday – The following seven local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Good and Bad Luck,” “The Pueblo Case,” “Mayhem,” “Strong as Sampson and Meek as Moses,” “Henry Meyer,” “China at the Fair,” and “Shiner No.1” [Branch, C of Call 296].

 

Sam paid $25 “fr sale of mining stock” to Daggett & Myers for rent owed with De Quille [Mack 246]. Note: evidently, Sam was still sharing the cost for the Virginia City rooms.

 

September 1 Thursday – The following ten local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam:

 [ page 167 ]

“The Cosmopolitan Hotel Besieged,” “Strategy, My Boy,” “A Doubtful Case,” “Mechanics’ Fair,” “Police Subjects,” “Kane Presentation,” “Cannibalistic,” “The Theatres, Etc.: Mr. Masset’s Lecture—‘Drifting About’,” “Rincon School Militia,” and “Fine Picture of Rev. Mr. King” [Branch, C of Call 296-7].

 

September 2 Friday – The following six local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Lost Child,” “The Camanche,” “The Art Gallery,” “Rewards of Merit,” “The Mechanics’ Fair,” and “The Roll of Fame” [Branch, C of Call 297].

 

September 3 Saturday – The following nine local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam:

 

“California Branch of the U.S. Sanitary Commission,” “Suicide out of Principle,” “Afloat Again,” “The Lost Child Reclaimed,” “A Wrecking Party in Luck,” “Marine Nondescript,” “Labyrinth Garden,” “Contempt of Court,” and “Another Pawnbroker in Trouble” [Branch, C of Call 297].

 

September 4 Sunday – The following eight local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam:

 

“Opening of the Fair,” “Looks Like Sharp Practice,” “A Terrible Monster Caged,” “The Hurdle- Race Today,” “Domestic Silks,” “The Californian,” “Brutal,” and “Criminal Calendar” [Branch, C of Call 297].

 

September 6 Tuesday – The following nine local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam:

“Peeping Tom of Coventry,” “A Small Piece of Spite,” “A Promising Artist,” “Turned Out of Office,” “Mechanic’s Fair,” “The Pound-Keeper Beheaded,” “A Long Fast,” “Conjugal Infelicity,” and “Set for Wednesday” [Branch, C of Call 297].

 

September 7 Wednesday – The voters of Nevada approved a new constitution by a margin as large as they’d defeated the earlier one months before, five to one. The main reason for approval was the removal of the tax on mines, making it a tax only on proceeds [Fatout, MT in VC 149].

 

The following six local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Terrible Calamity,” “Amende Honorable,” “Christian Fair,” “In Bad Company,” “Police Court Sentences,” and “Come to Grief” [Branch, C of Call 297].

 

September 7and 8 Thursday – The Democratic State Convention met in San Francisco to nominate candidates for Congress, and also presidential electors pledged to General George B. McClellan. James Norman Gillis (1830-1907), Steve’s older brother, was a delegate from Tuolumne County, Calif., a mining district in the Sierra foothills. Sam liked James instantly. James enjoyed a good story, was highly literate and trained as a doctor. Sam covered the convention for the Call.

 

September 8 Thursday – The following six local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Democratic State Convention,” “The Ladies’ Fair,” “Captain Kidd’s Statement,” “Earthquake,” “Mark Mayer Ahead on the Home Stretch,” and “Beautiful Work” [Branch, C of Call 298].

 

September 9 Friday – The following four local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Mrs. Hall’s Smelting Furnace,” “Charitable Contributions,” “Democratic Ratification Meeting,” and “Cross Swearing” [Branch, C of Call 298].

 

September 10 Saturday – The following five local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Curiosities,” “A Philanthropic Nation,” “Race for the Occidental Hotel Premium,” “Discharged,” and “Doing a General Business” [Branch, C of Call 298].

 [ page 168 ]

The Golden Era announced that Bret Harte was editor of the magazine. Harte would be editor until Nov. 19, 1864; and again from Dec. 9 to 30, 1865 [Benson 119].

 

Note: Twain’s relationship to Harte was complex and long. In his June 14, 1906 A.D. Clemens wrote of Harte’s literary beginnings, of being pulled away from typesetting while working for the Golden Era and being given a private secretaryship for Robert B. Swain, who put him on a salary but with free time to develop his literary talents. Twain continued to give an in-depth description and opinion of Harte. In part:

 

Bret Harte was one of the pleasantest men I have ever known. He was also one of the unpleasantest me I have ever known. He was showy, meretricious, insincere; and he constantly advertised these qualities in his dress. He was distinctly pretty, in spite of the fact that his face was badly pitted with smallpox. In the days when he could afford it—and in the days when he couldn’t—his clothes always exceeded the fashion by a shade or two. He was always conspicuously a little more intensely fashionable than the fashionablest of the rest of the community.

…

He hadn’t a sincere fibre in him. I think he was incapable of emotion, for I think he had nothing to feel with. I think his heart was merely a pump, and had no other function [AMT 2: 119]. Note: see also p 415-30.

 

September 11 Sunday – The following two local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Attempted Assassination of a Detective Officer,” and “Large” [Branch, C of Call 298].

 

September 13 Tuesday – The following seven local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “The Camanche,” “An Abolition Outrage,” “Sad Accident—Death of Jerome Rice,” “Lost Children,” “Police Target Excursion,” “Sent Up,” and “Plethoric” [Branch, C of Call 298].

 

September 14 Wednesday – The following two local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Two Hundred Dollars Reward,” and “Board of Education” [Branch, C of Call 298].

 

September 15 Thursday – The following six local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “An Ingenious Contrivance,” “Mining Machinery,” “Interesting Litigation,” “A Specimen Case,” “Strange Coincidence,” and “County Hospital Developments” [Branch, C of Call 298].

 

September 16 Friday – The following eight local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam:

 

“Suicide of Dr. Raymond,” “More Donations,” “The Alleged Swindling,” “Vegetable Boquets,” “Extraordinary Enterprise,” “Officer Rose Recovering,” “Night Blooming Cereus,” and “For the East” [Branch, C of Call 298].

 

September 17 Saturday – Sam wrote from San Francisco to William Wright (Dan De Quille) about Sam selling his furniture and about debts. Sam was tired of night work on the Call:

 

“I don’t work after 6 in the evening, now on the ‘Call.’ I got disgusted with night work.”

 

Sam’s new deal with George Barnes, owner of the Call, was for shorter hours and less pay [MTL 1: 309]. In his Autobiography Sam related the changes and finding a new assistant to help him with the work:

 

…there was way too much of it for one man. The way I was conducting it now, there was enough of it for two or three. Even Barnes noticed that, and told me to get an assistant, on half wages. There was a great hulking creature down in the counting-room—good natured, obliging, unintellectual—and he was getting little or nothing a week and boarding himself. A graceless boy of the counting-room force who had no reverence for anybody or anything, was always making fun of this beachcomber, and he had a name for him which somehow intensely apt and descriptive—I don’t know why. He called him Smiggy McGlural. I offered the berth of assistant to Smiggy, and he accepted it with alacrity and gratitude. He went at his work with ten [ page 169 ] times the energy that was left in me. He was not intellectual, but mentality was not required or needed in a Morning Call reporter, and so he conducted his office to perfection. I gradually got to leaving more and more of the work to McGlural. I grew lazier and lazier, and within thirty days he was doing almost the whole of it. It was also plain that he could accomplish the whole of it, and more, all by himself, and therefore had no real need of me [AMT 2: 116-17]. Note: Smiggy was William K. McGrew (1827-1903); his nickname came from the title of a humorous popular song in the 1860s. See more about McGrew in AMT 2: 516.

 

The following two local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Blunder Corrected,” and “Dr. Raymond Not Removed” [Branch, C of Call 298-9].

 

September 18 Sunday – Sam’s article, “Due Warning,” which identified himself as “Mark Twain” appeared in the Morning Call. The piece was about a stolen hat [ET&S 2: 59; Branch, C of Call 135].

 

Also, six other local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Cruelty to Animals,” “Theatrical Record: Maguire’s Opera House,” “The Election of Coroner,” “Take One!,” “Suffering for Opinion’s Sake,” and “The Chinese Banquet” [Branch, C of Call 299].

 

September 20 Tuesday – The following seven local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam:

 

“The ‘Board’ and the Rincon School,” “Mayhem,” “The Chinese Banquet,” “Camanche Matters,” “Board of Supervisors,” “The Theatres, Etc,: Maguire’s Opera House,” and “The Theatres, Etc,: Wilson-Zoyara Circus” [Branch, C of Call 299].

 

September 21 Wednesday – The following eight local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam:

 

“Street Obstructions,” “The New Poundkeeper,” “Stabbed,” “A Terrible Weapon,” “Judgments Against a Steamship Company,” “Earthquake,” “Out of Jail,” and “Board of Education” [Branch, C of Call 299].

 

September 22 Thursday – The following eight local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Strike of the Steamer Employes,” “Very Foolish Policy,” “Weller’s Bust,” “The Consequences of Indefiniteness,” “Queer Fish,” “Trial of a Hackman,” “Female Assault,” and “Stabbing Case” [Branch, C of Call 299].

 

September 23 Friday – The following three local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Farewell Address of Dr. Bellows,” “Arrested for Riot,” and “Dedication of Bush Street School” [Branch, C of Call 299].

 

September 24 Saturday – The following three local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Ah Sow Discharged,” “Children at the Fair,” and “Ellen French Fined” [Branch, C of Call 299].

 

September 25 Sunday – Sam wrote from San Francisco to his mother, and sister Pamela that he had been in San Francisco:

 

“…only 4 months, yet we have changed our lodgings 5 times & our hotel twice. We are very comfortably fixed where we are now, & have no fault to find with the rooms or the people…But I need a change, & must move again.”

 

It seems Sam’s itching wanderlust was nearly constant. He wrote of Steve Gillis’ impending marriage, his shorter hours, working 10 AM to 5 or 6 PM, writing for the Californian, a new literary paper, and his invitation to visit Mexico, which he could not accept due to his agreement to stand in as best man for Steve’s wedding (“funeral” is crossed out in front of “wedding”) [MTL 1: 312].

 [ page 170 ]

The following nine local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “The Monitor’s Progress,” “The Mint Troubles,” “The Fair at the Fair,” “Mortimer Again,” “A Professional Garroter Nabbed,” “Gilbert’s Museum,” “The Rioters,” “African Troubles,” and “Accomodating Witness” [Branch, C of Call 299-300].

 

September 27 Tuesday – The following four local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Boat Salvage,” “A Whale Beached,” “Narrow Escape,” and “Nuisance” [Branch, C of Call 300].

NUISANCE

Mrs. Hall entered complaint against a groggery at the corner of Post and Taylor streets, as a nuisance, yesterday, in the Police Court. The case was dismissed. It might not have been, if she had gone to the expense of procuring more legal assistance to prosecute it. The Prosecuting Attorney is a powerful engine, in his way, but he is not infallible. If parties would start him in and let him worm out of the witnesses all the facts that have no bearing upon the case, and no connection with it, and whether the offence was committed “In the City’n County San Francisco” or not, and then have another talented lawyer to start in and find out all the facts that do bear upon the case and are really connected with it, what multitudes of rascals that now escape would suffer the just penalties of their transgressions. With his spectacles on, and his head tilted back at a proper angle, there is no question that the Prosecuting Attorney is an ornament to the Police Court; but whether he is particularly useful or not, or whether Government could worry along without him or not, or whether it is necessary that a Prosecuting Attorney should give all his time, or bend all his energies, or throw all his soul into the one thing of being strictly ornamental, or not, are matters which do not concern us, and which we have never once thought about. Sometimes he has some of his witnesses there, and isn’t that sufficient? [Branch, C of Call 218-19].

September 28 Wednesday – Sam wrote from San Francisco to Orion and Mollie. He discussed work on a book, which ultimately would become Roughing It, from scrapbooks Orion had kept of the 1861-4 period. He also claimed that Oct. 24 would be the wedding day of Steve Gillis and Miss Emeline Russ “who is worth $100,000, & what is better, is a good, sensible girl & will make an excellent wife” [MTL 1: 315]. Note: Miss Russ decided before that date to marry another.

 

An article attributed to Sam, “Answer to a Mining Company’s Suit,” ran in the Call [Branch, C of Call 300].

 

Sam’s mother, Jane Clemens wrote from St. Louis to Sam and Orion about “great excitement in the city” and of being “threatened hourly with an invasion by Price and others….My trunk is packed ready if the women and children are ordered to leave….Last Thursday we received Sam’s scolding letter dated 12th of August if we cant make him write only by making him mad we will have to try that…”  [MTP]. Note: Confederate General Sterling Price (1809-1867) led a raid into Missouri, the last major military engagement in Mo. in the Civil War.

 

September 29 Thursday – The following four local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Advice to Witnesses,” “Demonstrative Anatomy,” “The Deaf Mutes at the Fair,” and “After Mortimer” [Branch, C of Call 300].

 

September 30 Friday – The following six local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “For the Santa Barbara Sufferers,” “The Jewish New Year,” “More Children,” “Robbery,” “Day of Atonement,” and “Dog Theft” [Branch, C of Call 300].

 

October – Sometime between this month and mid-1865, Sam wrote a parody of Poe’s “The Raven,” called “The Mysterious Chinaman,” for the album of Jim Gillis’ daughter, Mary Elizabeth Gillis. Sam wrote at the top of the manuscript, “Written for M.E.G.’s Album.” Sam had read Poe and knew the poem well. He also wrote a prose parody of it in his Dec. 20, 1867 letter to the Enterprise [ET&S 2: 62-3].

 

October 1 Saturday – Sam’s first contribution to the Californian was published, a piece titled, “A Notable Conundrum,” about the Fourth Industrial Fair of the Mechanics’ Institute of San Francisco [ page 171 ] [MTL 1: 314; ET&S 2: 66]. Between Oct. 1 and Dec. 3 1864, Sam wrote ten weekly articles for the Californian, which paid twelve dollars each [MTNJ 1: 65].

 

Meanwhile, Sam continued to write local items for the Morning Call. The following two items are attributed to him: “Great Excitement,” and “Damages Awarded” [Branch, C of Call 300].

 

October 2 Sunday – The following five local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “The Last Hitch at the Mint,” “Benefit for the Santa Barbara Sufferers,” “Important Arrest,” “Last Night of the Fair,” and “Everybody Wants to Help” [Branch, C of Call 300].

 

October 6 Thursday – The following four local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Burglary—Two Men Shot,” “Great Seal of Nevada,” “An Interesting Correspondence,” and “Trial of the Folsom Street Wharf Rioters” [Branch, C of Call 300].

 

October 8 Saturday – Sam’s article, “Concerning the Answer to That Conundrum,” was published in the Californian [ET&S 2: 72]. The following four local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “Judicial Change,” “A Rough Customer,” “Police Court,” and “Convicted” [Branch, C of Call 300].

 

October 9 Sunday – The following four local articles in the Call are attributed to Sam: “The Camanche,” “The Roderick Case,” “Miscegenation,” and “A Nuisance” [Branch, C of Call 300].

 

October 10 Monday – George Barnes, editor of the Call, fired Sam, less than five months after hiring him [MT Encyclopedia, McFatter 653].

 

“I neglected my duties and became about worthless, as a reporter for a brisk newspaper. And at last one of the proprietors took me aside, with a charity I still remember with considerable respect, and gave me an opportunity to resign my berth and so save myself the disgrace of a dismissal” [Roughing It, Ch.58].

 

October 11 Tuesday – The local article, “Had a Fit,” in the Call is attributed to Sam [Branch, C of Call 300]. This is the last article thought to be by Sam Clemens in the Morning Call while he was employed as a city reporter there.

HAD A FIT

A lad of some twelve years was seized with convulsions, while sitting in a buggy at the corner of Sacramento and Montgomery streets, yesterday afternoon. Restoratives were speedily brought in play, and in a short time the youth went on his way, viewing with astonishment the multitude that had collected, which was variously estimated at from one thousand to four thousand eight hundred and eighty. One kind hearted person, whose condition, unfortunately, bordered on the “salubrious,” had his place close to the convulsed boy, and puffed smoke from a villainous cigar into his eyes with seeming industry, until gently remonstrated with by a Policeman, on whom he turned furiously, insisting upon tobacco smoke as an infallible remedy for fits, and that he would give the officer fits if he interfered further. However, during this sanitary dispute, the subject had come to and gone off; and the opportunity for determining fully the efficacy of burnt tobacco and whisky fumes in cases of fits, was unfortunately lost for the present [Branch, C of Call 53].

Branch on this article:

 

“‘had a fit’ is the latest local item published in the Call that I ascribe to Clemens. It is my theory, unencumbered by the least shred of evidence, that the day George Barnes read this piece was the day he eased Clemens out of his job. The flippancy and the don’t-give-a-damn attitude that sometimes rises to the surface in Clemens’ reporting are readily seen here. The writing borders on the burlesque, and a general [ page 172 ] meaning that emerges is: What fools we are. One imagines that the item implies disrespect for the estate of Journalism—or at least for lokulitem’s role in it—as though he did not care whether he kept his job or not” [Branch, C of Call 53].

 

October 15 Saturday – Sam’s review of a romantic comic opera, The Crown Diamonds, “Still further Concerning That Conundrum” was published in the Californian [ET&S 2: 79]. Sam’s focus was on the prop-man who moved furniture between scenes [Gribben 31].

 

October 18 Tuesday – Sam wrote from San Francisco to his brother Orion. Sam was out of work so asked his brother to “send the stock” (Hale & Norcross mining stock). Sam did continue receiving $12 for articles written for the Californian, but wrote only three of these [MTL 1: 320]. Sanford claims Sam wrote ten pieces in the Californian between Oct. 1 and Dec. 3 [254]. (See also, MTNJ 1: 650.) It was this period of two months or so that Sam wrote about “slinking” in and out of meals and his rooming house possessing only one dime and looking forward to being dunned by a bill collector on an old debt [RI, Ch 59].

 

October 21 Friday – Sam had to pay an assessment of $100 on four shares of Hale & Norcross mining stock [RI 1993, explanatory notes 701].

 

October 22 Saturday – Sam’s article, “Whereas” appeared in the Californian [ET&S 2: 86]. The story was shortened (later published in the Jumping Frog book) and re-titled, “Aurelia’s Unfortunate Young Man” [Wilson 1; Budd, “Collected” 1003]. Sam’s article, “Earthquake Almanac,” was published in the Golden Era [Walker 90].

 

October 29 Saturday – Sam’s article, “A Touching Story of George Washington’s Boyhood,” was published in the Californian [ET&S 2: 94].

Text Box: October 31 Monday – Lincoln Declared Nevada the 36th state in the Union

 

 

 

 

November 5 Saturday – Sam’s article, “Daniel in the Lion’s Den—And Out Again All Right.” Was published in the Californian.

 

“Now for several days I have been visiting the Board of Brokers, and associating with brokers, and drinking with them, and swapping lies with them…” [MTNJ 1: 69; ET&S 2: 100].

 

November 7 Monday – Orion Clemens was elected to the Nevada State Legislature after much speech making [Fanning 104].

 

November 11 Friday – Sam wrote from San Francisco to his brother Orion of financial need, Orion’s possible nomination for Nevada senator and the Hale & Norcross mining stock.

 

November 12 Saturday – Sam’s article, “The Killing of Julius Caesar, ‘Localized’” was published in the Californian [ET&S 2: 108].

 

November 19 Saturday – Sam’s article, “A Full and Reliable Account of the Extraordinary Meteoric Shower of Last Saturday Night,” was published in the Californian [ET&S 2: 116].

 

November 19 or 21 Monday – Sam’s article, “The Pioneers’ Ball,” first ran in the Enterprise [Budd, “Collected” 1005]. [ page 173 ]

 

November 26 Saturday – Sam’s article, “The Pioneers’ Ball,” was re-printed in the Golden Era [Walker 41].

 

November 30 Wednesday – Sam’s 29th birthday.

 

December 3 Saturday – Sam’s story “Lucretia Smith’s Soldier” was first published in the San Francisco Californian. The story was instantly popular, reprinted by newspapers in California and New York, and was later included with the Jumping Frog collection [Wilson 193; ET&S 2: 125].

 

December 4 Sunday – Sam left San Francisco with James Gillis for Jackass Hill in Tuolumne County, Ca., some one hundred miles east of San Francisco. They boarded a San Joaquin steamer for Stockton, and from there went on by stagecoach to “that serene and reposeful and dreamy and delicious sylvan paradise” (Jackass gulch) [Sanborn 256].

 

Brother Billy Gillis, then 23, waited there for them. Steve Gillis, finding no way to reconcile with Emeline Russ, returned to Virginia City.

 

Before leaving Sam must have sold some or all of the Norcross mining stock, as he later wrote to James Gillis, Steve’s brother, “I took $300 with me.” He would be away from San Francisco for twelve weeks. Jackass Hill was named after its day as a pack-train stop about 1848 [Sanborn 254-5; Rasmussen 250]. Paine in 1912, and others since, have claimed the story about Steve Gillis being in trouble with the law for a barroom brawl was the impetus for Sam’s departure from San Francisco, but Sanborn claims no court or newspaper records of such a brouhaha exist, and that had Sam and friend Gillis been involved in such a fracas their rival reporters would surely have made news of it. Sam still harbored dreams of striking it rich. Jim Gillis told Sam about pocket mines and that he was ready to return to the hills [Sanborn 255].

 

Note: Benson gives this as also the day of Sam’s arrival [123].

 

December 13 Tuesday – Sam and Dan De Quille (Wright) were rooming in the Daggett & Myers building at 25 North B Street, one of the large buildings that had escaped fire. They were given a rent bill and receipt for the period of Oct. 28, 1863 to Nov. 28, 1864 at the rate of $30 per month, or $390 total. The document has four line items crediting Sam or Dan for payments, leaving an amount due of $190 [Mack 246]. Note: Robert Hirst confirms that this “facsimile” room bill was a photo-facsimile of the original bill which Wright’s granddaughter, Irma Evans Morris had made for Mack in 1936 [e-mail of May 23, 2007].

 

December, late – Just after Christmas, Sam and Jim Gillis set out on foot over the hills to Vallecito, Calif., an old mining town [Sanborn 257].


 [ page 174 ]
Mining and Tall Tales, Angels Camp – Jumping Frog

Literary Celebrity – Pistol to the Head

 

 

January and February – Sam’s fourth known notebook, and the first that might be called a “writer’s notebook,” was written during these months. The notebook contained a great amount of literary material that would be immediately useful in the Jumping Frog story, but also material that would later appear in Roughing It, and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and others [MTNJ 1: 66-7].

 

January 1 Sunday – In Vallecito, Sam and Jim Gillis inspected a 480-foot tunnel. That night they saw a lunar rainbow. Sam jotted it in his notebook. He also noted that he dreamed that night about James W.E. Townsend (1838-1900), a California and Nevada journalist and editor known as “Lying Jim” because of his imagination and total disregard for the truth in what he wrote or spoke [Sanborn 258]. Telling tall tales by the campfire was a popular activity. One of Jim’s stories about a cat named Tom Quartz that was only interested in mining, found a place in Roughing It, five years later. Another of Jim Gillis’ tales about a blue jay was put into “Baker’s Bluejay Yarn,” part of A Tramp Abroad. One of the pastimes was a skit performed by Gillis and Jacob Richard (Dick) Stoker (1820-1898), the “grayer than a rat” miner who lived out his life in the region. The skit was adapted for the king and duke production in Huckleberry Finn. “I had to modify it considerably to make it fit for print and this was a great damage” [Sanborn 258-260]. From Sam’s notebook:

 

“New Years 1865, at Vallecito, Calaveras Co. Tunnel under Vallecito Flat is 400 feet long—80 feet yet to run…..magnificent lunar rainbow, first appearing at 8PM—moon at first quarter—very light drizzling rain….—dream of Jim Townsend.”

 

Note: James W.E. Townsend affectionately known as “Lying Jim,” was a journalist on the Enterprise and the Golden Era [MTNJ 1: 69]. Townsend is reputed to be the source for several of Sam and Bret Harte’s stories.

 

January 3 Tuesday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

“…returned with Jim Gillis, by way of Angel’s & Robinson’s Ferry, to Jackass Hill” [MTNJ 1: 70].

 

January 7 or January 14 Saturday – By eliminating other possible Saturdays, either of these may have been the day William R. Gillis (Billy) referred to in Gold Rush Days with Mark Twain, p.175-6. In the story, Sam supposedly said, “I am going to Sonora and will go to church to-morrow with brother Masons.” The pair left that night:

 

So as soon as we got ready we went over the Hill to Sonora. After looking at the procession we had dinner with the Masonic Fraternity at the Victoria Hotel and I went along as Sam’s guest. After dinner we went shopping in nearly all the stores in Sonora and bought necessary articles that Sam wanted. Along towards evening we concluded we would go home and were on our way to the City Hotel to get ready. While we were walking down the street the Reverend Mr. Croche joined us and took an arm of each. He said to us, “I’m glad to meet you gentlemen to-day because I want you as a witness to a wedding. [Note: Sam was a Mason, but it should be remembered that this was a 1929 recollection of Gillis; some of the dates in his book, and there are but few, are incorrect.]

 

January 22 Sunday – Sam had stayed with Dick Stoker, Jim and Billy Gillis in the one-room Stoker cabin, which Stoker built in 1850; little else of the camp remained from the gold rush days. On this date Sam and Jim Gillis went to nearby Angels Camp in Calaveras County. Jim had a mining claim at Angels Camp [MTL 1: 321; Rasmussen 250]. From Sam’s notebook:  [ page 175 ]

 

“Angels’,. Ben Lewis’ , Altaville, Studhorse, Cherokee, Horsetown. Excelsior man bought privilege of ‘raising hell’ in Stockton—party burlesqued him….Squirrel hunt at Ben Lewis” [MTNJ 1: 71].

 

January 23 Monday – “Angels—Rainy, stormy—Beans & dishwater for breakfast at the Frenchman’s [Hotel]; dishwater & beans for dinner, and both articles warmed over for supper” [MTNJ 1: 76; Lennon 100].

 

January 24 Tuesday – “—Rained all day—meals as before” [MTNJ 1: 76].

 

January 25 Wednesday – “—Same as above” [MTNJ 1: 76].

 

From Sam’s notebook, a brush with death:

 

Narrow Escape.—Dark rainy night—walked to extreme edge of a cut in solid rock 30 feet deep—& while standing upon the extreme verge for half a dozen seconds, meditating whether to proceed or not, heard a stream of water falling into the cut, & then, my eyes becoming more accustomed to the darkness, saw that if the last step taken had been a hand breath longer, must have plunged in to the abyss & lost my life. One of my feet projected over the edge as I stood [MTNJ 1:74].

.

January 26 Thursday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

“Rain, beans & dishwater—tapidaro [leather covering on a saddle]. beefsteak for a change—no use, could not bite it” [MTNJ 1: 76].

 

January 27 Friday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

“Same old diet—same old weather—went out to pocket claim—had to rush back” [MTNJ 1: 76].

 

January 28 Saturday –

 

“Rain & wind all day & all night—Chili beans & dishwater three times to-day, as usual, & some kind of ‘slum’ which the Frenchman called ‘hash.’ Hash be d—d” [MTNJ 1: 76].

 

January 29 Sunday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

“The old, old thing [Jim says]. We shall have to stand the weather, but as J says, we won’t stand this dishwater & beans any longer, by G—” [MTNJ 1: 76].

 

January 30 Monday – Dick Stoker joined Sam and Jim Gillis at Angels Camp, where heavy rains had shut in the pair since their arrival [MTL 1: 321]. From Sam’s notebook:

 

“Moved to new hotel, just opened—good fare, & coffee that a Christian may drink without jeopardizing his eternal soul…Dick Stoker came over to-day, from Tuttletown, Tuolumne Co” [MTNJ 1: 76-7].

 

 

 

 

 

 

Text Box: January 31, 1865 
Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution Proposed by the 38th Congress 
“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” 
 
 [ page 176 ]

The hotel was Lake’s Hotel, proprietor Ross “Ben” Coon, a well-known chess player and bartender. Coon was the man who told Sam the jumping frog tale [Sanborn 263]. Rasmussen gives Tryon’s Hotel as the place of Coon’s bartending [99]. Sam first used “Bilgewater” as a character name.

 

January, end – Sam’s notebook carried news of others getting rich, including one whose offer he’d refused:

 

“Herman Camp has sold some Washoe Stock in New York for $270,000” [MTNJ 1: 73]. Note: “Camp was an early locator and aggressive speculator in Washoe mining stocks. He had been friendly with Clemens in Virginia City and then in San Francisco while Clemens was staying there in mid-1863” [MTL 1: 327n1].

 

February 1 Wednesday – Sam wrote of a dream about saying goodbye to Laura Wright, when Sam was on the Pennsylvania. Though the two never met again, Sam indirectly communicated with Laura in Dallas, Texas in 1880 through one of her students, sent her money in 1906 responding to her letter for assistance for herself, a widow, and a disabled son [MTNJ 1: 89-90].

 

February 3 Friday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

Dined at the Frenchman’s, in order to let Dick see how he does things. Had Hellfire soup & the old regular beans & dishwater. The Frenchman has 4 kinds of soup which he furnishes to customers only on great occasions. They are popularly known among the Boarders as Hellfire, General Debility, Insanity & Sudden Death, but it is not possible to describe them….J & me [Jim Gillis]. talking like people 80 years old & toothless [MTNJ 1: 78].

 

February 6 Monday – The men did some mining, but rains returned and they passed time telling tall tales and jokes. Benson writes:

 

“Most of the days at Angel’s Camp were spent by Mark and Jim and Stoker in the barroom of the dilapidated tavern. Here they found themselves in the company of a frequenter of the tavern, Ben Coon” [126].

 

Paine writes of Ben Coon:

 

…a former Illinois River pilot…a solemn, fat-witted person, who dozed by the stove, or told slow, endless stories, without point or application. Listeners were a boon to him, for few came and not many would stay…One dreary afternoon, in his slow, monotonous fashion, he told them about a frog—a frog that had belonged to a man named Coleman, who trained it to jump, but that failed to win a wager because the owner of a rival frog had surreptitiously loaded the trained jumper with shot [MTB 271].

 

In other words, Sam was a boon to Ben Coon, a slam for Sam. Lorch writes that Sam had probably heard versions of the story previously, but was captivated by Coon’s “exquisite absurdity …[in] manner of telling the story without betraying a single hint that he regarded it as humorous” [12]. Sam later wrote this story and it made him famous: “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog.” (Later, the “Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” and also the “Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.”)

 

From Sam’s notebook:

 

“Blazing hot days & cool nights. No more rain. “Odd or Even”—cast away at Honey Lake Smith’s. Billy Clagett moved fifteen steps from camp fire by the lice crawling on his body” [MTNJ 1: 78].

 [ page 177 ]

February 8 Wednesday – Sam served as junior deacon at a meeting of Bear Mountain Masonic Lodge No. 76 [MTNJ 1: 66].

 

February 20 Monday – Jim Gillis, Dick Stoker and Sam returned to Jackass Hill through a snowstorm, the first that Sam had seen in California [MTNJ 1: 81]. Billy Gillis remembered that Sam immediately wrote out some of the Angels Camp stories:

 

“When Sam came back he went to work on the Jumping Frog story, staying in the cabin while we went out to work at our claims and writing with a pencil. He used to say: ‘If I can write that story the way Ben Coon told it, that frog will jump around the world.’”

 

Sam discovered upon arrival at Jackass Hill that he’d left his knife, his meerschaum, and his toothbrush at Angels Camp [MTL 1: 321 citing West; Sanborn 264].

 

February 21 Tuesday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

On Jackass Hill again. The exciting topic of conversation in this sparse community just at present …is Mrs. Carrington’s baby, which was born a week ago, on the 14th. There was nothing remarkable about the baby, but if Mrs C had given birth to an ornamental cast-iron dog big enough for an embellishment for the State-House steps I don’t believe the event would have created more intense interest in the community….Had to remain at Jackass all day 21st, on account of heavy snow storm—inch deep, but all gone, sun out & grass green again before night [MTNJ 1: 81].

 

February 23 Thursday – Sam left Jackass Hill on horseback for San Francisco, by way of Copperopolis and Stockton. Copperopolis was a berg of 1,000 about twelve miles from Jackass Hill. Upon arriving, Sam learned that the stage would not be leaving until the next morning. Sam spent time hunting in Copperopolis for a new pipe, and toured the great Union Copper Mine, largest producer in California [Sanborn 265]. From Sam’s notebook:

 

“Could have walked to Sonora over Table Mountain in an hour, & left immediately in the stage for Stockton, but was told it was quickest to take a horse & go by Copperopolis, 12 miles distant. Came down, accordingly—arrived here in Copper at dusk” [MTNJ 1: 81].

 

February 24 Friday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

D—n Copperopolis—the big ball last night was postponed a week; instead of leaving this morning, the stage will not leave until to-morrow morning. Have lost my pipe, & can’t get another in this hellfired town. Left my knife, meerschaum & toothbrush at Angels—made Dick give me his big navy knife.

 

This is a pretty town & has about 1000 inhabitants. D—d poor hotel, but if this bad luck will let up on me I will be in Stockton at noon to-morrow & in San Francisco before midnight [MTNJ 1: 82].

 

February 25 Saturday – Sam left Copperopolis, Ca. by stagecoach for Stockton. “Arrived in Stockton at 5 P.M.” [MTNJ 1: 82]. From Stockton he took a riverboat.

 

February 26 Sunday – Sam arrived back in San Francisco. Sam did a few pieces for the Californian and as the San Francisco correspondent for the Territorial Enterprise. In Roughing It, Sam claimed he arrived back in town without a cent. Sam earned $100 a month with daily correspondence to Enterprise [MTL 1: 321]. From Sam’s notebook:

 [ page 178 ]

 “—Home again—home again at the Occidental Hotel, San Francisco—find letters from ‘Artemus Ward’ asking me to write a sketch for his new book of Nevada Territory travels which is soon to come out. Too late—ought to have got the letters 3 months ago. They are dated early in November” [MTNJ 1: 82].

 

March 18 Saturday – Sam’s article, “An Unbiased Criticism,” ran in the Californian:

THE EDITOR of THE CALIFORNIAN ordered me to go to the rooms of the California Art Union and write an elaborate criticism upon the pictures upon exhibition there, and I beg leave to report that the result is hereunto appended, together with bill for same.

I do not know anything about Art and very little about music or anatomy, but nevertheless I enjoy looking at pictures and listening to operas, and gazing at handsome young girls, about the same as people do who are better qualified by education to judge of merit in these matters [ET&S 2: 137].

 

Text Box: April 15, 1865 – Andrew Johnson was sworn in as the 17th President of the United StatesText Box: April 9, 1865 – Lee surrendered at Appomattox. The Civil War ended.

 

 

 

 

May 6 Saturday – Sam’s article, “Important Correspondence,” ran in the Californian [ET&S 2: 144].

 

May 13 Saturday – Sam’s article, “Further of Mr. Mark Twain’s Important Correspondence,” was printed in the Californian [ET&S 2: 157]. More Sam hi-jinx – pretense to obtain a preacher for Grace Cathedral and fictitious letters from a swarm of candidates.

 

May 24 Wednesday – An article appeared in the Carson Daily Appeal under “San Francisco Correspondence,” by William Brief, which noted that Sam had been seen arm-in-arm with Peter Anderson, Negro journalist for the Elevator, who was shunned by white journalists [Branch, C of Call 303n47]. Note: such things made news then.

 

May 27 Saturday – Sam’s article, “How I Went to the Great Race Between Lodi and Norfolk,” was printed in the Californian, an account of the trouble Sam met trying to find transportation to an ocean race course for the great race. Also printed was his, “A Voice for Setchell,” a review of a stage comedian who Sam greatly admired. Sam thought of Daniel E. Setchell (1831-1866) in the same exalted appreciation as Artemus Ward, and closely studied each man’s stage technique [ET&S 2: 163,169].

 

“… every time Mr. Setchell plays, crowds flock to hear him, and no matter what he plays those crowds invariably laugh and applaud extravagantly. That kind of criticism can always be relied upon as sound, and not only sound but honest” [173].

 

June 3 Saturday – The Californian announced that all letters to its new department, “Answers to Correspondents,” should be sent to Mr. Mark Twain. “Courting Etiquette, Distressed Lovers, of either sex, and Struggling Young Authors, as yet ‘unbeknown’ to Fame, will receive especial attention” [ET&S 1: 174]. The first of six weekly columns by Sam followed offering a burlesque of advice to readers on various topics. Subtitles: Discarded Lover; Arabella; Persecuted Unfortunate; and Arthur Augustus [ET&S 2: 174].

 

Sam’s article, “Advice for Good Little Boys,” first appeared this date in the California Youth’s Companion [Budd, “Collected” 1004]. Note: Budd states “This version was discovered subsequent to the publication of the” ET&S, which lists it as “probably on July 1 1865” [240].

 [ page 179 ]

June 10 Saturday – The second of Sam’s columns for the California, “Answers to Correspondents,” ran with subtitles: Amateur Serenader; St. Clair Higgins, Los Angeles; Arithmeticus, Virginia, Nevada; Ambitious Learner, Oakland; Julia Maria; Nom de Plume; Melton Mowbray, Dutch Flat; Laura Matilda; Professional Beggar [ET&S 2: 181].

 

June 17 Saturday – The third of Sam’s columns for the Californian, “Answers to Correspondents,” ran with subtitles: Moral Statistician; Simon Wheeler, Sonora; Inquirer; Anna Maria; Charming Simplicity; Literary Connoisseur; Etiquetticus, and Monitor Silver Mines [ET&S 2: 187].

 

June 20 Tuesday – Edgar Branch gives this as the date Sam began corresponding with Joseph T. Goodman’s Enterprise [“My Voice” 591].

 

June 23 Friday – Sam’s brief article, “Enthusiastic Eloquence,” appeared in the San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle [ET&S 2: 233].

 

June 24 Saturday – The fourth of Sam’s columns for the Californian, “Answers to Correspondents,” ran with subtitles: True Son of the Union; Socrates Murphy; Arithmeticus; Virginia, Nevada; Young Mother; Blue-Stocking; San Francisco; and Agnes St. Clair Smith [ET&S 2: 197].

 

Sam’s article, “Advice for Good Little Girls,” first appeared this date in the California Youths’ Companion [Budd, “Collected” 1004]. It was revised and reprinted in 1872 and 1874 [ET&S 2: 243].

June 27–30 Friday – Sam’s article, “Just ‘One More Unfortunate’,” was printed during this period in the Enterprise, copies of which are lost. The Downieville, California Mountain Messenger, copied it July 1.

JUST “ONE MORE UNFORTUNATE”

Immorality is not decreasing in San Francisco. I saw a girl in the city prison last night who looked as much out of place there as I did myself — possibly more so. She was petite and diffident, and only sixteen years and one month old. To judge by her looks, one would say she was as sinless as a child. But such was not the case. She had been living with a strapping young nigger for six months! She told her story as artlessly as a school-girl, and it did not occur to her for a moment that she had been doing anything unbecoming; and I never listened to a narrative which seemed more simple and straight forward, or more free from ostentation and vain-glory. She told her name, and her age, to a day; she said she was born in Holborn, City of London; father living, but gone back to England; was not married to the negro, but she was left with out any one to take care of her, and he had taken charge of that department and had conducted it since she was fifteen and a half years old very satisfactorily. All listeners pitied her, and said feelingly: “Poor heifer! poor devil!” and said she was an ignorant, erring child, and had not done wrong wilfully and knowingly, and they hoped she would pass her examination for the Industrial School and be removed from the temptation and the opportunity to sin. Tears — and it was a credit to their manliness and their good feeling — tears stood in the eyes of some of those stern policemen.

O, woman, thy name is humbug! Afterwards, while I sat taking some notes, and not in sight from the women’s cell, some of the old blisters fell to gossiping, and lo! young Simplicity chipped in and clattered away as lively as the vilest of them! It came out in the conversation that she was hail fellow well met with all the old female rapscallions in the city, and had had business relations with their several establishments for a long time past. She spoke affectionately of some of them, and the reverse of others; and dwelt with a toothsome relish upon numberless reminiscences of her social and commercial intercourse with them. She knew all manner of men, too — men with quaint and suggestive names, for the most part — and liked “Oyster-eyed Bill,” and “Bloody Mike,” and “The Screamer,” but cherished a spirit of animosity toward “Foxy McDonald” for cutting her with a bowie-knife at a strumpet ball one night. She a poor innocent kitten! Oh! She was a scallawag whom it would be base flattery to call a prostitute! She a candidate for the Industrial School! Bless you, she has graduated long ago. She is competent to take charge of a University of Vice. In the ordinary branches she [ page 180 ] is equal to the best; and in the higher ones, such as ornamental swearing, and fancy embroidered filagree slang, she is a shade superior to any artist I ever listened to [ET&S 2: 238-9].

Summer, mid – Sam claimed to be out of debt by the end of five months [RI, Ch 62]. He also published articles in the Golden Era, brief items in the San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle and the San Francisco Youths’ Companion.

 

July 1 Saturday – The fifth of Sam’s columns for the Californian, “Answers to Correspondents,” ran with subtitles: Young Actor; Mary, Rincon School; Anxiety, S. F.; Mark Twain; Gold Hill News [ET&S 2: 208].

 

July 2 Sunday – A series of eight articles published in the Golden Era under the name “S. Browne Jones” are attributed to Sam [Fatout, MT Speaks 19]. The first article was published this day and is typical “Washoe humor,” entitled “A New Contributor.” The other seven articles were published in the Era through Aug. 27 [Fatout, MT Speaks 19].

 

July 7–19 Wednesday – Sam’s article describing blacks in a 4th of July parade appeared within these dates in the Enterprise, and was reprinted in the Golden Era for July 23.

MARK TWAIN ON THE COLORED MAN

And at the fag-end of the procession was a long double file of the proudest, happiest scoundrels I saw yesterday — niggers. Or perhaps I should say “them damned niggers,” which is the other name they go by now. They did all it was in their power to do, poor devils, to modify the prominence of the contrast between black and white faces which seems so hateful to their white fellow-creatures, by putting their lightest colored darkies in the front rank, then glooming down by some unaggravating and nicely graduated shades of darkness to the fell and dismal blackness of undefiled and unalloyed niggerdom in the remote extremity of the procession. It was a fine stroke of strategy — the day was dusty and no man could tell where the white folks left off and the niggers began. The “damned naygurs” — this is another descriptive title which has been conferred upon them by a class of our fellow-citizens who persist, in the most short-sighted manner, in being on bad terms with them in the face of the fact that they have got to sing with them in heaven or scorch with them in hell some day in the most familiar and sociable way, and on a footing of most perfect equality — the “damned naygurs,” I say, smiled one broad, extravagant, powerful smile of grateful thankfulness and profound and perfect happiness from the beginning of the march to the end; and through this vast, black, drifting cloud of smiles their white teeth glimmered fitfully like heat-lightning on a summer’s night. If a white man honored them with a smile in return, they were utterly overcome, and fell to bowing like Oriental devotees, and attempting the most extravagant and impossible smiles, reckless of lock-jaw. They might as well have left their hats at home, for they never put them on. I was rather irritated at the idea of letting these fellows march in the procession myself, at first, but I would have scorned to harbor so small a thought if I had known the privilege was going to do them so much good. There seemed to be a religious-benevolent society among them with a banner — the only one in the colored ranks, I believe — and all hands seemed to take boundless pride in it. The banner had a picture on it, but I could not exactly get the hang of its significance. It presented a very black and uncommonly sick looking nigger, in bed, attended by two other niggers — one reading the Bible to him and the other one handing him a plate of oysters; but what the very mischief this blending of contraband dissolution, raw oysters and Christian consolation, could possibly be symbolical of, was more than I could make out [ET&S 1: 248-9].

July 8 Saturday – The sixth and final of Sam’s columns for the Californian, “Answers to Correspondents,” ran with subtitles: Inquirer, Sacramento; Student of Etiquette; Mary, Rincon School; S. Browne—was printed in the Californian [ET&S 2: 219].

 [ page 181 ]

July 9 Sunday – S. Browne Jones’ second article in the Era was titled, “An Astounding Fraud Practiced Upon Us,” is attributed to Sam [Fatout, MT Speaks 19].

 

July 14 Friday – Sam wrote a letter of introduction from San Francisco to Dan De Quille for Dan Setchell, comedian and actor who, along with Artemus Ward, Sam credited with perfecting the technique of telling a story “gravely.” Setchell was lost and presumed dead on a trip to New Zealand [MTL 5: 679&n1].

 

July 16 Sunday – S. Browne Jones’ third article in the Era, titled, “FULL REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS UPON THE EXAMINATION OF MARK TWAIN ON THE CHARGE OF FRAUD, IN THE POLICE COURT. THE DEFENDANT FOUND GUILTY AND SENTENCED TO FORTY-EIGHT HOURS IN THE CITY PRISON,” continued the fun in the Golden Era [Fatout, MT Speaks 19].

 

July 23 Sunday – S. Browne Jones’ fourth article appeared in the Era [Fatout, MT Speaks 19].

 

July 30 Sunday – S. Browne Jones’ fifth article appeared in the Era [Fatout, MT Speaks 19].

 

August 4 Friday – Pamela Moffett’s husband, Sam’s brother-in-law, William Anderson Moffett, died. Widowed just short of 38 years of age, Pamela never remarried. Daughter Annie was thirteen, son Sammy, not quite five [MTL 1: 382].

 

August 6 Sunday – S. Browne Jones’ sixth article appeared in the Era [Fatout, MT Speaks 19].

 

August 13 Sunday – S. Browne Jones’ seventh article appeared in the Era [Fatout, MT Speaks 19].

 

August 26 Saturday – Sam’s article “The Facts” ran in the Californian. By now Sam was writing daily letters to the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, and had not contributed to the weekly literary Californian for seven weeks [ET&S 2: 250].

 

August 27 Sunday – S. Browne Jones’ eighth article appeared in the Era [Fatout, MT Speaks 19]. Note: Fatout claims eight letters by Jones to the Era between July 2 and this date. Other sources list only the first three.

 

September 8 Friday – San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle ran this squib:

 

It appears that a “Hasheesh” mania has broken out among our Bohemians. Yesterday, Mark Twain and the “Mouse-Trap” man were seen walking up Clay street under the influence of the drug, followed by a “star,” who was evidently laboring under a misapprehension as to what was the matter with them. The “experiences” of the twain may be looked for in the next number of the Californian” (“Hasheesh Eaters”).

 

[Note: “Mouse-Trap” man was Tremenheere Lanyon Johns, columnist for the Californian. “Star” was slang for policeman. Fitz Hugh Ludlow was author of the popular book, Hasheesh Eater (1857). See also Sam’s of Jan. 2, 1864 to his mother. Did Twain partake of hasheesh? We will never know for certain.

 

September 9Saturday – Sam’s Californian articles won praise in the New York Round Table.

 

He is, we believe, quite a young man, and has not written a great deal. Perhaps, if he will husband his resources and not kill with overwork the mental goods that has given us these golden eggs, he may one day take rank among the brightest of our wits.

 

By the end of the year, Sam was a literary celebrity.

 [ page 182 ]

October – “Cats!” an anecdote about “renowned fiddling humbug” is known to have existed and been printed in the Virginia City Enterprise [Schmidt].

 

October 8 Sunday – Around noon on a peaceful Sabbath day, a severe earthquake hit San Francisco. Sam’s later account:

I was walking along Third Street, and facing north, when the first shock came; I was walking fast, and it “broke up my gait” pretty completely—checked me—just as a strong wind will do when you turn a corner and face it suddenly….The noise accompanying the shocks was a tremendous rasping sound, like the violent shaking and grinding together of a block of brick houses. It was about the most disagreeable sound you can imagine [ET&S 2: 304]. See Jump’s cartoon insert.

 

October 10–11 Wednesday – Sam’s article, “The Cruel Earthquake,” appeared in the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise about this time, and was reprinted in the Gold Hill News on Oct. 13 [ET&S 2: 289].

 

October 15–31 Tuesday – One of Sam’s letters to the Enterprise was printed in this period, “Popper Defieth Ye Earthquake,” about Popper’s Building, heavily damaged [ET&S 2: 296].

 

October 16 Monday – Edgar Branch gives this as the date Sam began a two-month stint for the San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle as a staff writer [“My Voice” 591].

 

October 16-23 Monday – Edgar Branch gives this as the week in which Sam composed “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog” [“My Voice” 600].

 

October 17 Tuesday – Sam’s “Earthquake Almanac” was published in San Francisco’s Dramatic Chronicle [ET&S 2: 297].

 

Orion & Mollie Clemens wrote to Sam, letter not extant but referred to in Twain’s 19 and 20 Oct. reply, referring to the sermons sent. [MTP].

 

October 18 Wednesday – Sam had sent his Jumping Frog story to George W. Carleton (1832-1901), for a book that Artemus Ward was editing. It was too late for inclusion in the book so Carleton sent the story on to Henry Clapp, Jr. (1814-1875) at the Saturday Press, who published it [Rasmussen 265-6]. See also AMT 2: 484-5 for more on Carleton and Clapp.

Text Box: October 19, 1865 
Adolph Sutro began his tunnel; 
Completed on July 8, 1878

 

 

 

 

October 19 and 20 Friday – Sam wrote from San Francisco to Orion and Mollie. This is a much quoted letter of Sam’s:  [ page 183 ]

 

…I have had a ‘call’ to literature, of a low order—i.e., humorous. It is nothing to be proud of, but it is my strongest suit…But as I was saying, it is human nature to yearn to be what we were never intended for. It is singular, but it is so. I wanted to be a pilot or a preacher, & I was about as well calculated for either as is poor Emperor Norton for Chief Justice of the United States [MTL 1: 322-3 emphasis Sam’s].

 

Sam began to see the possibilities of authorship, and probably enjoyed the writing of the frog tale and the finished work. The instant success a month later of the Jumping Frog story would cement his realizations. See Branch’s 1967 article “My Voice is Still for Setchell,” listed in Works Cited.

 

October 21–24 Tuesday – Sam’s sketch, “Bob Roach’s Plan for Circumventing a Democrat,” was printed between these dates in the Territorial Enterprise, copies of which are lost. It was reprinted Nov. 30 in the San Francisco Examiner. Sam dated the letter Oct. 19 [ET&S 2: 311].

 

October 22–24 Tuesday – Sam’s San Francisco Letter about the Rawhide Ranch Mine was printed in the Enterprise and reprinted in the Sonora (Calif.) Union Democrat [Schmidt].

 

October 26–28 Saturday – Sam’s San Francisco Letter to the Enterprise included: “A Love of a Bonnet Described,” “Re-opening of the Plaza,” and:

MORE FASHIONS – EXIT “WATERFALL.”

I am told that the Empress Eugenie is growing bald on the top of her head, and that to hide this defect she now combs her “back hair” forward in such a way as to make her look all right. I am also told that this mode of dressing the hair is already fashionable in all the great civilized cities of the world, and that it will shortly be adopted here. Therefore let your ladies “stand-by” and prepare to drum their ringlets to the front when I give the word. I shall keep a weather eye out for this fashion, for I am an uncompromising enemy of the popular “waterfall,” and I yearn to see it in disgrace. Just think of the disgusting shape and appearance of the thing. The hair is drawn to a slender neck at the back, and then commences a great fat, oblong ball, like a kidney covered with a net; and sometimes this net is so thickly bespangled with white beads that the ball looks soft, and fuzzy, and filmy and gray at a little distance — so that it vividly reminds you of those nauseating garden spiders in the States that go about dragging a pulpy, grayish bag-full of young spiders slung to them behind; and when I look at these suggestive waterfalls and remember how sea-sick it used to make me to mash one of those spider-bags, I feel sea-sick again, as a general thing. Its shape alone is enough to turn one’s stomach. Let’s have the back-hair brought forward as soon as convenient. N. B. — I shall feel much obliged to you if you can aid me in getting up this panic. I have no wife of my own and therefore as long as I have to make the most of other people’s it is a matter of vital importance to me that they should dress with some degree of taste [ET&S 2: 317-20].

October 26 Thursday – Sam’s article “Attention, Fitz Smythe!” ran in the San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle [ET&S 2: 482].

 

October 28 Saturday – Sam’s article, “Real Estate versus Imaginary Possessions, Poetically Considered – ‘My Ranch’,” was printed in the Californian [Schmidt]. Between Oct. 26 and this date, Sam’s San Francisco Letter was printed in the Enterprise. Subtitles: A LOVE OF A BONNET DESCRIBED, RE-OPENING OF THE PLAZA, MORE FASHIONS—EXIT “WATERFALL”

 

Well, you ought to see the new style of bonnets, and then die. You see, everybody has discarded ringlets and bunches of curls, and taken to the clod of compact hair on the “after-guard,” which they call a “waterfall,” though why they name it so I cannot make out, for it looks no more like one’s general notion of a waterfall than a cabbage looks like a cataract….And a woman looks as distressed in it [bonnet] as a cat with her head fast in a tea-cup [ET&S 2: 315]. [ page 184 ]


October 30 Monday
– Sam’s article, “Lisle Lester on Her Travels” ran in the San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle:

 

Lisle Lester, who is probably the worst writer in the world, though a good-hearted woman and a woman who means well, notwithstanding the distressing productions of her pen, has been visiting the Insane Asylum and favors the Marysville Appeal with some of her experiences [ET&S 2: 483].

 

October 31–November 2 Thursday – Sam’s short insert, “Steamer Departures” ran in the Enterprise sometime between these dates, and is another humorous example of Sam making interest out of boring news—a departure list in this case for the Pacific Mail Steamship’s Colorado, which left for Panama on Oct. 30, 1865 carrying 600 passengers.

 

November 1 Wednesday – Sam’s article “More California Notables Gone” ran in the San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle [ET&S 2: 485].

 

November 3 Friday – Sam’s article “‘Chrystal’ on Theology” ran in the San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle [ET&S 2: 486-7].

 

November 4 Saturday – Sam’s article “‘Mark Twain’ On the Ballad Infliction” ran in the Californian [reprinted from the Territorial Enterprise]:

It is bound to come! There is no help for it. I smell it afar off—I see the signs in the air! Every day and every hour of every day I grow more and more nervous, for with every minute of waning time the dreadful infliction comes nearer and nearer in its inexorable march! In another week, maybe, all San Francisco will be singing “Wearing of the Green!” I know it. I have suffered before, and I know the symptoms. This holds off long, but it is partly that the calamity may gather irresistible worrying-power, and partly be cause it is harder to learn than Chinese. But that is all the worse; for when the people do learn it they will learn it bad—and terrible will be the distress it will bring upon the community. A year ago “Johnny came marching home!” That song was sung by everybody, in every key, in every locality, at all hours of the day and night, and always out of tune. It sent many unoffending persons to the Stockton asylum. There was no stopping the epidemic, and so it had to be permitted to run its course and wear itself out. Short was our respite, and then a still more malignant distemper broke out in the midst of this harried and suffering community. It was “You’ll not forget me, mother, mother, mother, mother !” with an ever-accumulating aggravation of expression upon each successive “mother.” The fire-boys sat up all night to sing it; and bands of sentimental stevedores and militia soldiers patroled the streets and howled its lugubrious strains. A passion for serenading attacked the youth of the city, and they sang it under verandahs in the back streets until the dogs and cats destroyed their voices in unavailing efforts to lay the devilish spirit that was driving happiness from their hearts. Finally there came a season of repose, and the community slowly recovered from the effects of the musical calamity. The respite was not long. In an unexpected moment they were attacked, front and rear, by a new enemy—“When we were marching through Georgia!” Tongue cannot tell what we suffered while this frightful disaster was upon us. Young misses sang it to the guitar and the piano; young men sang it to the banjo and the fiddle; the un-blood stained soldier yelled it with enthusiasm as he marched through the imaginary swamps and cotton plantations of the drill-room; the firemen sang it as they trundled their engines home from conflagrations; and the hated serenader tortured it with his damned accordeon. Some of us survived, and some have gone the old road to a haven of rest at Stockton, where the wicked cease from troubling and the popular songs are not allowed. For the space of four weeks the survivors have been happy [Taper 128-29].

November 6 Monday – Sam’s unsigned article, “Oh, You Robinson!” about a man charged with bigamy, ran in the gossip column of the San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle, p2.

 [ page 185 ]

 The “Robertsonian method of teaching French” is very good, but the Robinsonian method of getting divorces is rather too brash [ET&S 2: 488; Gribben 583].

 

Theodore Robertson (1803-1871), author: The Whole French Language: The Robertsonian System (1855).

 

November 7 Tuesday – Sam was among other reporters aboard the new tugboat Rescue, loaded with champagne and calliope playing to celebrate its maiden voyage. He wrote “Pleasure Excursion” about this trip with “high-toned newspaper reporters, numerous military officers, and gentlemen of note” [ET&S 2: 326]. Also, Sam’s article “A word from Lisle Lester” ran in the San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle, along with squib, “Explanation” [ET&S 2: 489-90].

 

November 8 Wednesday – Sam’s obituary of the San Franciscan dog celebre, Bummer, appeared in the Enterprise and was reprinted Nov 11 in the Californian.

The old vagrant ‘Bummer’ is really dead at last; and although he was always more respected than his obsequious vassal, the dog “Lazarus,” his exit has not made half as much stir in the newspaper world as signalised the departure of the latter. I think it is because he died a natural death: died with friends around him to smooth his pillow and wipe the death-damps from his brow, and receive his last words of love and resignation; because he died full of years, and honor, and disease, and fleas. He was permitted to die a natural death, as I have said, but poor Lazarus “died with his boots on” — which is to say, he lost his life by violence; he gave up the ghost mysteriously, at dead of night, with none to cheer his last moments or soothe his dying pains. So the murdered dog was canonized in the newspapers, his shortcomings excused and his virtues heralded to the world; but his superior, parting with his life in the fullness of time, and in the due course of nature, sinks as quietly as might the mangiest cur among us. Well, let him go. In earlier days he was courted and caressed; but latterly he has lost his comeliness — his dignity had given place to a want of self-respect, which allowed him to practice mean deceptions to regain for a moment that sympathy and notice which had become necessary to his very existence, and it was evident to all that the dog had had his day; his great popularity was gone forever. In fact, Bummer should have died sooner: there was a time when his death would have left a lasting legacy of fame to his name. Now, however, he will be forgotten in a few days. Bummer’s skin is to be stuffed and placed with that of Lazarus [ET&S 2: 323].

Also, the San Francisco Examiner excerpted several passages from Sam’s latest letter to the Enterprise [Scharnhorst, “Also, Some Gin” 22-3]. Sam’s squib “Surplusage” ran in the San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle [ET&S 2: 491].

 

November 9 Thursday ­– Sam’s article “Stand Back!” ran in the San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle [ET&S 2: 492].

 

November 9–12 Sunday – Sam’s article “Pleasure Excursion” was printed during this period in the Enterprise, reprinted Nov. 19 in the Golden Era; and the San Francisco Examiner on Dec. 2 [ET&S 2: 326].

 

November 11 Saturday – The Napa County Reporter published one of Sam’s letters [MTL 1: 325]. Sam’s article, “Exit Bummer,” was printed in the Californian [reprinted from the Enterprise] [Schmidt]. Sam wrote three letters for the Reporter, the other two on Nov. 25 and Dec. 2 [ET&S 2: 371]. Also, Sam’s article “Cheerful Magnificence” ran in the San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle [494].

 

November 13 Monday – Sam’s short article, “In Ecstasies” ran in the San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle [ET&S 2: 495].

 

November 15–18 Saturday – Sam’s editorial, “Editorial ‘Puffing’ ” was printed between these dates in the Enterprise and reprinted in the San Francisco Examiner on November 20. Sam’s target was Albert S. Evans, editor of the Alta California, whom Sam often called “Fitz Smythe” [ET&S 2: 329]. [ page 186 ]

 

November 16 Thursday – Sam’s article, “Ye Ancient Mystery,” another jab at Fitz Smythe (Albert Evans) ran in the San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle [ET&S 2: 496-7].

 

November 17 Friday – Sam’s articles, “Improving” and “No Verdict” ran in the San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle [ET&S 2: 499-501].

 

November 18 Saturday – The Saturday Press first published the Jumping Frog story. The story was an immediate sensation and was reprinted by newspapers and magazines around the county [Rasmussen 266; ET&S 2: 262]. It was a sensation in New York.

 

Sam’s article “The Old Thing” ran in the Enterprise [ET&S 2: 332].

 

Another article, “Bad Precedent” ran in the San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle [ET&S 2: 502].

In the Californian, Sam’s article ran: “Mark Twain” on the Launch of the Steamer “Capital.” Note: Budd points out that this was reprinted in several collections, sometimes under the title “The Entertaining History of the Scriptural Panoramist” or “A Traveling Show” [“Collected” 1005].

 

I GET MR. MUFF NICKERSON TO GO WITH ME AND ASSIST IN REPORTING THE GREAT STEAMBOAT LAUNCH. HE RELATES THE INTERESTING HISTORY OF THE TRAVELLING PANORAMIST.

I was just starting off to see the launch of the great steamboat Capital, on Saturday week, when I came across Mulph, Mulff, Muff, Mumph, Murph, Mumf, Murf, Mumford, Mulford, Murphy Nickerson — (he is well known to the public by all these names, and I cannot say which is the right one) — bound on the same errand, He said that if there was one thing he took more delight in than another, it was a steamboat launch; he would walk miles to see one, any day; he had seen a hundred thousand steamboat launches in his time, and hoped he might live to see a hundred thousand more; he knew all about them; knew everything — everything connected with them — said he “had it all down to a scratch;” he could explain the whole process in minute detail; to the uncultivated eye a steamboat-launch presented nothing grand, nothing startling, nothing beautiful, nothing romantic, or awe- inspiring or sublime — but to an optic like his (which saw not the dull outer coating, but the radiant gem it hid from other eyes,) it presented all these — and behold, he had power to lift the veil and display the vision even unto the uninspired. He could do this by word of mouth — by explanation and illustration. Let a man stand by his side, and to him that launch should seem arrayed in the beauty and the glory of enchantment! [Schmidt].

November 19 or 21 Tuesday – Sam’s article, “The Pioneer’s Ball” was printed, probably on one of these dates, in the Territorial Enterprise and reprinted by the Californian on Nov. 25 and the Golden Era on Nov. 26. This sketch was also in Sketches, New and Old, 1875 as “After Jenkins” [ET&S 2: 367].

 

November 20 Monday – Sam’s squib, “The Goblin Again!” another poke at Albert Evans, ran in the San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle [ET&S 2: 503].

 

November 24 Friday – Sam poked at the ineptness of the local press in “The Whangdoodle Mourneth” which ran in the San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle [ET&S 2: 504].

 

November 25 Saturday – The Napa County Reporter published another of Sam’s letters [MTL 1: 325]. Sam’s article, “The Great Earthquake in San Francisco” was published this day in the New York Weekly Review [ET&S 2: 300].

 [ page 187 ]

Sam’s article, “‘Mark Twain’ on the Launch of the Steamer ‘Capital’,” ran in the Californian. Subtitle: “The Entertaining History of the Scriptural Panoramist.”

 

 “The Old Thing” which ran in the Enterprise on Nov. 18 was reprinted in the Californian [ET&S 2: 332].

Sam’s articles, “The Guard on a Bender,” and “Benkert Cometh!” appeared in the Napa County Reporter [ET&S 2: 371].

November 28–30 Thursday – Sam’s article, “Uncle Lige,” was printed in the Enterprise and reprinted in the Californian on Dec. 2 [ET&S 2: 376].

November 30 Thursday – Sam’s 30th birthday. His four short articles, “Too Terse,” “Shame!” “Bribery! Corruption!” and “Drunk?” ran in the San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle. The target? Fitz Smythe again (Evans) [ET&S 2: 505-8].

December 1865–January 1866 – Sometime this month, or at least before Jan. 20, 1866, Sam recalled years later:

“I put the pistol to my head but wasn’t man enough to pull the trigger. Many times I have been sorry I did not succeed, but I was never ashamed of having tried” [MTL 1: 325].

Fanning claims this act was a “direct result, evidently, of something his elder brother [Orion] had done [p. xv]. There is nothing “evident” however, about Orion’s influence creating suicidal thoughts in Sam, rather those of the murderous variety.

Portion of San Francisco Letter:

Those Oysters.

“Mark Twain” in his Virginia correspondence, abuses McDonald’s “scoofy oysters.” “Mark” says they are “poisonous,” and that “they produce diarrhea and vomiting.” McDonald’s explanation of this is, that “Mark,” with six Washoe friends, made a descent upon his (McDonald’s) saloon, the other day, and after eating fourteen dozen of the “scoofy oysters,” disputed the bill. McDonald insisted on payment at the regular rates. “Mark” stated that he and his sage brush friends were members of the press. Mac refused to make an deduction, and “Mark” paid the bill, swearing that he would get even. Hence the fearful letter to the Enterprise about the “poisoned oysters.”

A reference to this letter appeared in the San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle, January 29, 1866; Reprinted, Mark Twain Journal, Spring, 1988, p. 23.

December 1 Friday – Sam’s article “How is That?” another poke at Albert Evans, ran in the San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle [ET&S 2: 509].

December 2 Saturday – The Napa County Reporter published another of Sam’s letters, which included “Webb’s Benefit” [MTL 1: 325; ET&S 2: 380]. Sam’s article, “Mark Twain Overpowered” was printed in the Californian [reprinting of “Uncle Lige” from the Territorial Enterprise]. [Schmidt].

December 5 Tuesday – Sam’s article “Delightful Romance” ran in the San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle, a summary of an Albert Evans article which appeared the day before in the Alta California [ET&S 2: 510]. [ page 188 ]

December 7 Thursday – The Semi-Weekly Telegraph (Salt Lake City), ran this squib quoting Mark Twain:

            WESTERN.—MARK TWAIN, noticing a case of infamous outrage on an infant in San Francisco, makes the following candid confession—“We are thoroughly prospecting not only the main lead of crime here, but all its dips, spurs and angles.”

December 8–10 Sunday – Sam’s verse about the theatre manager Thomas MaGuire (1820-1896) appeared in the Enterprise sometime between these dates [ET&S 2: 385].

A RICH EPIGRAM

Tom Maguire,
Torn with ire,
Lighted on Macdougall,
Grabbed his throat,
Tore his coat,
And split him in the bugle.

Shame! Oh, fie!
Maguire, why
Will you thus skyugle?
Why bang and claw,
And gouge and chaw
The unprepared Macdougall?

Of bones bereft,
See how you’ve left,
Vestvali, gentle Jew gal —
And now you’ve slashed,
And almost hashed,
The form of poor Macdougall.

Note: Felicita Vestvali (1824-1880), opera singer and actress. See insert.                                   

December 10–31 Sunday – Sam’s item, “A Graceful Compliment,” in which Sam is introduced to the income tax, was probably part of Sam’s regular San Francisco letter. The item ran during this period in the Enterprise [ET&S 2: 388].

December 12 Tuesday – Sam took on the police for a “Shameful Attack on a Chinaman” in the article “Our Active Police” which ran in the San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle [ET&S 2: 511].

December 13 Wednesday – Sam wrote from San Francisco to Orion and Mollie. Another hope and plan to sell the Tennessee Land came to naught. This time Sam had entertained an offer to sell the land for $200,000 to Herman Camp, an early locator on the Comstock Lode, who wanted to turn it into a vineyard and make wine. Orion’s “temperance virtue was suddenly on him in strong force.” The deal fell through and caused great friction between the Clemens brothers [MTL 1: 326].

December 13–15 Friday – Sam’s article, “Christian Spectator,” taken from Sam’s San Francisco Letter, dated Dec. 11, was printed in the Enterprise. Sam commented indirectly on the “incendiary religious matter about hell-fire, and brimstone, and wicked young men knocked endways by a streak of lightening while in the act of going fishing on Sunday,” as espoused by Rev. Fitzgerald of the Minna Street Methodist Church in a publication by [ page 189 ] the same name as the article. Other segments from Sam’s S.F. letter, “More Romance,” “Telegraphic,” and “The Police Judge Trouble,” were printed in the Enterprise [ET&S 2: 393-6].

December 16 Saturday – “Jim Smiley and the Jumping Frog,” was reprinted by Bret Harte in the Californian. Uncertain about the fate of the story he’d sent George W. Carleton, Sam showed Bret Harte (editor of the Californian) a version that renamed the central character Greeley instead of Smiley and also used Angels camp, the real name, instead of Noomerang. Harte liked the story. Along with the changes, the story got a new title: “The Celebrated Jumping Frog Of Calaveras County” [Schmidt].

Mary Parks Chapman wrote from “Helena, Last Chance, Montana Territory” to Sam: “We have a theatre and company of Denverites, and are doing well. It is so cold that the quicksilver all froze, or I would tell you how many degrees below zero….This is a lively town; adjoining camps-deserted….I play the part of Richard III to-night. Next week I appear as Mazeppa”  [MTP].

December 16–17 Sunday – Sam’s San Francisco Letter dated Dec. 13 ran in the Enterprise: “Managerial” (about Edwin Forrest,) and “Not a Suicide” [ET&S 2: 209].

December 19–21 Thursday – Sam’s sketch, “Grand Fete-Day at the Cliff House,” was printed in the Enterprise and reprinted on Dec. 23 in the San Francisco Examiner [ET&S 2: 399].

The following celebrated artistes have been engaged at a ruinous expense, and will perform the following truly marvelous feats:

PETE HOPKINS, the renowned Spectre of the Mountains, will walk a tight rope — the artist himself being tighter than the rope at the time — from the Cliff House to Seal Rock, and will ride back on the Seal known as Ben Butler, or the Seal will ride back on him, as circumstances shall determine.

JIM EOFF will exhibit the horse Patchen, and explain why he did not win the last race.

HARRIS COVEY will exhibit Lodi and Jim Barton, and BILLY WILLIAMSON will favor the audience with their pedigree and sketches of their history. N.B. — This will be very entertaining.

JEROME LELAND will exhibit the famous cow, in a circus ring prepared for the occasion, and perform several feats of perilous cowmanship on her back [ET&S 2: 400-1]. Note: Jerome Leland (b.1840?) brother of Lewis Leland.

December 19 Tuesday – Sam’s San Francisco Letter with this date ran sometime later in the month in the Enterprise. Sections: “Thief Catching,” “Caustic,” “I Knew It,” “Macdougall vs. Maguire,” “Louis Aldrich,” and “Gould and Curry” [Schmidt: The last four items are known to have existed but no text is available].

THIEF-CATCHING

One may easily find room to abuse as many as several members of Chief Burke’s civilian army for laziness and uselessness, but the detective department is supplied with men who are sharp, shrewd, always on the alert and always industrious. It is only natural that this should be so. An ordinary policeman is chosen with especial reference to large stature and powerful muscle, and he only gets $125 a month, but the detective is chosen with especial regard to brains, and the position pays better than a lucky faro-bank. A shoemaker can tell by a single glance at a boot whose shop it comes from, by some peculiarity of workmanship; but to a bar-keeper all boots are alike; a printer will take a number of newspaper scraps, that show no dissimilarity to each other, and name the papers they were cut from; to a man who is accustomed to being on the water, the river’s surface is a printed book which never fails to divulge the hiding place of the sunken rock, or betray the presence of the treacherous shoal. In ordinary men, this quality of detecting almost imperceptible differences and peculiarities [ page 190 ] is acquired by long practice, and goes not beyond the limits of their own occupation—but in the detective it is an instinct, and discovers to him the secret signs of all trades, and the faint shades of difference between things which look alike to the careless eye.

Detective Rose can pick up a chicken’s tail feather in Montgomery street and tell in a moment what roost it came from at the Mission; and if the theft is recent, he can go out there and take a smell of the premises and tell which block in Sacramento street the Chinaman lives in who committed it, by some exquisite difference in the stink left, and which he knows to be peculiar to one particular block of buildings.

Mr. McCormick, who should be on the detective force regularly, but as yet is there only by brevet, can tell an obscene photograph by the back, as a sport tells an ace from a jack.

Detective Blitz can hunt down a transgressing hack-driver by some peculiarity in the style of his blasphemy [Taper 157-8].

Also, Sam’s article “How Dare You?” ran in the San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle [ET&S 2: 512].

December 22–23 Saturday –Sam’s San Francisco Letter, included “Macdougall vs. Maguire” was datelined the 20 and printed in the Enterprise [ET&S 2: 402]. Also included: “The New Swimming Bath,” “Buckingham,” “The ‘Eccentrics’,” – and the following texts not available: “Mining Operations,” “Major Farren,” and “Sam Brannan” [Schmidt].

December 23 Saturday – Sam’s original sketches, “The Christmas Fireside. For Good Little Boys and Girls. By Grandfather Twain,” and “The Story of the Bad Little Boy That Bore a Charmed Life” and “Enigma” were printed in the Californian [Budd, “Collected” 1006]. These stories were the germ for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Once there was a bad little boy, whose name was Jim—though, if you will notice, you will find that bad little boys are nearly always called James in your Sunday-school books. It was very strange, but still it was true, that this one was called Jim.

He didn’t have any sick mother, either—a sick mother who was pious and had the consumption, and would be glad to lie down in the grave and be at rest, but for the strong love she bore her boy, and the anxiety she felt that the world would be harsh and cold towards him when she was gone. Most bad boys in the Sunday books are named James, and have sick mothers, who teach them to say, “Now I lay me down,” etc., and sing them to sleep with sweet plaintive voices, and then kiss them goodnight, and kneel down by the bedside and weep. But it was different with this fellow. He was named Jim, and there wasn’t any thing the matter with his mother—no consumption, or any thing of that kind. She was rather stout than otherwise, and she was not pious; moreover, she was not anxious on Jim’s account. She said if he were to break his neck, it wouldn’t be much loss. She always spanked Jim to sleep, and she never kissed him goodnight; on the contrary, she boxed his ears when she was ready to leave him [ET&S 2: 405].

This was the first of two original Mark Twain sketches published by Harte. None other than William Dean Howells (1837-1920) of the Atlantic, who felt it might offend nearly every denominational reader of his magazine, had rejected it [Wilson 251].

 

December 24 or 26 Tuesday – (the Enterprise did not publish on Mondays) – Sam’s San Francisco Letter, dated Dec. 20, included, EDITORIAL POEM, FACETIOUS, MAYO AND ALDRICH, FINANCIAL, PERSONAL, MOCK DUEL—ALMOST, AND “MORE WISDOM!.” The letter contained more scattered attacks on Albert Evans [ET&S 2: 336].

 [ page 191 ]

December 25 Monday – Christmas – The following articles supposed to be by Twain, ran in the San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle:

 

OUR NEW JUDGE

Alfred Rix, the newly elected Judge of the Police Court, is a very respectable lawyer, and a man sufficiently human in his feelings, kindly in his nature, and shrewd in his judgments of character to make an excellent magistrate. We are inclined to believe that Mr. Rix is “the right man in the right place,” and that the Board of Supervisors will have no reason to repent of their action in placing him upon the Bench. The reporters seemed to imagine the other day that Hale Rix was the judge elect. Hale Rix is quite another sort of man and we think it quite as well — perhaps a trifle better — that “Alfred” is chosen to hold the scales and wield the sword of the Goddess of Justice in the Police Court.

 

GETTING CONSERVATIVE

Our cultural love of justice compels us to give the d___l his due. It is a fact to which we cannot close our eyes, that the Flag is really making an honest effort to become a respectable paper. Ever since it “got the dispatches” it has been comparatively rational. Heaven grant that the phenomenon may not prove transient. But we have our misgivings.

 

ON THE SIDE OF THE LORD

We are delighted to see that the Country Paper has come out on the Lord’s side in the crusade commenced against the Christian religion by the Theologian of the Era. It an article entitled the “Epoch of Reason,” the bucolic institution actually talks much sound sense, and gives the Theologian a very neat thrust by reminding him that all his shallow rationalistic notions, which he propounds with the air of a man who has lit upon something original, were half a century ago promulgated by Tom Paine, with infinitely greater ability, and cogency than the Era’s amateur evinces.

 

FEELING FOR IT

Grandmother Alta shoves up her spectacles and twaddles urbanely about “Feeling for Mexico in the East.” It is to be supposed that the precious old nincompoop imagines that Mexico is an Eastern province — lying between Egypt and Arabia, possible — and that feeling for it in that direction is destined to result in its being found, and restored to its original “internal scrimmage” position. Really now, Granny, you ought to be put through a course of geographical sprouts.

 

December 26–27 Wednesday – Taken from Sam’s San Francisco Letter, dated Dec. 23, were “Gardner Indicted,” “Extraordinary Delicacy,” “Shooting,” “Another Enterprise,” and “Spirit of the Local Press,” printed in the Territorial Enterprise [ET&S 2: 413].

 

December 29 Friday – Sam’s San Francisco Letter given this date was published in the Enterprise sometime in Jan. 1866. Sections: “Busted,” “Inspiration of Louderback,” “A Pleasant Farce,” “Personal,” (no text available for the last two items) and:

THE BLACK HOLE OF SAN FRANCISCO

If I were Police Judge here, I would hold my court in the city prison and sentence my convicts to imprisonment in the present Police Court room. …

You cannot imagine what a horrible hole that Police Court is. The cholera itself couldn’t stand it there. The room is about 24 x 40 feet in size, I suppose, and is blocked in on all sides by massive brick walls; it has three or four doors, but they are never opened—and if they were they only open into airless courts and closets any how; it has but one window, and now that is blocked up, as I was telling you; there is not a solitary air-hole as big as your nostril about the whole place. Very well; down two sides of the room, drunken filthy loafers, thieves, prostitutes, China chicken-stealers, witnesses, and slimy guttersnipes who come to see, and belch and issue deadly smells, are banked and packed, four ranks deep—a solid mass of rotting, steaming corruption. In [ page 192 ] the centre of the room are Dan Murphy, Zabriskie, the Citizen Sam Platt, Prosecuting Attorney Louderback, and other lawyers, either of whom would do for a censer to swing before the high altar of hell. Then, near the Judge are a crowd of reporters—a kind of cattle that did never smell good in any land. The house is full—so full that you have to actually squirm and shoulder your way from one part of it to another—and not a single crack or crevice in the walls to let in one poor breath of God’s pure air! The dead, exhausted, poisoned atmosphere looks absolutely blue and filmy, sometimes—did when they had a little daylight. Now they have only gas-light and the added heat it brings. Another Judge will die shortly if this thing goes on [Taper171-3].

December 31 Sunday – “Convicts” is part of a San Francisco Letter dated Dec. 28 and published in the Enterprise. On Dec. 10 a group of five Comstock reporters sat for a group portrait at Sutterly Brothers in Virginia City, afterwards making the rounds of saloons and ordering a banquet at the International Hotel. All five men were old friends of Sam.

Some one (I do not know who,) left me a card photograph, yesterday, which I do not know just what to do with. It has the names of Dan De Quille, W. M. Gillespie, Alf. Doten, Robert Lowery and Charles A. Parker on it, and appears to be a pictured group of notorious convicts, or something of that kind. I only judge by the countenances, for I am not acquainted with these people, and do not usually associate with such characters. This is the worst lot of human faces I have ever seen. That of the murderer Doten, (murderer, isn’t he?) is sufficient to chill the strongest heart. The cool self-possession of the burglar Parker marks the man capable of performing deeds of daring confiscation at dead of night, unmoved by surrounding perils. The face of the Thug, De Quille, with its expression of pitiless malignity, is a study. Those of the light fingered gentry, Lowery and Gillespie, show that ineffable repose and self-complacency so deftly assumed by such characters after having nipped an overcoat or a pair of brass candlesticks and are aware that officers have suspected and are watching them. I am very glad to have this picture to keep in my room, as a hermit keeps a skull, to remind me what I may some day become myself. I have permitted the Chief of Police to take a copy of it, for obvious reasons [ET&S 2: 421].


 [ page 193 ]
Fitz Smythe & Corrupt Cops – Sandwich Islands –Volcanoes & Captain Cook

 Sacramento Union Letters – Anson Burlingame – Hornet Disaster

Hymns on the Smyrniote – “Trouble begins at 8”– First Lecture tour

Virginia City Homecoming – Robbed on the Divide – San Francisco Lectures

Isthmus with Ned Wakeman – Cholera Aboard

 

 

Several of Sam’s writings for this year are as yet undated. Three items were originally part of the Sandwich Islands Letters. Bret Harte extracted these for publication in the Californian, but they were collected in The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches: Honored as a Curiosity in Honolulu; Short and Singular Rations; The Steed “Oahu” [Camfield bibliog.]. “Il Trovatore” written but published posthumously [ibid].

 

January – Sam’s San Francisco Letter of Dec. 29, 1865 ran in the Enterprise (See entry.) Another Enterprise item, “New Year’s Day,” was a narrative of Sam trying to find breakfast on the holiday. (Reprinted in the Golden Era on Jan. 14.) [Walker 111-3]. The following items also ran in the Enterprise sometime in January: “The Kearney Street Ghost Story,” “Captain Montgomery,” “The Chapman Family” [Schmidt].

 

January, mid – Sam was arrested for being drunk in public and jailed overnight. He’d been the object of a police watch, after articles criticizing police corruption and racism.

 

January 7 Sunday – Sam’s article, “Policemen’s Presents” appeared in the San Francisco Golden Era [Budd, “Collected” 1006].

 

January 8 Monday – Sam’s San Francisco Letter, dated this day, ran sometime in January in the Enterprise. Sections: “White Man Mighty Onsartain,” “ Mint Defalcation,” “The Opening Night,” and:

THE PORTRAITS

In the bath-house sign are very correct likenesses of the chief stockholders, and are as follows: The fleshy, smiling, bald-headed man hanging to the middle of the little life boat, is Mr. O. P. Sutton, in the banking interest. The bald headed man hanging on near the stern of the boat, is Mr. Aleck Badlam, the shark-fancier. The man on the left, who is just starting on the spring-board, is Col. Monstery, the fencing-master. The inverted young man on the bow of the boat who is performing some kind of extraordinary gymnastic feat and appears to have got it a little mixed, is Captain McComb. The central figure, swinging on the trapeze, is Mr. Edward Smith, of the banking interest. The half-submerged figure diving head-foremost at the right of the central fountain, is Mr. A. J. Snyder, the carpenter and builder, and is a very correct portrait as far as it goes. The handsome fat man facing you from the stateroom door on the extreme left, is Mr. Louis Cohn, and is considered a masterpiece of portrait painting. I cannot recognize the stockholder immediately under the spring board on the left, on account of his truly extraordinary position. It may be Fitz Smythe. The gentleman who is splashing himself behind the figure in the swing, and [has] upon his countenance an expression of lively enjoyment, is Professor Nash. The figure in the swing is most too many for me. It may be Menken, or it may be Jeff. Davis, or it may be some other man or some other woman. It is the very picture that so exasperates the South Parkers. It has got baggy breasts like a squaw, and the hips have the ample and rounded swell which belong to the female shape; but the head is masculine. That figure has worried the ladies of South Park a good deal, and it worries me just as much. I shall have to let this personage swing on undisturbed, and leave it to a wiser head to determine the sex and discover the name that belongs to it. It would be very uncomfortable, now, if it should turn out that I have been mistaken, and this remarkable picture should never have been intended for a collection of portraits, after all—in which case I beg pardon. [ page 194 ]

[Schmidt: “The Opening Night” and “The Portraits” reprinted in Mark Twain: San Francisco Correspondent, (Book Club of California, 1957) 60-62].

January 11 Thursday – Sam’s San Francisco Letter, dated this day, ran sometime in January in the Enterprise. Sections: “Another Romance,” “Precious Stones,” “Premature,” “A Handsome Testimonial,” “The California Art Union,” “Theatrical,” (text not available for the last four items), and Gorgeous New Romance, By Fitz Smythe!” From “Another Romance”:

I don’t want all the glory fastened on the Captains and Chiefs and regulars, and the deeds of the specials— the scallawags who really do all the work—left unsung. Tune up another column of [praise of] them, and blast away, idolatrous Fitz Smythe! [Schmidt: reprinted in Mark Twain: San Francisco Correspondent, (Book Club of California, 1957) 25-28].

January 13 Saturday – The Ajax steamed out of San Francisco “in a pelting rain” on its first voyage to Hawaii. Frear writes:

A number of prominent persons had been invited to go as guests. Mark Twain wrote that fifty-two of these went, and a splendid brass band, but apparently, to judge from the newspaper reports and passenger lists, most of these and the band failed to go. A few other prominent persons, besides Honolulu residents and some invalids, went on their own.

      Mark Twain was included among the invited guests—a tribute to his growing reputation. But his conscience prevented, because, as he wrote, there would then be no one to continue the regular correspondence with the Territorial Enterprise, which he had resumed upon his return to San Francisco from Jackass Hill and Angel’s Camp, where he had gone to avoid the police and where he got the Jumping Frog story. However, no sooner had the steamer sailed than he began to regret that he had not yielded. If only he had the chance again he would “go quick” and “throw up” his correspondence! The correspondence had indeed become insufferably boresome, and the vagabond instinct was strong upon him [4]. Note: Sam got his chance and sailed on the Ajax’s second voyage on Mar. 7. See entry.

January 14 Sunday – The Golden Era printed Sam’s article, “New Year’s Day” [Walker 111].

January 16–18 Thursday – Sam’s satire sketch about Albert Evans includes vernacular from a boy, something Sam would use to great advantage in his greatest literary work, Huckleberry Finn. The sketch, “Fitz Smythe’s Horse,” and an item “What Have the Police Been Doing?” ran in the Enterprise between these dates. Most copies of the Enterprise are lost, but it required about three days to travel between Virginia City and San Francisco, and the sketch was reprinted under the heading “Mark Twain” by the Golden Era on Jan. 21, thereby dating the Virginia City publication.

FITZ SMYTHE’S HORSE

Yesterday, as I was coming along through a back alley, I glanced over a fence, and there was Fitz Smythe’s horse. I can easily understand, now, why that horse always looks so dejected and in different to the things of this world. They feed him on old newspapers. I had often seen Smythe carrying “dead loads” of old exchanges up town, but I never suspected that they were to be put to such a use as this. A boy came up while I stood there, and said, “That hoss belongs to Mr. Fitz Smythe, and the old man — that’s my father, you know — the old man’s going to kill him.”

“Who, Fitz Smythe?”

“No, the hoss — because he et up a litter of pups that the old man wouldn’t a taken forty dol — “

“Who, Fitz Smythe?”  [ page 195 ]

“No, the hoss — and he eats fences and everything — took our gate off and carried it home and et up every dam splinter of it; you wait till he gets done with them old Altas and Bulletins he’s a chawin’ on now, and you’ll see him branch out and tackle a-n-y-thing he can shet his mouth on. Why, he nipped a little boy, Sunday, which was going home from Sunday school; well, the boy got loose, you know, but that old hoss got his bible and some tracts, and them’s as good a thing as he wants, being so used to papers, you see. You put anything to eat anywheres, and that old hoss’ll shin out and get it — and he’ll eat anything he can bite, and he don’t care a dam. He’d climb a tree, he would, if you was to put anything up there for him — cats, for instance — he likes cats — he’s et up every cat there was here in four blocks — he’ll take more chances — why, he’ll bust in anywheres for one of them fellers; I see him snake a old tom cat out of that there flower-pot over yonder, where she was a sunning of herself, and take her down, and she a hanging on and a grabbling for a holt on some thing, and you could hear her yowl and kick up and tear around after she was inside of him. You see Mr. Fitz Smythe don’t give him nothing to eat but them old newspapers and sometimes a basket of shavings, and so you know, he’s got to prospect or starve, and a hoss ain’t going to starve, it ain’t likely, on account of not wanting to be rough on cats and sich things. Not that hoss, anyway, you bet you. Because he don’t care a dam. You turn him loose once on this town, and don’t you know he’d eat up m-o-r-e goods-boxes, and fences, and clothing-store things, and animals, and all them kind of valuables? Oh, you bet he would. Because that’s his style, you know, and he don’t care a dam. But you ought to see Mr. Fitz Smythe ride him around, prospecting for them items — you ought to see him with his soldier coat on, and his mustashers sticking out strong like a cat-fish’s horns, and them long laigs of his’n standing out so, like them two prongs they prop up a step-ladder with, and a jolting down street at four mile a week — oh, what a guy! — sets up stiff like a close pin, you know, and thinks he looks like old General Macdowl. But the old man’s a going to hornisswoggle that hoss on account of his goblin up them pups. Oh, you bet your life the old man’s down on him. Yes, sir, coming!” and the entertaining boy departed to see what the “old man” was calling him for. But I am glad that I met the boy, and I am glad I saw the horse taking his literary breakfast, because I know now why the animal looks so discouraged when I see Fitz Smythe rambling down Montgomery street on him — he has altogether too rough a time getting a living to be cheerful and frivolous or anyways frisky [ET&S 2: 343-6].

January 18 Thursday ca. – According to a Jan. 19 dispatch by Albert Evans, San Francisco correspondent for the Gold Hill Daily News, Sam was “in the dock for being drunk over night.” Since Sam and Evans were anything but on friendly terms, it’s probable that Evans would not delay reporting Sam’s misdeeds. Sam appeared before Justice of the Peace Alfred Barstow [Fanning 107-8].

 

January 19 Friday ca. – Based on the events of Sam’s imprisonment, Evans’ dispatch, and Sam’s appearance before a magistrate, Fanning concludes this the likely date that Sam “put the pistol to my head but wasn’t man enough to pull the trigger” [108]. ].

 

January 20 Saturday – Sam wrote from San Francisco to his mother, and sister Pamela:

 

“I don’t know what to write—my life is so uneventful. I wish I was back there piloting up & down the river again. Verily, all is vanity and little worth—save piloting” [MTL 1: 327].

 

Sam was at a low point. It seems like the new and wondrous places he found since leaving Hannibal soon wore thin, and his wanderlust took over. His piloting days would always be fixed in his memory in a romantic haze. Without that fixture, much of his great works might not have been produced. He bemoaned that the “Jumping Frog” story, “ a villainous backwoods sketch” would be singled out by “those New York people” to “compliment.” Perhaps his use of Coon’s story didn’t feel much like his own, even though he’d worked hard at revising it. He also wrote of Bret Harte’s desire to collaborate on a collection of stories and sketches, and a burlesque of California’s best poets book he and Harte planned. Neither work came to fruition. Sam enclosed clippings from the San Francisco Examiner about a new book he was to write [MTL 1: 327-31].

  [ page 196 ]

January 21 Sunday – The Golden Era reprinted Sam’s articles, “What have the Police been Doing, ” and “Fitz Smythe’s Horse” [Walker 97-99]. Sam’s attacks on the police have often been cited as a contributing factor in his departure from San Francisco. Regardless, Sam enjoyed poking the police with his pen. This first article is doubtless one the Call would not publish.

 

January 22 Monday – Sam’s jailing brought delight to his rivals, including Albert Evans of the Alta California, who wrote articles objecting to the relocation of the city’s slaughter houses. Evans wrote that such a change would allow prevailing winds to give the entire city “a stench which is only second in horrible density to that which prevails in the Police Court when the Bohemian of the Sage-Brush is in the dock for being drunk over night” [Sanborn 270].

 

January 23 Tuesday – Sam’s San Francisco Letter dated Jan. 18 ran in the Enterprise. Sections: “A Righteous Judge,” “The Righteous Shall Not be Forgotten,” and “Chief Burke.”

A RIGHTEOUS JUDGE

Judge Rix decides that the word “bilk” is obscene, and has fined a man for using it. He ought to have hanged him; but considering that he had not power to do that, and considering that he punished him as severely as the law permitted him to do, we should all be satisfied, and enter a credit mark in our memories for Judge Rix. That word is in all our dictionaries, and is by all odds the foulest one there. Its sound is against it—just as the reader’s countenance is against him, perhaps, or just as the face or voice of many a man we meet is against the owner, and repels a stranger. The word was popular a hundred years ago, and then it meant swindling, or defrauding, and was applicable to all manner of cheating. Having such a wide significance, perhaps its disgusting sound was forgiven it in consideration of its services. But it went out of date—became obsolete, and slept for nearly a century. And then it woke up ten years ago a different word—a superannuated word shorn of every virtue that made it respectable. The hoary verb woke up in a bawdy house after its Rip Van Winkle sleep of three generations and found itself essentially vulgar and obscene, in that it had but one solitary significance, and that described the defrauding a harlot of the wages she has earned. Since then its jurisdiction has been enlarged somewhat, but nothing can refine it—nothing can elevate it; it is permanently disgraced; it will never get rid of the odor of the bawdy house. The decision of Judge Rix closes respectable lips against its utterance and banishes it to the domain of prostitution, where it belongs. Depart in peace, proscribed Bilk! [Schmidt: “A Righteous Judge” and “The Righteous Shall Not Be Forgotten” reprinted in Bancroftiana, Fall 1999 10, 12. “Chief Burke” San Francisco Examiner (February 5 and 7, 1866) and Albert Bigelow Paine’s Biography].

Sam dug himself an even deeper hole with more comments on police Chief Martin J. Burke:

The air is full of lechery, and rumors of lechery.

I want to compliment Chief Burke—I do honestly. But I can’t find anything to compliment him about. He is always rushing furiously around, like a dog after his own tail—and with the same general result, it seems to me; if he catches it, it don’t amount to anything, after all the fuss; and if he don’t catch it it don’t make any difference, because he didn’t want it anyhow; he only wanted the exercise, and the happiness of “showing off” before his mistress and the other young ladies. But if the Chief would only do something praiseworthy, I would be the first and most earnest and cordial to give him the credit due. I would sling him a compliment that would knock him down. I mean that it would be such a first-class compliment that it might surprise him to that extent as coming from me [Schmidt; see also Scharnhorst, “Mark Twain’s Imbroglio with the San Francisco Police: Three Lost Texts. American Literature, V. 62 No. 4 (Dec. 1990) p 686-91.

January 24 Wednesday – Sam’s San Francisco Letter dated Jan. 24 ran later in January in the Enterprise. Sections: “More Outcroppings!” “Among the Spiritualists,” “Personal,” and “How They Take It.” (No text available for the last two items) [Schmidt: reprinted in Mark Twain: San Francisco Correspondent, (Book Club of California, 1957) 66-67]. [ page 197 ]

January 28 Sunday – The Golden Era printed or reprinted five articles by Sam: “The Kearny Street Ghost Story,” “Captain Montgomery,” “The Chapman Family,” “Busted, and gone Abroad,” and “Miseries of Washoe Men” [Walker 104, 120].

January 30–31 Wednesday – Sam’s San Francisco Letter dated Jan. 28 ran in the Enterprise: Sections: “Closed Out,” “Bearding the Fenian in his Lair,” “Card from Volunteers,” “Sabbath Reflections,” and “Neodamode” [Schmidt: “Closed Out” reprinted in ET&S 2: 349; “Neadomode” reprinted in Taper 200-1].

February – Items which ran in the Enterprise sometime during the month, day unknown: “Mark Twain, Committee Man,” (reprinted Feb. 11 in the Golden Era), “Mark Twain on the Police,” and three items reprinted in the Feb. 13 Golden Era: “The Signal Corps,” “Spiritual Insanity,” and a San Francisco Letter with “The Russian American Telegraph Company” [Schmidt].

February 3 Saturday – Sam’s article “More Spiritual Investigations” ran in the Enterprise and was reprinted Mar. 11 in the Golden Era [Camfield bibliog.].

February 4 Sunday – Sam’s articles: The Golden Era printed, “Among the Spiritualists” as “Among the Spirits” [Walker 122]; “The Spiritual Séance” first ran in the Enterprise and was later revised for inclusion in The Jumping Frog (1867) [Budd, “Collected” 1006].

February 6or7 Wednesday – Sam’s highly personal attack on Albert Evans is part of his San Francisco Letter written on Feb. 3, titled, “Take the Stand, Fitz Smythe,” printed in the Enterprise on one of these dates. Evans was biased in favor of the San Francisco police, a corrupt organization at that time. Other items in the letter: “Personal,” “More Cemeterial Ghastliness,” “Rev. Charles Ellis,” and “More Outcroppings (II)” [Schmidt].

February 7 Wednesday – In response to the above letter that appeared in the San Francisco Examiner on Feb. 5 – Twain dated this letter Feb. 5 to the Editors of the Examiner:

EXPLANATION OF A MYSTERIOUS SENTENCE

EDITOR EXAMINER:—You published the following paragraph the other day and stated that it was an “extract from a letter to the Virginia Enterprise, from the San Francisco correspondent of that paper.” Please publish it again, and put in the parentheses where I have marked them, so that people who read with wretched carelessness may know to a dead moral certainty when I am referring to Chief Burke, and also know to an equally dead moral certainty when I am referring to the dog:

I want to compliment Chief Burke—I do honestly. But I can’t find anything to compliment him about. He is always rushing furiously around, like a dog after his own tail—and with the same general result, it seems to me; if he (the dog, not the Chief,) catches it, it don’t amount to anything, after all the fuss; and if he (the dog, not the Chief,) don’t catch it it don’t make any difference, because he (the dog, not the Chief,) didn’t want it anyhow; he (the dog, not the Chief,) only wanted the exercise, and the happiness of “showing off” before his (the dog’s, not the Chief’s,) mistress and the other young ladies. But if the Chief (not the dog,) would only do something praiseworthy, I would be the first and the most earnest and cordial to give him (the Chief, not the dog,) the credit due. I would sling him (the Chief, not the dog,) a compliment that would knock him down. I mean that it would be such a first-class compliment that it might surprise him (the Chief, not the dog,) to that extent as coming from me.

I think that even the pupils of the Asylum at Stockton can under stand that paragraph now. But in its original state, and minus the explanatory parentheses, there were people with sufficiently gorgeous imaginations to gather from it that it contained an intimation that Chief Burke kept a mistress!—and not only that, but they [ page 198 ] also imagined that Chief Burke was in the habit of amusing that mistress with an entertainment of the most extraordinary character! I grant you that if you can make the sentence mean that it was the Chief who amused “his mistress and the other young ladies,” it must mean that the same individual went through the truly surprising performance alluded to. I was sorry to learn that any one had placed so dire a misconstruction upon that sentence; I was genuinely sorry, but the idea was so unspeakably funny that I had to laugh a little, in spite of my tears. Certain friends of the Chief’s were really distressed about this thing, and my object in writing this paragraph now, is to assure them emphatically that I did not intend to hint that he kept a mistress, and to further assure them that I have never heard any one in the world intimate such a thing. I think that is plain enough. I have written hard things about Chief Burke, in his official capacity, and I have no doubt I shall do it again; but I have not the remotest idea of meddling with his private affairs. Even if he kept a mistress, I would hardly parade it in the public prints; nor would I object to his performing any gymnastic miracle which might suggest itself to his mind as being calculated to afford her wholesome amusement. I am a little at loggerheads with M. J. Burke, Chief of Police, and I must beg leave to stir that officer up some in the papers from time to time; but M. J. Burke, in his capacity as a private citizen, is a bosom friend of mine, and is safe from my attacks. I would even drink with him, if asked to do so. But Chief Burke don’t keep a mistress. On second thoughts, I only wish he did. I would call it malfeasance in office and publish it in a minute! MARK TWAIN.

February 8–10 Saturday – Sam’s article “Remarkable Dream” is part of his San Francisco Letter dated Feb. 6 which ran in the Enterprise. The piece is another swipe at “Fitz Smythe.” Other items in the letter: “Ministerial Change,” “Personal,” and “Dogberry’s Lecture.” (Text not available for last two items) [ET&S 2: 353].

 

February 10 Saturday – Sam’s article, “Mark Twain Among the Spirits” was printed in the Californian [Reprinted from the Enterprise] [Schmidt].

 

February 11 Sunday – The Golden Era reprinted Sam’s earlier February Enterprise article, “Mark Twain a Committee Man,” A hilarious account of Sam “handling” a stage spiritualist [Walker 125].

 

February 12 Monday – Sam’s San Francisco Letter of this date ran later in February in the Enterprise. Sections: “Michael,” “Liberality of Michael,” “Liberality to His Heir,” The New Play,” and “Personal,” –all text unavailable. Also in the letter, in full:

THE FASHIONS

I once made up my mind to keep the ladies of the State of Nevada posted upon the fashions, but I found it hard to do. The fashions got so shaky that it was hard to tell what was good orthodox fashion, and what heretical and vulgar. This shakiness still obtains in everything pertaining to a lady’s dress except her bonnet and her shoes. Some wear waterfalls, some wear nets, some wear cataracts of curls, and a few go bald, among the old maids; so no man can swear to any particular “fashion” in the matter of hair.

The same uncertainty seems to prevail regarding hoops. Little “highflyer” schoolgirls of bad associations, and a good many women of full growth, wear no hoops at all. And we suspect these, as quickly and as naturally as we suspect a woman who keeps a poodle. Some who I know to be ladies, wear the ordinary moderate sized hoops, and some who I also know to be ladies, wear the new hoop of the “ spread-eagle “ pattern—and some wear the latter who are not elegant and virtuous ladies—but that is a thing that may be said of any fashion whatever, of course. The new hoops with a spreading base look only tolerably well. They are not bell-shaped—the “spread” is much more abrupt than that. It is tent-shaped; I do not mean an army tent, but a circus tent—which comes down steep and small half way and then shoots suddenly out horizontally and spreads abroad. To critically examine these hoops—to get the best effect—one should stand on the corner of Montgomery and look up a steep street like Clay or Washington. As the ladies loop their dresses up till they lie in folds and festoons on the spreading hoop, the effect presented by a furtive glance up a steep street is very charming. It reminds me of how I used to peep under circus tents when I was a boy and see a lot of mysterious legs tripping about with no visible bodies attached to them. And what handsome vari-colored, gold-clasped garters they wear now-a-days! But for the new spreading hoops, I might have gone on thinking ladies still tied up their stockings with common strings and ribbons as they used to do when I was a boy and [ page 199 ] they presumed upon my youth to indulge in little freedoms in the way of arranging their apparel which they do not dare to venture upon in my presence now.

But as I intimated before, one new fashion seems to be marked and universally accepted. It is in the matter of shoes. The ladies all wear thick-soled shoes which lace up in front and reach half way to the knees. The shoe itself is very neat and handsome up to the top of the instep—but I bear a bitter animosity to all the surplus leather between that point and the calf of the leg. The tight lacing of this legging above the ankle-bone draws the leather close to the ankle and gives the heel an undue prominence or projection—makes it stick out behind and assume the shape called the “jay bird heel” pattern. It does not look well. Then imagine this tall shoe on a woman with a large, round, fat foot, and a huge, stuffy, swollen-looking ankle. She looks like she had on an elbow of stove pipe. Any foot and ankle that are not the perfection of proportion and graceful contour look surpassingly ugly in these high-water shoes. The pretty and sensible fashion of looping up the dress gives one ample opportunity to critically examine and curse an ugly foot. I wish they would cut down these shoes a little in the matter of leggings [Taper 217-18].

February 13 Tuesday – See February listing for items reprinted this day in the Golden Era.

 

February 15 Thursday – Sam’s San Francisco Letter of this date ran later in February in the Enterprise. Sections: “Funny,” “Montana,” “Literary,” “Personal,” and “Specie and Currency.” Only the first article text is available:

FUNNY

Chief Burke’s Star Chamber Board of Police Commissioners is the funniest institution extant, and the way he conducts it is the funniest theatrical exhibition in San Francisco. Now to see the Chief fly around and snatch up accuser and accused before the commission when any policeman is charged with misconduct in the public prints, you would imagine that fearful Commission was really going to raise the very devil. But it is all humbug, display, fuss and feathers. The Chief brings his policeman out as sinless as an angel, unless the testimony be heavy enough and strong enough, almost, to hang an ordinary culprit, in which case a penalty of four or five days’ suspension is awarded. …

Why, the other day, in one of the Commission trials, where a newspaper editor was summoned as a prosecutor, they detailed a substitute for the real delinquint, and tried him! There may be more joke than anything else about that statement, but I heard it told, anyhow. And then it is plausible—it is just characteristic of Star Chamber antics [Taper 218-20].

February 17 Saturday – Sam’s article, “An Open Letter to the American People” was published this date in the New York Weekly Review [MTL 1: 330 n5].

 

February 18 Sunday – The Golden Era printed three articles by Sam: “The Signal Corps,” “Spiritual Insanity,” and “Mysterious Newspaper Man” [Walker 129].

 

February 22 Thursday – Sam interviewed passengers upon return of the steamer Ajax, which began its maiden voyage on the San Francisco to Honolulu run on Jan. 13. Sam regretted not going. The Ajax was the same steamship that Sam would take in March.

 

The earliest known “saloon version” of how Sam acquired the pen name “Mark Twain” appeared in the Nevada City, California Transcript [Cardwell 179]. (“Mark Twain” being a charge for two drinks.)

 

February 23 Friday – Sam wrote an account of the pioneer voyage of the Ajax for the Enterprise.

 

February 24 Saturday – Sam traveled to Sacramento [MTL 1: 334n1]. [ page 200 ]

 

February 25 Sunday – Sam wrote his daily Enterprise letter from Sacramento. It ran later that month. He’d arrived there to call on the editors of the Sacramento Union. Sam knew them and wanted to discuss becoming their special correspondent for a couple of months.

LETTER FROM SACRAMENTO [dated February 25, 1866].

I arrived in the City of Saloons this morning at 3 o’clock, in company with several other disreputable characters, on board the good steamer Antelope, Captain Poole, commander. I know I am departing from usage in calling Sacramento the City of Saloons instead of the City of the Plains, but I have my justification—I have not found any plains, here, yet, but I have been in most of the saloons, and there are a good many of them. You can shut your eyes and march into the first door you come to and call for a drink, and the chances are that you will get it. And in a good many instances, after you have assuaged your thirst, you can lay down a twenty and remark that you “copper the ace,” and you will find that facilities for coppering the ace are right there in the back room. In addition to the saloons, there are quite a number of mercantile houses and private dwellings. They have already got one capitol here, and will have another when they get it done. They will have fine dedicatory ceremonies when they get it done, but you will have time to prepare for that—you needn’t rush down here right away by express. You can come as slow freight and arrive in time to get a good seat [Schmidt]. Note: Captain Edward A. Poole.

Other items in his letter: “The ‘High Grade’ Improvement,” “Boot Blacking,” “Brief Climate Paragraph,” “The Lullabye of the Rain,” “I Try to Out “Sass” the Landlord—and Fail,” and “Mr. John Paul‘s Baggage” [Schmidt]. The Golden Era printed three articles by Sam: “On California Critics,” “On Fashions,” and “A San Francisco Millionaire” [Walker 109].

 

February 25–28 Wednesday – Sam’s San Francisco Letter dated Feb. 23 ran in the Enterprise: Sections: “Voyage of the Ajax,” “Pleasing Incident,” “Off for the Snow Belt,” “After Them,” “Theatrical,” and “A New Biography of Washington” [Schmidt].

 

February 26 Monday – This is most likely the day Sam and the editors of the Union agreed he should go to the Sandwich Islands. The exact agreement with the editors is unknown, but it’s clear Sam was to be paid for each letter from the islands. Sam had told his old school chum, Will Bowen, that he was willing to go anywhere the editors sent him, but since he’d missed out on two trips to the Sandwich Islands, it’s likely Sam suggested or offered that destination [Sanborn 273-4].

 

This is also the day that Orion Clemens resigned as chairman of Ways and Means in the Nevada State Legislature [Fanning 110].

 

February 27–March 2 Friday – Sam booked passage to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) sometime after returning to San Francisco.

 

March 3 Saturday – Sam’s article, “A New Biography of George Washington,” was printed in the Californian [reprinted from the Territorial Enterprise] [Schmidt].

 

March 3? Saturday – Sam wrote from San Francisco to Billy Gillis (William R. Gillis, who paraphrased this letter from Sam later), telling him that he was leaving in a “short time for Sandwich Islands in company with a party of U.S. surveyors, a special correspondent of the Alta California” [MTL 1: 332]. (Sam had made a deal with the Sacramento Union, not the Alta.)

 

March 4 Sunday – The Golden Era printed two articles by Sam: “A New Wildcat Religion,” and “Biographical Sketch of George Washington” [Walker 106]. [ page 201 ]

 

March 5 Monday – Sam wrote a short letter from San Francisco to his mother, Jane Clemens and sister Pamela:

 

I start to the Sandwich Islands day after to-morrow…I am to remain there a month & ransack the islands, the great cataracts & the volcanoes completely, & write twenty or thirty letters to the Sacramento Union—for which they pay me as much money as I would get if I staid at home [MTL 1: 333].

 

Sam was an excellent speller, but always wrote “staid” for “stayed” (as did others); spelling conventions evolve. Sam briefly mentioned plans upon return from Hawaii, to start straight across the continent by way of the Columbia River, the Pen d’Oreille Lakes, through Montana and down the Missouri River—only 200 miles of land travel from San Francisco to New Orleans [MTL 1: 333-4].

 

March 7 Wednesday – Sam left for the Sandwich Islands aboard the steamer Ajax. The ship left port at four o’clock in the afternoon on a pleasant breezy day. Passage took ten days, 19 ½ hours [Frear 5]. Sam’s friends had given him letters of introduction to important persons on the island, including the King. They also gave him a case of wine, several boxes of cigars, and a “small assortment of medicinal liquors and brandy” [Sanborn 275-6; MTL 1: 334n1]. From Sam’s notebook:

 

“Got away about 4 P.M. Only about half dozen of us, out of 30 passengers, at dinner—balance all sea-sick” [MTNJ 1: 112].

March 8 Thursday – From Sam’s notebook:

“Strong gale all night—ship rolled heavily—heavy sea on this evening—& black sky overhead. Nearly everybody sick abed yet” [MTNJ 1: 112].

March 9 Friday – From Sam’s notebook:

“Woke up several times in the night—must have had pretty rough time of it from the way the vessel was rolling.—Heard passengers heaving & vomiting occasionally. Very rough, stormy night, I am told” [MTNJ 1: 112].

On this night he made one of his few personal entries. He’d just read letters from home that had arrived late. They announced news of further oil discoveries on the Tennessee Land. Sam wrote:

“…& that worthless worthless [canceled twice] brother of mine, with his eternal cant about law & religion, getting ready in his slow, stupid way, to go to Excelsior, in stead of the States, to sell the land….He sends me some prayers as usual” [MTNJ 1: 112].

March 9–17 Saturday – The weather was stormy for three days. While aboard the Ajax, Sam jotted in his notebooks what information about the islands he gained from talk with passengers who lived there. He recorded anecdotes, bits of conversation, regional dialect, and occupational vernacular, such as the euchre game he watched between three whaling captains. From his notes he wrote the first letter to the Union, in which he included himself in the euchre contest. Sam would write 25 letters for the Union on this trip. Sam again used his alter ego in these letters, “Mr. Brown,” an imaginary crude companion. This was a similar literary ploy as his use of the “Unreliable” in his Enterprise letters [Sanborn 276-7]. Note: His choice of the name “Brown” may have been inspired by the hated steamboat pilot, William Brown. 

 

March 10 Saturday – From Sam’s notebook:  [ page 202 ]

We are making about 200 miles a day. Got some sail on yesterday morning for first time, & in afternoon crowded everything on. Sea-gulls chase but no catch.

10th—cont. Three or four of the sea-sick passengers came to lunch at noon, & several of the ladies are able to dress & sit up.

      Captain reports 325 miles made in past 24 hours.

      Found an old acquaintance to-day—never been anywhere yet that I didn’t find an acquaintance.

Note: The “old acquaintance” was shorthand reporter, Andrew J. Marsh, formerly Sam’s colleague reporting Nevada legislative goings-on for the Territorial Enterprise [MTNJ 1: 113].

Sam would later write to the Alta:

Saturday – Weather same, or more so. You can rake that four-days dose of your infamous “Pacific,” Mr. Balboa, and digest it, and you may consider it well for your reputation in California that we had pretty fair weather the balance of the voyage. If we hadn’t, I would have given you a blast in this letter that would have made your old dry bones rattle in your coffin – you shameless old foreign humbug!

The Unionville, Nevada Humboldt Register ran an “interview” with Mark Twain dated Mar. 4.

 

…last night he would leave, in a few days, for the Sandwich Islands, in the employ of the Sacramento Union. Will be gone about two months. Then will go to Montana for same paper, and next Fall down the Missouri river in a Mackinac boat—he’s an old Mississippi pilot—to New Orleans; where he intends writing a book [ET&S 1: 35].

 

March 11 Sunday – Sam made several brief notebook entries on situations and customs of Hawaii the crew and passengers told him about.

 

“…sea as smooth as a river. Nearly everybody out to breakfast this morning—not more than ½ dozen sick now” [MTNJ 1: 113].

 

Frear writes of Twain’s preparations during the voyage:

 

…on the voyage he strove to acquire all the information he could about Hawaii, preparatory to arrival. Besides questioning seamen and Honolulu passengers, of whom there were several well-informed, such as the missionary sons, Captain (afterwards General) W.H. Dimond and Rev. T.G. Thurston, he devoted much attention to books, including a Hawaiian dictionary and phrase book, which he had succeeded in borrowing.

He was much taken with the language. He later even made a list of Hawaiian phrases for his own use [9].

 

Note: Thomas G. Thurston (1836-1884). William Henry Dimond (1838-1896), son of Rev. Henry Dimond (1808-1895) who came to the Hawaiian Islands with the Seventh Company of American missionaries, arriving on December 5, 1834. William left the islands in 1868 due to his wife’s health and later became superintendent of the S.F. Mint and General of the California National Guard.

 

The Golden Era printed two articles by Sam: “More Spiritual Investigations,” (reprinted from Feb. 3 Enterprise) [Camfield bibliog.]; and “On Boot-blacks” [Walker 135, 114].

 

March 13 Tuesday – Having put their Carson City house up for sale and most of their worldly possessions, Orion and Mollie Clemens left Carson for points west. Orion would settle at Meadow Lake, in the Excelsior mining district of Nevada Co., California; Mollie continued on to Sacramento and [ page 203 ] San Francisco. They rejoined on June 16 and continued liquidating possessions and raising money for the trip home to Keokuk [MTL 1: 342n1]. (See Aug. 30 entry.)

 

March 14 Wednesday – Sam developed the mumps. He would quickly recover once in the islands [Sanborn 278; Frear 5].

 

March 18 Sunday – The Ajax arrived at Honolulu at 11:30 AM, to the peals of “six different church bells” [Frear 5, 18]. A crowd of four or five hundred colorfully dressed natives and tourists met the boat. Sam was duly impressed [Sanborn 277].

From Sam’s first letter to the Union On Board Steamer AJAX, HONOLULU (H. I.), MARCH 18 — ran in the Union April 16 1866:

CLIMATIC

We arrived here to-day at noon, and while I spent an hour or so talking, the other passengers exhausted all the lodging accommodations of Honolulu. So I must remain on board the ship to-night. It is Very warm in the stateroom, no air enters the ports. Therefore, have dressed in a way which seems best calculated to suit the exigencies of the case. A description of this dress is not necessary. I may observe, however, that I bought the chief article of it at ‘Ward’s.

There are a good many mosquitoes around to-night and they are rather troublesome; but it is a source of unalloyed satisfaction to me to know that the two millions I sat down on a minute ago will never sing again.

Note: Sam’s letters from Hawaii are referenced from [Mark Twain’s Letters from Hawaii, ed. A. Grove Day 1966]. Print dates for the Sacramento Union are taken from [Schmidt, www.twainquotes.com]. Frear notes that mosquitoes were introduced into Hawaii in 1828 “in water casks by the ship Wellington from San Blas, Mexico—in retaliation, it was said, for refusal to repeal the laws against vice” [19n3].

Frear writes:

However, that first quiet day, before writing his first letter to the Union in the evening, he eagerly made his first reconnaissance. “The further I traveled through the town the better I liked it. Every step revealed a new contrast—disclosed something I was unaccustomed to,” and he went on at length to contrast Honolulu with San Francisco, much to the disadvantage of the latter [19].

The Golden Era first ran Sam’s article, “Reflections on the Sabbath” [Walker 115].

March 19 Monday – From Sam’s second letter to the Union dated “Honolulu, March 19, 1866” Ran in the Union Apr. 17 1866: THE AJAX VOYAGE CONTINUED:

“We passengers are all at home now — taking meals at the American Hotel, and sleeping in neat white cottages, buried in noble shade trees and enchanting tropical flowers and shrubbery” [Day 17; Frear 19-20].

“Hotels gouge Californians—charges sailing passengers eight dollars a week for board, but steamer passengers ten” [MTNJ 1: 195].

Frear writes of the American Hotel:

 

The hotel was opened only on the first of that month and was kept by a German, M. Kirchhoff, but an added interest to Mark Twain was that a fellow “lady passenger of high recommendations’ bought a half interest in it, and showed determination to achieve success.  [ page 204 ]

 

And

The hotel was on the upper side of Beretainia Street opposite the end of what is now Bishop Street. … At first Twain took only his meals there and at Laller’s restaurant on Nuuanu Street, rooming part of the time on Emma Street at the old Queen Emma…where St. Andrew’s Cathedral is now, and part of the time on the corner of Fort Street and Chaplain Lane next to “Father” Damon’s home. During the last part of his visit he also roomed at the hotel. On Emma Street he was at the J.H. Black’s, a newspaper man with whom he had been associated as a printer in earlier days. Twain is said to have had a genial table at the hotel, at which he presided as the “autocrat” [20 & n5]. Note: editorial emphasis.

 

March 22 Thursday – Sam wrote in pencil on the flyleaf of a copy of Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress (in Hawaiian): “Sam. L. Clemens / From Rev. S. C. Damon / Honolulu, Hawaii, / March 22, 1866” [Gribben 112]. Note: Samuel Chenery Damon (1815-1885) pastor of the Oahu Bethel Church and chaplain of the Honolulu American Seamen’s Friend Society.

 

Frear [52] puts this notebook entry [MTNJ 1:195] of Sam’s to “Shortly after his arrival”:

 

Charley Richards keeps a tremendous spider & 2 lizards for pets. I would like to sleep with him if he would get a couple of snakes or so. / Honolulu hospitality. Richards said: “Come in—sit down—take off your coat & boots—take a drink. Here is a pass-key to the liquor & cigar cupboard—put it in your pocket—two doors to this house—stand wide open night & day from January till January—no locks on them—march in whenever you feel like it, take as many drinks & cigars as you want, & make yourself at home” [Note: Charles L. Richards was a partner in C.L. Richards & Co., Honolulu ship chandlers and commission merchants.]

 

March 24 Saturday – Sam’s article, “A Complaint About Correspondents” was printed in the Californian [Schmidt].

 

March 25 Sunday –Frear writes of Sam’s church attendance this day:

 

On the next Sunday after his arrival Mark Twain attended church and heard his fellow passenger, T.G. Thurston,  deliver his first sermon. “Young Thurston made his first sermon in Fort Street Church Sunday evening 25th—his old father and mother (missionary 46 years) present—feeling remarks of minister in his prayer about the old people being spared to hear the son they had dedicated to the Lord—very affecting” [25]. Note: see Mar. 11 entry.

 

March, late – Sam undertook his “equestrian excursion” around the island. Young Henry Macfarlane was along for much of the ride [Day 44-65]. Frear, Ch. III, discusses Sam’s poor horsemanship. See also MTL 1: 371n2.   April – Sam’s sketch, “A Strange Dream,” was written: a tale about a fictional search for the bones of Kamehameha I (1737?-1819), the conqueror of the Hawaiian Islands [MTL 1: 344 n1].

 

April 3 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Honolulu to his mother, and sister Pamela.

 

I have been here two or three weeks, & like the beautiful tropical climate better & better. I have ridden on horseback all over this island (Oahu) in the meantime, & have visited all the ancient battle-fields & other places of interest. I have got a lot of human bones which I took from one of these battle-fields—I guess I will bring you some of them [MTL 1: 334].

 

April 4 Wednesday – Sam visited with the king of Hawaii, Kamehameha V (1830-1872) at Iolani Palace. Sam was escorted by the “King’s Grand Chamberlain,” David Kalakaua (1836-1891) who would become king in 1874.

 [ page 205 ]

April 6 Friday – “Special Dispatch from Mark Twain” ran on page 4 of the New York Times, the first such mention of Sam in that paper:

 

“Have had an interview with the spirits of Jno. Phoenix and Joe Miller. In their opinion it can’t be done. Joe wanted to know if it’s a regular ‘Tenner’ or something ‘queer.’ MARK TWAIN.”

 

April 7 Saturday – Sam’s Article, “On Linden, etc.,” was printed in the Californian:

 

And speaking of steamboats reminds me of an incident of my late trip to Sacramento. I want to publish it as showing how going north on the river gradually enfeebles one’s mind, and accounts for the strange imbecility of legislators who leave here sensible men, and become the reverse, to the astonishment of their constituents, by the time they reach their seats in the Capitol at Sacramento [Schmidt].

 

April, mid – Sam left for Maui on a small schooner, where he saw the Haleakala volcano [Frear 55; MTL 1: 335n5]. Frear on some notable personages Sam met on Maui:

 

As on Oahu he found Minister [C.C.] Harris and Bishop [T.N.] Staley types of pretense deserving his hottest denunciation for years, so on Maui he found a character whom he immortalized as a Munchausen. He called him Markiss. His real name was F.A. Oudinot. He claimed descent from Napoleon’s famed Marshal of that name, and on French national days would celebrate all by himself in a gorgeous French uniform and with a French flag. In 1880 he was pointed out to the writer as the man Mark Twain branded the biggest liar on earth. There was a store with large timber doors on the waterfront street facing the sea at Lahaina, and here in dull seasons it was customary for a variety of characters to gather for gossip and to watch the schooners come and go. Besides a Peter Tredway who had a fund of more moderate stories, there were two men who had “a very adventurous life, according to their tellings.” Apparently it was here that Mark Twain first met Oudinot—“in a sort of public room in the town of Lahaina,” as he wrote, and in Roughing It he devoted a chapter to four stories (the chimney, the tree, the horse and the blast) told by Oudinot, the latter’s sad end, and the uncomfortable effects on Twain himself. Twain added seemingly naively; “Almost from the beginning, I regarded that man as a liar” [57-8]. Note: editorial emphasis.

 

April 16 Monday – Sam’s first letter from the Sandwich Islands ran in the Sacramento Union. (See Mar. 18 entry) [Day 3].

 

April 17 Tuesday – Sam’s second letter from the Sandwich Islands ran in the Sacramento Union. (See Mar. 19 entry) [Day 9].

 

April 18 Wednesday – Sam’s third letter to the Union dated “Honolulu, March, 1866: STILL AT SEA” ran in the Union:

“I have been here a day or two now, but I do not know enough concerning the country yet to commence writing about it with confidence, so I will drift back to sea again.”

He then wrote a long letter about the Ajax and the need to establish a permanent steamship line to the islands [Day 18].

Note: the next several letters, dated only “March” were printed daily in the Union. Sam may have written these on consecutive days, but there is no way of telling, and his habit of writing in “fits and starts” was well established. According to A. Grove Day [page x], dates given for letters from Hawaii cannot always be trusted. Sam’s last eight letters were published after his return, and some were written after and dated earlier.

April 19 Thursday – Sam’s fourth letter to the Union, dated “Honolulu, March, 1866: OUR ARRIVAL ELABORATED A LITTLE MORE” ran in the Union:  [ page 206 ]

I had not shaved since I left San Francisco – ten days. As soon as I got ashore I hunted for a striped pole, and shortly found one. I always had a yearning to be a King. This may never be, I suppose. But at any rate it will always be a satisfaction to me to know that if I am not a King, I am the next thing to it – I have been shaved by the King’s barber [Day 29].

April 20 Friday – Sam’s fifth letter to the Union, dated “Honolulu, March, 1866: BOARD AND LODGING SECURED” ran in the Union:

Washing is done chiefly by the natives, price, a dollar a dozen. If you are not watchful, though, your shirt won’t stand more than one washing, because Kanaka artists work by a most destructive method. They use only cold water-sit down by a brook, soap the garment, lay it on one rock and “pound” it with another. This gives a shirt a handsome fringe around its borders, but it is ruinous on buttons. If your washerwoman knows you will not put up with this sort of thing, however, she will do her pounding with a bottle, or else rub your clothes clean with her hands. After the garments are washed the artist spreads them on the green grass, and the flaming sun and the winds soon bleach them as white as snow. They are then ironed on a cocoa-leaf mat spread on the ground, and the job is finished. I cannot discover that anything of the nature of starch is used.

Board, lodging, clean clothes, furnished room, coal oil or whale oil lamp (dingy, greasy, villainous)— next you want water, fruit, tobacco and cigars, and possibly wines and liquors—and then you are ‘fixed,’ and ready to live in Honolulu [Day 37].

April 21 Saturday – Sam’s sixth letter, dated “Honolulu, March, 1866: COMING HOME FROM PRISON” ran in the Union:

I am probably the most sensitive man in the kingdom of Hawaii to night — especially about sitting down in the presence of my betters. I have ridden fifteen or twenty miles on horseback since 5 P.M., and to tell the honest truth, I have a delicacy about sitting down at all. I am one of the poorest horsemen in the world, and I never mount a horse without experiencing a sort of dread that I may be setting out on that last mysterious journey which all of us must take sooner or later, and I never come back in safety from a horseback trip without thinking of my latter end for two or three days afterward. This same old regular devotional sentiment began just as soon as I sat down here five minutes ago [Day 44].

Sam’s article, “Mark Twain at Sea,” was printed in the Californian [Reprinted from Sacramento Daily Union of Apr. 17, 1866] [Schmidt].

 

April 24Tuesday – Sam’s seventh letter, dated “Honolulu, March, 1866: THE EQUESTRIAN EXCURSION CONCLUDED” ran in the Union:

The popular-song nuisance follows us here. In San Francisco it used to be “Just Before the Battle Mother,’’ every night and all night long. Then it was “When Johnny Comes Marching Home.” After that it was “Wearin’ of the Green.” And last and most dreadful of all, came that calamity of “When We Were Marching Through Georgia.” It was the last thing I heard when the ship sailed, and it gratified me to think I should hear it no more for months. And now, here at dead of night, at the very outpost and fag-end of the world on a little rock in the middle of a limitless ocean, a pack of dark-skinned savages are tramping down the street singing it with a vim and an energy that make my hair rise! – singing it in their own barbarous tongue! They have got the tune to perfection — otherwise I never would have suspected that

“Waikiki lantani oe Kaa hooly hooly wawhoo”

means, “When We Were Marching Through Georgia.” If it would have been all the same to General Sherman, I wish he had gone around by the way of the Gulf of Mexico, instead of marching through Georgia [Day 65]. [ page 207 ]

April 26 Thursday – Sam wrote from Wailuku, Maui, to the Kimball brothers who had been fellow passengers on the Ajax.

 

Messrs Kimball—

Gentlemen—Don’t you think for a moment of going up on Haleakala without giving me an opportunity of accompanying you! I have waited for & skirmished after some company for some time without avail, & now I hear that you will shortly be at Haiku. So I shall wait for you.

Cannot you let me know, just as soon as you arrive, & give me a day or two (or more, even, if possible,) to get there in, with my horse? Because I am told the distance hence to Haiku is 15 miles—to prosecute which will be a matter of time, to my animal, & possibly a matter of eternity. His strong suit is grace & personal comeliness, rather than velocity.

Yours Very Truly,

Sam L. Clemens.

(Or “Mark Twain,” if you have forgotten my genuine name.)

My address is “Plantation.”Wailuku

I shall send two or three notes for by different parties, for fear one might miss fire—an idea suggested by my own native sagacity [MTPO]. Note: Sam had heard they would be in Haiku, a village 15 miles from him and asked the brothers to wait for him to travel to the extinct volcano Haleakala. He described his visit in Roughing It, Ch. 76. Note: MTP subject index lists William Cargill Kimball (1841-1890) and Warren Woods Kimball (1838-1874).

 

Frear writes:

 

On Maui he made Wailuku, now the county seat, his headquarters, boarded with G. Armstrong whom he had met in Virginia City, roomed with a Mr. Tallant, the plantation bookkeeper, loafed and smoked and spun yarns of an evening at a nearby carpenter shop, when not doing so at Armstrong’s, supped often and had “jolly times” with his most prized friend there, the missionary “Father” Alexander, met many others from the “homeliest” to the “oldest,” the “King of Liars,” and probably some of the relatives of his friend Charles Warren Stoddard, attended card and dancing parties and scoured the island scenically and industrially [56-7]. Note: editorial emphasis. Frear also quotes Armstrong’s interview of 32 years later: “For he hadn’t a red cent, not even decent clothes.”

 

April 28 Saturday – Sam’s article, “Mark Twain on His Travels,” was printed in the Californian [Schmidt].

 
May 1 Tuesday ca. – Sam visited Ulapalakua Plantation. Sam wrote about sugar production on the islands in his twenty-third Union letter published Sept. 26, “The High Chief of Sugardom,” and so visited several plantations.

 

May 3 Thursday – Sam returned to Waikapu Sugar Plantation, owned by Henry Cornwell, where he spent the night. The Hornet sank in the Pacific, 108 days out and a little above the equator [Frear 103].

 

May 4 Friday – Sam wrote from the Wailuku Sugar Plantation, Maui to his mother, Jane Clemens and sister Pamela Moffett.

 

This is the infernalist darkest country, when the moon don’t shine; I stumbled & fell over my horse’s lariat a minute ago & hurt my leg, & so I must stay here tonight. I went to Ulapalakua Plantation (25 miles,) few days ago, & returned yesterday afternoon to Mr. Cornwell’s (Waikapu Plantation) & staid all night (it is a mile from here.)….As soon as I get back from Haleakala…I will sail for Honolulu again & from thence to the Island of Hawaii … to see the greatest active volcano in the world—that of Kilauea …& from thence back to San Francisco—& then, doubtless, to the States. I have been on this trip 2 months, & it will probably be 2 more before I get back to California [MTL 1: 336-8].

 [ page 208 ]

May 7 Monday – Sam wrote from Wailuku Sugar Plantation, Maui to Will Bowen. He wrote about being mad at Will for so long that his anger had “about spent itself & I begin to feel friendly again.” Will had owed Sam money and they’d had a disagreement in the early 60s. Will was still a steamboat captain on the Mississippi. Sam also wrote about seeing Daniel Martin, an old Hannibal resident and saloon owner Sam had met in Como, Nevada, near Carson City. Martin billed himself as “Martin the Wizard” and did sleight of hand poorly. He also had a “striped learned pig,” who Martin claimed could “speak seven languages” [MTL 1: 338-40].

 

May 21 Monday – Sam’s eighth letter, dated “Honolulu (S.I), April, 1866: OFF” ran in the Union:  

At night they feasted and the girls danced the lascivious hula hula—a dance that is said to exhibit the very perfection of educated motion of limb and arm, hand, head and body, and the exactest uniformity of movement and accuracy of “time.” It was performed by a circle of girls with no raiment on them to speak of, who went through with an infinite variety of motions and figures without prompting, and yet so true was their “time,” and in such perfect concert did they move that when they were placed in a straight line, hands, arms, bodies, limbs and heads waved, swayed, gesticulated, bowed, stooped, whirled, squirmed, twisted and undulated as if they were part and parcel of a single individual; and it was difficult to believe they were not moved in a body by some exquisite piece of mechanism [Day 70].

 

May 22 Tuesday – Sam returned to Honolulu on the schooner Kai Moi (The King) [Frear 55; MTL 1: 335n5]. Frear writes, “During the few days between returning from Maui and sailing for Hawaii, he attended the legislature and wrote two letters on that subject” [56].

Sam wrote his sister-in-law, Mollie Clemens, that he had just returned from Maui. He expressed resentment he still felt for Orion’s refusal to take Henry Camp’s offer for the Tennessee Land.

 

My Dear Sister:

I have just got back from a sea voyage—from the beautiful island of Maui. I have spent 5 weeks there, riding backwards & forwards among the sugar plantations—looking up the splendid scenery & visiting the lofty crater of Haleakala. It has been a perfect jubilee to me in the way of pleasure. I have not written a single line, & have not once thought of business, or care, or human toil or trouble or sorrow or weariness. Few such months come in a lifetime.

I set sail again, a week hence, for the island of Hawaii, to see the great active volcano of Kileaua. I shall not get back here for 4 or 5 weeks, & shall not reach San Francisco before the latter part of July. So it is no use to wait for me to go home. Go on yourselves. It is Orion’s duty to attend to that land, & after shutting me out of my attempt to sell it (for which I shall never entirely forgive him,) if he lets it be sold for taxes, all his religion will not wipe out the sin. It is no use to quote Scripture to me, Mollie,—I am in poverty & exile now because of Orion’s religious scruples. Religion & poverty cannot go together. I am satisfied Orion will eventually save himself, but in doing it he will damn the balance of the family. I want no such religion. He has got a duty to perform by us—will he perform it?

I have crept into the old subject again, & opened the old sore afresh that cankers within me. It has got into many letters to you & I have burned them. But it is no use disguising it—I always feel bitter & malignant when I think of Ma & Pamela grieving at our absence & the land going to the dogs when I could have sold it & been at home now, instead of drifting about the outskirts of the world, battling for bread. If I were in the east, now, I could stop the publication of a piratical book which has stolen some of my sketches.

I saw the American Minister today & he says Edwin McCook, of Colorado Ter. has been appointed to fill his place—so there is an end to that project.

It is late—good-bye, Mollie.

Yr Bro

Sam

[MTL 1: 341-2; MTPO]. Notes: Orion and Molly were leaving Nevada, and would take a steamer from San Francisco to New York, and eventually return to Keokuk. Beadle & Company of New York had plagiarized Sam’s Frog Story (Beadle’s Dime Book of Fun No. 3, Apr. 1866), which evoked Sam’s remark about [ page 209 ] “the publication of a piratical book.” Edward M. McCook (1833-1909) commissioned on Mar. 21 to replace James McBride (1802-1875) as the US minister resident to Hawaii. McCook was a Union general in the Civil War and governor of Colo. Terr (1869-75).

Also, Sam’s ninth letter dated “Honolulu, April, 1866: SAD ACCIDENT ” ran in the Union:

And etiquette varies according to one’s surroundings. In the mining camps of California, when a friend tenders you a “smile” or invites you to take a “blister,” it is etiquette to say, “Here’s hoping your dirt’ll pan out gay.” In Washoe, when you are requested to “put in a blast,” or invited to take “your regular pison,” etiquette admonishes you to touch glasses and say, “Here’s hoping you’ll strike it rich in the lower level.” And in Honolulu, when your friend the whaler asks you to take a “fid” with him, it is simple etiquette to say, “Here’s eighteen hundred barrels, old salt!” But “Drink hearty!” is universal. That is the orthodox reply, the world over.

In San Francisco sometimes, if you offend a man, he proposes to take his coat off, and inquires, “Are you on it?” If you are, you can take your coat off, too. In Virginia City, in former times, the insulted party, if he were a true man, would lay his hand gently on his six-shooter and say, “Are you heeled?” But in Honolulu, if Smith offends Jones, Jones asks (with a rising inflection on the last word, which is excessively aggravating), “How much do you weigh?” Smith replies, “Sixteen hundred and forty pound — and you?” “Two ton to a dot, at a quarter past eleven this forenoon — peel yourself; you’re my blubber!” [Day 85; Schmidt].

May 23-25 Friday – In the few days between his return from Maui and sailing for the big island of Hawaii, Sam visited the Legislature and wrote two letters about it to the Union [Frear 56].

May 23 Wednesday – Sam’s tenth letter dated “Honolulu, April, 1866: WHALING TRADE” ran in the Union:

I have talked whaler talk and read whaling statistics and asked questions about the whaling interest every now and then for two or three weeks, and have discovered that it was easy to get plausible information concerning every point connected with this commerce save one, and that was: Why is it that this remote port, in a foreign country, is made the rendezvous of the whaling fleet, instead of the seemingly more eligible one of San Francisco, on our own soil? This was a ‘stunner.’ Most people would venture a chance shot at one portion of the mystery, but nobody was willing to attempt its entire solution. The truth seems to be that there is no main, central, prominent reason for it, but it is made up of a considerable bundle of reasons, neither of which is especially important when taken by itself [Day 90; Schmidt].

May 24 Thursday – Sam’s eleventh letter dated “Honolulu, April, 1866: PARADISE AND THE PARI (JOKE)” ran in the Union:

THE KING’S PALACE

Stands not far from the melancholy Bungalow, in the center of grounds extensive enough to accommodate a village. The place is surrounded by neat and substantial coral walks, but the gates pertaining to them are out of repair, and so was the soldier who admitted us—or at any rate his uniform was. He was an exception, however, for the native soldiers usually keep their uniforms in good order.

The palace is a large, roomy frame building, and was very well furnished once, though now some of the appurtenances have lost some of their elegance. But the King don’t care, I suppose, as he spends nearly all his time at his modest country residence at Waikiki. A large apartment in the center of the building serves as the royal council chamber; the walls are hung with life-size portraits of various European monarchs, sent hither as tokens of that cousinly regard which exists between all kings, at least on paper. To the right is the reception room or hall of audience, and to the left are the library and a sort of ante room or private audience chamber. In one of these are life-size portraits of old Kamehameha the Great and one or two Queens and Princes. The [ page 210 ] old war-horse had a dark brown, broad and beardless face, with native intelligence apparent in it, and something of a crafty expression about the eye; hair white with age and cropped short; in the picture he is clad in a white shirt, long red vest and with the famous feather war-cloak over all. We were permitted to examine the original cloak. It is very ample in its dimensions, and is made entirely of the small, silky, bright yellow feathers of the man-of-war or tropic bird, closely woven into a strong, coarse netting of grass by a process which promises shortly to become a lost art, inasmuch as only one native, and he an old man, is left who understands it in its highest elegance. These feathers are rare and costly, because each bird has but two of them—one under each wing—and the birds are not plenty. It required several generations to collect the materials and manufacture this cloak, and had the work been performed in the United States, under our fine army contract system, it would have cost the Government more millions of dollars than I can estimate without a large arithmetic and a blackboard. In old times, when a king put on his gorgeous feather war-cloak, it meant trouble; some other king and his subjects were going to catch it. We were shown other war-cloaks, made of yellow feathers, striped and barred with broad bands of red ones—fine specimens of barbaric splendor. The broken spear of a terrible chief who flourished seven hundred years ago, according to the tradition, was also brought out from among the sacred relics of a former age and displayed. It is said that this chieftain stood seven feet high with out his boots (he was permanently without them), and was able to snake an enemy out of the ranks with this spear at a distance of forty to sixty and even a hundred feet and the spear, of hard, heavy, native wood, was once thirty feet long. The name of this pagan hero is sounded no more from the trumpet of fame, his bones lie none knows where, and the record of his gallant deeds is lost. But he was a “brick,” we may all depend upon that. How the wood of the weapon has managed to survive seven centuries of decay, though, is a question calculated to worry the antiquaries.

But it is sunrise, now, and time for honest people to begin to “turn in” [Day 102].

May 26 Saturday – Sam left Honolulu for a three-week visit to the big island Hawaii and Kilauea volcano aboard the little schooner Boomerang [MTL 1: 335n5; Sanborn 285]. Sam’s article, “Mark Twain on His Travels,” (two by this title) ran in the Californian [Schmidt].

 

May 28Monday – Sam arrived at Kailau Bay. He hired a horse and rode through the coffee and orange region of Kona. The Boomerang was to proceed to Kealakekua Bay, the spot where natives in 1779 murdered Captain Cook. Sam was to meet the schooner there. At sunset Sam stood on the same spot at the same hour where Cook was killed [Sanborn 286; Roughing It, Ch. 69].

 

Sam wrote: “Plain unvarnished history takes the romance out of Captain Cook’s assassination, and renders a deliberate verdict of justifiable homicide….Small blame should attach to the natives for the killing of Cook. They treated him well. In return, he abused them” [Frear 65]. Note: see also Ch 30 of RI and Ch 3 of FE on the death of Cook.

 

May 29 Tuesday –Sam saw a “bevy of nude native young ladies bathing in the sea” [RI Ch. 72]. Note: at some point, perhaps at Kailau Bay, Sam joined up with his friend, Charles Warren Stoddard, who had family in the islands (see June 2 Frear entry.) Sam would at times write of “Mr. Brown,” referring to both Stoddard and Edward (Ned) T. Howard (1844?-1918).

 

In the evening the schooner Emeline and Captain Crane picked Sam up and resumed the sea voyage, since the Boomerang was becalmed [Frear 69].

 

May 30 Wednesday – Frear writes of the events of the day:

 

…all night and next day (Wednesday) sailing down the black lava coast “parallel with the long mountain that apparently had neither beginning nor end” and “rose with a regular swell from the sea till its forests diminished to velvety shrubbery and were lost in the clouds.” During the night, “dark and stormy…one of those simple natives risking his life [in a canoe] to bring the Captain a present of half a dozen chickens,” prompted Twain again to expatiate on the “amazingly unselfish and hospitable” Kanakas. By midnight [ page 211 ] they had got near where they were able to stop but couldn’t weather the south point of the island and so put out to sea [69].

 

May 31 Thursday – “All the next day (Thursday) we fought the treacherous point and, after tacking far our that night, made it and came in and anchored the following day (Friday)…” [Frear 69].

 

June 1 Friday – Frear writes of this day’s events:

 

…anchored…at Kaalualu, in the district of Kau. A six mile horseback ride brought them to the beautiful village of Waiohinu, one of the few inland villages, nestling in the crotch of the hills. This was to him another memorable spot. Besides riding through the canefields and enjoying an abundance of fruits, he wrote: “In this rainy spot trees and flowers flourish luxuriantly, and three of those trees—two mangoes and an orange—will live in my memory as the greenest, freshest and most beautiful I ever saw—and withal the stateliest and most graceful.” He wrote of the independence of the natives in this district and related several singular stories to illustrate, satirically, that the native judges were “rare specimens of judicial sagacity.” Waiohinu has become the most noted spot, though not event, of his Hawaii visit by reason of the physical monument in the form of a Monkeypod (or Saman or Rain tree) which he is reputed to have planted and which has now grown to immense size—trunk six feet in diameter [69-70]. Note: see source notes for the controversy surrounding the accuracy of this tale.

 

June 2 Saturday – Frear on the start of the journey to the volcano Kilauea:

 

Next day (Saturday) Twain having bought his mule so advantageously and Brown his horse so disadvantageously…they started on their forty-mile ride to the volcano. …after sixteen or seventeen miles Brown’s horse came down to a walk and refused to improve on it. We had to stop and intrude on a gentleman who was not expecting us and who I thought did not want us, either, but he entertained us handsomely, nevertheless, and has my hearty thanks for his kindness. This was at Pahala and the gentleman and his wife, missionary son and daughter, were Mr. and Mrs. F.S. Lyman. They had finished dinner, cleared up and prepared for the Sabbath, as customary; also travelers usually stopped at Kapapala Ranch, four miles beyond. The following quotation from Mr. Lyman not only introduces Stoddard but yields interesting sidelights. Mrs. Lyman at the time noted in her autograph book:

 

This P.M. after supper two travellers came along to stop over night. I had to fix the room and make corn bread for their supper.

 

At a later time Mr. Lyman wrote:

 

One Saturday afternoon after work was done and we had our supper two travellers rode up to our front door and asked if we could lodge them over night, on their way to the Volcano. We recommended them to go four miles further on to where travelers usually stopped, to the Kapapala Ranch, but they begged to stay, they were so tired and it was so late. We finally consented, Bella and her native boy cooked supper for them. She made one of her elegant short cakes and other things. They introduced themselves as Mr. Clemens and Mr. Stoddard. They enjoyed the supper very much and seemed very grateful for our hospitality. After supper they laid themselves out to entertain us, especially Mr. C. with his slow drawling way. He kept us in roars of laughter.…The next morning, Sun., after breakfast and family prayers Mr. C. made comments on the scriptures read which amused the children very much. [Frear 71-2]. Note: editorial emphasis.

 

Sam’s sketch, “A Strange Dream,” had been penned in April. The tale was about a fictional search for the bones of Kamehameha I, the conqueror of the Hawaiian Islands. The sketch was published this day in the New York Saturday Press [MTL 1: 344, n1]. Sam’s article, “Mark Twain on a Singular Character,” ran in the Californian [Schmidt]. [ page 212 ]

June 3 Sunday – From Mrs. Lyman’s diary: “The strangers left after breakfast for the volcano” [Frear 71]. From Frear’s account:

That (Sunday) morning at Kapapala Ranch, where they stopped to hire a guide, the proprietor and another said they intended to go to the volcano the next day but they would go that day if the travelers would stay to lunch, which of course they did. [at the volcano house that evening]… After dinner, when it was ‘thoroughly dark’ they spent several hours in the lookout house, a half-mile away, watching the stupendous fire works, of which he gave a vivid description [73].

The Volcano House (see insert), was a new hotel near the Kilauea volcano. The eruption began May 22 and continued throughout Sam’s stay in the islands [MTL 1: 344n1]. (See Nov. 16, 1866 entry for Sam’s description.)

June 4 to 6 Wednesday – Sam and a “stranger Marlette” walked on hot lava fields at night. A few days later Sam witnessed a great eruption [RI Ch. 75]. Note: no further account of Marlette was found—another imaginary like Mr. Brown? Or was Stoddard now called Marlette?

June 7 Thursday – Sam left the Volcano House Hotel [MTL 1: 344 n1]. Frear writes, “They didn’t charge him anything at the Volcano House—perhaps another evidence of his ingratiating himself wherever he went. Scenically and spectacularly the Volcano was of course the highlight of his Hawaiian visit” [74]. Frear also writes of a new traveling companion, Ned Howard:

“At the Volcano Stoddard dropped out of the picture and one [Ned] Howard was persuaded to accompany him the rest of the trip around the island. On Howard, the ride to Hilo, the visit there and at the next stop, Onomea, we again quote from Franklin H. Austin, eldest son of the proprietor of the sugar plantation at the latter place.…Sam insisted on calling [Ned] Howard, ‘Brown’ because ‘…it’s easier to remember’” [74-5].

 

Howard described by Austin as: “…a tall, immaculately dressed Englishman.” Sam as: “…evidently an American, of medium height, rather slouchily dressed in a brown linen suit and a native lauhala straw hat pulled over his eyes. He had a flowing silky brown moustache, rather dark tanned complexion and bushy dark brown hair with bright hazel eyes. [Sam was wearing] sheepskin leggings…and jingling Mexican spurs, which were all in vogue at the time” [75].

At Onomea Sam again entertained for his supper, keeping a long table of overseers and mechanics in stitches until 2 a.m. (See Frear 53-54). Austin observed that Sam seemed somewhat frustrated that he could not make Howard laugh.

Frear on the continued journey:

After lunch the host showed the strangers over the mill and then urged them to remain another night owing to the lateness of the hour and the hardness of the journey. Howard wanted to stay over. “We will surely get lost in those dreadful gulches,” he objected; but the traveling companion insisted that they go on. This was indeed the hardest part of this hard trip, —which laid Twain up for some time and which he long “remembered painfully” …This being the rainy side of the island, there was an almost uninterrupted succession of canyons or gulches, down and up whose jungly sides the trail zigzagged, with the torrent to be forded at the bottom. A guide accompanied them as far as Honomu that day [79]. [ page 213 ]

June 8 Friday – Sam and Ned Howard continued their journey on horseback. Frear estimates they made “at least” Hakalau, “as originally intended, and probably” Laupahoehoe, “where a few days later the survivors of the Hornet disaster landed” [79].

June 9 to 16 Saturday – Sam and party “rode horseback all around the island of Hawaii” some 200 miles by his estimate. “…our Kanaka horses would not go by a house or a nut without stopping.” Frear writes:

“Then, pushing on through the Hamakua District, up along the great Waipio Valley and across the island over the saddle between Mauna Kea and the Kohala mountains, they caught the little steamer Kilauea at Kawaihae and reached Honolulu June 16” [79]. Note: editorial emphasis. Frear adds a footnote here: “Twain wrote that it was the 18th [In RI] but the newspapers gave the 16th as the date of the steamer’s arrival with Twain and Howard in the passenger lists. No wonder they had to “push” to catch the steamer.” [79]

They ended their tour at Kawaihae [RI Ch. 76].

Sam returned to Honolulu [MTL 1: 344n1]. It was during this stay in the city that Sam became bedridden with boils. He passed the time by reading, including Oliver Wendell Holmes’ Songs in Many Keys (1862) [Gribben 319]. Note: Holmes (1809-1894).

June 20 Wednesday – Sam’s twelfth letter dated “HONOLULU, MAY 23, 1866: HAWAIIAN LEGISLATURE” ran in the Union:

THE CAPITOL – AN AMERICAN SOVEREIGN SNUBBED

The Legislature meets in the Supreme Court-room, an apartment which is larger, lighter and better fitted and furnished than any Court room in San Francisco. A railing across the center separates the legislators from the visitors.

When I got to the main entrance of the building, and was about to march boldly in, I found myself confronted by a large placard, upon which was printed:

NO ADMITTANCE BY THIS ENTRANCE EXCEPT TO MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE AND FOREIGN OFFICIALS.

It shocked my republican notions somewhat, but I pocketed the insinuation that I was not high-toned enough to go in at the front door, and went around and entered meekly at the back one. If ever I come to these islands again I will come as the Duke of San Jose, and put on as many frills as the best of them [Day 107].

June 21 Thursday – Sam’s thirteenth letter dated “HONOLULU, MAY 23, 1866: LEGISLATURE CONTINUED – THE SALONS AT WORK” ran in the Union:

The first business that was transacted to-day was the introduction of a bill to prohibit the intermarrying of old persons with young ones, because of the non-fruitfulness of such unions. The measure was discussed, laughed over, and finally tabled. I will remark here that I noticed that there seemed to be no regular order of business observed. Motions, resolutions, notices, introduction and third reading of bills, etc., were jumbled together. This may be convenient enough for the members, but it must necessarily be troublesome to the clerks and reporters.

Then a special Committee reported back favorably a bill to prohibit Chinamen from removing their male children from the islands, and the report was adopted — which I thought was rather hard on the Chinamen [Day 114]. [ page 214 ]

Also, Sam wrote from Honolulu to his mother, Jane Clemens and sister Pamela about his trip to the island of Hawaii:

“—only 6 or 7 days at sea—all the balance horseback, & the hardest mountain roads in the world. I staid at the Volcano about a week & witnessed the greatest eruption that has occurred for years. I lived well there” [MTL 1: 343].

In chapters 74-75 of RI, Sam described his visit to the volcano. Sam wrote that he would go to Kauai in a week but the trip was canceled. Sam would remain on Oahu until he left the islands on July 19.

June 27 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Honolulu to his mother, Jane Clemens and sister Pamela of his story on the Hornet crew.

I got the whole story from the third mate & ten of the sailors. If my account gets to the Sacramento Union first, it will be published first all over the United States, France, England, Russia and Germany—all over the world, I may say. You will see it. Mr. Burlingame went with me all the time & helped me question the men—throwing away invitations to dinner with princes & foreign dignitaries, & neglecting all sorts of things to accommodate me—& you know I appreciate that kind of thing… [MTL 1: 347].

Anson Burlingame (1820-1870), lawyer, legislator, and diplomat, put Sam on a stretcher and helped him interview the crew. Sam was suffering from saddle boils. It was Burlingame who gave Sam the advice which is thought to have influenced his future choices:

“You have great ability; I believe you have genius. What you need now is the refinement of association. Seek companionship among men of superior intellect and character. Refine yourself and your work. Never affiliate with inferiors; always climb” [MTB 287].

Frear writes of Sam reconnecting with friends and new ones he made during the Hawaii stay:

He found two Coast friends, Rev. Franklin S. Rising and James J. Ayers, who arrived a little before he did [on Mar. 18], and others from the Coast with whom he was not so well acquainted. The closest new friends he made seem to have been Anson Burlingame, his son Edward, and General Van Valkenburgh, visitors, and “Father” Samuel C. Damon, Henry M. Whitney and Henry Macfarlane, local residents. There were others not so close but of whom he thought highly, such as G.P. Judd, at first medical missionary and then long one of the foremost benefactors of Hawaii in government service, his son, A.F. Judd, later Chief Justice, Rev. Lorrin Andrews, missionary, author of the Hawaiian dictionary and phrase book…and Prof. William DeWitt. Alexander, missionary son, salutatorian at Yale, President of Oahu College, historian and philologist, “one of the finest Greek scholars ever produced,” so Twain wrote [24].

Notes: see also source notes. Editorial emphasis. Rising, in the islands for his health, had been rector of the Episcopal church in Virginia City, “a noble young fellow—& for 3 years, there, he & I were fast friends” [MTNJ 1:110n2]. Ayers was one of the founders of the S.F. Call, and would found the Daily Hawaiian Herald in Sept. Whitney (1824-1904) Hawaii’s first postmaster and owner of the Honolulu Pacific Commercial Advertiser. See Nov. 30, 1895 to Whitney. Macfarlane, a Honolulu liquor dealer. One of Clemens’s companions on his “equestrian excursion” on the island of Oahu in March 1866. Van Valkenburg (1821-1888), sometimes without the ending “h,” “former Republican congressman from New York (1861–65) and commander of the 107th Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry, at the battle of Antietam (1862), was on his way to Japan to take up his duties as American minister resident there” [MTPO; 21 June 1866 to Jane & Pamela, n.5]. Edward “Ned” Burlingame, who originated the joke from Matthew 5:41, “And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.” Andrews (1795-1865) also opened the first post-secondary school for Hawaiians called Lahainaluna Seminary, which evolved into the University of Hawaii. Albert Francis Judd (1838-1900) chief justice (1881 [ page 215 ]-1900), whose father was physician and statesman, Gerrit Parmele Judd (1803-1873); see also MTNJ 1: 97-98. William DeWitt Alexander (1833-1913), besides Greek scholarship, he was an educator, author and linguist, son of missionary William Patterson Alexander (1805-1884).

June 29 Friday – From Sam’s notebook: “—visited the hideous Mai Pake Hospital & examined the disgusting victims of Chinese Leprosy” [MTNJ 1: 118].

July 2–18 Wednesday – Sam spent the last eighteen days on Oahu. He rode horseback to sightsee and attended social activities, with Edward Burlingame, Anson’s son [Sanborn 292-3].

July 3 Tuesday – From Sam’s notebook:

“Saw star to-night on which counted 12 distinct & flaming points—very large star—shone with such a pure, rich, diamond luster—lustrous—on a field on dead solid black—no star very close—where I sat saw no other—Moonlight here is fine, but nowhere so fine as Washoe” [MTNJ 1: 119].

July 4 Wednesday – Sam danced half the night at a Fourth of July ball. He went to a “great luau” at Waikiki thrown by David Kalakaua, who was to be the next and last Hawaiian king. The luau was to honor Anson Burlingame and General Van Valkenburg, who would sail in a few days for their respective diplomatic posts [Sanborn 292].

July 7 Saturday – Sam’s article, “A Strange Dream,” was printed in the Californian [Schmidt].

July 16 Monday – Sam’s fourteenth letter to the Union, “Honolulu, June 22, 1866: HOME AGAIN”

 The Swallow arrived here on Monday morning, with Anson Burlingame, United States Minister to China, and General Van Valkenburgh, United States Minister to Japan. Their stay is limited to fourteen days, but a strong effort will be made to persuade them to break that limit and pass the Fourth of July here. They are paying and receiving visits constantly, of course, and are cordially welcomed. Burlingame is a man who would be esteemed, respected and popular anywhere, no matter whether he were among Christians or cannibals [Day 134; Schmidt].

July 18 Wednesday – From Sam’s notebook:

Honolulu, July 18/66 – Have got my passport from the Royal d—d Hawaiian Collector of Customs & paid a dollar for it, & tomorrow we sail for America in the good ship Smyrniote, Lovett, master—& I have got a devlish saddle-boil to sit on for the first two weeks at sea [MTNJ 1: 132].

July 19Thursday – Sam’s fifteenth letter to the Union,  dated “Honolulu, June 25, 1866: BURNING OF THE CLIPPER SHIP HORNET AT SEA”:

In the postscript to a letter which I wrote two or three days ago, and sent by the ship Live Yankee, I gave you the substance of a letter received here from Hilo by Walker, Allen & Co. informing them that a boat containing fifteen men, in a helpless and starving condition, had drifted ashore at Laupahoehoe, Island of Hawaii, and that they had belonged to the clipper ship Hornet, [Josiah] Mitchell master, and had been afloat on the ocean since the burning of that vessel, about one hundred miles north of the equator, on the 3d of May — forty-three days.

The third mate and ten of the seamen have arrived here and are now in the hospital. Captain Mitchell, one seaman named Antonio Passene, and two passengers (Samuel and Henry Ferguson, of New York city, young gentlemen, aged respectively 18 and 28) are still at Hilo, but are expected here within the week. [ page 216 ]

In the Captain’s modest epitome of this terrible romance, which you have probably published, you detect the fine old hero through it. It reads like Grant [Day 137].

Sam left the Sandwich Islands aboard the sailing ship Smyrniote at 4:30 in the afternoon. He chose that vessel over the afternoon ship Comet, because Josiah Mitchell, the Hornet’s captain, and two of the Hornet’s passengers, had all kept logs of the ordeal of the vessel and the aftermath. Sam had permission to copy their logs and to talk with the men and to write up the events for Harper’s Monthly [Sanborn 292-3]. Before Sam departed Honolulu he wrote to Samuel C. Damon, pastor of the Oahu Bethel Church. Sam claimed he returned a book he had borrowed, History of the Hawaiian Islands [MTL 1: 349].

 

In Sam’s letter of this date to Rev. Samuel Chenery Damon (1815-1885), pastor of the Oahu Bethel Church, he confessed taking History of the Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands (2nd ed. 1844) by James Jackson Jarves (1818-1888). He did not return Jarves’ book, as originally reported; the title of the returned book has yet to be identified. (See Gribben p. 352.)

 

REV. MR. Damon:—Dear Sir— / return herewith the last book I borrowed, with many thanks for its use and for all your kindness. I take your Jarves’ History with me, because I may not be able to get it at home. I “cabbage” it by the strong arm, for fear you might refuse to part with it if I asked you. This is a case of military necessity, and is therefore [admissible]. The honesty of the transaction may be doubtful, but the policy of it is sound—sound as the foundation upon which the imperial greatness of America rests.

So just hold on a bit. I will send the book back within a month, or soon after I arrive.

 

Note: Frear on Sam’s leaving the islands:

 

Mark Twain expected to be over his illness from the hard trip in a few days and then spend three weeks on the fourth largest island, Kauai, the “Garden Island,” –and especially in order to fill in the time while waiting for the arrival of the new American minister, General Edward M. McCook (1833-1909), whose views on Hawaiian politics he wished to obtain. Then he planned to visit China at the invitation of Anson Burlingame and after that the Paris World’s Fair, but first he would go to the “States” to see his folks. But, as so often, his plans did not pan out…The time of General McCook’s arrival was so uncertain that Twain finally sailed three days before that event—after remaining in Honolulu a month and three days [80].

 

July 20 Friday – From Sam’s notebook: “Made 110 miles up to noon of Friday 20th, but were then only 10 miles from Oahu, having gone clear around the island” [MTNJ 1: 133].

 

July 21 Saturday – From Sam’s notebook: “On 21 made 179 miles” [MTNJ 1: 133].

 

July 22 Sunday – From Sam’s notebook: “Sunday, 4 day out—lat. 28.12. long. 157.42—distance 200 miles in the last 24 hours” [MTNJ 1: 133].

 

July 23 Monday – From Sam’s notebook: “5 day—lat. 31.34—longitude 157.30—distance 202 miles.”

 

July 24 Tuesday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

“6 Day out—lat. 34.32 N. long. 157.40 W. Distance 180 miles. Had calms several times. Are we never going to make any longitude? The trades are weakening—it is time we struck the China winds about midnight—say in lat. 36” [MTNJ 1: 134].

 

July 25 Wednesday – From Sam’s notebook:

 [ page 217 ]

“lat. 37.18 long. 158.06—distance 170 miles. 3 P.M. –we are abreast of San Francisco, but seventeen hundred miles at sea!—when will the wind change?….I was genuinely glad, this evening, to welcome the first twilight I have seen in 6 years, No twilight in the S. Islands, California or Washoe” [MTNJ 1: 134-5].

 

July 26 Thursday – From Sam’s notebook: “Got 50 miles above opposite San Francisco & at noon started back & are now running south-east—almost calm—1700 miles at sea” [MTNJ 1: 136].

 

July 27 Friday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

We are just barely moving to-day in a general direction southeast toward San F—though last night we stood stock still for hours, pieces of banana skins thrown to the great sea-birds swimming in our wake floating perfectly still in the sluggish water. In the last 24 hours we have made but 38 miles—made most of that drifting sideways. Position at noon, 38.55 N. 157.37 W….Tuesday & Friday bean day; Saturday fish day; Monday & Thursday duck [MTNJ 1: 136-7].

 

Frear writes: “On the ninth night he saw a resplendent lunar rainbow—to him a good omen” [12].

 

Throughout the voyage, Sam recorded snippets of events and ideas from his childhood (“The stabbed dead man in my father’s law office”) and from experiences in his travels.

 

July 28 Saturday – From Sam’s notebook: “—38.46—156.36—48 miles—glassy calm—had sternway awhile” [MTNJ 1: 139].

 

From notebook entries for the period aboard the Smyrniote, it may be inferred that Sam read Ocean Scenes by Leavitt & Allen (1848), during these long calm periods [Gribben 513 from Michael Frank, ed. MTP].

 

July 29 Sunday – From Sam’s notebook: “Overcast, breezy and very pleasant on deck. All hands on deck immediately after breakfast. Rev. Franklin S. Rising preached, & the passengers formed choir” [MTNJ 1: 144]. Note: Rising (1833?-1868).

 

Frear writes: “One of his fellow passengers was the young Episcopal clergyman Franklin S. Rising, with whom he had formed a warm friendship in a helpful, fatherly way in Nevada and California—the first of his noted ministerial friendships. Rising preached each Sunday on board” [13].

 

 

July 30 Monday – Sam’s sixteenth letter to the Union, dated “Honolulu, June 30, 1866. A MONTH OF MOURNING”:

 

For a little more than a month, the late Princess—her Royal Highness Victoria Kamamalu Kaahumanu, heir presumptive to the crown and sister to the King—lay in state at Iolani Pal ace, the royal residence. For a little over a month, troops of natives of both sexes, drawn here from the several islands by the great event, have thronged past my door every evening on their way to the palace. Every night, and all night long, for more than thirty days, multitudes of these strange mourners have burned their candle-nut torches in the royal inclosure, and sung their funeral dirges, and danced their hulahulas, and wailed their harrowing wail for the dead. All this time we strangers have been consumed with curiosity to look within those walls and see the pagan deviltry that was going on there. But the thing was tabu (forbidden—we get our word “taboo” from the Hawaiian language) to foreigners—haoles. The grounds were thrown open to everybody the first night, but several rowdy white people acted so unbecomingly—so shamefully, in fact—that the King placed a strict tabu upon their future admittance. I was absent—on the island of Hawaii [Maui].—at that time, and so I lost that one single opportunity to gratify my curiosity in this matter [Day 161; Schmidt].

 

Also, while at sea Sam began a letter to his mother, Jane Clemens, and sister Pamela. The letter would be completed in San Francisco on Aug. 20 and would include segments written July 6, 7, 8, 10 and August 20.  [ page 218 ]

 

The sea is very dark & blue here. I play whist & euchre at night until the passengers all tire out & go to bed, & then walk the quarter-deck & smoke with the mates & swap lies with them till 2 oclock….Get up at 8 in the morning—always the last man, & never quick enough for the first table—& breakfast with servants, children & subordinate officers. This is better than I do in San Francisco, though—always get up at noon, there [MTL 1: 351].

 

From Sam’s notebook:

 

“This is the fifth day of dead, almost motionless calm—a man can walk a crack in the deck, the ship lies so still. I enjoy it, and I believe all hands do except the d—d baby. I write 2 hours a day and loaf the balance…1400 miles at sea—Lat. 38.40; long 154.03—Distance 51” [MTNJ 1: 149].

 

End of July – Relating to the diaries of Methuselah and Shem, which were part of a larger project Sam conceived in the late 1860s is this passage in his notebook:

“Conversation between the carpenters of Noah’s Ark, laughing at him for an old visionary—his money as good as anybody’s though going to bust himself on this crazy enterprise” [MTNJ 1: 147}. 

Notes: The passage stands alone; it is evidence to the beginnings of Sam’s attempts to rewrite the Bible on his own terms, attempts that culminated in such works as “Captain Stormfield,” “Letters from the Earth,” and “What is Man?” The age Sam lived in, due to great scientific and technological advances, was one of conflict between science and Christian Biblical belief. Sam was a product of that age and was troubled by what he saw as fallacies in Scripture, though ironically he was influenced more by the Bible than any other book.

August 1 Wednesday – Sam’s seventeenth letter to the Union dated “Honolulu, July 1, 1866: FUNERAL OF THE PRINCESS”:

Four or five poodle dogs, which had been the property of the deceased, were carried in the arms of individuals among these servants of peculiar and distinguished trustworthiness. It is likely that all the Christianity the Hawaiians could absorb would never be sufficient to wean them from their almost idolatrous affection for dogs. And these dogs, as a general thing, are the smallest, meanest, and most spiritless, homely and contemptible of their species [Day 182].

From Sam’s notebook:

 

Lat. 38.50 N. Long 150.56 W.—Distance 100 miles. Of Sounding in fair weather. Close hauled—Brail up the mizzen & mizzen-staysail, let go the main-sheet, so as the sail will shiver, put the helm a-lee & brace the mizzen topsail square, so it’ll back, you know. You keep the head-sails & the jib & staysails just as they were before, you understand, & haul taut & belay the lee-braces. When she’s nearly lost her headway but is still coming to the wind, you heave the lead & you heave it quick, too—cussed quick, as you may say [MTNJ 1: 153].

 

August 3 Friday – From Sam’s notebook: “The calm continues. Magnificent weather. Men all turned boys. Play boyish games on the poop & quarter-deck” [MTNJ 1: 158].

 

August 5 Sunday – From Sam’s notebook: “Everybody cheerful—at daylight saw the Comet in the distance on our lee—it is pleasant in this tremendous solitude to have company.” In persistent solitude, Sam recalled childhood incidents, and jotted down superstitions of his boyhood days. Among these:

     

      Wash face in rain water standing on fresh cow dung to remove freckles.

      Wash hands in rain water standing in old rotten hollow stump to remove warts. [ page 219 ]

      Stick pin in wart, get blood, then stick in another boy will transfer your warts to him.

      Split a bean, bind it on wart, wait till midnight & bury at X roads in dark of the moon.

      Niggers tie wool up with thread, to keep witches from riding them.

 

Sam continued the letter he began July 30.

 

Afternoon—We had preaching on the quarter-deck by Rev. Mr. Rising, of Virginia City, old friend of mine. Spread a flag on the booby-hatch, which made a very good pulpit…I am leader of the choir on this ship & a sorry lead it is. I hope they will have a better opinion of the music in Heaven than I have down here. If they don’t a thunderbolt will come down & knock the vessel endways [MTL 1: 352].

 

August 6 Monday – From Sam’s notebook: “Lat. 39.54—long. 142.13—Distance 80 miles” [MTNJ 1: 161].

 

He continued the multi-dated letter to his mother and sister:

 

“This is rather slow. We still drift, drift, drift along—at intervals a spanking breeze, & then—drift again….There is a ship in sight—the first object we have seen since we left Honolulu” [MTL 1: 352].

 

August 7 Tuesday – Sam continued the multi-dated letter to his mother and sister he began July 30. He wrote about seeing and identifying the Comet, another ship which had left Honolulu the same day, and which they had spotted for a couple of days.

 

“In the morning she was only a little black peg standing out of the glass sea in the distant horizon—an almost invisible mark in the bright sky. Dead calm. So the ships have stood, all day long—have not moved 100 yards” [MTL 1: 352].

 

August 8 Wednesday – Sam continued the letter he began July 30.

 

Afternoon—The calm is no more. There are 3 vessels in sight. It is so sociable to have them hovering about us on this broad waste of waters. It is sunny & pleasant, but blowing hard. Every rag about the ship is spread to the breeze & she is speeding over the sea like a bird. There is a large brig right astern of us with all her canvas set & chasing us at her best [MTL 1: 353].

 

From Sam’s notebook:

 

800 miles west of San Francisco—the calm is over & we have got a strong breeze. This sort of Life on the Ocean Wave will do—the ship is flying like a bird—she tears the sea into seething foam—& yet the ocean is quiet & sunny….Only one dish meaner than stewed chicken, & that is grasshopper pie [MTNJ 1: 163].

 

August 10 Friday – Sam continued the multi-dated letter to his mother and sister he began July 30.

 

We have breezes & calms alternately. The brig is 2 miles to 3 astern, & just stays there. We sail directly east—this brings the brig, with all her canvas set, almost in the eye of the sun, when it sets—beautiful. She looks sharply cut & black as coal against a background of fire & in the midst of a sea of blood [MTL 1: 353].

August 13 Monday – At 3 PM, the Smyrniote and the Comet arrived at San Francisco together. The trip had taken 25 days, due to long periods of calm weather [Sanborn 294]. From Walter Frear:

One of the most interesting features of the return voyage was the race between the clipper barks Smyrniote (1426 tons, Capt. Lovett), on which Mark Twain sailed, and the Comet (1836 tons), in command of the noted Commodore John Paty, who had sailed the course upwards of one hundred and fifty times. Both left Honolulu the same afternoon, July 19, about two hours apart, the Comet first. Both took twenty-five days. The Smyrniote was sighted first from the Farallones, about 30 miles off San [ page 220 ] Francisco, but the Comet maneuvered so that both entered the Golden Gate almost side by side, the Comet slightly in the lead, so near together that the passengers could call across. The Comet dropped anchor fifteen minutes ahead, but was one and three-fourths hours longer in actual sailing time. ….All this was thrilling, and especially to Twain, as he knew many of those on the other vessel, including Mr. [Edward, “Ned”] Howard, with whom he had ridden around the island of Hawaii, and the wife and daughters of Captain Thomas Spencer, with whom he had stayed when at Hilo [Frear 15]. Note: editorial emphasis.

From Sam’s notebook:

“Aug 13—San Francisco—Home again. No—not home again—in prison again—and all the wild sense of freedom gone. The city seems so cramped, & so dreary with toil & care & business anxiety. God help me, I wish I were at sea again!” [MTL 1: 355 n5; MTNJ 1: 163].

Sam telegraphed the publishers of the Sacramento Union, noting his arrival and that he would “go up to Sacramento tomorrow” [MTL 1: 356; Sanborn 295].

August 14 Tuesday – Based on his letter of the previous day, Sam left for Sacramento to present his bill to the Union Publishers. They paid him and gave him another assignment to report on the State Fair, which ran from Sept. 10 to 15.

August 14–19 Sunday – In his letter completed Aug. 20 to his mother, Sam wrote that he’d been to Sacramento to square accounts [MTL 1: 353]. The exact date of his return took place within this five-day period. He was paid a bonus for his scoop of the Hornet disaster [MTL 1: 355n6]. Sam came down from Sacramento on the steamboat Capital, where he found a pamphlet issued by an insurance company about various insurable risks. This gave Sam an idea for an article for the Enterprise, “How, for Instance?” in which he asked a humorous series of questions to the insurance company about earthquakes and dog bites.

August 18 Saturday – Sam’s eighteenth letter to the Union dated “HONOLULU, JULY, 1866: AT SEA AGAIN”:

Bound for Hawaii, to visit the great volcano and behold the other notable things which distinguish this island above the remainder of the group, we sailed from Honolulu on a certain Saturday afternoon, in the good schooner Boomerang.

The Boomerang was about as long as two street cars, and about as wide as one. She was so small (though she was larger than the majority of the inter-island coasters) that when I stood on her deck I felt but little smaller than the Colossus of Rhodes must have felt when he had a man-of war under him. I could reach the water when she lay over under a strong breeze. When the Captain and Brown and myself and four other gentlemen and the wheelsman were all assembled on the little after portion of the deck which is sacred to the cabin passengers, it was full — there was not room for any more quality folks. Another section of the deck, twice as large as ours, was full of natives of both sexes, with their customary dogs, mats, blankets, pipes, calabashes of poi, fleas, and other luxuries and baggage of minor importance. As soon as we set sail the natives all laid down on the deck as thick as negroes in a slave-pen, and smoked and conversed and captured vermin and eat them, spit on each other, and were truly sociable [Day 195; Schmidt].

August 20 Monday – Sam, in San Francisco, completed the multi-dated letter to his mother, and sister Pamela he began on July 30.

“I have been up to Sacramento & squared accounts with the Union. They paid me a great deal more than they promised me. I suppose that means that I gave satisfaction, but they did not say so….Orion & Mollie are here. They leave for Santa Cruz tomorrow” [MTL 1: 353]. [ page 221 ]

August 24 Friday – Sam’s nineteenth letter to the Union dated “KONA, JULY, 1866: STILL IN KONA – CONCERNING MATTERS AND THINGS”:

At one farmhouse we got some large peaches of excellent flavor while on our horseback ride through Kona. This fruit, as a general thing, does not do well in the Sandwich Islands. It takes a sort of almond shape, and is small and bitter. It needs frost, they say, and perhaps it does; if this be so, it will have a good opportunity to go on needing it, as it will not be likely to get it. The trees from which the fine fruit I have spoken of came had been planted and replanted over and over again, and to this treatment the proprietor of the orchard attributed his success [Day 209].

August 25 Saturday – Sam was probably staying at the Occidental Hotel [MTL 1: 359n2; Sanborn 295]. Sam received and answered a letter from his old Hannibal and pilot friend, Will Bowen.

 

You write me of the boats, thinking I may yet feel an interest in the old business. You bet your life I do. It is about the only thing I do feel any interest in & yet I can hear least about it. If I were two years younger, I would come back & learn the river over again. But it is too late now. I am too lazy for 14-day trips—too fond of running all night & sleeping all day—too fond of sloshing around, talking with people….Marry be d—d. I am too old to marry. I am nearly 31. I have got gray hairs in my head. Women appear to like me, but d—n them, they don’t love me [MTL 1: 358-9].

 

Sam’s article, “The Moral Phenomenon,” (a whimsical title Sam gave himself) ran in the Californian [Schmidt]. In the same publication appeared a squib about the promise of Sam’s Union letters collected into a possible book. The article was “probably [by] his friend James F. Bowman (1826-1882)—poet, journalist, and editor pro tem of the Californian—who wrote:”

 

THERE SEEMS TO BE a very general impression that Mark Twain’s Sandwich Island letters to the Sacramento Union possess sufficient intrinsic interest and value to justify their publication in book form. If the writer could be persuaded to collect and revise them, he would have no difficulty in finding a publisher; and we are satisfied that the book would prove both a literary and a pecuniary success [MTL 2: 3].

 

August 30 Thursday – Sam’s twentieth letter to the Union from Kealakekua Bay:

 

GREAT BRITAIN’S QUEER MONUMENT TO CAPTAIN COOK

When I digressed from my personal narrative to write about Cook’s death I left myself, solitary, hungry and dreary, smoking in the little warehouse at Kealakekua Bay. Brown was out somewhere gathering up a fresh lot of specimens, having already discarded those he dug out of the old lava flow during the afternoon. I soon went to look for him. He had returned to the great slab of lava upon which Cook stood when he was murdered, and was absorbed in maturing a plan for blasting it out and removing it to his home as a specimen. Deeply pained at the bare thought of such a sacrilege, I reprimanded him severely and at once removed him from the scene of temptation. We took a walk then, the rain having moderated considerably. We clambered over the surrounding lava field, through masses of weeds, and stood for a moment upon the door step of an ancient ruin — the house once occupied by the aged King of Hawaii — and I reminded Brown that that very stone step was the one across which Captain Cook drew the reluctant old king when he turned his foot steps for the last time toward his ship [Day 222].

Orion and Mollie Clemens left for Panama, and connections to New York on the steamer Golden City [MTL 1: 342n1].

 

September 5 Wednesday – Sam’s opinion of photographs ran in the Daily Hawaiian Herald:

No photograph ever was good, yet, of anybody – hunger and thirst and utter wretchedness overtake the outlaw who invented it! It transforms into desperadoes the meekest of men; depicts sinless innocence upon [ page 222 ] the pictured faces of ruffians; gives the wise man the stupid leer of a fool, and a fool an expression of more than earthly wisdom. If a man tries to look serious when he sits for his picture the photograph makes him look as solemn as an owl; if he smiles, the photograph smirks repulsively; if he tries to look pleasant, the photograph looks silly; if he makes the fatal mistake of attempting to seem pensive, the camera will surely write him down as an ass. The sun never looks through the photographic instrument that it does not print a lie. The piece of glass it prints it on is well named a “negative” – a contradiction – a misrepresentation – a falsehood. I speak feeling of this matter, because by turns the instrument has represented me to be a lunatic, a Soloman, a missionary, a burglar and an abject idiot, and I am neither [The Twainian, Jan. 1940 p6].

September 6 Thursday – Sam’s 21st letter to the Union dated “KEALAKEKUA BAY, JULY, 1866 A FUNNY SCRAP OF HISTORY” ran:

 (Sam arrived back in Honolulu on June 18, so this was one of several post-dated letters)

In my last I spoke of the old cocoanut stump, all covered with copper plates bearing inscriptions commemorating the visits of various British naval commanders to Captain Cook’s death-place at Kealakekua Bay. The most magniloquent of these is that left by “the Right Hon. Lord George Paulet, to whom, as the representative of Her Britannic Majesty Queen Victoria, the Sandwich Islands were ceded, February 25, 1843.”

Lord George, if he is alive yet, would like to tear off that plate and destroy it, no doubt. He was fearfully snubbed by his Government, shortly afterward, for his acts as Her Majesty’s representative upon the occasion to which he refers with such manifest satisfaction.

A pestilent fellow by the name of [Richard] Charlton had been Great Britain’s Consul at Honolulu for many years. He seems to have employed his time in sweating, fuming and growling about everything and everybody; in acquiring property by devious and inscrutable ways; in blackguarding the Hawaiian Government and the missionaries; in scheming for the transfer of the islands to the British crown; in getting the King drunk and laboring diligently to keep him so; in working to secure a foothold for the Catholic religion when its priests had been repeatedly forbidden by the King to settle in the country; in promptly raising thunder every time an opportunity offered, and in making himself prominently disagreeable and a shining nuisance at all times [Day 231].

September 10 to 15 Saturday – Sam covered the thirteenth annual fair of the California State Agricultural Society, held in Sacramento, for the Sacramento Union [MTL 1: 361].

 

September 14 Friday – Sam was quoted on Captain Cook by the Daily Hawaiian Herald [Schmidt].

 

September 22 Saturday – Sam’s 22nd letter to the Union dated “KEALAKEKUA BAY, JULY, 1866 THE ROMANTIC GOD LONO” ran: (Sam arrived back in Honolulu on June 18):

I have been writing a good deal, of late, about the great god Lono and Captain Cook’s personation of him. Now, while I am here in Lono’s home, upon ground which his terrible feet have trodden in remote ages—unless these natives lie, and they would hardly do that, I suppose—I might as well tell who he was.

The idol the natives worshipped for him was a slender, unornamented staff twelve feet long. Unpoetical history says he was a favorite god on the island of Hawaii—a great king who had been deified for meritorious services—just our own fashion of rewarding heroes, with the difference that we would have made him a Postmaster instead of a god, no doubt. In an angry moment he slew his wife, a goddess named Kaikilani Alii. Remorse of conscience drove him mad, and tradition presents us the singular spectacle of a god traveling “on the shoulder;” for in his gnawing grief he wandered about from place to place boxing and wrestling with all whom he met. Of course this pastime soon lost its novelty, inasmuch as it must necessarily have been the case that when so powerful a deity sent a frail human opponent “to grass” he never came back any more. [ page 223 ] Therefore, he instituted games called makahiki, and ordered that they should be held in his honor, and then sailed for foreign lands on a three-cornered raft, stating that he would return some day, and that was the last of Lono. He was never seen any more; his raft got swamped, perhaps. But the people always expected his return, and they were easily led to accept Captain Cook as the restored god [Day 243].

 

Sam’s article, “Mark Twain at the Islands,” ran in the Californian [Schmidt].

 

September 26Wednesday – Sam’s 23rd letter to the Union “HONOLULU, SEPTEMBER 10 1866 THE HIGH CHIEF OF SUGARDOM”: This letter was dated Sept. 10, even though Sam left the islands on July 19. It describes the “principal labor used on plantations…that of Kanaka men and women—six dollars to eight dollars a month and find them, or eight to ten dollars and let them find themselves” [Day 270].

 

September 29 Saturday – Sam’s article, “Origin of Illustrious Men,” ran in the Californian:

You have done fair enough about Franklin and Shakespeare, and several parties not so well known—parties some of us never heard of, in fact—but you have shirked the fellows named below. Why this mean partiality?

JOHN SMITH was the son of his father. He formerly resided in New York and other places, but he has moved to San Francisco, now.

WM. SMITH was the son of his mother. This party’s grandmother is deceased. She was a brick.

JOHN BROWN was the son of old Brown. The body of the latter lies mouldering in the grave.

EDWARD BROWN was the son of old Brown by a particular friend.

HENRY JONES was a son of a sea-cook.

WM. JONES was a son of a gun.

JOHN JONES was a Son of Temperance.

In early life GABRIEL JONES was actually a shoemaker. He is a shoemaker yet.

Previous to the age of 85, CALEB JONES had never given any evidence of extraordinary ability. He has never given any since.

PATRICK MURPHY is said to have been of Irish extraction.

JAMES PETERSON was the son of a common weaver, who was so miraculously poor that his friends were encouraged to believe that in case the Scriptures were strictly carried out he would “inherit the earth.” He never got his property.

JOHN DAVIS’ father was a soap-boiler, and not a very good soap-boiler at that. John never arrived at maturity—died in childbirth, he and his mother.

JOHN JOHNSON was a blacksmith. He died. It was published in the papers, with a head over it, “DEATHS.” It was therefore thought he died to gain notoriety. He has got an aunt living somewheres.

Up to the age of 34, HOSEA WILKERSON never had any home but Home, Sweet Home, and even when he had that he had to sing it himself. At one time it was believed that he would have been famous if he had become celebrated. He died. He was greatly esteemed for his many virtues. There was not a dry eye in the crowd when they planted him [Schmidt]. [ page 224 ]

Also, Sam’s article, “How, for Instance?” was published in the New York Weekly Review [MTL 1: 330n5]. “Mark Twain at the Islands” ran in the Californian [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

September, mid to late – Although they’d traveled in the same regions, from the Mediterranean to the Mississippi to Washoe mining camps, there is no record before this month that Sam and J. Ross Browne ever met. Browne was a humorist in the Western vein of John Phoenix, Bret Harte, and Mark Twain. He was also an excellent travel writer, currently collecting mining statistics in the West for the U.S. Treasury Department. He was living with his family in Oakland. Note: some scholars have asserted that Browne served literary influence on Sam; Gribben lists one thesis and two of Browne’s articles, one series “A Peep at Washoe” that Sam had recommended to his family and in a letter he wrote jointly with Orion to the Keokuk Gate City, May 10, 1862 [Gribben 90]. According to Francis J. Rock, the meeting happened shortly after Sam’s return from the Sandwich Islands and when Sam was preparing for his first platform appearance at the Academy of Music on Oct. 2. From Rock’s 1929 dissertation on Browne, which includes notes from Browne and this oral testimony from Browne’s son:

 

“Whilst in this state of apprehension he came upon Ross Browne in San Francisco and delightedly greeted him. ‘Browne, you are just the man I want to see.’ He explained his quandary and expressed his anxiety at not knowing how to approach an audience. Browne was by this time a well-known lecturer and could give him the desired direction. Accordingly, Browne invited Mark Twain home to Oakland with him for the few days previous to the lecture, and urged him to try out his material on his house-full of children. Needless to say, the result was gratifying. The enthusiastic response of the Brownes entirely fortified Mark Twain’s courage” [44-5].

Rock further asserts Browne’s Yusef (1853) “as the direct forerunner of Mark Twain’s Innocents Abroad” [72].

 

October 2 Tuesday – Sam’s first stage appearance took place at the Academy of Music on Pine Street in San Francisco, a new hall owned by Tom Maguire, who suggested Sam try to make his fortune by entering the lecture field and offering his experiences in the Sandwich Islands. He’d offered the hall to Sam at half price, 50 dollars, in exchange for half the profits. Sam agreed and spent 150 dollars on advertising. He had posters made up announcing the Honolulu Correspondent for the Sacramento Union, “Mark Twain,” would be speaking. “Doors open at 7 o’clock. The Trouble will begin at 8.” The city’s elite arrived in force, including the Governor of California. Sam charged a dollar a seat and grossed $1,200 (his net profit after splitting with Maguire and expenses—$400.) Sam’s career as a lecturer was off to a comet-like start [Sanborn 294-7]. Sam later described the event in Ch. 78 of Roughing It.

 

In the lecture Sam told the audience that:

 

…his object in delivering this lecture was to obtain funds which would enable him to publish an account of the Sandwich Islands in the form of a volume, with illustrations by [Edward] Jump [MTL 2: 3]. Note: Jump was a French-born caricaturist, San Francisco’s favorite, who later made a living as a portrait artist. Several of Edward Jump’s (1832-1883) lithographs may be found in Bernard Taper’s Mark Twain’s San Francisco. See Works Cited. Taper claims that Sam “admired Jump’s work very much and liked him personally. They roomed together for a while at one point” [p.xxv]. Unfortunately, Taper does not say at what point and no evidence was found. Robert Hirst expressed skepticism of this.  [ page 225 ]

 

October 3 Wednesday – Newspaper reviews to Sam’s talk were very positive, as witnessed by this excerpt from the San Francisco Evening-Bulletin of Oct. 3:

The Academy of Music was stuffed . . . to repletion. . . . It is perhaps fortunate that the King of Hawaii did not arrive in time to attend, for unless he had gone early he would have been turned away, as many others were who could not gain admittance.

The appearance of the lecturer was the signal for applause and from the time he commenced until he closed, the greatest good feeling existed. He commenced by apologizing for the absence of an orchestra, he wasn’t used to getting up operas of this sort. He had engaged a musician to come and play the trombone, but, after the bargain was closed, the trombone player insisted upon having some other musicians to help him. He had hired the man to work, and wouldn’t stand any such nonsense, and so discharged him on the spot. The lecturer then proceeded with his subject, and delivered one of the most interesting and amusing lectures ever delivered in this city. It was replete with information of that character which is seldom got from books, describing all those minor traits of character, custom and habits which are only noted by a close observer, and yet the kind of information which gives the most correct idea of the people described. Their virtues were set forth generously, while their vices were touched off in a humourous style, which kept the audience in a constant state of merriment. From the lecturer’s reputation as a humorist, the audience were unprepared for the eloquent description of the volcano of Kilauea, a really magnificent piece of word-painting, their appreciation of which was shown by long and continued applause. Important facts concerning the resources of the Islands were given, interspersed with pointed anecdotes and side-splitting jokes. Their history, traditions, religions, politics, aristocracy, royalty, manners and customs were all described in brief and in the humorous vein peculiar to the speaker. . . . The lecturer held his audience constantly interested and amused for an hour and a half, and the lecture was unanimously pronounced a brilliant success [Schmidt].

October 6 Saturday – Sam’s article, MARK TWAIN ON ETIQUETTE, was reprinted in the Daily Hawaiian Herald. (See May 22 entry for excerpt).

October 11 to November 27 Tuesday – Sam and Denis McCarthy, former part-owner of the Territorial Enterprise, (who Sam now labeled “The Orphanquickly organized a lecture tour in California and Nevada. (Lorch gives strong reasoning that the subsequent lecture tour was most likely organized well before this Oct. 2 debut [35-6]). The lecture, titled “Sandwich Islands” made sixteen engagements between these dates at locations where Sam was well known [Sanborn 298-9]. Dates in Silver City, Dayton, and Washoe were canceled. Lorch writes that the cancellation was due to the “fake robbery” which occurred the night of Nov. 10 [36, 41].

The pair first traveled to Sacramento by riverboat. Lorch writes that Sam chose boat over stagecoach for two reasons: first, it was nostalgic, and second the boat had a bar [36]. Sam gave the lecture “Sandwich Islands,” in the Metropolitan Theatre. The Daily Union reported the next day:

The lecturer entertained the audience for about an hour, discoursing in an easy, colloquial style…seasoning a large dish of genuine information with spicy anecdotes, depicting the lights and shades of Kanaka society….Mark goes hence to cultivate an acquaintance with the people of up-country towns [Sanborn 298-9].

October 15 Monday – Sam and Denis McCarthy traveled by riverboat to Marysville, California (named for Mary Murphy, a survivor of the Donner Party). There, Sam gave the lecture “Sandwich Islands” at Maguire’s New Theatre [Sanborn 299].

October 17 Wednesday – Sam’s article dated “Sept. 24, San Francisco, An Epistle from Mark Twain THE QUEEN’S ARRIVAL / ALPHABET WARREN / MISC.” ran in the Daily Hawaiian Herald [Schmidt; Camfield bibliog.]. [ page 226 ]

October 20 Saturday – Sam and McCarthy traveled by stage through gold boomtowns, Timbuctoo, Smartsville, and Rough and Ready (in modern days nearly empty). Sam gave the lecture “Sandwich Islands” in Hamilton Hall, Grass Valley, California. The Grass Valley Daily Union reported:

Crowds are flocking into Hamilton Hall, as we write, to hear Mark Twain’s lecture….But a moment ago we saw the lecturer preparing himself for a clear voice with a copious dose of gin and gam, after which he started for the Hall with the irregular movement of a stern-wheel boat in a heavy wind… [Sanborn 299].

The Daily Hawaiian Herald ran the following on Nov. 16 about the Grass Valley lecture:

CHARACTERISTIC. – The following is the conclusion of Mark Twain’s advertisement for his lecture delivered lately in Grass Valley:

“After the lecture is over the lecturer will perform the following wonderful feats on

SLEIGHT OF HAND.

if desired to do so:

“At a given signal, he will go out with any gentleman and take a drink. If desired, he will repeat this unique and interesting feat—repeat it until the audience are satisfied that there is no deception about it.

“At a moment’s warning he will depart out of town and leave his hotel bill unsettled. He has performed this ludicrous trick many hundreds of times in San Francisco and elsewhere, and it has always elicited the most enthusiastic comments.

“At any hour of the night, after ten, the lecturer will go through any house in the city, no matter how dark it may be, and take an inventory of its contents, and not miss as many of the articles as the owner will in the morning.

“The lecturer declines to specify any more of his miraculous feats at present, for fear of getting the police too much interested in his circus” [Schmidt].

Sam and McCarthy are said to have stayed in the now historic Holbrooke Hotel, Grass Valley (still in operation as of 2013).

October 23 Tuesday – Sam gave the lecture “Sandwich Islands,” in the Nevada Theatre in Nevada City, California, a short distance from Grass Valley. Sam stayed at the National Exchange Hotel. The local newspaper Transcript wrote:

“Mark Twain” as a lecturer is far superior to “Artemus Ward” or any of that class….We bespeak for him large audiences wherever he goes [Sanborn 300].

October 24 Wednesday – Sam and McCarthy rode horseback to the old mining camp of Red Dog, California and gave the “Sandwich Islands” lecture at the Odd Fellows Hall.

October 25Thursday – Sam’s 24th letter to the Union dated “Kilauea, June 1866: A NOTABLE DISCOVERY” ran in the Union:

FREE-AND-EASY FASHIONS OF NATIVE WOMEN [ page 227 ]

Tired and over-heated, we plodded back to the ruined temple. We were blistered on face and hands, our clothes were saturated with perspiration and we were burning with thirst. Brown ran, the last hundred yards, and with out waiting to take off anything but his coat and boots jumped into the sea, bringing up in the midst of a party of native girls who were bathing. They scampered out, with a modesty which was not altogether genuine, I suspect, and ran, seizing their clothes as they went. He said they were very handsomely formed girls. I did not notice, particularly.

These creatures are bathing about half their time, I think. If a man were to see a nude woman bathing at noon day in the States, he would be apt to think she was very little better than she ought to be, and proceed to favor her with an impudent stare. But the case is somewhat different here. The thing is so common that the white residents pass carelessly by, and pay no more attention to it than if the rollicking wenches were so many cattle. Within the confines of even so populous a place as Honolulu, and in the very center of the sultry city of Lahaina, the women bathe in the brooks at all hours of the day. They are only particular about getting undressed safely, and in this science they all follow the same fashion. They stoop down snatch the single garment over the head, and spring in. They will do this with great confidence within thirty steps of a man. Finical highflyers wear bathing dresses, but of course that is an affectation of modesty born of the high civilization to which the natives have attained, and is confined to a limited number.

Many of the native women are prettily formed, but they have a noticeable peculiarity as to shape—they are almost as narrow through the hips as men are [Day 278; Schmidt].

Note: Sam’s letters may not have been printed in the same sequence they were written. Furthermore, he wrote his mother that he had not bothered with writing while on Maui, so some of the letters from this period were penned after he arrived back in Honolulu, Sam affixing the dates of his activity rather than the date written.

By the time the last Hawaii letters were printed, Sam was back in the States lecturing. On this day Sam gave the “Sandwich Islands” lecture in You Bet, Calif. On their way back to the Exchange Hotel on horseback, Sam and McCarthy became lost in a dense thicket and wandered about until dawn [Sanborn 300-301].

October 26 Friday – Sam and McCarthy stopped to see Meadow Lake City, also known as Summit City, Ca., the highest of the gold mining districts at 7,100 feet and the place where Orion Clemens had briefly tried a legal office. They arrived at 9 PM [Schmidt: article from S.F. Bulletin, ran Dec. 6].

“A bright, new, pretty town, all melancholy and deserted, and yet not showing one sign of decay or delapidation! I never saw the like before” [Note: By 1872 the town was abandoned; Sanborn 301].

Sam also telegraphed Joe Goodman: “Our circus is coming. Sound the hewgag” (a toy instrument similar to a kazoo) [MTL 5: 681]. From Meadow Lake City, Sam and McCarthy boarded the Pioneer stagecoach for the trip back to Virginia City.

October 27 Saturday – Sam and McCarthy arrived back at Virginia City about ten p.m.

October 29 Monday – Sam wrote from Virginia City to Robert M. Howland, an old friend from his Nevada mining days, asking if Carson City would turn out to hear Sam lecture. Sam was unsure of the reception he would get there, due to the Sanitary Ball miscegenation prank [MTL 1: 362].

Sam also wrote to Henry R. Mighels to arrange a hall for his lecture:

Friend Mighels—I am trying to get the theatre for a lecture Wednesday night (day after tomorrow) & if I succeed, I shall preach in Gold Hill Thursday, Silver City Friday perhaps, & Carson Saturday if you think I [ page 228 ] can get a reasonably good audience. What do you think of it. I ought to get a good house there after all the advertising you have been doing for me—& for which you must accept my warm & grateful thanks [MTP, drop-in letters]. Note: evidently Sam’s plans were changed, as he did not “preach” in Gold Hill Thursday, etc.

 

October 30 Tuesday – The Territorial Enterprise announced that Sam would perform in Virginia City the following night. “We expect to see the very mountains shake with a tempest of applause” [MTL 5: 682n].

 

October 31 Wednesday – Sam gave one performance in Virginia City—the “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Maguire’s Opera House. It was a glorious homecoming. The Enterprise wrote, “an immense success” [Sanborn 302]. Sam met with old friends, Dan De Quille, Joe Goodman and Steve Gillis. Gillis urged Sam to speak again at the Opera House, but Sam did not want to repeat himself in any one town. Steven hatched a plot to pull a fake robbery of Sam in Gold Hill as a way of getting Sam to lecture again on a new topic [303].

 

The Longmont, Colo. Ledger of Oct. 10, 1879 ran a story in “Mark Twain’s Testimonial,” in which Sam was greeted before his lecture by a committee of three, that asked him to meet at the “old place,” a saloon, after the lecture. Supposedly he did go and was presented with a silver brick, which stunned him with gratitude until he discovered it was covered with tinfoil [MTJ, Spring 1989 p 33]. Note: This story was not confirmed with other sources, and due to the newspaper article coming twelve years after, may be apocryphal.

 

November 1 Thursday – Sam sent a telegraph to Abraham V.Z. Curry (1815-1873), John Neely Johnson (1825-1872), Robert M. Howland and others to confirm he would be in Carson City the next day to speak there on Saturday evening. Howland had sent Sam a letter dated Oct. 30 with over 100 signatures of prominent Carson City citizens who wanted to hear Sam’s “Sandwich Islands” lecture. The list included Henry Goode Blasdel (1825-1900), Governor of Nevada. Sam wrote to him, agreeing to speak on the stage of the Carson Theatre and:

 

“…disgorge a few lines and as much truth as I can pump out without damaging my constitution… [signed]. Ex-Gov. Third House and late Independent Missionary to the Sandwich Islands” [MTL 1: 363-5; Sanborn 303].

 

November 2 Friday – Sam arrived in Carson City. He wrote his mother Jane Clemens  and family a letter about lecturing in Carson City the next night, his next stops and ultimate plans to return to New York, leaving by steamer Dec. 1 [MTL 1: 365].

 

November 2 Friday ca. – On or about this day Sam wrote from Virginia City to Catherine C. (Kate) Lampton and Annie E. and Samuel E. Moffett. Kate was Sam’s first cousin; Annie and Sammy were Pamela Moffett’s children, Sam’s niece and nephew. Teasing Annie again about the “bullrushers” story, Sam asked,

 

How is old Moses that was rescued from the bulrushes & keeps a second-hand clothing-store in Market Street? Dear Sammy—Keep up your lick & you will become a great minister of the gospel some day, & then I shall be satisfied. I wanted to be a minister myself—it was the only genuine ambition I ever had. I always missed fire on the ministry. Then I hoped some member of the family would take hold of it & succeed [MTL 1: 367].

 

November 3 Saturday – Sam gave the “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Carson Theatre in Carson City.

 

November 7 Wednesday – Sam gave the “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Washoe City, Nevada sometime between these dates [MTL 1: 366n3; MTPO “Mark Twain on the Platform”].

 [ page 229 ]

“Card from Mark Twain” dated Nov. 1 ran in the Enterprise [Camfield bibliog.].

November 8 Thursday – Sam gave the “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Dayton, Nevada, probably at the Odeon Hall Saloon, where Sam sometimes drank and played billiards. He arrived in Virginia City “about 12 in the evening…from Dayton” [Clark 903].

November 9 Friday – Sam gave the “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Silver City, Nevada.

November 10 Saturday – Sam gave the “Sandwich Islands” lecture at the Gold Hill Theatre, Gold Hill, Nevada. After the lecture Sam and Denis McCarthy were the victims of a prank robbery on the one-mile highway between Gold Hill and Virginia City called “the divide.” An all-night farewell party was promised in Virginia City. Sam and McCarthy were on foot. The “robbers” took about $125 in coin, and a $300 gold watch that Sam highly prized, a present to him by A.S. “Sandy” Baldwin and Theodore Winters [Clark 903].

The Enterprise revealed the next day that Sam might have suspected a practical joke. This elaborate plan of Steve Gillis to keep Sam in Virginia City for more lectures did not pan out. Sam was told about the hoax. Sam was ill again, and after a day’s rest in Virginia City, left for San Francisco. Gillis, in 1907, claimed everyone was in on the prank except De Quille and Goodman—the former was needed to write up a realistic account, and the latter frowned on practical jokes. Among the band of robbers, Gillis named the chief of police George Birdsall (who wanted to “insure the proper performance of the hold-up,” Leslie Blackburn, “Jimmy” Edington, Pat Holland and one or two unnamed others. [Sanborn 305-6; MTL 1: 366n4 for details of the “robbery,” or read Steve Gillis’ 1907 deathbed “confession” account in The Twainian, Jan-Feb 1956 p3].

 

Note: in William R. Gillis’ 1930 account in Gold Rush Days with Mark Twain, he identifies others involved:

 

Steve then hunted up Joe Harlowe, Little Hicks, Salty Boardman and John Russell, and they, too, became members of the Gang. Joe Harlowe and Hicks were to do the robbing, while Boardman and Russell were to remain in the shade so that Sam could distinguish them through the darkness. Steve was to wait in the composing room to receive Sam after the holdup [109].

 

Bret Harte’s review (signed F.B.H.) of Sam’s “Sandwich Islands” lecture of Oct. 2 ran in the Springfield (Mass.) Daily Republican [Tenney 2].

 

November 11 Sunday – Sam’s CARD TO THE HIGHWAYMEN ran in the Enterprise:

     

      Last night I lectured in Gold Hill, on the Sandwich Islands.  At ten o’clock I started on foot to Virginia, to meet a lot of personal friends who were going to set up all night with me and start me off in good shape for San Francisco in the morning. This social programme proved my downfall. But for it, I would have remained in Gold Hill. As we “raised the hill” and straightened up on the “Divide,” a man just ahead of us (Mac, my agent, and myself), blew an ordinary policemen’s whistle, and Mac said, “Thunder! this is an improvement—they didn’t use to keep policemen on the Divide.” I coincided. The infernal whistle was only a signal to you road agents. About half a minute afterwards, a small man emerged from some ambuscade or other and crowded close up to me. I was smoking and supposed he wanted a light. But this humorist instead of asking for a light, thrust a horrible six-shooter in my face and simply said, “Stand and deliver!” I said, “My son, your arguments are powerful—take what I have, but uncock that infamous pistol.” The young man uncocked the pistol (but he requested three other gentlemen to present theirs at my head) and then he took all the money I had ($20 or $25), and my watch. Then he said to one of his party, “Beauregard, go through that man!”—meaning Mac—and the distinguished rebel did go through Mac. Then the little Captain said, “Stonewall [ page 230 ] Jackson, seat these men by the roadside, and hide yourself; if they move within five minutes, blow their brains out!” Stonewall said, “All right, sire.” Then the party (six in number) started toward Virginia and disappeared.

      Now, I want to say to you road agents as follows: My watch was given to me by Judge Sandy Baldwin and Theodore Winters, and I value it above anything else I own. If you will send that to me (to the Enterprise office, or to any prominent man in San Francisco) you may keep the money and welcome. You know you got all the money Mac had—and Mac is an orphan —and besides, the money he had belonged to me.

      Adieu, my romantic young friends [Benson 200-01].

 

November 12 Monday – At noon, Sam and Denis McCarthy left Virginia City by the Pioneer Stage via Donner Lake route for San Francisco. Just as the stage was leaving from in front of the Wells Fargo office, the chief of police George Birdsall handed Sam a package containing his watch, money, two jackknives, corkscrew, toothpick, three lead pencils, and the masks worn by the “robbers.”

 

According to this account, Sam refused to shake hands with Birdsall and ordered the stage driver to go on. McCarthy was a likely accomplice to the joke [Clark 903-4]. Steve Gillis claimed that Sam accused the bunch of other robberies in the area due to the smooth way his prank was pulled off, and swore they’d all wind up in the penitentiary [The Twainian, Jan-Feb 1956 p3]. Sam planned a new lecture for San Francisco [Sanborn 306].

 

Lorch claims that Sam was “especially incensed when he discovered that Denis McCarthy was a member of the conspirators,” and “In his fury he sought McCarthy out, paid him off, and told him he wanted no more of his services” [42]. Still, other sources point out that McCarthy and Sam left together. The few letters to McCarthy subsequent do not illuminate this claim. One San Francisco Golden Era reporter, who wrote under the name “Sans Souci” put forth the theory that Sam had created the robbery to gain free publicity [Lorch, 43].

 

November 13 Tuesday – Sam arrived back in San Francisco at night [MTL 1: 366n4].

 

November 16 Friday – In front of 1,500 people in Platt’s Hall, San Francisco, California, Sam gave a new lecture based on the ride west with Orion. Sam repeated the same tired joke about Horace Greeley (1811-1872) and Hank Monk (1832?-1883) on a stagecoach until the house’s silence crumbled into waves of laughter. Still, this second San Francisco lecture was not as well received as the first on Oct. 2 [Lorch 44]. Lorch writes:

 

He had yet to fully understand that audiences not only expected to be informed but desired to be informed, and that while they were greatly delighted with his humor, they had at least to feel that they had been instructed in order to believe they had received their money’s worth. No other problem was to give Mark Twain more concern in the tours that followed than precisely this one: how to satisfy his own desire to make his audiences laugh while at the same time satisfying them that they had been instructed [44].

 

The Alta California had commissioned Sam to act as roving correspondent on a proposed world tour. Sam was aiming at bigger fish than being the “humorist of the Pacific slope” [Sanborn 308; Lennon 154].

Sam’s 25th and last letter to the Union, dated “Volcano House, June 3d – Midnight THE GREAT VOLCANO OF KILAUEA” ran:

I suppose no man ever saw Niagara for the first time without feeling disappointed. I suppose no man ever saw it the fifth time without wondering how he could ever have been so blind and stupid as to find any excuse for disappointment in the first place. I suppose that any one of nature’s most celebrated wonders will always look rather insignificant to a visitor at first, but on a better acquaintance will swell and stretch out and spread abroad, until it finally grows clear beyond his grasp—becomes too stupendous for his comprehension. I know that a large house will seem to grow larger the longer one lives in it, and I also know that a woman who looks [ page 231 ] criminally homely at a first glance will often so improve upon acquaintance as to become really beautiful before the month is out.

I was disappointed when I saw the great volcano of Kilauea (Ke-low way-ah) to-day for the first time. It is a comfort to me to know that I fully expected to be disappointed, how ever, and so, in one sense at least, I was not disappointed [Day 291].

November 17 Saturday – Sam’s sketch “The Story of a Scriptural Panoramist” ran in the Californian. It was later included in Sketches, New and Old (1875) [Camfield bibliog.]. Scharnhorst writs that the receipts from Sam’s lecture of Nov. 16 were garnished to “satisfy part of the judgment” from posting bond for “a friend who then fled to Nevada” two years before (Steve Gillis) [“Mark Twain’s Imbroglio with the San Francisco Police” American Literature (Dec 1990) p.691]. Sanborn claims there “are no facts to support” the story of Sam posting a bond for Gillis [255]. Lorch surmises that since the “San Francisco papers remained silent” on the attachment, one might conclude that the action was for unpaid bills in Nevada [46].

 

November 21 Wednesday – Sam gave the “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Armory Hall, San Jose, California. This is the first lecture where Sam offered to demonstrate cannibalism as practiced in the Sandwich Islands, asking for a mother to bring her child to the platform. This device was successful and yielded much laughter if also a few criticisms now and then from the press for being in bad taste [Lorch 47].

 

The Washoe Evening Slope ran a brief item that declared the proceeds of Sam’s second lecture in San Francisco had been attached for the benefit of one of his creditors [Lorch 46].

 

November 26 Monday – The San Jose Mercury:

 

We have been an admirer of the inimitable humor of the lecturer, as shown in his numerous letters and sketches, that have been so widely published, but confess that the lecture disappointed us. We expected to hear the Kanakas “Joked blind,” but had no idea of being treated to such an intellectual feast as he served up to his audience. We never heard or read anything half so beautiful as his description when he laid aside the role of the humorist and gave rein to his fancy. To use the expression of a rapt listener to the lecture, “He’s lightenin’.”

 

Sam gave the “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Petaluma, Calif. That town’s newspaper, the Argus, did not give Sam a flattering review: “…as a lecturer he is not a success.” [MTL 1: 366-7n4]. Lorch attributes the negative reviews of the Argus and the Petaluma Journal to spite for “non-receipt of advertisements and complimentary tickets” [338 (from Frear, Mark Twain and Hawaii 447)].

 

November 27 Tuesday – Sam gave the “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Oakland, Calif. in College Hall. Sam stayed with J. Ross Browne and family in Oakland. [MTL 1: 370n6]. (See September, mid to late entry.) The turnout was small for this lecture, only about 200 people, which Lorch attributes to “a misunderstanding about the time at which the talk was to take place, though the entire city council canceled a meeting and came to the hall as a group.” Sam had to wait for the school band to finish a long concert before speaking [47].

 

November 30 Friday – Sam’s 31st birthday. He wrote at least three letters to the San Francisco Evening Bulletin, reporting on some of the stops on his interior lecture tour. The first known of these, MARK TWAIN’S INTERIOR NOTES ran with descriptions of Marysville, Grass Valley, The Eureka Mine, Nevada, and:

Sacramento  [ page 232 ]

I have recently returned from a missionary trip to the interior. I have nothing new to report concerning Sacramento; it was rather warm there. They haven’t got the grade finished yet. The grade has proven of high sanitary importance to Sacramento; nothing else could have so happily affected the health of the city as the new grade. Constant exercise on a dead level is too monotonous—the human system eventually ceases to receive any benefit from it. What the people there needed was a chance for up-hill and down-hill exercise, and now they have got it. You see, they have raised some of the houses up about eight or ten feet, to correspond with the new grade, and raised the sidewalks up accordingly; the other houses remain as they were before, and so do the sidewalks in front of them; the high walks are reached from the low ones by inclined staging similar to the horse stairways in livery stables. This arrangement gives infinite variety to a promenade there, now. The more the grade progresses the more the people are exercised and the healthier they become. The patience, money and energy required to prosecute the work to a successful completion are fearful to contemplate, but I think the citizens are equal to the emergency. Sacramento, with its broad, straight avenues, shaded by stately trees and bordered with flower-gardens, is already handsome, and some day it will be beautiful.

The new Capitol is a slow coach. I would like to be Superintendent of it for life, with the privilege of transmitting the office to my heirs and assigns forever [Benson 201-2].

December – Sam’s write up of the Hornet disaster, “Forty-three Days in an Open Boat” was printed in the prestigious Harper’s Monthly, but the piece was indexed to “Mark Swain” [MTL 1: 355n8].

 

Sam’s notebook labeled such songs as, “Marching through Georgia,” and “When Johnny Comes Marching Home,” and “Old Dog Tray,” and “Just Before the Battle, Mother,” as the “d—dest, oldest, vilest songs” performed by the ship’s choir” [MTNJ 1: 262].

 

December 1 Saturday – The Santa Rosa Sonora Democrat ridiculed the editors of the Petaluma Argus and the Petaluma Journal for their unexplained criticisms of Sam’s Petaluma lecture [Lorch 338n33].

 

December 3 Monday – Sam called on Rev. Dr. Charles Wadsworth (1814-1882) of Calvary Presbyterian Church, but he was not at home [MTL 1: 368].

 

December 4 Tuesday – Sam wrote from San Francisco to Isabella A. Cotton, one of his companions on the Smyrniote sailing ship from Hawaii, about his plans to leave on the “Opposition” steamer on Dec. 15. He forgot to enclose a picture of himself, and so sent a second note [MTL 1: 371-2].

 

Sam also wrote his mother, Jane Lampton Clemens, and family. Sam wrote he was:

 

…thick & thieves with the Rev. Stebbings, & I am laying for the Rev. Scudder & the Rev. Dr. Stone. I am running on preachers, now altogether. I find them gay. Stebbings is a regular brick. I am taking letters of introduction to Henry Ward Beecher, Rev. Dr. Tyng, & other eminent parsons in the east. Whenever anybody offers me a letter to a preacher now, I snaffle it on the spot. I shall make Rev. Dr Bellows trot out the fast nags of the cloth for me when I get to New York [MTL 1: 368]. Note: Rev. Henry Whitney Bellows (1814-1882); Rev. Barton Warren Stone (1772-1844). That expression “fast nags of the cloth” would become well known.

 

December 5 Wednesday – Governor Frederick Low, and Henry Blasdel, Governor of Nevada and others invited Sam by to repeat his first lecture before he departed California [MTL 1: 373n1]. Note: Lorch concludes it “may never be known” if Sam arranged this invitation, “but it must be confessed that the phrasing …has the earmarks of being genuine” [48].

 

December 6 Thursday – Sam replied to Governor Frederick Low and others accepting their Dec. 5 invitation to repeat his lecture on the Sandwich Islands at Congress Hall on Monday, Dec. 10 [MTL 1: 372]. [ page 233 ]

 

Sam’s letter, MARK TWAIN’S INTERIOR NOTES [II]. ran in the San Francisco Evening Bulletin. Subheadings: “To Red Dog and Back,” “A Memento of Speculation,” “An Aristocratic Turn-Out,” and “Silver Land” [Schmidt; Camfield bibliog.].

 

December 7 Friday – Sam’s letter, MARK TWAIN’S INTERIOR NOTES [III]. ran in the San Francisco Evening Bulletin. Sections: “San Jose,” “Silk,” and “Mark Twain Mystified” [Schmidt]. Camfield and Benson both list “Mark Twain Mystified” as running first in the Evening Bulletin [bibliog.; 165].

 

December 9 Sunday – Sam’s article “Mark Twain Mystified” was re-printed in the San Francisco Golden Era.

 

“I cannot understand the telegraphic dispatches nowadays, with their odd punctuation—I mean with so many question marks thrust in where no question is asked.”

 

Sam complained that this tore up his mind on the “eve of a lecture” [Fatout, MT Speaks 34].

 

Another article, “’Mark Twain’ on the Dog Question,” was published in the Morning Call [Schmidt].

 

December 10 Monday – Sam gave the “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Congress Hall in San Francisco as “Mark Twain’s Farewell” [Benson 165]. Lorch say the “lecture was well attended and well received” [48].

 

December 11 Tuesday – The Alta California reported that the Dec. 10 audience paid:

 

…rapt attention to his gorgeous imagery, in describing scenes at the Sandwich Islands, or convulsed with laughter at the humorous sallies interspersed through lecture, he seemed to come reluctantly to the promised “good-bye,” and then his whole manner changed—the words were evidently the language of the heart, and the convictions of his judgment [Fatout, MT Speaking 16; Lorch 48].

 

December 12 Wednesday – Sam received a telegraph from a fan: “Go to Nudd, Lord & Co., Front street, collect amount of money equal to what highwaymen took from you. (signed) A.D.N.” [MTL 1: 374n1]. The signator was Asa D. Nudd, principal of the firm.

 

December 14 Friday – Alta California printed Sam’s impromptu farewell address of Dec. 10, “So Long” [Camfield bibliog.]. Lorch and Sanborn report the verbatim article as Dec. 15 [49; 309].

 

S. Purmoil wrote from Honolulu to “Affluent Mark…/ I write you in sorrow and tribulation. Since you left here, everything has gone wrong.” He proceeded to write of many shortcomings and anecdotes. Printed in the Daily Hawaiian Herald [MTP].

 

December 15 Saturday – The San Francisco Morning Call reported that Sam collected $100 from Nudd, Lord & Co [MTL 1: 374n1]. Sam’s article, “Depart, Ye Accursed!” was published in the New York Weekly Review [MTL 1: 330n5]. It was reprinted in the Californian, Jan.19, 1867 as “Mark Twain on Chambermaids” [Camfield bibliog.].

 

Sam wrote from San Francisco to his mother, Jane Clemens and family of his sailing for New York the next day, “leaving more friends behind me that any newspaper man that ever sailed out of the Golden Gate.” He wrote of going to the church fair at Platt’s Hall that evening [MTL 1: 373-5].

 

Sam’s notebook 7 covers dates from this day to Jan. 12, 1867.

 [ page 234 ]

Alta California printed Sam’s Dec. 10 lecture, “Mark Twain’s Farewell.”

 

That his letters will be read with interest needs no assurance from us—his reputation has been made here in California, and his great ability is well known; but he has been known principally as a humorist, while he really has no superior as a descriptive writer—a keen observer of men and their surroundings—and we feel confident his letters to the ALTA, from his new field of observation, will give him a world-wide reputation [Schmidt].

 

Sam sailed from San Francisco for New York, by way of the Isthmus of Nicaragua. The trip took 27 & ½ days and was not an easy one. The first night out the ship nearly sank in a bad storm. Nearly all the passengers were seasick for days. Sam was not seasick but came down again with a mysterious illness that often forced him to bed. Edgar “Ned” Wakeman (1818-1875) was the captain of the ship America. Wakeman was burly and tattooed and impressed Sam with his strength, his cheery voice, and ability to spin yarns. Sam found Wakeman “inexhaustibly interesting.” Wakeman was the model for Ned Blakely in chapter 50 of Roughing It as well as Captain Eli Stormfield in “Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven,” a story seeded by a dream Wakeman had about going to heaven. Wakeman inspired several other characters in Sam’s work. Sam and Wakeman shared knowledge of and interest in the Bible. Wakeman was 50 when Sam met him [Sanborn 312; Rasmussen 502].

 

From Sam’s notebook:

 

“Pleasant, sunny day, hills brightly clad with green grass and shrubbery. First night great tempest—the greatest seen on this coast for many years….Passenger said he had served 14 yrs at sea—but considered his time was come now—still, said ‘if anybody can save her its old Wakeman’” [MTNJ 1: 245-6].

 

December 16 Sunday – From Sam’s letter to the Alta of Dec. 18:

 

NOON, 16th

All the afternoon, yesterday, two or three hundred passengers paced the promenade deck, and so quiet was the sea that not half a dozen of them succumbed to sickness. But at 8 or 9 at night the wind began to rise, and from that time it steadily in creased in violence until, at midnight, it was blowing a hurricane. There was a tremendous sea running, and the night was so pitch dark that a man standing on the deck would find by voices at his elbow that other persons were almost touching him, when he imagined himself alone. On deck, above the lashing of the waves, and the roaring of the winds, the shouting of the captain and his officers, and the hurried tramping of the men were scarcely to be heard [Schmidt].

 

From Sam’s notebook:

 

“This is a long, long night. I occupy the lower berth & read & smoke by a ship’s lantern borrowed from the steward (I won the middle berth, but gave it to Smith because he is seasick & we have piled our apples, limes, wines, books & small traps in the upper one)” [MTNJ 1: 246].

 

December 18 Tuesday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

“The young runaway couple, after co-habiting a night or two, were married last night by the Capt’s peremptory order, in presence of 5 witnesses” [MTNJ 1: 249].

December 19 Wednesday – From Sam’s letter to the Alta printed January 18, 1867:

SEQUEL TO THE ELOPEMENT / NOON, 19th

I have to give the sequel to the runaway match now. Yesterday it was whispered about that our young couple, who passed in the ship as “Mr. and wife,” and occupied a state room together, were really not married! [ page 235 ] Luscious sensation for a monotonous sea voyage! Capt. Wakeman exploded two or three awful salt-water oaths and ordered the Purser to produce the culprits before him at once. It was done, at 8 P.M. An explanation was demanded. They said they were married in San Jose Valley, but had lost the certificate. The Captain swore a blood-curdling oath that he’d furnish them another, and mighty quick, too; and ordered up the Rev. Mr. Fackler, an Episcopalian minister of San Francisco, to perform the ceremony, and four respectable persons to witness it. The bridegroom did not seem particularly gratified with these proceedings, and even the bride said afterwards that they had kept company together four days on shore before they shipped, and she was satisfied—thought people might mind their own business, and let theirs alone. She said they were going to be married in Brooklyn, and that was the programme from the start; didn’t care anything about having any such foolishness on the ship! A child fifteen years old, and weighted down with the wisdom and experience of an infant! Another lady said she couldn’t see why people wanted to meddle with other people’s business. Why couldn’t they let the girl alone! God help me! I am an orphan and many and many a league at sea—with such a crowd as this! [Schmidt].

 

December 20 Thursday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

“At noon, 5 days out from Sanfrancisco, abreast high stretch of land at foot of Magdalena Bay, Capt came & said, ‘Come out here…I want to show you something’ –took the marine glass— (2 whaling ships with a catch)” [MTNJ 1: 250].

 

The Brooklyn Eagle ran a short note on page 4 about Sam’s “Lecture among Highwaymen,” and ended with “Mark failed to see the point” of the practical joke. [The Eagle is available online].

 

December 21 Friday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

“Crossed tropic of Capricorn—Cape St Lucas—now abreast Gulf of California….Geniuses are people who dash off weird, wild, incomprehensible poems with astonishing facility, & then go & get booming drunk & sleep in the gutter…people who have genius do not pay their board, as a general thing” [MTNJ 1: 250].

 

December 22 Saturday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

“Passengers have been singing several days—now the men have come down to leap-frog, boyish gymnastics & tricks of equilibrium—& sitting on a bottle with legs extended & Xd , & threading a good sized needle” [MTNJ 1: 251-2].

 

December 23 Sunday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

Morning service on Prom deck by Fackler—organ & choir. I had rather travel with that old portly, hearty, jolly, boisterous, good-natured old sailor, Capt. Ned Wakeman than with any other man I ever came across. He never drinks, & never plays cards; he never swears, except in the privacy of his own quarters, with a friend or so, & then his feats of fancy blasphemy are calculated to fill the hearer with awe & the liveliest admiration [MTNJ 1: 253].

 

Sam vowed that if the ship choir “attempted that outrage [singing “Roll on, silver moon”]” he “would have scuttled the ship” [Gribben 587].

 

December 24 Monday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

Christmas Eve—9 P.M. Me & the Capt & Kingman out forward. Capt. Said—Don’t like the looks of that point with the mist outside of it—hold her a point free.

Quartermaster (touching his hat)—“The child is dead sir (been sick 2 days.—) What are yr orders” [MTNJ 1: 257].

 

The death of a child onboard made for a solemn Christmas Eve.  [ page 236 ]

December 25 Tuesday – Christmas – From Sam’s Mar. 15 Alta letter [Schmidt]:

CHRISTMAS NIGHT.—The child died last evening, and some of the lady passengers sat up with the corpse all night. At ten this morning, we all assembled on the lower guard aft, and listened with uncovered heads, to a brief sermon by the clergyman (Rev. Mr. Fackler) and the reading of the Episcopal burial service—the capstan with a national flag over it served for a pulpit, and meanwhile the first officer and boatswain held the canvassed corpse with its head resting on their shoulders and its feet upon the taffrail—at the conclusion there was a breathless pause; then the minister said “Earth unto earth—ashes unto ashes—dust unto dust!”—a sharp plunge of the weighted body into the sea, a shudder from the startled passengers, a wild shriek from the young mother (a mere girl), and all was over.

Within three hours, with that solemn presence gone out of the ship, cheerfulness and vivacity reigned again.

December 27 Thursday – Sam wrote of a raffle for a dead wife’s jewelry (Mar. 15 Alta):

THE FALL OF THE ISAAC

DECEMBER 28th. —Isaac’s upward flight culminated yesterday in a raffle, and now he is fallen! Hobnobbing with the chief officers, and hail fellow well met with everybody yesterday—to-day, degraded to the ranks, and none so poor as to take notice of him. You see he has often excited sympathy by displaying his late wife’s jewelry (he said she died six weeks ago,) and mourning over it. But yesterday he got up that raffle said it grieved him to the heart to have those mementoes of his lost one about him—said her dear jewelry constantly reminded him of happy days he should never again see—and so he gathered it together and raffled it off for three hundred and fifty dollars ! He feels easier after that, no doubt. His lacerated heart will be able to stand it for awhile, now, perhaps [Schmidt].

December 29 Saturday – From Sam’s letter to the Alta printed Mar. 15, 1867:

SAN JUAN AND CHOLERA

DECEMBER 29. — One sea voyage is ended anyhow. We have arrived at San Juan del Sur, and must leave the ship and cross the Isthmus—not to-day, though. They have posted a notice on the ship that the cholera is raging among a battalion of troops just arrived from New York, and so we are not permitted to go ashore to-day. And to the sea-weary eyes of some of our people, no doubt, bright green hills never looked so welcome, so enchanting, so altogether lovely, as these do that lie here within pistol-shot of us. But the law is spoken, and so half the ship’s family are looking longingly ashore, or discussing the cholera news fearfully, and the other half are in the after cabin, singing boisterously and carrying on like a troop of wild school children [Schmidt].

December 30 Sunday – The America completed the first leg of the trip, reaching San Juan del Sur. Cholera had claimed 35 passengers there awaiting transportation to San Francisco, so the passengers of America were not allowed ashore until later in the morning [Sanborn 312]. It was a three-hour trip by horses, mules, and mud wagons to Virgin Bay on Lake Nicaragua. Sam was impressed by the roadside stands of fruits and food, and especially by the pretty young women there. He was told they were “virtuous according to their lights, but I guess their lights are a little dim.” At Virgin Bay the passengers boarded a small steamer to cross the lake [Sanborn 313].

 

December 31 Monday – Sam and passengers arrived at San Carlos, Nicaragua. From Sam’s notebook:

 

“Native thatched houses—coffee, eggs, bread, cigars & fruit for sale—delicious—10 cents buy pretty much anything & in great quantity. Californians can’t understand how 10 or 25 cents can buy a sumptuous lunch of coffee, eggs & bread….Saw at San Carlos the first osage trees of the trip—my favorite tree above all others” [MTNJ 1: 261-2].  [ page 237 ]

                                                                                                                

They changed vessels to a stern-wheeler and began a trip down the San Juan River to the sea [Sanborn 313]. Camfield lists Sam’s poem “Miss Simmens” published posthumously [bibliog.].

 


 [ page 238 ]
Key West – New York – Charles Webb Published The Jumping Frog

52 hours to St. Louis – Artemus Ward Dead – Lectures in Hannibal, Keokuk & Quincy

Back in New York – A Night in Jail – Three Lectures in the Big Apple

 Quaker City Five-month Excursion– Miniature Portrait in the Bay of Smyrna

A Post in Washington – Elisha Bliss – Sam Met Livy

 

1867 – Camfield [bibliog.] lists the following pieces undated for this year:

     

An unfinished script for a play, “The Quaker City Holy Land Excursion”

“Goodbye” printed posthumously by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Apr. 27, 1910

      “Who Was He? A Novel” posthumously, Satires and Burlesques, p. 25

 

January – Sam wrote a spoof of Victor Hugo’s novel, The Toilers of the Sea (1866) while aboard the steamer San Francisco [MTNJ 1: 280-4].

 

January 1 Tuesday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

“Slept on the Cora on floor & hammocks at woodyard first night out from Castillo. Started at 2AM & got to Greytown at daylight” [MTNJ 1: 267].

 

From Sam’s Mar. 15 Alta letter:

GREYTOWN, January 1st.—While we lay all night at San Juan, the baggage was sent ashore in lighters, and next morning we departed ourselves. We found San Juan to consist of a few tumble-down frame shanties—they call them hotels—nestling among green verdure and overshadowed by picturesque little hills. The spot where we landed was crowded with horses, mules, ambulances and half-clad yellow natives, with bowie-knives two feet long, and as broad as your hand, strapped to their waists. I thought these barefooted scoundrels were soldiers, but no, they were merely citizens in civil life. Here and there on the beach moved a soiled and ragged white woman, to whom the sight of our ship must have been as a vision of Paradise; for here a vast ship-load of passengers had been kept in exile for fifteen days through the wretched incompetency of one man—the Company’s agent on the Isthmus. He had sent a steamer empty to San Francisco, when he knew well that this multitude of people were due at Greytown. They will finish their journey, now, in our ship [Schmidt].

Sam noted the choir sang “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again,” –one of the “wretchedest old songs in the world,” not understanding why it was sang in such breathtaking surroundings [Gribben 588].

 

Sam arrived at San Juan del Norte, Nicaragua on the Caribbean. There, the steamer San Francisco waited for them bound for New York. It sailed at noon [Sanborn 313; MTNJ 1: 297].

 

January 2 Wednesday – Sam reported in his notebook that there were two cases of cholera on board. By the next morning two men were dead from cholera [MTNJ 1: 269; Sanborn 314].

 

January 3 Thursday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

“9:30 PM. We are to be off the coast of Cuba to-morrow they say—I cannot believe it” [MTNJ 1: 273].

 

January 4 Friday – Three days into the voyage the ship had engine problems. An engine piece broke and took two hours to repair [Sanborn 314]. From Sam’s notebook:

 [ page 239 ]

Capt.—who came aboard at Greytown where in 3 years he had worn out his constitution & destroyed his health lingered until 10 this morning & then died & was shoved overboard half an hour afterward sowed up in a blanket with 60 pounds of iron. He leaves a wife at Rochester, N.Y. This makes the fourth death on shipboard since we left San Francisco [MTNJ 1: 273].

 

January 5 Saturday – The engine broke again and four hours were lost [Sanborn314]. From Sam’s notebook:

 

“We are to put in at Key West, Florida, to-day for coal for ballast—so they say—but rather for medicines, perhaps—the physic locker is about pumped dry” [MTNJ 1: 275].

 

Sam began to make a list of the dead on board and got to number eight [MTNJ 1: 279-80].

 

January 6 Sunday – Again, the engine broke down and they were dead in the water for another four hours. Even worse news, eight new cases of cholera. The doctor confessed to Sam that there was no medicine. Key West was a day or so away, and the doctor hoped to get medicine there. “I realize that I myself may be dead to-morrow” [Sanborn 314]. From Sam’s notebook:

 

“At 2:30 we anchored at Key West (Florida,) & he will be buried on shore. Was bound for the States to get his family” [MTNJ 1: 279]. Note: buried: Rev. J. G. Fackler, Episcopal clergyman of San Francisco

 

From Sam’s Mar. 17 Alta letter:

JANUARY 6th.—At two o’clock this morning, the Rev. Mr. Fackler died, and half an hour afterwards we landed at Key West. It is Sunday. Two of us attended Episcopal service here, and retired when they prepared to take the sacrament, and left a request at the pastor’s house that he would preach the funeral sermon. We visited the cemetery in the edge of town, and then, supposing there was plenty of time, strolled through the principal streets and took some notes. When we got to the ship, a little after one o’clock, they said the funeral was already over [Schmidt].

January 7 Monday – In Key West the San Francisco stocked up on drugs and spare engine parts. Sam stocked up on Havana cigars before the ship continued on.

 

“We bought 700 superb cigars at $4 a hundred—greenbacks—better cigars than could get in Cal for $25 a hundred in gold. Town is full of good cigars….21 passengers left the ship here, scared—among them the Jew, the Undertaker, & Goff…I am glad they are gone, d—n them” [MTNJ 1: 286-7; Sanborn 314].

 

January 8 Tuesday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

That dirty Dutchwoman & her 2 children—none of them washed or taken off clothes since left Sanf—belong in 2d cabin—ought to be in hell—purser started them out of the smoking room to make room for card party—Dutchman brought them back soon & said she was sick & should stay there. Well, the woman is sick, & if they don’t take sanitary measures, she’ll stay so—she needs scraping & washing [MTNJ 1: 191].

 

January 9 Wednesday – From Sam’s notebook: “Belmayne died Jan. 8, & was buried at sea, abreast of Florida.”

 

January 10 Thursday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

26 days out from Sanfrancisco to-day—at noon we shall be off Cape Hatteras & less than 400 miles south of New York—(day & a half’s run).

 [ page 240 ]

We shall leave this warming pan of a Gulf Stream to-day & then it will cease to be genial summer weather & become wintry cold. We already see the signs—they have put feather mattresses & blankets on our berths this morning [MTNJ 1: 293].

 

January 11 Friday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

7 PM—Been in bed all day to keep warm—fearfully cold. We are off Barnegat—passed a pilot boat a while ago. We shall get to New York before morning. The d—d crowd in the smoking room are as wildly singing now as they were capering childishly about deck day before yesterday when we first struck cold weather [MTNJ 1: 295].

 

January 12 Saturday – About 8 AM, the San Francisco steamed into the icy harbor of New York. Sam took a room at the Metropolitan Hotel, a favorite stop for Californians and Washoe miners at the corner of Broadway and Prince Street [Sanborn 311; MTL 2: 2]. The voyage from hell was over and cholera had not claimed Mark Twain. Sam sent a telegram to the Alta California giving details of the cholera outbreak aboard the steamer San Francisco [MTNJ 1: 296]. Sam planned to publish a book on the Sandwich Islands based on his letters to the Sacramento Union.  He also wanted to schedule a lecture tour in New York and perhaps other eastern cities. Lastly, he had a vague plan to embark on a world tour for the Alta. Sam was not without contacts in New York journalism and literary circles. His work had appeared in several New York papers as well as Harper’s.

 

Sam telegraphed the Alta California concerning the cholera in Nicaragua [Camfield bibliog.].

 

January 13 Sunday – Sam’s telegram dated Jan. 12 to the Alta ran on the front page of that newspaper titled “Cholera in Nicaragua” [MTNJ 1: 296n65; Camfield bibliog.].

 

January 15 Tuesday – Sam wrote from New York to Edward P. Hingston (1823-1876), Artemus Ward’s theatrical manager. Sam had enjoyed carousing with Hingston and Ward in 1863 in Virginia City. He boldly asked Hingston to come from England and be his manager, “Ward is so well established in London, now, that he can easily spare you till you have given me a start.” Sam informed Hingston of his successful tour and full houses and his invitations to lecture in Cincinnati, Boston, and St. Louis [MTL 2: 8-9].

 

In 1890 Sam gave this as the date he first saw Edward H. House (1836-1901). If Sam’s memory 23 years later was accurate, this corrects the February 1867 only entry [Feb. 5, 1890 to Sage] In his Feb. 16, 1896 to Charles H. Webb, Sam confirmed January, 1867 in N.Y. [MTP].

 

January 17 Thursday – A giant snowstorm hit New York. Temperatures were in the twenties.

 

January 18 Friday – Sam’s “Letter from Mark Twain” dated Dec. 20, 1866, subtitled “Away” ran in the Alta California, p.1 col. 3 [Schmidt; Camfield bibliog.].

 

January 19 Saturday – Sam’s article, “Mark Twain On Chambermaids,” was printed in the Californian [Schmidt]. Note: this was collected in The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and other stories.

 

January 30 Wednesday – At the end of January, New York papers announced the “members of Beecher’s congregation are organizing an excursion to the Holy Land, Crimea and Greece. They propose to charter a steamer, and leave in June. Rev. Mr. Beecher and family go with them” [MTL 2: 14]. On this date the Alta California posted the announcement. Sanborn claims Sam learned of the planned excursion “sometime after mid-February,” but it is likely that Sam would have noticed the wide exposure within a few days [Sanborn 319].  [ page 241 ]

 

February – Sam went to popular shows and lectures, measuring his own attraction against what sold well in the big city. He crammed into a space “about large enough to accommodate a small spittoon” and, on the 3rd, studied the “performance” of the popular preacher, Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1889).  

 

Sam made contact with Charles Webb, founder and former editor of The Californian, who was now back home in New York and living in an apartment only a few blocks from Sam’s Metropolitan Hotel. Webb and then co-editor Bret Harte had published a version of “The Jumping Frog” in December 1865. Webb encouraged Sam to collect sketches for a book, using the frog story as the lead story and the title. George W. Carleton once again refused to publish the story, even in a collection, so Webb agreed to publish it for a ten percent royalty.

Webb introduced Sam to Edward (Ned) H. House (1836-1901), a noted Civil War correspondent for Horace Greeley’s New York Tribune. Sam, upon learning of Beecher’s planned excursion to the Holy Land, wrote to Frederick MacCrellish (1828-1882) of the Alta, asking if the paper would pay his passage. While waiting, he decided to enter his name for the trip. The fare was $1,250 and the passenger list limited to 110. Beecher wanted to write a life of Jesus and needed to travel the Holy land. General William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891) was going. Here was a trip that sparked Sam’s interest.

 

He took House with him to Captain Charles Crooker Duncan’s (1821-1898) Wall Street office, where Ned claimed Sam was a Baptist minister, in order to qualify as a character of high repute. However, they were unshaven and had stopped at a saloon for drinks. The next day Sam returned to Duncan, confessed his real identity, put down a deposit, and left character references [Sanborn 319-20].   February 1 Friday – Sam’s Feb. 2 letter to the Alta California referred to the prior night’s visit to the Century Club. (The letter ran in the Mar. 28 Alta.)

By permission, I visited the Century Club last night. The most unspeakably respectable Club in the United States, perhaps. It was storming like everything, and I thought there would necessarily be a small attendance, but this was not the case; the reading and supper rooms were crowded, and with the distinguished artists, authors and amateurs of New York. I averaged the heads, and they went three sizes larger than the style of heads I have been accustomed to. In one of the smaller rooms they averaged best—thirteen heads out of the twenty-seven present were what I choose to call prodigious. I never felt so subjugated in my life. And I was never so ashamed of wearing an 8 1/4 before [Schmidt].

February 2? Saturday – Sam wrote from New York to Mollie Clemens (now in Keokuk), complaining about Orion’s request of him to seek Judge Dixson about an advance on some mining stock. Sam wrote he was going to Washington (he did not go.) He also mentioned some “good offers” he’d had from New York newspapers.

Sam soon agreed to supply seven sketches at $25 each to the Sunday Mercury; a sketch for the Evening Express; and reprints of his Sandwich Islands Letters for the New York Weekly [MTL 2: 10-12].

By this date Sam had finished his travel letters for the Alta California [Sanborn 315]. Sam wrote to John McComb (1829-1896), editor and part owner of the Alta, sometime between this day and Feb. 7 about his compilation of sketches for publication [MTL 2: 13].

February 3 Sunday – Sam, promised a seat in the pew of New York Sun owner Moses Sperry Beach (1822-1892) if he’d come early, went to Plymouth Church, Brooklyn to hear the sermon by Henry [ page 242 ] Ward Beecher [Hirst and Rowles, “William E. James” 17]. Sam related the experience in his Alta letter of Mar. 30, 1867:

HENRY WARD BEECHER

I have been in a pious frenzy myself for a while. I went over two weeks ago, (the thermometer was at 180 degrees below zero, I should judge, and I walked as stiff-legged as a Chinaman, because the nerves all through me were frozen as taut as fiddle strings. I had been promised a seat in the pew of a New York editor, who told me to come “early.” I was at the church at ten o’clock Sunday morning. I thought that was early – and I knew precious well it was earlier than any Christian ought to be out of his bed on such a morning. The pavements were crowded with people trying to get in, and when I told the usher I was accredited to pew No. 46, he answered with an offended air:

“Forty-six! – pretty time of day to come for forty-six!—full an hour ago!” [MTL 2: 15].

February 17 Sunday – From Sam’s Feb.18 Alta letter, published Mar. 30:

BISHOP SOUTHGATE’S MATINEE

I attended Bishop Southgate’s matinee yesterday after noon, in pursuance of my desire to test all the amusements of the metropolis. The ungodly are not slow to get up nick-names for sacred things here. All the pretty girls, and also all the young men who dote on them, go to the Sunday afternoon services at Bishop Southgate’s Church, in Thirty-eighth street, and they call it the Bishop’s “matinee;” and there is Dr. Bellows’ Church, in Fourth avenue, somewhere above Twentieth street—it is the wildest piece of architecture you ever saw—gridironed all over with alternate short bars of showy red and white, like a Confederate flag—so the ungodly call it the “Church of the Holy Zebra” [Schmidt]. Note: Dr. Henry Whitney Bellows (1814-1882); see insert.

February 18 Monday – From Sam’s letter this date to the Alta, published Mar. 30, reveals perhaps his first interest in automated typesetting:

STEREOTYPING MACHINE

 

I have been examining a machine to-day, partly owned by a Californian, which will greatly simplify, cheapen and expedite stereotyping. With a single alphabet of type, arranged around a wheel, the most elaborate book may be impressed, letter after letter, in plaster plates, ready for the reception of the melted metal, and do it faster than a printer could compose the matter. It works with a treadle and a bank of keys, like a melodeon. It does away with cases of types, setting up and distributing, and all the endless paraphernalia of a printing office. The little machine could prepare Webster’s Unabridged for the press in a space no larger than a common bath-room. By this invention, a man could set up, as a stereotyper, on a large scale, on a capital of $200. It will either print or stereotype music with the utmost accuracy. An elaborate “border” may be printed in three minutes, by repeated impressions of a single type. The funniest part of it is that the inventor does not know anything about the art of printing. But then he has invented all sorts of curious machines (among them a flying-ship,) without any mechanical education, and paints well in oils, and performs on the guitar and piano without having ever received musical instruction. The stereotyping machine has been patented in the United States, England and Prussia, and is to be exhibited [ page 243 ] at the Paris Exposition. The patent rights have been sold for fabulous sums. I send a rough specimen of the machine’s work [Schmidt].

February 19 Tuesday – At Cooper Hall in New York City, Sam was impressed by the platform speaking of 24-year-old Anna Elizabeth Dickinson (1842-1932), a Quaker girl who had been speaking for five years. Sam was in the audience at Dickinson’s lecture, “Something To Do, or Work for Women.” Dickinson was a force in the suffrage movement, and instrumental in adoption of the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Sam’s future in-laws, the Langdons, had long been active in social activism in Elmira—the Underground Railroad for fugitive slaves, key members of the Congregational Church, the Temperance movement, and Women’s rights [Skandera 146; NY Times, p7]. Note: The Times announcement of the lecture stated that Horace Greeley would be in the chair.

 

February 21 Thursday – This announcement appeared in the editorial column of Street and Smith’s New York Weekly, p. 4:

 

We are happy to announce that we have made an engagement with the celebrated “Mark Twain,” the California wit and humorist, who will furnish us with a series of his inimitable papers. “Mark Twain” stands a head and shoulders above most of the humorous writers of the day, and his contributions to our columns cannot fail to give the most complete satisfaction. Mark informs us that he is about to deliver in this city his great lecture on the Sandwich Islands, which for a series of nights crowded the largest lecture room in San Francisco to suffocation. He cannot help succeeding here, and we bespeak for him, in advance, full houses and “a pile of rocks.”

 

Note: The Weekly ran five of Sam’s early letters to the Sacramento Union, probably to stir up interest in the Frog book and for advertising the forthcoming New York lectures. The Weekly was “a shrewdly conducted periodical quite hospitable to humorous writers [and] seems to have been the first eastern publication to capitalize on Mark Twain’s growing popularity in the late sixties by publishing a connected series of his writings” [The Twainian, Mar. 1944 p1-2].

 

February 22 Friday – Alta California p. 1, col. 4, ran Sam’s “Letters from Mark Twain” Number 2, dated Dec. 20, “On board steamer COLUMBIA,” [Schmidt; Camfield bibliog.].

 

February 23 Saturday – Sam’s Alta letter with this date complained of suffering from “the blues” and that his “thoughts persistently ran on funerals and suicide” [MTNJ 1: 301].

 

Edward P. Hingston, agent for Artemis Ward. wrote to Sam, letter not extant but referred to in Sam’s Feb. 23 to the Alta. “He is rusticating at the seaside. The hope is that he will be well in a week or two and able to reappear.” [MTP]. Note: the article ran in the Alta on 5 Apr 1867.

 

February 24 Sunday – Alta California prints Sam’s “Letter from Mark Twain” number 3, dated Dec. 23, 1866, with article “Steamer COLUMBIA at sea” [Schmidt; Camfield bibliog.].

 

March 1 Friday – Sam was invited and attended the opening of the spring season for the grand Bal d’Opera at the new Academy of Music. Sam dressed up in “flowing robes, and purported to be a king of some country or other” [Sanborn 320]. He would become famous for such sartorial exuberance.

 

March 2 Saturday – Sam telegraphed the proprietors of the San Francisco Alta California (Fred MacCrellish, William Augustus Woodward (1829?-1885), Orlando M. Clayes (1837-1892), and John McComb). “Send me $1,200 at once. I want to go abroad.” Although the owners were skeptical, it was McComb who argued and won the day for Sam to travel abroad in exchange for letters to the Alta [MTL 2: 17].

 [ page 244 ]

March 3 Sunday – On a snowy night Sam left New York for St. Louis on the 8 o’clock New Jersey Central. It was a 52-hour rail connection. On the same day the New York Sunday Mercury published “The Winner of the Medal,” by “that prince of humorous sightseers, Mark Twain, whose contributions to California light-literature has gained him a front-rank position among the sparkling wits of the Land of Gold” [MTL 2: 11n3, 18n1].

 

March 5 Tuesday – The New York Saturday Evening Express published “Barnum’s First Speech in Congress,” by Mark Twain, on page one [MTL 2: 11-12n3]. Sam arrived in St. Louis at midnight after sitting up for two nights in coach due to full sleeping cars. Sam was returning home after six years and four months. He went directly to his sister Pamela’s house at 12 Chestnut Street, where he “sat up till breakfast time, talking and telling lies.” Sam’s niece, Annie Moffett, was almost fifteen and his namesake nephew, Sammy, was six [Sanborn 320-21; MTL 2: 18n1].

 

March 6 Wednesday – Artemus Ward (Charles Farrar Browne) died of tuberculosis after his last performance on Jan. 23 in London. Ward was 33. He was interred near London but his body was later shipped back to America to be buried at Waterford, Maine. It arrived in New York in May, when Sam noted the event in one of his Alta letters.

 

March 7 Thursday – The New York Weekly announced it would print (re-print) a series of Mark Twain’s “inimitable papers.” The weekly reprinted five of Sandwich Islands Letters to the Union, but without mention of the prior publication [MTL 2: 12n3].

 

March 12, 13 and 15 Friday – Three articles: “Female Suffrage: Views of Mark Twain” first appeared in the St. Louis Missouri Democrat on these days [Budd, “Collected” 1007; MTTMB 287n1]. These were reprinted in the Alta California April 10, 28, and May 11. From two of Sam’s letters on suffrage:

I think I could write a pretty strong argument in favor of female suffrage, but I do not want to do it. I never want to see the women voting, and gabbling about politics, and electioneering. There is something revolting in the thought. It would shock me inexpressibly for an angel to come down from above and ask me to take a drink with him (though I should doubtless consent); but it would shock me still more to see one of our blessed earthly angels peddling election tickets among a mob of shabby scoundrels she never saw before.

Women, go your ways! Seek not to beguile us of our imperial privileges. Content yourself with your little feminine trifles—your babies, your benevolent societies and your knitting—and let your natural bosses do the voting. Stand back—you will be wanting to go to war next. We will let you teach school as much as you want to, and we will pay you half wages for it, too, but beware! we don’t want you to crowd us too much.– Letter to St. Louis Missouri Democrat, March, 1867 [Schmidt].

 From Annie Moffett Webster’s reminiscences about Sam:

 

Again, he had written a short article making fun of woman’s rights. It was published in one of the papers [Missouri Democrat]. A woman, a stranger, answered, signing herself “Cousin Jenny.” He replied, and they had a humorous literary duel. He said privately that his task would have been easier if she hadn’t had all the arguments on her side [MTBus 48].

 

March 13 Wednesday – Sam’s “Volley from the Down-Trodden” ran in the Missouri Democrat [Camfield bibliog.].

 

March 14 Thursday – The first of five letters from Hawaii, reprints of five early Sacramento Union letters with “a few minor omissions” ran in the New York Weekly. Dated Mar. 18, 1866, beginning: “We arrived here to-day at noon…” this first article omitted “the short anecdote of Brown’s mistaking a cake [ page 245 ] of soap for a ‘curious foreign dish’” [The Twainian, Mar. 1944 p2-3]. These letters are notable for their promotional value to Sam’s upcoming New York lecture.

 

March 15 Friday – Alta California printed Sam’s article “THE FIRST DEATH” which Sam had dated from December 24 to January 1 [Schmidt]. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” Number IV [bibliog.]. Sam’s article “Iniquitous Crusade Against’ Man’s Regal Birthright Must Be Crushed” ran in the Missouri Democrat [Camfield bibliog.].

 

March 16 Saturday – Alta California printed Sam’s article “THE TWIN MOUNTAINS” which Sam dated New Year’s Day [Schmidt]. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” Number V [bibliog.].

 

March 17 Sunday – Sam was asked to make a few remarks to a Sunday school, at his sister Pamela’s church. Sam told the “Jumping Frog” story, but could not supply a moral from the story, so “let it slide” [MTL 2: 19 n2; Sanborn 322].

 

Alta California printed Sam’s article “UNDER WAY AGAIN” which Sam dated Jan. 1 [Schmidt]. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” Number VI [bibliog.]. Sam’s article “A Curtain Lecture Concerning Skating” ran in the New York Sunday Mercury [Camfield bibliog.].

 

The St. Louis Missouri Republican published “Cruelty to Strangers,” a letter to the editor, signed with his pen name, making light of a local law against “lying on the grass” [MTPO Notes Aug 1, 1876 to Cist].

 

March 19 Tuesday – Sam wrote from St. Louis to Charles Webb asking Webb to telegraph the expected publishing date of the Jumping Frog book, saying that if it is more than ten days off, “I had better lecture here.” Sam felt he would have to return to New York if the book was to be out soon. Webb answered that he could not have the book out before April 25 [MTL 2: 18; Sanborn 323]. Note: The book was not published until about May 1 and never sold well. Webb simply didn’t have “the stuff” to market Sam properly.

 

March 23 Saturday – Alta California printed Sam’s article “KEY WEST” dated Jan. 6 [Schmidt]. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” Number VII [bibliog.].

 

March 24 Sunday – Sam was asked to speak at a Sunday school in Carondelet, a town bordering St. Louis. Sam told the John Godfrey sky-rocket story that later appeared in Roughing It [Sanborn 323].

 

Sam wrote a letter to the editor of the St. Louis Daily Missouri Republican [Tenney 2]. A humorous advertisement for the Mar. 25 lecture also ran in the same paper, repeating Sam’s promise, first made in the Petaluma performance, to show how cannibals would eat a child, given a volunteer from the audience [Lorch 54].

 

Sam’s article “Barbarous” ran in the New York Sunday Mercury [Camfield bibliog.].

 

March 25 Monday – In St. Louis, Sam gave his “Sandwich Islands” lecture to a standing room only crowd at Mercantile Library Hall for the benefit of the South St. Louis Mission Sunday School.

 

March 26 Tuesday – At Mercantile Library Hall in St. Louis, Sam repeated the lecture, but due to bad weather only about 80 showed up. In the audience was Henry M. Stanley (1841-1904) of Livingstone fame, reporting for a Missouri paper. Stanley took down much of Sam’s lecture in shorthand [Lorch 56]. See Mar. 28 entry. On the first performance, from the St. Louis Daily Missouri Republican:  [ page 246 ]

The audience was large and appreciative, and financially and every other way the entertainment proved a complete success. In fact, Mark Twain achieved a very decided success. He succeeded in doing what we have seen Emerson and other literary magnates fail in attempting. He interested and amused a large and promiscuous audience.

Mark has the gift of a bright and happy fancy, and expresses his thoughts with no ordinary force and gracefulness of language. His descriptive powers are good, and his descriptive powers very fair for a young lecturer.

Sam received three invitations to lecture at Hannibal, Keokuk, and Quincy. He accepted all three [MTL 2: 19n2]. Lorch says these were “invitations, rather than any direct efforts of scheduling on his part” [57].

March 27 Wednesday ca. – On or about this day Sam traveled to Hannibal, where he stayed about a week [Lorch 57].

March 28 Thursday – Alta California printed Sam’s article “THE OVERGROWN METROPLOIS” dated Feb.2 [Schmidt]. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” Number VIII [bibliog.]. Henry M. Stanley reviewed Sam’s lecture of Mar. 26 for the St. Louis Daily Missouri Democrat. “Everyone retired highly delighted with the irrepressible Californian,” wrote Stanley, who became a rather controversial figure by 1872, when Sam first visited England. Stanley claimed to be American but was born in Wales [MTL 5: 201n3&4]. Note: Lorch claims Stanley reported for the Missouri Republican [56].

The second of five letters from Hawaii, reprints of five early Sacramento Union letters with “a few minor omissions” ran in the New York Weekly. Dated Mar. 19, 1866 and beginning “On the Sunday following our departure…” this second article omitted “two short paragraphs on why the steamship line to Hawaii should be established” [The Twainian, Mar. 1944 p2-3]. These letters are notable for their promotional value to Sam’s upcoming New York lecture.

 

March 30 Saturday – Alta California printed Sam’s article “MY ANCIENT FRIENDS, THE POLICE” dated Feb. 18 [Schmidt]. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” Number IX [bibliog.].

 

April 2 Tuesday – Sam lectured in Brittingham Hall in his old hometown of Hannibal [MTL 2: 19n2]. Hannibal gave Sam the largest turnout in its history, though turning out wasn’t what put Hannibal on the map.

 

April 4 Thursday – Sam arrived in Keokuk at the Deming House four days before his lecture. He probably spent the time visiting Orion and Mollie, as well as other friends and cousins [MTL 2: 20 n2]. Posters were placed on street corners claiming that “Sam Clemens, the greatest Humorist in America,” was arriving to lecture [Lorch 57].

 

April 5 Friday – Sam moved to the Tepfer House because he did not like the service at the Deming House [MTL 2: 20n2]. Alta California printed Sam’s article, “THE DREADFUL RUSSIAN BATH,” dated Feb. 23. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” Number X [bibliog.].

But the popular bar-keeper is the serenest villain of the lot. You have seen a vile, infernal waiter stand staring at vacancy with his complacent, exasperating smirk, pretending he didn’t know you had been trying to attract his attention for ten minutes—well, the popular bar-keeper mimics that to a charm. He even improves on it. When a party of gentlemen finally get him to notice them after much rattling of glasses, he don’t bow and smile and say “What will you have, gentlemen?” But he turns languidly upon them with an expression of countenance obtrusively intended to inform them that he knew they were calling all the time, and then stares impertinently at them without a word. That means, “Well, if you are going to name your [ page 247 ] drinks, you had better do it, that’s all!” It has a most excellent tendency—it soon stops people from drinking.

If a man asks the popular cigar-vendor “Which are the best?” he intimates that he isn’t paid to choose cigars for people, or relieves his mind of some similar incivility. Prosperity is the surest breeder of insolence I know of [Schmidt].

April 6 Saturday – The Keokuk Gate City gave Sam a friendly welcome.

 

His are not the worn-out jests, and hackneyed phrases…he is fresh and vigorous, full of life and spirit….Years ago, before the war, Mark Twain…was one of the cleverest and most popular “printer boys” in Keokuk. He returns to us now, a famous man, and proverbs or scripture to the contrary, we trust that our citizens will honor him with a rousing house….[Lorch 57].

 

April 7 Sunday – Sam’s article “Female Suffrage” ran in the New York Mercury [Budd, “Collected” 1007].

 

April 8 Monday – Sam lectured at the Chatham Square Methodist Episcopal Church in Keokuk, Iowa to about 140 persons – “Sandwich Islands” [MTL 2: 20].

 

April 9 Tuesday – From the Keokuk Constitution:

 

It has been many a day since our ribs were tickled so much as at listening to Sam Clemens’ lecture last evening upon the Sandwich Islands….Those of our citizens who did not hear the lecture missed one of the richest treats of their lives [Lorch 57-8].

 

Sam lectured – “Sandwich Islands” – at the National Hall, Quincy, Illinois, where Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) had spoken in February. Lorch points out, “relatives of the family were living there in 1867 who may have arranged an invitation” [57].

 

Alta California printed Sam’s article “GRAND EUROPEAN PLEASURE TRIP,” dated Mar. 2 [Schmidt]. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” Number XI [bibliog.].

 

In his letter to the Alta, which ran May 26, Sam mentioned staying in Quincy with General James W. Singleton (1811-1892) .

But Quincy is a wonderful place. It has always thrived—sometimes slowly and steadily, sometimes with a rush—but always making an unquestionable progress. It claims a population of 25,000 now, and it looks as if the claim were well founded. It is the second city of Illinois, in population, business, activity and enterprise, and high promise for the future. I have small faith in their project of bridging the Mississippi, but they ought to know their own business.

I spent a night at General Singleton’s—one of the farmer princes of Illinois—he lives two miles from Quincy, in a very large and elegantly furnished house, and does an immense farming business and is very wealthy. He lights his house with gas made on the premises—made from the refuse of petroleum, by pressure. The apparatus could be stowed in a bath-room very conveniently. All you have to do is to pour a gallon or two of the petroleum into a brass cylinder and give a crank a couple of turns and the business is done for the next two days. He uses seventy burners in his house, and his gas bills are only a dollar and a quarter a week. I don’t take any interest in prize bulls, astonishing jackasses and prodigious crops, but I took a strong fancy to that gas apparatus [Schmidt].

On this same day, a letter from Sam concerning his lecture ran in the to the Quincy Herald. The letter was preceded by another from one “John Smith” (imaginary), asking him to lecture in Quincy. Sam’s reply: [ page 248 ]

John Smith, Esq.—Dear Sir: It gratifies me, more than tongue can express, to receive this kind attention at your hand, and I hasten to reply to your flattering note. I am filled with astonishment to find you here, John Smith. I am astonished, because I thought you were in San Francisco. I am almost certain I left you there. I am almost certain it was you, and I know if it was not you, it was a man whose name is familiar.

I am surprised to find you here, John Smith. And yet I ought not to be, either, because I found you in New York, most unexpectedly; and I stumbled on you in Boston; and was amazed to discover you in New Orleans; and thunder-struck to run across you in St. Louis. You must certainly be of a sort of roving disposition, John Smith. You certainly are, John, and you know that a rolling stone gathers no moss. And a rolling Smith never gathers any moss. There is no real use in anybody’s gathering moss, John, because it isn’t worth any more in the market than sawdust is, and hardly even as much—but then, if we want to get along pleasantly with the world, we must respect the world’s little whims and caprices; and you know that the world has a foolish prejudice in favor of a man’s gathering moss. So you had better locate, John, and go to gathering some. It is no credit to you, anyhow, John Smith, that you are always sure to turn up wherever a man goes. It may be—no, it cannot be possible—that there are two John Smiths. The idea is absurd.

…

Come to National Hall Tuesday night, 9th inst., John, and bring some of your relations. I would say bring all of them, John, and say it with all my heart, too, but the hall covers only one acre of ground, and your Smith family is a large one, John [The Twainian, May 1939 p2-3; Lorch 58-9].

 

April 11 Thursday – Sam wrote from St. Louis to Howard Tucker, treasurer of the Keokuk Library Association, which sponsored Sam’s lecture, confirming receipt of $35 as his fee [MTL 2: 20].

 

Sam also wrote to a fellow passenger on the Ajax from his Hawaii trip, Alice J. Hyde (1844?-1878). Alice was a single woman; Sam had promised her a silver sword leaf (a plant growing only in altitude in Hawaii) upon climbing Haleakala.

 

Packing my trunk to-night (for I leave to-morrow for New York, &, I suppose, for Europe a month later,) I came across the old swords, & hasten to send them, begging at the same time that you will excuse my characteristic negligence. I had to send them—I wouldn’t consider the Island trip complete with so chivalrous a promise, so knightly a deed as the disarming of a crater many times larger than myself & the laying of his weapons at the feet of a lady, unaccomplished. How’s that? I think I’ll put that in my lecture [MTL 2: 21].

 

The third of five letters from Hawaii, reprints of five early Sacramento Union letters with “a few minor omissions” ran in the New York Weekly. Dated Honolulu, March, 1866 and beginning “We came in sight of two of this group of islands, Oahu and Molokai…” this article had no omissions [The Twainian, Mar. 1944 p2-3]. Note: These letters are notable for their promotional value to Sam’s upcoming lecture.

 

April 12 Friday – Before leaving the city, Sam petitioned the Polar Star Masonic Lodge Number Seventy-nine of St. Louis for readmission. He was duly reinstated on April 21, 1867, by which time he was in New York [Jones 365].

 

Sam left St. Louis for New York “in an express train…a distance of nearly twelve hundred miles by the route I came” [MTL 2: 23n1].

 

April 13 Saturday – The New York Eagle announced that Henry Ward Beecher would not go on the Quaker City excursion. Forty of his parishioners then decided not to go. General Sherman also would bail out, citing Indian wars [MTL 2: 25n3; MTNJ 1: 303].

 

April 14 Sunday – Sam arrived back in New York.

 [ page 249 ]

April 15 Monday – Sam wrote from New York to Jane Clemens, his mother and family in St. Louis. Sam discovered he didn’t have to rush back to New York because an agent for the Alta had been there and took care of the passage for Sam by this deadline date. He wrote his mother to send letters to the Metropolitan Hotel. He also had seen the steamer Quaker City: “She is a right stately-looking vessel” [MTL 2: 23].

 

John J. Murphy,  New York business agent for the California Alta wrote

 

New York em spaceDear Sir

I have the honor to inform you that Fredk MacCrellish & Co. Proprietors of “Alta California” San Francisco Cal. desires to engage your services as special correspondent on the pleasure excursion now about to proceed from this City to the Holy Land. In obedience to their instructions I have secured a passage for you on the vessel about to convey the excursion party referred to and made such arrangements as I hope will secure your comfort and convenience. Your only instructions are that you will continue to write at such times and from such places as you deem proper and in the same style that heretofore secured you the favor of the readers of the Alta California. I have the honor to remain with high respect and esteem / your obdt Servant [MTP].

 

April 19 Friday – Sam wrote from New York to Jane Clemens, his mother and family in St. Louis.

 

Direct my letters to this hotel [Westminster] in future. I am just fixed, now. It is the gem of all hotels. I have never come across one so perfectly elegant in all its appointments & so sumptuously & tastefully furnished. Full of “bloated aristocrats” too, & I’m just one of them kind myself—& so is Beck Jolly. The book will issue the 25. James Russell Lowell [1819-1891] says the Jumping Frog is the finest piece of humorous writing ever produced in America [MTL 2: 27-28].

 

April 19–22 Monday – Sam walked into Frank Fuller’s office at 57 Broadway and sought his help to hire the largest hall possible for a lecture. Fuller offered to help, and devised means of advertising; called up a meeting of all Pacific Coast persons in town at the Metropolitan Hotel, and became Sam’s instant promoter. Since Sam wrote nothing of the effort in his Apr. 19 letter home, and the newspapers began announcing the upcoming lecture at Cooper Institute on Apr. 23, the meeting with Fuller and the gathering at the Metropolitan Hotel must have occurred during this period [Lorch 61-2]. (See Sam’s 1906 recollection of Fuller and the Cooper Institute lecture, MTA 2: 351-7; also AMT 2: 38-41).

 

April 21 Sunday – The Polar Star Masonic Lodge Number Seventy-nine of St. Louis duly reinstated Sam to their order [Jones 365]. Sam’s article “Official Physic” ran in the New York Mercury [Camfield bibliog.].

 

April 22 Monday – Sam wrote a humorous response to Malcom Townsend (b.1847), an autograph seeker, starting “of long habit” to write an I.O.U. [MTL 2: 28]. See source note 1 for more on Townsend.

 

James Warren Nye  wrote from Wash. DC to Sam, pleased to hear that Twain would repeat his lecture on the Sandwich Islands in NYC. Nye had been at the SF performance. “A larger or more intelligent audience than was present on that occasion I have rarely seen” He hoped it would be so rec’d in NYC [MTP].

 

April 23 Tuesday – Sam wrote from New York to Charles Warren Stoddard (1843-1909), a California poet he’d met in San Francisco in 1864 or 5 while both were writing for the Californian. Stoddard had written Sam announcing a book of poetry to be published [MTL 2: 29-30&n1]. New York papers started announcing Sam’s upcoming debut lecture in the City—Great Hall of the Peter Cooper Institute at Astor Place. The hall seated 2,000 [Powers, MT A Life 189].

 

April 27 Saturday – Sam wrote from New York to Charles Warren Stoddard, returning his autograph book and discussing poetry [MTL 2: 35-8]. [ page 250 ]

 

April 29 Monday – Sam’s Jumping Frog book sold out of its first printing by this date. Charles Webb never disclosed the sell-outs and sales figures to Sam and never paid royalties even though the book was in print through 1870 [Slotta 20]. (See Dec. 22, 1870 entry. Also A.D. notes AMT 2: 487 showing 4,076 books printed.)

 

April 30 or May 1 Wednesday – After several delays, Webb published The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Sketches [Hirst, “A Note on the Text,” Oxford edition 1996].

 

May – Sam spent weeks in New York, catching up on his letters to the Alta California. He gathered information from a variety of sources on subjects of interest to Alta readers. He compiled information on the popularity of California wines in the East, on New York weather, on the better hotels. He visited the Blind Asylum, the Midnight Mission, which tried to help prostitutes, the Five Points slums, and the Bible House. At the Bible House Sam introduced himself to Herman Dyer, doctor of divinity, and told him about the good work and influence that Rev. Franklin S. Rising had gained in Nevada for the miners and settlers there [Dyer 315]. Rising had been with Sam on the Smyrniote, returning from Hawaii in 1866, and is mentioned in Sam’s diary (see July 29, 1866). Rising died in Dec. 1868 in a collision of the steamers America and United States on the Ohio River [MTL 1: 354n3].

 

See May 20 for Sam’s letter to the Alta California about his visit to the Bible House.

 

Sam saw the famous horse “Dexter” race. He spent an evening at Harry Hill’s Club House with bawdy skits and music and a good bar. He toured museums and art galleries. One painting by an “old master” Sam said he could not admire, even though he knew he was supposed to. “I am glad the old masters are all dead, and I only wish they had died sooner.” Sam noted that the body of Artemus Ward had arrived from London, on the way to burial in Waterford, Maine. Sam went to see the San Francisco Minstrels several times.

 

May 1 Wednesday – Fuller and Sam had taken Cooper Institute’s hall at a $500 expense before they discovered the many competing attractions: Schuyler Colfax (1823-1885) speaking at Irving Hall; Adelaide Ristori (1822-1906), famous singer, at the French Theatre; Thomas Maguire’s “Imperial Troupe of Japanese Jugglers” at the New York Academy of Music; and “The Black Crook,” an act Lorch calls “the most daring girlie show of the time,” at Niblo’s Garden [Lorch 63].

 

Sam wrote from New York to his mother, Jane Clemens, and family in St. Louis, expressing worry. He told of his hiring the Cooper at a $500 expense, his worry for the outcome, the conflict with other attractions:

 

“…everything looks shady, at least, if not dark….I have taken the largest house in New York, and cannot back water. Let her slide! If nobody else cares I don’t” [MTL 2: 38].

 

Sam inscribed a copy of the Jumping Frog: “To My Mother—the dearest Friend I even had, & the truest. Mark Twain. New York, May 1, 1867” [MTL 2: 38-9n1-2].

 

Sam also wrote Bret Harte:

 

The book [Jumping Frog] is out, & is handsome. It is full of damnable errors of grammar & deadly inconsistencies of spelling…I was away & did not read the proofs—but be a friend and say nothing of these things. When my hurry is over I will send you an autograph copy to pisen the children with….I am to lecture in Cooper Institute next Monday night. Pray for me. We sail for the Holy Land June 8. Try & write me (to this hotel,) & it will be forwarded to Paris, where we remain 10 to 15 days [MTL 2: 39].

 [ page 251 ]

Due to pre-publication editions of the Jumping Frog, reviews appeared on May 1:

 

In full: Mr. C.H. Webb has celebrated his debut as publisher by bestowing upon a community long rested from loud laughs, a book calculated to promote healthy good humor in the system. Mark Twain’s book of California stories, The Jumping Frog and Other Sketches—is a work that will make all its readers merry. Mark Twain never resorts to tricks of spelling nor rhetorical buffoonery for the purpose of provoking a laugh; the vein of his humor runs too high and deep to make surface-gilding necessary.—But there are few who can resist the quaint smiles, keen satire, and hard good sense which form the staple of his writings (“Literacy” in the New York Evening Express, p2) [Budd, Reviews 25].

 

There is a great deal of quaint humor and much pithy wisdom in his writings, and their own merit, as well as the attractive style in which they are produced, must secure them a popularity which will bring its own profit… (“New Publications” in the New York Times, p2) [Budd, Reviews 25].

 

May 2 Thursday – The second printing of Jumping Frog sold out [Slotta 20]. Over the next few days a third and fourth printings also sold out, but this information was never given to Sam. (See Dec.22, 1870 entry. Also A.D. notes AMT 2: 487 showing 4,076 books printed.)

 

May 4 Saturday – Positive reviews of The Jumping Frog continued. From the Boston Evening Transcript, p.1:

 

As a humorist the author of these sketches has acquired a wide newspaper reputation, not only for his drollery, but for his sagacity of observation, his keep perception of character, and the individuality of his style and tone of thinking (“New Publications” in the Boston Evening Transcript, p1) [Budd, Reviews 25].

 

The New York Citizen agreed, adding:

 

Mark Twain is a genuine humorist….He imitates no one, but is humor is thoroughly and entirely his own (“The Citizen’s Book Table” in the New York Citizen, p4) [Budd, Reviews 26].

 

May 5 Sunday – From the New York Dispatch:

 

Of the great army of humorists, we have always placed Mark Twain at the head, and it is, we believe, universally concluded that his quiet wit, forcible hits and unwavering pleasantry, combined with a certain gravity of expression peculiar to himself, are points not to be found in other funny writers of his day, and are as admirable as they are scarce (“New Publications” in the New York Dispatch, p7) [Budd, Reviews 26].

 

May 6 Monday – Upon his return to New York, Sam had been presented with an invitation (a “call”) by 200 Californians living in New York to give his Sandwich Islands lecture. Frank Fuller, a Comstock mining pal of Sam’s and later governor of Utah for a day, headed the California committee. Sam and Fuller set this as the date of the lecture and hired Cooper Institute’s Hall, one of the largest in the city. Nevada Senator and former Territorial Governor James Warren Nye was to introduce Sam. Sam and Fuller waited at the Westminster Hotel, but Nye did not show, later claiming the reason was that Sam was “secesh,” even though Fuller had gone to Washington and secured Nye’s agreement. Lorch points out that Nye’s betrayal afforded Sam a “true blessing. It taught him that self-introductions had special advantages, especially for a humorous lecture” [65].

 

Nevertheless, the standing-room only New York lecture was a great success. Many were turned away for want of space. Sam’s worries had been for naught. “Make your mark in New York, and you are a made man” [Sanborn 228-30; MTL 2: 40]. Sam was a made man. (See May 11 Tribune review.) Note: Paine claims Fuller had given out enough complimentary tickets to schoolteachers to fill the house [MTB 315-17].

 [ page 252 ]

May 7 Tuesday –The New York newspapers were complimentary, if brief, about Sam’s May 6 lecture at the Cooper Institute. Lorch says “The most extensive and perceptive” review was by Edward H. House of the New York Tribune [66]. Fatout says there were “ten lines in the Sun, twenty in the Herald, thirty-eight in the Times, a quarter of a column in the World” [Circuit 80]. Sam met “Ned” House shortly after arriving in New York; It was House who had accompanied Sam to sign up for the Quaker City excursion.

 

May 8 Wednesday – Charles Webb published a special railway edition of Jumping Frog with paper wrappers. It was only available at railway stations in New York City and was quickly discontinued [Slotta 20]. (See Dec.22, 1870 entry; Also A.D. notes AMT 2: 487 showing 4,076 books printed.)

 

May 10 Friday – Sam repeated his successful “Sandwich Islands” lecture at the Athenæum in Brooklyn [MTL 2: 40]. From the Brooklyn Eagle of May 11:

 

It would be manifestly unfair to report this most acceptable lecture, and no type could do justice to the cool, self-possession of the lecturer. His style is quaint and taking, and commends itself to an audience before they are aware of it, and is entirely original….In California Mr. Twain is well known, and draws like a poultice, but among us he is a stranger. Notwithstanding this he will soon win his way to public favor, as show by the very flattering reception given him in New York at the Cooper Institute and last evening at the Athenaeum. [Note: this review likely written by John Stanton (Corry O’Lanus).]

 

May 11 Saturday – John Stanton (Corry O’Lanus) (1826-1871) was a reporter for the Brooklyn Eagle, and likely the reviewer of Sam’s May 10 lecture at the Brooklyn Athenaeum. Shortly thereafter, Sam inscribed (no date written) a copy of The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches: “To Cory [sic] O’Lanus, the compt’s of Mark Twain” [Sotheby’s Apr. 4, 2004 auction, Lot 18]. 

 

May 11 Saturday ca. – Sam spent a night in jail, having got in between two men fighting on the street. The police hauled everyone in [Sanborn 331-3].

 

I was on my way home with a friend a week ago—it was about midnight—when we came upon two men who were fighting. We interfered like a couple of idiots, and tried to separate them, and a brace of policemen came up and took us all off to the Station House. We offered the officers two or three prices to let us go, (policemen generally charge $5 in assault and battery cases, and $25 for murder in the first degree, I believe,) but there were too many witnesses present, and they actually refused.

They put us in separate cells, and I enjoyed the thing considerably for an hour or so, looking through the bars at the dilapidated old hags, and battered and ragged bummers, sorrowing and swearing in the stone-paved halls, but it got rather tiresome after a while. I fell asleep on my stone bench at 3 o’clock, and was called at dawn and marched to the Police Court with a vile policeman at each elbow, just as if I had been robbing a church, or saying a complimentary word about the police, or doing some other supernaturally mean thing [Schmidt; from a letter to the Alta datelined May 18 and printed June 23].

May 11 Saturday – From the New York Tribune’s review of Sam’s May 6 New York lecture by: Edward H. House: 

 

Mark Twain as a Lecturer

About a year and a half ago, a communication entitled “Joe Smiley and his Jumping Frog,” with the hitherto unknown signature of “Mark Twain,” appeared in The Saturday Press of this city. The name, though new, was not remarkable, but the style of the letter was so singularly fresh, original, and full of character as to attract prompt and universal attention among the readers of light humorous literature. Mark Twain was immediately entered as a candidate for high position among writers of his class, and passages from his first contribution to the metropolitan press became proverbs in the mouths of his admirers. No reputation was ever more rapidly won. The only doubt appeared to be whether he could satisfactorily sustain it. Subsequent productions, however—most of them reproduced from California periodicals—confirmed the good opinion so suddenly vouchsafed him, and abundantly vindicated the applause with which his first essay had been received. In his [ page 253 ] case, as in that of many other American humorous writers, it was only the first step that cost. Since that time he has walked easily—let us hope not too easily—over his special course.

His writings being comparatively new to the public, and his position having been so recently established, it might perhaps, have been doubted whether his name would at present be sufficient to attract an audience of any magnitude to witness his debut as a lecturer. But the proof of the general good-will in which he is already held was manifested last Monday evening by his brilliant reception at the Cooper Institute. The hall was crowded beyond all expectation. Not a seat was vacant, and all the aisles were filled with attentive listeners. The chance offering of “The Jumping Frog,” carelessly cast, eighteen months ago, upon the Atlantic waters, returned to him in the most agreeable form which a young aspirant for popular fame could desire. The wind that was sowed with probably very little calculation as to its effect upon its future prospects, now enables him to reap quite a respectable tempest of encouragement and cordiality. His greeting was such as to inspire the utmost ease and confidence, and it is pleasant to add that his performance in every way justified the favor bestowed upon him. No other lecturer, of course excepting Artemus Ward, has so thoroughly succeeded in exciting the mirthful curiosity, and compelling the laughter of his hearers [Railton].

The Sandwich Islands lecture review and a “Letter from Twain’s Publisher” by Charles Webb which ran in the Brooklyn Eagle, reflect that Sam was not yet well known in the east. The newspaper had posted a publication notice a few days before for the Jumping Frog book and mistakenly identified Webb as the author. Here is Webb’s correction, which ran on page 3 under the review of Sam’s lecture:

 

While thanking you for this kind notice which appeared in a recent EAGLE, in connection with that lively book, “the Jumping Frog,” permit me to correct an error into which you were betrayed. I am not TWAIN. We twain, so to speak, are not one flesh! The real name of that gentleman is Samuel L. Clemens. But I am the “Mr. Paul” to whom reference was made as the editor of the book, “John Paul” being the nom de plume over which I contributed to the Sacramento Union. With the trifling exception that I am not the man you supposed me to be, the notice referred to is quite correct. Very truly, C.H. Webb.

 

May 13 Monday – Alta California printed Sam’s article “HAPPY,” dated Mar. 15 [Schmidt]. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” Number XII [bibliog.].

 

May 14 Tuesday – Sam wrote to John Stanton (Corry O’Lanus) city editor of the Eagle, asking if “a brother member of the press” might introduce him at his fourth lecture, which was later canceled [MTL 2: 44].

 

May 15 Wednesday – Sam repeated his successful “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Irving Hall in New York. He planned a fourth New York lecture in Brooklyn at the Academy of Music but canceled [MTL 2: 40]. Note: Several authorities have misdated this lecture as May 16. The New York Times, May 14 & 15 ads, p.7, confirms 15th. Lorch points out the “enormous” importance of these three New York area lectures—they provided him with added celebrity for the Holy Land excursion, but most of all “his fear of the greater sophistication of eastern audiences greatly diminished” [67].

 

By this time Thomas Nast (1840-1902) had become a Mark Twain fan.

 

May 16 Thursday – Sam spotted the ex-leader of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis.

IT WAS just a lucky circumstance that I happened to be out late night before last, else I might never have been permitted to see the chief of the late Confederacy in life. I was standing in front of the New York Hotel at midnight, or thereabouts, talking with a clerk of the establishment, when the Davis party arrived, and I got a tolerably good look at the man who has been raising such a dust in this country for years. He is tall and spare—that was all I could make of him—and then he disappeared. [ page 254 ]

There was no crowd around, no torchlight processions, no music, no welcoming cannon—and better than all, no infuriated mob, thirsting for blood and vengeance. The man whose arrival in New York a year or two ago would have set the city wild with excitement from its centre to its circumference, had ceased to rank as a sensation, and went to his hotel as unheralded and unobserved as any country merchant from the far West. He was a fallen Chief, he was an extinguished sun—we all know that—and yet it seemed strange that even an unsuccessful man, with such a limitless celebrity, could drop in our midst in that way, and go out as meekly as a farthing candle [Schmidt – Letter to the Alta datelined May 17, published June 16; date of incident given as “the night after his Irving Hall talk” by Powers, MT A Life 193].

Rasmussen gives May 15 of Sam seeing Jefferson Davis [106].

 

May 19 Sunday – Alta California printed Sam’s article “AT HOME AGAIN,” dated Mar. 25 [Schmidt]. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” Number XIII [bibliog.].

 

May 20 Monday – Sam wrote John Stanton (Corry O’Lanus) again, this time advising him of the canceled New York lecture:

 

“I am one magazine article & eighteen letters behindhand (18 days to do them in, before sailing,) & so I am obliged to give up the idea of lecturing any more. Confound me if I won’t have a hard time catching up anyhow. I shall stick in the house day & night for 2 weeks & try, though, anyhow” [MTL 2: 45].

 

Sam also responded in writing to Henry M. Crane (1838-1927) of Rondout (now Kingston, N.Y.), that due to his need to finish the Alta letters, he could not accept Crane’s invitation to lecture there [MTL 2: 47-8].

 

A third letter this date was to Sam’s mother and family. In that short note, Sam bemoaned his eighteen Alta letters due, refusal of all lecture invitations and the poor sales of his Jumping Frog book, though another 552 copies of the book were bound this day [MTL 2: 48-9; Powers, MT a Life 190].

 

Sam wrote about his visit to the Bible House in NYC. Printed in the Alta California.

 

MIXED UP SLIGHTLY.—Here is a little article from the pen of Mark Twain, giving an account of a visit while in New York, to the great Bible House :

 

“Still on the fifth floor is a huge room with nineteen large Adams’ steam presses, all manned by women (four of them confounded pretty, too,) snatching of Bibles in Dutch, Hebrew, Yam-yam, Cherokee, etc., at a rate that was truly fructifying to contemplate. (I don’t know the meaning of that word, but I see it used somewhere yesterday, and it struck me as being an unusually good word. Any time that I put in a word that doesn’t balance the sentence good, I would be glad if you would take it out and put in that one.) Adjoining was another huge room for drying the sheets (very pretty girls in there, and young,) and pressing them (the sheets, not the girls.) They used hydraulic presses, (three of the prettiest wore curls, and never a sign of a waterfall—the girls I mean), and each of them is able to down with the almost incredible weight of eight hundred tons of solid simonpure pressure (the hydraulics I am referring to, now, of course,) and one has got blue eyes and both the others brown; ah me! I have got this hydraulic business tangled a little, but I can swear that it is no fault of mine. You needn’t go to blame me about it. You have got to pay just the same as if it were as straight as a shingle. I can’t afford to go in dangerous places, and then my wages docked in the bargain” [Alta California; Note: reprinted in the May 22, 1868 edition of The Oregonian].

 

May 23 Thursday – The fourth of five letters from Hawaii, reprints of five early Sacramento Union letters with “a few minor omissions” ran in the New York Weekly. Dated Honolulu, March, 1866 and beginning “I did not expect to find as comfortable hotel as the American…” this article omitted “the particulars that a lady passenger from San Francisco had purchased a half interest in the American Hotel and that Mr. Laller, an American, runs a restaurant in Honolulu” [The Twainian, Mar. 1944 p2-3].  [ page 255 ]

 

May 26 Sunday – Alta California printed Sam’s article “NOTABLE THINGS IN ST.LOUIS,” dated Apr. 16 [Schmidt], mentioned his April visit to Quincy, Illinois and his stay with General James W. Singleton. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” No. 14 [bibliog.]. “Singleton, who had lived on his stock farm near Quincy since 1854 and was noted for his hospitality. As Brigadier-General in the Illinois State Militia, he had played an active part in the Mormon riots during the early forties; tradition relates that he arrested Brigham Young and kept him sawing wood all night. When Mark Twain visited him, Singleton was practicing law; ten years later he was elected to Congress from Illinois” [MTTMB 289].

 

May 28 Tuesday – Sam reported to the Alta and criticized the dry goods multimillionaire’s home (Alexander T. Stewart) saying that it looked “like a mausoleum”: “Verily it is one thing to have cash and another to know how to spend it” [MTL 1: 6-9n11]. Fresh in New York back in 1853 (“I was a pure and sinless sprout”), Sam had been impressed by Stewart’s “Marble Palace,” an ostentatious dry-good store, but now Sam was older and wiser and saw that all that glittered was not in good taste. He extolled the virtues of Daniel Slote (1828?-1882) as his cabin-mate to be: [Slote] “has got many shirts, and a History of the Holy Land, a cribbage-board and three thousand cigars. I will not have to carry any baggage at all” [MTL 3: 177n3].

 

Note: Sometime in late May Sam met Daniel Slote, a bachelor older than Sam and soon to be a fellow passenger on the Quaker City. Sam visited Dan’s home during the end of May, where Dan’s mother, a widow, lived with Dan and his two single adult sisters.

 

June – William Morris Stewart (1827-1909) wrote to Sam sometime during the month offering Clemens a secretaryship at Washington. See Aug. 9 for Sam’s reply [MTP].

 

June 1 Saturday – Sam wrote from New York to his mother and family in St. Louis, irritated about the wait, and uncertain if the Quaker City would even sail. He was no doubt down about the withdrawal of General Sherman and Henry Ward Beecher, and pressed to finish his writing duties

 

All I do know or feel, is, that I am wild with impatience to move—move—Move! …Curse the endless delays! They always kill me—make me neglect every duty & then I have a conscience that tears me like a wild beast. I wish I never had to stop anywhere a month.” Sam had scouted some of the passengers and looked forward to the company of one, Daniel Slote: “I have got a splendid, immoral, tobacco-smoking, wine-drinking, godless room-mate who is as good & true & right-minded as man as ever lived—a man whose blameless conduct & example will always be an eloquent sermon to all who shall come within their influence. But send on the professional preachers—there are none I like better to converse with—if they ain’t narrow minded & bigoted they make good companions.

 

Sam closed by saying he had not made arrangements for letters with any other New York papers but he would see about doing so “Monday or Tuesday” [MTL 2: 50].

 

Sam started a letter (finished June 8) before the steamer left port to Frank Fuller, asking him to “take charge of my affairs while I am gone to Europe,” which included collecting monies from Webb for sales of his Jumping Frog book and forwarding the amounts to his mother [MTL 2: 53, 62].

 

June 2 Sunday – Alta California printed Sam’s article “THE MORMONS,” which Sam had dated April 19 [Schmidt]. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” No. 15 [bibliog.].

 

June 3 or 4 Tuesday – Sam agreed to write letters during the trip for the New York Tribune and the New York Herald, at the rates of $40 to $50 dollars per column of type. He eventually published six letters in the Tribune and four in the Herald [MTL 2: 55n3]. Note: Sam may have hated the duty of writing his [ page 256 ] correspondent letters, but he didn’t shirk from loading his plate with more duty. This was due to an overabundance of affection for money, preferably not in greenbacks.

 

June 5 Wednesday – Sam wrote to the Alta his impressions of New York, so different they were from those of his first visit in 1853: “I have at last, after several months’ experience, made up my mind that it is a splendid desert—a domed and steepled solitude, where the stranger is lonely in the midst of a million of his race” [MTNJ 1: 301]. Note: the letter was printed in the Alta on August 11.

 

June 6 Thursday – The get-together at the Moses Beach house in Brooklyn (Beach was neighbor to Henry Ward Beecher there) came off as planned (See Sam’s June 1 letter to his mother). The New York Sun reported that 70 guests, passengers awaiting departure on the Quaker City, enjoyed an “excellent repast,” and that “Mark Twain …enlivened the company with ebul[l]itions of wit” [MTL 2: 51n2].

 

In Mark Twain to Mrs. Fairbanks, p. xi, Wecter writes:

On the evening of June 7, 1867, some sixty persons, largely unknown to each other, gathered at 66 Columbia Street, Brooklyn, home of Moses S. Beach, proprietor of the New York Sun. Including the host and his young daughter Emma, they composed the passenger list of the steamship “Quaker City,” scheduled to sail next day for a tour of the Mediterranean and the Holy Land. In the midst of their decorous festivities, a thin man with hawklike nose and curly carrotty hair shuffled forward with an air of melancholy diffidence and drawled, “Captain Duncan desires me to say that passengers for the ‘Quaker City’ must be on board tomorrow before the tide goes out. What the tide has to do with us or we with the tide is more than I know, but that is what the captain says” [Note: editorial emphasis].

 

June 7 Friday – Sam wrote from New York to “my oldest friend,” Will Bowen in Hannibal.

 

“We leave tomorrow at 3:00 P.M. Everything is ready but my trunks. I will pack them first thing in the morning. We have got a crowd of tiptop people, & shall have a jolly, sociable, homelike trip of it for the next five or six months” [MTL 2: 54].

 

On this same day Sam wrote to his mother and family in St. Louis. This letter contains evidence that Sam visited Dan Slote’s house before leaving New York. Sam teased his mother:

 

I haven’t got anything to write, else I would write it. I have just written myself clear out in letters to the Alta, & I think they are the stupidest letters that were ever written from New York.

…

An importing house sent me two cases of exquisite champaign aboard the ship for me to-day—Veuve Cliquot & Lac d’Or. I & my room-mate have set apart every Saturday as a solemn fast-day, wherein we will entertain no light matters or frivolous conversation, but only get drunk….(that is a joke) [MTL 2: 57].

 

Sam expressed wishes that Orion could go with him on the trip,

 

“For I believe with so many months of freedom from business cares he could not help but be cheerful & jolly”[MTL 2: 57].

 

Sam also wrote to Frank Fuller. This note should be compared with June 1 and 8 of 1867 to Fuller. In full:

 

“Frank Fuller Esq / You are hereby authorized to collect all moneys to me from the publication of my book, ‘The Jumping Frog,’ & receipt for the same. Particulars will be found in my former note. / My mothers address is 1312 Chestnut street, St Louis / Yrs Truly, / Mark Twain” [MTP].

 [ page 257 ]

Powers: “After finishing these letters, Sam Clemens left his hotel room for a night of Washoe-style dining and drinking with friends and newspaper editors—a nine-hour bender” [MT A Life 196].

 

June 8 Saturday – Quaker City left New York at 2 PM for excursion to the Holy Land, the first organized pleasure party ever assembled for a transatlantic voyage. The ship carried only 65 passengers, way short of the 110 limit. Few were from Plymouth Church. Due to rough seas the ship got only as far as Gravesend Bay, off Brooklyn. The captain elected to drop anchor and wait out the storm for two days. Sam finished a letter (started June 1) before the steamer left port to Frank Fuller, asking him to “take charge of my affairs while I am gone to Europe,” which included collecting monies from Webb for sales of his Jumping Frog book and forwarding the amounts to his mother [MTL 2: 53, p62].

 

In a letter written at 2 AM on June 9 to John McComb, part owner of the Alta, Sam related this last day in New York: He went to dinner at 3 PM with Charles Graham Halpine (Miles O’Riley) (1829-1868) and John Russell Young (1840-1899) managing editor of the Tribune. He drank wine, then dined from 6 to 9 P.M. at John Murphy’s,

 

…drank several breeds of wine there, naturally enough; dine again from 9 till 12 at Mr. Slote’s, (my shipmate’s), whom the same God made that made Jno Murphy—& mind you I say that such men as they are, are almighty scarce—you can shut your eyes & go forth at random in a strange land & pick out a son of a bitch a great deal easier; —drank much wine there, too….Now I feel good—I feel d—d good & I could write a good correspondence—can, anyway, as soon as I get out of this most dismal town. You’ll see. Got an offer today for 3-months course of lectures next winter—$100 a night & no bother & no expense. How’s that? [MTL 2: 60-61].

 

Note: It seems like every place Sam tired of and left was “dismal,” in great contrast to the praise he made upon first discovery. Sam was searching for something, for his true self, for something lasting. He would return a different man, closer to finding himself.

 

June 9 Sunday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

      Sunday Morning—June 9—Still lying at anchor in N.Y. harbor—rained all night & all morning like the devil—some sea on—lady had to leave church in the cabin—sea-sick.

      Rev. Mr. Bullard preached from II Cor. 7 & 8th verses about something.

      Everybody ranged up & down sides of upper after cabin—Capt Duncan’s little son played the organ—

      Tableau–in the midst of sermon Capt. Duncan rushed madly out with one of those d—d dogs but didn’t throw him overboard [MTNJ 1: 331-32].

 

June 10 Monday – The Quaker City finally put out to sea at 12:30 PM. A lot of the passengers were seasick. “We all like to see people seasick when we are not, ourselves” [IA, Ch 3].

 

For the most part, Sam thought the passengers were staid stuffed shirts. “I was on excellent terms with eight or nine of the excursionists,” Sam wrote later in Innocents Abroad, “(they are my staunch friends yet) and was even on speaking terms with the rest of the sixty-five.”

 

Among these favorites were, Charles Jervis Langdon (1849-1916), John A. (Jack) Van Nostrand (1847?-1879), Julius Moulton (1843?-1916), Dr. Abraham Reeves Jackson (1827-1892), Solon Long Severance (1834-1915), Emily Charity Severance (1840-1921), Mary Mason Fairbanks (1828-1898) [MTL 2: 63-5]. Of these, Sam made two good and lasting friends—“godless” Dan Slote, and Mary Mason Fairbanks, soon to be called “Mother Fairbanks” by Sam (even though she was only seven years older) and her other “cubs” aboard ship. Mary was anything but godless, and was the wife of the Cleveland Herald’s editor, Abel W. Fairbanks (1817-1894). Mary saw the talent in Sam and took it upon herself to help shape him and his career. Sam remained devoted to her throughout her lifetime. Dan Slote would [ page 258 ] later be put in charge of Sam’s only profitable invention, “The Mark Twain Scrap Book.” The most important contact for his future was Charles Langdon, who Sam did not think much of at first. Langdon’s sister Olivia Louise Langdon “Livy” (1845-1904) would become Mrs. Samuel Clemens. Note: See MTL 2:385-7 for a full list of passengers and crew. The Itinerary of the Quaker City is cited from [MTL 2: 392-7 unless otherwise noted].

 

 Alta California printed Sam’s article “CRUELTY TO ANIMALS,” which Sam had dated April 30 [Schmidt]. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” No. 16 [bibliog.].

 

June 11 Tuesday – Captain Charles Duncan recorded the noon hailing of the Emerald Isle, which, according to the NY Times, left Liverpool on May 12 [MTNJ 1: 333n76]. Note: after several days at sea without seeing a soul, this would have been cause for interest among the passengers.

 

June 13 Thursday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

—On board Steamer Quaker City at sea, 12 M—lat.40, long 62—560 miles from New York, ¼ of the way to the Azores—just 3 days out—in last 24 hours made 205 miles. Will make more in next 24, because the wind is fair & we are under sail & steam both, & are burning 30 tons of coal a day & fast lightening up the ship [MTNJ 1: 335].

 

June 14 Friday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

“Shipped a sea through the open dead-light that damaged cigars, books, &c—comes of being careless when room is on weather side of the ship….Mrs. C.C. Duncan’s 46 birth-day festival in the after-cabin” [Ibid.]

 

Emily Severance recorded most of what Sam said at the festivities:

 

This is Mrs. Duncan’s birthday. I make this statement to gain time. You have spoken of her youthful appearance, but I think she is old. Our life is not counted by years, but by what has been seen and accomplished. Methuselah was but a child when he died, though nine hundred and sixty-nine years old. The world did not improve any while he lived,—he tended his flocks just as his fathers did, and they none of them knew enough to make an iron fence. Mrs. Duncan has lived to see great improvements… [MTNJ 1: 335-6n79]. Note: Hannah Tibbets Duncan (1821-1869).

 

June 15 Saturday – Sam entertained some of the passengers by holding a mock trial of the purser for “stealing an overcoat belonging to Sam Clemens” [MTNJ 1: 336].

 

June 16 Sunday – Alta California printed Sam’s article “JEFF DAVIS,” which Sam dated May 17 [Schmidt]. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” No. 17 [bibliog.].

 

June 17 Monday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

Blackfish, whales, an occasional shark & lots of Portuguese men-of-war in sight. Brown distressed for fear the latter would attack the ship….Caught a flying fish—it flew 50 yards & came aboard—can’t fly after wind & sun dry their wings….Lat. 40, long. 43W—1/2 way between America & Portugal & away south of Cape Farewell, Greenland. Large school of spouting blackfish—make the water white with their spouting spray [MTNJ 1: 337].

 

One of three dances was held on board the Quaker City [MTL 70n5].

 

June 19 Wednesday – From Sam’s notebook:

  [ page 259 ]

June 19—Within 136 miles of the Azores at noon. / Dr & S get sea-sick at table—go out & throw up & return for more….

      Started a Social Club last night to discuss routes of travel, & chose Judge Haldeman for President,—Rev Mr Carew for Secretary, & Moses S. Beach, Dr. Jackson & myself as Executive Committee.

      Dr. [Edward] Andrews & Capt Duncan enlightened the Club concerning the Azores & Gibraltar.

      After which Mr James gave Stereopticon views—promised us pictures of places we are going to visit, & his first was a view of Greenwood Cemetary! [MTNJ 1: 337-8]. Note: Edward Andrews (d.1888?); Jacob Samils Haldeman (1827-1889).

 

June 20 Thursday – A violent storm drove the QC to Fayal (see June 21 entry.) Sam’s notebook:

 

“Questions for debate.

      Which is the most powerful motive—Duty or Ambition?

      Is or is not Capt. Duncan responsible for the head winds?” [MTNJ 1: 340].

 

June 21 Friday – The Quaker City (subsequently noted here as QC) arrived at Horta, island of Fayal, in the Azores at daylight.

 

At three o’clock on the morning of the 21 of June we were awakened and notified that the Azores islands were in sight. I said I did not take any interest in islands at three o’clock in the morning. But another persecutor came, and then another and another, and finally believing that the general enthusiasm would permit no one to slumber in peace, I got up and went sleepily on deck [Innocents Abroad, Ch 5].

 

In Fayal, Sam wrote to his mother Jane Clemens and family:

 

“We are having a lively time here, after a stormy trip. We meant to go to Sau Miguel, but were driven in here by stress of weather. Beautiful climate” [MTL 2: 67].

 

From Sam’s notebook: “Everybody taking notes—cabin looks like a reporters congress” [MTNJ 1: 344]. See June 27.

 

June 22 Saturday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

The party started at 10 A.M. Dan was on his ass the last time I saw him. At this time Mr. Foster was following, & Mr. Haldeman came next after Foster—Mr. Foster being close to Dan’s ass, & his own ass being very near to Mr. Haldeman’s ass. After this Capt. Bursley joined the party with his ass, & all went well till on turning a corner of the road a most frightful & unexpected noise issued from Capt Bursley’s ass, which for a moment threw the party into confusion, & at the same time a portughee boy stuck a nail into Mr. Foster’s ass & he ran—ran against Dan, who fell—fell on his ass, & then, like so many bricks they all came down—each & every one of them—& each & every one of them fell on his ass [MTNJ 1: 346]. Note: Colonel James Heron Foster (1822-1868).

 

June 23 Sunday – QC departed Horta at 11 AM

 

“The group on the pier was a rusty one—men and women, boys and girls, all ragged and barefoot, uncombed and unclean, and by instinct, education, an profession, beggars. …and never more, while we tarried in Fayal, did we get rid of them” [Innocents Abroad, Ch. 5].

 

Alta California printed Sam’s article “THE NUISANCE OF ADVICE,” which Sam had dated May 18 [Schmidt]. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” No. 18 [bibliog.].

 

June 24 to June 27 Thursday – The New York Weekly published the last of five of Sam’s Sandwich Islands Letters. From Sam’s notebook:

 [ page 260 ]

“Had Ball No. 2 on promenade deck, under lanterns (no awning but heaven) but ship pitched so & dew kept deck so slippery, was little more fun than comfort about it” [MTNJ 1: 348].

 

June 26 Wednesday – From Sam’s notebook: “Met a great clipper ship under a perfect cloud of canvas” [MTNJ 1: 348].

 

June 27 Thursday – The last of five letters from Hawaii, reprints of five early Sacramento Union letters with “a few minor omissions” ran in the New York Weekly. Dated Honolulu, March, 1866 and beginning “I am probably the most sensitive man in the kingdom of Hawaii…” this article “stops about half-way through the corresponding article in the Union, perhaps for consideration of space” [The Twainian, Mar. 1944 p2-3].

 

From Emily Severance’s notebook:

 

There are at least a dozen correspondents for different papers: Mrs. Fairbanks, “Cleveland Herald”; Mr. Crocker, “Leader”; Mr. Foster, “The Pittsburgh Dispatch”; Mr. Clemens, “The California Alta” and “The New York Tribune”; Mr. Beach, “The New York Sun”; Mr. Sanford (I think) for a Granville paper; Dr. Jackson for one in Philadelphia; Mr. Bullard for one in Boston; Dr. Hutchinson for one in St. Louis. Captain Duncan urged me very strongly to write for him a letter which he had promised to send to the “Independent,” and I have done so, but I confess to feeling poorly satisfied with my effort [MTNJ 1:344n106]. Note: also Stephen M. Griswold and William E. James both wrote a few letters for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle; John G. Isham for the Cincinnati Commercial; Julius Moulton for the St. Louis Missouri Republican, and Julia Newell for the Janesville (Wis.) Gazette. Sam wrote the most of all these correspondents.

 

June 28 Friday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

      “Sat up all night playing dominoes in the smoking room with the purser & saw the sun rise—woke up Dan & the Dr. & called everybody else to see it.—Don’t feel very bright.

      “Must be 150 miles from Gibraltar yet, this morning & shall hardly have coal enough to make the port” [MTNJ 1: 348].

 

June 29 Saturday – QC arrived at Gibraltar at 10 AM.

 

“In a few moments a lonely and enormous mass of rock, standing seemingly in the center of the wide strait and apparently washed on all sides by the sea, swung magnificently into view, and we needed no tedious traveled parrot to tell us it was Gibraltar. There could not be two rocks like that in one kingdom” [Innocents Abroad, Ch 7].

 

Sam wrote from Gibraltar to his mother and family.

 

“Arrived here this morning, & am clear worn out riding & climbing in & over & around & about this monstrous rock & its fortifications. Summer climate & very pleasant” [MTL 2: 67-8].

 

From Sam’s notebook:

 

“Blucher in Gibraltar blowing about being American to British officers—to hotel keepers—to commandants—to band-masters, whores, chambermaids, bootblacks—making an ass of himself generally” [MTNJ 1: 351]. Note: in his Jan. 7, 1870 to Mrs. Fairbanks, Sam wrote “Greer is Blucher,” meaning Frederick H. Greer, of Boston. In his June 29, 1871 to Fairbanks he described Blucher as “an eccentric, big-hearted newspaper man.” Greer/Blucher was the prototype of the “Interrogation Point,” described in IA.

 

Sam was taken back by the behavior of many of the passengers throughout the excursion. He would ridicule them in his newspaper articles and in Innocents Abroad.

 [ page 261 ]

June 30 Sunday – Sam and seven others, including Dan Slote, boarded a steamer to Tangier.

 

THIS is royal! Let those who went up through Spain make the best of it—these dominions of the Emperor of Morocco suit our little party well enough. We have had enough of Spain at Gibraltar for the present. Tangier is the spot we have been longing for all the time. Elsewhere we have found foreign-looking things and foreign-looking people, but always with things and people intermixed that we were familiar with before, and so the novelty of the situation lost a deal of its force. We wanted something thoroughly and uncompromisingly foreign—foreign from top to bottom—foreign from center to circumference—foreign inside and outside and all around—nothing anywhere about it to dilute its foreignness—nothing to remind us of any other people or any other land under the sun. And lo! In Tangier we have found it. Here is not the slightest thing that ever we have seen save in pictures—and we always mistrusted the pictures before. We cannot anymore. The pictures used to seem exaggerations—they seemed too weird and fanciful for reality. But behold, they were not wild enough—they were not fanciful enough—they have not told half the story. Tangier is a foreign land if ever there was one, and the true spirit of it can never be found in any book save The Arabian Nights [Innocents Abroad, Ch.8].

 

Alta California printed Sam’s article “CALIFORNIA WINES,” which Sam dated May 19 [Schmidt]. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” No. 19 [bibliog.].

 

July 1 Monday – Sam and others returned from Tangier to re-board the QC for a 6 PM departure. Sam wrote from Tangier to his mother and family.

 

“This is the infernalest hive of infernally costumed barbarians I have ever come across yet” [MTL 2: 68].

 

From Sam’s notebook:

 

“Left Gibraltar just as the sun was setting…The sunset was soft & rich & beautiful beyond description… After all this racing, & bustling & rollicking excitement in Africa, it seems good to get back to the old ship once more. It is so like home. After all our weary time, we shall sleep peacefully to-night” [MTNJ 1: 367-8].

 

July 2 Tuesday – Sam wrote “from sea” to his mother, Jane Clemens and family. “…we are just passing the island of Minorca” [MTL 2: 68]. He wrote part of the letter the next day [70-1n5].

The passengers held a masquerade ball under the awnings of the quarterdeck, dressing in Moorish garb they’d purchased in the bazaars of Tangier. Sam wore a fez for the party and would wear it for a disguise when he stole ashore in Athens and hiked up the Acropolis on Aug.14 and 15 [Hirst & Rowles 29; MTL 1: 68, 70n5].

 

July 3 Wednesday – Sam finished his July 2 letter to Jane Clemens and family [MTL 1:70-1n5].

 

July 4 Thursday – At sunrise on the Quaker City, 13 guns saluted the day with blowing of steam whistles. Lucius Moody recorded the event in his diary published in the Canton, Ohio Plain Dealer for July 25, 1867. Clemens could not have helped to hear or have been on deck for the goings on.

 

QC arrived at Marseilles, France at 7 PM.

 

WE passed the Fourth of July on board the Quaker City, in mid-ocean. It was in all respects a characteristic Mediterranean day—faultlessly beautiful. A cloudless sky; a refreshing summer wind; a radiant sunshine that glinted cheerily from dancing wavelets instead of crested mountains of water; a sea beneath us that was so wonderfully blue, so richly, brilliantly blue, that it overcame the dullest sensibilities with the spell of its fascination.” And “That first night on French soil was a stirring one. I cannot think of half the places we went to or what we particularly saw; we had no disposition to examine carefully into anything at all—we only [ page 262 ] wanted to glance and go—to move, keep moving! The spirit of the country was upon us. We sat down, finally, at a late hour, in the great Casino, and called for unstinted champagne. It is so easy to be bloated aristocrats where it costs nothing of consequence! There were about five hundred people in that dazzling place, I suppose, though the walls being papered entirely with mirrors, so to speak, one could not really tell but that there were a hundred thousand. Young, daintily dressed exquisites and young, stylishly dressed women, and also old gentlemen and old ladies, sat in couples and groups about innumerable marble-topped tables and ate fancy suppers, drank wine, and kept up a chattering din of conversation that was dazing to the senses. There was a stage at the far end and a large orchestra; and every now and then actors and actresses in preposterous comic dresses came out and sang the most extravagantly funny songs, to judge by their absurd actions; but that audience merely suspended its chatter, stared cynically, and never once smiled, never once applauded! I had always thought that Frenchmen were ready to laugh at any thing [Innocents Abroad, Ch. 10].

 

Sam, Jackson, and Slote left the ship and took rooms at the Grand Hotel du Louvre et de la Paix on Rue Noailles [MTL 2: 71n6].

 

July 5 Friday – Sam, Jackson, and Slote left Marseilles for Paris on an evening train.

 

WE have come five hundred miles by rail through the heart of France. What a bewitching land it is! What a garden! Surely the leagues of bright green lawns are swept and brushed and watered every day and their grasses trimmed by the barber. Surely the hedges are shaped and measured and their symmetry preserved by the most architectural of gardeners. Surely the long straight rows of stately poplars that divide the beautiful landscape like the squares of a checker-board are set with line and plummet, and their uniform height determined with a spirit level. Surely the straight, smooth, pure white turnpikes are jack-planed and sandpapered every day. How else are these marvels of symmetry, cleanliness, and order attained? It is wonderful [Innocents Abroad Ch. 12].

 

Sam wrote from Marseilles to his mother and family. “We are here. Start for Paris to-morrow. All well. Had a gorgeous 4 of July jollification yesterday at sea” [MTL 2: 68].

July 6 Saturday – Sam and friends arrived in Paris in the evening.

The next morning we were up and dressed at ten o’clock. We went to the commissionaire of the hotel—I don’t know what a commissionaire is, but that is the man we went to—and told him we wanted a guide. He said the national Exposition had drawn such multitudes of Englishmen and Americans to Paris that it would be next to impossible to find a good guide unemployed. He said he usually kept a dozen or two on hand, but he only had three now. He called them. One looked so like a very pirate that we let him go at once. The next one spoke with a simpering precision of pronunciation that was irritating and said:

“If ze zhentlemans will to me make ze grande honneur to me rattain in hees serveece, I shall show to him every sing zat is magnifique to look upon in ze beautiful Parree. I speaky ze Angleesh pairfaitemaw.”

He would have done well to have stopped there, because he had that much by heart and said it right off without making a mistake. But his self-complacency seduced him into attempting a flight into regions of unexplored English, and the reckless experiment was his ruin. Within ten seconds he was so tangled up in a maze of mutilated verbs and torn and bleeding forms of speech that no human ingenuity could ever have gotten him out of it with credit. It was plain enough that he could not “speaky” the English quite as “pairfaitemaw” as he had pretended he could.

The third man captured us. He was plainly dressed, but he had a noticeable air of neatness about him. He wore a high silk hat which was a little old, but had been carefully brushed. He wore second-hand kid gloves, in good repair, and carried a small rattan cane with a curved handle—a female leg—of ivory. He stepped as gently and as daintily as a cat crossing a muddy street; and oh, he was urbanity; he was quiet, unobtrusive self-possession; he was deference itself! He spoke softly and guardedly; and when he was about to make a statement on his sole responsibility or offer a suggestion, he weighed it by drachms and scruples first, with the [ page 263 ] crook of his little stick placed meditatively to his teeth. His opening speech was perfect. It was perfect in construction, in phraseology, in grammar, in emphasis, in pronunciation—everything. He spoke little and guardedly after that. We were charmed. We were more than charmed—we were overjoyed. We hired him at once. We never even asked him his price [Innocents Abroad, Ch. 13].

We went to see the Cathedral of Notre Dame. We had heard of it before. It surprises me sometimes to think how much we do know and how intelligent we are. We recognized the brown old Gothic pile in a moment; it was like the pictures [IA, Ch 14].

Sam and party also visited Versailles [IA, Ch. 16]. While in Paris Sam and party stayed at the Grand Hotel du Louvre on the Rue de Rivoli [MTL 2: 72n1].

July 7 Sunday – Alta California printed Sam’s article “FOR CHRISTIANS TO READ,” which Sam had dated May 20 [Schmidt]. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” No. 20 [bibliog.].

 

Sam’s article “First Interview with Artemus Ward” (alt. Title: “A Reminiscence of Artemus Ward”) ran in the Sunday Mercury [Camfield bibliog.].

 

July 11 Thursday – Sam and friends left Paris for Marseilles on a morning train.

 

July 12 Friday – Sam and friends arrived in Marseilles in the morning. Sam wrote from Marseilles to his mother and family.

“Oh, confound it, I can’t write–I am full of excitement—have to make a trip in the harbor—haven’t slept for 24 hours” [MTL 2: 72].

 

Jackson, Slote, and Sam again stayed at the Grand Hotel du Louvre et de la Paix [72n1].

 

July 13 Saturday – QC departed Marseilles at noon.

 

July 14 Sunday – QC arrived at Genoa at 6 AM.

 

I would like to remain here. I had rather not go any further. There may be prettier women in Europe, but I doubt it. The population of Genoa is 120,000; two-thirds of these are women, I think, and at least two-thirds of the women are beautiful. They are as dressy and as tasteful and as graceful as they could possibly be without being angels. However, angels are not very dressy, I believe. At least the angels in pictures are not—they wear nothing but wings. But these Genoese women do look so charming. Most of the young demoiselles are robed in a cloud of white from head to foot, though many trick themselves out more elaborately. Nine-tenths of them wear nothing on their heads but a filmy sort of veil, which falls down their backs like a white mist. They are very fair, and many of them have blue eyes, but black and dreamy dark brown ones are met with oftenest.

 

The NY Sunday Mercury published the last of seven sketches of Sam’s, entitled, “Jim Wolf & the Cats” [MTL 2: 11n3; Camfield, bibliog.]. Note: Budd list this as “Jim Wolf and the Tom-Cats,” the same as Sam’s Feb. 23, 1872 speech [“Collected” 1007].

 

Alta California printed Sam’s article “THE BLIND ASYLUM,” which Sam had dated May 2 [Schmidt]. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” No. 21 and dates it as May 23 [bibliog.].

 

July 15 Monday – Sam wrote from Genoa to his mother and family.

 

“We sat in a great gas-lit public-grove or garden till 10 last night, where they were crowded together drinking wine & eating ices, & it seems to me that it would be good to die & go there” [MTL 2: 74]. [ page 264 ]

 

July 16 Tuesday – Sam, Jackson, and Slote left Genoa by train, arriving in Milan that evening.

 

Toward dusk we drew near Milan and caught glimpses of the city and the blue mountain peaks beyond. But we were not caring for these things—they did not interest us in the least. We were in a fever of impatience; we were dying to see the renowned cathedral! We watched—in this direction and that—all around—everywhere. We needed no one to point it out—we did not wish any one to point it out—we would recognize it even in the desert of the great Sahara [IA, Ch. 18].

July 18 Thursday – Sam took a train from Milan to Como, then took a steamer to Bellagio, Italy on Lake Como.

      We lunched at the curious old town of Como, at the foot of the lake, and then took the small steamer and had an afternoon’s pleasure excursion to this place,—Bellaggio.

      When we walked ashore, a party of policemen (people whose cocked hats and showy uniforms would shame the finest uniform in the military service of the United States,) put us into a little stone cell and locked us in. We had the whole passenger list for company, but their room would have been preferable, for there was no light, there were no windows, no ventilation. It was close and hot. We were much crowded. It was the Black Hole of Calcutta on a small scale. Presently a smoke rose about our feet—a smoke that smelled of all the dead things of earth, of all the putrefaction and corruption imaginable.

      We were there five minutes, and when we got out it was hard to tell which of us carried the vilest fragrance.

      These miserable outcasts called that “fumigating” us, and the term was a tame one indeed. They fumigated us to guard themselves against the cholera, though we hailed from no infected port. We had left the cholera far behind us all the time. However, they must keep epidemics away somehow or other, and fumigation is cheaper than soap. They must either wash themselves or fumigate other people. Some of the lower classes had rather die than wash, but the fumigation of strangers causes them no pangs. They need no fumigation themselves. Their habits make it unnecessary. They carry their preventive with them; they sweat and fumigate all the day long. I trust I am a humble and a consistent Christian. I try to do what is right. I know it is my duty to “pray for them that despitefully use me;” and therefore, hard as it is, I shall still try to pray for these fumigating, maccaroni-stuffing organ-grinders [IA, Ch. 20].

July 19? Friday – Sam made a day-trip to Chiasso in nearby Switzerland. He did not mention the trip in Innocents [Rasmussen 86]. Note: A day-trip seems probable for this date.

July 20 Saturday – Sam and friends went by steamer from Bellagio to Lecco; left Lecco by carriage at 1 PM for Bergamo; took a train that passed through Brescia, Verona, Vicenza, and Padua, arriving in Venice at 8 PM.

We reached Venice at eight in the evening, and entered a hearse belonging to the Grand Hotel d’Europe. At any rate, it was more like a hearse than any thing else, though to speak by the card, it was a gondola. And this was the storied gondola of Venice!—the fairy boat in which the princely cavaliers of the olden time were wont to cleave the waters of the moonlit canals and look the eloquence of love into the soft eyes of patrician beauties, while the gay gondolier in silken doublet touched his guitar and sang as only gondoliers can sing! This the famed gondola and this the gorgeous gondolier!—the one an inky, rusty old canoe with a sable hearse-body clapped on to the middle of it, and the other a mangy, barefooted guttersnipe with a portion of his raiment on exhibition which should have been sacred from public scrutiny. Presently, as he turned a corner and shot his hearse into a dismal ditch between two long rows of towering, untenanted buildings, the gay gondolier began to sing, true to the traditions of his race. I stood it a little while. Then I said:

“Now, here, Roderigo Gonzales Michael Angelo, I’m a pilgrim, and I’m a stranger, but I am not going to have my feelings lacerated by any such caterwauling as that. If that goes on, one of us has got to take water. It is enough that my cherished dreams of Venice have been blighted forever as to the romantic gondola and the gorgeous gondolier; this system of destruction shall go no farther; I will accept the hearse, under protest, and [ page 265 ] you may fly your flag of truce in peace, but here I register a dark and bloody oath that you shan’t sing. Another yelp, and overboard you go” [IA Ch. 22].

July 21 Sunday – Alta California printed Sam’s article “THE SEX IN NEW YORK,” which Sam had dated May 26. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” No. 22 [bibliog.].

 

BLOOD

The old Washoe instincts that have lain asleep in my bosom so long are waking up again here in the midst of this late and unaccountable freshet of blood-letting that has broken loose in the East. The papers, all of a sudden, are being filled with assassinations, and second-degree murders, and prize-fights, and suicides. It is a wonderful state of things. From a careless in difference to such matters, I have been roused up to an old-time delight in them, and now I have to have my regular suicide be fore breakfast, like a cocktail, and my side-dish of murder in the first degree for a relish, and my savory assassination to top off with while I pick my teeth and smoke. A breakfast would be insipid, now, without these condiments. If I were to order a beef steak rare and a murder in the first degree, and only got the former, I believe I would have to retire and wait for the evening papers [Schmidt].

July 22 Monday – Sam and friends left Venice by train; passed through Bologna and Pistoia overnight.

We were a little fatigued with sight seeing, and so we rattled through a good deal of country by rail without caring to stop. I took few notes. I find no mention of Bologna in my memorandum book, except that we arrived there in good season, but saw none of the sausages for which the place is so justly celebrated. Pistoia awoke but a passing interest [IA Ch. 24].

July 23 Tuesday – Sam and friends arrived in Florence; QC departed Genoa at 7 PM.

Florence pleased us for a while. I think we appreciated the great figure of David in the grand square, and the sculptured group they call the Rape of the Sabines. We wandered through the endless collections of paintings and statues of the Pitti and Ufizzi galleries, of course. I make that statement in self-defense; there let it stop. I could not rest under the imputation that I visited Florence and did not traverse its weary miles of picture galleries. We tried indolently to recollect something about the Guelphs and Ghibelines and the other historical cut-throats whose quarrels and assassinations make up so large a share of Florentine history, but the subject was not attractive. We had been robbed of all the fine mountain scenery on our little journey by a system of railroading that had three miles of tunnel to a hundred yards of daylight, and we were not inclined to be sociable with Florence. We had seen the spot, outside the city somewhere, where these people had allowed the bones of Galileo to rest in unconsecrated ground for an age because his great discovery that the world turned around was regarded as a damning heresy by the church; and we know that long after the world had accepted his theory and raised his name high in the list of its great men, they had still let him rot there [IA Ch. 24].

July 24 Wednesday – In Leghorn on July 25?, Sam referred to “A visit paid in a friendly way to General Garibaldi yesterday (by cordial invitation) by some of our passengers” [Ch. 24, IA]. Sam was not among these visitors, and he wrote nothing further of Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882), Italian patriot and soldier. The itinerary for the QC excursion had stated, if practical, a visit to the General would be made. (See “The Journal of the Quaker City Captain,” by Charles E. Shain, The New England Quarterly, Vol. 28 No. 3 (Sept. 1955): 388-394 for a description of the side trip to meet Garibaldi by Captain Duncan and seven others).

 

July 25? Thursday – Sam and friends left Florence on the noon train for Pisa, where they spent two hours. They arrived at Leghorn in the evening and boarded the QC.

 

At Pisa we climbed up to the top of the strangest structure the world has any knowledge of—the Leaning Tower.…this one leans more than thirteen feet out of the perpendicular. It is seven hundred years old, but neither history or tradition say whether it was built as it is, purposely, or whether one of its sides has settled. There is no record that it ever stood straight up….  [ page 266 ]

Standing on the summit, one does not feel altogether comfortable when he looks down from the high side; but to crawl on your breast to the verge on the lower side and try to stretch your neck out far enough to see the base of the tower, makes your flesh creep, and convinces you for a single moment in spite of all your philosophy, that the building is falling. You handle yourself very carefully, all the time, under the silly impression that if it is not falling, your trifling weight will start it unless you are particular not to “bear down” on it [IA Ch. 24].

 

July 26? Friday – Sam and friends avoided being quarantined on the QC at Naples by taking a French steamer to Civitavecchia, Italy, then a train to Rome.

 

This Civita Vecchia is the finest nest of dirt, vermin and ignorance we have found yet, except that African perdition they call Tangier, which is just like it. The people here live in alleys two yards wide, which have a smell about them which is peculiar but not entertaining. It is well the alleys are not wider, because they hold as much smell now as a person can stand, and of course, if they were wider they would hold more, and then the people would die. These alleys are paved with stone, and carpeted with deceased cats, and decayed rags, and decomposed vegetable-tops, and remnants of old boots, all soaked with dish-water, and the people sit around on stools and enjoy it. They are indolent, as a general thing, and yet have few pastimes. They work two or three hours at a time, but not hard, and then they knock off and catch flies. This does not require any talent, because they only have to grab—if they do not get the one they are after, they get another. It is all the same to them. They have no partialities. Whichever one they get is the one they want [IA Ch. 25].

July 27 Saturday – Sam and friends arrived in Rome.

What is there in Rome for me to see that others have not seen before me? What is there for me to touch that others have not touched? What is there for me to feel, to learn, to hear, to know, that shall thrill me before it pass to others? What can I discover?—Nothing. Nothing whatsoever. One charm of travel dies here. But if I were only a Roman!—If, added to my own I could be gifted with modern Roman sloth, modern Roman superstition, and modern Roman boundlessness of ignorance, what bewildering worlds of unsuspected wonders I would discover! Ah, if I were only a habitant of the Campagna five and twenty miles from Rome! Then I would travel.

I would go to America, and see, and learn, and return to the Campagna and stand before my countrymen an illustrious discoverer [IA Ch. 26].

In this connection I wish to say one word about Michael Angelo Buonarotti. I used to worship the mighty genius of Michael Angelo—that man who was great in poetry, painting, sculpture, architecture—great in every thing he undertook. But I do not want Michael Angelo for breakfast—for luncheon—for dinner—for tea—for supper—for between meals. I like a change, occasionally. In Genoa, he designed every thing; in Milan he or his pupils designed every thing; he designed the Lake of Como; in Padua, Verona, Venice, Bologna, who did we ever hear of, from guides, but Michael Angelo? In Florence, he painted every thing, designed every thing, nearly, and what he did not design he used to sit on a favorite stone and look at, and they showed us the stone. In Pisa he designed every thing but the old shot-tower, and they would have attributed that to him if it had not been so awfully out of the perpendicular. He designed the piers of Leghorn and the custom house regulations of Civita Vecchia. But, here—here it is frightful. He designed St. Peter’s; he designed the Pope; he designed the Pantheon, the uniform of the Pope’s soldiers, the Tiber, the Vatican, the Coliseum, the Capitol, the Tarpeian Rock, the Barberini Palace, St. John Lateran, the Campagna, the Appian Way, the Seven Hills, the Baths of Caracalla, the Claudian Aqueduct, the Cloaca Maxima—the eternal bore designed the Eternal City, and unless all men and books do lie, he painted every thing in it! Dan said the other day to the guide, “Enough, enough, enough! Say no more! Lump the whole thing! say that the Creator made Italy from designs by Michael Angelo!”

I never felt so fervently thankful, so soothed, so tranquil, so filled with a blessed peace, as I did yesterday when I learned that Michael Angelo was dead [IA Ch. 27]. [ page 267 ]

While in Rome, Clemens met Richard Garvey, 21 year old American, who roomed at the Via Babuino #68 (Pincion Hill), and allowed Garvey to show him and his friends “some points of the Eternal City” [see: July 7, 1884 Garvey to MT].

 

July 28 Sunday – Alta California printed Sam’s article “ACADEMY OF DESIGN,” which Sam had dated May 28. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” No. 23 [bibliog.].

 

I am thankful that the good God creates us all ignorant. I am glad that when we change His plans in this regard, we have to do it at our own risk. It is a gratification to me to know that I am ignorant of art, and ignorant also of surgery. Because people who understand art find nothing in pictures but blemishes, and surgeons and anatomists see no beautiful women in all their lives, but only a ghastly stack of bones with Latin names to them, and a network of nerves and muscles and tissues inflamed by disease. The very point in a picture that fascinates me with its beauty, is to the cultured artist a monstrous crime against the laws of coloring; and the very flush that charms me in a lovely face, is, to the critical surgeon, nothing but a sign hung out to advertise a decaying lung. Accursed be all such knowledge. I want none of it [Schmidt].

 

July 30 Tuesday – Sam’s article, dated June 23, “The Mediterranean Excursion” ran in the New York Tribune [McKeithan 10-18].

 

July 31 Wednesday – QC departed Leghorn at 9 AM.

 

August 1 Thursday – Sam and friends probably left Rome for Naples by train, while the QC arrived at Naples. The QC was then quarantined a week.

 

THE ship is lying here in the harbor of Naples—quarantined. She has been here several days and will remain several more. We that came by rail from Rome have escaped this misfortune. Of course no one is allowed to go on board the ship, or come ashore from her. She is a prison, now. The passengers probably spend the long, blazing days looking out from under the awnings at Vesuvius and the beautiful city—and in swearing. Think of ten days of this sort of pastime!—We go out every day in a boat and request them to come ashore. It soothes them. We lie ten steps from the ship and tell them how splendid the city is; and how much better the hotel fare is here than any where else in Europe; and how cool it is; and what frozen continents of ice cream there are; and what a time we are having cavorting about the country and sailing to the islands in the Bay. This tranquilizes them [IA Ch. 29].

 

August 2 Friday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number One” dated June 19 ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 3-10]. Note 2nd edition: McKeithan reported Mark Twain’s “Number One” letter from the Holy Land excursion as Aug. 2 (p. 10), but the newspaper has been examined online and the correct date is Aug. 25, 1867. Evidently McKeithan dropped the “5”.

 

August 3 Saturday – Sam’s article, dated Aug. 2, “Mark Twain in Quarantine” ran in the Naples Observer; it ran Sept. 16 in the Alta California [McKeithan 74-6].

 

August 4 Sunday – Alta California printed Sam’s article “THE DOMES OF YOSEMITE,” dated June 2 [Schmidt]. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” No. 24 [bibliog.].

 

August 7 Wednesday – Sam and friends left Naples in the morning for two days on the island of Ischia. Sam wrote from Naples to Frank Fuller, the man who had acted as his agent to secure the Cooper Union hall in New York for Sam’s lecture. Sam declined to agree to anything in writing about a lecture circuit offer that Fuller had relayed from Edwin Lee Brown of the Young Men’s Library Association of Chicago [MTL 2: 75-6 n2]. [ page 268 ]

August 9 Friday – Sam and friends returned to Naples in the morning. At midnight Sam, Jackson, Nesbit, Newell, and 4 others unidentified, left for Mt. Vesuvius. Sam wrote from Naples to his mother and family.

Sam wrote to William Morris Stewart (1827-1909) accepting a secretary position:

I wrote to Bill Stewart today accepting his private secretaryship in Washington next winter. When I come to think of it, I believe it can be made one of the best paying berths in Washington. Say nothing of this. At least I can get an office for Orion, if he or the President will modify their politics [MTL 2: 78].

Sam had sought the secretary position in Washington before the cruise. It does not seem like a position Sam would want after his literary and lecture successes, yet he took the job and was still concerned about his brother’s welfare [MTL 2: 78-9n2].

I shall remember our trip to Vesuvius for many a day—partly because of its sight-seeing experiences, but chiefly on account of the fatigue of the journey. Two or three of us had been resting ourselves among the tranquil and beautiful scenery of the island of Ischia, eighteen miles out in the harbor, for two days; we called it ‘resting,’ but I do not remember now what the resting consisted of, for when we got back to Naples we had not slept for forty-eight hours. We were just about to go to bed early in the evening, and catch up on some of the sleep we had lost, when we heard of this Vesuvius expedition. There was to be eight of us in the party, and we were to leave Naples at midnight. We laid in some provisions for the trip, engaged carriages to take us to Annunciation, and then moved about the city, to keep awake, till twelve. We got away punctually, and in the course of an hour and a half arrived at the town of Annunciation. Annunciation is the very last place under the sun. In other towns in Italy the people lie around quietly and wait for you to ask them a question or do some overt act that can be charged for—but in Annunciation they have lost even that fragment of delicacy; they seize a lady’s shawl from a chair and hand it to her and charge a penny; they open a carriage door, and charge for it—shut it when you get out, and charge for it; they help you to take off a duster—two cents; brush your clothes and make them worse than they were before—two cents; smile upon you—two cents; bow, with a lick-spittle smirk, hat in hand—two cents; they volunteer all information, such as that the mules will arrive presently—two cents—warm day, sir—two cents—take you four hours to make the ascent—two cents. And so they go. They crowd you—infest you—swarm about you, and sweat and smell offensively, and look sneaking and mean, and obsequious. There is no office too degrading for them to perform, for money [IA Ch. 29].

August 10 Saturday – Sam and friends visited Capri by chartered steamer.

 

August 11 Sunday – QC left Naples at 8 AM. From Sam’s notebook:

 

7 PM, with the western horizon all golden from the sunken sun, & specked with distant ships, the bright full moon shining like a silver shield high over head, & the deep dark blue of the Mediterranean under foot & a strange sort of twilight affected by all these different lights & colors, all around us & about us, we sighted old Stromboli [MTNJ 1: 383].

 

 Alta California printed Sam’s article “NEW YORK,” dated June 5 [Schmidt]. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” No. 25 [bibliog.].

 

August 12 Monday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

“Passed through Straits of Messina between Southern Italy & Sicily—2 miles wide in narrowest places. Passed close to city of Messina—mass of gas lights” [MTNJ 1: 384].

 

August 13 Tuesday – From Sam’s notebook:

 [ page 269 ]

“Been skirting along the Isles of Greece all day—western side—very mountainous—prevailing tints gray & brown approaching to red” [MTNJ 1: 385].

 

August 14 Wednesday – QC arrived at Piraeus, Greece at noon. The ship was quarantined again, but Sam, Dr. George Birch, William Denny, and Dr. Jackson snuck off the ship and visited Athens that night.

 

      Most of the Parthenon’s imposing columns are still standing, but the roof is gone. It was a perfect building two hundred and fifty years ago, when a shell dropped into the Venetian magazine stored here, and the explosion which followed wrecked and unroofed it. I remember but little about the Parthenon, and I have put in one or two facts and figures for the use of other people with short memories. Got them from the guide-book.

      As we wandered thoughtfully down the marble-paved length of this stately temple, the scene about us was strangely impressive. Here and there, in lavish profusion, were gleaming white statues of men and women, propped against blocks of marble, some of them armless, some without legs, others headless—but all looking mournful in the moonlight, and startlingly human! They rose up and confronted the midnight intruder on every side—they stared at him with stony eyes from unlooked-for nooks and recesses; they peered at him over fragmentary heaps far down the desolate corridors; they barred his way in the midst of the broad forum, and solemnly pointed with handless arms the way from the sacred fane; and through the roofless temple the moon looked down, and banded the floor and darkened the scattered fragments and broken statues with the slanting shadows of the columns [IA Ch32].

Sam wrote to Captain Duncan for “Several among us” to depart from the planned itinerary in order to take:

“…a short trip…through the Bosphorus & into the Black Sea, all parties will be willing to forego the extension of it to desolate Sebastopol with its notable pile of porter bottles, we respectfully request that you will altar [sic] your programme…” [MTL 2: 79-80].

 

August 15 Thursday – QC departed Piraeus at noon. From Sam’s notebook: “Booming through the Grecian Archipelago with a splendid breeze. Many passengers sea-sick” [MTNJ 1: 391].

 

August 16 Friday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

“TROY. We are now (11AM., right abreast) the Plains of Troy & a little rock 200 yds long with a light on it (Asia Minor) was the anchorage of the Greek vessels….Diogenes going about with his lantern in the moonlight, did not tackle our party” [MTNJ 1: 322-3].

 

August 17 Saturday – QC arrived at Constantinople at dawn.

 

That three-legged woman lay on the bridge, with her stock in trade so disposed as to command the most striking effect—one natural leg, and two long, slender, twisted ones with feet on them like somebody else’s fore-arm. Then there was a man further along who had no eyes, and whose face was the color of a fly-blown beefsteak, and wrinkled and twisted like a lava-flow—and verily so tumbled and distorted were his features that no man could tell the wart that served him for a nose from his cheek-bones. In Stamboul was a man with a prodigious head, an uncommonly long body, legs eight inches long and feet like snow-shoes. He traveled on those feet and his hands, and was as sway-backed as if the Colossus of Rhodes had been riding him. Ah, a beggar has to have exceedingly good points to make a living in Constantinople. A blue-faced man, who had nothing to offer except that he had been blown up in a mine, would be regarded as a rank impostor, and a mere damaged soldier on crutches would never make a cent. It would pay him to get apiece of his head taken off, and cultivate a wen like a carpet sack [IA Ch. 33].

 [ page 270 ]

August 18 Sunday – Alta California printed Sam’s article “HARRY HILL’S,” which Sam had dated June 6 [Schmidt]. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” No. 26 [bibliog.].

 

August 19 Monday – QC departed Constantinople.

 

August 20 Tuesday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

New Palace on the Asiatic side of the beautiful Bosphorus (3 m. wide,) is built on spot where Constantine erected gold cross to commemorate his conversion. When Turks took the place & began to build, many thought he would declare himself Christian when finished, & waited to baptize their Children then. They are waiting yet.

Dan & Jack Van Nostrand have remained behind in Constantinople [MTNJ 1: 402].

 

Sam’s unsigned article, “The Holy Land Excursionists” dated Aug. 1, ran in the New York Herald [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

August 21 Wednesday – QC arrived at Sevastopol at 5 AM and left again at 9 PM.

 

WE left a dozen passengers in Constantinople, and sailed through the beautiful Bosporus and far up into the Black Sea. We left them in the clutches of the celebrated Turkish guide, “FAR-AWAY MOSES,” who will seduce them into buying a ship-load of ottar of roses, splendid Turkish vestments, and all manner of curious things they can never have any use for. Murray’s invaluable guide-books have mentioned Far-away Moses’ name, and he is a made man. He rejoices daily in the fact that he is a recognized celebrity. However, we can not alter our established customs to please the whims of guides; we can not show partialities this late in the day. Therefore, ignoring this fellow’s brilliant fame, and ignoring the fanciful name he takes such pride in, we called him Ferguson, just as we had done with all other guides. It has kept him in a state of smothered exasperation all the time. Yet we meant him no harm. After he has gotten himself up regardless of expense, in showy, baggy trowsers, yellow, pointed slippers, fiery fez, silken jacket of blue, voluminous waist-sash of fancy Persian stuff filled with a battery of silver-mounted horse-pistols, and has strapped on his terrible scimetar, he considers it an unspeakable humiliation to be called Ferguson. It can not be helped. All guides are Fergusons to us. We can not master their dreadful foreign names [IA, Ch. 33].

 

August 22 Thursday – QC arrived at Odessa at 4 PM. Sam’s article, continued, dated Aug. 2, “The Holy Land Excursionists,” ran in the New York Herald [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

August 23 Friday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

“Devil of a time getting the officials to let us go ashore. They have got all our passports. Fine town—broad, well paved streets—fine large houses, substantial, & good architecture—stone—fine stores—gas—pretty women—fashionably dressed—100,000 inhabitants” [MTNJ 1: 405].

 

August 24 Saturday – QC departed Odessa at 11AM.

 

The people of Odessa have warmly recommended us to go and call on the Emperor, as did the Sebastopolians. They have telegraphed his Majesty, and he has signified his willingness to grant us an audience. So we are getting up the anchors and preparing to sail to his watering-place. What a scratching around there will be, now! what a holding of important meetings and appointing of solemn committees!—and what a furbishing up of claw-hammer coats and white silk neck-ties! As this fearful ordeal we are about to pass through pictures itself to my fancy in all its dread sublimity, I begin to feel my fierce desire to converse with a genuine Emperor cooling down and passing away. What am I to do with my hands? What am I to do with my feet? What in the world am I to do with myself? [IA Ch. 36].

 

August 25 Sunday – QC arrived at Yalta at noon.  [ page 271 ]

 

Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number One” dated June 19 ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 3-10]. Note 2nd edition: McKeithan reported Mark Twain’s “Number One” letter from the Holy Land excursion as Aug. 2 (p. 10), but the newspaper has been examined online and the correct date is Aug. 25, 1867. Evidently McKeithan dropped the “5”.

 

August 26 Monday – QC passengers, including Sam, visited Czar Aleksandr II and family.

 

We had spent the best part of half a day in the home of royalty, and had been as cheerful and comfortable all the time as we could have been in the ship. I would as soon have thought of being cheerful in Abraham’s bosom as in the palace of an Emperor. I supposed that Emperors were terrible people. I thought they never did any thing but wear magnificent crowns and red velvet dressing gowns with dabs of wool sewed on them in spots, and sit on thrones and scowl at the flunkies and the people in the parquette, and order Dukes and Duchesses off to execution. I find, however, that when one is so fortunate as to get behind the scenes and see them at home and in the privacy of their firesides, they are strangely like common mortals [IA Ch. 37].

 

Sam wrote from Yalta to his mother and family describing the visit to the Czar.

 

Dear Folks—

We have been representing the United States all we knew how, to-day. We went to Sebastopol, after we got tired of Constantinople (got your letter there, & one at Naples,) & there the Commandant & the whole town came aboard & were as jolly & sociable as old friends. They said the Emperor of Russia was at Yalta, 30 miles or 40 away, & urged us to go there with the ship & visit him—promised us a cordial welcome. They insisted on sending a telegram to the Emperor, & also a courier overland to announce our coming. But we knew that a great English excursion party, & also the Viceroy of Egypt, in his splendid yacht, had been refused an audience within the last fortnight, & so we thought it not safe to try it. They said, no difference—the Emperor would hardly visit our ship, because that be a most extraordinary favor & one which he uniformly refuses to accord under any circumstances, but he would certainly receive us at his palace. We still declined. But we had to go to Odessa, 250 miles away, & there the Governor General urged us, & sent a telegram to the Emperor, which we hardly expected to be answered, but it was, & promptly. So we sailed back to Yalta. We all went to the palace at noon, to-day, (3 miles,) in carriages & on horses sent by the Emperor, & we had a jolly time. Instead of the usual formal audience of 15 minutes, we staid 4 hours & were made a good deal more at home than we could have been in a New York drawing-room. The whole tribe turned out to receive our party—Emperor, Empress, the eldest daughter (Grand-Duchess Marie, a pretty girl of 14,) a little Grand Duke her brother, & a platoon of Admirals, Princes, Peers of the Empire, &c., & in a little while an aid-de camp arrived with a request from the Grand Duke Michael, the Emperor’s brother, that we would visit his palace & breakfast with him. The Emperor also invited us, on behalf of his absent eldest son & heir (aged 22,) to visit his palace & consider it a visit to him. They all talk English & they were all very neatly but very plainly dressed. You all dress a good deal finer than they were dressed. The Emperor & his family threw off all reserve & showed us all over the palace themselves. It is very rich & very elegant, but in no way gaudy.

I had been appointed chairman of a committee to draught an address to the Emperor on behalf of the passengers, & as I fully expected, & as they fully intended, I had to write the address myself. I didn’t mind it, because I have no modesty & would as soon write an Emperor as to anybody else—but considering that there were 5 on the committee I thought they might have contributed one paragraph among them, anyway. They wanted me to read it to him, too, but I declined that honor—not because I hadn’t cheek enough (& some to spare,) but because our Consul at Odessa was along, & also the Secretary of our Legation at St Petersburgh, & of course one of those ought to read it. The Emperor (thanked us for) the address (it was his business to do it,) & so many others have praised it warmly that I begin to imagine it must be a wonderful sort of document & herewith send you the original draught of it, to be put into alcohol & preserved forever like a curious reptile.

They live right well at the Grand Duke Michael’s—their breakfasts are not gorgeous but very excellent—& if Mike were to say the word I would go there & breakfast with him tomorrow.

Ys aff [ page 272 ]

Sam.

 

[written across previous paragraphs:]

They told us it would be polite to invite the Emperor to visit the ship, though he would not be likely to do it. But he dint give us a chance—he has requested permission to come on board with his family & all his relations to-morrow & take a sail, in case it is calm weather. I can entertain them. My hand is in, now, & if you want any more emperors feted in style, trot them out [MTL 2: 80-85].

 

August 27 Tuesday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

Carpets were spread on the pier & the Governor General & family came on board the ship (we saluted with 9 guns,) & afterward: [list of dignitaries]. And a large number of army & navy officers & titled & untitled ladies & gentlemen.

      Shampagne blow out [MTNJ 1: 410-11].

 

Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Two” dated Gibraltar, June 30 ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 18-25].

 

August 28 Wednesday – QC departed Yalta at 8 PM. From Sam’s notebook:

 

Sailed for Constantinople last night, saluting as we left—& fireworks. That beautiful little devil I danced with at the ball in that impossible Russian dance, still runs in my head. Ah me!—if I had only known how to talk Russian! However, she must have known I was saying something with all that absurd English which she couldn’t understand [MTNJ 1: 411].

 

August 29 Thursday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

“Passed through the beautiful Bosphorus just after daylight & anchored away up in the Golden Horn nearly to the lower bridge. Been on shore & found Dan [Slote], & Foster, Jack Van Nostrand & Col. Haldeman” [MTNJ 1: 411].

 

August 30 Friday – QC arrived back at Constantinople at dawn.

 

August 31 Saturday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Three” dated July 1 at “Tangier, Africa” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 25-30].

 

September 1 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Four” dated July 1 at “Tangier, Africa” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 30-36].

 

September 1–2 Monday – Sam wrote from Constantinople to his mother and family, listing all the letters he had sent to the Alta. He had not seen these in print so asked his mother if they had appeared. He complains that his room mate, Dan Slote,

 

“…had got the stateroom pretty full of rubbish at last, but a while ago his dragoman arrived with a bran new, ghastly tomb-stone of the Oriental pattern, with his name handsomely carved & gilded on it in Turkish characters. That fellow will buy a Circassian slave, next” [MTL 2: 89].

 

Sam and several other passengers had their photographs taken at the studio of Abdullah Freres [MTL 2: 92].

September 2 Monday – Sam inscribed a Bible he took on the trip: “Saml. L. Clemens / Constantinople, / Sept. 2, 1867. / Please return this book to stateroom No. 10 in case you happen to borrow it” [Gribben 66]. [ page 273 ]

September 3 Tuesday – QC passengers, including Sam, visited Scutari, a suburb of Constantinople, during the day; QC departed Constantinople at 10 PM.

WE returned to Constantinople, and after a day or two spent in exhausting marches about the city and voyages up the Golden Horn in caiques, we steamed away again. We passed through the Sea of Marmora and the Dardanelles, and steered for a new land—a new one to us, at least—Asia. We had as yet only acquired a bowing acquaintance with it, through pleasure excursions to Scutari and the regions round about.

We passed between Lemnos and Mytilene, and saw them as we had seen Elba and the Balearic Isles—mere bulky shapes, with the softening mists of distance upon them—whales in a fog, as it were. Then we held our course southward, and began to “read up” celebrated Smyrna [IA Ch. 38].

September 5 Thursday – QC arrived at Smyrna at 10AM.

 

This seaport of Smyrna, our first notable acquaintance in Asia, is a closely packed city of one hundred and thirty thousand inhabitants, and, like Constantinople, it has no outskirts. It is as closely packed at its outer edges as it is in the centre, and then the habitations leave suddenly off and the plain beyond seems houseless. It is just like any other Oriental city. That is to say, its Moslem houses are heavy and dark, and as comfortless as so many tombs; its streets are crooked, rudely and roughly paved, and as narrow as an ordinary staircase; the streets uniformly carry a man to any other place than the one he wants to go to, and surprise him by landing him in the most unexpected localities; business is chiefly carried on in great covered bazaars, celled like a honeycomb with innumerable shops no larger than a common closet, and the whole hive cut up into a maze of alleys about wide enough to accommodate a laden camel, and well calculated to confuse a stranger and eventually lose him; every where there is dirt, every where there are fleas, every where there are lean, broken-hearted dogs; every alley is thronged with people; wherever you look, your eye rests upon a wild masquerade of extravagant costumes; the workshops are all open to the streets, and the workmen visible; all manner of sounds assail the ear, and over them all rings out the muezzin’s cry from some tall minaret, calling the faithful vagabonds to prayer; and superior to the call to prayer, the noises in the streets, the interest of the costumes—superior to every thing, and claiming the bulk of attention [IA Ch. 38].

 

It was in the Bay of Smyrna that Sam first saw the ivory miniature of Charles Langdon’s sister, Olivia Louise Langdon, who would become his wife in 1870 [MTL 2: 145n3].

 

Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Five” dated July 12 ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 36-41].

 

September 6 Friday – QC passengers, including Sam, visited Ephesus in the day. QC departed Smyrna at 11 PM.

 

We all stood in the vast theatre of ancient Ephesus,—the stone-benched amphitheatre I mean—and had our picture taken. We looked as proper there as we would look any where, I suppose. We do not embellish the general desolation of a desert much. We add what dignity we can to a stately ruin with our green umbrellas and jackasses, but it is little. However, we mean well [IA Ch. 40].

 

Sam’s article dated July “At Large in Italy” ran in the New York Tribune [McKeithan 72-4].

 

September 7 Saturday – Skandera gives this as the date Sam first saw the miniature of Olivia Langdon. Note: She cites Dewey Ganzel, 1968, who cites Sam’s reminiscences, which did not include a date. Still, this may indeed be the very date.

 

September 8 Sunday – From Sam’s notebook: “Isle of Samos St. Paul. Isle of Patmos St John’s Revelations. Isle of Rhodes, where the Colossus stood. St. Paul. Isle of Cyprus—Be at Beirut Sept. 10” [MTNJ 1: 416].

 [ page 274 ]

Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Six” dated July 16 ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 41-7].

 

September 10 Tuesday – QC arrived at Beirut before dawn.

 

We had also to range up and down through the town and look at the costumes. These are picturesque and fanciful, but not so varied as at Constantinople and Smyrna; the women of Beirout add an agony—in the two former cities the sex wear a thin veil which one can see through (and they often expose their ancles,) but at Beirout they cover their entire faces with dark-colored or black veils, so that they look like mummies, and then expose their breasts to the public [IA Ch41].

 

Sam wrote from Beirut to his mother and family:

 

“We shall be in the saddle three weeks—we have horses, tents, provisions, arms, a dragoman & 2 other servants, & we pay five dollars a day apiece in gold” [MTL 2: 93].

September 11 Wednesday – Clemens, Dr. George Birch, William Church, Joshua Davis, William Denny, Julius Moulton, Dan Slote, and Jack Van Nostrand left Beirut, Lebanon on horseback at 3 PM. They camped that night about ten miles east of the city.

At the appointed time our business committee reported, and said all things were in readdress—that we were to start to-day, with horses, pack animals, and tents, and go to Baalbec, Damascus, the Sea of Tiberias, and thence southward by the way of the scene of Jacob’s Dream and other notable Bible localities to Jerusalem—from thence probably to the Dead Sea, but possibly not—and then strike for the ocean and rejoin the ship three or four weeks hence at Joppa; terms, five dollars a day apiece, in gold, and every thing to be furnished by the dragoman. They said we would lie as well as at a hotel. I had read something like that before, and did not shame my judgment by believing a word of it. I said nothing, however, but packed up a blanket and a shawl to sleep in, pipes and tobacco, two or three woollen shirts, a portfolio, a guide-book, and a Bible. I also took along a towel and a cake of soap, to inspire respect in the Arabs, who would take me for a king in disguise [IA C41].

From Sam’s notebook:

“Our caravan numbers 24 mules & horses, & 14 serving men—28 men all told” [NJ 1: 417].

September 12 Thursday – The group broke camp at 6:30 AM and stayed that night near Zahlah, about two thirds of the way between Beirut and Baalbek. From Sam’s notebook:

 

“Passed up the Valley & camped on l. side under the dews of Hermon. –first passing through a dirty Arab village & visiting the tomb of Noah, of Deluge notoriety” [MTNJ 1: 417].

 

September 13 Friday – Sam and group broke camp at 6:30 AM and visited Baalbek before returning south to camp at Sirghaya.

 

By half-past six we were under way, and all the Syrian world seemed to be under way also. The road was filled with mule trains and long processions of camels. This reminds me that we have been trying for some time to think what a camel looks like, and now we have made it out. When he is down on all his knees, flat on his breast to receive his load, he looks something like a goose swimming; and when he is upright he looks like an ostrich with an extra set of legs. Camels are not beautiful, and their long under lip gives them an exceedingly “gallus” expression. They have immense, flat, forked cushions of feet, that make a track in the dust like a pie with a slice cut out of it. They are not particular about their diet. They would eat a tombstone if they could bite it. A thistle grows about here which has needles on it that would pierce through leather, I think; if one touches you, you can find relief in nothing but profanity. The camels eat these. They show by their actions that they enjoy them. I suppose it would be a real treat to a camel to have a keg of nails for supper [IA Ch. 42].  [ page 275 ]

 

From Sam’s notebook:

 

“Rode 7 hours, partly through wild, rocky scenery, & camped at 10.30 on the banks of a pretty stream near a Syrian village—2 horses lame & the others worn out” [1: 418].

 

September 14 Saturday – Sam and group arrived at Damascus.

 

We reached the city gates just at sundown. They do say that one can get into any walled city of Syria, after night, for bucksheesh, except Damascus. But Damascus, with its four thousand years of respectability in the world, has many old fogy notions. There are no street lamps there, and the law compels all who go abroad at night to carry lanterns, just as was the case in old days, when heroes and heroines of the Arabian Nights walked the streets of Damascus, or flew away toward Bagdad on enchanted carpets [IA Ch. 44].

 

September 15 Sunday – From Sam’s notebook:

 

Taken very sick at 4 AM [MTNJ 1: 419]. THE last twenty-four hours we staid in Damascus I lay prostrate with a violent attack of cholera, or cholera morbus, and therefore had a good chance and a good excuse to lie there on that wide divan and take an honest rest. I had nothing to do but listen to the pattering of the fountains and take medicine and throw it up again. It was dangerous recreation, but it was pleasanter than traveling in Syria. I had plenty of snow from Mount Hermon, and as it would not stay on my stomach, there was nothing to interfere with my eating it—there was always room for more. I enjoyed myself very well. Syrian travel has its interesting features, like travel in any other part of the world, and yet to break your leg or have the cholera adds a welcome variety to it [IA Ch. 45].

 

Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Seven” dated July “Milan, Italy” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 48-53].

 

September 16 Monday – Sam and group left Damascus at noon, and camped that night at Kefr Hauwar. Meanwhile, the QC arrived at Mt. Carmel at 10 AM and left again at noon, arriving at Jaffa (now part of Tel Aviv) at 8 PM.

We left Damascus at noon and rode across the plain a couple of hours, and then the party stopped a while in the shade of some fig-trees to give me a chance to rest. It was the hottest day we had seen yet—the sun-flames shot down like the shafts of fire that stream out before a blow-pipe—the rays seemed to fall in a steady deluge on the head and pass downward like rain from a roof. I imagined I could distinguish between the floods of rays—I thought I could tell when each flood struck my head, when it reached my shoulders, and when the next one came. It was terrible. All the desert glared so fiercely that my eyes were swimming in tears all the time. The boys had white umbrellas heavily lined with dark green. They were a priceless blessing. I thanked fortune that I had one, too, notwithstanding it was packed up with the baggage and was ten miles ahead. It is madness to travel in Syria without an umbrella. They told me in Beirout (these people who always gorge you with advice) that it was madness to travel in Syria without an umbrella. It was on this account that I got one.

But, honestly, I think an umbrella is a nuisance any where when its business is to keep the sun off. No Arab wears a brim to his fez, or uses an umbrella, or any thing to shade his eyes or his face, and he always looks comfortable and proper in the sun. But of all the ridiculous sights I ever have seen, our party of eight is the most so—they do cut such an outlandish figure. They travel single file; they all wear the endless white rag of Constantinople wrapped round and round their hats and dangling down their backs; they all wear thick green spectacles, with side-glasses to them; they all hold white umbrellas, lined with green, over their heads; without exception their stirrups are too short—they are the very worst gang of horsemen on earth, their animals to a horse trot fearfully hard—and when they get strung out one after the other; glaring straight ahead and breathless; bouncing high and out of turn, all along the line; knees well up and stiff, elbows flapping like a [ page 276 ] rooster’s that is going to crow, and the long file of umbrellas popping convulsively up and down—when one sees this outrageous picture exposed to the light of day, he is amazed that the gods don’t get out their thunderbolts and destroy them off the face of the earth! I do—I wonder at it. I wouldn’t let any such caravan go through a country of mine [IA Ch. 45].

Sam’s article, dated Aug. 2, “Mark Twain in Quarantine” which ran in the Naples Observer on Aug. 3, also ran on Sept. 16 in the Alta California [McKeithan 74-6]. Note: Sam’s agreement with the Alta would most certainly have excluded his letters being published elsewhere, but perhaps this was done with the thought that the Alta folks would not know it.

 

September 17 Tuesday – Sam and group departed Kefr Hauwar in the AM and camped that night at Baniyas, once the ancient city of Caesarea Philippi. From Sam’s notebook:

 

A great, massive, ruined citadel of 4 acres…hoof prints deep in old rocks…This is the first place we have ever seen, whose pavements were trodden by Jesus Christ. …Here Christ cured a woman who had had an issue of blood for 7 years (now-a-days there would have been an affidavit published) and near here—possibly on the Castle hill, some claim that the Savior’s Ascension/Transfig(?) took place [MTNJ 1: 421].

 

September 18 Wednesday – Sam and group departed Baniyas at 7:15 AM, and camped that night at Ain Mellahah, near Lake Huleh (now called Bahret el Hule). From Sam’s notebook:

 

“It was first, ages ago, the Phoenician Laish—a lot of Danites from Sodom, 600, came over, like a pack of adventurers as they were, captured the place & lived there as sort of luxurious agriculturists, till Abraham hazed them in after times” [MTNJ 1: 422].

 

Sam’s unsigned “The American Excursionists” dated Aug. 27 ran in the New York Herald [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

September 19 Thursday – Sam and group left Ain Mellahah at 7 AM and camped that night at Tiberias, on the Sea of Galilee.

 

At noon we took a swim in the Sea of Galilee—a blessed privilege in this roasting climate—and then lunched under a neglected old fig-tree at the fountain they call Ain-et-Tin, a hundred yards from ruined Capernaum. Every rivulet that gurgles out of the rocks and sands of this part of the world is dubbed with the title of “fountain,” and people familiar with the Hudson, the great lakes and the Mississippi fall into transports of admiration over them, and exhaust their powers of composition in writing their praises. If all the poetry and nonsense that have been discharged upon the fountains and the bland scenery of this region were collected in a book, it would make a most valuable volume to burn [IA Ch. 47].

 

Sam’s article “Americans on a Visit to the Emperor of Russia” dated Aug. 26 ran in the New York Tribune [McKeithan 142-150].

 

September 20 Friday – Sam and group left Tiberias in the AM and camped that night at Nazareth.

 

We visited the places where Jesus worked for fifteen years as a carpenter, and where he attempted to teach in the synagogue and was driven out by a mob. Catholic chapels stand upon these sites and protect the little fragments of the ancient walls which remain. Our pilgrims broke off specimens. We visited, also, a new chapel, in the midst of the town, which is built around a boulder some twelve feet long by four feet thick; the priests discovered, a few years ago, that the disciples had sat upon this rock to rest, once, when they had walked up from Capernaum. They hastened to preserve the relic. Relics are very good property. Travelers are expected to pay for seeing them, and they do it cheerfully. We like the idea. One’s conscience can never be the worse for the knowledge that he has paid his way like a man. Our pilgrims would have liked very well to get out their lampblack and stencil­plates and paint their names on that rock, together with the names of the [ page 277 ] villages they hail from in America, but the priests permit nothing of that kind. To speak the strict truth, however, our party seldom offend in that way, though we have men in the ship who never lose an opportunity to do it. Our pilgrims’ chief sin is their lust for “specimens.” I suppose that by this time they know the dimensions of that rock to an inch, and its weight to a ton; and I do not hesitate to charge that they will go back there to­night and try to carry it off [IA Ch. 50].

 

September 21 Saturday – Sam and group left Nazareth and camped that night at Janin. From Sam’s notebook:

 

“Left Nazareth & its chalk hills at 7.30 [AM], came down a high, steep mountain & galloped across the Plain of Esdraelon to Endor, the rustiest of all, almost—a few nasty mud cabin,—many caves & holes in the hill from which the fierce, ragged, dirty inhabitants swarmed. Pop. 250” [MTNJ 1: 427].

 

September 22 Sunday – Sam and group left Janin at 2 AM and camped that night at Lubban. From Sam’s notebook:

 

“Camped at 7 PM at an Arab Village—Lubia (Libonia of the Bible). Tents behind. Slept on the ground in front of an Arab house. Lice, fleas, horses, jackasses, chickens, & worse than all, Arabs for company all night” [MTNJ 1: 431].

 

Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Eight” dated July “Lake of Como” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 53-9].

 

September 23 Monday – Sam and group left Lubban at 2:30 AM and reached Jerusalem at noon.

 

A fast walker could go outside the walls of Jerusalem and walk entirely around the city in an hour. I do not know how else to make one understand how small it is. The appearance of the city is peculiar. It is as knobby with countless little domes as a prison door is with bolt-heads. Every house has from one to half a dozen of these white plastered domes of stone, broad and low, sitting in the centre of, or in a cluster upon, the flat roof. Wherefore, when one looks down from an eminence, upon the compact mass of houses (so closely crowded together, in fact, that there is no appearance of streets at all, and so the city looks solid,) he sees the knobbiest town in the world, except Constantinople. It looks as if it might be roofed, from centre to circumference, with inverted saucers. The monotony of the view is interrupted only by the great Mosque of Omar, the Tower of Hippicus, and one or two other buildings that rise into commanding prominence.

 

Jerusalem is mournful, and dreary, and lifeless. I would not desire to live there [IA, Ch. 53].

 

The Daily Alta California, p. 1 col. 2 reported a small item of interest about the letters received from Mark Twain:

 

WHAT OBJECT? —We received by steamer mail yesterday a half a dozen letters from “Mark Twain” at Naples, each of which has had a knife or other sharp instrument, three-quarters of an inch in width, driven through it at the end, about half an inch from the edge. The knife was evidently driven through one end from the side on which the superscription appears and through the other end from the reverse side, cutting through envelope and contents each time. Had any of the letters contained photographs or any similar object, the knife would have played havoc with them. We are at a loss to understand what object any man could have in thus mutilating the letters, unless, indeed, the person making the incisions may have been a stranger—say an Italian brigand or something of that sort—and being totally unacquainted with the impecunious Mark, was on the lookout for bank checks, drafts, or greenbacks. The cut in each case would enable the outsider to ascertain what was inside the letter, and from the appearance of the envelopes the cutting must have been done long before the letters reached this continent. [ page 278 ]

September 24 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Jerusalem at the Mediterranean Hotel to Mr. Esais ordering a Bible to be sent to his mother. He forwarded the note with a Mr. Weintraub [MTL 2: 94-5]. Note: this Bible is now at the MTP.

Sam inscribed: “Mrs. Jane Clemens / From Her Son— / Jerusalem, Sept 24, 1867.” on the flyleaf of an 1863 edition of The Holy Bible [Gribben 65].

Sam cut a piece of cedar for a gavel handle from a tree planted just outside the walls of Jerusalem by Geodfrey De Bouillon, the first Christian Conquerer of the city in 1099. Sam had a gavel made from the wood in Alexandria, Egypt for a gift to his Masonic lodge, the Polar Star Lodge No. 79 in St. Louis [Jones 365; MTNJ 1: 442n116].

September 25 Wednesday – Sam and group left Jerusalem at 8 AM for a two-day side trip, camping that night near Jericho.

Ancient Jericho is not very picturesque as a ruin. When Joshua marched around it seven times, some three thousand years ago, and blew it down with his trumpet, he did the work so well and so completely that he hardly left enough of the city to cast a shadow. The curse pronounced against the rebuilding of it, has never been removed. One King, holding the curse in light estimation, made the attempt, but was stricken sorely for his presumption. Its site will always remain unoccupied; and yet it is one of the very best locations for a town we have seen in all Palestine [IA Ch. 55].

From Sam’s notebook:

Lay down in the bushes & slept 2 hours & caught cold. Got up & crossed the Jordan [MTNJ 1: 438].

 

September 26 Thursday – Sam and group left Jericho at 2 AM and visited the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. Sam swam in the north end of the Dead Sea and tried to ride his horse into it, but fell off [Rasmussen 107]. That night they camped at Mar Saba.

 

At two in the morning they routed us out of bed—another piece of unwarranted cruelty—another stupid effort of our dragoman to get ahead of a rival. It was not two hours to the Jordan. However, we were dressed and under way before any one thought of looking to see what time it was, and so we drowsed on through the chill night air and dreamed of camp fires, warm beds, and other comfortable things [IA Ch. 55].

 

Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Nine” dated July “Abroad in Italy” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 66-71].

September 27 Friday – Sam and group left Mar Saba at 3 AM and visited Bethlehem. They returned to Jerusalem at noon. (Thus Clemens stayed at the Hotel Mediterranean hotel from Sept. 23 to the 29)

At nine or ten in the morning we reached the Plain of the Shepherds, and stood in a walled garden of olives where the shepherds were watching their flocks by night, eighteen centuries ago, when the multitude of angels brought them the tidings that the Saviour was born. A quarter of a mile away was Bethlehem of Judea, and the pilgrims took some of the stone wall and hurried on.

The Plain of the Shepherds is a desert, paved with loose stones, void of vegetation, glaring in the fierce sun. Only the music of the angels it knew once could charm its shrubs and flowers to life again and restore its vanished beauty. No less potent enchantment could avail to work this miracle.

In the huge Church of the Nativity, in Bethlehem, built fifteen hundred years ago by the inveterate St. Helena, they took us below ground, and into a grotto cut in the living rock. This was the “manger” where Christ was [ page 279 ] born. A silver star set in the floor bears a Latin inscription to that effect. It is polished with the kisses of many generations of worshiping pilgrims. The grotto was tricked out in the usual tasteless style observable in all the holy places of Palestine. As in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, envy and uncharitableness were apparent here. The priests and the members of the Greek and Latin churches can not come by the same corridor to kneel in the sacred birthplace of the Redeemer, but are compelled to approach and retire by different avenues, lest they quarrel and fight on this holiest ground on earth.

I have no “meditations,” suggested by this spot where the very first “Merry Christmas!” was uttered in all the world, and from whence the friend of my childhood, Santa Claus, departed on his first journey, to gladden and continue to gladden roaring firesides on wintry mornings in many a distant land forever and forever. I touch, with reverent finger, the actual spot where the infant Jesus lay, but I think – nothing [IA Ch. 55].

September 28 Saturday – From Sam’s notebook: “Went all through the Holy Sepulchre again” [MTNJ 1: 442].

September 29 Sunday – Sam and group left Jerusalem at 3 PM and reached Ramla in the evening.

 

Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Ten” dated Aug. “Naples, Italy” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 76-83].

 

September 30 Monday – Sam and group left Ramla in the AM and arrived at Jaffa after a 3-hour trip to board the QC.

 

October 1 Tuesday – QC departed Jaffa at 7:30 AM Sam wrote at sea to his nephew Sammy Moffett, enclosing a pressed rose in a New Testament [MTL 2: 95-7]. From Sam’s notebook: “Oct 1.—Sailed for Egypt” [MTNJ 1: 443].

 

Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Eleven” dated Aug. “Naples” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 83-9].

October 2 Wednesday – QC arrived at Alexandria at sunset. Here he had the cedar branch from Jerusalem fashioned into a gavel for his Masonic lodge in St. Louis [Jones 365].

After a pleasant voyage and a good rest, we drew near to Egypt and out of the mellowest of sunsets we saw the domes and minarets of Alexandria rise into view. As soon as the anchor was down, Jack and I got a boat and went ashore. It was night by this time, and the other passengers were content to remain at home and visit ancient Egypt after breakfast. It was the way they did at Constantinople. They took a lively interest in new countries, but their school-boy impatience had worn off, and they had learned that it was wisdom to take things easy and go along comfortably—these old countries do not go away in the night; they stay till after breakfast [IA Ch57].

October 3 Thursday – From Sam’s notebook:

“Café d’ Europe, Hotel d’Europe, Catacombs—pass along another King, Pompey’s pillar, Cleaopatra’s Needles, Great Cemetary, Mahmoudeea Canal, Nile boats, Fine streets & dwellings, Fine shade-tree avenues, Luxurious bowers, Great fountain in main street” [MTNJ 1: 443-4].

October 4 Friday – Sam, Slote, Van Nostrand, and others unidentified left Alexandria by train at 4 PM, arriving in Cairo late that evening.

Alexandria was too much like a European city to be novel, and we soon tired of it. We took the cars and came up here to ancient Cairo, which is an Oriental city and of the completest pattern. There is little about it to disabuse one’s mind of the error if he should take it into his head that he was in the heart of Arabia. Stately [ page 280 ] camels and dromedaries, swarthy Egyptians, and likewise Turks and black Ethiopians, turbaned, sashed, and blazing in a rich variety of Oriental costumes of all shades of flashy colors, are what one sees on every hand crowding the narrow streets and the honeycombed bazaars. We are stopping at Shepherd’s Hotel, which is the worst on earth except the one I stopped at once in a small town in the United States. It is pleasant to read this sketch in my note-book, now, and know that I can stand Shepherd’s Hotel, sure, because I have been in one just like it in America and survived [IA Ch. 57].

October 5 Saturday – Sam and companions left Cairo on donkeys in the early AM. They visited the Sphinx and the pyramids at Giza. They returned to Cairo that night.

 

Arrived at Old Cairo, the camp-followers took up the donkeys and tumbled them bodily aboard a small boat with a lateen sail, and we followed and got under way. The deck was closely packed with donkeys and men; the two sailors had to climb over and under and through the wedged mass to work the sails, and the steersman had to crowd four or five donkeys out of the way when he wished to swing his tiller and put his helm hard-down. But what were their troubles to us? We had nothing to do; nothing to do but enjoy the trip; nothing to do but shove the donkeys off our corns and look at the charming scenery of the Nile [IA Ch58].

 

October 6 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Twelve” dated Aug. “Naples” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 89-94].

 

October 7 Monday – Sam and group left Cairo for Alexandria to board the QC, which departed Alexandria at 5 PM.

 

October 10 Thursday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Thirteen” dated Aug. “Naples” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 95-100].

 

October 11 Friday – From Sam’s notebook: “At sea, somewhere in the neighborhood of Malta. Very stormy” [MTNJ 1: 446].

 

October 13 Sunday – QC arrived at Cagliari, island of Sardinia at 9 PM, and left at midnight without disembarking passengers. Sam began a letter to his mother and family, writing on Oct. 13, 15, and 17 brief notes about his whereabouts, travel plans, the restrictions of quarantine and arrival back in New York [MTL 2: 97-8].

 

Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Fourteen” dated July 29 ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 59-66].

 

October 15 Tuesday – QC arrived at Algiers at 3:30 PM; left at 5:30 PM without disembarking passengers.

 

October 17 Thursday – QC arrived at Malaga at 1 PM and left at 4 PM without disembarking passengers. It arrived at Gibraltar at 11PM.

 

“We were all lazy and satisfied, now, as the meager entries in my note-book (that sure index, to me, of my condition,) prove. What a stupid thing a note-book gets to be at sea, any way” [IA Ch. 59].

 

October 18 Friday – Sam, Dr. Jackson, Julius Moulton, Miss Julia Newell, and a guide left Gibraltar at noon, traveling overnight by horseback and carriage to Algeciras, Vejer, and San Fernando.

 

Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Fifteen” dated Aug. 15 ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 100-110].

 [ page 281 ]

October 19 Saturday – Sam and group took a 4 PM train to Seville, arriving at midnight.

 

The Celebrated Frog of Calaveras County was reviewed by Fun, a English rival to Punch, edited by Tom Hood:

 

…one of the funniest books we have met with for a long time….too long to tell here and too good to spoil by curtailment….There are no misspellings, no contortions of words in Mark Swan [sic]; his fun is entirely dependent upon the inherent humour in his writings. And although many jokers have sent us brochures like the present from the other side of the Atlantic, we have had no book fuller of more genuine or genial fun [Welland 15-16].

 

October 20 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Sixteen” dated Aug. 20 ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 110-115].

 

October 22 Tuesday – Sam and group took a train to Cordoba.

 

October 23 Wednesday – Sam and group returned by 9 AM train to Seville, then left for Cadiz, stopping briefly in Jerez.

The ship had to stay a week or more at Gibraltar to take in coal for the home voyage.

      It would be very tiresome staying here, and so four of us ran the quarantine blockade and spent seven delightful days in Seville, Cordova, Cadiz, and wandering through the pleasant rural scenery of Andalusia, the garden of Old Spain. The experiences of that cheery week were too varied and numerous for a short chapter and I have not room for a long one. Therefore I shall leave them all out [IA Ch60].

Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Seventeen” dated Aug. 23 ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 115-20].

 

October 24 Thursday – Sam and group arrived in Cadiz. Meanwhile, the QC departed Gibraltar at 6 PM. Sam wrote from Cadiz to his mother and family about dodging quarantine and his hard journey to Seville. “…will arrive in New York ten days after this letter gets there” [MTL 2: 99].

 

He also wrote to Joe Goodman, relating the friction that had developed between Sam and some of the passengers, probably over a September 19 article of Sam’s in the New York Tribune. The article related the visit to the Czar and by comparison with Mrs. Fairbanks, painted the other ladies in a bad light, or so some of them thought. Sam confided in Joe:

 

“Between you and I, (I haven’t let it out yet, but am going to,) this pleasure party of ours is composed of the d—dest, rustiest, ignorant, vulgar, slimy, psalm-singing cattle that could be scraped up in seventeen States. They wanted Holy Land, and they got it” [MTL 2: 101-3].

 

October 25 Friday – QC arrived at Cadiz at 7:30 AM. Sam and group boarded at 10:30 AM. The QC departed Cadiz at 11 AM. Sam’s article, dated Aug. 31 “A Yankee in the Orient” ran in the New York Tribune [McKeithan 128-32].

 

October 27 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Eighteen” dated only August, “Constantinople” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 120-23].

 

October 28 Monday – QC arrived at Funchal, island of Madiera, at noon, then left at 8 PM without disembarking passengers.

 [ page 282 ]

October 29 Tuesday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Nineteen” dated only August, “Constantinople” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 123-28].

 

November 1 Friday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Twenty” dated Aug. 22 “Sebastopol” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 132-7].

 

November 2 Saturday – Sam’s article, “The American Colony in Palistine” dated Oct. 2, ran in the New York Tribune [McKeithan 306-9].

 

November 3 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Twenty-one” dated Aug. 22 at “Odessa” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 137-42].

 

November 6 Wednesday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Twenty-two” dated Aug. 27 at “Yalta” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 150-57].

 

November 9 Saturday – Sam’s article, “Holy Land, The First Day in Palestine” dated Sept. at “Baldwinsville, Galilee” ran in the New York Tribune [McKeithan 209-13].

 

November 10 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Twenty-three” dated Aug. 27 at “Yalta, Russia” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 157-63].

 

November 11 Monday – QC arrived at St. George, Bermuda at dawn.

 

“…the beautiful Bermudas rose out of the sea, we entered the tortuous channel, steamed hither and thither among the bright summer islands, and rested at last under the flag of England and were welcome” [IA Ch.60].

 

There were probably several groups who ventured to Hamilton, as there were 63 passengers. Mary Mason Fairbanks went in one group that followed the North Shore Road with views of Ireland Island and the Dockyard, reaching Hamilton about noon where they registered in the only hotel in town, the Hamilton Hotel [D. Hoffman 17-18]. Sam most likely went with a later group; after a breakfast on board, the Severances and Charles Langdon went to Hamilton. Mary Fairbanks wrote that Hamilton stood above the harbor “like a citadel” [18]. Emily Severance noted buildings and an “immense Indian rubber tree” in front of the postmaster’s house [20].

 

The American consul, Charles M. Allen, was from Belmont, New York an old friend of the Langdon family of Elmira [20]. Also visiting Bermuda was Charley Langdon’s cousin, Julia Louise Langdon [20]. The New York Sun of Moses Beach later reported “Miss Langdon” in Bermuda, which led one source to speculate incorrectly that this was Livy; that Sam first met her there, which is in error.

 

November 12 Tuesday – The group rode in carriages to the Gibbs Hill lighthouse, an unusual structure built in 1844-6, mostly from cast-iron parts made in England. The group then returned to the Hamilton Hotel for a meal. Afterward they traveled back to St. George’s for an evening at the W.C.J. and Mary Hyland’s. Hyland was a “fellow Christian and eminent citizen of St. George, where he founded the YMCA and ran the Sunday school” [D. Hoffman 18, 20-1]. Hyland misspelled but listed Sam as among the guests for the evening: “Entertained Mrs. Fairbanks, Mr. and Mrs. Severance, Mr. Langdon, Moses S. Beach and daughter [Emma] and Mr Clements (‘Mark Twain’).” At midnight the pilgrims headed back to the Quaker City [22].

 [ page 283 ]

November 13 Wednesday – A gale from the NW came up, continuing throughout the day. Just after midnight: The ship was anchored about a mile from shore. A rising wind and current made rowing back difficult. Mary Fairbanks wrote:

 

“Our oarsmen tugged manfully, and ‘Mark Twain’ held the rudder with a strong hand, while the spray dashed over his Parisian broadcloth and almost extinguished his inevitable cigar” [D. Hoffman 22].

 

November 14 Thursday – Stormy weather continued, delaying the departure of the QC [D. Hoffman 23].

 

November 15 Friday – QC left St. George at 8 AM. [MTL 2: 105 n5].

 

November 17 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Twenty-four” dated Sept. 5 ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 163-68].

 

November 19 Tuesday – Charles Dickens arrived in Boston to begin a five-month tour, lecturing and reading from his works [MTL 2: 104n3].

 

Quaker City arrived at New York City at 10 AM to complete the excursion, 5 months and 11 days long.

 

At last, one pleasant morning, we steamed up the harbor of New York, all on deck, all dressed in Christian garb—by special order, for there was a latent disposition in some quarters to come out as Turks—and amid a waving of handkerchiefs from welcoming friends, the glad pilgrims noted the shiver of the decks that told that ship and pier had joined hands again and the long, strange cruise was over. Amen [IA, Ch60].

 

Notes: The excursion was pivotal for Sam. His experiences would translate into his first truly successful book, Innocents Abroad, which would bring national prominence as a writer. With contacts to the Langdons and Mrs. Fairbanks, Sam made inroads into “respectable” society. The inroads were not without friction.

 

November 20 Wednesday – Sam wrote two letters to his mother, Jane Clemens and family upon arriving in New York, and finished them this day.

 

—the Herald folks got me at 6 o’clock, & notwithstanding I had an engagement to dine at the St. Nicholas with some ladies [Mary Fairbanks and Charles Langdon have been identified]. & take them to the theatre, I sat down in one of the editorial rooms & wrote a long article that will make the Quakers get up & howl in the morning.

 

The Quakers are all howling, to-day, on account of the article in the Herald. They can go to the devil, for all I care [MTL 2: 106].

 

Sam’s article, “The Cruise of the Quaker City,” dated Nov. 19, was printed on this morning [MTL 2: 104; McKeithan 313-19]. From the Herald article:

 

A free, hearty laugh was a sound that was not heard oftener than once in seven days about those decks or in those cabins, and when it was heard it met with precious little sympathy…The pilgrims played dominoes when too much Josephus or Robinson’s Holy Land Researches, or book-writing, made recreation necessary—for dominoes is about as mild and sinless a game as any in the world, excepting always the ineffably insipid diversion they call croquet, which is a game where you don’t pocket any balls and don’t carom on any thing of consequence, and when you are done nobody has to pay, and there are no refreshments to saw off, and consequently there isn’t any satisfaction whatever about it—they played dominoes till they were rested, and then they blackguarded each other privately till prayer-time. When they were not seasick they were uncommonly prompt when the dinner gong sounded. Such was our daily life on board the ship—solemnity, decorum, dinner, dominoes, devotions, slander. It was not lively enough for a pleasure trip; but if we had only had a corpse it would have made a noble funeral excursion [Lennon 183-4]. [ page 284 ]

 

November 19 or 20 Wednesday – Sam may have met Thomas Nast, famous illustrator and cartoonist for Harper’s Weekly, upon his return to New York. Nast had a show opening there on Dec. 4. Or, he may have met Nast after traveling to Washington. Either way, Nast soon proposed a lecture tour Sam speaking and Nast drawing. Ten years later Sam broached the subject with Nast again:

Therefore I now propose to you what you proposed to me in November, 1867—ten years ago, (when I was unknown,) viz.: That you should stand on the platform and make pictures, and I stand by you and blackguard the audience. I should enormously enjoy meandering around (to big towns—don’t want to go to little ones) with you for company [Nov, 12, 1877 to Nast in MTL, 1: 311].

 

On one of these days, Sam also went to see Charles H. Webb.

 

Webb told me that the “Jumping Frog” book had been favorably received by the press and that he believed it had sold fairly well, but that he had found it impossible to get a statement of account from the American News Company. … He was willing to accommodate me upon these terms: that I should surrender to him such royalties as might be due me; [because Webb had supposedly incurred manufacturing costs] that I should surrender to him, free of royalty, all bound and unbound copies which might be in the News Company’s hands; also that I should hand him eight hundred dollars cash; also that he should superintend the breaking up of the plates of the book…[AMT 2: 49]. See Explanatory notes 49.31-33 and 50.11-14 p. 487 of source. In the former, John A. Gray and Green Co. listed a total of 4,076 books printed. This was the same NYC company that 17 year old Clemens set type for.

 

November 21 Thursday – After a dinner with the New York Herald’s editorial board, Sam took the night train to Washington, D.C [MTL 2: 109 n2; Bliss 58].

 

Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Twenty-five” dated Sept. 6 ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 168-72].

 

Elisha P. Bliss (1822-1880) of the American Publishing Co. wrote to Clemens:

 

Dr. Sir,—We take the liberty to address you this, in place of a letter which we had recently written and was about to forward to you, not knowing your arrival home was expected so soon. We are desirous of obtaining from you a work of some kind, perhaps compiled from your letters from the East, &c., with such interesting additions as may be proper. We are the publishers of A. D. Richardson’s works, and flatter ourselves that we can give an author as favorable terms and do as full justice to his productions as any other house in the country. We are perhaps the oldest subscription house in the country, and have never failed to give a book an immense circulation. We sold about 100,000 copies of Richardson’s F. D. & E. (Field, Dungeon and Escape) and are now printing 41,000 of “Beyond the Mississippi,” and large orders ahead. If you have any thought of writing a book, or could be induced to do so, we should be pleased to see you, and will do so. Will you do us the favor to reply at once, at your earliest convenience.

Very truly, &c.,

E. Bliss, Jr. [MTP]. Note: Paine’s Transcription.

 

November 22 Friday – Sam arrived in Washington, D.C. and roomed with his new employer, Senator William Morris Stewart (1827-1909) in a second-floor apartment run by 70-year-old Miss Virginia Wells. “Clemens took his meals and socialized at the Round Robin bar at the Willard Hotel (see insert picture)….a favorite watering hole of [ page 285 ] Washington power brokers” [Bliss 64].

 

Sam then wrote John Russell Young, editor of the New York Tribune. Sam explained that Young was out when he’d visited the Tribune’s offices and sent him several letters which passed the “most fastidious censor on shipboard” (probably Mrs. Fairbanks).

 

“I would so like to write some savage letters about Palestine, but it wouldn’t do. And I would like to modernize the biographies of some of the patriarchs—but that would not do, either” [MTL 2: 108-111].

 

Sam arrived in the nation’s capitol with grand ideas of fame and fortune, of making more of a name for himself by associating with important people, of gaining influence for his brother Orion and for himself. It wasn’t long before being tied to a desk job soured these dreams. The position lasted not quite a month. Powers writes: “Shortly after arriving, Sam hit Stewart up for a loan. Stewart turned him down” [Powers, MT A Life 225]. Lorch puts forth the idea that Sam took the Washington job to “become more knowledgeable for his contemplated trip to China” [69].

 

November 24 Sunday – Sam wrote from Washington to Frank Fuller about his strategy for lecturing somewhere other than “in the provinces.”

 

“I have solemnly yielded up my liberty for a whole session of Congress—enrolled my name on the regular Tribune staff, made the Tribune bureau here my headquarters, taken correspondence for two other papers [the Alta California and the Territorial Enterprise] & one magazine [the Galaxy]…” [MTL 2: 111-113].

 

Sam turned down the money offered for eighteen lectures through the Associated Western Literary Societies, thinking he would make twice that and gain reputation in Washington. Sam also wrote John Russell Young a short note enclosing three of his Holy Land letters [MTL 2: 113-14].

 

Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Twenty-six” dated Sept. 8 ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 173-8].

 

November 25 Monday – Sam wrote from Washington, D.C. to Charles H. Webb, sending a penciled draft of the first two acts of a play about the Quaker City trip. He also confessed his inability to find a sweetheart named “Pauline” (unknown) and asked to be remembered to her [MTL 2: 115].

 

Sam also wrote John Russell Young of the Tribune again, informing him that he was doing a bit of writing for the Herald, “impersonal, of course, I suppose,” meaning, without his byline [MTL 2: 115-6].

 

Sam also wrote to Jane Clemens  and family and family of his efforts to obtain a clerkship in the Patent Office for Orion. He confided his progress at becoming well known:

 

“Am pretty well known, now—intend to be better known. Am hob-nobbing with these old Generals & Senators & other humbugs for no good purpose” [MTL 2: 116-7].

 

November 29 Friday – The New York Times ran a 1,700 word article on the front page signed by “Scupper Nong” about a meeting of a correspondent and General Ulysses S. Grant. Muller calls this the “Scupper Nong Letter” (in Chapter 3) and notes it was reprinted the following day in the Philadelphia Daily Evening Telegraph with the byline of Mark Twain [47]. The article was the result of Sam and Bill Swinton calling on Grant, who was not at home at the time. Donald Tiffany Bliss records that the interview with Grant was fictitious and in the Dec. 1868 issue of the New York Tribune. Evidently Bliss missed the Times article. Bliss writes, “Capturing Grant’s laconic personality, the spoof, much like a Saturday Night Live skit, mocked the evasive spin and non-answers that characterize so many political [ page 286 ] interviews” [87]. In the article, Sam wanted Grant’s opinion of Reconstruction policy. Anticipating possible negative responses to his chapter, Muller put a disclaimer on the page that his “finding has yet to be presented for peer review among the well-established network of Twain scholars and researchers.” Given the evidence in the Phila. paper, it seems no peer review is necessary. Muller explains Sam’s use of the pseudonym.

 

November 30 Saturday – Sam’s 32nd birthday. “The Scupper Nong Letters—From the National Capital—An Interview with General Grant” ran in the Philadelphia Daily Evening Telegraph [Muller 47].

 

December 1 Sunday – Sam wrote from Washington, D.C. to John Russell Young about payment and questioned the amount of a $65 check he’d received. He also received a letter from Elisha P. Bliss, which he responded to the next day. Bliss was soliciting a book from Sam, “compiled from your letters from the East, &c, with such interesting additions as may be proper.” Bliss published by subscription, a popular plan in those days with road salesmen pre-selling a book until profitability was ensured to enable publication. Bliss became Sam’s principal publisher until Bliss’ death in 1880. The letter from Bliss was the impetus for Sam’s second book, Innocents Abroad [MTL 2: 118-120].

 

Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Twenty-seven” dated Sept. 11 ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 178-82].

 

December 2 Monday – From Washington, Sam responded favorably to Bliss’ pitch, and asked for more particulars [MTL 2: 119-21].

 

On the same day Sam wrote Mary Mason Fairbanks:

 

My Dear Forgiving Mother—It all came of making a promise! I might have known it. I never keep a promise. I don’t know how. They only taught about the wise virgins & the stupid ones, in our Sunday School—never anything about promises….When I get married I shall say: “I take this woman to be my lawfully wedded wife, & propose to look out for her in a sort of general way, &c, &c.” It would be dangerous to go beyond that….I italicize like a girl….Give me another sermon! Yr. Improving Prodigal [MTL 2: 121-4].

 

Sam also wrote Frank Fuller about Bliss’ American Publishing Co. wanting a book [MTL 2: 124].

 

Twain’s article, “Facts Concerning the Recent Resignation,” which satirized his experiences with Senator William Morris Stewart, ran in the New York Tribune, and on Jan. 18, 1868 was reprinted in Kelley’s Weekly; and Feb. 13, 1868 again in the Tribune [Ebay #190462679873; 11/3/2010; Mark Twain’s Encyclopedia p. 279].

 

Sam covered President Andrew Johnson’s “annual message” to Congress, which created a firestorm. Sam wrote to the Territorial Enterprise:

 

The President’s Message is making a howl among the Republicans—serenity sits upon the brow of Democracy. The Republican Congressmen say it is insolent to Congress; the Democrats say it is a mild, sweet document, free from guile. But one thing is sure: the message has weakened the President. Impeachment was dead, day before yesterday. It would rise up and make a strong fight to-day if it were pushed with energy and tact [MTNJ 1: 490].

 

December 4 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Washington to John Russell Young again, asking if he might use the three letters he had sent in the book he was planning for Bliss. “I am sorry to trouble you so much, but behold the world is full of sorrows, & grief is the heritage of man” [MTL 2: 125]. In the letter Sam mentioned William Swinton (1833-1892), who in 1906 Sam remembered as forming a “Newspaper Correspondence [ page 287 ] Syndicate” with him, earning a dollar a letter from several newspapers [MTA 1: 323-4]. Sam called Swinton “a brilliant creature, highly educated, accomplished.” For more about Swinton, a roommate of Sam’s in Washington during the winter of 1867-8, see MTL 2: 125n1].

 

Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Twenty-eight” dated Sept. 12 ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 183-88].

 

December 5 Thursday – Sam wrote from Washington to Miss Emeline Beach “Emma”, the seventeen year old daughter of Moses Beach, both of whom had been aboard the Quaker City. The Beach family was members of Henry Ward Beecher’s congregation, and Moses Beach took umbrage at Sam’s article about the passengers of the Quaker City.

 

I suppose I have made you mad, too, maybe, but with all my heart I hope I haven’t. You wasn’t particularly civil to an old & defeated chess antagonist, the day you left the ship, but I declare to goodness (pardon the expression,) I cannot bear malice for that. Mr. Beach told me in New York, that even Mrs. Fairbanks felt hurt about that best-natured squib that ever was written (I refer to the one in the Herald,) & Charlie Langdon has not dropped me a line. Mrs. Fairbanks has, though, & scolds—scolds hard—but she can’t deceive this Prodigal Son—I detect the good nature & the forgiveness under it all [MTL 2: 126-7].

 

Sam named Emma Beach as one of the eight passengers he wanted to stay friends with, and corresponded with her as late as 1905 [Rasmussen 26].

 

This day Sam also wrote to Frank Fuller about possible lecturing in the West:

 

“I am good for 3 nights in San F., 1 in Sac., 2 in Va, & 1 in Carson—that is all I can swear to” [MTL 2: 128].

 

December 8 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Twenty-nine” dated Sept. 17 ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 188-93].

 

December 10 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Washington to his mother and family about political prospects and about Mrs. Fairbanks.

 

She was the most refined, intelligent, & cultivated lady in the ship, & altogether the kindest & best. She sewed my buttons on, kept my clothes in presentable trim, fed me on Egyptian jam (when I behaved,) lectured me awfully on the quarter-deck on moonlit promenading evenings, & cured me of several bad habits. …We all called her “mother” & kept her in hot water all the time about her brood. I always abused the sea-sick people—I said nobody but almighty mean people ever got sea-sick—& she thought I was in earnest. She never got sick herself. She always drummed us up for prayer meeting, with her monitory, ‘Seven bells, my boys—you know what it is time for.” We always went, but we liked four bells best, because it meant hash—dinner, I should say [MTL 2: 130].

 

Sam wrote the Alta of his conversations with General Edward McCook on support of the Hawaii treaty [MTL 2: 138n3].

 

December 12 Thursday – Sam wrote from Washington to Mary Mason Fairbanks. About Mary’s advice to get married, Sam gave the famous reply:

 

“I want a good wife—I want a couple of them if they are particularly good….But seriously again, if I were settled I would quit all nonsense & swindle some girl into marrying me. But I wouldn’t expect to be ‘worthy’ of her. I wouldn’t have a girl that I was worthy of. She wouldn’t do. She wouldn’t be respectable enough” [MTL 2: 133-4].

 

December 13 Friday – Sam wrote from Washington to Frank Fuller:  [ page 288 ]

 

“I believe I have made a mistake in not lecturing this winter…I am already dead tired of being in one place so long. I have received 2 or 3 calls lately from N.Y. & Indiana towns. When are you coming down? I might take a ‘disgust’ any moment & sail for Cal” [MTL 2: 136].

 

December 14 Saturday – Sam dated an article this day, “Colonel Burke and the Fenians,” a humorous article for the Washington Evening Star, which was reprinted in many newspapers, including the Territorial Enterprise. The article suggested using a barrel of gunpowder to remove Edwin M. Stanton from office [Fatout, MT Speaks 50].

 

An article from IA called “A Yankee In The Orient, Mark Twain Takes a Turkish Bath” ran in the Dec. 14 issue of Kelley’s Weekly Vol. I #3. The 2010 Ebay seller claimed this “represents the first printing in any form of any part of” IA. Also in this issue was “Mark Twain’s Opinion” three columns [Ebay # 190462656213; 11/03/2010].

 

December 15 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Thirty” dated Sept. at “Banias” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 193-8].

 

Sam’s article, “Letter from Mark Twain. The Facts in the Case of the Senate Door Keeper” dated Dec. 15, ran in the New York Citizen [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

December 16 Monday – Sam announced to his Territorial Enterprise readers that he had resigned his secretaryship, and that “E.A. Pretois, formerly of Virginia and Sacramento, is Senator Stewart’s private secretary, now” [MTL 2: 139n4]. Note: Sam and Senator Stewart did not hit it off, and the position had not kept Sam’s interest. Once again the vagabond itch came over Sam.

 

Sam’s article, “A New Cabinet ‘Regulator’” dated Dec. 14, ran in the Washington Evening Star [Camfield, bibliog.]. Note: this may be the same article as the “Fenians” in the Dec. 14 entry.

 

Elisha Bliss replied to Sam (whose letter not extant), pleading illness; he asked for “a few days longer” when he would respond to “your questions & give you such information upon the subject under consideration as I think you will wish. Trusting you will not negotiate with others until you hear from me…” [MTP]. Note: see Dec. 24 from Bliss, who made good his promise.

 

December 18 Wednesday – Sam’s article “Information Wanted” dated Dec. 10, ran in the New York Tribune [Camfield, bibliog.; The Twainian, Nov-Dec 1946 p.1-2]. Note: There is no connection with George Francis Train on this entry as mistakenly shown in the first edition. Gribben p.710 forthcoming will be corrected to read “Mark Twain’s column in the 22 January 1868 issue of the New York Tribune…”. Further note: Gribben’s reference work may not be updated; this information is from Jodee Benussi who has worked on a new edition. See Jan. 22, 1868 entry.

 

December 20 Friday – Charles Langdon, along with his father, Jervis Langdon (1809-1870), and sister Olivia Louise Langdon, arrived at the St. Nicholas Hotel in New York for a holiday stay [MTL 2: 145 n2].

 

Sam included a prose poem parody on Poe’s “The Raven” in his letter to the Enterprise. “Quoth the Choctaw, ‘Nevermore’” [ET&S 2: 63].

 

December 22 Sunday – Sam’s MARK TWAIN’S LETTERS FROM WASHINGTON, NUMBER I, dated Dec. 4, ran in the Virginia City Enterprise:  [ page 289 ]

Scurrilous Weather. I have been here a matter of ten days, but I do not know much about the place yet. There is too much weather. There is too much of it, and yet that is not the principal trouble. It is the quality rather than the quantity of it that I complain of; and more than against its quantity and its quality combined am I embittered against its character. It is tricky, it is changeable, it is to the last degree unreliable. It has catered for a political atmosphere so long that it has come at last to be thoroughly imbued with the political nature. As politics go, so goes the weather. It trims to suit every phase of sentiment, and is always ready. To-day it is a Democrat, to-morrow a Radical, the next day neither one thing nor the other. If a Johnson man goes over to the other side, it rains; if a Radical deserts to the Administration, it snows; if New York goes Democratic, it blows—naturally enough; if Grant expresses an opinion between two whiffs of smoke, it spits a little sleet uneasily; if all is quiet on the Potomac of politics, one sees only the soft haze of Indian summer from the Capitol windows; if the President is quiet, the sun comes out; if he touches the tender gold market, it turns up cold and freezes out the speculators; if he hints at foreign troubles, it hails; if he threatens Congress, it thunders; if treason and impeachment are broached, lo, there is an earthquake!

Other sections of the letter: “The Capitol and Congress,” “Mining College Proposed,” “Effects of the President’s Message,” and “Personal” [MTP].

Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Thirty-one” dated Sept. at “Banias” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 198-204].

December 24 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Washington, D.C. to Emily A. Severance about the death of Mrs. Fairbanks’ mother. After expressed sympathies, he wrote: “I am in a fidget to move. It isn’t a novel sensation, though—I never was any other way.” Sam also expressed support for the reciprocal treaty with Hawaii, probably due to Senator Stewart and Edward McCook’s support for it [MTL 2: 137-8]. Sam left Washington, D.C. probably by evening train, for New York [Sanborn 379].

The following squib ran in the Hartford Courant:

Mark Twain, one of the funniest writers of the day, who was one of the Quaker City excursionists, is preparing a volume descriptive of their voyage. It will be published by the American Publishing company of this city, and those who have laughed over Mark’s story of the Jumping Frog of Calaveras, Jim Wolfe and the Cats, or his inimitable letters from Italy and Palestine, will be apt to buy it. [“City and Vicinity,” Hartford Courant, p. 8].

Elisha Bliss wrote to Sam

 

Samuel L. Clemens Esq. Tribune Rooms, Washington D.C.

Dear Sir:

I have a few moments leisure and I shall spend them in writing you as I promised. Have you seen Mr. Richardson at your office? I suppose you have. I spoke to him about your work as talked of by us and asked him to give you some particulars or information regarding our operation, manner of doing business etc. I hope he has done so. I see it announced in one of our morning papers that you are engaged in writing a book or preparing one and that we are to publish it. How it got there is beyond my comprehension. Now about the book, We would like to have you get us up one. We can handle it we think to the advantage of both of us. We shall probably bring out Richardson’s new work and we can swing yours also easily and successfully. We think we see clearly that the book would sell; a humorous work, that is to say, a work humorously inclined we believe it, and Richardson’s work we think owe a good deal of their popularity to their spicy nature. The first thing then is, will you make a book? For material we should suggest your collected letters, revamped and worked over and all the other matter you can command, connected [single extant page ends here] [MTP]. Note: Albert Deane Richardson had made but a 4% royalty on his work.

 

December 25 Wednesday – Christmas – Sam arrived in New York for the holidays, and took a room in the Westminster Hotel [MTL 2: 142n1]. Since Sam did not arrive in New York until Dec. 25, Langdon family tradition and other scholars are incorrect that he met Olivia Langdon two days before Christmas.  [ page 290 ]

 

December 26 Thursday – Sam moved to Dan Slote’s home, probably after only one night at the Westminster Hotel [MTL 2: 142n1]. One night during this week, Charles Langdon, Jack Van Nostrand, Dan Slote and Sam got together for a “blow-out” at Dan Slote’s house “& a lively talk over old times” [MTL 2: 144].

 

December 27 Friday – Sam accepted an invitation from the Langdons for dinner at the St. Nicholas Hotel. There he met Olivia Louise Langdon, his wife to be [MTL 2: 145n3]. (See Dec. 31 entry)

 

Paine’s biography does not give an exact date of the first meeting, but names “two days before Christmas” as the date of the invitation to Sam [MTB 352]. In his Autobiography, however, Sam writes:

 

“That first meeting was on the 27th of December, 1867, and the next one was at the house of Mrs. Berry, five days later Miss Langdon had gone there to help Mrs. Berry receive New Year guests” [MTA 2: 103].

 

Still, others speculate further: Sanborn claims their first meeting was on New Year’s Day, and the second was at the St. Nicholas Hotel, on either Jan. 2 or 3, and that they went to a Dickens reading, but Sam recalled Dickens reading David Copperfield [380]. The only evening Dickens read that work was Dec. 31 [MTL 2: 146 n3]. Skandera-Trombley admits to the controversy involving the exact date, and votes for Dec. 31 as their day of meeting [p. xx]. Lauber claims Sam “never forgot that during the reading he had held hands with Olivia” [220]. This astonishing idea was lately copied by Donald Tiffany Bliss [87] citing Lauber, who gives no source. That a proper and young Victorian woman would hold the hand of a man she’d just met in the presence of her family is simply absurd. But, this is the way myths get repeated and taken as fact.

 

Sam’s article “Facts Concerning the Recent Resignation” first ran in the New York Tribune [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

December 29 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Thirty-two” dated Sept. at “Banias” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 204-8].

 

December 30 Monday – Sam wrote from New York to the Brooklyn Eagle, responding to an article “Trouble among the Pilgrims,” which had appeared on Dec. 24.

 

In your issue of the 24 inst, you called upon me, as upon a sort of Fountain-head of Facts (an intimation which touched the very marrow of my ambition, and sent a thrill of ecstasy throughout my being), to pour out some truth upon the Quaker City muddle, which Captain Duncan and Mr. Griswold have lately stirred up between them, and thus so rectify and clarify that muddle, that the public can tell at a glance whether the Pilgrims behaved themselves properly or not during the progress of the recent excursion around the world [MTL 2: 139-143; Brooklyn Eagle p3]. Note: Stephen M. Griswold (1835-1916).

 

Sam then proceeded to masterfully illustrate how easily a lie can be spread by citing the opposite—to wit, how Captain Duncan repeatedly did not show up drunk at breakfast. Sam was terrific at making light of quarrels, and he loved to stir some people up. Plus, he’d held back about Duncan throughout the voyage and didn’t need much of an excuse to blast away. (See Jan. 2, 1868 entry for Duncan’s immediate reply.)

 

December 31 Tuesday – Sam’s article on Duncan appeared in the Brooklyn Eagle. That evening Sam went with the Langdons to Charles Dickens’ read from David Copperfield at Steinway Hall in New York. Sam noted that Dickens not only read, but acted, an important lesson Sam noted about successful platform speakers. It is possible this is the day Sam met Olivia. (In 1906 Sam recalled the date as December 27, but in 1907 remembered the Dickens reading of Copperfield, which only took place on the 31st) [MTL 2: 146 n3; Powers, MT A Life 229n].

 [ page 291 ]

1867, Late – 1868 – Sometime in late 1867 Sam met General Ulysses S. Grant at a Washington reception. The two did not speak on their first meeting. MTA dictated in 1885 gives this date as “the fall or winter of 1866” [1: 13]. Mark Perry, p. xxvi, also gives this as late 1866, but Sam was not in Washington that entire year. Neither are Paine’s misdated or other apocryphal accounts correct; the exact date and place are unknown. Powers writes that Dec. 1867 is probable [MT A Life 226]. (See entry Jan. 15, 1868.)

 

 

 


 [ page 292 ]
Washington Letters – Deal with Elisha Bliss – New York to Panama to San Francisco More Lectures & Goodbye to Virginia City – Goodbye to San Francisco

Panama, New York & Hartford – Elmira, Rejected Proposal and the Courtship Began

Sam met Joe Twichell – “Vandals” Lectures Hither and Yon

 

1868 – Camfield lists a story printed posthumously in Mark Twain’s Satires and Burlesques (1967): “The Story of Mamie Grant, Child Missionary” [bibliog.].

Sam began work on “Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven” sometime during the year, and repeatedly returned to it in 1869, 1870, 1873, 1878, 1881, 1883, 1893, and 1906 [MTNJ 1: 241]. Note: Camfield cites 1869 as the year Sam began this work [bibliog.]. The work was finally published in Harper’s Magazine in Dec. 1907 and in book form in Oct. 1909.

January 1 Wednesday – In the morning, Sam again saw his future wife, Olivia Louise Langdon at 115 West Forty-fourth Street, the home of Thomas S. and Anna E. Berry, friends of the Langdons. Olivia was with close friend Alice Hooker (1847-1928). In 1906 Sam wrote,

 

“I had thirty-four calls on my list, and this was the first one. I continued it during thirteen hours, and put the other thirty-three off till next year” [MTL 2: 146n3].

 

January 2 Thursday – In the Brooklyn Eagle, page 3:

 

The Quaker City Excursion Again—Captain Duncan’s Reply to “Mark Twain.”

 

 To the Editor of the Brooklyn Eagle:

 

 I have read Mark Twain’s last in to-day’s EAGLE, and am of opinion that when that letter was written Mark Twain was sober. Yours, truly, C.C. DUNCAN.

 

Brooklyn, December 31, 1867

 

January 5 Sunday – Sam went to Plymouth Church in Brooklyn and was a guest at Henry Ward Beecher’s home. At dinner there he met Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and Catherine Beecher (1800-1878). Sam’s “old Quaker City favorite, Emma Beach,” was also there. Henry Ward advised Sam to drive a hard bargain with Elisha Bliss for IA [Andrews 18]. After evening services Sam returned to the Beecher’s to finish the “blowout,” and spent the night at the home of Moses Beach [MTL 2: 144-5].

 

Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Thirty-three” dated Sept, 1867 at “Williamsburgh, Canaan” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 213-19].

 

January 6–7 Tuesday – Sam returned by train to Washington, D.C.

 

January 7 Tuesday – Sam’s MARK TWAIN’S LETTERS FROM WASHINGTON, NUMBER II, dated Dec.16 1867 was printed in the Enterprise. Sections: “John Ross Browne’s Report,” “Personal,” “’Coast’ Matters,” and “The Holidays” [MTP].

 

January 8 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Washington to his mother, and sister Pamela. Sam told of his trip to New York, the “blowout” at Dan Slote’s house and the dinner he had at Henry Ward Beecher’s [ page 293 ] home. He also wrote that he found just found out the night before that he was to give two lectures on Jan. 9 and 10 (an inebriated “friend,” now unidentified, had made the lecture arrangements without telling Sam) [MTL 2: 144-5].

 

Sam also wrote a flirtatious letter to Emma Beach of his coming lecture about the Quaker City excursion; he would call it, “The Frozen Truth” [MTL 2: 147-9].

 

Sam’s article “Home Again” dated Nov 20, 1867 ran in the San Francisco Alta California:

 

Home Again.

 

The steamer Quaker City arrived yesterday morning and turned her menagerie of pilgrims loose on America— but, thank Heaven, they came ashore in Christian costume. There was some reason to fear that they would astound the public with Moorish haiks, Turkish fezzes, sashes from Persia, and such other outlandish diablerie as their distempered fancies were apt to suggest to them to resurrect from their curious foreign trunks. They have struggled through the Custom House and escaped to their homes. Their Pilgrim’s Progress is ended, and they know more now than it is lawful for the Gods themselves to know. They can talk it from now till January—most of them are too old to last longer [McKeithan 309].

 

January 9 Thursday – Sam wrote from Washington, D.C. to Stephen J. Field (1816-1899), Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, recommending Harvey Beckwith for a government agent post to uncover illicit un-taxed whiskey. Sam had known Beckwith from his Nevada days, when Harvey was the superintendent of the Mexican silver mine at Virginia City [MTL 2: 150].

 

Sam gave his “Frozen Truth” lecture at Metzerott Hall in Washington, D.C.

 

He also wrote his mother, and sister Pamela:

 

That infernal lecture is over, thank Heaven! It came near being a villainous failure. It was not advertised at all. The manager was taken sick yesterday, & the man who was sent to tell me, never got to me till after noon to-day. There was dickens to pay. It was too late to do anything—too late to stop the lecture. I scared up a door-keeper, & was ready at the proper time, & by pure good luck a tolerably good house assembled & I was saved! [MTL 2: 151].

 

Sam also wrote to Elisha Bliss asking terms he might receive for a book published by Bliss’ company [Powers, MT A Life 232]. Note: see Jan. 18 for Bliss’ reply.

 

January 10 Friday – 2 AM – Sam wrote from Washington, D.C. to Charles Webb, asking him to send three copies of the Jumping Frog. Sam’s canceled the second lecture for Jan.11, principally because the Evening Star had published a synopsis of the first lecture [MTL 2: 153n2]. He also wrote to the Morning Chronicle and the National Intelligencer, advising him of the canceled lecture [MTL 2: 153-4].

 

January 11 Saturday – Washington Morning Chronicle:

 

The subject of his remarks was the recent trip of a party of excursionists on the steamship Quaker City to Europe and points on the Mediterranean, and his descriptions were replete with sparkling wit, to which his slow, deliberate style of speaking gave a peculiar charm [Fatout, MT Speaking 648].

 

That evening Sam spoke at the Newspapers Correspondents Dinner, at Welcker’s Restaurant. In attendance was Speaker of the House, “Wily Smiler” Schuyler Colfax, who later became Vice President in the Grant Administration. Note: the press coined Colfax’s nickname, which Vogelback says reflected “a grudging admiration for the man’s political adroitness and a distrust of his perpetual smile” [Tribune 376].  [ page 294 ]

 

Sam, responding to the twelfth toast, offered,

 

“Woman—the Pride of Any Profession and the Jewel of Ours. What, sir, would the people of this earth be, without woman? They would be scarce, sir—almighty scarce” [Fatout, MT Speaking 20-1].

 

Sam’s MARK TWAIN’S LETTERS FROM WASHINGTON, NUMBER III of Dec. 20 ran in the Virginia City Enterprise and included a prose parody of Poe’s “The Raven,” in a section titled, “Lost Chief found.” Other sections: “A Voluminous Telegram,” “California Senator,” “President,” and:

 

Adjournment.

Congress adjourned yesterday. I don’t know whether they have done anything or not. I don’t think they have. However, let us not forget that they have “retrenched.” They have passed the stationery resolution—they have eased up some on one thousand millions of debt—they have smitten the Goliath of gold with a pebble—they have saved the country. God will bless them. Let the new David bring the head of the monster to the foot of the throne, and go after more. I tremble to think they may abolish the franking privilege next.

      The Ark has rested on Ararat. The most of the animals have gone away to New York and elsewhere. But I believe the Pacific delegation propose to remain here during the vacation and get ready for business—for stirring times are at hand. MARK TWAIN [ET&S 2: 63].

January 12 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Thirty-four” dated Sept. 1867 at “Williamsburgh, Palestine” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 219-25].

 

January 13 Monday – Sam’s article “Woman—An Opinion” ran in the Washington Evening Star [Camfield, bibliog.]. The Twainian, Feb. 1940, asserts this is the first printing of the speech.

 

January 14 Tuesday – Sam wrote at 2 AM from Washington, D.C. to his mother and family, enclosing a Washington Evening Star newspaper copy of his speech, “Woman,” which included editorial inserts for laughter, applause, great laughter, etc. [MTL 2: 155-7].

January 15 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Washington to Charles Webb, acknowledging receipt of the books he had asked for on Jan. 10; he passed on the reaction by Cornelius Stagg (b.1827?) to Sam’s questions about a scandal Stagg was involved in. Evidently Stagg was accused of extorting bribes from whiskey dealers in New York State, using a tax as a cover [MTL 2: 158-9].

By this date Sam had a new address after his split with Senator Stewart: 356 C Street [Powers, MT A Life 233].

 

Sam’s “Mark Twain in Washington” subtitled “The Hawaiian Treaty” dated Dec. 10, 1867 ran in the San Francisco Alta California.

 

The Twainian, July-Aug., 1948, page 1 article gives this date as Sam’s meeting of Ulysses S. Grant at a Washington reception, some eleven months prior to Grant’s election as president. (See entry end, 1867.) However, another article in the same journal for May-June of that year claims that Sam saw Grant but did not actually meet him [p.3]. The reception was reported in his letter to the Alta California dated Jan. 16, 1868.

 

Only the envelope survives, with Sam’s to Pamela Moffett, hand-frank of Senator William M. Stewart   [MTP].

 [ page 295 ]

January 17–19 Sunday – Sam traveled to New York and stayed at Dan Slote’s and “part of two days at Moses Beach’s in Brooklyn” [MTL 2: 165] until about Jan. 21. He also went by ferry to the home of Henry Ward Beecher, who advised him further on the matter of the proposed contract with Bliss [MTL 2: 160].

 

January 18 Saturday – Elisha Bliss wrote to Sam, anxious to secure promise that IA would be published by American Publishing, at future agreed upon term. [MTP].

 

…we will make liberal terms with you for it, in some shape most satisfactory to you. We think a fair copyright will pay you best. Suppose we leave it just this way for the present. You give us the refusal of your book, that is to say, you agree to give us the first opportunity for an arrangement with you & let it be understood between us that you are to get up one end & we are to publish it, terms to be agreed upon after this, when we can meet & talk together [MTP]. Note: the words “fair copyright” were underlined in ink on this typed letter, perhaps by Clemens.

 

January 19 Sunday – Sam and Elisha Bliss exchanged telegrams, either this day or the next, regarding the possible publication of IA. Neither dispatch is extant but both are referred to in Bliss’ Jan. 20 letter.

 

Powers cites an unpublished letter from Sam to his mother dated Jan. 20 that Sam called on Ulysses S. Grant’s Washington home, and planned with a fellow journalist to get Grant’s father “into a private room at Willard’s & start his tongue with a whiskey punch.” If true, then the entry “Jan. 17–19” should be only “Jan.19.” Sam was looking for an interview for another Alta letter, but Grant was not at home [Powers, MT A Life 226].

 

Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Thirty-five” dated Sept. 1867 at “Capernaum” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 225-9].

 

January 20 Monday – Sam wrote from New York to his mother and sister Pamela. (See Jan. 19) [Powers, MT A Life 647n26; MTP drop in letters].

 

My Dear Mother & Sister:

I received your letters yesterday postmarked 12th, & Pamela’s to-day postmarked 16th— Your arguments are strong—too strong to be refuted—& now I have no idea of going away without visiting St Louis first.

But I cannot now form an idea of when that will be. Sometime hence, I guess. If I could go by sea, it would be pleasant, but I dread the land passage in winter, notwithstanding the trip is short. Still, I would go anyhow, at once, if I had Orion’s affair settled. I was getting along well with it until last night. I am so situated that I can find out what the President is going to do a week before the other newspaper men—& last night I learned that he had concluded yesterday not to appoint Mr. Ely to the Commissioner of Patents, notwithstanding newspaper rumors to the contrary, but will appoint a Mr. Burroughs (this is private, of course.) So I shall have to start after Mr. Burroughs, now, whoever he may be, & run him to cover.

I know very well how to proceed, though. Success is the only question—not the only one, either—for the Senate generally makes it a point to refuse to confirm the President’s appointees.

I have a letter from Routledge the London publisher, asking me to write for his magazine—articles from 6 or 8 to 10 or 12 pages long, at $5 a page, gold—but I cannot write magazine articles worth a cent—if I could I would write for our own magazines—they pay a little more, or at least as much.

Routledge says he is delighted with the Jumping Frog book, & that it has a great sale in England. It has had a better sale in America than it deserved. It takes an awful edition to pay first cost, but it has done that— not many books do. I naturally suppose that now it will quit selling.

I called at Gen. Grant’s house last night. He was out at a dinner party, but Mrs. Grant said she would keep him at home on Sunday evening. I must see him, because he is good for one letter for the Alta, & part of a lecture for San F. Grant’s father was there. Swinton & I are going to get the old man into a private room at Willard’s & start his tongue with a whisky punch. He will tell everything he knows & twice as much that he sup­poses—will be glad to do it—& then we can use it as “coming from high authority” without betraying the [ page 296 ] old gentleman. But seriously we shall not print anything but just such matters as would tickle his vanity rather than give him pain.

Dan Slote will be disappointed to-night in New York when he comes after me.

[no signature; MTPO].

 

Powers lists this as the “probable” date Sam took a train from Washington to New York [Powers, MT A Life 233].

 

Sam wrote an untitled manuscript, which was never published and later known as “Colloquy between a Slum Child and a Moral Mentor” [MTL 2: 172n1]. Note: first source gives this as “about this time [Jan. 31]”; second source cites this date. Budd says it was written between Jan. and Mar. of 1868 [“Collected” 1007].

 

Elisha Bliss wrote to Sam.

 

Your dispatch [not extant] came to hand to-day, the reply to which you have doubtless received. I wrote you on Saturday, directed to Washington [Sam was in NY]. You probably have not received that letter, therefore I send you copy of it. Suppose you let it rest as I propose in that letter, until such time as we can get together and talk it over–that is if it should be impossible for me to go to N.Y. with in 2 or 3 days, for as I telegraphed you [not extant], I am sick and confined to the house [MTP]. Note: Bliss added if Sam wanted to know sooner he could visit in Hartford, which he did on Jan. 22. Clemens likely wanted to know royalty rates and other details such as planned date of publication, etc.

 

January 21 Tuesday – The Alta had not only registered Sam’s letters for copyright, but they were in a conflict with the Sacramento Union over its printing of one letter. They printed an “emphatic claim to ownership” of Sam’s Holy Land letters [MTL 2: 174n1].

Sam’s Special Correspondent “Letter from ‘Mark Twain’” dated Dec. 14, 1867 ran in the San Francisco Alta California. Subtitles: Concerning Government Salaries; Female Clerks; Distribution of the Places; Secretary’s Seward’s Real Estate Bargains; A Shaky Piece of Property; The Sutro Tunnel [Schmidt; Camfield, blibiog.].

January 22 Wednesday – As per Elisha Bliss’ invite of Jan. 20, Sam took a train to Hartford, Conn., since he had not been able to reach an agreement through correspondence. This was Sam’s first visit to Hartford. He may have arrived the night before [MTL 2: 162n1]. Andrews cites Jan. 21 [18]. After discussing the matter with Albert Deane Richardson (1833-1869) (who had only received a four percent royalty from Bliss), Sam declined Bliss’ offer of a straight purchase of the book for $10,000, and opted for five percent royalties [Winterich 176]. Powers remarks that by “staking everything on royalty profits from a book that would depend on door-to-door subscription sales to a largely non-‘literary’ clientele, Samuel Clemens revealed a strong intuitive grasp of his natural readership” [MT A Life 234]. Note: It’s likely that Sam simply felt his “readership” would be cut from the same cloth as his “listenership” in his many lectures. Sam did not hold what might have been called normal “literary” ambitions.

 

Sam stayed at Nook Farm, a 100-acre enclave founded in 1851 by John Hooker (1816-1901), and his brother-in-law, Francis Gillette (1807-1879) with Alice Hooker’s family, friends of the Langdons [Powers, MT A Life 233]. Sam was persuaded to “walk mighty straight,” and wasn’t allowed to smoke. In a letter to the Alta, he claimed to smoke:

 

“…surreptitiously when all are in bed, to save my reputation, and then draw suspicion upon the cat when the family detect the familiar odor. So far, I am safe, but I am sorry to say the cat has lost caste….She has achieved a reputation for smoking, and may justly be regarded as a degraded, a dishonored, a ruined cat”[Sanborn 386].

 [ page 297 ]

Sam’s satirical letter to the editor of the New York Tribune about George Francis Train was printed. Train, a Fenian and crackpot of sorts, was in jail at the time, and had been widely written about in the newspapers [Fatout, MT Speaks 53].

 

Sam’s LETTER FROM “MARK TWAIN” Correspondence of the New York Citizen.” dated Dec. 15, 1867 ran in the San Francisco Alta California [Schmidt].

 

January 24 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to his mother, and sister Pamela Moffett.

 

This is a good week for me. I stopped in the Herald office as I came through New York, to see the boys on the staff, & young James Gordon Bennett [(1841-1918)] asked me to write impersonally twice a week for the Herald, & said if I would, I might have full swing, & abuse anybody & everybody I wanted to…. But the best thing that has happened was here. This great American Publishing Co. kept on trying to bargain with me for a book till I thought I would cut the matter short by coming up for a talk. I met Rev. Henry Ward Beecher in Brooklyn, & with his usual whole-souled way of dropping his own work to give other people a lift…he said, “Now here—you are one of the talented men of the age—nobody is going to deny that—but in matters of business, I don’t suppose you know more than enough to come in when it rains; I’ll tell you what do to & how to do it.” And he did. And I listened well, & then came up here & have made a splendid contract for a Quaker City book of 5 or 600 large pages, with illustrations…My per centage is to be a fifth more than they paid Richardson….I had made up my mind to one thing—I wasn’t going to touch a book unless there was money in it, & a good deal of it. I told them so.

 

Sam listed the newspapers he would be writing for, and cautioned the family not to talk to anyone regarding this letter [MTL 2: 160-4].

 

Sam also wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks asking her not to “abuse” him “on account of that dinner-speech in reply to the toast to woman” [MTL 2: 165-6].

 

January 25 Saturday – Sam returned to New York and stayed at the Slote house, where he wrote his old Hannibal friend, Will Bowen. “I have just come down from Hartford, Conn., where I have made a tip-top contract for a 600-page book, & I feel perfectly jolly.” Sam told Will about his newspaper deal with the Herald, and sent best wishes for Will’s brother Bart, scalded in a steamboat accident [MTL 2: 167-8].

 

January 26 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Thirty-six” dated Sept. 1867 at “Tiberias” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 229-36].

 

January 27 Monday – Sam wrote from New York to Elisha Bliss, American Publishing Co., agreeing to terms. That evening Sam attended a dinner of “newspaper Editors & literary scalliwags, at the Westminster Hotel” [MTL 2: 169-70].

 

January 28 Tuesday – Sam’s article, MARK TWAIN IN WASHINGTON, dated Dec. 17, 1867, ran in the San Francisco California Alta. Subtitles: More Mysteries; How a Mystery was Solved; Singular; Personal; Harris [Schmidt].

 

January 30 Thursday – Sam returned to Washington, D.C. (See Mar. 3 entry), where he wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks.

 

“I confess, humbly, that I deserve all you have said, & promise that I will rigidly eschew slang & vulgarity in future, even in foolish dinner speeches, when on my guard” [MTL 2: 170].

 

Sam’s MARK TWAIN’S LETTERS FROM WASHINGTON, NUMBER IV dated Jan. 10 ran in the Enterprise. Sections included: “Public Stealing,” “The Worrell Sisters,” “The Town-Site Bill,” and: [ page 298 ]

Old Curry

Is here—old Abe Curry. And he is gotten up “regardless.” He is the observed of all observers. I think Curry is the best dressed man in Washington. He has a plug hat with a bell crown to it—it is of the latest Paris style, and has a rim that is curled up at the sides. It is the shiest hat in Washington. And he wears black broadcloth pants, with straps to them, while Marseilles vest, and a blue claw-hammer coat with a double row of brass buttons on it, like a Major General. His cravat is perfectly stunning; it looks like it might have come off the end of a rainbow. His moustache is turning out handsomely, and he swings a rattan stick and wears lemon-colored kid gloves. He also has a superb set of false teeth, but he has to carry them in his pocket most of the time, because he can’t swear good when he has them in. He goes browsing around the President’s and the departments trying to talk French—because he is playing himself for a foreign Duke, you know. N.B.—I may have exaggerated my old friend’s costume and performances a little, but then this is the man that detained my baggage in Carson once and gave me that infamous account of the Hopkins massacre, and I can never, never forgive him for it. He says he is here to get seeds from the Patent Office for Tredway and Jim Sturtevant. A likely story. He wants to get another appropriation to put another layer of stone on that Mint, I guess. I expect I had better find out what Curry is about and keep an eye on him—he will be wanting to run this Government next [MTP].

Note: Abraham Curry, one who promoted Carson City as Nevada’s capitol and whom Sam credited with saving Nevada’s new government (Roughing It, Ch. 25), was cited in the 1863 massacre article as the source.

 

Clemens wrote “Home Again,” which was published March 3 in the Alta California. See entry.

 

January 31 Friday – Sam wrote from Washington, D.C. to Emma Beach saying he had:

 

“not been out of the house since I came home, & have not left the writing table, except to sleep, & take my meals. I have written seven long newspaper letters & a short magazine article in less than two days.”

 

He described a “scorcher” he received from Mrs. Fairbanks and asks Emeline’s help remembering paintings they’d seen on the excursion [MTL 2: 171].

 

February – Sam’s humorous article, “General Washington’s Negro Body-Servant,” first ran in the Galaxy Magazine for Feb. 1868 [Emerson 63].

 

February, early – Sam moved again, to 76 Indiana Avenue, Washington, D.C.

 

February 1 Saturday – Sam wrote from Washington to John Russell Young, editor of the New York Tribune enclosing three Holy Land letters he “smouched” from the Alta bunch:

 

“…& added 3 at the end of the list to make up the deficiency, but as you will see by the inclosed telegram, they don’t seem to understand it” [MTL 2: 173].

 

Sam also wrote to Jacob H. Burrough, his old roommate in St. Louis days.

 

Dear Burroughs— / I have been absent in New York and Hartford for the past ten or twelve days & was glad to find your letter when I got back. It was with 28 others—the other 27 are not answered. I have written 182 note-paper pages of newspaper matter, at a dollar a page, & 7 of magazine stuff at four dollars a page, in the last two days—Oh, no, —I ain’t a steam engine to work, when I get behindhand, I don’t reckon—“it’s the man in the wagon,” as we say in California. If I can wrote as much more in the next two days, I will be all right again. I just want to show them that when I make contracts I am willing to fill them—& then I will throw up all my correspondence except about $75 a week & sail in on my book—because I have made a tip-top, splendid contract with a great publishing house in Hartford for a 600-page volume illustrated—about the [ page 299 ] size of a Patent Office Report. My percentage is a fifth more than they have ever paid any man but Horace Greeley—I get what amounts to just about the same he was paid. But this is publisher’s secret—keep it to yourself.

      I wish I could see you and talk over old times. Give my love to your 5, my dear old boy. I must answer some of those other letters. Good bye, lad. [sketch of treble clef and two measures of notes for “Auld Lang Syne”] Here’s health & a green memory to the days that are gone! / Always your friend / Sam L. Clemens [MTP, drop-in letters].

 

February 2 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Thirty-seven” dated Sept. 1867 at “Nazareth” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 236-42].

 

February 3 Monday – Sam’s article “Gossip at the National Capitol” dated Feb. 1 ran in the New York Herald [Camfield, bibliog.]. Note: Budd attributes this and two other Herald articles on Feb. 8 and Feb. 15, 1868 to Sam in “Did Mark Twain Write Impersonally for the New York Herald?” Duke University’s Library Notes, Nov. 1973 No. 43. In a personal conversation in July, 2007, Robert Hirst of the MTP observed that the evidence wasn’t strong for these unsigned articles being Sam’s; Budd acknowledges that they don’t sound much like him, but puts it to Sam’s attempt to be innocuous.

 

February 4and 6 Thursday – Sam wrote from Washington to Elisha Bliss, asking for a thousand dollar advance on the new book, in order to cut down on his newspaper articles and focus on the book, which was to become Innocents Abroad. He had turned down the Postmaster of San Francisco job, and explained the loss of income to Bliss. Paine writes that Sam obtained an advance before he left for California, but the amount is unknown [MTB 362]. Sam also wrote his mother and family reasons for not taking the postmastership of San Francisco [MTL 2: 178-80].

 

February 5 Wednesday – Sam’s article, MARK TWAIN IN WASHINGTON, dated Jan. 11, 1867, ran in the San Francisco California Alta. Subtitles: Charles Dickens; Complimentary; Presidential Presents; Jump’s Pictures; Festivities, etc. [MTL 2: 623 1868s].

Jump’s Pictures.

Jump, the caricaturist, of San Francisco, is here as artist for Frank Leslie’s. He has made a water-color sketch of Pennsylvania Avenue, which is attracting a deal of attention. It hangs in the window of the principal bookstore, and has a cluster of amused folks around it all the time. It has twenty or thirty portraits in it. This is just the city for Jump, where the faces of the nation’s distinguished men are so familiar. In this picture he has portraits of Seward, Welles, Banks, Spinner, Horace Greeley, General Butler, Charles Sumner, Grant, Sherman, Stanton and others, whose features are well know everywhere. The execution is excellent, and the hits are good.

Jump recently married a handsome young lady in New York.

February 8 Saturday – Sam worked for a short time during this year as a special correspondent for the Chicago Republican. His first LETTER FROM MARK TWAIN, dated Jan. 31 from Washington ran and included: “CONGRESSIONAL POETRY,” “MR JUSTICE FIELD,” “KALAMAZOO,” “THE CAPITOL POLICE,” “COLORADO AT THE DOOR,” and “FASHIONS” (a report on the fashions at General Grant’s reception) [Schmidt].

 

“The Man Who Put up at Gadsby’s” ran as a letter to the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise. It was later expanded and included as a chapter in A Tramp Abroad (1880) [Wilson 217].

 [ page 300 ]

February 9 Sunday – Sam wrote from Washington to Mary Mason Fairbanks, teasing her that he was “tapering off” of using slang. He also had been sick and recently moved to 76 Indiana Avenue in Washington.

 

“I am bound to wander out of the straight path & do outrageous things, occasionally, & I believe I have got a genuinely bad heart anyhow—but in the course of time I will get some of the badness out of it or break it”[MTL 2: 180-1].

 

Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Thirty-eight” dated Sept., 1867 at “Nazareth” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 242-8].

 

February 10 Monday – Sam wrote from Washington to Emma Beach and began with: “PS.—Don’t skip any of this letter, now—because it is just full of wisdom.” Sam often put his postscripts at the top of his letters. Sam told Emeline he was still sick. He also was proud of the way he’d lobbied and squelched the nomination of a nominee for postmaster of San Francisco [MTL 2: 180-5]. Note: Sam’s letters to Emeline were playful, teasing, and softly condescending. His interest in her, young as she was, is evident in these letters.

 

Sam’s article “Washington Gossip” dated Feb. 8, ran in the New York Herald [Camfield, bibliog.]. Note: attributed to Sam by Louis Budd—See Feb. 3 entry and notes.

 

February 11 Tuesday – Sam’s article, MARK TWAIN IN WASHINGTON, dated Dec. 23, 1867, ran in the San Francisco California Alta. Subtitles: The President and Vice President; The President’s last; The Big Trees; Senatorial; Miscellaneous [Schmidt].

 

February 13 Thursday – Sam’s article, “The Facts Concerning the Recent Important Resignation” dated Feb. 9, ran in the New York Tribune [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

February 14 Friday – Sam gave the toast “Woman” to the Press Club Dinner. He revised it to overcome the objections of Mary Mason Fairbanks [MTL 2: 191n1]. Fatout lists the toast as Feb. 18, as does Sam in his letter of Feb. 20 to Mrs. Fairbanks [MT Speaking 649].

 

Sam’s article, MARK TWAIN IN WASHINGTON, dated Jan. 16, ran in the Alta. Subtitles: The Wood-Cutters; Washington II; Grant’s Reception; More Sensations. [Schmidt].

 

February 16 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Thirty-nine” dated Sept. 1867 at “Nazareth” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 248-54].

 

February 18 Tuesday –MARK TWAIN IN WASHINGTON dated Jan. 11 ran in the Enterprise. Sections included: “Stewart’s Speech,” and:

The Political Stink-Pots Opened.

They are opened, and awful is the smell thereof! Millions of politicians have suddenly begun to prate, with unprecedented energy, even for their tribe, and they foul all the air with their corrupt and suffocating breath. It is all about reconstruction. The truth is, that the more Congress reconstructs, the more the South goes to pieces [Schmidt].

Sam’s article, “Washington Gossip” dated Feb. 15, ran in the New York Herald [Camfield, bibliog.]. Note: attributed to Sam by Louis Budd—See Feb. 3 entry and notes.

 

February 19 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Washington, D.C. to Anson Burlingame.  [ page 301 ]

 

“Don’t neglect or refuse to keep a gorgeous secretaryship or a high interpretership for me in your great embassy—for pilgrim as I am, I have not entirely exhausted Europe yet, & may want to get converse with some of those Kings again, by & bye.”

 

Notes: Burlingame resigned as minister to China in Nov. 1867, accepting a post from the emperor of China as envoy to all “treaty powers.” At this time, Burlingame was leaving Hong Kong for San Francisco and Washington. Sam sent a similar letter on this date by steamship [MTL 2: 186-7]. Sam wished to join the Burlingame delegation when it moved on to Europe, but also wanted to bird dog Bliss and watch over the publication of Innocents Abroad [A. Hoffman 139].

 

Sam’s MARK TWAIN IN NEW YORK dated Jan. 20 ran in the Enterprise. Not much humor here—the letter told of the squalor and tragedy of New York’s tenement house poor [Schmidt].

 

Sam’s second LETTER FROM MARK TWAIN, dated Feb.14 from Washington ran in the Chicago Republican and included: DIED; Senator Chandler’s Party; St. Valentine’s Day; Curious Legislation; VINNIE REAM [Schmidt].

 

Sam’s article, MARK TWAIN IN WASHINGTON, dated Jan. 12, ran in the San Francisco California Alta. Subtitles: The Last Sensation; The Banquet; Washington Crime; More Washington Morals; Personal. [Schmidt].

 

February 20 Thursday – Sam wrote from Washington, D.C. to Mary Mason Fairbanks. In part:

 

Your most welcome letter is by me, & I must hurry & write while your barometer is at “fair” for it isn’t within the range of possibility that I can refrain long from doing something that will fetch it down to “stormy” again.

I acknowledge—I acknowledge—that I can be most laceratingly “funny without being vulgar.” In proof whereof, I responded again to the regular toast to Woman at a grand banquet night before last [MTL 1 claims it was Feb. 14, not Feb. 18], & was frigidly proper in language & sentiment….Now haven’t I nobly vindicated myself & shed honor upon my teacher & done credit to her teachings? With head uncovered, & in attitude suppliant, but yet expressive of conscious merit, I stand before you in spirit & await my earned “Well done,” & augmented emolument of bread & butter—to the end that I may go & slide on the cellar door & be happy [MTL 2: 188-95].

 

In the evening Sam attended the Illinois State reception and sent a dispatch to the Chicago Republican [MTL 2: 195n3].

 

February 21 Friday – Sam wrote from Washington, D.C. to his mother, Jane Clemens and family.

“I was at 224 first—Stewart is there yet—I have moved five times since—shall move again, shortly. Shabby furniture & shabby food—that is Washn —I mean to keep moving….I couldn’t accept the Postoffice—the book contract was in the way—I could not go behind that—& besides, I did not want the office” [MTL 2: 195-6].

 

Sam also wrote his brother Orion, who was setting type for the St. Louis Missouri Democrat as a substitute.

 

“I am in for it. I must go on chasing them—until I marry—then I am done with literature & all other bosh, —that is, literature wherewith to please the general public. I shall write to please myself, then. I hope you will set type till you complete that invention…”

 

Notes: Orion had put together a wood-sawing machine. However, upon patent application, he discovered that such a machine had already been invented. More importantly, this letter shows [ page 302 ] that Sam continued to play the life of the bachelor in the months following his introduction to Olivia Louise Langdon [MTL 2: 197-8]. Powers cites a letter to Mollie Clemens for this date, which he says was “smothered in private files by Paine” for the reason of perpetuating the falsehood that Sam, once he’d met Livy, did not have much to do with other females [Powers, MT A Life 230].

 

Note: In July, 2007 at the MTP I transcribed the letter Powers refers to, from the “drop-in” letters. Here is an excerpt:

 

I was glad to hear from so many friends whose names are familiar to my memory—Ick, & the Ellas, Al. Patterson’s folks, India, your parents, Belle,—why, it is a party in itself! And Miss Mason—will you borrow a mustache & kiss her once for me—or several times?

I received a dainty little letter from Lou Conrad [Louisa I. Conrad], yesterday. She is in Wisconsin. But what worries me is that I have received no letter from my sweetheart in New York for three days [Emma Beach?]. This won’t do. I shall have to run up there & see what the mischief is the matter. I will break that girl’s back if she breaks my heart. I am getting too venerable now to put up with nonsense from children.

…

I rather expect to go with Mr. Burlingame on his Chinese Embassy—you know he is a tip-top good friend of mine—but for goodness sake don’t hint of this to the home folks. I would never hear the last of it. Cuss this cussed place—I am precious tired of it. There is no fun but receptions, & nobody there but stupid old muffs of Generals & Senators, who talk their plagued war & politics to me when I had rather hear Greek. When they have what they call “reunions” they are pleasant enough & are full of jollity.

The State of Illinois had one last night, & Oregon gives one at Senator Corbett’s Monday night. These suit me well. The invitations are special, & not more than a hundred to a hundred & fifty are invited. They are not crowded to death like the receptions. I like the banquets better than anything, but they do not occur often [MTP, drop-in letters].

  February 22 Saturday – Sam wrote from Washington, D.C. to Mollie Clemens about his book contract and that he expected to go with Anson Burlingame on the Chinese embassy trip, once he left for Europe [MTL 2: 198-9].   Sam also wrote to William C. Church, an editor of the Galaxy, complaining of an unpublished article he’d submitted which had not been returned. About this date Sam telegraphed the Alta for permission to reuse his 50 Holy Land letters [MTL 2: 200-1].

 

Sam gave a variation of his “Sandwich Islands” lecture to the Ladies’ Union Benevolent Society, Forrest Hall, Georgetown. The newspapers announced the lecture a “pleasing success,” with the audience in “almost continuous roars of laughter” [Lorch 73]. Fatout reports a full house, with Sam “entirely at ease” [Circuit 86].

 

February 23 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Forty-three” dated Sept. 1867 “At Large in Palestine” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 254-60].

Text Box: February 24, 1868 – House of Representatives voted to impeach  
Andrew Johnson

 

 

 

 

 

February 24 Monday – The Washington Morning Chronicle said that the Feb. 22 audience, “including many of the most prominent persons of Georgetown and this city…was in almost continuous roars of laughter,” the amusing effect heightened by “his peculiarly slow and inimitable drawl” [Fatout, Circuit 86]. [ page 303 ]

 

February 27 Thursday – Sam’s MARK TWAIN’S LETTERS FROM WASHINGTON, NUMBER VII dated Jan. 30 ran in the Enterprise. Sections included: “More Westonism,” “Impeachment,” “Harry Worthington,” “Mormonism,” and:

Judge McCorkle.

They report that this homely old friend of mine—this ancient denizen of California and Nevada—the wrinkled, aged, knock-kneed, ringboned and spavined old war-horse of the Plains is to be married shortly to a handsome young Ohio widow worth Three Hundred Thousand Dollars. Well. What is the world coming to, anyhow? If any man had told me a week ago that any woman in her right mind and under 70 would be willing to marry that old fossil!—that old tunnel—that old dilapidated quartz mill—I would never, never have believed it. He is a splendid man, you know, but then he must be as much as 92 or 93 years old. He is one of my nearest personal friends, but what of that? I would remain a bachelor a century before I would marry such a rusty, used up old arastra as he is. I have always considered that I ought to fairly expect to marry about seventeen thousand dollars, but I think differently now. If McCorkle ranges at three hundred thousand in the market, I will raise my margin to about a million and a half [MTP].

Sam’s undated letter, “Concerning Gideon’s Band,” which ran in the Washington Morning Chronicle on this date, focused on Gideon Welles (1802-1878), Secretary of the Navy from 1861-9. His buildup of the Navy was instrumental in the defeat of the South [Camfield, bibliog.]. Note: Reprinted in the Hartford Courant Mar. 2 as “Mark Twain on the Crisis,” and in other newspapers, including The Oregonian on Apr. 24. From Sam’s letter:

 

Mr. Editor: — I see it stated that that staunch old salt, Mr. Gideon Welles, is going to rally to the protection of the President with his 400 marines. Do you know if that party is entirely made up? I would like very much to belong to Gideon’s Band. Here’s my heart and here’s my hand. I want to rally to the rescue a little. I am competent. I have been to sea a good deal, and have seen some service as a boarder on shore; besides, I have some entertaining stories to relate, which I have never got anybody to believe yet, and I wish to tell them to these marines.

We can gain the victory in this enterprise. In the old times there were only 300 noble Democrats in Gideon’s Band and they triumphed. Every Democrat took a horn. Every Democrat carried his own jug. Just arm us 400 modern Democrats as we have been armed for three thousand years; give us a jug apiece and sound the tocsin of war! Avast! Ahoy! Way for Gideon’s Band!

MARK TWAIN

 

March 1 Sunday – Sam’s MARK TWAIN’S LETTERS FROM WASHINGTON, NUMBER VIII dated Feb. 5 ran in the Enterprise. Sections included: “Office Hunting,” “The Man Who Stopped at Gadsby’s,” “Mrs. Lincoln,” “Felix O’Byrne,” and “Stewart’s Speech” [Schmidt].

 

Sam’s third LETTER FROM MARK TWAIN, dated Feb. 21 from Washington ran in the Chicago Republican and included: THE ILLINOIS STATE ASSOCIATION; A CHEERFUL GUEST; MORALIZING; LAZARUS IMPEACHMENT, COME FORTH!; THE TWENTY-SECOND OF FEBRUARY; SCENE IN THE CAPITOL; THE CLOSING DEBATE; THE HUNTED CHIEF IN HIS CASTLE; A Sleeping Lion Aroused—Gideon Rampant; and TELEGRAPHIC THUNDER AND LIGHTNING [Schmidt].

Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Forty-four” dated Sept. 1867 at “Jerusalem” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 260-6].

 

March 3 Tuesday – Sam’s article, MARK TWAIN ON HIS TRAVELS, dated Feb. 1, ran in the Alta California . Subtitles: The White Fawn; Hartford; The Charter Oak; and:

 [ page 304 ]

Home Again. I got back to Washington this morning (January 30th,) after tarrying two or three days in New York. If find nothing going on here of particular import, except that J. Ross Browne’s nomination to the Chinese Mission has been sent to the Senate by the President, and there is very little doubt that it will be confirmed. I cordially hope so, partly because he is a good man and a talented one; a literary man and consequently entitled to high honors; and also because he has kindly invited me to take a lucrative position on his staff in case he goes to China, and I have accepted, with that promptness which so distinguishes me when I see a chance to serve my country without damaging my health by working too hard. Present engagements will keep me in the East for five or six months yet; but no matter, I shall follow him out there as soon as I am free, anyhow, if he is sent, and so none of you newspaper men need to go fighting for my secretaryship. I am the only man that can fill the bill. I am able to write a hand that will pass for Chinese in Peking or anywhere else in the world [Schmidt].


March 4 Wednesday
– Sam’s satiric poem, “Rock Him to Sleep” ran in the Cincinnati Evening Chronicle [Camfield, bibliog.]. The work ridiculed Alexander M.W. Ball, one of the claimants of authorship for the popular poem, “Rock Me to Sleep, Mother” [Gribben 21].

 

March 7 Saturday – Sam’s MARK TWAIN’S LETTERS FROM WASHINGTON,  NUMBER IX dated Feb. 1868 ran in the Enterprise. Sections included: “Washington Rascality,” “The Delegation,” “Postmaster,” “Sandwich Islands Reciprocity,” “Miscellaneous” (McGrorty,) “Hay,” “Wood,” “Rough,” and

 

Impeachment.

It is dead for good, now, I suppose. It promised so fairly, two months ago, that everybody boldly turned prophet and said it would certainly succeed. But it didn’t. Nobody’s prophecies concerning Washington matters ever come out right. Isaiah himself would be a failure here. Hon. Thad. Stevens, the bravest old ironclad in the Capitol, fought hard for impeachment, even when he saw that it could not succeed. He is not choice in his language when he speaks on this subject, concerning his fellow-committeemen and Congress generally. He simply says the whole tribe of them are “Damned Cowards.” It is the finest word painting any Congressional topic has produced this session [MTP].

 

March 8 Sunday – On or about this date Sam received a negative reply from the editors of the Alta to his request to reuse the Holy Land letters in his new book [MTL 2: 200].

 

Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Forty-five” dated Sept. 1867 at “Jerusalem” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 266-72].

 

March 8–10 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Washington, D.C. to his mother and family. Paine paraphrases this letter, evidently not extant, about Sam’s decision to travel to San Francisco and talk to “those Alta thieves face to face” [MTB 361]. He knew Colonel John McComb and Frederick MacCrellish well. Sam, tired of Washington, thought he could lecture in San Francisco and write the book in fresh surroundings [MTL 2: 201-2].

 

March 9 Monday – The Washington Evening Star announced:

 

“Mark Twain”—Clemens—has left Washington for California to make arrangements for the publication of his work [Muller 137].

 

March 10 Tuesday – Sam traveled to New York, where he wrote Mary Mason Fairbanks:

 

“I am so glad of an excuse to go to sea again, even for three weeks. My mother will be grieved—but I must go. If the Alta’s book were to come out with those wretched, slangy letters unrevised, I should be utterly ruined” [MTL 2: 202].

 [ page 305 ]

March 11 Wednesday – Sam left New York on the steamer Henry Chauncey, bound for San Francisco [Sanborn 391].

 

Sam’s undated letter to the editor, “The Chinese Mission” ran in the New York Tribune [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

March 13 Friday – Sam’s MARK TWAIN’S LETTERS FROM WASHINGTON, NUMBER X dated Feb. 22 ran in the Enterprise. Sections included: “The Grand Coup d’Etat,” and “How the Delegations” [MTP].

 

March 15 Sunday – Sam wrote from the Henry Chauncey en route from New York to Aspinwall, Panama to his mother and family.

 

…the weather is fearfully hot—that the Henry Chauncey is a magnificent ship—that we have twelve hundred passengers on board—that I have two staterooms, & so am not crowded—that I have many pleasant friends here & the people are not so stupid as on the Quaker City—that we had Divine Service in the main saloon at 10.30 this morning—that we expect to meet the upward bound vessel in latitude 23… [just below the tip of Florida]. [MTL 2: 203-4].

 

Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Forty-six” dated Sept. 1867 at “Jerusalem” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 272-7].

 

March 18 Wednesday – Sam wrote at sea to Mary Mason Fairbanks.

 

“Dear Mother—We shall reach the Isthmus tomorrow morning. It is getting very hot. Cuba was such a vision!—a perfect garden!” [MTL 2: 204-5].

 

March 19 Thursday – The Henry Chauncey reached Aspinwall, Panama. Sam traveled across the Isthmus by train and boarded the Sacramento at Panama City at night [MTL 2: 205n1].

 

March 20–April 1 Wednesday – Sam made a speech on board sometime between these dates, entitled “Charade” [Fatout, MT Speaking 649].

 

March 22 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Forty-seven” dated Sept. 1867 at “Jerusalem” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 277-81].

 

March 29 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Forty-eight” dated Sept. 1867 at “Jerusalem” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 281-7].

 

April 2 Thursday – The Sacramento arrived in San Francisco and Sam stayed at the Occidental Hotel [MTL 2: 205; Sanborn 391]. Sam wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks of his safe arrival:

 

“The Prodigal in a far country chawing of husks, P.S.—& with nobody to molest or keep him straight. (!) mild exultation.”

 

This letter could have been written any time from Apr. 2 to Apr. 14 [MTL 2: 208].

 

Sam had a formal photograph taken by Bradley & Rulofson of San Francisco, sometime between this date and Apr. 16, when he left for Sacramento [MTL 2: 215n7].

 

Powers claims that Sam began bargaining with the Alta editors the day of his arrival [MT A Life 236]. The Alta printed a note on Apr. 3 that Sam had arrived, so either day may be correct.

 [ page 306 ]

April 3 Friday – The Alta reported that Sam had arrived and proposed to lecture a few days [MTL 2: 205]. In the morning, Sam went to the offices of the Alta to negotiate with the owners over reusing his Holy Land letters. Frederick MacCrellish was no more flexible in person than he’d been in letters. He refused Sam’s request, but made a compromise offer of ten percent royalty on a published work by the Alta. Two books out at once would not do. Sam did not agree and left with things unresolved. Sam began to arrange for lectures [Sanborn 391].

 

April 4 Saturday – The Critic printed that Sam’s lecture topic would be “the results of his pilgrimage to the Holy Land” [MTL 2: 205].

 

April 5 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Fifty-two” dated Sept. 1867 at “Jerusalem” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 302-6].

 

April 6 Monday – The Alta reported that on Apr. 6 Sam was in the audience of a literary society meeting of Rev. Dr. Charles Wadsworth’s Calvary Presbyterian Church. Sam was called upon to give an informal, impromptu speech, “which was received with the liveliest applause” [MTL 2: 206].

 

April 7 Tuesday – Sam’s MARK TWAIN’S LETTERS FROM WASHINGTON, NUMBER XI dated Mar. 2 ran in the Enterprise. Sections included: “The Mining School,” “A Good Job in Danger,” “Another One,” “ Governmental Blasting,” “Impeachment,” “In Abeyance,” and “Later” [Schmidt].

 

April 9 Thursday – After being somewhat lost on the San Francisco side of the bay, Sam found a ferry and went to Oakland, where he spoke at the Methodist Episcopal Church [MTL 2: 206].

 

April 10 Friday – The Examiner and other newspapers reported that Sam would speak at Platt’s Hall on Apr. 14. It was at this Hall where Sam had enjoyed his largest audience in 1866. On Apr. 12, a notice in the California Weekly Mercury advised that Sam would soon fill a lecture circuit to the interior of the state [MTL 2: 205]. Sam’s posters announced that “The Doors will be besieged at 7 o’clock; the Insurrection will begin at 8.” Clearly, Sam enjoyed the circuit, seeing old friends, making money, and needed to outwait the Alta editors. Sam was even more of a celebrity in the region with the influence of the Quaker City letters.

 

Robert Bunker Swain (1822-1872) wrote to Sam:

 

“Dear Clemens

I have been hoping to see you all the week to ask you dine with me on Sunday. I would be most happy to have you and so would Mrs Swain. We generally dine at 4 ½ o’clock…please say amen & oblige …”[MTP]. Note: In this file at MTP, a typed explanatory note explains why Apr. 10 is the correct date.

 

Late Spring, Early Summer – Sometime between Apr. 11 and July 3, Sam picnicked with Robert Bunker Swain and Clara Swain, and George E. Barnes, editor and co-owner of the Morning Call. Swain was superintendent of the U.S. Mint in San Francisco, [MTL 3: 354n3].

 

April 12 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Fifty-three” dated Sept. 1867 at “Jerusalem” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 287-91].

 

April 14 Tuesday – Sam spoke at Platt’s Hall, San Francisco to 1,600, a full house. His lecture was titled “Pilgrim Life,” from his Holy Land material and his “The Frozen Truth” lecture.

 

We saw no energy in the capitals of Europe like the tremendous energy of New York, and we saw no place where intelligence and enterprise were so widely diffused as they are here in our country. We saw nowhere any [ page 307 ] architectural achievement that was so beautiful to the eye as the national capitol of America…We saw no people anywhere so self-denying, and patriotic and prompt in collecting their salaries as our won members of Congress [Fatout, MT Speaking 23-4].

 

The receipts for the lecture were over $1,600 in gold and silver and the reviews were good [MTL 2: 210n2 claims “mixed reviews”], but Sam thought the lecture was “miserably poor” [Sanborn 392]. Sam wrote notes to several newspaper men, including Samuel Williams (1824?-1881) of the Evening Bulletin, asking them not to print “any of my good sayings in the morning papers,” since he intended to “repeat my troubles to-morrow night” [MTL 2: 209]. Sam believed that newspaper synopses of his lectures caused folks to stay home.

 

April 15 Wednesday – Sam repeated the Apr. 14 lecture again at Platt’s Hall [Fatout, MT Speaking 23]. Lorch says “there was less obvious straining after effect” for this second lecture [78].

 

April 16 Thursday – Sam took a steamer to Sacramento [MTL 2: 210].

 

April 17 Friday – Sam gave his “Pilgrim Life” lecture, no doubt revised, at the Metropolitan Theater in Sacramento. Lorch says “he greatly amused many by apologizing for the absence of Elder Knapp, a well-known local revivalist who had distinguished himself recently in his campaigns against theaters and dancing” [78].

 

April 18 Saturday – Sam gave his lecture in Marysville, California. The Sacramento Daily Union ran this revealing review Sam’s performance of the night before:

MARK TWAIN’S LECTURE.—The Metropolitan Theater was crowded last night with a fashionable and intellectual audience to hear Mark Twain’s lecture. The speak began about half past eight o’clock and continued till ten. He began by correcting a misstatement of the subject of the lecture as published in the papers. He said he did not intend to speak much about the Holy Land, but mostly about the voyage of the Quaker City and the company aboard of her. This part of the discourse was characterized throughout by the speaker’s peculiar humor and wit; for Clemens is a wit as well as a humorist, and either as wit or humorist, much superior to Artemus Ward. A remarkable peculiarity of his style is the angularity of his contrasts, sharp turns from the ridiculous to the sublime, and comparisons which bring astonishment and laughter in touching distance. His use of adjectives is something marvelous, especially in piling up invective. The listener fears at first that the sentence is going to be weakened or lost in the confusion of polysyllabics, but to his amazement out plumps the exact fitting substantive at last which requires the force of every expletive used. The same thing is observable in his writing. No modern letter writer has so well succeeded in the use of long sentences or their proper relief by the right sort of proceeding and succeeding short ones. The first five minutes of the lecture sounded extremely frivolous, and reminded us of Artemus Ward’s “Babes in the Wood.” The next fifteen minutes brought the speaker and his audience to a mutually good understanding, and was something more than mere humor. The last hour was a decidedly rich treat and at times held the crowd with the deepest attention, eliciting applause. The applause and close attention were in every case compliments to the substance and not the style of Mr. Clemens’ lecture, for his address is not very good and his voice is low and sometimes aggravating to listeners. He draws upon rhetoric, history, fancy and the poetic, just often enough to show that he appreciates these qualities, but not so much as to weary those who appreciate them less than the humorous traits of his mind. His allusions to the ruined historical grandeurs along the shores of the Mediterranean was an eloquent and concise summary wrought up with skill to its climax and not continued a minute beyond the point where good taste and good sense, which is only another name for good taste, demanded its dismissal. The picture of Palestine did not disappoint the expectations of those who had read his letters from there; but it was greatly at variance with the customary sentimentalities and grandiloquent musings of the popular travelers who have within the last half century written on that subject. No two men are alike impressed with any scene. What inspires one with sublime fervor sometimes excites ridicule in another. Renan dressed out some of his finest thoughts on the sad shores of the Sea of Galilee, and Lamartine took some of his loftiest flights in Judea. Twain did not behold these scenes through the same glasses. He saw them only with the eyes [ page 308 ] of a practical American, keenly alive to progress and the present, and prepared for ridicule in spite of the gloss of romance and the eld of history. Yet they are mistaken who deem that he has no fancy or poetic feeling. Voltaire had this none the less because he ridiculed time-honored custom and things held sacred by great names. We confess to a partiality for this California humorist. At the bottom of his intellectual character there seems to us to lie a vast deal of good sense, which his humor is only used to dress up in such presentable style as will hardly fail to please any audience. He lectures to-night in Marysville, and goes thence to Nevada county, and thence of Virginia City [Railton].

April 20 Monday – Sam gave his “Pilgrim Life” lecture in Nevada City, Nevada, where he announced that the “doors will be surrounded at 7 o’clock and the insurrection will begin at 8” [Lorch 79].

 

April 21 Tuesday – Sam gave his “Pilgrim” lecture in Grass Valley, California.

 

April 22 Wednesday – Sam returned to Sacramento [MTL 2: 210]. Sam was learning that he could not base his Holy Land book on wholesale ridicule of what many felt were sacred sites and edifices, nor could he write essentially a put-down of the Pilgrims on the voyage, no matter how well done or deserved. The newspaper reviews of his California lectures were definitely a mixed bag.

 

April 23 Thursday – The Grass Valley Daily Union gave Sam this review:

“MARK TWAIN’S” LECTURE— The irresistible sense of humor which characterizes this apostle, was exemplified, night before the last, from the very start. After diligent search and inquiry throughout the town, he finally succeeded in finding a couple of reckless persons, who cared nothing for public opinion, to accompany him on to the stage. The personal appearance of, and marked contrast between, these two individuals, convulsed the audience with laughter and thus put them in a suitable frame of mind to appreciate the mirth-provoking “Mark.” One of the supports (we came very near writing “sports”) was an uncompromising Democrat; the other, an ardent Republican; one was an impecunious newspaper man; the other, (immense contrast) a banker; one drinks only whisky; the other imbibes nothing but chocolate; one is bald-headed, and the other has no hair on the top of his head; one nose a great deal and the other—well, this contrast has been carried far enough. “Mark” arose between these two thorns, got behind his mustache, and started in. The first two stories he told, about the man that was twenty-four thousand, nine hundred and ninety-two miles from Marysville the way he was going, and only eight miles if he turned around, and the other yarn about the boy who wanted a little devil to play with, were good. We always liked those stories. Our grandfather used to tell them. Our little boy laughs at them when he finds them in Harper’s drawer, where they re-appear about every six months. They are good stories; they have stood the test of time. His other anecdotes, however, were not of this familiar type. They were all good, all original (having been told to “Mark” by a personal friend), and told in an inimitable manner. The Christopher Columbo story and the mummy yarn, brought down the house; but it being a very small one, nobody was hurt. The inconveniences of polygamy were forcibly illustrated by the case of the Sultan of Turkey with his eight hundred wives, who has to have his sleeping apartments lumbered up with a bedstead six feet long, and thirteen hundred feet wide. But it is not only as a humorist that “Mark” excels. His graphic description of the arid wastes of Palestine, and the mis-shapen waists of the Turkish ladies; of Venice, the Queen of the Adriatic, and Damascus, the pearl of the East; (besides Damascus, he mentioned unfavorably several other cusses); his interesting account of Herculaneum and Pompeii and his vivid picture of Egypt, were as fine specimens of word-painting as good well be imagined. Taken all in all, the lecture was an excellent one; decidedly superior, in our opinion, to the one which he previously delivered on the Sandwich Islands. This may be his last lecturing tour, as we understand that he is about to commence a new work, having been engaged by the Smithsonian Institute, to write a eulogy of that Institution [Schmidt].

Sam took the 6:30 AM Central Pacific train for Nevada [MTL 2: 210]. At Coburn Station, California (now Truckee), Sam telegraphed Joe Goodman.

 

“I am doing well. Have crossed one divide without getting robbed anyway. Mark Twain.”

 [ page 309 ]

Sam’s reference to being robbed was a pointed barb at the fake robbery of Denis McCarthy and Steve Gillis in Nov. 1866 [MTL 2: 211]. Lorch details the trip:

 

“From Sacramento he proceeded by rail to the summit of the Sierras where the snow lay thirty feet deep on level ground and one hundred feet deep in drifts. Then came the arduous ride down the eastern slope of the mountain, first by six-horse sleigh down to Donner Lake, then mail coach to Coburn’s Station, and then railway and stagecoaches to Virginia City” [79-80].

 

April 24 Friday – Sam arrived in Virginia City at 5 AM [MTL 2: 211n1]. The day was clear and pleasant. Alfred R. Doten (1829-1903) met Sam at the courthouse and with other reporters at 11:30 AM they went to a hanging [Clark 994]. Sam was in one of the carriages that crowded around the gallows for one John Milleain (known also as Jean Millian), the convicted murderer of the infamous prostitute Julia Bulette. After the execution, Sam went to visit with his friends at the Enterprise office and work on his letters for the Eastern papers [Sanborn 393-4].

 

April 26 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Fifty-four” dated Sept. 1867 at “Jerusalem” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 291-6]. The Virginia City Daily Trespass reported that Sam appeared “a little lean to what he used to,” but that he talked as rapidly as ever—“gets out a word every three minutes” [Fatout 80].

 

April 27 Monday – Sam gave his “Pilgrim” lecture in Virginia City at Piper’s Opera House. Sam competed with two large balls given in honor of the 49th anniversary of the Odd Fellows, so did not get a full house for his lecture [Sanborn 394].

 

April 28 Tuesday – Sam and Joe Goodman called on Alfred Doten and Philip Lynch at the Gold Hill Daily News office. The four shared a bottle of champagne [Clark 996].

 

In the evening, Sam repeated his “Pilgrim” lecture at Piper’s Opera House in Virginia City. From Doten’s journal:

 

“At 8 ½ oclock a piano was heard in behind the curtain—as it went up, Mark was discovered playing rudely on it, & singing, ‘There was an old hoss & his name was Jerusalem’ ” [Clark 996-7].

 

The Virginia City Daily Trespass reviewed the lecture:

MARK TWAIN.—Pursuant to contract, Mark Twain delivered his announced lecture at the Opera House last night, to a very large and fashionable audience of ladies and gentlemen. The lecture is worth hearing. It is more—a rare treat to any one conversant with the history of ancient countries. From the moment the lecturer leaves some very commonplace strictures upon the unfortunate sea-sick pilgrims and Puritans, and commences to relate his experiences of the journey from Gibraltar to the Pyramids; from Spain to Russia; from Syria to the Bosphorus; it is all interesting, instructive, and at times immensely amusing. His power of language-painting is great, and his half soliloquy as to forgetfulness of renowned places where the Quaker City party pressed unappreciative (apparently) feet far exceeds any effort previously made in the poetic line by him who is better known in his writings as a humorist. In brief, we were immensely entertained by the lecture, and pleased, taking hearty applause or laughter as a standard for judgment. To-night the lecture will be repeated at the Opera House, and to-morrow night Mark will speak at Carson. We cheerfully commend him to all desirous of a real, live, entertaining literary treat [Railton].

The Enterprise reported Conrad Weigand (1830-1880) gave Sam a $40 bar of silver with the inscription: Mark Twain—Matthew, V:41—Pilgrim, which is the verse “Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go [ page 310 ] with him twain.” The paper implied that when it came to bars, Sam would go further [Lorch 80; See 1993 UC RI, p.760-1].

 

April 29 Wednesday – Sam went to Carson City and gave his “Pilgrim” lecture at Carson Theater [Sanborn 394; MTPO].

 

April 30 Thursday – Sam gave his “Sandwich Islands” lecture in Carson City as a school benefit [MTL 2: 213].

 

May – Sam’s hilarious article, “My Late Senatorial Secretaryship,” was printed in the Galaxy Magazine for May 1868 [Budd, “Collected” 1008].

 

May 1 Friday – Sam returned to Virginia City, where he began a letter to Mary Mason Fairbanks:

 

“My Dear Mother—I cannot go a-Maying today, because it is snowing so hard—& so I have been writing some newspaper letters…”

 

Sam left the letter unfinished until he returned to San Francisco [MTL 2: 211]. Sam spent a couple of days “to shake hands and swap yarns with his old friends” [MTL 2: 213].

 

May 3 Sunday – Sam left Virginia City for the trip over the Sierra Nevada, which, due to the late spring snows and railroad repairs, was one of train plus stagecoach for a 30-hour trip to San Francisco [MTL 2: 213n3-4].

 

May 4 Monday – Sam was in transit to San Francisco, by stage and by train. He spent the night in Sacramento [MTL 2: 215n8].

 

May 5 Tuesday – Sam departed Sacramento at 2 PM on the California Steam Navigation Company’s Capital, with his friend Edward A. Poole as captain. Sam arrived back in San Francisco and stayed at the Occidental Hotel again, and finished his letter of May 1 to Mary Mason Fairbanks.

 

The Alta has given me permission to use the printed letters. It is all right, now. I could not go with Mr. Burlingame, though I wanted to do it badly. I told him I would join him in Europe before his mission was finished. I must try & send my photograph with this. It is better looking than I am, & so I ordered two hundred. I mean to order a thousand more. I will send you five hundred to put in your album.

 

Sam had letters waiting for him in San Francisco from Mrs. Fairbanks, Charles Langdon, Julius Moulton, Isabella Beecher Hooker and “a dozen letters from other people” [MTL 2: 211-13]. Whether the agreement with the Alta had been finalized prior to Sam’s lecture tour or upon completion is not known.

 

Sam wrote from San Francisco to Elisha Bliss advising that he’d received permission to use his Holy Land letters. “I am steadily at work, & shall start east with the completed manuscript about the middle of June” [MTL 2: 215-6]. Note: Sam would not finish the Innocents Abroad manuscript and leave until July 6.

 

May 12 Tuesday – Sam wrote from San Francisco to Mary Mason Fairbanks, including a photograph he had forgotten to include in his letter of May 5.

 

He also wrote to Frank Fuller about his success in lecturing, his plans to go east the first of July and the news that his book would be issued from the press early in December [MTL 2: 216].

 

May 17 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Fifty-one” dated Sept. 1867 at “Jerusalem” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 296-301].  [ page 311 ]

 

A typed note in the Apr. 10, 1868 letter file from Robert B. Swain reads that Clemens had the Reverend Dr. Jesse Burgess Thomas (1832-1915) lecture at him on 17 May, around which time he may also have socialized with [Horatio] Stebbins (1821-1902) and Charles Wadsworth, as reported in Barnes’s Call [MTP, see MTL 2: 225-9n2]. Note: see Who is Mark Twain? (2009), pp. 175-181 for Clemens’ article, “I Rise to a Question of Privilege,” a reply to a public rebuke by Baptist minister Thomas about his writings on the Holy Land.

 

May 18-23 Saturday – Sam wrote a sketch unpublished until 2009: “Happy Memories of the Dental Chair” [Who Is Mark Twain? xxiv].

 

May 19 Tuesday – Sam’s fourth LETTER FROM MARK TWAIN, dated May 1 from Virginia City, Nevada ran in the Chicago Republican and included: “Bad Jokes,” “LITERARY DEBAUCH,” “HONOR TO WHOM, &C.,” “PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL,” “MAY DAY – A CONTRAST,” and:

AT SEA.

Special Correspondence of the Chicago Republican.

I chartered one of the superb vessels of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company for a hundred and eighty thousand dollars, and invited several parties to go along with me, twelve hundred in all. I shall not take so many next time. The fewer people you take with you, the fewer there are to grumble. I did not suppose that any one could find anything to grumble at in so faultless a ship as ours, but I was mistaken. Very few of our twelve hundred had ever been so pleasantly circumstanced before, or had sailed with an abler Captain or a more obliging baggage master, but yet they grumbled. Such is human-nature. The man who drinks beer at home always criticizes the champagne, and finds fault with the Burgundy when he is invited out to dinner [Schmidt].

May 21 Thursday – Barton W. Stone Bowen died in Hannibal from a steamboat accident. Bart was a good friend of Sam’s and a fellow pilot; he befriended Sam and offered financial assistance at the time of Henry Clemens’ death. [MTL 4: 119n6].

 

May 28 Thursday – Sam wrote from San Francisco to Elisha Bliss about Bancroft & Co. Publishing handling book sales on the West Coast and in Japan and China.

 

“I shall have the MSS finished in twenty days & shall start east in the steamer of the 1 of July” [MTL 2: 217-8].

 

May 31 Sunday – Sam’s fifth LETTER FROM MARK TWAIN, dated May 2 from Virginia City ran in the Chicago Republican and included: “CURIOUS CHANGES,” “BRIEF MENTION OF A FRIEND,” “NOVEL ENTERTAINMENT,” “UP AMONG THE CLOUDS,” and “AMEN” [Schmidt].

 

June – Sam wrote a sketch unpublished until 2009: “I Rise to a Question of Privilege” [Who Is Mark Twain? xxiv].

 

June 7 Sunday – Sam wrote from San Francisco to his mother and family, advising them to keep the Tennessee Land if they had not yet sold it, since the new railroad would make it more valuable. He had washed his hands of trying to sell the land, and Orion made several trips there but failed to sell it [MTL 2: 219-20].

 

The Morning Call reported Sam had nearly completed his MS, “by dint of almost superhuman application.” Sam had been in seclusion to write. Presumably in June, Harte worked over the MS of what [ page 312 ] would become Innocents Abroad. In 1904 Sam wrote that he worked “every night from eleven or twelve until broad day in the morning” at a rate of about 3,000 words per day [MTL 2: 232n1].

 

June 13 Saturday – Sam’s letter, “Important to Whom it May Concern” ran in the San Francisco News Letter and the California Advertiser [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

June 17 Wednesday – Sam wrote from the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco to Mary Mason Fairbanks. He had read a few of the scathing reviews of his “Pilgrim” speech by ministers and others.

 

What did I ever write about the Holy Land that was so peculiarly lacerating? The most straight-laced of the preachers here cannot well get through a sermon without turning aside to give me a blast. The last remark reported to me from the pulpit is “this son of the Devil, Mark Twain!”

 

Sam had worked many all-night sessions on his book.

 

I am writing page No. 2,343. I wish you could revise this mountain of MSS. for me. There will be a great deal more than enough for the book when it is finished, & I am glad. I can cut out a vast deal that ought to perish [MTL 2: 221-31].

 

June 18 Thursday – Sam’s article, “ANOTHER OLD CALIFORNIAN GONE” appeared in the San Francisco Daily Dramatic Chronicle [Fatout, MT Speaks 56-7].

 

June 23 Tuesday – Sam wrote from San Francisco to Elisha Bliss.

 

“The book is finished, & I think it will do. It will make more than 600 pages, but I shall reduce it at sea. I sail a week hence, & shall arrive in New York in the steamer Henry Chauncey, about July 22. I may tarry there a day or two at my former quarters (Westminster Hotel,) & then report at Hartford” [MTL 2: 232].

 

June, late – Sam renewed his friendship with Steve Gillis, now married and living on Bush Street. He also spent time with Bret Harte, editor of the newly founded Overland Monthly, a literary magazine. Harte was on the verge of fame for his own stories, “The Luck of Roaring Camp” appearing that year, and “Outcasts of Poker Flats” the next. Harte helped Sam pare his long manuscript, and three years later Sam was to credit Harte with greatly improving him as a writer [MT Encyclopedia, Dickinson 352; Lennon 395-6]. Sam reserved a stateroom on the Pacific Mail steamship Sacramento, slated to leave on June 30 for Panama. At the urging of friends, Sam agreed to stay over and give one more lecture. Sam’s change of schedule was made no sooner than June 28 [MTL 2: 233n1].

 

June 28 Sunday – The Daily Memphis Avalanche, p. 1, ran “Mark Twain on Female Suffrage.”

 

Mark Twain on Female Suffrage.

     “Mark Twain’ writes to his “Cousin Jennie” on the subject of “Female Suffrage,” as follows:

     There is one insuperable obstacle in the way of female suffrage, Jennie. I approach the subject with fear and trembling, but it must out. A woman would never vote, because she would have to tell her age at the polls. And even if she did dare to vote once or twice when she was just of age, you know what dire results would flow from “putting this and that together” in after times. For instance, in an unguarded moment, Miss A. says she voted for Mr. Smith. Her auditor, who knows that it is seven years since Smith ran for anything, easily ciphers but that she is at least seven years over age, instead of the young pullet she has been making herself out to be. No, Jennie, this new fashion of registering the name, age, residence, and occupation of every voter, is a fatal bar to female suffrage.

     Women will never be permitted to vote or hold office, Jennie, and it is a lucky thing for me and many other men that such is the decree of fate. Because, you see, there are some few measures that would bring [ page 313 ] out their entire voting strength, in spite of their antipathy to making themselves conspicuous; and there being vastly more women than men in this State, they would trot these measures through the Legislature with a velocity that would be appalling. For instance, they would enact:

     1. That all men should be home by ten p.m. without fail.

     2. That married men should bestow considerable attention on their wives.

     3. That it should be a hanging offense to sell whisky in saloons, and that fine and disenfranchisement should follow drinking in such places.

     4. That the smoking of cigars to excess should be forbidden, and the smoking of pipes utterly abolished.

     5. That the wife should have a little property of her own, when she married a man who hadn’t any.

     Jennie, such tyranny as this we could never stand; our free souls could never endure such degrading thraldom. Women, go your way! Seek not to beguile us of our imperial privileges. Content yourselves with your little feminine trifles—your babies, your benevolent societies and your knitting—and let your natural bosses do the voting. Stand back; you will be wanting to go to war next. We will let you teach school as much as you want to, and we will pay you half wages for it, too; but beware! We don’t want you to crowd us too much.

     If I get time, cousin Jennie, I will furnish you with a picture of a female legislator that will distress you—I know it will, because you cannot disguise from me the fact that you are no more in favor of female suffrage, really, that I am.                                            MARK TWAIN.

 

Note: Annie Moffett Webster offered that “Cousin Jenny” was a stranger who had written to Twain; see Mar. 12, 13 entry.

 

June 30 Tuesday – Sam dated advertising this day for the coming lecture—an elaborate handbill of protests for him not to speak, listing prominent citizens; his objections; and a final directive by the chief of police that he should go [Sanborn 397; MTL 2: 233n1].

 

July – Sam’s article “By Rail through France” ran in the July issue of the Overland Monthly [Camfield, bibliog.]. This was the first issue of the magazine with Bret Harte as editor. The publication was in tune with the pioneering spirit of excitement in California. Harte’s story, “The Luck of Roaring Camp,” appeared in the magazine’s second edition, propelling Harte to nationwide fame.

 

Sam’s “The Story of Mamie Grant, the Child-Missionary” written in his notebook during this month was a lampoon based on characters and structure of Elizabeth Stuart Ward’s The Gates Ajar (1868) [Gribben 741]. It was not printed during Sam’s life.

 

July 2 Thursday – Sam had planned on leaving June 30, but was enticed to one final lecture. He gave a lecture titled, “The Oldest of the Republics—Venice: Past and Present,” at the New Mercantile Library on Bush Street in San Francisco [Fatout, MT Speaking 25-6]. “As usual, the audience was large and fashionable, and was so enthusiastic, that afterward he felt ‘some inches taller’ ” [Sanborn 397].

 

July 3 Friday – Sam called at the steamship office to buy his ticket for July 6. The steamship company refused to let him pay, insisting that he be their guest, such was his notoriety and popularity in the region [Sanborn 397].

 

Robert Bunker Swain wrote to Sam: “I have been hoping to see you all the week to ask you dine with me on Sunday. I would be most happy to have you and so would Mrs. Swain.” The envelope was not mailed so must have been hand delivered. [MTP]. Note: MT wrote directions on the env: “Bet Cal & Sac on Powell on East side—center block—best looking house—door plate”; see L3 354-55 n.3

 

July 5 Sunday – Sam wrote from San Francisco to Elisha Bliss, advising him of staying over one steamer (from June 30 to July 6) “in order to lecture & so persecute the public for their lasting benefit & my profit” [MTL 2: 233].  [ page 314 ]

 

Sam also wrote Mary Mason Fairbanks about the successful “Venice” lecture. This time the reviews of the papers were unanimously favorable.

 

“But one thing I know—there is no slang, & no inelegancies in it—& I never swore once, never once was guilty of profanity” [MTL 2: 234-5].

 

Sam also wrote to John Henry Riley, letter not extant but referred to in Riley’s July 25 reply.

 

July 6 Monday – Sam sailed from San Francisco on the steamer Montana; his last visit to the city.

 

July 10 Friday – Sam joined in an on-board theatrical production called “Country School Exhibition.” Sam read an original composition, “The Cow,” and sang with the chorus, “Old John Brown had One Little Injun” [Sanborn 398-9]. Gribben suggests Sam organized the show and reported the event in the Alta California on Sept. 6 [510].

 

July 11 Saturday – Sam wrote en route from San Francisco on the Montana to Mathew B. Cox (1818?-1880), a former passenger on the Henry Chauncey and Sam’s cabin mate on the Sacramento [MTL 2: 235-7].

 

July 13 Monday – The Montana made a stop at Acapulco, Mexico. In Sam’s notebook he wrote: “Only 150 passengers on board” [MTNJ 1: 497].

 

July 14–July 19 Sunday – Sam drafted “The Story of Mamie Grant, the Child-Missionary,” which was a lampoon on piety, of the Quaker City pilgrims sort [MTNJ 1: 497].

 

July 20 Monday – The Montana docked at Panama to reconnect with the Henry Chauncey for the final leg home [MTNJ 1: 497]. Sam entered the Grand Hotel to get a drink. There he ran into Captain Ned Wakeman of the America, who told a tall tale of his dream of going to heaven, which in 1909 became, Extract from Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven [Sanborn 400]. Sam’s notebook:

 

“In Aspinwall, all it is necessary to do is cry Viva Revolucion! At head of street, & instantly is commotion” [MTNJ 1: 510].

 

July 25 Saturday – John Henry Riley (1830?-1872) wrote from Wash DC, sending it to Twain at the Westminster Hotel, NYC.

 

“Yours of 5th inst., was rec on the 21st. Glad to hear of you and your doing well. I shall be glad to meet you in New York or Philad, as I don’t suppose you will come down here.” [MTP].

Text Box: July 28, 1868 – 14th Amendment granted citizenship to former slaves

 

 

 

 

July 29 Wednesday – Sam arrived back in New York and took rooms at the Westminster Hotel. He telegraphed Elisha Bliss: “If I do not come until tomorrow will it answer? answer immediately.” Note: Bliss was about to release Albert D. Richardson’s book, A Personal History of Ulysses S. Grant, the next day, so put Sam off for a week [MTL 2: 237, 239n2].

 [ page 315 ]

Elisha Bliss wrote from Hartford to Sam: “Your favors have been received & your telegraph, today. How are you? Glad to hear of your safe arrival. / Expected to see you tonight, but not necessary to discomode yourself .” He would be in NYC and hoped to see Twain then but hoped Sam would bring the MS up to Hartford to stay a few days [MTP].

 

July 30 Thursday – The delay with Bliss was fortuitous for Sam. The New York Tribune commissioned Sam to write an article “The Treaty with China,” which was an explanation of the treaty and a collaboration with Anson Burlingame and J. McLeavy Brown, secretary of the Chinese mission, both of whom had arrived at the Westminster, also on July 29. The article appeared on Aug. 4 [MTL 2: 238n1].

 

August 3 Monday – Sam wrote from New York to Mary Mason Fairbanks:

 

“I knew that dog would die. I knew perfectly well you had invoked a fatal disaster for him when you gave him my name. He received all my sins along with the name, perhaps, & no dog could survive that” [MTL 2: 238].

 

August 4 Tuesday – Sam took the train to Hartford, Conn. to work with Bliss on publishing Innocents Abroad for the next two weeks [Sanborn 400; Powers, MT A Life 241]. Sam would spend two weeks discussing the book and tightening the manuscript. Shortly after this, the manuscript was handed to Fay and Cox of New York, jobbers of illustrations, where Truman “True” Williams (1839-1897) was given the huge job of creating nearly 250 sketches [Winterich 177-8]. Williams would later work for the American Publishing Co.. Frank Bliss later quoted Sam about Williams: “He was the greatest combination of hog and angel I ever saw” [180].

 

 “The Treaty with China,” appeared in the New York Tribune. Sam argued in the article that the treaty would ameliorate persecution of Chinese immigrants. Writing from his experiences in San Francisco, Sam wrote:

 

“I have seen Chinamen abused and maltreated in all the mean, cowardly ways possible to the invention of a degraded nature, but I never saw a policeman interfere in the matter and I never saw a Chinaman righted in a court of justice for wrongs thus done him” [MTL 2: 239n1].

 

Note: In 1866, Sam and Steve Gillis had thrown bottles at Chinese shanties from their hotel windows, but time revealed the true nature of such abuse to Sam.

 

August 15 Saturday – In Hartford, Sam wrote to Frank Fuller. Sam had been offered a lecture in Pittsburgh for $100 in November. Fuller had become a part owner in a New York rubber goods business, which produced condoms and other items.

 

“Please forward one dozen Odorless Rubber Cundrums—I don’t mind them being odorless—I can supply the odor myself. I would like to have your picture on them” [MTL 2: 240].

 

August 17 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Mary Mason Fairbanks.

 

“It is very late—been writing a letter to Chicago Republican. Shall leave for New York tomorrow. Shall be there 3 to 5 days. Then shall spend a few days with the other cub in Elmira—& then both of us will go to Cleveland to see the old bear” [MTL 2: 241].

 

Note: Sam, Charles Langdon, and Julius Moulton were Mary’s “cubs,” on the Quaker City excursion, Mary being the “old bear.”

 

Sam left late on Aug. 17 for New York, where he “was reported at the Everett House” in Union Square on the morning of Aug. 18 [MTL 2: 241-2; MT A Life 241]. [ page 316 ]

 

August 18 Tuesday – Sam was in New York City, at least in the morning at the Everett House, and probably went to see Moses Beach in Brooklyn to look at his collection of photographs in order to select some for inclusion in Innocents Abroad. (See Aug. 25 to Bliss.)

 

August 18–20 Thursday – Sam took a short trip to Poughkeepsie, New York, where he was an overnight guest at a summer outing in Sunny Brook, the country home of Moses S. Beach, then owner of the New York Sun. (See Aug. 25 to Bliss) Also at the gathering were Henry Ward Beecher and his protégé, Theodore Tilton (1835-1907), who beat a group of guests collaborating against him at chess, even with odds given of a rook. Tilton would give even greater odds to Beecher in an adultery scandal shortly thereafter. While at this summer outing, Sarah D. Maynard, a young schoolmate of Emma Beach, taught Sam how to play croquet [Milwaukee Journal, Oct. 2, 1929]. Note: Poughkeepsie is the home of Vassar, established as a female college in 1861. The girls may have been students there. Beecher served on the Vassar board of directors from 1864-68.

 

Note: Debby Applegate, author of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for her biography of Henry Ward Beecher sent this: “The Beaches and the Beechers were obsessed, absolutely obsessed with croquet. Henry Ward Beecher’s wife Eunice especially excelled—the cut throat quality of it seemed to fit her personality.” See Susan K. Harris’ The Courtship of Olivia Langdon and Mark Twain, p.153 for a marvelous picture of the Beechers, Warners and others playing croquet in full fashion dress (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1996). Note: Eunice White Bullard Beecher (1812-1897).

 

August 21 Friday – Sam left New York City by train for Elmira, New York to visit the Langdon family. In route, Sam telegraphed Charles Langdon. Sam took a train named the “Cannon Ball,” thinking it would be faster, but it turned out to be the 10 AM local, which would not have reached Elmira until midnight. Langdon traveled to Waverly, about fifteen miles from Elmira to meet Sam en route. Paine describes their meeting: Charley aghast at Sam’s slovenly appearance. “They found him in the smoker, in a yellow duster and a very dirty, old straw hat.” Charley asked if he had a change of clothes. Luckily, Sam did [MTL 2: 242-3; MTB 367].

 

August 22 Saturday – Sam arrived in Elmira the night before and now could see what a huge mansion the Langdons lived in. The Elmira Daily Advertiser announced Sam had achieved “great notoriety”  and expressed hope he would lecture in the city; he did not until Nov. 23 [MTL 2: 243n1].

 

August 23 Sunday –– Sam’s fifth and last LETTER FROM MARK TWAIN, dated Aug.17 from New York City ran in the Chicago Republican and included: “ONE OR TWO CALIFORNIA ITEMS,” “A Railroad Mint – What the Legend Says,” “A GENUINE OLD SALT,” “PERSONAL,” and:

Hartford

I have been about ten days in Hartford, and shall return there before very long. I think it must be the handsomest city in the Union, in summer. It is the moneyed center of the State; and one of its capitals, also, for Connecticut is so law-abiding, and so addicted to law, that there is not room enough in one city to manufacture all of the articles they need. Hartford is the place where the insurance companies all live. They use some of the houses for dwellings. The others are for insurance offices. So it is easy to see that there is quite a spirit of speculative enterprise there. Many of the inhabitants have retired from business, but the others labor along in the old customary way, as presidents of insurance companies. It is said that a citizen went west from there once, to be gone a week. He was gone three. A friend said:

“What kept you so long? You must have enjoyed yourself.” [ page 317 ]

“Yes, I did enjoy myself, and that delayed me some but that was not the worst of it. The people heard there was a Hartford man aboard the train, and so they stopped me at every station trying to get me to be president of an insurance company!”

But I suppose it was a lie [Schmidt].

August 24 and 25 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to his mother, Jane Clemens and family about his plans to stay with the Langdon family:

 

“…a week or two…This is the pleasantest family I ever knew. I only have one trouble, & that is that they give too much thought & too much time & invention to the object of making my visit pass delightfully” [MTL 2: 243-4].

 

New York natives Jervis and Olivia Lewis Langdon (1810-1890) were quite wealthy from lumber and coal businesses. Jervis was a strong abolitionist and friend to Frederick Douglass (1818-1895). The Langdon home had been a stop on the Underground Railroad for runaway slaves. Charles was their only son, Susan Langdon Crane (1836-1924) an adopted daughter, and Olivia Louise Langdon. Sam’s wife to-be had suffered from a fall on the ice and been bedridden until shortly before this time. After this visit, Sam began a campaign through letters and oaths to reform to win Livy’s hand in marriage. Lucky for Sam, Jervis was his ally; Jervis liked to laugh, and so liked Sam.

 

August 25 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss:

 

Friend Bliss— [the usual way Sam addressed friendly business associates]

I am here, enjoying myself royally. Haven’t any desire to shorten my visit. I am getting acquainted with everybody. Shall be here nearly two weeks yet. My address will be printed on this envelope.

 

Staid a day & a half at Beach’s country place. Looked also at his pictures at his Brooklyn residence. He has such a multitude of them that I could not look at all. Therefore, we arranged that your artists should go there to his house (No. 66 Columbia street, Brooklyn) and select for themselves. Mr. Beach can always be heard from through his brother Alfred, in the Scientific American Office 3d story World building.

            Kind regards to all. Write me. Everything is jolly, – [MTP, drop-in letters]

 

August 26 to September 7 – Sam had not intended to stay with the Langdons so long, but Charles had taken over the business in his father’s absence and could not go on to Cleveland with Sam until Jervis Langdon’s return. Sam did not want to visit Cleveland without his fellow “cub,” so spent days with Mrs. Langdon, Livy and their houseguest, cousin Hattie Lewis, while Charles finished his work. Hattie had a good sense of humor and would explain Sam’s jokes to Livy. Since Livy tired easily, they took leisurely carriage rides and strolls, played cribbage and sang around the piano. Sam was in for tough sledding at the Langdons—no drink stronger than cider and no smoking allowed [Sanborn 402].

 

September – The first appearance of “A Californian Abroad – Three Italian Cities” ran in the Overland Monthly. This piece was later collected in IA [Slotta 15].

 

Sometime during the month Sam inscribed a copy of The Celebrated Frog of Calaveras County to I.N. Higgins: “To I. N. Higgins, Esq./ With best wishes / & friendly regards of / Mark Twain / Otherwise Samℓ L. Clemens./ Sept. 1868” [MTPO]

 

September 3 Thursday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss, enclosing an Excelsior Monthly Magazine reprint of his toast to “Woman” made on Jan. 11 at the Washington Correspondents’ Club dinner. “If any letters come for me between now & the 17th please send them to Cleveland, ‘care of the Daily Herald.’” [ page 318 ] (Abel Fairbanks’ newspaper) Sam also inquired about illustrations in the book and how Bliss had decided to use them [MTL 2: 245-6].

 

Sam also wrote Henry Crane (no relation to his future sister-in-law) about lecturing in Rondout, New York, in Jan. 1869. “I only want your usual price—what is it? My usual price is $100.” Celebrities at Sam’s rank were already getting $150 to $250 [MTL 2: 246-7].

 

September 6 Sunday – Sam wrote the Alta California about Hartford: “Of all the beautiful towns it has been my fortune to see this is the chief. I never saw any place before where morality and huckleberries flourished as they do here” [MTNJ 1: 498].

 

Sam’s article, LETTER FROM MARK TWAIN, dated August at “Hartford”, ran in the San Francisco California Alta. Subtitles: The Proper Time to Sail; Captain Ned Wakeman, Mariner; Dissipation of Aspinwall; Personal Items; Hartford—The “Blue Laws”; Morality and Huckleberries; A Legend. [Schmidt]. Note: this article did not run in the Hartford Courant until Oct. 9.

 

September 7 and 8 Tuesday – Sam had fallen in love with Olivia Louise Langdon and evidently had expressed this openly to her, asking for marriage. The “rules” of Victorian society required her to refuse such a sudden and precipitous proposal, but Olivia allowed Sam to write her “as a brother to a sister,” which he did before leaving Elmira. In the early hours of this day Sam wrote her the first of many love letters. Olivia numbered each of Sam’s letters until their marriage in Feb. 1870 (when the total reached 184) [MTL 3: 473]. Powers claims “an estimated 189” [MT A Life 280].

 

Later in the morning, Sam and Charles Langdon left Elmira for Cleveland to visit Mary Mason Fairbanks and family.

 

September 9 Wednesday – Sam and Charles Langdon arrived in Cleveland and stayed with the Fairbanks family. Mary Fairbanks gave the pair a reception during their short stay. Sam and Charles had formal photographs made by James F. Ryder sometime between this day and Sept. 20 [MTP].

 

September 11 to 20? Sunday – Sometime between these dates Sam traveled on to Chicago and St. Louis, while Charles remained in Cleveland. Sam wrote on Sept. 24 he was “mighty busy in that town [Chicago] too” [MTL 2: 252].

 

September 21 Monday – Sam wrote from St. Louis to Livy. After expressing his gratitude at receiving her letter and picture (which she had refused to give him in Elmira):

 

I was so sorry Charlie could not come further West with me, for he is a good traveling comrade, & if he has any unworthy traits in his nature the partiality born of old companionship has blinded me to them. Mrs. Fairbanks was very proud of him that night of the reception at her house. But I am glad, now, that he did not come to St. Louis. He would have had no rest here—I have none—& it is a muddy, smoky, mean city to run about in. I am called East.—Must finish my visit here in January. I leave Thursday—24th . I shall rest in Chicago & in Cleveland, & I desire also to tarry a day & a night in Elmira (Monday 28th) if your doors are still open to me & you have not reconsidered your kind invitation [MTL 2: 251].

 

Sam did not leave on Sept. 24; the reason for his delay is unknown.

 

September 24 Thursday – Sam wrote from St. Louis to Mary Mason Fairbanks.

 [ page 319 ]

I shall start day after to-morrow (Saturday) at 8 A.M., which will bring me to Cleveland Sunday morning. Then I will leave Cleveland Monday morning. I have some idea of spending Tuesday in Elmira—will talk with you [MTL 2: 252].

 

Sam used Mary as a sounding board for his relationship with Livy. Mrs. Fairbanks had early on encouraged Sam to marry, and supported him to keep trying with Livy. Mary also had corresponded with Livy’s mother about Sam’s suitability. Without Mary’s influence, Sam and Livy may never have married. Sam told Mary of receiving a letter from Jervis Langdon, who had been “very low spirited when we saw him last.”

 

Sam also responded to Frank Fuller’s “six-line letter” (not extant): “I have made several appointments to preach,” which was how Sam often described his lectures.

 

“…I hope your Company is well, also. I like Odorless Rubber Companies. I like them because they don’t stink” [MTL 2: 254-5]. See also Aug. 15 entry for more “cundrums.” Sam’s note is a reply to Fuller’s “six-line letter” not extant.

 

September 26 Saturday – Sam left Cleveland by train for Elmira [MTL 2: 252n1].

 

September 27 Sunday – Sam wrote on Buffalo Express letterhead to unknown gentlemen:

 

Gentlemen:—

I am going to lecture only a little over half the season, & my present engagements render it impossible for me to go further west than Pittsburgh. Otherwise I would be most happy to profit by your kind invitation.

Very Truly Yours / Samℓ. L. Clemens

 

Sam arrived in Elmira where he was to stay with the Langdons for a day and a night.

 

September 28 Monday – As Charles Langdon and Sam started for the train depot they were thrown from the wagon. Charles suffered head cuts and Sam was stunned. The accident delayed Sam’s departure. (Willis claims 3 additional days, but Sam left on Sept. 29 [MTL 2: 256 n2]. (See Sept. 29 entry, also a full account of Sam playing possum in MTA 2: 107-110.)

 

September 29 Tuesday – Sam left Elmira for New York. Livy wrote to Alice Hooker: “Mr Clemens spent two days here on the way to Hartford from St. Louis; he intended to remain one day” [Stowe-Day collection per Tenney].

 

September 30 Wednesday ca. – Sam arrived in New York, where he stayed a day, then left for Hartford, probably arriving there about Oct. 2.

 

October – The first appearance of “A Californian Abroad – A Medieval Romance” ran in the Overland Monthly. This piece was later collected in IA [Slotta 15].

 

October 2Friday ca. – Sam arrived in Hartford and stayed with the Bliss family, where after “two or three days” he wrote Mary Mason Fairbanks.

 

October 4–5 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Livy, about fearing he “unsettled Mrs. Fairbanks’ mind, somewhat, concerning her Elmira visit” on account of the health of Jervis Langdon.

 [ page 320 ]

“Of course you needn’t go & tell the whole truth, as I have done, my dear contrary, obstinate, willful, but always just & generous sister—I can’t help telling the whole truth, (being similar to George Washington,) but you must. Otherwise I will muss your hair again” [MTL 2: 255-6].

 

Sam also wrote Mary Mason Fairbanks a humorous account of the carriage spill, and to Abel Fairbanks about pinning down a Columbus lecture date for the Associated Western Literary Association [MTL 2: 258-9].

 

October 5–30 Friday – In Hartford, sometime between these dates, Sam wrote a sort of riddle to Frank Fuller:

 

“If a man were to signify however which he was not & could not if he had the power, which being denied him he will endeavor anyhow, merely because it don’t, would you? I should think not” [MTL 2: 260].

 

October 7 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Edward L. Burlingame about seeing Edward’s father Anson and family in New York and about the Treaty article which appeared in the Tribune.

 

“Do you remember your Honolulu joke? –‘If a man compel thee to go with him a mile, go with him Twain.’ I have closed many & many a lecture, in many a city, with that. It always ‘fetches’ them” [MTL 2: 261]. Note: Sam was to grow weary of the joke, however.

 

Sam also wrote to Henry Crane about the title of his new lecture, taken from passages of Innocents Abroad. The lecture was first announced as “Americans in the Old World,” but became “American Vandals in the Old World.” “I am one of those myself,” Sam wrote [MTL 2: 262].

 

October 11 Sunday – Mrs. Elisha Bliss introduced Sam to Rev. Joseph Hopkins Twichell (1838-1918) at the home of one of Twichell’s congregation [MTL 2: 269n4]. From Paine’s account of the meeting:

 

He returned to Hartford to look after the progress of his book. Some of it was being put into type, and with his mechanical knowledge of such things he was naturally interested in the process.

 

He made his headquarters with the Blisses, then living at 821 Asylum Avenue, and read proof in a little upper room, where the lamp was likely to be burning most of the time, where the atmosphere was nearly always blue with smoke, and the window-sill full of cigar butts. Mrs. Bliss took him into the quiet social life of the neighborhood—to small church receptions, society gatherings and the like—all of which he seemed to enjoy. Most of the dwellers in that neighborhood were members of the Asylum Hill Congregational Church, then recently completed; all but the spire. It was a cultured circle, well-off in the world’s goods, its male members, for the most part, concerned in various commercial ventures.

 

The church stood almost across the way from the Bliss home, and Mark Twain, with his picturesque phrasing, referred to it as the “stub-tailed church,” on account of its abbreviated [unfinished] spire; also, later, with a knowledge of its prosperous membership, as the “Church of the Holy Speculators.” He was at an evening reception in the home of one of its members when he noticed a photograph of the unfinished building framed and hanging on the wall.

 

“Why, yes,” he commented, in his slow fashion, “this is the ‘Church of the Holy Speculators.’”

 

“Sh,” cautioned Mrs. Bliss. “Its pastor is just behind you. He knows your work and wants to meet you.” Turning, she said: “Mr. Twichell, this is Mr. Clemens. Most people know him as Mark Twain.”

 

And so, in this casual fashion, he met the man who was presently to become his closest personal friend and counselor, and would remain so for more than forty years [MTB 370-1]. Note: Strong writes Sam [ page 321 ] made his “holy speculators” remark “loudly and vehemently….His disapproval was obvious in his voice” [64].

 

Notes: Joseph Hopkins Twichell b. 27 May 1838 in Southington, Hartford County, and died 20 Dec. 1918. He married Julia Harmony Cushman b. 9 Aug 1843 and died 1910. Their nine children as follows:

 

1.      Edward Carrington Twichell b. 1867

2.      Julia Curtis Twichell b. 9 Jan. 1869

3.      Susan Lee Twichell b. 1871

4.      David Cushman Twichell b. 9 Oct. 1874

5.      Harmony Twichell b. 1876

6.      Burton Parker Twichell b. 1878

7.      Sarah Dunham Twichell b. 1882

8.      Joseph Hooker Twichell b. 1883

9.      Louise Hopkins Twichell b. 1884; all children born in Hartford

[https://familytreemaker.genealogy.com].

 

October 12 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Mary Mason Fairbanks. Sam seemed anxious to reassure Mary that his lecture on the excursion would not be objectionable to her, and justified scattering “preposterous yarns” throughout the lecture [MTL 2: 262-5].

 

October 13 Tuesday – Harmony Twichell invited Sam to the Twichell parsonage for Wednesday tea [MTL 2: 267]. Note: Mrs. Twichell was usually called Harmony; daughter also Harmony.

 

October 14 Wednesday – Sam spent the night at the Twichell residence, talking until 11 PM.

 

October 15 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to George L. Hutchings (1842?-1937), chairman of the Clayonian Society of Newark, New Jersey, stating his lecture terms and subject [MTL 5: 682].

 

October 16 Friday – The contract between Samuel Clemens and the American Publishing Co. for the publication of Innocents Abroad was dated this day [MTL 2: 230n5].

 

October 17 Saturday – Sam returned to Joseph Twichell’s parsonage to carry home books, which the pastor loaned him [MTL 2: 267].

 

October 18 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Livy. He engaged in name-dropping with Rev. Joseph H. Twichell, whom he met a week before. Sam had determined to live up to the standards of the Langdons in order to win Livy. He cheerfully accepted being “rebuked” by Livy, in much the same spirit he’d always done with his mother and also with Mary Fairbanks. It wasn’t entirely a game with Sam, however much he enjoyed the cycle. Sam sincerely wanted to improve himself, and to follow Anson Burlingame’s dictum to associate with more elevated persons. Knowing and extolling Twichell, a neighbor to Elisha Bliss and pastor of the Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford, worked to Sam’s benefit. Twichell became a life-long friend and confidant, and would officiate along with Thomas K. Beecher (1824-1900) at Sam’s wedding.

 

This man apologized to me for talking so much about religion. He would not have done me that wrong if he had known how much I respected him for it & how beautiful his strong love for his subject made his words seem. When religion, coming from your lips & his, shall be distasteful to me, I shall be a lost man indeed….He & his wife are to drive me about the country tomorrow afternoon, & I am to sup with them & [ page 322 ] spend the evening, which is to last till midnight. He is about my age—likes my favorite author, too… [MTL 2: 266-9].

 

October 19 Monday – Sam spent the afternoon and evening with the Twichells, driving “10 miles out in the country & back.” Sam and Rev. and Mrs. Twichell were accompanied by “two young ladies, sisters of Mrs. T” [MTL 2: 272].

 

October 21 Wednesday – Sam met with Samuel Bowles, editor of the Springfield (Mass.) Daily Republican and of the Weekly Republican, founded by his father. Bowles had just returned from the west and was interested in the Pacific coast [MTL 3: 267n1]. In an article Sam wrote dated Oct. 22, he described an International Boat Race (see Nov 15 entry.)

 

I went up to Springfield, Mass., yesterday afternoon, to see the “International boat race” between the Ward brothers and the “St. Johns” crew, of New Brunswick. We left here at noon, and reached Springfield in about an hour. It was raining. It seems like wasting good dictionary words to say that, because it is raining here pretty much all the time, and when it is not absolutely raining, it is letting on to do it [Schmidt]. Note: Twichell, class of 1859, had been on Yale’s crew [Sanborn 407-8].

 

October 22 Thursday – Sam wrote the Alta California of his meeting with Sam Bowles [MTL 3: 267n1].

 

October 24?–27 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to his mother and family about Twichell, his book’s scheduled publication in March, and his desire to begin lecturing soon at Cleveland [MTL 2: 270-1]. Lorch says Sam had received an invitation to lecture there from Colonel John F. Herrick (1836-1909) [92]. Lorch calls Herrick, “a Quaker City companion,” but he is not listed among the passengers or crew [MTL 2: 385-7]. This latter source, p. 265n7 says Herrick was “elected corresponding secretary of the Cleveland Library Association in May 1868.”

 

October 30 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Livy about his outing of the previous Monday, more raves about Twichell, spiritual matters, and his upcoming plans to lecture. About Mary Fairbanks, Sam wrote: “I like to tease her because I like her so.” He added a P.S. “Have just received an imperative invitation from the Webb sisters to attend a party in New York to-night…I shall take the cars at noon” [MTL 2: 274]. Note: Emma and Ada Webb were somewhat well known actresses and singers who, in April of 1868, forfeited two performances at Piper’s Opera House in Virginia City to allow Sam to speak.

 

Sam left Hartford by train for New York City, where he stayed at the Everett House.

 

October 31 Saturday – Sam wrote from New York to Mary Mason Fairbanks: “I’ll be in Cleveland Nov.8—lecture there Nov. 17—so you can get ready to scratch. I’ll expunge every word you want scratched out, cheerfully” [MTL 2: 277].

 

November – George Routledge & Sons, later Sam’s authorized British publisher, published Sam’s story, “Cannibalism in the Cars” in an English journal, Broadway: A London Magazine [Wilson 15]. Note: George Routledge (1812-1888); Edmund Routledge (1843-1899); Robert Warne Routledge (1837?-1899).

 

November 3 Tuesday – Sam made social calls in NYC to a friend of Livy’s, Fidele (Mrs. Henry) Brooks (b.1837), and to longtime Hannibal friends of the family, the George Washington Wiley (b.1813?) family. He ate dinner there and walked back to the Everett House, some 28 blocks in “weather cold as the mischief” [MTL 2: 278].

 

November 4 Wednesday – Sam wrote from New York to his mother of his visit to the Wiley home the day before, and on a visit this day to another Hannibal family acquaintance, Mrs. Garth in Brooklyn, [ page 323 ] mother of John H. Garth (1837-1899), whose pretty wife, Helen Kercheval (1838-1923), had been a schoolmate of Sam’s. Sam had hoped to see John and Helen but they had moved to Baltimore [MTL 2: 279; Sanborn 408-9].

 

November 7 Saturday – Sam’s article “Private Habits of Horace Greeley” was printed in Spirit of the Times [Camfield, bibliog.]. This was a weekly newspaper published in New York City, which aimed for an upper-class readership made up largely of sportsmen. The Spirit also contained humorous articles, much of it based on frontier folklore. Theatre news was also a major component. Emerson calls the Greeley article “one of the funniest pieces yet written,” and “good-natured fun” [56].

 

November 7 or 8 Sunday – Sam again called on the Wiley family, since George Wiley had not been able to spend more than a few minutes with him the prior Tuesday. Sam confessed his love for Livy, who was “quite an invalid” and “unfortunately very rich.” Sam told George he had proposed at least a dozen times. George asked Sam if he was crazy. Sam teared up and offered that he knew he wasn’t good enough for Livy, which brought compassion from George—no, Sam was good enough—no girl in the world was too good for him. “Go for her, and get her, and God bless you, Sam!” [Sanborn 409].

 

November 9-12 Thursday ca. – Sam left New York and arrived in Cleveland, Ohio early to work on his first lecture with Mary Fairbanks. A great deal was riding on Sam’s success as a lecturer in the East—Jervis Langdon’s approval, for one. Sam had Pittsburgh and Elmira lined up for the lecture he called, “The American Vandal Abroad,” and wanted to have the kinks out before revisiting Livy’s hometown [A. Hoffman 145].

 

November 15 Sunday – Sam’s LETTER FROM “MARK TWAIN” dated Hartford, Oct. 22, ran in the San Francisco Alta California. Subtitles: International Boat Race; The “Wickedest Man”; At Large; Legend; Personal [Schmidt].

 

November 16 Monday – Sam’s article, “A Mystery” ran in the Cleveland Herald [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

November 17 Tuesday – Case Hall, Cleveland, Ohio: Sam gave the “Vandals” lecture to an enthusiastic and responsive audience.

 

November 18 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Cleveland, Ohio to his mother and family.

 

“Made a splendid hit last night & am the ‘lion’ to-day. Awful rainy, sloppy night, but there were 1,200 people present, anyhow—house full. I captured them, if I do say it myself. I go hence to Pittsburgh—thence to Elmira, N.Y.” [MTL 2: 280].

 

Sam also wrote to the President of the Scroll and Key Society, Yale College, thanking them for his honorary membership in the school’s secret society for moral and literary self-improvement. His sponsor: Joseph Twichell.

 

He also wrote and thanked Joseph and asked his congratulations on his Cleveland success: “—for lo, the child is born!” [MTL 2: 282].

The Cleveland Herald gave the lecture a rousing review:

We know not which to commend, the quaint utterances, the funny incidents, the good-natured recital of the characteristics of the harmless “Vandal,” or the gems of beautiful descriptions which sparkled all through his lecture. We expected to be amused, but we were taken by surprise when he carried us on the wings of his [ page 324 ] redundant fancy, away to the ruins, the cathedrals, and the monuments of the Old World. There are some passages of gorgeous word painting which haunt us like a remembered picture.

We congratulate Mr. Twain upon having taken the tide of public favor “at the flood” in the lecture field, and having conclusively proved that a man may be a humorist without being a clown. He has elevated his profession by his graceful delivery and by recognizing in his audience something higher than merely a desire to laugh. We can assure the cities who await his coming that a rich feast is in store for them and Cleveland is proud to offer him the first laurel leaf, in his role as lecturer this side of the “Rocky-slope.”

The Cleveland Plain Dealer chimed in as well:

The most popular American humorist since the demise of poor Artemus, made his first bow to a Cleveland public, as a lecturer, last evening, at Case Hall. Mark Twain has reason to feel a gratified pride at the pleasant and satisfactory impression he made upon his immense audience. The “American Vandal Abroad” was the title of a slightly incoherent address of between one and two hour’s duration—mingling the most irresistible humor with little flights of eloquence, and making up an entertainment of which it were impossible to tire. The “Vandal” was the type of careless, dry, Yankee tourist, who never lost his equanimity, or coolness, no matter what his situation might be. He looked at a manuscript of Christopher Columbus, with the most infernal sang froid—remarking that it didn’t amount to much as a specimen of penmanship; there were school boys in his country, who could beat it.

November 19 Thursday – Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture at the Academy of Music in Pittsburgh, Pa.

 

November 20 Friday – Sam wrote from Cleveland to his mother and family:

 

I played against the eastern favorite, Fanny Kemble, in Pittsburgh, last night. She had 200 in her house, & I had upwards of 1,500. All the seats were sold (in a driving rain storm, 3 days ago,) as reserved seats at 25 cents extra, even those in the second & third tiers—& when the last seat was gone the box office had not been open more than 2 hours. When I reached the theatre they were turning people away & the house was crammed. 150 or 200 stood up, all the evening. I go to Elmira tonight. I am simply lecturing for societies, at $100 a pop [MTL 2: 282].

 

 The Pittsburgh Gazette reported:

 

“There is no extravagance about Mark Twain’s style, and yet he is entitled above all living men to the name of American humorist.”

 

Only the Pittsburgh Dispatch gave him a negative review [MTL 2: 283].

 

Sam left for Elmira.

 

November 21 Saturday – Sam arrived in Elmira and went to the Langdons during the breakfast hour. Paine reports Sam announced himself: “The calf has returned; may the prodigal have some breakfast?” [MTB 375].

 

November 22 Sunday – Sam’s LETTER FROM “MARK TWAIN” dated Hartford, Oct. 28, ran in the San Francisco Alta California. Subtitles: E. Pluribus Unim; Indigent Nomenclature Legend; A Relic: Where is McGrorty? [Schmidt].

 

November 23 Monday – Opera House, Elmira, New York: Sam gave the “American Vandal” lecture for the third time, this time for the benefit of the local volunteer fire company, since Charles Langdon was an active member.

 [ page 325 ]

November 26 Thursday – Thanksgiving – Olivia Louise Langdon accepted Sam’s proposal, subject to her father’s approval. Sam accepted Jervis Langdon’s suggestion that official parental sanction be given after credentials of Sam’s character might be obtained. Sam offered names for Jervis to solicit [MTB 376].

November 26-27 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Mary Mason Fairbanks:

It is MY thanksgiving day, above all others that ever shone on earth. Because, after twenty-four hours of persecution from me, Mr. & Mrs. L. have yielded a conditional consent—Livy has said, over & over again, the word which is so hard for a maiden to say & if there were a church near here with a steeple high enough to make it an object I should go & jump over it. What do you think? She felt the first faint symptom Sunday, & the lecture Monday night brought the disease to the surface. She isn’t my sister any more—but some time in the future she is going to be my wife, & I think we shall live in Cleveland….I shall touch no more spirituous liquors after this day (though I have made no promises)—I shall do no act which you or Livy might be pained to hear of—I shall seek the society of the good—I shall be a Christian [MTL 2: 283-5].

Sam must have left Elmira by Nov. 27, because he wrote from New York to Livy the following day.

November 28 Saturday – Sam wrote from Everett House in New York to Livy, his first love-letter since their engagement.

When I found myself comfortably on board the cars last night . . . I said to myself: “Now whatever others may think, it is my opinion that I am blessed above all other men that live; I have known supreme happiness for two whole days, & now I ought to be ready & willing to pay a little attention to necessary duties, & do it cheerfully.” Therefore I resolved to go deliberately through that lecture, without notes, & so impress it upon my memory & my understanding as to secure myself against any such lame delivery of it in future as I thought characterized it in Elmira. But I had little calculated the cost of such a resolution. Never was a lecture so full of parentheses before. It was Livy, Livy, Livy, Livy, all the way through! It was one sentence of Vandal to ten sentences about you. The insignificant lecture was hidden, lost, overwhelmed & buried under a boundless universe of Livy! [MTL 2: 288-93].

Sam also wrote Twichell of Livy’s acceptance.

Private. / My Dear J. H. / Sound the loud timbrel!—& let yourself out to your most prodigious capacity,—for I have fought the good fight & lo! I have won! Refused three times—warned to quit, once—accepted at last!—& beloved!—Great Caesar’s ghost, if there were a church in town with a steeple high enough to make it an object, I would go out & jump over it! [MTL 2: 293].

November 29? Sunday – Sam wrote from New York to his sister, Pamela Moffett:

Now—Private—Keep it to yourself, my sister—do not even hint it, to any one—I make no exception. I can trust you. I love—I worship—Olivia L. Langdon, of Elmira—& she loves me. When I am permanently settled—& when I am a Christian—& when I have demonstrated that I have a good, steady, reliable character, her parents will withdraw their objections, & she may marry me—I say she will—I intend she shall—… [MTL 2: 295].

November 30 Monday – Sam’s 33rd birthday.

December 1 Tuesday – Mary Mason Fairbanks wrote from Cleveland, replying to Sam’s of Nov. 26-27. It survives in part in Sam’s letter to Livy of Dec. 4. He quotes: “Of course you must live in Cleveland. That is what I want to do. Don’t you? Now say you do, Livy, there’s a dear good girl” [MTP].

December 2 Wednesday – Sam wrote from New York to Jervis Langdon, including between pleasantries his progress at buying an interest in a newspaper [MTL 2: 297-9]. Sam left New York on the [ page 326 ] 11:30 AM Hudson River Railroad express To Albany and Troy, where he crossed the river to Rondout, New York. Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture in the evening [MTL 2: 300n5].

Joe Twichell wrote to Sam, quoted in Sam’s Dec. 4 to Livy:

Receive my benediction, Mark—my very choicest! I breathe it toward you—that particular doxalogic & hallelujah formula thereof which I use on occasions which but for the sake of propriety I should celebrate by smiting of my thigh, and grand pas seul & three cheers with a tiger!…I do congratulate you, dear friend, with all the power of congratulation that is in me…I don’t care very much about your past, but I do care very much about your future…Your heart, with this new, sacred love in it is a more precious thing to offer God than it was without it [MTP]. Note: grand pas seul = great not only.

December 3 Thursday – Sam probably used this day as a travel day, and returned to New York.

December 4 Friday – Sam wrote from Metropolitan Hotel in New York to Livy, again professing his undying love, the necessity for love from the brain and the heart, and listing those he confided the provisional engagement to: Dan Slote, the Twichell’s, his sister Pamela, and Mrs. Fairbanks—and tells of their responses. Originally a 27-page letter, Sam tore off sections and removed a full page [MTL 2: 302-312]. Note: Livy docketed this as letter # 9.

December 5 and 7 Monday – Sam wrote from New York to Livy of misgivings about being a Christian—about understanding that he needed Christ for his own sake, not to win Livy’s heart and approval.

“Bless me, I am so tied hand & foot with these lecture appointments that I don’t know whether I am standing on my head or my heels” [MTL 2: 312-18].

December 8 Tuesday – Sam made a “little journey to Hartford” to bare his soul to Twichell about his struggles with prayer and his desire for success. According to Sam’s letter to Livy of Dec. 9, he and Twichell sat up from 10 PM to 1 AM talking about Livy and religion. It had been bothering Sam that he’d been praying with “selfish motives” instead of seeking Jesus “for himself alone” [MTL 2: 318].

December 9 Wednesday – Sam returned to New York on the 1:20 AM train.

Opera House, Newark, New Jersey: Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture, sponsored here by the Clayonian Society. Back in his room, Sam wrote Livy about his talk with Twichell, and the successful lecture in Newark.

“Tonight you would not have recognized this as the same dull harangue I dragged myself through so painfully in Elmira” [MTL 2: 318-24].

December 10 Thursday – Sam wrote from the Everett House in New York City to his mother and family.

I didn’t move to the Metropolitan—shall when next I come to town. I ought to write you fully, now, but can’t—am just ready to leave the city for Norwich, N.Y., Fort Plain, N.Y., & Scranton, Pa—all these are before 20 Dec….I could not write you last night—was tired out. Had not slept for 36 hours. Went over in the evening & lectured in Newark (most superb success I ever achieved)—then returned here at midnight & had to stand around the ferry house twenty minutes…[MTL 2: 324-5].

Sam left New York for the Delevan House in Albany, New York where he spent the night. [ page 327 ]

December 11 Friday – The Newark Daily Advertiser:

In the humorous parts the speaker resembled Artemus Ward in his slow and quaint way of saying very amusing things. The audience was constantly convulsed with laughter, and was continued in its happy humor by quiet touches of wit and sentiment. Altogether it was a most enjoyable evening’s entertainment.

In Norwich, New York, Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture.

December 12 Saturday – Sam wrote from Norwich, New York to tease Mary Mason Fairbanks.

It is noon, & snowing. I am here, the guest of Judge Mason—& happy. Mrs. Mason is so good, & so kind, so thoughtful, so untiring in her genuine hospitality, & lets me be just as troublesome as I want to, that I just love her, & it seems as if she were you—or your double. She lets me smoke in the house, & bring in snow on my boots, & sleep late, & eat at unseasonable hours, & leaves my valise wide open on the floor & my soiled linen scattered about it just exactly as I leave it & as it ought to be to make life truly happy [MTL 2: 326].

Sam stayed the weekend with the Masons. Sam also wrote Livy: “It is splendid! gorgeous! unspeakably magnificent! I am to see you, you, YOU on the 17th!” [MTL 2: 327-31].

Sam also wrote Joseph Twichell, describing Livy’s rational letters as the “darlingest funniest love letters that were ever written” [MTL 2: 332].

Sam’s article “Concerning Gen. Grant’s Intentions,” dated Dec. 7, 1868 ran in the New York Tribune [Camfield, bibliog.; The Twainian, Nov-Dec. 1946 p1-2]. Note: this was reprinted Dec. 19 in the Hartford Courant.

December 14 Monday – Sam left Norwich to New York City and on to Scranton, Pa

December 16 Wednesday – Scranton, Pennsylvania: Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture, then left again for Elmira.

December 17 Thursday – Sam arrived in Elmira at 7 PM and spent the night at the Langdon house [A. Hoffman 147]. See also letter of Dec. 12.

December 18 Friday – Sam left the Langdon house at 7 PM [MTL 2: 348].

December 19 Saturday – Fort Plain, New York: Sam arrived here in the afternoon and gave his “Vandals” lecture in the evening.

December 19 and 20 Sunday – Sam was the guest of his poet-friend, George W. Elliott (1830-1898) and wife in Fort Plain, New York. Sam wrote to Livy.

“Here at dead of night I seem to hear the murmur of the far Pacific—& mingled with the music of the surf the melody of an old familiar hymn is sounding in my ear.”

Sam related the pause and sorrow he’d felt reading of the death of 35-year-old Rev. Franklin S. Rising, whom Sam knew in Virginia City and returning from Hawaii on the Smyrniote [MTL 2: 333-9]. Rising died Dec. 4, 1868 in a collision of the steamers America and United States on the Ohio River [MTL 1: 354n3].

 

You know the hymn—it is “Oh refresh us.” It haunts me now because I am thinking of a steadfast friend whose death I have learned through the papers—a friend whose face must always appear before me when I [ page 328 ] think of that hymn—the Rev. Franklin S. Rising…He was rector of the Episcopal church in Virginia City, Nevada—a noble young fellow—& for 3 years, there, he & I were fast friends….Afterward I stumbled on him in the Sandwich Islands, where he was traveling for his health, & we so arranged it as to return to San Francisco in the same ship. We were at sea five Sundays….A month ago, after so long a separation, he saw by the Tribune that I was at the Everett House, & came at once & left his card—I was out & did not see him. It was the last opportunity I was ever to have on earth. For his wanderings are done, now; his restless feet are still; he is at peace. Now the glories of heaven are about him, & in his ears its mysterious music is sounding—but to me comes no vision but a lonely ship in a great solitude of sky & water; & unto my ears comes no sound but the complaining of the waves & the softened cadences of that simple old hymn—but Oh, Livy, it comes freighted with infinite pathos! [MTL 2: 333-4]. Note: And, of course, for the zillionth time, Sam told Livy that he loved her.

December 21 Monday –Sam arrived in Detroit, Michigan just before midnight and wrote Livy:

“I am so inexpressibly tired & drowsy!—not tired, either, but worn, you know, & dreary. I wish I never had to travel any more. And I won’t, after we come to anchor, my dear—I won’t for any light cause. How I long to have a home & never leave it!” [MTL 2: 339-40].

December 22 Tuesday – Young Men’s Hall, Detroit, Michigan: Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture. At midnight he added to the letter to Livy from the previous night:

“I have just this moment parted with my newspaper friends—I don’t get a moment’s time to myself. The whole day long I have been driving or visiting, with first one & then another—& I found an old friend or two here, as usual—I find them everywhere—how they do wander!”

Sam called on Livy’s friend Miss Emma Nye and stayed for tea until 6 PM [MTL 2: 339-41].

December 23 Wednesday – A review of the Detroit lecture by the Detroit Free Press:

Last evening Young Men’s Hall was densely crowded with one of the largest audiences of the season, to listen to Mark Twain in his new role of comic lecturer. Of course all were intensely amused at his droll sayings, but it is perhaps safe to say that his capabilities as a writer are far in advance of his powers as a lecturer. The lecture itself was decidedly good, but its delivery was not what might have been expected, an assumed drawl, though very taking and appropriate at times, spoiling the effect of many of the finest sentences. Some of the more serious passages were of the most brilliant order, but their effect was sadly marred by the failing already alluded to [Schmidt].

Sam went on to Lansing, Michigan and gave his “American Vandals” lecture at Mead’s Hall [MTPO].

Later he wrote from to Livy:

I was not at all satisfied with my performance in Detroit, for notwithstanding I had the largest audience they had seen there for a long time, I was awkward & constrained—ill at ease—& did not satisfy them, I think. But if I had only had your letter in my pocket, then, how different it would have been! . . . Now tonight we had the largest audience that has ever attended any lecture here, but Gough’s, & I honestly believe I pleased every individual in the house. The applause of the serious passages was cordial & unstinted. [MTL 2: 342]. Note: John Bartholomew Gough (1817-1886), temperance lecturer.

Still, the Lansing Republican praised Sam’s descriptions of Venice, the Sphinx, and the Acropolis.

December 24 Thursday – Sam wrote from Lansing to his sister Pamela. Sam wished the family Merry Christmas and sent his mother and the children money. He expected to spend a few days around New [ page 329 ] Year’s in Cleveland with the Fairbankses [MTL 2: 347-8]. Sam began a letter to Mary Mason Fairbanks, which he completed the following day.

“I shall arrive at your house Dec. 28—& shall leave again Jan. 2—except that I shall lecture in Akron Dec. 30. I skip Dayton for the present.”

He told her of wheedling an invitation for a one-night stay at the Langdon’s on Dec. 17. He confided to Mary of Livy’s sadness at the idea of leaving home to live in Cleveland, and of her father’s plans to sell out when and if she left home. Sam asked Mary to write to Livy. As he wrote, it passed midnight, and Sam noted “Christmas is here.” Then he compared Bethlehem on the night of Christ’s birth with his seeing the place [MTL 2: 348-51].

December 25 Friday – Christmas – In the wee hours, Sam wrote Livy:

“I love you more than I can tell. And now is the time to love—for on this day the Savior was born, whose measureless love unbarred the gates of Heaven to perishing men….I must to bed. I ride 20 miles in a cutter to-day, & lecture tonight at Charlotte.”

Sam went to Charlotte, Michigan, and found letters waiting from Livy and her father. That evening he gave his “Vandals” lecture [MTL 2: 352-3].

Clemens wrote Jervis Langdon a letter that is now lost [MTL 3: 6n4].

December 26 Saturday – Sam left Charlotte for Tecumseh, Michigan, where he gave his “Vandals” lecture.

December 27 Sunday – Sam wrote from Tecumseh to Livy about the difficulties of becoming a Christian, about social drinking, about his loneliness, about his love, and his expectation to see Mrs. Fairbanks the next day [MTL 2: 353-6].

December 28 Monday – Sam arrived in Cleveland and stayed with the Fairbankses.

December 29 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Cleveland to Jervis Langdon, responding to his letter of Dec. 8 that had caught up with him in Charlotte, Michigan. The last letter Sam wrote concerning Sam’s time spent alone in the drawing room had offended Jervis. Sam wrote that he accepted the rebuke and regretted any offense. He wrote a few paragraphs about his references:

It is my desire as truly as yours, that sufficient time shall elapse to show you, beyond all possible question, what I have been, what I am, & what I am likely to be. Otherwise you could not be satisfied with me, nor I with myself. I think that much of my conduct on the Pacific Coast was not of a character to recommend me to the respectful regard of a high eastern civilization, but it was not considered blameworthy there, perhaps. We go according to our lights.

Sam wrote additional names for Jervis to contact: Hon. J. Neely Johnson, Carson City, Nevada, ex-governor and now state supreme court justice; Governor of Nevada Henry Goode Blasdel, Joe Goodman, and others. He discusses the Cleveland Herald and his desire to buy into the paper, half-owned by Abel Fairbanks [MTL 2: 356-60].

December 30 Wednesday – Sam wrote in the morning from Cleveland to Livy and told her of the letter he’d written her father the day before. Sam confessed misgivings about his letters to Jervis Langdon, but also told her of Mary Fairbanks reading a letter from Mrs. Langdon, one favorably disposed to Sam.  [ page 330 ]

“Solon Severance is coming early with a buggy New Year’s, & we are going to make calls all day long. He knows everybody—& we are going as a Temperance Phalanx, to shed a beneficent influence far & wide over this town!” [MTL 2: 363-7].

Sam traveled to Akron, Ohio, gave his “Vandals” lecture at the Methodist Church, and returned to the Fairbanks’ home in Cleveland.

December 31 Thursday – Sam wrote from Cleveland, Ohio to Livy:

 

Your Christmas letter arrived an hour before I went on the stage at Akron, last night, & of course I captured that audience. It was much the largest gathering a lecture had called out since Gough talked there 2 years ago. It couldn’t have been larger, for all standing room was filled. Then I went to a large private dancing party & stayed till 12:30, though I only danced, 3 times. I made it up talking & making friends. There were a large number of comely & companionable young ladies there, & the young gentlemen were cordial, intelligent & agreeable. . . . I escaped a serenade by a brass band by going to the party, & so escaped making a speech. I liked the friendly idea of the serenade, but wouldn’t have enjoyed being so pointedly lionized [MTL 2: 367-8].

 

 


 [ page 331 ]
Midwest Lecture Tour – Visits to Elmira & Hartford – Sam & Livy Engaged

 Sam Met William Dean Howells – Innocents Abroad a Great Success

Buffalo Newspaper Purchased with Jervis Langdon’s help – Grueling Lecture Schedule

 

1869 – Sometime during the year Clemens took out a $10,000 life insurance policy with Continental Life Ins. Co of Hartford [MTP]. Note: see June 16, 1877.

January 1 Friday – Sam spent the day with Solon & Emily Severance, old Quaker City shipmates, making social calls in Cleveland, Ohio. While he waited for the carriage, Sam wrote Joseph Twichell:

“And I have delightful Christmas letters, this morning, from her [Livy’s] mother & father—full of love and trust. I seem to be shaking off the drowsiness of centuries & looking about me half bewildered at the light just bursting above the horizon of an unfamiliar world” [MTL 3: 1-2].

January 2 Saturday – Sam made an error in his schedule, not appearing on Dec. 29 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This was a make up date and he gave the “American Vandal Abroad” lecture at Hamilton’s Hall in Ft. Wayne. Afterward he wrote from Ft. Wayne to Livy:

How they have abused me in this town, for the last two or three days! But they couldn’t get the newspapers to do it. They said there was some mistake, & steadfastly refused—for which I am grateful. The night I should have lectured here, the house was crowded, & yet there was not room for all who came. To-night it was rainy, slushy & sloppy, & only two-thirds of a house came. They were very cool, & did not welcome me to the stage. They were still offended, & showed it. But as soon as I saw that, all my distress of mind, all my wavering confidence, all my down-heartedness vanished, & I never felt happier or better satisfied on a stage before. And so, within ten minutes we were splendid friends—they unbent, banished their frowns, & the affair went off gallantly. A really hearty opposition is inspiring, sometimes [MTL 3: 2-8].

January 3 Sunday – In a letter of Jan. 14 to Livy, Sam answered her question of what he did on this day.

Where was I on Sunday, Jan 3? In Fort Wayne. Had my breakfast brought up, & lay in bed till 1 P.M. I did want to go to church, & the bells sounded very inviting, but it seemed a plain duty to rest all I could….Yes I lay abed till 1 P.M. & read your Akron & Cleveland letters several times—& read the Testament—& re-read Beecher’s sermon on the love of riches being the root of all evil—and read Prof. Goldwin Smith’s lecture on Cromwell…—& smoked thousands of cigars…Then I got up and ate dinner with some friends—& went to bed again at 4 in the afternoon & read & smoked again—& got up long, long before daylight & took the cars for the endless trip to Indianapolis & Chicago. That is the history of Jan. 3, Livy dear, & I remember it ever so pleasantly [MTL 3: 38-9]. Note: Goldwin Smith (1823-1910). See letter of Jan. 14 for more.

January 4 Monday – Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture at The Metropolitan, Indianapolis, Indiana.

John Morris wrote:

In compliance with my pledge at Jackson I herewith enclose you an article from the Lansing Republican one from the Charlotte Argus by Prof. Ingham & another from the Charlotte Republican by some very good judge who styles himself “Brownie.”

How have you fared since we dined on partridge? I do not forget that meal nor the woebegone expression of our colored “brother” as you catechised him concerning the bill of fare in demand.

You may rest assured that your name will find an acceptable place upon our list another winter if we shall survive or escape the strokes of that professional Reaper thus long. [ page 332 ]

Have you heard anything from Marshall a nice old town on the Mich Central about 30 miles west of Jackson. They are in need of a lecture to fill one of Anna Dickinson’s appointments that she has taken up for some cause. I have reccommended you to one of their committee & he promised to write you at Cleveland direct. They were anxious to hear how your efforts were received here & at Lansing. If you are to come there I might possibly manage to hear your gentle voice.

Yours Truly

John Morris [MTP].

Note: Twain wrote on the letter: “This is from a splendid fellow —a friend I made in Charlotte.”

January 5 Tuesday – The Indianapolis Journal reviewed Sam’s lecture:

MARK TWAIN AS A LECTURER.—To say that the audience that listened to Mark Twain’s lecture, at the Metropolitan last night, was well pleased would be saying what every man and woman present will attest; but every one would also say that those two words are so far from properly representing the pleasure afforded, that in their very tameness they seem to underrate its real value. It is so common now-a-days to apply high sounding adjectives to all manner of entertainments, whether of merit or not, that we avoid their use in noticing the lecture of Mark Twain, in order that it may not be ranked by our readers along with the very “flat, stale and unprofitable” productions, that pass under ponderous adjectives for lectures worth hearing. The impression made on the hearer by the first few sentences of the lecturer is anything but favorable. There is in the careless and effortless manner of dropping words as though they rolled from the speaker’s mouth half moulded as it were, and the lazy roll of the head, a strong indication that he is to be bored by a commonplace recital of incidents of travel abroad, interspersed with a few jokes that would be much more enjoyable in print, than as mumbled by the speaker. The awakening from this error comes so suddenly, so thoroughly, and so pleasantly too, that from this point to the close of the lecture, the doubter at first, is a willing and delighted captive; drinking in every word, gliding with the lecturer among the thousand gondolas floating on the water ways of moonlit Venice, laughing at his proofs that the girls of Venice are like the girls of Indianapolis, answering with applause that he would not if he could withhold the thrilling and surpassingly beautiful descriptions of Athens by moonlight, of the cathedrals of Milan, and Rome, and St. Petersburg; and then again laughing himself into tears over the peculiarly happy of the bold, unceremonious, care-for-nothing, rollicking conduct of the American vandal, who never fails to make known his nationality, whether in stocking feet inspecting the interior of a Turkish mosque, among thousands of worshipping Moslems, attending the fetes of Emperors or autocrats, rambling among the grand and inspiring ruins of Athens, or whistling a national air as he views the towering Pyramids of Egypt.

Mark Twain’s wit is always of the highest order, and the more enjoyable in that it so truthfully hits off some peculiarity of human nature. His descriptions of scenery, in a literary point of view, glitter with the polish of culture, and captivate by the beauty and smoothness of the verbiage. His reading of the descriptive passages is peculiarly adapted to the display of their beauties. He reads as one who is not laboring to convey the impression that he is saying something beautiful, but as one who is laboring rather to convey to the hearer a correct idea of the beauties that impressed him. The reader of his prose would discover in it the music of poetry; but as he reads it, it has all that charm, and the additional interest that a story has, coming from the lips of one who saw whereof he speaks [Schmidt].

Mary Mason Fairbanks wrote from Cleveland to ask Sam if he would repeat his “very acceptable lecture on ‘The American Vandal Abroad,’ or such other lecture as you shall decide, for the benefit of an institution, the charitable aim of which will, we are sure, commend it to your generosity” [MTPO]. Note: for the Cleveland Protestant Orphan Asylum.

January 6 Wednesday – Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture at Brown’s Hall in Rockford, Illinois to about a thousand people [Schmidt]. [ page 333 ]

January 7 Thursday – After the Rockford lecture and past midnight, Sam wrote from Rockford to Mary Mason Fairbanks, and to Livy. (Over half of Sam’s nearly daily love letters to Livy have been lost.) That evening Sam again gave his “Vandals” lecture at Library Hall, Chicago, Illinois [MTL 3: 8-9].

Afterwards, Sam wrote from Chicago to Francis E. Bliss (son of Elisha), and to Mary Mason Fairbanks and Others on the Board of Managers of the Cleveland Protestant Orphan Asylum. To the former, Sam suggested the American Publishing Co. “issue prospectus & startling advertisements…stirring the bowels of these communities.” To Mrs. Fairbanks, et al, he accepted their invitation to give his “Vandals” lecture in Cleveland for their behalf [MTL 3: 14-19].

Sam also wrote a love letter to Livy.

My Dearest Livy— / I was just delighted with your letter received to-day. We forgot the extract, but I have just written to Mrs. Fairbanks, & she will send it to me to be prepared for publication. Your letter was so natural, Livy, & so like yourself. I do wish I could see you! I scold you as bitterly as I can for daring to sit up & write after midnight. Now you have it, at last. And I forgive you & bless you in the same moment! {Oh, you are so present to me at this moment, Livy, that it seems absurd to be writing to you when I almost seem to touch your forehead with my lips.}: I thank you with all my heart for your warm New Year wishes—& you know that you have mine. I naturally thought of you all the day long, that day—as I do every day—& a dozen times I recalled our New Year at Mr. Berry’s. I remembered it perfectly well, & spoke of it to Mrs. Fairbanks—& the Moorish architecture, too. And I remembered perfectly well that I didn’t rightly know where the charm was, that night, until you were gone. And I did have such a struggle, the first day I saw you at the St Nicholas, to keep from loving you with all my heart! But you seemed to my bewildered vision, a visiting Spirit from the upper air—a something to worship, reverently & at a distance—& not a creature of common human clay, to be profaned by the love of such as I. Maybe it was a little extravagant, Livy, but I am honestly setting down my thought, just as it flitted through my brain. Now you can understand why I offend so much with praises—for to me you are still so far above all created things that I cannot speak of you in tame commonplace language—I must reserve that for tame, commonplace people. Don’t scold me, Livy—let me pay my due homage to your worth; let me honor you above all women; let me love you with a love that knows no doubt, no question—for you are my world, my life, my pride, my all of earth that is worth the having. Develop your faults, if you have them—they have no terrors for me—nothing shall tear you out of my heart. Livy, if you only knew how much I love you! But I couldn’t make you comprehend it, though I wrote a year [MTL 3: 10]. Note: Thomas S. & Anna E. Berry, friends of the Langdons.

January 8 Friday – Sam traveled to Monmouth, Illinois, 170 miles southwest of Chicago. The Chicago Tribune’s review worked to place the reader in the hall on that night of January 7, 1868:

Mark Twain, the well-known humorist, lectured last evening at Library Hall, under the auspices of the Young Men’s Library Association, on the “American Vandal Abroad.” He first pitched into the guides who beset and betray American travelers in Europe, then went on to give a ludicrous history of Columbus and an Egyptian mummy, to which he was introduced at Genoa and Rome, respectively. He smoked the narghali in Turkey, inspected the wall where St. Paul was let down in the basket which was sold for firewood, went to the pyramids, where he took dinner or something else, with the resident mummy, and whistled “Auld Lang Syne” on the Rock of Gibraltar. He did not think much of the mummies, but preferred a “fresh corpse.” During the evening, as if to prove that there was something besides humor in him, he branched out into quite eloquent passages, which were applauded. The lecture was good and the attendance large.

That evening, Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture in Hardin’s Hall at Monmouth, Illinois [MTL 3: 20 n4].

January 9 Saturday – The Rockford Register printed a review of Sam’s lecture there:  [ page 334 ]

We never saw an audience so determined to laugh “out loud” …we confess to having laughed ourselves until our sides fairly ached…We congratulate those who were present, and we feel deep sympathy for those who remained away and missed a grand opportunity of hearing a speaker who, as a humorist and wit, stands unrivaled on the American stage [MTL 3: 8-9n1].

The reviews reflect that Sam had become a polished professional entertainer, able to gauge and control an audience for best effect.

That evening, Sam again gave his “Vandals” lecture at Galesburg, Illinois.

January 10 Sunday – Sam wrote from Galesburg to Harriet Lewis, Livy’s cousin who was Sam and Livy’s ally, early on in 1868 pretending to be the object of Sam’s affections to hide their affair from the Langdons. Sam’s tongue in cheek letter about breaking Harriet’s heart was sublime and hilarious:

“I am sorry for you, my wilted geranium. And next you’ll fade, I suppose—they all do, that get in your fix…& there’ll be some ghastly old sea-sickening sentimental songs ground out about you & about the place where you prefer to be planted, & all that sort of bosh. Do be sensible & don’t”[MTL 3: 22-3].

January 11 Monday – Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture to about 1,200 in Rouse’s Opera House, Peoria, Illinois. Jervis Langdon celebrated his 60th birthday.

January 12 Tuesday – The Peoria National Democrat gave Sam a good review. Sam wrote from El Paso, Illinois to Livy.

“I talked in Peoria, last night, to a large audience, & one whose intellectual faces surprised me as well as pleased me, for I certainly had expected no such experience in Peoria.”

Sam wrote that he had to stay in Peoria half a day and was on his way to Decatur.

“The time will drag, drag, drag, until I see you again—but I am thankful that your letters come so often. I wish they came every day. They so fill me with pleasure that I have not the heart to harbor an unkind sentiment toward any creature after I have read one of them” [MTL 3: 24-7].

Sam also included a note to Charles Langdon, and wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks.

Later that evening Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture in Power’s Hall, Decatur, Illinois, and, despite bad weather, reached Ottawa, Illinois late in the evening.

January 13 Wednesday – Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture in the Methodist Episcopal Church in Ottawa, Illinois. The reviews were mixed but Sam began a letter to Livy that called it a “botch.”

My Dearest Livy—

Another botch of a lecture!—even worse than Elmira, I think. And it was such a pity—for we had a beautiful church entirely full of handsome, well-dressed, intellectual ladies & gentlemen. They say I didn’t botch it, but I should think I ought to know. I closed with a fervent apology for my failure, just as I did in Elmira—& the apology was the only thing in the lecture that had any life or any feeling in it. It cuts me to the very quick to make a failure. I did feel so ashamed of myself. I even distressed the Committee—I touched their hearts with my genuine suffering, & real good fellows as they are, they came up to my room to comfort me. The failure was chiefly owing to an idiot president, who insisted on introducing me while the people were still pouring in,—& they kept on coming in till one-fourth of the lecture had been delivered to an audience who were exclusive[ly] engaged in watching the new-comers to their seats—it seemed that I never would get [ page 335 ] their attention. I grew so exasperated, at last, that I shouted to the door keeper to close the doors & not open them again on any account. But my confidence was gone, the church was harder to speak in than any empty barrel would have been, I was angry, wearied to death with travel, & I just hobbled miserably through, apologized, bade the house good-night, & then gave the President a piece of my mind, without any butter or sugar on it. And now I have to pray for forgiveness for these things—& unprepared, Livy, for the bitterness is not all out of my bad, foolish heart yet.

Took tea with Mr. Lewis—like him ever so much. If you remember, he is like Twichell—you are acquainted with him as soon as you take him by the hand. It would take some time to get acquainted with his wife, though.

Lost my baggage somewhere, day-before yesterday—heard of it today, but can’t get it before I arrive in Toledo—am lecturing in my bob-tail coat & that makes me feel awkward & uncomfortable before an audience.

Livy, dear, I am instructed to appear & lecture in New York City Feb. 15. It is the most aggravating thing. I have to miss the re-union after all, I suppose, for no doubt I shall have to go on lecturing just the same, after that. But you must write me all that the happy re-unionists do & say, & I shall be with you all in spirit, at least, if not in the flesh. And I shall keep a sharp look-out & see if I can’t get a day or two to myself between Jan. 22 & Feb. 13, because I do so long to see you, Livy dear. So far there are only five applications in my agent’s hands for lectures during that interval, I think. You were right not to send the picture if it slandered you like the other, but it does seem to me sometimes that any new picture of you would be a comfort to me—one that had seen your own face lately. The old photograph is a dear old picture to me, & I love it; but still it isn’t as beautiful as you are, Livy, & I want a picture that is. I am not so absurd as to love you simply for your beauty—I trust you know that well enough—but I do love your beauty, & am naturally proud of it & I don’t want the picture to mar it.

Poor Lily Hitchcock!—see how they talk about her in print—just as generous & warm-hearted a girl as you ever saw, Livy, & her mother is such a rare gem of a woman. The family are old, old friends of mine & I think ever so much of them. That girl, many & many & many a time, has waited till nearly noon to breakfast with me, when we all lived at the Occidental Hotel & I was on a morning paper & could not go to bed till 2 or 3 in the morning. She is a brilliant talker. They live half of every year in Paris—& the hearts that rascal has broken, on both sides of the water! It always seemed funny to me, that she & I could be friends, but we were—I suppose it was because under all her wild & repulsive foolery, that warm heart of hers would show. When I saw the family in Paris, Lily had just delivered the mitten to a wealthy Italian Count, at her mother’s request (Mrs. H. said Lily loved him,)—but ah me! it was only going from bad to worse to jilt anybody to marry Howard Coit. I know him, a dissipated spendthrift, son of a deceased, wealthy eminent physician, a most worthy man. Howard “went through” the property in an incredibly short time. And this poor little numbscull Lily’s last act was to mortgage her property for $20,000, gold, & give the money to that calf. He will squander it in six months if he has not mended greatly. {The above was told me in Chicago by a Confidante of Lily’s who was simply under promise to keep the matter from her parents.} Until that moment I said the whole affair must be untrue, because, as detestable as some of Lily’s freaks were she could not be capable of deceiving her mother & father & marrying secretly. And to tell the plain truth I don’t really believe it yet. She is an awful girl (the newspaper article is written by somebody who knows whom he is talking about), but she isn’t that awful. She moves in the best society in San F. Does that horrify you, Livy? But remember, there never was so much as a whisper against her good name. I am so sorry for that girl, & so very, very sorry for her good kind mother. I hold both of them in happy remembrance always—for they were your brave, outspoken sort of friends, & just as loyal to you behind your back as before your face.

Well—I simply meant to enclose the slip, with a line of explanation—I think I rather overdid it.

Tell Miss Lewis that I think the answer is “Considerable.” What is her notion? I have told her brother all I knew about her, & a mighty sight that I didn’t know. I always like to give good measure.

The passage from the “exquisite” struck me at the time as a vivid echo of my own sentiments—I knew it would be of yours, without your mentioning it, dear Livy. No, you wouldn’t ask me to go to prayer meeting if you fancied I was tired, & I am sure I would always try to be as thoughtful of you, & as watchful for your happiness. I think our very chiefest pleasure would (WILL, Livy,) consist in planning & scheming each for the other’s happiness. Livy, I cannot conceive of such a thing as my failing in deference to you, either now or when you are my wife, (for I will not think of your being any one else’s wife, Livy,) or ever conducting myself toward you, in a manner unbecoming to your dignity. Why did you talk of not sending “this half sheet?” It [ page 336 ] delighted me more than I can tell. I like all you say about marriage, for it shows that you appreciate the tremendous step it is, & are looking at it in all its parts, & not to simply seek flaws in it.

After some little delay, I am back & ready to go on answering your letter—but alas! it is i AM, I am tired to death & so sleepy—

And so I press this loving kiss upon your lips, my darling Livy & waft you a fond Good-night.

Sam. L. C. [MTL 3: 30-1].

Note: Sam enclosed “An Eccentric California Belle,” an article which further described Eliza (Lillie) Wychie Hitchcock (1843-1929). See source. Mr. Lewis was Livy’s maternal uncle.

Sam would later expound against lecturing in a church, where he said it was next to impossible to make people laugh.

January 14 Thursday – Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture at the Burtis Opera House, in Davenport, Iowa. Afterwards he wrote again to Livy:

Livy, darling, I greet you. We did have a splendid house tonight, & everything went off handsomely. Now I begin to fear that I shan’t get a chance to see your loved face between Jan. 22 & Feb. 13 as I was hoping & longing I should. Because I have just received some new appointments by telegraph—the ones I expected. Please add them to your list—carefully, & don’t make any mistake: Thus:

em-spaceem-spaceMarshall, Mich.,

{underline}

Jan. 25.

em-spaceem-spaceBatavia, Ill.,

{underline}

Jan. 26

em-spaceem-spaceFreeport, Ill.,

{underline}

Jan. 27

em-spaceem-spaceWaterloo, Iowa,

{underline}

Jan. 28

em-spaceem-spaceGalena, Ill

{underline}

Jan. 29

em-spaceem-spaceJacksonville, Ill.,

{underline}

Feb. 1.

 

Others are to come, the dispatch says. (Did I tell you I am to lecture in Norwalk, Ohio, Jan. 21, & in Cleveland, Jan. 22? Put those down too, Livy.[)] If they don’t send me the names of the Secretaries of these added societies, you will have to tell Charlie to direct your letters to my nom de plume, & then the Secretaries will get them anyhow. Will you try to remember that, dear? And now, since misfortune has overtaken me & I am not to see you for such a long, long time, won’t you please write me every day? I wish you would try, Livy. I don’t think you can, & I don’t expect it, either, for it is a great labor—but still I do wish you could, if it wouldn’t interfere with your duties or pleasures, or tire you too much. I find it next to impossible to get the opportunity to write to you every day, though I would most certainly like to do it—& being forced, as I am, to devote to it simply such time as I can snatch from sleep, my letters can’t naturally be anything more than mere hasty, chatty paragraphs, with nothing in them, as a general thing. [in margin: I wrote Charlie from Ottawa—did he get it?]

[see Jan. 3 for this portion].

I have seen your young gentlemen women-haters often—I know them intimately. They are infallibly & invariably unimportant whelps with vast self-conceit & a skull full of oysters, which they take a harmless satisfaction in regarding as brains. They are day-dreamers, & intensely romantic, though they would have the world think otherwise. Their pet vanity is to be considered “men of the world”—& they generally know about as much of the world as a horse knows about metaphysics. They are powerfully sustained in their woman-hating & kept well up to the mark by the secret chagrin of observing that no woman above mediocrity ever manifests the slightest interest in them—they come without creating a sensation, & go again without anybody seeming to know it. They are coarse, & vulgar, & mean—these people—& they know it. Neither men or women I admire them much or love them—& they know that, also. [in margin: I wish I could see you, Livy.] They thirst for applause—any poor cheap applause of their “eccentricity” is manna in the desert to them—& they suffer in noticing that the world is stupidly unconscious of them & exasperatingly indifferent to them. When sense dawns upon these creatures, how suddenly they discover that they have been pitiable fools—but they are full forty years old, then, & they sigh to feel that those years & their pleasures [ page 337 ] they might have borne, are wasted, & lost to them for all time. I do pity a woman-hater with all my heart. The spleen he suffers is beyond comprehension.

Why yes, Livy, you ought to have sent me Mother Fairbanks’ letter, by all means. Send it now, won’t you, please? She’s a noble woman. It will be splendid for her to have you & me both to bother about & scold at, some day. She will make a fine row with me when she sees me coming back on the 22d with a new lot of baggage after all her trouble convincing me that I needed nothing more than a valise to travel with. I shall find my lost baggage again at Toledo, I think.

The lady you wrote of was singularly unfortunate—judging at a first glance—but considering that it brought such Christianity, & such happy content in doing good, it seems only rare good fortune after all. Ten millions of years from now she will shudder to think what a frightful calamity it would have been, not to have lost her wealth. Did it never occur to you what a particularly trifling & insignificant breath of time this now long & vastly important earthly existence of ours will seem to us whenever we shall happen accidentally to have it called to our minds ten awful millions of years from now? Will not we smile, then, to remember that we used at times to shrink from doing certain duties to God & man because the world might jeer at us?—& were so apt to forget that the world & its trifling opinions would scarce rise to the dignity of a passing memory at that distant day? Brainless husbandmen that we are, we sow for time, seldom comprehending that we are to reap in Eternity. We are all idiots, much as we vaunt our wisdom. Good-bye. I kiss you good-night, darling. I do love you, Livy!

Always Yours,

Samℓ. L. C. [MTL 3: 38].

Sam also wrote his sister Pamela and listed many of the places he’d lectured:

“…am getting awfully tired of it. I spend about half as much money as I make, I think, though I have managed to save about a thousand dollars, so far—don’t think I shall save more than a thousand more” [MTL 3: 43].

Again Sam recommended Norwich, New York for a possible town for his family to move to. Sam was taking on a grueling schedule:

“I am to lecture every night till Feb 2. Shall be in Cleveland, Ohio, one day only—Jan 22” [MTL 3: 44].

January 15 Friday – Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture in Metropolitan Hall, Iowa City, Iowa. Livy wrote Mary Mason Fairbanks, inviting her to Elmira for a reunion of the Quaker City passengers [MTL 3: 42].

January 16 Saturday – Sam slipped and fell on the ice in Iowa City earning a sore hip. That evening, Sam traveled by train to Chicago, and along the way wrote a letter of apology to the landlord in Iowa City. Sam had yelled at the man for waking him up too early, 9 AM [MTL 3: 45-7].

January 17 Sunday – Sam wrote from Chicago to Livy, telling her about the spill on the ice and his sore hip, and his written apology to the landlord. “Have you got a good picture yet, Livy? —because I want it so badly” [MTL 3: 45-7].

January 18 Monday – Sam was unable to get to Sparta, Wisconsin for a scheduled lecture. He arrived in Cleveland at daylight [MTL 3: 49].

January 19 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Cleveland to Livy.

“I haven’t shaved for three days—& when Mrs. Fairbanks kissed me this morning, she said I looked like the moss-covered bucket…. They are hurrying me—Fairbanks called up stairs to know what part of the chicken I wanted—told him to give me the port side, for’ard of the wheel” [MTL 3: 50]. [ page 338 ]

January 20 Wednesday – Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture in White’s Hall (Young Men’s Hall), Toledo, Ohio, then stayed the night in Toledo at the home of John B. Carson and family.

January 20 and 21 Thursday – After the lecture Sam began a letter to Livy at 2:30 AM:

It was splendid, to-night—the great hall was crowded full of the pleasantest & handsomest people, & I did the very best I possibly could—& did better than I ever did before—I felt the importance of the occasion, for I knew that, this being Nasby’s residence, every person in the audience would be comparing & contrasting me with him [MTL 3: 51].

Sam expressed regret that the “California letters” (references to his character) made Livy’s parents unhappy. He sent his upcoming schedule through Feb. 1. Sam took breakfast with the Carson family and caught the train at 8 AM on Jan. 22.

The Toledo Daily Blade reviewed Sam’s lecture of Jan. 20:

MARK TWAIN’S LECTURE.—White’s Hall was filled from cellar to garret, last night, by one of the best tickled audiences that ever assembled there to hear a lecture or see the speaker. Mark Twain tickled them. And he did it so easily and almost consistently, that they didn’t know what they were laughing at more than half the time. Twain is witty, and his wit comes from his own fertile brain. His style is original; and his manner of speaking is not after the manner of men generally. His serious face and long drawn words are, of themselves, sufficient to make one laugh, even if there were not in every sentence expressed a sparkling gem of humor, and original idea. His anecdotes, with which the lecture is repleat, are rich, and, as he tells them, irresistibly funny. In some of his descriptions of European places and characters the lecturer delivers, at times, most eloquent passages, brilliant in thought and word.

That MARK TWAIN is a success as a lecturer, as well as writer, we think no one who heard “The American Vandal Abroad,” last night, will dispute.

Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture in Norwalk, Ohio. Sam returned to Toledo where he stayed the second night with the Carson family. Sam wrote from Norwalk to Livy, ending the letter just after midnight.

January 22 Friday – Sam returned to Cleveland, staying with the Fairbankses. He gave his “Vandals” lecture for the Protestant Orphan Asylum Benefit, Case Hall, Cleveland, Ohio.

The Cleveland Leader reported Sam’s remarks that prefaced his lecture:

Ladies and Gentlemen: I am well aware of the fact that it would be a most gigantic fraud for you to pay a dollar each to hear my lecture. But you pay your dollar to the orphan asylum and have the lecture thrown in! So if it is not worth anything it does not cost you anything! [Laughter.]…I understand that there are to be other entertainments given week after next for the same object, the asylum being several thousand dollars in debt, and I earnestly recommend you all to attend them and not let your benevolence stop with this lecture. There will be eating to be done. Go there and eat, and eat, and keep on eating and pay as you go [Great laughter]. The proprietors of the skating rink have generously offered to donate to the asylum the proceeds of one evening, to the amount of a thousand dollars, and when that evening comes, go and skate. I do not know whether you can all skate or not, but go and try! If you break your necks it will be no matter; it will be to help the orphans.

Don’t be afraid of giving too much to the orphans, for however much you give you have the easiest end of the bargain. Some persons have to take care of those sixty orphans and they have to wash them [Prolonged laughter]. Orphans have to be washed! And it’s no small job either for they have only one wash tub and it’s slow business. They can’t wash but one orphan at a time! They have to be washed in the most elaborate detail, [ page 339 ] and by the time they get through with the sixty, the original orphan has to be washed again. Orphans won’t stay washed! I’ve been an orphan myself for twenty-five years and I know this to be true [Great laughter].

Sam was now writing daily letters to Livy. Her letter arrived in Cleveland with a porcelain type photo of herself. He wrote his effusive thanks: “Oh, Livy darling, I could just worship that picture…” [MTL 3: 61-5]. Note: Sam did indeed idealize and “worship” Olivia Louise Langdon. The long absences, the lonely hotel rooms, the exchange of letters made Sam’s heart and reverence for Livy grow fonder. Sam was often anxious about her parents’ approval, fearful Livy might change her mind, and desperate for intimacy.

January 23 Saturday – Sam wrote from Cleveland to Joseph and Harmony Twichell congratulating them on the birth of their second child, Julia Curtis Twichell on Jan. 9. Sam was upbeat about Livy, describing her picture that had arrived, and her letters that came:

“Every other day, without fail, & sometimes every day…those darling 8-page commercial miracles; & I bless the girl, & bow my grateful head before the throne of God & let the unspoken thanks flow out that never human speech could fetter into words” [MTL 3: 67].

Sam also wrote Livy another long letter. He had wanted to talk business with George A. Benedict (1812-1876) half-owner of the Cleveland Herald, but the man was ill.

January 24 Sunday – Sam wrote from Cleveland to Livy. He was relieved that Livy still had “faith in me.” Livy’s parents had expressed doubts about Sam, that he was a wanderer by nature. Sam answered the accusation:

“Does a man, five years a galley-slave, get in a habit of it & yearn to be a galley-slave always?…And being pushed from pillar to post & compelled so long to roam, against my will, is it reasonable to think that I am really fond if it & wedded to it? I think not” [MTL 3: 75].

Note: This was Sam trying to convince Livy and himself with a disingenuous claim that his travels had been against his will. True, Sam yearned for home and hearth, and was wholly committed to a life with Livy, but he never lost his love of travel, new places, new people, and the pursuit of fame, riches and respectability on his terms.

January 25 Monday – Sam lecture his “Vandals” in Academy of Music, Marshall, Michigan [MTPO].

January 26 Tuesday – Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture in Batavia, Illinois. Sam spent the night in Batavia and wrote another long love letter to Livy [MTL 3: 76].

January 27 Wednesday – Sam left early in the morning for Freeport, Illinois, where Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture in Fry’s Hall.

January 28 Thursday – Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture at Russell Hall, Waterloo, Iowa [MTPO].

January 29 Friday – Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture at the Bench Street Methodist Church in Galena, Illinois. Afterwards, Sam wrote from Galena to Livy:

Livy darling, I have received your letter, & am perfectly delighted with it. I have finished my lecture tonight, the people are satisfied, your kiss has comforted me, & I am as happy & contented as anybody in the world to-night. And I am not sick yet, & even believe I shall not be—though for many days I have believed that only the will to finish my allotted task was really keeping me up,—& have felt sometimes that if I were delivering [ page 340 ] the last lecture of the list, and knew all responsibility was at last removed, that with the passing away of the tense strain I would surely drop to the floor without strength enough to rise again for weeks [MTL 3: 81-2].

February 1 Monday – Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture at Strawn’s Hall in Jacksonville, Illinois [MTPO]. 

Afterwards he wrote Francis Bliss a short note, saying he would be in Elmira from Feb. 3 till Feb. 11 and asking for proofs of Innocents Abroad to be sent there if ready. Proofs were not sent until early March, when Sam was in Hartford [MTP].

February 2 Tuesday – Sam left Cleveland for Elmira and Livy. He’d received some interest from George A. Benedict, who was ill, in the sale of part interest in the Cleveland Herald for $25,000.

February 4Thursday – Sam arrived in Elmira. Jervis Langdon gave his approval for Sam and Livy’s engagement.

February 5 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to his mother and family, informing them that he was:

“…duly & solemnly & irrevocably engaged to be married to Miss Olivia L. Langdon, aged 23 ½, only daughter of Jervis and Olivia Langdon of Elmira, New York. Amen

 Sam told the family of his possible purchase of a part interest in the Cleveland Herald, that the marriage with Livy might take a “good while” as he was not yet “rich enough,” and of Livy setting:

“…herself the task of making a Christian of me. I said she would succeed, but that in the meantime she would unwittingly dig a matrimonial pit & end by tumbling into it—& lo! the prophesy is fulfilled.”

 Sam also sent word of his engagement to Mary Mason Fairbanks 

My Dear Mother— / Your blessing! It is accomplished. We are engaged to be married., & the date of it is Feb. 4, 1869. Livy wants the date engraved in the ring. I perceive, now, that she has no finger large enough for the ring we selected. So she will lend me one of her rings to be guided by, & I will hand it to you on the 12th inst. The one we got will answer for a bracelet, though—or a necklace. She is small. There isn’t much of her, but what there is, assays as high as any bullion that ever I saw. All we need, now, is your blessing, Mother … [MTL 3: 86].

February 10 Wednesday – Elisha Bliss wrote from Hartford to Sam about the proofs for Innocents Abroad. He had none to send but was “pushing things now very rapidly however” [MTL 3: 98-9]. Sam most likely received the letter on Feb. 11 or 12.

February 12 Friday – Sam left Elmira “at the last minute” that evening and slept overnight on the train back to Cleveland.

February 13 Saturday – Sam wrote from Cleveland to Livy.

“(10AM) I have been here two hours in a splendid state of exasperation. I went to bed in the cars at half past nine, last night & slept like a log until 7 this morning, & woke up thoroughly refreshed” [MTL 3: 88].  [ page 341 ]

He discovered that he’d missed a lecture date in Alliance, Ohio made by Abel Fairbanks, a date unknown to Sam. That evening Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture in Ravenna, Ohio.

Sam wrote letters from Ravenna that evening including this to Livy:

I am able to inform the blessedest girl in all the world that the lecture to-night was a complete success—& they said, as usual, that it was the largest audience of the season, a thing that necessarily gratifies me, for you know one naturally likes to be popular. And it is Saturday night, too—think of it!—& I need not hide to-morrow, but can go to church morning & evening. Somehow I don’t often make a Saturday success [MTL 3: 94-95].

Sam wrote Olivia Lewis Langdon to reassure her though he had been somewhat wild as a young man, he was “never as a dishonorable one,” and had become another sort of man.

“I do not wish to marry Miss Langdon for her wealth, & she knows that perfectly well.”

Sam asserted that he had “paddled his own canoe” since age thirteen. The Langdons, as with any wealthy family, were concerned about gold-diggers. Livy’s share of the inheritance was about a quarter of a million dollars.

Sam also wrote Mary Mason Fairbanks about the successful lecture in Ravenna and his intent to lecture in Alliance the next night, which would “take the blame off Mr. Fairbanks’ shoulders” for the missed date. Since Alliance is farther south from Ravenna, Sam’s letter shows that he found lodging in Ravenna and traveled on to Alliance the next day.

February 14 Sunday – Sam responded from Ravenna, Ohio to Elisha Bliss’ letter of Feb. 10, which he’d received while in Elmira. Sam wanted to handle all details of revision on the proofs, having learned the lesson of neglecting this step with his Jumping Frog book. He wrote Bliss that he expected to be in Hartford two or three weeks starting the last week of February.

Sam also wrote Twichell and answered General Joseph R. Hawley’s (1826-1905) letter of Feb. 10 about Sam’s desire to buy into the Hartford Courant. Hawley and Charles Dudley Warner (1829-1900) ran the Courant. To Twichell, Sam wrote that he would spend Feb. 20 & 21 in Elmira [MTL 3: 100-1].

February 15 Monday – Sam wrote in the morning from Ravenna, Ohio to Livy about having her engagement ring made. He left Ravenna “about noon” and that evening gave his “Vandals” lecture in Alliance, Ohio.

February 16 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Titusville, Pennsylvania to Livy the next day that he had:

…sat up until 2 in the morning (because no porter at hotel to call me,) & returned on a coal train to Ravenna—went to bed for one hour & a half & then got up half asleep & started in the early train for this Titusville section of country—had to wait from 1 P.M. till 5, at Corry, Pa., & so found an excellent hotel & went to bed… [MTL 3: 103-4].

Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture at Corinthian Hall in Titusville, Pennsylvania [MTPO].

February 17 Wednesday – In Titusville, late after the lecture, Sam wrote letters to Livy, Joe Goodman, and Mary Mason Fairbanks. To Mary, Sam wrote teasingly:  [ page 342 ]

“I haven’t got nothing more to write, I believe, because there ain’t no topics of interest here to write about, except that Beech was here & the angel of the coal mine went down in an oil well. No damage to either. Oils well that ends well” [MTL 3: 107-8].

In 1859 Titusville had been the scene of the first spouting oil well in the country. Later in the day he wrote from Franklin, Pennsylvania to Mary Mason Fairbanks. The Titusville Morning Herald gave Sam’s lecture a good review. Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture in Franklin, Pennsylvania.

February 18 Thursday – Sam telegraphed from Franklin, Pa. to the Young Men’s Association of Genesco Academy to say he would not be able to make the lecture planned there. Sam headed for Elmira again, to see Livy. For a good account of the cancellation and subsequent Mar. 1 lecture, see The Twainian, Nov.-Dec. 1961 p1-4.

The Genesco Academy of Young Men wrote to acknowledge Sam’s telegram [MTP].

February 19 Friday – The Genesco Academy of Young Men wrote again to Sam trying to pin down when Twain could come and lecture [MTP].

February 19–22 Monday – Sam spent four days visiting the Langdons in Elmira. Sam sent three telegrams from Elmira to the Genesco Academy, promising to lecture there Mar. 1 [MTL 3: 110-111]. Sam left Elmira on Feb.22 with Jervis Langdon, who was headed to New York City on business. Sam stayed with him a day or two [Sanborn 422].

February 23 Tuesday – Sam reached Trenton early in the day. That evening he gave his “Vandals” lecture in Trenton, New Jersey and then returned to New York, where he waited “all day” for a room at the St. Nicholas Hotel. That evening Sam and Jervis tried without success to visit Fidele (Mrs. Henry) Brooks. The Brooks were family friends of the Langdons. Sam probably wrote Livy a letter, which has been lost [MTL 3: 113n2].

February 25 Thursday – Early in the morning, Sam took a train 125 miles north to Stuyvesant, New York, where he gave his “Vandals” lecture.

February 26 Friday – Sam wrote after midnight from Stuyvesant to Livy, and enclosed a photograph of himself taken at Gurney & Son on Fifth Avenue in New York. He had left New York City early in the day. In Stuyvesant, Sam was the guest of Rev. Elbert Nevius [MTL 3: 111-14]. Sam left Stuyvesant in the morning and traveled all day.

February 27 Saturday –Sam traveled all night and arrived in Lockport, some 250 miles. He wrote from Lockport, New York to Livy. Sam wrote much more flippantly about Jervis than he had in the past. The two men were becoming closer friends, and Sam loved to tease Livy, or anyone whom he liked. Sam also wrote to Jane Clemens and family, and started a letter to Mary Mason Fairbanks [MTL 3: 114]. Note: also Sam’s first meeting of John De La Fletcher Slee (1837-1901). See 119n4 in source.

February 28 Sunday – Sam wrote from Rochester, New York finishing the Feb. 27 letter to Mary Mason Fairbanks. He also wrote to Livy:

For the first time, I had to dismiss an audience last night [Lockport] without lecturing. It was a fearful storm, & the people could not get out. Not more than a hundred were present. Perhaps I ought to have gone on & lectured, but then the gentlemen of the Grand Army of the Republic had treated me so well (& besides there was a much-prized old California friend or so among them,) that I hated to see them lose money, & so I said [ page 343 ] I would foot the expense-bills & dismiss the house—but they wouldn’t permit me to pay anything, or depart without my regular salary—& I rebelled against that. So we compromised—that is, I talked to the audience a minute or two about the weather & got them to laughing, & so dismissed them in a good humor & invited them to come back Wednesday night & hear “the rest of the discourse”—an invitation which nearly all of them accepted, for they took their tickets back, as they went out, instead of their money [MTL 3: 126].

March – Sam’s OPEN LETTER TO COM. VANDERBILT appeared in the March edition of Packard’s Monthly: The Young Men’s Magazine. The letter was a sarcastic blast at Cornelius Vanderbilt, which parodied the effusive and uncritical press Vanderbilt usually received [Camfield, bibliog.].

March 1 Monday – Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture at Concert Hall in Geneseo, New York [MTPO].

 Sam wrote from Rochester, NY to Livy:

Half a dozen young gentlemen 20 to 25 years of age, received me at the depot with a handsome open sleigh, & drove me to the hotel in style—& then took possession of my room, & invited a dozen more in, & ordered cigars, & made themselves entirely happy & contented. But they were hard to entertain, for they took me for a lion, & I had to carry the bulk of the conversation myself . . . Then I rose & said, “Boys, I shall have to bid you a good-afternoon, for I am stupid & sleepy—& you must pardon my bluntness but I must go to bed.” Poor fellows, they were stricken speechless . . . I undressed & went to bed, & tried to go to sleep—but again & again my conscience smote me—again & again I thought of how mean & how shameful a return I had made for their well-meant & whole-hearted friendliness to me a stranger within their gates . . . And then I said to myself, I’ll make amends for this—& so got up & dressed & gave the boys all of my time till midnight—& also from this noon till I left at four this afternoon. And so, if any man is thoroughly popular with the young people of Geneseo to-day, it is I. We had a full house last night, & a fine success [MTLL 73-4; MTL 3: 130; The Twainian, Nov-Dec. 1961].

Sam also noted he’d been reading Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, and offered to censor it for Livy:

“If you would like to read it…I will mark it & tear it until it is fit for your eyes—for portions of it are very coarse & indelicate” [MTLL 76].

March 3 Wednesday – Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture, which had been postponed from Feb. 27, in Arcade Hall, Lockport, New York [MTPO].

Reverend Joseph L. Bennett (b. 1823 or 1824) called on Clemens in the evening. Referred to in Sam’s Mar. 4 to Livy:

…whose church I used to attend every Sunday twenty years ago. My mother & sister belonged to his church. I did not know his face, not having seen him for more than nineteen years, but I recognized his voice & knew the name that belonged to it. Our family will be glad to hear of him. His visit has filled my brain with trooping phantoms of the past—of dead faces & forgotten forms—of scenes that are faded—of old familiar voices that are silent forever, & old songs that are only a memory now [MTL 3: 134-5].

March 4 Thursday – Sam wrote from Lockport to Livy:

“My last lecture (for some time, at least,) is delivered, & I am so glad that I must fly to you (on paper,) & make you help me hurrah. The long siege is over, & I may rest at last. I feel like a captive set free” [MTL 3: 134].

Sam was not through lecturing, but he would have a twelve-day rest. He left Lockport for Hartford, traveling all night and part of the next day.  [ page 344 ]

Text Box: March 4, 1869 – Ulysses S. Grant was sworn in as the 18th President of the United States

 

 

March 5 Friday – Sam arrived in Hartford, where he wrote Livy. Sam called on the Courant office during the day, but Gov. Hawley had traveled to Washington, D.C. to see Grant’s inauguration. Hawley was to arrive back in Hartford this evening and call on Sam at his hotel. Sam then visited the Twichells and left at half past eleven, refusing their kind offer to stay with them while in Hartford. Sam stayed instead at the Allyn House Hotel [MTL 3: 136-8, 143].

March 6 Saturday – Sam wrote twice from Hartford to Livy. He’d seen “a dozen or two” of the illustrations for Innocents Abroad, and wrote that they were “very artistically engraved.” He praised the talents of the engraver, Truman “True” Williams. Sam had promised Livy he would visit John and Isabella Hooker (1822-1907), part of the Beecher clan, who lived in a 100-acre parcel east of Hartford called “Nook Farm.” He ventured out in a snowstorm to visit the “Burton branch” of the Hookers (John’s and Isabella’s daughter and husband, Henry Burton.) Sam expressed misgivings about the Hookers, admitting to feelings of discomfort at their home, but that for Livy, he’d visit them “fifty times,” and his desire to “learn to like them with all my might” for Livy’s sake. Sam’s second letter to Livy late that night related walking from his hotel to Nook Farm in the snow, only to find them not at home [MTL 3: 138-48]. Note: Isabella Hooker made up her own theology, and her husband was a melancholy hypochondriac—not exactly Sam’s sort of folk.

March 7 Sunday – Sam wrote a “long newspaper article…till 11 o’clock [PM],” probably “The White House Funeral,” a scathing mock report of President Andrew Johnson’s final cabinet meeting before Grant’s inauguration of Mar. 4. The article was in proofs and not published, most likely due to reports of Johnson’s severe illness [MTL 3: 148, 151n2]. Note: In those days, the press still had some class.

March 8 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Livy about writing the article the night before and being unable to sleep until daylight. He rose at 9:30 AM and wrote letters.

“I’ll call on the Hookers or die. Saw Mr. Hooker a moment after I left Mrs. B. He was the very man I wanted to see. Because I like him, in spite of prejudice and everything else” [MTL 3: 149].

Sam also wrote to John Russell Young, editor of the New York Tribune, sending the “Funeral” article [MTL 3: 150].

March 9 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Livy about his love for her, the up-coming trip to California, and the wisdom of “sowing oats” early in life, etc. Sam had thought it over and spoken with Rev. Twichell “the other night,” and he recognized “a deeper question” than sowing wild oats to make a man’s future steady—“whether it be advisable or justifiable to trample the laws of God under foot at any time in our lives?” This period marks the high water mark of Sam’s efforts to become a “respectable Christian.” (See Peter Messent’s excellent 2003 article, details in Works Cited.)

Sam finished the letter at noon, and included an article/sermon called “Friday Miscellany,” by Thomas K. Beecher. Sam argued it was, in effect, bearing false witness against Horace Greeley, a man Sam greatly admired.  [ page 345 ]

Sam went to hear Petroleum V. Nasby’s (David Ross Locke 1833-1888) lecture, “Cussed be Canaan.” Nasby called on Sam at 10 PM and they sat up and talked until 6 AM.

“ was perfectly fascinated with Nasby’s lecture, & find no flaw in it—yet I went there purposely to criticize…Nasby wants to get me on his paper. Nix”[The Toledo Daily Blade]. [MTL 3: 151-7,158-60]. From his Mar. 10 to Livy.

For a humorous description of Nasby and his oratorical manner, see Ch. 33 of Neider. Sam began a letter to Susan L. Crane, Livy’s adopted sister, thanking her. He finished the letter on Mar. 31 [MTL 3: 179].

March 10 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Livy and her brother [MTL 3: 158]. Before leaving Hartford, Sam discovered that the directors of the American Publishing Co. wanted out of the contract to publish Innocents Abroad. When Elisha Bliss threatened to publish it on his own after Sam had threatened suit, the board of directors relented and Bliss went forward with the book, which would not appear until July.

I suppose my darling Livy is well, to-night. I am sure I fervently hope so, at any rate. I am venturing on a dangerous experiment, now—sitting down here to try to write half a page to you & then stop. It isn’t so easy to stop as it is to determine to do it. And I ought to be in bed—for Nasby called at my room at 10 last night & we sat up & talked until 5 minutes past 6 this morning. (In fancy I am getting a scolding, now, & I know perfectly well that I deserve it. And I can’t take any revenge, either—for at this distance I can’t very well kiss the scolder & so close her lips.) But Livy, I took a strong liking to this fellow, who has some very noble qualities I do assure you, & I did want to talk. I won’t behave so any more, Livy dear. So you forgive me for just this once, don’t you, Livy?—the blessedest darling that ever did live. And Livy, it may seem strange to you, but honestly I was perfectly fascinated with Nasby’s lecture, & find no flaw in it—yet I went there purposely to criticise, & was not made acquainted with the lecturer until after the speech was finished.

It is another stormy night—raining & blowing great guns. I went out to Mrs Hooker’s at 7 PM, & got pretty well soaked through. (The fact is, I met her accidentally yesterday & she gave me a good honest invitation to come to-night—Twichell & I are to sup there on Friday.) It is 10 PM, & I have just returned. Had a pleasant time. Little Miss Baker was there—very pretty girl—& we played whist, Mrs H. & I against Baker & Miss Alice. Mr. Day could didn’t come out, on account of the storm,—or, they thought maybe he had gone to a lecture. So I didn’t see him. They pressed me very pleasantly to stay all night, & smoke as much as I pleased in my bedroom—& urged that you would desire me to remain & not go out in the storm—again, if you were here. But bless you, you warn’t there, loveliest of your sex, else I wouldn’t be here at this Allyn House at this moment, I promise you.

Had a negative taken yesterday, & expect to send you the picture tomorrow. Too cloudy to print a specimen to-day. The negative seems excellent.—so I look for no delay.

Mrs. Hooker compares you to a dainty little wax-flower—how is that? I like it, Miss, if you don’t. I like any figure that people use when they mean to speak lovingly & praisefully of my Livy. You miracle!

Nasby’s visit interrupted my letter to the “little woman,” Mrs. Crane, so it isn’t finished yet. Must do it to-morrow. Nasby wants to get me on his paper. Nix.

To Charlie—darling scrub—Bother the account! Let the tailor look out for it himself. I’ll pay him when I come. I am glad to hear of Ida (concerning her age,)—& glad to hear you are overtaking her so fast.

To Livy again—darling girl—Yes, Charlie & you are right. I did send you a letter in your own name yesterday, & stamped one the day before, intending to do the same, but had to open it to add something to Charlie on the envelop, & so had to use two envelops as usual.

I am working so hard & so unremittingly that there is no life in me now—so don’t look for any in my letters, dear. I am afraid I shan’t have time to finish revising the MS. [ page 346 ]

Do you know, I found there was hardly a button on the shirts I brought away with me? Wish I had got you to use your sensible eyes in examining them, instead of trusting to my awkward ones.

Must not try to answer your pleasant letter to-night, my darling little Livy (I like Livy ever so much the best—simply used Louise because I couldn’t help loving it because it was your name.) Good night—go to bed, my pet. With a warm kiss, eloquent of love & honor,

Yrs always-—

Sam [MTPO]. Note: Little Miss Baker unidentified; John C. Day was Alice Hooker’s fiancé. See source for more details in notes.

March 12 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Livy.

I am not all afraid of the Hookers, now—dine there tonight. Woe! WOE! WOE! you blessed little rascal!….P.S.—I go to Boston to-morrow, at Nasby’s request, to spend two days with him & the literary lions of the “Hub.” Monday night I leave there for New York—lecture Tuesday in Newtown, & the—very—next—evening, I spurn the U.S. Mail & bring my kisses to my darling myself! [MTL 3: 161-5].

Sam’s portrait on porcelain (called an opalotype) was taken on this date. In the case well is an inscription in pencil, “Hartford. March / 12, 1869. / I xxxx you Livy! / And I xxxxx you, Livy! DON’T TELL!” Note: the inscription denotes this portrait measuring 4.9 x 3.9 cm. set in a lavender, oval-hinged case, was a gift to Sam’s wife to be [Online Guide to the Cased photographs from the Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley]. The portrait may have been enclosed in the above letter.

March 13 Saturday – In Hartford, Sam wrote at midnight on Mar. 12-13, again to Livy. “Had a really pleasant time at Mrs. Hooker’s last night, Twichell & I” [MTL 3: 173].

He also wrote a short note to Horatio C. King and John R. Howard of Beecher’s Plymouth Church, declining their offer to lecture in New York, informing them that it was too late since “he must make ready for a short visit to California.”

Sam also wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks, asking for a better title for his book than “The New Pilgrim’s Progress” [168-9]. Sam had read 90 pages of proof for Innocents Abroad before leaving for Boston in the evening with Nasby [179n1].

March 14 Sunday – Sam met Oliver Wendell Holmes and other literary lights of Boston. He was accompanied by David Ross Locke (Petroleum V. Nasby) who had been lecturing in Boston [MTL 3: 174; MTPO notes Sept. 30 O.W. Holmes].

March 15 Monday – After Boston socializing, Sam left for New York City in the evening [MTL 3: 174]. [ page 347 ]

March 16 Tuesday – Sam stopped at New York Tribune to discuss more articles for the newspaper. Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture in Newtown, New York, on Long Island [MTL 3: 174]. He left New York for Elmira.

March 17 Wednesday – John Russell Young, editor of the Tribune, gave or sent Sam an extract from a San Francisco Evening Bulletin article about the importation of Chinese women for prostitution. Young asked Sam to pen a response, and it is likely he did so within a day or two [MTL 3: 174].

Sam arrived in Elmira in the evening.

March 18 Thursday – Sam was a guest of the Langdons, who were entertaining a well-known guest, Wendell Phillips, former abolitionist and social reformer. Phillips gave a lecture in the evening at the Elmira Opera House on Daniel O’Connell, Irish political leader. During his visit, Sam had said something derogatory about Phillips for which he expressed embarrassment to Livy in the margin of Oliver Wendell Holmes’ Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table. This book he was marking for Livy would afterward be known as their “courting book” [MTL 3: 174-5].

March 19 or 20 Saturday – Sam left Elmira and traveled to Sharon, Pennsylvania, where he gave his “Vandals” lecture, which he called a “grand success” [MTL 3: 175].

March 21 Sunday – Sam returned to Elmira, where he continued proofing Innocents Abroad with Livy.

March 24 Wednesday – The Sharon Times reported that Sam was “about to issue a work of some six hundred pages, ‘The Innocents Abroad, or the New Pilgrim’s Progress’.” The notice confirms that by this time Sam had decided on the new title for the book [MTL 3: 175].

Sam wrote from Elmira to Mary Mason Fairbanks about the final name for the book, the Fairbanks’ visit to the Langdons, working on the proofs (“Livy & I will read them backwards, & every other way—but principally backwards I guess”), the small fire that had happened in Mary’s house, and his intention to go to California by sea [MTL 3: 176-7].

March 25 Thursday – Sam wrote in Livy’s copy of Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table,

Midnight March 25, 1869—I wish “Even Me” to be sung at my funeral.

The song was a hymn composed by William B. Bradbury in 1862. Sam claimed it his favorite in a Mar. 31 letter to Susan Crane [MTL 3: 184n9]. Note: NY Times report of Sam’s funeral, Apr. 24, 1910 gives Chopin’s Funeral March, Grieg’s “Death of Asa,” as the music played. See entry Vol IV.

March 26? Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to his mother and family, more on desire to help Orion, and Sam’s indecision as to his plans—possibly a trip to California in May. Should he lecture on the circuit next season? Join Nasby on the Toledo Blade? [MTL 3: 177-8]. Sam hadn’t decided what to do.

 

March 30 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss, advising that he’d sent the proofs of Innocents Abroad. Sam suggested several titles for the book [MTL 3: 178-9]. He finished the letter of Mar. 9 to Susan L. Crane, filling the letter with personal goings-on in the Langdon clan [MTL 3: 180-4].

 [ page 348 ]

March 31 Wednesday – Sam paid $23 to his tailor, Cyrus Fay. Perhaps Sam figured he would lecture after all, and would need new clothes. Sam and Livy, in Elmira, began a letter to Mary Mason Fairbanks that he finished on Apr. 1. The March 31 portion:

 

Dear Mother—

Bless you I don’t want to go to California at all—& really I have not by any means determined to go, as yet. I know very well that I ought to go, but I haven’t the slightest inclination to do it. Indeed, indeed, indeed I do want to go & see you first, but if I do that I shall have to go to St. Louis also, & I just hate the idea of that. I don’t think April a good month to take Livy to Cleveland in, do you? The grass & flowers & foliage will not be out, then; & wherever Livy goes, Nature ought to have self-respect enough to do look her level best, you know.

We have read & re-shipped some fifty pages of proof, & it looks like it is going to take a month to finish it all. I rather hope it will take six.

I am in exile here at the office, for an hour, while the girls take their chemistry lesson. However, I suppose it is about over, now, & so I will return. (Livy will begin to feel anxious.)

I saw Dr. & Mrs. What you may call him—the Comm[i]ssioner of the US of America to Europe Asia & Africa, at Sharon, Pa., the other day. They came 20 miles to hear me lecture. Lord, They ought to read the book—there is where the interest will be, for them. Mrs. G. is grown stout & fat, & absolutely immense. She looks as tall & as huge as Pompey’s Pillar, & inconceivably vulgar. She cannot weigh less than three hundred pounds. This is honest [MTL 3: 184-6]. Note: Dr. William Gibson and wife Susan Gibson. The Gibsons were on the Quaker City and a target of Sam’s in IA though never mentioned by name.

 

Sam completed his Mar. 9 letter to Susan Crane:

 

I have told you all the news that the others would not be likely to tell you (except that we play euchre every night, & sing “Geer,” which is Livy’s favorite, & “Even Me,” which is mine, & a dozen other hymns—favorites of the other members)—& although this news sounds trifling, it still mentions names you love to hear, & things that are familiar to your memory—& those features of a letter were what I always liked best when in exile in the lands beyond the Rocky Mountains—so I offer no apologies [181].

 

April 1 Thursday – At Quarry Farm Sam finished the Mar. 31 letter to Mary Mason Fairbanks. 

 

Livy says—well, I can’t get the straight of it—but the idea of it, is, that some western friends are to be visited in May, & so maybe she & I & Mrs. Langdon can go out a little in advance, otherwise if it was, & so she could—but if not, then perhaps it would be just as well for both of us & certainly as convenient for you, especially while Severance is. (Well, that is what she says, you know, but blamed if I don’t know what it means.) (She made that correction—I like “blamed.”) Well, the general idea is, that maybe we can go out to Cleveland & see you, in advance of the gathering of the clans. Savez? So, therefore, whereas, if we do go, Fairbanks & I can talk business—but we are not at all certain that we can go, for Livy has to be bridesmaid for Alice Hooker & both of us have to read proof for a month (because I am publishing a book, you know,) Livy is here (Mrs. Crane’s parlor,) & we are writing letters & been two hours writing four two pages, & she has only written a page & a half—dinner time, now & we must tell you good-bye how do you like the enclosed portrait of Mr. Cutter which I snaked cut it out of the proofs we have been reading Andrews always distorted the phrase “Poet Laureate” into Poet Lariat if you remember I do love to all good bye

Yr Dutiful Scrub

Mark [MTL 3: 184-6].

 

April 2–9 Friday – Sam and Livy worked on the proofs during the day, and socialized with friends and family in the evenings. They played euchre, sang hymns, and undoubtedly swapped great heaps of sweet nothings.

 [ page 349 ]

April 10 Saturday – Sam wrote a note from Elmira to Elisha Bliss, dating it “April Something, 1869”—details of the book proofs. The same day (nearly identical dateline as the letter to Bliss) Sam wrote to his sister Pamela, enclosing one of Livy’s letters in order to better acquaint her with the family [MTL 3: 189-90].

 

Sam’s article, “Mr. Beecher and the Clergy” ran in the Elmira Advertiser [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

April 12 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Mary Mason Fairbanks and sent her comic characterizations (from Ch. 23 of Innocents Abroad) of several saints “by the old masters” [MTL 3: 190-2]. The Langdon’s dinner guests that night probably included Anna E. Dickinson (1842-1932), celebrated reformer [MTL 3: 192n2].

 

Sam also wrote Elisha Bliss saying the “Old Masters” pictures he’d sent copies of to Mrs. Fairbanks were “the very funniest pictures” [MTL 3: 192].

 

April 14 Wednesday – Elisha Bliss wrote to Sam.

 

Friend “Mark. T”

Yours recd. Glad the “picters” suit—Have got a pile more doing. The Spires are a full page cut & not yet done—will appear in due season. Shall have 16. full page cuts –– I like “Innocents abroad” & also “Crusade of the Innocents” both are good. Keep up a d—l of a thinking & may-be (it is about time for them) you will get something better if not either will do.—

You get my idea exactly of the fountain, when I saw it,– (but dont tell any one about that Paris of mine being in (Ky) some may think I have been Abr-rroad

The fact is, that fountain is splendid, & so is a big freshet! It looked I said like a whale spout with Jonas thrown up, in any quantity, all sea sick & spouting themselves—nevertheless, it is good, & will do, particularly the lamps

No proofs today. Will be some tomorrow.

Printers slower than the d—l –– I wish I was a type setter Id push it. Never mind the book will appear & the country will have some pep—I am sticking in the cuts, in the last chapters now.

Yours

E Bliss Sy [MTPO; MTLTP 19n4].

 

April 15 Thursday – In Elmira Sam wrote again to Elisha Bliss.

 

“It is a readable book, I know—because I wrote it myself” [MTL 3: 194].

 

He also wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks about his failed attempts to buy an interest in the Cleveland Herald, and his subsequent negotiations with the Hartford Courant [MTL 3: 195-6].

 

April 20 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss. “…I don’t like to trust your man,” Sam wrote, about proofreading errors at Bliss’ company. Sam wrote and crossed out: “He is an idiot—& like all idiots, is self-conceited.” Sam returned another section of proofs with this letter [MTL 3: 197-8]. Note: Sam often crossed out sentiments but left them visible to the reader.

 

Sam also wrote to James Redpath (1833-1891), who had recently founded the Boston Lyceum Bureau as a central booking agency for lecturers. Sam and Nasby had tried unsuccessfully to contact Redpath while in Boston on Mar. 14-15. Sam told Redpath it would be “some time” before he knew “positively” whether he could lecture at all. This began a long personal and professional association with Redpath [MTL 3: 199].

 

April 24 Saturday – James Redpath wrote from Boston to Sam: [ page 350 ]

 

Dear Sir—I was very sorry that I failed to see you when in Boston; but next time I hope to have better luck.

Now, about lecturing. Let me use your name, say for—“from the 1st of November,” conditional on your return from California;—tell me your terms; send me the titles of your lectures; and I will work you up during the summerem space. Send me regularly all your short humorous pieces so that I may get them republished, and so keep up & increase your reputation in N. E. I think you wd do well in this section; altho’ you are not so widely known here as in the Middle & Western States. However by sending me a lot of your newspaper scraps that can be remedied.

What I propose to do for lecturers is to advertise my whole list in leading papers, send circulars to every “Post,” (GAR)em spaceY.M.C.A. & Lyceum, & newspaper editor in N.Y; and when the lecturer furnishes me with special circulars scatter them at my own expense

Now, this I wd like to do for you

I enclose the two last that have come to hand for me. Can’t you get up something similar & let me have 500 copies.

Some lecturers prefer also to spend some money (in my name) in special advertisements. Du Chaillu did it & it paid. Whatever am’t (if any) you choose to send for this purpose, I will expend judiciously.

Circulars, however, you ought to have.

Finally, don’t think that I’m half such a dandy as this Notepaper wd seem to imply—I have nothing else & it is my daughters!

Yours truly

Jas Redpath

P.S. My final list for the season won’t be issued till the middle of August. But a Spring list is necessary, as a sort of opening medicine to the body Lyceumic [MTPO; MTL 3: 216n1]. Note: Paul Belloni Du Chaillu (1831-1903), French-American anthropologist famous for being the first modern outsider to confirm the existence of gorillas, and later the Pygmy people of Africa.

 

April 29 Thursday – Still concerned the book would be too long, Sam suggested in a letter written in Elmira to Elisha Bliss that certain sections could be “snatched out” [MTL 3: 199-203].

 

May 5 Wednesday – Sam left Elmira in the evening with Charles Langdon, who went to New York for medical attention. Mary Mason Fairbanks, Mrs. Langdon and Sam’s mother all had questioned the propriety of Sam staying so long at the home of his betrothed. Sam saw the need to work on his book directly with his publisher, and to soothe the females as well [MTL 3: 205n1].

 

May 6 Thursday – Sam and Charles Langdon took rooms at the St. Nicholas Hotel in New York City.

 

May 7 Friday – Sam and Charles Langdon went to Dan Slote’s blank book and stationery store, then the Tribune office until 2 PM. In the evening Sam and Charley attended a production of Othello (whom Sam called “the great miscegenationist”) at Booth’s Theater at 23rd Street between 5th and 6th Avenues [MTL 3: 204].

 

May 8 Saturday – Sam wrote just after midnight from New York City to Livy, whom he missed already. He filled her in on activities since reaching the city. Sam wrote he was leaving for Hartford and would telegraph Bliss to leave any letters for him at his hotel, The Allyn House, and that he hoped to arrive there by 9 PM [MTL 3: 204-6]. Sam reached the hotel by 7:30 and wrote Livy at 9.

 

“That squib I wrote about the Wilson murder was in the New York Tribune this morning. Did my little business manager cut it out & preserve it?”

 

The piece was a humorous fictional account of a murder in Elmira. The victim in the story called the other antagonist every name in the book, but was received mildly, until he was called a [ page 351 ] member of the New York Legislature. Wilson then “shot him dead with an axe handle” [MTL 3: 208].

 

Sam’s letter to the editor, dated Apr. 29, “Remarkable Murder Trial” ran in the New York Tribune [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

May 9 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Livy about continuing to struggle with the proofs of his book [MTL 3: 209-11].

 

Text Box: May 10, 1869 - The joining of the continent with the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads took place at Promontory, Utah

 

 

 

May 10 Monday – Sam wrote from Bliss’ office in Hartford to Mary Mason Fairbanks.

 

“Have 500 pages of proof—only about 200 more to read—& so the thing is nearly done….Livy is no stronger than she was six months ago—& it seems hard, & grieves me to have to say it. I cannot talk about it with her, though, for she is as sensitive about it as I am about my drawling speech & stammerers of their infirmity.”

 

 Sam also wrote to Abel Fairbanks, concluding no further interest in obtaining a share of the Cleveland Herald [MTL 3: 211-3]. Sam wrote James Redpath, agreeing to the use of his name in lecture advertisements, and suggesting a pay rate of $100 per lecture. Sam discussed his planned trip to California and mentioned the completion of the “Pacific RR” at Promontory, Utah [MTL 3: 214-18].

 

May 10–June 1 Tuesday – Sometime during this period Sam wrote from Elmira or Hartford to Elisha Bliss, estimating 200,000 words left in Innocents, and directing the “infernally unreliable” printer’s proofreader to look up the word “tabu” if he didn’t know the meaning [MTL 5: 683].

 

May 11 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to his mother about leaving Elmira, proofs of his book, money he sent and what she might need. He also wrote of his desire for a small wedding [MTL 3: 218-9]. Note: It was 2 a.m. and the letter seems abrupt.

 

May 12 Wednesday – Sam wrote in the evening from the Bliss home in Hartford to Livy. Sam had taken a long walk on dark streets and was reflective [MTL 3: 219-23].

 

May 13 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Livy, more of the same sort of romantic “bosh.”

 

“Now I have nothing henceforth to do but write newspaper letters, read proof, & scribble letters to Livy” [MTL 3: 225-6].

 

In the evening Sam wrote “Private Habits of the Siamese Twins,” which later appeared in Packard’s Monthly as “Personal Habits of the Siamese Twins” [MTL 3: 228 & n3].

 

May 14 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Livy:

 

“Twichell & I, & another preacher or two, & the editor of the ‘Post’ are to take tea—with Mr. Henry Clay Trumbull, this evening, but you can’t go, on account of that sarcasm.”

 

The Hartford Evening Post editor was Isaac Hill Bromley (1833-1898). The Rev. Henry Clay Trumbull (1830-1903) brother of James Hammond Trumbull (1821-1897), local historian. Sam wrote that two [ page 352 ] different printing houses were to print 10,000 copies each of Innocents Abroad. Sam hoped “something would turn up to make that fearful trip” to California “entirely useless & unnecessary” [MTL 3: 227-30].

 

May 14 and 17 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to James Redpath concerning the printing of a circular for the upcoming lecture season [MTL 3: 227].

 

May 15 Saturday – Sam wrote just after midnight from Hartford to Livy about the “tea” at the Trumbull’s with Twichell and Gov. Hawley. “I have laughed till I feel all tired out” [MTL 3: 231-2]. Sam wrote another letter to Livy later that day. He started a third letter which he finished May 16.

 

May 16 Sunday – In Hartford Sam finished his last letter of the previous day to Livy. He walked to the post office, open until 9 PM, bought four editions of Appleton’s Journal which serialized a story by Victor Hugo; then called on Billy Gross, a bookseller; forgot and left his magazines; went to the photographers and ordered pictures of himself from a negative; rushed back to Gross’ and got his magazines; and somehow had switched umbrellas with a man who he then bumped into. (Sam’s telling of this process is a lot funnier than a paraphrase) [MTL 3: 236-8].

 

May 17 Monday – Sam was in a Livy habit. He started another letter to her from Hartford, finishing the following day [MTL 3: 239-44].

 

May 18 Tuesday – Silas S. Packard paid Sam $25 for “Personal Habits of the Siamese Twins,“ which was published in Packard’s Monthly in August [MTL 3: 230n3]. Sam finished the letter of May 17 to Livy, expressing concern for her health [MTL 3: 243].

 

May 19 and 20 Thursday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Livy. It rained steadily and Sam was in a depressed state, feeling prisoner of a bad cold and being away from his ladylove [MTL 3: 245-9].

 

May 23 Sunday – Sam was in New York City, where he received fifty dollars from a cash account that Charles Langdon was keeping for him [MTL 3: 253n7]. The next day Sam was back in Connecticut.

 

May 24 Monday – Sam wrote from South Windsor, Conn. to Livy. He was visiting the Roe family at East Winsdor Hill, about eight miles from Hartford. Sam had known Azel Stevens Roe Jr., from his days out West. Roe Sr. (1798-1886) was a novelist. Roe Jr. had been a voice and music teacher in Virginia City in 1867, and a tutor in San Francisco in 1863. Sam included a note to Livy’s parents, asking them to bring Livy to New York City so he might see her before his planned trip to Elmira on June 10 [MTL 3: 249-53]. Note: Based on Livy’s numbering of Sam’s letters, there were five previous lost letters [MTL 3: 253n1].

 

May 29 Saturday – In Elmira late, Sam wrote a short note to Livy. This letter was hand delivered. It’s possible the late hour prevented a visit.

 

Livy darling, precious little Comforter, you have cast out the devil that possessed me for the present, & all is well. I have kept the promises & obeyed the instructions. All is well—all will be well. I am grateful beyond all power of speech to express, for such a patient, wise, gentle, loving darling to lift me above myself & give me peace. You are the only person that is always master & conqueror of all my moods—& you are this through a persistence that never flags, a patience that never tires & never is disheartened, & a love that is invincible. Sleep in peace, darling—& blessings rest upon you. / Sam [MTL 3: 254].

 

May 30 Sunday – Sam’s piece titled “Soundings,” possibly an extract from some earlier article, ran in the Chicago Republican [The Twainian, Sept-Oct 1949 p.5].

 [ page 353 ]

At dinner yesterday I helped myself to a piece of pumpkin pie. The gentleman who had been so obliging as to amuse me at an expense of seventy-five dollars, observing me eat the pie, rose from the table with a heavy frown on his face. When I had finished my dinner and walked forward to the Social hall, he approached with a drawn Bowie knife, and sternly demanded of me where I was from. I told him, after a slight hesitation, that I was born in Albermarle county, Va., and that I was a nephew of Colonel ——. He then said, “If that is the case, sir, you may continue to live; but, sir, I thought you must be a d——d Yankee from the way you eat that pumpkin pie, and in that case I should have regarded it as a duty to my country to cut your throat.”

 

I thanked him very politely for the high regard…Col. Jay Hawker I think he called himself….He had lost very heavily by the war. I think he said he had lost an uncle, a nigger, a watch, and thirty dollars in Confederate money.

 

June 1 Tuesday – Sam answered a letter from John J. Murphy, the New York agent for the San Francisco Alta California. Sam was still reading proofs, with “several chapters to read yet.” He was of two minds about going to California [MTL 3: 254-5].

 

Sam also sent Silas S. Packard a speech that he wanted read in lieu of his attending the New York Press Club dinner. “I shall be at the St. Nicholas Hotel from the 11th to 15th” [MTL 3: 255].

 

June 4 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to his mother and family:

 

“In twelve months (or rather I believe it is fourteen,) I have earned just eighty dollars by my pen – two little magazine squibs & one newspaper letter – altogether the idlest, laziest 14 months I have ever spent in my life.”

 

Sam preferred to get “located” in a newspaper rather than suffer more tiresome travel on the lecture circuit. Sam also perceived that the famous speakers on the circuit had no plans to get out of it. He did not want to be “wedded” to lecturing.

 

“Day after day Livy & I are together all day long & until 10 at night, & then I feel dreadfully sleepy” [MTL 3: 259].

 

Sam also wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks that the:

 

“…last chapters of the proof came, & to-morrow we shall finish reading & be done with the tiresome book forever” [MTL 3: 262].

June 5 Saturday – Press Club Dinner, New York City – A proxy read Sam’s speech “Reliable Contraband” at this event. Sam felt unable to attend. The reason is unknown [Fatout, MT Speaking 38-40].

June 8 Tuesday – Though in Elmira, spending days and nights until 10 PM with Livy, Sam wrote her a note after he got in bed. In part:

 

It is the sweetest face in all the world, Livy. To-day in the drawing-room, & to-night on the sofa when Miss Mary was playing—& afterward when you were sewing lace & I saw you from the front yard, through the window—these several times to-day this face has amazed me with its sweetness, & I have felt so thankful that God has given into my charge the dear office of chasing the shadows away & coaxing the sunshine to play about it always. It is such a darling face, Livy!—& such a darling little girlish figure—& such a dainty baby-hand! And to think that with all this exquisite comeliness should be joined such rare & beautiful qualities of mind & heart, is a thing that is utterly incomprehensible. Livy, you are as kind, & good, & sweet & unselfish, & just, & truthful, & sensible and intellectual as the homeliest woman I ever saw (for you know that all these qualities never existed before in any but belong peculiarly to homely women.) I have so longed for these [ page 354 ] qualities in my wife, & have so grieved because she would have to be necessarily a marvel of ugliness—I who do so worship beauty [MTL 3: 262]. Note: Miss Mary not identified.

 

June 9 Wednesday – Sam, Livy and Jervis Langdon left Elmira for New York, en route for the June 17 wedding of Alice Hooker and John Calvin Day.

 

June 10 Thursday – Sam, Livy and Jervis Langdon arrived at the St. Nicholas Hotel in New York City. Within a day or two, Livy and her father left for Hartford. Sam followed on June 16 [MTL 3: 266n1].

 

June 15 Tuesday – John Russell Young had resigned from the New York Tribune, and Whitelaw Reid (1837-1912) took on Young’s duties in mid-May 1869. Sam wrote from New York to Reid. Sam thanked Reid for “that paragraph this morning about Memphis,” which was a spur to the city of Memphis, Tennessee to make payment on street paving work for which Jervis Langdon was owed $500,000 [MTL 3: 264-5].

 

June 16 Wednesday – Sam left New York for the Hooker-Day wedding in Hartford.

 

June 17 Thursday – Sam, Livy and Jervis Langdon attended the wedding of Livy’s childhood friend, Alice Hooker to John Calvin Day [Willis 50]. Livy and her parents left Hartford on June 21 and New York on June 22. Livy spent three days visiting with Fidele Brooks [MTL 3: 267n5].

 

Sam introduced the Langdons to Elisha and Frank Bliss sometime before June 21 [MTL 3: 266n1].

 

During this stay in Hartford, Jervis Langdon made Sam an offer. As his future son-in-law, Jervis offered to front money for Sam to buy an interest in a newspaper [A. Hoffman 157].

 

June 21 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Livy the day she left Hartford with her family.

 

“I don’t think I shall accomplish anything by tarrying here, & so I shall be in New York tomorrow evening” [MTL 3: 265-6]. Note: Sam had talked to Charles Dudley Warner about part ownership of the Hartford Courant, but the results were negative.

 

 

 

June 22 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Samuel Bowles, editor of the Springfield, (Mass.) Daily Republican asking if he would sell part interest in the paper. Sam went to New York and arrived at 5 PM. He then went to Fidele Brooks’ home, where Livy was visiting and stayed until 10 PM [MTL 3: 268].

 

June 23 Wednesday – Sam wrote from the Everett House in New York City to Livy’s mother, Olivia Lewis Langdon. Sam told Livy’s mother all was well with her daughter. He spent from 11 AM until 2 PM at the Brooks’ home [MTL 3: 268-9].

 

Sam also wrote to his sister, Pamela Moffett, letting her in on the offer Jervis had made in Hartford around the time of Alice Hooker’s wedding:

 

“I mean to go to Cleveland in a few days, to see what sort of an arrangement I can make with the Herald people. If they will take sixty thousand dollars for one-third of the paper, I know Mr. Langdon will buy it for me. This is strictly private—don’t mention my affairs to ANYbody.”

 

Sam also counseled his sister to take $30,000 for the Tennessee Land, as their mother was “growing old, & I do wish I could see her in liberal circumstances” [MTL 3: 270-3].  [ page 355 ]

 

Sam also wrote Livy a letter, to be slid under the door at Mrs. Brooks’ house, relating the six-page letter he’d sent her mother.

 

I walked down to the St Nicholas Hotel at 6.30 this evening, but Charley hadn’t come, nor had he telegraphed for a room. And so, whether he comes to-night or not, I am going shopping with you to-morrow. If he comes, all right—we will both go with you….I have spent two hours in the Academy of Design, this afternoon, & I would have enjoyed it rarely if I had had company….It is a quarter after eleven, & I must hurry up to Mrs. Brooks’s’s [sic] with this. I shall call on you at 10 in the morning… [MTL 3: 273-5].

 

June 24 Thursday – Sam and Livy probably spent the day together, shopping and visiting the Academy of Design.

 

June 25 Friday – Sam and Livy returned to Elmira [MTL 3: 277n2].

 

Sam’s mother wrote him hell about sending his trunks but not yet visiting [MTL 3: 277n4].

 

June 26 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to his mother, and sister Pamela. Sam notified them that he’d shipped his trunk and valise from New York on June 24. Between June 23 and 26 Sam had received word from Abel Fairbanks raising the amount for only one quarter of the Cleveland Herald, and Sam expressed doubts that he would work out a deal with them. He still expected to go to Cleveland in a day or two, but did not [MTL 3: 276].

 

Sam also wrote Whitelaw Reid, thanking him again for the lines in the Tribune and the response of the Memphis Daily Appeal [MTL 3: 278].

 

July – Sam’s article, “Mark Twain’s Eulogy on the Reliable Contraband” ran in the July issue of Packard’s Monthly [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

July 3? Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to his brother Orion Clemens. Sam conveyed Jervis Langdon’s offer to buy the Tennessee Land for $20,000 cash and $10,000 canal stock [MTL 3: 279-80]. (See July 7 entry).

 

July 5 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Mary Mason Fairbanks with excuses why he had not yet come to Cleveland. He was writing next winter’s lecture; he “unexpectedly got aground here,” etc. [MTL 3: 280-1]. Sam had been away from Livy for a few weeks, and it’s most likely that he simply did not want to leave again so soon. Also, the long distance negotiations with the Herald did not promise much. In past letters Livy expressed reservations about living in Cleveland. All of these may have played a part in Sam’s lingering in Elmira. He did not go to Cleveland until July 15, after he investigated a partnership in the Buffalo Express.

 

July 7 Wednesday – Orion replied to Sam’s July 3? Letter:

 

[Jervis Langdon] must not buy blindfold, or until he sends his Memphis agent there to examine….Neither you nor Ma nor Pamela know anything about the land….I have laboriously investigated the titles, localities and qualities and I would put its present value at about five thousand dollars, though Ma and Pamela would not be willing to take that.

 

Orion pointed out problems with the titles, provisions of law, etc. He suggested Mr. Langdon enter into an equal co-partnership, which would try to solidify the family’s title by leasing the land “in 160 acre tracts [ page 356 ] and settling immigrants on them with seven or eight years’ leases…” [MTL 3: 279n1]. Note: Langdon’s response is not known and the deal never came together.

 

July 9 Friday – Sam, still in Elmira, responded to a letter from James Redpath and agreed to lecture in Boston [MTL 3: 282].

 

July 12 Monday – In Elmira, Sam wrote to Elisha Bliss, complimenting the promotional circular for IA and requesting that some be sent to his agent, James Redpath [MTL 3: 283].

 

Elisha Bliss wrote to Clemens.

 

Yours rec’d. Our Pros will be out in 2 or 3 days We are binding books also. We have deemed it best not to open our batteries right in the heat of haying

We shall commence in course of a week or so. We shall ship Books to California on the steamer of 24th inst—Prospectus will go on 16th so you see the Books will be there by the time you are—We shall do all in our power to make a big thing out of this. Unfortunately we have been delayed too long to make a summer Book of it—but unavoidably We propose to make a fall book of it with every advantage of full preparation & an early start— / Truly/ E Bliss Jr Scy [MTPO].

 

John J. Murphy wrote from NYC, that he was waiting for Huntington to get Twain a pass on the Central RR [MTP].

 

July 14 Wednesday – David R. Locke (Petroleum V. Nasby) wrote from Toledo, Ohio .

 

My good friend Clemens:—your letter came duly to hand[.] As I had no idea of going to the Pacific this season your proposition takes my breath away. If I had my new lecture completed I wouldn’t hesitate a minute, but really isn’t “Cussed be Canaan” too old? You know that that lemon, our African brother, juicy as he was in his day, has been squeezed dry….Give me a week to think of your proposition. If I can jerk a lecture in time I will go with you [MTP]. Note: no recent letter from Twain is extant, but it would seem from Locke’s reply that Sam had proposed a joint lecture tour in California.

 

July 15 Thursday – Sam went to Buffalo, New York and on to Cleveland to investigate and negotiate an interest in the Cleveland Herald with Abel Fairbanks. Note: Sam would purchase a third interest in The Buffalo Express. Jervis Langdon would loan Sam half of the $25,000 needed to purchase the interest. Sam had previously tried to acquire part ownership in the Cleveland Herald, since Mary Mason Fairbanks’ husband Abel was one of the owners. He’d also made similar efforts for the Hartford Courant, that city being the home of Sam’s agent Elisha Bliss and many influential contacts.

 

In Buffalo, Sam stayed at the Tifft House on Main Street. He would report on Prince Arthurs’ luncheon there a few weeks later [Reigstad 33].

 

Sam wrote several letters to Livy on this trip that have been lost [MTL 3: 290n1].

 

July 16–20 Tuesday – Sam returned from Cleveland to Elmira during this period, after Abel Fairbanks increased the purchase price for a share of the Herald [MTL 3: 287n2].

 

July 17 Saturday – Frank Bliss wrote to Sam, sending “a very few of the circulars all that we have today…we send a few to Redpath…will send more in a short time” [MTP].

 

July 20 Tuesday – Date of publication for Innocents Abroad [MT Encyclopedia, Dickinson 400]—Hirst gives this as the date the earliest copies arrived from the bindery [“A Note on the Text” Oxford edition, 1996]. By early [ page 357 ] August the book was becoming a best seller. It sold 30,000 copies within three months; 85,000 within sixteen months. Sam’s royalties on the book came to nineteen cents a copy [Willis 51]. Sam had written perhaps the greatest travel book ever penned by an American. With the backing of Jervis Langdon, and his success with Innocents Abroad, more lectures lined up. Things were coming together. He was about to marry into wealth and status, but not without “paddling his own canoe.”

 

July 22 Thursday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss, sticking it to him for the delay in publication, excuses by Bliss about other books ahead of Sam’s, and objecting to any further delays. “I cannot think I have been treated just right.” This letter puts into question July 20 as a publication date. Bliss’ letter of July 12 promised to ship books to California on the steamer July 24. His response of July 30 acceded to Sam’s impatience and agreed to send copies to the newspapers at once. Bliss enclosed three copies for Sam. It is therefore unclear as to the exact date of publication—was it July 20, 28, or 30? [MTL 3: 284-7].

 

July 25 Sunday – Sam’s LETTER FROM “MARK TWAIN” dated New York, July 1869, ran in the San Francisco Alta California. Subtitles: A First Visit to Boston; Modern Cretan Labyrinth; Boston Antiquities; Boston Politeness; Nasby [Schmidt].

 

Jane Clemens wrote to Sam.

 

My dear son / I have been waiting, waiting, for you, your trunks have been here more than a month. Suppose I send you my trunks and a letter telling you I will be along in a week or so, and then I stay over four weeks what would you think of me especially if I had not been to see you for six or seven times years but one time—would you conclude I was weaned from you and cared but little for you and how would you feel to think I had forgotten my own child. seven years ago all the people I know could not have made me believe that one of my children would not think worth while to come and see me. There is no excuse for a child not to go and see his old mother when it is in his power. I met Bixby yesterday he asked me where you was and what you was doing, I was sorry I could not tell him what you are doing, we have not heard from you lately.

I did not tell you I recivd the check the money and all right, because we have looked anxously ever since the trunks came for you. If a carrige or omnibus comes near the gate we are shure it is Sam. You can immagine the rest. To my dear son. / Your mother [MTPO].

 

July 26 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Abel Fairbanks asking about the Cleveland Herald’s assets and the increase in Fairbanks’ asking price [MTL 3: 287-8n2].

 

July 27 Tuesday – Abel W. Fairbanks, part owner of the Cleveland Herald and husband of Mary Mason Fairbanks, wrote to Sam proposing $50,000 for a quarter interest in his newspaper—a price and that Sam and Jervis Langdon thought too high for too low a share [MTL 3: 287-8n2]. (See this note for the text of Abel’s letter.)

 

July 28 Wednesday – Elisha Bliss registered Innocents Abroad with the copyright office [Hirst, “A Note on the Text” Oxford Edition, 1996]. The book was published in a first edition of 20,000 copies. Over 100,000 copies would sell by three year’s end, for about a $19,000 royalty.

 

The Hartford Times was first out of the chute with a review of IA:

 

It is a lively, laughter-exciting book, such as one rarely meets among volumes of travels; yet the fun is not the only feature of the book. It abounds in interesting information, conveyed in a wide range of facts, adventures, and personal experiences….Mr Clemens contrives to give us new views of old scenes, many new facts, and decidedly new impressions (“New Book” in the Hartford Times, p2) [Budd, Reviews 35].

 [ page 358 ]

July 29 Thursday – Sam’s article, “A Mystery Cleared Up” ran in the Cleveland Herald. An unsigned article attributed to Clemens ran in the Buffalo Express: “To the Velocipede” [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

July 30 Friday – Elisha Bliss replied to Clemens’ July 22 about the delay in publication.

 

Your communication is rec’d. I cannot to day reply to it as I wish, I will do so in a day or two. In meantime I have the honor to send you 3 Vols of “The Innocents,” one for yourself, & one each for the 2 papers in Elmira which please deliver with the extra sheets also— We did not propose to send to the press until next month for valid reasons, but we shall send at once, hoping that the effects may not all be lost by the notices appearing at a most inauspicious time when most people are busy or away from home—

Any notices of the press that may come to your eye please send me with name of paper [MTPO].

 

July 31 Saturday – The Hartford Times ran a review under the heading “The New Pilgrims’ Progress / Mark Twain on His Travels,” p.1:

 

That the odd genius who described the “Jumping Frog,” should go to see and describe the art treasures of Europe and the ruins of Egypt and the Holy Land, has something in it very comical. Out in California they don’t care much for tradition, and they respect a thing for what it is, nor for what somebody has said it is. They pride themselves on being sharp and incapable of being humbugged. As the latest born children of time, they have the accumulated cuteness of ages. They are wanting in reverence and a good many other of the undoubted virtues. Mark Twain is a true Californian, with the original, quaint and not always refined humor of the Pacific; a very shrewd observer, not by any means unpoetical, but yet delighting to take the traditional poetry out of things [Budd, Reviews 35-6].

 

July, late – Jervis Langdon had business connections in Buffalo. His executive John Slee (John De La Fletcher “Fletch”; 1837-1901) negotiated for Sam a piece of the Buffalo Express. Sam had gone to Buffalo on July 15 to look the paper over and aid in negotiations [MTL 3: 290n1].

 

August – “Personal Habits of the Siamese Twins” was published in Packard’s Monthly [Camfield, bibliog.]. Sam inscribed a copy of Innocents Abroad: Miss Ida Clark/ August 1869/ Compliments of The Author [McBride 7].

 

James Redpath’s journal, The Lyceum, listed Mark Twain at a $100 price among dozens of other speakers [Lorch 101].

 

August 1 Sunday – Sam, apologetic for his letter of July 22, wrote again from Elmira to Elisha Bliss. “I have been out of humor for a week. I had a bargain about concluded for the purchase of an interest in a daily paper & when everything seemed to be going smoothly, the owner raised on me” [MTL 3: 287]. Note: the owner referred to was Abel W. Fairbanks; the paper the Cleveland Herald.

 

LETTER FROM “MARK TWAIN” dated Hartford, July 1869, ran in the San Francisco Alta California. Subtitles: Romance in Real Life; the “Overland Monthly”; Blind Tom; How is your Avitor? [Schmidt].

 

August 4 Wednesday – Sam and the Langdons took a three day trip to Niagara Falls and stayed at the Cataract House Hotel. Also along were Charles J. Langdon and his fiancée Ida Clark, her parents, as well as Livy’s friend Fidele Brooks and husband Henry Brooks and son of New York, and neighbors of the Langdons, Dr. Henry Sayles and wife Emma Sayles. Cousin A. Langdon was also in the hotel. The trip allowed Jervis to inspect the finances of the nearby Buffalo Express. Sam had received an offer to consider—one-third share of the Buffalo Express for $25,000 [MTL 3: 288n2; MTL 3: 300n4; Reigstad 59-62]. Note: this trip previously pinned to 3 days in late July; thanks to Reigstad’s scholarship it is here corrected.

 [ page 359 ]

Elisha Bliss wrote from Hartford to Sam.

 

Friend Clemens / Yours of 1st is at hand, enclosing communication from Trumbull. That is all O.K. He has been in to see me 2 or 3 times. We shall use the letter in a very quiet way occasionally—privately not publicly…I enclose a few of our Circulars” Bliss believed the book would be a success and explained the delays: “Now lets let the thing drop & sell the Book. That’s what we want to do” [MTP].

 

August 5 Thursday – At Niagara Falls, NY. Sometime during the 3 day stay Jervis Langdon and Sam made a side trip to Buffalo, where Jervis likely visited the branch of his coal company at 221 Main Street, as well as a waterfront coal-yard operation. The pair also searched records in the Buffalo Express office to “confirm the soundness of their upcoming investment.” A few days later (Aug. 14), Twain complained about ‘the bore of wading through the books & getting up balance sheets’” [Reigstad 60-61]. Note: the Aug. 14 letter was to Mary Mason and Abel W. Fairbanks: “As soon as Mr. Langdon saw the books of the concern he was satisfied” [MTL 3: 298].

 

August 6 Friday – The last day of the business/pleasure trip to Niagara Falls.

 

August 7 Saturday – Sam accompanied the Langdon family on a return trip to Elmira. By Sunday AM he was back in Buffalo [Reigstad 62].

 

The San Francisco Evening Bulletin, p.1, ran a positive review of IA, observing that “America has, within the past few years, developed a new type of humor.”

 

…the book is one of the most fresh, breezy, stimulating, and delightful we have read in many a day. It is full of vigorous vitality—full of brawn and marrow. The humor is often exquisitely rich in quality….But Mr. Clemens is not only a humorist, but a master of descriptive writing. Occasionally we detect a fine poetic vein (“Mark Twain’s Pilgrimage”) [Budd, Reviews 37-8].

 

From the Buffalo Express “People and Things Columns” by Mark Twain:

 

·        Chang and Eng, the Siamese twins, have an aggregate of seventeen children, but most of them belong to Chang, because Eng was absent part of the time.

·       The river Nile is lower than it has been for 150 years. This news will be chiefly interesting to parties who remember the former occasion [Reigstad 232].

 

August 8 Sunday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Livy, apologizing for hurting her and finishing the letter at 9 PM. During this period, Sam was shuttling between Elmira and Buffalo, scrutinizing the books and balance sheets of the Express. Sam wrote “my obligations to him [Jervis] almost overshadow my obligations to Charley, now…” Jervis Langdon had advanced half of the purchase price for the Express and guaranteed the balance [MTL 3: 289-91]. Following this letter, ten letters (Livy’s numbers 91-100), probably daily from Aug. 9 to 18, are lost [MTL 3: 290n1].

 

August 11 Wednesday – Sam was in Elmira and first saw the published book, Innocents Abroad. He signed a gilt-edge copy for Livy [MTL 3: 291-2].

 

The Buffalo Period

 

Reigstad’s 2013 work, Scribblin’ for a Livin’ greatly informs and fills in the Buffalo years of Mark Twain. Destroying the myth that the Buffalo years were bleak, friendless and full of tragedy—a view initiated by Paine and piled on by others—Reigstad identifies Twain’s Buffalo social connections, a town [ page 360 ] that was thrilled when Clemens took over the editorship of the Buffalo Express in August 1869. Reigstad writes:

 

…the drumbeat of slighting Buffalo, initiated by Paine, rolled on. In 1943, Delancey Ferguson perpetuated the “friendless” theory…and introduced a new spin toward disrespecting Twain’s Buffalo stay—that is, its weather. …The Mark Twain Handbook, published fourteen years after Ferguson’s book, also commented on Buffalo as a place lacking social companionship for Twain and Olivia, with an entry on Buffalo as “uncongenial and gloomy; somehow they had never really managed to feel themselves a part of the community.” …Justin Kaplan’s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain reiterated the one-two punch of dull society and bad weather as two reasons for Twain’s ultimate discontent with the city: “At best Buffalo had been a city of only mild social diversions for Clemens.” Then a few pages later Kaplan calls Twain’s Buffalo a “city of cold winds and hard luck.” Since that time, into the 1990s, Twain scholars have not departed from the dominant critic’s line. [20]

 

Reigstad presents many names from a stroll through Forest Lawn Cemetery:

 

“In the mid-1890s, during a brief stopover in Buffalo, Twain took a quick carriage tour through the winding lanes of Forest Lawn. Today the list of those whose remains are in the cemetery reads like a who’s who of Twain’s surprisingly extensive Buffalo social network.”

 

Earl D. Berry – Cub reporter on the Express “whom Twain trusted to carry out his myriad of editorial innovations.”

James N. Johnston – Member of the Nameless Club, “a vibrant literary club to which Twain belonged…”

Mary A. Ripley – ditto. “Approximately twenty additional Nameless Club members who spent pleasant evenings with Twain sharing their writings and reading their poetry can be found throughout the cemetery.

James Howells – “…contractor and Delaware Street neighbor with whom Twain was acquainted.

Thomas A. Kennett – “Kennett reported bragged about having ‘done’ Twain in, selling him his one-third share of the Express in 1869 at $10,000 above its market value. Ironically, Kennett later lost his fortune and died penniless.”

Augusta Moore Graves – “…a talented young sculptor, who was commissioned to create a bust of baby Langdon Clemens from his death mask in 1872.”

Rev. Grosvenor W. Heacock – “a spiritual advisor to Twain and his wife, Olivia. Heacock, of Lafayette Presbyterian Church, was their favorite preacher in Buffalo.”

Andrew Simson and Jefferson Upson – “brothers-in-law at whose Main Street studio Twain posed for a photograph shortly after arriving in Buffalo.”

George Brewster Mathews – “As a young clerk in 1869, he lived in the same boarding house as Mark Twain and occupied a seat directly across the dining table from him. Mathews grew up to be one of the wealthiest men in Buffalo.”

US President Millard Fillmore. “Fillmore was a distinguished elder citizen of Buffalo whom Twain encountered at least twice during his stay in the city.

Dr. Cornelius Cox Wyckoff – “a physician and recent widower when he was Twain’s next-door neighbor on Delaware Street.” [ page 361 ]

Josephus Nelson Larned and wife Frances Larned. “Larned co-owned and coedited the Buffalo Express with Twain. He and his wife remained lifelong friends of Twain and Olivia.”

Victor Tiphane – “…whose Main Street saloon Twain frequented.”

Dennis Bowen and Sherman S. Rogers – “…whose law firm handled the paperwork when Twain purchased one-third ownership of the Express for $25,000 in August of 1869.”

George H. Selkirk and wife Emily Selkirk – “Twain’s other Express co-owner….The couple socialized with Twain and Olivia, and Selkirk kept in touch with Twain for years concerning Express business matters.”

Dr. Andrew R. Wright – “a physician who delivered Twain’s premature son, Langdon, in Buffalo and looked after the sickly baby and Twain’s equally ailing wife for weeks after the birth.”

Rev. John C. Lord and wife Mary Elizabeth Johnson Lord – “Twain was very fond of both of them.”

David Gray and wife Martha G. Gray – “whom Twain and Olivia adored and called ‘Miss Mattie’…” Twain continued a life-long friendship with the Grays.

Charles Munson Underhill, wife Anna Underhill, and son Irving Underhill – “…remained close to Twain his entire life.”

John D.F. Slee and wife Emma Slee – “Underhill’s dear brother-in-law…. Slee was in charge of the Buffalo coal office for J. Langdon and Co. and helped Twain with personal and financial affairs. He and his wife were trusted lifelong companions of Twain and Olivia, too.”

John Joseph Albright and wife Harriet Albright – Harriet was a first cousin to Olivia.

William G. Fargo – “cofounder of Wells-Fargo Express and president of the Buffalo Club when Sam was admitted in 1871.”

William Pryor Letchworth – “another fellow Namless Club member.”

Jane Meade Welch – “As a teenager she charmed Twain by sprinkling the dusty road in front of his Delaware Street home with a watering can. Welch, her mother, and her grandmother…were Delaware Street neighbors of Twain, and he paid them a cordial visit after the watering-can episode.”

George Wadsworth and wife Emily Wadsworth – “Emily Wadsworth paid social calls at Twain’s 472 Delaware Street home.”

Andrew Langdon – “…wealthy Buffalo businessman and another first cousin of Twain’s wife.”

John J. McWilliams and wife Esther McWilliams – “McWilliams, bookkeeper for the Buffalo branch office of Langdon’s coal company, and his wife lived in the same boarding house as Twain during his weeks as a bachelor in Buffalo. They provided companionship for Twain and stayed friends for years afterward” [Reigstad 16-19].

John Harrison Mills – “…in his late twenties when Twain first came to the Express. He was the composing-room artist, responsible for converting drawings into woodcuts capable of being reproduced in print. Mills was also a poet, a painter, and a member of the Nameless Club…. Mills painted a portrait of Twain from studies that he made in 1870. The portrait captured Twain’s ‘reddish yellow bush of hair towering above his broad white forehead and dark eager eyes.’ …During Twain’s first weeks at the Express, he and Mills worked closely together on the [ page 362 ] third floor. Twain either sketched or suggested ideas for illustrations to accompany four of his stories, and Mills engraved them in woodcut.”

William Gatchell and Horace Wilcox – press operators in the basement.

Francis Wardell – “…worked under Selkirk as head of circulation.”

George A. Martin – commerce editor.

Chester A. Wilcox – general editor.

George Leader – “…a clerk who became a reporter after Twain left, was a star player on the Express baseball team.

Jimmie Brennan – 14 year old office boy (Francis Wardell’s nephew).

W. Landsittel – printer’s devil.

Philip Lee – Negro janitor and coal shoveler at the Express, whom Twain wanted to fire for insolence [49-54].

Charles Gerber – brewer. Sam frequented Gerber’s home at 821 Main Street, “where he would pop in unannounced in the winter saying he was a burglar ‘come to steal some heat.’ In the summer, Twain would visit Gerber, a brewer, for a glass of fresh, chilled water from a nearby spring” [140].

Henry G. White – neighbor of Twain’s [178].

 

Note: some of these names may be found in the index for this and other volumes. Some are newly added and great thanks is offered to Thomas Reigstad for their inclusion and also for the correction of past slights of the Buffalo period. While it is true that the Clemenses lost a son in Buffalo, and also had a close friend of Livy’s (Emma Nye) die in their home, the picture is not the imbalanced gloom and doom one so long presented. Reigstad’s book gives us more of a balanced view.

 

Reigstad also furnishes more names of the Buffalo literati, the Nameless Club members: Captain John Wayland, Jerome B. Stillson, Otto Besser, William P. Letchworth, Thomas Kean, James N. Johnston, Mrs. C.H. Gildersleeve, and Amanda Jones. The agenda included dinner, debates, and poetry and essay readings. Evenings were capped off by late-night toasts (as many as nine), a favorite being, ‘Lager Beer, a great civilizer!’” [52-53].

 

August 12 Thursday – The first date showing Sam living in Buffalo. Sam replied from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss’ of July 30.

 

Your splendid letter has arrived, & I confess I owe you one. I was in an awful sweat when I wrote you, for everything seemed going wrong end foremost with me. I had just got mad with the Cleveland Herald folks & broken off all further negotiations for a purchase, & so I let you & some others have the benefit of my ill nature. But that is all gone by, & now we will smoke the pipe of peace & bury the hatchet. …

 

He then related buying a third interest in the Buffalo Express, and seeing the finished book the day before in Elmira.

 

“It is the very handsomest book of the season & you ought to be proud of your work. It will sell” [MTL 3: 292].

 

Reigstad gives Mrs. J.C. Randall’s boarding house at 39 East Swan Street as Sam’s living quarters for his last bachelor days (Aug-Sept) in Buffalo, writing “Her fashionable boarding house attracted lodgers a cut above the usual class of laborers and tug men.” Also:

 [ page 363 ]

On his first night there [Aug. 12?], Mrs. Randall formally presented Twain to some of the other guests, including Major and Mrs. James Dickie, who saluted and curtsied, respectively; William E. Foster, managing editor of the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser; Mrs. Kitty Blanchard, a widow; Blanchard’s young son, Arthur; and George Brewster Matthews, a twenty-one-year-old bookkeeper with L. Enos and Company [81]. Note: editorial emphasis.

 

August 13 Friday – Sam received a letter from John Slee, agent for the Anthracite Coal Association in Buffalo, informing him that Jervis Langdon’s check was on the way, and that Slee would add another check totaling $12,500. The papers might be exercised that day [MTL 3: 294n2]. Note: Jervis Langdon’s check for $12,500 plus Twain’s $2,500 went toward the down payment with Langdon guaranteeing the balance.

 

August 14 Saturday – At the law offices of Bowen & Rogers, 28 Erie Street, papers were signed on the purchase of Sam’s one-third interest in the Buffalo Express, 14 East Swan Street [Reigstad 37]. Note: see pictures of the Express building in Reigstad 40-41.

 

This is the likely day that Sam first entered the offices of the Buffalo Express and sprung his little joke on the staff there, who had not yet met him. See Reigstad p. 29-31 for recreation of the event. Upon seeing staff lounging around in all the chairs, Twain’s sarcastic remarks about allowing the new editor a seat sent them scattering. Reigstad quotes Earl D. Berry, reporter in the office at the time, as giving the following persons involved: Rodney W. Daniels, Dan Post, and DeWitt Clinton Welch, a foreman at Pierce and Company lumber [290n1].

 

Sam met the Buffalo press at a press dinner in the evening (Reigstad [35] claims it was an afternoon dinner, though in his letter to Bliss Twain gives it as “evening.” It’s likely such a dinner ran several hours, so both are correct). The dinner was given at “Willow Lawn,” the country estate of Elam R. Jewett (1810-1887) former publisher of the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser [MTL 3: 297n3; Reigstad 36]. Newspapermen represented “papers like the Courier, the Commercial Advertiser, Christian Advocate, the Commercial Report and Market Review, the Demokrat, the Freie Presse, the Evening Post, as well as Twain’s Buffalo Express [Reigstad 35]. Clemens may have “entertained his new colleagues by reading selections from the book [IA]—his first public reading in Buffalo. At some point, Twain strolled the grounds at Willow Lawn, picking flowers and making impromptu boutonnieres for himself and other guests” [37].

 

Later he wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss of the dinner and announced: “I entered upon possession to-day & made the first payment” [MTL 3: 295].

 

Sam also wrote James Redpath.

 

I feel compelled to beg off & withdraw from the lecture field entirely for this season, certain unforeseen events having conspired to change all my plans. To wit: I have just purchased one-third of the Buffalo Express & gone pretty largely in debt to accomplish it. I wish to confine myself closely to my work, now, for some time, & do the best I can to increase the paper’s income. Consequently, I shall not go to California. Moreover, the party of the second part & myself have decided to be married about the close of December, & I am informed by parties of large experience that one requires two months to get ready to marry & three more to get used to it. This just about covers the entire lecture season & rules me out [MTL 3: 297-8; The Autograph 1.3 (Jan-Feb. 1912): 53].

 

Sam also notified Mary and Abel Fairbanks of his purchase of the Buffalo Express, of Jervis’ approval of their financial books, and of plans to wed “the last of December or the first week in January” [MTL 3: 298-9].

 

 “Sorosis,” attributed to Sam, ran in the Buffalo Express [Camfield, bibliog.]. [ page 364 ]

 

The Newark Advertiser, p.1, called IA “one of the most quaint and characteristic specimens of American humor” (“Literary”) [Budd, Reviews 40].

 

August 15 Sunday – Sam officially became a writing editor of the Express, offering sketches and editorials. This began a period of eighteen months in Buffalo that marked a transition from sometime journalist to celebrated author.

 

Sam wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss, and Whitelaw Reid about his new book:

 

“…this is to ask you if you won’t get your reviewer to praise the bad passages & feeble places in it for me. They are the only ones I am worrying about, you know—the meritorious parts can get along themselves, of course” [MTL 3: 301-3].

 

See addition in Globe literary magazine, Buffalo, N.Y. for Apr. 1873.

 

Twain modified the typographical look of the Express, which resulted in “two days of consulting with layout foreman, John J. Hall,” and “pumped new life” into the “People and Things” column [Reigstad 43-44].

 

During his time at the Express, Sam was followed to and from the office and his boarding house by a “large, tawny, scarred office cat” [Reigstad 79].

 

August 16 Monday – Lydia Thompson’s Blonde Burlesque Troupe opened this evening at the Academy of Music in Buffalo. “A standing-room-only throng at the opera house waited three hours for the featured sparring exhibition between Ned ‘The Irish Giant’ O’Baldwin and Mike McCoole to finally begin” [Reigstad 35]. Did Clemens attend this performance of the Blondes? Perhaps. He must have seen it sometime because he published a story on the act in the Express on Feb. 28, 1870. Reigstad surmises: “He certainly would not have admitted seeing the scandalous Blondes to Olivia, to whom he had sworn strict, morally upright behavior in his remaining bachelor days. However, Twain’s Express story is filled with authoritative details about the Blondes’ stage routines, which suggests his firsthand knowledge” [291n2].

 

August 17 Tuesday – “Removal of the Capital,” attributed to Sam, ran in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 7]. Note: see also Feb. 16, 1864.

 

August 18 Wednesday – “Lady Byron – Mrs. Stowe’s Revelations,” attributed to Sam, ran in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 8].

 

August 19 Thursday – “Inspired Humor,” attributed to Sam, ran in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 9].

 

From the Buffalo Express “People and Things Columns” by Mark Twain:

 

·        One of those venerable parties, a pre-Adamite man, has been dug up from a depth of ninety-eight feet, in Alabama. He was of prodigious stature, and is supposed by savans to have existed twelve thousand years ago. Life was entirely extinct when they got him out.

·       An Alexandria (Egypt) merchant, ruined by the Viceroy’s heavy taxes, recently sold his son to a slave dealer to obtain yet another 900 piastres for the tax gatherer. It would have been far better to have sold him short for double the amount, and then run off before he was worth it.

·       The Brown family are assembling in convention at Simpson’s Corners, R.I., to form a plan of action with regard to their immense estates in England. So the telegram is worded. This is bad enough as it is—but will it stop here? Those Smiths will be at it next. It would be more generous in these two [ page 365 ] families to club themselves together in a joint convention and hire one of those ample western deserts to hold it in, and not be discommoding a helpless little State like Rhode Island which has never done them any harm.

·       A correspondent of the Cleveland Herald reports that a Mrs. Birney, 62 years of age, living near Tippecanoe, Harrison county, Ohio, has for twenty years been in the habit of falling into a state of unconsciousness at about ten o’clock on Sunday mornings, during which she delivers ungrammatical religious discourses. Of course, when a woman does anything remarkable, it must be published far and wide, but acres and acres of poor clergymen can go on doing such things all their lives and a subsidized press takes no notice of it. A mean partiality ill becomes journalism [Reigstad 234-6].

 

Sam wrote from Buffalo to Livy about his work on the Express:

 

“I have been consulting with the foreman of the news room for two days, & getting him drilled as to how I want the type-setting done—& this morning he has got my plan into full operation, & the paper is vastly improved in appearance.”

 

Sam gave the paper a “quiet & respectable” look, so that when real news happened, a “grand display of headings” would make folks notice.

 

“We are not astonished to hear a drunken rowdy swear, because he does it on great & trivial occasions alike—but when we hear a staid clergyman rip out an oath, we know it means something” [MTL 3: 303-4].

 

August 20 Friday – Sam, in Buffalo, began a letter at nearly 2 AM to his sister Pamela. He’d sent his luggage to St. Louis on June 24, but never made the trip, so apologized. With his wedding planned for Christmastime or New Year’s, Sam felt for his mother, and sister to travel across the country would be “equivalent to murder & arson & everything else,” not to mention a cost of some $500. Sam already felt the burden of his debt to Jervis. He wrote that his new schedule including rising at 7, with breakfast at half past. He finished the letter on Aug. 21 with a PS about Bliss sending the family a copy of his book [MTL 3: 311-3].

 

In the evening Sam went rowing with John J. McWilliams [Aug 21 to Livy].

 

“The Monopoly Speaks,” attributed to Sam, ran in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 11].

 

August 21 Saturday – Sam’s first signed sketch, “A Day at Niagara,” appeared in the Buffalo Express. Also an introductory piece he titled, “Salutatory”:

          

I shall always confine myself to the truth, except when it is attended with inconvenience.

I shall not write any poetry, unless I conceive a spite against the subscribers.

I shall not often meddle with politics, because we have a political editor who is already excellent, and only needs to serve a term in the penitentiary to be perfect [McCullough 5].

 

From the Buffalo Express “People and Things Columns” by Mark Twain:

 

·        What goes on with the worn-out bank notes, if there be such things, and what becomes of the dead mules, if any?

·       The Fat Men’s annual clam-bake came off at Gregory’s Point, Conn., yesterday. Nobody was allowed to participate who could not turn the scale of 200 pounds. Scant-weights were given a year to make up their deficiency. [ page 366 ]

·       Two travelers, stopping at a Des Moines hotel, came near losing their lives last week, by blowing out the gas on retiring to bed. One of them, when asked if he smelt anything wrong, said yes, but he thought it was the other fellow’s breath.

·       During the stay of Bailey’s Circus in Aurora, Ill., last week, Squire Van Nortwick united in bonds matrimonial one of the Albino boys, Amos Rockman, weight about one hundred and twenty pounds, and the “fat girl,” Julia Hutleston, whose weight is four hundred and ninety-five pounds. This is well. What the country has long needed is a monster pleasantly combining albino hideousness and imbecility with fatty vastness and skeleton deformity. We shall await the advent of the fruit of this marriage with frenzied impatience [Reigstad 237-40].

 

As a journalist, Sam had arrived—and with a financial interest; he was having a great time of it. Sam responded to a letter sent by Henry Abbey (1842-1911) of Kingston, New York, who he probably met on his lecture tour in 1868. Sam was unable to lecture; “business will compel me to stick to my post.” Sam named a wedding date of Jan. 10, which was later changed [MTL 3: 314-5].

 

Another letter apologizing for being unable to lecture went to Henry M. Crane of Rondout, New York.

 

Sam also wrote James Redpath, letter not extant but described in the letter to Livy below.

 

At 9 PM Sam wrote Livy.

 

Darling, it is 9 o’clock, now, & you are aware that there are no kisses for us to-night. I feel more than half sorry I did not go to you, for I have not succeeded in doing the mass of work I had laid out for myself, for sitting up so late last night has kept me stupefied all day. It is the last time I shall be out of bed at midnight. And this night I mean to catch up. I shall be in bed, Puss, before your dainty little figure is tucked between your sheets, this evening. Bless your precious heart, I wish I could see you. I am afraid this is going to be a pretty long week, without a glimpse of my darling. But then (D. V.,) I shall put my arms about you next Friday evening & stay till Monday morning. You see I ought to be at my post by 8 o’clock every morning, & fresh—so I would have to return on Saturday night—& that was partly why I put off my visit this week. But Larned says don’t bother about that—he will do the work of both of us from 3 P.M. Friday till Monday noon whenever I want to go to Elmira—which is equivalent to getting out two editions of the paper alone. He is not a very bad fellow.

      McWilliams & I went down to the Lake after supper & had a row. I needed the exercise.

      His wife sorts out my soiled linen, takes a list of it, delivers it to the washerwoman in my absence, returns it again & attends to the settlement of the bill—& Mac tells me she will cheerfully do me do any mending I may need. She is a very excellent young lady, & I like her very much. Thanks to my darling’s busy fingers, however, I haven’t any mending to do, at present.

      Among the books sent us to review was one called “Wedlock,” which I siezed & read, intending to mark it & take it to you, but it was nothing but a mass of threadbare old platitudes & maudlin advice shoveled together without rhyme or reason, & so I threw it away & told Larned to embody that opinion in his notice (he was reviewing the books.)

      I wrote Redpath to-day, asking him to let me off entirely from lecturing in New England this season, for if I would rather scribble, now, while I take a genuine interest in it, & it I am so tired of wandering, & want to be still & rest.

      That thief that wrote about the dead canary & sends me so much execrable music has found me out & is writing publishing extravagant puffs of me & mailing the papers to me, duly marked, as usual. I shall offer a bounty for his scalp, yet. He is one of the most persistent & exasperating acquaintances I was ever afflicted with.

      Larned & I sit upon opposite sides of the same table & it is exceedingly convenient—for if you will remember, you sometimes write till you reach the middle of a subject & then run hard aground—you know what you want to say, but for the life of you you can’t say—your ideas & your words get thick & sluggish & you are vanquished. So occasionally, after biting our nails & scratching our heads awhile, we just reach over & [ page 367 ] swap manuscript—& then we scribble away without the least trouble, he finishing my article & I his. Some of our patch-work editorials are of this kind are all the better for the new life they get by crossing the breed.

      Little dearie, little darling, in a few minutes, after I shall have read a Testament lesson & prayed for us both, as usual, I shall be in bed. And I shall dream, both before & after I go to sleep, of the little flower that has sprung up in the desert beside me & shed its fragrance over my life & made its ways attractive with its beauty and turned its weariness to contentment with its sweet spirit. And I shall bless you, my darling, out of the fulness of a heart that knows your worth beyond the ken of any, even those that have been with you always; & out of the depths of a gratitude that owes to you the knowledge of what light is, where darkness was, & peace where turbulence reigned, & the beauty & majesty of love where a loveless soul sat in its rags before & held out its unheeded hand for charity. Better than all others I understand you & appreciate you, for this it is the prerogative of love to attain to alone, & therefore better than all others I can love you, & do love you, & shall love you, always, my Livy.

      Good night darling—& peaceful slumbers refresh you & ministering angels attend you. / Sam [MTL 3: 316-20]. Note: John James McWilliams (1842–1912); see earlier note on for Buffalo period. The “execrable music” was “The Dead Canary” by George W. Elliott.

 

August 23 Monday – “Uncriminal Victims,” attributed to Sam, ran in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 18].

 

From the Buffalo Express “People and Things Columns” by Mark Twain:

 

·        Children in Iowa bite rattlesnakes in order to prevent toothache. Probably the cure would be more permanent if the rattlesnakes bit the children.

·       Mourning relatives visited the grave of a friend in Des Moines to find it a burrow of gophers. The mourners went for him, but instinct had suggested to those other creatures to gopher him previously.

·       Mr. Eddes, an octogenarian, residing in Dover, Me., never saw but two steamboats—Fulton’s original and a small one on Sebec lake. He has not been in Bangor, his nearest city, in thirty-eight years. His mind is said to be richly stored with lack of information [Reigstad 241-2].

 

August 24 Tuesday – “The Byron Scandal,” attributed to Sam, ran in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 19].

 

From the Buffalo Express “People and Things Columns” by Mark Twain:

 

·        The Blondes will expose themselves in Elmira to-night.

·       Peach kernels contain hydrocyanic (or prussic) acid, and are dangerous nutriment. Fifteen hundred of them taken on an empty stomach will kill a man.

 

August 25 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Charles Warren Stoddard, poet and contributor to the San Francisco Overland Monthly. Stoddard became Sam’s personal secretary/companion in London in 1872.

 

Dear Charlie: / Thank you heartily for all your good wishes—& you must accept of mine in return. I have written Bret that we must have the “Overland”—see that he sends it, will you?

You speak of Mr. Stebbins. He came within an ace of breaking off my marriage by saying to the gentleman instructed by “her” father to call on him and inquire into my character, that “Clemens is a humbug—shallow & superficial—a man who has talent, no doubt, but will make a trivial & possibly a worse use of it—a man whose life promised little & has accomplished less—a humbug, Sir, a humbug.” That was the spirit of the remarks—I have forgotten the precise language. It was not calculated to help my case in an old, proud & honored family who are rigidly upright & without reproach themselves, & would necessarily be chary of strangers who were deliberately pronounced “humbugs” by high ecclesiastical authority. The friends I had referred to in California said with one accord that I got drunk oftener than was necessary, & that I was wild, & godless, idle, lecherous & a discontented & unsettled rover & they could not recommend any girl of high character & social position to marry me—but as I had already said all that about myself beforehand [ page 368 ] there was nothing shocking or surprising about it to the family—but I had never said I was a humbug, & I had never expected anybody who knew me to say it—& consequently there was a dark & portentous time for a while—till at last the young lady said she had thought it all over deliberately & did not believe it, & would not believe it if an archangel had spoken it—& since then there has not been flaw or ripple upon my course of true love & it does run smoothly & always will—no fear about that.

About lecturing. The only way to do it is to get into “the field”—the regular lyceum field. Individual enterprise cannot but fail—even Nasby cannot lecture on his own hook, as I do in California. James Redpath, 20 Bromfield Street, Boston, commands the New England lyceums & makes appointments for lecturers & lays out their routes for them for 10 percent on the fees. His lecturers get from $50 to $200 a night, according to their popularity. A man must be known & well known—though a decided hit made in Boston will topple all the other New England bricks to the earth. Such a hit the subscriber would have made there on the 10th of next November, but I have written to cancel all my engagements for this year. And I have done the same with the West—all the West is in the hands of the “Secretary of the A.W.L.S., Ann Arbor, Mich.” I do not talk for less than $100 a night, the N.Y. Evening Post to the contrary notwithstanding. The lecture “season” proper, begins Nov. 1 & closes Feb. 28—21 months, & is worth to me $10,000—never less, & can easily be made more—I have the run of all the fields.

You are too late for this year. What you need to do is to tackle Redpath & that other fellow (the latter charges no percentage, but is paid by the massed societies & is their servant) as early as next May & get on their lists. Popular lecturers are hard to get, in the west—& I love to lecture there. If you make a hit there you’ve a good livelihood before you always afterward. Next year I shall enter the field again east & west, & for the last time. I shall use my old first lecture on the Sandwich Islands, but that will not in the least interfere with you, for it is a topic that has seldom or never been used—in fact it will be all the better for you if I should kick up an interest in the subject (& I will.) Write the two men I have spoken of—they are the ones to make you or break you, the first time. If you make a hit, they will go for you, afterward. I am not yet formally released from my New England crusade, but they must release me—I must rush this newspaper for a while & make it whiz.

I told publishers to send books to you & Bret.

In a thundering hurry,

Yr friend always

             Sam Clemens.

Du Chaillu, with all his puffing, is not required to lecture a second time in western towns—he fails with his first broadside—ditto Billings [MTPO; MTL 3: 320-21]. Note: Sam replied here to a non-extant from Stoddard. Horatio Stebbins (1821-1902), San Francisco clergyman.

 

Sam wrote Livy about nearly capsizing in a small boat on Lake Erie with Josephus N. Larned (1836-1913) and William H. Johnson, both of the Express [MTL 3: 322-3]. Note: “Larned was six months younger than Clemens, had a sense of humor and was a rowing and card-playing crony of Twain’s” [Reigstad 45].

 

“A Fine Old Man,” attributed to Sam, ran in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 21].

 

From the Buffalo Express “People and Things Columns” by Mark Twain:

 

·        John Wagner, the oldest man in Buffalo—104 years—recently walked a mile and a half in two weeks. He is as cheerful and bright as any of these other old men who charge around so in the newspapers, and is in every way as remarkable. Last November he walked five blocks in a rain storm without any shelter but an umbrella, and cast his vote for Grant, remarking that he had voted for forty-seven Presidents—which was a lie. His “second crop of rich brown hair” arrived from New York yesterday, and he has a new set of teeth coming—from Philadelphia. He is to be married next week to a girl 102 years old, who still takes in washing. They have been engaged 89 years, but their parents persistently refused their consent until three days ago. John Wagner is two years older than the Rhode Island veteran, and yet has never tasted a drop of liquor in his life, unless you count whiskey [Reigstad 246].

 [ page 369 ]

August 26 Thursday – Sam finished a letter of Aug. 25 from Buffalo to Livy of his plans to be home in Elmira about 8 PM Friday. He enclosed notices of the Innocents Abroad [MTL 3: 322-3].

 

“Only a Nigger,” attributed to Sam, ran in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 22].

 

Spoofing an attempt by one Professor Jenkins to cross Niagara Falls on a bicycle, Sam wrote the following “telegram,” which ran in the Express. As a new editor of the paper, he couldn’t put his own name to such a piece, since he’d been heralded as a literary lion.

 

To the Editor of the Express:

I borrowed Jenkins’ velocipede and tried the slack rope performance over Niagara, but it is only a partial success. I have got to the middle, two hundred and twenty feet above the river, as well as Jenkins or any other man could do it, but I cannot get any farther. I stopped like that other ass to have my picture taken, and I can’t get her started again. I cannot back up or go ahead. I have been roosting between heaven and earth for a matter of eighteen hours now. My position is exceedingly ridiculous, not to say uncomfortable. Near-sighted English sportsmen are practicing on me with shot-guns and such things because they take me for some sort of a curious bird —and I am — I am a rooster. They have torn my clothes a good deal. How am I going to get out of this? I have been suspended long enough — I wish to suspend the exhibition for a while, now. But if this thing is going to be permanent, please send me an umbrella. It is warm here.

 

P.S. — Does my salary go on? Because I was instructed to try this atrocious experiment by one of the Express firm. He said it would be a good card for the paper if I succeeded — but this wretched thing won’t budge, you understand. I was to have been married to-day. I wish I was out of this.

Yours, in great suspension.

MICHAEL J. MURPHY, Reporter, Express [The Twainian, Feb 1945 p3].

 

August 27 Friday – Whitelaw Reid of the New York Tribune published the first review of Innocents by a metropolitan daily, a positive and even-handed appraisal [MTL 3: 343n1; Powers, MT A Life 275]. Any good word from the Tribune was momentous and important to Sam.

 

August 28 Saturday – Sam’s article “English Festivities. And Minor Matters. Fishing” appeared in the Express [McCullough 23].

 

September – Sam wrote an untitled burlesque letter from Lord Byron to Mark Twain, which was published posthumously [Camfield, bibliog.]. The impetus for the letter was no doubt Harriet Beecher Stowe’s bombshell article in the Atlantic, “The True Story of Lady Byron’s Life,” which exposed an affair by Lord Byron with his half sister, Augusta Leigh. Significantly, the article ran during James T. Fields’ (1817-1881) European vacation, with Howells in charge. This was a clear blunder, one of the few by Howells, and probably an attempt to placate Stowe. The British took the article as a national insult [Goodman and Dawson 131-2].

 

September 1 Wednesday – Sam’s article “The Prodigal Son Returns” appeared in the Express [McCullough 28]. Sam wrote from Buffalo to Alphonso Miner Griswold (1834-1891), who wrote under the pen name, “Fat Contributor,” of his desire to get out of all lectures for this season. Griswold was reviewed as a “colorless copy of Mark Twain” [MTL 3: 324]. Sam also wrote to Livy.

 

September 2 Thursday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss about securing agents in the Buffalo area for sales of Innocents Abroad. All sales were by subscription, with traveling agents advertising and soliciting the book [MTL 3: 327]. Sam sent a note of acknowledgement to Stephen C. Massett (1820-1898) another lecturer, who’s stage persona was “Jeems Pipes” [MTL 3: 328]. Massett was an English author who dabbled in acting and real estate before editing the Marysville Herald and contributing to The Pioneer and [ page 370 ] the Golden Era. He wrote an autobiographical account of early California theater entitled “Drifting About”; or What “Jeems Pipes, of Pipesville,” Saw-and-Did (1863).

 

From the Buffalo Express “People and Things Columns” by Mark Twain:

 

·        Byron collars are in vogue again.

·        Sheridan is not married again yet.

·        Brigham Young has lost his family Bible, and is in trouble to find out how many children he has or what their names are.

·       The wonderful two-headed girl is still on exhibition in New England. She sings duets by herself. She has a great advantage over the rest of her sex, for she never has to stop talking to eat, and when she is not eating, she keeps both tongues going at once. She has a lover, and this lover is in a quandary, because at one and the same moment she accepted him with one mouth and rejected him with the other. He does not know which to believe. He wishes to sue for breach of promise, but this is a hopeless experiment, because only half of the girl is guilty of the breach. This girl has two heads, four arms, and four legs, but only one body, and she (or they) is (or are) seventeen years old. Now is she her own sister? Is she twins? Or, having but one body, (and consequently but one heart), is she strictly but one person? If the above named young man marries her will he be guilty of bigamy? This double girl has only one name, and passes for one girl—but when she talks back and forth at herself is she soliloquising? Does she expect to have one vote or two? Has she the same opinions as herself in all subjects, or does she differ sometimes? Would she feel insulted if she were to spit in her own face? Just at this point we feel compelled to drop this investigation, for it is rather too tangled for us [Reigstad 247-8].

 

September 3 Friday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss about the New York Herald’s favorable notice for his book. The review argued that it was not too irreverent, a criticism some reviewers made [MTL 3: 329].

 

Sam also wrote to Henry Crane, who had kept requesting Sam to lecture, and to Livy.

 

I am so disappointed, Redpath says he can’t get me free from Boston & 2 or 3 other places—& so I submit, & have written him to let me out to lyceums far & near, & for half the winter or all of it…It isn’t worth the bother of getting well familiarized with a lecture & then deliver it only half a dozen times…And yet the distress of it is, that the paper will suffer by my absence…

 

Sam argued against putting the wedding off until spring [MTL 3: 330-5].

 

From the Buffalo Express “People and Things Columns” by Mark Twain:

 

·        Geo. Francis Train has ceased to be a sensation in California, and sighs for another foreign jail or some reliable way of making a fresh noise in the world. It is strange that with his fertility of invention in this respect it does not occur to him to swallow a torpedo and jump out of the window.

·        It is estimated that more copies of Lord Byron’s works have been sold in this country within the last fifteen days than in seven years previously. And what is particularly aggravating, is, that people read the book now, whereas they used only to buy it for Christmas presents and centre-table ornaments [Reigstad 250].

 

September 4 Saturday – Sam’s story of comic mayhem, “Journalism in Tennessee,” was printed in the Express. It was about Mark Twain taking a journalism job in Tennessee as associate editor of the Morning Glory and Johnson County War-Whoop and being shot at so much he decided frontier journalism wasn’t [ page 371 ] for him [Wilson 37]. A second article by the same name, “The Byron Scandal,” and a follow up article, “The Byron Question” are attributed to Sam [McCullough 28-30].

 

September 6 Monday – Sam wrote from Buffalo (“In Bed Monday Night”) to Livy about a flap over poetry/song with George W. Elliott, who Sam referred to as the “Dead Canary

 

“[The] Cincinnati, Toledo & other western papers speak as highly of the book as do the New York & Philadelphia papers” [MTL 3: 335-7].

 

September 7 Tuesday – Another article attributed to Sam ran in the Express: “More Byron Scandal.”

 

“The aching desire that some people have for notoriety, to be talked about, even to be cursed rather than not to be noticed at all, can be the only possible excuse that I can imagine for this woman to lug into view family secrets in which the world can find nothing but the nastiest interest” [McCullough 37].

 

In Buffalo, Sam wrote two letters to Elisha Bliss, vouching for Mrs. William H. Barstow of Fredericksburg, Virginia (Kitty or Kate D. Barstow) to have the Virginia agency for Innocents Abroad [MTL 3: 339-41]. Note: William H. Barstow was helpful to Sam in obtaining his position with the Territorial Enterprise in 1862. Kitty was unable to pay for all the books ordered, so Sam had to pay Bliss. As a result of her debt, she did not write Sam for a decade, and then for financial help. See later entries on Kitty.

 

Sam also responded “With pleasure” to a request for autograph from John H. Gourlie, Jr. (1853-1904) [MTL 3: 341].

 

Sam also wrote to Whitelaw Reid thanking him for the positive notice in the New York Tribune. Sam wrote, “the book is selling furiously.” Reid had invited Sam to use the Tribune office as his own while in New York. Sam likewise invited Reid whenever he was in Buffalo or Elmira.

 

“—half of me is at Mr. Langdon’s in Elmira, you know, & so I am really writing over a fraudulent & assumed name when I sign myself Twain” [MTL 3: 342-3].

 

Lastly, Sam again wrote Livy—about love, her letters, the sermon she’d sent, his work, and Kitty Barstow [MTL 3: 344-5].

 

September 8 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Henry M. Crane about lecturing:

 

“No, your ‘persistence’ don’t annoy me a bit—it is complimentary to me. I am only going to lecture till the middle of January, anyhow.”

 

Sam noted that his wedding had been postponed until the first week in February, due to lecture dates he was unable to cancel. Sam’s intention at this point was to “get out of the lecture-field forever” [MTL 3: 346-7].

 

Sam started a letter to Livy, finished the next day. “Livy, my precious little darling, I am as happy as a king, now that it is settled & I can count the exact number of days that are to intervene before we are married. I am full of thankfulness, & the world looks bright & happy ahead” [LLMT 109]

 

Bret Harte wrote from San Francisco:

 

My dear Clemens, / Bancroft sent me no book; more than that he refused, outright, to send me one even on the shaming of your letter. He took the Bulletin’s copy from them after they had noticed it, and sold it. Enterprising as [two lines (about 10 words torn away] your relation to the affair—and my sole reason for stating [ page 372 ] it—is that I do not intend to subscribe to the volume for the rare pleasure of reviewing it in the Overland. It is enough for me to read it again; friendship even of a more romantic kind than ours could not ask more [two lines, probably closing and signature, torn away] [MTP]. Note: Hubert Howe Bancroft (1832-1918), historian and ethnologist. .

 

September 9 Thursday – “Butler on the Byron Scandal,” attributed to Sam, ran in the Express [McCullough 38].

 

Sam finished the letter to Livy, begun the previous day. He wrote about Feb. 4 being the wedding date (it turned out to be Feb. 2,) his writing to Redpath of that fact, and about Charles Langdon, who had left for a trip around the world [MTL 3: 348-9].

 

Sam sent “PERSONAL” notice to the Lyceums about fulfilling lecture dates until Jan. 10. The notice was printed in the Buffalo Express on Sept. 11 [MTL 3: 351].

 

September 10 Friday – Sam’s letter to Livy of Sept. 8 shows he proposed to start for Elmira “Friday night at 11—& start back at same hour on Monday night.”

 

September 11 Saturday – “The Last Words of Great Men,” and “Personal,” both signed by Sam ran in the Express. In the former piece, Sam claimed that the last words of Joan of Arc were “Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, the Boys are Marching.” Other pieces ran in the Express: “Mr. And Mrs. Byron,” signed by “Figaro” is attributed to Sam. In “Personal,” Sam announced that after withdrawing from the lecture season, he entered it again, unable to cancel all dates [McCullough 44-51].

 

September 13 Monday – “The Gates Ajar,” attributed to Sam, was printed in the Express [McCullough 51].

 

Sam left Elmira for Buffalo.

 

September 17 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to James Ausburn Towner (1836-1909) (“Ishmael”), somewhat piqued at Towner’s column in the Sept. 11 Elmira Saturday Evening Revue [MTL 3: 352].

 

September 18 Saturday – “The ‘Wild Man’,” attributed to Sam, ran in the Express [McCullough 53].

September 21 Tuesday – Sam wrote a short note from Buffalo to Henry M. Crane confirming his lecture in Rondout, New York on Jan. 12, 1870 [MTL 3: 353].

He also wrote to George E. Barnes, the editor and co-owner of the San Francisco Morning Call, who had hired and fired Sam in 1864. Sam introduced Charles Langdon, who would be leaving for a world trip and would go through San Francisco with Professor Darius R. Ford (b.1825), Livy’s old tutor [354-5].

 

Sam also wrote Elisha Bliss, commenting on Hubert Bancroft’s refusal to supply Bret Harte with a copy of Innocents Abroad for review. Bancroft was a book dealer and West Coast agent for the book [MTL 3: 355].

 

He also wrote to Silas S. Packard, declining to write another article for Packard’s Monthly [356].

 

He also wrote to George L. Hutchings, the chairman of the Clayonians for Newark [MTL 5: 684].

 

September 23 Thursday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to William P. Carpenter (1853-1936), responding to a request to lecture and forwarding his name to Redpath for a date [MTL 3: 356].

 [ page 373 ]

September 24 Friday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Mathew B. Cox, Sam’s friend and cabin mate during the 1868 voyage from New York to San Francisco. Cox was superintendent of the Pacific Mail Steamship Co.’s docks in San Francisco. The letter was a reminiscence of some of the fun on that trip [MTL 3: 357].

 

September 25 Saturday – Sam’s signed article, “Rev. H.W. Beecher – His Private Habits,” ran in the Express. By this date, The Buffalo Express had published six pieces signed “Mark Twain.” These pieces appeared nearly every Saturday and paid Sam $25 each [McCullough xxii]. Sam would publish over 50 pieces in the Express [Wilson 177]. A poem, “The Last Word,” ran in the Express signed by Sam, “Some of the Little Women” [Gribben 14].

 

Sam inscribed a copy of IA to Abraham R. Jackson:

To

A.     Reeves Jackson

The imperturbable “Doctor” mentioned in this

Volume and one of the most companionable

Pilgrims that graced this well-nigh graceless

Excursion.

            From his friend and comrade

Mark Twain

Buffalo, Sept 25, 1869 [MTP, drop-in letters].

 

September 26 Sunday – Sam was in Buffalo. He began a letter to Mary Mason Fairbanks, saying he couldn’t come see her until spring due to lectures, but “if Livy invites you you will come to our wedding, won’t you?”  He wrote also about Charles Langdon’s planned trip [MTL 3: 358-9].

 

Reigstad amplifies Clemens’ week:

 

For Mark Twain, the week beginning Sunday, September 26, 1869, his sixth at the Express, was hectic. At week’s end he started an extended hiatus from Buffalo. Before leaving town, he hustled to fulfill his many Express responsibilities. Monday’s edition saw the last of his People and Things compilations. That same day he followed Prince Arthur, Queen Victoria’s seventh child, around Buffalo during a last-minute visit and wrote a report on it. By the middle of the week, he found himself alone in charge of editorial matters. Joe Larned had departed for Wednesday’s state Republican convention in Syracuse [57].

 

Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote:

 

Dear Mr. Clements [sic],

I don’t see what excuse you had for sending me such a great big book, which would have cost me ever so many dollars, but I assure you it was very welcome in spite of that—more welcome than you could have guessed it would be, for independently of the pleasure I have had from your other writings, and the agreeable recollection of your visit to my house in company with Mr Locke, some parts of your travels had a very special interest for me. I may mention especially your visits to Palestine and Egypt. You looked at these two countries in a somewhat different way it is true, from Dr Robinson, or Lepsius, but I always like to hear what one of my fellow-countrymen who is not a Hebrew scholar or a reader of hieroglyphics, but a good humored traveller with a pair of sharp twinkling Yankee (in the broader sense) eyes in his head, has to say about the things that learned travellers often make unintelligible and sentimental ones ridiculous or absurd. Not long ago I read Hepworth Dixon’s book about the Holy Land and since that Lady Herbert’s. What a different way they had of looking at things to be sure. I am tolerably familiar with other books on the East and I have a large collection of stereographs of Egypt and Palestine—one of the largest I think that anybody has about here. So you can imagine with what curiosity I followed you through scenes that were in a certain [ page 374 ] sense familiar to me and read your familiar descriptions and frequently quaint and amusing comments, from such an entirely distinct and characteristic point of view.

I was rather surprised and much pleased to find how well your ship’s company got on together. I had an idea they got sick of each other. I once crossed the ocean with another human being occupying the same stateroom—a German, who was well enough, I don’t doubt—but didn’t I loathe the sight and smell of him before our forty two days passage was over!

Well, I hope your booksellers will sell a hundred thousand copies of your Travels—don’t let them get hold of this letter for the rascals always print everything to puff their books—private or not—which is odious but take my word for it your book is very entertaining and will give a great deal of pleasure.

Yours very truly

O W Holmes [MTPO].

 

Notes from source: Holmes alluded to: William Hepworth Dixon (1821–79), English historian, author of The Holy Land (1865); Edward Robinson (1794–1863), American philologist, geographer, and biblical scholar, author of Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea (1841); Karl Richard Lepsius (1810–84), German explorer and philologist, author of a number of books on Egypt; and Mary Elizabeth Herbert (1822–1911), Baroness Herbert of Lea, translator, novelist, travel writer, and religious biographer, author of Cradle Lands (1867), an account of travels in Egypt and the Holy Land. Clemens and David Ross Locke had visited Holmes in Boston on 14 or 15 March 1869. [Editorial emphasis.]

 

September 27 Monday – In Buffalo, Sam finished the letter to Mrs. Fairbanks, mentioning the brief visit to Buffalo of Prince Arthur, Queen Victoria’s third son.

 

“…none of his acts in Buffalo were noisy enough for future historical record. It was Veni, Vidi, Vici, with him. He came—he saw that lunch—he conquered it” [MTL 3: 356, 361n8].

 

Sam also wrote Elisha Bliss about printing notices for the book. He informed him that he’d be in Elmira on Nov. 1 [MTL 3: 362].

 

Sam wrote on Express Printing Co. letterhead, to unidentified “Gentlemen”:

 

“I am going to lecture a little over half the season, & my present engagements render it impossible for me to go further west than Pittsburgh. Otherwise I would be most happy to profit by your kind invitation” [EAC Gallery auction June 16, 2009, Lot 461]. 

 

Nineteen-year-old Prince Arthur came to Buffalo and lunched at the Tifft House, then toured the city. Clemens covered the visit. Reigstad [78] writes Sam “was put off by the prince’s haughtily regal bearing.” Twain’s sketch, “Arthur” poked fun at the Prince. While at the Tifft House, Sam observed Millard Fillmore dining [78]. Reigstad adds in a footnote the irony that Clemens would stand next to the Prince at his 1907 Oxford ceremony [296n37].

 

September 29 Wednesday – The New York State Republican convention met in Syracuse. Josephus N. Larned telegraphed Sam with the results of the convention, “the slate of nominees for nine Republican posts for November’s nongubernatorial election. Twain had only to write it up. Knowing nothing about state politics, and swamped with supervisory chores, Twain crafted a humorous ‘noncommentary’ on the Republican choices that Buffalonians remembered for years afterward” [Reigstad 57]. Note: see Sept. 30 entry, and source p. 58.

 

September 30 Thursday – “The Ticket—Explanation” a signed article ran in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 59]. Note: this referred to by Reigstad in Sept. 29 entry.

 [ page 375 ]

Sam replied from Buffalo to Oliver Wendell Holmes, responding to his complimentary letter of Sept. 26 about Innocents Abroad. Sam thanked Holmes and added a compliment or two about Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table. In the evening, Sam left Buffalo for Elmira [MTL 3: 364-5].

 

October – The text of an interview with ex-Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton and Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, and Attorney General Brown. The supposed discussion was the Alabama question, but Sam was present and wrote the real discussion was about the most effective way to remove warts. Attributed to Twain in the Oct. 1869 issue of Wood’s Household Magazine [Tenney 162; Neider, MT Life as I Find It 36-7; Gale 409].

 

October, early – In Elmira, Sam rewrote his “Sandwich Islands” lecture and decided not to give the “Curiosities of California” talk, which he had composed earlier [MTL 3: 363n2].

 

October 1 Friday – “Engineer Griffin,” attributed to Sam, appeared in the Express [McCullough 60].

 

October 2 Saturday – Sam’s signed article ran in the Express: “The Latest Novelty Mental Photographs.” A list of questions were received that were to “ferret out the most secret points of a man’s nature.” Here are a few: What is your idea of Happiness? – Finding all the buttons on. / Your idea of Misery? – Breaking an egg in your pocket. / What do you believe to be your Distinguishing Characteristic? – Hunger. / What is your Aim in life? – To endeavor to be absent when my time comes. / What is your Motto? – Be virtuous and you will be eccentric [McCullough 62-3].

 

October 7 Thursday – Sam wrote from Elmira to an unidentified person about a humorous article sent burlesquing Baron Alexander von Humboldt. Sam wrote he would lecture in Pittsburgh on Nov. 1 and then lecture in New England until Jan. 15 [MTL 3: 366-7].

 

October 8 Friday – Sam wrote to the Polar Star Mason Lodge of St. Louis, asking for a “demit,” an official release of membership to non-affiliate status [Jones 366]. Note: this letter not found in the MTP letters, and specifies Sam wrote from Buffalo, when he was in Elmira on this date, so the date is suspect.

 

The Waltham, Mass. Sentinel gave Sam’s IA a front page review under the heading “Mark Twain.” The review referred to Twain as “this much respected humorist,” and to IA as “unquestionably one of the most interesting works of the day.” Perhaps influenced by this good press, Sam would lecture in Waltham on Dec. 16. [eBay 280374360670 July 22, 2009]. 

 

October 9 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Schuyler Colfax, vice president under Grant. Colfax was returning to Washington from a visit to the Pacific states. Sam asked for letters of recommendation for Charles Langdon and Darius Ford, who were traveling to the West Coast.

 

“I have no compunctions about asking this favor, for you know Prof. Ford a little, & Mr. Langdon senior, also, I believe—& the Langdons knew your first wife well, both there at the water-cure & in Washington some 7 years ago. This almost makes you kin” [MTL 3: 368].

 

October 11 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to the California Pioneers regretfully passing on their invitation to a banquet at Delmonico’s in New York City. About 200 Californians had traveled across country from Sacramento a week before [MTL 3: 371-2].

 

October 14 Thursday – Sam’s letter to the California Pioneers of Oct. 11 ran in the New York Tribune [Camfield, bibliog.].

 [ page 376 ]

October 16 Saturday – “Around the World – Letter No.1” dated Oct. 10 ran in the Buffalo Express. “I am just starting out on a pleasure trip around the globe, by proxy.” Charley and Professor Darius Ford’s trip was to be coordinated and written up by Sam. This was the first installment [McCullough 65-71]. An unsigned review of William Frank Stewart’s Pleasant Hours in an Eventful Life also ran in the Express and is attributed to Sam [Gribben 665].

 

October 19 Tuesday – “Mark Twain – His Greetings to the California Pioneers of 1849” was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 71].

 

October 23 Saturday – Sam’s article, “The Legend of the Capitoline Venus,” was published in the Express. This is one of Sam’s earliest in the paper. The title was shortened to “The Capitoline Venus” upon reprinting in Sketches, New and Old (1875) [Wilson 177]. This story was similar to his Innocents Abroad material involving the public’s gullibility to artistic hoaxes.

 

October 27 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Emily A. Severance in Cleveland. The Severances had been cabin mates on the Quaker City. Sam had sent them a copy of Innocents and answered her thanks. Sam wrote he expected to be in Cleveland the next day on the way to Pittsburgh, but a derailment on Oct. 26 forced him to find another route [MTL 3: 374-5].

 

George L. Fall (1837-1875), partner of James Redpath, wrote, listing Sam’s lecture appointments until he “reached this city” and would give other dates then. Five cities are listed with pay from $75 to $120 [MTP].

 

October 28 Thursday – James Redpath wrote to Sam: “We offered the date indicated by your telegram, by telegraph: but it did not suit / There is therefore no change in the schedule given before” [MTP].

 

October 29 Friday – Sam left Elmira for Pittsburgh. See locket picture of Livy dated this day by MTP.

October 30 Saturday – Sam arrived in Pittsburgh in the afternoon, for his Nov. 1 lecture. He was the guest of honor at a banquet at McGinley’s Dining Saloon, on Wood Street, given by the lecture committee of the Mercantile Library Association [MTL 3: 382n2]. Lorch says it was an “oyster supper” [105].

 

Sam began a letter to Livy at 11 P.M. He wrote that he went to Steubenville, Ohio to “give those people a taste of my quality,” but he saw no posters announcing him. No one showed, Sam wrote, except the janitor and he didn’t pay, so Sam “closed the lecture.”

 

“Around the World – Letter no. 2” appeared in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 78].

 

October 31 Sunday – Sam continued the Oct. 30 letter to Livy:

 [ page 377 ]

“I walked around town this morning with a young Mr. Dean, a cousin of Wm D. Howells, editor of the Atlantic Monthly. He kindly offered to give me a letter of introduction to Mr. Howells, but I thanked him sincerely & declined, saying I had a sort of delicacy about using letters of introduction…”

 

Sam had a photograph made by Upson & Simson of Buffalo [MTP].

 

Sam received visitors “one after the other all day long,” and went to church in the evening. He disliked the “frozen, monotonous, precise & inflectionless” sermon, but loved the “very ecstasy of harmony” of the music. Sam finished the letter at 1 AM, Nov. 1 [MTL 3: 375-81]. Lorch includes O.T. Bennett of the Commercial among the visitors, someone Sam found “a good fellow, modest & pleasant” [106].

 

November – Sometime during the month (probably in the first half), G.M. Baker of Boston made a formal group photograph of Sam, Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw 1818-1885) and Petroleum V. Nasby (David Ross Locke 1833-1888) [MTP].

 

November 1 1869 to January 21, 1870 Lecture Tour: At least 49 engagements under the management of James Redpath (All but Brookville and Johnstown are listed courtesy of Barbara Schmidt’s TwainQuotes website, designated as [Schmidt].)

 

Sometime during this period Clemens wrote to an unidentified man, his photo enclosed:

 

“All right—will smoke with you, if Redpath can arrange a night that will suit all around. Confound that ferry!” [MTPO: Sales catalog, Thomas R. Madigan, 1935, item 67].

 

“Our Fellow Savages of the Sandwich Islands” ; One version of this speech is published in Mark Twain Speaking, p.4-15. See [MTL 3: 483-6] for sources and more information

November 1 Monday – Sam gave his “Savages lecture in Pittsburgh, Pa., Academy of Music [MTPO].

Elisha Bliss wrote: “We want to pay up. Shall we forward statement & check to you at Elmira or await your arrival here?…Can’t you send us list of engagements so far made. … Are you married? We hear of it so often & have contradicted it…Post us up!” [MTP].

James Redpath wrote a one liner: “we have nothing between second and eighth” [MTP].

November 2 Tuesday – Sam lectured in Brookville, Pennsylvania – As reported by the Pittsburgh Gazette [MTL 3: 385].

November 3 Wednesday – Sam lectured in Johnstown, Pennsylvania [MTL 3: 385].

Note: It is possible that Sam did not speak in Brookville or Johnstown – more newspaper evidence might confirm. Letters Sam wrote Livy between Nov. 6 and 9 (Livy’s numbers 129-132) are lost [MTL 3: 391n4].

November 7 to 13 Saturday – sometime during this week Horatio G. Smith of Boston photographed Clemens with Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) and Petroleum V. Nasby (David Ross Locke) and titled the photo “American Humorists” [MTL 3: 406, 408n10]. The “V” for “Vesuvius

Sometime during this second week of November in Sam’s lecture-hub of Boston, Sam, Billings, and Nasby attended a lecture by R. J. De Cordova, a newcomer humorist to the lecture circuit. No one told [ page 378 ] the young man that the last cars left at 9 P.M., and to his horror, at five minutes before the hour, much of the audience rose en masse and headed for the doors. Sam wrote, “I think De Cordova did not appear again in public” [MTA 1: 151-3]. Note: Sam was wrong on this last count—a check of the New York Times for this period reveals that De Cordova spoke before and after this week in New York, at Steinway Hall and at the Cooper Institute [Oct. 25, 1869 p5; Nov. 25, 1869 p8]. Sam thought De Cordova might have had another name, which was possibly “RJ of Cordova,” the “R.J.” standing for some Spanish given name too long to print here.

November 9 Tuesday – Sam lectured in Harrington’s Opera House, Providence, Rhode Island. Sam spoke to 1,800 there and later wrote: “Gave good satisfaction.” He wrote from Boston to his sister Pamela:

. . . Tomorrow night I appear for the first time before a Boston audience—4,000 critics—and on the success of this matter depends my future success in New England. But I am not distressed. Nasby is in the same boat. Tonight decides the fate of his brand-new lecture. He has just left my room—been reading his lecture to me—was greatly depressed. I have convinced him that he has little to fear.

I get just about five hundred more applications to lecture than I can possibly fill—and in the West they say “Charge all you please, but come.” I shan’t go West at all. I stop lecturing the 22 of January, sure. But I shall talk every night up to that time. They flood me with high-priced invitations to write for magazines and papers, and publishers besiege me to write books. Can’t do any of these things [MTL 3: 387].

Henry George (1839-1897), at this time editor of the Oakland Calif. Transcript, wrote to Clemens:

“Dear Sir: / I send you a copy of the Transcript, and will hereafter send it to the Express. Can you send us an exchange, as I wish to publish your matter first-hand if possible” [MTPO].

“The Paraguay Puzzle,” an unsigned article attributed to Sam, ran in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 84].

November 10 Wednesday – Sam lectured to a full house of 2,600 in Music Hall, Boston, Mass. – Sam’s letter of Nov. 9 to his sister was no exaggeration—the Boston lecture was critical to Sam’s continued success on the lecture circuit. Boston was the literary capital of the country, and success there meant easy sledding elsewhere in New England. Sam wrote from Boston to Livy his plans to spend New Year’s Day at home.  

“A Good Letter – Mark Twain’s Idea of It” appeared in the Buffalo Express. Sam’s niece, Annie Moffett’s letter was the object of Sam’s admiration [McCullough 86].

November 11 Thursday – Sam lectured at Trinity Church, Charlestown, Mass. [MTPO].

Sam wrote from Boston at midnight:

“…bought full wedding outfit to-day (haven’t got a cent left) & occasionally the packages will arrive by express directed simply to J. Langdon, Elmira. Now your mother must unpack them & put them away for me & be sure not to let Mr. Langdon go wearing them around. I tell you, they are starchy.”

The reviews from Boston newspapers confirmed that Sam’s lecture had been an overwhelming success. This from The Boston Daily Advertiser: [ page 379 ]

Mark Twain is a very good looking man. He is of medium height and moderately slender build, has light brown hair, a reddish brown moustache, regular features and a fresh complexion; and he has a queer way of wrinkling up his nose and half closing his eyes when he speaks. The expression of his face is as calm and imperturbable as that of the sphinx. Looking at him you feel it to be an impossibility that he should ever hurry or ever be out of temper, and you might suppose him to be incapable of a joke, if it were not for the peculiar twinkle in his merry eyes. His voice is remarkably light and remarkably dry—like some German wines—and it seems to be modulated to only two keys. His style of speaking is unique to the last degree. It is all of a piece with the quality of his humor, and fits him like a glove. He delivers his sentences without haste, and in a tone of utter indifference, marking the highest waves of his thought only by a strong flavor of nasality, and knowing for the most part only the rising inflection at the beginning, middle and end of his sentences. The rising inflection is not native here, nor is it born in the manner of any of our own speakers. Mr. Dickens first taught us how it might be used to advantage; and Mark Twain, doubtless without borrowing a leaf from Mr. Dickens’s note-book, has found out for himself how effective an adjunct it is to humorous speech. In short, the platform manner of Mr. Clemens is the exact reflection in speech of his peculiar style of composition. The fun of both is genuine enough; but the perception of the fun is unmeasurably heightened by the apparently serious intention of the general discourse, and at times by an air of half seriousness in the joke itself. The audience gets into a queer state after a while. It knows not what to trust; for while much is meant to be seriously taken, the fun is felt to be the real life of the thing; and yet they never know where the fun will come in. Even when Mr. Clemens has made a really fine period, or introduced a brilliant descriptive passage, he takes pains to turn the affair into a joke at the end.

And this example from the lecture itself:

At one point in his lecture, namely, in the midst of a discussion of cannibalism, Mark Twain paused and said with an indescribable look: “At this point I usually illustrate cannibalism before the audience: but I am a stranger here, and feel diffident about asking favors. However,” he said, “if there is any one present who is willing to contribute a baby for the purposes of the lecture, I should be glad to know it now. I am aware, though, that children have become scarce and high of late, having been thinned out by neglect and ill treatment since the woman movement began.”

“Hanging to Slow Music,” an unsigned article attributed to Sam, ran in the Express [McCullough 88].

November 12 Friday – The New York Press Club sent a circular letter inviting Twain to a Press Club dinner Sat. Nov. 27, 5 p.m. at Delmonico’s. Tickets cost $3 [MTP].

November 13 Saturday – Sam lectured in Norwich, Conn. “Around the World Letter No. 3” ran in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 89].

November 14 Sunday – Clemens stayed another night in Norwich. See Nov. 15 to Livy.

November, mid – Sam, visited unannounced the offices of The Atlantic Monthly at 124 Tremont Street in Boston to thank the unsigned reviewer of Innocents Abroad for a very positive review. This is the famous first meeting between William Dean Howells (who wrote the review) and Sam Clemens. Sam first saw James T. Fields, who had hired Howells. Howells recalled the day as chilly, “well toward the winter” [Howells 4]. Two other respected sources note the day as either “later in November or in December,” or “a chilly mid-November afternoon” [MTL 3: 382-3n6; Powers, MT A Life 1]. The exact date is conjecture. Sam stood out among Boston, or even eastern folks—he wore the famous sealskin coat with the fur out, which on the street Howells observed won “immense publicity.” It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. [ page 380 ]

November 15 Monday – Sam lectured at Clinton Hall, Clinton, Mass.[MTPO].

He began a letter from to Livy that he finished on Nov. 16.

Livy Darling — / I had to submit to the customary & exasperating drive around town in a freezing open buggy this morning [at Norwich] to see the wonders of the village

(Mem.—They always consist of the Mayor’s house; the ex-mayor’s house; the house of a State Senator; house of an ex-governor; house of a former Member of Congress; the public school with its infernal architecture; the female seminary; paper mill or factory of some kind or other; the cemetery; the Court house; the plaza; the place where the park is going to be—& I must sit & shiver & stare at a melancholy grove of skeleton trees & listen while my friend gushes enthusiastic statistics & dimensions. All towns are alike—all have their same stupid trivialities to show, & all demand an impossible interest at the suffering stranger’s hands. Why won’t these insane persecutors believe me when I protest pleadingly that I don’t care two cents for all the thrilling wonders the village can boast.

(How I gloat in secret when one of these people regrets that I cannot “remain over” & see his accursed village! And how unblushingly I repeat the threadbare lie that I am sorry!

(After the natural wonders are all visited, then we have to call on other inanimate wonders with dull faces, but with legs to them that show them to be human: the mayor; the richest man; the wag of the village (who instantly assails me with old stale jokes & humorous profanity); the village editor—& a lot more of people I take no possible interest in & don’t want to see. And when by some divine accident one of them isn’t at home, what a fervent prayer of thankfulness rises up in my heart!)

I only have to submit to these inflictions when I am the guest of somebody & cannot refuse to suffer in return for his hospitality. When I am paying my own bills, at a hotel, I talk out & say No Sir—not any village wonders for the subscriber, if you please.

Here I am in a hotel—the Clinton House—& a villainous one it is—shabby bed, shabby room, shabby furniture, dim lights—everything shabby & disagreeable [MTL 3: 395]. Note: This letter shows that Sam stayed over in Norwich two nights.

 

Harriet H. Pearce (Mrs. William W. Pearce) wrote to Sam—an early autograph request that survives:

 

Honored Sir / I trust you will excuse the liberty I now take in thus intruding on your notice as I wish to ask you for your Autograph also Nom de plume

      I am getting a Collection and should be very much pleased to receive yours, for I should prize it highly, as I admire your humorous Lectures and Writings.

      They contain so much genuine wit, and such fine ideas, your description of Places and Persons being so correct and expressed so prettily. A few lines with your Name would be very acceptable.

      With many kind wishes for your continued Success and hoping you may be pleased to grant my request, / I remain Sir, very respectfully / Mrs. Wm. W. Pearce / Providence, R.I. [MTP].

 

November 16 Tuesday – Sam finished the letter to Livy. Later that evening he lectured in Holyoke, Mass.  

 

Livy Darling—

I got your little letter a while ago & am therefore glad & happy—happier & more & more grateful for your love with every day that goes over my head. I would not know what to do or whither to turn to give life a value if I were to lose my darling now. I am so wrapped up in you, I so live in you, that to lose you would be equivalent to losing life itself.

I left Boston without baggage, thinking I would go back there from Norwich the same night—but the trains left at such inconvenient hours that I went from there to Clinton—found a similar state of things — came straight here. But as I am clear out of shirts (wore this one yesterday) I shall take an early train to Boston tomorrow before I go to Danvers.

Loving kisses, darling. [ page 381 ]

Sam.

P. S.—The photograph was Josh Billings.

This is the way to spell a certain word, little sweetheart—“pretty”—do you see, honey? I have not looked to see whether any others are misspelt or not, because I don’t care whether they are or not—but that one just happened to fall under my eye at this moment.

I am so dead stupid, from getting up so early this morning, that I fairly dread going on that stage to-night. Come, my darling, check that cold immediately, & look out for the sore throat—don’t you dare to go out with only one shawl.

I cured my cold with two long & severe Turkish baths taken in immediate succession, with cold shower baths between—next morning I was entirely well. /    Sam [MTL 3: 396-7].

 

November 17 Wednesday – Sam lectured in Gothic Hall, Danvers, Mass. [MTPO].

November 19 Friday – In Boston prior to his lecture, Sam wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks.

My Dear Mother— / Why mercy! were you expecting me? Do you know, I just thought you would be looking for me—but bless you, I couldn’t help it. If it were only Livy’s fault—but there isn’t anybody to saddle it on—I guess it was my distress about those Railways—which is funny, because formerly I would just as soon have been smashed up on one of those railroads as any other way. But my life has grown very precious—to Livy. Well, I’m coming right along, now, in the spring—I am indeed, & I shall bring my wife. Then you can scold us both, & all of us will enjoy it the more [MTL 3: 398].

He also sent Livy his photograph, taken by James Wallace Black (see MTL 3: 399) with a note on the back:

Boston, 19th—Livy dear, I believe I am to talk in one corner of Brooklyn Dec. 1, & repeat in Plymouth Church Dec. 4. Have a call from New York for Dec. 3, but don’t know yet whether we shall take it or not. I am indifferent—just as soon not.2 I have no paper up here, & in a few minutes I start out to talk in the a suburban city (Jamaica Plains.) It is now 6 P.M—lecture begins at 7.45.

Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Town Hall, Jamaica Plain, Mass. [MTPO].

November 20 Saturday – Sam wrote from Boston to James K. Medbery, declining to write a Christmas book for the American Literary Bureau [MTL 3: 400].

Sam also wrote to his Buffalo Express partner, George H. Selkirk about an exchange with Henry George, editor of the Oakland, California Transcript. “Give him a Weekly exchange, Col.” Written on George’s Nov. 9 note, this might have been sent anytime from Nov. 20 to Nov. 28 [MTL 3: 401].

“Civilized Brutality,” an unsigned article attributed to Sam ran in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 93].

 

Sam also wrote to a Mr. Davis, supplying a requested autograph on an unused portion of Davis’ letter: 

“Mr. Davis — / Dear Sir — / Having no paper at hand at the moment, I take the liberty of dividing your note & pressing its blank page into service. / Yrs Truly / Saml L. Clemens / Mark Twain” [Bonham’s Oct. 17, 2006 auction; sale 14243, Lot 3303]. 

 

November 23 Tuesday – Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Allyn Hall, Hartford, Conn. The Hartford Courant (Nov. 25, p2) review summarized both traditional the traditional lecture audience “class” and expectations, and Sam’s unique “conversational” approach which mixed both serious and comedic:  [ page 382 ]

THE HUMOROUS LECTURE—MARK TWAIN.—It is very difficult to define what humor is, so much depends upon attendant circumstances, upon peculiar phrases, upon manner. The unexpected is a prime element in all wit and humor. No matter how good a story is, and told by the prince of narrators, if we know the “point” beforehand, it does its effect upon us. This is one reason why what Shakespeare says is true:—

                       “A jest’s propriety lies in the ear

                        Of him that hears it, never in the tongue

                        Of him that makes it.”

This is only a half truth. A clean stroke of wit is good the world over. Humor depends largely upon the person who creates it. It may be much in the voice and manner (as it does in nearly all comic actors), but it is note the less genuine humor. The moment you attempt to analyze a joke its essence evaporates, its flavor is gone; it is only an incongruous association of ideas, and when we put reason to it, it ceases to be funny. We know no better test of a funny thing than its power to make the hearer laugh. If it does not make you laugh, it is not funny to you, and that is the end of it. To get a joke into a Scotchman’s head is said to require a surgical operation. That is very funny, but probably a Scotchman wouldn’t see it.

 

There is room for some one to write a readable essay on the “humorous lecture” as contrasted with the ordinary “lecture.” The Lecture is, especially in New England, a peculiar institution. We are almost warranted in saying that lecture-goers are a peculiar class. Everybody understands what you mean when you say a “lecture audience.” There is none more respectable in the world…..

 

But the humorous lecture is a different production, and properly speaking, is not a lecture at all. Albert Smith, who kept all London laughing for a decade over his story, illustrated with drawings, of the ascent of Mt. Blane, called it an “entertainment.”

…

The hall had not been so crowded, on any occasion, for a long time. And the vast audience sat for over an hour in a state of positive enjoyment, in a condition of hardly suppressed “giggle” and expectancy of giggle, with now and then a burst of hearty, unrestrained laughter. The laughter was never forced; people laughed because they could not help it. And what was it all about?

 

Mr. Clemens, a self possessed gentleman, with a good head and a face that led one to expect humor, with an unembarrassed but rather non-chalant manner, was walking about the stage, talking about the Sandwich Islands; talking, and not repeating what seemed to be a written lecture. It was a conversational performance. His stories, his jokes, his illustrations, were told in a conversational way, and not “delivered.” With a half lingering hesitation in his speech, and a rising inflection of voice, he talked exactly as he does in private; …

 

The art of the lecture consisted in the curious mingling of grave narration and description with the most comical associations, and with occasional flashes of genuine wit. And the whole was leavened by a manner that would make the fortune of a comedian.

 

Sam wrote from Boston to Hiram J. Ramsdell (1839-1887), Washington correspondent for the New York Tribune and the Cincinnati Commercial. Sam had known Hiram when they were in Washington in the winter of 1867-8. Hiram had asked for a lecture before the Washington Correspondent’s Club [MTL 3: 403].

November 24–25 Thursday – Sam wrote late from Hartford to Livy, who was in New York City at the St. Nicholas Hotel with her father, sister Susan Crane, and John Slee and wife making wedding preparations.

We have had a pleasant day & a pleasant evening, child. I called at Mr. Hooker’s a moment & saw him—then went over to Warner’s & visited with him & his wife an hour…this evening at Twichell’s, in another long private conversation, I told him I would not leave the Express unless the boys were willing, & I felt sure they would not be…Livy darling I guess we couldn’t pull loose all the Buffalo anchors easily, & so we may as well give up Hartford—but my gracious, wouldn’t I like to tilt that Courant against the complacent Springfield [ page 383 ] Republican & make that journal sick? I think so….I have ordered Twichell to stand by & assist Mr. Beecher to marry us, & I told him you wanted it so. It’s powerful expensive, but then we’ll charge him for his board while he is there [MTL 3: 403-5].

Sam wrote another letter at midnight on Nov. 25 to Livy, revealing that Josh Billings had just left his room after a “quiet, pleasant, conversational evening. Showed me his photographs—has two enchanting daughters, both married & mothers” [MTL 3:409-410]. Note: see source for daughter info. 

November 25 Thursday – George L. Fall, partner of James Redpath, sent Sam another lecture schedule for December with 16 cities [MTP].

November 26 Friday – Sam lectured in an unidentified town, as cited by his letter to Livy the next day.

November 27 Saturday – Olivia Louise Langdon’s 24th birthday, her last as a single woman. Sam wrote her a short note from Boston: “Had a big house last night, as usual. Didn’t make a brilliant success otherwise, though.” The town has not been identified [MTL 3: 410].

“Browsing Around,” an article by Sam which included a humorous spoof on having his fortune told, was printed in the Buffalo Express. Note: Budd reports this as “Getting My Fortune Told” and says it was in later collections as “Lionizing Murderers” [“Collected” 1009].

“At the age of nine you stole sugar. At the age of fifteen you stole money. At twenty you stole horses. At twenty-five you committed arson. At thirty, hardened in crime, you became an editor. Since then your descent has been rapid” [McCullough 98].

November 28 Sunday – Sam wrote from Boston to Livy about her 24th and his 34th birthday:

“I have kept the day alone, my darling—we will keep it together hereafter, God willing. My own birthday comes Tuesday, & I must keep that alone also, but it don’t matter—I’ve had had considerable practice in that” [MTL 3: 413].

Sam recommended Charles Reade’s The Cloister and the Hearth (1861), a book Twichell had recommended and one Sam was unable to find fault with [Gribben 571].

November 29 Monday – Sam lectured (“Savages”) in the Congregational Church, Newtonville, Mass. Though Sam did not like lecturing in churches as he felt it more difficult for the audience to laugh, the Newton Journal however, reported that Sam “elicited shouts of laughter” [MTL 3: 414n2].

Sam wrote from Boston to Livy, sending his schedule [MTL 3: 415].

November 30 Tuesday – Sam’s 34th birthday. He lectured (“Savages”) in Thompsonville, Conn.

James Redpath wrote to advise Sam that Mr. Alfred Reed extended his hospitality for the stop in Trenton, and had increased the fee to $100 [MTP].

December – William Dean Howells published a very positive review of IA in the Atlantic Monthly: [ page 384 ]

“It is no business of ours to fix his rank among the humorists California has given us, but we think he is, in an entirely different way from all the others, quite worthy of the company of the best.”

December 1 Wednesday – Sam lectured (“Savages”)  for Brooklyn Library Society, at the Bedford Avenue Reformed Church, Brooklyn, New York. Sam’s lecture schedule allowed him to spend most of Dec. 1 to 6 with Livy in New York City [MTL 3: 428n1].

December 3 Friday – Sam lectured  (“Savages”) in Collingwood’s Opera House, Poughkeepsie, New York.

Sam wrote from Brooklyn, New York to the editor of the Brooklyn Eagle, that a “misunderstanding” had resulted in canceling his second Brooklyn lecture [MTL 3: 417].

“The Richardson Murder,” an unsigned article attributed to Sam, was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 101].

December 4 Saturday – Sam telegraphed from New York to James Redpath about the “infernal mite society, a pure charity speculation” and the mix-up for the second Brooklyn lecture [MTL 3: 418]. Note: this in reply to the following Redpath telegram sent to the home of Henry and Fidele Brooks:

“Please see Miss Wason, Brooklyn.

“Not speculators but regular Course. This engagement was made at your own written request.

James Redpath” [MTPO]. Note: undated, but likely this day or Friday.

“Browsing Around ‘BACK FROM YURRUP’,” an article of Sam’s which included a spoof at Josh Billings, was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 102].

December 6 Monday – Sam’s article “MARK TWAIN’S IDEA OF A GOOD LETTER” was reprinted in the Grass Valley, California, Daily National. Sam’s niece, Annie Moffett’s letter was the object of Sam’s admiration [Fatout, MT Speaks 58-9].

William F. West, Horatio C. King & Lorin Palmer wrote:

Dear Sir,

As you will perhaps remember, the lecture committee of the “Plymouth Young People’s Association” desired to secure your services, for a lecture to be delivered, during the present month, in Plymouth Church, Brooklyn. Your agent in Boston wrote us some two weeks ago, that you were to lecture in Brooklyn, Dec. 1st and again Dec 6th, and would prefer not to engage yourself for a third time. Seeing your card, however, in the Brooklyn evening papers of Saturday last, we thought you might, perhaps, be induced to change your answer previously given us.

If you can lecture for us any night of this or next week, we would be pleased to have you communicate with either of us, as below.

Yours truly,
em spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceWm. F. West
em spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem space31 Mercer St, near Grand
em spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceHoratio C. King
em spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem space38 Wall St.
em spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceLorin Palmer 170 Water St [MTPO].
[ page 385 ]

Sam wrote from New York to James Redpath about the above letter:

I talked with Horatio C. King about this but I didn’t want to lecture in Brooklyn any more, & so I told him I had no night open.

This is the very society I thought that infernal woman was representing. This is the Society I have long been wanting to talk for & King & I have often tried to fix a date & never could before.

But I’ve got enough. I never will lecture outside of New England again—& I never will lecture in Brooklyn at all. I’m just beat out with that most infernal Mite Society. I published a card in the Brooklyn papers saying I would not be present at the Brooklyn Atheneum to-night. I am to blame from the very start—& NOBODY ELSE. I have done all this on my own responsibility—I shoulder it all.

Mark.

Suspend judgment, Redpath, till you see me. We were both mistaken about that Miss Wason’s Mite Society. If she writes complainingly to you, tell her you are authorized by me to pay the expense she has been at if it is not over fifty dollars—& that is all the reparation you know how to make. (She did no advertising, & that was one thing I was so outrageously mad about. She put in one square (marked eod ie. “every other day”) in the least circulated Brooklyn paper, & not a line in any other—& she made that ad. read as if I was talking on my own hook & for no society—a public independent mountebank in an unused barn of a theatre up a back street.) Excuse me from talking in any such place.

Mark

Snowing & blowing—this is the worst night you ever saw—I am glad I just saved myself [MTL 3: 419-20; MTPO].

By the evening of this day, Sam was in Boston, at the annual dinner of the Boston Press Club. After dinner, Sam went with others to Selwyn’s Theatre, where he saw Lady Audley’s Secret from a novel by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1862), her most successful work. Sam used Boston as his base during November, while lecturing in New England.

Sorin Palmer wrote to Sam [MTP]. Note: Vic Fischer at MTP says this is a “ghost letter,” that is, referred to somewhere but with no known text. It is included in case the text should ever surface.

December 7 Tuesday – Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Academy of Music, Philadelphia, Pa. [MTL 3: 414n1].

George L. Fall, partner of James Redpath, wrote to Sam with upcoming lecture details [MTP].

December 8 Wednesday – Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Lincoln Hall, Washington, D. C. [MTL 3: 415].

December 9 Thursday – Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Germantown, Pa. [MTL 3: 415].

December 10 Friday – Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Mount Vernon, New York [MTL 3: 415].

This day or the next, Sam wrote a letter of thanks to Schuyler Colfax, Vice President under Grant, for his “Open Sesame” letter written for Charles Langdon and Professor Darius Ford on their world trip [MTL 3: 421]. Sam spent part of Dec. 10 and 11 with Livy in New York City [MTL 3: 428n1].

December 11 Saturday – Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Town Hall, West Meriden, Conn. [MTL 3: 415].

“Around the World Letter No. 4” was printed in the Buffalo Express. The article included humorous sketches on the early days in California [McCullough 108]. [ page 386 ]

December 13 Monday – Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Union Hall, New Britain, Conn. [MTL 3: 415].

Afterwards, Sam took a train for Springfield, Mass., where he spent the night. He wrote from Springfield to James Redpath about changing the advertisement of his lectures, which has been printed up “The Curiosities of California,” instead of “Our Fellow Savages of the Sandwich Islands.” Sam had been forced to apologize to audiences [MTL 3: 422].

December 14 Tuesday – Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Warren, Mass. [MTL 3: 415].

He wrote from Springfield to Livy about the packed house in New Britain, some creative changes he’d made to an anecdote, and a dream about losing Livy to a rival [MTL 3: 423-4]. Sam had witnessed Steve Gillis’ breakup before his wedding, and also possibly feared he wasn’t good enough for the idealized “vision” he had constructed.

December 15 Wednesday – Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Armory Hall, Pawtucket, R.I. [MTL 3: 415].

He wrote a short note from Boston to his mother and family about his lecturing, Livy’s trousseau, which Jervis Langdon called her “trowsers,” and his contracting a cold; he was feeling too low to answer Pamela’s letter [MTL 3: 425].

Sam began a letter from Pawtucket to Livy that he finished Dec. 16. He mentioned having a talk with Frederick Douglass:

He told the history of his child’s expulsion from Miss Tracy’s school, & his simple language was very effective. Miss Tracy said the pupils did not want a colored child among them—which he did not believe, & challenged the proof. She put it at once to a vote of the school, and asked “How many of you are willing to have this colored child be with you?” And they all held up their hands! Douglass added: “The children’s hearts were right.” There was pathos in the way he said it. I would like to hear him make a speech. He has a grand face [MTL 3: 426-29].

December 16 Thursday – Sam lectured (“Savages”) at Rumford Institute, Waltham, Mass. [MTL 3: 415]. See Oct. 8.

Sam finished his Dec. 15 to Livy: “I did not write you to-day—my cold has reduced me to a spiritless state. I wouldn’t be writing you now, only I love you so, Livy, that I can’t help it. I have to commune with you, even if it be in simply a few sentences scratched with a vile, blunt pencil. I was afraid something was the matter, but I am content, now that I have heard from my darling” [MTL 3: 427]

December 17 Friday – Sam wrote from Boston to his sister, Pamela Moffett. Sam was “killed up with a cold, & shall not lecture to-night—so there goes a few weeks board.” The canceled lecture was for Abington, Mass. Sam related that Livy’s “heart is thoroughly set upon” Pamela and Annie coming for the wedding. “We shall go to Buffalo the day after the marriage & never stir another peg till we are compelled to do it” [MTL 3: 429-30].

December 18 and 19 Sunday – The lecture planned for Lynn, Mass. was also canceled due to Sam’s cold [MTL 3: 485n16]. Sam wrote from Boston to Livy about Joe Goodman coming to Elmira for the wedding and other matters. Sam went with Joseph R. Hawley to a dinner in honor of Francis W. Bird [ page 387 ] (1809-1894). Sam then went to bed at 8 PM on Dec. 18 but was visited by Joseph R. Hawley and then Lyman Beecher and so was up till 1 AM [431].

On Dec. 18, “Around the World Letter No. 5” was printed in the Buffalo Express, and included “’Pocket’” Mining, and “Baker’s Cat,” about a feline who loved to pocket mine, later known as “Dick Baker and His Cat” or “Remarkable Sagacity of a Cat” in the Californian, 1865 [McCullough 114].

December 20 Monday – Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Canton, Mass. [MTL 3: 415]. 

December 21 Tuesday – Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Hudson, Mass. [MTL 3: 415].

Sam wrote from Boston to Livy.

I talked last night in Canton, & had the hospitalities of Mr. Ames, (son of Oakes Ames the P.R.R. Mogul) inflicted on me—& it is the last time I will stop in a New England private house. Their idea of hospitality is to make themselves comfortable first, & leave the guest to get along if he can. No smoking allowed on the premises. The next New Englander that receives me into his house will take me as I am, not as I ought to be [MTL 3: 433-4]. Note: Oakes Ames (1804-1873), American capitalist and member of the House of Representatives from Mass. (1863-73). His oldest son, Oakes Angier Ames (1829-1899) also a wealthy industrialist.

December 22 Wednesday – Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Mercantile Library, Portland, Maine [MTL 3: 415].

Letters Sam wrote to Livy on Dec. 21 and 22 (letter numbers 161-2) are lost [MTL 3: 437-8n1].

December 23 Thursday – Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Town Hall, Rockport, Mass. [MTL 3: 415]. 

December 24 Friday – Sam lectured (“Savages”)  in New Hall, Slatersville, Rhode Island. Sam had been scheduled to lecture in Salem on this Christmas Eve, but changed to Slatersville to fill in for his sick friend, Josh Billings [MTL 3: 438n3].

December 25 Saturday – Christmas – Sam wrote from Boston to Livy wishing her a happy Christmas.

“I shall expect a letter in the loved & familiar hand in New Haven day after tomorrow, though—& a month after that, we shall close our long correspondence, & tell each other what our minds suggest, by word of mouth. Speed the day!” [MTL 3: 435].

Sam’s article, “Ye Cuban Patriot – A Calm Inspection of Him” ran in the Express [McCullough 117].

December 27 Monday – Sam lectured (“Savages”)  in Music Hall, New Haven, Conn. [MTL 3: 416].

Sam wrote from New Haven to Livy just before the lecture.

“I stopped two hours in Hartford today & Twichell & I bummed around together…Twelve thousand copies of the book sold this month. This is perfectly enormous. Nothing like it since Uncle Tom’s Cabin, I guess” [MTL 3: 440]. [ page 388 ]

Sam left New Haven on a coastal steamer for New York City.

J.D. Slee on Anthracite Coal Association letterhead wrote from Buffalo to advise he’d reserved rooms in Buffalo for Twain. “Yours of Dec. 13th came duly to hand. … I have found you a place on one of our most pleasant streets not unreasonably far from your briefings … $20 per week” [MTP].

December 28 Tuesday – Sam wrote from New York to Joseph Twichell sending him a rail ticket he didn’t need. He also wrote to Elisha Bliss, about sending Dan Slote more books at a discount to sell to his friends.

In the evening, Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Taylor Hall, Trenton, New Jersey [MTL 3: 441-3].

December 29 Wednesday – Sam lectured (“Savages”)  in Opera House, Newark, N.J. [MTL 3: 416].

 “An Indignant Rebuke,” an unsigned article attributed to Sam, was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 120].

The Boston Evening Transcript ran a letter by Sam about pretentious Americans, returning from Europe:

To use their pet and beloved expression, they were a ‘nahsty’ family of American snobs, and there ought to be a law against allowing such to go to Europe and misrepresent the nation. It will take these insects five years now, to get done turning up their noses at everything American, and make damaging comparisons between their own country and ‘Yurrup.’ Let us pity their waiting friends in Boston in their affliction [Vogelback, “Contributor” 111].

December 30 Thursday – Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Landmesser Hall, Wilkes-Barre, Pa. [MTL 3: 416].

 “The Hyenas,” an unsigned article attributed to Sam, was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 121].

December 31 Friday – Sam telegraphed Whitelaw Reid on or about this day. The dispatch is not extant but mentioned in Reid’s letter of Jan. 1, 1870.

Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Opera House, Williamsport, Pennsylvania [MTL 3: 416].

 



 [ page 389 ]
Sam Sues Webb – Finishes Lecture Tour – Sam & Livy Married “Sammy in Fairy Land” Buffalo Express – Jervis Falls to Cancer – Galaxy Articles – Langdon Clemens Born

 Emma Nye Dies at Clemens’ Home – Diamond Plans

1870 – Paine says that “as early as 1870 he [Sam] had jotted down an occasional reminiscent chapter” for what would become his autobiography [MTA 1: vi n1]. Of these, Paine includes “The Tennessee Land,” written this year [3-7].

January 1 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to George L. Hutchings about Trenton’s True American printing a lengthy synopsis of Sam’s Dec. 28 lecture. Sam hated it when newspapers did that; he imagined that people would not go to his lectures if they could read them in the papers. He sent Hutchings his apology for being upset by being shown the synopsis [MTL 5: 685].

“An Awful – Terrible Medieval Romance,” was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 123]. Note: The piece later appeared with Mark Twain’s (Burlesque) Autobiography (Mar. 1871) and also revised as “Medieval Romance” in Sketches Old & New (1875).

Whitelaw Reid wrote to Sam with happy new year wishes and:

 

      I gave your paragraph out and think it has appeared. I’m heartily glad to be able to render a service—if so trifling a thing deserves that name.

      I got your dispatch [not extant] in time to send word to a friend or two I had asked not to come. Better luck next time / With heartiest good wishes [MTP].

Benjamin P. Shillaber [MTP]. Note: MTP staff was unable to find this letter.

January 1 to 5 Wednesday – Sam spent these days with Livy in Elmira [MTL 4: 3].

January 4 Tuesday – Sam and Livy traveled thirty miles east of Elmira where Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Wilson Hall, Owego, New York. They returned to Elmira that evening [MTL 4: 5n2].

January 5 Wednesday – Sam left at 8 PM and traveled overnight by train from Elmira to New York City [MTL 4: 2n1, 3].

January 5-6 Thursday – Clemens wrote a sketch unpublished until 2009: “Interviewing the Interviewer” [Who Is Mark Twain? xxiv].

January 6 Thursday – Sam wrote at 9 AM from Dan Slote’s in New York to Livy.

“The Amenia train has been changed to 3.30 instead of 4, PM., & so it is just right. I can arrive there at 7.21, whoop my lecture & clear out again.”

He’d been reading Robinson Crusoe and kept losing the book. “It is just like me. I must have a nurse” [MTL 4: 1].

In the evening he lectured (“Savages”) in Amenia, New York.

An article, “Mrs. Stowe’s Vindication,” attributed to Sam, was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 129]. [ page 390 ]

January 7 Friday – In the wee hours after midnight, Sam wrote from Amenia, New York to Mary Mason Fairbanks.

Well, Mother Dear—You ought to see Livy & me, now-a-days—you never saw such a serenely satisfied couple of doves in all your life. I spent Jan 1,2,3,& 5 there, & left at 8 last night. With my vile temper & variable moods, it seems an incomprehensible miracle that we two have been right together in the same house half the time for a year & half, & yet have never had a cross word, or a lover’s “tiff,” or a pouting spell, or a misunderstanding, or the faintest shadow of a jealous suspicion. Now isn’t that wonderful? Could I have had such an experience with any other girl on earth? I am perfectly certain I could not. And yet she has attacked my tenderest peculiarities & routed them. She has stopped my drinking, entirely. She has cut down my smoking considerably. She has reduced my slang & my boisterousness a good deal [MTL 4: 3]. Note: Sam never quit smoking and soon resumed the other vices.

In the evening, Clemens lectured (“Savages”) in Egberts Hall, Cohoes, New York.

January 8 Saturday – At midnight in the Troy House, Troy, New York, Sam wrote to Livy. He wrote her a second letter later in the day. His second letter marveled at the insignificance of the earth in the universe and of man. “Does one apple in a vast orchard think as much of itself as we do?” Sam was reading “The Early History of Man” in Eclectic Magazine for Jan. 1870 [MTL 4: 12].

Sam also wrote his agent, James Redpath, of “one-horse” towns, bills, and the like.

“Cohoes was another infernal no-season-ticket concern—paid me in 7,000 ten-cent shin-plasters, so that my freight cost more back to Albany than my passage did” [MTL 4: 10].

“Around the World Letter No. 6,” sub-titled “Early Days in Nevada, Silver Land Nabobs” was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 130].

January 10 Monday – At noon, Sam wrote from Albany New York to Livy, apologizing for his Owego lecture she had attended. The reviews were good, however. “What an eternity a lecture-season is!” Sam wrote that he was reading Ivanhoe. “He is dead, now” [MTL 4: 15-16].

That evening he lectured (“Savages”) in Tweddle Hall, Albany. Afterward in bed he wrote again to Livy. “Had an immense house, tonight, little sweetheart, & turned away several hundred—no seats for them” [MTL 4: 17].

January 11 Tuesday – Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Union Place Hall, West Troy, New York.

Note: Sam’s next two letters to Livy, No.s 174-5, after West Troy and Rondout lectures are lost [MTL 4: 20n10].  

 

An empty envelope from Oliver Wendell Holmes for this date was found in Sam’s notebook # 29. Addressed to “Mark Twain Esq. (Care of Samuel Clemens)” at the American Publishing Company in Hartford. The postmark was “Jan. 11,” the year “probably” 1870 [MTNJ 3: 483.]

January 12 Wednesday – Clemens lectured (“Savages”) in Rondout, New York.

January 13 Thursday – Sam wrote from Cambridge, New York to Livy about quitting smoking—did she really want him to?

“I shall treat smoking just exactly as I would treat the forefinger of my left hand: If you asked me in all seriousness to cut that finger off…I give you my word I would cut it off” [MTL 4: 21]. Note: Presented in this way, how could Livy ask Sam to quit smoking?  [ page 391 ]

In the evening, Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Hubbard Hall, Cambridge, New York [MTPO].

January 14 Friday – Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Mechanic’s Hall, Utica, New York [MTPO].

Sam wrote from Troy, New York to Livy. Neither poor weather nor a fire in the lecture hall stopped Sam from his lecture. He was upset that the Troy Daily Times had published his Cambridge lecture of the night before. At 7 a fire broke out in the lecture hall.

“…I felt that all I needed to be entirely happy was to see the Troy Times editors & this chairman locked up in that burning building” [MTL 4: 25-6]. Note: The fire was quickly put out and Sam lectured in a damp, singed, smelly hall.

January 15 Saturday – Sam wrote after midnight from the Baggs Hotel in Utica, New York to Livy [Powers, MT A Life 280].

“We had a noble house to-night (Oh, it is bitter, bitter cold & blustery!)—the largest of the season, they believe, though they cannot tell till they count the tickets to-morrow.”

Sam also wrote his sister, Pamela. He’d sent money for her and Annie to come for his wedding, plus support money for his mother, whom he did not want making the trip during the winter.

“Hurry up, Pamela, you & Annie, & get to Elmira by the 24th or 25th if you can. I shall be there by the 22nd to remain.”

That evening he lectured (“Savages”) in Doolittle Hall, Oswego, New York. Sam’s story, “A Ghost Story – By the Witness,” was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 134].

January 17 Monday – Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Baldwinsville, New York [MTPO].

January 18 Tuesday – Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Ogdensburg, NY [MTPO]. He left Buffalo at 4 PM.

January 19 Wednesday – Sam lectured at the Normal School Chapel, Fredonia, New York [MTPO]. The Fredonia Censor reported on Jan. 26 of this lecture:

Mark Twain’s lecture was a success…we shall not attempt to quote, for the reason that the lecture was too good to be mutilated, or spoiled for other audiences by having the jokes sent ahead of the speaker, and then, be the report never so accurate, the effect of Mark’s delivery is lost, which is a continued source of amusement in itself. Imagine a lean, cadaverous looking speaker, standing upon the platform for five minutes like a school boy who has forgotten his “piece,” and then drawling out with ministerial gravity his own introduction, because the Chairman of Lecture Committees never introduced him “strong enough.”

Note: five letters that Sam wrote Livy from Jan. 15 to 19 (#’s 179-83) are lost [MTL 4: 33n1].

January 20 Thursday – Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Hornell Library, Hornellsville, New York. Sam wrote before the lecture from Hornellsville to Livy.

I left Buffalo at 4PM yesterday & went to Dunkirk, & thence out to Fredonia by horse-car (3 miles) rattled my lecture through, took horse-car again & just caught 9.45 PM train bound east—sat up & smoked to Salamanca (12.30,) stripped & went to bed in a sleeping car two hours & a half, & then got up & came ashore here at 3 o’clock this morning—& had a strong temptation to lie still an hour or two longer & go to Elmira. But I resisted it. By coming through in the night, I saved myself 2 hours extra travel [MTL 4: 31-2]. [ page 392 ]

January 21 Friday – Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Institute Hall, Jamestown, New York, and immediately made the trip to Elmira to prepare for his wedding [MTL 4: 33n1]. Note: Reigstad writes that the tour “ended with a whimper. / He admitted to being tired for his last lecture stop, and the Jamestown Journal reports were unflattering” [93]. During the three-month lecture tour, Clemens sent over 20 stories to the Buffalo Express [94].

January 22 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss. He had begun a book about Noah’s Ark, which was never completed. He also wrote that he was “prosecuting Webb in the N.Y. courts” to regain the copyright of the Jumping Frog book, which Charles Webb had entered in his own name. He intended then to break up the plates “& prepare a new vol. of Sketches.” He also asked Elisha for a quarterly statement on Innocents Abroad [MTL 4: 33-4].

 

Sam’s article, “Around the World Letter No. 7,” was printed in the Buffalo Express. Subtitles within the article: “CHINAMEN,” and “DESPERADOES.”

 

January 26 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Jim Gillis, evidently answering Jim’s letter about the good ol’ days at Angels Camp.

 

I mean that day we sat around the tavern stove & heard that chap tell about the frog & how they filled him with shot. And you remember how we quoted from the yarn & laughed over it, out there on the hillside while you & dear old Stoker panned & washed. I jotted the story down in my note-book that day, & would have been glad to get ten or fifteen dollars for it—I was just that blind [MTL 4: 36].

 

Sam also wrote James Redpath about a disputed bill:

“I am willing to pay the $100 peaceably—though I prefer to be sued if it will not discommode you too much. It is more business-like. I am to be married next week, and I have got to economise. I am not going to pay the full amount of any body’s bill” [MTL 4: 39]. Note: this is possibly due to his Brooklyn cancel; see Dec. 6, 1869.

January 28 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss, happy with the $4,000 due him for his latest royalties from Innocents Abroad.

 

“But $4,000 is pretty gorgeous. One don’t pick that up often, with a book. It is the next best thing to lecturing….I’ll back you against any publisher in America, Bliss—or elsewhere” [MTL 4: 40-1].

 

To date, Sam had totaled royalties of about $7,404 [MTL 4: 42n5].

 

January 29 Saturday – Sam’s article, “Around the World Letter No. 8,” subtitled, “Dining with a Cannibal,” was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 144].

 

February 2Wednesday – Samuel L. Clemens married Olivia Louise Langdon. Congregational ministers Joseph Twichell and Thomas K. Beecher performed the ceremony at 7 PM. Over one hundred guests looked on in the parlors of the Langdon home in Elmira, including Sam’s sister, Pamela Moffett and his niece Annie, who had arrived several days before the wedding to get acquainted with the bride and her family. Mary Mason Fairbanks arrived after Sam’s family. Olivia wore a white satin dress with long white veil and gloves that nearly reached her shoulders. After the wedding there was a supper with non-alcoholic beverages. Sam had sworn off of alcohol for the past year [Sanborn 444]. (See MTL 4: 42-4 for a long list of guests).

 

Sam received a check for $4,309.42 from his publishers for royalties from Innocents Abroad [MTL 4: 42n1].

 [ page 393 ]

Sam may have inscribed William Smith’s A Concise Dictionary of the Bible (1865): “Livie L. Langdon / Feb 2d 1870” Note: Sam did not use this spelling of “Livy” in any other letters found.

 

The title page of an English New Testament (1869) was inscribed: “The Clemens’s. S.L. & O.L. Feby. 2d, 1870” [Gribben 68].

 

February 3 Thursday – The newlyweds left in a private railroad car for their new home in Buffalo. On the train Sam entertained by singing an old British folk ballad that his niece Annie Moffett did not think proper for the occasion. The song would appear in different versions in HF and P&P.

 

Upon arrival in Buffalo a great surprise awaited Sam. John Slee was to have selected a boarding house for the newlyweds, yet was in cahoots with Jervis Langdon and Livy. After others, including Pamela Moffett and Annie Moffett, had boarded sleighs, supposedly for a hotel, the last sleigh took Sam and Livy on a long ride, stopping in front of a three-story brick mansion on ritzy Delaware Avenue, number 472. It seemed like a mistake—people in such neighborhoods did not take in boarders. Livy assured Sam it was the right address and they opened the front door, greeted by Livy’s parents and Pamela and Annie. The house was a gift from Olivia’s father, Jervis Langdon. Sam was floored, and speechless, “for a minute” [Sanborn 444-5].

 

February 6 Sunday – Sam wrote from Buffalo, New York to William “Will” Bowen:

 

My First, & Oldest & Dearest Friend,

My heart goes out to you just the same as ever! Your letter has stirred me to the bottom. The fountains of my great deep are broken up & I have rained reminiscences for four & twenty hours. The old life has swept before me like a panorama; the old days have trooped by in their old glory, again; the old faces have looked out of the mists of the past; old footsteps have sounded in my listening ears; old hands have clasped mine, old voices have greeted me, & the songs I loved ages & ages ago have come wailing down the centuries! Heavens what eternities have swung their hoary cycles about us since those days were new! Since we tore down Dick Hardy’s stable; since you had the measles & I went to your house purposely to catch them; since Henry Beebe kept that envied slaughter-house & Joe Craig sold him cats to kill in it; since old General Gaines used to say, “Whoop! Bow your neck & spread!;” since Jimmy Finn was town drunkard & we stole his dinner while he slept in the vat & fed it to the hogs in order to keep them still till we could mount them & have a ride; since Clint Levering was drowned; since we taught that one-legged nigger, Higgins, to offend Bill League’s dignity by hailing him in public with his exasperating “Hello, League!”—since we used to undress & play Robin Hood in our shirt-tails, with lath swords, in the woods on Holliday’s Hill on those long summer days; since we used to go swimming above the still-house branch—& at mighty intervals wandered on vagrant fishing excursions clear up to “the Bay,” & wondered what was curtained away in the great world beyond that remote point; since I jumped overboard from the ferry boat in the middle of the river that stormy day to get my hat, & swam two or three miles after it (& got it,) while all the town collected on the wharf & for an hour or so looked out across the angry waste of “whitecaps” toward where people said Sam. Clemens was last seen before he went down; since we got up a rebellion against Miss Newcomb, under Ed. Stevens’ leadership, (to force her to let us all go over to Miss Tory’s side of the schoolroom,) & gallantly “sassed” Laura Hawkins when she came out the third time to call us in, & then afterward marched in in threatening & bloodthirsty array—& meekly yielded, & took each his little thrashing, & resumed his old seat entirely “reconstructed;” since we used to indulge in that very peculiar performance on that old bench outside the school-house to drive good old Bill Brown crazy while he was eating his dinner; since we used to remain at school at noon & go hungry, in order to persecute Bill Brown in all possible ways—poor old Bill, who could be driven to such extremity of vindictiveness as to call us “You infernal fools!” & chase us round & round the school-house—& yet who never had the heart to hurt us when he caught us, & who always loved us & always took our part when the big boys wanted to thrash us; since we used to lay in wait for Bill Pitts at the pump & whale him; (I saw him two or three years ago, & was awful polite to his six feet two, & mentioned no reminiscences); since we used to be in Dave Garth’s class in Sunday school & on week-days stole his leaf tobacco to run our miniature tobacco presses with; since Owsley shot Smar; since Ben Hawkins shot off his finger; since we accidentally burned up that poor fellow in [ page 394 ] the calaboose; since we used to shoot spool cannons, & cannons made of keys, while that envied & hated Henry Beebe drowned out our poor little pop-guns with his booming brazen little artillery on wheels; since Laura Hawkins was my sweetheart————————

     Hold! That rouses me out of my dream, & brings me violently back unto this day & this generation. For behold I have at this moment the only sweetheart I have ever loved, & bless her old heart she is lying asleep upstairs in a bed that I sleep in every night, & for four whole days she has been Mrs. Samuel L. Clemens! [MTL 4: 50-51]. Note: Clemens continued a few paragraphs praising Livy, and recounting the surprise of the house given to them by Jervis Langdon. He invited Will and wife to visit. See notes in source for information on persons mentioned. Sam was capable of utterly sublime prose poetry.

 

Clemens went alone to services at the Lafayette Presbyterian Church, Rev. Grosvenor W. Heacock, minister [MTL 4: 55n5]. Livy rested at home [Reigstad 130]. He also sent his wedding notice to George E. Barnes, editor of the San Francisco Morning Call, who had fired Sam. The two men remained on good terms. A similar notice and note was sent to Horace E. Bixby, Sam’s old Pilot & tutor of the Big Muddy; to Laura H. Frazier (Hawkins), the old sweetheart; to John McComb, Sam’s employer on the Alta California; to Charles Warren Stoddard, co-editor of the Californian (“what is the matter with Bret Harte? –why all these airs?”); and to William Wright (Dan De Quille). Harte had met some difficulty in getting a review copy of IA. A protest letter from Harte hit Sam as “insulting.” This was the beginning of their famous split [MTL 4: 56-63].

 

February 7 Monday – Joseph and Harmony Twichell responded to Sam’s telegram for them to visit; they arrived in Buffalo this day [MTL 4: 66].

 

Mary Mason Fairbanks’ account of the Clemens wedding ran in the Cleveland Herald. Though the event was mentioned in many newspapers, her account is the fullest, since she was in attendance.

 

February 8 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to John Fuller, brother of Sam’s agent in 1867, Frank Fuller. Sam declined to lecture. “Am just married, & don’t take an interest in anything out of doors” [MTL 4: 64].

 

February 9 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Francis P. Church, of the Galaxy. Sam claimed his work for the Buffalo Express paid him an ample livelihood; that he wrote sketches, squibs and editorials for it; that he didn’t go to the office [MTL 4: 65].

 

Sam and Livy also wrote at noon to Jervis and Olivia Lewis Langdon. The newlyweds had exchanged social calls with the John and Emma Slee, and the Twichells came to visit.

 

I told them the story of what happened to Little Sammy in Fairy Land when he was hunting for a Boarding House, & they enjoyed that.

 

We are very regular in our habits. We get up at 6 o’clock every morning, & we go to bed at 10 every evening. We have three meals a day—breakfast at 10 o’clock, lunch at 1 PM & dinner at 5. The reason we get up at 6 in the morning is because we want to see what time it is. Partly this, & partly because we have heard that early rising is beneficial. We then go back to bed, & get up finally at half past 9 [MTL 4: 66-7].

 

Cary H. Fry wrote from St. Louis to Sam having rec’d his “cards today” and congratulated him on his marriage to Livy [MTP].

 

February 10 Thursday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Charles Cole Hine, editor of the monthly journal, Insurance Monitor, declining to submit an article.

 

I have begun a new life & a new system, a new dispensation. And the bottom rule of the this latter is,  [ page 395 ]

To Work No More than is Absolutely Necessary.

I’ve got plenty of money & plenty of credit—& so I won’t write about your wicked & dreadful insurance business till my gas bills go to protest & the milk-man ceases to toot his matutinal horn before the gates of

Yours Truly & Defiantly, … [MTL 4: 69].

 

February 12 Saturday – Rev. Grosvenor W. Heacock, minister Lafayette Presbyterian Church, called on Sam and Livy at home. Reigstad writes: “Heacock spoke highly of The Innocents Abroad to Twain, and the new married couple enjoyed his company” [130].

 

February 13 Sunday – Sam again attended services at the Lafayette Presbyterian Church, Rev. Grosvenor W. Heacock, minister. This time Livy accompanied him [Reigstad 130].

 

Sam wrote from Buffalo to Mary Mason Fairbanks, and Livy added her comments.

 

We are glad you printed that graceful account of our wedding & our Surprise—we were glad enough to have you do it, because you know how such things should be done—but I made a special request (for Livy’s sake) of all the other writers present, at the wedding, that they put all they had to say into one stickfull, & leave out the adjectives [MTL 4: 70]. Note: Mary’s account of the Clemens’ wedding ran in the Cleveland Herald (her husband’s newspaper) on Feb. 7.

 

February 14 Monday – Henry W. Shaw (Josh Billings) wrote to Sam; letter not found at MTP, but catalogued as UCLC 31952.

 

February 15 Tuesday – Elisha Bliss wrote to Sam. After pleasantries and tales of a “little ‘bender’” with Twichell, Bliss gave production numbers on IA, “Have sold about 5,000 so far this month,” then hit Sam with the bad news about Kitty (Kate) D. Barstow (Mrs. William H. Barstow):

 

And now about a matter I want help in—Mrs. Kate D. Barstow suddenly disappeared from our sky, owing $157.40. We hear nothing from her. Can you ascertain her whereabouts—Think she should be looked after—She always seemed to be prompt, till she stept out. We wrote to Washington & elsewhere but no, answer [MTL 4: 78n1]. Note: Kitty did not write Sam until Oct. 16, 1881, and then asking for assistance to study medicine. As per Sam’s Feb. 26 to Bliss, Kitty did eventually pay.

 

February 17 – 19 Saturday – Sometime during these two days David Ross Locke (“Petroleum Nasby”) and Coleman E. Bishop (1838-1896), editor of the Jamestown NY Journal, made an afternoon call. Locke was in Buffalo to lecture on “The Struggles of a Conservative with the Woman Question,” likely being about suffrage [Reigstad 134]. Note: Bishop was Twain’s contact for his January 21 Jamestown lecture. See also Feb. 18; July 14, 1871 to Redpath; MTL 4: 76n1, 2.

 

February 18 Friday – Sam attended David Ross Locke’s lecture in Buffalo for the Woman’s Suffrage Association on “The Struggles of a Conservative with the Woman Question.” Sam published a review in the Buffalo Express on Feb. 19 [Reigstad, email 11 May 2013].

 

February 19 Saturday – The Hartford Courant reported that the 60,000 copy of Innocents Abroad had been printed, some 45,000 sold [MTL 4: 78n1]. An article attributed to Sam, “Nasby’s Lecture,” was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 153].

 

The San Francisco News-Letter, “Town Crier” page, carried a snide blurb about Sam’s marriage:

 

Mark Twain, who, whenever he has been long enough sober to permit an estimate, has been uniformly found to bear a spotless character, has got married. It was not the act of a desperate man—it was not committed [ page 396 ] while laboring under temporary insanity; his insanity is not of that type, nor does he even labor—it was the cool, methodical, cumulative, culmination of human nature working in the heart of an orphan hankering for some one with a fortune to love—some one with a bank account to caress. For years he has felt this matrimony coming on. Ever since he left California there has been an undertone of despair running through all his letters like the subdued wail of a pig in a wash-tub [Tenney 3].

 

February 20 Sunday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Joel Benton (1832-1911), former owner of the Amenia Times. Benton wanted to sell the Buffalo Express some European letters. Sam said the Express did not need European letters [MTL 4: 73-4]. Sam and Livy again teamed up on a letter written to Livy’s mother . Sam teased Livy about her cooking and housekeeping:

 

“Now this morning we had a mackerel fricasseed with pork & oysters, & I tell you it was a dish to stir the very depths of one’s benevolence. We saved every bit of it for the poor.” (Livy wrote “(False)” after “oysters.”) [MTL 4: 75]. Note: Sam mentioned the Petroleum Nasby lecture as “the other day” (Feb. 18).

 

A statement from Buffalo Express Steam Printing House is in the MTP financials for 1870, with a balance brought forward of $1,009.59, interest $17.82, and an ending balance of $187.11. Payments were posted for various people, Gena Dakin, Lyman Beecher, etc., with several $50 payments made. The period covered was Sept. 25, 1870 to Feb. 20, 1871 [MTP].

 

February 23 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss, responding to his two letters (one now lost; see Feb. 15 for the other).

 

Friend Bliss—

Why bless your soul, I never have time to write letters these days—takes all my time to carry on the honey-moon. I would like to talk to Mrs Bliss [Amelia Bliss] two or three or four hours about my wife now, if she could stand it——she used to stand it very well when I was at your house.

Express gets along well. I have a strong notion to write a——

Well, never mind, I’ll tell you about it another time.

I am glad Mrs. Barstow has retrieved her credit—I was about to write you to charge her $150 to me, when your second letter came. I am very glad, more simply for her own sake, that she has kept up her credit.

6,000 & upwards, in 16 days, is splendid—Splendid, isn’t it? [IA sales]

I don’t go near the Express office more than twice a week—& then only for an hour. I am just as good [as] other men—& other men take honey-moons I reckon.

Hello!—there’s the bell—my wife is taking a nap & I am receiving calls [MTL 4: 77; MTPO].

 

Anson Burlingame, American lawyer, diplomat and mentor to Sam since the Sandwich Islands trip, died suddenly in St. Petersburg, Russia.

 

February 24 Thursday – Sam wrote a eulogy for Anson Burlingame, which ran in the Buffalo Express the following day.

 

February 25 Friday – Sam’s eulogy for “Anson Burlingame,” was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 153]. Sam said of the man who helped him get the scoop on the Hornet disaster:

…he had outgrown the narrow citizenship of a state, and become a citizen of the world; and his charity was large enough and his great heart warm enough to feel for all its races and to labor for them. He was a true man, a brave man, an earnest man, a liberal man, a just man, a generous man, in all his ways and by all his instincts a noble man; he was a man of education and culture, a finished conversationalist, a ready, able and graceful speaker, a man of great brain, a broad and deep and weighty thinker. He was a great man—a very, very great man [McCullough 153-4].

 [ page 397 ]

February 26 Saturday – Sam & Livy wrote from Buffalo to Jervis Langdon.

 

Dear Father —It was to please me that Livy moved the wash-tubs, maybe—because I said “Let them be moved, Mrs. Clemens—I have hunted high & low & cannot find anything about the house to alter or improve, & it is entirely too bad—it is not showing proper respect to a father who pulls his house to pieces all the time—Move the washtubs, into the woodhouse, Madam, pile the wood in the stable & put the horse in the laundry—I tell you something must be altered quick, or your father won’t like it [MTL 4: 80].

 

February 28 Monday – An article attributed to Sam, “The Blondes,” was printed in the Buffalo Express. The article criticized a dancing troupe called the Lydia Thompson’s Blonde Burlesque Troupe.

By some unexplained law of human nature, the farther below insult a person is, the easier it is to insult him; the nearer he comes to being a beast, the more rigidly does he demand to be considered a gentleman; the lower he is sunk in character and position, the more delicately sensitive he is, and the quicker does he take fire at criticism.

 

Now who would suppose that those Lydia Thompson Blondes could be insulted? —or anybody connected with them, male or female? The idea seems grotesque, and yet those people are as dainty in their feelings, and are as easily wounded and as cruelly smitten by any little unkind allusion to their supernatural nastiness, as if they really had a reminiscence of decency still lingering in some out-of-the-way corner of their systems [McCullough 157]. Note: see also Krause, p.44 for analysis of Sam’s editorial position.

Late February – Livy’s cousin, Hattie Marsh Tyler, “who lived in the Buffalo area, dropped in. She filled Olivia’s ears with complaints about the female ‘help’ available in Buffalo. Around that time, just three weeks into running her new household, Olivia had needed to mildly scold servants Ellen and Harriet. Perhaps Tyler’s groaning bolstered Olivia’s executive decision making (by mid-April, Harriet was dismissed as a servant)” [Reigstad 134]. Note: Livy then hired “a German girl” [143].

March – Between March 1870 and March 1871 – Sam wrote 87 pieces for the New York Galaxy [Wilson 109]. He was offered two and a half times the normal rate for a regular humorous section in the magazine. He agreed only if the label of humor was not applied to his work. He thus wrote under a column titled, “Memoranda,” and his first article was published in May.

Livy’s cousin, Anna Marsh Brown stayed with the Clemenses “briefly” [Reigstad 134].

March 2 Wednesday – The Clemenses invited George H. Selkirk and wife Emily over for the evening. Selkirk was one of Sam’s Express partners [Reigstad 133].

Jervis Langdon replied to the Feb. 26 from Sam:

Dear Samuel,

You should have the privilege of following in the footsteps of your illustrious mother, so you should. You can make changes. You may put the Carriage in the Cellar, the horse in the drawing room, & Ellen in the stable. Please your own tastes my boy, some have peculiar tastes & ought to be gratified

I am for liberty—

Your affectionate father / J. Langdon [MTPO].

In Buffalo Sam and Livy began a letter to Jervis Langdon that they finished on Mar. 3:

Polishing Irons

Dear Father—

Got your dispatch, & shall talk no business with my partners till Mr. Slee gets back. [ page 398 ]

The “Peace” has arrived, but Livy don’t know it, for she has got some eternal company in the drawing-room & it is considerably after dinner-time. But I have spread the fringed red dinner-table spread over the big rocking-chair & set up the beautiful thing on it, & in a prominent place, & it will be the first thing Livy sees when she comes in.

Later—She went into convulsions of delight when she entered. And I don’t wonder, for we both so mourned the loss of the first Peace that it did not seem possible we could do without it—& for you to send another in this delightful & unexpected way was intensely gratifying. You have our most sincere gratitude—Livy’s for the present itself, & mine because I shall so much enjoy looking at it [MTL 4: 82].

 

Note: Sam’s partners were Josephus N. Larned and George H. Selkirk. “The Peace” statuette had arrived shattered, and Livy shed tears over it and written to her mother about it. So a replacement was sent in perfect order.

March 3 Thursday – Sam and Livy (in shaded text) finished their letter to Jervis Langdon.

Your two letters came this morning, father, & your dispatch yesterday afternoon. (Mem.—Ellen’s in the stable & the horse in the attic looking at the scenery.)

We think it cannot be worth while to enter into an explanation of the Express figures, for the reason that Mr. Slee must have arrived in Elmira after your letter was written, & he would explain them to you much more clearly & understandingly than I could.

I thank you ever so much for your offer to take my money & pay me interest on it until we decide whether to add it to the Kennett purchase or not. I was going to avail myself of it at once, but waited to see if Mr. Slee & MacWilliams [sic McWilliams]couldn’t make Selkirk’s figures show a little more favorably. As I hoped, so it has resulted. And now, upon thorough conviction that the Express is not a swindle, I will pay some more on the Kennett indebtedness.

I am very glad to begin to see my way through this business, for figures confuse & craze me in a little while. I haven’t Livy’s tranquil nerve in the presence of a financial complexity—when her cash account don’t balance (which does not happen oftener than once a day) false she just increases the item of “Butter 78 cents” to “Butter 97 cents”—or reduces the item of “Gas, $6.45” to “Gas, $2.35” & makes that account balance. She keeps books with the most inexorable accuracy that ever mortal man beheld.

Father it is not true— Samuel slanders me—

I wrote “Polishing Irons” at the head of this letter the other night to remind either Livy or me to write about them—didn’t put it there for a text to preach from.

The report of my intending to leave Buffalo Livy & I have concluded emanates from Hartford, for the reason that it really started in the newspapers only a very little while after my last visit & your last letter to Hartford, & has been afloat ever since.

Yr son

Samuel

[MTL 4: 82]. Note: shaded text by Livy.

Sam also wrote Elisha Bliss, asking him to send a free copy of his book to an old Hannibal boyhood friend now a Methodist preacher in Rolla, Mo.—Lewis Frank Walden (d.1924) [MTL 4: 84]. Note: Walden was a close boyhood pal of Sam’s and lived on Palmyra Avenue (now Mark Twain Avenue) at the foot of Cardiff Hill. Besides all the boyhood games and pranks shared, Walden set type in the Hannibal Courier office with Sam, and later purchased the place [Hannibal Courier-Post, Mar. 6, 1935 p.9C].

March 4 Friday – In Buffalo Sam replied to Lewis Frank Walden (whose letter not extant) explaining why he wasn’t lecturing:

 

“I was married a month ago & so have cast away the blue goggles of bachelordom & now look at the world through the crystal lenses of my new estate” [MTL 4: 86].

 [ page 399 ]

March 6 Sunday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Robert and Louise Howland (b. 1848?) with a note to James Warren Nye. Howland was a former mining buddy and partner of Sam’s in 1861. Nye was the former governor of Nevada and now Senator. Sam last saw Nye while in Washington, D.C. in 1868 [MTL 4: 87-8n1&4]. Note: The Howlands would visit Twain in Buffalo in June.

 

Stephen C. Massett (Jeems Pipes) wrote to Sam presenting his “compliments and begs leave to thank him for the enclosed notice,” pasted in small clipping which reads: “Chicago has Lingard and Leffingwell for its show-cards. Also that insanity Stephen Massett” [MTP].

 

March 7 Monday – Sam’s brief disclaimer of a rumor that he was about to leave Buffalo was printed in the Express, daily from this day through Mar. 11. “I am a permanency here” [MTL 4: 89].

 

March 9 Wednesday – An article attributed to Sam, “More Wisdom,” was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 159].

 

March 11 Friday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Francis P. Church. Sam offered to edit the humorous department of the Galaxy for $2,000 a year if they’d release copyright back to him upon publication. He claimed he could make that amount in two weeks of lecturing, a bit of a stretcher. Church and his brother William had offered $2,400 a year but retention of copyright [MTL 4: 90-1]. Sam’s deal with the Galaxy broke new ground in the publishing industry by, in effect, “renting” pieces submitted rather than selling them. The Holy Land letters to the Alta, and the subsequent need to use them for Innocents Abroad had educated Sam [A. Hoffman 172].

 

Sam also wrote Bliss, allowing him to bid on the material the Galaxy wanted to publish and then use for a book. He added:

 

“I have a sort of vague half-notion of spending the summer in England. I could write a telling book. But we don’t like to leave our delightful nest even for a day. Have you heard yet what the possibilities are in the matter of selling our book there?” [MTL 4: 91].

 

Sam’s thoughts of a trip to England may have come from Jervis offering to pay for a European trip if Sam would give up smoking and drinking. No, Sam replied, he could not sell himself that way.

 

March 12 Saturday – Sam’s article, “A Big Thing,” was printed in the Buffalo Express. Commenting on an article from the Louisville Journal, Sam wrote:

 

How familiar that old gushing, tiresome bosh is!…I wish to ask the Louisville reporter the old familiar question, so common among reporters in the mines: “How many ‘feet’ did the doctor give you?” (“Feet are shares.) We always got “feet,” in Nevada, for whooping about a Nearly-Pure-Silver-National-Debt-Liquidator in this gushing way” [McCullough 166].

 

March 15 Tuesday – Sam accepted an invitation from a Mr. Nicholls to read for the G.A.R. [MTL 4: 92]. Note: Reigstad credits Martha Gray (Mrs. David Gray) with persuading Twain to speak as part of the Grand Army of the Republic’s lecture series. Reigstad writes:

 

“Twain read from ‘The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County’ and also from a chapter of The Innocents Abroad to a very large crowd that had braved bitter ten-degree cold and heavy snowfall to pack the room. Twain shared the bill with English elocutionist Henry Rogers.” [136]. Note: Twain declined to have ex-resident Millard Fillmore introduce him as he was afraid Fillmore would say something that would make him laugh or cry.

 [ page 400 ]

March 16 Wednesday – Sam telegraphed an unidentified person, declining to lecture “during the present season” [MTL 4: 92].

 

March 18 Friday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Hattie Booth, an autograph seeker [MTL 4: 93].

 

March 19 Saturday – Sam’s article, “A Mysterious Visit,” a delightful spoof on income taxes and deductions, was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 166]. A second article attributed to Sam, “Literary Guide to Williams & Packard’s System of Penmanship,” also was printed in the Express [McCullough 170].

 

March 21 Monday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to James T. Fields, senior partner in Fields, Osgood & Co., a prestigious Boston publishing company. Fields preceded William Dean Howells as editor of the Atlantic Monthly.

 

“Fields Osgood & Co. does not appear to send us any more books to notice. We haven’t got one lately. Will you be so kind as to kill the person who is to blame, & appoint a more reliable officer in the murdered man’s place?” [MTL 4: 93].

 

March 22 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to James Redpath, his lecture circuit agent.

          

“Dear Red: I am not going to lecture any more forever. I have got things ciphered down to a fraction now. I know just about what it will cost us to live & I can make the money without lecturing. Therefore old man, count me out” [MTL 4: 94].

 

March 22 and 24 Thursday – Sam and Livy wrote from Buffalo to Mary Mason Fairbanks. Sam told Mary about his plans to edit a humorous department for the Galaxy [MTL 4: 95]. Space prohibits inserting all of the back and forth of the newlyweds, but reading these letters does make Sam & Livy come through as flesh & blood.

 

March 26 Saturday – In the morning Sam looked out his master bedroom window and saw flames on the roof of 455 Delaware Street. He and Patrick McAleer (1846-1906), his coachman for many years, raced to help. McAleer rang fire-alarm box 62 at the corner of Virginia and Delaware. Reigstad writes:

 

Meanwhile, Twain reached his neighbor’s front entrance, pulled the doorbell, and is said to have drolly introduced himself: “My name is Clemens. We ought to have called upon you before and I beg your pardon for intruding now in this informal way—but your house is on fire.” After thus meeting the owner, J.M. Gwinn, a teller at Marine Bank, they scampered up the stairs to address the blaze. McAleer climbed out of a window onto the roof and put half the fire out by throwing snow on it. Then Twain and Gwinn passed him buckets of water to extinguish the rest. By the time the two fire department steam engines arrived, led by Chief Tom French of Columbia Hose II, the fire—caused by a defective chimney—was under control [138].

 

Sam wrote from Buffalo to his mother and family. He had received a “coffin” of Enterprise files. He praised Annie’s letter and told them about the Galaxy appointment [MTL 4: 98].

 

March 27 Sunday – Sam and Livy wrote in the afternoon from Buffalo to Jervis & Olivia Lewis Langdon.

 

“It is snowing furiously, & had been, the most of the day & part of the night…albeit snow is very beautiful when falling, its loveliness passes away very shortly afterward. The grand unpoetical result is merely chilblains & slush” [MTL 4: 98-100]. [ page 401 ]

Text Box: March 30 1870 - Amendment XV- Became Law 
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude

March 31 Thursday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Charles Frederick Wingate (1848-1909), a New York correspondent of the Springfield, Mass. Republican. Sam sent a copy of a review of his book by David Gray of the Buffalo Courier, and criticized a patronizing review by the Nation [MTL 4: 102-3].

 

William (Will) Bowen wrote from St. Louis to Clemens:

 

Dr Sam

On arrival of Keokuk Packet I went on board (this morning) to meet Sallie Bowen and who do you suppose I met?

No less distinguished visitors, than “Kitty Hawkins” (Lauras Sister) and “Old Lucy Davis” for a more particular description of them, reference is hereby made to latter portion of Shakespears Seven Ages. Old Luce’ asked for you instanter! Said you were the worst Boy, “and I declare in my heart he’s the funniest man in my acquaintance” Wants to know if you still climb out on the roof of the house and jump from 3d story windows

Yours Ever / Bill

[MTPO]. Notes from source: Sallie was Sarah Ro Bards Bowen. Catherine (Kitty) Hawkins was the older sister of Annie Laura Hawkins Frazer. Lucy Davis was a Hannibal schoolteacher.

 

April – Sam sent a spoof to be inserted in a copy of Innocents Abroad for Jane L. Stanford, wife of the ex-governor of California. The note claimed he was the source for “E pluribus Unum” [MTL 4: 103-4].

 

George Routledge, the English publisher, published a new edition of The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, And other Sketches, which included “Cannibalism in the Cars” as “a New Copyright Chapter” [MTL 5: 73n3].

 

April 1 Friday – Sam & Livy wrote from Buffalo to Jervis & Olivia Lewis Langdon. There was the usual horseplay and teasing (she was on his lap) and announcements that they were getting ready to go to England. Jervis and wife were to hurry to visit them before they left. Sam wrote:

 

“Yes, I guess we are about ready to start for England. My Galaxy work gives me a chance to travel if I want to—but if I hadn’t taken it I would have been tied hand & foot here & forever & ever. It also gives me a chance to write what I please, not what I must. Thus far I am very glad I undertook it” [MTL 4: 105].

 

April 2 Saturday – Sam’s article, “The Facts in the Great Land Slide Case,” about his days in Washoe, was printed in the Buffalo Express. “Each new witness only added new testimony to the absurdity of a man’s claiming to own another man’s property because his farm had slid down on top of it” [McCullough 172].

 

Jervis Langdon wrote to Sam and Livy:

Richmond April 2d 1870

Dear Children

The weather has been unpleasant most of the time since I came here, but it has given me a good time to rest which I much needed I live on simple diet exercise what I am able, which has been very little, but my stomach has finally consented to digest the food, & I look now for rapid improvement

We shall move on from here tomorrow, for Charlston & Savannah. We want to hear from you very much and I hope you will write immediately on recpt of this at Savannah Gi., at Screven House— [ page 402 ]

I have thrown off all care.

so you see how good I am to follow the counsel of my children—

Doct Sayles has been a great comfort to me, I could not have got along without him, all my organs seemed to have suspended their functions, I would eat food moderately for two days and then throw it up. My bowells would not moove untill mooved by medicine I have been some times 4 days but now for 4 days I have not thrown up my food & my liver seems to have assumed its function, but very slugishly

I think I shall return entirely restored. I do not intend to return untill I am well—

Since writing this much your mother has retd from Breakfast with a letter from Susie from which we learn there is a letter from you awaiting us at Charlston, which makes us in a hurry to get there It will however take us untill Tuesday evening we shall only go to Weldon Monday, we shall probably stay in Charlston untill next week Monday. However that will depend upon Circumstances, we do not hold ourselves to any rules but moove with the spirit—

Samuel, I love your wife and she loves me, I think it only fair that you should know it but you need not flare up, I loved her before you did and she loved me before she did you & has not ceased since I see no way but for you to “make the most of it”—my wife sends much love

Your father / J. Langdon [MTP].

 

April 4 Monday ca. – Alice Spaulding (1847?-1935) and Clara L. Spaulding (1849-1935), twin sisters, daughters of Henry C. Spaulding, Elmira lumber and coal dealer, came to stay with the Clemenses for ten days [MTL 4: 109].

 

April 10 Sunday – In an exchange of pulpits, Rev. Thomas K. Beecher of Elmira Congregational Church came to Buffalo and preached at Grosvenor W. Heacock’s Lafayette Presbyterian Church. In his April 16 & 17 to Jervis and Olivia Lewis Langdon, Sam noted Beecher’s morning and evening sermons: “…the evening sermon, to a crowded house, was received with prodigious favor…” [MTL 4: 110; Reigstad 131-32].

 

April 12 Tuesday – “Mark Twain on Agriculture” ran in the Buffalo Express.

 

(I can never touch the subject of Agriculture without getting excited. But you understand what I mean.) Under the head of “Memoranda” I shall take hold of this neglected topic, and by means of a series of farming and grazing articles of blood-curdling interest will proceed to lift the subject of Agriculture into the first rank of literary respectability [McCullough 176].

 

April 13 Wednesday – In Buffalo, Sam wrote to his brother Orion, who had asked if Sam could write him a letter of introduction to a Mr. Webster of the Republican [St. Louis?]. Sam could not remember the man. He also arranged to give Orion a credit at a St. Louis book dealer.

 

I keep money on deposit with Dan Slote all the time, in New York, & have just written him to write John Daly (of Daly & Boas, Blank Books, Main st. St. Louis,) to honor my order on them in your favor for $100. Dan will write them to-morrow [missing words]

…

Who is Mr. Webster of the Republican? If I knew him I would introduce you but I cannot very well take that liberty with a stranger. Who is he?

 

I may possibly know him, but cannot “place him” just now. As you want to get a patent, would it not be better for you to have one of [rest is missing; MTP, drop-in letters]. Note: The above letter claims that Sam also wrote to Dan Slote on this day; letter is lost.

 

April 14 Thursday – Sam loaned Josephus Larned, his partner on the Express, $3,000 for one year against his interest in the newspaper. Bowen & Rogers attorneys drew the papers and John Slee advised Sam.

 [ page 403 ]

Alice and Clara Spaulding left after a ten-day visit. Sam began to look for “his tribe” (family) to visit, so wrote to the Langdons on Apr. 16 that he would “need the rooms” [MTL 4: 109].

 

April 15 Friday – Livy fired Harriet the maid. Sam wrote on Apr. 16: “I had rather discharge a perilous & unsound cannon than the soundest servant girl that ever was” [MTL 4: 110].

 

Sam received a letter (not extant) from Thomas A. Kennett asking if Sam might pay something now. The first payment on purchase of the Express wasn’t till August [Apr. 16 to Jervis Langdon].

 

April 16 Saturday – Livy & Sam wrote from Buffalo to Susan L. Crane, Livy’s adopted sister. They’d received a letter from Jervis who was in Richmond, Va., and moving further South to Charleston and Savannah for his growing illness. Most of the letter is by Livy, but Sam intruded with:

 

…and Susie dear, will you send us a couple of cats by the next minister or other party that is coming this way. We have not a cat on the place, & the mice will not patronize the little trap because it is cheap & small & uncomfortable, & not in keeping with the other furniture of the house. If you could send us a kitten or two like “Livy,” it would suit Mr. Clemens’s idea of what a house-cat should be [MTL 4: 108].

 

Sam and Livy also wrote Jervis & Olivia again (Sam on Apr. 16 and Livy on Apr. 17).

 

Dear Father & Mother— / Day before yesterday I loaned Mr. Larned $3,000 taking as security one-half of his ownership in the Express—the loan is for one year. Bowen & Rogers drew the papers at Mr. Slee’s instance. Took Mr Slee’s advice in everything. I have concluded to keep him here, for I cannot do well without him, but will get you a good man in his place. My wife still needs Mrs. Slee for some time yet, also, & so it seems absolutely necessary that we retain the family here for the present [MTL 4: 109].

 

An unidentified man wrote to Clemens recalling being with him on the exploration of a mine tunnel in late April, 1863 at the Boston Mine, afterwards known as the Echo Mine. The man’s point is never given, because nothing after page 4 survives [MTP].

 

Sam’s article “The New Crime” was printed in the Buffalo Express.

“Is not this insanity plea becoming rather common? …Really, what we want now, is not laws against crime, but a law against insanity. There is where the true evil lies” [McCullough 180].

 

April 19? Tuesday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Orion Clemens. Sam had washed his hands of the Tennessee Land several times, and the property had caused a rift between him and Orion.

 

“As for the land, sell it at once & forever, if that Pittsburgh man sticks to his word. $50,000 is all it is worth, maybe” [MTL 4: 113].

 

“It is Orion’s duty to sell that land. If he lets it be sold for taxes, all his religion will not wipe out the sin” [MT Encyclopedia, Ensor 730]. Note: Their father had acquired the land in about 1830 and they’d been trying to sell it since the 1850s.

 

April 21 Thursday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Orion. Jane Clemens, their mother, arrived to visit Sam & Livy and would stay until May 23 [MTL 4: 115n2].

 

Ma is wool-gathering fearfully, if I may be so bold. When we were riding up from the cars she said Pamela & Sammy & Margaret got off the cars at Dunkirk today. Afterward, at dinner, about 5 or 6 o’clock, she said they didn’t come on with her & didn’t get off at Dunkirk. Now, an hour later, she says they are coming here, tonight, [ page 404 ] & says she hasn’t mentioned them previously, to-day. She is laughing, & so are we—but what does Pamela think of the joke if she is waiting for an escort now, down yonder at the depot? [MTL 4: 114-5].

 

April 22 Friday – Sam & Livy wrote a short note from Buffalo to Theodore W. Crane (1831-1889), their brother-in-law about receipt of a check (from money Jervis was holding for Sam) and miscellaneous matters [MTL 4: 116-7].

 

April 23 Saturday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss, acknowledging the quarterly statement for Innocents Abroad. Sam wrote that he planned to buy his mother “a beautiful home in a village [Fredonia, New York] near here—my sister paying the other five or six thousand.” Sam requested a copy of Innocents Abroad be sent to Bart Bowen’s widow, Sarah. Bart, like Sam’s brother Henry, died from a steamboat accident on May 21, 1868 [MTL 4: 117].

 

Sam’s story, “The Story of the Good Little Boy Who Did Not Prosper,” was printed in the Buffalo Express. This was a revision of “The Bad Little Boy who did not Come to Grief,” published earlier [McCullough 182]. Note: it also ran in the May issue of the Galaxy.

April 26 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Frank Fuller, who was trying to sell Sam more insurance. Sam mentioned what was to be a small tempest with “John Quill” (Charles Heber Clark 1841-1915) about the ending to a story Quill claimed was his. (In “The Story of the Good Little Boy Who Did Not Prosper,” a boy is blown up with nitro-glycerin) [MTL 4: 119-122].

 

Francis P. Church of the Galaxy wrote to Sam: “Enclosed I send check for the 12th part of $2000 for the May Memoranda. / Please try to let me have the June lot soon…As you see, it has made a hit” [MTP]. See May entry.

 

April 28 Thursday – Not any better and 30 pounds thinner, Jervis Langdon arrived back in Elmira with his wife. His problem was not the simple “dyspepsia” the doctors had thought, but cancer [MTL 4: 124-5n1].

 

April 29 Friday – In Springfield, New York? Sam telegraphed to Elisha Bliss:

 

“Send check & quarterly statement to me at Elmira Saml L. Clemens” [MTP, drop-in letters].

 

April 30 Saturday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Charles C. Converse, an attorney and son of a prominent Elmira music teacher, about a wrongful characterization of Rev. Thomas De Witt Talmage, (1832-1902) pastor of the Central Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, in the May “Memoranda” of the Galaxy. Sam patched things up [MTL 4: 123].

 

The first part of “A Curious Dream” was printed in the Buffalo Express [Wilson 35; McCullough 186]. The sketch called attention to a neglected Buffalo cemetery. (See May 7 entry).

 

May – After reaching an agreement with the Galaxy on payment and copyright, Sam’s first articles for “Memorandum” were published in the May issue. They included: “Introductory,” “George Wakeman,” “About Smells,” “Disgraceful Persecution of a Boy,” “The Story of a Good Little Boy Who Did Not Prosper,” and short, miscellaneous items (includes: “Professor Silliman and the Coal Mine”; City of Hartford; Oneida; Engagement Rings; “Cain and the Feejee Islander”). Note: Budd lists “City of Hartford” as first having no title, then titled, “Misplaced Confidence” [“Collected” 1010; MTP]. From “Introductory”:

P.S.—1. I have not sold out of the “Buffalo Express,” and shall not, neither shall I stop writing for it. This remark seems necessary in a business point of view.  [ page 405 ]

2. These MEMORANDA are not a “humorous” department [Schmidt].

First appearing in the Galaxy “The Facts in the Case of the Great Beef Contract,” a satire on government bureaucracy, something Sam never had trouble satirizing [Budd, “Collected” 1010]. Paine notes that Sam wrote the article three years before and mislaid it [MTB 404]. Note: reprinted May 7, 1870 in the Sacramento Daily Union as “A Famous Beef Contract, etc.”

May 1 Sunday – Sam and Livy left Buffalo and arrived in Elmira. The Elmira Reporter announced that Jervis had returned from the south, and that Sam and Livy were in town. Jervis, knowing his time was short, officially restructured his company to include his son Charles J. Langdon, Theodore W. Crane, and John D. Slee as partners [MTL 4: 124-5n1].

 

Benjamin P. Shillaber wrote a note of introduction for John W. Ryan to shake Sam’s hand [MTP].

 

May 2 Monday – In Buffalo, Sam wrote a short note to James Redpath about lecturing in Cambridge, New York:

 

Dear Redpath, / I mislaid the letter enquiring about Cambridge, N.Y., till this moment. It got mixed with my loose papers.

      They told me that the society I talked for was the leading [&] favorite. They half burned down the hall at 7 p.m., [&] yet at 8 had a full house though a mighty wet [&] smoky one. It was a bad night too.em spaceem spaceSpringfield Mo. /[Yrs] /Mark. [MTP, drop-in letters].

 

Elisha Bliss wrote to Sam

Friend Clements. / Enclosed please find Statement of sales, & Check for 3914.65 amount of copyright, which we trust will come safely to hand, & be satisfactory to you, & show you “we still live” We will at the end of the year give you a statement of every Book bound with report of what has been done with all. Every vol that we do not pay copyright on (i e Editors &c) so as to make it all plain & square with you. This is our style— Dont think your Galaxy articles hurt your reputation at all. it was good, capital capital I sent your Book to Mrs [Bart] Bowen Col. as you directed. Please acknowledge recpt of Check, & state how you feel as regards sales &c. Respects to Mrs. C / [MTPO].

May 4 Wednesday – Sam wrote a note of thanks to a fan, Mary Janney [MTL 4: 124].

 

May 5 Thursday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss, advising him he would be home in a week (Buffalo) and asking what happened to a paragraph (what Sam thought about himself) in the New York Sun [MTL 4: 125].

 

May 6 Friday – Sam sent a dispatch from Elmira to Elisha Bliss, confirming receipt of a royalty check for $3,914.62 [MTL 4: 126]. Innocents had sold 60,378 copies, with total royalties to Sam in the amount of $11,300 [127n1].

 

May 7 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss acknowledging his check and letter of May 2. He also wrote about having an oyster dinner in Hartford with a speech once Innocents Abroad hit the 100,000-sale mark. He also mentioned his dispatch of the previous day, his:

 

“…eminent satisfaction at the way the book is selling….Mr. Langdon has been dangerously ill for some days, & it is plain that he cannot travel a mile this year. So we shall not move out of a sudden call.”

 [ page 406 ]

 Sam explained that the condition of his father-in-law precluded a trip to England, but still expected to go to the Adirondacks with the Twichells [MTL 4: 126-7].

 

 The last segment of “A Curious Dream” was printed in the Buffalo Express [Wilson 35]. Another short Express article, “Murder and Insanity,” is attributed to Sam [McCullough 194].

May 9 Monday – Sam printed an article titled “Personal” in the Buffalo Express about the May Galaxy article “Smells,” having to do with “bad-smelling laboring men” being admitted “to the pews of the church” [McCullough 199].

 

May 10 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to James Redpath and vowed he was out of the lecturing field permanently [MTL 4: 128].

 

Sam and Livy returned to Buffalo, either this day or the next and found Pamela Moffett waiting [MTL 4: 130-1n1].

 

May 13 Friday – Sam and Livy wrote from Buffalo to Jervis Langdon, thanking him for sending Livy a check for $1,000. Evidently the seriousness of Jervis’ illness was yet unknown to them, for Livy enclosed a cure for dyspepsia for Jervis [MTL 4: 129-31].

 

May 14 Saturday – Sam’s article, “Our Precious Lunatic,” was published in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 204]. William Ward, in an article, “American Humorists,” for Beacon, wrote:

 

But, since Irving, no humorist in prose has laid the foundation of a permanent fame, except it be Mark Twain, and this, as in the case of Irving, because he is a pure writer. Aside from the subtle mirth that lurks through his compositions, the grace and finish of his more didactic and descriptive sentences indicate more than mediocrity, though much of his writing has a dash of Bulwer in it [Tenney 3].

 

In Buffalo, Sam wrote to Elisha Bliss, enclosing a San Francisco letter, which evidently suggested a proposed book dealing with the Civil War:

 

Is the war worn out & the people surfeited with adventures, blood, scouting & all that sort of thing? Think the matter over & give me an idea of what I had better do with this. It would have been mighty bully chance a few years ago.

     Tell the Chicago agent to send that book (Mrs. Bart Bowen’s,) to “Care John Robards, Hannibal, Missouri.” [MTP, drop-in letters].

 

May 16 Monday – In Buffalo, Sam wrote but did not send a letter to Henry Wheeler Shaw (Josh Billings) [MTP, drop-in letters].

 

May 17 Tuesday – Elizabeth N. Buckingham (Horr) wrote from Canton, Ohio to Sam, enclosing Elizabeth Horr’s letter of May 16.

 

“My old friend Sam, / You will appreciate Mother’s effort to write: when I tell you ‘tis done with her left hand—the right hand being paralyzed and useless. / She was much affected by your kind remembrance of her, and greatly enjoyed reading your book” [MTP]. Note: Horr was Sam’s old schoolmarm. Sam wrote “preserve” on the env.

 

May 20 Friday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss, seeking advice about a proposal made by Appleton & Co. of New York, whereby Sam would write two-line captions for various pictures about Innocents Abroad. Bliss’ objections led to Sam declining Appleton [MTL 4: 131-2].  [ page 407 ]

In the evening, the Clemenses entertained the Slees [May 22 to Jervis Langdon].

 

May 21 Saturday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Frank Fuller, declining again to lecture [MTL 4: 133-5].

 

Sam also wrote to James Redpath about a photograph of himself he had ordered 1,500 copies of [MTL 4: 135]. Sam sent the photo to Will Bowen as well:

 

“Been too busy & too frightfully lazy to write, Bill—do you pity me? [MTL 4: 136].

 

May 22 Sunday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Jervis Langdon.

 

Dear Father— / For several days the news from you has grown better & better, till at last I believe we hardly seem to feel that you are an invalid any longer. We are just as grateful as ever two people were in the world. Your case was looking very ominous when we came away, & if we had been called back within a day or two we could not have been surprised. Now we hope to see you up here with mother, just as soon as you can come. Everything is lovely, here, & our home is as quiet & peaceful as a monastery, & yet as bright & cheerful as sunshine without & sunshine within can make it. We are burdened & bent with happiness, almost, & we do need to share it with somebody & so save the surplus. Come & partake freely.

I do not think we shall be easily able to go home when Anna Dickinson visits you, & so it has not been right seriously in our minds, perhaps, as yet. We expect to spend a full month in the Adirondacks (August or Sept.), & I shall have to do all that amount of Galaxy & Express writing in advance, in order to secure the time. So I shall make myself right busy for a while now—shall write faithfully every day.

I want Theodore to send $150 to Charley for me, & I never shall think of it when down town. Can Theodore send the money & just charge it up against me with interest till I see Elmira again? I have asked Charley to get a fine microscope for me, & I guess he would like me to trot the money along.

We are offered $15,000 cash for the Tennessee Land—Orion is in favor of taking it provided we can reserve 800 acres which he thinks contain an iron mine, & 200 acres of cannel coal. But inasmuch as the country is soon to be threaded with railways, the parties who are trying to buy (they are Chicago men,) may very much prefer to have the iron & coal themselves. So I advise Orion to offer them the entire tract of 30 or 40,000 acres of land at $30,000 without reserving anything; or, all except that 1,000 acres of coal & iron for $15,000. Our own agents have for two or three years been holding the tract complete, at $60,000, & have uniformly hooted at any smaller price.

My sister writes that the plants have not yet arrived from Elmira.

She also writes that she & Margaret have finished making & putting down the most of the carpets, though the one for the parlor has not transpired yet. {Transpired is no slouch of a word—it means that the parlor carpet has not arrived yet.} And she writes that the kitten slept all the way from Buffalo to Dunkirk & then stretched & yawned, issuing much fishy breath in the operation, & said the Erie road was an infernal road to ride over. {The joke lies in the fact that the kitten did not go over the Erie at all—it was the Lake-Shore.}

Livy is sound asleep, I suppose, for she went to our room an hour ago & I have heard nothing from her since.

Ma will go to Fredonia tomorrow to advise about the Tennessee land, but she may return, as my sister’s house must be pretty well tumbled yet.

Mr. & Mrs. Slee are well. We saw them Friday evening.

We took dinner & spent yesterday evening most pleasantly with the Grays (editor Courier,)—they are going to Addirawndix with us.

Must write the Twichells.

With very great love to all of you, including Mother, Sue, Theodore & Grandma—& in very great haste—

Yr Son

Samℓ [MTL 4: 138-40].

 

Annie Moffett (in 1875 became Mrs. Charles Webster) recalled Jane Clemens her grandmother in Fredonia days:  [ page 408 ]

 

Jane Clemens adored parades…She was a good mixer and loved company…She had no use for people who bored her…She was devoted to the theatre, and she loved spectacles and gaiety…She was lively and emotional and would weep at the slightest provocation…She loved red and wanted everything in her room red. She would have dressed entirely in that color if she hadn’t been dissuaded…She had a fondness for molasses candy…She was always ready to talk…She was a great embroiderer of her tales…She did not like housekeeping or doing any disagreeable work if she could get out of it…In politics she was very liberal…She loved her newspaper and, although she could see with only one eye, she would read it even by flickering firelight [The Twainian, “The Real Jane Clemens,” October, 1939 p2-4, from an article in the July, 1925 magazine, The Bookman].

 

May 26 Thursday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to the Buffalo Street Commissioner.

 

“The manner in which Delaware street is sprinkled above Virginia is simply ridiculous. A crippled infant with a garden-squirt could do it better” [MTL 4: 141].

 

May 27 Friday – Sam’s letter to the Buffalo Street Commissioner was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 207].

 

May 28 Saturday – In Buffalo Sam wrote a note of thanks to Benjamin P. Shillaber, who had sent a poem in response to Sam and Livy’s wedding announcement. Shillaber founded the Boston Carpet-Bag, (1851-3) where Sam had sent “The Dandy Frightening the Squatter” in 1852 [MTL 4: 142-3].

 

May 29 Sunday – Sam and Livy wrote from Buffalo to Mary Mason Fairbanks. Their plans to stay in the Adirondacks with the Twichells were “pretty definitely fixed” for a six week stay beginning Aug. 1. This letter shows they weren’t yet aware of the critical nature of Jervis’ illness (stomach cancer), although Livy added, “Of course we shall not go to the Adirondacs [sic] unless he is much better—.” Sam also planned to return to California in the spring. Looking over his old clippings, Sam was no doubt contemplating a book on his western adventures and felt the need to refresh his memories with another trip. Roughing It would come from Sam’s recollections [MTL 4: 144].

 

May 30 Monday – Livy and Sam wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss (Sam revised), about the suggested Hartford dinner—now the sales figure to be celebrated was 70,000 [MTL 4: 146].

Jervis Langdon and Olivia Lewis Langdon wrote their son, Charles Langdon, who had written asking for an extended stay in Europe. In part:

My dear Son

Your letter of 27th April from Beirut to your Father & Mother only is this morning recd— I have written you one letter upon the subject when in the South, which you have not recd—& my opinion is you had better calculate to reach home as nearly as you can consistently one year from the time you left. We do not feel that we can do without you longer, and think it may be as well for you to visit Europe further some day, when perhaps Clemens, Livia & Ida can go with you. My health is not good & the Doctor thinks a sea voyage at present would be hazardous as my difficulty is altogether or nearly so in the stomach, I am doing very well now & believe home is the best place for me to secure my health [MTPO].

June – In the Galaxy for this month—MARK TWAIN’S MEMORANDA – Included:

“A Couple of Sad Experiences” – (includes The Petrified Man and My Famous Bloody Massacre)
“The Judge’s ‘Spirited Woman’”
“Higgins”
“Hogwash”
[ page 409 ]
“A Literary ‘Old Offender’ in Court with Suspicious Property in His Possession”
“Post-Mortem Poetry”
“Wit-Inspirations of the “Two-Year-Olds”
Short miscellaneous items: “Murphy,” “A Patriarch,” and “Lady Franklin” [Schmidt].

Note: Budd gives “Breaking it Gently” for this issue, first appeared without a title [“Collected” 1010].

June (either June 1–6 or 12–21) Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Howland visited Sam and Livy in Buffalo. Howland was Sam’s mining partner in Aurora in 1862. Sam inscribed in Robert’s autograph book:

 

“In memory of old times in Esmeralda & Carson….when it was above ordinary to have dried apple pies on Sunday, & absolutely aristocratic to have canned peaches” [MTL 4: 147].

 

June 4 Saturday – Sam’s article, “More Distinction,” a hilarious guide to raising chickens, ran in the Buffalo Express:

 

In the case of the other method mentioned for raising poultry, your friend takes along a covered vessel with a charcoal fire in it, and you carry a long slender plank. This is a frosty night, understand. Arrived at the tree or fence or other hen-roost, (your own, if you are an idiot,) you warm the end of your plank in your friend’s fire vessel and then raise it aloft and ease it up gently against a slumbering chicken’s feet. If the subject of your attentions is a true bird, he will infallibly return thanks with a sleepy cluck or two and step out and take up quarters on the plank, thus becoming so conspicuously accessory before the fact to his own murder as to make it a grave question in our minds, as it once was in the mind of Blackstone, whether he is not really and deliberately committing suicide in the second degree [McCullough 209].

 

June 7 Tuesday – Jervis Langdon was sinking. Sam & Livy went to Elmira to help nurse him and to support Livy’s mother, Olivia Lewis Langdon [MTL 4: 149n1].

 

June 9 Thursday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss, asking him to send an enclosure with a “nice copy of the book” to Edward H. House, Occidental Hotel, San Francisco. House was traveling to Japan. When he was critic for the New York Tribune he wrote an important and glowing review (May 11, 1867) of Sam’s first NY lecture, and Sam was thankful. Sam stated that “we shall return home Saturday” (Buffalo, on June 11.) Sam liked Bliss’ idea for a book, probably on his Western adventures, but Sam wasn’t ready:

 

“…the inspiration don’t come. Wait till I get rested up & rejuvenated in the Adirondacks, & then something will develop itself sure” [MTL 4: 148-9 with notes].

 

Charles Dickens died in Gadshill, Kent. Sam never met Dickens, although he attended his reading in Dec. 1867, the same day he first met Livy. Sam did visit Dickens’ grave in Westminster Abbey in 1872, [Rasmussen 111-12] but the two did not converse.

 

June 11 Saturday – Sam wrote a note from Elmira to Ellen White, the family housekeeper to have a carriage ready in Buffalo at “half past eleven tonight—Erie Depot.” The time means that Sam & Livy left Elmira on the 7:07 PM Erie Railway’s “Day Express,” which took four and a half hours to reach Buffalo [MTL 4: 150].

 

June 12 Sunday – Sam & Livy wrote from Buffalo to Pamela A. Moffett, now living in Fredonia, NY.

 [ page 410 ]

We were snatched away suddenly by an urgent call to come to Elmira & help nurse Mr Langdon for a couple of weeks at some Pennsylvania springs he was going to visit. But he decided not to go, & so we simply rested a moment & then hurried back here.

 

I am exceedingly glad to hear that Orion’s machine is so favorably thought of by Munn & Co. An inventor is a poet—a true poet—and nothing in any degree less than a high order of poet…We would all rejoice to see Orion achieve a moneyed success with his inventions, of course—but if he can eventually do something great, something imperial, it were better to do that & starve than not to do it at all.

 

Note: Sam’s relationship with Orion was consistently conflicted. Orion’s inventions had not been patented, and he discovered later that someone else had patented a similar woodcutting machine [MTL 4: 151-3].

 

June 19 Sunday – Sam and Livy wrote from Buffalo to Jervis & Olivia Langdon. Jervis had improved somewhat and the newlyweds expected them to visit [MTL 4: 153]. Note: Jervis’ condition must have worsened after this, because they did not make the trip to Buffalo.

June 22 Wednesday – Sam and Livy returned to Elmira to help nurse Jervis Langdon [MTL 4: 155n1]. They took turns at a bedside vigil. Sam took a shift in the middle of the day and from midnight to four in the morning. Livy and sister Susan Crane sat with their father for seven or eight hour stretches, waving a palm-leaf fan over him during the hot summer days [Willis 61].

Pamela Moffett wrote. (Only the envelope survives) [MTP].

June 23 Thursday – Female Academy, Buffalo, New York – Commencement Exercises Speech. Clemens wrote the speech, though David Gray (1836-1888), poet and editor of the Buffalo Courier, read it [McCullough 211].

Sam’s article, “MARK TWAIN IN NEW YORK” was printed in the Auburn, California, Stars and Stripes [Fatout, MT Speaks 62].

Sam telegraphed from Elmira to John Munroe & Co., American bankers in Paris, France to telegraph all over Europe if necessary to locate Charles Langdon, and notify him of his father’s condition. After eight hours, the Munroe Co. responded that a reply from Charles had reached them. Charley was in Bavaria and would start home immediately [MTL 4: 155].

June 23–26 Sunday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Appleton & Co., declining their offer to write a “humorous picture-book” [MTL 4: 155].

June 24 Friday – Sam’s article “Buffalo Female Academy” was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 211].

June 25 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to his mother, and sister:

“We were called here suddenly by telegram 3 days ago. Mr. Langdon is very low. We have well nigh lost hope—all of us except Livy.”

He added that Charley would be home in two weeks, and that the whole city was troubled at Jervis’ condition. The Elmira newspapers reported on Jervis Langdon’s condition, sometimes weekly [MTL 4: 156]. Sam also wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks about Jervis [MTL 4: 157]. It had become a deathwatch.  [ page 411 ]

Sam’s article “The Editorial Office Bore,” which had appeared in the June edition of Galaxy, was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 215].

 

Sam also wrote to Charles Scribner & Co., asking for a book on child rearing to be sent to Elmira. Livy was three months pregnant with Langdon Clemens [MTL 4: 158-9]. Livy’s doctor was Rachel Brooks Gleason, one of America’s first female physicians. The Gleasons ran the Elmira Water Cure [A. Hoffman 172]. The sorrow of a family death would be weighed against the hope of a birth.

 

June 27 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss, complimenting him on a circular claiming 150,000 sales for Innocents Abroad (a stretcher, for sure. 60,378 is more accurate.)

 

“Mr. Langdon is very ill. Sometimes we feel sure he is going to get well, but then again hope well nigh passes away. This morning the case looks so well that all are pretty cheery again” [MTL 4: 159].

 

Sam also wrote to Dan Slote in New York, informing him of Jervis Langdon’s condition and asking him to:

 

“…look out for Charley and whatever the news may be by June 8 [his arrival date] you will have to communicate it. I will write you again” [MTL 4: 161].

 

June 28 Tuesday – Charles Langdon sailed from Liverpool on the Abyssinia. It arrived in Boston on July 8, not New York as Sam had thought in his letter of the previous day [MTL 4: 161n1].

 

July – In the Galaxy for this month—MARK TWAIN’S MEMORANDA – Included:

 

“How I Edited an Agricultural Paper Once”
“The ‘Tournament’ in A.D. 1870”
“Enigma”
“Unburlesquable Things”
“The Late Benjamin Franklin”
“The Editorial Office Bore”
“Johnny Greer”
“A Daring Attempt at a Solution of It”
“To Correspondents” [Schmidt].

 

July 2 Saturday – Sam’s article, “How I Edited an Agricultural Paper Once,” which had appeared in the July Galaxy, was reprinted in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 217].

 

July 4 Monday – In Elmira, Sam wrote to Elisha Bliss. Jervis had rallied again, so much so that Sam expected him to get well. Sam disclosed his back and forth with the Appleton Co. and had been expecting Bliss to come up and discuss “books and business.” Sam was still counting on the Adirondack trip with the Twichells [MTL 4: 161-2].

 

Sam left Elmira in the evening bound for Washington, D.C. His purpose was to lobby in Jervis’ behalf for passage of Senate Bill 1025, which was in the Judiciary Committee. The bill created a reorganized Tennessee judicial system, which was critical to the success of the Langdon lawsuit for collection against the city of Memphis, which owed Langdon $500,000 for street paving [MTL 4: 165].

 

July 5 Tuesday – Sam arrived in Washington, D.C. and began lobbying for passage of the bill.

 [ page 412 ]

July 6 Wednesday – Sam wrote at 11:15 PM from Washington, D.C. to Livy:

 

“Got up at 6…went to several places. Finally, at 9, got a carriage & took Mr. Stewart to the Senate.”

 

Sam had some successes, got the bill approved in committee, but felt he should stay:

 

“a day or two & try to get the thing on its final passage….Dined from 6 to 8.30. Called on Fitch’s from 8.30 to 9.30. Then went to see Mr. & Mrs. Bennett & played euchre till 11” [MTL 4: 164-5]. Note: Thomas and Anna Fitch congressman from Nevada; David Smith Bennett (1811-1894) Republican congressman from Buffalo (1869-71) [MTL 4: 170-1]. 

 

July 7 Thursday – Senate Bill 1025 was reported out of committee, but no further action was taken on it [MTL 4: 168n1].

 

July 8 Friday – Mathew B. Brady (1823-1896) photographed Sam. Sam wrote at 10:30 PM from Washington to Livy. After summarizing the state of the bill and his dinner companions (Ex-Vice President Hamlin, Senator Pomeroy (1816-1891), Mr. Gardiner G. Hubbard, & Mr. Richard B. Irwin), Sam wrote:

 

Drove up to the Senate & staid till now (10.30 PM) & came back to hotel. Oh, I have gathered material enough for a whole book! This is a perfect gold mine.

 

Called on the President [Grant] in a quiet way this morning. I thought it would be the neat thing to show a little embarrassment when introduced, but something occurred to make me change my deportment to calm & dignified self-possession. It was this: The General was fearfully embarrassed himself! [MTL 4: 167].

 

Sam may have met Grant in 1867 at a Washington receiving line. If so, they did not speak. Sam also wrote a note to Joseph Twichell, and canceled the planned Adirondack trip. Livy was now four months pregnant, and with Jervis on his deathbed, the trip was not practical.

 

Virgilius (a pseudonym) wrote to Sam, responding to his July 1870 Galaxy sketch “How I Edited an Agricultural Paper Once”:

 

My Dear Sir, / I regret exceedingly that your agricultural editorship has not been appreciated. Other laborers in that field have met with the same ingratitude from an ignorant community. Some years ago one of the governors of Indiana devoted himself to the improvement of the stock in that benighted state shortly before a general election. A constituent addressed him a note inquiring what he thought of the hydraulic ram? Mr Governor immediately and properly replied that it was better than Southdown for mutton & equal to Merino for wool, and would you believe it—the prejudices of the people were such that he lost his re-election [MTP]. Note: the writer refers to Joseph A. Wright (1810-1867) tenth Governor of Indiana (1849-1857) who once suggested the “hydraulic ram” could improve sheep breeds, and was embarrassed to discover the ram wasn’t an animal at all. Though being turned down at the polls, Wright was later appointed to fill a U.S. Senate seat (1862-3).

 

July 9 or 10 Sunday – Sam left Washington and returned to Elmira [MTL 4: 170n1].

 

July 10? Sunday – Sam wrote from Elmira asking his lecture agent, James Redpath, to “puff” Thomas Fitch, Congressman from Nevada. Sam saw Fitch on July 6 in Washington and encouraged him to lecture. Redpath used such testimonials in his lecture tour literature. Sam then dropped Fitch a note about the testimonial. Fitch’s 1870 lecture was successful [MTL 4: 170-1].

 [ page 413 ]

July 15 Friday – Elisha P. Bliss had arrived in Elmira and signed a contract with Sam for a book of Sam’s Western adventures to be completed by Jan. 1, 1871. Sales on Innocents were booming and Bliss wanted to tie Sam up for future books. Sam claimed he began work on Roughing It in a letter he wrote from Elmira to his brother Orion, soliciting names, places and details of their stage trip in 1862. Sam would receive seven and a half percent royalties, vs. the five percent from Innocents Abroad [MTL 4: 171-2]. Note: the contract may be seen in The Mark Twain Quarterly 6.3 (Summer-Fall 1944): 5.

 

July 16 Saturday – A brief biography of Sam ran in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper [The Twainian, Feb. 1940, p.7]. Budd calls this “The first biographical sketch meant to be serious” [Our MT 45].

 

July 17 Sunday – George W. Cable (1844-1925), in his regular column in The New Orleans Picayune, compared Mark Twain and Josh Billings. At this time Cable felt Sam may have “the superior weight of mind,” but was more drawn to Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) [Tenney 3].

 

July 18 Monday – In Elmira, Sam wrote to Elisha Bliss about details of the new book and the dinner for the 75,000-sale mark of Innocents [MTL 4: 172-3]. Sam also wrote his partner on the Express, Josephus Larned, that Jervis Langdon’s condition had improved and that they now held hope for recovery [MTL 4: 173].

 

July 22 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to C.A. King, declining to give a speech or lecture [MTL 4: 174].

 

July 25 Monday – Sam telegraphed Josephus Larned, again saying that Jervis Langdon continued to improve [MTL 4: 174]. Sam’s article, “THE EUROPEAN WAR,” which was a spoof of journalistic exuberance, was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 222].

 

July 27 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to his mother, Jane Clemens, and family. “We are glad you are all so well satisfied in Fredonia.” Sam wanted his family near, but not too near. He’d been impressed by the “intelligent faces” in Fredonia during a lecture there and recommended the town to his sister Pamela, who rented a Fredonia house right after Sam’s wedding. Sam bought a house for them later. Pamela Moffett, daughter Annie, son Sammy and Jane Clemens lived there. Margaret, the family’s maid got lonesome for St. Louis and left. Sam announced he was going to write a 600-page book, but it:

 

“is a secret for a few days yet…I shall begin it about a month from now. By request, Orion has sent me his note-book of the Plains trip” [MTL 4: 175-6].

 

July 28 Thursday – Jane Clemens wrote from Fredonia to Sam and Orion, including a newspaper story of the suicide of Dr. Charles A. Pope. “I send you this, for you to see how such a great wise and good man, as Dr Pope left this world….P S Mela [Pamela] says we are all hoping to see you both here soon, when you can leave your father [Jervis] out of danger” [MTP].

 

August – In the Galaxy for this month—MARK TWAIN’S MEMORANDA – Included “Personal Explanation,” “Portrait,” and:

 

A MEMORY

My father and I were always on the most distant terms when I was a boy—a sort of armed neutrality, so to speak. At irregular intervals this neutrality was broken, and suffering ensued; but I will be candid enough to say that the breaking and the suffering were always divided up with strict impartiality between us—which is to say, my father did the breaking, and I did the suffering. As a general thing I was a backward, cautious, unadventurous boy; but once I jumped off a two-story stable; another time I gave an elephant a “plug” of tobacco and retired without waiting for an answer; and still another time I pretended to be talking in my [ page 414 ] sleep, and got off a portion of a very wretched original conundrum in hearing of my father. Let us not pry into the result; it was of no consequence to any one but me [Schmidt]. Note: referred to in the 1840s entry.

 

Joe Goodman, in a Mar. 13, 1908 letter to Paine, recalled visiting Sam in Buffalo, probably in August:

 

I was abroad in the Spring of 1870 when Mark was married, and didn’t see him and his wife till I returned in July and went up to Buffalo to visit them [The Clemenses were in Elmira most of July, so it is assumed Joe visited sometime in August]. I arrived just before dinner time, and Mark took me up to my room and showed me a bottle of whiskey on the table, which he had persuaded Livy to place there by telling her it was awful sinful, of course, but that I had lived in sin all my life and she couldn’t expect to reform me except by gradations. We took a pull at the bottle and went down to dinner. I was talking and laughing and running on at about forty knots, when I suddenly observed that there was nothing doing—that everybody seemed to be waiting for me to finish; so I shut up at once. Then Mark bowed his head and began in a sepulchral voice: “O Lord, for that we are about to receive”—I couldn’t restrain myself, it was so absurd; I just snorted, and Mark finished amid my uncontrollable laughter. Afterwards, by ourselves, I asked him when the change of heart had occurred. “Oh, Hell! There isn’t any change,” he said. “Of course, I don’t believe in it, but Livy does, and I want to do everything I can to please her; so I try to go through with it solemnly and reverently [The Twainian, Jan-Feb 1956 p1].

 

August 1 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Orion. Even though Sam had washed his hands and renounced any share in the Tennessee Land, he helped pay the taxes when due. Here was the final straw—Orion asking for $200 for taxes.

 

You can draw on me for two or three hundred dollars, but only on one condition, viz: that you consider yourself under oath to either sell at some price or other, or give away, one full half of the Tennessee land within 4 months from date—but it must be honestly parted with, & forever.

 

The family has been bled for 40 years to keep that cursed land on their hands & perpetuate our father’s well intended folly in buying it [MTL 4: 177; bold is Sam’s emphasis].

 

August 2 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss. Claiming that he’d only allowed Appleton to bid on his book—they bid ten per cent—but did not and would not have agreed regardless of what they bid, Sam wrote:

 

“You see you can’t get it out of your head that I am sort of a rascal, but I ain’t. I can stick to you just as long as you can stick to me, & give you odds. I made that contract with all my senses about me, & it suits me & I am satisfied with it” [MTL 4: 179].

 

August 5 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss, asking Bliss’ son Frank to send the quarterly statement. He added, “The physicians pronounce Mr Langdon’s case utterly hopeless. The family are shrouded in gloom, awaiting the end” [MTL 4: 180].

 

August 6 Saturday – Jervis Langdon died of stomach cancer at about 5 PM. His last words were, “Beecher, I’m going home” [MTNJ 1: 287]. Sam telegraphed his sister, Pamela Moffett. “Father died this afternoon” [MTL 4: 181]. Sam’s surrogate father had been an influence for good on Sam. He’d liked and championed Samuel Clemens when even testimonials from the West had pronounced him a “humbug.” Jervis was generous and upright; he provided Sam with strong male affection that he’d never received from his own father. Sam’s loss may not have been as great as Livy’s, but it was considerable.

 

August 7 Sunday – from Elmira Sam wrote a eulogy for Jervis Langdon, and sent it to Josephus N. Larned, his partner on the Express, for use in that newspaper [MTL 4: 181-2].

 [ page 415 ]

August 8 Monday – Jervis Langdon’s funeral. His obituary was printed in the Buffalo Express, incorporating Sam’s eulogy [McCullough 224]. The Mayor of Elmira, John Arnot (1789-1873), requested that all local businesses close for two hours during the funeral [MTL 4: 183].

 

Sam telegraphed Elisha Bliss:

 

“Receipt of your check for two thousand dollars is here—hereby acknowledged. Saml L Clemens” [MTPO].

August 11 Thursday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss: “This is a house of mourning, now. My wife is nearly broken down with grief & watching.” In a lighter note, he recalled the exchange of letters he had with “that publisher,” probably the D. Appleton & Co.

 

I wrote that publisher that your bid was lower than his, but not enough lower to justify me in deserting you. He wrote back a hot answer, saying “he was surprised to hear me confess that his bid was the highest, & in the same letter say that I had awarded the book to you.” I sent him back a warm one in which I said I was surprised at his infernal impertinence—& then I talked sassy to him for a page or so & wound up by saying I judged he would be able from the foregoing to form a sort of shadow of an idea of my private opinion of him & his kind. If he didn’t go mighty slow I will print something personal about him [MTL 4: 184].

 

August 13 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to George L. Hutchings, declining to lecture.

 

“I haven’t the slightest idea of ever talking again on a platform. Congratulate me on my emancipation!” [MTL 5: 686].

 

August 17 or 24 Wednesday –Sam wrote from Elmira or Buffalo to his sister Pamela Moffett.

 

“I will come as soon as I can leave Livy….My coming at this time would stop Livy’s progress; for whilst she sleeps but poorly now, she may be said to not sleep at all when I am away…she is weak & suffering….get all the gossip you can about Cousin James Lampton & family, without her knowing it is I that want it” [MTL 4: 184-5 – note: source is uncertain as to year of this letter]. Sam eventually based the model for Colonel Sellers in The Gilded Age on cousin James Lampton.

 

 August 21 Sunday – In the evening, Thomas K. Beecher gave a memorial tribute to Jervis Langdon in Elmira’s Opera House [MTL 4: 182n1]. Sam & Livy probably stayed in Elmira until the day after the memorial, and then returned to Buffalo [MTL 4: 185].

 

August 22 Monday – O.B. Jabbers wrote on Northern Tier Gazette letterhead, Troy, Pa. “Enclosed find an atrocity recently printed at this office to be distributed to the children and parents of the aforesaid school [no school mentioned].The undersigned line touched my feelings as a red hot poker would a sleeping cat” [MTP]. No article in file.

 

August 23 Tuesday – “Colonel” Alexander Curran Walker (1816-1883) wrote from McBean, Ga.

 

Mark Twain Esq / Sir—I am an old man, a farmer, and an invalid of two years standing. My occupation if I may call it so, is reading the papers and Magazines, of which together I subscribe to eighteen—among them the Galaxy, next I think in its standing to Appleton’s Journal—I write to thank you for filling a void in the Galaxy, which I have long felt in the literature of the day. The mind is like the body, it needs relaxation and rest—for it is hard labour to read continuously the stilted sentiment of the time and of the hundreds of books & papers I have read during several years back, excepting Mr Dickens works. I do not remember to have seen humour enough in any one to excite a laugh, until yr appearance in the Galaxy—It is a great feature in the work, with me at least, and poor down trodden devils as we are, it must be genuine humour that can produce a cachinnation in a Southern gentleman—I trust you will continue this department, with profit to yrself and benefit & amusement to yr readers—For God’s sake dont think I have written this to [ page 416 ] have it published—it is for yself alone—I dont know even yr real name— / Very respectfully yr / obt servt / A C Walker [MTP]. Note: Walker was a native of Georgia but opposed secession. He declined the offer of Alexander H. Stephens’ vacant seat in Congress, after Stephens resigned in 1858

 

August 25 Thursday – Sam’s article “Domestic Missionaries Wanted” first ran in the Buffalo Express [Budd, “Collected” 1011].

 

August 30 Tuesday – How do rumors get started? Here’s one from the Brooklyn Eagle p.4 of this date:

 

“Dr. Clemens, a brother of ‘Mark Twain,’ is a practicing physician in Louisville.”

 

Thomas Swift, M.D.  wrote from Hartford to Clemens.

 

“HOGWASH”

     In a late number of the Galaxy you give an interesting specimen of this class of literature with an expressed desire for Some more.

     First let me give you my experience with that same article—After carefully reading it over twice, in silence, I tried it upon a somewhat romantic and sensitive young lady friend (of course, omitting your introductory remarks)—before I had reached the end of the twaddle her eyes were “bathed in tears”

     Woman like, she had got a long way ahead of the story—had identified herself with the poor sorrowing creature—so miserable with all her luxurious surroundings—had doubtless conjured up no end of Bluebeard or other troubles—(heaven knows what—I didn’t cross examine)—Here was a good, earnest, modest girl, with a fair share of common sense, as well as educational advantages—

     Now I wish to call your critical attention to Lippincott for August “The hungry heart”

     The animus of the whole thing you will find on the first page of the story—

     “Every woman in these days needs two husbands—one to fill her purse and one to fill her heart” (whatever that may be)

     As to J.W. De Forest—he may be a woman or she may be a man—things get terribly mixed up now-a-days—

     Any how, the principles instilled are those of that old hermaphrodite—The Atlantic Menstrual—Boston—

     J.W. De F. wants taking down a peg or two—bad—and you are the man “as can do it” / Yours very truly / Thomas Swift, M.D. [MTP].

 

Note: Sam’s June 1870 article in Galaxy quoted a reader’s letter he labeled a “miracle of pointless imbecility and bathos,” giving it “for competition as the sickliest specimen of sham sentimentality that exists.” Swift’s letter here answered the challenge by describing a magazine story by John William DeForest (1826-1906). DeForest wrote Clemens on July 31, 1874 proposing collaboration on a collection of sketches. Sam ignored the offer.

 

August 31 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to his sister Pamela A. Moffett:

 

“We’re getting along tolerably well. Mother is here, & Miss Emma Nye. Livy cannot sleep, since her father’s death—but I give her a narcotic every night & make her.”

 

Sam was writing under contract to deliver the new book, which would be named Roughing It, “as early as 1 of January next.” Emma Nye was a schoolmate and longtime friend of Livy’s, who had traveled from Aiken, South Carolina for a visit [MTL 4: 186].

 

September – In the Galaxy for this month—MARK TWAIN’S MEMORANDA – Included:

 

“Political Economy”
“John Chinaman in New York”
“The Noble Red Man”
[ page 417 ]
“A Royal Compliment”
“The Approaching Epidemic”
“Favors from Correspondents”
Short miscellaneous – included items on Beef Contract, Funeral, Obituary, Enigma [Schmidt].

 

September 2 Friday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Orion. Sam was so grateful for Orion’s memorandum books on their trip to Nevada, that he promised him $1,000 from royalties [MTL 4: 186].

 

Sam and Livy wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks. Most of the letter was a discussion of Britisher George MacDonald’s 1868 book, Robert Falconer, which Mary had recommended. Sam added: “Miss Emma Nye is here & is right sick” [MTL 4: 189]. Note: McDonald (1824-1905).

 

September 4 Sunday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss.

 

“During the past week have written first four chapters…[of Roughing It]. We shall sell 90,000 copies the first 12 months” [MTL 4: 190]. Note: Sam liked it. It did sell well, some 75,000 copies the first year.

 

September 5 Monday – In Buffalo, Sam wrote a short note to Francis P. Church of the Galaxy:

 

“Friend Church— / Received yr. Check for $334, full payment for July & Sept. Sent the MS.S. for Oct. yesterday, to you. Yrs ever” [MTP, drop-in letters].

 

Ella Wolcott (b.1828) wrote to seek publishing help for a young man, Frank Huntington, who was traveling and studying in Germany [MTP].

 

September 7 Wednesday – Sam replied from Buffalo to the Sept. 6 of Ella Wolcott, a friend of the Langdons, declining verse from a friend of hers in Europe. He also wrote that Emma Nye had a “consuming fever—of a typhoid type.” In fact, it was typhoid [MTL 4: 191].

 

September 8?–29 Thursday – Sam telegraphed his mother in Fredonia. A family pest, Mrs. Melicent S. Holliday (b.1800?), had turned up at Sam’s in Buffalo and, due to Emma Nye’s illness, Sam gave her $50 and sent her on to Fredonia [MTL 4: 193].

 

September 9 Friday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Orion.

 

“Do exactly as you please with the [Tennessee] land….I have no time to turn around. A young lady visitor (schoolmate of Livy’s) is dying in the house of typhoid fever.”

 

Alice Spaulding came to help Livy nurse Emma Nye. The three had been schoolmates [MTL 4: 193].

 

September 15 Thursday – Sam and Livy wrote from Buffalo to Frank Bliss & Frances T. French, congratulating them on marriage, and regretting that illness in the house prevented them from attending the wedding [MTL 4: 194].

 

Sam also wrote to the Postmaster of Virginia City, Montana Territory (Hezekiah L. Hosmer) asking for a newspaper from the day the desperado Jack Slade (Joseph Alfred Slade 1829?-1864) was hanged. Sam wanted material to include about Slade in Roughing It [MTL 4: 195-6].

 

September 17 Saturday – Sam’s article “To the Reader,” with a humorous map of Paris, France Fortifications, was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 227]. Budd shows this as “Map of Paris” [ page 418 ] reprinted with “additional prefatory material” in the Nov. 1870 Galaxy [“Collected” 1012]. See map under Oct. 10 entry.

 

September 19 Monday – John T. Metcalf wrote from Lansing, Iowa.

 

My Dear Sir: / I want to read your admirable book (“The Innocents Abroad”) but us poor d——s of country newspaper men can’t afford to buy one. We don’t know your publishers. Can’t we notice or advertise, and thus come into possession of something good for the mind, of a standard heaps of newspaper men want to reach, but you hold so successfully at your service? [MTPO]. Note: Sam sent this on to Bliss.

 

September 21? Wednesday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss that he’d written to Elisha’s son, Frank, and that Sam had finished the 7 or 8 chapter of Roughing It this day [MTL 4: 196].

 

September 22 Thursday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss about the burlesque map of “Fortifications of Paris,” he’d published in the Express. Sam suggested they use the map in posters for Innocents [MTL 4: 198].

 

September 24 Saturday – Sam wrote from Buffalo, a letter of introduction for Livy to a local attorney, Franklin D. Locke, asking him to

 

“…make valid the accompanying power of attorney. It will be a very great favor if you can save her the necessity of getting out of the carriage facing the terrors of the law in your awe-inspiring den” [MTL 4: 200].

 

September 26 Monday – Vice President “Smiling” Schulyer Colfax wrote to laugh at Sam’s “Fortifications of Paris” map and also Sam’s “masterpiece…your lightning rod article” (“Political Economy” in Galaxy) [MTP].

 

September 28? Wednesday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Joe Goodman, previewing his coming new book (RI) [MTL 4: 201].

 

September 29 Thursday – Emma Nye died in the morning from typhoid fever [MTL 4: 192-3n1]. That night her body was transported to Elmira and the Spaulding home. She was buried the following day in the Second Street Cemetery [Reigstad 173]. Sam & Livy did not make the trip to Elmira, since Livy was seven months pregnant and worn out from nursing her friend [MTL 4: 198n3].

 

October – In the Galaxy for this month – MARK TWAIN’S MEMORANDA – Included:

 

“The Reception at the President’s”
“Goldsmith’s Friend Abroad Again, Letters I – IV”
“Curious Relic For Sale”
“Science vs. Luck”
“Favors from Correspondents”
Short miscellaneous items – includes items on Obituary, Johnny Skae, Baby, How Is This for High?, Obituary, Some Other Favors [Schmidt].

 

October 1 Saturday – Sam’s article, “At the President’s Reception,” which had appeared in the October issue of the Galaxy, was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 229].

 

Sometime before Oct. 4, Sam and Livy traveled to Fredonia to visit Sam’s family for a week—a trip that had been planned since mid-June, but which had been delayed by the deaths of Jervis Langdon on Aug. 6 and Emma Nye on Sept. 29. [ page 419 ]

 

October 4 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Fredonia, New York to James Redpath concerning reprints and use of the Paris map, asking Redpath to “get up a bargain” with Louis Prang (1824-1909), a well-known map maker [MTL 4: 201-4].

 

October 5 Wednesday – The Fredonia Censor for this date reported Sam and Livy’s visit.

 

Samuel S. Clemens (Mark Twain) and wife are spending a few days with his mother and sister, who came here to reside last spring. He is engaged in preparing another work for the press.—His “Innocents Abroad” has had a sale of over 70,000. Its great popularity will prepare the way for an extensive sale of the book which he is now writing.

 

October 8 Saturday – Sam’s article, “Curious Relic for Sale,” which had appeared in the October edition of the Galaxy, was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 233].

 

October 8–13? Thursday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss, about Hubert Howe Bancroft, West Coast agent for Innocents Abroad.

 

“He did well with the book—& would have done A GOOD DEAL better if he had any sense about handling newspaper people. Think of an agent refusing to give copies to the chief papers! He is an infernal fool” [MTL 4: 204-5].

 

October 9 Sunday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to James Redpath. He’d given up putting the additions on his Paris map, since it had been printed and reprinted several times and he’d not copyrighted it. Sam began to think about lecturing again [MTL 4: 206].

 

October 10? Monday – Sam wrote to Ainsworth R. Spofford, on his “Fortifications of Paris” map which ran in the Buffalo Express Sat. Sept. 17:

 

Mr. Spofford, could I get you to preserve this work of art among the geographical treasures of the Congressional Library? [ page 420 ]

Yrs Truly

Mark Twain.

 

Note: see MTPO’s explanatory note 2 from SLC’s of 9 Oct 1870 to Redpath

 

October 11 Tuesday – Robert Shelton Mackenzie (1809-1881), editor of the Phila. Press wrote: “You will see by the enclosed, which I had much pleasure in writing, as far as your book [IA] is concerned, that you are somewhat appreciated in our Quaker City. / Yours…” [MTP]. MacKenzie’s review is in the file; it praises Twain as “one of the three great living American prose humorists” the others being Harte and Oliver Wendell Holmes.

 

October 13 Thursday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Mary Mason Fairbanks. Mary’s daughter Alice (“Alie”) was engaged. Sam wanted Mary to visit. Charles Langdon had married Ida B. Clark on Oct. 12, but Sam was too busy to go and Livy was unable [MTL 4: 208-9].

 

Sam also wrote Elisha Bliss:

 

“I am driveling along tolerably fairly on the book [Roughing It]—getting off from 12 to 20 pages (MS.) a day. I am writing so carefully that I’ll never have to alter a sentence, I guess, but it is very slow work. I like it well, as far as I have got. The people will read it” [MTL 4: 210].

 

October 15 Saturday – “Mark Twain – His Map and Fortifications of Paris” was reprinted in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 238].

 

October 18 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Frank Church, editor of Galaxy. Sam sent a doodled “portrait” of King William of Prussia, parodying the use of portraits in the magazine [MTL 4: 210].

 

October 19 Wednesday – In Buffalo, Clemens wrote to Francis P. Church:

 

      I am so stupid. I forgot that it will be two or three weeks before I can see whether you are going to want that portrait & burlesque or not—so you must sit right down & write me even if you have to delay your dinner a minute or two. Will you?

      2d article of this “Memoranda” (expressed last night per U.S. Ex. Co.) is headed “History Repeats Itself.” Please change that heading to / “Moral Anecdote for the Young” / Unattractive headings is bad wisdom [MTP]. Note: this misdated in MTP’s files as 1871; but Sam was in Pennsylvania on Oct. 19, 1871.

 

“On Riley—Newspaper Correspondent” was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 238]. This humorous article about John Henry Riley, a drinking pal from Sam’s Washoe and Washington days, was reprinted in the Nov. issue of the Galaxy [McCullough 243]. In the article Sam used a figure of speech that he’d use again in a Brooklyn lecture (Feb. 7, 1873):

 

“Riley has a ready wit, a quickness and aptness at selecting and applying quotations, and a countenance that is as solemn and as blank as the backside of a tombstone” [The Twainian, Jan-Feb 1946, p4]. Note: this source and Camfield’s bibliography report the article as Oct. 29, 1870.

 

October 20 Thursday – An earthquake struck Buffalo at about 5 p.m., and “lasted only thirty or fourty seconds. Church steeples and chandeliers swayed. Walls of buildings shook, windows shattered, and furniture moved across floors” [Reigstad 171].

 

October 21 Friday – An article attributed to Sam, “The Libel Suit,” was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 246].

 [ page 421 ]

Mortimer Neal Thomson (Q.K. Philander Doesticks, P.B.) wrote from NY.

 

I don’t believe you’ve forgotten me, and I don’t want you to put on airs and pretend you have, just because I’m going to remind you of a promise.

When we met here in 186whatever it was 68 I believe, you told me you were going to go off in the Quaker City… [MTP]. Note: Mortimer Neal Thomson (1831-1875). He reminded Sam of his promise to give a copy of the book written from the excursion.

 

Charles Wiggins wrote from Vevey Switzerland; a fan of IA he tried with success a method of handing beggars a cheap coin to satisfy them [MTP].

 

October 22 Saturday – Francis P. Church of the Galaxy wrote:

 

“Dear Twain: / The portrait is all right. I will give it to the engraver immediately.

We wont talk about your giving up at the end of the year. It is something not to be even thought of for a moment” [MTPO]. Note: a doodled portrait of King William of Prussia; see Oct. 18.

 

Fred Marsh wrote from Chillivothe, Mo. enclosing a clipping he thought would occupy a place in Twain’s “collection” of “Hog-wash” [MTP]. Note: the article entitled “Reverie” had a good chance of being so labeled.

 

J.D. Slee for Langdon & Co. “Your letter of yesterday morning is just recd. How much we sorrow that your dear wife is ill.” He apologized for some unspecified “intrusion” [MTP].

 

October 26 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss asking if he thought his articles in the Galaxy had hurt book sales. He had notified Frank Church at the Galaxy that his year would be up with April’s edition. Even though Sam had expounded firmly that he was done lecturing, now he said, “I half expected to lecture a little next year” [MTL 4: 212]

 

Sam also responded to an angry letter from Dr. Iretus G. Cardner (1832?-1894), about a bill for treatment in Mar. 1867.

 

“…if you enjoy getting out of temper, level it all at me—I don’t mind it. Newspaper abuse has made me callous, & so if I can be useful to you as a target, in further payment of a bill that has run so disgracefully long, my moral alligator-skin is at your service” [MTL 4: 214].

 

October 27 Thursday – Edward Eggleston (1837-1902), in an article in The Independent said he was amused by Sam’s sketch in the Galaxy, but more impressed by a poem of Helen Hunt’s [Tenney 3].

 

October 28 Friday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss, asking him to send or have sent a copy of Innocents Abroad to “Mortimore Thomson, ‘better known,’ (as they have the thrice-infernal fashion of saying of me,) as ‘Q.K. Philander Doesticks, P.B.’ ” [MTL 4: 215].

 

Clemens also wrote to the secretary of Goethean Literary Society, Lancaster, Penn.

 

“I thank you, & through you the Literary Society you represent, for the honor conferred upon me by electing me to an honorary membership, & shall gladly avail myself of your kind invitation to visit your body at any time that I may chance to be in Lancaster” [MTP]. Note: the Society’s notification is not extant.

 

October 29 Saturday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss. Sam disrespected one “Colonel” Albert S. Evans. Sam berated Bliss for never sending him books, and mentioned three: Albert Deane [ page 422 ] Richardson’s Beyond the Mississippi (1867); Charles De Wolf Brownell’s The Indian Races of North and South America (1865); and John George Wood’s The Uncivilized Races, or Natural History of Man.

 

Sam added that Livy had been sick in bed for a week but was much better. Livy had come close to delivering prematurely [MTL 4: 216-7 &n3-4].

 

October 31 Monday – Sam wrote again from Buffalo to Dr. Iretus G. Cardner that the letter Sam received did not indicate any money Sam had sent [MTL 4: 219].

 

November – In the Galaxy for this month—MARK TWAIN’S MEMORANDA  – Included:

 

“Riley – Newspaper Correspondent”
“Goldsmith’s Friend Abroad Again, Letters V – VI”
“A Reminiscence of the Back Settlements”
“A General Reply”
“Favors from Correspondents”

Also a Special Feature not in Memoranda: “Mark Twain’s Map of Paris” [Schmidt].

 

Author’s Sketch Book (Vol. 1 No.1) included excerpts from IA and previously unknown Mark Twain writings [Slotta 22]. The Twainian, May 1940, describes this publication (five-column pages 15 x 20 inches) as from the American Publishing Co., written by Sam and “clearly a ‘house organ’ designed to inject vim, vigar [sic] and vitality into the nationwide army of subscription-solicitors….” The article reprints much of this work which contained some unknown writings of Clemens.

 

Hence the importance of a conservative and independent sheet, which cannot be bought up like Esau’s birthright, for a mess of pottage, nor influenced for a glass of wine, a fragrant cabano, or a good dinner, but which shall be conducted on principle, and whose editor shall act as conscientiously as did the old Puritan Lady who used to whip her beer barrel because the beer would work on the Sabbath day. Having received and completed our education in the highest public school in a country village, and not being near sighted, as was the Western editor, who would rub out with his nose whatever he wrote with his pen, we feel confident no one will doubt our ability in this undertaking…[The Twainian, May 1940 p2].

 

Sam wrote to an unidentified person:

 

Buffalo, Nov. 1870.

The passage is as follows:

From Soliloquy at Tomb of Adam.

“The grave of Adam! How touching it was, here in a land of strangers, far away from home, & friends, & all who cared for me, thus to discover the grave of a blood relation. True, a distant one, but still a relation. The unerring instinct of nature thrilled its recognition. The fountain of my filial affection was stirred to its profoundest depths, & I gave way to tumultuous emotion.”

It is on page 567—well toward the end of the book.

Yrs Truly / Samℓ. L. Clemens /em spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem space(Mark Twain.)

 

November 2 Wednesday – Elisha Bliss wrote to Sam:

 

Dear Twain / Yours recd Yes I got your article. “It is accepted” (a. la. N.Y. Ledger) Thanks for same—

Paper will be out last of the month—

How would your Bro. do for an editor of it—?

Would he be satisfied with $100. per month for present, until we could do better by him—?—  [ page 423 ]

You see we have no real place just now for him, but would like for your sake to create a position for him, if possible—would this do? perhaps if here by & by we could see some opening which would pay good—(I guess he has an “it is safe to trust him to find “openings” if enough if you & he get along well together.)

Say! Is he anything like his younger brother—?

When does he want to leave St Louis.?

Tell me what you want, &, what you think about it &c &c— / Truly / Bliss [MTPO].

 

November 4 Friday – Sam wrote to John Henry Riley, letter not extant but referred to in Riley’s Nov. 22.

November 5 Saturday – Sam’s article, “A Reminiscence of the Back Settlements,” which had appeared in the November issue of the Galaxy, was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 248].

 

Sam wrote from Buffalo to Orion advising him that Bliss was offering a position to Orion, hoping to keep Sam from “whoring after strange gods,” which, Sam wrote, “…is Scripture for deserting to other publishers.” Sam offered to send Orion $100 for his passage to Fredonia, being unwilling to accept any company “while Livy is in such a delicate state.” In 1906 Sam blamed a rushed carriage ride to the depot to deliver a friend for Livy’s near miscarriage [MTL 4: 219-222].

 

Sam then wrote to Elisha Bliss about Orion:

 

“It is a splendid idea! He will make a tip-top editor—a better than I, because he is full of talent & besides is perfectly faithful, honest, straightforward & reliable. There isn’t money enough in America to get him to do a dishonest act—whereas I am different” [MTL 4: 223].

 

Sam also wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks. Sam wrote that Livy was “doing pretty well,” and that Mary should “Come along here, now, as soon as possible, & prune my manuscript. Don’t delay” [MTL 4: 224].

 

Mortimer Neal Thomson (Q.K. Philander Doesticks, P.B.) wrote to thank Sam for a copy of IA and the dedication, “I enclose the chirographic your Publishers attempted to inflict on me as your genuine autograph” (pasted in the letter a cutout of a reproduction signature) [MTP].

 

November 6 Sunday – Whitelaw Reid wrote to ask Sam if he knew of some person who “can send us good dispatches on election night” [MTP].

 

November 7Monday – Olivia gave birth to a boy, Langdon Clemens, a month premature, four and a half pounds at 11 AM. Sam telegraphed from Buffalo to Olivia Lewis Langdon, Livy’s mother: “mother & child doing well…Fairbanks is coming” [MTL 4: 225].

 

Olivia Lewis Langdon telegraphed congratulations: “The Mothers and Grandmas blessing on mother and child” [MTP].

 

Sam also wrote to Elisha Bliss of the birth and asked him to “Tell the Twichells” [MTL 4: 226].

 

November 8 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to James Redpath, about the birth of Langdon, who Sam claimed had gone lecturing already on the subject of “Milk,” after a lecture by the name of “Milk and Natral Histry” by Josh Billings [MTL 4: 227].

 

Sam also sent two telegraphs to Whitelaw Reid, who had asked for election returns. Sam put Josephus Larned on the task and said he was tied up with mother and baby [MTL 4: 227-8].

 

Mary Mason Fairbanks telegrammed: “ ‘Here’s to your family may they live long & prosper’ Hope to dine with you Saturday next at six PM will arrive on five o’clock train” [MTP]. [ page 424 ]

 

November 9 Wednesday – Baby Langdon’s condition became critical, most likely from complications of premature birth. He improved after Nov. 11 [MTL 4: 231n5].

 

Clara Spaulding wrote from Elmira congratulations on “Baby Clemens” to Livy & Sam [MTP].

 

November 11 Friday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Orion, chastising him for his responses to Bliss’ offer of employment. He added, “Livy is very sick & I do not believe the baby will live five days” [MTL 4: 229-230].

 

Sam also wrote to Livy’s friend, Fidele A. Brooks about the new baby, after receiving a note from her [231].

 

Sam wrote another letter, this in the first person as Baby Langdon to Eunice King Ford (1782-1873), the baby’s 88-year-old great-grandmother

 

Dear Grandma:

      I have waited with some impatience to hear from you or from some other member of the family, but up to this time no letter has arrived for me. I have received enthusiastic notice in telegrams from Cleveland & in congratulations from Mr. Brooks in New York—& the telegrams from Elmira have been gladly received & carefully preserved. But from you personally, I have not heard, at least in the shape of a letter, & I am obliged to say that I am hurt at it. Every now & then I think it all over & then I comprehend that you cannot write in these latter years without great difficulty. Of course that makes me feel better about it, but it does not last long. I soon get to worrying again & saying to myself that you might have written me one line at least. But never mind, I know it is all just as it should be, & that you have neglected me not because you desired to do it, but because you could not well help it. For I will not believe but that you love me. I am four days old to-day at eleven o’clock. Do you recollect when you were only 4 days old? I guess you don’t. I am looking for Granny Fairbanks tomorrow, & will be glad to see her, too, but I shall be outrageously sorry to part with Aunt Susie Crane, for she was here when I first came, & I have come to like her society very much, & she knows my disposition better than anybody except Auntie Smith.

      I am boarding with a strange young woman by the name of Brown, & her baby is boarding with my mother. I expect Mrs. Brown could take several more boarders like me, for I am not a very hearty eater. I don’t understand this little game, but I guess it is all right. It is some little neat trick of my father’s to save expense, I fancy.

      I have a ridiculous time of it with clothes. Except a shirt which aunt Hattie made for me I haven’t a rag in the world that fits me. Everything is too large. You ought to see the things they call “slips.” I am only 13 inches long, & these things are as much as 3 feet. Think of it. I trip & break my neck every time I make a step, for I can’t think to gather up the surplus when I am in a hurry.

      I tell you I am tired being bundled up head & ears nine-tenths of my time. And I don’t like this thing of being stripped naked & washed. I like to be stripped & warmed at the stove—that is real bully—but I do despise this washing business. I believe it to be a gratuitous & unnecessary piece of meanness. I never see them wash the cat.

      And I tell you it is dull, roosting around on pillows & rocking chairs & everybody else spinning around town having a good time. Sometimes they let that other baby lie on the kitchen table & wink at the sun, but bless you I never get a show. Sometimes I get so mad that I cannot keep my temper or my opinion. But it only makes things worse. They call it colic, & give me some execrable medicine. Colic. Everything is colic. A baby can’t open its mouth about the simplest matter but up comes some wise body & says it is wind in its bowels. When I saw the dog the first time, I made a noise which was partly fright & partly admiration—but it cost me a double dose of medicine for wind in the bowels. Do these people take me for a balloon?

      I am not entirely satisfied with my complexion. I am as red as a lobster. I am really ashamed to see company. But I am perfectly satisfied with my personal appearance, for I think I look just like aunt Susie. They keep me on the shortest kind of rations, & that is one thing that don’t suit the subscriber. My mother has mashed potatoes, & gruel, & tea, & toast, & all sorts of sumptuous fare, but she never gives me a bite—& you can risk your last dollar on it that I don’t ask for it. It would only be another case of “wind in the [ page 425 ] bowels.” You’ll have to excuse me. I am learning to keep my remarks to myself. {But between you & I, Grandma, I get the advantage of them occasionly—now last night I kept aunt Smith getting up every hour to feed me— but and between you & me and I wasn’t hungry once.}

      That doctor has just been here again. Come to play some fresh swindle on me, I suppose. He is the meanest looking white man I ever saw. Mind, now, this is not a splenetic & prejudiced outburst, but a calm & deliberate opinion formed & founded upon careful observation. Won’t I “lay” for him when I get my teeth?

Good-bye Grandma, good-bye. Great love to you & grandma & all the whole household.

Your loving great-grandson, / Langdon Clemens [232].

 

Mary Mason Fairbanks wrote to Langdon Clemens upon his birth: “My Dear Langdon / I am delighted to learn of your safe arrival, and gratified that you should have so promptly reported yourself to me, your venerable relative—on your father’s side” [MTPO].

 

Edwin D. White telegraphed Sam: “The Press club sups tomorrow eve. Come and bring the baby!” [MTP]. Note: See (Nov. 11 or 12) entry.

 

November 11? Friday – Sam wrote to Olivia Lewis Langdon, asking her and Charley to visit [MTL 4: 234].

 

November 11 or 12 Saturday – Sam telegraphed Edwin D. White in response to an invitation to the Boston Press Club Supper, saying he was busily engaged in singing “Rock Me to Sleep, Father, “and could not possibly attend [MTL 4: 235].

 

November 12 Saturday – Sam’s article, “A General Reply,” which had appeared in the November issue of the Galaxy, was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 250].

 

Sam wrote from Buffalo to James Redpath, wishing he could be at the Press Club dinner that night and that he “sent the boys a dispatch” [MTL 4: 235-6].

 

Sam then wrote to Joseph and Harmony Twichell, again in first person for baby Langdon:

 

I am not corpulent, nor am I robust in any way. At birth I only weighed 4 ½ pounds with my clothes on—& the clothes were the chief feature of the weight, too, I am obliged to confess.

 

They all say I look very old & venerable—& I am aware, myself, that I never smile. Life seems a serious thing, what I have seen of it—& my observation teaches me that it is made up mainly of hiccups, unnecessary washings, & wind in the bowels [MTL 4: 236-7].

 

Fidele A. Brooks wrote : “We are just as happy as ever we can be that Livy and the boy are contented to remain with us a little longer” [MTP].

 

Mrs. James B. Parke wrote congratulations on the birth of baby Langdon [MTP].

 

November 14 Monday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Jesse C. Haney (1820-1901), writer and publisher of various handbooks, and editor and publisher of humor magazines. Sam declined to write for almanacs, writing that it “belongs to Josh & I won’t touch it.” He didn’t mind caricatures of himself, but not his new baby, in case Langdon didn’t live [MTL 4: 238].

 

Sam also telegraphed Charles Langdon, allowing any of the family to visit [MTL 4: 239].

 

Sam also wrote a short note to Thomas B. Pugh (1829-1884), a promoter for lectures in Philadelphia.  [ page 426 ]

 

“I’m a wet nurse, now, & I like it! We have got a baby & we don’t want any more money nor any more glory either! Count us out, Mr. Pugh!” [MTL 4: 239].

 

November 15 Tuesday – Charles Langdon wrote to Sam enclosing papers for Livy to sign on a deed, the contract of which Jervis ordered before his death “for some property on R.R. Ave adjoining the Boot & Shoe Manuf” [MTP].

 

November 16 Wednesday – Sam wrote to Elisha Bliss:

 

Friend Bliss— / This is a mild satire of my brother’s on the “Sleeping Beauty” who is making such a stir in St Louis.

Come, let’s hear from you.

Our baby flourishes gallantly. How is Frank’s

Yrs / Clemens [MTPO].

 

David R. Locke (Petroleum V. Nasby) wrote: “I have been bloviating about Pa & N.J. and have just heard of the birth of a child to you. / I congratulate you with all my heart” [MTP].

From the Fredonia Censor for this date: 

Mark Twain had a son and heir born to him last week, and yet, notwithstanding his extreme youth, his father has made something of him already—made a joke of him according to the [New York] World, which says the following despatch has been received by the Literary Bureau from Mark Twain:

      “A son was born to me yesterday [Nov. 7], and with true family instinct he has gone to lecturing already. His subject is he same as Josh Billings—‘Milk.’ You are hereby constituted his agent and instructed to make arrangements with lyceums.” [See also Nov. 8 entry for Billings reference].

November 17 Thursday – Sam telegraphed Elisha Bliss:

 

“My brother only waiting for you to say when. [Answer.] Book progressing slowly em spaceem space What date do you think it best to issue it? / Clemens” [MTPO]

 

Elisha Bliss wrote to Clemens:

 

Dr Clemens. / Believe me I am exceedingly glad to know your wife is getting on so well & your boy has gained an ounce as I learned from his letter to [Twitchell.]

      I trust no [untoward] accident will alter this state of affairs for the worse— I have not heard from you since the one relating to your [brother.] Has he decided to come? Please let me know if it is [settled] yet and when he will be here, if he is to come— Also please give me an idea when you would like the book to come [out,] & how you get on with it.

      By the way did you get the books I sent you? /truly [Bliss] [MTP].

 

November 18 Friday – Elisha Bliss wrote to Sam.

 

Dr Clemens, / Have I been so stupid, as not to say to you I expect your brother so far as we are concerned. I thought I had said so or as much, & was waiting for report, daily as to his time of arrival &c—

He tells a good yarn in the slip sent. We will give him scope for his talent here— [MTPO].

 

November 19 Saturday – About this day, Sam wrote to brother Orion on the Nov. 17 of Elisha Bliss: [ page 427 ]

 

[unknown number of words missing]

Am. Pub. Co. But all right—I am willing. Only I know this—that if you take the place, with an air of perfect confidence in yourself, never once letting any thing show in your bearing but a quiet, modest, entire & perfect confidence in your ability to do pretty much anything in the world, Bliss will think you are the very man he needs—but don’t show any shadow of timidity or unsoldierly diffidence, for that sort of thing is fatal to advancement.

I warn you thus because you are naturally given to knocking your pot over in this way when a little judicious conduct would make it boil [MTPO].

 

Sam’s article, “Running for Governor,” was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 254]. The article also appeared in the December issue of the Galaxy.

 

Sam wrote from Buffalo to Mary Mason Fairbanks, criticizing those who copied his ideas—specifically “John Quill” of Philadelphia and Alphonso Griswold of the Cincinnati Times.

 

Sam also wrote to Olivia Lewis Langdon encouraging her to:

 

“…hurry & get strong enough to be here on Thanksgiving Day—& sooner if you can, for Livy is very lonely” [MTL 4: 242].

 

November 19-20? Sunday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Susan Crane, enclosing drawings and measurements of baby Langdon (“Two Views of Langdon Clemens Thinking”) [MTL 4: 243].

 

November 20 Sunday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Charles J. Langdon, who had sent baby shoes. Sam invented a conversation with the baby about using slang [MTL 4: 244].

 

November 21 Monday – Sam reprinted “Hints to Farmers,” by Alphonso Griswold, written for the Cincinnati Times, on page two of the Buffalo Express, calling it “PLAGIARIZED. BY THE ‘FAT CONTRIBUTOR’ ” [MTL 4: 240-1].

 

Possibly on this date Sam wrote Orion, enclosing a note from Bliss to Sam, about his need for Orion’s work. Sam wrote, “I hope you will pack up & leave for Hartford instantly & finally.” Sam asked if Orion wanted the travel money he’d offered [MTL 4: 245].

 

November 22 Tuesday – Sam wrote a short note from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss to send “this beggar” (unidentified) a book. Also: “Have instructed my brother get to Hartford with all convenient dispatch” [MTL 4: 247].

 

John Henry Riley wrote from Washington D.C. to Sam, enclosing a clipping from the Phila. Sunday Dispatch for Nov. 6, a humorous tale about a Coolie filling a kerosene lamp. Also one called “Obituary Drivel.” Riley wrote: “Yours of the 4th inst. was recd on the 11th, which is quick time from Buffalo….I had heard of the Innocent at Home before you wrote me of the interesting event. Let me congratulate you” [MTP]. Note: Sam’s of Nov. 4 not extant.

 

November 24 Thursday – Benjamin P. Shillaber wrote from Chelsea, Mass.

 

My Dear Twain—A joyous thanks giving to you with your new joy. I saw the moment with much pleasure, remembering the scripture, and “thy Twain shall be thrice.” Bless the bairn [baby Langdon], and may his life be ever Clemens, as it would not be likely were it a girl….Now for a very modest request I wish to make—that you will write me six lines or upwards for a Fair paper I am editing”[MTP].

 [ page 428 ]

November 26 Saturday – Sam’s article, “My Watch—An Instructive Little Tale,” was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 259]. The article also appeared in the December edition of the Galaxy.

 

Sam also wrote from Buffalo to Charles Henry Webb, who had published the Jumping Frog book. Sam had gone to court to get the copyright registered in his own name. Sam expressed regret at the trouble,

 

“But I hold that a man has got to make an ass of himself once a year anyhow, & I am sure I went along intelligently enough the balance of last year. I was very sorry, though, that I made trouble for a friend, because that is folly of such a particularly low grade” [MTL 4: 248].

 

Sam noted about Bret Harte:

 

“Indeed Harte does soar, & I am glad of it, notwithstanding he & I are ‘off’ these many months.”

 

Sam told how the friction occurred—that Harte had helped Sam pare Innocents Abroad down to size, and Sam was grateful. So when the book came out, Harte gave the book high praise. Sam wanted him to have an early review of it for the Overland. He ordered Bliss to get Harte a couple of books before anyone else, but Hubert H. Bancroft, the West Coast agent declined. Instead of asking Sam why he’d been turned down, Harte sent Sam “the most daintily contemptuous & insulting letter you ever read.”

 

November 27 Sunday – Livy’s 25th birthday. Sam gave her a copy of Snow-Bound. A Winter Idyl (1869) by John Greenleaf Whittier inscribed: “Livy/Nov. 27, 1870./From S.L.C.” [Gribben 767].

 

November 27 or 28 Monday – Diamonds were discovered in South Africa in the spring of 1870 and interest in the region was high. Sam wrote from Buffalo, “Will you Go?” to John Henry Riley. Sam wanted Riley to travel there and send back letters to publish into a book. It was a similar arrangement to that of Professor Darius Ford’s, that is, Sam would publish a travel book by proxy. He had dropped the “Around the World” entries in the Express after disappointing returns from Ford, but still liked the basic idea, and thought Riley was the right man. Sam would pay Henry’s passage and expenses and obtain letters with which to publish another travel book like Innocents [MTL 4: 250].

 

November 28 Monday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss that Orion was to start east in “about 6 or 8 days.” Sam also told of his plan to send Riley to South Africa, and the 600-page book he planned to write by the spring of 1872. He then asked Bliss for a 10% royalty on the proposed book.

 

“P.S. I don’t care two cents whether there is a diamond in all Africa or not—the adventurous narrative & its wild, new fascination is what I want” [MTL 4: 251-2].

 

November 30 Wednesday – Sam’s 35th birthday. Bliss wrote Sam the facts of life about publishing—but said if he wanted 10% then he could have it, but it would leave Bliss very little profit. It was a very civil give and take. “Will this suit you? Aint it fair?” about the diamond book [MTL 4: 253n2].

 

John Henry Riley wrote to Sam.

 

Friend Clemens / Last night I dreamed “three times in succession” that I dwelt and delved in the Diamond fields of South Africa, and fairly reveled in the Republic of the Transvaal (wherever that may be)—furthermore that that I had been eminently successful in finding and buying the precious gems, some of which outrivaled the Koh-i-nor in size, weight and water, and outshone the Great Hoggarty Diamond in brilliancy. And lo and behold, this morning comes your letter! [ page 429 ]

How I would [have] liked to have been able to pack right up and start from the word “go”. I am “mighty willin” but not ready. And so after duly considering the subject, and carefully weighing the pros and cons I telegraphed the following “at your expense”:—

“Yes—at the close of session. Will write. Would rather talk. Pass is good yet. Can start to-morrow evening. Shall I? Answer”. Charges $1.50 for that with orders to C.O.D.

Waiting a reply I am writing you, with thanks for your kind consideration for my welfare and assuring you that I would really like to go. I am somewhat of an expert in precious stones, thanks to that poor old Brazillian Diamond Hunter whom I befriended in the Cal. mines, years ago; have a taste that way and thanks to my early experience in the gold fields and in Mexico and Centro-America am a good campaigner and know how to take care of myself and others. Besides which a residence of five years in the District of Columbia should certainly fit a man for South Africa. North Africa or the Interior of Africa. All of which is respectfully submitted. But—why did the idea not enter into your head or my head, or the pair of cabbage-heads when I was with you in Buffalo? And I would have said Yes to your query “Will You Go?” at once. Now, I consider that I am to a certain extent compromised to remain here through this session for I know that Senator Cole, Sutro, Judge Carter and others will rely upon my aid in their matters and apart from my engagement with the ALTA I have agreed to correspond with two other Cal. newspapers during the session; and this only one short week ago.

Then there are my two Committees—before which there remains much unfinished business which “went over” during the last session—and with which no new man taking my place as Clerk, could attend to so well as I, and it would not be right for me to leave at this time. Were I [to] go to Africa, to the diamond fields, or to Peru, to the coal mines, for you, I am sure you would not like me to fly off somewhere else just because the impulse seized me or a better offer were made me to go elsewhere. No—I cannot do it even though to “stick” should result to my disadvantage. But if there is no actual haste in the matter I can go after close of the session say as soon as you like after the fourth of March next. Who cares if there are “four hundred waggons on the Pnielside”. Why when I get there with my waggon I’ll drive in on the near side or the off side and thus secure a positive advantage—especially when it is time to leave. So wait for the “Ides of March” or fix a date to correspond to ’em, and I’ll go. / Yours truly / J. H. Riley. / Your injunction of secresy is heeded most religiously [MTPO]. Note: Adolph Sutro (1830-1898); Senator from Calif. Cornelius Cole (1822-1924); David Kellogg Cartter (1812–1887), chief justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia since 1863.

 

December – In the Galaxy for this month – MARK TWAIN’S MEMORANDA – Included:

“An Entertaining Article”
“History Repeats Itself”
“Running for Governor”
“The ‘Present’ Nuisance”
“Dogberry in Washington”
“My Watch – An Instructive Little Tale”
“Favors from Correspondents”
Short miscellaneous items – includes items on A Colt, Whitney, Brigham Young, Divorce, Epitaph, the Map, Art [Schmidt].

 

December ? – In Buffalo Clemens wrote to Francis P. Church of the Galaxy.

 

Leave the miner’s poem

& some other short thing

till Feb.

 

(Let this be added to “Sad Sad Business.”)

 

Originally I expected the present article to be only six lines long—a simple statement that that review was a burlesque on the London one, & that I was the culprit. But I ask the reader as a man & a brother if he could have the heart to demand that I leave this next paragraph out? It is from the regular Boston correspondence of the Northampton “Gazette:” [MTP]. Note: clipping not in file.  [ page 430 ]

 

December 1 Thursday – In Buffalo, Sam wrote to Warren Luther Brigham (1846-1880) of the Boston Saturday Evening Gazette. Brigham had written suggesting Sam write a column for the Gazette. Sam declined—“as we steamboatmen used to say, ‘I’ve got my load.’” Still, Sam wrote that the Gazette was “the only Weekly paper I ever wanted to own” [MTL 4: 254-5].

 

Possibly on this date, Sam also wrote to Elisha Bliss about a “half-forgotten friend” whose “husband got lost in the desert & the cuyotes ate him” [MTL 4: 254-5]. Note: unidentified.

 

December 2 Friday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss and offered a compromise royalty on the new book of 8 ½ percent. Bliss drew up a contract based on this letter [MTL 4: 256-7].

 

Sam also wrote a very long letter to John Henry Riley laying out the case and benefits to each. Sam would pay Riley’s passage and expenses. Riley would stay in South Africa up to three months and keep all the diamonds he found up to $5,000, but split everything over that amount with Sam. Sam would even teach Riley how to lecture and set him up with James Redpath on the circuit. Sam also suggested how Riley might get out of correspondent obligations to the Alta California—offer them a substitute equally qualified [MTL 4: 258-66].

 

December 3 Saturday – Sam’s article, “An Entertaining Article,” which also appeared in the December edition of the Galaxy, was re-printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 262]. The paper also ran a poem titled “Three Aces” over the pseudonym “Carl Byng.” When the poem was called Sam’s “weak imitation of Bret Harte,” it caused Sam some grief. (See Jan. 15, 1871 entry.)

 

Sam wrote from Buffalo to James Redpath about a scientific article by his partner, Josephus Larned. Sam asked about Tom Fitch’s progress on the lecture circuit [MTL 4: 266].

 

Elisha Bliss replied to the Dec. 1? from Clemens:

 

Friend Clemens, / “Little madam” is a brave one— What a magnet for the women you are— ‘From the North & the South the East & the West they come to do homage’em spaceAm looking for your brother daily. Have been in a stew—all day looking for a dispatch from you & none has come from you— Did my letter reach you—& have you replied?— Am anxious to hear, as I suppose the matter requires prompt action— Do you demur to my argument? Trust to hear from you soon—about it—& know how you feel— Hope you did not think me over sharp—now did you? / Let me hear from you if mine is not recd, telegraph [MTPO].

 

December 5 Monday – Elisha Bliss telegrammed to Sam: “All right go ahead will write tomorrow” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Bliss’s telegram agreeing to 8 ½ pc & advance of $2,500 if demanded on African copyright / This received Dec. 6, 1870.”

 

John Henry Riley telegrammed Clemens: “Long letter rec’d Plan approved Will get ready to go” [MTL 4: 266n10]. Note: Sam rec’d it on Dec. 6.

 

December 6 Tuesday – John Henry Riley wrote from Wash DC, wanting to “come and have a chat” with Twain, and would try to get a leave of absence. “Look for me at the Mansion House on Thursday or Friday night—to return on Monday next” [MTP].

 

December 7 or 8 Thursday – Sam was putting more literary irons in the fire. He telegraphed Isaac E. Sheldon & Co., publishers of Galaxy magazine. Sam had previously wanted Sheldon to publish a collection of his sketches, but Bliss had objected. Sam now suggested a pamphlet, not a book, for the Christmas Galaxy edition, a way around his contract with Bliss [MTL 4: 268]. [ page 431 ]

 

December 9 Friday – Sam received two telegrams from Sheldon & Co., agreeing to publish his pamphlet and split the profits, or offer a 15% royalty as an alternative. A letter followed the same day detailing the agreement. Sam chose the royalty. Probably on this night Sam left for New York [MTL 4: 268-9].

 

December 10 Saturday – Sam arrived in New York City and stayed at the Albemarle Hotel. He talked with Sheldon & Co. about the proposed pamphlet, not published until March 1871 with a title of Mark Twain’s (Burlesque) Autobiography and First Romance. He also met with Charles Henry Webb, either this day or soon after, to smooth over differences in connection with the Jumping Frog book. Sam purchased back the copyright from Webb, who had tried to do Sam a favor when George W. Carleton had rejected the book [MTL 4: 268-9].

 

Sam’s article, “Dogberry in Washington,” which also appeared in the December edition of the Galaxy, was reprinted in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 266].

 

December 10–16 Friday – While in New York, Sam visited friends Dan Slote, Whitelaw Reid, John M. Hay (1838-1905) and perhaps John Rose Greene Hassard (1836-1888), all of the New York Tribune. Sam also saw Horace Greeley. On Dec. 19 Sam wrote Twichell that he “smoked a week, day & night” while in the City [MTL 4: 269].

 

December 11 Sunday – Sam wrote an obituary for Reuel Colt Gridley to the editor of the New York Tribune. Gridley was a Hannibal schoolmate, and the man who carried the “Sanitary flour sack” in Austin, Nevada. Gridley died on Nov. 24 [MTL 4: 270-1]. His obituary appeared in the Tribune on Dec. 13.

 

A dramatization of his Jumping Frog story took place at Dan Bryant’s new minstrel hall, and Sam may have seen it [MTL 4: 269].

 

December 12 Monday – Sam hand delivered the Gridley obituary to the New York Tribune, where he probably met Horace Greeley [MTL 4: 270].

 

December 13 Tuesday – Sam wrote from New York to Elisha Bliss about Sam’s plans to write a book about the diamond rush in South Africa [MTL 4: 272].

 

December 14 Wednesday – Bliss arrived in New York to discuss the South Africa book. Sam also met with John Henry Riley about this time [MTL 4: 272].

 

December 15 Thursday – Whitelaw Reid wrote to Sam that he’d “been waiting all week for you to make your appearance, and here it is Thursday night. Please you send me word by the bearer that you will dine with me tomorrow (Friday) evening at half past 6 o’clock at the Union League Club” [MTP].

 

December 16 Friday – An article attributed to Sam, “War and ‘Wittles’,” was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 268].

 

December 17 Saturday – Sam’s article, “The Facts in the Case of George Fisher, Deceased,” which also appeared in the Jan. 1871 issue of the Galaxy, was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 270]. Sam left this day for Buffalo.

 [ page 432 ]

From Buffalo he telegraphed Elisha Bliss to send him a draft for $1,500 payable to Riley. “He starts in ten days” [MTL 4: 272].

 

Sam and Livy wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks. Sam planned to go to Cleveland for Alice Fairbanks’ wedding in January, and to telegraph Dan Slote and Charley Langdon to go with him. Sam related paying off Webb:

 

“Think of purchasing one’s own property after never having received one cent from the publication!” [MTL 4: 273-4].

 

Phineas T. Barnum wrote from NYC to ask Sam’s help with a letter enclosed for his advertising circular [MTP].

 

December 19 Monday – An article attributed to Sam, “Waiting for the Verdict,” was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 276].

 

Sam wrote from Buffalo to Joseph Twichell.

 

Tell Harmony (Mrs. T.) that I do hold the baby, & do it pretty handily, too, although with occasional apprehensions that his loose head will fall off. I don’t have to quiet him—he hardly ever utters a cry. He is always thinking about something. He is a patient, good little baby.

 

Smoke? I always smoke from 3 till 5 on Sunday afternoons—& in New York the other day I smoked a week, day & night. I’m “boss” of the habit, now, & shall never let it boss me any more [MTL 4: 275-6].

 

Isaac E. Sheldon wrote to Sam: “Your telegram has just been rec’d / I will see that the book is copyrighted before it is issued” [MTP]. Note: this for the Burlesque Auto.

 

December 20 Tuesday – In Buffalo, Sam telegraphed, then wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss. The telegraph:

 

“Contract approved signed and mailed to you. / Sam L. Clemens”

 

The letter:

 

“Have just read over, approved & signed that contract, [for the S. African book] & it will go to you tonight.

 

“Riley is my man—did I introduce him to you in New York? He sails Jan. 4 for Africa. Just read about him in my Galaxy Memoranda for a month or two ago…” [MTL 4: 276; telegraph given at MTP drop-in letters].

 

Sam also wrote to Albert Francis Judd, son of Hawaiian missionary and statesman, who would become attorney general of Hawaii in 1873. Sam responded to Judd’s letter and announced the success of Innocents Abroad, his plans for two more books that size and other miscellaneous subjects [MTL 4: 278].

 

December 22 Thursday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss acknowledging receipt of the $1,500 for Riley and the S. African book. He also wrote about buying back his Jumping Frog copyright, and a proposed book of his sketches [MTL 4: 281]. Note: Slotta contends that Webb supplied Sam with fictitious sales numbers and printings for Jumping Frog, and that it was even briefly published as a paperback on May 8, 1867. (See A.D. notes AMT 2: 487 showing 4,076 books printed.) Since Sam never expected the book to sell, he swallowed Webb’s misrepresentations, and even paid him for the release of the copyright:

 [ page 433 ]

“I bought my Jumping Frog from Webb. —gave him what he owed me ($600.00), and $800 cash, & 300 remaining copies of the book, & also took $128 worth of free unprinted paper off his hands. I think of a Jumping Frog pamphlet (illustrated) for next Christmas—do you want it? Ys Ever Mark” [MTL 4: 281].

 

Isaac E. Sheldon wrote to Sam: “Your telegram just rec’d.” He offered publication details on the Burlesque Autobiography pamphlet/book [MTP].

 

December 23 Friday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Frank Church of the Galaxy about the bad review Sam claimed to have written himself [MTL 4: 283].

 

December 24 Saturday – Sam’s article, “A Sad, Sad Business,” which also appeared in the January 1871 edition of the Galaxy, was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 277].

 

December 25 Sunday – Christmas – In Buffalo, Sam wrote a Merry Christmas note to Eunice Ford about her great-grandson, Langdon [MTL 4: 285].

 

December 26 Monday – In Buffalo, Sam wrote a letter of regret to decline an invitation from Alfred B. Crandell and Other Members of the Farmers’ Club to speak at a Jan. 5, 1871 dinner at the Metropolitan Hotel in New York City [MTL 4: 286].

 

Sam also dropped a line to John R. Drake, brother of Francis S. Drake. Sam also wrote Francis about information requested for a biography. Francis Drake was preparing the first edition of the Dictionary of American Biography, Including Men of the Time (1872). “There is really no biography to my career,” Sam wrote, and then contrasted the numbers of sales expected for his first two books with the actual sales numbers [MTL 4: 288].

 

Sam also wrote and asked Whitelaw Reid to put a notice about Sam’s burlesque autobiography in his promotional literature [MTL 4: 288].

 

Sam also wrote to John Henry Riley, letter not extant but referred to in Riley’s Dec. 31.

 

John Henry Riley wrote from Phila. to acknowledge Sam’s of Dec. 22 with check for $1,500. “I shall return to Washington to-morrow night, pack up my traps, come back here for a day, and then on to New York for the final arrangements preparatory to starting on the long voyage” [MTP].

 

December 28 Wednesday – Elisha Bliss wrote to Sam.

 

Friend Clemens, / Yours of 22nd rec’d. Glad to hear you are progressing with the Books— I believe I wrote you I would copy this contract the next day after I wrote you & send you Well I think I did—not do as I agreed this time— The fact is I have been so busy with your brother &c getting things ready for paper &c I have not had a moment to do it— Have waited 2 or 3 days past to do it & send with this reply, & now dont send it. Well I will do it to night before I go to bed & also make out the contract for the Sketch book & send both tomorrows’ mail—but dare not delay writing you longer. Yes we will have Mullen illustrate the sketch book all right. Glad you have the Jumping Frog, in your own hands, but think he got the big end of a loaf em spaceHe ought to have sold you the plates for what he owed you.

Dont you think Jumping Frog would be a big thing in the sketch book? Seems to me it will do you as much good there as anywhere & pay you best— Think strongly of it, & see if you dont think it will be best to put it in there— By the way where are the plates & dont you want the book sold as it is—think we could sell a good many without making a noise—if you dont put it in Sketch book— Yes we want it in the pamphlet, or at least talk it over with you before you let it go, if you use it this way. Are you coming on? Will canvass for Sketch book as soon as Prospectus is ready for it. Will send Contracts tomorrow. Excuse my past lies failures. / Truly/ Bliss [MTP]. Note: (Misdated Dec. 29.) [ page 434 ]

 

December 29 Thursday – Wrote to Sam: Elisha Bliss wrote: “I send the contracts, one a copy of the one you signed, the other a short one for sketch book—comprehensive enough for all purposes. … I mention your altering the old sketches a little to secure a new copyright on them. Would it not be a good plan. You know best, but if you don’t do it some scallawag may run us opposition you know… [MTP].

 

Isaac E. Sheldon wrote from NYC: “Friend Clemens / Your two favors have come to hand. / Your idea is first rate & it is the very thing that I intended to do.” He gave more publishing details for “Burlesque Autobiography” [MTP].

 

December 31 Saturday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Whitelaw Reid sending an article Sam wrote on the controversial John H. Surratt (1844-1916), son of the woman who was hanged for her part in Lincoln’s assassination (engaging in the conspiracy and running the boarding house where John Wilkes Booth planned the crime). Sam argued that by persecuting Surratt, his lecture managers would use that to increase his fame. Left alone, Sam argued, Surratt could not gather more than a hundred to hear him speak and would fade away [MTL 4: 290].

 

John Henry Riley wrote having rec’d Sam’s of the 26th“and request complied with—the idea is now in genuine circulation as far as those one-horse papers go” [MTP]. Note: Sam’s of Dec. 26 not extant.

 

Isaac E. Sheldon wrote: “I send you by this mail proofs of all the cuts. If they are satisfactory to you please let me know at once. Please also send in ‘The House that Jack built’ just as you want it set up.” He gave more publishing details for “Burlesque Autobiography” [MTP].

 


 [ page 435 ]
Bored with Buffalo – Bret Harte on Top – Elmira Stay – Joe Goodman Boost

New York & Washington – Hartford House Hunting – Nook Farm Rental

Eastern Lecture Tour – Thomas Bailey Aldrich –Elastic Garment Strap

“Sociable Jimmy”— Roughing It Published

 

1871 – Mark Twain’s (Burlesque) Autobiography and First Romance is a pamphlet (sometimes issued with cloth binding), published by Galaxy editor Isaac Sheldon early in the year. It was Sam’s third “book,” and the hope was to quickly capitalize on his Innocents Abroad popularity for the 1870 Christmas market, but publication problems delayed release. It consists of two stories “First Romance,” (before named “A Medieval Romance”) which originally appeared in the Buffalo Express in Jan. 1870, and “A Burlesque Autobiography,” published in violation of Twain’s contract with Elisha Bliss. The “Autobiography” was unpublished at the time it was joined with “The First Romance” as a small book. Sam’s A Burlesque Autobiography did not first appear in “Memoranda” in the Galaxy.

The illustrations form an interesting aspect of this book. They have no relationship to the text of the book. Rather, they use cartoons illustrating the children’s poem The House that Jack Built to lampoon the Erie Railroad Ring (the house) and its participants, Jay Gould (1836-1892), John T. Hoffman (1828-1888), and Jim Fisk (1834-1872).

The book was not one of Sam’s favorites. Two years after publication, he bought all of the printing plates of the book and destroyed them. The sketch survived as “A Burlesque Biography” in the $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories (1906).

January – In the Galaxy for this month – MARK TWAIN’S MEMORANDA – Included:

 

“The Portrait”
“The Facts in the Case of George Fisher, Deceased”
“A ‘Forty-niner’ ”
“Doggerel”
“Goldsmith’s Friend Abroad Again, Letter VII”
“Mean People”
“A Sad, Sad Business”
“Concerning a Rumor”
“Agassiz” [Schmidt].

 

Josiah Jewett of the Buffalo Club receipted Sam for $125.00 for initiation fee, and semi-annual dues to July 1, 1871 [MTP].

 

January 1 Sunday – James T. Fields announced his retirement as editor-in-chief of the Atlantic. William Dean Howells took over the job of the faltering publication. From a peak of 50,000 circulation, the Atlantic fell to 35,000 in 1870 after the publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s attack on Lord Byron for adultery. By 1874 the circulation was down to 20,000, and by the end of Howells’ editorship was about 12,000 [Goodman and Dawson 138, 142].

 

January 2 Monday – Laura E. Lyman (Kate Hunnibee) wrote on NY Tribune notepaper [MTP].. She wrote the “Home Interest” column. Basically a fan letter in praise of IA.

 

January 3 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Joseph Twichell, praising Charles Dudley Warner’s new book, My Summer in a Garden [MTL 4: 294].

 [ page 436 ]

He also wrote to Elisha Bliss about the proposed pamphlet, the sketchbook and Roughing It, which Sam planned to be out by August. It wasn’t published until Feb. 1872 [MTL 4: 295].

 

Whitelaw Reid wrote to Sam: “I hope to print in the morning your protest against the further manufacture of martyrs in re Surratt.” He wished he might accept Sam’s “very tempting invitation to Buffalo” having heard favorably of David Gray [MTP].

 

January 4 Wednesday – Elisha Bliss wrote to Sam:

 

Have not heard from you for some time—am anxious for your safety—let us know how you are. &c—& how goes the latter. Have looked for advt. of your pamphlet also. Your brother & myself have expected to see it advertised. What is the trouble? Did you get my contracts sent? / Our paper gets on now just perfectly, & will be out by & by, in good shape I think [MTP].

 

January 4 and 5 Thursday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss about the sketches book and the “Pre-deluge article,” which was a Noah’s Ark book that Sam never published [MTL 4: 296]. Sam wrote another letter on Jan. 5 to Bliss asking to:

 

“…make the theatre give my brother & his wife season-passes—you can puff & advertise in return. He’s an editor now & entitled to courtesies” [MTL 4: 297].

 

Possibly on this date Sam and Livy wrote to Mollie Clemens:

 

Both of you go slow—don’t hurry in the matter of making friends, & don’t get impatient. Making friends in Yankee land is a slow, slow business, but they are friends worth having when they are made. There is no section in America half so good to live in as splendid old New England—& there is no city on this continent so lovely & lovable as Boston, almost in sight of which is now your high privilege to live [MTL 4: 298].

 

January 6? Friday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to John M. Hay about a poem Hay had written: Paraphrased: “On the first appearance of ‘J.B.,’ Mark Twain wrote to me, saying that I was all wrong making him an engineer,—that only a pilot could have done what I represented him as doing” [MTL 4: 299]. Note: Hays’ poem “Jim Bludso, (of the Prairie Belle.)” —about the engineer of a burning steamboat who dies while keeping his vow to “ ‘hold her nozzle agin the bank / Till the last galoot’s ashore.’ ”—appeared in the New York Tribune on Jan. 5; see Hay’s Jan. 9 reply.

 

January 6 or 7 Saturday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Earl D. Berry, asking for articles for the Buffalo Express on a charity for orphaned children of dead Union soldiers [MTL 4: 300].

 

January 7 Saturday – Clemens was elected to membership in the elite Buffalo Club. He resigned his membership two months after leaving Buffalo [Reigstad 187-188]. Note: William G. Fargo was president of the club.

 

In “The Literature of the United States in 1870,” the Athenæum, p.15, briefly mentioned IA, but gave higher plaudits to Bret Harte for The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Sketches [Tenney 3-4].

 

David R. Locke (Petroleum V. Nasby) wrote to Sam: “I enclose you the first of Redpath’s sketches, with his note to me. I think it is good, but whether it had better go in the Galaxy or not is the question. Do with it as you like. If you don’t use it for the Galaxy send it back to me & I will shove it into some daily” [MTP].

 

January 9 Monday – John M. Hay wrote from the Astor House in NYC to Sam; the letter was sent with another of Jan. 14.

 [ page 437 ]

“My Dear Mr Clemens / I owe you many thanks for your kind letter. I think the pilot is a much more appropriate and picturesque personage and should certainly have used him except for the fact that I knew Jim Bludso and he was an engineer and did just what I said…” [MTL 4: 299]. Note: see the rest of the letter in source.

 

January 9 or 10 Tuesday – Sam left Buffalo and traveled to Cleveland, Ohio, possibly with Dan Slote and Charley Langdon, for the wedding of Mary Mason Fairbanks’ daughter, Alice to William H. Gaylord (b. 1832).

 

January 11 Wednesday – Cleveland, Ohio. Sam attended the evening wedding of Alice Fairbanks and William H. Gaylord at the Fairbanks’ home [MTL 4: 302n1].

 

January 12 Thursday – Sam wrote at 1 AM from Cleveland, Ohio to Livy about the Fairbanks-Gaylord wedding. “About four to six or seven hundred people have asked after your & the cub’s health & the latter’s progress” [MTL 4: 301].

 

January 13 Friday – Sam visited the new Fairbanks’ home, which had been built after the two fires in 1869. The new place was called “Fair Banks” [MTL 4: 302n5]. He left Cleveland to return home to Buffalo.

 

January 14 Saturday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Charles Henry Webb.

 

“I dissent. I made up my mind solidly day before yesterday that I would draw out of the Galaxy with the April No. & write no more for any periodical—except, at long intervals a screed that I happened to dearly want to write” [MTL 4: 302].

 

Webb may have made a request of Sam to write for James R. Osgood (1826-1892) or George W. Carleton, his own publisher, but Sam had a long memory (if a sometimes flawed one) and once scorned he did not forget. No way was Carleton ever going to publish Sam after the Jumping Frog refusal.

 

John M. Hay wrote to Sam, enclosing his letter of Jan. 9, and turning down Sam’s offer of a partnership in the Buffalo Express, thanking him for kind words about his verses [MTL 4: 299-300n1].

 

January 15 Sunday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to the Editor of Every Saturday, Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836-1907), setting him straight that the poem “Three Aces” run in the Express Dec. 3, 1870 over the byline “Carl Byng” was not Twain’s. Aldrich complained in the Jan. 7 issue that the poem “seems to be a feeble echo of Bret Harte” (wildly popular “Heathen Chinee”). Every Saturday was a Boston weekly owned by James R. Osgood. “I am not in the imitation business,” wrote Sam, claiming the Carl Byng writer “for years signed himself as ‘Hy. Slocum.’” Aldrich printed Sam’s letter without the dateline in the Feb. 4 issue [MTL 4: 304; Powers, MT A Life 293-4]. Sam would not meet Aldrich until late in 1871.

 

January 18 Wednesday – Isaac E. Sheldon wrote to Sam: “Yours of the 15th just at hand / We will get out the book just as soon as possible. The stereotypers have delayed us.” He included more publishing details for A Burlesque Autobiography [MTP].

 

January 19 Thursday – Isaac E. Sheldon wrote to Sam: “I send you by this mail 8 or 10 pages of print. / I think that you will like the page” [MTP].

 

January 21 Saturday – Isaac E. Sheldon wrote to Sam: “Why do you not return the proof sent to you some days since? I fear that it may not have reached you” [MTP].

 [ page 438 ]

C.F. Sterling wrote from Birmingham, Conn. to Sam.

 

Dear Mark, / I don’t care if letters are a bore to you either to answer or receive, I’ve had so much amusement from your travels, memoranda, &c. I want to thank you for it and I’m going to do it. Accept then the hearty gratitude of one who feels indebted in a higher degree than his subscription to the Galaxy or purchase of “The Innocents Abroad” cancels. Sometimes I think the balance between you writers and we readers is most unfair and while you are racking your brains to amuse us, we in our selfishness swallow it all and also all amusing things that happen to us. That you too may have a little smile let me tell you how they do things in Buffalo.

Stopping there one night a few weeks since I went to the “Tift [Tifft] House” called the nicest I was told. Going up to my room I, as is my invariable custom felt of the bedding to see if there was sufficient to keep me warm as it was during one of the cold spells we have recently had. Found sheet, one blanket and white spread. Coming down I asked the clerk to put more bedding on 106. “Certainly sir.” Going up to bed about 11.30 I found a blanket nicely spread over the outside. Still feeling doubtful as to quantity I felt again and found the blanket had changed places with the counterpane and there was precisely the same amount as at first. You will appreciate this as you know the style they spread at the “Tift House” and prices they charge. Don’t imagine I send this for publication. Tis for you to laugh at [MTPO].

 

January 22 Sunday – Sam wrote from Buffalo, again to Thomas Bailey Aldrich, asking that he not print the paragraph sent on Jan. 15. Aldrich replied on Jan. 25 that it was too late; that the note and his apology had been printed on 42,000 copies of the next edition [MTL 4: 305].

 

Sam also wrote to James Redpath, advising him of places and dates in California for John Bartholomew Gough to lecture. Gough had been a very successful temperance lecturer, using theatrics on stage to further his cause [MTL 4: 306-7].

 

Sam also wrote to H.E. Evans in Oshkosh, Wisc., about a book Evans hadn’t received.

 

Dear Sir: / I ordered my publisher to send you the book, long ago—& now I have sent him this present letter of yours, with an imperative order to send you the book immediately. He will be very likely to attend to it without this time without fooling away any perceptible amount of time—but if he neglects it, I ask as a personal favor that you will let me know, with dispatch. Things shall go right or else there shall be trouble in the family. / Yrs Truly / Samℓ. L. Clemens [MTP, drop-in letters]. Evans is not identified.

 

John Henry Riley wrote to Sam on the S.S. City of Dublin, and later in London. He’d decided to take the ship Gambia to the Cape on Feb. 1 [MTP].

 

January 24 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss.

 

Orion says you hardly know whether it is good judgment to throw the Sketch Book on the market & interfere with the Innocents. I believe you are more than half right—it is calculated to do more harm than good, no doubt. So if you like the idea, suppose we defer the Sketch Book till the last. That is, get out the big California & Plains book first of August; then the Diamond book first March or April 1872—& then the Sketch book the following fall. Does that strike you favorably? [MTL 4: 309].

 

Sam also wrote a note of thanks & reply to a fan and reader, C.F. Sterling of Buffalo who had written on Jan. 21 [MTL 4: 309-10].

 

January 25 Wednesday – Livy and Sam (mostly Livy) wrote to Alice Hooker Day from a Buffalo hospital where Livy took Langdon for a wet nurse. Sam added an apology for an “absurdly curt dispatch” he had sent, probably canceling Isabella Beecher Hooker’s visit [MTL 4: 313-4]. Haughty Isabella was not one of Sam’s favorites.

 [ page 439 ]

Orion Wrote to his brother: “Your letter came while Bliss as in New York, and I waited for his return before replying.” Orion related that Bliss and Sheldon “seem to have made it up”. Bliss felt the pamphlet Sheldon was making, A Burlesque Autobiography, would constitute a “book” violating his contract with Twain. Bliss enjoyed being Sam’s sole publisher. Many other items discussed, including the Tennessee Land.

 

Thomas Bailey Aldrich wrote from Boston. “It is too late for you to attempt to prevent me doing you justice! About 42000 copies of your note, with my apology nobly appended, are now printed, and we hope to have the rest of the edition off the press by to-morrow night. In the next No. of E.S? I will withdraw my apology, if you say so! / Yours…” [MTP].

 

January 26 Thursday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Mary Mason Fairbanks.

 

“Remembering the hatchet, I am your own moral son, which cannot tell a lie, when a body is looking straight at him…make the bride & groom be sure to stop…” —that is, Alice and William Gaylord on their honeymoon [MTL 4: 314].

 

January 27 Friday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Thomas Bailey Aldrich concerning the Bret Harte plagiarism claim and Sam’s subsequent denial that the Carl Byng verses were his.

 

“No, indeed, don’t take back the apology! Hang it, I don’t want to abuse a man’s civility merely because he gives me the chance.”

 

Sam also gave credit to Harte for changing him:

 

“…from an awkward utterer of coarse grotesquenesses to a writer of paragraphs and chapters that have found a certain flavor in the eyes of even some of the very decentest people in the land…” [MTL 4: 316].

 

Sam also wrote to Elisha Bliss:

 

“I have to go to Washington next Tuesday & stay a week, but will send you 150 MS pages before going, if you say so. It seems to me that I would much rather do this. Telegraph me now, right away—don’t wait to write. Next Wednesday I’ll meet you in N.Y.—& if you can’t come there I’ll run up & see you” [MTL 4: 319].

 

Sam also wrote to Isaac E. Sheldon, protesting prices over 25 cents for the proposed pamphlet, which Sheldon eventually published in both paper and cloth bindings, priced at 40 and 75 cents respectively. Bliss was upset that cloth bindings would translate as a “book” and thus violate his contract with Sam. Agreement was made to limit the number of cloth bindings issued, but Sheldon did not honor the agreement [MTL 4: 320-1]. Years later, Sam was still trying to collect from Sheldon (see Sept. 24, 1882 entry).

 

January 28 Saturday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Willard McKinstry (1815-1899), publisher and editor of the Fredonia Censor since 1842, declining to attend a dinner at the Censor’s 50th anniversary. The Censor published Sam’s letter along with those of Horace Greeley (New York Tribune) David Gray (Buffalo Courier) and others [MTL 4: 121].

 

January 29 Sunday – Sam’s article, “The Danger of Lying in Bed,” which also appeared in the Feb. 1871 issue of the Galaxy, was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 281]. This was the last known article Sam published in the Buffalo Express.

 

Sam met Kate Field (Mary Katherine Keemle Field 1838-1896) at a private residence. Field was a well-known journalist and platform lecturer who followed Charles Dickens’ tour with one about Dickens. Sam criticized her performances [MTL 4: 322].

 [ page 440 ]

January 30 Monday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to James Redpath. Sam asked if his article on Rev. William Sabine in the Feb. issue of Galaxy (“The Indignity Put Upon the Remains of George Holland by the Rev. Mr. Sabine”) would bring damage. Sam had called Sabine a “crawling, slimy, sanctimonious, self-righteous reptile” for his refusal to officiate at a funeral for George Holland, a popular comic and actor [MTL 4: 322-3].

 

January 31 Tuesday – Sam left Buffalo for Washington, D.C. via New York City. He telegraphed Elisha Bliss: “Have an appointment at Grand Hotel eleven tomorrow can you be there at noon.” Sam’s earlier appointment was with Isaac E. Sheldon or Francis P. Church of the Galaxy. Bliss objected to Sam writing for others, and offered Sam $5,000 to write exclusively for his American Publisher [MTL 4: 324, 320n1].

 

Sam left Susan and Theodore Crane with Livy and went to New York for two days [MTL 4: 325].

 

February – In the Galaxy for this month – MARK TWAIN’S MEMORANDA – Included:

 

“The Coming Man”
“A Book Review”
“The Tone-Imparting Committee”
“The Danger of Lying in Bed”
“One of Mankind’s Bores”
“A Falsehood”
“The Indignity Put Upon the Remains of George Holland by the Rev. Mr. Sabine” [Schmidt].

 

February 1 Wednesday – Sam arrived in New York City and stopped at the Grand Hotel to meet with Frank Church and probably Isaac E. Sheldon at 11 AM to work out his planned withdrawal from the Galaxy. At noon he met with Elisha Bliss to resolve matters and plans for future books. Whitelaw Reid of the New York Tribune announced Sam’s conclusion with the Galaxy:

 

“He says trying to think how he shall be funny at a certain date, is very melancholy; keeps him awake at night; prompts him to commit suicide, run for Congress, or describe in print his reminiscences of distinguished men whose funerals he has had the pleasure of attending” [MTL 4: 325].

 

February 2 Thursday – Sam arrived in Washington, D.C. and registered at the Ebbitt House, where his partner Josephus Larned was staying. Sam had returned to the capitol on the unfinished business of the legislation for Tennessee. As one of the executors to Jervis Langdon’s estate, Sam wanted to get the bill passed that had failed in July 1870.

 

February 3 Friday – Livy was coming down with typhoid and wrote Pamela Moffett that she wasn’t feeling well [MTL 4: 327].

 

February 4 Saturday – Henry W. Sage wrote to Sam seeking a meeting to clear up a misunderstanding with George H. Selkirk and Josephus N. Larned about an interview interrupted [MTP]. Note: Henry W. Sage (1814-1897), father of Dean Sage, mentioned in Sam’s Autobiography as the head of H.W. Sage & Co., which ran a lumber mill on Saginaw Bay. Sage was “an old and warm friend and former business partner of Mr. Langdon” [MTA 2:137; MTL 4: 474n2].

 

February 6 Monday – Sam telegraphed his plans home and Susan Crane answered by telegram. Then Susan Crane wrote Sam in Washington that Livy was worse—fever, no appetite, unable to sleep. Still, it was not yet urgent [MTL 4: 327].

 [ page 441 ]

Mrs. T.D. Crocker (b. 1831?) wrote from Cleveland, Ohio, enclosing a clipping from The Velocipede (Winchester, Conn.), edited by her son. She sought Sam’s approval and help publishing [MTP].

 

February 7 Tuesday – In Washington, Sam went to Mathew Brady’s studio and was photographed with David Gray, also staying at the Ebbitt House; and George Alfred Townsend aka “Gath” (1841-1914), another Washington correspondent. (See one of the photos in Muller, p.151; another in Meltzer, p.126.) That evening, while at a dinner at Welcker’s Restaurant Ohio congressman S. S. (“Sunset”) Cox (Samuel Sullivan Cox, 1824-1889) handed Mark Twain a telegram from Susan Crane that Livy was desperately ill. Sam left on the next train [MTL 4: 328]. Livy had been diagnosed with typhoid fever, the same illness that claimed the life of her friend Emma Nye.

 

Donn Piatt cited this dinner at Welcker’s Restaurant in Washington, D.C. as his first meeting with Mark Twain. After describing Sam and his manner, Piatt noted Sam’s abrupt departure after receiving Susan Crane’s telegram of Livy’s severe illness. Piatt wrote that Sam left with David Gray [MTL 4: 328-9]. Note: Piatt’s account was printed in the Mar. 2, 1871 Watertown, New York Weekly Reformer, p.1 and included this additional information:

He looks more like a member of the Ohio Legislature (if you know what that is) than anything else. That is, a sort of a man who had narrowly escaped being made a county commissioner, and so was returned to the Legislature. His face is a sad one, and when all are in roars about him he continues in a state of dense solemnity. His voice is the most extraordinary voice I ever heard. It is a cross between Horace Greeley and Tim Lincoln. He draws his words out in the most preposterous manner, that gives a drollery to what he says utterly beyond description [eBay by Headlines in History, Oct. 23, 2009 Item 380170621364].

February 8 Wednesday – Sam arrived back in Buffalo [MTL 4: 329].

 

February 9 Thursday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Louis Prang and Co. acknowledging receipt of a chromolithograph. Sam added:

 

“This is all in haste. I am simply out of the sick room for a moment’s rest & respite. My wife is seriously & I am afraid even dangerously ill” [MTL 4: 329].

 

Thomas Bailey Aldrich wrote:

 

Dear Mr. Clemens, /I have been a long while acknowledging the receipt of your cheerful letter; but you understand how a man who writes perpetual “leaders” sometimes finds that the pen he uses for his private correspondence weighs about a ton. Now and then I kick over my personal inkstand; but I have just set it up on end and refilled it, in order to thank you for your entertaining pages. I am glad that I accused you of “The Three Aces”, and ruffled your feelings, and caused you to tell me about poor Artemus Ward, and how the Overland got so striking a design for its cover. Really, that is the best bear story I ever heard. All this wouldn’t have happened if I had not wronged you. Mem: Always abuse people.

When you come to Boston, if you do not make your presence manifest to me, I’ll put a ¶ in “Every Saturday” to the effect that though you are generally known as Mark Twain, your favorite nom de plume is “Barry Gray.” I flatter myself that will bring you. / Yours very truly, / T. B. Aldrich [MTPO]. Note from source: “Barry Gray” was the pseudonym of genteel humorist Robert Barry Coffin (1826–86), who, like Aldrich, had been associated with the New York Home Journal in the late 1850s.

 

Clemens also wrote or telegraphed to Francis P. Church, wanting his last submission to the Galaxy withdrawn or held up [MTP].

 

Francis P. Church wrote Sam two notes and also telegraphed what is clearly a reply:

 

“All galaxy gone to Press impossible to do it notice of withdrawal not in department generally so quiet it need not disturb you my heartiest sympathy / F P Church” [ page 442 ]

February 10 Friday – Francis P. Church wrote to Sam: “I have your last telegram, but I have already written that I succeeded in stopping Memoranda. / It will delay the Galaxy several days, but I keenly appreciate your feelings & honor you for it. I hope I should feel so myself under similar circumstances” [MTPO].

Isaac E. Sheldon wrote concerning Sam’s wish to delay the publication of Burlesque Autobiography:

 

I have spent all the afternoon in arranging to leave your department out of the March no & I assure you it has been no light task. It was part of a form on the press & all that comes after it in the March no had to be fixed over. Aside from the expense, it will cause us several days delay, which is peculiarly unfortunate as we were very much behind on this number…

The pamphlet I can hold a few days if you desire it, but a few samples of it have got out. I might hold the Editors copies back, while the distant orders are on their way by freight lines & they will not reach their destination for some time to come. Of course it is universally understood that this book was written long ago & has been in the press for some time [MTPO].

 

February 11 Saturday – Isaac E. Sheldon wrote to Sam: “Your telegram just rec’d. / I write to you this morning. /A note is inserted in the Nebulae & also in Table of Contents giving the reason why your Memoranda is not in this time” [MTP]. Note: Clemens may have sent another telegram on Feb. 10 or 11.

 

February 13 Monday – To an unidentified request to lecture, Sam added a P.S. to a preprinted form:

 

“Am sorry to say that I am clear out of the lecture field, & neither riches nor glory can tempt me!” [MTL 4: 330].

 

Frank Bliss wrote an accounting of sales of IA during the period ending Jan. 31, including 6,395 in cloth, 1,353 in gift sets, 271 in half Morocco, enclosing check for $1,452.62 [MTP].

 

February 14 Tuesday – Sam signed both names on a short note to an unidentified man who evidently had asked for a valentine:

 

Dear Sir: / I am only too proud of the chance to help, with this the only Valentine I venture to write this day—for although I am twain in my own person I am only half a person in my matrimonial firm, & sometimes my wife shows that she is so much better & nobler than I am, that I seriously question if I am really any more than about a quarter! [MTP, drop-in letters].

 

February 15 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss, acknowledging a quarterly royalty check for $1,452.62 for sales of 8,024 copies of Innocents. Sam wrote that Riley had sailed from London on Feb. 1 on a 30-day voyage. On the subject of Livy, Sam answered Orion’s concern:

 

“Sometimes I have hope for my wife,—so I have at this moment—but most of the time it seems to me impossible that she can get well. I cannot go into particulars—the subject is too dreadful” [MTL 4: 331].

 

February 16 Thursday – From Buffalo, Sam sent a request to Elisha Bliss:

 

Please mail or send in your own way, a cloth copy of Innocents Abroad to

 

Sidney Moffett

New Market

Shenandoah Co.,Va;

& charge to my ac / [MTP, drop-in letters].

 

February 17 Friday – Sam wrote a short letter to his mother and family about Livy’s improvement, though she: [ page 443 ]

 

“…still is very low & very weak. She is in her right mind this morning, & has made hardly a single flighty remark” [MTL 4: 352].

 

Sam also responded to an autograph seeker, Fannie Dennis, who wished both an autograph and sentiment:

 

To write an autograph is no trouble at all, when a body is used to it, but I never have tried to add a “sentiment” in my life…Therefore, let us just dodge the difficulty entirely & make use of somebody else’s sentiment. Now I always admired that neat & snappy thing which good old John Bunyan said to the Duke of Wellington: “Give me liberty, or give me death!” Isn’t it pretty? [MTL 4: 334].

 

February 21 Tuesday – Petroleum V. Nasby, “enormously fat & handsome,” stopped by.

 

“We had a pleasant talk but I couldn’t offer him the hospitalities because my wife is very seriously ill & the house is full of nurses & doctors” [MTL 4: 335-6 in letter to Redpath the next day].

 

February 22 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Orion. “Livy is very, very slowly & slightly improving, but it is not possible to say whether she is out of danger…” [MTL 4: 334].

 

He also wrote a short note to James Redpath: “They keep writing me from Cleveland to send along the next article—so let’s have it—but do find some other author than ‘A Retired Lecturer’—it points right at me, old boy.” He told of Nasby’s visit the day before and of Livy’s condition [MTL 4: 335-6].

 

Clemens then wrote a short note to Whitelaw Reid. “I thank you heartily for saving me that gratuitous snub in the Tribune, & shall be glad to choke a slur for you if I ever get a chance. I guess this emanated from some bummer who owes me borrowed money & can’t forgive the offense.” He added about Livy’s condition and sent “warm regards” to John M. Hay and John Rose Greene Hassard, whom he called “Hazard” [MTL 4: 336]. Note: nothing is known of the intercepted “slur.”

 

February 23 Thursday – Edson C. Chick wrote from offices of The Aldine, NYC to send copies of the March issue. “Having made the announcement of portrait we are anxious for copy…Thanks for photograph…P.S. Bret Harte & John Hay will do something for us soon” [MTP]. Note: The Aldine, a monthly arts journal published in New York in the 1800s.

 

February 25 Saturday – Bret and Anna Harte and their two sons, Woodie and Frankie, arrived in Boston around 11 AM. A crowd was at the train station to welcome Harte, including 33-year-old William Dean Howells, assistant editor of the Atlantic under James T. Fields. Sam and many others had followed the notices of Harte’s progress by rail since he left San Francisco on Feb. 2 [Powers, MT A Life 295]. Note: Some biographers have made much of the idea that Harte’s rise motivated Sam and affected his publishing strategy or enhanced his insecurities. Biographers often enjoy inflating pet ideas.

 

February 26 or 27 Monday – Sam telegraphed from Buffalo to Edson C. Chick, managing editor of the Aldine, a graphic arts and literary magazine published by James Sutton & Co. of New York (1871-3). Sam had sent a portrait of himself but not an autobiographical sketch, which Sam felt was “too long, as it stands, to be modest” [MTL 4: 337].

 

February 27 Monday – Edson C. Chick wrote from offices of The Aldine: “Dr. Mark / Telegram recd. Many Many thanks. [I] enclose manuscript. You have helped me out of my difficulty like a ‘big hearted boatman’ as you are…” [MTP].

 [ page 444 ]

February 28 Tuesday – W.S. Cassedy wrote from Rosston, Penn. to ask Clemens to read his MS about “the imaginary visit of a China man to this country” [MTP].

 

March – Mark Twain’s (Burlesque) Autobiography and First Romance was published (Note: Rasmussen gives February, p.49). “First Romance” was joined with the work but was first published on Jan. 1, 1870 in Buffalo Express [Budd, “Collected” 1008].

 

March 1 Wednesday – Sam sold his one-third interest in the Buffalo Express to George H. Selkirk for $15,000, to be paid over five years. Sam still owed Thomas A. Kennett (1843-1911). Sam repaid Jervis Langdon’s estate by the end of 1871, but by 1878 Selkirk had still not completed payment [MTL 4: 338].

 

March 2 Thursday – Sam advertised his Buffalo house for sale at $25,000, what it cost Jervis Langdon a year before [MTL 5: 338].

 

In a letter to his brother on Mar. 4, Sam identified this day as when he decided to “go out of the Galaxy” with a last “Memoranda” column [MTL 4: 341].

 

Frank Church wrote to Sam on this day, trying to placate him about the column:

 

You certainly didn’t read the notice concerning the omission of the March Memoranda aright. I only said that the department would be continued as usual “next month” I had no idea of committing you to its indefinite continuance.

…

I thought it was understood that your farewell was to go in & with it your postscript & then some words of mine…

…

Of course, my dear fellow, I shall not keep the name Memoranda. I had no idea of it.

..

And can’t you work up some thing to start the new department—why not one of the things already in type? But I will have the plates of those pages destroyed, so that they need never arise to bother you if you don’t want them. / Don’t let us quarrel nor shall we, if I can help it by doing the square thing. / Truly F.P.C. [MTP].

 

James Sutton wrote from the office of The Aldine to acknowledge Sam’s letter to Mr. Chick; Sutton was filling in for Chick [MTP].

 

March 3 Friday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to John Henry Riley praising him for his letters, “satisfactory as letters could be.” Then in a frank revelation of his frustration with how life was going, Sam blamed his misfortunes on Buffalo:

“I have come at last to loathe Buffalo so bitterly (always hated it) that yesterday I advertised our dwelling house for sale, & the man that comes forward & pays us what it cost a year ago, ($25,000,) can take it. …I offer the Express for sale also, & the man that will pay me $10,000 less than I gave can take that

Sam expressed disgust at his house being full of “doctors & watchers & nurses all the time for 8 months.” He wrote that he quit the Galaxy and wanted now to “simply write books.” Sam remarked on the “most celebrated man in America to-day,” Bret Harte [MTL 4: 337-8]. Note: Kaplan argues “it was impossible for him [Clemens] not to believe that Harte’s rise meant his own eclipse or that the tide had already turned against him.” No such sentiment is expressed in these letters, though it’s true that this period was not the best of times for Sam.

 

March 4 Saturday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Orion, answering his insistent request for an article for the monthly circular, American Publisher. Asking to be left out of the Publisher for a time, he wrote:  [ page 445 ]

 

“I am endangering my reputation by writing too much—I want to get out of the public view for a while. I am nearly worn out. We shall go to Elmira ten days hence (if Livy can travel on a mattrass then,) & stay there till I have finished the California book—say three month.” Sam also wrote that he was getting out of The Galaxy because he wanted to focus on the “California book” [MTL 4: 341].

 

March 6 Monday – Bret Harte signed his record-breaking contract with the Atlantic for $10,000. Duckett and others argue that this accolade stimulated Sam’s desire to “get out of the public view for a while,” (Mar. 4 letter to Orion) in order to get ahead of Harte [62].

 

March 7 Tuesday – Sam completed entering, crossing out, and filling out his 1870 income tax forms (state or local taxes). He claimed a salary of $1,200 with other income of $8,200 and a net tax of $77.55 at 2 ½ per cent after deductions. Livy showed no income for the year. The forms bear penciled entries, some in black ink, and others in bright purple ink. Lengthwise between the folded form, Sam wrote:

 

“Pay no attention to any figures except those in black ink—otherwise the report will drive an innocent man crazy. Saml. L. Clemens, Elmira N.Y.” [MTP]. Note: The document appears to have been used as a worksheet. The form is prefaced by the following legalese:

 

By the act of July 14, 1870, it is made the duty of every person of lawful age, the gross amount of whose income, gains, and profits during the year ending December 31, 1870, exceeded two thousand dollars, on or before the 1st day of March, 1871, to make a return of said gross amount to the assistant assessor of the district in which he resides.

 

Note: God bless bureaucrats who cobble such sentences! Like the poor, they will always be with us.

 

Elisha Bliss wrote to nudge Sam for a MS of his book. He was happy to hear that Livy “was out of danger,” which he’d heard through Twichell [MTP].

 

March 8 Wednesday – Orion Clemens wrote from Hartford to Sam.

 

My Dear Brother:– / Your very welcome letter contains a great deal of pleasant information.

1. That Livy will soon be well enough to move.

And 2. That we may look for you as a resident of our city. Bliss says he will furnish the information about taxes. I will see him when he comes in and get the figures unless he is going to write you the information himself. He says if you will only write we will take care of your furniture and it shan’t cost you anything. He knows an upper story, new and free of bugs, that can be rented cheap. Besides, we will hunt up any information you want, and do anything else you want done, if you will only write. He is in earnest. He is decidedly worked up about it. He says, put yourself in our place. A new enterprise, in which “Twain” was to be a feature, and so widely advertised. He receives congratulations in New York at the Lotus Club that you and Hay are to write for the paper. Everybody likes it. It starts out booming. Are you going to kick the pail over? Think of yourself as writing for no periodical except the Publisher. “Have you seen Twain’s last?” says one. “It’s in the Publisher.” He goes and buys it because there is no other chance to get it. It gives us prestige. Look how it helps me. I should be an editor with something to edit. This “Publisher” may as well be built up into something large as not. With a great circulation, giving only once a month a taste of “Twain,” to whet people’s appetites for books, it acts as an advertisement, and we have an incentive to “write up” “Twain,” so far as his own efforts leave us anything in that way to do. Under these circumstances, with your pen withdrawn from the Galaxy, and held aloof from small books, and confined to the larger and more elevated description worthy of your mettle, and writing only for us, who publish a paper as a branch of your publisher’s enterprise, you would not be writing too much nor too little, but just exactly enough. Squarely, we must have something from you or we run the risk of going to the dickens. Bliss says he will pay you, but we must have something every number. If you only give us a half column, or even a quarter of a column—a joke or an anecdote, or anything you please—but give us something, so that the people may not brand us as falsifiers, and say we cried “Twain,” “Twain,” when we had no “Twain.” If you don’t feel like writing anything, copy something from your book. Are you going to let the Galaxy have a chapter and give us nothing? If you don’t [ page 446 ] feel like taking the trouble of copying from the book say we may select something. We shall have time enough if you send some chapters in four or five days, as you proposed. If you prefer it I will hunt out something from my old file of Californians and send it to you to revamp. That paper never had much circulation east.

….

Do not understand that we fail or slacken in sympathy for you. We appreciate the sad fact that you have been sorely tried by an affliction which brought with it the shadow of a gigantic and irreperable sorrow, brought it close enough to chill you to the marrow; we do appreciate your exhaustion, your prostration, and the fearful strain it would be to you to attempt now to write for us. I could not have found it in my heart to insist now on the imposition of the least labor upon you if it had not been for the very serious moment the matter is to us—and even then we only insist so far as to request the privilege of copying a little from your book, or using other compositions without present labor to you.

Bliss wants me to say (he read the preceding except the paragraph in relation to Mollie’s proposition) that he was so much troubled about the prospect of not getting you into our next two numbers that he may have forgotten to express the earnest sympathy he feels for you, and wishes me to convey the expression of it to you. He says he laid awake till 2 o’clock last night thinking of your com[m]unications for the paper, and of the amount of work he had before him between now and the first of April. He says he wrote you about the taxes—that they are 1½ per cent.

Mollie and I go to-night to a children’s party at Blisss—75 invited, and to-morrow at 6 to tea with a fine lady on Elm Street—Mrs. Sargent. She means to have Hodge and his wife also. Hodge is pastor of our church (Presbyterian) and has had us at his house twice to dinner on Sunday—as we have a long walk. Hodge’s wife has translated some Swiss tracts, which have been published by the Dutch Reformed Church. She has a sister married to Colgate of soap celebrity, and the great telegraph inventor, Morse, is her uncle. She says her Uncle Sidney (five years younger than the telegraph inventor is an enthusiastic inventor, but very quiet, says little, and slowly perfects his inventions. For one he has been offered a hundred thousand dollars by the United States. He refused. He has another under way (though I suppose this is confidential) a new motive power designed to cross the Atlantic in 24 hours. Singular coincidence that it should be so near in the line of what I am trying to do—he working at the engine and I at the wheel—and that without my giving her any more of a hint than that I was merely trying to invent something, she should say that her brother was such a lover of inventions, if she should tell him there was an inventor here wanted his advice it would be her best chance to get him here. My love to Livy and the baby, / Your Bro., / Orion [MTPO]. Note: Sam took umbrage at the ideas he should only publish in Bliss’s new newspaper. See his reply Mar. 11. He wrote on env., “Still urging MSS.”

 

Elisha Bliss also wrote to Sam, letter not extant but referred to in Bliss’ Mar. 15.

 

March 9 Thursday – Sam wrote a short note from Buffalo to Orion, promising to send Bliss “a chapter from the new book every month or nearly every month.” He had 168 pages of manuscript completed [MTL 4: 346]. Sam also wrote a short note to Samuel S. Cox,  who had given Sam the dinner in Washington he left after receiving a telegram about Livy.

 

“We are selling our dwelling & everything here & are going to spend the summer in Elmira while we build a house in Hartford. Eight months sickness & death in one place is enough for Yrs Truly” [MTL 4: 347].

 

Mark Twain’s Burlesque Autobiography, published a few days before, was not well received. Budd’s earliest from the Boston Evening Transcript p. 1 is a brief positive note, but the trouble was yet to come:

 

…is crammed full of fun, of which the illustration form no small part. The hits with pen and pencil will be enjoyed by all interested in Erie and other Fiskal operations [Budd, Reviews 93].

 

March 10 Friday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Orion. Sam reported that he had sent 160 pages of manuscript out to be copied and would ship them to Elisha Bliss. Bliss had offered to find a storage place for Sam and Livy’s furniture, which Sam wrote would not be needed:

 [ page 447 ]

“…for at least 2 years—I mean to take my time in building a house & build it right—even if it does cost 25 per cent more.” Sam also asked Orion to: “…sit down right away and torture your memory & write down in minute detail every fact & exploit in the desperado Slade’s life that we heard on the Overland…I want to make up a telling chapter from it…” [MTL 4: 348].

 

March 11 Saturday – Orion Clemens wrote from Hartford to Sam:

“Your letters of the 9th & 10th just received. I showed them to Bliss, who is much pleased.” He gave details on the outlaw Slade, evidently answering Twain’s question. Orion also gave a description: “I think he was about your size, if any difference rather shorter and more slender. He had gray eyes, very light straight hair…and a hard looking face seamed like a man of 60, though otherwise he did not seem over thirty. I think the sides of his face were wrinkled. His face was thin, his nose straight and ordinarily prominent—lips rather thinner than usual—otherwise nothing unusual about his mouth, except that his smile was attractive and his manner pleasant. Nothing peculiar about his voice…neither very fine nor very coarse” [MTP].

 

March 11 and 13 Monday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Orion, objecting strenuously to Orion and Bliss’ continual calls for material from him for the American Publisher newspaper (see Orion’s of Mar. 8). Sam wanted to be only an “occasional” contributor, and on his own terms as to when. It is here that Sam expresses his understanding of Harte’s wild popularity and his desire to “top” Harte “again or bust.”

 

I don’t want to see my name anywhere in print for 3 months to come.

I must & will keep shady & quiet till Bret Harte simmers down a little & then I mean to go up head again & stay there until I have published the two books already contracted for & just one more beside, which latter shall make a ripping sensation or I have overestimated the possibilities of my subject [the African diamond mine book]. [MTL 1: 349-51].

 

March 13 Monday – Orion Clemens wrote two letters to Sam. The first begins with: “I asked Mr. Bliss up into my room this morning and had a long talk with him. Said I: — ‘I compose with great difficulty. You or Sam would do it quickly.’ ” He continued to say that it would behoove Bliss to hire a girl at $30 for composing for the new newspaper. The second letter begins with: “Since writing the foregoing I have concluded to send you the children’s story. I am afraid Bliss is only putting it in because he thinks it will offend me if he don’t, because he said he could get plenty of people to write better for children…” [MTP].

 

March 14 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Susan Crane about Livy’s improving condition, the hiring of a wet nurse, card playing and baby Langdon—“the cubby is not well” [MTL 4: 358-9]. Sam also wrote Mary Mason Fairbanks with much the same information [360].

 

March 15 Wednesday – Sam wrote a short note from Buffalo to his mother and family. “Livy sits up 2 hours at a time, but can’t walk yet” [MTL 4: 361].

 

Sam also wrote Redpath offering to lecture in the Northeast for $150, but for not less than $250 in Boston. He asked for confidentiality on the matter [362].

 

Elisha Bliss wrote to Sam: “Your brother handed me your letters. I cannot conceive what we have done to draw your fire so strongly. I believe some misapprehension exists on your part of the position—& although you interdict the subject, I cannot let it drop without a reply. If I overpressed you to write monthly for us, I am sorry.” He went on at length to explain and smooth things over, relating his letter of Mar. 8 (not extant) and Sam’s of Mar 9 [MTP].

 

March 15 to 18 Saturday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Orion. Bliss had dismissed a child’s story that Orion had written for the Publisher, and asked Sam to evaluate it.

 [ page 448 ]

“My opinion of a children’s article is wholly worthless, for I never saw one that I thought was worth the ink it was written with, & yet you know & I know that such literature is marvelously popular & worth heaps of money” [MTL 4: 362].

 

March 17 Friday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss. After notifying Bliss that he was taking Livy to Elmira the next day, Sam wrote:

 

“Now do you see?—I want rest. I want to get clear away from all the hamperings, all harassments. I am going to shut myself up in a farm-house alone, on top an Elmira hill, & write—on my book. I will see no company, & worry about nothing. I never will make another promise again of any kind, that can be avoided, so help me God” [MTL 4: 365].

 

March 18 Saturday – With Livy’s improvement, Sam & wife traveled to Quarry Farm, the home of Theodore and Susan Crane, Livy’s adopted sister. Livy was carried out of 472 Delaware Street, Buffalo, on a mattress to the train station [Reigstad 188]. Throughout the spring and summer of 1871 Sam would walk the mile and a half from the Elmira house in town to the farmhouse on the hill overlooking the Chemung River [Powers, MT A Life 298]. Years later, it would become the site of some heavy-duty writing, principally on HF.

 

It seems many newspapers passed on reviewing A Burlesque Autobiography. Those that didn’t scalded Sam. From “New Publications,” p. 1, San Francisco Evening Bulletin:

 

As a literary production the performance is beneath criticism. The jokes are stale, the puns bad, the conceits forced, the “points” pointless. There is no underlying motive, no moral obvious or implied, nothing but harlequinism, pure and simple. And it is bad harlequinism at that. It does not even make us laugh. Mr. Clemens is a man of much literary ability, but he lacks the earnestness of the true humorist, and has been degenerating of late into the lowest type of literary buffoon [Budd, Reviews 93].

 

March 20 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss and Orion Clemens. Sam included a contribution for the American Publisher, “The Old-Time Pony-Express of the Great Plains.”

 

“We are all here, & my wife has grown weak, stopped eating, & dropped back to where she was two weeks ago. But we’ve got all the help we want here” [MTL 4: 367-8].

 

March 22 Wednesday – In Elmira Sam wrote to Isaac E. Sheldon. Letter not extant but referred to in Sheldon’s Apr. 4. See entry.

 

March 23 Thursday – On or about this day John Henry Riley wrote to Sam on 19 pages on fragile yellow paper about his travels, beginning Jan. 7, 1871 from NYC for Liverpool, his time in London, then to the Cape on Feb. 19, with people, places & events along the way [MTP].

 

March 24 Friday – Joe Goodman arrived in Elmira for a visit. He would stay several months. He wrote along side Sam and critiqued the California Book (Roughing It) [MTL 4: 379n2]. Joe was a Godsend. He gave Sam positive reinforcement on the work just when Sam, after such a difficult year, doubted its worth. Sam pressed to build a long enough manuscript of the type that subscription sales demanded—folks in the boondocks thought a good stout volume was a better bargain, and Sam calculated he’d need 1,800 manuscript pages (he claimed his handwritten pages at 80 words each) to produce a 600 page book. Years later Sam developed a technique of putting a work aside when the words did not flow and waiting until “the tank filled up.” At this point in his writing, Sam, with a long background of journalistic deadlines, and with a contract deadline staring him in the face, felt he had little choice but to press.

 [ page 449 ]

March 27 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Donn Piatt, who was negotiating with the Church brothers to replace Sam’s “Memoranda” in the Galaxy. Piatt had asked and Sam had unloaded his frustrations on the Church’s, but then sent this letter to smooth things over. The April edition carried Mark Twain’s final article [MTL 4: 369-70].

 

Sam also wrote to John Henry Riley: “I have nothing new to tell you, & am simply writing to let you know I am not dead” [MTL 4: 371].

 

March 28 Tuesday – Donn Piatt of the Galaxy replied to Clemens:

 

My dear fellow / Your letter is perfectly safe in my hands—stop to make it so I have just put it in the stove altho’ I wished to retain a confidential letter written by one I like and admire much as I do you

I am very glad to hear that your dear wife is convalescent and I hope with you that she will soon be well.

I told the Churches I could not take the responsibility of that Dpt for any such sum as the one offered—so they came down and agreed to my demand.

Now I wish on my account you would reconsider your determination and help me a little. I find in print some very capital things from you that you ordered out—now cant you give me some of them?

So soon [as] the Church signs an agreement with me I am going to throw over letter writing and devote myself to editing and book making—We ought to make a shove for an international copy right. The literary and other brain of the country ought to be sufficient to accomplish this

Where are you to be this summer—I propose taking my wife to the Sea side—Narragansett Rhode Island— …Yours sincerely / Donn Piatt [MTP].

 

April – In the Galaxy for this month—MARK TWAIN’S MEMORANDA, the last, included: “Valedictory and My First Literary Venture,” and “About a Remarkable Stranger” [Schmidt].

 

Sam’s article, “A Question Answered,” ran in the American Publisher for April, an in-house promotional pamphlet of the American Publishing Co. [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

The Aldine for April ran “An Autobiography.” As one of many authors solicited to contribute, Sam said he was born November 30, 1835, but could not provide further details “without compromising myself” [Tenney, MTJ, Spring 2004 p3].

 

The Aldine article, “An Autobiography” (p. 52) recently uncovered, is short enough to be included in its entirety here, along with an engraving by John C. Bruen of Sam’s 1870 photograph by Mathew Brady:

 

AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

——————

MARK TWAIN [ page 450 ]

————

      I was born November 30th, 1835. I continue to live, just the same.

      *  *  *  *  * *  * *  *  *  *  * *  *  *  *  *  *  * *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * *  *  *  *  *  *

      Thus narrow, confined and trivial, is the history of a common human life!—that part of it, at least, which it is proper to thrust in the face of the public.  And thus little and insignificant, in print becomes this life of mine, which to me has always seemed so filled with vast personal events and tremendous consequences.

      I could have easily made it longer, but not without compromising myself

      Perhaps no apology for the brevity of this account of myself is necessary.

      And besides, why should I damage the rising prosperity of THE ALDINE ?

      Surely THE ALDINE has never done me any harm.

April 1 Saturday – In an article titled “American Humor,” the London Graphic decided that Sam had a “rather forced sense of humor,” but the writer liked Sam “best when he is serious, and he can be both earnest and poetical,” although he lacked the genius of Bret Harte [Tenney 3].

April 3 Monday – In Elmira, Clemens wrote Isaac E. Sheldon. Letter not extant but answered by Sheldon of Apr. 4. Evidently, Sam spelled out details of a desired contract.

April 4 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Orion, asking for him to resend any “incidents” about the Nevada days he could recall, since notes had been lost in the move. He asked his brother if Bliss was doing anything with the manuscript he’d sent (Roughing It.) Sam added: “Baby in splendid condition. Livy as feeble as ever—has not sat up but once or twice for a week” [MTL 4: 372].

Sam also wrote to Thomas Nast, whom he’d met in Nov. 1867 upon return from the Holy Land excursion, suggesting a piece for Nast’s proposed Th Nast’s Illustrated Almanac for 1872 [373-4n2]. See Apr. 24 entry for Nast’s reply.

Issac E. Sheldon wrote:

Friend Clemmens [sic] / Your favor of Apl 3rd is at hand. I rec’d also a few days since yours of Mar 22nd. Inclosed find a contract as you desire. It is just like the one you sent except that settlements are made 1st of Aug & Feb each year. At these times we make up a/cs of copyright in all our books.

      The returns for copyright, after the first settlement, will of course not be large, as a book like this has its main sale at once. As regards the story, I like the idea & it would sell well if it were a good story & had a quiet vein of humor as well as the tragic interest of a story. I do not see why you could not write such a story. If you feel in the spirit of it I should certainly make the attempt. We had better give the public enough for the money next time. I like to have every one satisfied / I am Truly Yours / Isaac E Sheldon [MTPO].

April 6 Thursday – Sam wrote a short note from Elmira to Robert and Louise M. Howland, his old friends from Virginia City days, thanking them for pictures received; he promised to send pictures of the family [MTL 4: 374].

Sam also replied to the Apr. 4 of Isaac E. Sheldon about the pamphlet A Burlesque Autobiography to be published. Sam objected to being put off for the first royalty payment [MTL 4: 375]. Note: By this time in Sam’s life he was very shrewd with publishers and editors.  [ page 451 ]

April 8, 9 and 10 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Orion. Sam sent a few changes on the new book (Roughing It) and told of Livy’s improvement. Sam was on MS. page 610. He was at Quarry Farm, “a mile & a half up a mountain, where I write every day.” The rest of the family was at the Langdon home [MTL 4: 376-7].

April 12 Wednesday – Sam went to New York City, where he likely met with Isaac E. Sheldon and/or Francis P. Church to follow up on the planned pamphlet and to gain the final payment for his Galaxy contributions [MTL 4: 378n6]. Joe stayed with Clemens several months after his Mar. 24 arrival, and so may have gone with him.

A dinner took place with Clemens, David Ross Locke (Petroleum V. Nasby) and Melville D. Landon (Eli Perkins) at Perkins’ New York residence. “The conversation at that dinner I shall never forget. The stories told and the reminiscences brought out at that dinner would fill a small book” [“A Truthful Trio,” Wit and Humor of the Age, by Perkins (1883) p.194]. Note: Google online gives one of the stories told by Twain about a “very fast horse” he owned in Nevada.

April 14 Friday – Sam returned to Elmira.

April 18 Tuesday – Sam wrote a short note from Elmira to Orion. Sam directed him to leave the “Bull Story” alone until it appeared in the book and not to put it in the paper (American Publisher). Joe Goodman was visiting at Quarry Farm and would come up every day and write a novel, and read the California book critically. Sam didn’t want the story “Jack & Moses” used by the paper, but saved for possible lectures next winter [MTL 4: 378-9].

Sam also wrote a short note to Mary Mason Fairbanks that he “cannot see that she [Livy] has gained a single hair’s breadth in 30 days” [MTL 4: 379].

April 20 Thursday – Sam went to Buffalo to dispose of his interest in the Buffalo Express to George H. Selkirk, a previous part-owner of the paper [MTL 4: 380n1]. Sam took a financial beating on the sale.

April 22 Saturday – Elisha Bliss wrote to Sam fearing that Orion had “written in a manner to give” the wrong impression. After clearing this up, Bliss felt that the issuance of “an occasional Twainish thing…would aid the future sale of the book.” After his signature, he wrote: “Your brother says he wrote you Knox had written up something similar to the Bull story—I never saw it & do not know anything about it. Yours struck me as a good thing, every way. Your first chap. Is splendid—smacks of the old style—” [MTP]. Note: possibly Thomas Wallace Knox (1835-1896), journalist and world traveler who wrote 45 books.

 

April 24 Monday – Thomas Nast replied to Sam’s Apr. 4 letter:

The “beef contract” is very good, but I do not think it is as suitable for my almanac, as some of your other things, for I must bear in mind that I cater for the children in my almanac as well as the big folks, so I think “the good little boy who never prospered”, or “advice to little girls”, or “the last Benjamin Franklin”, would suit me better, therefore, if you will graciously accord me your permission to use any of the aforesaid, I shall be happy to avail myself of it [MTP].

April 26 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Mary Mason Fairbanks, who had suffered some sort of injury. Sam wrote that Livy was better, even “bright & cheerful.” After a couple of poor reviews of his Burlesque Autobiography, Sam was feeling low about his writing:  [ page 452 ]

“I am pegging away at my book, but it will have no success. The papers have found at last the courage to pull me down off my pedestal & cast slurs at me—& that is simply a popular author’s death rattle” [MTL 4: 381].

 

Sam also replied to the Apr. 24 of Thomas Nast, who’d asked which sketch he might use in his Almanac for 1872. Nast had also asked if he needed to consult with the Galaxy editors about using a sketch, which had been published there. Since Sam’s arrangement provided all rights would revert to him upon publication in the Galaxy, he told Nast to use whichever sketch he pleased [MTL 4: 382].

 

Sam’s letter to Nast, reported (with partial text) as Apr. 27? In MTL 4: 382, has recently been up for sale. The date is herein corrected to Apr. 26, and the full text reads: 

 

Elmira, 26th /Dear Nast: /    Take any sketch you please — & you are the man to make the selection because you can tell what will illustrate best. Take any one you want. You needn’t ask anybody’s permission but mine. I own them.

      I daren’t got into a book or pamphlet speculation.—Contracts forbid it. / Yrs Ever /       Twain 

 [ABE books accessed April 27, 2009; Hirst at MTP verified by email].

 

April 29 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Whitelaw Reid, enclosing an article for the Tribune, which argued for saving Edward H. Ruloff (1819-1871) from hanging in a sensational murder case. Ruloff possessed a brilliant mind—“one of the most marvelous intellects that any age has produced,” wrote Sam, who proposed an intriguing solution for the law to be satisfied and the “gifted criminal still be saved”—Sam would find a man who would gladly substitute his life for Ruloff’s [MTL 4: 383-5]. Note: the letter is interesting for Sam’s support of capital punishment as well as the unique solution in a particular case. Still, Ruloff had killed a clerk during a robbery, as well as his wife and child years before. Sam hoped his letter, if printed in the Tribune, would “start the talk at every breakfast table in the land….”

 

April 30 Sunday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Orion. Sam put his foot down and would not be included in American Publisher (basically a promotional paper for Bliss’ stable of writers) more often than every six months. He even would have Livy stop any letters asking more of him. He would focus on his books.

 

You both wrote me discouraging letters. Yours stopped my pen for two days—Bliss’s stopped it for three. Hereafter my wife will read my Hartford letters & if they are of the the same nature, keep them out of my hands. The idea of a newspaper editor & a publisher plying with dismal letters a man who is under contract to write humorous books for them! [MTPO].

 

Accompanied by Joe Goodman, Sam went daily to Quarry Farm, for the first of many summers that were to prove productive and restful. David Gray also provided encouragement and support. Both men were instrumental in reviving Sam’s literary ambitions, which had been at a low point in Buffalo. Quarry Farm was the home of Livy’s sister, Susan L. Crane (Mrs. Theodore W. Crane). It was a peaceful wooded hilltop house overlooking Elmira with a view of the Chemung River and distant hills [MTL 4: 386].

 

May – Sam’s article, “The Old-Time Pony Express of the Great Plains” ran in American Publisher, an in-house promotional pamphlet of the American Publishing Co [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

May 2 Tuesday – In Elmira, Sam wrote to James Redpath:

 

Indeed I would like to find that Canadian “Innocents” if you can get it.

      I am well & flourishing & hard at work on a book similar to the “Innocents” but my wife is still confined to her bed & has been over three months / Yours / Clemens [MTP, drop-in letters].

 

May 3 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss about Bliss possibly publishing a book from Edward (Ned) House of the New York Tribune, who was in Japan. Sam enclosed House’s letter. He also announced his book was half done (Roughing It) [MTL 4: 389]. [ page 453 ]

 

Sam’s letter to the editor, “A Substitute for Rulloff,” dated Apr. 29, ran in the New York Tribune [Camfield, bibliog.; MTPO].

 

May 5 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Henri Gerard, a boy who sent Sam a copy of his newspaper, the “Comet.” Sam declined to submit material for the paper but praised the boy’s work and sent him a dollar for 3 subscriptions, one of which he sent to his nephew, Sammy Moffett in Fredonia [MTL 4: 389].

May 7 Sunday ­– Horace Greeley wrote to Sam on NY Tribune letterhead. See MTB p 437 for facsimile of the letter with Greeley’s scrawl and Paine’s comments [MTP].

May 8 Monday – Joe Twichell wrote from Hartford to Sam, opening with what Twain would undoubtedly call “drivel” and then asking what had become of him? “Pray let us hear from you soon” [MTP].

May 11 Thursday – James Florant Meline (1811-1873), author of Two Thousand Miles on Horseback: Santa Fe and Back (1867) wrote from Brooklyn asking for publication help in the form of a letter of introduction to Elisha Bliss [MTP]. Note: not in Gribben.

May 12 Friday – Frank Bliss wrote to Sam, sending a royalty check for $703.35 [MTP].

May 14 Sunday – In a bound scrapbook with autographic comments in Sam’s handwriting, dated 1869, there is an entry with this date. The scrapbook calls for “mental” photographic statements and even has a place for an actual photograph, though none is included in the book. Sam answers a series of questions; this is similar to other “surveys” he answered about his favorites and preferences:

 Samuel L. Clemens , May 14, 1871   Color:  Anything but dunFlower:  The  bright blooming Sirius the dog star which …[in  a footnote he calls this constellation a     “flower”]Tree:  Any that bears forbidden fruitObject in Nature:  A dumb belleHour in the day:  The leisure hourSeason of the year:  the presentPerfume:  Cent per centGem?  The jack of diamonds—when it’s trumpStyle of Beauty: the Subscriber’s [some in the book state “blonde” for example]Names, Male and Female:  M’aimes (Maimie) for a female and Jacus [sic] & Marius for males.Painters?  Sign paintersMusicians?  Harper & Bros.Piece of Sculpture:  The Greek slave with his hoePoets? [Sam crossed out the “s”]:  Robert Browning, when he has a lucid intervalPoetesses [Sam crossed out the “es”]  Timothy TitcombProse Authors [Sam crossed out the “s]”:  Noah Webster LLDCharacter[Sam added an “s”] in Romance?  The Napoleon Family         in History?  King HerodBook to take up for an hour:  Vanderbilt’s Pocket BookWhat book (not religious) would you part with last:  The one I might be reading on  railroad during the dvisas [?] to seasonWhat epoch would you choose to have  lived in?  Before the present Erie – it was saferWhere would you like to live?  In the Moon—because there is no water there.What is your favorite amusement?  Hunting the “tiger” or some kindred gameWhat is your favorite occupation?  “like dew on the gowan—lying.” [ page 454 ]What trait of character do you most admire in a man?  The noblest form of cannibalism—love for his fellow man.What trait of character do you most admire in women?  Love for her fellow manWhat trait of character do you most detest in each:  That “trait” which you put “or” to describe its    possessor. If not yourself who would you rather be?  The wandering Jew with a nice annuityWhat is your idea of happiness?  Finding the buttons all on.What is your idea of misery?  Breaking an egg in your pocketWhat is your bete noire?  What is my which?What is your dream?  Nightmare as a general thingWhat do you most dread?  ExposureWhat do you believe to be your distinguishing characteristics?  HungerIf married, what do you believe to be the distinguishing characteristics of your better half?  Opinion reservedWhat is the sublimest passion of which human nature is capable?  Love your sweetheart’s enemiesWhat are the sweetest words in the world?  Not guiltyWhat are the saddest words?  “Dust unto Dust”What is your aim in life?  To endeavor to be absent when my time comes.What is your motto?  Be virtuous and you will be eccentric [Transcribed by Margaret Sibbitt from scrapbook at Beinecke Library at Yale, nowadays a University].

May 15 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss, acknowledging receipt of $703.35 royalties of some 3,800 sales of IA (Bliss’ letter not extant). The book was going well, and his daily output even exceeded his best on the Innocents book, going over 30 pages of manuscript daily. The inspiration had found Sam and he “couldn’t bear to lose a single moment” of it. “So I will stay here & peg away as long as it lasts.” Sam was two-thirds done with the book, but his plan was to write an equal amount more and then “cull from the mass the very best chapters & discard the rest” [MTL 4: 390-1].

Sam kept his ear to the literary marketplace. His fear about being overexposed as a writer, not to mention the difficulties in writing humor in the midst of the Buffalo tragedies, had led to a retreat and a plan. He also may have guessed that the faddish popularity of Harte’s “Heathen Chinee” poem, and the sensation Harte’s trek east had caused would fade, when he wrote:

“The reaction is beginning & my stock is looking up. I am getting the bulliest offers for books & almanacs, am flooded with lecture invitations, & one periodical offers me $6,000 cash for 12 articles, of any length & on any subject, treated humorously or otherwise” [MTL 4: 392]. Note: Bliss replied on May 17.

 

May 15–June 10 Saturday – Sometime between these dates Sam wrote from Elmira to Donn Piatt of the Galaxy. After seeing the June and July Galaxy editions, which contained “The Galaxy Club-Room” column by Piatt, Sam wrote this facetious letter [MTL 4: 393-4]. For most of this period, Sam was hard at work on Roughing It, keeping the pace he’d set earlier.

 

May 17 Wednesday – Elisha Bliss replied to Sam’s May 15.

 

      Your favor recdem space Am glad to hear from you. Sorry to hear you are not going to call on us to day. However it may be for the best as I think you are in the mood to do good work, at which I heartily rejoice—

      Glad to know you are so pressed with overtures for work.

      We intend to do our part towards making your book, what it should be, viz in illustrations. We shall try to have just the kind in that will suit—& think we shall succeed. I think it would be well to have Prospectus out soon as practicible as agents are anxious for it—still lets have the best stuff in it. I have no doubt you have ample matter now to select from, therefore suppose you do as you suggest, send another batch on, of selected chapters if you think best & I will get right to work— Suppose you send on such a lot, marked with what in your opinion is particularly good, & let me then make up prospectus matter from it & get engraving for it under way.

      Send the Mss. by express it will come then safely. I will put bully cuts into it, such as will please you [ page 455 ]

      Think this will be the plan if it suits you— I assure you nothing shall be wanting on my part, to bring it out in high style—I reckon I can do it—

      Glad to see you are feeling in good spirits & it seems a little closer to get a line in your old vein.

      Your Bro. is well. / Truly / E Bliss Jr

I got your telegraph & didn’t go to N. Y waiting to see you first [in margin:] Dont let any body else get House’[s] book! [MTPO].

 

May 26 Friday – Harriet P. Spofford wrote to Sam [MTP].

 

May 31 Wednesday – David Gray printed a notice in the Buffalo Courier of Sam’s new book to “be published in the fall and to appear simultaneously in England and America” [MTL 4: 394]. Note: the notice still did not include the title, which had yet to be formulated.

 

Sam left Elmira bound for Hartford, stopping for a day or two in New York at the St. Nicholas Hotel [MTL 4: 395].

 

May, late – Sam wrote from Elmira to David Gray of the Buffalo Courier about plans for publication of Roughing It. To protect his English copyright, Sam intended to publish simultaneously in England and the U.S. [MTL 4: 394]. George Routledge would pay Sam a token amount ($185) for the right to publish Roughing It simultaneously [MTL 5: 73n3].

 

June 1 or 2 Friday – Sam arrived in Hartford and delivered another segment of the Roughing It manuscript [MTL 4: 395].

 

June 4 Sunday – Sam attended services at Twichell’s church (Asylum Hill Congregational,) and had dinner with Conn. Governor Marshall Jewell (1825-1883) While in Hartford, Sam visited with Orion and Mollie and other Hartford friends [MTL 4: 395].

 

June 5 Monday – A letter sold on eBay (Sept. 18, 2007; # 270167135431) that puts the Clemens family’s departure for Elmira at June 5. Though dated only “June 5,” the letter could only fit into this date for the entire period from 1870 through 1885:

“Dear Sir, I snatch a moment to say Thank You—the baggage wagon at the door & the family ticketed & labeled & ready to flit for the summer. You have made ‘Events’ an interesting number—at a glance I see that. With thanks again, I am Sincerely Yours, S.L. Clemens.” [Note: the “Events number” may refer to an unknown publication or column, which, if found, may further cement this letter to 1871].

June 6 Tuesday – Sam was back in Elmira and began work on what would be Chapter 54 of Roughing It, which began by referring to a news item of June 3 in the New York Tribune.

 

“As I write, news comes in that broad daylight in San Francisco, some boys have stoned an inoffensive Chinaman to death, and that although a large crowd witnessed the shameful deed, no one interfered” [Roughing It, Ch.54].

 

For some reason, Sam put Roughing It aside for three weeks [MTL 4: 395]. It’s possible that upon his return to Elmira, as he wrote Orion and Molly, “Livy is stronger & the baby is flourishing,” so he wanted to spend time with them.

 

June 7 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Orion and Mollie. Sam explained why he had to leave them so abruptly at Twichell’s church door (to speak to Gov. Marshall Jewell and apologize for not being able to accept him into their sick-house in Buffalo.) Sam “did not go on the hill today & have not [ page 456 ] seen Pamela & Sammy,” who had been in Elmira at the Elmira Water Cure, on the way to Quarry Farm.

 

Sometime between this date and Sept. 28 Sam sent a picture of Susan Crane with baby Langdon to Bret Harte. No letter accompanied the photograph, which was inscribed: “The most determined singer in America sends his warm regards to the most notorious” [MTL 4: 397-8].

 

June 9 Friday – Sam wrote a new lecture, “An Appeal in behalf of Extending the Suffrage to Boys” [MTL 4: 398].

 

June 10 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to James Redpath & George L. Fall of the Boston Lyceum Lecture Bureau. Showing that he’d given the lecture circuit a great deal of thought from his past experiences. He wrote a list of seventeen items that he would or would not like for a lecture he’d written the day before. He was finally demanding higher prices, bigger towns and cities, and could name his preferences [MTL 4: 398-400].

 

Sam also wrote an announcement of his upcoming lectures to David Gray of the Buffalo Courier. Noting that there were many lectures on woman’s suffrage, and finding “Woman is less persecuted, and is held in a milder bondage than boys,” Sam’s new lecture, “An Appeal in behalf of Extending the Suffrage to Boys” [MTL 4: 402].

 

June 11 Sunday – Sam wrote a most unusual letter from Elmira to his mother, Jane Lampton Clemens—on many scraps of different kinds and colors written on both sides. This was Sam’s way of teasing his mother for writing on any old piece of paper she happened on. He wrote on Pamela’s improving health, his willingness to help Orion, and his upcoming lectures [MTL 4: 403]. The PS for this letter mentioned measles and “cubbie” (Langdon) [MTL 5: 689].

 

June 12 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to James Redpath. Sam agreed to start his lecture tour in the West if Redpath preferred. He asks what “Olive & those other dead beats” were charging (Olive Logan 1839-1909) [MTL 4: 407].

 

Sam also wrote to his old Hannibal friend and fellow steamboat pilot, Will Bowen. Sam sent word of his plans to lecture in the West, including St. Louis; and his plans for building a home in Hartford [MTL 4: 407].

 

June 13 Tuesday – Francis P. Church of the Galaxy requested an article from Sam, and was rewarded with “About Barbers,” which first appeared in the August edition [MTL 4: 394]. It’s unclear why Sam would accede to such a request, but Church’s approach must have been less insistent than Bliss and Orion’s. Sam sold the piece for $100 [MTL 4: 410].

 

June 15 Thursday – Sam wrote from Elmira to James Redpath. Sam poured cold water on the idea of a woman reading humorous lectures or doing impersonations on stage. Possibly Redpath had received an offer from Helen Potter to tour with Sam. Helen did impersonations of well-known lecturers like John Gough, Henry Ward Beecher, and others [MTL 4: 408-9].

 

June 21 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss, sending him three articles, “$125 for the lot,” payable to Orion at one-tenth of the $125 per week until paid. He wanted Bliss to mention his upcoming lecture and told him to say this:

 

“It is not a fight against Woman’s rights or against any particular thing, but is only a pretentiously & ostentatiously supplicating appeal in behalf of boys, which the general tendency of the times converts into a good-natured satire,—otherwise the lecture would hardly sound like a satire at all—at least to a careless listener.”

 [ page 457 ]

Sam asked if Bliss had heard from the English publisher Routledge. Sam also suggested he might go to Canada to get a copyright on the new book, since what he called “re-publishers” there were hard to beat [MTL 4: 410].

 

Sam also wrote this day to Orion & Mollie. Sammy Moffett’s nervous twitching & shakings were worse. Orion thought highly of the new book. Sam felt that the prospectus alone would sell 50,000 copies before the book was even printed. Sam told Orion about the three articles he’d sent Bliss and that Orion could draw small amounts against them. Sam and Livy were both at Quarry Farm—“Mr & Mrs. Crane stay here with us, & we do have perfectly royal good times” [MTL 4: 412].

 

June 27 Tuesday – Sam wrote two short notes from Elmira to Orion. Sam had written a new lecture that day and wanted Bliss to leave out the talk about the “Suffrage to Boys”.  His second note announced he “wrote a third lecture to-day—& tomorrow I go back on the book again.” This last lecture, “Reminiscences of Some Pleasant Characters whom I have Met” was one given later. “It covers my whole acquaintances—kings, humorists, lunatics, idiots & all.”

 

Sam also wrote two notes to James Redpath about his new lectures and his indecision as to which to use. If Redpath wanted to include a picture of Sam, use the one that the Aldine had used “2 or 3 months ago that was right good” [MTL 4: 413-15].

 

Sam also informed Whitelaw Reid of the three lectures [MTL 4: 417].

 

Sam and Livy wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks, explaining why they hadn’t been able to make the promised trip to Cleveland. Sam:

 

“This book has been dragging along just 12 months, now, & I am so sick & tired of it” [MTL 4: 418-9]. Note: Evidently the break from his daily discipline of 20-60 pages of manuscript deflated Sam’s inspiration.

 

June 28 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to James Redpath. This was another list of particulars, prices, and places that Sam dictated terms about [MTL 4: 419-21].

 

June 29 Thursday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Orion, asking if the three articles he’d sent had arrived, begging off on opining on one of Orion’s machine inventions, and news that his lecture engagements would pay $250 in Boston, Philadelphia, New York, and Brooklyn [MTL 4: 423].

 

Sam also wrote to Mary Fairbanks, apologizing for being unable to visit Cleveland. Sam included a preview of persons included in this “Reminiscences” lecture. After listing off a dozen or so persons, Sam concluded:

 

“Of course you can’t tell much about the lecture from this, but see what a splendid field it offers, & you know what a fascination there is in personal matters, & what a charm the narrative form carries with it” [MTL 4: 425].

 

July – Sam’s article, “A New Beecher Church,” was printed in the July American Publisher [MTL 4: 440n2]. Sam so inscribed on the flyleaf of Louis Figuier’s Primitive Man, that read: “Saml. L. Clemens, / The Primitive Man” [Gribben 230].

 

July? – Responding to a request for an autograph with a pun, Sam wrote from Elmira to Pierre Reynolds: “I only make them at funerals & places where I wish to feel sad” [MTL 4: 426].

 [ page 458 ]

July 2 Sunday – In Elmira, Sam wrote a short note to Orion. Though only about three-quarters done, Sam felt he had enough manuscript to cull from and planned to bring the manuscript to Hartford in “2 to 4 weeks hence” [MTL 4: 427].

 

Sam also wrote to Jim Gillis of Angels Camp days. Sam asked after Dick Stoker and added, “…I am here, close to bookstores & newspapers, & you & Dick ain’t,” then offers to send them any “book or paper” their “solitude needs.” Sam had also read Darwin’s Descent of Man, published earlier in the year and offered to send the book and others [MTL 4: 428].

 

July 4 Tuesday – Mollie Clemens wrote from Hartford to Sam, relating how Orion had felt “blue” after receiving a letter from Pamela, though he rallied. “For the first two years or more, I had very little faith in his being able to make the invention work, but my desire has been so great, I have gradually grown into the belief that it will be a success.” She told of their new quarters and obliquely thanked Sam for his money sent enabling them to afford it. She closed with “We are delighted at the prospect of your lectures paying you so well; and at their popularity” [MTP].

 

Orion also sent Sam a note: “The letter you refer to [Pamela’s] did no great harm. After a day’s sky-colored absent-mindedness I considered that your opportunities for judging of the concern were not so good as mine, and I went ahead.” He talked about his invention and hoped to get a patent on a “rough model.” He admitted being “a preternatural ass” for wanting Sam to write for Bliss for nothing. “I might as well have requested you to send him a file of bank notes” [MTP].

 

July 7 Friday – Sam wrote a short note from Elmira to Orion, directing his brother to sources Sam had used for an article, “Brace of Brief Lectures on Science” [MTL 4: 429].

 

Elisha Bliss wrote to Clemens:

 

Dear Clemens, /Thanks for your contributions em spaceI have been sick 10 days, flat on my back, most of the time—& feel hard yet.

Will pay O. as you say $12.50 pr week. He says & shows me a letter in which you say he can draw some more on your a/c beside this, he says 5 or 10 dolls. as he wants. As you say in yours, pay him no more than the $12.50—“I halt between 2 opinions” of course I should let him have it, but simply felt I should mention it to you. Unless you say to the contrary, shall consider it all O. K—Have got the engravings mill driving—& shall make a merry book of it em spaceAnd now, would like all the Mss. you have to be able to select subjects for full page engravings—want all I can of those to go in the book prospectus—And now another thing we have said nothing about. What is to be the title— This is a matter of some importance you know, & necessary for the Prospectus, unless we say we dont know it yet & call it the “Unnamed” & wait for developments—to christen it—

Let me have your ideas early as possible— Shall have prospectus ready early as possible to get the cuts ready, & make a sweep of the board—this fall— This & Beecher’s Life of Christ—will have the field & I’ll bet we win— [MTPO].

 

July 7-8 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to James Redpath arguing reasons for changing the names and content of his lectures [MTL 4: 430]. Note: Evidently, Redpath was irritated by the change and its affect on advertising.

 

July 10 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to reply to the July 7 of Elisha Bliss. Sam agreed to allow Orion small weekly draw amounts from Sam’s account, but most of the letter pertained to the upcoming book, not yet titled. Sam suggests “Flush Times,” subtitled, “in the silver mines & other matters – a personal narrative by Mark Twain.” Ultimately, Bliss would name the book Roughing It [MTL 4: 431].

 

Sam also wrote three notes to James Redpath, insisting he was to speak first in Boston, if at all, not at South End [MTL 4: 433-5].

 [ page 459 ]

“I do plainly see in that Southend business calamity for my lecture season. I never made a success of a lecture in a church yet. People are afraid to laugh in a church. They can’t be made to do it, in any possible way. And Lord knows it wasn’t “business” to start me in my most important city in an obscure course” [MTL 4: 434].

 

July 11 Tuesday – Sam wrote a short note from Elmira to Elisha Bliss, notifying of the shipment of “up to Chapter 55” of Roughing It [MTL 5: 690].

 

July 14 Friday – Sam wrote a short note from Elmira to James Redpath not to schedule him at Jamestown, New York, the scene of a poor lecture on Jan. 21, 1870. “I suppose all lecturers hate that place” [MTL 4: 435].

 

July 19 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to James Redpath not to schedule him west of Cleveland. “When I think of those awful western roads & hotel[s] I get sick—sick as death.” Sam repeated that he wanted “Nasby prices” [MTL 4: 436].

 

July 20 Thursday – Sam wrote from Elmira to George L. Fall, (In charge of scheduling for the Boston Lyceum), suggesting that Rondout, New York be charged $150 because it was so out of the way [MTL 4: 437].

 

July 23 Sunday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Will Bowen in St. Louis about his lecture plans and turning down $150 a night for 30 consecutive nights in Missouri and Kansas because Sam didn’t like “so much railroad travel” [MTL 4: 438].

 

The New York Times, on page 6, ran “A New Beecher Church,” by Mark Twain. The article also appeared in the July issue of American Publisher [Jerome and Wisbey 194]. Thomas K. Beecher’s new planned church in Elmira was the subject. The Times ran another article on page 4, “A New Church,” which questioned Sam’s article:

 

The writer of this account has on several occasions deluded a too credulous public with what appears to him practical jokes, and this tale of his may be only another joke; but if it is, it is admirably conceived and worthy to be made a fact.

 

July 24 Monday – Sam wrote a one-line note to Adolph H. Sutro, asking for his address, the envelope may have been sent to the Sutro Tunnel Co. on Montgomery Street, S.F., with a note asking it to be forwarded [MTL 4: 439]. Sutro was a mutual friend of Sam’s and John Henry Riley’s, and was trying to secure investments for his tunnel. See also source p. 447-8 about Sam’s interest in Sutro.

 

July 31 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Edward P. Ackerman, editor of the Cherub. Sam responded to Ackerman’s questioning Sam’s article in the July American Publisher about Thomas K. Beecher’s new church [MTL 4: 439].

 

August – Sam’s articles, “About Barbers,” and “How I Secured a Berth” were printed in the August Galaxy. These were his last contributions to the magazine [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

The Cape Monthly Magazine, Cape Town, South Africa, edited by Professor Roderick Noble, ran a section, “Mark Twain.” The magazine first appeared in 1857 and was published off and on during the rest of the 19th century. It also featured local topics on a wide range of subjects [eBay item 220442259983, July 2009; not in Tenney].

 

August 2 or 3 Thursday – Sam left Elmira for New York and Hartford [MTL 4: 441n1].

 [ page 460 ]

August 3 to 5 Saturday – Sam spent two days in New York City and stayed at the St. Nicholas Hotel. He shopped for clothes for his upcoming lectures [MTL 4: 441n1].

 

August 5 or 6 Sunday – Sam arrived in Hartford bringing his fifth submission section of Roughing It [MTL 4: 441n1].

 

August 8 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to James Redpath.

 

      I am different from other women. They have their monthly period once a month, but I have mine once a week, & sometimes oftener. That is to say, my mind changes that often. People who have no mind, can easily be steadfast and firm, but when a man is loaded down to the guards with it, as I am, every heavy sea of foreboding, or inclination, or mayhap of indolence, shifts the cargo. See?

      Therefore, if you will notice, one week I am likely to give rigid instructions to confine me to New England; next week, send me to Arizona; the next week withdraw my name; next week, give you untrammeled swing; and the week following modify it. You must try to keep the run of my mind, Redpath—it is your business, being the agent, & it always was too many for me [MTL 4: 440-1].

 

August 8 or 9 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Livy. (The first four letters he wrote have been lost.) He sought to reassure her about the passing anniversary of her father’s death, the tenuous health of baby Langdon and his love. Livy began a new number sequence for Sam’s letters since leaving Elmira [MTL 4: 442].

 

August 10 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Livy. She telegraphed, perhaps the day before, having not yet received any of Sam’s letters. Sam answered that he’d written every day but two, one day in New York and one since arriving in Hartford, and one day wrote two letters, one brief. He wrote of clothes he’d purchased that had arrived from New York, progress on Roughing It, and his mother’s trip to Hartford. After complimenting his mother, Annie Moffett and Mollie Clemens, he wrote:

 

Orion is as queer & heedless a bird as ever. He met a strange young lady in the hall this evening; mistook her for the landlady’s daughter (the resemblance being equal to that between a cameleopard & a kangaroo,) & shouted: “Hello, you’re back early!” She took him for a fugitive from the asylum & left without finishing her errand [MTL 4: 444].

 

August 17 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Horace Greeley, asking him to confirm or deny the famous Hank Monk story about the hair-raising stagecoach ride Monk supposedly gave Greeley. This anecdote is in chapter 20 of Roughing It. A reply from Greeley to this letter was lost, but at the end of this chapter Sam wrote with asterisk: “And what makes this worn anecdote the more aggravating is that the adventure it celebrates never occurred

 

August 18 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Livy. Sam had not heard from her, and had written thirteen letters (twelve now lost) in eight days. Some were delayed from New York. Sam asked Livy if she wanted to go to England someday with him, where he might gather history, manners and customs of old England for a book [MTL 4: 446]. This idea may have been the seed that led to A Connecticut Yankee.

 

August 19 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Adolph H. Sutro.

 

“Got your letter to-day. When do you sail? Can’t you run up here for one day? I’m awful busy on my new book…Riley is in England—London.”

 

Sutro arrived in New York on Aug. 22 and sailed for England eight days later, to gain investors for his proposed tunnel into the Comstock Lode. His response to Sam on this letter is unknown. John Henry Riley had returned from South Africa to London [MTL 4: 447].

 [ page 461 ]

August 24 Thursday – Sam telegraphed from Hartford to Sutro at the Gilsey House in New York. Sam wanted to know when Sutro would sail and where he was headed.

 

August 25 Friday – Sam again telegraphed Sutro, having had a response on his dispatch of the day before. “All right will see you in New York before you sail.” Sutro telegraphed an answer—he’d be in New York until Aug. 30 then sail to Liverpool [MTL 4: 449].

 

August 26 to 28 Monday – Sam went to New York, where he met Livy, Ida Langdon and another Langdon cousin. He probably met with Sutro before he sailed for England, to gather mining information for RI. Sam returned to Hartford by Aug. 29 [MTL 4: 449n1].

 

August 29 Tuesday – Sam telegraphed from Hartford to Adolph H. Sutro, asking how long the tunnel into the Comstock Lode would be (planned to be 4 miles long). He also asked Sutro to send his London address. Sam wanted the tunnel information for Roughing It [MTL 4: 450]. Note: Since Sam and Sutro were in New York during the same time (Sutro from Aug. 22, Sam Aug. 26-28) it’s likely they met and Sam merely forgot to ask this detail. Sutro was to sail to Europe Aug. 30 seeking investment for the tunnel, which he started in 1865. See Mack’s Nevada 448-9 for a good account of the tunnel.

 

Baby Langdon was gravely ill. Sam may have left Hartford for Elmira this day or the day after, escorting his mother and niece, who went on to Fredonia [MTL 4: 452n3].

 

$308 from the American Publishing Co. from Orion was applied to Sam’s account [ViU; MTP].

 

August 30 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Ella Trabue Smith, a second cousin on his mother’s side, telling her of his family’s trip and how well his mother looked, but for his son “life is almost despaired of.” Sam had gone after a doctor and wrote the one page letter while waiting [MTL 4: 451].

 

August 31 Thursday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Orion.

 

We have scarcely any hope of the baby’s recovery.

Livy takes neither sleep nor rest.

We have 3 old experienced nurses.

Three months of overfeeding & surreptitious poisoning with laudanum & other sleeping potions is what the child is dying of [MTL 4: 452]. Sam’s only son would live until June 2, 1872.

September – Sam’s new lecture tour was announced in the September issue of the American Publisher [MTL 4: 414]. “A Brace of Brief Lectures on Science. Part 1” [Camfield, bibliog.]. (See Gribben 230-1.)

 

September 6? Wednesday – Sam left Elmira bound for Washington, D.C. to file for a patent on his “Elastic Strap,” a strap placed at the back of a vest to tighten around the waist. The invention itself made the strap elastic, detachable and adjustable in length. It fastened to the vest with buttons and buttonholes and could be removed. It could also be used with pants and even ladies’ corsets.

 

September 7 Thursday – Sam arrived in Washington, D.C. [MTL 4: 454n1].

 

September 8 Friday – Sam wrote from Washington to Livy. His only subject was the patent search [MTL 4: 453].

 

September 9 Saturday – Sam filed his patent application for the garment strap and left Washington this day or the next for New York [MTL 4: 454n2].

 [ page 462 ]

September 10 or 11 Monday – Sam stayed at the St. Nicholas Hotel probably one night, and then left for Hartford [MTL 4: 454n2].

 

September 12–13 Wednesday – Sam stayed two days in Hartford and then returned to Elmira on Sept. 13 [MTL 4: 454n2]. In Hartford Sam secured rent on the John Hooker house in Nook Farm, Hartford for a temporary residence, and probably looked after his book at the American Publishing Co.

 

September 14 Thursday – Sam wrote to an unidentified man:

 

“Dear Sir, /Your proposition is received. In reply I am obliged to say that my engagements are such that they debar me from accepting”[unknown amount of text and complimentary close missing; MTPO]

 

September 15 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to James Redpath: “…we will take up our permanent residence in Hartford the last day of this month.” Sam refused to lecture in Buffalo because of past treatment there by the G.A.R. Sam wrote he would be sick and remunerate Buffalo rather than lecture there [MTL 4: 454-5].

 

September 16 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Orion about the advisability of Orion applying himself to the invention of a steam brake for the railroads. However, such a brake had been invented already [MTL 4: 457-8].

September 17 Sunday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Orion, enclosing a letter from Benjamin B. Bunker (b. 1815), who had been an attorney for Nevada Territory. Sam asked Orion to write Bunker, since Sam had “touch[ed] him up a little” in Roughing It [MTL 4: 458].

September 18 Monday – Orion Clemens wrote to Sam about his invention: “You are right about the immense advantage of such a railroad brake—but has it not already been invented?” he recalled seeing an article about such a brake on the Missouri Pacific RR. “I think it was the way you suggested—by steam under control of the engineer.” He drew a hinge he proposed to have made for the brake [MTP].

September 18–22 Friday – Sam went to Buffalo to close the sales of his house and share of the Buffalo Express and to remove his personal property to Hartford.

September 21 Thursday – The Washington National Republican ran a summary of a conversation, “Mark Twain Takes Out a Patent — Why He Did It,” about a patent for suspenders based on Sam’s take on Horace Greeley’s pants [Schmidt].

September 22 Friday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to James Redpath. Livy was sick in Elmira and Sam and the servants were packing. He and his wife were to take possession of their Hartford house on Oct. 1. Sam liked the Young Men’s Association in Buffalo and wouldn’t mind lecturing for them, but not the G.A.R. [MTL 4: 459-60].

Orion Clemens wrote to Sam:

“I answered Bunker’s letter as requested. / I got out of patience with the clockmaker yesterday and went and took away the unfinished buttons and told him if he would finish my chain I would not bother him any more. I don’t know what he’ll do.” He then wrote details about buttons, auger holes and gimlet holes, and ended with: “Glad to hear such good news from the baby, and that you are packing for Hartford…I think your paleontology ably handled. / P.S.—do you think it will pay you to put my gimlet holes through and give me half?” [MTP].

September 26 Tuesday – Sam again wrote from Buffalo to James Redpath, setting Feb. 2 as the final date for his lectures [MTL 4: 460]. [ page 463 ]

Sam and Livy also wrote to Charles C. Duncan, steamboat captain, regretting that they could not attend:

“…the gathering of the pilgrims … We have packed up everything but ourselves, to move to Hartford, & shall pack ourselves aboard the train within the hour … If I am not there when you beat to quarters, you will know that circumstances … have got the advantage of me. In which case I shall at least be present in spirit & make a mute speech well packed with cordial good wishes for the long life & happiness of all that stand where they could hear if the silent syllables were voiced …” [MTP, drop-in letters from a sales catalog which only partially quoted the letter].

September 27 Wednesday – Sam’s article, “The Revised Catechism” ran in the New York Tribune [Camfield, bibliog.].

The City of Buffalo receipted Sam for $222.25 for city tax on the “Delaware st. house; Outer lot 50ft, front feet 60 ft, Feet deep 118” [MTP].

Napoleon Sarony, photographer, wrote from NYC to ask Sam to sit for a photo “any time you are in the city” [MTP].

September 28 Thursday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to John A. Lant, a printer Sam had worked with as a boy, probably in St. Louis.

“Thank you kindly for the picture of the baby. But it seems to me you did not economise material to the best advantage: there is meat enough in this youngster for twins” [MTL 4: 461].

October – Sam’s article “A Brace of Brief Lectures on Science, Part 2” ran in American Publishing Co.’s in-house promotional monthly, American Publisher [Camfield, bibliog.].

October 1 or 2 Monday – Sam left Buffalo and met Livy in New York City, staying a day at the St. Nicholas Hotel [MTL 4: 462n1].

October 2 or 3 Tuesday – Sam and Livy arrived in Hartford and took possession of the Hooker house on Forest Street in Nook Farm, a small community on the western reach of the city. John Hooker, descendant of Hartford’s founder, Thomas Hooker, began Nook Farm with a 100-acre tract. Hooker and his wife Isabella Beecher Hooker developed the land and chose their neighbors. It was a loose, first name, and friendly island of cultural stimulation. Nook Farm was staunch Congregationalist and Republican, though somewhat progressive in religion tenets. The group raised money to build Joseph Twichell’s church, the Asylum Hill Congregational, a few blocks away from Nook Farm. Note: Andrews claims Oct. 1 as the day they took possession [24].

Livy was expecting again [MTL 4: 462n1; Kaplan 140]. Sam wrote a short note from Hartford to Orion that he would come by in a day or two [MTL 4: 462].

October 6 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford, with an affidavit by John Hooker, to Mortimer D. Leggett (1821-1896), Commissioner of Patents, about the date of his ideas for the elastic strap. Sam included his first drawings, for use with vests and pants. Henry C. Lockwood had applied for a patent on a similar device only six days after Sam’s application [MTL 4: 462-4]. Note: the Oct. 9 of Alexander & Mason, patent solicitors, may suggest Sam also wrote them the same information.

Text Box: October 8, 1871 Sunday 
The Great Chicago Fire 
 
 [ page 464 ]

 

October 9 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to James Redpath, asking him to send the first part of his lecture list “& let me see where I am to talk.” He requested a copy be sent to Bliss. “We are settled here.” Sam had read less than a third of the proofs on Roughing It, and hoped to be finished with the task in a month or so [MTL 4: 466]. Sam also wrote to John Henry Riley responding to questions about the South Africa book. Sam, involved with a move, an ill wife and his new book, was about to embark on his lecture tour so he put Riley off [MTL 4: 467].

Alexander & Mason, patent solicitors, Wash DC wrote: “Yours of the 6th with copy of statement in the pending interference case is at hand. Your opponent is named H. C. Lockwood, residence….Baltimore Md. We have this day written to him with a view to settle the case by compromise & allowing your patent to issue…We feel quite certain that he goes back of you…” [MTP].

October 10 Tuesday – Bill paid to Thomas Carron Co. “$47 for moving; 3 teams moving furniture 11 hours each, 75 plus two hours; 2 men helping at house; 10 hours each, etc.” [MTP]. Note: This bill was likely for moving the family’s goods from the Hartford depot to their rental house in Nook Farm.

October 11 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Redpath & Fall. Having rec’d the lecture list.

“You can lecture me on Saturdays if you have the opportunity. Sometimes one of those idle days is hard to put in” [MTL 4: 468].

October 12 Thursday – In Hartford, Sam declined an invitation by G.K. Jewett.

Dear Sir: / Your kind invitation is received, & I return my hearty thanks for the compliment. But I am compelled to tender my regrets, as well—& they are hearty ones, too, for it is hard to have to miss the opportunity of having personal experience of this great international event. But I am just leaving on a long lecturing tour & cannot get free.

Very Truly Yours,

Samℓ. L. Clemens.

 [MTP, drop-in letters; also www.liveauctioneers.com/item/948609 on May 12, 2005].

October 13 Friday – Sam and Charles Langdon left Hartford. Sam was to begin his lecture tour in three days. He stopped in New York, where he stayed at the St. Nicholas Hotel. Charles Langdon and Sam and Edward L. Marsh (a cousin of Charles and Livy) played billiards and went to a popular variety show at the Olympic Theatre, “Humpty Dumpty” [MTL 4: 467n3; p469]. Note: Marsh attended Sam and Livy’s wedding [MTA 2: 251].

October 14 Saturday – Sam wrote from the St. Nicholas Hotel in New York to Livy:

“Charley left for home a few minutes ago—9 AM. Well, I do wish I could see you, now, Livy dear, & the splendid cubbie.”

Sam left New York and arrived in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania at 4 PM [MTL 4: 469-470].

October 15 Sunday – Sam wrote from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to Livy. Sam wrote of the town, “an old Dutch settlement, & I hear that tongue here as often as ours.” He was impressed by a cemetery with acres of identical graves with tombstones “the size of a boy’s slate.” Sam had registered with an assumed name at the hotel to guarantee his privacy, even though it meant bypassing a reception and “sumptuous rooms provided” [MTL 4: 470-1]. [ page 465 ]

October 16 Monday to February 27 – 1872 Lecture Tour:

Sam returned to the lecture circuit under the management of James Redpath and the Boston Lyceum Bureau. There were at least 77 engagements using three different speeches.

Note: Schmidt is one good updated source for dates and places of lectures, yet there is no guarantee that any website, will be up indefinitely. Print sources are thereby given priority; Emerson gives 76 performances in sixteen weeks [81].

October 16 Monday – Sam lectured at Moravian Day School Hall, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. “Reminiscences of Some Uncommonplace Characters Whom I Have Met”. He gave this lecture three times and then chose the segment on Artemus Ward to expand, dropping pieces about Dick Baker the quartz miner; Riley the journalist; the King of the Sandwich Islands; and others.  

Sam wrote a short note before the lecture from Bethlehem, Penn. to Livy. Sam thought he might have to pare down the lecture, but would talk without notes [MTL 4: 473].

October 17 Tuesday – Sam lectured in Allentown, Penn. He wrote from Allentown to Livy:

      Livy darling, this lecture will never do. I hate it & won’t keep it. I can’t even handle these chuckle-headed Dutch with it.

      Have blocked out a lecture on Artemus Ward, & shall write it next Saturday & deliver it next Monday in Washington [MTL 4: 474-5].

The Easton Free Press ran a notice by “The Committee” dated Oct. 17 announcing “Mark Twain has been compelled to disappoint the good people of this town,” citing two telegrams pleading “sudden illness” in the family. A promise of “another evening shortly” would not be fulfilled until Nov. 23.

October 18 Wednesday – Sam lectured (“Uncommonplace Characters”) in Music Hall, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.  Sam enlisted the help of “an old Californian friend” (unidentified) to cancel lectures in Easton, Penn., and Reading, Penn. for Oct. 19 and 20. The Easton Free Press had called the lectures in Bethlehem and Allentown a “failure,” so Sam was:

“…mourning over my miserable lecture…. I shall reach Washington tomorrow night, & then for two days & nights I shall work like a beaver on my new lecture. How I ever came to get up such a mess of rubbish as this & imagine it good, is too many for me” [MTL 4: 475-6].

October 19 Thursday – Sam wrote from Wilkes-Barre, Penn. to Elisha Bliss. The typesetters had lost part of Ch. 18 of Roughing It, which described crossing the alkali desert. Sam could not focus to rewrite it and suggested perhaps they might have to omit the whole chapter [MTL 4: 477].

Sam left Pennsylvania and arrived in Washington that evening, staying at the Arlington Hotel, where he wrote the “Artemus Ward, Humorist” lecture, and threw the other lecture “overboard.” Sam wanted to lecture for Reading and Easton, Penn. for nothing, due to his cancellations [MTL 4: 478].

October 22 Sunday – W.L. Denning did work at the Hartford rental house; also provided feather bed, 2 feather pillows, and misc. See Nov. 17 entry for payment [MTP].

October 23 Monday – Sam gave the “Artemus Ward” lecture in Lincoln Hall, Washington, D. C. [One version of this speech is found in Mark Twain Speaking, 41-7]. The lecture attracted a record crowd for Lincoln [ page 466 ] Hall, some 2,000, with 150 crowded on stage. The reviews were mixed, and Sam found it difficult to lecture about a dead humorist, or to tell Ward’s jokes and make them funny [MTL 4: 480n3].

Artemus Ward’s real name, as most of you are probably aware, was Charles F. Browne. He was born in Waterford, Main, in 1834. His personal appearance was not like that of most Maine men. He looked like a glove-stretcher. His hair, red, and brushed well forward at the sides, reminded one of a divided flame. His nose rambled on aggressively before him, with all the strength and determination of a cow-catcher, which his red moustache—to follow on the simile—seemed not unlike the unfortunate cow [Fatout, MT Speaking 43].

Sam wrote a receipt for his lecture fee:

Received of JH Demeritt, Treas. G.A.R. Lecture Committee for the delivery of my lecture “Reminiscences of Some Uncommonplace Characters I have Chanced to Meet” at Lincoln Hall Monday evening 23d Octo 1871 One Hundred and Fifty ($150.) Dollars. Saml L. Clemens [MTP] .

October 24 Tuesday – Sam lectured in Institute Hall, Wilmington, Delaware – “Artemus Ward. ”

In Washington, D.C. at the Arlington Hotel, Sam wrote to James Redpath:

(The only hotel in this town) {WILLARD’S—O, my!—seventh-rate hash-house.}

      Dear Red— / I have come square out, thrown “Reminiscences” overboard & taken “Artemus Ward, Humorist,” for my subject. Wrote it here on Friday & Saturday, & read it from MSS last night to enormous house. It suits me, & so I’ll never deliver the nasty, nauseous “Reminiscences” any more.

      Please make appointments for me at Reading & Easton Pa (between 5th & 10th of Feb., or sooner if it interferes with nothing,) for I am to talk for them for nothing—I threw them off, you know—telegram saying my folks were sick—(it came just in the nick of time, I may say, for I wanted to go to Washington & write a new lecture—which I’ve done it. / MARK [MTPO].

 

Notes: Only a single page of the MS that Sam refers to survives. The Easton and Reading lectures (See Oct. 18, 1871) were rescheduled for Nov. 23 and 24. Sam’s main bio source for Artemus Ward “seems to have been” The Genial Showman: Being Reminiscences of the Life of Artemus Ward (1870) by Edward P. Hingston, Ward’s manager. Reviews of Sam’s Ward lectures were mixed.

October 25 Wednesday – Sam lectured in Odd Fellows Hall, Norristown, Penn. – “Artemus Ward.” That morning Sam met Susan Dickinson, sister of the famous suffrage lecturer Anna E. Dickinson, who wrote to her sister:

“I came across Mr. Pugh with an individual whom he introduced as Mr. Clemens. I can’t say that I admire his personal appearance, tone, or manner.” Note: Thomas B. Pugh, lecture manager. The Norristown lecture was not successful. Sam was still struggling to find the right content and approach [MTL 4: 481n18].

October 26 Thursday – Sam spent the day traveling back to Hartford [MTL 4: 482n18].

October 27 Friday – Sam lectured in Sumner Hall, Great Barrington, Mass. – “Artemus Ward.” Sam wrote at midnight (into Oct. 28) from Great Barrington to Livy that the lecture “went off very handsomely.” But the Great Barrington Berkshire Courier of Nov. 1 claimed that of the crowd of 400, at least 390 went away disappointed and dissatisfied [MTL 4: 482-3].

October 28-29 Sunday – Sam probably spent the free weekend in Hartford, only 60 miles away, then traveled to Brattleboro, Vermont.  [ page 467 ]

October 30 Monday – Sam lectured in Brattleboro, Vermont – “Artemus Ward.”

October 31 Tuesday – Sam lectured in Milford, Mass. – “Artemus Ward.” Sam wrote from Milford to Livy.

…the same old practising on audiences still goes on—the same old feeling of pulses & altering manner & matter to suit the symptoms. The very same lecture that convulsed Great Barrington was received with the gentlest & most well-bred smiles & rippling comfort by Milford. Now we’ll see what Boston is going to do. Boston must sit up & behave, & do right by me. As Boston goes, so goes New England [MTL 4: 483].

November – Sam’s article “A Big Scare” ran in American Publishing Co.’s in-house promotional monthly, American Publisher [Camfield, bibliog.].

November 1 Wednesday – Sam lectured in Music Hall, Boston, Mass. – “Artemus Ward.” Sam wrote from Boston to Livy:

“…it was a bad night, but we had a packed house, & if the papers say any disparaging things, don’t you believe a single word of it, for I never saw a lecture go off so magnificently before. I tell you it makes me feel like my old self again. I wanted to talk a week…I am satisfied with tonight” [MTL 4: 484].

The reviews, however, were mixed. Sam added:

“I am going to lunch with Ralph Keeler, Thomas Bailey Aldrich & one or two others tomorrow” [484].

Sam was receipted from Gridley & Frisbee, manufacturers of soap & candles for $5 [MTP].

November 2 Thursday – Sam went to the memorable lunch at Ober’s Greek Revival Restaurant on Winter Place, described by William Dean Howells as Sam’s introduction into the Boston literary circle. Ralph Keeler (1840-1873), a young bohemian Sam had known at the Golden Era, organized the lunch. In attendance: publisher James T. Fields, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, and Bret Harte. “This is the dream of Sam’s life,” Harte was reported as announcing. Sam ignored Harte’s condescension [MTL 4: 484n4; Powers, MT A Life 307].

That evening Sam lectured in Town Hall, Exeter, New Hampshire – “Artemus Ward.”

November 3 Friday – Sam lectured in Town Hall, Andover, Mass. – “Artemus Ward”

November 4–5 Sunday – Clemens used Hartford as his base while lecturing in New England, so it’s likely that on this open weekend he returned home to Livy and “cubbie.” Newspapers were calling the Artemus Ward lecture “plagiarism,” and that “Mark Twain is capable of better things.” The critical responses to Sam’s lecture stayed mixed, though Sam tweaked the material. The result was that many were disappointed though pleased with Sam’s onstage persona.

November 5 Sunday – Elisha Bliss sent Sam a royalty check from the American Publishing Co. [MTP].

November 6 Monday – Sam lectured in Town Hall, Malden, Mass. – “Artemus Ward.”

November 7 Tuesday – Sam traveled the 125 miles back to Hartford.

November 8 Wednesday – Sam lectured in Allyn Hall, Hartford, Conn. – “Artemus Ward.” [ page 468 ]

November 9 Thursday – Sam won a positive review from the Hartford Courant. Sam lectured in Mechanics Hall, Worcester, Mass. – “Artemus Ward.” Sam wrote from Worcester after the lecture, upset that the lecture chairman sat behind him on the stage—“a thing I detest.” Sam had talked to:

“1700 of the staidest, puritanical people you ever saw—one of the hardest gangs to move, that ever was. I’m going to bed—I’m disgusted” [MTL 4: 487].

November 10 Friday – Sam lectured in Stetson Hall, Randolph, Mass. – “Artemus Ward.” Sam had a “delightful & jolly little audience.” He spent the night in Randolph.

November 11 Saturday – Sam woke at 6 AM and traveled to Boston, where he had breakfast and then wrote Livy at 11 AM. Feeling “rusty & stupid,” Sam wrote:

“You see those country hotels always ring a gong at 6 & another at half-past, & between the two they would snake out Lazarus himself, let alone me, who am a light sleeper when nervous” [MTL 4: 488].

In the evening Sam went to the Boston Press Club dinner, but described it as a “cold-water” dinner (no alcohol) and that it broke up at “10.30—& with a sign instead of a hurrah.” Nevertheless, Sam’s toast was a huge hit [MTL 4: 490].

November 12 Sunday – Sam wrote from Boston to Elisha Bliss. He’d enjoyed a good many dinners with Howells, Aldrich and Keeler. Sam directed copies of Innocents be sent to the three men, in care of J.R. Osgood & Co., Boston [MTL 4: 489].

He also wrote to Livy about the “cold-water” dinner of the night before [MTL 4: 490].

November 13 Monday – Sam lectured in Mechanic’s Hall, Boston, Mass. – “Artemus Ward.”

November 14 Tuesday – Sam lectured in Smyth’s Hall, Manchester, N.H.  – “Artemus Ward.”

November 15 Wednesday – Sam lectured in City Hall, Haverhill, Mass. – “Artemus Ward.” Sam wrote from Haverhill after the lecture to Livy.

Livy darling, it was a dreadfully stormy night, the train was delayed a while, & when I got to the hall it was half an hour after the time for the lecture to begin. But not a soul had left the house. I went right through the audience in my overcoat & overshoes with carpet bag in hand & undressed on the stage in full view. It was no time to stand on ceremony. I told them I knew they were indignant to me, & righteously so—& that if any aggrieved gentleman would rise in his place & abuse me for 15 minutes, I would feel better, would take it as a great kindness, & would do as much for him some time. That broke the ice & we went through with colors flying & drums beating [MTL 4: 491].

Sam felt he was getting the lecture “in better shape,” and ended it with “the poetry, every time, & a description of Artemus’ death in a foreign land.”

In the 1871 financials file at MTP, a receipt to Pottier & Stymus Mfg. Co. of Buffalo “To 10 days labor packing Express, Board, &c.” for $128.

November 16 Thursday – Sam lectured in City Hall, Portland, Maine – “Artemus Ward.” Sam wrote from Portland to Moses S. Beach, declining an invitation Beach had sent to Livy for the family to stay with the Beaches [MTL 4: 493-4]. Note: It was Mrs. Beach who had disapproved of Sam as a suitor for their daughter Emeline in 1868.  [ page 469 ]

Robert M. Howland wrote to Clemens, his letter not extant but referred to in Livy’s answer of Nov. 20.

November 17 Friday – At 1 AM in Portland, Maine, Sam wrote a short note to Livy. Sam thought the Portland lecture enjoyable, and the Portland Eastern Argus agreed [MTP].

In the evening Sam lectured in Huntington Hall, Lowell, Mass. – “Artemus Ward.” [MTPO].

Bill paid to W.L. Denning for work at house on Oct. 22 and this date: feather bed, 2 feather pillows, misc. $43 [MTP].

November 18 Saturday – With another open weekend, Sam arrived in Hartford in the afternoon or evening and spent the rest of the weekend at home [MTL 4: 493n8].

In the year’s financial papers is a receipt from Western Insurance Co. for $60 to insure $20,000 of furniture moved from Buffalo to Hartford in September. Also a bill and receipt for $38.52 to J.J. Huppuch, House and Sign-Painting, Graining and Glazing, Buffalo for “repairing walls. Putting & painting woodwork on Delaware st. House” [MTP].

November 20 Monday – Sam took the morning train from Hartford to New York, and made connections to Philadelphia [MTL 4: 493n8]. Sam lectured in the Academy of Music, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – “Artemus Ward.”

In Hartford, Livy wrote for Sam to Robert M. Howland at the St. Nicholas Hotel in NYC:

Dear Sir

Your letter of the 16th rec’d— Mr Clemens spent yesterday at home, but was too jaded out to write letters or do anything but try to get rested— He desired me to answer your letter for him—

I do not yet know when he is to lecture in Auburn as I have only his a list of his engagements through Nov.1 I shall probably have his Dec. list before very many days, if the Auburn appointment should be in that month if you will let me know where to address you, I will send you word—

I wish Mrs Howland was with you and you could come here and finish your Buffalo visit—I think with great pleasure of that day spent with us, and truly hope it is the first but far from the last visit that we may have together—

We are all well, our baby grows fat and hearty every day—

I wish that Mr Clemens was to be at home for two or three days while you are in New York, then perhaps you could find time to come and see us—

You and Mrs Howland shall have pictures of the baby and myself as soon as we have any taken— We are exceedingly obliged for yours, I think them very good indeed—

Please give my love to Mrs Howland when you write her, and express my wish to her that we may know each other better—

With the kindest regards

Your Truly

Mrs S. L. Clemens [MTPO].

November 21 Tuesday – Sam lectured in Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, New York – “Artemus Ward.” Plymouth was Henry Ward Beecher’s church. Sam evoked “continuous fits of laughter” [MTL 4: 497]. Advertisements like the one that ran on Nov. 9 in the Brooklyn Eagle, promoted this as “Reminiscences of Some Un-commonplace Characters that I have Chanced to Meet,” tickets 50 cents.  This particular ad ran a note by Redpath & Fall that this would “be his only appearance in that city the present season.”

November 22 Wednesday – Sam lectured in Washington Hall, Roundout, NY – “Artemus Ward.” [ page 470 ]

November 23 Thursday – Sam lectured in Court House, Easton, Penn. – “Artemus Ward.”

In MTP a receipt for $53 to W.B. Willard, Hartford dealer in flour, grain & feed.

November 24 Friday – Sam lectured in Reading, Penn. – “Artemus Ward.” The theater of Keystone Opera House, as reported by the Berks and Schuylkill Journal of Nov. 25:

Mark Twain, author of “Innocents Abroad,” delivered a lecture on the “Uncommon-place Characters he has met with” at the Keystone Opera House last evening to a full house.”

 The Reading Times and Dispatch for Nov. 25 offered a positive review:

 Mark Twain’s Lecture

A large and appreciative audience greeted Mark Twain last evening to hear his humorous discourse on “Uncommonplace characters I have met.” The lecturer is a modest gentleman, free from all stage affectation, and is perfectly “at home” on the platform. His delivery is not at all unpleasant, as we have been led to believe by some newspaper reports recently published, but is rather suited, we think, to the presentation of a quaint composition such as his lecture is.

[“Mark Twain in Reading: 1871” Historical Review of Berks County 51.2 (Spring 1986): 53-4, 69].

 

November 25 Saturday – The London Leisure Hour ran reprints from the St. Louis Republican and a story of how Sam took the name Mark Twain—this one relates him writing a sketch about Captain Isaiah Sellers, then asking “John Morris, now steward of the Belle Memphis,” what name he should sign to it. When the leadsman called out “Mark Twain,” it supposedly decided the issue [Tenney 4].

Redpath & Fall Co. wrote to advise Clemens of a recorded engagement to lecture in Kalamazoo, Mich., Saturday Dec. 16 [MTP].

November 25–26 Sunday – With no lectures scheduled, Sam spent part of the weekend in Elmira before traveling on to Bennington, Vermont [MTL 4: 498].

November 27 Monday – Livy’s 26th birthday.

Sam lectured in Bennington, Vermont – “Artemus Ward.” Afterward, Sam wrote to Livy:

Livy darling, good house, but they laughed too much. A great fault with this lecture is, that I have no way of turning it into a serious & instructive vein at will. Any lecture of mine ought to be a running narrative-plank, with square holes in it, six inches apart, all the length of it; & then in my mental shop I ought to have plugs (half marked “serious” & the others marked “humorous”) to select from & jam into these holes according to the temper of the audience [MTL 4: 498].

Sam also thought that too many books about the West made Roughing It a bit “hackneyed,” and mentioned writing a Mississippi book—“then look out! I will spend 2 months on the river & take notes…” Sam had thought of a river book at least since Jan. 1866 [MTL 4: 499].

Hume & Sanford Co. Buffalo, wrote to Sam with a statement of account balancing goods & services with payments totaling $1,072.35 [MTP]. [ page 471 ]

November 28 Tuesday – Sam lectured in Tweddle Hall, Albany, New York – “Artemus Ward.” Sam wrote from Albany to George L. Fall, scheduler for the Boston Lyceum Bureau.

Fall, my boy, you haven’t given me a hotel, from Fredonia clear to Chicago. Now you think I am going to roost in a tree—but I leave it to you, as a man & a brother, if a man can do that in the winter time & keep in good lecturing condition? Now you know he can’t. Fall, this comes of your exhuberance—your inhuman gaiety of spirits. I shall come to Boston & shoot you, with no mere Colt’s revolver, but with a Gatling gun [MTL 4: 501-2].

November 29 Wednesday – Sam lectured in Opera House, Newark, New Jersey – “Artemus Ward.”

On this day or the next, Sam wrote from Newark, N.J. to Redpath & Fall. “Well, Troy had telegraphed for Feb. 8. We telegraphed you. You answered with a ‘word with a bark to it—No’ ” [MTL 4: 503; paraphrased]. Note: see source n1 for a full explanation.

November 30 Thursday – Sam’s 36th birthday.

December – Sam’s article “My First Lecture” ran in American Publishing Co.’s in-house promotional monthly, American Publisher [Camfield, bibliog.]. Similar to Roughing It, Ch. 78.

December 1 Friday – Sam gave the “Artemus Ward” lecture in Doolittle Hall, Oswego, NY [MTPO]. 

December 2 Saturday – Sam gave the “Artemus Ward” lecture in Barber Hall, Homer, New York to a “large assemblage.”

Clemens gave a humorous autograph to an unidentified person. Cue: “It isn’t egotism that makes me choose a leaf so…” Not found at MTP but in catalog [MTP].

December 3 Sunday – Sam spent the day in Homer, New York.  He wrote a laundry list of concerns to Livy, including loans to his Express partner, Josephus Larned; money to his mother; bills for shirts; directing that Margaret (the maid) should be given “the nightly care of the cubbie”; and another lecturer from Virginia City days, C.B. Plummer. Sam met an old Langdon family friend in Homer, Dr. George V.R. Merrill [MTL 4: 503-4,509n8].

John Henry Riley wrote from Wash DC: “Friend Clemens / I returned to Phila from California on the 23d ult. And remained there till over Thanksgiving Day, and then on the 1st inst came back here. I just missed your ev’g of lecture at the Academy of Music, Phila….” He obliquely asked for funds as he was almost out of money [MTP].

December 4 Monday – Sam gave the “Artemus Ward” lecture in Linden Hall, Geneva, New York. He wrote from Geneva to Livy, telling of being approached by “two-little-girl friends” of his “early boyhood,” Mary E. Bacon and Mildred Catherine (Kitty) Shoot.

Livy darling, I am thus far. Coming up from Homer I got acquainted with Rev. Mr. Foster, Episcopal City Missionary of Syracuse, a noble, splendid fellow—a Twichell. He tells yarns, smokes occasionally, has weaknesses & lovable vices, just like a good, genuine human being, instead of a half-restored theological corpse like some preachers. Sails right into the meat & marrow of a thing with a whole-hearted cordiality that makes you think what a pity it is there are so many people in the world who never know what it is to have anything more than a mere lukewarm, half-way interest in the pleasures & duties that fall to their lot.

Foster was a Colonel, & was in 14 battles in the war—was in active service from the beginning of the war to the end of it. Only entered the ministry a year ago. But I think it requires more than war pluck to be a city missionary & wade into filthy Irish slums & back streets & face the insults & the hateful beastliness that offend eyes & nose & spirit in such places. Foster looks about my age, but he has several children—the [ page 472 ] eldest a clerk in a bank, aged 17! I don’t know Foster’s age. I gave him “Waterloo,” & told him to read it & then mail it to you, as I had marked it somewhat. I guess we’ll have him up to Hartford, some day, & let him see Twichell.

Last night when the lecture was over, two ladies came forward heartily & shook me by the hand & called me “Sam Clemens, the very same old Sam”—& when the explanations came out, by & by, they were two-little-girl friends of my early boyhood—children with me when I was half as old [as] Sammy Moffett. They both saw me once, ten years ago, but I did not see them. One has been married 13 years & the other about 20. One was Mary Bacon & the other Kitty Shoot. They seemed like waifs from some vague world I had lived in ages & ages & ages ago—myths—creatures of a dream.

Livy dear, I didn’t see Dr Taft—he wasn’t in. I suppose I forgot to tell Patrick. You just send for the doctor & have a talk with him—or send Mrs Twichell to him.

I suppose the watches haven’t reached you yet. Livy darling, my diamonds are a daily & nightly & unceasing delight to me, they are so beautiful. I thank you with all my might, my darling.

Saw Dr Merrill last night & treated him the best I knew how.

Livy dear, my shirts are doubtless lying in the Express office, since you don’t speak of their arrival.

With lots of love for you, & Mother & the cubbie.

Samℓ.

 [MTL 4: 506-7; MTPO]. Note: Rev. James P. Foster.

 

Notes from the latter source on the two “little-girl-friends”: The two women had not approached Clemens “last night,” but rather on 2 December, after his lecture in Homer. Mary E. Bacon (b. 1842?) was the only daughter of Catherine Lakenan Bacon (b. 1817) and George Bacon (1809–1874), Hannibal’s leading wholesale grocer; her married name is unknown. Mildred Catherine (Kitty) Shoot (b. 1840?), was one of the daughters of Mary Pavey Shoot (b. 1822?) and William Shoot (1809–92), the proprietor of Hannibal’s finest hotel and co-owner of a livery stable. She had married Charles P. Heywood (1833–1909), the paymaster of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad and later a United States revenue collector, in 1858. [Editiorial emphasis on names].

December 5 Tuesday – Sam gave the “Artemus Ward” lecture in Academy of Music, Auburn, New York [MTPO].

Sam wrote from Auburn to Livy. He met again with Dr. Merrill in the morning:

Old Darling, I thank you very very much for so loving me & so missing & me & remembering my birthday & wishing for me there—& I do reciprocate—I love you with all my heart & long to be with you again.

Dr Merrill came again this morning & we had a real good talk about all the folks—& his hearty loving gratitude to father, & his genuine appreciation of father’s grand character & great heart quite touched me deeply. Then I wanted to go to his house, but felt that I must go & see my two old playmates instead, & he granted that my impulse was right. I spent a delightful hour with them. The Dr. sent me some excellent cigars. Ever, Ever so lovingly,

Saml. [MTL 4: 509; MTPO]. Note: Livy’s birthday letter not extant.

December 6 Wednesday – Sam telegraphed the American Publishing Company:

“Why have you not answered my telegram em spaceI particularly want proofs of the California part of the book expressed immediately to Reeds Hotel Erie Pa em spaceshall use some extracts in Public reading in place of a lecture if you have shipped none already maybe you better send duplicates to Toledo em spacealso answer. / Mark Twain”[MTPO].

Sam gave the “Artemus Ward” lecture in Wieting Opera House, Syracuse, New York. Roughing It was copyrighted this day [Duckett 63].

Elisha Bliss wrote to Sam: “We send you all the parts of the book [RI] we have printed so far.” He included publishing details—plates, prospectus, etc. [MTP].  [ page 473 ]

December 7 Thursday – Sam gave the “Roughing It” lecture in Sprague’s Hall, Warsaw, New York. One version of this speech is published in Mark Twain Speaking, pp. 48-63. Sam experienced mixed results with the Artemus Ward lecture, and even faced charges of plagiarism for retelling some of Ward’s old jokes. He was ready to try a new lecture. Sam probably invited his friend David Gray from Buffalo, some 30 miles away, to hear and review his new lecture.

A receipt to Livy from Spear & Whiting, Hartford dealers in greenhouse and other plants, shows $15 for various flowers, plants, and hanging baskets; also receipted for $102 to Isaac Glazier & Co., dealer in picture & looking glass frames; W.B. Willard $10 paid for flour [MTP].

December 7 or 8? Friday – Sam wrote from Warsaw, New York or Buffalo to the Staff of the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise about Thomas Kean’s tour through a Virginia City mine. Kean was a city editor and drama critic for the Buffalo Courier, and traveling in the West. He carried a letter of recommendation from Sam [MTL 5: 691].

December 8 Friday – Sam lectured in Union Hall, Fredonia, New York – “Roughing It.” Sam telegraphed from Buffalo to Redpath & Fall. “Notify all hands that from this date I shall talk nothing but selections from my forth-coming book Roughing It, tried it last night suits me tip top” Sam sent the telegraph while traveling from Warsaw [MTL 4: 511].

In Syracuse, New York, Sam also telegraphed to the American Publishing Co.:

Why have you not answered my telegram. I particularly want proofs of the California part of the book expressed immediately to Reeds Hotel Erie Pa shall use some extracts in Public reading in place of a lecture if you have shipped none already maybe you better send duplicates to Toledo also answer

Mark Twain [MTP, drop-in letters].

December 9 Saturday – Sam lectured in Farrar Hall, Erie, Pennsylvania – “Artemus Ward.”

In a letter about this date to Redpath, Sam wrote, “I like this lecture first rate, —better than any I have ever had except the ‘Vandal’ —three years ago.” While revising the “Roughing It” lecture, Sam returned to the Artemus content. The Erie Observer called Sam’s lecture a “decided failure” and a “pitiful attempt to ape the style of Artemus Ward, in which he only succeeded in reaching the standard of a negro minstrel” [MTL 4: 513n1].

December 10 Sunday – Sam wrote from Erie, Penn. to Mary Mason Fairbanks, apologizing for not being able to spend time with the Fairbanks family.

Am writing a new, tip-top lecture about California & Nevada—been at it all night—am still at it & pretty nearly dead with fatigue. Shall be studying it in the cars till midnight, & then sleep half the day in Toledo & study the rest. If I am in good condition there, I shall deliver it—but if I’m not just as bright as [a] dollar, shall talk A. Ward two or three nights longer & go on studying [MTL 4: 513].

December 11 Monday – Sam lectured in White’s Hall, Toledo, Ohio – “Artemus Ward.” Sam wrote from Toledo to James Redpath, claiming that his new lecture was “perfectly bully, now.” He wrote that he’d given it “at Warsaw & made a spectacular success—& at Fredonia & made a splendid failure.” So, Sam rewrote the “Roughing It” lecture again.

December 12 Tuesday – Sam lectured in University Hall, Ann Arbor, Michigan – “Artemus Ward.” “–a continuous roar of laughter” [MTL 4: 515]. [ page 474 ]

December 13 Wednesday – Sam lectured in Union Hall, Jackson, Michigan – “Artemus Ward” this time was said to be “rather monotonous and tiresome.” Either Sam was inconsistent with this material, probably looking past it to his perfected new lecture, or regional/local differences applied.

December 14 Thursday – Sam gave the revamped “Roughing It” lecture in Mead’s Hall, Lansing, Michigan. Samuel H. Row introduced Clemens. See Nov. 14, 1905 from Row.

December 15 Friday – Sam lectured in Luce’s Hall, Grand Rapids, Michigan – “Roughing It” was a moderate success.

December 16 Saturday – Sam lectured in Union Hall, Kalamazoo, Michigan – “Roughing It” drew a sharply divided reaction in the newspapers, the Kalamazoo Telegraph hated the performance, while the Gazette claimed Sam “enchanted” and “convulsed” the audience. Sam must have wondered what he had to do to win over the press. Sam spent the night in Kalamazoo.

 

In MTP: a receipt for $6.12 to W.B. Willard, Hartford dealer in flour, grain & feed.

 

December 17 Sunday – Sam started at 4 AM for Chicago, about 140 miles away.

 

December 18 Monday – Sam arrived in Chicago at 3 PM, some 11 hours for a 2-hour trip. He gave the “Roughing It.” lecture south of the area devastated by the Oct. 8 fire, in Michigan Avenue Baptist Church, Chicago.

 

Sam wrote from Chicago to Livy and spent the night at Robert Law’s home, a coal dealer and friend of the Langdons [MTL 4: 518n2].

“We sat up & talked till 10, & all went to bed. I worked till after midnight amending & altering my lecture, & then turned in & slept like a log—I don’t mean a brisk, fresh, green log, but an old dead, soggy, rotten one, that never turns over or gives a yelp” [MTL 4: 517].

December 19 Tuesday – In Chicago, Sam stayed with Dr. Abraham Reeves Jackson, the “doctor” of Innocents Abroad. Sam performed the “Roughing It” lecture at the Union Park Congregational Church, Chicago, Ill. Reporters praised both of Sam’s Chicago lectures.

On this day Sam was assigned patent number 121,992 for an “Improvement in Adjustable and Detachable Straps for Garments” [MTL 4: 466n5; McBride 422].

Sam wrote a note to an unidentified person, “Dear Sir— / I am sorry to say that my nights are all full from this time to the end of my season, otherwise it would give me great pleasure to talk in your course” [MTP, drop-in letters].

 

December 20 Wednesday – Sam lectured (topic unknown) in Sandwich, Illinois (why not the Sandwich Islands lecture for Sandwich?) The Chicago Tribune printed a long synopsis of Sam’s “Roughing It” lecture, so he returned to the “Artemus Ward” lecture, at least in Princeton and perhaps here as well [MTL 4: 519].

 

December 21 Thursday – Sam lectured in City Hall, Aurora, Illinois – Topic was probably “Artemus Ward.” The Chicago Evening Post ran an interview on page 4 with Sam on some comments on King Edward VII [Scharnhorst, Interviews 1].

 

December 22 Friday – Sam lectured in Patterson Hall, Princeton, Illinois – “Artemus Ward.”

 [ page 475 ]

December 24 Sunday – Charles Langdon sent a small preface to a book: “Practical Suggestions on the Sale of Patents,” 1871 by Wm. Edgar Simonds, atty. Hartford. No letter enclosed [MTP].

 

December 25 Monday – Christmas ­– Sam wrote from Chicago to Livy at 2 AM. “Joy, & peace be with you & about you, & the benediction of God rest upon you this day!” Sam was still working over his lecture. There had been a smallpox scare in Chicago with fines levied against anyone not vaccinated. Sam urged Livy to get vaccinated, at least once a year [MTL 4: 521].

 

December 26 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Champaign, Illinois to Livy, then gave the “Artemus Ward” lecture there in Barrett Hall. Sam was memorizing his new lecture and wanted to:

 

“…get out of the range of the cursed Chicago Tribune that printed my new lecture & so made it impossible for me to talk it with any spirit in Illinois” [MTL 4: 522].

 

Redpath & Fall Co. wrote to Sam: “Jersey City writes ‘The best hotel is Taylors’ but I suppose Mr Clemens would prefer a hotel in New York” [MTP].

 

December 27 Wednesday – Sam lectured in Tuscola, Illinois – “Artemus Ward.” He was still not out of “Chicago Tribune territory,” he wrote Livy from Tuscola, but he’d memorized all of the new “Roughing It in Nevada” lecture [MTL 4: 525].

 

December 28 Thursday – Sam lectured in Lincoln Hall, Danville, Illinois – “Roughing It.”

 

He wrote from Danville to Livy, concerned about her health and the baby’s. He announced, “The debt to the firm is all paid up” (the $12,500 owned to Jervis Langdon on the purchase of the Buffalo Express.) [MTL 4: 526-7].

 

Sam also wrote to Jane Clemens, sending $300 and news that the “baby has lung fever” [MTL 4: 527].

 

December 29 Friday – Sam lectured in Mattoon, Illinois – Topic was probably “Artemus Ward.” The hall in Mattoon had a hall above it used by a secret order. During the lecture noise frequently came from above, disturbing Clemens. Before the close of the lecture Twain said he’d lectured in schools, churches and theaters but had never lectured in a livery stable where they kept horses overhead [“Editor’s Drawer,” Harper’s Monthly 70 (Apr. 1885): 822].

 

December 30 Saturday – Sam lectured in Paris, Illinois – Topic was probably “Artemus Ward.”

 

Sam wrote from Paris to Livy, a lost letter that probably included a description of “Sociable Jimmy,” published in 1874. Sam described a six or seven-year-old Negro boy who brought him dinner in the Paris House Hotel. The interaction between the “most artless, sociable, and exhaustless talker I ever came across,” and wise old Sam the narrator, anticipated Huck Finn [Fishkin 14; Powers, MT A Life 314].

Sam’s article, “MARK TWAIN IN A RAILROAD CAR” ran in the Jackson, California Amador Dispatch.

“I got into the cars and took a seat in juxtaposition to a female. The female’s face was a perfect insurance company for her—it insured her against ever getting married to anybody except a blind man” [Fatout, MT Speaks 65]. Note: This piece also ran in Comic Almanac, 1874 and in the Jan. 1873 issue of Theriaki, “a short-lived monthly published at Laporte, Indiana.

December 31 Sunday – In a “warm drizzling rain,” Sam went to church in Paris, Illinois, and wrote of the experience in a long letter to Livy. [ page 476 ]

“It was the West & boyhood brought back again, vividly. It was as if twenty-five years had fallen away from me like a garment & I was a lad of eleven again in my Missouri village church of that ancient time” [MTL 4: 527].


 [ page 477 ]
Orion Accuses Bliss – Olivia Susan “Susy” Clemens Born – Langdon Clemens Dies

 John Henry Riley Dead from Cancer – Visit to Fairbanks Clan – Vacation in Saybrook

Sam Sails Solo to England – Banquets Galore – Batavia Heroes

 

 

1872 – English publisher Routledge & Sons published Mark Twain’s Sketches, and The New Pilgrim’s Progress, and A Curious Dream & Other Sketches; and Mark Twain’s Celebrated Frog of Calaveras County And Other Sketches, with the “Burlesque Autobiography” and “First Romance.”

 

Tom Hood’s Comic Annual for 1872 ran “How I Escaped Being Killed in a Duel” [Camfield, bibliog.]. Note: Gribben has this story in Hood’s 1883 annual [707].

 

Sam’s sketch “His Last Stamp” ran in the Saturday Evening Post Vol. LI. No. 51. Reprinted online at TerryBallard.org, as follows:

 

        Leonides Lunch recently stepped in to a dining saloon, not more than a hundred rods from Franklin statue, and with a composed but hungry countenance asked for a plate of hash in a very genteel voice. It happened, fortunately for him that the desired compound was not quite ready — and one of the waiters told him so, at the same time handing him a paper and politely asked him to take a seat. Leonides did so, with a grateful bow, nonchalantly remarking that he was in no hurry; and he was not, as will be, presently peeved. He observed, as he was compleasantly reading the last news of the Alabaster claims, that the waiter was blacking his boots; which done, Leonides rose and asked for the brush “Just to rub a bit of mud off my boots.” Taking the brush in one hand, and the blacking in the other, in a few moments he had given his foot casings a brilliant polish; then followed up his luck by a liberal and adroit use of the broom-brush over his clothes. He took up a hat-brush and removed the map of his sad silk hat.

      “Those hash are not quite ready yet, are they?” he coolly inquired; and, being answered in the negative, he said it was no matter, “as he was not wanted at the City Hall just yet.” And turning around calmly surveyed the arrangements of the place, and condescended the remark that “it was not quite equal to the Metropolitan or Delmonico’s, still neat — very neat indeed.” Upon careful examination of his hands he observed that the blacking had soiled them; he proceeded to the wash basin, he turned on the faucet and, with free use of scented soap, he scoured his hands most thoroughly. Then he whisked out a once white handkerchief, quickly washed and wrung it, and returned it to his hat to dry. The waiter, being busy with other customers, took but little notion of his maneuvers, and taking advantage of this auspicious fact, Leonides removed the dirty paper collar and substituted a clean one ; immediately subsequent, he had possession of a bottle containing sweet oil, and pouring out about an ounce, treated his distracted head to a bath of it. And now, before a mirror, he made a rapid and tasteful use of the comb and the brush. Observing his surroundings, one of the waiters approached him with—

      “Have you given your order, sir?”

      “Oh yes, thank you. It’s coming on soon.”

      “What dish was it, sir?”

      “Hash. A plate of nice hash to begin.”

      Leonides now approached the counter, where, seeing a case of fancy articles, among them two tooth-brushes, he called for one, as if intending to purchase, and after a long scrutiny he selected one, at the same time helping himself to a pinch of snuff, just as the proprietor was closing the snuff-box. He now lightly stepped to the wash basin and gave his teeth such a cleansing as few teeth can withstand, and finished just as the anxious waiter hurried breathless toward him, exclaiming—

      “Here is your hash, sir. Hash, sir, hash.”

      Leonides laid down his tooth-brush and strode with dignity to the table, where he seated himself with a satisfied “Ha!” as if one of John Ludin’s banquets had been spread before him.

      After one mouthful, “Here, waiter,” exclaims he, “fill this water-pitcher and give me the walnut ketchup.” This mandate being fulfilled, he proceeded to lay waste the hash. After finishing that, with which he devoured half a dozen slices of bread, and about a quarter of a pound of butter, he tumbled the remaining slices into a tumbler of milk, the pitcher happening to hold about two quarts. Seeing nothing else to eat on [ page 478 ] the table except a plate of pickles, he swallowed them all regardless of curds, probably considering that he had stomach enough for anything.

      By this time, Leonides Lunch appeared to have gotten quite comfortable, for, utilizing his chair back against the wall, crossing his legs and folding his hands, he fell into a snooze, having achieved one of the cheapest dinners on record. In a little while, he began to snore harmoniously, resounding blasts of victory.

      “I say, Jack,” said one waiter to another, “who is that snoozer out there agin the wall?”

      “I don’t know. Thought you did, he makes himself so much at home. He called for a plate of hash about two hours ago. Said something about not being in a hurry to go to City Hall — clerk, perhaps.”

      “I noticed he swallowed all the bread and milk and pickles, and thinned that butter down.”

      “What makes him snore so?”

      “I suppose it’s the pickles quarreling with the milk.”

      At this moment Leonides sneezed with such violence that his chair tilted forward, and he awoke amidst a peal of laughter from the waiters — the customers having long before gone about their business.

      “Had a good sleep, sir?” gravely inquired a waiter, as Leonides strode up to the counter to settle for his hash.

      “Sleep? Me? Yes, I did done a little. Ten cents, I believe?”

      “For the hash,” said the clerk, laying particular emphasis on the word.

      “Y-e-s,” said Leonides airily, stroking his English whiskers. “One plate only, I believe, of the hash.”

      “Ten cents a plate for hash only,” replied the clerk, winking slyly to the waiters, who were making all sorts of grim faces.

      Leonides put his hand in his pocket, and after fumbling awhile, he drew out from a corner a dilapidated ten-cent stamp., so wretchedly withered and defaced — such a mutilated evidence of the evils of civil war— that the clerk started aghast at the sight.

      “That ain’t worth more than five cents,” said he, feebly. “It looks sick— had the small-pox, or must have been badly vaccinated.”

      “Oh, never mind,” said Leonides with lofty carelessness, and yawning. “I shall come in and take dinner here every day. I’ll pay you the other five cents next time. I like your hash — and when I like a place I stick to it.”

      His threats of coming every day increased the clerk’s alarm, and he thought it best to be rid of such a customer as soon as possible.

      “Very well,” said he, forcing a smile. “It’s a small affair any way.”

      “Of course,” replied Leonides, with a happy coincidence of opinion. “Have you such a useful tool as a penknife on you?”

      The clerk looked rather savage at this, and felt as if a carving-knife would have been more serviceable just then. He thought of Felix Larkin and John Glass, but with heroic self-command he smoothed down the bristles of his indignation and presented his penknife. Leonides took it and commenced paring and cleansing his nails, apparently unconscious of being the “cynosure of neighboring eyes.”

      “Jack,” shouted the clerk, fiercely, “put another cord of pickles and another mountain of bread on the table out there, and see that we take an extra gallon of milk after this.”

      “Yes,” shouted Jack, “sure not to forget it.”

      “Thank you sir,” said Leonides, returning the penknife. “Oh, by the way, I suppose you don’t care about that evening paper out there. There’s an article in it I’m anxious to preserve — a money article.”

      “Jack,” cried the clerk, biting his lip in despair, “hand this gentleman the evening paper.”

      “Yes sir,” exclaimed Jack, rushing and presenting the paper to Leonides as if waiting upon the Grand Duke.”

      “Jack,” said Leonides familiarly, “now I’ll trouble you for a bit of your tobacco.”

      And Leonides helped himself liberally.

      “I shall be round again to-morrow,” said Leonides, “but I must go now and tend to my city accounts.”

      And waving his hand gracefully to the clerk, he left the establishment.

      “Round again! Heaven prevent him!” said the clerk as he disappeared.

      “He didn’t pay for the tooth-brush,” said Jack, “and washed — oh! here he comes again.”

      “I say, my friend, “it is just beginning to rain,” said Leonides, popping his head in at the door. “Can’t you lend me an umbrella? In again, you know, tomorrow.”

      “Umbrella? No sir, haven’t got any. I say, you didn’t pay for the tooth-brush.” [ page 479 ]

      “The tooth-brush. Tooth-bru-oh, no, no I didn’t did I? Well the fact was, you see, I tried it but the bristles were altogether too soft. I like your hash, however — I could live on that hash! Goodbye! In again tomorrow.

      And again waving his hand gracefully and shaking out his clean, wet handkerchief, Leonides Lunch departed in the direction of Printing House Square.

 

Margaret Warner wrote to Sam. (Letter without further date, not found at MTP.)

 

January – Sam’s article “A Nabob’s Visit to New York” ran in American Publishing Co.’s in-house promotional monthly, American Publisher [Camfield, bibliog.]. See Roughing It, Ch. 46.

 

January? – Thomas Nast’s first Almanac was published: “Th. Nast’s Illustrated Almanac for 1872”. Contributions listed: Mark Twain, Josh Billings, and Petroleum V. Nasby [Paine, Nast 202]. Paine had selected a piece from the Galaxy, which Sam retained the rights to, “The Late Benjamin Franklin” [MTL 4: 373-4n2].

January 1 Monday – Sam arrived in the evening to lecture in Association Hall, Indianapolis, Indiana – “Roughing It in Nevada” [Schmidt].

Sam was billed $21 by Hartford Drs. Taft & Starr for “professional services from July 1, 1871 to Jan 1 1872” [MTP].

James Redpath published his “Lyceum Circular,” announcing that Sam would not repeat the “Artemus Ward”  lecture this season but would deliver a new lecture called “Roughing It” [Lorch 120].

January 2 Tuesday – Sam lectured in Opera House, Logansport, Indiana – “Roughing It.” Before the lecture he wrote from Logansport to James Redpath.

“Had a splendid time with a splendid audience in Indianapolis last night—a perfectly jammed house….I like the new lecture but I hate the ‘Artemus Ward’ talk & won’t talk it any more. No man ever approved that choice of subject in my hearing, I think” [MTL 5: 1].

January 3 Wednesday – Sam lectured in Richmond, Indiana – “Roughing It.” He also wrote his mother, Jane Clemens:

Dear Mother—Enclosed find checks for three hundred dollars. Please drop Livy a line acknowledging receipt of them, & tell her to let me know right away.

   I have entirely rewritten & memorized my lecture five different times, & have at last got it so that I could even “fetch” that frozen Fredonia audience with it now, without a bit of trouble. Love to all. In haste [MTP, drop-in letters].

January 4 Thursday – Sam arrived in Dayton, Ohio and stayed at the Beckel House, Room 169. In the evening he lectured “Roughing It” to a full house in the Music Hall. He wrote John Henry Riley about plans for the diamond book, thinking that he’d be ready to start the collaboration around the first week in March [MTL 5: 2-3].

Friend Riley—

Heaven prosper the Minister to S. A! Amen.

“This is my thought”—as the Injuns say (but only in novels.) The first day of March—or the 4th or 5th at furthest—I shall be ready for you. I shall employ a good, appreciative, genial phonographic reporter who can listen first rate, & enjoy, & even throw in a word, now & then. Then we’ll all light our cigars every morning, & with your notes before you, we’ll talk & yarn & laugh & weep over your adventures, & the said [ page 480 ] reporter shall take it all down—& so, in the course of a week or so, we’ll have you & Du Toits Pan & Du Toits other household & kitchen furniture all pumped dry—& away you go for Africa again & leave me to work up & write out the book at my leisure (of which I have abundance—very.)

How’s that?

Don’t say any thing about the book.

Never mind Babe— his book won’t hurt—opposition’s the life of trade—but of course I’d rather be out first. Why didn’t you get my letter & stay there longer.

Ys

Mark

[MTPO]. Note: Du Toits Pan was a well known S. African mining camp. Jerome L. Babe’s 1871 “letters from the diamond fields of South Africa” to the New York World, made Americans aware of their importance.

Sam also wrote to Livy late, explaining why he declined stays at private homes:

“Hotels are the only proper places for lecturers. When I am ill natured I so enjoy the freedom of a hotel—where I can ring up a domestic & give him a quarter & then break furniture over him—then I go to bed calmed & soothed, & sleep as peacefully as a child” [MTL 5: 5].

January 5 Friday – Sam lectured in Opera House, Columbus, Ohio – “Roughing It” [MTPO].

A receipt from John Hooker for $100 for “house rent in full” is likely for one month, since later receipts for Hooker’s Nook Farm rent were $300 per quarter. Bill paid to E. Habenstein, baker for Livy, products not legible [MTP].

January 6 Saturday – Sam “hired a locomotive…to keep from having to get up at 2 in the morning,” and made the trip from Columbus to Wooster, Ohio, where he lectured in Arcadome Hall – “Roughing It” [MTL 5: 11-12n3].

January 7 Sunday – Sam telegraphed from Wooster, Ohio to William Dean Howells to solicit Bret Harte and “the other boys” to get up a fund for William Andrew Kendall (1831?-1876), a poet who was ill in New York, to gain his passage back to California. Sam claimed he didn’t know Kendall, but Harte did, having published several of his poems while editor of the Overland. These efforts raised Kendall’s passage, but he committed suicide in 1876 [MTL 5: 8-9]. Sam also wrote to Livy about money issues and his desire to get home [10]. Sam also wrote James Redpath about a disputed lecture date in Paterson, New Jersey [12].

January 8 Monday – Sam gave the “Roughing It” lecture in Concert Hall, Salem, Ohio [MTPO].

He wrote from Salem to Livy.

“Well, slowly this lecturing penance drags toward the end. Heaven knows I shall be glad when I get far away from these country communities of wooden-heads. Whenever I want to go away from New England again, lecturing, please show these letters to me & bring me to my senses” [MTL 5: 14].

January 9 Tuesday – Sam lectured in Gray and Garrett’s Hall, Steubenville, Ohio – “Roughing It” [MTPO].

January 10 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Steubenville to Livy about his visit after the lecture to the Steubenville Female Seminary; the winning of passenger business by the railroads from steamboats; and novels he’d read and sent home.  [ page 481 ]

That evening, Sam lectured in Washington Hall, Wheeling, West Virginia – “Roughing It.” He spent the night in Wheeling, and began another letter to Livy, calling the lecture “perfectly splendid” [MTL 5: 18].

Sam also began a letter while in Wheeling to James Redpath, that he finished Jan. 11 in Pittsburgh. The beginning of the letter is missing. Sam had asked for some of Redpath’s promotional materials and was sent one flyer. He had also lost track of monies sent for Redpath’s fees.

“SAY—send me a dozen of those puffs of mine, ‘Lyceum circular—’ what he devil can a christian do with one? / Pittsburgh, Jan. 10 P.S. Did I send you a check a week or ten days ago?” [MTP, drop-in letters].

January 11 Thursday – Sam left Wheeling in the afternoon and traveled to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he lectured in Mercantile Library Hall – “Roughing It.”

Afterward he finished his Jan. 10 to Redpath and also wrote Livy:

“This was the largest audience ever assembled in Pittsburgh to hear a lecture, some say. Great numbers were turned away—couldn’t get in; stage was jam-full; all the private boxes full—Seems to me there were three tiers of them” [MTL 5: 18].

January 12 Friday – Sam lectured in Kittanning, Pennsylvania – “Roughing It.” Sam wrote from Kittanning to Livy before the lecture:

“Livy darling, this is a filthy, stupid, hateful Dutch village, like all Pennsylvania—& I have got to lecture to these leatherheads tonight, but shall leave for Pittsburgh at 3 in the morning, & spend Sunday in that black but delightful town” [MTL 5: 21-2].

January 13 Saturday – Sam had an open weekend and wrote a short note from Pittsburgh to Livy, sending clippings of favorable reviews. In the note he wrote that he’d just sent a “long dispatch,” which has been lost [MTL 5: 22].

Sam also sent a check and note to James Redpath for $124.69. The Lyceum charged speakers a 10% commission, and Sam owed back fees [26].

Sam sent a second letter to Redpath and George L. Fall, enclosing $100 and claiming he’d sent five letters:

Gentlemen:—

Enclosed find my draft for $100 in your favor. Please acknowledge.

Yours

S. L. Clemens.

There now. I have written you five letters all at once [&] put a New York draft in each. ([$124.69], $100, $200, $180, [&] $100.) [$704.69] altogether, [&] I have dated these letters from everywhere so some of them will get through anyway. [MTP, drop-in letters]. Note: only two of these five survive.

January 15 Monday – Sam’s lecture in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania was “backed” (canceled) by the committee there, so Sam spent a long weekend in Pittsburgh [MTL 5: 28].

Bill marked paid from Tracy & Co., Importers for “1 polished standard for Fire irons” $4 [MTP].

January 16 Tuesday – Sam was still in Pittsburgh when he wrote Livy: 

“…if ever I get through with this tour alive I never want to take another, even for a month.” [ page 482 ]

He took the train and lectured that evening in Opera House, Lock Haven, Pa. – “Roughing It” [MTL 5: 27].

January 17 Wednesday – Sam lectured in Milton, Pennsylvania – “Roughing It.” He wrote from either Lock Haven or Milton to James Redpath, turning down lectures after Feb.1 in Utica and Newburgh, New York [MTL 5: 28].

January 18 Thursday – Sam lectured in Court House, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania – “Roughing It.” Once again, Sam received mixed reviews:

The Harrisburgh Telegraph: “the roughest excuse for a lecture we ever heard.” The Harrisburg Evening Mercury: “a grand success oratorically and facetiously.” The Harrisburg Patriot: “much agreeable amusement…The only vacant space left when the lecturer commenced was his mouth, and that nobody crowded down his throat was astonishing” [MTL 5: 29-30n1].

Notes: Sam no doubt loved this last line. The reasons for such mixed reviews? Many expected lectures to be as they’d always been—a bit of showmanship perhaps, but mostly education. A humorist lecture was not unheard of (Ward, Nasby, etc.) but uncommon. It seems Sam’s best lecture successes came when he mixed information and description with humor, as in his “Sandwich Islands”  presentation.

James Redpath wrote to Sam, explaining the dispute over the Paterson, N.J. lecture which had gone on since August 1871. “Dear Mark— When you reach Paterson, N. J., you will find, possibly,—probably—an indignant Secretary, who threatens, I think—for his language seems to smell of gunpowder—to complain to you of our course in refusing to give him February 1.” Redpath then related the timeline for the dispute [MTP].

January 19 Friday – Sam lectured in Fulton Opera House, Lancaster, Pennsylvania – “Roughing It.” Afterward, he returned to Harrisburg where he spent another open weekend. The reviews from Lancaster were unanimously positive [MTL 5: 30n3].

January 20 Saturday – Sam wrote from Harrisburg to Livy about the great success at Lancaster and miscellaneous matters. Livy had written that Joe Goodman and wife were in New York. Sam enclosed a Longfellow poem and one other unidentified [MTL 5: 28-9].

Bill marked paid from Duggan & Quinn for “50lbs of Mocha coffee” [MTP].

January 21 Sunday – In Harrisburg, Sam inscribed a copy of IA to Jane Findlay Shunk (1792-1878):

This book is given to

Miss Jane Findlay Shunk,

With the kindest regards of

Mark Twain

~

Harrisburgh, Jan. 21/72 [MTPO]

Note: The Findlays and the Shunks were old Pennsylvania political families.

January 22 Monday – Sam lectured in the Old Methodist Church, Carlisle, Pa. to about 600 – “Roughing It” [MTPO].

A contract was drawn between Sam and the American Publishing Co. [MTP]. Note: Sam probably signed it shortly after his return on Jan. 25.  [ page 483 ]

January 23 Tuesday – Sam lectured in Maryland Institute, Baltimore, Maryland – “Roughing It.” Lecture manager Thomas B. Pugh asked Sam to deliver a second Philadelphia lecture on Feb. 9 [MTL 5: 31]. Note: a note in the MTP file Pugh’s request: “Clemens must not have given him a definite ‘no’ (he seems in general to have avoided saying ‘no’ in person, relying on Redpath & Fall to do this for him).”

January 24 Wednesday – Sam lectured to over 2,000 in Steinway Hall, New York City – “On Governor Nye,” a benefit for the Mercantile Library. Sam telegraphed from New York to James Redpath to tell Pugh that he would not lecture again this season [MTL 5: 31]. Though Sam had been in New York many times over the past few years, this was his first lecture there since May 1867, when he first spoke before an Eastern audience prior to leaving on the Quaker City excursion. The reviews praised the lectures. Sam stayed at the St. Nicholas Hotel.

January 25 Thursday – Sam returned home to Hartford and family to spend three or four days resting [MTL 5: 33].

January 26 Friday – F.W. Farwell wrote from NYC advertising the Babcock Fire Extinguisher [MTP].

Thomas B. Pugh wrote from Phila. to Sam, regretting Sam could not lecture in Phila again this season [MTP].

January 27 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to James Redpath, nixing lectures in New York, Englewood, New Jersey, Danbury, Conn., but agreeing to Amherst, Mass.

“Thank God it is nearly over. I haven’t a cent to show for all this long campaign. Squandered it thoughtlessly paying debts” [MTL 5: 36]. Note: Sam did lecture in Danbury on Feb. 21.

January 28 Sunday – The Jubilee Singers, touring for Fisk University in Nashville, performed at the Asylum Hill Church in Hartford to a nearly full house. It’s likely that Sam attended [MTL 5: 37, p316n2]. Note: the church had 186 pews, seating 930 people [Strong 49].

January 29 Monday – Sam lectured in Klein’s Opera House, Scranton, Pa. – “Roughing It” [MTPO].

January 30 Tuesday – Sam lectured in The Tabernacle, Jersey City, New Jersey – “Roughing It.” Sam had become used to introducing himself, and played it up for all the humor it offered. He often related the true story about a man out West who’d been forced to introduce him: “I don’t know anything about this man except two things, one is, he has never been in the penitentiary, and the other is, I don’t know the reason why” [MTL 5: 38].

After the lecture Sam took the ferry back to New York and spent the night at the St. Nicholas. He purchased 200 Figaro cigars, Cuban, from Case & Rathbun, shirt manufacturers & cigars wholesale, New York, for $24 [MTP]. Note: Sam was famous for loving the cheapest cigars, but as this purchase shows, not always the cheapest.

The first copies of Roughing It arrived from the American Publishing Co. [MTL 5: 45n4].

January 31 Wednesday – Sam again took a ferry and lectured in Opera House, Paterson, New Jersey – “Roughing It” [MTPO]. Sam probably spent the night at Paterson’s Franklin House Hotel [MTL 5: 39].

Bill paid to Whiton & Gilletto $15 for 1&1/2 cord oak wood [MTP]. [ page 484 ]

February – Sam’s article “Dollinger the Age Pilot Man” ran in American Publishing Co.’s in-house promotional monthly, American Publisher [Camfield, bibliog.]. See Roughing It, Ch. 51.

English publishers Routledge & Sons published Roughing It and The Innocents at Home in separate volumes [Camfield, bibliog.]. Emerson writes that the latter was called a “Copyright Edition,” reviewed by the Manchester Guardian, “which objected to the use of slang and the author’s being contented ‘with dwelling on the outside of things and simply describing manners and customs’ ” [78].

February 1 Thursday – Sam lectured to a “jammed” house in Rand’s Hall, Troy, New York – “Roughing It.” George Routledge paid Sam a token amount ($185) for the right to publish Roughing It simultaneously in England [MTL 5: 73n3].

Sam left for Hartford.

February 2 Friday – Sam and Livy celebrated their second wedding anniversary.

Bill from Whittlesey & Bliss, grocers, terms net cash, marked paid $19.38 for tubs of butter [MTP].

February 3 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Alvin J. Johnson (1827-1884), who had invited him to the 61st birthday celebration that evening for Horace Greeley in New York City. Johnson was a publisher and a close friend of Greeley’s. With house guests and Livy a few weeks from delivering her second child, Sam cited “domestic duties,” and declined for Livy, but went alone and was among the “several hundred” attending, including Bret Harte, John Hay, and Phineas T. Barnum (1810-1891). For a list of others see: [MTL 5: 39-41].

John Camden Hotten wrote hoping to have had “the pleasure of seeing (& hearing) you in London before this.” Remarkably, Hotten asked to see “some of the proofs—a few chapters” of RI. “You may depend upon my dealing honourably with you & I will place to your credit whatever is fair & equitable” [MTP].

February 4 Sunday – Greeley’s birthday party ended at around midnight. Sam stayed in New York overnight at the St. Nicholas Hotel. Sam probably returned to Hartford after a day or two, but his whereabouts and activities aren’t known until Feb. 10, when he was in Hartford.

February 5–10 Saturday – Before he left New York Sam may have met the medium James Vincent Mansfield, seeking contact with his dead brother Henry Clemens. Sam wrote about the visit some ten years later in chapter 48 of Life on the Mississippi. Sam’s sometimes interest in spiritualism often resulted in lampoons of them [MTL 5: 41-3].

February 6 Tuesday – Bill paid to W.B. Willard, flour & grain merchant $8.50 for grain & oats [MTP].

February 10 Saturday – Sam had returned to Hartford and purchased a pair of “patent Congress Gaiters” from Caspar Kreuzer, a boot maker there [MTL 5: 41].

February 13 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Mary Mason Fairbanks, apologizing for not being able to visit during his “most detestable lecture campaign that ever was—a campaign which was one eternal worry with contriving new lectures & being dissatisfied with them.” Sam liked yanking the chains of his favorite females. “I killed a man this morning. He asked me when My book was coming out.” Sam wrote that Livy and he had Alice and Clara Spaulding, Livy’s girlhood friends, staying with them, and also Rachel Brooks Gleason (1829-1909) and Silas O. Gleason (1818-1899), owners of the Elmira Water Cure [MTL 5: 43-5].

Sam also wrote to James Redpath:  [ page 485 ]

“If you could get that N.Y. Tribune notice of my lecture copied in full into one or two of the biggest Boston papers it would be the next best thing to achieving a Boston triumph” [MTL 5: 45].

February 19 Monday – Two copies of Roughing It were placed with the Copyright Office, Library of Congress [MTL 5: 45n4; Hirst, “A Note on the Text” Oxford edition, 1996].

February 21 Wednesday – Sam lectured in Opera House, Danbury, Conn. – “Roughing It.” He probably stayed the night and returned to Hartford the next day [MTL 5: 46].

February 23 Friday – James Redpath was in Hartford at the Allyn House and Sam sent him a note. They probably had breakfast together. By noon Sam had left for New York City [MTL 5: 47n1].

Sam gave a dinner speech for the publishers of the Aldine, at the St. James Hotel, New York City. The Aldine was an illustrated literary magazine. The speech is published in Mark Twain Speaking, pp. 65-68 [MTL 5: .47n1 gives sources for other texts]. The dinner was for about 50 guests, mostly publishers and printers from Boston, New York and Philadelphia. See citation for many in attendance. Vice-President Schuyler Colfax officiated. Sam’s speech was his story of “Jim Wolf and the Tom-Cats,” and brought loud laughter. Sam stayed at the St. James and was back at home in Hartford by Feb. 26.

The first known review of RI ran in the Utica (N.Y.) Morning Herald and Gazette, p.1 under “Literary Matters / New Books” and mostly quotes Sam:

There is no doubt that this book will find thousands of readers, and that it will afford them all amusement. There is also, as the author observes, “information in the volume.” He adds, in his funniest strain: “Yes, take it all around, there is quite a good deal of information in the book. I regret this very much; but really it could not be helped. Information appears to stew out of me naturally, like the ottar of roses out of the otter. Sometimes it has seemed to me that I would give worlds if I could retain my facts; but it can not be. The more I caulk up the sources, and the tighter I get, the more I leak wisdom” [Budd, Reviews 99-100].

February 26 Monday – Sam telegraphed from Hartford to Redpath & Fall asking “How in the name of God does a man find his way from here to Amherst.” Fall answered with times and places for connections from Hartford to Amherst, which would take Sam five hours though Amherst is only 40 miles north of Hartford. Sam also canceled a trip to Boston, the purpose of which is unknown [MTL 5: 48].

February 27 Tuesday – Sam lectured at College Hall, Amherst, Mass., his last lecture of the season – “Roughing It.” Afterward Sam attended an oyster dinner and told stories of his piloting days and of spirit mediums in New York. The reviews were poor, but the dinner was a great hit [MTL 5: 49n3].

February 28 Wednesday – Mary Mason Fairbanks wrote long to Sam & Livy. In part:

My dear unreliable boy, but much more reliable daughter!

I hardly know where to take up the broken thread. I feel as if you had been to Europe.

I did n’t mind your not writing. Livy’s pleasant letter was the sweetest peace-offering you could have sent me. I know by experience how much there is to hinder our letters, even to those to whom our loving thoughts fly quickest. All that had been reckoned up and no balance brought in against you. I heard of you here and there and everywhere. I knew your weariness and your annoyances. Mother-like I so often wished for you, that you might sleep all day in my house, where no one could find you. That you might have just what you wanted for breakfast—as many cups of coffee as you wanted, with two sugar bowls to one cup. Oh! I was full of tenderness for you, and when Livy wrote that you would make Cleveland for Sunday before Toledo, I was in ecstasy! I fixed your room, and then I un-fixed it! I forced the green-house and I forced the kitchen. I added up and subtracted and divided the time you were to be here, that I might make the most of it, for you and for me and for all of us who were so glad of your coming. Mr. Fairbanks judiciously suggested [ page 486 ] that I must not be too sanguine! I withered him with rebuke for such distrust! Did I not know you—? With all your eccentricity, had you ever broken faith with me? I took a new dignity upon myself at thought of my confidence in you, and your certain justification of it. This was the role I filled the week before you went to Toledo. The week following, the play was withdrawn and the house closed. The subject is not commented upon in my presence. My husband had a peculiar way of reading aloud any notice he saw of “Mark Twain” in Columbus—“Mark Twain” in Pittsburg,—points from which Cleveland has always been very accessible heretofore. I would n’t notice him. It was enough for me to know way down in my inner heart, that the boy I had so doted upon had outgrown me. It did not make the matter any better to “put myself in his place”—for I know that if I had been on a lecture circuit, I would have disappointed my audience, before I would have passed him—or I would have treated them to “Casabianca” or “Hohenlinden”—It is all passed now—I have resumed my regular duties, but there is a little sore spot in my heart, and it throbs whenever any one says “when is Mr. Clemens coming to see you?” I think I shall do with the next questioner, what you did with your book catechizer—kill him! I have n’t seen the book yet—Frank has it & will send it me when he has read it. I hear pleasant things of it from others.

….

You are coming to Elmira in March—that will be a delight to all concerned. If it concerned me I should rejoice too, for I have wished for a sight of Livy’s face—and I have something of a grand Mother’s love for the white-faced baby who calls his nurse Pa. Alas! like Jeptha I have made a vow. I come from a proud clan, and henceforth you must find me within my castle walls. You propose to take me home with you from Elmira[.] What do you take me for? Read Acts 16th—last clause of verse 37th. Paul and I are of one mind.

We have been saying all winter we were going to New-York, but we are loth to leave home.

We shall probably go before warm weather, because then we wish to be at home to our friends.

A bushel of love to Livy & Langdon and for yourself all you choose to come for

Mother

I shall write soon to Livy. None of these hard words are for her [MTPO].

February 29 Thursday – The American Publishing Co. made official announcement for Roughing It, even though copies had been available and the first review had even appeared in the Utica New York Morning Herald and Gazette [MTL 5: 45n4].

The New York Weekly Reformer of Watertown, N.Y. ran a wildly ridiculous spoof account by Eli Perkins (pen name of Melville A. Landon) of Mark Twain’s life: “Interesting Biography of Mark Twain,” which began:

The Rev. Dr. Mark Twain is a Turk. He was born in the interior of Ireland. His father followed the pursuits of patriotic husbandry—he raised string beans. Notwithstanding the tyranny of England, his beans sold readily, and Mark was apprenticed at an early age to a boiler-maker to learn the art of photography. His father, known as Honest Father Twain, says Mark made a great noise in the world while at the boiler business, and he was sent for by Napoleon to accompany him in his campaign up the Mississippi river. Subsequently, young Twain did efficient service in the Crimea under General Scott. During the battle of Inkerman he was lost, causing great grief in his regiment, but they afterward found him behind an empty barrel [eBay item 110424934293 ending Aug. 21, 2009].

Note: In a copy of Landon’s 1872 book, Saratoga in 1901. Fun, Love, Society and Satire, Sam wrote: “Saratoga in 1891/ or, the Droolings of an idiot” [Gribben 394].

Frank Fairbanks wrote from Cleveland, Ohio asking for a photo and autograph: “I am handed a letter to send to your address” [MTP].

March – Sam’s sketch “Roughing It” ran in American Publishing Co.’s in-house promotional monthly, American Publisher [Camfield, bibliog.]. Similar to Roughing It, Ch. 57. [ page 487 ]

March 2? Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Mary Mason Fairbanks responding to her letter of Feb. 28 and asking for her to visit. He also wrote: “We are getting to work, now, packing up, & fixing things with the servants, preparatory to migrating to Elmira”. Livy probably wanted to have the baby in Elmira [MTL 5: 49].

March 3 Sunday – Sam wrote a short note from Hartford to James Redpath, asking for George Fall to send Sam’s bill [MTL 5: 52].

March 4 Monday – The St. Louis Missouri Democrat ran a short item on page two about the newly released RI:

It is not necessary to say one word about this work, as it is already widely known. It is equal to Mark’s Innocents, profusely illustrated and of course no one would think of being without it….[Budd, Reviews 100].

March 7 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Redpath & Fall. Sam remitted less than his bill and haggled over the balance for hiring a train to reach an out-of-the-way lecture. In response to ills plaguing the two men, Sam wrote:

Dear Afflicted: /Fall does the carbuncles, Redpath does the boils—hire me to do an abcess & Nasby a tumor, or a wen, or something picturesque, like a goiter, for instance, & let’s open the Lyceum Course at Music Hall with an exhibition, with appropriate music & a cold lunch. It would be the sensation of the season, if Redpath’s boils are strikingly situated. We could get some surgeon to take the baton & lecture while the panorama moves [MTL 5: 54].

Sam also wrote to Orion, who had accused Elisha Bliss of fraud and cutting corners on the publishing of Roughing It. Orion had grown restless in the job without the independence he felt he should have, and he either was fired or quit. Sam sent Livy’s advice, to forget the whole thing and be grateful he was “free from a humiliating servitude.” Sam would soon question Bliss about Orion’s charges, even though he felt Orion’s attack on Bliss was “indefensible” [MTL 5: 55]. Note: Orion had lasted barely a year on the job secured for him by his brother.

March 12 Tuesday – Sam had a painful meeting with Elisha Bliss. An unsent draft of Mar. 20 shows that Sam was somewhat reassured by the meeting of this day. Sam probably went to a party at the Hartford home of Joseph R. Hawley, editor of the Hartford Courant. Andrew Hoffman claims that Bliss kept two sets of books [195].

March 15 Friday – Bill paid dated Mar. 11 from D.S. Brooks & Sons, Hartford dealer in “hot air furnaces, cooking ranges, stoves and tin ware, low down grates and Marbelized slate mantles”; $18.50 for fireplace grate & pan, fitting [MTP]. Note: A cheery or cozy fire was an important comfort for the Clemens family.

Howells sent Sam his book, Their Wedding Journey (1872) inscribed: “To Mr. Samuel L. Clemens with the regards of W. D. Howells. Cambridge, March 15, 1872” [Gribben 335].

March 18 Monday – Sam wrote to William Dean Howells, thanking him for sending his book, Their Wedding Journey. Sam wrote:

“I would like to send you a copy of my book, but I can’t get a copy myself, yet, because 30,000 people who have bought & paid for it have to have preference over the author” [MTL 5: 58].

Charles Dudley Warner gave RI a glowing review in the Hartford Courant:  [ page 488 ]

The country reasonably and rightfully expects to be amused when Mr. Samuel L. Clemens gives it a new volume. His fun is contagious. He carries his personal manner into his writing, and is our most mirth-provoking story teller. His very deliberation, leisure and particularity, has come to be the known prologue to a hearty laugh. His fun is based on good sense. Behind the mask of the story-teller is the satirist, whose head is always clear, who is not imposed upon by shams, who hates all pretension, and who uses his humor, which is often extravagant, to make pretension and false dignity ridiculous (“Mark Twain’s New Book,” p1) [Budd, Reviews 100].

March 19 Tuesday – “Tuesday’s child is full of grace,” goes the old verse, and on this Tuesday the most graceful of Sam’s children was born at Quarry Farm. Olivia Susan Clemens, known as “Susy,” was named for her grandmother, Olivia Lewis Langdon, and her aunt, Susan Langdon Crane. The baby girl appeared healthy and hearty, unlike Langdon, but was probably also somewhat premature at a tiny five pounds [Powers, MT A Life 318].

Sam wrote to brother Orion:

“Born, in Elmira, N.Y., at 4.25AM March 19, 1872, to the wife of Saml. L. Clemens, of Hartford, Conn., a daughter. Mother & child doing exceedingly well. Five-pounder” [MTL 5: 59].

Sam also sent word to the Fairbankses, who had traveled to New York and were at the St. Nicholas Hotel on Mar. 20. Sam sent out birth announcements for several days, including notes to the Twichells, Goodmans, and actor Frank Mayo (1839-1896). See Mar. 24 entry for Joe Goodman’s response.

March 20 Wednesday – Mary and Abel Fairbanks arrived at the Langdon home in Elmira and stayed several weeks [MTL 5: 60n1].

Sam drafted a seven-page letter to Bliss about their last meeting, but did not send it. He saved the draft and wrote another. The agreement he had with Bliss for a seven and one half percent royalty for Roughing It, a number based on Bliss’ assurance that it was half the profits. Orion’s claims, if true, meant that Bliss was making more than half of the profits. Sam took his case to Charles E. Perkins, his attorney, who told Sam that his case was weak, that the agreement about half the profits was verbal and not part of the written contract. He advised Sam not to press the case and charged Sam $250. In the long run, Sam felt aggrieved [MTL 5: 65].

March 21 Thursday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss about the new book of sketches. Sam felt the Frog story should be left out. Bliss had consistently wanted the story included. Within a few days, Sam agreed to a deal with George Routledge & Sons to reprint his sketches in England. Sketch books would be published in 1874 and 1875 [MTL 5: 69-70].

March 24 Sunday – Joe Goodman wrote from New York City to Sam in Elmira, responding to news of Susy’s birth:

      I have overhauled everything from a cook-book to the Book of Common Prayer to find some befitting form of congratulation for the happy event in your household—but am forced at last to fall back upon my own homely greeting and simple assurance of good-will.

      Lucky mortal!—to have two such prosperous issues in a single year as “Roughing It” and—What do you call It?

…

Frank Farington came in and interrupted me. He sails for Europe Wednesday, and wants to see you very much, but I told him you would scarcely be able to pay a visit to the city at present, I thought [MTP]. [ page 489 ]

March 25 Monday – In a Mar. 28 letter from Susan Crane to Alice Hooker Day, Susan wrote of Livy’s condition on Mar. 25:

Livy had symptoms all day Monday, which increased at bed time, so decidedly, that we sent for Mrs. Gleason, who came & went to bed, as we did, after having made all things ready for the little newcomer. Mr. Clemens remained while Livy, who rested, & slept some, & at 400 A.M. he called Mrs Gleason & the nurse. At 500 the [stranger?] had arrived & things were set to right. Before 800 Mrs Gleason, the Mother & child were all sleeping….the child [Susy] is a bright nice little creature & looks exactly like her Father [ALS from Stowe-Day Library, Hartford].

The Cincinnati Gazette, p.1, ran a favorable review of RI [Budd, Reviews 102].

March 27 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to John Henry Riley outlining amounts Sam would pay for someone to transcribe Riley’s dictation for the South Africa diamond book. Within a few weeks Riley would fall critically ill, and the book idea wasn’t completed [MTL 5: 71].

Abraham Reeves Jackson wrote from Chicago to Sam: “Your welcome favor of the 21st informing me of the advent of that immense girl-child came duly to hand. May her shadow never grow less!” He thanked Clemens for an autographed copy of a book “which I trust will come along soon” [MTP]. Note: likely RI.

March 28 Thursday – See Mar. 25 entry for letter written by Susan Crane this day.

March 31 Sunday – Sam wrote a short note from Elmira to James R. Osgood, a Boston publisher with a list of prestigious authors, and editor of the Atlantic Monthly. Sam declined Osgood’s offer to publish a book of stories, citing his present binding contract with Bliss and “quite a portly volume” of sketches just sent to George Routledge [MTL 5: 72]. The “portly volume” amounted to two volumes: A Curious Dream; and Other Sketches, containing fifteen sketches as yet unprinted in England; and Mark Twain’s Sketches, 66 stories including the fifteen in A Curious Dream. Included were the Routledge 1870 version of Jumping Frog as well as two small collections, Eye Openers and Screamers. Some of these latter stories had been published in England without Sam’s approval. Routledge had a New York agent, Joseph L. Blamire, who facilitated interaction with Sam [MTL 5: 73n4].

W.J. Babcock in Hartford sent a poem written in 1819 by Richard Henry Wilde (1789-1847) [MTP]. Note: Babcock, “Professor of music. Teacher of the Piano Forte, Organ and Singing. And sole Agent for the sale of the Chickering & Co.’s splendid piano Fortes” [MTL 4: 445n2].

April – Sam’s sketch “Horace Greeley’s Ride” (Roughing It, Ch. 20) ran in American Publishing Co.’s in-house promotional monthly, American Publisher [Camfield, bibliog.].

April 1 Monday – Mary Mason Fairbanks wrote from Cleveland about her visit to Elmira, the babies, her desire for Sam to visit for his health [MTL 5: 74-5].

In New York, Bret Harte wrote congratulating Sam on Susy’s birth:

I am glad it’s a girl. If she behaves herself she shall marry my Franky, provided her father does the right thing in the way of dowry and relinquishes humor as a profession. My Franky has early exhibited those talents calculated to render a woman happy, and as a circus rider, car conductor, Negro minstrel or butcher’s boy would attain professional eminence [Duckett 76].

April 2 Tuesday – Joe Twichell replied to the notice of Susy’s birth. [ page 490 ]

Dear Mark, / We were so taken aback by the sudden news of the nativity at Elmira that really we could not find breath for a speedy remark on the subject. And since we put off speech in the first moment, later silence has not signified. You deprived us of a luxury we had much reckoned on by your confounded precipitation. We had supposed that we should have ample scope to wait and wonder, and surmise and hope and expect, but lo, you cut us off from even a single hour of sweet uneasiness for you, by your desperate earliness. The little maid ought to be called “Festina”—the hasty or hastening one. Well, God grant she may keep well ahead of all the worlds worst troubles as long as she lives.

We greet and salute and bless her. And to her dear mother we send our best love. Now that we have had Livy among us, we find her absence irksome, and want her back. Indeed, about the first thing we thought of when your bulletin announced the birth was that now you would return sooner than you had been proposing. Is it so?

By the way, Mark, you are not going to be in New York in the next few days, are you? For, you see, I am going down Saturday to stay till the following Wednesday—and going alone. So that we could get at least one regular old classic and attic night together in case we were there together. Again, our love to Livy.

Yours as ever

J. H. Twichell

Regards to T.K.B. [Beecher]

P.S. A telegram just received upsets my plan of going to New York as within described. I shall not be there till Tuesday [MTPO].

April 6 Saturday – The London Examiner under “Life in the Western States” ran a review that declared:

Roughing It is, in some respects, superior to The Innocents at Home. It is more consecutive and less fragmentary, but both are equally racy and entertaining [Budd, Reviews 103]. See Feb. 1872 entry

April 8 Monday – Bill paid to W.B. Willard, flour & grain dealer, $6.55 [MTP].

April 11 Thursday – Sam left for New York, probably with Charles Langdon, who sailed for England on Apr. 13. Twichell had planned to be in New York on Apr. 9, so it’s possible Sam went earlier and met him there [MTL 5: 75].

April 12 Friday – Sam was at the Astor House in New York [MTL 5: 75].

April 13 Saturday – Sam saw Charles Langdon off at the pier [MTL 5: 75].

April 13–18 Thursday – Sam may have gone to Hartford and conferred with his attorney, Charles Perkins, about his royalty conflict with Elisha Bliss. A lawsuit was dropped. Sam was again at the Astor House on Apr. 16. that day (see Apr. 18 entry) [MTL 5: 75].

April 15 Monday – Bill from Arnold, Constable & Co., New York marked paid for one hat $4 [MTP].

Frank Bliss, American Publishing Co. issued a royalties statement for the period from Aug. 1, 1871 to Apr. 1, 1872 for IA, totaling $1,220.22, with charges against earnings, including Nov. 14, 1871 payment of $20 to Orion, and books sent to Jane Clemens, and others during the period [MTP].

April 18 Thursday – Bill dated Apr. 8 marked paid from Arnold, Constable & Co., New York importers silks, linens for two cloaks, $12 each [MTP]. This paid bill shows Sam must have made the ten-hour trip by train back to Elmira this day.

Miss Mathilde Victor wrote from Lansing, Mich., enclosing a letter from David Ross Locke (Petroleum Nasby)  to Victor. Locke was part owner of the Toledo Daily Blade. Miss Victor was secretary of the Michigan Woman Suffrage Association. In part:  [ page 491 ]

Sir, / In pursuance of our design to bring the Woman Suff. question favorably, before the people of Mich., during the present year, we wish to obtain a Play for public representations. I wrote to Mr Locke in reference & enclose his reply. Can you meet our wishes? We will of course, pay any reasonable amt., you may think due such service. Permit me to suggest certain characters as likely to draw if well acted. Our object is to make money for the state organization purposes, &, at the same time, to present the question to the people in a popular form. Give us a good play Mr Clemens, & we will not let your reputation suffer by the manner in which we will deal with it. We intend to present it in all towns large & small throughout the state. If you cannot serve us in this matter will you suggest some one who can & will? [MTPO].

April 19 Friday – Sam wrote a short note from Elmira to Frank Bliss, asking him to send William C. Smythe, city editor of the Pittsburgh Dispatch, a copy of RI [MTL 5: 76].

April 20 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to James Redpath about an article James had sent and to send him a blurb to advertise Roughing It [MTL 5: 77].

April 22 Monday – In Elmira, Sam wrote to Charles Dudley Warner & Susan Warner.

The new baby flourishes, & groweth strong & comely apace. She keeps one cow “humping herself” to supply the bread of life for her—& Livy is relieved from duty. Langdon has no appetite, but is brisk & strong. His teeth don’t come—& neither does his language. Livy drives out a little, sews a little, walks a little—is getting along pretty satisfactorily [MTL 5: 79].

Bill paid to W.K. Holt for hay delivered $23.18 [MTP].

April 24 Wednesday – James Redpath wrote to Sam

Dear Mark: / Your order for Sibley just rec’d & delivered to him. He will attend to it promptly. / I started your item. I hear golden previews of the book. Nasby was here yesterday, & had read it, & praised it warmly. The Agent here says he is “1000 behind orders” “every day” & that all his canvassers are growling because they can’t get it. So, I have seen no copy yet.” On the bottom of the letter, Twain wrote to Bliss the note in the next entry [MTP].

April 25 Thursday – In Elmira, Sam wrote to Frank Bliss directing a ½ morocco copy of IA be sent to James Redpath [MTP, drop-in letters, corrects date range citation MTL 5: 82].

May – The Cape Monthly Magazine, Cape Town, South Africa, edited by Prof. Roderick Noble, ran a section (p. 295-360) reviewing IA and quoting many passages from the recently released book [Google books for Cape Monthly Magazine, July 2009; not in Tenney].

May 1 Wednesday – American Publishing Co. issued a royalties statement for the period from Aug. 1, 1871 to Apr. 1, 1872 for RI, enclosing total $10,562.12 and signed by Frank Bliss, who thought it a “splendid showing.” Elisha Bliss was still sick [MTP].

May 8 Wednesday – Routledge & Sons received 10,000 copies of A Curious Dream from their printers [MTL 5: 73n4].

Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles E. Perkins, his attorney, stating his receipt from Bliss of a check for $10,562.13 for the first three months royalties of Roughing It. Sam wanted Perkins to notify Bliss of the protest that the seven and a half percent royalty did not approximate half of Bliss’ profits. Sam had asked Perkins to prepare a lawsuit against Bliss [MTL 5: 83-4]. [ page 492 ]

Sam, Livy, and Sam’s mother, Jane Lampton Clemens, left for Cleveland. The children stayed in Elmira under the care of a nursemaid and servants. The trip was about 330 miles made in ten hours by train, by the New York & Erie railroad to Dunkirk, New York and the Lake Shore Railway to Cleveland [MTL 5: 85n1].

May 9 Thursday – Sam wrote from Cleveland to his baby daughter Susy.

We are enjoying our stay here to an extent not expressible save in words of syllables beyond your strength. Part of our enjoyment is derived from sleeping tranquilly right along, & never listening to see if you have got the snuffles afresh or the grand duke up stairs has wakened & wants a wet rag. And yet no doubt you, both of you, prospered just as well all night long as if you had had your father & mother’s usual anxious supervision. Many’s the night I’ve lain awake till 2 oclock in the morning reading Dumas & drinking beer, listening for the slightest sound you might make, my daughter, & suffering only as a father can suffer, with anxiety for his child. Some day you will thank me for this…. My child, be virtuous & you will be happy [MTL 5: 85].

Sam was quoting Benjamin Franklin in this last line, but would restate it as “Be virtuous and you will be eccentric,” then finally, “Be virtuous and you will be lonesome,” which became “Be good and you’ll be lonesome.”

May 9-14 Tuesday– While in Cleveland, Sam signed the visitor’s register for the Cleveland Club. No date is put to his entry [www.liveauctioneers.com/item/1279827; Oct. 15, 2005 auction].

May 10 Friday – Routledge & Sons received 6,000 copies of Mark Twain’s Sketches from their printers [MTL 5: 73n4].

May 13 Monday – In Cleveland, Clemens wrote to John Henry Riley, letter not extant but referred to in Riley’s May 16 reply.

May 14 Tuesday – The Clemens family returned to Elmira [MTL 5: 86].

May 15 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Orion and Mollie Clemens.

“The new baby is as fat as butter, & wholly free from infelicities of any kind. She weighed 4 ¼ pounds at birth—weighs about 9 now.”

Orion and Mollie had been staying in Sam’s Hartford house. Sam directed the discharge of one of the servants, sent petty cash for house expenses, and told Orion to ask Charles Perkins, Sam’s attorney, if any of Orion’s points about the Bliss lawsuit were needed [MTL 5: 87].

Sam also wrote to thank James Redpath for promoting Roughing It to the Boston press [MTL 5: 90].

Sam then wrote to Elisha Bliss, asking him to send another half-morocco copy to Redpath for him to forward to Ellen Louise Chandler Moulton (1835-1908), Boston literary correspondent of the New York Tribune. Sam also sent bad news:

“I enclose Riley’s letter. The simple fact is, that the cancer has fast hold of his vitals & he can live but a little while. Nine physicians have tried their hands on him, but the cancer has beaten the lot. I shall go down & see him day after tomorrow” [MTL 5: 91]. Note: Sam was unable to make the trip to Philadelphia. The diamond book was never written.

May 16 Thursday – John Henry Riley wrote to Sam: “Yours of Cleveland 13th inst. is recd today. I have managed to pass over my birthday (15th inst.) which is usually a turning point in my affairs. I am now taking electro [ page 493 ]-galvanic application with the view of arresting the progress of the disease and Dr. Grier expressed himself satisfied with the result of the first application” [MTP].

May 17 Friday – Livy and Sam wrote from Elmira to niece Annie E. Moffett. Livy sent some silk material for Annie to use and Sam denied newspaper reports that he’d made a fortune off his two books and lectures. “So you see we are not nearly so rich as the papers think we are” [MTL 5: 92].

Orion Clemens wrote a long reply to Sam’s May 15 about a possible lawsuit against Elisha Bliss.

“I don’t know how to approach Perkins. I didn’t know you had commenced a law suit. My plan did not contemplate a law suit by you. I suppose it is a suit for damages. I did not think there was any chance for enough to be made that way to justify such a proceeding.” Orion also suggested that Sam set him up with a law office with a salary of $100 a month; perhaps Perkins might make him a partner [MTP].

 

May 18 Saturday – Screamers, a small collection of Mark Twain’s stories published without Sam’s full approval, was reviewed in the London Spectator. Welland writes and quotes from the review: 

Screamers was reviewed belatedly and with some asperity in the Spectator on 18 May 1872. The anonymous reviewer saw the humour as less subtle than that of ‘Bret Harte and Colonel John Hay and Artemus Ward’ and lacking their ‘political and social ‘irony’; nevertheless, recognizing that Mark Twain might have an especial appeal ‘in countries where the politics, manners, customs, and tone of thought of Americans are comparatively little known’, he attempted a critical assessment:

The secret of his fun lies in the assumed childlike credulity with which he accepts the premises offered, and the real ability and assumed simplicity with which he follows them up to their logical but utterly absurd conclusions.

Yet, thought containing ‘a fair amount of excellent nonsense’, the book seemed to him ‘rather a hotch-potch, and of very unequal merit’; he found some ‘amusing, though rather pointless satire’, some pieces ‘of a very vulgar type’ and ‘one or two….such extravagant rubbish that they incline one to throw the book to the other end of the room’ [Welland 18-19].

May 20 Monday – Sam wrote “a hasty note” from Elmira to Mollie Clemens to hire a cook who had been referred, to put a cot in Sam’s study and that they would start home “about Thursday or Friday noon. Will telegraph” [MTL 5: 93].

May 21 Tuesday – Bill paid to Horace C. Deming, flour & grain dealer, for $11.40 [MTP].

May 22 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Orion and Mollie, about being delayed by having only one nurse and needing a few days to secure another [MTL 5: 94].

May 22–29 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira during this period to William Dean Howells, thanking him for the “satisfactory notice of ‘Roughing It’” in the Atlantic. Here is where Sam made his famous remark:

“I am as uplifted & reassured by it as a mother who has given birth to a white baby when she was awfully afraid it was going to be a mulatto” [MTL 5: 95].

May 26 Sunday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss, asking that half-morocco copies of Roughing It be sent to William H. Clagett, one of Sam’s Nevada mining buddies, and Thomas Nast, artist and illustrator [MTL 5: 96].  [ page 494 ]

Susan Crane noted in her journal that ten-week-old Susy was baptized.

Bill paid to Flower & Hills, grocers $17.40 [MTP].

May 27 Monday – Sam’s sketch, “A Nevada Funeral,” an extract from chapter 47 of Roughing It, appeared in The Salt Lake City Tribune. The article included an engraved portrait of Sam, who sent a copy to William Dean Howells [MTL 5: 106n5].

Susan Crane recalled that the day after Susy’s baptism, Langdon grew feebler [Powers, MT A Life 319].

May 28 Tuesday – Sam, Livy, Langdon, and baby Susy left Elmira bound for Hartford, accompanied by at least one nursemaid and Theodore Crane. They arrived in New York City and stayed one night at the St. Nicholas Hotel. During the trip, the cough that Langdon had developed worsened [MTL 5: 97].

May 29 Wednesday – Sam, Livy and babies arrived home in Hartford. Sam had telegraphed ahead for Dr. Cincinnatus A. Taft (1822-1884) to be at the house for Langdon [MTL 5: 97].

June – William Dean Howells published a glowing review of Roughing It for the June issue of the Atlantic.

Probably an encyclopedia could not be constructed from the book; the work of a human being, it is not unbrokenly nor infallibly funny; nor is it to be always praised for all the literary virtues; but it is singularly entertaining, and its humor is always amiable, manly, and generous.

Sam’s sketch “Mark Twain on the Mormons” (Roughing It, Ch. 15) ran in American Publishing Co.’s in-house promotional monthly, American Publisher [Camfield, bibliog.].

June 1 Saturday – Langdon Clemens, age 19 months, was diagnosed with diphtheria [MTL 5: 98].

June 2 Sunday – Langdon Clemens, Sam’s only son, died in his mother’s arms [MTL 5: 98; Kaplan 150]. Sam blamed himself for not noticing the baby had been uncovered in an April carriage ride. Sam always blamed himself in some way for deaths that visited the family. He kept the carriage ride to himself until his autobiographical dictation in 1906.

June 3 Monday – The Cranes arrived in Hartford at noon to take the body of Langdon back to be buried in the Langdon plot in Elmira. Livy was in no shape to travel, and could not leave Susy. Sam could not leave Livy, so they stayed in Hartford [MTL 5: 100].

G.W. Woolley & Son, manufacturers of burial caskets and coffins, 175 Main St., Hartford, supplied a covered casket, satin-lined for $50 [MTP].

A bill paid to M. Kenny, Hartford carriage manufacturer, for repairs to carriage $61.75 [MTP].

June 4 Tuesday – After a “short simple service” in Hartford, Susan and Theodore Crane, left Hartford at 8 PM, taking the body of Langdon to Elmira [MTL 5: 100].

Bill dated May 14 paid to D.S. Brooks & Sons, Hartford for a grate, $1.25 [MTP].

June 5 Wednesday – The Cranes arrived in Elmira while it was still daylight. As the sun set, Langdon Clemens was buried in the Langdon plot, Woodlawn Cemetery, close to his grandfather Jervis [ page 495 ] Langdon [MTL 5: 100]. A death mask of the child was made, which Livy placed in her keepsake box. Sam later had a bust made from the mask.

June 10 Monday – Bill paid to Horace C. Deming, flour & grain dealer, for two bales hay, 100 lbs meal, six buckets oats $11.15 [MTP].

June 11 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Adolph H. Sutro, a mutual friend of John Henry Riley’s. Sam had heard from Sutro about Riley’s failing health, but due to Langdon’s death and Livy’s condition, Sam had mot been able to get away. Sutro had sent Riley $100 and visited him. Since Sam could not visit, he also sent $100 [MTL 5: 101].

June 13 Thursday – Bret Harte traveled to Hartford and spent the night with the Clemenses. In 1907 Sam claimed that Harte was broke, borrowed $500 and “employed the rest of his visit in delivering himself of sparkling sarcasms about our house, our furniture, and the rest of our domestic arrangements” [MTL 5: 105n2].

Elisabeth (Lilly) Gillette Warner (1838-1915) (Mrs. George H. Warner) wrote her husband that Sam had just dropped by on his way from the carriage shed and told her he was on the way to the train station to pick up Harte at a quarter of five. “I hope I shall get a sight of him,” Mrs. Warner wrote [Duckett 77]. Note: Harte’s arrival in Hartford was a big occasion.

June 15 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to William Dean Howells. Sam enclosed a newspaper portrait of himself and begged for a portrait of Howells that appeared in Hearth & Home. He added that 62,000 copies of Roughing It had been sold and delivered in four months [MTL 5: 102-3].

June 17 Monday – Bret Harte wrote from NYC to thank Sam for his concern. He added: “I liked Slote greatly. He is very sweet, sensible and sincere. I think he is truly ‘white’ as you say, or quite ‘candid’ as Mr Lowell would say in his Latin-English. / I enclose your diamond stud, wh. I wore in the cars. …Let me hear from you about Bliss. Tell Mrs. Clemens I deputize you to kiss the baby for me…” [MTP].

June 18 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Louise Chandler Moulton. Sam thanked the Boston correspondent for the New York Tribune, for her kind review of Roughing It and her sympathies for his “irreparable loss” [MTL 5: 108].

June 21 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Joseph L. Blamire, NY agent for George Routledge & Sons publishers. Sam made 400 revisions to a copy of Innocents Abroad, in attempt to make the book more palatable to English tastes. He wrote that he expected to be in New York the next Wednesday, staying with Dan Slote. Blamire had suggested that Sam write prefaces to books for English publication [MTL 5: 109].

June 22 Saturday – Sam signed a new contract with Elisha Bliss, superceding his 1870 contract which called for the African diamond mine book. The new contract gave Sam his ten percent royalty, thus solving the problem he’d had with Roughing It. The contract was not fulfilled until 1879, when Sam and Bliss agreed that The Adventures of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) would be used to satisfy the contract [MTL 5: 101-2].

June 23 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Joseph L. Blamire, enclosing the preface for Innocents Abroad, which Routledge would publish in two volumes [MTL 5: 110].

June 24 Monday – Sam receipted $5,000 advance from Elisha Bliss for copyright on Roughing It [MTP]. [ page 496 ]

June 26 Wednesday – Date of letter to Sam from J. Langdon & Co. with statement of Livy’s account and enclosed check for $1,018.18 [MTP].

 

June 27 Thursday – John Henry Riley wrote from Phila. to Sam: “Friend Clemens / My dear fellow, Are you going to make an effort to come and see me?…I may hold on for a month or so, (who knows?) and I may go off any night.” He was dying of cancer [MTP].

June 30 Sunday – Sam arrived in New York and stayed at the St. Nicholas Hotel. He may have gone to Boston during this week to attend the Boston World’s Peace Jubilee and International Music Festival. James R. Osgood & Co. was a major underwriter of the Jubilee. Sam mentioned the Jubilee in one of his letters to the New York Herald in June 1873 [MTL 5: 112].

July – Sam’s sketch “Mark Twain at the Grave of Adam” (Innocents Abroad, Ch. 53) ran in American Publishing Co.’s in-house promotional monthly, American Publisher [Camfield, bibliog.].

July 1 Monday – Bill paid to The Farmington Creamery Co., $10.80, for purchases/deliveries made June 11, 14, 21, 28. Also, bill paid to Drs. Taft & Starr for professional services for period Jan. 1, ’72 to July 1, ’72. $67.82 paid to E.D. Roberts for one “No. 4 Extension Top ‘Peerless’” and parts [MTP].

 

July 2 Tuesday – Bill paid for James Ahern, Practical Plumber and Gas Fitter, 272 Main St. Hartford for work done Apr. 12, May 18, 21, 29, and June 13; total 17 man hours work, $15.76.

 

Sam send an engraved card in script font to an unknown man:

 

Dear Sir:

     I thank you for the compliment of

 the invitation, but am compelled

 to decline, since my lecture has permanently closed.

Yours truly,

Sam’l L. Clemens

   (Mark Twain)

 

At the bottom of the card he wrote: “P.S. I was away from home when your first letter came. / SL Clemens.” [eBay Oct. 22, 2010 by seller signaturesintime2, item 310263974…]. Note: the fact that Clemens had such cards printed shows he had many invitations to lecture.

 

July 3 Wednesday – Bill paid to McNary & Co., chemists and druggists Hartford 246 Main St. for “3 doz Scotch ale $9” [MTP].

July 4 Thursday – During Sam’s last day in New York, over an inch of rain fell [NOAA.Gov].

July 5 Friday – Sam was back home in Hartford by this date and packing up to leave Hartford’s summer heat for the Connecticut shore [MTL 5: 112]. Sam probably wrote Bret Harte before leaving Hartford, inviting him to New Saybrook, because Harte wrote back on July 6 [MTL 5: 118].

Bill paid to The Farmington Creamery Co., $8.80, for milk & cream deliveries made for July 5, 19, 26, [MTP].

July 6 Saturday – Sam, Livy, and baby Susy with nursemaid Nellie left Orion and Mollie in charge of the Forest Street house and left to Fenwick Hall Hotel at Saybrook Point, Saybrook, Conn. It was a two-hour train ride from Hartford. Fenwick Hall was completed in 1871 and offered a variety of [ page 497 ] entertainment, including billiards and bowling. Sam imitated Charles Dickens characters at the nightly hotel socials [Powers, MT A Life 321]. Livy loved the place except for “too many Hartford people.”

Sam may have begun The Adventures of Tom Sawyer while at Saybrook [MTL 5: 112-14].

Sam also wrote to Joseph L. Blamire of Routledge & Sons on the matter of Innocents Abroad being published in England [MTL 5: 116n1].

Bret Harte wrote.

My dear Clemens, / I don’t know what to say about going to Saybrook. The baby has been dangerously sick, and we shall not be able to leave here until she is better…until Mrs Harte finds the wet-nurse, who, the Dr. says is essential…I have spent much of my holiday season running to the Doctor’s…(distant about 3 miles) and going to the city wet-nurse hunting… [MTP].

July 8 Monday – Pamela Moffett wrote from Fredonia to Sam: “My dear Brother. / Sammy succeeded in getting only three subscribers before he left home. It seems the Dunkirk agent did canvass this village but not very thoroughly, so there is still a chance for Sammy” [MTP]. Note: See July 9-12 entry.

July 9 Tuesday – Joseph L. Blamire agent for Routledge & Sons wrote to Sam:

Your favor of 6th is duly at hand. In reply I have to say that I received all right the copy of “Innocents Abroad” and sent it promptly to London; (I have no doubt but a part of it will be already in type by the time you receive this letter, as the steamer by which I sent it arrived at Queenstown on the evening of the 7th inst.) and I now have the pleasure of enclosing you our cheque for Two Hundred and Fifty Dollars in payment, which I think you will find correct [MTPO]. Note: see Welland, p. 33.

July 9–12 Friday – Sam wrote from New Saybrook to Francis E. Bliss. Sam had received a letter from his sister Pamela Moffett and an order for his eleven-year-old nephew Sammy, who had been selling subscriptions to Roughing It. He passed on the note to Bliss [MTL 5: 114-5].

July 10 Wednesday – Sam wrote from New Saybrook to Joseph L. Blamire of Routledge & Sons, who had sent a receipt and disclaimer for Sam to sign along with $250. Blamire had asked for an additional preface (see MTL 5: 117n1 for Blamire’s letter).

“Am spending the summer at this quiet watering place, & am not feeling a bit industrious; but I like your suggestion so much that I mean to write the other preface at the very earliest feasible moment…” [MTL 5: 116-7].

Bill paid: Thomas Miller, Hosier, glover and shirt maker $22.75, ½ doz. shirts made to order [MTP].

July 11 Thursday – Sam wrote from New Saybrook to Frank Bliss. Sam asked if Elisha Bliss was at home and if he ever came down to Saybrook. Sam had heard from Bret Harte, who he’d invited to Saybrook. He had been trying to get Bliss and Harte together since June for a new book from Harte. Harte wrote on July 6: he had a “dangerously sick” baby and was unable to leave [MTL 5: 118].

July 12 Friday – Sam wrote from New Saybrook to Colt’s Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company, inquiring about the cost of a Gatling gun, possibly for John Henry Riley [MTL 5: 118].

James Redpath wrote to Sam. [ page 498 ]

Dear Mark: / About biz first: Will you? or Wont you? Lecture committees are getting importunate about you. We have $7000 or $8000 of engagements recorded for you—“if he lectures.” And this is only July 12! Here is a list of cities applying as entered: Baltimore, Ithaca, Brooklyn, Elmira, Toledo, Bay City, Elizabeth, Jacksonville, Brooklyn, Minneapolis, New burg, Watertown, Rockford, Monmouth, Brooklyn, Baltimore, Titusville, Cambridgeport, St Pauls, Lawrence (Kansas) Waterloo (Ia) Palmyra, Natick, Monmouth, Lancaster (Pa) Evansville, Pittsburg, New Bedford, Cairo, Middle-town, Lewiston, Phila, St Louis, St Paul, Poughkeepsie, Brooklyn, New York City, Jersey City, Stamford, Buffalo, Brooklyn again, Brockport, Sing Sing, Cincinnatti, Jersey City again, Plainfield, Toledo, Athol Depot, Boston. This is a heavy list for so early in the season. Wherever the same town is repeated the 2dor 3d application came from different parties.

As soon as we can say that you will lecture the list can be extended & dates fixed. What say? We want to announce yr subject as well as the fact that you will lecture.

When will you decide?

Is there anything particularly disagreeable that you wd like said about you in the N. Y. Independent? I rushed off an article called “The Americans who Laugh” & made the first on Nasby as his publisher here importuned me. It is just published & I want to go for you next.

I have been so thoroughly played out with heat & things that I believe I did not write to say that I was perfectly delighted with your “Roughing It.”—But, there, if I go on you won’t care about reading my article & if I have stood 400 of your pages there is no reason why you shdn’t stand a column from me.

Yours in a parboiled “state of nature,” … [MTPO]. Note: Clemens replied on July 18.

July 13 Saturday – Thomas A. Kennett of Noyes & Kennett bankers & brokers, NYC, wrote to advise Sam “The next payment is due August 7th as follows: Principal $2500 / 1 yr 7% on $5000  350/” totaling $2,850 [MTP]. Note: this bill on the purchase of the Buffalo Express.

July 15 Monday – A translation into French of The Jumping Frog, along with discussions of IA and RI, by Therese Bentzon ran in the French publication, Revue des Deux Mondes [Tenney 4].

July 16 Tuesday – Thomas P. “Pet” McMurry boyhood pal of Sam wrote from Colony, Mo.

Dear Sam: / You may call this a piece of presumption—but I can’t help that—so few, so very few, of my boyhood acquaintances have become Literary Lights in the world, that I must not fail to keep up some kind of intercourse with those who have made their mark—“the cat you know, may smile at the King”—that is to say, I mean to keep up an intercourse, if I kin. If your memory extends so far back, you will recollect that when a boy, a little sandy-headed, curly-headed boy, nearly a quarter of a century ago, in the old Printing office at Hannibal, Mo, over the Brittingham Drug-Store, mounted upon a little box at the case, pulling away at a huge Cigar, or a diminutive pipe, you used to love to sing so well, the poor drunken man’s expression, who was supposed to have fallen in the rut by the wayside: “If ever I git up agin, I’ll stay up,—if I kin!” So with myself, I’ll keep up my acquaintance with so distinguished a personage, if I can.

Permit me to congratulate you upon the unprecedented success which has attended your efforts in the Literary world. It always affords me a great deal of pleasure to read your productions—consider them the natural offspring of that brain that was always so chuck-full of fun and mischief when a boy.

Do you recollect any of the many serious conflicts that mirth-loving brain of yours used to get you into with that diminutive creature, (as compared to your own gigantic proportions) Wales McCormick—how you used to call upon me to hold your Cigar, or Pipe, as the case might be, whilst you went entirely through him? He “still lives,” and is a resident of the City of Quincy, Ills. but like myself, has never made a great deal of noise in the World.

What has become of your mother & your brothers, Orion & Henry? Have never seen or heard of them since they left Muscatine, Iowa.

Have been here since the Spring of 1860. Have been in the mercantile business ever since 1854. Quit the printing business in 1853, at Louisville, Kentucky. Am the happy father of 5 children—4 girls and one boy—the boy is a great book-worm, and a fond admirer of yours—never fails to read all the productions from your pen that his eye catches. If he should get hold of “Roughing It,” he would at once be of the same turn of mind that the Southern people were in ’61, “want to be let alone” until he devoured it. [ page 499 ]

Will not weary your patience farther at this time. As you are convenient to the Artist, enclose your Photograph, when you write, & let us see how you look since you have growed up to be a man. Will take pleasure in giving it a conspicuous place in our Picture gallery.

Your old friend, / T. “Pet” McMurry

P.S. Don’t get vain of your reputation. Your reputation don’t extend to every nook and corner yet. Wanted to show off a little this morning while penning this, and remarked to a lady acquaintance of some intelligence who stepped into the store, that I was engaged in the dignified task of writing a letter to that distinguished character, “Mark Twain.” “Who is Mark Twain?” was the reply. Had she been a man, should have taken her to be of that class who still persist in voting for Gen. Jackson. So you see there is a great work for you to do yet, before your name is a universal household word, particularly in the rural districts.

Yours, / “Pet.” / [MTPO]. Note: any reply has been lost, though on May 6, 1873 Sam ordered IA be sent.

July 16 or 17 Wednesday – Sam wrote from New Saybrook to Joseph L. Blamire, sending the preface for the English version for the second volume (two volumes were printed for the English publication) of Innocents Abroad [MTL 5: 119].

July 17 Wednesday – Bills paid: to W.B. Willard, flour & grain dealer, $5.20; to M. Barrett 157.13 for white organdy dress, silk, ribbon, linings & sundries & packing box [MTP].

July 18 Thursday – Sam wrote from New Saybrook to James Redpath, replying to his letter of July 12. Sam had decided not to lecture for the season, and wanted to spend the fall and winter “either in England or in Florida & Cuba” [MTL 5: 121]. Note: source speculates the desire to go to Cuba: “may have been roused by Whitelaw Reid and Bret Harte, who had been guests on a cruise to the island in January.”

Bill paid to W.K. Holt for 1 bbl. flour, Haxall, $16 [MTP].

July 19 Friday – Charles Dudley Warner wrote from Hartford to Sam

“Dear Clemens / Thank you for that jolly drive on Horace. Its first chop and will be printed tomorrow Was thinking myself the other day that that an interesting resume might be made of the news told Livingstone. But I didn’t know facts enough. What a mind you have for history” He sent regards to the family [MTP]. Note: Sam’s “The Secret of Dr. Livingstone’s Continued Voluntary Exile” appeared anonymously in the Hartford Courant on 20 July 1872 p.2.

July 20 Saturday – Sam wrote a short note from New Saybrook to Elisha Bliss, saying he’d been looking for Harte and would let Bliss know when he arrived. Sam also asked about Henry C. Lockwood of Baltimore, and the elastic strap patent [MTL 5: 124].

Sam’s anonymous humorous sketch, “The Secret of Dr. Livingstone’s Continued Voluntary Exile,” was published in the Hartford Courant [Camfield, bibliog.; also in Budd’s Collected, etc. 1852-1890]. In the story, Livingstone is updated with the news of the past five years, and upon learning that Horace Greeley won the Democratic Party’s nomination to run against Grant, Livingstone chose to stay in Africa [MTL 5: 249-50n4].

July 20 or 21 Sunday – Sam and Livy wrote from New Saybrook to Mollie Clemens with a laundry list of things they needed there, from condensed baby milk to bathing suits [MTL 5: 125].

July 20–23 Tuesday – Sam wrote from New Saybrook to Mollie. A prowler had been operating in Nook Farm and Sam advised Mollie & Orion how to deal with the problem. Sam ordered a bell with a wire to bedroom windows be installed. The man was finally arrested Aug. 4 [MTL 5: 127].  [ page 500 ]

July 21 Sunday – Sam wrote from New Saybrook to Joseph L. Blamire of Routledge & Sons, sending revised preface. Blamire had encouraged Sam to travel to England, especially in the summer [MTL 5: 128].

July 22 Monday – Bill paid: Moore, Weeks & Co., Hartford for cases condensed milk $12.50 [MTP].

Joseph Graef sculptor, wrote from NYC to Sam after hearing through Slote that Clemens was contemplating having a marble bust of a child made [MTP].

John Henry Riley wrote to Sam having rec’d Sam’s July 19. After talk of the weather he confessed his condition had “not much changed.” He was “induced by a homeopathic doctor who was going to cure me right off. I tried his treatment 36 hours and then gave him notice to get. I can’t stand any more nonsence in the way of experiments…” [MTP].

July 22 or 23 Tuesday – Sam wrote to Mollie Clemens asking for a few of his photographs [MTL 5: 131].

July 23 Tuesday – Anna E. Dickinson wrote to Sam for publishing help and advice with Elisha Bliss. She wouldn’t do the book for less than $10,000 guarantee at the royalty of 7 & ½ % [MTP].

 

July 24 Wednesday – Bill paid to Lowell & Bright Engravers & Stationers 228 Washington St., Boston for custom stationery $47.50 [MTP].

 

Henry H. Clements wrote from Jersey City NJ to thank Sam “for the expression of interest manifested in our note just received.” Henry was digging into the family tree to find a common ancestor with Twain [MTP].

 

July 24 or 25 Thursday – Sam wrote from New Saybrook again to Mollie Clemens about laundry [MTL 5: 132].

July 25 Thursday – Bill dated June 3 was paid to G.W. Woolley & Son, mfrs. of burial caskets and coffins, 175 Main St., Hartford, for supplying a covered casket, satin-lined for $50 for Langdon [MTP].

In Morristown, New Jersey, Bret Harte wrote to Sam shortly after the birth of Harte’s first daughter, Jessamy Harte. Like Sam, Harte found it difficult to write in a house with a crying baby.

“Could not you and I find some quiet rural retreat this summer where we could establish ourselves (after your Elmira or Buffalo fashion) in some empty farm house a mile or two from our families, and do or work with precious intervals, of smoking, coming home to dinner at abt. 3 P.M? Think of it” [Duckett 81; MTPO]. Note: Harte thanked Clemens for two letters here, which are lost.

July 25–27? Saturday – Sam wrote from New Saybrook again to Mollie Clemens, this time about monogrammed paper from a Boston stationer he had designed and ordered. The paper, two types, arrived at the Hartford house on July 24. Sam used both types of paper from Aug. through Dec. 1872 and sometimes in early 1873 [MTL 5: 132-3].

July 26 Friday – Joseph L. Blamire for Routledge & Sons wrote to Sam: “In your letter of 21st inst. you say you propose to spend your ‘Winter either in the rural part of England or in Cuba & Florida.” He hoped Sam would choose the former [MTP].

July 27 Saturday – Henry H. Clements wrote again from Jersey City, NJ to advise more of the genealogical records he had found [MTP]. [ page 501 ]

July 28 Sunday – Sam wrote from New Saybrook to Elisha Bliss. Sam planned to be in Hartford “about Aug. 1t. Will copyright returns be ready?” He continued to try to bring Harte together with Bliss, asking about rooms for Harte and family in Mt. Holyoke [MTL 5: 133]. Note: Bliss replied July 31.

July 29 Monday – A.S. Hale for Virtue & Yorston, NYC publishers & booksellers wrote to ask for a writing sample to be put in a collection with others [MTP].

July 30 Tuesday – Sam wrote a short note from New Saybrook to Mollie concerning arrival of goods needed. “All flourishing,” he wrote [MTL 5: 136].

Bill of July 29 paid to Flower & Hills, grocers $7.05 [MTP].

July 31 Wednesday – Elisha Bliss replied to the July 28 from Clemens.

Friend Clemens, / Yours at hand.

Will make up copyright a/c right away. Will take two or three days to get books posted up—then all ready, dont come for that time—How about Harte’s book. Can you give me any light on the subject? Has he been at Saybrook? He wrote me, that after hearing from you I should probably hear from him, but no word yet. Am a little anxious to know, so as to shape my course for operations

Will write at once to Holyoke Mt for prospect for rooms & report at once Let me have a line from you if possible at once about the Book [MTPO].

Sam wrote from New Saybrook to Joseph L. Blamire of Routledge & Sons, letter not extant but referred to in Blamire’s of Aug. 6.

August 2 Friday – Sam wrote another short note from New Saybrook to Mollie, again about household needs [MTL 5: 137].

Sam wrote from New Saybrook to Joseph L. Blamire of Routledge & Sons, letter not extant but referred to in Blamire’s of Aug. 6.

Orion Clemens wrote Sam a longish letter from Hartford all about a peeping Tom in the neighborhood [MTP]. Note: the peeper was arrested Aug. 4.

August 5 Monday – Sam telegraphed from Saybrook Point, Conn. to Mollie Clemens for her to send a carriage to the Hartford depot “about 10 this morning.” The reason for Sam’s trip back to Hartford is unknown [MTL 5: 137-8]. Sam probably returned to New Saybrook (Saybrook) the same day.

American Publishing Co. issued Sam a statement on royalties for IA and RI balance of $8,485.17, five thousand already paid [MTP].

August 6 Tuesday – Sam wrote from New Saybrook to Charles M. Underhill (1839-1924), a general salesman for an affiliate of the J. Langdon & Co. Theodore Crane had informed Sam that his annual payment to Thomas A. Kennett was due with interest (Sam still owed $5,000 of the initial $25,000 for the one-third interest in the Buffalo Express). Sam enclosed a check for $2,000 and wrote that Crane would draft $815 from Elmira [MTL 5: 138].

Bills paid Flower & Hills, Hartford grocers $7.87; to E.C.C. Kellogg & Co. for furnishing material $22.65 [MTP]. [ page 502 ]

Joseph L. Blamire for Routledge & Sons wrote to Sam having rec’d his of July 31 and also of Aug. 2 (neither extant), again urging Sam to come to England rather than Cuba & Florida as he’d previously written [MTP].

August 7 Wednesday – Sam wrote from New Saybrook to Elisha Bliss, acknowledging payment of $8,485.17 in royalties. Sam had finalized plans to sail for England “in 10 or 12 days to be gone several months.” He also related writing “strongly to Anna Dickinson,” the suffrage reformer who was trying to swing a book deal with Bliss but was holding out for a $10,000 guarantee. Sam’s letter to Dickinson is lost [MTL 5: 140]. Since Sam had not received a guarantee of royalties from American Publishing Co., it’s probable he tried to put Anna in her place.

Sam wrote from New Saybrook to Joseph L. Blamire of Routledge & Sons, letter not extant but referred to in Blamire’s of Aug. 9.

August 8 Thursday – Sam telegraphed from Saybrook Point to Mollie Clemens, asking her to “stir up that infernal Steam Laundry” [MTL 5: 141]. He also sent Mollie a short note and a check for the E.C.C. Kellogg Co. for the prowler bell he’d ordered installed at the Forest Street Hartford house. “All well. I am going to England in a week from now” [MTL 5: 142]. Sam’s actual date of departure was Aug. 21, worked out with Joseph L. Blamire, New York agent for Routledge & Sons.

Bills paid: Hartford Steam Carpet Beating Establishment, “cleaning 10 yds. Carpet @ 6c ; .60”; W.B. Willard, flour & grain for $6.45 and $10 for bran oats [MTP].

 

August 9 Friday – Joseph L. Blamire for Routledge & Sons, NYC wrote to Sam having rec’d his of Aug. 7, encouraging him to go to England early in September, when he might “see a good deal of country life, before the folks begin to return to Town.” He recommended the Cunard steamship line [MTP].

 

August 10 Saturday – Bill paid to Putnam Phalanx Market, Hartford grocers; purchases made Aug. 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10: $6 [MTP].

 

August 11 Sunday – Sam wrote from New Saybrook to Orion Clemens, giving Aug. 21 as his sailing date to England, on what Joseph L. Blamire called “The Crack Steamer of the Cunard Line,” the Scotia. While lying around Saybrook, Sam had formulated his idea for a better scrapbook, and sent details and a drawing to his brother to keep as proof of the date of invention. Orion had been out of work and Sam had agreed to help him underwrite a new career.

“I’ll put it [scrapbook idea] into Dan Slote’s hands & tell him he must send you all over America to urge its use upon stationers & booksellers—so don’t buy into a newspaper. The name of this thing is “Mark Twain’s Self-Pasting Scrap-book.’ ”

Sam also wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks of his travel plans.

“Mrs. Langdon will reach here in a day or two, & she & Livy will remain till cool weather—but I will sail in the Scotia, Aug. 21 for Europe—England, rather—to be gone several months. If I find I am to be away very long, shall return by & by & take Livy over. I confine myself to England & Scotland” [MTL 5: 146]

August 14, Wednesday – Sam wrote from New Saybrook to Joseph L. Blamire of Routledge & Sons, letter & check for $150 not extant but referred to in Blamire’s of Aug. 15.  [ page 503 ]

August 15 Thursday – Joseph L. Blamire for Routledge & Sons wrote to Sam, having rec’d his note of Aug. 14 with check for $150 for a ticket to Liverpool. Since he didn’t know how long Clemens would be at Saybrook, he’d hold the ticket in NYC [MTP].

August 16 Friday – Sam telegraphed from Saybrook Point to Mollie Clemens: “Send down all my white pants” [MTL 5: 147]. Note: even then, Sam liked to wear white, though while Livy was alive, only in season.

Theodore W. Crane wrote on J. Langdon & Co. letterhead to Sam: “The money $2815 has been paid over to Kennert and he has transferred to you 25 shares of stock—we have the receipt.” He was sending a box of cigars by way of Charles Langdon on Tuesday next [MTP].

August 16 or 17 Saturday – Sam sent Orion a bill from a Hartford flour dealer and told him to pay it, if it was correct [MTL 5: 148].

August 18 Sunday – Sam left Saybrook for Hartford, where he probably spent the night [MTL 5: 149n1].

August 19 Monday – Sam wrote poetically from Hartford to Livy, still in Saybrook, Conn.

While this moon lasts it will be easy, on shipboard or on shore, to look up at the vague shapes in it & recall our last night on the verandah when they were our only witnesses. And as long as we are separated we can still regard the waxing & waning phases of this moon & commune with each other through her across the waste of seas, sending & receiving messages that shall ignore distance & count the accumulated meridians of longitude as nothing [MTL 5: 149].

Bill paid Flower & Hills, Hartford grocers $15 [MTP].

Sam left Hartford and arrived in New York, staying at the St. Nicholas Hotel.

August 20 Tuesday – Sam wrote from New York to Livy, after buying exchange for some English gold coins, buying a hat and books for the trip. Charley Langdon and wife Ida arrived at the hotel late. Charley brought two boxes of cigars from Theodore Crane for Sam. Sam wrote he was going to dinner with “the Harper’s Drawer man & Will M. Carleton the farm-ballad writer.” William A. Seaver (1813-1883) had written the “Editor’s Drawer” in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine since 1867 [MTL 5: 149-50]. The dinner was held by the Union League Club, and was arranged by John Hay. It may have been Sam’s introduction to both William A. Seaver and Will M. Carleton (1845-1912) [MTL 5: 150-1n3]

A letter from Edward H. House to Simon Sterne, attorney, introduced Sam on an important “matter of infringed copyright…as he sails tomorrow AM.” [ALS, Stowe-Day Library, Hartford].

Sam obtained a sight-draft from Henry Clews & Co. Bankers, New York, to London branch of Clews, Habicht & Co. for £260.6.6; pay to Saml L Clemens by E. Zeidler [MTP].

Half an inch of rain fell in New York [NOAA.gov].

August 21 Wednesday – Sam departed New York, bound for England on the Scotia. Bills paid to Putnam Phalanx Market, grocers $5.43; to T.S. Daniels for oats, etc. $4.80 [MTP].

August 29 Thursday – Sam wrote from the SS Scotia, en route to Liverpool, England, to Livy. Sam missed her already [MTL 5: 151].  [ page 504 ]

August 30 Friday – The Scotia reached Queenstown, Ireland at 8 AM. Sam sent a telegraph to Livy [MTL 5: 152n3].

Livy paid Flower & Hills, grocers $7.05 [MTP].

August 31 Saturday – The Scotia reached Liverpool [MTL 5: 152n3].

In Hartford, Hatch & Tyler delivered coal to the Clemens home [MTP].

September – Sometime during the month, Sir John Bennett (1814-1897) wrote Sam, enclosing Anthony Trollope’s calling card [MTP].

The first of Sam’s two visits to the Doré Gallery, London [MTL 5: 614-21].

September 1 Sunday – Sam wrote from Liverpool, England to Livy.

Livy darling, I wonder if you are back home yet; & I wonder how the Muggins is [pet name for Susy]. & what she looks like. I seem only a stone’s-throw from you & cannot persuade myself that this is a foreign land & that an ocean rolls between us. I feel very near to you.

      I have just finished a long & laborious conning of newspapers & pasting extracts & jotting down trivialities in my journal, & now comes my bete noir—for I must shave [MTL 5: 152-3]. Note: Sam had been planning a book about England and English customs, along the lines of Innocents Abroad. Thus, the notebook.

September 2 Monday – Sam probably spent the first two nights in Liverpool and on this day boarded a train for London. In 1907 he remembered sitting across from a man on the train who was reading Innocents Abroad. The man did not laugh or even smile [MTL 5: 153].

September 4 Wednesday – Bill paid to Squires Grocers for purchases made Aug. 28, 29, 30, 31, Sept. 2, 4 totaling $6.11 [MTP].

September 6 Friday – Sam gave a dinner speech at the Whitefriars Club in London at the Mitre Tavern (Published in Mark Twain Speaking, p. 72-73). Sam was treated like a conquering hero, wined and dined and escorted to many sights. He was a sensation in London. “When he rose to speak on these occasions he was greeted with wild cheers.” Among those present was Tom Hood, a poet and host for Sam, George and Edmund Routledge, and Ambrose Bierce, another well-known American humorist. Sam’s speech was a humorous claim that he had found Dr. David Livingstone, while Henry M. Stanley received all the credit [MTL 5: 154].

September 7 Saturday – Sam, along with Tom Hood, make a call on John Camden Hotten’s office. Sam went under the assumed name of “Mr. Bryce” to look over the man who had been publishing unauthorized copies of Mark Twain’s work in England. Hotten recognized Sam right away, but Sam stuck to being Bryce, and looked “glum and stern” [MTL 5: 165n1]. See Sept. 20 letter to Arthur Locker. Note: John Camden Hotten (1832-1873).

September 9 Monday – Sam spent the day sightseeing with James R. Osgood, the Boston publisher who was vacationing in England. They visited the Kenilworth ruins, Warwick Castle and Stratford on Avon [MTL 5: 155]. Sam would use Warwick Castle in the opening scene of A Connecticut Yankee.  [ page 505 ]

September 11 Wednesday – Sam wrote from London to Livy about the great time he was having, though he wrote, “I accomplish next to nothing…. Have not written in my journal for 4 days—don’t get time. Real pleasant people here” [MTL 5: 154-5].

September 12 Thursday – Sam had several photographs taken at the studio of W. & A.H. Fry in Brighton (Walter Henry Fry and Allen Hastings Fry) See inserts. Sam, Henry Lee (1826-1888) and Edmund Routledge sat for a group photo [MTL 5: 653], and Sam had a series of portraits made [652]. Sam wrote Livy the day before that he was going “down to Brighton …with Tom Hood.” (Evidently Hood was camera shy.)

September 13–November 11 Monday – Sometime between these dates Sam wrote a note to Henry Lee, mover and shaker in the building of the Brighton Aquarium. He developed a strong friendship with Lee. Sam wrote in his notebook:

His knowledge is not boxed up & labeled, but is practical. Knows all about birds, animals, architecture, fishes—can take off his coat & occupy the place of any officer in the Zoo Gardens or the great acquarium, or pretty much anywhere. (And he is mighty useful to me, because he does things like Slote or Charley—writes the notes, lays the plans, appoints the hours, delivers me at every needful place & assumes all the responsibilities. God is good, & constantly raises up people to take care of the shiftless and helpless. Mr. Lee knows all the bosses of every place, & gets me in at tabooed hours & finds me entrance to places that are forbidden to the general public [MTL 5: 588].

September 13–18 Wednesday – Sometime during these dates Sam, in London, sent a photo of himself and a note to James R. Osgood, anticipating a better photo when he got the Brighton pictures back, taken on Sept. 12. Sam was staying at the Langham Hotel, in Portland Place [MTL 5: 158].

September 14 Saturday – Bill paid to Putnam Phalanx Market, grocers $14.38 [MTP].

September 15 Sunday – Sam wrote from London to Livy. Sam was being pressured to lecture in London but he resisted.

“On Tuesday I mean to hang a card to my key-box, inscribed ‘Gone out of the City for a week’—& then I shall go to work & work hard. One can’t be caught in a hive of 4,000,000 people, like this” [MTL 5: 160].

Sam also wrote a short note to James R. Osgood, enclosing a photograph of himself [MTP, drop-in letters].

Sam continued to see the sights. From his notebook:  [ page 506 ]

Regent’s Park is a huge tract in the midst of London, adorned with great trees & luxuriantly carpeted with grass. …We entered the great Zoological Gardens with Mr. Henry Lee…I wanted to find Mr. Darwin’s baboon that plays mother to a cat, but did not succeed. So Darwin invented that.

In the House of Monkeys there was one long, lean, active fellow that made me a convert to the theory of Natural Selection. He made a natural selection of monkeys smaller than himself to sling around by the tail. …Without reflection one might jump to the conclusion that Noah would consider the Zoo Gardens not much of a show, & look twice at his shilling before he bought a ticket; but it appears different to me. Noah could not get these animals into two arks like his. Though of course I do not wish to disparage Noah’s collection. Far from it. Noah’s collection was very well for his day [MTL 5: 586-7].

September 16 Monday – Sam had lunch with John Lawrence Toole (1830-1909), comic actor [MTL 5: 592n13]. Sam first met Toole in London in Sept. 1872 [MTNJ 1: 2: 296n11].

September 17 Tuesday – Sam wrote a short note from London to Arthur Locker (1828-1893), a journalist writing a short sketch of Sam’s life for the London Graphic. Sam wrote that the sketch in “Men of the Time” was accurate, as he “furnished the facts” himself [MTL 5: 161].

Henry Lee inscribed a copy of Francis Trevelyan Buckland’s (1826-1880) 1868 work Curiosities of Nature: “To Saml L. Clemens / with the sincere regard of his friend / the Editor / Henry Lee / Sept. 17th 1872” [MTP].

John Henry Riley died of cancer. Emerson writes the cancer “reportedly originating from a wound in his mouth caused by a fork while he was eating” ! [80].

September 18 Wednesday – The Alta California reported the death of John Henry Riley, whose planned collaboration with Sam on the South Africa diamond book was left undone [MTL 4: 468n3].

A six-month ticket to the British Museum’s Reading Room was issued to Mr. Samuel L. Clemens, Langham Hotel [MTL 5: 176n12].

September 20 Friday – Sam wrote from London to the editor for the London Spectator, railing against the unauthorized use, attribution of the articles of others, and added material to his work by John Camden Hotten. In the absence of international copyright agreements, Hotten had published many American works without permission or payment [MTL 5: 163]. Note: see Welland 20-22.

September 21 Saturday – The London Spectator published Sam’s letter of Sept. 20 about Hotten. In the evening, Sam gave a dinner speech at the Savage Club [Published in Fatout, MT Speaking 69-71]. The Club was a private club for authors, journalists and artists, founded in 1857 by a half-dozen writers of plays who dined together every week in an old Convent Garden inn. One night someone brought Artemus Ward; afterward membership soared. The chairman of this evening was John L. Toole, a popular English comic actor (1830-1906) [MTL 5: 175n1; The Twainian, Sept-Oct 1953 p4]. See insert photo of Toole.

In his Sept. 22 letter, Sam wrote he’d met Mrs. George Turner & Nellie “on the stairs yesterday—wasn’t expecting to see them here.” [ page 507 ] Sam had known the Turners from his Nevada days, when Turner was chief justice of the territory [MTL 5: 169-70].

While Sam was away the family had to eat. A bill was paid to Flower & Hills, Hartford grocers, for purchases/deliveries made: Sept. 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 18, 14 & 16, for a long list of items, incl. melons, tomatoes, peaches, beans, butter, soda, eggs, oil, coffee, crackers. $25.10 [MTP].

September 22 Sunday – Sam wrote from London to Livy that he was “making tolerably fair progress” sightseeing and collecting notes for a book.

“This is no worn out field. I can write up some of these things in a more different way than they have been written before” [MTL 5: 169].

He’d had a “very good time” at the Savage Club. Sam sent a postcard and an autographed manuscript of his speech to Moncure D. Conway (1832-1907), an American journalist [MTL 5: 171-2]. Note: Conway had been a long time friend of W.D. Howells.

September 23 Monday – Sam wrote from London to Thomas B. Pugh, declining his offer to lecture in Philadelphia during the next season. Pugh had arranged past lectures there for Sam [MTL 5: 178].

September 25 Wednesday – Sam attended a performance of Handel’s Messiah, featuring the well-known Hungarian soprano, Teresa Titiens and a chorus of 700 at the Royal Albert Hall.

Sam wrote from London to Livy about the performance, and enclosed pennies made for him in the mint that day and an emu’s feather. He also enclosed his grievance letter sent to the London Spectator about John Camden Hotten for either Orion or Charles Dudley Warner to publish. Orion was now working on the Hartford Evening Post, which printed a summary of Sam’s letter on Oct. 10 [MTL 5: 179].

September 28 Saturday – Sam spoke at the Sheriff’s Dinner, at the Freemasons’ Tavern, Guildhall, London in response to a toast “Success to Literature” [Schmidt]. The dinner was given by the new sheriffs of London to the city guilds and liverymen. When one of the sheriffs proposed the health of Mark Twain, he was applauded, then Sam responded to the toast. The London Times, Sept. 30, 1872, called it “an amusing speech” [LLMT 178-79].

Afterward, Sam wrote about the dinner and speech to Livy and also to Elisha Bliss [MTL 5: 182-3].

William Gorman Wills opened his play, Charles I, with Sir Henry Irving (1838-1905) in the lead role at the London Lyceum. Sam wrote unfavorably of the play, calling it “a curious literary absurdity” in an unpublished piece written later in the year [Gribben 775].

John Camden Hotten defended himself in “Mark Twain and His English Editor,” Spectator. Hotten argued that attributing Carl Byng’s work to Sam merely followed the commonly accepted view; that he was not a pirate since the material he took held no copyright in England; and that he’d written three letters to Sam, including one offer of payment, with no reply [Tenney 5].

September 29–October 3 Thursday – Sam visited Magdalen College in Oxford sometime between these dates. The college was founded in 1458 and was remarkable for its 145-foot tower [MTL 5: 614n64]. (See Oct. 17, 1874 entry for article, “Magdalen Tower” that Sam wrote for The Shotover Papers, Or Echoes from Oxford.) [ page 508 ]

October 1 Tuesday – Bill paid for The Farmington Creamery Co., $9.50 for milk & cream deliveries made Sept. 6, 13, 20, 27 [MTP].

 

October 3 Thursday – Sam wrote from London to Livy. Sam had received word that “poor old faithful Riley” had died. Isabella Beecher Hooker had supposedly retired from public life (she hadn’t), and Sam expressed how lovely Oxford struck him during a visit there [MTL 5: 188].

 

October 4 Friday – In the evening Sam telegraphed from London to Henry Lee that 1 PM the next day would be acceptable to meet. “The best way will be not to get up till one. If you don’t find me at breakfast, skip right up in the lift” [MTL 5: 191].

 

October 5 Saturday – Sam wrote from London To Charles Dudley Warner, all about the toast he’d given at the Sheriff’s Dinner. Sam was surprised at the reception received when his name was announced. He claimed to be “No. 75 in a list of 250 guests,” and the only name to receive a “spontaneous welcome,” that “completely knocked” him out. “I didn’t know I was a lion,” he wrote [MTL 5: 191-2].

 

Sam also wrote to George H. Fitzgibbon who wrote an article for the Darlington Northern Echo, and sent it to Sam. Sam sent one of the Watkins photographs he’d had made shortly after his arrival [MTL 5: 193-5].

 

The London Graphic ran a large engraved picture of Sam that was later copied by Hearth & Home [MTP].

 

October 6 Sunday – Sam wrote from London to Moncure D. Conway, declining an invitation to Stratford to enjoy the hospitality of Charles Edward Flower (1805-1883), wealthy retired brewery owner and four-time mayor of Stratford-on-Avon. Sam and Livy would accept another invitation in 1873 [MTL 5: 195-6].

October 7 Monday – Bill paid to E.D. Roberts, stoves, ranges and furnaces; for “2nd hand cylinder stove,” and parts $16.48 [MTP]. Livy was often frugal with the money when Sam was away. Purchasing a used stove reflects this. Hatch & Tyler delivered coal to the Clemens home [MTP].

October 10 Thursday – The Hartford Evening Post printed a summary of Sam’s grievance letter about John Camden Hotten (see Sept. 25 entry) [MTL 5: 179].

October 12 Saturday – Sam wrote from London to Livy.

I have been thinking and thinking, Livy darling, & I have decided that one of 2 or 3 things must be done: either you must come right over here for 6 months; or I must go right back home 3 or 4 weeks hence & both of us come here April 1 & stay all summer. But I am not going abroad any more without you. It is too dreary when the lights are out & the company gone [MTL 5: 196].

 

October 14 Monday – Bill dated Oct. 12 paid to Moore, Weeks & Co. for “case condensed milke” [MTP].

 

October, mid – Sam was entertained by Judge George Turner and family, themselves on vacation from San Francisco. J. Ross Browne wrote to his wife on Oct. 16:

 

“I met Mark Twain a day or two ago at Judge Turner’s. He is just the same dry, quaint old Twain we knew in Washington. I believe he is writing a book over here. He made plenty of money on his other books—some of it on mine” [Browne, 399]. Note: see 1866, Sept., mid to late entry, for Browne’s influence on IA, which explains the remark.

 [ page 509 ]

October 17 Thursday – Bill paid $16 “in full all demands to date” W.K. Holt, handwritten, not invoice, services not specified. Also, $4.80 to T.S. Daniels, for oats, etc. [MTP]

 

October 18 Friday – Sam wrote to an unidentified person about his plans to lecture in Great Britain.

 

“I think it will be 2 or 3 weeks before I shall really know whether I can lecture in Great Britain or not. So I am obliged to be thus indefinite in my reply. I certainly shall lecture about 8 or 10 times in this country if other & more necessary business shall permit” [MTL 5: 197].

 

October 19 Saturday – Bill paid to Putnam Phalanx Market, Hartford grocers; steak, halibut, oysters, veal, chicken, etc. $15 [MTP].

 

Sam inscribed copies of “A Curious Dream”(issued this year in a pamphlet) and RI to Henry Lee: “To Henry Lee / From his friend /Mark Twain /Oct. 19, 1872” [MTP].

October 23 Wednesday – In Hartford, Hatch & Tyler delivered coal to the Clemens home [MTP].

October 24 Thursday – Bill paid to Arnold, Constable & Co. New York for cashmere, hat, five bibs $20.75 [MTP].

 

October 25 Friday – Sam telegraphed from London to Henry Lee, also in the city.

 

“Can’t. I am in the family way with 3 weeks undigested dinners in my system, & shall just roost here & diet & purge till I am delivered. Shall I name it after you?” [MTL 5: 198].

 

Sam also wrote to Livy, mostly about the controversy surrounding Henry M. Stanley and his treatment and attitude at awards dinners. Sam was beginning to tire of sightseeing.

 

The truth is, there are no sights for me—I have seen them all before in other places…Consequently, I do just as little sightseeing as possible, but try to see as many people as I can. If I could take notes of all I hear said, I should make a most interesting book—but of course these things are interminable—only a shorthand reporter could seize them [MTL 5: 199].

 

In Hartford, Hatch & Tyler delivered coal to the Clemens home [MTP].

October 26 Saturday – Mary Mason Fairbanks wrote to Sam [MTP]. COPY VIC

October 29 Tuesday and/or November 1 Friday – Sam attended one or both of the stag hunts on these dates near the village of Wargrave, and wrote about the experience to Mary Fairbanks on Nov. 2 [MTL 5: 207n3].

November 1 Friday – Bill paid to The Farmington Creamery Co. for deliveries made Oct. 4,11,18,25, and Nov. 1 $12.50 [MTP].

 

November 2 Saturday – Sam wrote from London to Mary Mason Fairbanks:

 

“I hunted that stag in a wagon—but I didn’t catch him. Neither did the red-coated, pigskin-breeched hunters—but it was fine to see the 250 scour over the hills & fields & sail over the hedges & fences like so many birds” [MTL 5: 205].

 

Sam was learning about the English:

 [ page 510 ]

“Please don’t let a word of this letter get into print….Americans have the reputation here of not sufficiently respecting private conversations” [MTL 5: 206].

 

Bills paid: Arnold, Constable & Co., New York; $29.50 for slips; Hartford Water Works $21.50 for May 1, ‘72 to Nov. 1 ‘72 @ $33 per annum [MTP].

 

“Mark Twain’s Pipe,” was reprinted in the Cleveland Herald Supplement from an earlier San Francisco Chronicle article (no date available) [Tenney 4].

 

November 3 Sunday – In London Sam wrote to James Redpath.

 

“I am revamping, polishing & otherwise fixing up my lecture on Roughing It & think I will deliver it in London a couple of times about a month from now, just for fun.”

 

Sam also asked for news of Bret Harte, not knowing about Redpath and Harte’s very public breakup over Harte’s failures to show for scheduled lectures [MTL 5: 208].

 

Sam also wrote a short note to W.A. Turner, turning down some sort of invitation. Turner is unidentified [MTL 5: 212].

 

Sam also wrote to his sister-in-law, Susan Crane.

 

“If you & Theodore will come over here in the Spring with Livy & me & spend the Summer, you shall see a country that is so beautiful that you will be obliged to believe in fairy-land;—there is nothing like it elsewhere on the globe” [MTP, drop-in letters].

 

November 4 Monday – Sam received a cable from Livy, saying “come home,” that she would return to England with him in the spring [MTL 5: 214n2].

 

Sir Sydney Hedley Waterlow (London Lord Mayor) sent Clemens an engraved invitation to dine at Stationer’s Hall on Monday, Nov. 4 [MTP]. Note: likely this invite was earlier than Nov. 4.

 

Sam attended an inauguration dinner for Sir Sydney Waterlow in the hall of the Stationers’ Company with about 100 guests [MTL 5: 214n1].

 

November 4–11 Monday – Sam wrote (sometime between these dates) from London to his sister-in-law, Susan Crane, inviting Susan and her husband, Theodore Crane, to come to England with him and Livy and spend the summer there. “I would a good deal rather live here if I could get the rest of you over” [MTL 5: 213].

 

Text Box: November 5, 1872 – Ulysses S. Grant defeated Horace Greeley and was re-elected President of the United States 
 
November 5 Tuesday – Sam attended the opening of the New Guildhall Library and Museum. Sam wrote from the Langham Hotel in London at midnight to Henry Lee. “I sail in first steamer after Lord Mayor’s dinner on Nov. 9, & return with my family in April, to spend the summer” [MTL 5: 214]. Note: he actually sailed on Nov. 12.

 

Clemens sent an announcement to at least three London newspapers that he was called home but would return with his family and:

 

“…be able to lecture a month during the autumn upon such scientific topics as I know least about, & may consequently feel least trammeled in dilating upon” [MTL 5: 215].

 [ page 511 ]

November 6 Wednesday – Sam wrote from London to his mother and sister that Livy was going to return to England with him in April and stay several months. He bought his nephew, Sammy Moffett, a steam engine and himself a stereopticon, which he initially had considered buying Sammy [MTL 5: 215-6].

 

Sam also wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks (sometime from this date to Dec. 10), who had cautioned Sam to “Keep doing the nice things. Say nothing irreverent—make your wit exquisite” [MTL 5: 217, 219n1].

 

The London Daily News and several other newspapers printed Sam’s departure announcement [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

November 7 Thursday – Sam attended a dinner for the Linnean Society of London, with Henry Lee, who was a member. The society commemorated Swedish naturalist Carl Linneaus (1707-1778) [MTL 5: 214n3].

 

Sam inscribed a copy of Innocents Abroad to Sir John Bennett: “With the warm regards of The Author” [McBride 7].

 

November 8 Friday – Clemens sent another announcement to the editor of the London Telegraph, of his return home and plans for lecturing in the spring [MTL 5: 219].

 

John Camden Hotten wrote to Clemens, who went to Piccadilly to call on him. Hotten’s letter, noted only in 1st ed. MTDBD I for this date, is now supplied by Welland:

 

      I am vexed that I was out when you called this afternoon. Had I been at home I think the misunderstanding betwixt us might have been cleared away.

      From the message you left here this afternoon I am sorry to find you under the impression that I am about to issue with your name, a work not written by you. You have said some very hard things about me — probably at the instigation of others who hoped to benefit by misleading you, but I do assure you in the frankest manner possible that self-respect — apart from my sincere respect for your inimitable talent — would not allow me to do anything of the kind. You have, unfortunately, fallen amongst people who dislike me, people who are jealous of me because I happen to be not quite so industrious, not quite so shrewd as they are. These people have misled you, the same as they tried to poison the mind of poor Artemus Ward against me. I say nothing more. All I ask is for you to see and judge for yourself.

      I may just mention that Mr Bierce [Ambrose Bierce] was brought here for the express purpose of creating a disturbance. He saw that he was being made a tool of from jealous motives, and the result was that we became fast friends and I have had the pleasure of handing him money for material for a little book. It was my hope that our relations would have been of this character, and with the kindly message you have just left I do not despair of it.

      The advertisement you have seen — or rather, I suspect, to which your attention has been drawn — refers simply to an elegantly printed volume of your scattered writings that we are preparing. The reason I was not more explicit in my announcement is that other members of the trade watch me as a cat would a mouse but after the frank message you have left here [not extant] I at once tell you what I am doing, and I can only say that I gladly avail myself of your offer to revise it. I have just telegraphed for sheets, and these shall be with you tomorrow, when you can go over them and let me have back on Monday.

      I did think of giving a short biography of yourself, taking your own outline sketch as my foundation. I suppose that story of the origin of your nom de plume is tolerably correct. I remember when I lived at Galena, Ill., and used to go down the river on old Uncle Toby, the throwing — or casting — of the lead was accompanied by some such words.

      As to payment for your editorial services — I am perfectly willing to give whatever you may think fair. I know you are a rich man, but that does not matter as my payment is concerned.

      If you will kindly drop me a line I shall be obliged. Enclosed letter is from a Bank, and I sincerely trust that its stout proportions only represent so many bank notes.  [ page 512 ]

            Enclosed is a portrait of yourself which I prefer to any of the photographs yet published. I also send one of Bret Harte [26-7] Note: Welland provides a good exposition of the issues and back and forth between Twain and Hotten.

 

Hearth and Home published an article, “Mark Twain and Hans Breitmann” with. Tenney: “Etchings of the two, with only brief text and no specific works named. Breitmann (Charles Godfrey Leland), a Princeton graduate, attended universities of Munich, Heidelberg and Paris. He practiced law in America briefly, then turned to his career of writing comic German dialect ballads. MT’s ‘education was a very imperfect one, as printer, which aided largely in supply the defects in his scholastic training.’ He went on as riverboat pilot, miner, and local editor on the Enterprise. He built his name, ‘and now there is no writer of his class so sure of a buying and reading constituency as he’ ” [Bibliography Number 6, Mark Twain Journal Spring/Fall 2012 50: 1 & 2, p.50].

 

November 9 Saturday – Sam attended the Lord Mayor’s Banquet. Sir Sydney Waterlow was the new Lord Mayor. The banquet was held for 800-900 guests [MTLE 5: 221n1]. On each plate was a plan of the hall with the position of each person numbered. A reading of the names of those present was made, as Sam later told during a journalistic breakfast in 1879. The story ran in the Chicago Times and other newspapers, and here is copied from page two, Dec. 25, 1879 West Liberty, Iowa Weekly Enterprise, taken from the Chicago Times:

 

When this individual read the name of some prominent political character or literary celebrity, it would be greeted with more or less applause. The individual who was reading the names did so in so monotonous a manner that I became somewhat tired, and began looking about for something to engage my attention. I found the gentleman next to me on the right a well-informed personage, and I entered into conversation with him. I had never seen him before, but he was a good talker and I enjoyed it. Suddenly, just as he was giving me his views upon the future religious aspects of Great Britain, our ears were assailed by a deafening storm of applause. Such a clapping of hands I had never heard before. It sent the blood to my head with a rush, and I got terribly excited. I straightened up and commenced clapping my hands with all my might. I moved about excitedly in my chair, and clapped harder and harder.

 

‘Who is it?’ I asked the gentleman on my right. ‘Whose name did he read?’

 

“‘Samuel L. Clemens,’ he answered. “I stopped applauding. I didn’t clap any more. It kind of took the life out of me, and I sat there like a mummy, and didn’t even get up and bow. It was one of the more distressing fixes I ever got into, and it will be many a day before I forget it.”—Chicago Times

 

Note: It even ran again seven years later (Nov. 21, 1879 p.2) in the Hartford Courant as “Twain’s Best Joke,” with a “claim” that it was being published for the first time.

 

John C. Hotten wrote a short note to Sam: “I had hoped to have received a note from you this morning, in answer to a letter I sent to you yesterday. I must apologise if my shopman misunderstood the messages you left; but anyway I am not sorry at the opportunity you have afforded me of correcting one or two misconceptions” [MTP].

 

November 10 Sunday – At midnight on Nov. 9, after the Lord Mayor’s Dinner, Sam wrote Livy:

 

Livy darling, it was flattering, at the Lord Mayor’s dinner, tonight, to have the nation’s honored favorite, the Lord High Chancellor of England, in his vast wig & gown, with a splendid, sword-bearing lackey, following him & holding up his train, walk me arm-in-arm through the brilliant assemblage, & welcome me with all the enthusiasm of a girl, & tell me that when affairs of state oppress him & he can’t sleep, he always has my books at hand & forgets his perplexities in reading them! And two other be-wigged & gowned great state judges of England told me the very same thing [MTL 5: 221].

 

Note: Sam soaked up the mantle of respectability bestowed by the pomp and pageantry. His mother always enjoyed a great show, whether a parade or a funeral, and Sam was much like her. He was discovering that his old calling “of a low sort” was not low at all.  [ page 513 ]

 

November 11 Monday – Sam left London bound for Liverpool and home to Hartford [MTL 5: 214n2].

 

November 12 Tuesday – Sam sailed from Liverpool on the steamship Batavia of the Cunard Line, bound for Boston and New York [MTL 5: 214n2]. Note: see July 3, 1907 from C.F. Wood to Clemens. Also Nov. 26, 1872.

 

November 15 Friday – Thomas Nast wrote from Morristown, NJ to Sam. “I shall be glad to see my young ‘adorer’, but I am not to be found in New York usually, I only go in once a week, to see to things, and do all my work at home….Poor deluded boy! He needs but to behold, to be completely cured of his infatuation” [MTP]. Note: The boy referred to was Charley Fairbanks who idolized Nast.

 

November 17to 18 Monday – From Sam’s letter of Nov. 20 en route to Boston from Liverpool, to the Royal Humane Society:

 

On Sunday night a strong west wind began to blow & not long after midnight it increased to a gale. By four o’clock the sea was running very high; at half-past seven our starboard bulwarks were stove in & the water entered the main saloon; at a later hour the gangway on the port side came in with a crash & the sea followed, flooding many of the staterooms on that side. At the same time a sea crossed the roof of the vessel & carried away one of our boats, splintering it to pieces & taking one of the davits with it. At half-past nine the glass was down to 28.35, & the gale was blowing with a severity which the officers say is not experienced oftener than once in five or ten years. The storm continued during the day & all night, & also all day yesterday [19], but with moderated violence [MTL 5: 222].

 

November 18 Monday – Bill paid to A. Schmidt & Co., 842 Broadway, New York, $55.50 portfolio, box, easels, vase, paper cutter, tray [MTP].

 

November 19 Tuesday – More from Sam’s letter of Nov. 20:

 

At 4 P.M. a dismasted vessel was sighted…the wreck, a barque, was in a pitiable condition. Her mainmast was naked, her mizen-mast & bowsprit were gone, & her formast was but a stump, wreathed & cumbered with a ruin of sails & cordage from the fallen fore-top & fore-top gallant masts and yards. We could see nine men clinging to the main rigging [MTL 5: 222]. Note: A heroic rescue was made of the stranded men from the Charles Ward.

 

November 20 Wednesday – Sam wrote en route to Boston from Liverpool, to the Royal Humane Society about the storm and rescue, and recommending Captain John E. Mouland (b. 1828) and crew for “that reward which a sailor prizes & covets above all other distinctions, the Royal Humane Society’s medal.” Sam and nineteen passengers signed the letter [MTL 5: 223].

 

November 23 Saturday – Sam wrote a congratulatory letter to Captain John E. Mouland for his “brave and good deed” and for his handling of the crisis of the storm. Again, signed by many other passengers [MTL 5: 227-9].

 

November 25 Monday – The Batavia reached Boston. Sam de-boarded and took Englishman C.F. Wood and Fijian servant on an express train for Hartford. Near Enfield, Conn. the train narrowly avoided being derailed by a drunk New Haven printer attempting to exact revenge for being forcibly thrown off a train for lack of fare. The Hartford Times Nov. 27 gave account of one Horace Blakeslee, who tried four times to derail trains by placing heavy ties on the tracks. Sam arrived in Hartford after a three-month absence [MTL 5: 230n1]. C.F. Wood and servant spent the night with Sam at Hartford. The billiard table was used [231n2].

 [ page 514 ]

November 26 Tuesday – Sam took C.F. Wood and servant to the train. Wood crossed the continent by the Great Pacific Railway and sailed from San Francisco for New Zealand, stopping at the Sandwich Islands [MTL 5: 231n2].

 

Mollie Clemens and Sam wrote from Hartford to their mother, Jane Lampton Clemens and Pamela Moffett.

 

“Dear Mother & Sister—Very glad to get home—& shall be glad to return to England in May. In London I bought a steam engine for Sammy’s Christmas present….Sammy must learn how to run it before he blows himself up with it” [MTL 5: 230].

 

The Boston Daily Advertiser ran Sam’s account of the Batavia heroism, “A Daring Deed” dated Nov. 20 to the Royal Humane Society [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

A scandal brought by accusations of adultery fell upon Henry Ward Beecher and family. Victoria Woodhull (1838-1927), a close ally of the arrogant Isabella Beecher Hooker, had accused Beecher of the act with Elizabeth Richards Tilton (1834-1897), one of his parishioners. Woodhull, an outspoken advocate of free-love, accused Beecher of hypocrisy, of speaking against free-love in public but practicing it in private. It was a juicy New England scandal.

 

Mollie wrote: “Sam says Livy shall not cross Mrs Hookers threshold and if he talks to Mrs H he will tell her in plain words the reason” [MTL 5: 230].

 

November 27 Wednesday – Livy’s 27th birthday.

 

November 29 Friday – Horace Greeley, defeated earlier in the month for president by Grant, died from brain inflammation.

 

November 30 Saturday – Sam’s 37th birthday.

 

December – Sam wrote to the Editor of the Literary World about unconscious plagiarism in Innocents Abroad. Unconscious plagiarism was an idea that Sam spoke about in an 1879 speech honoring Oliver Wendell Holmes [MTL 5: 232, 233n4].

 

December 3 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to the editor of the San Francisco Alta California. Sam intended the letter to be printed, and it was on the front page of the Dec. 14 issue. The appeal was for Captain Ned Wakeman, who was suddenly stricken with paralysis while at sea. Wakeman partially recovered but died at age 57 [MTL 5: 233].

 

Sam also wrote to his mother-in-law, Olivia Lewis Langdon, who had visited Sam and Livy and headed back to Elmira. Sam asked if there was any news on the Beecher scandal, then weighed in with the idea that Beecher’s silence on the scandal was “a thousand-fold more potent in convincing people of the truth of that scandal than the evidence of fifty Woodhulls could be.” He also disclosed that Clara Spaulding had agreed to accompany Sam and Livy to England in May [MTL 5: 236].

 

Sam also invited John E. Mouland, captain of the Batavia, to visit on his next voyage [MTL 5: 239].

 

December 5 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to his mother and family in Fredonia, asking for any two of them to visit during the winter and for “a couple of you here for Christmas.” Livy couldn’t handle any more than two guests at once [MTL 5: 240].

 [ page 515 ]

Sam also wrote to Whitelaw Reid, editor of the New York Tribune about the Missouri disaster of Oct. 22. Enough lifeboats and proper training, Sam said, would save many lives [MTL 5: 241].

 

Sam also wrote a hard-hitting letter to the editor of the Hartford Evening Post, where Orion had recently landed a job. The letter was about Mayor Abraham Oakey Hall (1826-1898) (“Elegant Oakey,”) who was aligned with the corrupt “Boss” Tweed and Tammany Hall of New York.

 

“…all men, in their secret hearts believe him to be an oath-breaker & a thief…Is there no keeping this piece of putridity in the background?” [MTL 5: 244].

 

Sam also sent an autographed note for a friend of Dan Slote’s, one Albert W. Whelply [MTL 5: 248].

 

December 6 Friday – Sam’s letter, “Concerning an Insupportable Nuisance” dated Dec. 5, ran in the Hartford Evening Post [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

December 7 Saturday – Sam’s letter, “The Missouri Disaster” dated Dec. 5, ran in the New York Tribune [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

December 10 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Thomas Nast, thanking him for his autograph that he sent to Mary Fairbanks’ son, Charley, a fan of Nast who later became his protégé and even named a son after him. Sam also was grateful for Nast’s role in helping to elect Grant over Greeley in the recent election.

 

My Dear Nast—

As the best way of coming at it, I enclose my “mother Fairbanks’s” letter—the last page of it refers to you. We think the whole world of Mrs. Fairbanks (wife of proprietor of Cleveland Herald)—she was a pilgrim with me in the Innocents Abroad. Her son Charley I have written you about, before, & you sent him an autograph from your pencil which set him up wonderfully. Now I think it a glorious thing to be a boy’s idol, for it is the only worship one can swear to, as genuine—& I have no doubt you feel a good deal as I do about it. Therefore I send Charley Fairbanks to you without distrust or fear—satisfied that the few minutes he robs you of will be an inspiration to him & will be transmitted in the works of his hands to the next generation—& just as well satisfied that you will place that loss, with little regret, along with many another like it, labeled, “Bread cast upon the Waters.”

Nast you, more than any other man, have won a prodigious victory for Grant—I mean, rather, for Civilization & progress;—those pictures were simply marvels; & if any man in the land has a right to hold his head & up & be honestly proud of his share in this year’s vast events that man is unquestionably yourself. We all do sincerely honor you & are proud of you. / Ys Ever / Mark Twain [MTL 5: 249; MTPO]. Note: Mary Mason Fairbanks’ letter is not extant.

 

Sam also wrote to Mary Hunter Smith, a distant cousin by marriage in St. Louis, responding to her letter of Dec. 6. Smith lived a few houses away from the Moffetts [MTL 5: 250].

 

December 14 Saturday – Sam’s LETTER FROM “MARK TWAIN” “Appeal for Ned Wakeman” dated Hartford, Dec. 3, ran in the San Francisco Alta California.

Editors Alta: Certain gentlemen here in the East have done me the honor to make me their mouthpiece in a matter which should command the interest and the sympathy of many Californians. They represent that the veteran Capt. Ned Wakeman is lying paralyzed and helpless at his home near your city, and they beg that his old friends on the Pacific Coast will do unto him as they would gladly do themselves if they were back now in San Francisco—that is, take the old mariner’s case in hand and assist him and his family to the pecuniary aid they stand in such sore need of. His house is mortgaged for $5,000 and he will be sold out and turned shelterless upon the world in January, unless this is done. I have made voyages with the old man when fortune was a friend to him, and am aware that he gave with a generous heart and willing hand to all the [ page 516 ] needy that came in his way; and now that twenty years of rough toil on the watery highways of the far West find him wrecked and in distress, I am sure that the splendid generosity which has made the name of California to be honored in all lands, will come to him in such a shape that he shall confess that the seeds sowed in better days did not fall upon unfruitful soil.

Will not some of the old friends of Capt. Wakeman in your city take this matter in hand, and do by him as he would surely do by them were their cases reversed? [Schmidt].

 

London’s Once-A-Week ran a caricature of Sam astride his jumping frog and a brief, descriptive appreciating of his writing [Tenney 4].

 

December 15 Sunday – In a Springfield (Mass.) Union article of Dec. 20, an account and description of Sam attending Twichell’s church was published. Sam was a regular member in his early Hartford days.

 

Directly behind [Warner] appears a man, dressed in furs, with a rather awkward, hesitating manner as if he wasn’t sure where his pew was located; his locks were rather curly over a somewhat low forehead, but, after all, he was one concerning whom a stranger would say, as I did, “Who is that?” and the answer would be “Why, don’t you know? Mark Twain?…He resides on the hill, in a cottage leased of Mrs Isabella Hooker, the famous woman suffragist [Messent 383 from the Union 20 Dec. 1872].

 

In Morristown, New Jersey, Thomas Nast wrote to Sam about Charley Fairbanks’ idolization and desire to meet him. Nast replied he was not usually in New York except on Fridays; that he lived some 30 miles from the city, where the air was clean and wouldn’t Sam come for a visit? Nast complained of catarrh, which he’d had for three years. He added:

 

“I long for a holiday, and would take one right away if I could afford it, but the work of my profession is, that when I don’t work, I don’t get any money, which don’t answer for a family of four children. I hope to see a book from you, before long, of your English travels. How much I should like to go with you and illustrate it” [MTP, drop-in letters].

 

December 17 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Thomas Nast, thanking him for his help for Charley (Charles M.) Fairbanks and complementing him on Nast’s Almanac.

 

“I wish you could go to England with us in May. Surely you could never regret it. I do hope my publishers can make it pay you to illustrate my English book. Then I should have good pictures. They’ve got to improve on ‘Roughing It ’ ” [MTL 5: 251-2].

 

December 18 Wednesday – Bill paid to Moore, Weeks & Co., Hartford for repair of rocker & cradle $4 [MTP].

 

December 19 Thursday – It was Orion and Mollie’s one year anniversary, and they dined with Sam and Livy [Livy & Sam to Jane Clemens, Dec. 20].

 

Bill paid to W.L. Denning for repair of rocker & cradle $4 [MTP].

 

December 20 Friday – The Springfield Mass. Union ran a correspondent’s article about Twichell’s church, which included a description of Sam in attendance on Dec. 15.

 

Livy and Sam wrote from Hartford to Jane Clemens and family. Livy wrote of Christmas and gifts sent and her joy at plans for Jane Clemens and Annie Moffett to come for the holidays.

 [ page 517 ]

“Your eldest son & daughter are exceedingly cosily situated, & Orion is as happy as a martyr when the fire won’t burn” [MTL 5: 254-5].

 

Horace Bushnell (1802-1876), minister of Hartford’s North Church of Christ, wrote: “You balance yourself over much. I am the one who is principally in fault—neither you nor Twichell. I had no right to be joking my poverty so hard as to make it appear that I cannot buy a five dollar book” [MTP].

 

December 20–22 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Joseph Twichell about Horace Bushnell, enclosing Bushnell’s letter. Sam had written a “(bogus) protest [not extant] of the Publishers against the proposed foreign copyright”—a sarcastic piece that he wanted to read to Twichell. Sam was reacting to a bill in Congress for more comprehensive copyright protection [MTL 5: 255].

 

December 21 Saturday – Sam’s article dated Dec. 3, “How I Escaped Being Killed in a Duel” ran in Every Saturday and in Tom Hood’s Comic Annual for 1873 [Camfield, bibliog.; Budd, “Collected” 1014].

 

Bill paid to Hartford Ice Co. 5,825lbs $23 [MTP]. Judging from other bill documents, the Clemens family went through this amount of ice every six months or so (see May 2, 1873 entry).

 

December 23 Monday – Sam wrote a poem for the Hartford Evening Post, “The New Cock-Robin” Answering the repeated question, “Who’s to be Editor of the Tribune” Sam suggested a different man for each verse. The Tribune had always been a favorite and even a critical paper for Sam’s need of good reviews. The poem ran in the Post on either this day or the next, and was reprinted later in several other major newspapers [MTL 5: 262].

 

December 24 Tuesday – Camfield gives this as the day the poem, “The New Cock-Robin “ ran in the Hartford Evening Post [bibliog.] and cites [Vogelback, “Control of Tribune” 377-80], but Vogelback only cites the Jan. 2 reprint in the Chicago Tribune [377]. Still, it is likely the Dec. 23 verse ran within a few days. Evidently, copies of the Evening Post are not available.

 

December 26 Thursday – In Morristown, New Jersey, Bret Harte wrote to Sam, complaining about William A. Kendall,  the past “sick & needy poet” who Sam had taken up a collection for to gain passage from New York to California. Kendall had accused Harte of swindling contributors to the Overland.

 

I have been lately pretty well abused from unexpected sources but I think the enclosed caps the climax. Do you remember the man to whom you gave $50; for whom I raised $60 and procured by begging a first class passage to San Francisco and to whom I sent anonymously $25, when I was rather poor myself? Well—this is the reptile! And worse than all, this is the second or third time that he has thus requited me.

 

Now what in the name of all that is diabolically mean, am I to do? I don’t mind his slander: that I can refute—but how am I to make this dog know that he is a dog and not a man? [Duckett 84].

 

December 27 Friday – Elisha Bliss wrote a royalty check to Sam for $1,718.36 [MTP].

 

George H. Fitzgibbon wrote on a Morning Post article, Dec. 27 about the Batavia episode: “Delighted to hear from you – All my family join unanimously and heartily in wishing you & yours a very happy & a very prosperous New Year. I enclose you a photograph of my two little daughters.” Autograph & photo requested [MTP].

 

December 28 Saturday – Whitelaw Reid wrote asking for a writing sample over Sam’s autograph [MTP].

 

December, end – Sam remained in Hartford with his family during this period and no letters from Dec. 22 to Jan. 3 have been found. Clemens may have gone to Elmira, where George MacDonald was [ page 518 ] visiting Livy’s mother [Lindskoog 26]. After returning from England, Sam was drafting an English book, so it’s probable he worked on it over the holidays. Sam got the book about a third completed and stopped. Some of the material found its way into Mark Twain’s sketches. Number One (1874). By year’s end, Sam was interested in collaborating with his neighbor, Charles Dudley Warner, in a satire about American politics. This work became The Gilded Age and was published at the end of 1873. Paine [MTB 476] describes a dinner with the Warners where the idea was a spur-of-the-moment agreement to do a novel together. Neither man had written a novel [Emerson 83]. Sam had wanted to use his mother’s cousin, the wealthy James A.H. Lampton, as a character in some work. Also, Sam’s Washington experiences had furnished him with many character sketch ideas [MTL 5: 258-63].

 

With Sam doing more work on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in Jan. 1873, as well as continued work on the English book and the collaboration with Warner, this period marked the beginning of the technique or approach of having several major manuscripts going at once—one Sam engaged in for the rest of his literary days. Interrupting work on one book allowed him to put steam into another. Some fell by the wayside, but the best were eventually completed. It took nine years, mostly shelf-time, to finish Huckleberry Finn, his masterpiece.

 

William Dean Howells, in a Jan. 3, 1873 letter from Boston to Charles W. Stoddard: “I lunched the other night with Mark Twain, and we had some ‘very pretty conversation,’ as Pepys says. Yourself was among the topics” [MTHL 1: 12]. The reference to “the other night” would most likely place this in late December.

 

 

 


 [ page 519 ]
Lot to Build – Nook Farm Respectability – Gilded Age Collaboration

Self-Pasting Scrapbook – Family Sails to England – The Shah – Tichborne Trial

Stratford & Scotland & Dr. John Brown & Ireland – Bank Crisis

Escorts Family Home & Solo Return to England – London Lectures

 

1873 – Gribben sites Tom Hood’s Comic Annual for 1873 as running Sam’s “How I Escaped Being Killed in a Duel” [707].

George Dolby (d. 1900) wrote to Sam sometime during the year, exact date unknown. Goodspeed’s at MTP gives: “Dickens’ Manager on his American Tour. Amusing letter to Mark Twain about the theft of a duck which they were to have had for dinner” [MTP].

January – By this month, Roughing It had earned Sam about $20,600 in royalties [MTL 5: 271n7]. Sam understood that writing brought in more money than lecturing, though it’s clear that both activities energized and pleased him.

January 1 Wednesday – Two bills paid to Drs. Taft & Starr for professional services for the same period, July 1 ‘72 to Jan. 1 ’73, for $7 and $46. Bill for $3 paid to Wm. Wander, Steinway & sons’ Celebrated Pianos, for timing and repair of piano. Bill paid to Mansury & Smith, carriage manufacturer for $23.15 in repairs [MTP].

January 2 Thursday – Handwritten receipt signed John Hooker $300 for house rent for quarter ending Jan. 1 [MTP].

January 3 Friday – In Hartford, Sam telegraphed a response to Whitelaw Reid’s letter of Dec. 28, asking him to “write something, no matter what, over your own signature within the next week,”: “Will write the article today.” The untimely death of Horace Greeley had thrown the Tribune into chaos, and politics over ownership evolved into Reid buying controlling interest (with the help of Jay Gould). Reid announced he would make the newspaper what Greeley would have made it—“a frank and fearless paper.” Reid had also solicited articles from Charles Dudley Warner, Bret Harte, and probably others [MTL 5: 263].

Sam followed up the telegram with a short letter with opinion about the Sandwich Islands and ambitions in the U.S. to annex them as a result of the death of King Kamehameha V. Sam’s letter ran in the Tribune on Jan. 6 [264].

January 4 Saturday – Bill paid to H.A. Botsford for four bales of straw, etc., $15.68 [MTP].

January 5 Sunday, before – William Dean Howells visited Sam and took a “frightful cold,” as mentioned in a letter from Howells to Charles Dudley Warner [MTHL 1: 12].

January 6 Monday – Sam sent another telegram from Hartford to Whitelaw Reid: “Have mailed second & concluding paper” [MTL 5: 266].

Sam’s letter dated Jan. 3, about the Sandwich Islands, “Death of King Kamehameha” ran in the New York Tribune [MTL 5: 264n1]. [ page 520 ]

Joseph L. Blamire for Routledge & Sons wrote to Sam: “Herewith a memorandum of actual disbursements in the matter of the Steam Engine, Stereoscope, &c. wh were dispatched this afternoon…to S. Moffett…. Anxiety to get them in free of Duties &c.” [MTP].

January 7 Tuesday – Sam’s letter to the editor of the Hartford Courant ran on page one:

SIR: When you do me the honor to suggest that I write an article about the Sandwich Islands, just now when the death of the king has turned something of the public attention in that direction, you unkennel a man whose modesty would have kept him in hiding otherwise. I could fill you full of statistics, but most human beings like gossip better, and… [Courant.com].

Frank Bliss wrote to Sam: “Friend Clemens / …a check for $500 is waiting for you…” Quite illegible, this short note [MTP]

Vernon Seaman wrote:

“My dear ‘Mark Twain.’— / I am just in receipt of another letter from Mrs. Wakeman.—Doubtless she has also written to you.—Your letter to the ‘Alta’, had the effect I anticipated, of starting the ball, & the good people of California took the matter up, & very soon subscribed the requisite amount.—of course the good old Captain & his family, are overflowing with gratitude,—& in this connection, I must thank you too, for your cheerful compliance with my sugestion [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “About Wakeman”

January 8 Wednesday – Bill paid to Isaac Glazier & Co. of New York for three watercolors by “Miss Whiting.”(possibly Lilian Whiting of Boston) Also frames, misc., totaling $36.60 [MTP].

Sam may have made a trip to New York on Jan. 7 or 8, and stayed for a banquet on Jan. 11 (see entry), where he received the engraved humidor from Charles Tiffany (1812-1902). Note: Charles was the father of Louis Comfort Tiffany.

Light Snow fell on NYC for only 0.15 accumulation; no other precipitation fell through Jan. 11 [NOAA.gov].

January 9 Thursday – Sam’s letters to Whitelaw Reid on the Hawaiian question were published in the New York Tribune [MTL 5: 266].

We must annex those people. We can afflict them with our wise & beneficent government. We can introduce the novelty of thieves, all the way up from street-car pickpockets to municipal robbers & Government defaulters, & show them how amusing it is to arrest them & try them & then turn them loose—some for cash & some for “political influence.” We can make them ashamed of their simple & primitive justice.…We can give them juries composed entirely of the most simple & charming leatherheads. We can give them railway corporations who will buy their Legislatures like old clothes, & run over their best citizens & complain of the corpses for smearing their unpleasant juices on the track. In place of harmless & vaporing Harris, we can give them Tweed…we can furnish them some Jay Goulds who will do away with their old-time notion that stealing is not respectable…We can give them lecturers! I will go myself [MTL 5: 572-3].

Bill paid to James G. Wells & Co. for groceries and glassware, etc. purchased Sept., 12, Oct. 10, 15, Nov. 8, Dec. 14, 19; Bill paid to Hatch & Tyler for 1872 deliveries of coal, Aug. 31, Oct. 7, 23, 25—total $246.00 [MTP].

January 10 Friday – Sam’s article arguing for annexation of the Sandwich Islands ran on the front page of the Hartford Courant.  [ page 521 ]

January 11 Saturday – A humidor with this date engraved was purported given to Sam at a banquet, most likely in New York. The humidor is said to have been presented to Mark Twain at a banquet on January 11, 1873. The presenter was his good friend Charles Tiffany. Charles Tiffany and his son Louis Comfort Tiffany supplied many of the decorations for the Hartford home. A description: “This burled walnut humidor and silver humidor has four sections with beveled lids and the engraved monogram ‘MT January 11 1873’. The flip-lidded burl humidor retains the original key and is stamped Tiffany and Co. Union Square” [Item # 250105137406 offered on eBay April 15, 2007]. A search of the New York Times for dates before and after this event came up empty. Sam’s purchase on Jan. 8 from Isaac Glazier & Co. would suggest he was in New York City from Jan. 7 or 8 through Jan. 11.

Whitelaw Reid wrote to Sam.

My Dear Twain: / The letters were admirable, the second especially, I think, is as good as anything you have ever done.

Is the enclosed cheque fair?

And wont you do something more for us when you see a chance? It wont hurt you a bit to freshen up people’s recollection of you as a newspaper writer. If you only knew enough of Cuba and Santo Domingo to give us similar pictures! But pray seize upon some fresh topic, and write again.

With many thanks,

Very truly yours, / Whitelaw Reid [MTPO].

January 12 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Ira F. Hart, secretary for the Elmira YMCA. Sam declined to lecture in Elmira or Towanda [MTL 5: 267]. He was determined to finish The Gilded Age before leaving for England in May. Sam also wrote to John M. Hay of the New York Tribune, telling of the tempting offers he’d had to lecture in New York. Sam also relayed Bliss’ agreement to send a book of “Roughing It” to the Tribune for their review [MTL 5: 268].

A bill was paid to George Curtis, Hartford druggist for ale, $6 [MTP].

January 13 and 17 Friday – Sam wrote again from Hartford to Whitelaw Reid, acknowledging receipt of $100 for his two letters on the Sandwich Islands. Sam wrote about buying a lot in Hartford, but then crossed out the passage. On Jan. 17 Sam added:

“…it appears I’ve got to lecture, after all—At least I am wavering & am almost ready to give in—but I’ll have to talk only a mighty few times if I talk at all. On ‘Sandwich Islands’—& you must not report me like Fields—you’d desolate my richest property” [MTL 5: 270].

January 14 Tuesday – Sam wrote a revision insert about missionary work in his Sandwich Islands letters to Whitelaw Reid, which were to be reprinted in the Tribune the following day.

January 15 Wednesday – Whitelaw Reid responded that the insert was received 24 hours too late, even for the extra sheet, but that he’d have a new plate made for what he might print later [MTL 5: 272n1].

January 16 Thursday – Sam paid $10,000 for a 544’ x 320’ lot in Hartford deeded this day [MTL 5: 271, 277]. Andrews states it was “later enlarged by a second purchase…for $20,000” total [81].

For three days the area was covered with ice; Livy wrote about it in her Jan. 19 diary entry.

James Redpath & George L. Fall wrote to Sam advising that Thomas B. Pugh of Phila. “offers 400$ for a lecture in his course and gives you these dates to select from”…etc. He asked for a telegram reply [MTP]. [ page 522 ]

January 17 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to his old friend Will Bowen, commiserating about the loss of a child [MTL 5: 273]. Sam also wrote to James Redpath, declining to lecture in Philadelphia, but saying he might talk the “Sandwich Islands” lecture in New York and Brooklyn for the Mercantile Library [MTL 5: 274].

January 19 Sunday – From Livy’s diary:

“Mr. Chamberlin let us have the low land for less than $9 a foot—but in measuring the land there proved to be more of the bank than Mr. C. thought, so that by taking a hundred and thirteen (I believe) of the table land seventy five did not bring us to the flat land, so Mr. C. sold us the rest of the bank for $50 a front foot [Salsbury 13]. Note: Franklin Chamberlin.

In the same entry, Livy wrote about Sam pulling her on a stool affixed to a sled over to the Charles Perkins home.

Mrs. N.G. Wakeman for Edgar M. Wakeman wrote to Sam, enclosing letter from Vernon Seaman, and expressing her thanks and enclosing a clipping from the Dec. 28, 1872 S.F. Chronicle, “Captain Wakeman’s Decks Cleared” etc., having raised $4,750 for Wakeman’s support [MTP].

January 20 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Thomas B. Pugh of Phila., owner of the “Star Course of Lectures and Concerts,” touting the idea of establishing a lecture circuit entirely on the Eastern seaboard in big cities with only big-name speakers [MTL 5: 275].

January 21 Tuesday – John E. Mouland wrote from Boston to reply to Clemens’ Dec. 3, 1875 invite.

My very Dear Friend / I Recd your kind note in L’pool, & had determined to take advantage of it this trip, but now at the last moment I find it impossible—today customs business, tomorrow shift my ship under the — grain elevator, & Friday customs clearance again & I sail from the wharf at 6 am Saturday on up of tide—so Thursday would be the only time & it is 6 hours from here to Hartford & 6 backem space I am miserably disapointed for I anticipated a pleasant visit, & hoped to prolong my acquaintance with you but I promise you, I will be with you the very first opportunity—& I hope when you return to Europe you will give me a chance of doing the hospitalities of the ship for you & your Lady— What a reputation you have given me—you have made me quite famousem spaceI got a gold medal & vote of thanks from the Humane society & my crew & officers a silver medal & thanks besides a money reward of 7£ to each man & Injun pay to the officers— I hope soon to be able to show you the medalem space Again regretting not to be able to take advantage of your kind offer & hoping you are in good health, I Remain with Sincere thanks & Regards Yours /Faithfully / John E Mouland

Samℓ. L Clemens Esq /please reply if possible / [MTP]. Note: Mouland was on the S.S. Batavia.

January 22 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Captain John E. Mouland about the awards the captain and crew received for the rescue at sea on Sam’s trip home. Again he invited Mouland to visit Hartford on his next trip, and wrote about the lot he purchased and his plans to have a house built there while he was in England [MTL 5: 277].

Sam also wrote to his sister Pamela:

“Ma & Annie have just come—7 PM. They have been steadily on the road, 31 hours, & are rather tired…” [MTL 5: 279].

M. Nott delivered and certified a load of wood had a certain amount of feet [MTP].  [ page 523 ]

January 24 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to James Redpath about his somewhat revised Sandwich Islands lecture he was to give twice in New York and once in Brooklyn and Jersey City. Sam decided to end the lecture on a serious note, rather than a joke. The serious note was a summary of Hawaii as a:

“…Sunday land. The land of indolence and dreams, where the air is drowsy and things tend to repose and peace, and to the emancipation from labor, and turmoil, and weariness, and anxiety of life” [MTL 5: 280-1&n1].

January 25 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Whitelaw Reid, enclosing a manuscript printed in the Tribune on Jan. 27 as “British Benevolence,” about the gold medal awarded to John E. Mouland for the rescue on the Batavia [MTL 5: 282].

January 26 Sunday – Whitelaw Reid wrote to Sam on Lotos Club stationery.

My Dear Twain: /Wont you come to New York next Saturday, and “be dined” as the guest of the Lotos? The members of the Club will give you a hearty welcome, and I will see that your dinner is not wholly indigestible. You will have to endure the solemnity of my society during the dinner, but at its close you can find some relief. / Very truly Yours, / Whitelaw Reid [MTPO]. Note: Sam telegraphed reply on Feb. 1

January 27 Monday – Sam’s article on John E. Mouland’s award, “British Benevolence,” was published in the New York Tribune [MTL 5: 282n2].

January 27 and 28 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Michael Laird Simons (1843-1880), who was compiling a new edition of the Cyclopaedia of American Literature, which came out in 1875. Sam suggested portraits of himself published in Aldine and elsewhere. Charles Dudley Warner prepared the biographical information. Sam wished to be presented in “two lights”—humorous, but with a “good background of gravity & of earnestness” [MTL 5: 283].

January 28 Tuesday – Sam wrote a public plea for charity to the Hartford Evening Post. The letter was an advertisement for his lecture to be given on Jan. 31 in Allyn Hall for the benefit of “Father” David Hawley (1809-1876), who worked tirelessly for the Hartford poor [MTL 5: 287]. The Hartford Courant and the Hartford Times both reprinted the letter on Jan. 29. In his Nov. 21, 1906 A.D., Clemens described Hawley and his place in Hartford hearts:

A Mr. Hawley was the city missionary—a man with a big generous heart, a charitable heart; a man whose pity went spontaneously out to all that suffer, and who labored in behalf of the poor, the forsaken, the forlorn, and the helpless, with an eager and tireless zeal not matchable among men….He was not a clergyman, nor an officer in any church; he was merely a plain, ordinary Christian; but he was so beloved—not to say worshipped—by all ranks and conditions of his fellow-citizens that he was called “Father” by common consent. It was a title of affection, and also of esteem and admiration; and his character and conduct conferred a new grace and dignity upon that appellation [MTA 2: 281].

Vernon Seaman wrote to Sam on the Jan. 19 letter from Mrs. Minnie L. Wakeman-Curtis.

Dear “Mark Twain.” / The enclosed, or rather this sheet, has just reached me, from Mrs. Wakeman, which she requests me to forward to you, as she does not know your address. — Pour souls, they have had more than their share of troubles, & you have the proud satisfaction of knowing that you have done much to alleviate them. —…Yours Very Truly… [MTP]. Note: Wakeman’s daughter sent her and her father’s gratitude.

January 29 Wednesday – In a letter to the Hartford Courant aimed at raising funds for Father Hawley’s efforts, and dated Jan. 28, Sam wrote that charity is: [ page 524 ]

…a dignified and respectworthy thing, and there is small merit about it and less grace when it don’t cost anything. We would like to have a thousand dollars in the house; we point to the snow and the thermometer; we call Hartford by name, and we are not much afraid but that she will step to the front and answer for herself…. I am thoroughly and cheerfully willing to lecture here for such an object, though I would have serious objections to talking in my own town for the benefit of my own pocket—we freebooters of the platform consider it more graceful to fly the black flag in strange waters and prey upon remote and friendless communities [MTL 5: 289].

January 30 Thursday – Sam wrote to the staff of the New York Tribune asking for copies of his British liberality letter, published on Jan. 27, about the award of the gold medal to Captain John E. Mouland [MTL 5: 291].

A load of hay was delivered by Paul Thompson [MTP].

January 31 Friday – Sam donated his “Sandwich Islands” lecture at the Benefit for Father Hawley, Allyn Hall in Hartford. All services were donated; the benefit netted $1,500 for “Father” David Hawley in his charity work for the poor [Lorch 137]. Note: See Jan. 28 entry. Clemens gave one other lecture to benefit Hawley’s work, on Mar. 5, 1875. See entry.

February 1 Saturday – Sam telegraphed from Hartford to Whitelaw Reid, who was a member of the Lotos Club in N.Y. where Sam had agreed to speak. “Andrews and I will go to the club without first going to the hotel.” The dinner was in Reid’s honor. That evening, Sam gave a speech.

“I make it a rule of life never to miss any chances, especially on occasions like these, where the opportunity for converting the heathen is luxuriously promising” [MTL 5: 292].

A bill was paid to Case & Rathbun, shirt mfrs & cigars wholesale, for $11 for Jan. purchases [MTP].

February 2 Sunday – Sam wrote from the St. Nicholas Hotel in New York to Livy on their third wedding anniversary.

I am keeping the great anniversary in the solitude of the hotel; & not boisterously, for last night’s whirlwind of excitement has swept all the spirit out of me & I am as dull & lifeless as if I had just waked out of a long, stupefying sleep.

I find that the Tribune review of Roughing It was written by the profound old stick who has done all the Tribune reviews for the last 90 years [George Ripley (1802-1880), instead of Sam’s request for John Hay]. The idea of setting such an oyster as that to prating about Humor! This is “journalism.” They would think me absurd if I were to suggest that they hire Josh Billings to write a critique on the Illiad, but it does not occur to them that he is as thoroughly competent to do it as this old Tribune fool to criticise a book of humor.… It would be just as consistent to hire a clerk to keep their books, write their editorials, cook their food & do their washing. No man has an appreciation so various that his judgment is good upon all varieties of literary work. If they were to set me to review Mrs. Browning, it would be like asking you to deliver judgment upon the merits of a box of cigars…[MTL 5: 293].

Sam and Livy had a running joke about Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poetry, which Livy enjoyed and Sam called “marvelous ravings” [MTL 5: 294n5].

Two-tenths of an inch of snow fell in New York City [NOAA.gov].

February 3 Monday – George Routledge & Sons, London was paid for duties on books shipped (bill in MTP). [ page 525 ]

 In Hartford, M. Nott delivered and certified a load of wood had a certain amount of feet [MTP].

February 4 Tuesday – Nearly an inch of rain fell in NYC [NOAA.gov].

February 5 Wednesday – Sam gave his revised “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Steinway Hall, New York City [Schmidt].

A load of hay was delivered by Paul Thompson for a fee of 5 cents [MTP].

February 6 Thursday – The Brooklyn Eagle ran an unsigned, teasing announcement on page 3 of Sam’s lecture for the following night. It has that Mark Twain ring to it.

MARK TWAIN

      Mark Twain will lecture on the Sandwich Islands at the Academy on Friday night. His lecture is not to be commended at all. It is painful in its treatment of facts. He has compelled the belief that he is an historical fraud, or that the encyclopedias must all be re-written. This wretched being actually displays no accountability to truth as misunderstood by the Historical Society. He thinks that a ton of fun and not the least scruple of fact is a mixture he can serve up with impunity and dispatch. As to the Sandwich Islands, he was there six months six years ago, and while there suffered incarceration for debt in a live volcano. The painful results are now set at large for an hour’s talk which has compelled him when delivered to leave one place for some other place, then to deliver it as soon as possible. We have no confidence in Mark Twain. He makes people laugh so much that they are precluded from thoughtful attention to the grave themes that might be but are not put into his lecture.

February 7 Friday – Sam gave his revised “Sandwich Islands” lecture at the Academy, Brooklyn, New York [Schmidt].

Bill dated Jan. 4 paid to H.A. Botsford & Co., Hartford dealers in bailed hay and straw, for $15.68 [MTP].

Nearly half an inch of rain & snow fell on NYC [NOAA.gov].

Whitelaw Reid wrote to Sam referring him to a man in Baltimore; the subject matter is too obscured to make out [MTP].

Thomas B. Pugh wrote from Phila. advising Sam of the offer from another lecture bureau for half receipts for a lecture there. Since Sam had declined Pugh, he felt sure the reasons still applied for declining this new offer [MTP]. Note: The man needed a new quill.

February 8 Saturday – Sam returned briefly to Hartford [MTL 5: 295].

February 10 Monday – Sam was listed among the arrivals at the St. Nicholas Hotel in New York. He may have viewed dress rehearsals of Augustin Daly’s play of Roughing It, which ran from Feb. 18 to Mar. 15 [The Twainian, July-Aug 1946 p2].

In the evening, Sam gave his revised “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Steinway Hall, New York City [Schmidt].

February 11 Tuesday – Sam returned briefly to Hartford [MTL 5: 295]. [ page 526 ]

February 12 Wednesday – An inch of snow fell on NYC [NOAA.gov].

February 13 Thursday – Sam gave his revised “Sandwich Islands” lecture in The Tabernacle, Jersey City, New Jersey [MTL 5: 295]. The four February lectures were successful; reviews highly complementary.

In Hartford, M. Nott delivered and certified a load of wood had a certain amount of feet [MTP].

Charles Inslee Pardee sent a card for the Lotos Club informing Sam he’d been elected a member [MTP].

February 14 Friday – Sam probably returned to Hartford after his last lecture. Sometime during his New York stays he met up with John McComb, the part owner and editor of the Alta California most responsible for getting Sam the assignment for the Quaker City excursion [MTL 5: 296].

February 15 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to James Hammond Trumbull, accepting membership in and an invitation to attend the Hartford Monday Evening Club on Feb. 17. According to Sam, Trumbull, a learned and educated man, “could swear in twenty-seven languages” [MTL 5: 297]. Members of the Club included Joseph R. Hawley, and Rev. Nathaniel J. Burton (1824-1887). The group was formed in 1869, as an elite, twenty-man discussion group. Members presented papers on issues of the day. They were allowed to invite one non-Hartford resident as a guest. [MTL 5: 56; Kaplan 146; Monday Evening Club, privately printed (1954)].

February 17 Monday – Livy and Sam wrote from Hartford to Livy’s mother, Olivia Lewis Langdon of family matters [MTL 5: 298].

Sam attended a meeting of the Hartford Monday Evening Club, where he heard Congregationalist minister Nathaniel J. Burton read an essay entitled “Individualism” [MTL 5: 297n2].

February 18 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Whitelaw Reid, asking him to put a short notice in the Tribune that Sam wouldn’t be lecturing any more that season. Sam claimed it was the Tribune’s fault that he had twenty invitations to lecture in New York City alone [MTL 5: 299-300].

Augustin Daly “borrowed” some of Sam’s ideas and a play called “Roughing It” opened at the Grand Opera House in New York. Very little was taken from the book [MTL 6: 206-7n1]. This may be why Sam didn’t raise hell. And, since the play closed after a run of only four weeks (last performance was Mar. 15, 1873), he may simply have wanted to disassociate from it [Walker, Phillip 185; The Twainian July-Aug 1946 p1-2]. Sam remained on cordial terms with Daly. In 1877 Daly would stage Sam and Bret Harte’s Ah Sin play.

February 20 Thursday – M. Nott delivered and certified a load of wood had a certain amount of feet [MTP].

February 24 Monday – Bill was paid to Arnold, Constable & Co. of New York, $256.54, for silk, Florentine, cashmere, bands and handiwork [MTP].

February 25 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Elisha Bliss and asked him to “stir Frank up—he is getting 3 or 4 weeks behindhand with his statement [for royalties].” Sam also mentioned some man in New York wanted to print 100 of the Jumping Frog stories “merely for distribution among friends” [MTL 5: 300-1].

February 26 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Elisha Bliss clarifying statement dates and commenting on a book of sketches requested by Bliss and his current work in progress, The Gilded Age. This book was a true collaboration between Sam and Livy, and Charles and Susan Warner. The women [ page 527 ] would comment and kibitz on the work as it progressed. The collaboration with Warner helped Sam overcome his worries about writing a book-length work of fiction.

“Can get sketches ready any time, but shall wait awhile, as I have good hopes of finishing a book which I am working like a dog on—a book which ought to outsell the sketches, & doubtless will. It will make a pretty lively sensation I bet you” [MTL 5: 301].

February 28 Friday – Sam again wrote from Hartford to Bliss about his “infatuation” with writing The Gilded Age and his intent to have the book published simultaneously in England and America. Living there for a time would solve the legal question of the English residency requirement for copyright [MTL 5: 302].

February, end – Captain John E. Mouland of the Batavia came to visit Sam. It was his first visit after several invitations [MTL 5: 279n6].

March – Sometime during the month, Sam wrote from Hartford to Louisa I. Conrad, a neighbor in St. Louis in 1867. Sam’s letter is a humorous “RECIPE FOR MAKING A SCRAPBOOK” [MTL 5: 303].

Sam also wrote, possibly this month, to Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw), who had asked Sam to contribute to his column in the New York Weekly. Sam wrote a humorous decline, which he knew would be published; and it was, on July 14 [MTL 5: 304-6 & 306n1]. Note: The Twainian of Feb. 1944 gives this as the July 14, 1873 issue of the Weekly, and explains that since Sam was under contract to American Publishing Co., for all sketches, he supplied an article in the form of a letter to Billings [1]. Previously in error as July 28.

As of Mar. 1, 1873, a total of 77,654 copies of Roughing It and 103,907 of Innocents Abroad had been sold [MTL 5: 310n6].

March 1 Saturday – A receipt with this date from the Asylum Congregational Society for $155. The document is a form letter for rent of slip no. 167 [number written in] for one year from date [MTP]. Notes: Annual pew fees were a common way for churches to raise revenue. It was a similar purchase of $25 by Orion that would raise Sam’s ire in two years (see July 26, 1875 entry).

McNary & Co., chemists and druggists, Hartford were paid $16 for South Side Madeira, Sherry and Claret [MTP].

March 3 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Willard M. White (1843-1923) who had asked for help in promoting the invention of a mosquito net frame that attached to a bed.

There is nothing that a just & right feeling man rejoices in more than to see a mosquito imposed on & put down, & brow-beaten & aggravated,—& this ingenious contrivance will do it. And it is a rare thing to worry a fly with, too. A fly will stand off & curse this invention till language utterly fails him. I have seen them do it hundreds of times…We shall see the summer day come when we shall all sit under our nets in church & slumber peacefully, while the discomfited flies club together & take it out of the minister [MTL 5: 307].

               Text Box: March 4, 1869 – Ulysses S. Grant was sworn in for a second term as  
President of the United States

 

 [ page 528 ]

March 4 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Elisha Bliss. Sam wanted Nast to illustrate the next book, The Gilded Age. He asked Bliss’ advice on the matter and a suggested price to offer Nast. Sam also wanted to buy more stock in the American Publishing Co., but never did. He was a director in the company, however, until 1881 [MTL 5: 308-9].

March 7 Friday – Sam, in Hartford, telegraphed and also wrote a short note with enclosure to Whitelaw Reid of the New York Tribune. Sam wrote about the convicted murderer William Foster and then changed his mind and asked Reid to “tear this stuff up” [MTL 5: 310-11]. Still, the article was published in the Tribune on Mar. 10. Sam sent a one-line note to the staff of the Tribune, asking them to “send 2 Credit Mobilier Extra Sheets.” Sam was interested in the scandal and probably thought he might use it in writing The Gilded Age [MTL 5: 314].

March 8 Saturday – Budd gives this date for the first printing of Sam’s, “Poor Little Stephen Girard” In Alta California [Collected 1014]. California Digital Newspaper Collection online, however, shows as Mar. 11. [https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cdnc]. Note: previously in error as 1872. Sometimes reprinted as, “Life As I Find It.”

March 10 Monday –Sam wrote from Hartford to Tom Hood and George Routledge & Sons in London. Sam wrote about the Jubilee Singers, who were about to appear in London. He had heard the singers once, probably on Jan. 28, 1872 when they came to Twichell’s church. He would hear them twice more in his next visit to England.

“I was reared in the South, & my father owned slaves, & I do not know when anything has moved me as did the plaintive melodies of the Jubilee Singers” [MTL 5: 315].

Sam’s letter dated Mar. 7, “Foster’s Case,” was published in the New York Tribune.

“I have read the Foster petitions in Thursday’s Tribune. The lawyers’ opinions do not disturb me, because I know that those same gentlemen could make as able an argument in favor of Judas Iscariot, which is a great deal for me to say, for I never can think of Judas Iscariot without losing my temper” [Fatout, MT Speaks 75].

March 11 Tuesday – Bill paid to Geo. W. Ford 395 Main St. Hartford; for 12 fire extinguishers charged $12 [MTP].

March 18 Tuesday – Bill and receipt for $3 to Hawley & Goodrich & Co. for lost pocketbook [MTP].

March 19 Wednesday – Susy Clemens’ first birthday.

March 20 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Will Bowen, who had sent Sam an article about polar currents from Silas Bent, an oceanographer and formal naval officer. Sam thanked Will, and also explained his wife would not let him lecture anywhere.

“We sail for England May 17 & return in October—meantime we hope the most aggravating part of the house will be built & off our minds” [MTL 5: 320].

A bill paid to L. Daniels for $10.70 for goods (illegible) [MTP].

March 21 Friday – Sam paid $3 to Hawley, Goodrich & Co. for special notebooks of his design [MTP].

March 22 Saturday – Sam purchased a small wedge of land along the eastern side of their lot and 40 feet on the south for $1,000, which increased his frontage on Farmington Avenue by twenty feet [MTL 5: 271n6; Salsbury 17]. [ page 529 ]

Sam wrote from Hartford, declining an invitation to lecture from his former partner on the Buffalo Express, Josephus Larned, chairman of the Young Men’s Association Lecture Course [MTL 5: 320].

March 24 Monday – Bill for glass paid to Chas. Wright & Co., Hartford, $21.43 [MTP].

March 26 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Elisha Bliss, vowing to finish The Gilded Age before leaving for England in May. Sam enclosed a letter from William Gouverneur Morris (1832-1884), who had approached Sam about publishing a book.

“See enclosed letter. Old California acquaintance. They never die, & they all write books on California geology, geography, & Indianology & enlarge upon everything except the main chief product of that country which is Damphoology. And they all run to me to find a publisher for them” [MTL 5: 322].

D. Nicholson wrote to Sam: “Dear Sir / Enclosed please find cheque for $15. for your letter on the Foster case / Respectfully” [MTP]. Note: see Mar. 10 entry.

March 28 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Will Bowen, sending Routledge’s London address for Will to write [MTL 5: 323].

Clemens also wrote to Whitelaw Reid of the New York Tribune, thanking him for a token check received on his article about the Foster case (“British Benevolence”). Sam disclosed his plans to stay in England four months, and to take a copy of his new book there to publish simultaneously in both countries.

“Some people think I have no head for business, but it is a lie….I have a nice putrid anecdote that Hay will like. Am preserving it in alcohol—in my person” [MTL 5: 324].

March 29 Saturday – Sam’s article “Making a Fortune,” appeared in the Jackson, California Amador Dispatch. As the “Moralist of the Main”, Sam could make his points about an issue by standing the moral order on its head. This was a funny sketch about a bank watchman robbing a bank of a million dollars, then refusing offers to return half and living on as an honored and respected man and a lesson that “even the poor may rise to affluence and respectability” [Fatout, MT Speaks 78].

March 30 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to the editor of the Hartford Courant, a fictitious tale about a family drowning in construction mud on Forest Avenue.

“There was a heavy sea on by this time, of mud & water mixed, & every third colossal poultice of it that rolled along made a clean breach over the wagon & left the occupants looking like the original Adam before the clay dried” [MTL 5: 325-8].

March 31 Monday – Sam read his first essay for the Hartford Monday Evening Club entitled “License of the Press” [Budd, “Collected” 1014]. Sam said, “The touchy Charles Reade can sue English newspapers and get verdicts; he would soon change his tactics here” [Gribben 572].

Sam’s article, “A Horrible Tale – Fearful Calamity in Forest Street” ran in the Hartford Courant [Camfield, bibliog.].

Frank Soulé wrote from San Francisco to thank Sam for his offer to “take charge of my poetic manuscripts. I did not intend, however…to burthen you with the arrangement and supervision which you so generously offer” [MTP].

 

April – Vol. 1, No.1 , p.6-7 of The Globe, a literary magazine in Buffalo, N.Y. published by E.L. Cornwell, ran an article just short of two pages, “Mark Twain as a Buffalo Editor” that was rather critical of Sam’s time in that city, some three years before.  [ page 530 ]

Mr. Clemens, as an Editor of the Express, ever maintained the most rigid views of the power and importance of the Press and was scrupulous of its purity and dignity. He seldom put a word into an article without first knowing and meaning just what that word expressed. And the readers were also certain of getting his honest convictions most plainly worded. In his spicy saluatory which appeared in the Express on the morning of the 21st of August, 1869, was the following, which when divested of its careless jesting, indicates as clearly as possible Mark Twain’s journalistic platform. We quote: [Here the Globe inserted Sam’s “Saluatory” from the date given—see entry for an excerpt.]

      The first two months of Mr. Clemens editorial career in Buffalo were indeed busy ones. From eight o’clock in the morning until ten, eleven and sometimes twelve o’clock at night he sat at his desk poring over exchanges, penning witty paragraphs, exchanging frequent remarks with his associate and writing brief editorials. This was in the summer, be it remembered, and the humorist editor was a picture and a study in himself. Coatless, sometimes vestless, he lolled in his chair with one shoeless foot on the table and the other in the wastebasket. His collar, cuffs and tie were strewn on the floor with the papers, and his hat lay just where it happened to fall when brushed off the back of his head. But he was a worker, and doubtless at the present time the subscribers of the Express bear in delightful remembrance the fresh, agreeable editorial paragraphs that bore, so unmistakably, the stamp of Twain’s matchless sarcasm and humor.

      No man detested loafers more than Mr. Clemens, and assuredly no man could be more pitiless in his treatment of bores. He was vigorous in his denunciation of that class of people who aimlessly and impudently intrude their constant presence in the editorial room. One incident will, perhaps, bear relating, showing how he once rebuked a party of undesired visitors. Arriving at his office one evening about half past eight he found it full of men—all strangers to him. They had apparently taken full possession of the room. Some were smoking and some had their feet upon the table and every chair in the room was occupied. With a look of disgust Mr. Clemens hesitated for a moment in the doorway and then in his peculiar drawling way, said:

      “Is this the editorial room of the Express

      “Yes sir!” promptly chorused the assemblage.

      “H—m! Is it customary for the editors to sit down?” questioned the humorist.

      “Yes,” “certainly,” “to be sure,” were the replies returned by the puzzled smokers. “Why do you ask?” said one of them.

      “Because,” slowly enunciated Mr. Clemens, “I am one of the editors of the Express, and it occurred to me that I ought to have a seat!!”

      In an instant every chair was vacated and the men, somewhat abashed, attempted to laugh the matter off by saying “Ah! Mr. Clemens, that was neat,” “witty as ever.” Etc., etc., but there was something in the joker’s eye that quickly told them he was in no joking frame of mind at that moment. After that, loungers were rather shy of Mark Twain [eBay item 200338937023 purchased on May 11, 2009; not in Tenney].

Note: this obscure source should be compared with the account of the same event by Express reporter Earl D. Berry in McCullough’s Mark Twain at the Buffalo Express, p. xx. In Berry’s account this all took place on the day Sam first arrived for work, or Aug. 15, 1869. See also Reigstadt’s recent work, Scribblin’ For a Livin’ 30-31.

 

April 2 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles F. Wingate (1848-1909), correspondent for the Boston Globe and the Springfield Republican. Sam responded to Wingate’s question as to Sam’s availability, probably for an interview, and Sam told him his plans were uncertain when he’d be in New [ page 531 ] York, but he would stay at the St. Nicholas Hotel and suggested Wingate “glance at the hotel arrivals in the Tribune” [MTL 5: 328].

Whitelaw Reid wrote to Sam, “sorry about the Cunard business” being “overlooked.” He added “the Cunarders are furiously hostile to The Tribune on account of some criticisms…which Smalley once engaged in. After the appearance of your letter it seems that one of our advertising agents went down, and asked them for the advertisement….They had the coolness to reply…that they were not grateful to the Tribune…if there were any obligation in the matter it was due entirely to Mark Twain” [MTP].

April 5-15? Tuesday – William C. Cornwell (1851-1932) sent an unsigned article and asked Sam to respond. Cornwell was a banker temporarily turned journalist. Sam answered from Hartford:

“I perceive that the writer has discovered my besetting weakness, which is unreflecting & rather ungraceful irritability. It isn’t a pleasant trait. I have some pleasant ones, but modesty compels me to hide them from the world, so no one gets the benefit of them but myself” [MTL 5: 329].

April 6 Sunday – In Virginia City, Joe Goodman wrote to Sam:

I returned from San Francisco yesterday, where we have been making a seven-weeks stay. It was pleasant enough at first but got monotonous toward the end. Bill Lent sued me for libel about the Diamond Swindle, but when he found out that I was going to rake up his pious actions from time immemorial he concluded to back down. Old John McComb returned from the East during my sojourn, and he devoted one entire afternoon to recounting his intercourse with you in New York. What infinite appreciation and recollection he has! I don’t believe you said a single good thing but what he repeated literally—and then his eyes would sparkle and he would laugh in that unctious way of his till he would shake the building like a mastodon turbulent with merriment.

Denis McCarthy is boss reporter on the Chronicle, a position in which he is acquitting himself with decent credit [MTP]. Note: Joe was angling for the Japan mission but felt “the President had fixed his eye on Bingham.”

April 7–11 Friday – Captain Mouland of the Batavia visited Sam sometime between these dates. It was his second visit [MTL 5: 279n6]. In a letter of Apr. 26 to Colton Greene, a passenger on the Batavia during the rescue at sea, Sam described Mouland’s visit:

“The ‘old man’ has been down again & spent two days with me—he came fortified—brought 6 bottles of Scotch whiskey—& all he drank while here was two glasses” [MTL 5: 356].

April 9 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Whitelaw Reid of the New York Tribune. He enclosed a letter about the necessity of securing sufficient life rafts on ships instead of lifeboats. Sam’s “crusade” on the subject was sparked by the loss of 481 passengers and crew when the Atlantic sank on the coast of Nova Scotia on Apr. 1, 1873 [MTL 5: 335-9].

Sam also wrote to Alexander & Mason, patent solicitors, Washington D.C., letter not extant but referred to in A&M’s reply of Apr. 12.

April 11 Friday – Sam’s letter dated Apr. 8 “Life-Rafts. How the Atlantic’s Passengers Might Have Been Saved” ran in the New York Tribune [Camfield, bibliog.].

 

Reginald Cholmondeley wrote from Havana, Cuba. “Dear Mark / I have been making a yacht trip along the S American coast & West Indies & purpose being at Philadelphia about the end of this month & …New York for [ page 532 ] Liverpool the 1st week of May & shall be very happy to see you & Susie & Mrs Clemens & her maid, if you still think of coming to England” [MTP].

April 12 Saturday – Alexander & Mason, patent solicitors wrote to Sam: “Your models and favor of 9th instant have been received. We believe a patent can be obtained for the improvement having carefully examined the Patent Office, found nothing like it” [MTP]. Note: Sam’s patent application for the “Improvement in Scrap-Books” was filed on May 7.

April 14 Monday – Mary Mason Fairbanks wrote from Cleveland this day or Apr. 13.

My dear Hartford children— / Why do I hear nothing from you? So often of late have my thoughts turned questioningly towards you only to come back unanswered, that I am constrained to send this little messenger out of my ark, in search of you.

      Of course the breezes of rumor give me unreliable items of “Mark Twain” here & “Mark Twain”—but what is that, when I am wondering how you are—how Livy is—how Susie is—what your hopes are—what your fears, if any—the nameless yearnings we have a right to feel for those we love.

      My own season is peaceful. Mr. Fairbanks and I have passed a quiet but a happy winter, looking hopefully to a summer reunion—when the vacations send our children home. Do you still hold to the plan of going abroad in May? How very much I wish you could spend the summer with us. We would domicile you in the little cottage at the gate where you might receive us or shut us out. I suppose however you would scorn such plebian hospitality now.

      Pray give me hope that sometime you’ll come down from the heights of Plantagenet dinners to drink a glass of milk with us.

      Love & kisses for Livy and the wee Susie who is now a young lady of something more than twelve-months. / Faithfully Yours / Mother Fairbanks [MTL 5: 340].

April 15 Tuesday – Sam signed a description to be filed with a patent application for his “Mark Twain’s Self-Pasting Scrapbook” [MTL 5: 145n4].

April 16 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Mary Mason Fairbanks, who, in her letter of Apr. 14, scolded Sam for not writing. Sam explained his working “6 days a week—good full days” on the new book, The Gilded Age. This letter established Livy & Susan Warner’s contribution to the collaboration:

Every night for many weeks, Livy & Susie Warner have collected in my study to hear Warner & me read our day’s work; & they have done a power of criticizing, but have always been anxious to be on hand at the reading & find out what has been happening to the dramatis personae since the previous ending. They both pleaded so long & vigorously for Warner’s heroine, that yesterday Warner agreed to spare her life & let her marry—he meant to kill her. I killed my heroine as dead as a mackerel yesterday (but Livy don’t know it yet). Warner may or may not kill her to-day (this is in the “boss” chapter.)…I have an itching desire to get back to my chapter & shake up my heroine’s remains [MTL 5: 339-41].

April 17 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to David G. Croly (1829-1889), editor of the New York Daily Graphic. Sam included a list of telegraph headings to show how “dull” things had become, leading him to “get the fidgets” and want to travel. He included news of his collaboration with Charles Dudley Warner. The letter was published in the Graphic on Apr. 22 [MTL 5: 341-3].

Possibly this day Sam also wrote a note of enthusiasm for the new book to Whitelaw Reid [MTL 5: 344].

A net bill after returns of $6.50 was paid to Strong & Woodruff, “manufacturer of hats, caps and furs of the most Fashionable Styles,” no. 355 Main St., Hartford [MTP].

April 20 Sunday – Sam wrote a long “screed” from Hartford to Whitelaw Reid. Sam was upset by the short review in small type that appeared in the Tribune on Apr. 19. Sam argued that the release of The [ page 533 ] Gilded Age was truly to be “the literary event of the year,” and that it demanded larger type and a more prominent place in the paper than a small corner on the editorial page [MTL 5: 346]. Reid responded favorably, probably by telegraph, offering to print another notice [MTL 5: 352n3].

April 21 Monday – Sam and Charles Dudley Warner wrote a note and the title page from The Gilded Age with fees for copyright to the Librarian of Congress, Ainsworth R. Spofford (1825-1908) [MTL 5: 350].

Whitelaw Reid wrote two notes to Sam. The first asking him to come to the Lotos Club for the closing dinner of the season on Saturday. The second note advising enclosed check for his “life-raft letter” [MTP].

April 22 Tuesday – Sam’s letter dated Apr. 17 to David G. Croly, editor of the New York Daily Graphic ran in that paper [MTL 5: 343n1]. The headings Sam pointed to: “solemn peacefulness” and “general stagnation, the profound lethargy that broods over the land” included:

Wall Street Panicky; Two to Three Hundred Men Roasted Alive!; Incendiarism in a Baptist Flock; A TOWN IN A STATE OF GENERAL RIOT; The Modoc Massacre; A Father Killed by his Son [MTL 5: 342]. Note: (Sam cut the newspaper headlines from page 3 of the Hartford Evening Post for April 16, 1873.)

Sam wrote three times to Whitelaw Reid, who had suggested another notice.

“All right! You go ahead & give us that other notice. Bilious? I was more than bilious—I was scared. When a man starts out in a new role, the public always says he is a fool & won’t succeed. So I wanted to make every knife cut that could help us succeed, anyway.”

Sam firmly believed that if the Tribune said “it right” that “all the other papers will follow suit.” Sam was happy with the new notice, more than likely telegraphed by Reid, along with an invite to the Lotos Club [MTL 5: 351-4].

Bill paid to Sykes & Newton, Hartford chemists & druggists, for ½ dozen crates apple cider $4 [MTP]

April 24 Thursday – Livy and baby Susy accompanied Livy’s mother and cousin Hattie Lewis to Elmira. Sam remained in Hartford to finish The Gilded Age [MTL 5: 354]. What valuables did he place in his Hartford bank vault? A receipt in Sam’s financials for the year reads:

“The First National Bank – Received from Mr Saml L Clemens eleven packages for safe keeping. The same being placed in our vault to be delivered upon order of Mr. Clemens. C.S. Gillette”  [MTP] Note: Charles S. Gillette.

April 25 and 26 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Livy in Elmira.

Livy darling, as Warner says “The child is born, & his name is Mary Jane!” Which is to say, that just as Eliza called me to dinner I put the last touch on the chapter where Phil strikes the coal mine—so the book is really done,—all except the tedious work of correcting, dovetailing & revamping. A fearful load went off my mind with the discovery of that coal vein [MTL 5: 354].

Sam dined with Charles Dudley Warner [Letter to Livy, Apr. 26].

April 26 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Colton Greene, a passenger on the Batavia during the rescue at sea. In relating a visit by Captain John E. Mouland earlier that month, Sam wrote: [ page 534 ]

“We talked a deal about you & your disheartening habit of cursing & swearing at the table while the ladies & the ministers needed quiet & silence wherein to coax their sustenance to go down—& stay.”

Sam told about the digging of the cellar of his new house, and invited Greene to visit [MTL 5: 356].

Sam also wrote to an unidentified man:

“Dear Sir: / I think so but can’t say positively. Shall either be here or in N.Y.—most likely here. Send a telegram here the day before is best perhaps. If it don’t find me here you will know that I am in New York—St Nicholas Hotel. / Yours truly/ Samuel L. Clemens” [eBay item #230501584371, 7/20/2010]. Note: possibly to Charles F. Wingate; see Apr. 2.

Sam also wrote again to Livy about elements of the book. “We both think this is going to be no slouch of a novel, as Solomon said to the Hebrew Children.” Sam also loved cats.

“The kitties are very frisky, now. They & the old cat sleep with me, nights, & have the run of the house. I wouldn’t take thousands of dollars for them. Next to a wife whom I idolize, give me cat—an old cat, with kittens” [MTL 5: 358].

April 27 Sunday – In Hartford, Sam had lunch with Joe Twichell [Letter to Livy, Apr. 26].

April 28 Monday – In Hartford, Sam wrote to his sister, Pamela Moffett, about checks sent, her St. Louis letter received, and sending Orion some English newspapers he wanted. Sam observed about Orion’s late employment to Bliss:

Dear Sister:

Yes we got your St Louis letter—& before this time, no doubt, my banker has collected your $30 check from yours—so if I had gone away & forgotten to tell you, your next bank statement would have shown you that it was all right. I can’t imagine how I could have neglected acknowledging recpt. of the check at once—I usually attend to such things immediately— it is the only sure way, & there is no excuse for [ever] doing otherwise.

Your remarks about Orion are very just. I always recognize his many merits & excellent virtues when he is out of my sight, but he is sure to irritate me & make me see his less pleasant [features] when he is with me.

As to the English papers, he could have had them all—he surely never said he wanted them; or if he did he must have done it shortly after my return, when I was working on the English book & regarded the papers as indispensable.

I will send some to him now. He will grow where he is now, & will succeed, provided he jealously but quietly preserves his dignity, has no familiarities with [subordinates,] never allows the “insolence of the office” to creep into his spirit, & wins the first battle where superiors attempt to infringe upon his territory. “Give a nigger an inch & ”—he never can be made to understand, after that precedent, why he shouldn’t take more inches; hence there never can be an end to it.

Orion became Bliss’s slave, his errand-boy, his door-mat, merely because he did not shut flat down on the first interference. And yet he went there armed with such power that he could have made Bliss his slave. Bliss would have blacked Orion’s boots, rather than have a rupture with me.

But he bided his time, & it came. Orion did a thing which was utterly inexcusable—it was the act of a half-witted child, & I could not [say] a word when he was discharged, not with-standing he did this foolish thing with an honest intent to do me a brotherly service—& came almighty near ruining me.

Livy had a severe attack of diphtheria, & went home weak as a child. She telegraphs that she is resting & getting strong, but I haven’t very good faith in it. However, she will get strong there. The muggins is well they say.

The novel is finished, & we are well satisfied with it. It will take ten days more to lick it thoroughly into shape, & then I leave for Elmira.

The cellar of the house is dug, & the Masons will now go to work. We have many applications from publishers, of course. [ page 535 ]

Love to all of you.

Sam.

P.S. Vergennes would be a good place for all of you. That mountain air would make you all wonder how you ever had any bodily vigor in a flat-land.

But Lastine would suit my style, even better still [MTP, drop-in letters].

April 29 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Captain John E. Mouland, sending Samuel Chalmers Thompson with the letter.

“The bearer is my friend and London helpmeet…He would like to sail with us, May 17 in the ‘Batavia’ & I would exceedingly like it myself. I hope that the ship is not so full but that a shelf can be found for him to dispose himself upon.”

Thompson had been a reporter for the Tribune for a short time in 1872 and then taught a version of shorthand at Vernor Episcopal Institute outside of Hartford with Azel Stevens Roe, Jr., whom Sam had known from California days. Thompson recalled meeting Sam in mid-March, 1873 [MTL 5: 359].

May 1 Thursday – Sam wrote a short note from Hartford to Livy in Elmira. Sam asked if she was well because he’d only had two letters since she left and he figured he’d written fifteen or sixteen [MTL 5: 360]. Sam often exaggerated; Livy had only been gone a week.

Sam signed a receipt dated May 1, 1873:

“Received of Am Pub C six hundred & forty one 72/100” [copy of original, Stowe-Day Library, Hartford].

Elisha Bliss sent a statement of sales for RI & IA from Mar 1 to May 1, 1873, enclosing check for $1,141.72.

May 3 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Elisha Bliss that he and Charles Dudley Warner would “be ready to talk business by about Tuesday, Wednesday, or, at latest, Thursday” (May 8). Sam also used a bit of leverage by passing on the judgment of Sheldon & Co. that he would make “a serious & damaging mistake” trying to sell a novel by subscription. No doubt this is why Bliss agreed to a higher royalty than Sam’s prior books [MTL 5: 361].

May 5 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Orion and Mollie Clemens.

Dear Sister & Bro:

Your letters received today—am very glad indeed for the news they brought. We finished revamping & refining the book tonight—ten days’ labor. It is near midnight & we are just through.

I like Orion’s editorials. I like their gentlemanly dignity & refinement as much as their other virtues. The English papers will soon stop I fear—I subscribed till May 1st. Will subscribe for one for Orion when I get to London if I don’t forget it.

Am very sorry to hear Ma is sick. Livy is down. In Elmira. Quinzy. Very bad attack of it. Just heard it to-day. The baby is well.

Good-bye
em spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceLovingly

Sam [MTL 5: 362 & notes].

Note: letters from Orion and Mollie not extant; notes of source: “Orion’s presumably reported on his position with the newly established Rutland (Vt.) Globe, which he had agreed to edit from its first issue, published on 1 May.”

 May 6 Tuesday – Bill paid to American Publishing Co. for IA books mailed $3.48: to Thomas P. McMurry (Pet), Colony, Missouri, and to Colonel Cooley at depot [MTP]. Notes: Pet McMurry was Sam’s [ page 536 ] old workmate and printer in St. Louis, and may have been the author of The Free Grant Lands Of Canada (1871). Col. Cooley was probably a Connecticut hero of the Mexican war.

May 7 Wednesday – Sam’s patent application for the “Improvement in Scrap-Books” was filed [MTL 5: 145n4]. Date of receipt from Hawley, Goodrich & Co. for Hartford Courant for period Oct. 6 ‘72 to May 1 ‘73; $4.56 [MTP].

May 8 Thursday – Elisha Bliss arrived in Hartford and met with the collaborating authors. He agreed to a 10% royalty, 5% for each author. George Routledge was also in Hartford that day and probably joined in the negotiations for publication in England. Afterward, Sam left for Elmira by way of New York City. The Gilded Age became the first novel sold by subscription [MTL 5: 361n1].

May 12 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to James Redpath with his sailing date on the Batavia from New York and the possibility of him lecturing next October in “3 or 4 large eastern cities—but nowhere else.” [MTL 5: 364]. Note: Sam would not lecture in the U.S. again until Mar. 1874.

May 13 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Dudley Warner about taking the 600-page requirement out of the contract with Bliss. Susy had been sick most of the night [MTL 5: 365].

May 15 Thursday – Sam, Livy, baby Susy, nurse Nellie Bermingham and Clara Spaulding, accompanied by Mrs. Fairbanks, who’d been invited by Mrs. Langdon in April to see the couple off, all left Elmira and traveled to New York.

Note: The New York Times article of June 11, 1873 disclosed that Sam “About a month subsequently, while taking the Erie Railway, on his way to take steamer for Europe, Mark had a book thrust upon him by the newsboy, containing five of his sketches [unauthorized].” This caused Sam to instigate a lawsuit against Benjamin J. Such in New York. This would have been the trip referred to.

May 16 Friday – Mrs. Fairbanks, Livy and Clara Spaulding spent the night in Livy’s cabin on the Batavia, while Sam stayed at the St. Nicholas Hotel [MTL 5: 366n1].

Sam filed a lawsuit for an injunction and damages of $25,000 against Benjamin J. Such, who Sam had given permission to use one sketch in an advertising pamphlet. To Sam’s shock, Such had used five sketches in “the form of a book, entitled Fun, Fact and Fancy” [New York Times, June 11, 1873, p2]. Sam was probably most upset that the book included “a bit of execrable rubbish entitled ‘A Self-Made Man’,” which he did not write [MTL 5: 370n5]. Note: Simon Sterne filed the suit.

Howells sent an inscribed copy of his novel, A Chance Acquaintance (1873): “To S. L. Clemens with ever so much friendship, W. D. Howells. Cambridge, May 16, 1873” [Gribben 327; MTHL 1: 13]. Did it arrive in time to read on board the Batavia?

May 17 Saturday – Livy and Sam wrote onboard the SS Batavia to Olivia Lewis Langdon. The ship pulled away from the New York harbor in the morning. Livy wrote that Mrs. Fairbanks had just left them and that Livy’s friend Fidele Brooks also visited. Accompanying the party was Samuel C. Thompson, who was to be Sam’s secretary to take dictation using the method of shorthand he’d been teaching. Sam wrote: “Good bye, mother dear, we are just backing away from the pier. Shall send this back by the pilot” [MTL 5: 366-7].

When the ship was underway Sam wrote to Charles Dudley Warner. Whitelaw Reid had angered Sam by refusing to let Edward House review The Gilded Age for the Tribune. Sam had agreed to send a few letters to the Herald (he sent five on the Shah’s visit to England) and also for the Boston Daily [ page 537 ] Advertiser. He refused to grant the dramatist Dion Boucicault more than one-third of the profits for dramatizing the book. He also informed Warner that he’d filed a lawsuit against Benjamin J. Such [MTL 5: 367-70].

May 17 to May 27 Tuesday – The voyage was uneventful except for a few days of high seas in the first week. Livy, Clara Spaulding, and nurse Nellie were seasick, the latter most affected [MTL 5: 370-1]. Captain John E. Mouland insisted that Livy bring Nellie and Susy in her basket into his chartroom to be more comfortable; he took long walks on deck with Clara; and Livy wrote in her diary,

“He grows more and more delightful the better one knows him—We would not come back with any one else, on any account, if it is possible to come with him.” She added that after a couple of days, Susy began to eat better than she ever had [Salsbury 19]. Note: Livy misspelled the Captain’s name as “Morland.”

May 19 Monday – The New York Supreme Court Chief Justice George L. Ingraham (1847-1930) granted Clemens a temporary injunction against Benjamin J. Such [MTL 5: 370n5]. Sam’s attorney was Simon Sterne [NY Times, June 11, 1873 p.2].

Clemens and Charles Dudley Warner secured a dramatic copyright for The Gilded Age, seven months before the novel was published [Thomason, MT Encyc. 229].

May 27 Tuesday – The Batavia docked at Liverpool on May 27 and the Clemens party stayed one night at Captain John and Mrs. Mouland’s home in Linacre, just north of Liverpool [MTL 5: 370-1].

May 28 Wednesday – The travelers left Liverpool at 11:30 AM on the train for London. They arrived there about 5:30, and took rooms at Edward’s Royal Cambridge Hotel in Hanover Square. Samuel Thompson “took lodging in a cheaper locality near by” [MTL 5: 371]. Thompson wrote later in his unpublished autobiography:

There was little routine in our daily life here. Sometimes Clemens would dictate in the morning. But there were callers, excursions and sightseeings. He preferred to dictate when fresh from some outing. Otherwise he would forget what he wanted to record. He would light a cigar, walk back and forth and spin it out while I took it down, with an audible grin now and then, the ladies at their needlework. “How cosy this is,” said Mrs. Clemens [MTL 5: 372 citing Thompson, p. 85]. Note: what in the infernal void is an “audible grin”?

May 29 Thursday – Sometime from this day until as late as Sunday, June 15, Sam left his card and letter (with “pages of horse-play…closing with a dinner invitation”) for Henry Watterson, the editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal, who had arrived in England about a week before the Clemens party. Watterson was Sam’s second cousin by marriage [MTL 5: 372].

May 31 Saturday – Livy wrote in her diary: “Susy’s lower gums are very much swollen and she is a little worried today” [Salsbury 20].

June – Sam dictated a notebook entry to a stenographer: “Work upon Persia by a representative of Great Britain at the court of Teheran. Title something like Ali Baba in Arabian Nights.” Sam was reaching for the name of James Justinian Morier’s (1780?-1849) The Adventures of Hajji Baba, of Ispahan, 3 vols (1824) [Gribben 485].

June 1 or 2 Monday – Sam mailed a postcard from The Edwards’ Hotel, London to Henry Lee, Blackfriars Road SE, to inform him of his arrival [MTL 5: 374]. [ page 538 ]

June 9 Monday – Sam wrote from Edwards’ Hotel,  George Street, Hanover Square, accepting a dinner invitation from Kate Field and her London hostess, Lady Katherine Dilke (d.1874). Sam was asked to name the day and time; he chose Wednesday, June 11 at 5 PM [MTL 5: 375].

June 10 Tuesday – Sam and Samuel C. Thompson attended the Tichborne trial. Arthur Orton, a cockney butcher was on trial for perjury. Orton claimed to be Roger Charles Tichborne, heir to the Tichborne estate [MTNJ 1: 527n2]. This sort of case was Sam’s meat and he recollected this case in Following the Equator (Ch. 15) and also in Paine’s edition of the Autobiography. In the evening the Clemens entourage dined at George Routledge’s [MTNJ 1: 527].

In the Supreme Court of New York, Simon Sterne, counsel for Samuel L. Clemens, argued that the temporary injunction granted Sam on May 19 against Benjamin J. Such, should be made permanent. The injunction was made permanent on June 12 [N.Y. Times, June 12, 1873 p2]. Note: Sam also claimed the use of his nom de plume as trademark.

June 11 Wednesday – Sam wrote from the Edwards’ Hotel to Joaquin Miller (Cincinnatus Hiene (or Hiner) Miller) (1839/41-1913) in London. Miller had been active in the literary scene in the 1860s. His poetry made Miller a celebrity in England. Sam was unable to go with Miller on Sunday, June 15, as he had a previous engagement for dinner with George Washburn Smalley (1833-1916), the London correspondent for the New York Tribune. Sam reminded himself in a PS that he was to call on Miller at 4:45 PM Saturday (June 14), however, and that Miller was to call on Sam on Friday (June 13) and bring a friend. The three were then to go to meet Baron Houghton (Richard Monckton Milnes 1809-1885), the editor of Keats, and an early supporter of Swinburne [MTL 5: 376].

No doubt Sam attended the 5 PM dinner given by Lady Dilke and Kate Field that he accepted on June 9.

See June 24 entry for patent of Scrap Book. 1965 GSA letter shows this date.

George W. Smalley hand-delivered a note to Sam at the hotel:

Dear Mr. Clemens, / I don’t know how it happens that I have always missed the pleasure of meeting you. Pray don’t let it go on so. Will you do me the favour to dine with me on Sunday, the 15th at 7.30? Then I shall be sure that you are something more than a name[.] (Indeed I hear you have two names & I am not sure which you prefer. But come.) [MTPO].

June 12Thursday – A New York court made the May 19 temporary injunction against Benjamin Such permanent [MTL 5: 370n5; N.Y. Times, June 12, 1873 p.2].

Thompson wrote notes about the party’s trip to the Ascot races with a short side trip to Bushy Park [MTNJ 1: 528].

Later, Sam wrote from Edwards’ Hotel to George H. Fitzgibbon, the London correspondent for the Darlington Northern Echo. Fitz had published a complimentary article on Sam’s growth as a humorist since his Washoe days. Sam thanked him and wrote that he’d given up trying to write an article for the London Observer, due to the “grave, business-looking” nature of the paper [MTL 5: 378].

Sam started a letter to Henry Lee, the naturalist of the Brighton Aquarium. Sam finished the letter after midnight, June 13, after the arrival of a letter from Lee [MTL 5: 380].

June 13 Friday – Joaquin Miller brought an unidentified “literary friend” to meet Sam. They then paid respects to Houghton. Samuel Thompson recalled, “Lord Houghton evidently enjoyed Joaquin Miller, and as [ page 539 ] Clemens drawled along in his grumpy way I have seen Lord Houghton sit on the sofa and shake with laughter till the tears rolled down his face” [MTL 5: 378n3 citing Thompson, p.94].

June 14 Saturday – Sam called on Joaquin Miller and they went to the Savage Club [MTL 5: 378n3]. Sam’s “letter” to Josh Billings ran in Street and Smith’s New York Weekly [The Twainian, Feb. 1944 p1]. (See Mar. 1873 entry).

John Camden Hotten (1832-1873), unauthorized publisher of many of Mark Twain’s sketches, died in London [Welland 28].

June 15 Sunday – Sam wrote from the Edwards’ Hotel to the American consul general in London, Adam Badeau (1831-1895). Sam sent his and Livy’s regrets they’d been unable to visit due to Livy being “very greatly fatigued because of sight-seeing” [MTL 5: 382]. Notes: Badeau had been on General Sherman’s staff during the Civil War, and the military secretary for General Grant in 1864 [MTL 5: 382]. Thompson’s notes suggest Sam and Thompson visited Westminster Abbey on this day [MTNJ 1: 536n26].

June 17 Tuesday – Sam and his secretary Thompson left London and crossed over the channel to Ostend, Belgium to cover the visit of the Shah of Persia, Nasr-ed-Din, the first leader of his country to visit Europe. Sam stayed overnight in Ostend. On this day or the next, Sam wrote from Ostend to John Russell Young, who had been the managing editor of the Tribune prior to Whitelaw Reid, and later founded the New York Standard. He also was the foreign correspondent for the New York Herald, reporting from London and Paris [MTL 5: 383]. The break with Reid over The Gilded Age review led Sam to contribute letters for the Herald over the Tribune.

June 18 Wednesday – Sam and Thompson returned from Ostend on the H.M.S. Lively. The pair traveled with some of the Shah’s family and several journalists who had accompanied the Shah on the train from Brussels [MTL 5: 384n1]. Once back in London, Sam wrote to Elisha Bliss that he had

“…begun to write about the Shah to N.Y. Herald—don’t want them copyrighted. You seize them as they appear, & turn them into a 24 cent pamphlet (my royalty 10 per cent) & spread them over the land your own way, but be quick! Don’t let it get cold before you are out” [MTL 5: 384].

Sam wrote the first “Shah letter” for the New York Herald: “The Man of Mark Ready to Bring Over the O’Shah.” In the evening Sam and probably Livy and Clara Spaulding used the three tickets Thompson had secured to attend the performance of Madame Ristori in the historical drama Elizabeth at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. This was the same woman Sam had called the “wretched foreign woman” years before [MTNJ 1: 529n8].

 

At 11 p.m. in London, Sam wrote to Joaquin Miller:

 

My Dear Miller: Haven’t received the diploma, but would like exceedingly to go with you tomorrow night if I possibly can — & I feel sure I can. The only thing in the way is, that I may possibly not be able to finish a newspaper letter in time on which I am engaged. If you’ll come by for me I can at least talk a bit about Bliss if I can’t leave home. Bliss will make as much money for you as any publisher, & I think considerably more than any other publishers. / PS I enclose picture for Lord Houghton’s daughter [Christie’s Lot 102 Sale 1216 April 8, 2003; avail. Online]. Note: Richard Monckton Milnes, First Baron Houghton, editor of Keats and a literary figure of note; Miller had introduced him to Sam.

 [ page 540 ]

June 19 Thursday – Sam wrote from Edwards’ Hotel in London to George Fitzgibbon. His Shah letters, and the move to Langham Hotel the following Wednesday were among the reasons Sam gave for not being able to accompany Fitz to a session of Parliament, which Fitz reported on for the Darlington Northern Echo [MTL 5: 385].

June 22 Sunday – The Clemens family and Kate Field dined at the Dilkes [MTL 5: 375n1]. Kate Field, in a letter to the New York Tribune, wrote of the evening:

Mr Twain is endeavoring to instil civilization into the Shah by sitting on the floor and playing draw poker, and says that his august pupil makes wonderful progress in this great American game, and will soon be able to play against the American Minister or the brilliant editor of The Louisville Courier-Journal, who now pines in May Fair for a partner worthy of his deal [MTL 5: 386-7n1]. Note: see insert cartoon from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper July 26.

June 23 Monday – From Livy’s diary:

Little Susy is very well indeed, she creeps all about the room, eats meat and potato for her breakfast every morning and is fat and hearty as possible—Nellie takes care of her now nights. I am out so much that I need my unbroken sleep [Salsbury 20].

June 24 Tuesday – Sam was granted patent number 140,245 for his “Improvement in Scrap-Books.” The scrapbooks were manufactured but sales didn’t take place until 1877 and were handled by Sam’s New York friend, Dan Slote. This proved to be Sam’s only profitable patent [MTL 5: 145n4]. Note: Aug. 27, 1965 letter from General Services Admin. to the MTP gives June 11, 1873 as this patent date. See insert picture of the Scrap Book in Jan. 21, 1878 entry.

June 25 Wednesday – Sam and entourage moved to rooms at the Langham Hotel in Portland Place, where a billiards room was available [MTL 5: 372]. “It was a period of continuous honor and entertainment. If Mark Twain had been a lion on his first visit, he was little less than royalty now. His rooms at the Langham were like a court.” Among the esteemed pilgrims trudging to Sam’s rooms were: Anthony Trollope, Wilkie Collins (1824-1889), Sir John Everett Millais, Benjamin Disraeli, Lewis Carroll, Robert Browning, Ivan Turgenieff (Turgenev 1818-1883), Lord Houghton and Sir Charles Ivenworth Dilke (1843-1911). Sam also met Herbert Spencer at a dinner given by George Smalley, and Sir Arthur Helps at a luncheon [MTB 484-5; Willis 83]. Note: Paine indicates Sam met Lewis Carroll at this time [MTB 484], but Carroll’s diary pinpoints the meeting to July 26, 1879 [Green 382]. (See entry.)

Sam wrote from the Langham to Ellen D. Conway, wife of Moncure Conway:

“My wife likes Edwards’ Hotel; & so would I if I were dead; I would not desire a more tranquil & satisfactory tomb” [MTL 5: 388].

Sam also dictated two short notes through Samuel Thompson to R. Cowley-Squier, connected in some way with the London Examiner. Sam declined his “kind offers” but had no time to travel or visit Manchester. Sam also dictated a short note to Lewis Sergeant (1841-1902) and Charles E. Seth-Smith (1847-1894) [MTL 5: 388-90]. [ page 541 ]

June 26 Thursday – Clara Spaulding left the Clemens family with her mother to tour Europe for six weeks. She returned on Aug. 9 [MTL 5: 404n1].

June 28 Saturday – Sam wrote from the Langham to William Stirling-Maxwell (1818-1878) of London, who had invited Sam to visit the Cosmopolitan Club. The membership included: Lord Houghton, John Motley (1814-1877), Joaquin Miller, Thomas Hughes, Robert Browning, and Anthony Trollope [MTL 5: 391-2].

Sir Frederick Pollock’s Personal Remembrances (1887) p. 252-3 reveals a luncheon with Twain and others:

 

“28th June [1873]. –Luncheon at home. Lady Castletown, Madame Mohl, Clemens (Mark Twain) and his wife, Joaquin Miller, G.S. Venables, George Cayley” [MTJ 42:1 (Spring 2004) 5].

June 29 Sunday – Sam wrote from London to Joseph Twichell. Livy added a note at the end. A man named Chew had made an agreement to share a story that Sam might publish. Sam liked the story but waited for Chew to send details, it seems the “story” had already been printed. For some reason Chew felt he was owed money when Sam refused to plagiarize. Sam thought different.

If I had him near when his letter came, I would have got out my tomahawk & gone for him.

      I wish to goodness you were here this moment—nobody in our parlor but Livy & me,—& a very good view of London to the fore. We have a luxuriously ample suite of apartments in Langham Hotel, 3 floor, our bedroom looking straight up Portland Place & our parlor having a noble array of great windows looking out upon both streets.…9 P.M. Full twilight—rich sunset tint lingering in the west. I am not going to write anything—rather tell it when I get back. I love you & Harmony, & that is all the fresh news I’ve got, anyway. And I mean to keep that fresh, all the time [MTL 5: 392-3].

July – Sam noted eighteen lines of a memorial poem at the grave of James Thomson (1700-1748), author of The Seasons (poems, 1730) [Gribben 702]. Sam also wondered why Pepys failed to mention the great Shakespeare [540]. Sam also noted the title, translator and publisher of Comte de Hezecques’ Recollections of a Page to the Court of Louis XVI (1873) [312].

Lady Mary Anne Hardy (Mrs. Thomas Dufus Hardy) (1825-1891) wrote to Sam and enclosed two tickets for “the French Play.” She mentioned “Desclée” as “the most divine of French actresses” [MTP]. Note: Aimée-Olympe Desclée (1836-1874).

July 1 Tuesday – Sam’s first of five letters on the Shah of Persia appeared in the New York Herald. The letters were collected as “O’Shah” in Europe and Elsewhere (1923) [MTNJ 1: 537n28]. Sam wrote from the Langham to Moncure Conway. He wrote of his plan to go to Paris to continue writing up the Shah’s visit for the Herald (Sam canceled his plans on July 4), and his inability to go to the Cosmopolitan Club with Moncure. Sam started a second letter to Moncure that he finished the next day [MTL 5: 394-5].

Sam began a letter from the Langham to Joaquin Miller (Cincinnatus Heine (or Hiner) Miller), who was also in London, somewhat of a “literary lion” there.

“I meant to go to Paris tomorrow, but am relieved of that necessity until next day. Am going to try to get to the Cosmopolitan Club about half past ten or eleven tomorrow eve—if you intend to go there can you come by for me?” [394-5].

July 2 Wednesday – Sam finished the letter to Joaquin Miller, asking if he would drop by his hotel at half past ten or quarter to eleven.  [ page 542 ]

In the evening, Sam and Livy dined with George and Phoebe Smalley in Hyde Park Square. Benjamin Moran (1820-1886), secretary of legation to U.S. Minister Robert C. Schenck, was also at the dinner and noted the guests:

“Mr. & Mrs. Smalley, a Miss White of New York, a pleasant girl and friend of Horace Greeley’s daughters; Mrs. Mack, her sister; Mrs. Jones, an Irish literary lady; Mr. Herbert Spencer the political writer [philosopher]; Mr. Clemens (Mark Twain) and his pretty, dark eyed wife, myself, and Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Hughes” [MTL 5: 395n1].

A note in Sam’s autobiographical papers infers that Sam did go to the Cosmopolitan Club late this day:

“The Cosmopolitan Club—Tom Hughes, Lord Houghton, Robert Browning, Lord Kimberley &c” [396n1 top].

July 4 Friday – Sam prepared a speech for the Meeting of Americans, London. (published in Fatout, MT Speaking 74-76) but was unable to give it [Welland 63].

Sam’s second of five letters on the Shah of Persia appeared in the New York Herald [MTNJ 1: 537n28].

Sam wrote from the Langham Hotel, noting “Independence Day” to Adam Badeau, naming July 11 or 12 as suitable for visiting Badeau’s “Little Boston House.”

“I tell Mrs. Clemens things begin to look promising. She has been wanting to see Mr. Motley, the Tower of London & Little Boston” [MTL 5: 396]. Note: John Lothrop Motley (1814-1877), American historian and author whom Livy had read, and minister to Austria under Lincoln (1861-7).

Sam also wrote a short note to Moncure Conway that he was not going to France, “because the Shah’s movements are so uncertain” [MTL 5: 397].

In the evening Sam attended a dinner to celebrate Independence Day. Robert C. Schenck,  the U.S. minister presided and would not allow speeches. Sam had been sure he would be called on to speak, so had written and memorized a speech he did not give, the manuscript of which was published as “After-Dinner Speech” in Sketches, New and Old (1875) [MTL 5: 397].

Joaquin Miller wrote from London to Sam. He’d been “down town the last two days” and hadn’t got Sam’s two letters until “last night.” He would send Frederick Locker a note “to say you and I will call there Tuesday next at 5 or 6 p.m. I will call for you at 4 or 5. / Locker is the best humorous poet living. If you have time get a book made up of selections from Locker Tennyson & Browning—I forget the name of it” [MTP].

July 5 Saturday – Sam enjoyed the last Floral Hall concert of the season at 2 PM. The Royal Italian Opera performed with Adelina Patti [MTNJ 1: 549n39].

Sam wrote a short acceptance note to Henry Lee to stop at the Whitefriars Club, but only for a half hour, as he had to take Livy to a concert [MTL 5: 398].

He also wrote from the Langham responding to Joaquin Miller’s plan to call on him on Tuesday, that he and Livy would be in the country that day for a 24 or 48-hour visit. Livy had received what Sam called “an inspiring note” from Mary Anne Hardy, wife to Thomas Duffus Hardy (1804-1878) (not of Tess fame) and they planned to visit early, “very soon after 8.” Sam added:  [ page 543 ]

“Simply reading your penmanship has distorted my own handwriting out of all shape; & so if you can’t read this, remember, it is your own fault” [MTL 5: 398].

July 6 Sunday – Sam wrote from London to Mary Mason Fairbanks, his letter full of people talk. He wrote about English social life, meeting so many “pleasant people” and “we seem to find no opportunity to see London sights.” Sam’s list of those met: Tom Hughes, Herbert Spencer, Joaquin Miller, Hans Breitmann (Charles Godfrey Leland 1824-1903) William Gorman Wills, Anthony Trollope, Wilkie Collins, Edmund H. Yates (1831-1894), Tom Hood, W.C. Bennett, and Douglas Jerrold Jr. Sam described Lady Hardy as “a very volcano of warm-heartedness & is in a permanent state of irruption.” [MTL 5: 402].

July 7 Monday – Anthony Trollope threw a dinner party in honor of Joaquin Miller. Sam attended, as well as Thomas Hughes; Edward Levy, editor of the London Telegraph; Granville George Levenson-Gower, the second Earl Granville and leader of the House of Lords; and Edward Levy [MTL 5: 406-7n11].

Sam wrote from the Langham to Elisha Bliss that he’d “finally concluded not to go to Paris.” Sam directed Bliss to take the Herald letters and put them with an enclosed article about the “Jumping Frog in French” and sell them as a pamphlet [MTL 5: 409].

Moncure Conway wrote to Sam.

My dear Clements, /On the eve of the glorious and never-to-be-disremembered-or-underestimated day when we are to visit Hepworth, the birthplace of a great man, I take pleasure in writing that if tomorrow you will meet me at the great railway Station Paddington at two o’clock p. m. (I put in the p. m. lest in your morning enjoyments in the role of ‘early bird’ you should step in at 2 a. m. Do not.)—at 2 p. m. precisely it will be well with us. Our train leaves at a quarter of an hour later: we go by way of Oxford and Honeybourne (a bourne at which Mrs. C. might naturally stop, but must not), and will soon be clasped in the arms of Mr. Charles [Flower] who will meet us at the Station. / Thine / M D Conway / [MTPO].

July 8 and 9 Wednesday – Sam and Livy visited Charles E. Flower (1830-1892) , mayor of Stratford-upon-Avon. Sam and Moncure Conway played a trick on Livy, a great fan of Shakespeare, telling her they were going to “Epworth” instead of Stratford. At the station they had the carriage go directly to the church and upon entering Shakespeare’s grave, Livy read the inscription “Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare.” Livy exclaimed, “Heavens, where am I!” [MTL 5: 404n2; MTNJ 1: 561-2n55].

July 9 Wednesday – Sam’s third of five letters on the Shah of Persia appeared in the New York Herald. The letters were collected as “O’Shah” in Europe and Elsewhere (1923) [MTNJ 1: 537n28].

July 10 Thursday – Sam wrote a short note from London to Elisha Bliss:

“Publish if you want to [the Herald letters], or leave it alone, just as seems best. I am tired of the Shah & shall not write any more” [MTL 5: 413].

July 10? Thursday – Sam and Livy had returned to London by this day. Sam wrote to Charles Dudley Warner about how Colonel Sellers (The Gilded Age) was to be drawn. Sam also had plans to “prowl through rural England” with Joaquin Miller but “Livy & I will ‘do’ Scotland first.”

Livy says—& I endorse it—that you cannot have our mother at any price—but you can have an interest in her for nothing—which is cheap enough. But if you want to negotiate for our baby, any proposition (addressed to me) will meet with prompt attention. I am offered two twins & a cow by an English gentleman in Stratford on Avon with whose family we have been staying a day or two, & I am ready to trade but Livy continues to consider & is a good deal of an obstruction [MTL 5: 411]. [ page 544 ]

July 11 Friday – Sam’s fourth of five letters on the Shah of Persia appeared in the New York Herald. Sam referred to the Shah as “the long expected millennium,” and “this splendid barbarian,” so bejeweled that “he shone like a window with the westering sun on it” [Fatout, MT Speaks 83].

Sam and Livy were among 800 guests attending “a grand ball at the Mansion House,” hosted by “the Lady Mayoress” [MTL 5: 404n2]. Sam dictated to Samuel Thompson a short note for George Smith, publisher, that they would not miss their Thursday picnic party [MTL 5: 414].

July 12 Saturday – Sam’s article, “The Shah Calls Upon the Queen,” printed in the New York Herald was reprinted in the Cleveland Herald.

After a day’s rest the Shah went to Windsor Castle and called upon the Queen. What that suggests to the reader’s mind is this: That the Shah took a hand satchel and an umbrella, called a cab and said he wanted to get to the Paddington station; that when he arrived there the driver charged him sixpence too much, and he paid it rather than have trouble; that he tried now to buy a ticket, and was answered by a ticket seller as surly as a hotel clerk that he was not selling tickets for that train yet; that he finally got his ticket and was beguiled of his satchel by a railway porter at once, who put it in a first-class carriage and got a sixpence, which the company forbade him to receive; that presently when the guard (or conductor) of the train came along the Shah slipped a shilling into his hand and said he wanted to smoke, and straightway the guard signified that it was all right; that when the Shah arrived at Windsor Castle he rung the bell… [Fatout, MT Speaks 84]. Note: There’s more, of course.

July 14 Monday – Sam wrote from the Langham his thanks to Charles E. Flower for the stay at their home. “I may add here, that having learned all about how ale is made, I now take a new & ferocious interest in consuming it” [MTL 5: 416].

Sam’s March 1873 letter to Josh Billings ran in the July 14 issue of the New York Weekly [The Twainian, Feb. 1944 p.1; MTL 5: 866 under “Shaw”].

July 16 Wednesday – Sam dictated from London to Elisha Bliss, information about coordinating publishing dates simultaneously with Routledge & Sons. The English version was typeset from proofsheets provided by Bliss, but lacked as many illustrations [MTL 5: 416].

Sam also dictated a letter to Charles Dudley Warner, admonishing him to coordinate the proof sheets [MTL 5: 417]. Shortly after this letter, Sam paid Samuel Thompson and discharged him. Thompson tramped around Europe for the summer and then returned home. The social whirl had not allowed Sam time for much work on the English book. Sam also found his “first experience in dictating” caused sentences to come “slow & painful, & were clumsily phrased, & had no life in them” [MTL 5: 418n2].

In London, Sam and Livy attended a garden party at the home of George MacDonald, clergyman and novelist. In a July 10 invitation to Livy, Louisa MacDonald (Mrs. George MacDonald) described the party:

 

“The 16th — Wednesday aft — is the day on wh we are going to act our play we call it our July Jumble — our programme includes the inhabitants from some of the courts of Mary-le-bone — some of the elite of St James’ doctors lawyers clergymen artists and this year those Jubilee singers from Nashville College are coming” [MTNJ 1: 564n1].

July 19 Saturday – Sam’s fifth of five letters on the Shah of Persia appeared in the New York Herald. The Clemenses left London for Edinburgh, Scotland. They stopped for several days in York, England.  [ page 545 ]

Sam inscribed An Accurate Description and History of the Cathedral and Metropolitan Church of St. Peter, York, from Its First Foundation (1790): “Saml. L. Clemens, York, July 19, 1873” [Gribben793].

Sam also inscribed each of three volumes of William Combe’s The History and Antiquities of the City of York, from Its Origin to the Present Times (1785): “Saml. L. Clemens, York, July 19, ’73” [Gribben 155].

July 20 Sunday – Sam wrote from York, England to Livy’s mother, Olivia Lewis Langdon. Sam’s letter was a delightful description of York.

“All of which is to say, we have been 24 hours out of London, & they have been 24 hours of rest & quiet. Nobody knows us here—we took good care of that. In Edinburgh we are to be introduced to nobody, & shall stay in a retired, private hotel, & go on resting” [MTL 5: 419].

July 25 Friday – By this date Sam’s entourage had arrived in Edinburgh. They stayed at Veitch’s Hotel [MTL 5: 420n1]. Livy wrote to Alice Hooker Day who evidently had asked if Sam would lecture solely for Hartford, and allow her to handle the performance. Livy kindly explained it was a “great labor” to prepare a lecture and that she didn’t know if Sam would lecture at all next season. Livy added that it was quieter in Edinburgh than in London, and that Susy was healthy:

“My baby can walk all about the room by taking hold of my finger; she has been perfectly well all the time” [ALS, Stowe-Day Library, Hartford].

During their stay in Edinburgh, Sam purchased a twelve-foot carved oak mantelpiece, which came from a castle belonging to the Mitchell-Innes family. The elaborate and enormous piece was crated and shipped back to Hartford to be used in the library of the new house [Salsbury 22].

Also on or about this day, Sam wrote from Edinburgh to John Menzies, possibly a distribution agent:

“My Dear Mr. Menzies, / Robert Routledge sent me this, but in the hurry of leaving London I thrust it into my pocket with the other unread letters & never opened it till now. It is rather late, but still I will leave to drop it in the post or leave it myself tomorrow” [MTP, drop-in letters].

July 26 Saturday – The inserted cartoon ran in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper for this day, “The New Heathen Chinee / Mark Twain Teaches the Shah the American Game of Draw Poker” [MTJ Spring/Fall 2011; Vol. 49 p.111]. See cartoon in June 22 entry.

July 27 Sunday – Sam wrote from Edinburgh, Scotland to Elisha Bliss. English law required that publication in England precede that in other countries, thus the agreement Sam had with Routledge provided a three-week window; Sam expected The Gilded Age to be out in England before his planned departure on Oct. 25. Sam was pressing Bliss for the proofs [MTL 5: 420-1 & n2].

Sam also wrote to Thomas B. Pugh, lecture manager of Philadelphia’s Star Course, advising him of his need to stay in England until Oct. 25 to see his book through the English press. Sam had promised Pugh he would lecture again [MTL 5: 421].

July 28 Monday – Sam’s reply letter of March was printed in Josh Billings’ column in the New York Weekly. The Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax had sold hundreds of thousands of copies since 1869 [MTL 5: 306n1&3]. [ page 546 ]

July 30 Wednesday – In Edinburgh, Clemens wrote to an unidentified man. “I have some idea of lecturing in New York,—& possibly in Boston; but shall not be able to do more than that. With thanks for the invitation, I am / Ys Truly …” [MTP].

July 31 Thursday – From Veitch’s Hotel in Edinburgh, Sam wrote to an unidentified autograph seeker asking for Sam’s help in securing the autograph of William Cullen Bryant [MTL 5: 422].

August – John Moffat of Edinburgh made a formal group photograph of Sam, Livy, Susy, Clara Spaulding and Dr. John Brown [MTL 5: 662].

August 2 Saturday – Sam telegraphed and then wrote from Edinburgh to Elisha Bliss, telling him to stop the publication of the pamphlet containing the Herald letters. Paragraphs had been added at the paper causing Sam grief and a desire not to have them reprinted by Bliss, something he feared might harm the sale of The Gilded Age [MTL 5: 425].

Reginald Cholmondeley wrote a one-liner asking when he would have “the pleasure of seeing you & Mrs Clemens here” [MTP].

August 2 and 6 Wednesday – Livy and Sam wrote from Edinburgh to Olivia Lewis Langdon. This is mostly a letter from Livy about baby Susy’s antics, and a short note from Sam writing “ditto” and a note about a set of Scott’s books which had arrived. Sam and Livy took a ride with Dr. John Brown (1810–1882), author of the popular dog story, Rab and His Friend. Brown adored Susy and became a family friend [MTL 5: 426].

August 4 Monday – Sam wrote from Edinburgh to Edmund H. Yates of the New York Herald objecting to an offensive insertion made into Sam’s Shah letter published July 1. Yates had been at Ostend; was in London on Aug. 2, and then went to Vienna [MTL 5: 430].

August 5 Tuesday – Reginald Cholmondeley wrote to Sam: “I shall be happy to see you & Mrs Clemens at the end of August or beginning of September with your little girl & I will ask Tom Hughes & his wife to meet you” [MTP]. Note: This labeled Aug. 6 but date is written over; could be either.

August 6 Wednesday – From Livy’s diary:

“This afternoon at three o’clock Dr. Brown is coming to take us for a drive; he is the most charming old gentleman and I believe grows more and more so all the time” [Salsbury 23].

August 8and 9 Saturday – Sam and Livy visited Abbotsford and Melrose with Alexander Russel (1814-1876), a friend of Dr. John Brown’s, and an editor for the Edinburgh Scotsman, a paper with a circulation of 40,000. Abbotsford was the home of Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) and rooms in his mansion were open to the public [MTL 5: 430n6-7]. Clara Spaulding returned in the evening from Europe.

August 11 Monday – From Livy’s diary:

“It is real hard to have the exchange so heavy—think of taking $3000 and only having $2500 when you get here—If I was sure our house would not exceed $20 or $25,000 I would spend more here, because we shall want the things when we get into our new house” [Salsbury 23].

August 15 Friday – Livy wrote her mother of travel plans, which were changed in another letter written this day to Jane Clemens and Pamela Moffett. Livy then wrote they would stay in Edinburgh until [ page 547 ] “next week when we shall go to Glasgow for a day or two and then sail for Ireland where we shall be for about two weeks and then back to London.” No letters from Sam between Aug. 4 and Sept. 10 have been found [MTL 5: 431].

August 16 to 19 Tuesday – James Ahern worked on the plumbing at the Clemens home in Hartford, billing them $11.16 for work done [MTP].

August 18 Monday – Alex Nicolson sent a reprint of his “A Highland Marching Song” from the Inverness Courier of June 13, 1872 [MTP].

August 24 Sunday – Livy wrote to Susan Crane that they were leaving Edinburgh the next day. “we do so regret leaving Dr. Brown and his sister, thinking that we shall probably never see them again” [MTL 5: 431-2]. From Livy’s diary of Aug. 31:

“Dr. Brown gave Susy a very pretty pin, it is a cairngorm stone, which is a Scotch stone, brilliant and about the value of an amethyst—she is to have it when she is married and I am to wear it until then…” [Salsbury 24]

August 25 Monday – The Clemenses went to Glasgow, Scotland, where they stayed two days [MTL 5: 432].

August 28 Thursday – Sam and party left Glasgow for Belfast, Ireland, experiencing a rough ferry boat ride where everyone except Sam got seasick. The family reached Belfast about 8 PM and took dinner with Francis Dalzell Finlay (1832?-1917), son-in-law to Alexander Russel [MTL 5: 432]. Finlay was the owner of The Northern Whig until 1875. According to his son, in a letter printed in the Oct. 1944 The Twainian, Finlay was “deeply interested in literature and was on intimate terms with all the prominent writers of his day, Dickens, Thackery, etc.” [6]. Sam cultivated the acquaintance of such men.

August 30 Saturday – In Belfast, Frank Finlay inscribed Prize Essays on “Billiards as an Amusement for all ClassesJames Galt & Co. (1873) to Sam [Gribben 561]. Finlay also inscribed editor Charles Rogers’ The Centenary Garland [etc.,] to Livy [585]. Thus the Clemens family must have spent the nights of Aug. 28, 29 and 30 in Belfast.

September 1 Monday – The Clemens family went to Dublin, where they took rooms at the Shelbourne Hotel for several days, probably until Sept. 5 or 6 [MTL 5: 432].

September 2 Tuesday – The first boxed set of “Authors” card game with Mark Twain included was patented by West & Lee Co. of Worcester, Mass. [eBay Nov. 11, 2009 Item # 320446989875]. Note: several items listed about Mark Twain on the back of the card postdate the patent date.

September 5? To 8 Monday – The Clemens party took a ferry across the Irish Sea to Liverpool, and then traveled south to Chester some twenty miles. From Chester they went further south another thirty-five miles to Shrewsbury, where they were the guests of Reginald Cholmondeley (1826-1896) at Condover Hall. Sam wrote an account of Cholmondeley’s invitation. Sam used the name “Bascom” in Ch. 15 of Following the Equator [MTL 5: 432]. [ page 548 ]

September 9 Tuesday – Sam and family returned to London [MTL 5: 432]. Livy was homesick, but Sam had not yet received proofs of GA: Paine quotes Livy’s diary:

I am blue and cross and homesick. I suppose what makes me feel the latter is because we are contemplating to stay in London another month. There has not one sheet of Mr. Clemens’s proof come yet, and if he goes home before the book is published here he will lose the copyright. And then his friends feel that it will be better for him to lecture in London before his book is published, not only that it will give him a larger but a more enviable reputation. I would not hesitate one moment if it were simply for the money…but if his reputation will be better for his staying and lecturing, of course he ought to stay….The truth is, I can’t bear the thought of postponing going home [MTB 487].

September 10 Wednesday – Sam wrote a short from London to William S. Andrews (1841-1912), about being home in plenty of time to help Andrews prepare for an appearance at Association Hall in New York [MTL 5: 434-5].

Sam also wrote to Thomas Wallace Knox, who had asked Sam to write something for an anthology by the Lotos Club and suggested Sam visit Vienna. Sam good-naturedly declined but would later offer “An Encounter with an Interviewer” for the Nov. 1874 volume [MTL 5: 435].

Sam also telegraphed Henry Lee with news of his arrival back in London [437].

September 19 Friday – Sam dated his double signature with “London” to an unidentified person [liveauctioneers.com/item/104701; Sept. 6, 2003].

September 20 Saturday – Dr. John Brown sent a small printed folder with two poems, no letter [MTP].

The closed. New York Stock Exchange It would stay closed for ten days. This began the Great Depression of 1873, the longest in US history; it  lasted through the spring of 1879 and caught Sam in a financial bind when his NY bank, Henry Clews & Co. froze funds.

September 21 Sunday – In London, Sam wrote to his mother, Jane Clemens and family all about sealskin coats he’d obtained or ordered for Jane Clemens, Pamela Moffett, and Charles Langdon. Sam boasted of saving about fifteen or twenty dollars each by buying wholesale through an “old friend.” He added:

Livy & the baby are well. Indeed, the baby seems to have unfailing robust health. She is on her feet all her waking hours, and always busy—generally in matters that would fare better without her help. She says a few [ page 549 ] trifling words in broken English [MTP, drop-in letters]. Note: this letter was previously labeled as “Sept.12?” by the studious bunch at MTP. See MTL 5:438.

September 22 Monday – Dr. John Brown wrote to Sam

My dear friend— Thanks for yours. By this time you will have got my letter & I hope the photos—do you remain some time in London? let me know where it is safest to write to you. I am glad you saw something of life in Salop—did you see St Mary’s Church in Shrewsbury? When are you thinking of crossing the sea? if I were 40 & not broken hearted, I would come with you. I may perhaps ask you to take some charge of a Collie which I hope to send to Professor Forsyth at West Point Academy. Baby will pull its ears & poke her fingers into its eyes, to pass the time on deck— I am glad you have so much good to tell of her & her Mother & the lealhearted Miss Spaulding—you will tell me if you got my Shelbourne letter. Isabella & “Jock” send their best regards / Yrs. (all) affectly / J. Brown /I sent my letter & the Photos to the Care of Routledge & Sons / [MTPO].

September 22 and 25 Thursday – Sam wrote from London to Dr. John Brown, thanking him for the photographs taken while in Edinburgh and for his many kindnesses during their visit. Sam wrote of his shock at the financial panic in America and of his continued plan to sail on Oct. 25 (they actually left four days earlier). Sam’s bank had suspended payments in the face of a run on deposits and would not issue more until January; Sam did not sleep well [MTL 5: 439].

September 23 Tuesday – Sam wrote a short query to the editor of Punch, Charles William Shirley Brooks (1816-1874), and asked if he might send a short article [MTL 5: 442]. Note: Sam’s note has been surmised by the MTP as relating to the unpublished “About a Visit to the Doré Gallery in London” [MTL 5: 442n1]. Brooks’ response, if any, is not extant; nor did any Twain article appear in Punch. The humorous sketch about the Gallery does survive at the MTP. It mocked the efforts of the Gallery to sell engravings to visitors.

September 24 Wednesday – In the evening after the theater, Sam and Livy learned of the suspension of funds at their New York bank, Henry Clews & Co.  [Willis 85]. It wasn’t until early Jan. 1874 that the bank was able to resume business and pay all obligations in full. In 1886, however, Sam continued to believe that Clews had cheated him out of money [MTL 5: 441n3].

September 25 or 26 Friday – Sam sent a postcard from London to Henry Lee, accepting his invitation to visit the Brighton Aquarium, and asking that he wait about the plans to visit Paris until they saw him [MTL 5: 443].

September 27 Saturday – Sam and Livy revisited the Brighton Aquarium. Sam had a head cold. Both Livy and Sam were anxious about getting money from their New York bank, Henry Clews & Co. Sam suggested borrowing from Routledge & Sons [MTL 5: 443-4n1].

September 29 Monday – Sam sent a note and letter from the Langham to Louisa P. MacDonald, wife of George MacDonald and mother of eleven children. The communications were about invitations and missing Louisa when they called.

“…we just barely missed you both, & were so disappointed! And out of eleven children we couldn’t scare up even one” [MTL 5: 444-5].

Louisa P. McDonald (Mrs. George MacDonald) wrote from London to Sam, sorry she couldn’t see him as they were going to Hastings on Tuesday [MTP]. [ page 550 ]

September 30 Tuesday – Sam and Livy left baby Susy with nurse Nellie Bermingham and traveled to Paris with Henry Lee for a week’s stay. Nothing is known about their time in Paris, but it would be Sam’s second visit there, so he probably knew where to take Livy [MTL 5: 446].

October 6 Monday – Dr. John Brown wrote to thank Sam and Livy for their letters and asked what they were doing in Paris. “That is a delightful Susie letter…give her my love” [MTP].

October 7 Tuesday – Sam and Livy returned to London. Sam, probably still anxious of his suspended bank funds, agreed to lecture—a solution he’d often turned to when feeling pinched in the pocketbook. His lecture schedule was to begin on Oct. 13 and was arranged by George Dolby. Six London dates were booked for Sam’s “Sandwich Islands” talk, and one final lecture in Liverpool for Oct. 20. To advertise the lectures, Sam notified Henry Lee of his upcoming lectures and also wrote a letter to the editor of the London Standard clearly intended for the public:

“…I can allay any kind of excitement by lecturing upon it. I have saved many communities in this way. I have always been able to paralyze the public interest in any topic that I chose to take hold of & elucidate with all my strength” [MTL 5: 448-9].

October 8 Wednesday – Sam autographed a post card about tickets and an invitation to dinner for Henry Lee, who it is assumed responded at once to Sam’s notice about lecturing. Sam then sent two notes that he was writing to Dolby asking for tickets for Lee [MTL 5: 450-1].

October 9 Thursday – Sam’s letter of Oct. 7 to the London Standard was published in that paper [MTL 5: 448].

The Daily Graphic featured a front page arrangement of nine oval engraved portraits, with Mark Twain in the middle [eBay Sept. 23, 2009, Item 370249824620].

October 11 Saturday – A brief notice in the Court Journal (London), in full:

Mark Twain proposes to allay all excitement and interest in the Sandwich Island difficulty by lecturing on it, declaring that he has always been able to paralyse the interest in any public subject by lecturing on it. Would that other distinguished lecturers would sum themselves up with like pleasing candor! We are only sorry to hear that Mark delays his departure for America a week to do this thing [Tenney, Supplement American Literary Realism, Autumn 1981 p161].

October 12 Sunday – Sam wrote a short note from London to Olivia Lewis Langdon agreeing that they would stop at the “new hotel” (The Windsor) in New York rather than the St. Nicholas. Sam wrote he was resting for his first lecture the following night [MTL 5: 452].

Shirley Brooks wrote to Sam (transcript of clipping enclosed) [MTP].

October 13 Monday – Sam gave his “Our Fellow Savages of the Sandwich Islands” lecture at Queen’s Concert Rooms, Hanover Square, London at 8 PM [Baetzhold 17]. Lorch points out that this was “the most fashionable [hall] in London, instead of the more popular Egyptian Hall where Artemus Ward had lectured…unquestionably made at Mark Twain’s request” [139].

Sam wrote to George Bentley (1828-1895) head of the London publishers Richard Bentley & Son. Sam had called several times on Bentley to confirm his use or the return of the “Jumping Frog in French” sketch, but was unsuccessful in finding him in [MTL 5: 454].  [ page 551 ]

October 14 Tuesday – Sam repeated his “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Queen’s Concert Rooms, Hanover Square, London at 8 PM [Baetzhold 17]. “Judging by the attendance, applause, and laughter, the lecture was a great success,” wrote George H. Fitzgibbon, the London correspondent for the Darlington Northern Echo [MTL 5: 453].

October 15 Wednesday – Sam repeated his “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Queen’s Concert Rooms, Hanover Square, London at 8 PM [Baetzhold 17]. Sam again wrote to George Bentley  about the French Frog sketch, but held the letter until he was in route on the Batavia, where he completed the note on Oct. 30 [MTL 5: 455].

October 16 Thursday – In London Sam wrote to Charles Warren Stoddard:

 

Please pass the bearer to a good stall.
em spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceMark Twain.

Oct. 16.

My Dear Old Boy—

Can’t you take this note as your authority & run in to the lecture (Hanover Square Rooms) tomorrow evening or Saturday afternoon? Or mail this to Geo. Dolby, (if you prefer,) 52 New Bond street, & he will send you ticket.

Or can’t you come to my room, 113, third floor, Langham, from 11 till [noon?] Am always in then. With great love [&] in great haste, Mark.

Sam repeated his “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Queen’s Concert Rooms, Hanover Square, London at 8 PM [Baetzhold 17].

October 17 Friday – Sam repeated his “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Queen’s Concert Rooms, Hanover Square, London at 8 PM [Baetzhold 17].

The Bohemian Club of San Francisco voted Mark Twain an honorary member: Robert H. Fletcher, ed. The Annals of the Bohemian Club, etc. On p. 52 notes that Mark Twain became an honorary member Oct. 17, 1873, as did Bret Harte, “about the same time” [Tenney: “A Reference Guide Fifth Annual Supplement,” American Literary Realism, Autumn 1981 p. 164].

October 18 Saturday – Sam repeated his “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Queen’s Concert Rooms, Hanover Square, London at 3 PM [Baetzhold 17]. The London Graphic reported:

Description of the manners and customs of the natives were interspersed with various witticisms, which were heartily appreciated and loudly applauded. Mr. Twain evidently has “the art of putting things.” The lecture, which lasted rather more than an hour, …was listened to throughout with great interest.

The London Examiner: “…we have had in Mark Twain (Mr. S.L Clemens) a genuine specimen of the American humorous lecturer.”

Each night Sam’s audience grew, so that by the end of the week many were turned away.

Date of a contract between Sam and Routledge for The Gilded Age; Sam signed for self and for Charles Dudley Warner with witness Ellen Bermingham [MTP].

October 19 Sunday – Sam wrote from Room 113 at the Langham in London to Charles Warren Stoddard, who had arrived in England on Oct. 13 as a roving-reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. [ page 552 ] Sam hired Stoddard to keep clippings from the London Standard of the Tichborne Clamaint trial, a scandalous mess of the day, which fascinated because of Lampton family claims of royalty [MTL 5: 456].

October 20 Monday – Sam repeated his “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Liverpool Institute, Liverpool, England [MTPO]. The review by the Liverpool Mercury was effusive. It was also positive [MTL 5: 458n1].

October 21 Tuesday – Sam, family and party sailed from Liverpool for New York on the SS. Batavia [MTL 5: 451n1]. Sam had not received any proofs of The Gilded Age, but Livy’s homesickness (she was also pregnant again) led Sam to escort the family home and then to return for more lectures and to await the proofs in order to claim copyright. The first three days were stormy and the females in the party were all seasick [Salsbury 25].

October 22 Wednesday – Sam sent a note of thanks for books to an unidentified person. Sam dispatched the letter at Queenstown, Ireland [MTL 5: 458].

October 30 Thursday – Sam wrote on board the Batavia to Dr. John Brown. Everyone in Sam’s party save himself had been seasick for the first three days, but now it had been:

“…smoothe, & balmy, & sunny & altogether lovely for a day or two now, & at night there is a broad luminous highway stretching over the sea to the moon, over which the spirits of the sea are traveling up & down all through the secret night & having a genuine good time, I make no doubt.”

Sam also told of an infant dying and being buried at sea [MTL 5: 459].

Sam also wrote to Arthur E. Bancroft of Cambridge, England:

 

Dear Sir:

I beg you will pardon this delay in acknowledging your courtesy—I was so hurried that I had to stop answering letters of all kinds. I thank you very much indeed, & when I return to England next month I may possibly come to Cambridge, in the course of events—in which case I would be glad to enjoy the hospitality you have so kindly tendered.

Ys Truly

Samℓ. L. Clemens

em spaceem spaceem spaceMark Twain [MTPO].

In Hartford, a load of hay was delivered to the Clemens home by Paul Thompson for a delivery fee of 5 cents [MTP].

November 2 Sunday – The Batavia reached port in New York City at dusk. Livy’s mother and brother, and also Orion (who was in the city looking for work) met the Clemens family at the pier. Charles Langdon had reserved rooms at the new Windsor Hotel, where the party spent the night. Charles returned to Elmira, while Clara Spaulding and her mother met Clara’s brother and stayed at Barnum’s Hotel [MTL 5: 460].

November 3 Monday – The Clemens family attended Edwin Booth’s NY performance of Hamlet [MTL 5: 460]. Note: Booth (1833-1893). Paine [MTB 495] attributes to Orion a detail not in his letter to Mollie:

“Booth sent for Sam to come behind the scenes, and when Sam proposed to add a part to Hamlet, the part of a bystander who makes humorous modern comment on the situations in the play, Booth laughed immoderately” [MTL 5: 460]

Sam called this his “queer play,” and on Sept. 3, 1881 told Howells,  [ page 553 ]

“I did the thing once—nine years ago; the addition was a country cousin of Hamlet’s. But it did not suit me, & I burnt it” [MTHL 2: 369].

Bill paid to Hartford merchant for $150 for bedding and furniture [MTP].

November 4 Tuesday – The Clemens family returned to Hartford with Mrs. Langdon, who planned to visit there a few days [MTL 5: 461].

November 5 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Elisha Bliss directing books be sent to personal friends and journalists in London, Edinburgh, Ireland, France, and various places in America—two dozen or so. Among this list were Sam’s old friends in Nevada, Chicago and San Francisco, as well as those he had made acquaintance with in England. Sam specified them to receive the earliest copies, which resulted in a few reviews before the official publication date of Dec. 23 [MTL 5: 461]. The letter is now included here:

Friend Bliss:

      Please send very early copies of the Gilded Age (Library style) to

✓ Tom Hood, 80 Fleet st. London

✓ Henry Lee, 43 Holland st. Blackfriars Road, London.

✓ G. W. Smalley, (N. Y. Tribune Bureau,) 13 Pall Mall, London.

✓ George Sauer, (N. Y. Herald Bureau,) 46 Fleet street.

✓ Publisher Figaro, Fleet street.

✓ Mr. Johnstone, Publisher Daily Standard, Shoe Lane, London.

✓ Shirley Brooks, Editor Punch, London.

✓ Mr. Russel, Editor Scotsman, Edinburgh.

✓ G. Fitz Gibbon, 1 Wellesley Terrace, Upper Street, Islington, London.

 

✓ Joseph T. Goodman, Virginia, Nevada.

✓ Joseph Medill, (“Tribune,”[)] Chicago.

✓ Frank Soulé & John McCombem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceCare “Alta” San Francisco.

✓ Col. John Hay, Lotos Club, 2 Irving Place, N. Y.

✓ J. G. Croly, Daily Graphic, N. Y.

✓ G. W. Hosmer, “Herald,” N. York.

Middleton

✓ Mr. Abel, Proprietor “Sun,” Baltimore. Also, sendem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceextracts & advanced sheets to him—greatem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spacefriend of mine

✓ The same to Donn Piatt, “Capital” Washington.

✓ James Redpath, 36 Bromfield st. Boston.

✓ Clara Louise Moulton (Tribune Correspondent,[)] Boston.

✓ D. W. Howells &

em spaceem space✓ T. B. Aldrichem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceAtlantic Monthly.

✓ Mrs. Jane Clemens, Fredonia New York.

✓ George A. Hawes, Hannibal, Mo.

✓ Thos. P. McMurry, Colony, Knox Co., Mo.

✓ Fred. Quarles, Waco, Texas.

✓ Mrs. A. W. Fairbanks, (care “Herald”) Cleveland, Ohio.

✓ Sam. Williams, on, “Bulletin,” San Francisco.

Middleton

[bottom one-third of page left blank]

 

Also, send half Turkey copies of Innocents,em spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceRoughing It & Gilded Age, to

em spaceem spaceDr. Brown, 23 Rutland street, Edinburgh, Scotland.

em spaceem spaceFrank D. Finlay, 4 Royal Terrace, Belfast, Ireland.

Charge them to me.

Send the earliest copies, & don’t forget. They are promised. [ page 554 ]

Also, send a half Turkey Gilded Age to

✓ Judge Thomas Sunderland, 1 Rue Scribe, Paris, France.

Don’t fail.

Ys

   Mark. [MTPO]. See identifiers at source.

Royalty check with this date from American Publishing Co. for $1,315.08 for RI sales [MTP].

The New York Daily Graphic reported on arrangements for the London publication of The Gilded Age [Tenney 5] (Also on Nov. 8.)

D. Bliss writes of the dire financial situation at the time GA was published:

By the time The Gilded Age was published in November 1873, the speculative bubble had burst. In September 1873 the nation’s premier investment bank—Jay Cook & Co., which had financed the Union victory—collapsed. It had made too many risky loans for overvalued real estate and underutilized railroads. The country entered what was then called the Great Depression. The economy shrank for sixty-five straight months—sill an unbroken record. By 1876 half the nation’s railroads were bankrupt, and half the iron and steel foundries were closed. Three years later wholesale prices were down 30 percent. The Gilded Age conveys a powerful message about the perils of a culture obsessed with getting rich, a free market driven by risky speculation, and a government subservient to moneyed interests [xiv]. Note: Ironically, Clemens was deeply motivated his entire life by the desire to get rich and also driven by risky speculation.

November 6 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Jane Clemens with a proposition for Orion, who had been struggling to find work in New York. If Orion would stay in Fredonia but not live under the same roof with his mother, and sister, then Sam would pay him up to twenty dollars a week pension, as long as he is idle or can make no more than ten dollars a week on his own. He’d planned to offer this to Orion in New York, but it was a rush there, and Sam now made it through his mother [MTL 5: 471].

November 7 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Will Bowen. Will’s wife of sixteen years had died and Sam had received the news in London. He told Will of his plan to start back to New York the next day, and invited Will to visit them in Hartford after their home was done in May. “We will talk over old times and tell my wife about them” [MTL 5: 472].

In the evening, Sam left Hartford for New York [MTL 5: 474n5]. He stayed the night at Dan Slote’s house, 110 East Fifty-fifth Street, where Dan’s wife sewed a button on Sam’s shirt [MTL 5: 476n2].

November 8 Saturday – In the morning, Sam sailed alone on the City of Chester for England, where he would await publication by Routledge and continue lecturing [MTL 5: 472].

On board, Sam wrote to Livy: [ page 555 ]

Just going out to sea, / 9 a.m. / Livy darling, it is just a lovely ship, & this smoking room is perfection. The Batavia left considerably ahead of us, but we overtook her in half an hour & swept by her as if she were standing still. She looks like a yawl beside this vast vessel. Capt. Mouland sent a very regretful letter, which smote me. Bless you, dear old darling, & good-by. Kiss mother & the Modoc. / Saml [MTP, drop-in letters].

November 10 and 17 Monday – Sam wrote aboard the SS City of Chester en route to Livy—“3 days out from N.Y.” After a long description of how wonderfully the ship was appointed, Sam referred to Livy’s pregnancy (she was two months along) and expressed some guilt that he had left her “at a time when you cannot exert yourself without peril.” Sam promised to telegraph as soon as he reached Queenstown and look for an answer in Liverpool or London. On Nov. 17 he added that he’d telegraphed [MTL 5: 473-4].

November 14 Friday – Sam wrote aboard the SS City of Chester en route to Livy—“7 day out.” Sam wrote of a half-gale and some rolling of the ship, an injury or two to passengers, a leaky dead-light in his cabin and of repairs to his clothing. “I have read all night during this [rough] weather—sleep would only tire me.”

What did Sam read? A copy of Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa Harlowe was in Sam’s library. The book was inscribed: Saml. L. Clemens/ Cabin 55 & 56/ Steamer—City of Chester. It was also signed “Harriet Ward, London, October 23rd, 1868” [Gribben 578] —possibly the prior owner.

Sam worried about Livy, probably feeling guilt for leaving her again so soon in her condition [MTL 5: 475].

November 15 Saturday – Harper’s Weekly ran an engraving, 11×15 entitled, “THE LYCEUM COMMITTEEMAN’S DREAM—SOME POPULAR LECTURERS IN CHARACTER,” which featured nineteen lecturers, including Charles Dickens, and Mark Twain in a jester’s outfit [eBay Oct. 6, 2009 by nls, Item 360061792731]. See insert.

 

November 17 Monday – The City of Chester arrived at Queenstown, Ireland at 6 PM. Sam telegraphed Livy [MTL 5: 476].

 

November 18 Tuesday – Sam arrived in Liverpool. Either Sam got a hotel room that night or took a train to London [MTL 5: 476; Powers, MT A Life 339].

 

November 19 Wednesday – Sam checked into his rooms at the Langham Hotel in London There he was joined by Charles Warren Stoddard. In an 1876 letter to Howells, asking him to recommend Stoddard for a consulship:

Poor, sweet, pure-hearted, good-intentioned, impotent Stoddard., I have known for 12 years, now, & in all that time he has never been fit for anything but a consul. When I was at the Langham Hotel in London I hired [ page 556 ] him for 3 months, at $15 a week & board & lodging, to sit up nights with me & dissipate. At the end of the time he wouldn’t take a cent. I had to finally smuggle it to him through Dolby after leaving England [MTL 5: 476].

A bill was paid to James Ahern, Practical Plumber and Gas Fitter, 272 Main St., Hartford, for work done Aug. 16, Nov. 12, 13, 14, 19. The total $11.16 [MTP].

November 20 Thursday – Sam wrote from room 113 at the Langham to Livy. Sam was lonely, having breakfast but no one to share it with. His letter to Livy was wistful, resigned. His nickname for baby Susy was “Modoc,” coined by Joaquin Miller, Susy’s hair reminding him of the Modoc Indians he’d written about. Earlier, Sam had called her “Muggins” [MTL 5: 478].

November 21 Friday – Sam wrote from London to Livy. He’d gone shopping and purchased an overcoat, some meerschaum pipes, a “particularly nice” umbrella, a hat, a hatbrush, a couple of razors, and ordered “some patent leather shoes at a considerably higher price than one pays in Hartford for such things” [MTL 5: 480].

November 22 Saturday – From the Langham, Sam dictated a short note to Charles Warren Stoddard for Henry Lee. Sam was busy preparing for his lectures, which would begin Dec. 1 and could not promise to “go down to Croydon on Wednesday next” [MTL 5: 481].

A bill to Livy was paid to James G. Wells & Co., 15 Asylum street, Hartford, dealers china, glass, etc., for items totaling $12.18 [MTP].

November 23 Sunday – Sam wrote from London to Livy, of the “very sunny & bright & cheery” weather. He and Stoddard had walked through Regent’s Park and to the top of Primrose Hill and back. Stoddard had been spending time at Oxford University and brought Sam an invitation to speak there. Sam liked the idea, but did not lecture there [MTL 5: 482]. Stoddard wrote of his visits to Oxford for the San Francisco Chronicle on Dec. 10 and 19.

November 24 Monday – Sam wrote from London to Livy.

“Dolby is the same jolly good fellow, & says heaps of pleasant things about you & Clara—among the rest that you, in face & nature & everything, are the most perfect woman he ever saw or knew—which is simply what any one would say, & so it does not surprise me.”

Sam described theatrical performances at Oxford: the students brought pups and let them roam around the stage; they would not bear long piano recitals without talking to the pianist and asking questions and traipsing across the stage to talk to friends on the other side and “borrow” their pups [MTL 5: 483].

Sam also wrote to Henry Lee:

Dear Lee—

      I’m going to that Scotch dinner the 29th (Mr. Reid’s guest) & so you’ll go too, won’t you?

      I don’t know where it is to be. Will you come by for me And if you can’t, will you let me know where it is to be, & what hour it is to come off? / Ys Ever / Clemens [MTP, drop-in letters].

In Hartford, E.P. & Wm. Kellogg receipted Livy for “1 rustic & box” $2.50 [MTP].

November 25 Tuesday – Andrew Chatto’s letter to Clemens of this date introduced him as the successor to John Camden Hotten, who died on June 14. Chatto enclosed “a set of the sheets of a volume [ page 557 ] of your writings, in order that you may (as I understand you expressed a desire to do) correct certain portions of the contents” [Welland 31].

November 26 Wednesday – Charles Kingsley (1819-1875), the canon of Westminster and author of several historical novels and other works wrote to Clemens:

My dear Sir / I tried in vain, when you were last in London, to have the great pleasure of introducing myself to you. I called—hearing that you had returned—at the Langham Hotel today: but was too meek to intrude on you—even had you been at home.

      But will you kindly let me know when I may have a chance of seeing you: I shall be absent from Town from next Monday to next Thursday.

      Before & after that I am at your service. And may I say, that if you care to make a closer acquaintance than the multitude can make with our English Pantheon the old Abbey here—it would give me—& mine for my ladies are even more fond of your work than I—extreme pleasure to act as cicerones to some strange & remote spots in our great Stone Mausoleum. / Believe me with sincere respects [MTPO].

Sam wrote from London to Livy, remembering her birthday of Nov. 27. Sam enclosed the above note from. Kingsley. Sam and Kingsley had lunch soon after [MTL 5: 485].

November 27 Thursday – Livy’s 28th birthday.

November 28 Friday – Sam wrote from London to George H. Fitzgibbon. Sam thanked him for his “timely hints & suggestions,” and that he had written a ten-minute speech that he enclosed. Sam wrote the speech for a dinner on Monday, Dec. 1, attended after his lecture [MTL 5: 489].

At Hartford, a load of hay was delivered by Paul Thompson, who receipted the family a delivery fee of 25 cents for 1960 lbs. [MTP].

November 29 Saturday – Sam spoke at St. Andrew’s Society, Salutation Tavern, London, replying to the toast of “The Guests” (see this reply MTL 5: 491). The speech was printed in the Hartford Daily Courant, Dec. 20, 1873, p2 as “Mark Twain on Scotland.” It may also be found in The Twainian, Nov.-Dec. 1957 p4 as “Mark Twain Toasts the Scotch.” Note: this is “that Scotch dinner” Sam referred to in his Nov. 24 to Henry Lee, as Mr. Reid’s guest.

Charles Kingsley wrote to Sam: “Many thanks for your cordial letter. Will you & Mr. Stoddard give me the pleasure of coming to luncheon tomorrow at 1 P.M.? I am sorry—& so will Mrs. Kingsley be—that she is out of town. After our luncheon & our cigarette—we can look at the Abbey or not, as you may like” [MTP].

At the Clemens home in Hartford, hay was delivered by Paul Thompson [MTP].

November 30 Sunday – Sam’s 38th birthday.

Livy paid $198.40 to Madame Fogarty 149 East 21st street Gramercy Park, New York for the making a black silk costume, and a blue velvet costume, with linings, fringes, etc. [MTP].

December – In an Atlantic Monthly article, comparisons were made between recent California writers, including Sam Clemens, Bret Harte, Charles Warren Stoddard, Prentice Mulford (1834-1891), and Charles Webb.

“The greatest and most original of these is Twain, whose tone of “perpetual personal companionship” is the chief characteristic of the pure humorist.” [ page 558 ]

December 1 Monday – Sam gave his “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Queen’s Concert Rooms, Hanover Square, London. George Dolby arranged his English lecture tour. After the first night’s lecture, Sam gave his ten-minute speech, “The Ladies” for the Scottish Corporation, commemorating their 209th anniversary. The group provided assistance for needy Scots in London [See Sam’s speech: Fatout, MT Speaking 78-80].

Dr. John Brown wrote to Sam: “My dear friend—Welcome back!” [MTP].

December 2 Tuesday – Sam gave his “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO].

December 3 Wednesday – Sam gave his “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO]. Sam wrote a short note from London to Livy:

“Livy darling, I am as busy as I can be, day & night, revamping & memorizing my “Roughing It” lecture, because I want to use it next week. After that I want to try a reading here if I get time to prepare it. I won’t write you more, now, except to say that I love you with all my heart” [MTL 5: 493].

December 4 Thursday – Sam gave his “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO].

December 5 Friday – Sam gave his “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO]. These lectures were given to full and enthusiastic houses and were consistently successful. Stoddard wrote that after his lectures Sam “always felt amiable, and met the people who came to shake hands…and cheerfully gave autographs.” Stoddard observed that “Lecturing excited him and got him started and he would talk for hours.” Stoddard also saw a melancholy side of Sam back at the Langham after lectures, with Sam drinking several cocktails:

Very, very often these nightly talks became a lament. He [Sam] was always afraid of dying in the poorhouse. The burden of his woe was that he would grow old and lose the power of interesting an audience, and become unable to write, and then what would become of him? He had trained himself to do nothing else. He could not work with his hands. There could be no escape. The poorhouse was his destiny. And he’d drink cocktails and grow more and more gloomy and blue until he fairly wept at the misery of his own future [MTL 5: 477-8].

John Colburne wrote to Sam. This is what the MTP calls a “ghost letter,” being referred to somewhere but with no known text. It’s possible this will surface in time [MTP].

December 6 Saturday – In the afternoon, Sam gave his “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO]. Afterward, Sam wrote a short note to Livy.

“There was a mighty fine house there this afternoon, & I went through all right, but I am getting unspeakably sick of the Sandwich Islands as a topic to lecture on. I shall get tired of the new one in a week I expect” [MTL 5: 494].

A bill was paid to Gridley & Frisbee, Hartford dealer of soap & candles, skins, hides, for $5.25 [MTP].

Prentice Mulford (“Dogberry”) wrote from London to solicit Sam’s help with London publishers who he claimed were stealing by not paying him. He was “very much down at present; you are up where you deserve to be”[MTP]. Note: Sam’s reply is not extant, but Mulford’s of the next day, Dec. 7 thanking for tickets and sympathy shows he did reply on Dec. 6 or 7.  [ page 559 ]

December 7 Sunday – Sam wrote another short note from London to Livy. He’d rehearsed his “Roughing It” lecture and thought he’d enjoy it. He asked if she got his telegram from Queenstown, and said that Bliss needed to “hurry up the book” if he was to copyright it in England [MTL 5: 495].

Prentice Mulford (“Dogberry”) wrote to Sam: “I shall be happy to receive the ticket & comply with your invitation to breakfast on Tuesday Morning. I thank you for the kindly tone and sympathy in yr note. It gives me fresh strength to renew the contest” [MTP]. Note: from this context it seems Clemens replied to Mulford’s Dec. 6, but no reply is extant.

December 8 Monday – Sam sent a short note to an unidentified member of the London Morayshire Club who had sent him tickets to a club dinner that evening. Sam answered that he would be there at about 10 PM, “which is as early as I can get away from my lecture.” That evening, Sam gave his “Roughing It on the Silver Frontier” lecture at the Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [Fatout, MT Speaking 48-63 paraphrased; Schmidt]. Afterwards, Sam attended the Morayshire Club dinner [MTL 5: 496].

A receipt for this date for $1.25 to New York for the Connecticut Valley R.R. Co. is in the MTP. Who used it? Possibly Livy.

Dr. John Brown wrote from Edinburgh, Scotland to Clemens:

My dear friend — Thanks for the M. Post—& the capital speech— You must have enjoyed it, as well as they you. When are you coming here?—are you under a “former”?—surely you will give us a turn—I had a kind note from Mrs Clemens—she will enjoy your glory & prattle of it to Megalopis Susie— What of the Novel? We are all well & dull— I am dodging about from door to door—as usual— Don’t trouble to write, only tell me when you know your time for invading us—& harrying the city— 3 Take care of your self—get 8 hours sleep out of every 24—& keep the Midland Counties regular— / Yrs ever / [MTPO]. Note from source: Clemens had evidently sent Brown two clippings from the 2 December London Morning Post: the complimentary review of his 1 December lecture, and the text of his speech that evening on “The Ladies”.

December 9 Tuesday – In the evening, Sam gave his “Roughing It on the Silver Frontier” lecture at the Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO]. Afterward, Sam wrote Livy that he’d “never enjoyed delivering a lecture” more than he had that night.

      And it was such a stylish looking, bright audience. There were people there who gave way entirely & just went on laughing, & I had to stop & wait for them to get through…Those people almost made me laugh myself, tonight. …

      The fog was so thick to-day at noon that the cabs went in a walk, & men went before the omnibuses carrying lanterns. Give that item to Warner. It was the heaviest fog seen in London in 20 years. And you know how the fog invades the houses & makes your eyes smart. To-night, the first thing I said on the stage was, “Ladies & gentlemen, I hear you, & so I know that you are here—& I am here, too, notwithstanding I am not visible.” The audience did look so vague, & dim, & ghostly! The halls seemed full of thick blue smoke [MTL 5: 497]. Note: The term “smog” had not been coined.

Sam wrote a second time to Livy, having forgotten to enclose a note from Dr. John Brown, to whom Sam had sent clippings from the Dec. 2 London Morning Post [MTL 5: 499].

Sam wrote George H. Fitzgibbon that he’d be at the Morayshire dinner. He cawed about the successful talk and notice in the Post.

Few men can tell a story as well as Mr. Twain, who has an inexhaustible stock of “yarns,” and is never tired of spinning them…. There is nothing so broadly comic to be heard in London as “Roughing it on the Silver Frontier,” and Mr. Twain ought to have crowded houses every night, as no doubt he will [MTL 5: 500]. [ page 560 ]

Sam also wrote Henry Lee, who had asked Sam to give a brief joke at a benefit for Edward P. Hingston, past manager of Artemus Ward. Hingston was retiring.

“I like Hingston, & I would do a good many things for him, but I couldn’t do that for my brother—for the reason that a man isn’t justified in telling an uproarious anecdote before an audience until he has led up to it with a lecture with things in it which show he is capable of better things” [MTL 5: 501].

Sam never wanted to be a mere humorist (today we call them stand-up comedians), but a moralist as well, because he felt a mere humorist never won true respectability and position in life.

Livy paid an undated bill of $150 worth of furniture from Deming & Fenn, 205 Main St., Hartford, for purchases ending this date. Also, a bill was paid to Sykes & Newton, Hartford chemists & druggists, for “1 doz scotch ale (Younger’s)” $2.85 [MTP]. Perhaps stocking up for Sam’s return.

George W. Smalley wrote to Sam.

Dear Mark Twain, / We have to thank you for your kindness in sending us tickets, & still more for the delight of hearing you. Mrs. Smalley and I agreed in thinking the lecture capital, both in itself and in the manner of its delivery, which was simply inimitable. I admired your way of leading up to your points, & your great good sense in giving a slow witted English audience time to take them in. That they enjoyed so many of them was a proper tribute to you and some credit to them also, for the average Englishman does not take kindly to the peculiar humour in which you excel. I was sorry to see you so wretchedly noticed in the Daily News,—what a donkey the man must be to be able to spoil things so. / Yours ever / G. W. Smalley

Conway sat beside us & laughed till the bench shook. I thought his conduct most improper / [MTPO]. Note: source gives the negative review from the London Daily News:

Last evening Mr. Mark Twain delivered a new lecture at the Hanover-square Rooms, the title of which was “Roughing it on the Silver Frontier.” When Mr. Twain announced a record of his adventures amidst the savages of the Sandwich Islands, the public got some idea of his whereabouts at least, although they could not anticipate the strange scenes he depicted nor the yet stranger mode of his portraiture. On the present occasion, though more familiar with his peculiar style, the London public have been left entirely in the dark as to the locality to which he intended to introduce them. Considering the attraction that a little mystery has had at all times for the world, it would be unfair, perhaps, to Mr. Twain to find fault with him for shrouding himself in so much darkness as would lead people to the Hanover-square Rooms to ascertain what he meant. If such was his idea the result confirmed his expectation, for the large room was well filled by an audience many of whom were inquiring long before the lecturer’s appearance what was or where was the “Silver Frontier.” Mexico was generally suggested, but Mr. Twain soon informed his hearers that by the “Silver Frontier” he meant a portion of Nevada. He lived in that part of the world for three years. It was inhabited when he was there by editors and thieves, blacklegs and lawyers, carters, miners, gamblers, and characters of that sort. On his journey he assisted at a Mormon marriage, but did not wait to see it all finished. They were very fond of card playing in Nevada. Their game was “Seven up,” and he joined in; but he was sorry he did, for card playing was very sinful unless you won money at it. But though a place for gamblers he would not advise hunters to go there, for they might hunt for a whole year and find nothing. It was a country for desperadoes, and of one of these, named Jack Harris, the lecturer gave an amusing account. This man took refuge in Nevada from the justice of the United States, and lodged with the principal clergyman of the place, for there was no distinction in that country between classes. Harris was known for his expertness with the pistol and bowie-knife, but a change of life came over Harris, and he took to a doubled-barrel gun when he gave up the pistol and bowie-knife. Intermixed with his word-play and jests, Mr. Twain gave some very eloquent descriptions of the country. He began and concluded his lecture last evening amidst loud applause.

December 10 Wednesday – Sam gave his “Roughing It on the Silver Frontier” lecture at the Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO]. Sam wrote to Moncure Conway, responding to a letter (see below), [ page 561 ] congratulating Sam on the “Roughing It” lecture. Sam offered to trade books—The Gilded Age for Conway’s new book on scriptures, which was to be released within a few weeks [MTL 5: 502].

Sam sent a humorous letter to the editor for the London Morning Post that was published the next day. Sam was afraid, he said, of inviting some “great member of the Government to give distinction to my entertainment,” because if the great busy personage got up and left half way through the lecture, it would “seriously embarrass” him. To remedy this, Sam had applied to “a party at the East-end who is in the same line of business as Madame Tussaud” –in other words, a wax museum. Sam wanted to announce that King Henry VIII, William the Conqueror, Moses & Aaron—etc., would be at his lectures on succeeding nights, and that he could not be embarrassed because they would not leave during the lecture. The letter got zanier from there, by a porter falling, the statues falling apart, etc. [MTL 5: 503]. It appeared in the Post on Dec. 12 [Fatout, MT Speaks 85].

Sam also dictated a letter through Charles Stoddard to John L. Toole, who was appearing in a comedy at London’s Gaiety Theatre and was planning an American tour. Evidently, Toole had asked Sam’s help or advice on the tour. Sam suggested he give Toole’s manager, George Loveday, a letter of introduction to Samuel R. Glenn of the New York Herald [MTL 5: 505]. (See Sept. 21, 1872 entry.) Lorch says Sam paid Stoddard “fifteen dollars a week and board and lodging to sit up nights with him and dissipate” [147].

Clemens also dictated a letter to Henry Lee.

My dear Lee: / I wish I could go with you but I am going to be situated that I can’t. I have several engagements right along in the neighborhood of that evening, & they are all that I dare take.

      I am getting so worn & fagged that I have an actual dread of meeting & talking with people that I have to keep up my end of the conversation with.

      You know how it is old fellow. I’ve given the order for the tickets Friday evening & shall be glad to see your face there. / Ys Ever… [MTP].

Sam also accepted a dinner invitation from the Lord Mayor, Andrew Lusk (1810–1909), through his secretary John R. Vine. Sam’s acceptance is not extant but referred to in Vine’s reply of Dec. 11.

Moncure Conway wrote to Sam.

My dear Clemens, /I would have liked much to have wrung your hand on Monday evening for that admirable speech of yours, but having a bonnetless lady along could not manage it. It (the lecture) is even better than the Sandwich one, and that is saying a great deal. Your audience was limited by Sir Sam Baker, who was to be welcomed that night by the Prince, but I have no doubt your lecture will be a favourite with the public—especially as the Baker and Tichborne affairs prevented the papers publishing all your best plums.

—I am under the most terrible persecution from printers and have been ever since your arrival; but my big book will be out this week; the dumb demon will be exorcised; I shall be a freeman. And when free it cannot be long before I get hold of S. L. C.

Meanwhile Mrs. Conway sends her thanks for the very pleasant note she has recd. from Mrs. Clemens; & hopes that after your lecture Monday you will be able to call in at the party given that night close to the Hanover Sq. rooms,—whereof a certain green ticket inviting you to a Club will inform you more particularly It has been sent you. / Ever yours gratefully /M D Conway / [MTPO].

December 11 Thursday – Sam’s humorous letter to the London Morning Post was printed [MTL 5: 503]. Sam wrote the preface for the English release of The Gilded Age [MTL 6: 5-6]. In the evening Sam gave his “Roughing It on the Silver Frontier” lecture at the Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO].  [ page 562 ]

Sam wrote from London to Livy of more thick fog and burning gaslight all day. He enclosed a note of thanks from George Smalley for the tickets and his wife’s and Conway’s enjoyment at the lecture [MTL 5: 506]. Sam started another letter to Livy, which he finished the next day [508].

In Hartford a bill was paid to Hartford City Gas Light Co. for $11.69 [MTP].

The earliest copies of The Gilded Age arrived from the bindery [Hirst, “A Note on the Text” Oxford edition, 1996].

John R. Vine, secretary for the Lord Mayor of London, wrote to Sam.

Dear Sir. /The Lord Mayor desires me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of yesterday with thanks.

Whilst regretting that the dinner will not be enlivened with your presence, His Lordship sincerely hopes you will not fail to put in an appearance at the finale, when his welcome will be none the less hearty.

Should any other dinner be given here before you leave England, His Lordship will again request the honor of your acceptance of his hospitality & he trusts that timely notice of it will enable you to make arrangements for being present. / I am, / Dear Sir / yours faithfully / Jno. R. S. Vine / Private Secy / [MTPO].

December 12 Friday – Sam gave his “Roughing It on the Silver Frontier” lecture at the Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO]. Afterward at the Scotch Morayshire Dinner, London, Sam responded to a toast “The Visitors” (text not available, but MTL 5: 509-10 paraphrases).

Sam finished the letter to Livy at 2 AM and told her of his speech at the Scotch dinner, which he said was “received with prodigious applause—but I thought ‘if Livy were only here, I would enjoy it a thousand times more.’” [MTL 5: 508].

Sam also wrote from the Langham to Mr. Shirley Brooks about a squib Sam had sent to newspapers, one that was taken as an advertisement and not printed [MTL 5: 510].

Sam also dictated through Stoddard to Robert W. Routledge, agreeing to whatever price the publisher wished to sell first a cheaper version of GA in order to boost sales. The purchase price is the publisher’s affair, not the author’s, Sam responded. Bliss had put $3.50 and $5.00 on the book for each type of binding. Routledge was issuing the book in 3 volumes, and had initially set a price of 31s 6d. for each part, or $7.88 for the trio. The suggestion was to lower each volume to 25s 6d.,or $6.38 [MTL 5: 511].

Bliss released the first “library style” bindings of The Gilded Age, though the official publication date in America was Dec. 23 [MTL 5: 463n1].

Robert Routledge wrote from London to Sam, advising, “after careful consideration” to publish GA at 25/6 rather than 31/6, a price adopted by the “late Lord Lytton for his last novel” [MTP].

December 13 Saturday – Sam gave his “Roughing It on the Silver Frontier” lecture at the Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO]. He started a letter to Livy, which he finished on Dec. 15.

“Livy darling, I am so tired of lecturing! I enjoy while I am on the stage, because the audience are such elegant looking people & are so heartily responsive (heaps of fine carriages & liveries come,) but I don’t take any interest in life during the day.”

Sam’s lament was the continuing polluted fog, the empty streets, and the routine [MTL 5: 512]. [ page 563 ]

December 14 Sunday – Sam gave his “Roughing It on the Silver Frontier” lecture at the Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO]. Sam wrote to Livy, his letter sounding a lot like those from his courting days… “an ocean is between us, now, & I have to gush.” Sam looked forward to having Frank Finlay  as a guest for the week [MTL 5: 518].

Mr. Shirley Brooks replied to the Dec. 12 from Clemens.

My dear Sir, / I feel desirous to do something more helpful to your lecture than perhaps the article would be, and I have therefore written, and inserted in the new number of Punch a strong incitation to the public to make haste & go and see you, & I have put in quotations to attract the eye of the B. P. [British Public] I will send you an early copy tomorrow—it will appear on Wednesday & may do good for the brief time you mention it as your intention to remain. I will also send you my Almanac—Tenniel has done something which I am certain you will admire. / Believe me / very sincerely yours / Shirley Brooks / [MTPO].

December 15 Monday – Sam gave his “Roughing It on the Silver Frontier” lecture at the Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO].

Sam finished the Dec. 13 letter to Livy. At the urging of Moncure Conway, he also wrote to Alfred Lord Tennyson sending complimentary tickets [MTL 5: 519].

John Colburne of the Temple Club wrote a short note informing Clemens he’d been “on the nomination of Colℓ. Rowland, unanimously elected an Honorary Member of the Club” [MTPO]. Note: Sam replied Dec. 16.

Lady Mary Northcliffe wrote to thank Sam, somewhat belatedly, for a signed GA with inscription [MTP].

December 16 Tuesday – Sam gave his “Roughing It on the Silver Frontier” lecture at the Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO].

Sam dictated a short note through Stoddard to John Colburne, thanking him for his honorary membership in the Temple Club, a new group dedicated to a free and social exchange of ideas on art, literature and science. Tom Hood was a member and Moncure Conway was about to join [MTL 5: 520].

After the lecture Sam wrote to Livy.

Last night a portly lady very richly dressed, sat in the second row & laughed as you never saw any creature laugh before except Rev. Mr. Burton—the tears streamed down her cheeks all the time. Tonight a young English girl sat in the same row, & it seemed to me that she would simply go into convulsions. Bully audiences, these [MTL 5: 521]. Note: Rev. Nathaniel J. Burton was a member of Hartford’s Monday Evening Club.

A bill was paid to L. Daniels for $15.20 for goods (illegible) [MTP].

Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote: “Dear Sir, / I saw some of your countrymen last Sunday, who spoke so highly of your Lectures, that I longed to come & hear you; but whether I come or not I am equally beholden to you for your kindness. / Yours with all thanks / A Tennyson” [MTPO].

December 17 Wednesday – Sam gave his “Roughing It on the Silver Frontier” lecture at the Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO].

Sam wrote to James Redpath about his plans to lecture in the “provinces” (Scotland and Ireland) and then to sail for home for a light schedule of lectures in New York and possibly Boston and then “retire [ page 564 ] permanently from the platform—for it is my very last.” Any time in February, Sam wrote. His plans would change [MTL 5: 523].

December 18 Thursday – Sam gave his “Roughing It on the Silver Frontier” lecture at the Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO].

December 19 Friday – Sam lunched with Mrs. Thomas Owen, a widow, and went to Westminster Abbey to see the monument to Thomas Owen, who built Condover Hall [MTL 5: 521].

In the evening, Sam gave his “Roughing It on the Silver Frontier” lecture at the Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO].

George and Louisa MacDonald wrote from Halloway House, Hastings to Sam in London:

 

My dear Mr Clemens, / Is there no chance of seeing you down here before you go? Anytime would do for us. Why not eat your Christmas Dinner with us? We are a merry party, & I don’t think you would find it very dull. The shortest notice of your coming, or no notice at all will suffice.

      Tell me, please, when you think of returning: I want to ask you to take out a watch for a friend of mine, if it would not be troublesome to you.

      I long to see the novel—yours and Warner’s: it is not out here yet. If you were living in London, or I in Hartford, I think we could make a good western play together. There are such elements in that book of yours!

      All the best wishes of the season to you from us— / Yours most truly / George MacDonald.

 Punch has frightened [us] as to your going away so soon. I want you to take two bits of crockery for me to the dear Wife. / Yrs truly / Louisa McD [MTPO].

December 20 Saturday – Before his lecture, Sam wrote Livy:

“Livy darling, I am about to go to the hall, to deliver my last lecture in London. Presently I shall be free! All this time my health has been simply splendid….I shall see you by Feb. 1! Hurrah!” [MTL 5: 524].

Sam gave his last “Roughing It on the Silver Frontier” lecture at the Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO]. Afterward, Sam dined at the Smalley’s with Frank Finlay, John Russell Young, formerly of the New York Tribune and others.

At the Langham, Stoddard wrote for Sam to Arthur Pelham:

 

Dear Sir

I thank you very much for showing me these specimens of schooling in England and I have taken the liberty of copying a few of them in all their original orthography and punctuation.

I return the books to you by post.

Very Truly Yours

Saml. L. Clemens [MTP drop-in letters].

 

Livy purchased $9.20 of misc. merchandise from Madame Sanborn [MTP].

Punch ran “Twain Can Do’t,” an article with plays on Sam’s name and regrets that his stay in London would be brief; readers were urged to go hear him lecture [Tenney 5].

December 21 Sunday – Sam wrote from London to George H. Fitzgibbon: [ page 565 ]

I wish you had been there—it was a beautiful house; tho’ piling the stage full of people made it pretty hard talking. I made no speech, because I had kept the audience there longer than I ever had before, & as I had a jolly good time with them I didn’t want to run the risk of spoiling the thing.

Besides, I was saving myself for tomorrow evening, when 6 or 8 personal friends of mine are to give me a quiet dinner, & I am to make a bit of a speech [MTL 5: 525].

Sam and Frank Finlay took a walk up Portland Place and to Regent’s Park. Frank met a lady he knew there “giving 3 or 4 of her children an airing.” They walked together for an hour and went to her house for a glass of wine [MTL 5: 530-1]. Later, Sam wrote to Livy about the Smalley’s dinner the night before [MTL 5: 527].

December 22 Monday – In London, Sam wrote twice to Livy. Though the first letter was mentioned in Vol. I, no excerpt was given, and the second, a short note on George MacDonald’s of Dec. 19, was not listed. A recent item for sale on eBay, hitherto unknown, leads to the addition of this entire first letter and a picture of the “dragon” item. Sam to Livy:

Livy my darling, this is Monday. Yesterday I said it had been more than a week since I had heard from you; Stoddard said, no, just a week; but that letters would come today. When I woke this morning & was going to turn over & take another nap, I remembered that there would doubtless be letters. So I got up at once & dressed. There were two, my child—one about Dr Browne’s [sic Brown’s] “Margaret” & the other about Mrs. Cowan & the private theatricals at the ladies club, & all that gossip—which is exactly what I like. I have always contended that Ma was the best letter-writer in the world, because she threw such an atmosphere of her locality & her surroundings into her letters that her reader was transported to her, & by the magic of her pen moved among creatures of living flesh & blood;, talked with them, hoped & feared & suffered with them.

      I’ll look up the Thackeray & Dickens. And as Finlay leaves for Belfast tomorrow he shall take the order for the dragon [see insert, Belleek Dragon teapot], & then I will get it when I lecture there.

      I’ve got 7 razors all in one box, with the days of the week marked on them. That is to give each razor a week’s rest, which is the next best thing to stropping it. Stoddard, Finlay & I are to dine with the Dolby to-night at the Westminster Club & I reckon we’ll have a pretty good time (now here’s that Punch & Judy devil just struck up on his drum over by the church railings—but it is a dark, rainy day & he won’t take a trick.)

Another Tichborne case—no, I mean a case of mistaken identity. Finlay & I started out for a walk yesterday afternoon—met a very young & very handsome [man] within 5 steps of the door, who looked at me as if he knew me, & I looked at him, not expecting to know him, but instantly recognizing the fact that I had seen the face somewhere before.

      Very well. I kept telling Finlay I knew that face—& by & by, when we were well up Portland Place, I said “Now I’ve got it!—it is the young Lord MacDuff pre who presided at a Morayshire Banquet in Regent street the other night.”

      Very good again. Half an hour later, in Regent’s Park we met a lady whom Finlay knew,—she was giving 3 or 4 of her children an airing. We walked with her an hour, then went to her house in Harley street (the “Long, unlovely street” of Tennyson In Memoriam) to drink a glass of wine—sat there half an hour, when in comes that same man we met before the hotel (Finlay nodded to me as much as to say, “Here he is again”) & then, lo & behold you he was introduced to us as The “Lord Arthur Hill,” (and, in a whisper, “heir to the Marquis of Downshire.”) I studied the fellow all over for more than half an hour, & there was no difference between the two men except that the hair of one was wavy & that of the other was not. The Mac Duff is a Scotchman, but this chap is Irish, born close to Belfast & is heir to one of those mighty estates there that Finlay tell told us of, with 40 miles extent & 60,000 population. It was a curious case, all around, considering the exceeding scarcity of lords. / I love you, my child [MTPO]. 

 [ page 566 ]

Notes: Sylvester Judd’s Margaret: A Tale of the Real and Ideal, Blight and Bloom (1845) is likely the book Livy wrote Dr. John Brown about locating, her letter not extant (see Gribben 361); Mrs. Sidney J. Cowan, president of the Union for Home Work; The “dragon” Belleek teapot was for sale on eBay in Feb. 2009, Item 150323635050, for $15,000; the insert is a picture of an identical item. See other notes for this letter on MTPO.

 

Sam’s second note to Livy was one line on the back of George MacDonald’s Dec. 19 invitation: “Just wrote you a moment ago, Livy dear, / Dec. 22 / Saml” [MTL 1: 531]. Note: See Dec. 19 in addenda items for MacDonald’s letter.

Routledge & Sons published The Gilded Age in London.

The New York Herald wasted no time in reviewing GA:

Upon the title page the authors emphatically announce it as “a tale of to-day.” But it is so in none of the senses in which the phrase is appropriately employed….Neither of them has yet given evidence that he could command an interesting plot, the conduct of which would develop lifelike characters. Each of them, however, has expressed his talents in a method eminently pleasing….We admit that something unusual has been produced—something unusually clever, too—only it is not, strictly speaking, a tale…(“American Satire” p.6) [Budd, Reviews 117].

Sam, Frank Finlay and others went to a humorous reading called “Happy Thoughts” by Sir Francis Cowley Burnand (1836-1917) [MTL 5: 532]. Later, Sam gave his dinner speech to a small gathering at the Westminster Club, London [MTL 5: 526 paraphrased].

December 23 Tuesday – American Publishing Co. published The Gilded Age in Hartford. Thus, Sam fulfilled English law by both residence and prior publishing on English soil the day before. Sam and Frank Finlay called on George and Ida Finlay and family.

Sam wrote from London to Livy about the night before when everyone had leveled his or her opera glasses at him instead of the speaker Burnand.  Sam went back stage and complimented Burnand on his “wonderfully humorous, witty, bright, tip-top entertainment” [MTL 5: 532].

The Boston Evening Transcript, p.6 under “Literary Matters” reviewed the Gilded Age:

…a volume which shines with no meretricious light but with a genuine and intrinsic radiance. It contains some of the most vivid and natural characterizations of any book recently published in the United States [Budd, Reviews 119].

The Hartford Times found the book to be:

…a very odd piece of architecture…a trifle jerky and jolty…and a certain characteristic of abruptness and unexpectedness in the method of developing the story may mean that two hands did fashion the work…[120].

Dr. John Brown wrote to ask Sam when he was coming to Edinburgh [MTP].

 

December 24 Wednesday – Sam and Stoddard took a train to Salisbury for Christmas. They stayed at the White Hart Hotel near the Salisbury Cathedral and were shown around by William Blackmore (1827-1878), a wealthy solicitor who had traveled in the American West. They had dinner with friends of Blackmore. In the evening Sam sent Livy a cablegram wishing her “Merry Christmas!” [MTL 5: 534-5].

 [ page 567 ]

December 25 Thursday – Christmas – Sam and Stoddard went to church services in the morning at the Salisbury Cathedral. After lunch they drove to Stonehenge. Before dinner Sam wrote from Salisbury, England to Livy.

 

Today I attended the grand Christmas service in Salisbury Cathedral, in company with recumbent mail-clad knights who had lain there 650 years. What a fascinating building it is! It is the loveliest pile of stone that can be imagined—think of comparing it with that solemn barn at York. And then we drove by the Old Sarum—all day I was thinking lovingly of my “Angel in the House,”—for Old Sarum & Salisbury naturally recall Coventry Patmore’s books—& then we went to Stonehenge. A wonderful thing is Stonehenge. It is one of he most mysterious & satisfactory ruins I have ever seen [MTL 5: 534]. Note: Patmore’s (1823-1896) two books The Angel in the House (1854-6) were in Sam’s library [Gribben 536].

 

Sam and Stoddard dined with William Blackmore and friends and enjoyed music afterward.

          

Mr. Shirley Brooks wrote to Sam.

My dear Sir, / “After compliments”, as the Orientals say, by which in this case I mean no compliments at all, but the heartiest good wishes of the season, I am to say to you, on the part of the partner of my expenses, that we shall assemble some friends here on Wednesday, New Year’s Eve, at 9 o’clock, for frivolous conversation, to be atoned for by serious supper at 11, & so we hope to see in 1874 agreeably. It will much increase the chance of our doing so, if you will give us the pleasure of your company. Will you? / Always yours sincerely / Shirley Brooks [MTPO]. Note: Clemens accepted.

 

December 26 and 27 Saturday – Probably more sightseeing and wining and dining courtesy of Blackmore and friends. No record of specifics.

 

December 27 Saturday – George MacDonald wrote to Sam.

 

My dear Clemens, / The best wishes of this good time be yours and all its plentiful hopes.

Since it seems unhappily so doubtful whether you will be able to come and see us, can you tell me where you would be to be found in London any day between the 13th & 16th of January. We shall be up then, and I would bring to you the things you are so kind as [to] offer to take.

Some day perhaps we may write a play together. It would be great fun.

Don’t address me Rev. I’m not reverend. If you do I will return the compliment. / Yours ever, / George MacDonald [MTPO]. Note: Clemens sailed from Liverpool on Jan. 13.

 

December 28 Sunday – Sam felt ill from all the dining over Christmas and went down to Ventnor, a resort on the southern coast of the Isle of Wight [MTL 5: 539n2]. There he “hunted up Miss Florence”—Florence Stark, not further identified, but perhaps a friend of George Fitzgibbon, because Sam mentioned her in his letter of Dec. 30.

 

“She is a most attractive & very natural & girlish sort of girl. (I hate artificial girls)” [MTL 5: 539].

 

December 29 Monday – Sam and Stoddard returned to London. Sam wrote from London to Livy. Sam had taken offense to an innocent remark a man had made about his cable-gramming Livy on Christmas Eve being the sort of thing a man did for a sweetheart not a wife. The man apologized and Sam got to write about it. Sam enclosed an invitation from Shirley Brooks for New Year’s Eve and a note of best wishes from George MacDonald, who suggested it would be “great fun” if they wrote a play together [MTL 5: 536].

 

Sam dictated to Stoddard for Tom Taylor (1817-1880), a great playwright whom Sam sought advice from about putting The Gilded Age on stage. Sam received his first copy of the book from Routledge; editors had received review copies even earlier [MTL 5: 541 to Warner].  [ page 568 ]

 

December 30 Tuesday – Sam wrote from the Langham in London to George Fitzgibbon. Sam’s required business of gaining copyright in England was completed. There was nothing keeping Sam in England. He wrote that he would lecture:

 

“only 3 more times on British soil, & 3 nights in New York, & then I retire from the platform permanently….if there is a fool in the world, I think I am that person. A sensible man lectures only when butter & bread are scarce” [MTL 5: 539].

 

Sam also wrote to Charles Dudley Warner. Sam had made three attempts to meet Tom Taylor the playwright. Sam planned to accompany George Dolby, his lecture manager, on New Year’s Day to Taylor’s on the outskirts of London. Sam corrected sailing date: Jan. 13 to Boston, in the Cunard ship Parthia [MTL 5: 541].

 

December 31 Wednesday – Sam accepted Brooks’ invitation and spent New Year’s Eve until 2:30 AM with the Brookses, the Burrands, the Hardmans, the Jerrolds, the Yateses, and Sir John Tenniel (1820-1914), among others. Note: Sir William Hardman (1828-1890).

 

From Shirley Brooks’ diary:

 

Somehow, … I did not fancy we were so jolly as usual, in spite of the fact that Mark Twain proposed the host and hostess in a very funny little speech…. I believe that it was only my fancy that made me think our supper less effective than our other gatherings have been. To bed at 2.30, and all thanks where all should be paid for all the mercies of the year [MTPO]. Note: Mr. Shirley Brooks took ill soon after his diary entry of the next day and died on Feb. 23 [MTL 5: 537n3].

 

Sam wrote a line to James Redpath with Sam’s sailing date and Sam’s need to see him [MTL 5: 543].

 

Sam also wrote Livy, probably before the party.

 

“Thirteen more days in England, & then I sail! If I only do get home safe, & find my darling & the Modoc well, I shall be a grateful soul. And if ever I do have another longing to leave home, even for a week, please dissipate it with a club” [MTL 5: 543].

 

A handwritten receipt from John Hooker was given this date “for house rent for quarter ending this day” for $300 [MTP].

 

 

 


 [ page 569 ]
England to Home Again – Sketches No. 1 Flop – Orion the Chicken-Rancher

 Colonel Sellers Stars on Broadway – Clara “Bay” Clemens Born – Elmira Summer

Dream House Built – Fredonia Visit – Hike to Boston with Twichell

 “Old Times on the Mississippi” – Atlantic Monthly Breakthrough

Typewriter for Genius – Reformed Lecturer

1874 – Chatto & Windus published The Choice Humorous Works of Mark Twain, an authorized version with some corrections by Sam [Camfield, bibliog.]. A version of Sam’s “Jim Wolfe and the Cats” ran in Tom Hood’s Comic Annual for 1874 [Gribben 707].

January – Sam had a formal photograph made by Rogers & Nelson, London [MTP].

January 1 Thursday – Sam wrote after midnight from London To Livy. Sam the romantic waxed eloquent in his love and missing his wife.

“I am wild to see you. So I mean to go away every now & then, just to renew that feeling—but never more than 48 hours.”

At 11:30 AM Sam mentioned the “tremendous procession” of horseguards passing. He added to the note to send Livy an address of Fidele Brooks’ friends in Streatham, the Jacoxes [MTL 6: 1].

Sam also wrote to George H. Fitzgibbon wishing him and his family a successful New Year, and sending regrets he could not dine with him. Sam was booked every day until he left London, Jan. 7. He offered an invitation for Fitz to come visit him and Livy in Hartford [MTL 6: 2].

Sam and George Dolby traveled to Tom Taylor’s as planned. They found only Taylor’s wife at home [MTL 5: 541 & 542n1].

Geer & Pond, Hartford booksellers, billed Sam for the periodical, The Independent, for the period from Nov. 1, 1873 to Jan. 1, 1874 [Gribben 343].

January 2 Friday – Sam wrote from London to Livy. Sam had discovered a new and favorite cocktail. On his last trip over on the City of Chester, the physician on-board introduced a drink that Sam wanted Livy to:

…be sure & remember to have, in the bathroom, when I arrive, a bottled of Scotch whisky, a lemon, some crushed sugar, & a bottle of Angostura bitters. Ever since I have been in London I have taken a wine-glass what is called a cock-tail (made with those ingredients,) before breakfast, before dinner, & just before going to bed.

Sam added that the surgeon had recommended the drink and that his digestion since had been “simply perfect” [MTL 6: 3]. While not the excessive drinking of his Washoe days, Sam was now openly drinking again.

January 3 Saturday – Sam wrote again from London to Livy, this time at 2 AM, but noted it was only 9 PM in Hartford.

I am imagining you in the parlor, & the Modoc gone to bed. You are sitting by the table & the Warners are about to go home in the snow—& then you will go to bed too. Well, I wish I were there with you. Here, Stoddard & I have been talking & keeping a lonely vigil for hours—but I won’t talk of it any more. It is so unsatisfying. I want you—& nobody else. I do love you so [MTL 6: 4]. [ page 570 ]

On this date, give or take a day, Sam also wrote Charles Dudley Warner that he couldn’t get a lecture hall in Ireland on satisfactory dates, so he wouldn’t lecture in Ireland at all. He enclosed a clipping announcing this, which included the preface he’d written on Dec. 11 for the English version of The Gilded Age [MTL 6: 5].

January 4 Sunday – Sam wrote two letters from London to Livy, one in the daytime with “drizzling rain” and the other after a dinner engagement. Sam and Stoddard dined at the Dolby’s and had a “rattling good time.” Sam wrote about two 60-year old, “white-haired gentlemen” who were at the dinner and told the story of how each had rescued the other from poverty at various times in their youth. One was a Prussian; the other French. He related Dolby’s telling of how the two would fight and make up during the Franco-Prussian war (1870-1) [MTL 6: 8].

Two copies of The Gilded Age were placed with the Copyright Office, Library of Congress [Hirst, “A Note on the Text” Oxford edition, 1996].

George Dolby wrote: “My dear Mark Twain / In case I am not fortunate enough to see you this morning I leave this with above particulars as to how you may find my house this Evening— We dine at six o’clock & shall look forward to seeing you and friend Stoddart at that time. / I am always faithfully / George Dolby” [MTPO].

January 5 Monday – Sam spent “a good part of the day browsing through the Royal Academy Exhibition of Sir Edwin Henry Landseer’s” (1802-1873) paintings. He thought the work “wonderfully beautiful!” [MTL 6: 11].

Sam wrote a letter of apology from London to Tom Taylor, successful playwright and adaptor of dozens of works for the stage. Sam had sought advice about putting The Gilded Age on stage. He had repeatedly missed Taylor, the last time calling on Jan. 1 when only Taylor’s wife was at home. Since Sam was leaving London on Jan. 7, he regretted not being able to see Taylor [MTL 6: 10].

Sam wrote a short note to Livy about counting letters and claimed to have “averaged a letter every day” to her since he sailed, which would have totaled about 59 letters. Only 29 from this period are known to survive [MTL 6: 13].

Sam also wrote to Joseph Twichell of Landseer’s hundreds of paintings in “four or five great salons” and his excitement at getting home in 20 days. Sam had read The Gilded Age in book form and said he liked it, but added: “My interest in a book ceases with the printing of it.” Also, he scolded Twichell on one count:

“I knew you would be likely to graduate into an ass if I came away; & so you have—if you have stopped smoking. However, I have a strong faith that it is not too late, yet, & that the judiciously managed influence of a bad example will fetch you back again” [MTL 6: 11].

A bill dated Mar. 24, ’73 was paid this date to Chas. A. Wright, doors, sash, blinds, and moldings, Hartford [MTP].

January 6 Tuesday – Sam wrote a short note of thanks from London to George H. Fitzgibbon, introducing John McComb of the Alta California [MTL 6: 14].

Sam also sent a note to Routledge & Sons ordering a copy of The Gilded Age be sent to John Russell Young, to whom Sam then wrote a short note on this day or the next at midnight.  [ page 571 ]

“I forgot the name of the hotel where we have just dined…but I drank a glass of water just before I left, & that is fatal to memory, you know” [MTL 6: 15].

January 7 or 8 Thursday – Sam left London for Leicester [MTL 6: 16n1].

January 8 Thursday – Sam gave his “Roughing It” lecture in Leicester, England at Temperance Hall [MTPO]. Note: This lecture is given as “Sandwich Islands” and a reading of “Jumping Frog” story by MTL 6: 16n1.

January 9 Friday – Sam dictated through Stoddard to John Murray Moore (1844-1914), advising him of his plans for lunch the next day but that he would be back in his room by 3:30 PM. Moore was a physician, and his business with Sam is unknown. In the evening Sam gave his “Roughing It” lecture in Liverpool, England [MTPO].

Bill paid to Mansury & Smith, carriage mfr. $23.15 for repairs [MTP].

After the lecture Sam gave Stoddard a page of pictorial notes for the “Roughing It” lecture. Along the margin Sam wrote,

“We’re done with this, Charles, forever! Mark Twain, Liverpool, Jan. 9, 1874, 10:30 P.M.” [Lorch 151].

January 10 Saturday – Sam had lunch aboard the Java, which left that day for New York. Sam’s host is not known. That evening, Sam gave the “Sandwich Islands” lecture and read the “Jumping Frog” story in Liverpool, England [Schmidt; MTL 6: 15-16n1, 20n1].

January 11 Sunday – George MacDonald wrote “a thousand thanks for your book. I did not mean to beg for one, and I hope you will not think so.” He was reading it now, likely GA, and said that he was “delighted with the courage & honesty” though he didn’t feel “the action quick enough” [MTP].

January 12 Monday – Sam wrote from Liverpool to Frank Finlay that he’d had full houses in Liverpool and “a jolly good time with them.” Sam wanted to send a “God be with you!” note to Finlay in the “midst of hustle & bustle of getting ready for an early start in the morning” [MTL 6: 19].

Bill paid in Hartford to O.S. Kelsey plumber and gasfitter and dealer in hot air furnaces, for work on furnace, piping, etc. Work done Sept. 27, Oct. 18, Nov. 14, 1873, Jan. 8, 1874. $16.36 [MTP].

January 13 Tuesday – Sam sent a dispatch to Livy that he was boarding the Parthia for home. Livy reported the contents of the note to Mollie Clemens and remarked that this was five days earlier than he’d expected to sail, probably due to his inability to secure lecture dates in Ireland. The Parthia left Liverpool [MTL 6: 20].

January 13 to 26 Monday – Little is known about the voyage and Sam’s activities, but in a letter of Feb. 13 to William E. Baille, he mentioned Samuel Morrin from Montreal and Rev. R. Dunn who was traveling to California [MTL 6: 30n1]. Note: see Feb. 13 to Baille.

January 15 Thursday – The New York Daily Graphic, p. 4, ran “Mark Twain’s Trails in London,” about his lectures there and a reprint of his humorous letter to the London Post [Tenney 6].

January 25 Sunday – Sam gave an autograph to William E. Baille on Parthia letterhead. On Feb. 13 Sam responded to an invitation by Baille and mentioned other passengers [MTL 6: 30n2]. [ page 572 ]

January 26 Monday – The Parthia arrived in Boston [MTL 6: 20n1]. Evidently, nothing whatsoever happened on the voyage. One thing is certain, however—Sam smoked many cigars, made a few friends and did not get seasick. He may have stopped by James Redpath’s home or office upon his arrival to discuss those last lecture dates Sam intended to make. Sam spent the night in Boston.

January 27 Tuesday – Sam reached Hartford, Livy, baby Susy, and home. Livy put the stops to Sam’s plans to immediately lecture in New York and Boston (or so Sam claimed) [MTL 6: 21].

Sam also wrote to James Redpath, who pressed Sam for lecture commitments upon his return from England. Sam had telegraphed Redpath and followed it up with a letter of explanation. Sam withdrew the offer he’d made from London on Dec. 17 and repeated the line he’d sent to Livy: “There isn’t money enough in America to hire me to leave you for one day” [MTP, drop-in letters; MTL 6: 21].

January 27–April 15 Wednesday – During this period Sam answered the letter from his mother that read “kill Susy for me”—“kill,” rather than “kiss.” Figuring her son would know what she meant, and not one to look over or revise a letter, Jane sent the letter. Annie Moffett recalled Sam’s hilarious answer:

“I said to Livy, ‘it is a hard thing to ask of loving parents, but Ma is getting old and her slightest whim must be our law’; so I called in Downey and Livy and I held the child with the tears streaming down our faces while he sawed her head off” [MTBus 16; MTL 6: 22].

January 28 Wednesday – Geer & Pond, Hartford booksellers, billed Sam for five additional copies of the periodical, The Independent [Gribben 343].

January 31 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Frank Fuller in New York City. Sam wanted the Fullers to visit, as he was “entirely idle, & shall remain so for two weeks & possibly three.” Sam offered “a week’s glorification & general jollity…& we’ll have a royal good time telling lies & smoking” [MTL 6: 22-3]. Sam would have simply picked up the telephone, but Don Ameche hadn’t invented it yet.

February – The first edition of The Humorist carried an article about Mark Twain with the famous picture of him riding a jumping frog and a reprint of “The Jumping Frog” story [eBay item 370253114643 Sept. 9, 2009].

February 1 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to James Redpath. Apologetically, Sam expressed shame at breaking agreements with Redpath, and agreed to lecture in Boston, “Roughing It” and “Sandwich Islands” on consecutive nights. To square things, Sam offered Redpath 15% of the gross, or half net, whatever he desired [MTL 6: 24].

February 4 Wednesday – Sam responded from Hartford to a letter from Emeline Beach, a fellow passenger on the Quaker City excursion with her father Moses Beach. Sam’s letter to the young woman he had previously flirted with was very proper and formal. He informed her of the death of Dr. George B. Birch (1822?-1873/4), who Sam credited along with William F. Church for standing by him when he was “dangerously ill in Damascus” [MTL 6: 24].

Sam also wrote to his brother Orion, who struggled on in New York at two dollars a day for the Evening Post. Sam’s offer of a pension for Orion was refused and the family generally felt it an unwelcome boasting to make such an offer. In this note, Sam was more conciliatory.

“God knows yours is hard luck, & one is bound to respect & honor the way in which you bear up under it & refuse to surrender. I thought you were heedless & listless; that you were content to drift with the tide & never try to do anything. I am glad indeed, & greatly relieved to know that this is not so” [MTL 6: 26].  [ page 573 ]

Sam often wrote several letters in one day. He also wrote thanks to Samuel S. Cox, a Democrat congressman from New York who had probably praised The Gilded Age.

“Our new house is progressing steadily—hope to sleep you & eat you under its roof when it is finished, next autumn” [MTL 6: 29].

One journalist described the new house, on the summit of Farmington Avenue as:

“…a small brick-kiln gone crazy, the outside ginger breaded with woodwork, as a baker sugar-ornaments the top and sides of a fruit loaf. Of the several tall brick chimneys, no two are alike, and a good strong gale would be apt to topple them” [MTL 6: 29-30n3].

Jane Clemens wrote to Sam and Livy:

“My dear Children. / your letter came to us yesterday we were glad to hear from you all. Sam my dear son you are going to write to Orion If you are going to give him advice that is good, all right. Kind words will always do good. Orion troubles me very much but I cannot speak a short word to him, at any time. / I love to see brothers live and love each other and look over faults.” She thanked for the picture. Her hand troubled her: “I cannot write much”[MTP].

February 5 to 12 Thursday – No letters have been found for this period. MTL 6: 30n1 explains this may be due to Sam’s expressed desire on Jan. 31 (made to Frank Fuller) that he was “entirely idle” and planned to “remain so for two weeks & possibly three.”

February 12 Thursday – Dr. John Brown wrote:

My dear friend—I have been all too long in thanking you for the 3 goodly volumes, so full of good sense & good feeling & good fun & good knowledge of men & things—I am quite surprised at the fulness of meaning in them—as contrasted with most modern books—I wish I had a month of a desert, comfortable island, with them & the Bible—& milk & fruit & eggs & “the delicious juices of meats & fishes”—& a dog & a barrel of ripe Bass—then I would steadily eat through your 3 vols—I was rash in abusing the wood cuts—some are very full of power & beauty—& some excruciatingly Comic—You are happy with the wifie & the Megalopis & your segar & idleness—& home—Be thankful, every night you lie down on your bed, for having that wife & child—A Dr Stearns Dr to a retreat for the Insane, near Hartford—called on me today—I am to see him again & will send out a haggis & a pair of bagpipes & a stick of brimstone as emblematical of Scotland—He knew about that dear boy of yours—We are all fairly well—We Liberals, have got terribly licked & Russell is bemoaning himself—but, as John Bright says “ah well! the great ship may roll from side to side, but it moves on”—The Cause of truth & freedom & goodness & knowledge & temperance & brotherly kindness & Charity, is God’s Cause & therefore will win, at any odds—Your old friends here often speak of you—we are thinking of having a Mark Twain Club, & practicing the Wondrous Whistle—as a ticket of membership—

      I am going to publish a new Vol of Odds & Ends, & mean to have an essay called “Megalopis—her father & mother & nurse & self—a study”—

      Goodbye, my dear friends, bless you—& don’t forget, your old friend—&—

      Ever Affly, / JB. [MTPO]. Note: Sam had sent IA, RI, and GA the previous Nov.

Rufus Hatch (1832–1893), vice president and managing director of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, wrote and asked if copies of Clemens’s books might be provided for the 35 libraries of the company’s ships [MTP]. Note: see Feb. 19 to Bliss.

Edgar Wakeman wrote to Clemens:

I write to say that all my friends in Cal. and Else where, Says that you must write my Life, and make a Book out of it that will Bring me in a Considerable, they all say that in your Hands it will be a good thing, and I [ page 574 ] write you this letter to tell you not to take Hold of any other Book until you have done with mine, the Public are anxious now about the Island World and I propose to End with the most authentic account of all the Isles in the Pacific their Products, Climat Soil, looks manners and Custom of the Natives and where Situated I will have the manuscript all Copyed in Plain good Hand writing, So you Can read it, it will be in a Book, from the Original. I have not tryed to alter it. I have left that for you to do, and will be at Staten Island by 1st of may if you must see me, and I think it woul[d] be a good Idea, for me to have about 10 days with you. Just write me, at Lapaz, Lower Cal, if you are free, to take Hold of this matter, and you are of all I know, the most Proper person, it will amount to a good thing, and as you take an interest in me, and as you are well acquainted with the History of Cal. and the Sandwich Islands, I felt that you are the only One who Can Do me Justice in this matter it in your Hands will be all that Mary wants, and in others Hands, it may be a miserable failure. Now Say that you will take Hold of it and I am a happy man, tis a Business transaction and you Can make your own terms. I want you and your way to write my life So I Shall Die Contented. I shall await an answer with much anxiety I will State that Mrs. Brocks, the wife of Mr Brocks with whomb I am now Staying, is an Excellent writer both in Prose and Poetry, and She has read the manuscript through several Times, and tells [me] to make no alterations, but Place it before you Just as it is, that it is full of the most remarkable incidents thrilling adventures both on the Sea and Land She Ever heard of. I will State here that they are naked Truths, and when Clothed by your able and incomparable Pen, in Such Brilliant Robes that the readers will be unable to Judge the difference between facts and fiction, it will have a Big Sale. I Remain yours with Respect. / E. Wakeman [MTPO].

February 13 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to William E. Baille, a passenger on the Parthia with Sam in January. He’d received a note from fellow passengers: Samuel Morrin who was “home & happy, in Montreal”; and thought that Rev. Mr. Dunn should be in California by this time. Baille evidently invited Sam to lecture somewhere in Canada [MTL 6: 30-1].

Sam also wrote to Charles Kingsley, canon of Westminster, inviting him to stay in Hartford on Kingsley’s American and Canadian lecture tour [MTL 6: 32n1].

Sam also wrote to Louise Chandler Moulton, who had favorably reviewed RI in her New York Tribune literary column. Sam sent a picture of “Modoc” (Susy) with her mass of curly hair [MTL 6: 33].

Sam wrote a short note to James Redpath asking him to be at the Wilkie Collins dinner [MTP].

February? 14 Saturday – Sam wrote a short note from Hartford to his sister Pamela Moffett. Sam returned the schoolgirl essay that either Annie or Pamela had written as a schoolgirl [MTL 6: 36].

February 16 Monday – Sam gave a dinner speech at the Wilkie Collins Dinner, at the St. James Hotel in Boston. The Boston Evening Transcript: Feb. 17, 1874:

Mark Twain gave a brief description of his reception in England, saying that he was very successful in the object of his visit there, which was to teach people good morals, and to introduce some of the improvements of the present century [Schmidt].

Sam wrote to Elisha Bliss:

 

Friend Bliss:

Please mail or send in your own way, a cloth copy of Innocents Abroad to

Sidney Moffett 

New Market

Shenandoah Co, Va;

& charge to my ac/ Yrs / Mark.  [ page 575 ]

Collins was about to return to England after an American lecture tour. In attendance was a cast of great literary lights: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892), Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894), Thomas W. Higginson (1823-1911). Josiah Quincy (1829-1910), Edwin Percy Whipple (1819-1886), and John Townsend Trowbridge (1827-1916). Also Vice President Henry Wilson (1812-1875). William F. Gill (1844-1917), a Boston publisher, organized the dinner [MTL 6: 32n3]. Sam stayed in Boston overnight, in order to make these two public appearances.

February 17 Tuesday – In the afternoon, Sam and Rev. Charles Kingsley were “unexpected speakers” at a dinner for the Massachusetts Press Association [MTL 6: 34n1]. Later that evening in the Tremont Temple in Boston, Sam introduced Kingsley, who lectured about Westminster Abbey [Sam’s remarks are published in Fatout, MT Speaking 83]. (Mis-identified and misdated by Fatout as taking place in Salem, Mass. on Feb. 14) [Schmidt].

February 18 Wednesday – Sam probably returned to Hartford on this day [MTL 6: 36n1]. He wrote from Hartford to Osborn H. Oldroyd, a Lincoln-items collector who established a museum in the Lincoln home in Springfield in 1883. Oldroyd was a steward at a lunatic asylum and had requested Sam’s autograph. Sam answered, and, though it was clear Oldroyd was not an inmate, but a steward, Sam wrote:

“I believe you are wickedly & unjustly confined there (that is, if they are rigorous with you,) for portions of your letter to me are quite rational; & I am satisfied that if you were put under mild & judicious treatment, you would get over it” [MTL 6: 37].

February 19 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Elisha Bliss. Sam enclosed the Feb. 12 from Rufus Hatch, vice president of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, requesting 35 copies of Sam’s books to use on their steamship line. Sam’s facetious reply included:

Friend Bliss: / Through being my publisher you have become a man of grace, & honest withal. Now here is your chance to disseminate wholesome literature, visit a far country, & dispose of a troublesome relative of mine, all at the same time.

Therefore, I propose that you stock those 35 marine libraries with nice copies of my books; also that you make a jolly summer voyage to San Francisco as my proxy, in one of the choice vessels of the line; & likewise that you see that my poor old excellent but imperishable aunt Rachel is shipped westward in the slowest & rottenest craft Mr. Hatch can furnish, even if he has to charter one from some other company; & finally, that you personally superintend the embalming of my aunt—for that, you understand, is the main thing. If she should not be in a condition for embalming, at the end of the voyage, you must sue & compel the company to fulfill the contract. (But mind, I don’t want her sent back here, even embalmed—she has been embalmed before, but it wouldn’t hold) [MTL 6: 38; MTPO].

February 20 Friday – In Hartford, Sam wrote a short note to James Redpath about the arrival of Charles Kingsley and his daughter, Rose Georgiana Kinglsey (b. 1845).

“Dear Redpath: / Mr & Miss Kingsley are coming to visit us as soon as lecturing will permit. Tell me how soon they can come. We want them” [MTP, drop-in letters].

February 23 Monday – Sam sent two short notes from Hartford to James Redpath about “floating” the fact that Sam had refused an offer of $25,000 for 30 lectures, as a way of puffing the upcoming Boston lecture [MTL 6: 43].

Sam also sent a note by way of Patrick McAleer (1846-1906) to the staff of Roberts Opera House in Hartford requesting two tickets for the Vokes family comedy show for Wednesday, Feb. 25 and three tickets for the Theodore Thomas concert for Friday, Feb. 27 [MTL 6: 44; See note 1 in source]. [ page 576 ]

Sam also wrote to the Superintendent of the American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb in Hartford, requesting that “young Wheeler” not always stay for dinner. It’s not known why James Wheeler, deaf from scarlet fever as a child, would stop by and always stay for dinner. But Sam didn’t like it [MTL 6: 45].

J.C. Kojema wrote on Hartford Courant notepaper to ask Sam for a referral as a teacher [MTP].

February 25 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Mary Mason Fairbanks. Sam and Livy had been renting the Hooker house while their new home was being built. They planned on taking occupancy in the new house after returning from Elmira in the fall. Sam asked Mary to come the middle of March instead of going to Philadelphia, since their plans were to leave for Elmira “the 15th or 16th of April.” (Mrs. Fairbanks did travel east with her son, Charley, and visited the Clemens family just before they left.) Sam wrote that he was “writing two admirable books,” probably the English book which he abandoned and the other, continued work on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. He was also writing a play, the version of Hamlet with a commentator, which he also gave up on. On top of these several projects, Sam was “preparing several volumes of my sketches for publication, & am writing new sketches to add to them.” After collecting these in a pamphlet, “Mark Twain’s Sketches. Number One,” was withdrawn in the spring. The better collection was issued as Mark Twain’s Sketches, New and Old (1875) [MTL 6: 46].

About this date, Sam sent a note to an unidentified person about a play he was working on (likely the Hamlet burlesque) [MTL 6: 51].

Sam and Livy probably went to see the Vokes family perform The Belles of the Kitchen, a comedy at the Roberts Opera House in Hartford (See Feb. 23 entry) [MTL 6: 44n1]

February? 25 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Will Bowen, childhood friend and fellow steamboat pilot. Bowen was an insurance agent in St. Louis. Sam invited him to visit after the family returned from Elmira for the summer.

“If you’ll drop in on us for a week or so next fall or winter, we’ll play billiards up stairs all day & euchre down stairs all night, & have a general good time. Will you?” [MTL 6: 50]. Note: Will had recently lost his wife.

February 27 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to William Dean Howells about a mix-up in lecture dates for Boston, and Howells’ arrival in Hartford with Boston publisher James R. Osgood at the invitation from Sam’s neighbor and collaborator, Charles Dudley Warner. “I am in a sweat, & Warner is in another.” The visit was deferred for a week [MTL 6: 52].

Sam and Livy probably attended the “Unrivalled Orchestra,” conducted by Theodore Thomas. Sam sent for three tickets for this performance at the Roberts Opera House on Feb. 23. It is not known who accompanied them [MTL 6:44n1].

February 28 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Edinburgh physician, John Brown, saying he was “delighted” with Brown’s commendations of The Gilded Age. Brown had written thanking Sam for the gift copies of his three books. Sam cites the sale of 40,000 copies of the book in the two months since publication and compared it favorably to Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the same benchmark he used to compare sales of Innocents Abroad. The Gilded Age did not sell well in England, however, and the panic of 1873 held down sales of all subscription books in the U.S. Further, critics saw the book as “uneven” and lacking. The play would be much more successful. The title of the book stuck as the label for the period [MTL 6: 53].

Sam also wrote a note to James Redpath. Sam asked to have a room secured at the Parker House, Boston for Thursday, Mar. 5, and informed if his talk would be Friday and what his subject would be [MTL 6: 58].  [ page 577 ]

March – Sometime this month Rosina Hay (1852?-1926), the German nursemaid, was hired. She would stay with the family for many years, and accompanied them on their trip to Europe in 1879 [MTNJ 2: 365n33]. Salsbury writes, “She was a Lutheran, had a lovely sense of humor and an easy, cordial laugh. She had good sense and great courage” [28]. Rosina would work for the Clemens family until she left to be married on Aug. 16, 1883 [AMT 2: 568].

March 2 Monday – In Cambridge, Mass. Thomas Bailey Aldrich wrote:

“My dear Mr Clemens. / Howells and Sothern are to lunch with me at my house in Cambridge on Friday the 6th at one (1) o’clock. The whole thing will be a failure if you can not be on the ground at that hour. Will you come? / Yours faithfully, / T. B. Aldrich” [MTPO]. Note: answered Mar. 3. Edward Askew Sothern (1826-1881), English comedian who played the part of Lord Dundreary in Tom Taylor’s Our American Cousin.

March 3 Tuesday – Sam telegraphed from Hartford to William Dean Howells to complete arrangements for Howells to visit. Embellishing the old saw about a bird in the hand, Sam wrote:

“All right come down with me Friday the superior value of birds in the hand over those that still sport in joyous freedom amid the leafy depths of their native woodland is so universally recognized that I cannot feel necessitated to enlarge upon it to one of the first minds of the age at three cents a word by telegraph” [MTL 6: 59].

Sam also answered the Mar. 2 from Thomas Bailey Aldrich about lunch in Boston on Mar. 6 and returning to Hartford in time for dinner with Howells and Warner:

“My Dear Mr. Aldrich: / Howells is to dine with Warner & me in Hartford that day & date so I naturally infer that a body can lunch with you & Mr. Sothern at 1 & still catch the 3 PM train for this town—therefore, if my inference is correct, I shall be more than glad, I shall be proud to tackle your sustenance on that occasion” [MTP, drop-in letters].

Note: When specified “George Warner,” referring to C.D. Warner’s brother, George Henry Warner (1833-1919); in context, “Warner” alone means Charles Dudley Warner.

Sam also telegraphed Redpath asking him why he didn’t congratulate him since he didn’t expect to “Stand on a lecture Platform again after thursday night” [MTL 6: 60].

March 4 Wednesday – Sam telegraphed from Hartford to William Dean Howells, suggesting they return to Hartford the day after the lecture, Friday, Mar. 6. Sam actually returned alone that day; Howells, Osgood, Aldrich and wife came on Mar. 7 [MTL 6: 61, 62n1].

March 5 Thursday – Sam gave the “Roughing It” lecture in Horticultural Hall, Boston [MTPO].

March 6 Friday – Sam returned alone to Hartford, perhaps after luncheon at the Aldrich home. Of the lecture, The Boston Globe:

Said Mr. Clemens, in his usual confidential style: “It is customary on these occasions to have a prominent citizen to introduce the speaker. I like this custom, and so I got Thomas Bailey Aldrich to promise to do this. But, at the last minute, he tells me that he thinks he would better not attempt it, and I know you’ll excuse him; I will. He might not be complimentary; he’s known me a good while.”

The Boston Herald: [ page 578 ]

The speaker was in excellent humor last evening, as also were his hearers, who came to laugh and be merry, and so they were from the opening to the closing syllable of the discourse. The lecture itself was an extravaganza, or an exceedingly humorous narration of what the speaker did or did not experience in the three years’ sojourn in Nevada…it was the style of the delivery which produced the climax [MTL 6: 60n3].

March 7 Saturday – Howells, Osgood, and the Aldriches left Boston on the train to Springfield, Mass., where Sam and Warner met and accompanied the group to Hartford. Howells and Osgood stayed with the Warners, while the Aldriches stayed with Sam and Livy [MTL 6: 62n1-2].

March 8 to 10 Tuesday – The visit of Howells, Osgood and the Aldriches lasted until Mar. 10.

March 9 Monday – Sam inscribed a photograph of himself to Lillian W. Aldrich (Mrs. Thomas Bailey Aldrich): “With regards not to be expressed in their full strength because of the overlooking eye of T.B” [MTL 6: 64]. See insert photo.

In Hartford, Sam also wrote an impatient note to Elisha Bliss asking him to send a copy of Roughing It to a humorist friend, Benjamin P. Shillaber, of Chelsea, Mass. [MTL 6: 64].

March 10 Tuesday – In Hartford, Sam wrote a short note to Mr. McElroy, who had inquired if Sam would ever return to Albany to lecture as he did on Jan. 10 1870. Sam recalled the “festive lunch” but offered that he had “no present idea or intention of ever standing on a lecture platform again” [MTL 6: 65].

March 11 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Elisha Bliss about publishing details and Charles Dudley Warner [MTL 6: 65].

March 12 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to the editor of the London Standard. In explaining the phenomenon of non-violent prayer-ins at liquor shops by respectable females in the U.S., Sam forthrightly raised the cause of women’s suffrage, reflecting an evolution in his thought from 1867, when he said, “I never want to see women voting, and gabbling about politics, and electioneering. There is something revolting in the thought.” Of course, Sam “married women’s rights” from a family of progressive thinkers. Now he wrote:

I dearly want the women to be raised to the political altitude of the negro, the imported savage, & the pardoned thief, & allowed to vote. It is our last chance, I think…Both the great parties have failed. I wish we might have a woman’s party now, & see how that would work. I feel persuaded that in extending the suffrage to women this country could lose absolutely nothing & might gain a great deal [MTL 6: 66].

The London Standard published the letter as “The Temperance Insurrection,” on Mar. 26.

March 13 Friday – Sam telegraphed from Hartford to James Redpath, asking what hour Charles Kingsley would arrive for his two-day visit to Hartford from his last lecture stop, Troy New York [MTL 6: 73].

March 14 Saturday – Charles Kingsley, canon of Westminster, and unmarried elder daughter, Rose Georgiana, visited the Clemens family. Kingsley had come to America on a lecture tour [MTL 6: 32n1]. Note: Kingsley returned to England exhausted from the American tour, and died the next year, 1875.  [ page 579 ]

March 15 and 16 Monday – Sam wrote to Thomas Bailey Aldrich, best known for his 1869, The Story of a Bad Boy, a sort of forerunner to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Sam read the book but claimed not to have been influenced by it and did not like the prose style [Rasmussen 7]. Aldrich had visited earlier in the month and had sought Sam’s help on his current work, Prudence Palfrey. After several pages of suggestions, Sam wrote the next day (Mar. 16) of premature labor pains for Livy, who was not due with their second daughter, Clara, for three months. Aldrich had offered to “buy a brewery” to get Sam to visit him in Boston. The trip had to be postponed, and the Clemens family would leave sooner than intended for Elmira [MTL 6: 74].

March 18 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Orion. Captain Edgar “Ned” Wakeman had written to Sam asking him to write the story of Wakeman’s life. Sam’s response has been lost, but he wrote his brother:

“I have written him that you will edit his book & help him share the profits, & I will write the introduction & find a publisher” [MTL 6: 82].

Note: Wakeman died in 1875. Sam did not write the introduction and Orion did not edit the book, The Log of an Ancient Mariner was published in 1878 by Wakeman’s daughter [MTL 6: 82; Rasmussen 502].

Dr. John Brown wrote to Sam.

My dear friend—Pleasant it is to get your letters—you write to me just as you write to the public, & what is better, to the public as you write to me—this perfect naturalness—so rare—you have—It is good in you to write & keep up the line of life & affection between us—it is one of my best pleasures & I trust it will never fail—You are wonderful buyers, you Americans 40,000 in two months & £3,000 of plunder—Here nobody buys books they read them from Clubs &c—with you, not only are you better educated men caring for reading—but you are richer & every house has its own library— I don’t know what literature will come to with us—I suppose it will burn out, as we ourselves are fated to do—Yes, my dear friend I know you bless God for the wifie & the “bairn”—& they doubtless bless the same Almighty for you—I wish you had known my John’s mother—I got Darley’s “Margaret” all safe & surely I acknowledged it at once? it is full of genius—has both the vision & the faculty—& is the best bit of American art I have seen—it is constantly out & greatly admired—The story I am going to read in a month, at some country inn—along with your books. I’ll take nothing else—except the old book—I sent a splendid Collie from Blair Atholl to Prof. Forsyth at West Point—a black & tan of the first water—he is called Cheviot—if you are near that nursery of your warriors, ask for him—The Judge is in great force & our Club is brewing—the whistle is the Sine Quâ Non, the respective households of the members are made hideous by our old whistling—I hit upon it now & then—most excruciatingly—

      I have got through the winter fairly—we are all well—John came in from the New Club Ball at 4 this morning

      Barclay & his cordial wife are off to Rome with “The Innocents”—I hear poor accounts of Motley—I knew Sumner, a little—a big rather than a great man—but honest & incorruptible & high hearted—but without an[y] spark of humour—& with a very strong sense of himself—Write to me again, & give & take our loves— / Yrs & her’s ever Affly / J. Brown [MTPO]. Notes from source: “The ‘Judge’ was Brown’s friend Alexander Nicolson (1827–93), a sheriff substitute (an undersheriff who hears cases) and also a lawyer, writer, and scholar of Gaelic and Greek. Clemens met him and the others mentioned here—George Barclay, Brown’s son, John (Jock), and Brown’s younger brother, William—in Scotland in 1873.”

March 19 Thursday – Susy Clemens’ second birthday. See [ page 580 ] insert age 2-3.

Sam wrote from Hartford to Ainsworth R. Spofford, the Librarian of Congress. Sam wanted to publish a pamphlet (Mark Twain’s Sketches. Number One) and copyright both the contents and the engraved design on the cover. Would one copyright suffice? [MTL 6: 85].

March 20 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to William Dean Howells to advise him of a house for sale near where the new house was being built. Sam wanted Howells or Aldrich to move to Hartford. The reply is not known, but neither man moved [MTL 6: 85].

Sam also wrote to Frank Fuller about making money from buying and publishing a manuscript:

Dear Frank: / Why shouldn’t you & I buy that Granger man’s book & publish it through the American Publishing Co. here? That is to say, if it will make 500 or 600 pp. 8 vo,) give him $2,000 or $3,000 for his book, or else give him 5 or 6 per cent royalty & then we could charge the Pub. Co. 8 or 10 per cent royalty. We could sell between 50,000 & 100,000 copies at $3.50 apiece

      We send warm regards to yourself & Mrs. Fuller. Mrs. Clemens has been ill for a week, but is about the room again. / Ys Ever / Mark [MTP, drop-in letters].

March 23 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Jerome B. Stillson (1841-1880), managing editor of the New York World and a native of Buffalo. Sam had written “ a rather lengthy review of that unfortunate & sadly ridiculous book of Miss Cecilia Cleveland’s about Chappaqua.” (The Story of a Summer; Or, Journal Leaves from Chappaqua.) Sam wanted his negative review published anonymously, probably because the publisher for Cecilia Cleveland’s book was the same George W. Carleton who had so brusquely rejected The Jumping Frog book. Stillson did not print Sam’s review, but the Boston Evening Transcript as well as Warner in the Hartford Courant, expressed a similar view. Sam expressed in his review that whoever persuaded Cleveland to publish was to blame more than the authoress [MTL 6: 87]. Note: Whenever Sam was slighted, his memory was long and his blood rarely cooled.

Sam wrote a book dealer for a list of books, asking if there was a discount for authors, he was “willing to take advantage of it”; if not, he didn’t want to “create a damaging precedent” [MTL 6: 88].

The Hartford Times said Sam’s house going up on Farmington Avenue was “one of the oddest looking buildings in the State ever designed for a dwelling, if not the whole country” [Andrews 81].

March 24 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Thomas Bailey Aldrich, telling him to “send along the proofs” for Aldrich’s book, Prudence Palfrey. Sam would also help Aldrich get the book published by Elisha P. Bliss—what’s more, Sam’s strategy was to approach Bliss with the manuscript, and ask if he could pay a ten per cent royalty or should Sam go to a “hated rival”? Sam mused that he might try “printing my own next book,” probably still suspicious of Bliss’ accounting. Sam drew sketches in the letter and inserted sub-titles [MTL 6: 89].

March 25 Wednesday – Sam again wrote from Hartford to Thomas Bailey Aldrich, clarifying prior advice on a revised section of Aldrich’s book [MTL 6: 94].

March 26 Thursday – The London Standard ran Sam’s letter, “The Temperance Insurrection” [MTL 6: 66].

March 27 Friday – In Hartford, Sam wrote to James Redpath.

“Dear Redpath: / If you’ve got that old Postmaster monologue by you, please send it to me—I want to revise & publish it in the Atlantic Monthly, & see if I like it upon re-reading” [MTP, drop-in letters]. [ page 581 ]

March 28 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to William S. Andrews, a fellow lecturer and member of the Lotos Club. Andrews asked Sam’s help with his lecture, but Sam declined, being “buried up to my eyes in work & that work is standing still; for my wife is ill & has been for some little time.” Sam hoped they might meet briefly as they passed through NY on the way to Elmira just as soon as Livy was able to travel [MTL 6: 96].

Sam also wrote to Meriwether Jeff Thompson, an ex-Confederate general known as the “Missouri Swamp Fox.” Thompson appeared in Chapters 16-17 of The Gilded Age and sent Sam a long letter about persons living and dead. Sam and Thompson may have met between mid-Feb.1857, when Sam began his pilot apprenticeship and Feb. 13, 1859. Warner met Thompson in 1853-4 while working as a surveyor for the railroad [MTL 6: 96-100].

Spring of 1874 – Sam’s pamphlet of ten sketches, Mark Twain’s Sketches. Number One, was ready but was withdrawn before distribution [MTL 6: 49n6].

April 3 Friday – Sam paid an Apr. 1 bill of $2.45 from Geer & Pond, Hartford booksellers for a subscription of Littell’s Living Age for the period Dec. 6, 1873 to Mar. 21, 1874 [Gribben].

April 4 Saturday ­– C. Gleim wrote to Sam [MTP]. (See Apr. 9-12 entry)

April 6 Monday – David Gray wrote from Buffalo, NY. In part:

My Dear Friend Mark: / I can’t remember anything of last winter’s happening that did me quite so much good as your splendid letter to me from London. It gave me a better measure than I had had of the bigness of your heart,—as to which I shall never doubt again but that it will be capacious enough to contain a corner for your old Buffalo friend, no matter how many better people may crowd in past him. I really cherished a vague idea that ere this I should have been able to run down to New York & see you either there or in Hartford. But there is no let up for me & I have to content myself tracking your shining footsteps in the newspapers [MTPO]. Note: reply on Apr. 18.

April 7 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Annie F. Fuller (1840?-1906), 2nd wife of Frank Fuller:

My Dear Mrs. Fuller:

Since Frank left I have been too busy with home matters to attend to any business. Mrs. Clemens’ frail health is the cause. So I have left the matter of the “Granger” book alone till Frank shall return. If it is a good thing it will keep—but if it were the best thing in the world I would have to let it alone until his return, anyway.

The Modoc is well & hearty & joins us in warm regards & best wishes for you & Frank [MTL 6: 101]. Notes: Mary F. Fuller, Frank’s first wife, died in 1870; “Granger” book unidentified; see Mar. 20.

April 8 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Chatto & Windus, English publishers who had taken over John Camden Hotten’s company upon his death. Responding to a request for a blurb to promote Ambrose Bierce’s new book, Nuggets and Dust Panned Out in California by Dod Grile; Sam had known Bierce in San Francisco in the 1860s. Sam wrote:

“Bierce has written some admirable things—fugitive pieces—but none of them are among the “Nuggets.” There is humor in Dod Grile, but for every laugh that is in his book there are five blushes, ten shudders & a vomit. The laugh is too expensive” [MTL 6: 102].

April 9 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Jerome B. Stillson, editor of the New York World, asking him to save all the exchanged newspapers that carried the lie that he paid for a dinner to be given in his own honor.  [ page 582 ]

“In confidence, I am bringing a libel suit & I want these papers as evidence. Don’t mention it” [MTL 6: 102].

Winthrop Turney (ca. 1864-1905) wrote: “Dear Sir / Please send me your autograph and greatly oblige your young friend /Winthrop Turney” [MTP]. Note: Hand drawn large letter “T”s on the stationery & env., led Twain to write: “A Curiosity (The initial.) (A boy who manufactures his own).” Turney committed suicide in 1905.

April 9­–12? Sunday – In Hartford, Sam wrote to his mother, Jane Clemens, and sister, Pamela Moffett, enclosing an Apr. 4 letter from C. Gleim in Rock Island, Ill. Gleim was evidently a family friend. Sam wrote that “Livy is tolerable & the Modoc is well. We leave for Elmira next Wednesday” [MTP, drop-in letters].

April 10 Friday – Mollie Clemens arrived in Hartford remaining at least through Apr. 11. She came to ask Sam to help her and Orion buy a farm in Keokuk. Sam was still deciding by Apr. 23, when Mollie wrote an attorney to seek clear title on a property near Keokuk, owned by her father, William Stotts [MTPO notes in Apr. 23 to Orion]. Sam offered them the alternative of an outright pension with interest on $8,000.

Sam wrote a short note from the railway post office in Hartford to Orion, who was working at the New York Evening Post, a paper which Sam thought had carried the libelous item about him paying for his own tribute dinner. Sam wanted a copy of that paper, not the article cut out, and he wanted Orion to keep the secret of a libel suit. Sam was waiting for Mollie, who had taken the train to Hartford seeking financial assistance from Sam to buy a farm in Keokuk [MTL 6: 103].

Sam also wrote two letters to James Redpath on the same issue, this time about the item appearing in the Boston Evening Transcript.

 

Dear Red, /There is an item going around like this:

“Mark Twain received [&] paid the bill for a complimentary dinner to him in Hartford lately.”

Confidentially between you [&] me, I am bringing a libel suit on this [&] I want you to send me all the newspapers you can find containing it.

Yours ever, [no signature; MTP drop-in letters].

 

Sam replied on Farmington Ave. stationery to the Apr. 9 from Winthrop Turney:

 

“Dear Sir: Your very pleasant letter has just arrived this morning, & I hasten to comply with a request which is a high compliment to me, since it is proof that your friendly interest has survived both the reading of my books & the listening to my lectures” [eBay item 370295829353 Nov. 24, 2009].

April 11 Saturday – Sam wrote again to James Redpath asking for advice—should he sue for libel or print a paragraph denying the lie, “& word it so that it will travel.” Whatever advice Redpath gave, Sam did not file suit [MTL 6: 105].

Jane Clemens wrote to Sam and Livy asking for donated books for the WCTU in Fredonia [Gribben 576]. (See Dec. 9 entry.)

April 13 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to the Editor of the Hartford Courant. Joseph R. Hawley was the top editor, but he was in Washington, so Charles Dudley Warner was in charge. Sam enclosed the small article denying the supper lie, probably written by Warner, and then went on to explain that he’d discovered that names had been switched, probably as a joke. “Where I was born they always hang a man who can’t take a joke” [MTL 6: 106]. Note: Sam took the joke, but one gets the sense he didn’t like taking jokes on himself.

April 14 Tuesday – Sam inscribed a book (unidentified) of Twichell’s that he’d borrowed and then loaned to Elisabeth (Lilly) Warner [MTL 6: 107].  [ page 583 ]

Sam’s letter to the Courant ran on page two as “Mark Twain’s Banquet” [Courant.com].

April 15 Wednesday – Sam and Livy left Hartford for Elmira, stopping in New York where they stayed two nights at the new Windsor Hotel. There they met Mary Mason Fairbanks and her son Charley [MTL 6: 109n2].

An inch of rain fell on New York City [NOAA.gov].

April 15 or 16 Thursday – The Clemenses and the Fairbankses had dinner with Dan Slote and Clara and John M. Hay [MTL 6: 109n2].

April 17 Friday – Sam and Livy continued on to Mrs. Langdon’s in Elmira, where they stayed until May 5 and then moved to Quarry Farm with Susan and Theodore Crane [MTL 6: 47n1].

April 18 Saturday – Sam replied from Elmira to David Gray of the Buffalo Courier. Sam extended an invitation for the Grays to visit them at Quarry Farm in a few weeks. Sam mentioned the “Mark Twain dinner” joke, and that he’d “swallowed the joke without any difficulty” [MTL 6: 108].

April 23 Thursday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Orion. Letters flew back and forth (many lost) about Orion and Mollie buying a farm in Keokuk, Mollie’s hometown. For Orion it would be “a sort of gloomy exile,” but he knew “Mollie would be happy there” [MTL 6: 110].

April 24 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to the editor of the Dubuque (Iowa) Herald about an imposter posing as “Charles Clemmens, agent for Mark Twain,” and a brother who had been selling tickets to non-existent lectures by Mark Twain.

“I hope that the full rigor of the law will be meted out to this small villain. He professes to be my brother. If he is, it is a pity he does not know how to spell the family name” [MTL 6: 116].

April 25 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Edgar “Ned” Wakeman. Sam repeated that he could not take on Wakeman’s book and would not put his name to a book that someone else had written, but he did refer Wakeman to Elisha Bliss, warning that Eastern publishers rarely took on a book from an unknown man, and when they did the royalties were low [MTL 6: 119].

Mollie Clemens wrote:

Dear Sam

Your[s] of the 23rd is just received. Orion is not here, but I opened it & read it.

Dear Sam you are a noble, generous glorious man—and all of your actions toward us manifests christian charity.

I regret exceedingly that Ma has written to you in opposition to our going West. She is quite mistaken in thinking I would not want to go to the old place again. . . .

I utterly hate myself for having been so meek, & wavering, so afraid so cowardly about taking responsibility, all my life. I seem to have had no moral courage.

Here lately I have been trying to overcome this weakness, and I shall overcome it all, with the help of the Almighty One. I know it is not Christian to be weak and I shall be strong.

I had on that weakness in a measure while in Hartford and did not go into any kind of enthusiasm; but I foolishly attributed it to being so fatigued by my twenty miles ride on Saturday: then too Sam I thought it was too bad to ask you to spend so much money for us, when you had no assurance in the world that you would ever get it all back. I wanted the property bought in you[r] name, and any improvements we might add would be yours if we never paid for it; and took it off your hands. [ page 584 ]

I have in my heart believed we could meet the payments of the interest, and pay you interest, after the second year at the furthest. But I only had my hope to go upon, and therefore kept up the idea that you were to have the deed to you, and if you had the deed, then you pay all for it, and us pay you interest as soon as we could; or rent, whichever it might be called. . . .

Your words were truth & wisdom when you said one could not afford to use up their lifes blood for no more than Orion is doing or getting now, no matter how agreeable it may be at the present.

It is not strange that Orion should fear for you to take such a risk for us, when every thing he undertakes fails: and he lives the most dreadful life of fear; when he has a situation at any thing, he is in that everlasting state of fear en-spacefear FEAR. Of course with the same interests at stake I have more or less of the fear too. Last night as we talked about getting into the country what work we would do in the day time what books read at night, and had plenty of pleasant anticipations I said “then you will not be afraid of losing that situation will you.” He said no it would be like a new existance to him.

Another letter came from Ma yesterday just full of the nice times we would have in a country home. But she still thought I would not want to go back to the old place.

I take it that your offer is made in great kindness, and hope you will accept my refusal in the same spirit.

Not a single kindness, from you & dear sweet Livy, but is remembered & treasured, with all the gratitude I can feel, but never express; but while God gives me health & strength, and what reason I have, I cannot accept any assistance from you, that I have not the utmost faith, that you will at least receive dollar for dollar; and in the way you offer there is not even a shadow of hope for you to get it back.

We sent yesterday, letters about the Iowa property. You will have decided about that, before this reaches you. I wish you would look to your own interest a little, in whatever you decide upon in the matter.

I am so sorry we are such a trouble to you—but; help us get a farm—my faith is strong, and I would go into it, with earnestness and love, and a determination to give it a fair five years trial, at the least.

Of course pa praises his place, the location, the fruit and improvements. I yearn for indipendance.

Love to all / Affectionately / M. E. C. [MTPO].

 Orion Clemens wrote to Sam.

My Dear Brother:— / I gratefully thank you for the kind offer in your letter received to-day; but it is too generous for me to accept.

As you desire me to write freely, I will say that several days ago I took two pages of the manuscript I sent you yesterday to a book publisher, to see if he would want anything on that plan. He was out of the city, and would not return till to-day or Monday or Tuesday, when he was to go away again for three or four weeks. As it is now, I shall not probably revisit him sooner than the expiration of the latter period, if at all. If I had seen him then and he had encouraged me to proceed, my preference of preferences would have been to work on at the Post, as I am now doing, from 9:30 till 2:10, for three or six months or a year, if the exploration of the vast subject should necessitate so long a time, using my afternoons and evenings in visiting the Astor and Cooper Institute free libraries, or reading books at home from the Mercantile library, searching through geology, books of travel, and any other books I could find with facts bearing on my theories, making rough notes and writing them up formally, in mornings, &c., as rapidly and as well as practicable—brandishing as free a quill as ever any goose struck a horse’s heels with: this would be my idea of elysium, if I felt that the work I was doing was not going to be still-born. Now you can judge whether a book continued in the strain I sent you is likely to be a waste of time. If you think time so devoted would not be thrown away,—

However, I suppose it is not worth while to talk any more about that. My next preference would be the Keokuk place, if we could get through the first year. My plan would be to work on the garden and chicken business during the day and refresh my memory in law at night, so that in two or three years, by the time we got the garden and poultry arrangement so it would pay to hire work done, I could be well enough up in the law to take an office in town, and go down mornings and return evenings. I could not become at this late time of life a distinguished lawyer, but I might make a comfortable living with it and the garden and the poultry and the house free of rent.

Mollie requests me to say that she has not thought of failure in the farming enterprise. She has, I may add on my own motion, been sanguine and elated with the prospect of independence, and a beautiful home by the Mississippi, the canal and the railroad, and with the hope of getting me out of the printing office.

The combined law, garden and poultry project could be tried in and near New York or Hartford as well as in and near Keokuk; or it might be that editorial work could be substituted on an evening paper for law. [ page 585 ]

I am very sorry, indeed, to have taken up so much of your thought, which might be better employed on higher, or at least less depressing and worrying subjects.

Affectionately, / Your Brother, / Orion.

P. S. Going to Keokuk would be a sort of gloomy exile for me; bu[t] Mollie would be happy there; and she is right in saying I do not support her; and that she had rather do the managing there….[MTPO].

John M. Hay wrote to Sam.

My dear Clemens / That affair of the Windsor Hotel will be a grief to me forever. Mrs. Hay never received Mrs. Fairbanks’ letter and so we did not understand your note to mean anything positive. I learned by accident however that you were there and so posted up to find you, and you were not. Charlie F. came in to see me and said the letter had been directed to West 25th and we live [at] 111 East 25th St.

I shall simply never get over it. I was crazy to see something of the two ladies, and you know what is my private opinion of all the time I dont spend with you. / Yours faithfully / John Hay [MTPO].

April 27 Monday – Sam wrote from Quarry Farm, Elmira to Dr. John Brown that the family was well, and they were in Elmira to spend the summer, though a snowstorm hit day before. Elmira grew hot in the summer, Sam wrote, so they moved to “the top of a hill 6 or 700 feet high, about 2 or 3 miles from here—it never gets hot up there” [MTL 6: 121].

Orion Clemens wrote again to Sam.

My Dear Brother:— /I talked to you as I did I suppose from sheer habit of gloomy foreboding. I was afraid we would get out there without a dollar to work with, and I would have to go to St. Louis and go into a printing office, and leave Mollie to run the farm by herself, and perhaps I could not even get work, while here I was already getting ten dollars per week. So I was ready to decline going for the same reason I left Hannibal—because I was afraid I could not stay. But Mollie has inspired me with her faith and hope. It begins to creep into my mind that your desire to rid me of some of my discontents weighs more with you than the consideration of the money needed. The offer to devote perpetually the interest on eight thousand dollars, where it would be likely never to return, if we were abject enough to accept, satisfies me that you will not feel it a heavy cross to part with the needed funds for the Keokuk place, even if it was never to go back to you. But Mollie feels sanguine that we can pay you principal and interest all you advance in five years. I shall go intending to work faithfully, and believing I shall be more cheerful with out-door employment. We do not think that we shall need from you the first year more than the fifteen hundred dollars you told me you thought you could spare. The property will be in your name, and with our improvements will doubtless be worth all that and the remaining sums of principal and interest as set down in the account we sent you. It is true this sums up, (as spread over five years), near four thousand dollars, but I am the more emboldened to think this will not frighten you, from the fact that you were willing to buy for us a place near Hartford to cost without other expenses, four thousand dollars. I have but one preference for that—it would be a home near you. I gave weight to that when I left to go to Rutland; but not enough. Yet who can see where a path through the future would have led, only from seeing the beginning? Before I left, the cloudy obscurity was beginning to draw over my mind that drove me from Rutland, that has neutralized my forces so often, that seems so independent of circumstances, and that yet, I hope, will not come again to haunt me in the open air. So, if it please you, we will go to Keokuk. Love to all. / Affectionately,/ Your brother, / Orion [MTPO].

April 30 Thursday – Charles Dudley Warner wrote to Sam. In part:

Dear Mark / The enclosed came via Kojema—if that is the way to spell the Damio’s name. Ned House wanted him to say to me that he, House, preserves and sends to San Francisco the associated Press despatches concerning Japan, that we may know they are trustworthy, and right in contradicting the sensational stories. I see by the San Francisco papers that The Gilded Age has been dramatized and is to be put on the stage, at once, of the California Theater. I think one Dinsmore [sic Gilbert B. Densmore], editor of a Sunday paper, dramatized it. The story is mainly that of Laura—leaving out the political parts that would create a row. [ page 586 ]

The transplanter don’t seem to have considered it necessary to consult the authors. Probably don’t know that we have a letter [of] copyright stowed away. Let us see if the thing comes to any thing, and if it is worth while to interfere [MTPO].

April, late or May, early – Sam sent Orion a check for $700 and another for $200 in order to take Mollie to Keokuk and run a chicken ranch. Supposedly, the buildings on the farm would bring in $40 per month. Orion’s reply shortly after, is lost [MTL 6: 144n1].

May, early – Joe Goodman, then living in San Francisco, attended a play, an adaptation of The Gilded Age, by Gilbert B. Densmore (sometimes misidentified as G.S. Densmore). Joe sent Sam a clipping on the production [Walker, Phillip 185].

May 1 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to William A. Seaver, a writer for Harper’s (he wrote the “Editor’s Drawer” for the monthly magazine). Sam sent a page from a sketch published without authorization by J.B. Brown of the Galena (Illinois) Gazette. Sam asked Seaver –“can’t you get it into your Drawer & shame the thief?” Sam also asked if Seaver and John Hay would visit him in Hartford next winter [MTL 6: 123].

May 2 Saturday – Bill paid to Hartford Ice Company 5,750lbs. $23 [MTP]. Judging from earlier bills, the Clemens family went through this amount of ice every six months or so.

 

An $5,000 insurance policy was written to the Atlas Ins. Co., Hartford, for a term of one month, on the “brick dwelling in process of erection on Farmington Ave.” [MTP].

 

May 4 Monday – In Elmira, Sam took Livy to see the stage play of “Rip Van Winkle.” This was Dion Boucicault’s play starring the comic actor Joseph Jefferson (1829-1905) put on at the Elmira Opera House [MTL 6: 127, 129n3].

May 5 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Dudley Warner. Joe Goodman had sent an article from the San Francisco Chronicle about Gilbert B. Densmore, critic and editor of the Golden Era, producing an unauthorized play from The Gilded Age. Densmore left out all of Warner’s characters and sections of the work, and wrote the play as a comedy around Colonel Sellers. Sam suggested to Warner that they sign over rights to each other’s characters and that he would then buy the play from “Densmore” and either rewrite it or burn it and write a play of his own.

“I know Mr. D. mighty well & he shan’t run any play on MY brains. He is the chap who finished Bret Harte’s story for him without Bret’s asking it.”

Sam also wrote that they were packing trunks to remove to Quarry Farm today [MTL 6: 126-7].

May 6–29 Friday – At some time during this period, Sam wrote from Elmira to Jerome B. Stillson, editor of the New York World, enclosing a column from the Hartford Courant. The Courant article noted the revival of the “famous Fisher claims,” whereby a family had continually bilked the U.S. government with claims of farm damage during the 1813-14 war against the Creek Indians.  Sam called the Fishers “insatiable blood-suckers,” who had tried to bribe him. Sam wrote the full story of the Fishers for the 1870 Galaxy magazine. He wrote the story again [MTL 6: 131].

May 7 Thursday – Sam wrote to the Librarian of Congress, Ainsworth R. Spofford, enclosing the $1 copyright fee and design cover for Mark Twain’s Sketches. No. One [MTL 6: 135].

May 8 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles E. Perkins. The language in part of the letter suggests that Sam was working on “Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven,” probably inspired by his [ page 587 ] recent letters with Ned Wakeman. Sam began the story in 1868 and worked on it intermittently until its publication in Harper’s and in book form in 1907. Sam declined to loan the horse and carriage to Perkins, explaining their sentimental value to Livy. He also discussed plans to widen the sidewalk on Farmington Avenue, from four feet to six, and enclosed a note he’d sent to Hartford city authorities:

“And why make a six-foot walk all the way to the bridge? …traffic was very great—but there is no longer such pressing need, for one of the school children who used to go along there is sick, & the other one has moved away” [MTL 6: 137-9].

Sam also wrote a short letter to Edward T. Potter, architect on the new house, with details that Livy wanted in the butler’s pantry [MTL 6: 140].

Smith, Robertson & Fassett, Elmira Law offices, wrote to Sam enclosing May 1 letter Sheriff’s Office, Dubuque, Iowa, Wilson to Smith, et al : “Enclosed find letter from City atty…with our answer. It seems a man who falsely presented himself as Mark Twain’s agent had his whereabouts known.” What did Sam want done with him? [MTP].

May 9 Saturday – Sam was issued Copyright No. 6347E on the contents of No. One sketches. Reginald T. Sperry of Hartford had designed the cover [MTL 6: 137n1].

May 10 Sunday – Sam wrote from Elmira to his mother, Jane Lampton Clemens. Sam confided the dilemma of helping Orion and Mollie rent a chicken farm in Keokuk while at the same time giving them:

“…a lot of advice which none but children ought to need, but which THEY richly need & which will make Mollie rip & tear, no doubt.”

Sam’s advice was to live like simple chicken farmers, to eschew fine dress and sell the fine Hartford furniture and not try to be “hifalutin fine folks.” Sam expressed the wish that his mother would be their creditor, not himself [MTL 6: 141].

Sam also wrote to Orion, who must have complained of Sam’s tone when sending the $900 earlier in the month or at the end of April. Sam was upset that the Dubuque swindler had been let go; that The Gilded Age had been used in an unauthorized play in San Francisco; and that his pamphlets (Mark Twain Sketches. No. One) had been delayed. He offered those as reasons for his “venom” to Orion and then wrote:

I hope you & Mollie will thrive where you are going—& I hardly see how you can help it. Forty dollars a month from the houses on that farm is a living, in itself. So I hope the change is going to be a change to prosperity & contentment—for you are aging & it is high time to give over dreaming & buckle down to the simplicities & the realities of life [MTL 6: 143].

Note: After investing $4,000 to have the pamphlets printed, Sam discovered that his contract with Bliss forbade him from publishing anything except through the American Publishing Co. Sam sadly told the printer, Louis Brush, to destroy the 100,000 pamphlets. Brush came up with the idea of selling advertising for the back of the pamphlet and then giving them away, which salvaged Sam’s investment [MTL 6: 144n5].

Sam also wrote William Dean Howells about Orion’s connection to the Tennessee Land and his parallel character in The Gilded Age. Sam enclosed Orion’s reply to his letter with checks totaling $900 [MTL 6: 145]. Note: Sam often expressed disgust with Orion’s incompetence and lack of promise, yet family duty pressed him to keep trying, though his tone with Orion seemed that of an irritated father. [ page 588 ]

Sam also wrote to Frederick W. Haddon (1839-1906), the editor of the Melbourne, Australia Argus, who was visiting in New York. Haddon had written Sam during his stay in America, complimenting him and suggesting Sam serializing a book in the Argus. Sam declined, although he said he was engaged in a book (probably TS) but “in such a leisurely way” that he didn’t think it would be done within a year [MTL 6: 147].

Sam set aside the unfinished Tom Sawyer manuscript and began writing his own adaptation of The Gilded Age play, which he’d purchased back from Gilbert B. Densmore. Sam wrote three drafts and completed it as five-acts in about 60 days [Powers, MT A Life 352].

May 11 Monday – Benjamin P. Shillaber wrote to Sam: “There was a conundrum among politicians—After Grant, what? I am in a position where I must adopt something similar relative to publishing my book—After publishing, what?” He sought Sam’s advice about a publisher, since Shillaber owned the plates [MTP].

May 14 Thursday – Robert Watt (1837-1894), world traveler, journalist, and author wrote to Sam.

Dear Sir, / As a curiosity I take the liberty to send you a danish Edition of your admirable sketches. Some two years ago I visited America, and brought several of your books home with me, and (as a well known author here) I at once commenced a translation. I have had the greatest pleasure in doing so. The papers have spoken in the very highest terms of your extraordinary genius, and my Editor has asked for more volumes marked with the name Mark Twain—already so popular in Denmark.

I am only sorry that there is no literary convention in existence here between America and Denmark, and that I am not able to offer you anything but my most sincere thanks and admiration. In the volume I shall forward to you through the danish consulate in New York you will find some notes on yourself and your works, some choice sketches, and extracts from “the innocents at home”. All the papers have especially spoken of “Buck Fanshaws burial” as something “unique”

I should be most happy to have a few lines from you, together with a photograph, and ask you only not to laugh too much of my bad English; I write Danish better, and am perfectly able to understand and appreciate everything in English

Before I translated you, I have with great success introduced Edgar Poe and Bret Harte to the danish public, and am preparing an Edition of Thackeray.

Your (far off)

friend & admirer / Robert Watt [MTP]. Note: see Sam’s reply July 15-16, and others.

May, mid – Sam wrote to the matinee idol actor, Lawrence Barrett (1838-1891), offering him the role of Colonel Mulberry Sellers in his Gilded Age play. He also solicited Barrett’s opinion of actors Frank Mayo and John T. Raymond (John O’Brien 1836-1887), who had appeared in Densmore’s San Francisco version [MTL 6: 148]. Raymond eventually starred in Sam’s play.

May 16 Saturday – Sam purchased Francois Pierre Guizot’s (1787-1874) A Popular History of France from Estes & Lauriat of Boston. The work was sent in segments and totaled $10 [Gribben 282].

May 18 Monday – Sam boarded a train for New York. He arrived at 9 PM and stayed one night at the Astor House. He may have wanted to meet with the matinee idol Lawrence Barrett, who checked into the hotel the day before. John T. Raymond was also in New York, staying at the New York Hotel close by the Astor. Sam may have made contact with Raymond, but did not see Barrett, as Barrett’s letter of May 25 reflects [MTL 6: 148-9].

Two-tenths of an inch of rain fell on NYC [NOAA.gov].

May 19 Tuesday – Sam returned to Elmira in the morning [MTL 6: 149 letter to Seaver].  [ page 589 ]

May 20 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to William A. Seaver, editor of Harper’s. Sam apologized for not stopping by on his one-day foray to New York, but would run through New York on the way to Hartford “by & by” and “then I propose to assemble where there be refreshments, & tackle you” [MTL 6: 149-50].

May 21 Thursday – Sam wrote from Elmira for a certificate of copyright from Ainsworth R. Spofford, librarian of Congress. Sam enclosed fractional paper currency for fifty cents [MTL 6: 150].

May 22 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss. Sam had been trying to expedite a book between Edward H. House in Japan and Bliss. Sam asked for a copy of Bliss’ last letter about the Japan book for Sam to send to House. Sam also requested sales figures for his three books for the purpose of a biographical sketch for either Appleton’s or Routledge. Innocents Abroad: 110,843; Roughing It: 85,699; The Gilded Age: 47,553 [MTL 6: 152-3].

From Charles E. Perkins’ cash book, Sam’s account: “By cash brot over May 22 By dft on NY 5000.00” [Berg Collection, NYPL].

May 23 Saturday – Sam’s cashbook: “To po Potter Architect [Edward T. Potter] 500.00” [Berg, NYPL].

May 25 Monday – Lawrence Barrett, well known actor, wrote responding to Sam’s mid-May request (not extant) for his offer to play the role of Col. Sellers, or to recommend someone. Barrett, who had met Sam years before in San Francisco, recommended John T. Raymond for the role [MTL 6: 148]. Note: see full text of Bartett’s letter in source; it’s undetermined just when Clemens and Barrett met in S.F.

May 28 Thursday – From Charles E. Perkins’ cash book, Sam’s account: “To po Garvie 2500.00” [Berg collection, NYPL]. Note: William Garvie and son Robert Garvie were plumbers, John Garvie was the general contractor building the house.

May 31 Sunday – Sam’s article on the Fisher family claims were published in the New York World [MTL 6: 134n1].

June or August – Mrs. E. H. Bonner (b. 1842: Loreta Janeta Velazquez) wrote. During the Civil War she disguised herself as a Confederate officer. She’d written an account of her adventures, in hopes of publishing [MTP]. Note: See Oct. 9 to Henry Watterson.

June 1 Monday – From Charles E. Perkins’ cash book, Sam’s account: “To po Downie 270.00” [Berg collection, NYPL]. Note: possibly coachman Downey, fired on June 10.

June 1–8 Monday – In Elmira, Sam wrote to his mother, Jane Clemens about Orion’s latest with his in-laws.

 

Elmira, June!

Dear Mother:

This is Orion’s latest. Old father Stotts seems to have been a trifle sharp in his transactions. But the whole gang of them are pretty low-down stock. A body might as well marry into a gipsy camp as among such a scurvy lot as these.

We are up here on top of the hill, & the weather is a mixture of winter & summer, with the former predominating as yet.

Livy is first-rate, & Susie is strong, hearty, brimming with activity, & brown as an Indian with constant exposure to sun & wind.

We send love to you all.

Yr Son  [ page 590 ]

    Sam [MTPO, drop-in letters].

June 3 Wednesday – From Charles E. Perkins ’ cash book, Sam’s account: “To po Insurance 50 + 10  60” [Berg collection, NYPL].

 

June 5 Friday – Owen S. McKinney wrote to Sam. This is what the MTP calls a “ghost letter,” being referred to somewhere but with no known text. It’s possible this will surface in time [MTP].

 

Mitchell, Vance & Co. wrote from NYC to advertise their “large stock” of gas fixtures [MTP].

 

June 6 Saturday – Case & Rathbun wrote to Sam: “Your telegram duly rec’d, also to-day, order for shirts [half dozen] with slight changes, and order for 200 cigars which we send to-day by express” [MTP].

 

June 6–8Monday – Sam wrote a note from Elmira to Scribner, Welford and Armstrong for the purchase of William Harris Rule’s two-volume History of the Inquisition, and Whitaker’s reference catalogue, with listings of 50,000 books [MTL 6: 154].

June 8 Monday – At 7 AM, Livy gave birth to Clara Langdon Clemens, their second daughter, named after Livy’s friend, Clara Spaulding. The baby weighed nearly eight pounds, “which is colossal for Livy,” Sam wrote on June 10 to Orion and Mollie [MTL 6: 155].

From Charles E. Perkins ’ cash book, Sam’s account: “To po Fox & Co. [Hartford Grocers]  48.02” [Berg collection, NYPL]. Note: Fox billed by the month, so this bill was for purchases prior to leaving for Elmira.

June 9 Tuesday – Sam paid a June 5 bill of $8.40 from Scribner, Welford & Armstrong of New York for William Harris Rule’s two-volume work, History of the Inquisition from Its Establishment in the Twelfth Century to Its Extinction in the Nineteenth [Gribben 593].

E. Christinet wrote from France to encourage Sam to have his works published there, as other than Longfellow and Poe, there were no “original American literature” translations in France [MTP].

June 10 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Orion and Mollie. He told them of Clara’s birth; Livy was doing “amazingly well—is cheerful, happy, grateful & strong.” Sam wrote of firing his coachman, Downey, and hiring Patrick McAleer, who was “straight” (sober) because his wife kept him so. Sam received a letter from Mollie this day, as he had a few times from Orion in Keokuk. Those letters were lost, but detailed life on Stotts farm (Mollie’s father’s farm), their continued desire to buy and not rent, and other farm matters [MTL 6: 155-6].

“The Modoc is as brown as an Indian, because she is seldom or never in the house, but is tramping around outside in the sun & wind, all day.” 

June 10–15 Monday – Sam wrote a business letter from Elmira to James Redpath, and included one line about baby Clara, “seven and three-quarters pounds” [MTL 6: 157].

June 11 Thursday – Sam wrote from Elmira to the Twichells.

“The baby is here & is the great American Giantess—weighing 7¾ pounds, & all solid meat….It is an admirable child, though, & has intellect. It puts its fingers against its brow & thinks.”

Sam then described what became a famous structure, now at Elmira College: [ page 591 ]

“Susie Crane has built the loveliest study for me, you ever saw. It is octagonal, with a peaked roof, each octagon filled with spacious window, & it sits perched in complete isolation at top of an elevation that commands leagues of valley & city & retreating ranges of distant blue hills.”

Sam would do his best work in what he called his “cosy nest” [MTL 6: 157-8]. Willis describes Sam’s use of the octagonal study at Quarry Farm (designed by Elmira architect, Alfred H. Thorp):

“For over twenty creative summers his schedule … rarely varied. After breakfast, Clemens left the hubbub of the Crane house, strolled across the lawn, and climbed up the steps to his sanctuary. He labored steadily all day, not stopping for lunch, and rejoined the others for dinner. Each evening he read to his family audience his day’s work. It was forbidden to disturb Mark Twain during the day. Samuel Clemens could summon or be summoned only by blowing a horn” [Willis 90-1].

Mary Mason Fairbanks wrote to Sam (clippings enclosed from the Cleveland Herald, articles by Charles Mason Fairbanks). “I take the name ‘Modoc’ in my arms—I kiss it. I embrace the dashing mother—and you, and the little princess…Whom do you think I have in tow today? None other than the vehement, ardent, good feeling Col. Denney….I took him to see the Severances” [MTP].

Summer – Paine notes Sam and Theodore Crane’s favorite books enjoyed on the lawn of Quarry Farm during summers.

“At other times he found comfort in the society of Theodore Crane. These two were always fond of each other, and they often read together the books in which they were mutually interested. They had portable-hammock arrangements, which they places side by side on the lawn, and read and discussed through summer afternoons. The Mutineers of the Bounty was one of the books they liked best…Pepy’s Diary, Two Years Before the Mast, and a book on the Andes were reliable favorites. Mark Twain read not so many books, but read a few books often. Those named were among the literature he asked for each year of his return to Quarry Farm. Without them, the farm and the summer would not be the same” [MTB 510-11].

During the summer Sam first read British Author William Edward Hartpole Lecky, and his History of European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne. Gribben lists volume I signed, “T.W. Crane/1874 New York” [400]. Baetzhold traces Lecky’s influence in Tom Sawyer as well as Huck Finn and places Sam’s first reading of Lecky as “probably during the summer of 1874” [MT & John Bull 54]. This is likely, given the above inscriptions as Crane’s dates of acquisition, and given the other notable books they shared this summer. Paine writes that the two men “read Lecky avidly and discussed it in original and unorthodox ways” during this summer at Quarry Farm [MTB 511]. Sam would be greatly influenced by Lecky’s later A History of England in the Eighteenth Century (1887-1890) in eight volumes (see Gribben 400-403).

 

June 11 Thursday – Alfred H. Thorp, Elmira architect, was the man who designed the now famous octagonal study at Quarry Farm, by assignment from Sue Crane. ­Together with Edward Tuckerman Potter he also designed the Clemens’ Hartford house [NY Times, Dec. 7, 1901, p.BR4].

June 12 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Will Bowen about plans for the new house. Only a fragment survives [Hornberger, 33].

June 13 Saturday – From Charles E. Perkins’ cash book, Sam’s account: “To po Garvie  1200.00” [Berg collection, NYPL]. Note: likely John Garvie. See other listings for Garvie.

June 14 Sunday – Orion Clemens wrote to Sam and Livy. Letter enclosed in June 18 from Mollie Clemens—both congratulating them on the birth of a daughter [MTP]. [ page 592 ]

June 15 Monday – Sam wrote the good news from Elmira to Dr. John Brown:

“We call the new Megatherium (mate to the Megalopis) Clara of course” [MTL 6: 159].  

Sam also wrote to Charles Dudley Warner of the baby, Susy, and Livy. Sam also had loaned Warner $2,000 and wrote he was “depending” on him for the repayment and from Bliss for at least that much more in royalties. Sam cited his “heavy purchase for cash,” probably the house construction costs [MTL 6: 161].

 

June 15 ca. – In the unpublished “Children’s Record” Sam kept about his girls, he wrote of an incident when Clara (“Bay”) was one week old: 

 

When the Bay was a week old her adventures began. She was asleep on a pillow in a rocking chair in the parlor at Quarry Farm. I had forgotten her presence—if I knew it. I wound up a mechanical toy wagon and set it loose on the floor; I saw it was going to collide with the rocking chair, so I kicked the rocking chair across the house. The Bay lit on the floor with a thump, her head within two inches of the iron fender of the grate, but with the pillow undermost. So she came within three inches of an obituary [Harnsberger 16].

 

June 16 Tuesday – Sam wrote to the editor of the Boston Daily Advertiser about misdirected mail from England. Letters from Dr. John Brown had been addressed to him in “Hartford, State of New York, US” and returned to Scotland; another to, “Hartford, Near Boston, New York, US of A.” This one did reach him. Sam wanted to know:

“Now why should a Boston postal clerk have more brains than a New York one? Is the salary higher?” [MTL 6: 162-3].

June 17 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Orion, responding to a letter with a sample of coal Orion had found. Sam had shown the sample to Theodore Crane, who was a partner in J. Langdon & Co. Crane wasn’t impressed and Sam gave his brother good advice [MTL 6: 164]. Sam was resigned to Orion being “bound to find a butterfly to chase.”

June 18 Thursday – Mollie Clemens wrote to Sam and Livy, and enclosed Orion’s June 14 [MTP].

June 20 Saturday – Edmund Routledge wrote from London to Sam having just rec’d and read of Mark Twain’s Sketches. Number One. He was sorry Sam might forfeit copyright in England on these and talked of buying cuts from the book [MTP].

June 21 Sunday – Sam wrote from Elmira to William Dean Howells. Sam sent compliments on Howells’ third novel, A Foregone Conclusion, which appeared in the July Atlantic Monthly.

 

“The new baby is a gaudy thing & the mother is already sitting up” [MTL 6: 165].

 

June 23 Tuesday – Sam’s “A Postal Case” was published in the Boston Daily Advertiser [MTL 6: 163n4].

Anna E. Dickinson wrote to Sam

Dear Mr. Clemmens, [sic]—I hope you are so well & happy that to tax yourself in behalf of some one, who has no earthly claim on you, will seem no very serious matter.

I am to go abroad soon, next month I hope, to be absent at least a year, & I shall be glad indeed to be brought to the acquaintance of any one on the other side who is fortunate enough to be your friend, or to whom you may care to present me.

Are you so afflicted by heat, & humors as to cry “shoo!” Don’t do it, but write me the letters instead,—& I hope,—not that you will ever want a kindness,—but that if you ever do, I may be able to serve you.

      Is it allowable to ask what you are busy about?—I am slowly simmering over a book, which must be done soon, & being done I hope will meet Bliss’s approbation, & so that of the public.—I have written [ page 593 ] Charley Perkins concerning it, & if all goes well, will be in Hartford,—no, I don’t know that, but at least as near as New-York before I sail.

I wish I knew what your opinion of my document would be.

I hope Livy is as bright as this June day, & that the sun shines on you both,—& am always

faithfully your friend

Anna E. Dickinson [MTP]. Note: Clemens replied on June 28.

June 23–28 Sunday – Sam wrote from Elmira during this period to John Brown, announcing Anna Dickinson’s pending trip to England and Europe, and updating sales and royalty figures on The Gilded Age. The letter is lost [MTL 6: 204n2].

June 24 Wednesday – Sam wrote to an unidentified person that the “Mark Twain” nom de plume was one used by Captain Isaiah Sellers, and that Sam used it after Sellers died [MTL 6: 166]. Note: The trouble with that explanation is that Sellers died a year later (1864) than Sam adopted the name, and that no record can be found where Sellers ever used the handle for his river news as Sam claimed. The bar tale about two drinks on the tab seems to fit better, but that explanation wouldn’t fly to respectability, which Sam craved, married into, and protected. See 1863 entries for more theories.

June 25 Thursday – Sam wrote from Elmira to the editor of the New York Evening Post. Sam denied he was writing a book on English manners and customs [MTL 6: 167]. Sam’s reception in England was so overwhelmingly classy and positive, that he no doubt found it impossible to poke fun at the English. Maybe he simply hadn’t stuck around long enough.

 

June 26 Friday – From Charles E. Perkins’ cash book, Sam’s account: “By cash brot over June 26  By dft on NY  5000.00; To po Garvie 2500.00” [Berg collection, NYPL]. Note: drawing from New York bank and paying part to William and/or Robert Garvie in Hartford on construction costs.

Edward T. Flynn for the New York Herald wrote to suggest a lecture tour in July and August [MTP].

 

June 26? Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Will Bowen, who planned to visit. Sam responded that he and Livy had accepted invitations to visit in Buffalo and Fredonia, and possibly Cleveland, soon, so gave Will directions to the Elmira house and said that he’d be there to the end of July [MTL 6: 168].

June 28 Sunday – Sam replied from Elmira to the June 23 of Anna E. Dickinson, who was going abroad and had asked for letters of introduction to his friends. Sam sent introductory letters off to Frank Finlay, editor Northern Whig, Belfast; Dr. John Brown, Edinburgh, Rev. George MacDonald, London; and Sir Thomas & Lady Hardy, London. Sam noted: “(No lummoxes among these.)” Sam listed a few others that Anna should try to meet [MTL 6: 169].

 

Thomas Bailey Aldrich wrote to Sam.

 

My dear Clemens: / In gathering up my traps to night—we move from this place for good to-morrow—I came across a half-finished letter to you, begun weeks ago. Something, I don’t know what, interrupted me, and I was n’t able to get back to you again.

I have been laid up these eight or ten days with a fever, and have given myself a great deal of trouble wonderin how things were going with you. I actually lay awake the better part of two nights going over all the details of our visit at your house, and dreading to hear some sad news from you. See what a fever will do to the most level brain!

To day Howells dined with us, and told us about the boy. Somehow it lifted a weight from my mind. Your wife seemed so delicate, and that sickness is so hard to bear. I congratu[l]ate you and her with all my heart. My wife would add her say, only she has gone to bed with a sick-headache, the duties of moving having tired her out.—

Did the book reach you all right? I did n’t send you the revise of the Montana chapter, for I had n’t the face to impose any more on your kindness. I need not tell you how deeply I appreciate the trouble you took [ page 594 ] in the matter. Sometime when you are caught in a net, I’ll come and gnaw at the meshes and let you [out,] as the mouse did the lion in the fable. With the warmest thoughts of you & yours, / Your Friend / T. B. Aldrich [MTPO]. Note: Sam replied on July 8.

 

In Elmira on June 29, Livy wrote to Sam after he left for a quick trip to Hartford to inspect the progress on their new house. Livy’s letter seems to pinpoint the day before, June 28, as the date that Aunty Cord told her tale of woe which was to become “A True Story, Repeated Word for Word as I Heard It,” (Atlantic Monthly, Nov. 1874). What follows is after Livy’s signature, and the segment that puts Cord’s telling of her story to Sunday, June 28, 1874:

Evening— / Allie and Theodore have come and had their tea and now we are sitting much as we did last night I am sitting inside the window, Sue & Allie outside but darling I do miss you as night comes Allie sits just where you did when Aunty Cord was telling us of her son but I didn’t hold her hand as I did yours, oh how I love you, & long for your return when you are absent. / Livy [MTPO]. 

 

June 29 Monday – Sam left for a quick trip to Hartford, primarily to inspect the progress of the new house. He first went to New York City, where he stayed at the St. Nicholas Hotel for two and possibly three nights before traveling on to Hartford. Sam probably spent time with John Hay and William A. Seaver, whom he’d promised to visit. Also in New York was William Ritenour Denny, who Sam knew from the Quaker City excursion [MTL 6: 170-1]. Nearly half an inch of rain fell on NYC [NOAA.gov].

 

Livy wrote from Elmira to her husband:

Dear Youth,

We have been having a terrible thunder storm and severe very high wind—Sue says it was the hardest storm that she has seen here since one when she and Father spent a night here more than four years ago, you see it came as soon as you went away. Sue came and brought her lunch in from the dining room Rossa came bringing Susie from the nursery—

Sara Coleridge says in writing to her husband of one of their children “Don’t fancy that children will listen to lectures either in learning or morality. Punish a child for hurting his sister and he will draw the inference that it is wrong, without a lecture sermon on brotherly affection” and more that I would like to quote but will wait and read it to you—

Susie has been a good girl today and had no tantrum, but I shall be truly thankful when I get strong and get her settled at home

Don’t forget to have Rossa’s brother shave you if you get time so that you may tell him how well she does—

I love you and shall be truly glad when you return— Pick up all the gossip that you can to retail to me and remember it—

Allie has not come yet but I suppose she will in the course of an hour as it is past five—

I shall direct this care Mr Warner fearing the postman may not deliver it—

With deepest love

Livy—

Evening—

Allie and Theodore have come and had their tea and now we are sitting much as we did last night I am sitting inside the window, Sue & Allie outside but darling I do miss you as night comes Allie sits just where you did when Aunty Cord was telling us of her son but I don’t hold her hand as I did yours, oh how I love you, & long for your return when you are away absent / Livy [MTPO]. Note: Allie = Alice Spaulding; Rossa’s brother = Rosina Hay’s brother, William E. Hay, hairdresser. Livy was likely quoting Sara Coleridge (1802-1852).

 

Mary Mason Fairbanks wrote (illustration enclosed by her son: drawing of the two Clemens girls, titled “The New ‘Modoc’ ”). She told of a visit by John Hay & wife, and thought it possible they might meet the Clemenses there in August [MTP]. [ page 595 ]

June 30 Tuesday – In Newport, Vermont, on the way to get his father settled as American consul at Quebec, William Dean Howells wrote between connections to Sam:

“It was immensely kind of you to pause in your blissful consciousness of that new little girl of yours [Clara Clemens b. June 8] and acknowledge that my trivial story existed [A Foregone Conclusion]. Thank Mrs. Clemens for me, and tell [her] how glad I am that she has another girl—boys wear out their clothes so fast…”[MTHL 1: 18].

June 30–July 1 Wednesday – Sam was in New York City. On one of these days he took the train to Hartford [MTL 6: 170-1].

July 1 Wednesday – Livy wrote to her husband of the domestic scene at Quarry Farm.

Darling Youth—

Did you send the money for our gas bill to Mary Burton? If you see her will you tell her that we shall probably not want the carriage for Susie—

Susie’s bowels were so bad yesterday that I sent for remedies to Mrs. Wales. She is better today— She is sweet and lovely in here with me but is naughty and full of cry with Rossa. I think she feels today the exhaustion caused by her trouble even more than yesterday. She lay in Sue’s lap and rocked for an unusually long time today— How I do love our babies and how I do desire to have wisdom given me for their guidance— There is much in this life of Sara Coleridge that is suggestive on this subject—

Little Clara slept better than usual last night, the milk of Magnesia seems to make her food digest much better—

We all miss you and have strong hope that Sat. will return you to us— I wish that we need never be seperated again even for a night—

Give my love to all the dear friends—

I wish you would tell Margaret that she may can some sour cherries for pies—about ten or twelve cans—

Good bye my darling—

Your Livy [MTPO].

Anna E. Dickinson replied to Sam’s of June 28. 

Dear Mr. Clemens,—If I sit up through a whole month of Sundays, & labor over the letter, I will perhaps, have it ground into me that you possess two “m’s”

I know how to spell your name, as well as I know how to spell my own but will probably spread it, on the very envelope in which this is sent,—so make sure of putting it down once, correctly.

If you were, not in your own shoes, but my shoes, & were, while sitting in them, writing a book for Bliss, how many pages would you put into it for instance,—& what price of book make it?

You are good as gold to have written me all those letters,—pray heaven, the people may not have forgotten all about me before I send them my card!—I ought to have told you that I reverse the ordinary process:—go to the Continent first, & make no stay in England till my return,—if you want to send me a line to those people, to give them as a reminder when I do appear,—would it, or wouldn’t it be well?

And if you take the extra trouble,—that is if it is necessary,—couldn’t you give me some errand to run, or something to do for you while you are here, & I am away?

I hope you are well, & happy.—Give my dear love to Livy, & Mrs. Langdon, & the whole household of faith,—& know me to be always

Sincerely yours

Anna E. Dickinson [MTP].

July 1 to July 4 Saturday– Sam was in Hartford and left on July 4. He registered at the St. Nicholas Hotel in New York on July 4. While in Hartford, Sam probably visited the American Publishing Co.. He also visited the Hartford Accident Insurance Co., a startup to rival Travelers Insurance Co. The new company had begun selling stock on June 15. The major investor in the company was Nevada [ page 596 ] Senator John P. Jones (1829-1912), a rich mine owner. Jones had offered to guarantee losses on stock purchased by Sam’s old friend, Joe Goodman. Joe passed the opportunity to Sam who subscribed for $50,000 of stock with 25 per cent immediately due. Sam did not attend a June 20 meeting to organize stockholders, but along with George B. Lester, formerly with Travelers, Sam was elected to a nine-man board of directors. The company lasted eighteen months [MTL 6: 171-2].

July 2 or 3 Friday – Sam wrote a note on the front flyleaf of The Gilded Age, which he presented to William Seaver: “To friend Seaver / from / Mark / Hartford, July ’74 / Some of my errors in this book would have been simply outrageous, but Warner criticised them faithfully & so I re-wrote 200 pages of my MS & cooled the absurdities down to a reasonable temperature. / S.L.C.” [MTL 6: 172].

July 3 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Livy. He rhapsodized about the new house, how the house and barn seem to have grown up “out of the ground…part & parcel of Nature’s handiwork.” So far Livy had spent $47,000 through Perkins, for the building of the unique home [MTL 6: 173].

From Charles E. Perkins’ cash book, Sam’s account: “To po Insurance 60” [Berg collection, NYPL].

Theodore W. Crane wrote from Elmira.

 

Dear Mr Clemens

      Livy is quite nervous about the children and about your being away—was quite low spirited yesterday—and I thought if you could get through in time to come here on Monday night’s Express, arriving here Tuesday morning, and surprise her, it would do her good.

      Nothing serious the matter—The children are doing well /Yours Truly / T W Crane [MTPO].

July 4 Saturday – Appleton’s Journal ran “Mark Twain,” an article, mostly biographical, by George T. Ferris (1840-1916). Sam’s humor was described as “so genial, so charged with rich and unctuous [sic] humor, that we forget the lack of finesse and delicacy in its breadth and strength” [Tenney 6].

July 6 Monday – Sam’s article, in the form of an advertisement, “A Curious Pleasure Excursion” appeared in the New York Herald. Sam announced he had leased a passing comet and would prepare staterooms in the tail of the comet. “No dogs allowed on board.” The article jabbed several notorious politicians and was widely reprinted [MTL 6: 192n3]. Note: perhaps Sam also wanted to generate publicity for his play on political corruption.

From Charles E. Perkins’ cash book, Sam’s account: “To po Mansury & Smith [Carriage mfr. & repairs] 76.00” [Berg collection, NYPL].

George William Blunt (1802-1878) wrote to respond to Clemens’  “A Curious Pleasure Excursion” in this day’s N.Y. Herald.

Dear Sir / I have read with great interest your having leased the comet and would be delighted if you would employ me as the navigator.

      Of my qualifications in that capacity I can speak as I swore to them a few months since on a cross examination permitted by a young judge Daly by a lawyer who know all about me.

      You do not permit me then to say that I am not a therometrical navigator I am a practical one I read the proof sheets of Bowditch’s Navigator more than thirty times and there is not a problem or logarithim in the book but what has been knocked into my head by my father who was a printer before I was ten years of age

      I have been a sailor and a nautical surveyor understand the use of instruments and can work any problem in navigation I will agree to keep the position of the comet and lay it down accurately on the chart

      I have opposed the polar expeditions for the last forty years as an unnecessary exposure of life without adequate results as your expedition is entirely practical I should like to go  [ page 597 ]

      If Mayor Havemeyer could be induced to go as chaplain it would add much to the pious part of the excursion / Respect / Geo W Blunt [MTP]. Note: Blunt’s father, Edmund M. Blunt (1770-1860) was a recognized authority on navigation. George was clearly niggardly with his periods. NY Mayor William Frederick Havemeyer (1804-1874) had but a few months to live.

 

 July 7 Tuesday – In the morning Sam returned to Elmira [MTL 6: 176n1, 183n1]. Sam’s position on the board of directors to the Hartford Accident Insurance Co. was confirmed [MTL 6: 172].

Jane Clemens wrote to Sam and Livy.

My dear children

We received the dispatch a month ago to morrow. Not hearing any more we were not certain you were alive. But I spent the 4th at Mr McKinstry’s with Mrs Gray of Buffalo and she told me you were going to make a visit to Buffalo and Fredonia before you go home. We were all delighted to hear it. Mela and I spent yesterday with Mrs Gray at Lewis Mcs his wife is related to Mrs Gray We are waiting for Mr Gray to come this week when they will all spend a day with us

Mela sends love and wishes you to let us know when you are ready to come so she can keep the girl at home I want to see the children very much especially Susa. My love to all the family. Livy I hope you are well.

Mother

if Annie & Sammie were in they would have something to say [MTP].

Frank Fuller wrote:

My Dear Mark:— / I got back and hastened to the St. Nicholas to see you. I did not wish to take passage on the Comet, but I did desire to talk with you on several topics. The noble clerk told me you had left for Elmira. Thither, therefore, I send this.

I came loaded down with the First Mortgage Bonds of a railroad in which I am interested. The company have empowered me to sell them, and think they should bring 85%. The total amt. is $300,000.

I will enclose you a slip cut from the Salt Lake Herald of June 16. The article is a good one and tells the truth. I wrote it.

…. [omitted financial details here] …

I wanted to see you to tell you how you could make a pretty sum by aiding me to place the entire lot in Hartford or anywhere else. I have had an idea, all along, that I would give Hartford a chance to buy them.

I ask the closest investigation into the matter of the cost of the road, its condition, present earnings & prospects. If desired by intending purchasers, the Co. will pay the expenses of a man to go out and examine. If all is not exactly as I represent, then it is no sale.

Will you be in N.Y. soon again? I desire to talk this bond business over with you. If I go to Hartford about it, I should like to go this week. If I could see you I incline to the opinion that you would be tempted to go with me. If needed, I believe the principal stock-holders would join in a personal guarantee that the stipulations of the bond shd be carried out. This would render the bond as strong as any in the market, as the stock is owned by some very wealthy men. I will send you a copy of the bond if you think it would interest you.

I trust you are well and happy and that all is well with Mrs. Clemens and the dear little “Modoc.”

Mrs. Fuller begs to be kindly remembered to you all and hopes to hear good accounts of Mrs. Clemens.

When you come to N.Y. tell us about it in advance and do not wander off to any hotel, but come straight to us. We will be charmed to see you & yours at all times. / Sincerely your friend. /Frank Fuller [MTPO].

July 8 Wednesday – In Elmira Sam replied to the June 28 of Thomas Bailey Aldrich about the family’s health, revisions he’d made on Aldrich’s book, Howell’s father, William Cooper Howells (1807-1894) (Sam mistakenly wrote “son”) being appointed consul at Quebec, and his hope to take possession of the new house in September, with hope that the Howellses and the Aldriches could help them christen the place [MTL 6: 178]. [ page 598 ]

From Charles E. Perkins ’ cash book, Sam’s account: “To po Caswell Brothers [Hartford Meat Market] 31.18; Garvie 500.00” [Berg collection, NYPL]. Note: Bills were not always sent timely—the meat bill would have been for early May, prior to the move to Elmira, about half of a normal month’s bill.

July 8–10 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Anna Dickinson, responding to her July 1 letter, which asked how many pages and what price she should put on a book to be published with Bliss. Sam offered specifics. Dickinson had been seeking advice and help from Warner and Charles Perkins for many months. Anna had been a close friend of the Langdon family for years, based on her abolitionist crusade that had brought her fame during the Civil War. She had once written that Sam was a “vulgar boor,” but evidently he’d grown on her [MTL 6: 180].

Sam also wrote a short to Frank Fuller, who missed meeting with Sam at the St. Nicholas Hotel a few days before. Sam answered that he’d just been to Hartford and couldn’t go again until September. Fuller was into selling railroad bonds and wanted to either confer with Sam about selling them in Hartford and/or stick him with a few [MTL 6: 182].

July 11 Saturday – Sam replied to the July 7 from his mother, Jane Lampton Clemens.

The new baby’s name is Clara. We had an anxious & sleepless time during some five months before she was born, trying to decide upon a name for her. We finally chose the name Henry, & were at peace. Till she was born. Then of course we had the same old suffering all over again. (In truth, Susie was named Henry before she was born) [MTL 6: 184].

Notes: Susy Clemens, unable to say “baby,” called Clara “Bay”—the nickname stuck. Sam wrote of the “wonders which the architect & the landscape gardener” had performed on the new house. He was “making up” for being “idle a year, by compulsion,” and had written “157 pages of literature & 25 letters.” During this period Sam worked on the stage play script of The Gilded Age, and also continued writing Tom Sawyer. Only three or four of the 25 letters Sam claimed from this period now exist.

Sam had referred Howells to Charles P. Pope, a theatrical producer, in the matter of translating Ippolito Tito d’Aste’s play Sanson [MTHL 1: 19].

William Dean Howells wrote to Clemens:

My dear Clemens: / Your letter and telegraph came to our mosquitory bower whilst I was away in Canada, and I failed to see Mr. Pope here. But Thursday I ran down to Boston to call on him, and I’ve arranged to translate the play for him. As it is owing to your kindness that I’m thus placed in relations with the stage—a long-coveted opportunity—I may tell you the terms on which I make the version. He pays me $400 outright on acceptance of my version, and $100 additional when the play has run fifty nights; and $1. a night thereafter as long as it runs. When my translation is done, I’m to tell him, and he will send his check for $400 to you, and I’ll submit my Ms to him. If he likes it, you send me the check, if he don’t you return it to him.

You perceive this isn’t hard on Mr. Pope. The terms were my own—he would have given me $500 down, but I didn’t think he ought to buy a pig in a poke, and I felt that I ought to take some risk of a failure. I liked Mr. Pope very much, and I should be glad of his acquaintance, even if there were no money in it. As it is, imagine my gratitude to you!

My regards to all your family. / Yours ever / W. D. Howells [MTHL 1: 19; MTPO]. Note: Charles P. Pope, theatrical producer and actor whom Sam had referred to WDH.

July 13 Monday – From Charles E. Perkins’ cash book, Sam’s account: “To po Taxes for 1874 634.30” [Berg collection, NYPL]. Note: these are likely “town and city” and school taxes on the value of the Hartford house under construction. [ page 599 ]

July 14 Tuesday – From Charles E. Perkins ’ cash book, Sam’s account: “To po Mrs. [Samuel] Colt Interest 560.00” [Berg collection, NYPL]. Evidently, Sam had borrowed money from the wealthy widow Colt.

July 15 Wednesday – From Charles E. Perkins’ cash book, Sam’s account: “By cash brot over July 15  By dft on NY  2500.00” [Berg collection, NYPL].

July 15 and 16 Thursday – Sam replied from Elmira to the May 14 of Robert Watt, journalist and author, thanking him for sending a Danish edition of a selection of Sam’s sketches and the Buck Fanshaw story in Roughing It, Ch. 47. The Danes recognized British copyright and these were printed through the authorization of Routledge in London. Sam mentioned that he had just finished “writing a five-act drama for an American comedian” (Colonel Sellers. A Drama in Five Acts). He enclosed some stereopticon photos (see Watt’s further reply Jan 4, 1875) [MTL 6: 188].

July 16 Thursday – In Elmira, Sam wrote to his 1854 St. Louis roommate, Jacob H. Burrough.

My Dear Jake:

Have just received two papers from your town. Are the Misses Ida & Emma Burroughs any kin to you? And who is Dean?—my old mud clerk comrade?

My boy, don’t you ever come East? I wish you would stop in on us next winter. (We are house-building & shant be well settled till the middle of the fall.)

Why don’t you die?—Are you going to live forever? You must be about 80 or 90 now.

Yrs Ever, / Saml L. Clemens

We lived in the same house with Disraeli a couple of months in London—it kept reminding me of how you used to admire his earlier novels [MTP drop-in letters].

Note: Jake was only eight years older than Sam; wife Mary b. 1837; Daughters R. Ida b. 1859, Emma Doane b. 1862, sons Frank E. (1865-1903), George b. 1867.  

From Charles E. Perkins’ cash book, Sam’s account: “To po Garvie 2000.00” [Berg collection, NYPL].

Phineas T. Barnum wrote from Bridgeport, Conn. “a thousand thanks” to Sam “for taking me into partnership,” and wished he could thank him in person [MTP].

July 17 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Joseph J. Albright, an iron manufacturer in Scranton, Penn. His son, John Joseph Albright (1848-1931) was connected by marriage to the Langdon family (he married the former Harriet Langdon (1847-1895), Livy’s first cousin. Sam’s “certificate” entitled Joseph to first class passage, round trip, on the comet (See July 6 entry.)

“I am cheerfully furnishing complimentary tickets to all the hard-coal people (for the round trip,) because my wife owns in a soft-coal mine & she wants to get rid of the opposition” [MTL 6: 191].

Sam also wrote to Thomas B. Pugh, manager of the Star Lecture Course in Philadelphia who had solicited Sam to lecture again there. Sam’s reply:

“I would like mighty well to stand before one of your big audiences again, & sound the humorous war whoop, but alas, I have taken a long farewell of the platform! I am a lecturer no longer” [MTP, drop-in letters].

Anna E. Dickinson wrote to Sam

Dear Mr. Clemens, don’t be too busy to read how I have sprinkled ashes on my head at having supposed those people would forget what you wrote them.——and “40 pages”—too! [ page 600 ]

You are a brick! which, being translated means that you are a gentleman—and a friend worth having—and I appreciate you.

Please give my love to the whole blessed household & know me to be

Sincerely yours

Anna E Dickinson [MTP].

July 18 Saturday – Dr. John Brown replied to the June 15 letter informing him of Clara’s birth, and also to a non-extant from Clemens introducing Anna Dickinson and also updating sales numbers for GA:

My Dear friend— We will rejoice to welcome your heroic little “Friend”— I know her well—in spirit— It is good you are all doing so well— Tell Mater Pulchra that she must have an annual photographing of the children for me— That is indeed an amazing hawl of money—I read it to my publisher—Douglas—& he held up his hands—speechless— We are in our usual here. John is away in the Highlands walking across the wild hills, all by himself— Barclay & his brood are on the Banks of the Tummel—playing themselves—& eating cherries—& drinking milk— I hope to get away by & by— I send you some rough lines by a friend of yours— Curious as being the first made by a man of 63—& which, like the first playing on the fiddle, are more interesting to him probably than pleasing to others— ’Lizabeth is good Mrs Barclay—“John” you know. All happiness to you Four! & a kiss to my Susie— Ys ever / J.B. [MTPO].

July 20 Monday – The Library of Congress granted Sam copyright No. 9490E for Dramatic Compositions, which was The Gilded Age as a stage play [MTL 6: 190n4].

Charles P. Pope wrote to Sam that he’d met Howells and came to terms with him; that he liked him [MTL 6: 195n5].

John Lester Wallack (in the theatrical world known only as Lester Wallack) wrote to answer Sam’s question about John L. Toole. He sailed from Liverpool on July 16 [MTP].

July 21 Tuesday –Mary Margaret Field wrote from Woodstock, Vt. with a long “sob story” asking for a “loan” of $100 from Clemens [MTP]. Note: see Sam’s reply of July 29, which may not have been sent.

July 22 Wednesday – James Hammond Trumbull wrote to Sam about the “dream” feature of Sam’s play of Col. Sellers. The noted philologist talked of Sanskrit and Hawaiian legends of dreams [MTP].

July 22? Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to William Dean Howells, responding to his July 11 letter about a translation of Ippolito Tito d’Aste’s play, Sanson. Howells had shared Charles P. Pope’s offer for the translating with Sam and asked his opinion. (Pope was a theatrical producer.) Sam answered he would have asked $100 more for the down payment with other terms acceptable. Sam relayed that he’d just received a note from Pope, who was “charmed…& delighted with the prospect of a translation to his liking” Sam also discussed his five-act drama entitled “Colonel Sellers” and John T. Raymond as the Colonel [MTL 6: 193; MTHL 1: 19-21].

July 28 Tuesday – The New York World reported, “Mark Twain has just leased his last literary production, a five-act drama which he has just finished, called ‘Colonel Sellers,’ to John J. Raymond” [MTL 6: 185n4].

July 29 Wednesday – Photographer Elisha M. Van Aken (1828-1904) arrived at the Quarry Farm and was mentioned in Sam’s letter to Orion: “…& it is a faultless, cloudless day, & he will have good success no doubt.” Van Aken had set up a studio in Elmira in 1873. See also Sept. 2, 1874 when he presented his bill for various photographs [MTL 6: 196-7 & n2].

Sam wrote from Elmira to Orion. After relating a short visit by Ed Brownell, “one of the best boys in Keokuk in my day, & one of the smartest,” Sam disclosed feeding problems with the new baby Clara: [ page 601 ]

Two or three times the baby has threatened to wink out like a snuffed candle, at 5 minutes notice; & each time the trouble was laid to prepared food, & the same discarded & a wet nurse employed—& each time the wet nurse went dry or something happened. —We have fled to wet nurses four times & to-day we are after two others down town. Livy is about worn out; the present wet nurse is pumped out; & my profanity is played out—for it no longer brings healing & satisfaction to the soul. Our love to Mollie [MTL 6: 196].

Sam also wrote to Mary M. Field, a poor writer who had sent Sam a pretty effective sob story; she also asked for a $100 loan. (This draft was probably not sent, as no reply has been found.)

Madam: Your distress would move the heart of a statue. Indeed it would move the entire statue if it were on rollers….Nothing in the world between you & starvation but a lucrative literary situation, a few diamonds & things, & three thousand seven hundred dollars worth of town property. How you must suffer. I do not know that there is any relief for misery like this. Suicide has been recommended by some authors….if it shall carry its lesson sharply home to you by leading you to reflect upon what sort of heroine you would make for one of your own Christmas stories, making an agonizing appeal to a stranger with $3,700 in your pocket—I shall not then regret writing this letter to you for nothing when I could sell it to a magazine for two or three hundred dollars [MTL 6: 197].

Sam also wrote on or about this day to Joseph Twichell.

“We must have a nurse that has a native faculty for soothing little people. We must have one that breathes ether from her nostrils & oozes chloral hydrate from every pore. We must have one who is worthy to stand in the pulpit” [MTL 6: 201-2]. Sam added more comment on the Beecher scandal.  

July 30 Thursday – S. Robert, Jr. wrote to sell fancy furnishings, having heard of the Hartford house the Clemenses were building. He used Mrs. Samuel Colt as reference [MTP].

July 31 Friday – Phineas T. Barnum wrote from Bridgeport to thank Sam for his “favor of Monday. I have destroyed bushels of curious begging letters. Hereafter they will all be saved for you. I am off for Canada—return about 6th of August” [MTP]

John William DeForest (1826-1906) novelist, wrote, introducing himself and suggesting publishing a “conjoint volume by subscription” as he had some 30 or 40 short stories which had appeared in magazines [MTP]. Note: see Gribben, p.182.

August 1–3 Monday – In Elmira, Sam wrote a short note to Anna Dickinson, enclosing John Brown’s reply to Sam’s letter introducing Anna [MTL 6: 203]. Note: Anna replied on Aug. 4, below.

August 3 Monday – From Charles E. Perkins’ cash book, Sam’s account: “By cash brot over Aug 3 By dft on NY  5000.00” [Berg collection, NYPL].

August 4 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Gilbert Densmore about the stage play Colonel Sellers that Densmore had put on without authorization. Sam eventually purchased the play for $200 and sent another $200 when Sam’s revision became successful. This letter is lost, but referred to by a letter from Densmore [MTL 6: 205].

Anna E. Dickinson wrote to Sam:

Dear Mr. Clemens,—I have been guilty of State’s Prison offense, I know,—but if you will promise not to prosecute this time I promise never to do so,—never no more.

“A safe promise”—I hear you sniff, as you survey your stripped letter,—“if she is bent on stealing the coats of her friends I will send her no more such, dressed or undressed.”

For the present I hold the envelop “subject to orders.” [ page 602 ]

Can you give me the secret of how to make people read two words when there are but one?—In that case I shall have my book more than done without further effort,—nobody finds even the most stupid of books as tiresome to read through as to write through, thank God, or there would be an end of the “Trade.”

When is it your play does appear?—& is it that upon which you have been so busy this summer?— Mind I am not howling for “confidences” though I suppose no “investigating com’e.” are to sit upon you & your doings,—but I am enormously interested in this Play.— If it is to prance before I go away I want to see it and ’rah! for the author on its first night.

I hope all goes well with you & yours.— My love to the household.—

faithfully yours

Anna E Dickinson [MTP].

August 5 Wednesday – From Charles E. Perkins’ cash book, Sam’s account: “To po Garvie 5000.00; Insurance 317.25; Fox & Co [Grocers] 56.74” [Berg collection, NYPL].

August 5–7 Friday – Some time between these dates, Sam and Livy traveled the 180 miles to Fredonia to visit Jane Clemens and the Moffetts. They left Susy and Clara in the care of the Cranes [MTL 6: 205].

August 6 Thursday – The Lotos Club held a dinner to welcome John L. Toole, English comic actor. Sam did not attend but sent a letter that was read, entitled “Dinner to Mr. Toole” [MTL 5: 506n4].

August 8 Saturday – Sam and Livy continued on to Buffalo where they stayed with David Gray and family [MTL 6: 205].

In Morristown, New Jersey, Bret Harte wrote to Sam. After enumerating various payments he’d received for stories and articles in the New York Times, and telling Sam “you ought to get more, as you are much more valuable to a newspaper than I am,” Harte was amused by perceptions of his so-called wealth:

Of course this is all confidential. You will continue to inform people that I habitually turn out my $50 page per day and that it is my usual custom to eat from gold plate with a butler in a white cravat before me. That you have always deplored my extravagant prices, and that only personal friendship kept you from doing my work at one third the price in the interests of literature.

Raymond tells me you have dramatized your last book and that its good. I never thought of you in that way. I dare say you will get before the spotlight before I do—but the stage is large and there is audience for us both. Wherefore go on, my dear boy, and conquer. No will applaud louder than myself—among the claque [Duckett 95].

From Charles E. Perkins’ cash book, Sam’s account: “To po Mr. Potter 400.00” [Berg collection, NYPL]. Note: Edward T. Potter, architect for the Farmington Ave. house.

Augustin Daly wrote:

My dear Mr. Clemmens, [sic]

I see that you are entering the dramatic field. Don’t you feel like doing something for my company & my theatre. I think I could put you on the road to a good thing—if you are inclined to talk the matter over with me.

Drop me a line if you will, & say where you will meet me. If you will come to the theatre, I am in town every day in the mornings.

Sincerely

Augustin Daly [MTP]. Note: Sam replied Aug. 14.

August 10 Monday – J.J. Winthrop wrote from Phila. to criticize Sam for GA:  [ page 603 ]

I have read it through—& what have you done? Instead of a choice slander on English manners & their infernal “I beg your pardon” &c, it is an unjust libel on the fairest government on which the sun ever shone (which is not saying too much) And who in heavens name is your “colleague” Some——who no one ever heard of whose name has been made illustrious by coupling it with yours,—& to what purpose To ruin your brilliant reputation There are in the book 3 good articles—for these I give you credit. There are 997 wretched infernal stupid idiotic ones for which I give the poor lunatic credit. The rest of the book was manufactured by a carpenter—or a chinee or worse.— / Respectfully your … [MTP]. Note: the writer’s fantods came from Clemens’ satirization of American political excesses.

August 12 Wednesday – Sam and Livy stopped about half way home at Canandaigua, New York, where they were guests of a coal merchant, H. Gridley and wife. They may have stayed one or two nights [MTL 6: 205].

August 13 Thursday – Phineas T. Barnum wrote to invite Sam “down here Saturday next” for a clam bake. “Am getting quite a stack of queer letters for you” [MTP].

Joe Twichell wrote from Franklin Park, N.J.: “Day after tomorrow, at 12 o’clock, noon, I sail, God willing, for the land of Incas and—guano, Peru. You have doubtless heard of it before now. I am going with Yung Wing on Celestial business, and expect to be absent two months, the journey by way of the Isthmus….I write just to say good-bye and God bless you” [MTP].

August 14 Friday – The Clemenses were back in Elmira with their children, the Langdons and the Cranes. Livy was exhausted by the trip, still not fully recovered from the birth of Clara [MTL 6: 205].

Sam replied to the Aug. 8 of Augustin Daly, playwright and drama critic who managed his own company and a new theater at 28th Street near Broadway in New York. Daly had offered to produce The Gilded Age on stage. Sam dodged the offer in this letter, claiming he was “debarred by a book contract,” though nothing in his contracts with Bliss forbade stage plays [MTL 6: 206].

August 15 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to his mother and sister. Sam had been rude to a banker friend of the family while in Fredonia and so wrote apologies. The details of the incident which pricked Sam’s conscience are unknown [MTL 6: 207].

H. Torrey wrote from NYC to Sam having rec’d his note in Phila. He asked for help with a book idea [MTP].

August 21 Friday – Frank Fuller wrote to air a scheme for penny postcards and to congratulate Sam on the birth of Clara, news he’d learned from a recent visit with the Twichells. “Do not dare to come to N.Y. without letting me know” [MTP]. Note: Sam declined the scheme in a letter not extant.

August 22 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to William Dean Howells, extolling Howells’ latest novel, A Foregone Conclusion, the third installment having appeared in the Sept. issue of Atlantic Monthly. Livy’s condition made it necessary to stay in Elmira a bit longer than planned. Sam thought another month [MTL 6: 209].

Joe Twichell wrote to announce that Captain Wakeman was aboard the S.S. Colon approaching Aspinwall. Joe had a conversation with the old Captain. “He hadn’t said ten words before I tasted richness…I was never more entertained in my life” [MTP].

August 23 Sunday – Sam wrote from Elmira to his sister, Pamela Moffett. Pamela was hoping Sam might help her obtain a nomination for her son, Samuel Moffett, to the U.S. Naval Academy. Sam advised her not to try for an appointment from St. Louis where she had formerly lived, but from a [ page 604 ] Congressman of her present district, Walter Loomis Sessions. (She was a resident of Fredonia, New York at this time.) Sam wanted to help but was “perplexed” [MTL 6: 210].

August 26 Wednesday – Gilbert B. Densmore wrote to Clemens. In part:

Dear Sir: I suspect from the tenor of your letter of Aug 4 that you attribute to me or my agency certain notices that have appeared in different papers about the “Gilded Age”. I wish to state therefore explicitly that I did not in any way prompt or suggest a single notice that has appeared either in New York, San Francisco or elsewhere. As every one here knew that I had dramatised the book, I told those who inquired that you had purchased my work and would write a drama yourself, using such portions of mine as you might like to incorporate into yours. I have also said what in affect I wrote to you, that I was thoroughly satisfied with the arrangement. As you say the feature of the play is yours. I don’t recollect that I originated anything for Col Sellers to say unless it might be some commonplace to make connection between scenes. The character is distinctly yours and the arrangement of incidents become yours by purchase, and I never have nor ever shall put forward any claim to having had a hand in the work

….

Allow me now to make a suggestion. Your name will ensure a play a fair hearing. Your works abound in materials for plays which only needs to be put into dramatic form. I propose therefore with your consent to write or construct a drama, using your materials as far as possible, which I will submit to you. If you like to touch it up, add points of humor or satire, or make any improvements that may suggest themselves, and make it a joint production, with a division of profits, I shall be pleased to have you do so. The suggestion is entirely selfish on my part, and I should not have made it but for an intimation in your previous letter that but for certain reasons, you would have announced the “Gilded Age” as a joint production. Of course if the drama when finished does not seem to possess the elements of success we will call it so much dead work. If you should think well of this idea, would you put me in the way to get such of your writings as are not published in book form? Perhaps also you could suggest some one or two story characters that could be worked into dramatic heroes. I can construct a plot, put in minor people, and weave together after the fashion of the draught of the “Gilded Age.” Please write and tell me what you think of it. Col. Lawrence wishes to be remembered also Mr Foard and Mr Kendall.

Yours Truly

G. B. Densmore [MTPO].

August 28 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to William W. Belknap (1829-1890), who had been secretary of war since 1869, in behalf of his nephew, Samuel Moffett, in gaining entrance to the Naval Academy.

“From my experience I should say that there is a sufficiently large proportion of leatherheads in the Navy, now, & what I want to do is increase the proportion of officers with brains….The lad’s head eats up his body, but he has no disease. He ought to pass medical examination” [MTL 6: 211-12]. Note: Sam asked Belknap to see if the Secretary of the Navy, George Robeson, might be able to make an appointment.

Sam also wrote a short note to Orion, telling him that Orion’s check for $9 had been received, but the interest on the $900 loaned was “inaccurate” (too much). Livy had suffered from the trip to Fredonia even though Sam had tried to break it up into smaller trips. Livy was improving some and Sam thought they would finally move to Hartford and into the new house in ten days [MTL 6: 214].

August 29 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Emma Parish, acknowledged by Sam to be a cousin, although she is not listed in family genealogies. He offered that his mother was 71, an “enthusiast on genealogy” and living in Fredonia, & “pretty strong yet,” Sam said. “I would not know where to rake up a relative for breakfast if I were starving.” Emma was a student and native of Salem, Virginia. He suggested an exchange of family photographs. A prior letter to Emma has been lost [MTL 6: 214].

August 31 Monday – The opening night of the stage play of The Gilded Age; or, Colonel Sellers took place at the Opera House in Rochester, New York. Sam was expected to attend. Although no outbreak [ page 605 ] has since been documented, Sam telegraphed from Elmira to John T. Raymond, actor playing Sellers, that “we are threatened with scarlet fever, & I fear to leave my family.” The reviews were mixed, with several praising the play but suggesting changes [MTL 6: 215-7].

American Publishing Co. per Elisha Bliss sent notice of a Directors’ meeting Sept. 1, 7:30 pm [MTP].

September Virginia S. Patterson (Mrs. Robert Patterson) wrote from Bellefountain, Ohio, wanting Sam’s opinion of two or three articles she wrote. A few weeks later she wrote again having heard nothing back, even though she realized he must be “besieged” by such requests [MTP].

September 1 Tuesday – Louis John Jennings (1836-1893) editor of the New York Times (1869-76) wrote apologies to Clemens for the misunderstanding. Sam had thought Jennings had turned down an offered piece and accused him of “overcharging” by asking $250. “I honestly thought that the article you were kind enough to offer to use was not worth to us $250—and as a matter of business I though it best to tell you frankly. But I am far from thinking that you ‘overcharge’ for your work…” [MTP]. Note: this letter is in reply to one not extant.

September 2 Wednesday – William Dean Howells wrote to Sam:

My dear Clemens: / I telegraphed you last night to send on your manuscript, which I’d like very much to see. Your letter came just as I was packing up to come home, and I had not strength of mind enough to answer it, though it may not appear to a man of more active intellect a very heavy job to say yes or no.

As soon as I get the ms., I’ll read it. I’m extremely sorry to hear of Mrs. Clemens’s relapse. Please give her my regards, and believe both of you that I was proud as Punch to hear that you liked my story. I shall yet make immortality bitter to the divine Walters—as the French would call the Waverley man.

I sent Pope his tragedy last Saturday, and I hope he’ll like it. I really made it hard work for myself, and I think earned my money. / Yours ever / W. D. Howells [MTPO]. Note: Howells’ telegram is not extant. Charles P. Pope; see July 22?

In Elmira Sam replied to Howells, who telegraphed earlier in the day to send a manuscript for the Atlantic Monthly. In late June or early July on one of Sam’s visits to New York, he related the story of Mary Ann “Auntie” Cord (1798-1888), a former slave who was the Crane’s cook at Quarry Farm, to John Hay and William Seaver. Cord had lost her husband and seven children when the family was broken up for sale around 1852. Some thirteen years later her eldest son, Henry, was found and reunited with his mother. Mary Ann told Sam the story of her slavery, separation and reunion. Upon John Hay’s urging, Sam wrote up the story and submitted it along with the “Fable for Old Boys & Girls” to Howells at the Atlantic Monthly. “Fable” was rejected but “A True Story, Repeated Word for Word as I Heard It,” appeared in the Nov. 1874 issue. This was Sam’s first appearance in the highly respected literary magazine [MTL 6: 217-220]. Note: At this time, Sam thought more highly of “Fable” than he did for “True Story.”

Elisha M. Van Aken presented his bill to Sam for photographs taken on July 29. The bill, for $31.45 was paid on Sept. 3, and was for 120 “Stereo Views,” 7 “Imperial” views, 12 Imperial “Cards of child [Susy],” and 12 “Card de Visites” of a child. See MTL 6: 226n6. Sam sent some of the photographs to Dr. John Brown in Scotland [222]. 

September 3 Thursday – Frank Fuller wrote to Sam, still lobbying for his penny postcard scheme:

My Dear Mark:—

It is evident now for what you were made. It was to take the inflation out of conceited inventors. You see, though, what this smart Aleck says.

Now, though I have not seen the unpracticable creature since yours came, I believe [with] a little money and a large quantity of that sweet talk which you could use so well were you here, and which I believe I can hire a certain Brooklyn party to employ, we can control this thing, and I am still inclined to the opinion that it is the [ page 606 ] best little device I have met. I imagine you and I are smart enough to make it pay, if there is anything in it. But I will write you in a day or two, of another matter which has money in it, sure, and I want you to help me make it & then help me spend it.

Yrs ever, … [MTP].

September 4 Friday – Sam and Livy wrote from Elmira to John Brown. Sam wrote of working on the manuscript that would become The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, writing on average 50 pages a day. Soon afterward, Sam’s “well dried up” and he put aside the manuscript after burning a chapter he didn’t like [Powers, MT A Life 354]. Sam had not answered Brown’s July letter, so felt the need to explain.

Day after tomorrow I go to a neighboring city [Buffalo] to see a five-act drama of mine brought out, & suggest amendments in it, & would about as soon spend a night in the Spanish Inquisition as sit there & be tortured with all the adverse criticisms I can contrive to imagine the audience is indulging in. But whether the play be successful or not, I hope I shall never feel obliged to see it performed a second time. My interest in my work dies a sudden & violent death when the work is done [MTL 6: 221]. Note: Clemens was in Buffalo on Sept. 7 to see the week-long tryout for the Gilded Age play at the Academy of Music.

Sam also wrote to his sister, Pamela Moffett about her son, his nephew, Sammy Moffett. The letter is rather harsh, but provides an interesting take on Sam’s estimation of book-larnin’ vs. real world experience. Sam was concerned about his nephew’s over-reliance on study, his mental health, and his eyesight.

 

Dear Sister—

Only a line—to warn you that at eighteen Sammy will be not more than 3 removes from an idiot, provided his mother goes on with her trust as she is now. It is strong language but true. It is a common saying that smart boys turn out fools at maturity—but they wouldn’t if their parents’ vanity did not sit weakly by & see them destroying their brains without the power to deny themselves the daily glory of the child’s prodigies & triumphs, & save a great intellect to the world by sternly putting the shackles on it & keeping it within bounds. At thirty, with firm and wise care, Sammy’s ought to be the brightest rising name in America—& if he should be blind & an imbecile to boot, at that age, don’t lay it to him, for he will not be to blame.

In school yet! For shame, to so wantonly trifle with so imperial an intellect! No creature can be such a traitor to a child as its own mother—no love so disastrous as a mother’s indulgence.

You need to comprehend that yours is no common trust. It is not the ordinary hulk of clay & stupidity that you are put in keeping of—& so not to be cared for in the ordinary way. You are placed in charge of a future great philosopher, statesman, or general, & by the Lord you are playing with it!—amusing yourself with its feats & its inspirations! You fall away below a just appreciation of the work that is given into your hands. God knows it is never the smart boys’ fault they are [dolts] at maturity,—but their own parents’, & a pity & a shame it is. Poor John Garth!—gifted like a God—& his parents & teachers reduced him to mediocrity & below it in eighteen years—at least below it in some respects.

Now don’t destroy this letter but keep it—& at 30, when he is a very one-horse doctor or lawyer in a very one-horse village, & of no sort of consequence in the world & doomed never to be, read this letter over again & confess that I was a prophet—or bequeath it to him & let him read it himself.

If you will put that boy on a farm where there is not a single book, & where they will keep him out of doors & work him just enough & play him just enough to build up a strong constitution for him—& then turn him loose on the books again 2 or 3 years from now, he will add an illustrious name to his country’s honored men—but just at present he is pointing as straight at the asylum for idiots as the needle points to the pole.

Old Mr. Morse (the grape man) is the person to put him with, I judge.

The baby flourishes. Livy progressing slowly. Love to all.

[Ys]

Sam

P. S. For months Livy & I have talked constantly of a farm life for Sammy & consequent salvation from the infernal books that are sucking at his life and his intellect. Pay his board, so that he can play whenever he chooses & they can’t force him to work. [MTP, drop-in letters]. See Sept. 9 to Pamela. [ page 607 ]

September 5 Saturday – Sam wrote a note of thanks from Elmira to William W. Belknap in the matter of Sam’s nephew, Samuel Moffett, attempting to gain an appointment to the Naval Academy [MTL 6: 227].

September 6 Sunday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Frank Fuller, responding to two letters. Sam declined to invest in Fuller’s investment opportunities, due to the high cost of Sam’s new house [MTL 6: 228].

September 7 Monday – Sam traveled to Buffalo and in the evening was at the Academy of Music for the opening of the Gilded Age play. At the close of act four, Sam was called to the front of the private box and asked to say a few words. His short message was advice not to attend your own play on opening night. Sam seemed overcome by it all, but received an ovation. The critics in Buffalo gave Sam more of the same he’d received in Rochester—good, but needs amending. The Buffalo Courier, where Sam’s friend David Gray worked, called Raymond’s acting “a master-piece.” The play itself “is not quite complete” [MTL 6: 225n3].

September 8 Tuesday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote Sam that “A True Story” was to be published in the Atlantic; he thought it “extremely good” [MTHL 1: 24].

September 9 Wednesday – Pamela Moffett would have had time to answer Sam’s rather harsh Sept. 4 letter about her son, Sammy Moffett. From Elmira, Sam offered salve and explained his thinking, though he remained critical of “giddy mothers & unwise teachers.”

Dear Sister: / Do not take my letter too much to heart. I couldn’t be otherwise than warm on the subject, for it does seem so prodigiously important. I don’t want to be unkind. But Sammy’s brain must be rested—& thoroughly rested, too. It must not be frittered away, overstrained, destroyed & lost to his generation & his country.

      I was glad indeed to hear of Mr. Tucker—I remember him well, & especially his sermons. They were usually 65 pages long. I always counted them, & whenever he “rung in” an extra one there was one member of his congregation that cordially resented it. But I liked him.

      We are getting along well. The picture is pretty good.

Sam.

P.S. Pamela, just reflect, for a moment, that Webster, Grant, & nearly all the other great men, were dull & slow, in boyhood—it was all that saved them from overtaxing & destruction by parents & teachers— over-indulgence. But just think! What became of the bright boys, the brilliant intellects that headed their classes?      Gone!—destroyed—over-indulged—ruined—lost to the world—lost to unborn generations of men!

Gone down to the grave, unknown & unhonored, & left their high places to be filled by men infinitely their inferiors—such as the Grants and the Websters. I tell you we don’t know what real splendid, magnificent greatness is—we kill it, persecute it [,] harry it into idiotcy or mediocrity before it can mature. Think of the mighty names you giddy mothers & unwise teachers have robbed the world of! [MTP, drop-in letters]. Note: Tucker is likely Rev. Howard Tucker, who had been head of the Keokuk Library association in the 1860s.

September 10 Thursday – Sam and Livy, together with Clara Spaulding, left Elmira for New York City for a ten-day stay. They checked into the Hoffman House, one of the most elegant hotels in the city, two blocks from the Park Theatre where Sam planned to direct rehearsals for the Sept. 16 opening of the Gilded Age play [Powers, MT A Life 358].

From Charles E. Perkins’ cash book, Sam’s account: “To po for step ladder muling[?] 5.00” [Berg collection, NYPL].

September 12 Saturday – Sam wrote from New York to Dr. Rachel B. Gleason, proprietor of the Elmira Water Cure who had consulted with Livy about her condition. Gleason gave treatments for [ page 608 ] profuse menstruation, which Livy evidently suffered from. Sam asked if Gleason would “write & tell a reliable lady physician here to come to the hotel & administer” Gleason’s treatments [MTL 6: 231].

During their New York stay, Sam and Livy shopped for carpets and furniture for the new house. Sam also “drilled” the actors two to four hours each day in rehearsals for the Sept.16 opener [MTL 6: 230; MTL 6: 238 to Orion].

September 16 Wednesday – The Gilded Age; Colonel Sellers Play opened at the Park Theatre, New York City with John T. Raymond in the leading role of Col. Mulberry Sellers, a part which he had already played in Densmore’s adaptation. The play was a popular success and would achieve a remarkable run of 119 New York performances [Walker, Phillip 186]. (Powers claims 115 nights [MT A Life 360].) Sam gave a curtain speech confessing he had written two endings, to be performed in rotation. Sam couldn’t decide which he liked best [Fatout, MT Speaking 87-89; Schmidt].

One point two inches of rain fell on the NYC area [NOAA.gov].

September 17 Thursday – Andrew Carpenter Wheeler of the New York World published a lengthy criticism of the Gilded Age play in his “Amusements” column. While not unrestrained praise, the play was certainly a hit and the criticism positive [MTL 6: 643 for text of review]. The New York Herald wrote:

“The Gilded Age” fills a void in drama of purely American life that has long been felt, and its great success at its first representation should encourage the author to turn his talents in this direction again [MTL 6: 235n2].

3.3 inches of rain drenched the NYC area [NOAA.gov].

In Cambridge, Mass., William Dean Howells wrote a short note to Sam that “This little story delights me more and more: I wish you had about forty of ‘em!” [MTHL 1: 25]. “A True Story.”

September 18 Friday – Sam telegraphed thanks to Jerome B. Stillson, editor of the New York World, for the positive review of his play by Andrew Carpenter Wheeler (Nym Crinkle). Sam was gratified the review was “done up so thoroughly & handsomely,” and would have come by but he was leaving the City the next day and had “been rushed to death with shopping” [MTL 6: 232].

Nearly 4 inches of rain fell on the NYC area [NOAA.gov].

September 19 Saturday – The Clemens family left New York for their new home in Hartford. The next day Sam wrote to Howells, saying they were occupying “part of the new house. Goodness knows when we’ll get in the rest of it—full of workmen yet” [MTL 6: 233].

The family occupied the second floor of the three-story home; the main floor was not yet complete. It would be the happiest and longest stay of their residences. Powers gives Sept. 21 as the possession date of [ page 609 ] the new house [360]. Willis also gives this date [92]. See Willis [92-6] for a good description of the details of the house at 351 Farmington Avenue, Hartford. According to Andrews, within three years Sam had purchased $21,000 worth of furniture in the house which cost $70,000 on five acres of land worth $31,000 [82].

0.31 inches of rain fell on the NYC area [NOAA.gov].

John H. Hewitt wrote from Baltimore “asking privilege of using language of Gilded Age in a drama” – by Twain on env. [MTP].

         

** David R. Locke (Nasby) wrote from NYC. “As I didn’t go to the Lotus till last night I did not get…enclosed tickets in time to make use of them. / Will you be good enough to send me at my office a couple of seats say for Tuesday night or Monday. Monday will be better” [MTP].

 

September 20 Sunday – In Hartford Sam replied to the Sept. 17 of William Dean Howells, who wrote, “This little story delights me more and more: I wish you had about forty of ‘em!” [MTHL 1:25]. Sam then asked him to send the proofs to “A True Story” to Hartford (they’d been sent to Elmira) so he might revise especially the “negro talk,”—“I amend dialect stuff by talking & talking it til lit sounds right….” Sam also mentioned the new house and that the Warners were shortly going “to the devil for a year,” by which he meant travel. Sam also told Howells to thank Aldrich for digging up more Langdon ancestors of Livy’s in a piece he’d written about Portsmouth, New Hampshire [MTL 6: 233-4].

Sam also wrote another letter to his “dear cousin,” Emma Parish. He talked of the house being full of workmen and the hammering hardly stopping and of taking “up quarters on the second story, sleeping in a guest room, eating in a nursery & using my study for a parlor.” Sam sent a picture of Susy and could not find one of Livy, the “luggage is still in such confusion” [MTL 6: 237].

September 21 Monday – The New York Daily Graphic ran a cartoon of Twain as a frog even though it was for the opening of the play, The Gilded Age (renamed Colonel Sellers); see insert.

 

Sam wrote from Hartford to Orion, repeating the state of the house and making do in various rooms upstairs. “…the play went through without a hitch on the very first night,” Sam wrote. He also noted that “Gen. Belknap is helping me splendidly to get Sammy appointed to the Naval Academy” [MTL 6: 238]. Note: For all of Sam’s work and influence, Samuel Moffett never went to the Naval Academy, but studied at the University of California at Berkeley, and received BA, AM and PhD degrees from Columbia. Afterward he became a respected journalist. William W. Belknap (1829-1890) Secretary of War under Grant, and the only former cabinet secretary to be impeached. His crime was taking kickbacks.

Sam also telegraphed his sister, Pamela Moffett on Sammy’s appointment, which he felt was a done deal:

“I have pleasant letters from Secretary of war & Secy. of Navy—Sammy can begin his studies he will be appointed next year” [MTP, drop-in letters].

Sam also wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks about the new house, and seeing her son Charley in New York. Significantly, Sam did not mention the Gilded Age play [MTL 6: 239].

Dr. John Brown replied to the Sept. 4 from Clemens, sent with photos:

My dear Friend

“They are good, & I told you so at once, didn’t I?” said I to myself when I got your plump letter & all the photos—I have been often thinking of you for it is now more than a year since I first saw the little woman in that stately bed—Thanks for all you write—& for the photos. Susie is still lovely—but growing I [ page 610 ] can see—You, in your Sanctum, are capital—I see the cigar in the left hand! & the pen ready to write when the big brain tells it—Thanks for telling me so much—

Let me know how the play went off & don’t ruin yourself with gorgeous furniture! We are all much as usual. I was for 14 days with the Barclays in the Highlands. John is there climbing mountains—My sister is at home—We are getting a new carpet for the drawing room—the present one being worn to the bone. I am drudging away at Doctoring, but meditating a new set of spare hours. Whats to be the name of the new book? How is Miss Hossack? get a large photo of Mater Pulchra—with her hair, au naturel, & a similar sized one of Mark himself looking ferociously [the rest of the letter is missing] [MTPO].

September 23 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Robert Shelton Mackenzie, Irish novelist and since 1857 the literary and drama critic for the Philadelphia Press. Sam thanked Mackenzie on his “Correct idea of Col. Sellers,” and discussed the nature of the Sellers character, “drawn from life, not imagination—I ate the turnip dinner with him, years ago…” [MTL 6: 240].

September 24 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Gov. William W. Belknap, about strategy to obtain an appointment to the Naval Academy for Samuel Moffett. They would try to gain the appointment through Keokuk, Iowa, even though Samuel had never lived there [MTL 6: 244].

On or about this day Livy and Sam wrote a letter to Livy’s mother, Olivia Lewis Langdon. Sam was harried:

Livy appoints me to finish this; but how can a headless man perform an intelligent function? I have been bullyragged all day by the builder, by his foreman, by the architect, by the tapestry devil who is to upholster the furniture, by the idiot who is putting down the carpets, by the scoundrel who is setting up the billiard-table (& has left the balls in New York,) by the wildcat who is sodding the ground & finishing the driveway (after the sun went down), by a book agent, whose body is in the back yard & the coroner notified. Just think of this thing going on the whole day long, & I a man who loathes details with all his heart! [MTL 6: 244-5].

September 25 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to William Seaver, answering his note of Sept. 17.

“I knew you’d be glad the play was commended, & I hope that before this you & John Hay have been there & wept….Remember that darkey yarn I told you & Hay? Well, it has gone to the “Atlantic” & so you boys can’t gobble it, you see” [MTL 6: 245-6].

On or about this day Sam also wrote to James Redpath:

“Your offer of $30,000 to lecture fifty nights does not tempt me. I have run about the world long enough. I mean to live & die at home, now, if I starve at it. I love you, but I cannot lecture any more” [MTL 6: 246].

September 26 Saturday – John E. Owens wrote from Boston to ask for production rights to a play in New Orleans for GA [MTP].

September 28 Monday – President Grant attended a performance of the Gilded Age play at the Park Theatre in New York. Grant laughed and applauded with the crowd throughout the play, and personally congratulated Raymond back stage [MTL 6: 248]. The play ran 115 nights in New York and netted Sam $10,000 in its first quarter, and around $70,000 during his lifetime [Powers, MT A Life 360]. Walker claims the play ran 119 performances [186].

To William C. Brownell, City Editor of the New York World, Sam confided:

“…it isn’t a good play. It’s a bad play, a damned bad play. I couldn’t write a good play. But it has a good character, and that character is the best I can do” [Walker, Phillip 186]. [ page 611 ]

September 29 Tuesday – In Hartford, Sam wrote to Frank Fuller, who evidently had written trying to engage Sam in a stage production. Sam replied:

My Dear Frank:

Many thanks for your letter & enclosures. If I had the time I would hurl myself in the drama, wholesale. But I must go on with my book. I do not know whether I could fit Mr. & Mrs. Barney Williams with characters or not, but I still think I could fit Bijou—though I must not be thinking about dramas, with this big book on my shoulders.

I have written & asked Raymond to cross my name off the Mark Smith Benefit list, because I shall find it so difficult to leave home.

Look here. You go & see McCullough about that piece. That is what I was going to do, but was so driven I couldn’t. I mean [to] go & see him & make a trade on the merits of the piece, for you see I think I wouldn’t want my name associated with it as being the redresser of a character thrown in to make by-play while the scenes are shifted. See? But there’s meat in that play.

We swap affections with you.

Mark.

I enclose the P. M. I see I have been trying to turn it into a magazine article again, which I had forgotten [MTP Drop-in letters].

G.W. Rogers, wood carver wrote from London to Sam, hoping “by this time” he’d rec’d two works of art from him, and presented a bill for £42.7.6 [MTP].

September 30 Wednesday – William Dean Howells wrote from Cambridge, Mass. Sam asking for “some such as that colored” story “for our Jan’y number.” He congratulated Sam on President Grant’s enjoyment of the Col. Sellers character in the Gilded Age play; and said they’d enjoyed Charles & Susan Warner’s visit before they left for Europe [MTHL 1: 32].

October – Sam inscribed a copy of John Campbell’s (1779-1861) Lives of the Lord Chancellors and Keepers of the Great Seal (1874) [Gribben 126].

October 3 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to William Dean Howells about possible submissions for the Atlantic. Howells had written seeking “some such story as that colored one” for the January issue. Sam replied:

“…the house is still full of carpenters. So we’ll give it up. These carpenters are here for time & eternity; I am satisfied of that. I kill them when I get opportunities, but the builder goes & gets more.”

Sam also wrote that the Warners were “about to leave & we are in grief.” The good friends and neighbors sailed on Oct. 8 for Europe and would not return until July 1, 1876. Howells had mentioned, “even President Grant recognized the excellence of the Sellers character in your play” [MTL 6: 247-8].

October 5 Monday – From Twichell’s diaries:

“Reached home after vacation and a trip of 7 weeks to Peru and the W. Coast of South America (with Yung Wing) M.T. met me at the depot” [Yale, copy at MTP].

 

Note: Joseph Twichell was active in the Hartford Chinese Educational Mission. He would lecture several times on Peru and South America. Dr. E.W. Kellogg accompanied Joe and Yung Wing. The purpose of the trip was to check on living conditions of Chinese coolies in that country. (Joe did not go there with dreams of a coca fortune.) Conditions were bad, which prompted Joe upon his return to give many talks without pay on the situation, and to champion Chinese students at the Hartford educational mission.

 [ page 612 ]

In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote Sam a short note asking for Stoddard’s address. He added, “Are you going to give me another of those little stories?” meaning, like “A True Story” [MTHL 1: 32].

 

October 7 Wednesday – Sam’s neighbor and to-be literary collaborator, Charles Dudley Warner and family, left for a year abroad. Twichell notes in his diary the date and that “A.C.O & Mary D. went with them” [Yale, copy at MTP]. Parties are unidentified.

 

Owen S. McKinney wrote to Sam asking about a woman whom Clemens called “a fraud”:

 

Dear Sir:—Please inform me if you knew a lady in California during your sojourn in that State by the name of Mrs. E. H. Bonner, alias “Hary Buford.” From the prominence given the lady by the Louisville Courier-Journal and the Mobile Register, and from other facts which came to my knowledge, in a few brief hours of an acquaintance recently formed with her, she is certainly a very great impostor or a remarkable woman. She gave your name as reference… [MTP]. Note: see other entries on Mrs. E. H. Bonner (b. Loreta Janeta Velazquez).

 

October 8 Thursday – Clemens wrote to William Dean Howells, the letter unrecovered but an enclosure about the Olympic Theatre survives and may be read at [MTL 6: 627-30].  

October 9 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Louis J. Jennings, editor of the New York Times. Sam was “much more complimented than distressed” at someone imitating him and sending a letter purported to be his sent to the Greenwich Street Grammar School [MTL 6: 249].

Sam also wrote to Henry Watterson, editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal, a friend and second cousin by marriage, about linking his name as a collaborator on a book with a Mrs. E.H. Bonner  (b. Loreta Janeta Velazquez), a woman who had disguised herself as a Confederate officer (see June or Aug. entry).

My Dear Mr. Watterson:

I guess this is a woman who wrote me twice, some months ago, asking me to join her in dishing up an account of her adventures as a spy during the war. I declined twice, & tried to find a man to do the work for her—that is I recommended J. S. Bowman of San Francisco—& heard from her no more. She gave my friend Gen. M. Jeff Thompson as one of her references, but I can’t remember that he ever answered my letter about her.

Of course if you have not only talked about her, & have not spoken of her as being a partner of mine in—literary or otherwise—you will not need to print this note of communication of mine. But if you have hitched our names together in any way I wish you would either print my screed or drop me a line & tell me what I had better say in its place. You see I am wholly in the dark as to what it is you & the Register have said. Now I do not want the public defrauded in my name except when I do it myself—& not then, when I know it.

With remembrances & best wishes—

Ys Truly

S. L. Clemens [MTL 6: 250].

October 12 Monday – For Sam’s speech at the Hartford Insurance banquet, see Oct. 15 entry. (Fatout gives this date [MT Speaking 89]; MTP’s Inventory Binder #1 states Fatout’s date in error).

Louise C. Moulton wrote from Pomfret, Conn.:

Dear Mr. Clemens—

I have asked my publishers to send you “Some Women’s Hearts,” in the hope that you may flatter me by sometime idling away a half hour over it. In this, I had an especial object. I wanted you to see the kind of stories I write, and then I wanted to beg a favor of you—this. Will you tell me whether you think it would be [ page 613 ] possible for me to get the publishers of “The Gilded Age” to undertake, on their usual terms, the publication of a collection of similar tales for me? I could make the collection as large as they pleased. I could include two or three stories as long as the first one in “Some Women’s Hearts,” and no end of shorter ones. It seems to me it might be a book agents could sell to advantage—but about that you could judge so much better than I.

The real truth is I want very much to make some money; and the returns of ordinary publishing are so slow.

If I could have the bliss of being published by Bliss, and making a fortune, don’t you see, how highly delighted I should be? After this last effort, never say I’m not a poet.

Will you forgive me for boring you with this letter of inquiry, for which my only excuse is an instinctive and unfaltering faith in your kindness?

How is that bonny baby whose picture I have—& how is her Mamma? I am, if you will allow me,

Very Cordially Yours—

   Louise Chandler Moulton [MTP].

October 13 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Owen S. McKinney, who had inquired of Sam about the Bonner woman, who Sam judged a fraud, and a forger [MTL 6: 254]. See Oct. 31 from McKinney.

Sam’s article “Mark Twain’s Cold,” ran on page two of the Hartford Courant [Courant.com].

October 14 Wednesday – Hartford: Sam replied to the Oct. 13 of Louise Chandler Moulton, writer and family friend who hoped that Bliss might publish a collection of her stories.

“Your dainty volume came last night & Mrs. Clemens read ‘Brains’ to me while I smoked—& I was glad she read instead of I, because I was so touched my voice would have done me treachery, & I find it necessary to be manly & ferocious in order to maintain a proper discipline in the family” [MTL 6: 256]. Note: Moulton’s book: Some Women’s Hearts (1874). 

October 15 Thursday – Sam represented the Hartford Accident Insurance Co. at a fancy dinner of the Hartford insurance industry for Cornelius Walford at the Allyn House in Hartford. He gave a humorous speech on accident insurance. The speech was included in Sketches, New and Old (1875).

A city whose fame as an insurance center has extended to all lands and given us the name of being a quadruple band of brothers working sweetly hand in hand—the Colt’s Arms Company making the destruction of our race easy and convenient, our life insurance citizens paying for the victims when they pass away, Mr. Batterson perpetuating their memory with his stately monuments, and our fire insurance companies taking care of their hereafter [MTL 6: 172]. Note James Goodwin Batterson (1823-1901), owner of the New England Granite Works and founder in 1863 of Travelers Insurance Co.

Edward T. Potter wrote house details to Sam: “I found the memoranda I promised for Mrs. Clemens. Some of the points may seem trivial & others of doubtful desirability but all go to make up the ensemble. I should like to know when the stairbuilder gets the work up he has in hand, so I may see him at the house before he is quite finished” He added a few more detailed items with cost [MTP].

October 17 Saturday – Sam’s droll article, “Magdalen Tower” ran in The Shotover Papers (or Echoes from Oxford). The remarkable 145-foot tower at Magdalen College in Oxford had been one of the side-track subjects included in his Sandwich Islands lecture given in London during late 1873. The editors of the Papers requested that Sam write something about the tower for their publication.

“He had just gone out when a well-dressed young gentleman came in with a kind of hop like a cockchafer on a hot shovel. His head was shaped like a hazel nut, and he had a foolish undergraduate look and an eyeglass in his eye. He bowed gently like a tame giraffe…” [The Twainian, Jan. 1943 p4-5].  [ page 614 ]

(See Sept.29–Oct. 3, 1872 entry for Sam’s first visit to Magdalen College). Note: this publication wasn’t found in any bibliographies.

October 18? Sunday – Livy and Sam wrote from Hartford to Olivia Lewis Langdon. Twichell came by for Sam to go walking, and both Livy and Sam wrote of it. Sam took Susy in “her little carriage.” He wrote in the afternoon, after his walk while Livy was resting. “The customary Sunday assemblage of strangers is gathered together in the grounds discussing the house” [MTL 6: 259].

Also probably on this day, Livy and Sam wrote to Susan Crane. After a paragraph from Livy, Sam wrote:

Twichell came up here with me to luncheon after services, & I went back home with him & took Susie along in her little carriage. We have just got home again, middle of the afternoon & Livy has gone to rest & left the west balcony to me.

…

Susie is developing. Nine tenths of the time she is unimaginable sweetness & the other tenth she is a raging tempest, an unappeasable fury. Livy thinks the other baby [Clara] is going to be all gentleness. It does look like it. Susie now has a grace & beauty she never had before [MTP drop-in letters].

October 21 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Elisha Bliss about Mrs. Moulton’s proposed book of stories and her availability at Pomfret, Conn. Sam sent best wishes for Harte’s book, Gabriel Conroy, and his hope that they could make the play run 200 nights in New York [MTL 6: 260].

From Twichell’s journal:

Called on M.T. He had just come in from making a farewell call on Mr Stowe ( who was about? Setting out for Florida for the winter and discovered that he had had no cravat on.[ )] He did up a cravat in a sheet of paper, wrote a note saying “herewith receive a call from the rest of M T?” and sent the cravat by a reward over to Mrs. Stowe.

She immediately replied in a very witty note, telling Mark that he had discovered a great principle (“I knew I had principle about me somewhere” interpolated Mark, as he read the note aloud) viz the principle of making calls by installment and asking whether in extremis a man might not send his hat, coat, and boots and be otherwise excused [Yale, copy at MTP].

October 24 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote two letters to William Dean Howells. The men were developing a playful and intimate association through letters and mutual admiration. In the first letter Sam repeated that he’d hoped to write something for Howells’ January edition of the Atlantic, (as requested in Howells’ Sept. 30 letter) but that the “state of weary & endless confusion” (the house still being finished all around them) proved that his “head won’t ‘go’.” In the second letter, two hours later, Sam had a thunderbolt of an idea, which came to him on a walk with Joe Twichell.

…I got to telling him about old Mississippi days of steamboating glory & grandeur as I saw them (during 5 years) from the pilot house. He said “What a virgin subject to hurl into a magazine!” I hadn’t thought of that before. Would you like a series of papers to run through 3 months or 6 or 9? ——or about 4 months, say? [MTL 6: 262-3].  [ page 615 ]

What came from this idea?—“Old Times on the Mississippi” in seven installments in the Atlantic, Jan. through June and Aug. 1875, later to become Life on the Mississippi (1883).

G.W. Rogers sent a receipt for £21 from London [MTP].

October 26 Monday – The New York Daily Graphic ran this cartoon of Mark Twain: see insert.

October 27 Tuesday – In the evening, Sam and Twichell took a long walk [Twichell journals, Yale].

October 29 Thursday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Augustin Daly, who tried to enlist Sam in writing a play. Sam dumped it off onto William Dean Howells, who was thinking of dramatizing his current novel, A Foregone Conclusion [MTL 6: 263].

Sam also wrote an answer to Howells reply to previous letters and promised to begin work the next day on the first article in the piloting series for the Atlantic [MTL 6: 266].

October 30 Friday – Sam began work on the first article, which became “Old Times on the Mississippi” [MTL 6: 256 to Howells].

October 31 Saturday – Twichell pasted a New York Times article in his diary that mentioned his trip to Peru and his upcoming lecture on the topic, as well as Sam’s lecture “last winter” which raised money for the poor (Father David Hawley) [Yale, copy at MTP].

Owen S. McKinney wrote from Palatine, W. Va. to thank Sam. In part:

 

She is one of the most intelligent as well as one of the “cheekiest” women I ever saw. The Courier-Journal published a lengthy article setting forth her claims to respectability and her exploits during the war, which paper she had in her possession. The Mobile Register also published a column of her exploits. The publication of those articles seemed to indicate the truthfulness of her claim to be connected with you in the publication of the book. She said she knew you personally in California. She is an impostor of no ordinary rank. I shall send you the extract from the Register in a few days, as I saw it was copied in the Pittsburgh Dispatch and Wheeling Standard, and I will get one of the papers containing it.

Thanking you for the information … [MTPO]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Concerning Mrs. Bonner the fraud.”

November – Sam reached a literary peak of sorts, when his article, “A True Story – Repeated Word for Word as I Heard It,” appeared in the “high brow” Atlantic Monthly. Sue Crane’s Negro cook—Auntie Cord—told Sam her experiences as a slave. After repeating the story to John Hay, William Seaver, and perhaps others, Sam had been encouraged to write and submit it [Wilson 267].

“An Encounter with an Interviewer” first ran in the Lotos Club’s anthology, Lotos Leaves [MTL 5: 436n4; MTL 6: 219n2].

November 1 Sunday – On this day or the day before, Sam went to New York and took rooms at the New York Hotel. His business in the city is unknown [MTL 6: 266n2]. [ page 616 ]

November 2 Monday – On the “Taxable List of Samuel Clemens of Hartford for 1874” signed by Sam, he wrote the value of his Farmington Avenue home at $30,000; 1 horse $150; 1 cow $100; Coaches, Carriages & wagons $250; Clocks, Watches, Time Pieces, Jewelry $1,200; Piano Fortes $200; Household Furniture $1,500; Libraries exceeding $50, $100. He declared 200 shares of Hartford Accident Ins. Co. stock at $10,000; Bonds $9,000; Money at interest $30,000; Money on hand $2,000 and lastly:

The form asked for “Dogs, number and kind.” Clemens wrote: “male, spotted, worthless” [MTP].

Dr. John Brown wrote to Sam on the back of a circular of poetry, praising “A True Story” about Aunt Rachel [MTP].

November 3 Tuesday – Sam was back in Hartford, and wrote to the editor of the Hartford Evening Post, H.T. Sperry. The paper had printed an article “The Drama of the Gilded Age,” which Sam wrote was an erroneous history of the play. Sam corrected the record and the suggestion that he had misused Gilbert Densmore [MTL 6: 267-73].

In response to gossip about Sam adopting Densmore’s version of the play, John T. Raymond, possibly at Sam’s urging, sent a letter to the New York Sun, which ran this day. The letter agreed that Densmore’s work was excellent, but that the production in New York “was entirely the work of Mr. Samuel L. Clemens” [Duckett, p. 120-1, quoting William Winter’s The Life of David Belasco]. Duckett asserts that “The controversy about how much of the play The Gilded Age was written by Mark Twain has never been settled” [121]. Note: William Winter (1836-1917).

Sam Holt wrote from NYC touched by “A True Story” [MTP]. Note: Clemens wrote on the env. “Old Slave Story”

November 4 Wednesday – Congressional elections saw Democrats taking control of the House of Representatives. At this time Hartford and Sam were staunch Republicans.

Augustin Daly wrote Sam thanks for the referral for play collaboration to Howells, who wanted to dramatize A Foregone Conclusion [MTP].

November 5 Thursday – Sam referred to an unidentified correspondent who sought his biography to “Allibone’s Dictionary of Authors” [Gribben 21].

November 6 Friday – From Twichell’s diaries:

“Went on another walk to the Tower with M.T. Lots of pleasant talk. Never thought even to allude to the great democratic victory” [Yale, copy at MTP]. Note: Talcott’s Tower, a wooden structure about five miles outside of Hartford.

November 8? Sunday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Henry Watterson a second cousin by marriage, explaining that Colonel Mulberry Sellers was a study of a certain mutual kinsman and that Sam had drawn him from life and not imagination [MTL 6: 273].

November 9 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to James Redpath announcing Twichell’s plan to walk with Sam to Boston in 24 hours (or more), a distance of over 100 miles. “We shall telegraph Young’s hotel for rooms for Saturday night, in order to allow for a low average of pedestrianism” [MTL 6: 275].

November 10 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Francis D. Finlay, of Belfast, Ireland. Sam and Livy had dined with Finlay on their last trip.  [ page 617 ]

“Now one of these days you must come over here. Never mind the sea. Come over in winter, on skates. We are in our new house—& so are the carpenters—but we shall get the latter out, by & by, even if we have to import an epidemic to do it.”

Sam had read an article in the Nov. 2 Hartford Times about the cremation of Lady Katherine Dilke. Cremation was a rather new and controversial procedure, and the narration included gross details, which weren’t even possible for observers to note. Sam was taken back by the process and noted, “I wouldn’t have obeyed her dying injunctions” [MTL 6: 276].

Sam also wrote to Emma Parish, purportedly a cousin. Sam mentioned Henry Watterson, who’d written to say his mother was a Lampton. Sam’s mother was a Kentucky Lampton.

“And to think that only six short months ago I hadn’t a relative in the world to borrow money from. Truly the goodness of God is beyond understanding” [MTL 6: 277].

November 12 Thursday – A half-hour later than planned, Sam and Twichell set off at 8:30 AM to walk the 100 miles to Boston. Two and one-half hours later, Sam wrote from Vernon, Conn. to Livy.

“The day is simply gorgeous—perfectly matchless. And the talk! Our jaws have wagged ceaselessly, & every now & then our laughter does wake up the old woods” [MTL 6: 277-8].

Sam wrote from Grant’s Hotel in Ashford, Conn. to Livy again, using envelopes she’d prepared for him. It was here that Sam wrote in his notebook of the “funniest scene I ever saw was when my poor parson struck up a talk with the hostler…” who let fly with profanities.

“We got here at 7—an hour or more after dark. Westford is 2 miles further on. Our last 3 or four miles found my knee-joints aching fit to give me the lock-jaw” [MTL 6: 278].

Henry Watterson wrote: “Dear Clemens, / What have you been doing to this woman / H.W.” enclosing a letter to the Courier from Mrs. E.H. Bonner. Sam wrote on the env., “Female fraud”; See earlier on Bonner. Here is her protest to Watterson’s Courier-Journal:

Gentleman / I have before me an Article published in the Constitution purporting to be a Letter Published in the Columns of the Courier Journal last winter, from Mark Twain, denying any knowledge of my history, the Constitution claim they clipped it from your paper. I therefore ask you to Produce Said Letter, as I am in Posession of Several Letters from Mark Twain denying the writing said Letters, to your Paper. As to his writing my Book, he had nothing to do with it. Now in justice, I either wish you to forward to my Publisher the Letter from Sam. Clemens or Mark Twain. Or correct the statement you have made. My marriage name is Mrs. E. H. Bonner, and Velazquez is my fathers name, which I have chose for the Title of my Book, now in Prep. the Woman in Battle, let me hear from you at Your Earliest [MTPO].

November 13 Friday – Sam wrote from New Boston, Conn. to Livy.

Livy darling, it is bitter cold weather. We got up at half past 5 this morning, took breakfast & cleared out just as the dawn was breaking. It was a magnificent morning; the woods were white with frost, & our hands wouldn’t keep warm—nor ourselves either….We shall take the train & be in Boston at 7 this evening.

Sam had grown too lame to continue on foot, and Twichell wrote in his diary that Sam had not slept at all due to the tea he’d had that night. The pair walked another six miles to North Ashford and stopped at another inn. After trying to nap, at noon they allowed the host, Mr. Brooks, to take them in a buggy ten miles to the train at New Boston.  [ page 618 ]

Sam wrote from New Boston to William Dean Howells that they’d arrive by rail at about 7 PM [MTL 6: 280].

Sam also wrote to Redpath that they’d “made 35 miles in less than five days. This demonstrates the thing can be done Shall now finish by rail. Did you have any bets on us?” [MTL 6: 281].

Sam and Twichell arrived in Boston and stayed at Young’s Hotel, one of Boston’s best small hotels. Howells sent a telegram to Sam at Young’s: “You and Twichell come right out to 37 Concord Avenue Cambridge near the observatory party waiting for you” [MTHL 1: 36].

In the evening they attended a lecture given by actor, James Morrison Steele MacKaye and the party thrown by William Dean Howells. They met Nathaniel Hawthorne’s daughter Rose, a daughter of Longfellow’s, the philosopher John Fiske, and Larkin Goldsmith Mead (1835-1910) and Marietta Di Benvenuti Mead (Mrs. Larkin Mead). Larkin was a sculptor and Elinor Mead Howells’ brother. William Dean Howells later wrote, “I never saw a more used-up, hungrier man, than Clemens. It was something fearful to see him eat escalloped oysters.” Sam didn’t get back to the hotel until 1 AM [MTL 6: 281n1, 282n1; Powers, MT A Life 363].

Edward H. House wrote from Yedo, Japan to Sam, opening with stories of letters gone astray sent to his friends in NY. So, it wasn’t surprising he hadn’t heard back from Clemens, and had a note from last August from him which didn’t mention his letters. He owed Clemens some £61 borrowed in England, and offered to make “some purchases here as you intimate” though the “money is ready…at any time you will go or send for it to Mr. Child (John)…Wall Street, N.Y.” He inquired about a book proposal about Formosa he’d made to Bliss, but hadn’t heard [MTP].

November 14 Saturday – Sam wrote from Boston to Livy about the “royal time at Howells’ last night.” He enclosed a hanky for the “Modoc” (he wrote “hakky,” as Susy pronounced it).

In the evening Sam and Twichell entertained at a dinner for the Howellses, Aldrich, Osgood, and Larkin G. Mead (1819?-1878), sculptor. Sam called upon Twichell to say the blessing. Sam was interviewed at the door during dinner and an article on “His Recent Walking Feat” appeared in the Boston Times on Nov. 16 [MTL 6: 282]. Twichell’s Journal notes that Joe enjoyed the gathering “to the full. Heard lots of bright good talk” [Yale, copy at MTP].

November 14 or 16 Monday – Sam sat for a photograph at George Kendall Warren’s studio and purchased a large number of the prints. He used them to give to fans as late as 1883 [MTL 6: 303n1]. He also purchased his first typewriter for $125, a machine that used a foot-pedal for carriage returns, could only print in upper case, but utilized a QWERTY keyboard. Sam wrote his first letter with the machine on Dec. 9 to Orion. Sam recalled in 1907 being with Nasby and buying it after seeing it in a window [MTL 6: 309].

The Boston Evening Journal, on page 2, ran details of Sam and Twichell’s walking tour: “Mark Twain as a Pedestrian.” Also, either the Hartford Times or the Boston Times ran “Mark Twain / His Recent Walking Feat” [Scharnhorst, Interviews 2-4].

November 15 Sunday – Sam rested at the hotel while Twichell walked the nine miles to Newton Highlands and preached a sermon, then spent the night with Rev. S.H. Dana, a local pastor [MTL 6: 284n2].

November 16 Monday – Twichell returned to Boston and with Sam and Frederick B. Allen, a Boston friend of Twichell’s. They attended an 11 AM meeting of the Radical Club. Walter Allen of the Boston Daily Advertiser probably invited the men [MTL 6: 284n3]. [ page 619 ]

The Radical Club was an informal group of Unitarian and Transcendental ministers and laymen, and they met at the home of Rev. John T. Sargent. It was founded in the spring of 1867 to encourage larger liberty in matters of religious expression. On this occasion, Edward S. Morse (1838-1925), a professor of zoology and comparative anatomy at Bowdoin College, gave a talk on evolution. Twichell recorded Sam’s reactions after leaving the lecture early:

As we passed out, Mr. A. joined the party, and while the rest of us were chatting briskly about the incidents of the meeting, Mr. Clemens was silent until we got up into Beacon Street, when he spoke out in a serious way, saying, as nearly as I can recall his language: “Well, that was an extraordinary meeting! How that chap did draw on the blackboard! I never saw anything like that. I’m sorry we had to come away, for I was mightily interested in the talk going on, and wanted to say something myself. When Mrs. Sargent asked me if I would speak, I didn’t want to do it at all, but I thought it wouldn’t be polite to decline. I didn’t care much about evolution, but when they struck the doctrine of metempsychosis, I got interested. That doctrine accounts for me: I knew there was something the matter, but never knew what it was before. It’s the passing off on a man of an old, damaged, second-hand soul that makes all the trouble” [Sketches and Reminiscences of the Radical Club, by Mrs. J. T. Sargent, James R. Osgood & Co., 1880, p186-7]. Note: metempsychosis is a Greek term for transmigration of the soul; reincarnation.

Afterwards, Sam and Twichell arrived late and lunched at Howells’ at 2 PM. Later in the afternoon the three men called on Professor James Russell Lowell, visiting a half hour, mostly talking about the Beecher scandal. Sam and Twichell went back to Howells’ and left there at 6 PM. They then looked in at Harvard Memorial Hall and returned to Boston, taking the 9 PM train to Hartford [MTL 6: 284n3].

November 17 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells, apologizing again for being late for lunch the day before, and relating that Livy: 

“…gets upon the verge of swearing & goes tearing around in an unseemly fury when I enlarge upon the delightful time we had in Boston & she not there to have her share” [MTL 6: 285].

From Twichell’s journal:

“Returned by the midnight train last night from Boston wither I had set out last Thursday morning with M.T. on our celebrated walk. We left our house in his carriage at about 8[?] O’clock, rode through the E. Hartford bridge, and there took to our feet—I carrying a little boy and he a basket of lunch” [Yale, copy at MTP].

 

Joe included an itinerary listed by one “ancient stage driver” A.H. Perrin, through Mr N. H. Andrews. [Yale, copy at MTP]. Andrews paraphrases Joe: Sam “told a Boston reporter that his lameness was like walking on stilts—as if he had wooden legs with pains in them” [257 n47].

On or about this day Sam wrote to his mother, Jane Clemens , that “Livy is tolerable, the rest of us well.” He included a note from Henry Watterson, a Lampton second cousin by marriage.

November 18 Wednesday – From Twichell’s journal:

“Lectured at Insane Asylum to the patients on my So American travels. M.T. went with me to study the audience” [Yale, copy at MTP].

November 19 or 20 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote to cousin Emma Parish.

“Susie? Susie resembles us both. She has her mother’s personal comeliness & her father’s sweetness of disposition. When she gets in a fury & breaks furniture, that is a merit all her own—not inherited—at least [ page 620 ] only in a general way. I break a good deal of furniture, but it is only to see how it is made” [MTL 6: 268]. Note: Sam is not totally in jest here; Susy suffered (or the family did) from temper tantrums.

November 20 Friday – Sam wrote two letters from Hartford to Howells. The first is an interesting fantasy, set in Boston (called Limerick) in the future, Nov. 16. 1935:

My air-ship was delayed by a collision with a fellow from China loaded with the usual cargo of jabbering, copper-colored missionaries, & so I was nearly an hour on my journey. But by the goodness of God thirteen of the missionaries were crippled & several killed, so I was content to lose the time. I love to lose time, anyway, because it brings soothing reminiscences of the creeping railroad days of old, now lost to us forever [MTL 6: 290].

In the second letter Sam enclosed his first “Old Times on the Mississippi” article [MTL 6: 294].

November 23 Monday – Howells wrote to Sam and responded to his Nov. 20 letter that his wife was “simply absurd” about the “Limerick” letter and he wished to keep it. About the “pilot days” installment, Howells said it was “capital—it almost made the water in our ice-pitcher muddy as I read it.” Howells opted not to “meddle with it much in the way of suggestion,” which was high praise [MTL 6: 294].

Walter Lennox wrote from Brooklyn, NY to ask if Clemens would write him “a strong comedy part” as he had for his friend, John T. Raymond [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Walter Lennox / Comedian”

November 24 Tuesday – William Dean Howells wrote again to Sam, adding, “The only thing I’m doubtful of is the night watchman’s story” (in the first installment of “Old Times on the Mississippi”). “…seems made-up, on your part” [MTHL 1: 43].

November 25 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells, responding to the editor’s “amendment” to his “pilot days” installment sent on Nov. 24 [MTHL 1: 43-4]. Sam, reading over the proofs, objected to the poor hyphenating done at the ends of lines. He also felt he shouldn’t appear in print too often. “…newspapers soon get to lying in wait for me to blackguard me. You think it over & you will see that it will doubtless be better for all of us that I don’t infuriate the “critics” too frequently” [MTL 6: 296].

November 27 Friday – Livy’s 29th birthday.

Phineas T. Barnum wrote from Bridgeport to advise he would send what begging letters he had laid aside, though he felt “some will be of no use to you probably” [MTP].

November 29 Sunday – Sam’s sketch, “Sociable Jimmy,” written from his letter home in 1872 was printed in the New York Times [MTL 5: 20n6; Fatout, MT Speaks 88]. An excerpt:

We ain’t got no cats heah, ‘bout dis hotel. Bill he don’t like ‘em. He can’t stan’ a cat no way. Ef he was to ketch one he’d slam it outen de winder in a minute. Yes he would. Bill’s down on cats. So is de gals—waiter gals. When dey ketches a cat bummin’ aroun’ heah, dey jis’ scoops him—’deed dey do. Dey snake him into de cistern—dey’s been cats drownded in dat water dat’s in yo’ pitcher. I seed a cat in dere yistiddy—all swelled up like a pudd’n. I bet you dem gals done dat. Ma says if dey was to drownd a cat for her, de fust one of ‘em she ketched she’d jam her into de cistern ‘long wid de cat. Ma wouldn’t do dat, I don’t reckon, but ‘deed an’ double, she said she would. I can’t kill a chicken—well, I kin wring its neck off, cuz dat don’t make ‘em no sufferin’ scacely; but I can’t take and chop dey heads off, like some people kin. It makes me feel so—so—well, I kin see dat chicken nights so’s I can’t sleep [Railton]. [ page 621 ]

On or about this day – In Hartford, Livy and Sam wrote to Charles J. Langdon, Livy’s brother. Livy thanked him for the gift he sent for her 29th birthday on Nov. 27. Sam wrote of giving Theodore Crane “the rudiments” of billiards. The Cranes had been visiting just over two weeks [MTL 6: 297-8].

Sam also wrote to James Redpath. Sam’s idea of a Mississippi River trip for the purpose of gathering and reminding for materials for a book had been in his head since at least Mar. 1866. He suggested a few lectures in New York, Cleveland, Louisville, St. Louis, Memphis and New Orleans while making such a trip. Sam hoped he might be able to finish drafting Tom Sawyer by May 1. (He did not complete the draft until July 1875, and did not make the river trip until the spring of 1882, and without lecturing.) Redpath’s reply has been lost [MTL 6: 298-9].

November 30 Monday – Sam’s 39th birthday. Livy presented Sam with a copy of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s The Hanging of the Crane (1875), signing her name and the date and Sam’s name [Butterfield auction catalog, July 16, 1997, p. 25 item # 2680].

December – Sam inscribed the half of each title page on four volumes of The Dialogues of Plato:

“For Livy Clemens / 1874. /S. L. CI.I” [Gribben 549].

He also inscribed A Child’s Poems, by Lucy Catlin (1872) “Saml. L. Clemens, Hartford, Dec. 1874” [585].

December 1 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Miss Street, daughter of James Street, in 1861 agent for the Overland Telegraph Company in Salt Lake City. Street met Sam and Orion on their trip to Nevada. Sam also renewed the acquaintance in San Francisco, and Street is portrayed in Chapters 12 and 14 of Roughing It [MTL 6: 299]. Sam responded to a request, most likely for his autograph.

December 2 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells, sending a new photograph of himself [MTL 6: 300]. Note: see insert photo.

December 2? Wednesday – Sam sent a photograph (see insert) to Jahu Dewitt Miller [MTP].

Note: source offers the following: “Miller (1857–1911), born in Cross River, New York, was the son of a farmer. At age fourteen he entered the Washington County Seminary in Fort Edward, New York, graduating from it while still a teenager. He then became a member of the seminary’s faculty as well as its librarian. Already a local lecturer and a rare-book collector by the age of seventeen, he later became a well-known speaker on the lyceum circuit and built a large book collection. The letter he sent, requesting a photograph, is not known to survive, nor has any evidence been found that Clemens was acquainted with him.” See also Nov. 24, 1879 from Miller.

December 3 Thursday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote Sam that “The fotograf is a wonderful success, and Mrs. Howells and I are exultantly grateful. We’ve got it framed to match Warner’s, and it turns its eagle-eye away from me towards Boston, on my study mantel-piece” [MTHL 1: 46]. [ page 622 ]

In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells, disliking the title “Old Times on the Mississippi,” which he felt was “too pretentious, too broad & general,” and seemed to “command me to deliver a Second Book of Revelation to the world.” He wanted to get the word “pilot” or “piloting” into the title somehow. The title stayed the same but descriptive subtitles were added beginning with the second installment [MTL 6: 303].

December 4 Friday – Estes & Lauriat of Boston receipted Sam for two copies of Summer Sketches, unidentified book, one of which was sent to Joe Twichell. The bill was dated Dec. 2 [Gribben 678]. Howells inscribed a copy of his novel, A Foregone Conclusion, to Livy with this date [Gribben 329].

In Cambridge, Mass., William Dean Howells wrote a short note to Sam about the title of “Old Times on the Mississippi,” which Sam didn’t much care for [MTHL 1: 48].

December 5 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote to an unidentified person, that “Cannibalism in the Cars” had never been published in America, and directed the person to Routledge editions [MTL 6: 305].

December 8 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to William Dean Howells, about work on the “pilot articles.”

“I could wind up with No. 4, but there are some things more, which I am powerfully moved to write. Which is natural enough, since I am a person who would quit authorizing in a minute to go piloting, if the madam would stand it. I would rather sink a steamboat than eat, any time” [MTL 6: 305-6].

December 9 Wednesday – In Hartford, using a typewriter he’d purchased in Boston with the help of Petroleum Nasby (David Locke), Sam typed from Hartford to Orion. The typewriter cost Sam $125 and could only print upper case letters. The typewriter reminded Sam of Robert Buchanan of the Hannibal Journal, where Buchanan used to “set up articles at the case without previously putting them in the form of manuscript.” Sam admired such “marvelous intellectual capacity.” In 1907 Sam recalled his purchase and use of the typewriter, mistakenly remembering that it was in 1871 and that The Adventures of Tom Sawyer must have been the first book he used it for. But it was purchased in 1874, either Nov. 14 or 16, during his Boston visit with Twichell and Life on the Mississippi in 1882 was the first novel a typewriter was used on, though a different machine than this [MTL 6: 309].

Sam also typed a letter to William Dean Howells:

YOU NEEDNT ANSWER THIS; I AM ONLY PRACTICIING TO GET THREE | ANOTHER SLIP-UP THERE.| ONLY PRACTICING TO GET THE HANG OF THE THING. I NOTICE I MISS FIRE & GET IN A GOOD MANY UNNECESSARY LETTERS & PUNCTUATION MARKS. I AM SIMPLY USING YOU FOR A TARGET TO BANG AT. BLAME ME MY CATS BUT THIS THING REQUIRES GENIUS IN ORDER TO WORK IT JUST RIGHT [MTL 6: 311].

Howells responded that when Sam got tired of the machine, to loan it to him.

The Fredonia Censor ran an article about Sam donating sixteen volumes for the WCTU reading room in that city. Among these was Abby Richardson’s Pebbles and Pearls for the Young Folks (1868) [Gribben 576], and Junius Henry Brown’s Sights and Sensations in Europe (1871) [90]. Note: most of the books Sam contributed were from American Publishing Co

December 10 Thursday – Bret Harte gave a lecture in Farwell Hall, Chicago, titled “American Humor.” Though briefly treating Mark Twain, Harte offered praise:  [ page 623 ]

“To-day, among our latest American humorists, such as Josh Billings, The ‘Danbury Newsman,’ and Orpheus C. Kerr, Mark Twain stands alone as the most original humorist that America has produced. He alone is inimitable” [Tenney, Supplement American Literary Realism, Autumn 1981 p162].

December 11 Friday – In Cambridge, Mass., William Dean Howells wrote:

“Don’t you dare to refuse that invitation to the Atlantic dinner for Tuesday evening. For fear you mayn’t have got it, I’ll just say that it was from the publishers, and asked you to meet Emerson, Aldrich, and all ‘those boys’ at the Parker House at 6 o’clock, Tuesday, Dec. 14. Come! ” [MTHL 1: 51].

In Hartford Sam wrote to H.O. Houghton & Co., accepting the invitation to the Atlantic Monthly contributors’ dinner on Dec. 15.

He also wrote to Howells, advising him that he’d be at the dinner on Dec. 15 and that his wife would not come because her mother would arrive that day. Livy had been helping Sam edit the Atlantic pilot articles [MTL 6: 313].

Robert Green Ingersoll wrote from Washington, D.C. to send Clemens “a correct copy of the speech” and “a couple of other pieces.” He professed admiration for Twain [Vassar].

December 12 Saturday – Charles Warren Stoddard wrote from Venice of his travels, preceded by this paragraph:

Dear Mark.

The day I left you in Liverpool I took the ferry for New Brighton, and saw you go out to sea with a strange mingling of pleasure and regret: you had been longing so for home that I rejoiced when I saw you actually on your way; but my life had to begin all over again. It seems to me that I am always doing that sort of thing; I get just so far and then somebody or something rubs it all out [MTPO]. Note: Sam answered on Feb. 1, 1875. The late Tom Tenney often insisted Stoddard was homosexual. If so, Clemens didn’t seem to mind.

December 13 Sunday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells suggesting Howells employ some ruse with his wife in order to:

…stay all night at the Parker House & tell lies & have an improving time, & take breakfast with me in the morning. I will have a good room for you & a fire. Can’t you tell her it always makes you sick to go home late at night, or something like that? That sort of thing rouses Mrs Clemens’s sympathies, easily; the only trouble is to keep them up [MTL 6: 315].

Charles Dudley Warner wrote from Cairo, Egypt to Sam:

“Your note followed me here. I sympathize with you in your unfinished house, but I would rather fit out three houses and fill them with furniture and children than to fit out one abatement. We have been here at work at it for over a week, and ought to embark tomorrow…but we shall go to the Pyramids instead” [MTP]. Note: “abatement” likely a calculation of duties on goods purchased.

 

The London Pall Mall Gazette ran an anonymous review of GA. Tenney: “A shallow response, commentary, noting the quotations in various language, some humor, and the greater insolence of American than British railroad officials. There is no discussion of the story” [Bibliography Number 6, Mark Twain Journal Spring/Fall 2012 50: 1 & 2, p.50].

December 14 Monday – In Hartford Sam typed a letter to Howells about Livy catching him in the use of profanity mentioned in Howell’s letter of Dec. 11.  [ page 624 ]

“…nothing but almost inspired lying got me out of this scrape with my scalp. Does your wife give you rats, like this, when you go a little one-sided?” [MTL 6: 316].

Miss E.Y. Hancock wrote from Quincy, Ill. to ask if her MS had been sent to Sam [MTP].

December 15 Tuesday – Sam traveled to Boston to attend the dinner at the Parker House, hosted by the Atlantic Monthly for its contributors. About 30 contributors were present. Howells was toastmaster. Guests included: Henry Oscar Houghton, Melancthon M. Hurd, Horace E. Scudder, and George Harrison Mifflin (all business associates of Houghton). Contributors included: Aldrich, Oliver Wendell Holmes, George Cary Eggleston, and Henry James (1843-1916) [For a further list see MTL 6: 318]. Sam spoke twice. The text is not available, but the next day The Boston Evening Transcript, called Sam’s speech one of the brightest of the evening, and summarized his remarks:

…once when sailing on the blue Mediterranean … he tried to give the impression that he was a poet. He said no one believed him, and after repeated protestations he rashly laid a wager of ten to one that he could get a poem printed in the Atlantic. The poem was forwarded from Gibraltar, the bet was ten dollars to a hundred, which accounts, Mark said, for the fact that he had only three dollars in his pocket when he reached here. A subsequent anecdote related by him and Mr. Osgood jointly, proved that Mark was more at home in a game called “euchre” than in poetry, and Mr. Osgood assured the company that it was not a safe practice to play cards with Mark Twain [Schmidt: See Arthur Gilman, “Atlantic Dinners and Diners,” Atlantic Monthly 100, no. 5 (November 1907) 646-67; MTL 6: 317].

Howells, Aldrich and Sam stayed up talking until 2 AM.

December 16 Wednesday – John M. Hay wrote after reading the first installment of “Old Times on the Mississippi” in the Atlantic.

Dear Clemens, / I have just read with delight your article in the Atlantic. It is perfect—no more nor less. I don’t see how you do it. I knew all that, every word of it—passed as much time on the levee as you ever did, knew the same crowd and saw the same scenes—but I could not have remembered one word of it. You have the two greatest gifts of the writer, memory and imagination. I congratulate you.

Yours sincerely

Hay [MTP].

F.E. Mead wrote from NYC to ask if he’d send her one of the “Satin Programmes” from the 100th performance of GA (on Dec. 23) [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “This one beggeth a Satin Programme”; see program MTL 6: 684-87.

December 16? Wednesday – Sam returned to Hartford. He wrote to Simon Gratz, member of the Philadelphia board of education, declining (it is thought) to participate in the Jan. 28 commencement at the Philadelphia Academy of Music [MTL 6: 321].

December 17 Thursday – Sam had brought back from Howells an inscribed copy of A Foregone Conclusion as a gift for Joseph Twichell. Sam presented the book to Joe. In the evening Sam and Joe went to a benefit concert at the Roberts Opera House for the Hartford Young Men’s Institute. They listened to the Yale Glee Club. Twichell graduated from Yale in 1859 [MTL 6: 325n2]. Joe called the Glee Club “a real feast” [Twichell’s journals, Yale].

December 18 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Thomas Bailey Aldrich. After complimenting Aldrich on “Cloth of Gold,” a book of poetry, Sam talked of ice-skating: [ page 625 ]

“I’ve been skating around the place all day with some girls, with Mrs. Clemens in the window to do the applause. There would be a power of fun in skating if you could do it with somebody else’s muscles” [MTL 6: 321].

Sam also wrote to Howells about a planned trip he and Howells might take to New Orleans. Sam feared his No.3 pilot article had been tossed in the fire by Susy. Sam also included some light-hearted talk about his gift from Howells and Aldrich of two neckties, and included a quote from John Hay praising him for having “the two greatest gifts of the writer, memory & imagination” [MTL 6: 324-5].

December 19 Saturday – In Cambridge, Mass., William Dean Howells wrote Sam:

“Mrs. Howells…is saying that I ought not to go to New Orleans without her. I suppose it will end by our looking at N.O. on the map; but I don’t give it up yet, and don’t you. We will keep this project alive if [it] takes all winter” [MTHL 1: 56].

December 21 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells, who’d written on Dec. 19 that Sam’s “No. 3” (installment of “Old Times”) was “safe among the dead-heads in my drawer, so you can dismiss all fears but those of publication.” The two argued over $3 to pay for Aldrich’s room and board at the Parker House; Howells enclosing the money and claiming Aldrich was his guest, Sam insisting it was he who had reserved the rooms. “…we’ll leave for N.O. , Feb. 15. That is the idea” [MTL 6: 326-7].

Sam also wrote from Hartford to Thomas B. Pugh, manager of the Star Course of lectures in Philadelphia. Sam declined to lecture, even for $2,000, which he calculated it would cost him to interrupt his writing. Sam was working on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer [MTL 6: 327].

December 22 Tuesday – Thomas Bailey Aldrich wrote from Ponkapog, Mass.

My dear Clemens: / When I subscribed to The Weekly Photograph I had some doubts as to whether I should get the numbers regularly[.] The police, you know, have a way of swooping down on that kind of publication. The other day they gobbled up an entire edition of The Life in New York. I trust that the Life of Hartford (or any other place he happens to be in) will not come to grief that way. . . . It is a good portrait. Looks like a man who has just thrown off an Epic in twelve books, for relaxation. I was glad to get the picture of where you live. It is apparently a comfortable little shanty. Cosy, and all that sort of thing. But you ought to see my Mansion at Ponkapog. It could n’t have cost less than $1500. to build. And then the land. Land at Ponkapog brings $25 per acre; but then real estate has gone up everywhere. The soil here is so light that it would go up of itself, if you let it alone. They have to put manure on it to keep it down. The house is furnished in a style of Oriental splendor. Straw-matting everywhere—even in the servants’ rooms, straw-matting. It’s as common with us as Turkey rugs and Wilton carpets in the homes of the poor. Of course you can’t have these things, but you are content. I like to see a man living within his means—and content.

That day after I left you, or you left me, or we left each other—I don’t know how to state the sorrowful occurrence correctly—I went and hunted up old Howells and carried him off with me to my suburban Palace. He wandered from room to room bewildered by the fluted pillars (on the beds!) and the gorgeous architecture of the coal bins. We wished for you, but that goes without saying. Howells got to laughing in the early part of the evening, did n’t let up at all, carried him off to bed at ½ past 11, still laughing—the same old laugh he had started at 7 o’clock. I woke up two or three times somewhere near daybreak, and he was a-going it!—My friend, you can afford to say that I didn’t make a three-ply donkey of myself at that dinner—you, who are bubbling over with after-dinner happinesses like a perpetual thermal spring. But I did. I had never made a speech. It was understood that I was not to be called upon, and when that cheerful old death’s head at the other end of the table sung out my name, “I wished I was dead”,—like Henry Ward Beecher. But I can make a speech, and a devilish good one, when there is n’t anybody around. I wish I had been prepared[.] I had two or three personal enemies at that festive board, old John Brown Sanborn, and that fellow Perrywinkle, who looks like a fugitive tape-worm—the cream-colored chap who got up in sections to reply to a toast and got all tangled in his inability. But this can’t interest you. If I were abusing some of your foes you’d take some interest in it.—I wish I had known that Mr Twichell cared for any of those verses; I would have liked to send [ page 626 ] him the book by your hands. I will yet, if you think it would please him. A man sent me a volume of poems the other day and I’ve been longing ever since to brain the author. I wouldn’t like to generate such a desire in your excellent friend, to whom my remembrances.

Mrs T B, who, I regret to say, is having a dreadful cold, sends her love to your wife. You need n’t try to get any of it away from her. We hope that you found the little one entirely well when you reached home, and were filled with regret that you did [not] stay over and spend the night with your faithful friends, the marquise and marquis of Ponkapog. / Yours always / T. B. Aldrich [MTPO].

Robert (last name torn away) sent a begging letter having been on the street 2 days and “at my very last extreme…half famished” [MTP].

December 22 or 23 Wednesday – Sam went to New York for the 100th performance of the Gilded Age play. He registered at the Hoffman House. Livy was probably along on the trip. Also in New York, and staying at the Windsor Hotel, were Olivia Lewis Langdon, and Theodore and Susan Crane.

0.11 of an inch of rain fell on the NYC area on Dec. 22 [NOAA.gov].

December 23 Wednesday – At the 100th performance of the Gilded Age play, Park Theatre, New York City, Sam gave a curtain speech, as advertised [published in Mark Twain Speaking, p.92-3. also see the New York Times reprint from Dec. 24, and MTL 6: 329].

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: I thank you for this call, for it gives me an opportunity to testify my appreciation of the vast compliment which the Metropolis has paid to Mr. Raymond and me in approving of our efforts to the very substantial extent of filling this house for us a hundred nights in succession. After such praise as this from the first city in the land it would be useless for me to try to pretend that we are not feeling a good deal “set up,” so I shall not pretend anything of the kind. We feel a good deal vainer than anybody would want to confess [Laughter] I learned through the newspapers that I was to make a speech here tonight, and so I went hard to work, as I always do, to try and do the very best I possibly could on this occasion. I was determined to do it; I went at it faithfully, but when I came to look critically into this matter I found that I shouldered a pretty heavy contract [Laughter] I found I shouldered a very heavy contract because there is only one topic that is proper to be discussed on this platform at this time, and that is this play and these actors and all the success which this play has met. Very well, that is an excellent subject — for somebody else [Laughter] It is right for an outsider or for somebody not connected with the concern, but for me, the dramatist, to praise these actors of mine, to praise this play of mine, and this success of ours — that would not come gracefully from me. There would be a little egotism in it. Neither can I criticise and abuse the actors, for I don’t want to. I could abuse the play, but I have better judgment, [laughter and applause] and I cannot praise these actors of mine right here in their hearing and before their faces, for that would make anybody with flesh and blood unhappy, and, indeed, to praise them would be like praising the members of my own family and glorifying the lady who does our washing [Laughter] And the more I think of this matter, the more I see the difficulty of the position, until I find myself in a condition I once before experienced [Mr. Twain here recited from his published work, ROUGHING IT, the sketch “A Genuine Mexican Plug,” in a spirit of dry humor which convulsed the audience with laughter. The incident referred tow as his unhappy experience with a Mexican horse, in which he came to grief] Through that adventure, he continued, through the misfortune I lost the faculty of speech; for twenty-four hours I was absolutely speechless, and this is the second time that that has occurred [Applause].

December 24 Thursday – Sam was still in New York. He called on the Hawaiian King David Kalakaua, who had arrived Dec. 23 for sightseeing. Sam first met him in the islands in April 1866. Later in the day the Clemens party took the train to Hartford for Christmas celebrations [MTL 6: 331].

December 25 Friday – Christmas – Annie Moffett arrived in the morning for a visit. She stayed several months. Susy said several times, “Santa Claus was good to Susy” [MTL 6: 332].

Sam gave Livy a 4-volume set of The Dialogues of Plato for a Christmas gift [MTL 6: 481n2]. [ page 627 ]

December 26 Saturday – In the evening, the Joe and Harmony Twichell, George Henry Warner (1833-1919), John Hooker, and Olivia Lewis Langdon came to the Clemens home and celebrated the holiday [MTL 6: 332].

December 27 Sunday – In Hartford, Livy wrote to Mollie Clemens and Sam added a PS that he’d just received Orion’s letter, “…in which he says he is ordering the Atlantic. Has he already ordered it?” Livy enclosed a picture of herself [MTL 6: 332].

December 28 Monday – Sam typed a note from Hartford to James Redpath.

NO, THANKS! MY DISLIKE OF THE PLATFORM HAS GROWN TO SUCH PROPORTIONS THAT I BELIEVE I AM AT LAST ONE OF THOSE IMPOSSIBILITIES WHICH NASBY DENIES THE EXISTENCE OF – – – A REFORMED LECTURER.

Sam was replying to a request to lecture once in New York at the conclusion of his play. He was “surprised” that he was growing proficient on the use of the typewriter and could “write about as fast with this machine as I can with a pen, & make more mistakes, too” [MTL 6: 333].

December 29 Tuesday – Sam telegraphed from Hartford to Hawaiian King David Kalakaua, sending his regrets that he could not be at the Gilded Age play that evening, when the King would attend. He invited Kalakaua to lunch with him at Hartford on Thursday, but the King said prior engagement commitments prevented him from accepting [MTL 6: 334].

December 31 Thursday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Thomas Bailey Aldrich, fronting the letter with a self-portrait in black ink [see MTL 6: 336]. Sam and Aldrich went back and forth with jokes and photographs (Sam later claimed he “sent him 45 envelops of all possible sizes, containing an aggregate of near seventy differing pictures of myself, house & family.”

Aldrich replied:

“…it is no use to send any more letters here. The post-office at this point is to be blown up.” Then he planted a seed that was to prove damaging to Sam in his famous Whittier dinner speech of 1877: “R.W.E., H.W.L., O.W.H and other conspirators in masks, have been seen flitting about the town for several days passed.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Oliver Wendell Holmes were the masked conspirators that would be imitated by tramps in Sam’s later debacle for Whittier’s birthday) [MTL 6: 336-7].


 [ page 628 ]
Hartford Life – Pirates of Sellers Play – Queer Letters – Beecher Trial –Tom Sawyer

Sketches New & Old – Gondour – De Quille’s Bonanza Book – Dreaming of a River Trip

 Drunk Wet Nurse – Baseball, Umbrellas & a Boy’s Body – Chasing Down Gill

 Bateman’s Point & Bowling History – Moncure Conway

 

1875 – Actor John Drew (1853-1927) remembered that Sam first saw him in the 1875 play, The Taming of the Shrew in New York City [Gribben 631]. The exact date has proven elusive.

 

January – The first of seven installments of “Old Times on the Mississippi” appeared in the Atlantic Monthly. Note: this was out in mid-December, 1874 as John Hay’s Dec. 16 to Clemens attests.

January 1 Friday – Thomas Bailey Aldrich wrote from Ponkapog, Mass. after receiving some 70 pictures of Clemens in 45 envelopes:

Sir: / At 4 P.M. this day, the entire Constabulary force of Ponkapog—consisting of two men and a resolute boy—broke camp on the border of Wampumsoagg Pond, and took up its march in four columns to the scene of action—the Post Office. There they formed in a hollow square, and moved upon the Postmaster. The mail had already arrived, but the post agent refused to deliver it to the force. The truculent official was twice run through a mince-meat machine before he would disclose the place where he had secreted the mail-bag. The mail-bag was then unstitched with the aid of one of Wheeler & Wilson’s sewing-machines, and the contents examined. The bag, as was suspected, contained additional evidence of the dreadful persecution that is going on in our midst. There were found no fewer than 20 (twenty) of those seditious, iniquitous, diabolical and highly objectionable prints, engravings and photographs, which have lately been showered—perhaps hurled would be the better word—upon Mr. Thomas Bailey Aldrich, a respectable and inoffensive citizen of Ponkapog.

The perpetrator of the outrage is known to the police, and they are on his track—in your city. An engraving with a green background, on which was a sprawling yellow figure, leaves us no room to doubt. This figure was at once recognized by several in the crowd as an admirable likeness of one Mark Twain, alias “The Jumping Frog”, a well-known Californian desperado, and formerly the chief of Henry Plumer’s Band of Road Agents in Montana, who has recently been “doing” the public not only in the Northern states of America, but in the realm of Queen Victoria. That he will be speedily arrested and brought to Ponkapog to face his victim, is the hope of every one here. If you could slyly entice him to come into the neighborhood, you would be doing a favor to the community. Would n’t the inducement of regular meals, and fishing through the ice, fetch him? Do something. In the meanwhile the post office is closely watched.

Yours Respectfully

T. Bayleigh, Chief of Police / Ponkapog. / Mass.

Samuel Leghorn Clements, Esq. [MTP]

Robert Watt wrote from Copenhagen, Denmark to wish Clemens a happy new year and to assure him of his popularity in Denmark. He closed with:

If the play you spoke about came out in print—please dont forget me, and if you should—as I hope—give out any new book in the course of the year, you might do me a great favor by sending it.— I thank you very much for the “stereoscopes” you send me; they are standing right in front of me alongside your portrait [MTP]. Note: see May 14, 1874 and July 15-16, 1874.

January 5 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to the H.O. Houghton & Co., owners of the Atlantic Monthly, sending a check for $4 and asking that 1875 editions be sent to his brother, Orion [MTL 6: 338]. Note: Though Sam often scolded Orion for incompetence, he was usually generous and expressed hope for his success. Guilt and duty were not strangers to Sam, and part of his motivation may have rested in that pew. Unfortunately, many of his letters to his mother that might shed more light on family relationships were destroyed.  [ page 629 ]

January 6 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford, again to the H.O. Houghton & Co., thanking them for the present of his subscription to the Atlantic Monthly. He added a PS:

“I appreciate the voluntary compliment of being paid more than better men, but then I am trying to deserve it. This is rare among writers.”

Note: Sam was being paid $20 per page for the “pilot articles,” or about $140 per article, greater than the normal rate. For Sam the money meant far less than the status of appearing in a foremost literary magazine. Again, it was a badge of respectability—Sam wanted to be, and was, far more than a platform humorist and comedy writer. After years of declining circulation and increased competition, Howells snapped up Sam’s writing, for he was widely known and admired [MTL 6: 339].

January 7 Thursday – James T. Fields, past editor of the Atlantic who remained active as a writer and lecturer, visited Sam in Hartford. Later that day Sam sent Fields the “original rough draft” of a poem, “Those Annual Bills,” together with a short note of thanks. Sam revised the poem sometime afterward and included it in Sketches, New and Old, paired with one from Thomas Moore’s “Those Evening Bells”, which it parodied [MTL 6: 342]. Note: Budd in “Collected”, p.1015 incorrectly lists “James M. Fields,” for Jan. 7, 1874. MTL: 6: 342n1 clarifies that Sam misdated the letter with poem included.

January 8 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Louise Chandler Moulton about her article on his “pet detestation,” Rabelais.

“Did you know, I have often had more than half a mind to go over & dig up Rabelais & throw his bones” away? [MTL 6: 343].

James T. Fields wrote to Clemens after his visit of Jan. 7.

My dear Clemens. / Thanks, many and lot, for your parody which so delighted me then, & delights me now. At dinner today I will read it to my Dame, who will rejoice over it with me I know.

How good it is to be home! I am beginning to hate lecturing and will give it up, please God, ere long.

Those dear little people in your nursery left a sweet & rememberable picture in my mind. Ah! if we could always keep them in the nursery, young and unfledged!

Enclosed you will find the amt. for which my carriage-knave took me by the throat on your doorstep.

Cordially Yrs. / James T. Fields [MTPO].

William Dean Howells sent DeForest to Howells Jan. 5 without any note [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “From Howells / Enclosing compliment from De Forest the novelist”

January 10 Sunday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote Sam, sending proof number two of his pilot series and writing mostly about the hoped-for New Orleans trip, and the possibilities and improbabilities of taking the wives along. Howells included the line:

“Forgive my having led you on to fix a time; I never thought it would come to that, I supposed you would die, or something” [MTL 6: 349n1; MTHL 1: 57-8]. Note: It’s important to remember that both men were humorists. The two men never took the trip together.

January 11 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to John T. Raymond after hosting him and Kate Field for lunch (for a description of the lunch by Annie Moffett, See MTL 6: 347n4)

“I am aware that you are going to be welcomed to our town by great audiences, on both nights of your stay here, & I beg to add my hearty welcome also, through this note. I cannot come to the theater on either evening, Raymond, because there is something so touching about your acting that I can’t stand it” [MTL 6: 345]. [ page 630 ]

Notes: In fact, Sam was not satisfied with Raymond’s portrayal of Sellers, and probably could not stand to watch it again [MTL 6: 347n2]. Still, Sam was wise enough not to tinker with success. In the evening Annie Moffett attended the Gilded Age play in Hartford. The famous picture of Sam shaking hands with Raymond in his Sellers outfit was taken this day [McBride 33].

January 12 Tuesday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote Sam a two-line note that the last installment of “Old Times” was “extraordinarily good” [MTHL 1: 59].

In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells about the proposed trip to New Orleans and Livy’s inability to go. He urged Howells to take his wife along anyway, and invited the Howellses to visit as soon as the furniture arrived for one of his guest rooms [MTL 6: 348]. Howells’ letters to Sam returned jibes with interest.

The Gilded Age play ran for a second successful evening in Hartford. From Joe Twichell’s journal:

Went to hear M.T’s play “The Gilded Age” in the Opera House—the first of my theatre going in Hartford. Mark got me a box, and I invited Burton and Emerson. Burton took Dick along and I, Mrs. T. and we had a pleasant time of it. The audience seeing us supposed that MT was with us in the box, and at the end of one of the acts made a great clamor calling him out, all eyes being bent on us. But M.[ark] was not there at all” [inserted in the journal, from the Hartford Evening Post, a letter from Sam read by Raymond] [Yale, copy at MTP]. Note: Nathaniel J. Burton, and Ralph Waldo Emerson

January 13 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to James R. Osgood, answering his invitation to a Jan. 20 dinner at the Nautilus Club in Boston. Sam answered:

“Indeed I wish I could go, but the madam has made me promise that I wouldn’t absent myself from home until this epidemical & dreadful membranous croup has quitted the atmosphere hereabouts” [MTL 6: 349].

January 15 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells grateful that he’d liked the third installment of “Old Times,”  (his approval was in a Jan. 12 letter). Sam also sent the fourth installment, which ended with what Sam called a “snapper”—a sleepwalking pilot was observed skillfully directing the craft by two other pilots. One pilot remarked: “I never saw anything so gaudy before. And if he can do such gold-leaf, kid-glove, diamond-breastpin piloting when he is sound asleep, what couldn’t he do if he was dead!” [MTL 6: 350-1].

January 16 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote to John L. Toole, English comedian he met in London in 1872. Through Sam, Toole was welcomed at the Lotos Club dinner on Aug. 6, 1874. Now Toole was appearing at the Roberts Opera House in Hartford. Sam regretted being unable to attend and invited Toole to dine with the family at 5 PM the next evening.

“Dress to suit yourself. You have discovered by this time that we are a loose nation in that matter” [MTL 6: 352].

Sam also wrote a short note to William D. Whitney (1827-1894), an American linguist, philologist and lexicographer, inquiring as to the character of “Mr. Webster” (Charles Luther Webster 1851-1891) who had been “paying serious attention to a young niece of mine, Miss Annie Moffett of Fredonia.” Sam referred to “gossip” about Webster, probably stemming from the fact that he accidentally killed a four-year-old girl when he was nine. Whitney was a professor at Yale, and a relative of Webster through his mother, Maria Whitney Webster (1823-1906) [353].

 

January 18 Monday – William D. Whitney responded to Sam’s inquiry of Charles Webster, but Whitney was unaware of Charles and could not give a character reference [MTL 6: 353]. Notes: Charles Webster and Annie Moffett were later married; Webster would be hired as Sam’s publisher. Webster would be [ page 631 ] stricken with trigeminal neuralgia, often called the “suicide disease” due to excruciating pain, which led to his death in 1891. Mac Donnell has uncovered evidence that his death was a suicide from an overdose of anti-pyrene (today called phenazone) [15-19]. Mac Donnell also includes a survey of suicide in Clemens’ life.

January 19 Tuesday – Phineas T. Barnum wrote to Sam. In part…

My dear Clemens / Yours recd I hope I sent you the letter from the man who was going on a lecturing tower!

I have heretofore destroyed a multitude of queer letters but henceforth will save them all for you.

I wonder if you have ever seen my great Hippodrome. If not I really hope you will have a chance to do so during the week or two that it will remain open. I enclose several “orders” to that end.

I’ll not disguise that I have a small axe or hatchet to grind—though if you take hold of it, it would soon swell to an immense tree-chopping implement. But if you dont happen to take to it, understand I shall be quite content—I merely throw out the hint as one “casts his bread upon the waters”—if it dont “return” I’ll be just as well off as if I had not tried for a small harvest.

Your comet article in the Herald last year wherein you had me for an active partner of course added much to my notoriety at home and abroad—now my “axe” is that if you should happen to be in a writing mood and could in your inimitable way hit my travelling Hippodrome so that people could get an idea what is coming next spring & summer, it would help me, but I neither ask nor expect nor desire such a thing unless it so happens that in the way of your literary labors you can make the Hippodrome the subject of a portion of your article. Such an article in Harpers Weekly would be immense and of course proportionately so in any other publication. My object is to reach country readers where my Hippodrome will travel next summer. If you cant bring it into your regular work—I shall be very glad to pay you the same as you would want from any publisher & I’ll have the article inserted in some paper & then mail marked copies of it to every paper in the Union. You cant well get a good idea of Hippodrome without seeing it—but I’ll herein sketch a little about it [MTPO]. Note: Barnum further disclosed his costs and acts. Sam replied on Feb. 3.

January 19 and 25 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Jerome B. Stillson, New York World editor, that Kate Field, now playing opposite John T. Raymond in the role of Laura Hawkins, was an “inveterate sham,” that he had not seen Field’s performance and that she had “considerably improved & strengthened” his complimentary remark since he:

“…uttered it. I do not mind being quoted in full, but I must protest against cutting down of my words which makes me seem to say a very great deal more than I did say, or had any moral right to say” [MTL 6: 354-5]. Note: Sam’s letter was not printed in the World, and Stillson may not have still been with the paper

January 24 Sunday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote Sam that he “really can’t and mustn’t” leave his work to visit Hartford. From his wife’s tone, Howells understood the trip to New Orleans without Livy along would not be possible. He praised Sam’s “science of piloting,” saying “every word’s interesting” [MTHL 1: 61].

 

January 26 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells, who’d declined a Hartford visit in his letter of Jan. 24 [MTHL 1: 60-1]. Sam continued to wrangle a visit from Howells, who was pressed by duties at the Atlantic, and also stalled on his history of Venice project. Sam had decided to do a book on the piloting material, which eventually became Life on the Mississippi (1883). The seven Atlantic articles would be revised and become chapters 4 through 17. At this point Sam was agreeable to having Bliss publish the book. Sam had not been well:

 

“I’ve been sick abed several days for the first time in 21 years. How little confirmed invalids appreciate their advantages. I was able to read the English edition of the Grenville Memoirs through without interruption, take my meals in bed, neglect all business without a pang, & smoke 18 cigars a day” [MTL 6: 357].

 

Sam also wrote to Robert Watt, of Copenhagen, Denmark, responding to Watt’s letter sent through Christen T. Christensen, who had been the Danish consul in New York. Watt had sent letters, press [ page 632 ] reviews, and Danish translations of Sam’s work. Sam told Watt of the success of the Gilded Age play, and his Atlantic series. His plan at this point was to bring the Mississippi book out by November. Sam enclosed a picture of their new house on Farmington Avenue. “We take as much delight in our new house as we do in our new baby” [MTL 6: 359-60].

 

On or about this date Sam sent a picture of the new house to Louis Brush, a Hartford print-shop manager who played billiards with Sam [MTL 6: 362].

Julian Guido Troese Zubern wrote to seek a reference from Sam though he was a stranger. Zubern had fled Russia after helping a writer “who had hurt somebody’s feelings in the state” [MTP].

January 27 Wednesday – Sam sent a congratulatory telegram from Hartford to Charley Langdon on the birth of his second child, Jervis, the previous day. Charley was away with his mother at the Windsor Hotel in New York when Ida gave birth to baby Jervis in Elmira.

“Congratulations from all the household but I suggest in the friendliest spirit that a lad who takes advantage of his father so early in life is a party that will bear watching” [MTL 6: 363].

Joe Twichell wrote: “Dear Mark / You see how badly the padre feels, and also what a pleasant humor he is of. We musn’t give up visiting him. His heart is evidently set upon it” [MTP] Note in file: “Father Joseph B. O’Hagan (1826-78) invites Twichell & SLC to visit, in a letter of 26 January 1875 to Twichell. 26 January 1875 was a Tuesday. Twichell could have received it on Wednesday, 27 January and written to SLC. They planned to visit O’Hagan on 1 February 1875 (L6, 367 n.6)”.

Lemuel H. Wilson wrote from Bridgeport to praise IA [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “From a stranger”

January 28 Thursday – In Hartford, Sam wrote to James Redpath:

 

Could you quietly jam this item into print somewhere without telling where you got the information?

 

“Mark Twain is writing a five-act drama, the scene of which is laid partly in San Francisco, & partly in the Nevada silver mines. The chief character in the piece is peculiarly American.”

I have a reason for wanting to set this item afloat [MTP, drop-in letters].

 

January 29 Friday – Sam wrote to William Dean Howells, the letter unrecovered but enclosure by Charles Warren Stoddard, “Lingering in Venice” survives and may be read at [MTL 6: 630-6].

 

February – The second of seven installments of “Old Times on the Mississippi ” appeared in the Atlantic Monthly.

 

February 1 Monday – In Hartford Sam replied to the Dec. 12, 1874 from Charles Warren Stoddard, a long letter from London about his travels and mutual friends. Stoddard wrote travel letters for the San Francisco Chronicle, and was in Rome the previous year.

 

Dear Charley: /All right about the Tichborne scrap-books; send them along when convenient. I mean to have the Beecher-Tilton trial scrap-booked as a companion. At present I believe I would rather go down in history as the Claimant than as Mr. Beecher. Both men’s fame will outlast yours & mine.

I was very sorry to hear of your fearful accident in Rome. How in the world did it happen? Lady Hardy spoke of it in a letter, but gave no particulars. And tell me—who did Mulford marry? Was she English? Had she money? For when we saw him last he was surely in no condition to marry.

By the way, Bierce is writing some exquisite things for “Fun”—a school-boy’s compositions upon natural history—& they do lay a long way over any body else’s attempts in that line that ever ventured into it. They are just delicious. [ page 633 ]

I hope you will remember me kindly to your friend (& mine) Rev. John Kreger [sic Kroeger] of Loreto, when you write him. This reminds me that Rev. Jo. Twichell (my pastor) & I are going to Worcester, Mass., to have “a time” with a most jolly & delightful Jesuit priest who was all through the war with Joe. Jo was chaplain of a regiment & I suppose the padre was also. I sent the padre word that I knew all about the Jesuits, from the Sunday school books, & that I was well aware that he wanted to get Jo & me into his den & skin us to make religious parchments out of, after the ancient style of his communion since the days of good Loyola, but that I was willing to chance it & trust to Providence.

I am writing a series of 7-page articles for the Atlantic at $20 a page; but as they do not pay anybody else as much as that for prose, I do not complain, (though at the same time I do swear that I am content.) However the awful respectability of the magazine makes up.

I have cut your delightful article about San Marco out of a New York paper (Joe Twichell saw it & brought it home to me with loud admiration) & sent it to Howells. It is too bad to fool away such literature in a perishable daily journal.

Do remember me kindly to Lady Hardy & all that rare family—my wife & I so often have pleasant talks about them.

Ever Yr friend

Samℓ. L. Clemens

[MTL 6: 363-68; MTPO]. Notes: Clemens was fond of Lady Mary Anne Hardy, husband Sir Thomas Dufus Hardy, and daughter Iza Hardy from his 1873 trip to London. Prentice Mulford Dogberry”; 1834-1891); John Kroeger (1826-1878) of Indiana; Joseph B. O’Hagan was Twichell’s wartime friend & clergyman. See source notes for more details.

February 3 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to P.T. Barnum, who Sam probably met in Feb. 1872. Barnum had asked Sam to “puff” his new Hippodrome, and although Sam thought it stupendous and that Barnum had remarkable “pluck,” he wrote that he couldn’t write the article at any price …

“…because it is out of my line; & you know, better than any other man, that success in life depends strictly upon one’s sticking to his line” [MTL 6: 368].

February 6 Saturday – Lewis Griswold wrote from Centerville, Mont. after reading RI:

Mark Twain, / Sir. I have just been reading your “Roughing It,” And I have laught untill the tears run down my cheeks at your confounded Oddities and lies. Beemis’es adventures with his Buffalo bull, fir-instance And Jim Blaines story of the Old ram Oh! get out, its enough to make a monkey laugh—And that land slide case of Hyde and Morgans its bully. But I was sorry that you hadent got a little “tighter” and spun us a good yarn about the “maid of the milky way” or the “man in the moon” Their courtship fir instance. Or a yarn about the “Mermaid and Man”—You could have dovetailed them in somewhere and made it interesting, but never the less you will have his enough to account for any how. God have mercy uppon your soul. But I am afraid Mark you are a poor Reformer you aint good at the stick, witness when you threw away your pipe in the snow drift with poor Bllou and Ollendorff—But you aint alone in that respect. Then I think you are a very little lazey, or else you would have done that days work, and been a “Millionaire” If I were “Cal Higbie” I would curs you as long as I lived.—Mark do you think you would know a “Genuine Mexican Plug” from an American if you were to see one now? Ha, ha, ha. Oh! my buttons, Well Mark, to sume you up all in all, I think you have depicted yourselfe pretty well on page 557—God have mercy on your Soule

Your description of California Life and cenes are good, I am an Old California Tramp myself and can appreciate the “eternal fitness of things” to a nicety—Your Old Friend Claggett is over, in Deer Lodge, Mining and lecturing once in a while, if he dident freese to death last winter.—Now Mark I want you to send me your Autograph and Likeness, that I may have it to say: that I have the Picture of the funniest man and the D——Dest liar in the World— / Lew. Griswold

 

P.S. I had to swallow two Whales an a young Porpoise to get up Brain material for this effort, and if I don’t get that Picter I shall week and (Whale) for a thousan years / L.G.— / Excuse pencil, had no ink in cabin [MTP]. Note: Clemens was evidently put off by this letter as he wrote on it, “Respectfully declined.”

 

Hurd & Houghton Co. wrote an offer to Clemens. [ page 634 ]

 

Confidential

Dear Sir: We should like to ask your favorable consideration of a scheme which we have formed, in carrying out which your cooperation would be of great value. We have been struck with the comparatively slight attention paid by American publishers to American fiction. In the various “libraries of select fiction” American authors find small place, and the general style of presentation is rarely such as to attract public notice. We ourselves have published but few novels, except the standard ones, of Dickens & Cooper, but it is our wish, having no entanglements with modern British novelists, to make a specialty of the publication of bright, short American novels, giving them all the prominence which very careful attention to the printing and binding can secure, making them cheap, advertising them widely and securing thus popularity for the several books and all possible reputation as well as profit for the authors.

….

Pray set down any excessive to our enthusiasm and not to any spirit of brag, and let us ask if we may not count on you for No I in this series? We trust you will give this matter favorable consideration and we should be glad to confer further with you, either personally or by letter. Meanwhile have the kindness to regard our communication as confidential as we wish to perfect our plans before any part of them become public [MTPO]. Note: Sam declined on Feb. 12.

 

February 6 or 7 Sunday – In Hartford, Sam sent the first of five telegrams to attorneys Frank Tilford & A. Hagan about an announced, unauthorized Gilded Age play about to be performed in Salt Lake City. Willie Gill was to play the part of Col. Sellers. The writer of the adaptation was unknown. Sam claimed that there had been three piracies of his play. The U.S. Marshall canceled the show with a writ of injunction on Feb. 8 [MTL 6: 371-3].

 

Around Feb. 6, Sam sent $20 to Will Bowen for his brother Sam Bowen, who had asked for a loan [MTL 6: 423n1].

 

 

February 7 Sunday – Twichell’s journal:

“M.T and I went down, by previous appointment, to Morgan St. Mission S.S. School and made a short talk apiece. Mark was very happy in his speech, and I was very happy to have him there” [Yale 54]. Note: the Mission was “Father” David Hawley’s headquarters. Bush claims Twichell and Twain often spoke there [130].

February 8 Monday – In Hartford, Sam telegraphed that he’d sent $1,000 to President DuRell of the Salt Lake City National Bank to furnish bonds in a legal action to stop unauthorized production of the Gilded Age play there [MTL 6: 373].

Sam also telegraphed Tilford & Hagan three times. First, Sam was sending instructions to his Hartford counsel, Charles Perkins. Second, Sam would make “no compromise with thieves on any terms,” – a reply to a suggestion by Gill that the play be allowed to go on one night with a division of receipts. Sam won the case in court and the play was stopped. Willie Gill objected strongly to being called a “thief” and pointed out that Sam owed a great deal of Colonel Sellers’ character to Wilkins Micawber by Dickens and that Gill was ignorant of the 1870 law which gave the novelist exclusive right to dramatize it [MTL 6: 374-5].

Sam also wrote to Samuel S. Cox,  Democrat congressman from New York, about the legal length of copyright. He enclosed a ironic petition, which concluded that since the right of real property was perpetual but the right of literary property was limited to 42 years, that all property should thus be limited to 42 years [MTL 6: 376-7]. [ page 635 ]

February 10 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells. Sam wrote that he’d sent the fifth article in the Atlantic series that day. He also urged Howells, who’d been meeting resistance from his wife, to “try hard, on the 15th, to say you will go to New Orleans.” Sam admitted not having much confidence in his insight as a literary critic, and Howells’ positive reviews of Stoddard’s articles for the Atlantic conflicted with Sam’s opinion.

I didn’t enjoy his gush, but I thought a lot of his similes were ever so vivid & good….But it’s just my luck; every time I go into convulsions of admiration over a picture & want to buy it right away before I’ve lost the chance, some wretch who really understands art comes along & damns it. But I don’t mind. I would rather have my ignorance than another man’s knowledge, because I have got so much more of it [MTL 6: 378].

February 12 Friday – In Hartford Sam replied to the Feb. 6 from to Hurd & Houghton Co. Sam didn’t see much money in the proposal of this publisher to bring forth a few good American novels “making them cheap, advertising them widely and securing thus popularity…” Houghton wished to make Sam the first author in the series [MTL 6: 379-80].

Sam also wrote to James R. Osgood, Howells’ publisher. Sam wrote the story of Bliss pulling out an old contract after Sam had put together his sketches book and informed Bliss that Osgood would get the book. After some negotiations, Sam got a raise in royalty to 10% on sales over 50,000 copies, and so then wrote Osgood of what had happened. He pressed Osgood to come along on the New Orleans trip.

“But in any case, don’t you want to take a pleasure trip about that time? [March] I wish you would go. Think of the gaudy times you & Howells & I would have on such a bender!” [MTL 6: 380-1].

Osgood replied that it would “be more possible for a rich man (like you) to enter the Kingdom of Heaven than for me to leave home in March or April” [MTL 6: 383].

February 12–28 Sunday – Some time within this period, Sam wrote from Hartford to Bliss, asking him to write to William F. Gill, Boston publisher who’d acquired a copyright on Lotos Leaves, which contained a story by Sam that he wanted for his Sketches book.

Sam also wrote a short note from Hartford to Bliss asking him to hunt up the “horrible translation” of the Jumping Frog story from French that Sam had sent him, as he wanted to include it in his Sketches volume. Sam may have written this note any time from Feb. 12 to Mar. 31 [MTL 6: 384].

February 12–20 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote to John Hay inviting him along on the planned Mississippi trip [MTL 6: 404n3].

February 13? Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Strother Nimrod Wiley (1815-1899), a famous pilot on the Mississippi during the 1850s. Wiley had read an excerpt from Sam’s Atlantic articles, reprinted in the St. Louis Times for Jan. 24, and recognized himself as “Mr. W——” in the second article. Wiley wrote to Sam who sent the letter on to Howells, and answered Wiley that he planned to be back in St. Louis on his New Orleans trip to look at the old river once more [MTL 6: 385].

Note: Wiley was one of the most colorful steamboat pilots Sam had known. He appears in Chapters 8, 14, and 17 of LM. He was a great and colorful storyteller and could play the fiddle. He had the unparalleled respect of fellow pilots; he became the first president of the St. Louis and New Orleans Pilots’ Assoc. in 1857. See Edgar Branch’s article in the Mark Twain Journal, Fall 1986, titled “A Proposed Calendar of Samuel Clemens’s Steamboats 15 April 1857 to 8 May 1861, with Commentary.”  [ page 636 ]

February 14? Sunday – Sam wrote to Elinor (1837-1910) and William Dean Howells, thanking Elinor for sending family pictures. Sam liked the “good old human domestic spirit” that pervaded the photograph. Livy was in bed, commanded there by the family doctor, probably Cincinnatus A. Taft. Sam told of writing anecdotes about Strother Wiley (see Feb. 13?) and then receiving a letter from him, which he now forwarded to Howells [MTL 6: 385-7].

February 15 Monday – Sam gave his second presentation for the Hartford Monday Evening Club on “Universal Suffrage.” For a portion of the text see MTB p.541 [Monday Evening Club; Fatout, MT Speaking 651].

Maj. General John Gibbon (1827-1896) wrote from Ft. Shaw, Montana to praise GA as “amusing and interesting, but exceedingly instructive” [MTP].

Robert Watt wrote from Copenhagen, Denmark.

My dear Mr Clemens! / I received your kind, interesting and long letter of the 26st January a few days ago, and thank you very much. It is realy very amiable on your part to write at such a length considering how very much you have got to do, and how sick and tired you sometimes must be of pen and ink.

Jorgensen got your letter and called on me to let me read it, to him you enclosed a photograph of your new town house—so I had got none, but now, since you also send me one, I shan’t quarrel with him. What a fine place it must be! and I shan’t very easily give up the hope of having the pleasure of calling on you there, to have a chat under the trees. I am always travelling about, but it will be more difficult to get Mr Jorgensen across; still he thanks you very much for your kind proposal, and I am sure I am not less grateful myself. Allow me to congratulate you to the new baby!— How many now?— Have you been married for several years?— Yes! There is lots of questions I should wish to put, if I was not afraid of bothering you. But à propos. Is there not a real good biography of you to be had? Of course I can learn very much concerning your life from your books, but still I should like to have the other thing too; and might put it together with your portrait in the new danish edition of your works. Jorgensen tells me that the two volumes of Mark Twain “soon will be sold entirely out, and I shall then commence a good and elegant edition of Selected works” in at least 5 volumes, commencing with “Roughing it” or perhaps “Old times on the Mississippi”—and “to be continued”. I thank you beforehand for the last named book; I have already enjoyed the two first chapters as Mr Christensen in New York at once sent me “The Atlantic”; he knows I am watching everything that flows from your pen to swallow it on the spot. The other day too, I happened to get hold of the illustrated edition of your “Roughing it” dedicated to Mr Higbie (American Publishing Co) I got it from a countryman who had been 23 years away from Denmark and who had spent several years in Nevada, where he still holds property. The book amused me very much, and so it did to get a talk with him, particularly because he had often seen you in Virginia City when you lived there. … [MTPO]. Note: answered on Mar. 8.

February 16 Tuesday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote with finality: “I can’t manage the trip [to New Orleans] this winter” [MTHL 1: 66].

Sam spotted an article in the New York Times in which a loophole had been claimed in a copyright case for a play. Worried about the three attempts at unauthorized production of his Gilded Age play, Sam, in Hartford, wrote to Ainsworth R. Spofford, librarian of Congress, and asked him to confirm whether the article was “correct or erroneous.” Sam enclosed the clipping [MTL 6: 387]. Note: Copyright law was still rather new, but in Boucicault v. Hart the Supreme Court ruled in June 1875 that even without statutory copyright on an unpublished play, the author still retained control of it under common law. Sam fought for the rights of writers during his entire lifetime. 

James R. Osgood replied to the Feb. 12 from Clemens.

My dear Clemens: / Your letter of 12th inst. is received to-day. Though it grieves me, it yet pleases me. I am pleased to have been the unconscious cause of benefitting a fellow-creature—such an experience being a rare one for a publisher! And I confess to some degree of delight in finding signs of weakness in so accomplished [ page 637 ] a business-man and successful gambler as yourself: I wouldn’t have believed that you could make such a contract, or having made, forget it! But age will tell.

Seriously I am more sorry than I can tell to lose the book, particularly as I came so near getting it. But to show you that I bear no malice, I hereby invite you to that Nautilus Club dinner which was postponed from Jan 20th on account of Underwood’s illness. It will come off on Wednesday February 24th. Will you come? It will be Aldrich’s last public appearance before crossing the Atlantic. Let me know as soon as you can.

I should delight in that Mississippi trip, but it would be more possible for a rich man (like you) to enter the Kingdom of Heaven than for me to leave home in March or April. But Howells must go—he needs a vacation and he would get such a lot of material. / Yours truly / J. R. Osgood [MTPO].

Mrs. Clara St. John wrote from NYC to ask for a Mark Twain photo & autograph [MTP].

February 18 Thursday – Phineas T. Barnum wrote to Sam, unsure if he’d answered Sam’s last letter. He sent a “queer batch of letters” [MTP].

February 19 Friday – From Hartford Sam answered P.T. Barnum’s letter of Feb. 18. Barnum had saved and forwarded batches of “queer letters,” unusual letters received from people seeking fame and fortune with the circus.

“It is an admirable lot of letters….Headless mice, four-legged hens, human-handed sacred bulls, ‘professional’ Gypsies…school-teachers who can’t spell—it is a perfect feast of queer literature!” [MTL 6: 389]. Note: in Sam’s day, queer meant odd.

February 20 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells. Sam could not go to Boston; he’d “have to give up the river trip, too.” Howells had written that he could not take the long-planned New Orleans trip. Sam would finish a few more river sketches for the Atlantic and then start on another book for Bliss, then make the river trip “or drop it indefinitely.” Sam discovered that his mother-in-law could not stay with Livy as he’d planned, due to pressing improvements on the Langdon house. Still, Sam looked forward to a March visit by the Howellses [MTL 6: 390].

Sam wrote to James R. Osgood that his Boston trip and dinner at the Nautilus Club was:

“…knocked in the head. It would take so long to explain why, that I’ll not attempt it, but only send regrets, do some private cussing, & wish the dinner party a happy time & Aldrich & family godsend & a glorious tour.”

The Aldriches were sailing to Europe on Mar. 24. They returned in October [MTL 6: 391-2].

Hurd & Houghton, Riverside Press, Boston wrote to Sam: “We had only your esteemed favor of the 12th, but are unwilling to regard it as closing the correspondence between us….We should be glad if we could see you the next time you come to Boston.” They proposed a small novel from him [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Novels”

February 21 Sunday – Sam wrote to Joseph H. Sprague and Others, to accept a lecture in the name of “Father” David Hawley, with all benefits going to Hawley’s charity work [MTL 6: 392-3]. Twichell recorded in his journal that “he wrote the letter of response in my study, Sunday PM Feb 21st” [Yale, copy at MTP].

February 23 Tuesday – The Hartford Courant published Sam’s letter to Joseph H. Sprague and Others, “Bread for Father Hawley’s Flock” [MTL 6: 392-3].

February 24 Wednesday – Twichell performed a marriage ceremony for Yung Wing (1828-1912) of the Hartford Chinese Educational Mission and Miss Mary Kellogg. No mention is made of Sam in Joe’s journal or notes, but he may have attended the controversial event, even though it was followed by a teetotal reception; certainly Joe and Sam must have discussed the marriage, since the engagement was a [ page 638 ] year long and other pastors had refused to marry the two [Yale, copy at MTP]. Note: Mary was the sister of Dr. E.W. Kellogg.

Charles W. Stoddard wrote from Venice, Italy to Sam.

Dear Mark / Your letter makes me feel more comfortable and I’m ever so much obliged for it. Here goes for an answer to each of your questions as they appear in order.

I was riding a blind horse across the Campagna at midnight last May. My friends were jogging on ahead of me; suddenly my horse went off the edge of a low bridge and I went with him. We struck together among ugly stones and rubbish, righted immediately, but my left arm was fractured just below the elbow and the joint suffered a double dislocation.

For three months I believe I was in Hell! As it is I haven’t got further than purgatory; I shall probably never regain the use of the arm; it is as stiff as a pump handle and even now is sometimes painful. I thought of the Langham-days while I was lying on my back in Rome with my arm buried alive in plaster of paris.

II Did I never tell you of a pretty little English girl who was a friend of Joaquin Miller and who lived down in Museum St at our old lodgings? She was very pretty and seemed to be a milliner, though she was most of the time at home. We were good friends and often dined together and had long talks about Joaquin and Mulford and Olive Harper; by the way Harper wrote her up in some paper and called her “Josie”—that is her name. She wasn’t very proud but she was poor enough to make up for it; well, Mulford has married her and they are living somewhere in New England, I think, Sag Harbor perhaps.

III I’ve sent your message to Father Kroeger and he thinks you are such a bully fellow; you’d like him immensely; if you were to drop in on him at the Papal Palace in Loretto, he would give you some very good community wine (purer than is to be had out of the church, you know) and a bad cigar: Isn’t the Italian tobacco market seedy, though?

IV I hope you had a tearing time with the Jesuit Father. As a class they are the most genial fellows in the world. They are men of the world—with a reserve!

V I’m so glad you liked my letter on San Marco: Do you know Mark I would like to make a selection from my letters when this course is run, and get the same into a big subscription book with the hope of clearing a little out of them.

Would their chance be any poorer than that of our friends, whose book of Humor which is supposed to be found on every table at this moment?—I mean Webbs of cours[e]! Can you advise me on this matter? I want to work my way home by India, China etc—this will take money and the money has not yet made its appearance but perhaps it will. With best love for you, dear Mark, and for Mrs Clemens and the Modox

Ever your friend / C. W. Stoddard. / P. S.

I forgot to say in the right place that mene while I must return to England and see more of it: I dont want to go home yet, would you advise me to?

I havent heard a word from Dolby since I left London. Hope he is alive and well. I have seen but the first of your articles in the Atlantic and I though[t] of the old times when we used to sit up over the fire in the corner room and you drew such graphic off hand pictures of the Mississip’—by Jove! I wish they could be written just as you told them, voice and all. How is your book on England growing? I congratulate you heartily on your great dramatic success! Do it again. Love to Raymond when you see him!

again as always yours, / C.W.S. [MTPO].

February 25 Thursday – Clinton Rice, attorney wrote from Wash. DC. Illness in his family had prevented a call on Clemens during his last stop there. His object was to remind him of Sam’s request in 1870 to correspond with Orion about the price of the Tennessee Land. After spending time and money to find a purchaser, he’d rec’d a letter from Orion that a purchaser had been found, so even though the owed amount of $11.70 was small, he thought he should be paid by a millionaire [MTP]. (See Mar. 1 entry.)

February 26 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Warren Choate & Co., that had asked to purchase the rights to the Jumping Frog story. Sam replied that he was “on the point of issuing it in book form through my publishers here, along with all my sketches complete” [MTL 6: 394]. [ page 639 ]

Sam also wrote to William A. Seaver who had offered to report the results of Sam’s upcoming charity lecture.

“As this is honestly the last lecture I ever expect to deliver, I would like to see it corral as much cash as possible” [MTL 6: 395].

February 27 Saturday – Dr. John Brown wrote from Edinburgh. Much of the two-sided note is written over and illegible but he thanked Sam & Livy for two letters, photo and offered the “Megalopolis” twenty five kisses [MTP].

February 28 Sunday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote Sam:

“Your giving up that river-trip has been such a blow to me that I have not been able to write until now. Mrs. Howells and I expect to appear at Hartford on Thursday, March 11, to afflict you briefly” [MTHL 1: 67].

February, late – John Gibbon wrote to Sam in late Feb., exact date missing, complimentary of the stage play of GA [MTP]. Note: General John Gibbon in Montana.

March – The 3rd of 7 installments of “Old Times on the Mississippi” ran in the Atlantic Monthly.

March 1 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote a short note to Elisha Bliss that he’d “put off the Mississippi River trip till June” and that he’d write a new book in the meantime. He also sent a “private commendation” on the Gilded Age play to Bliss, noting that John T. Raymond was “stirring up a new sort of comment upon the novel” [MTL 6: 395]. Raymond’s portrayal did not fully satisfy Sam.

Sam also wrote to Orion and enclosed a check to pay Clinton Rice, an attorney hired by Orion in 1870 to find a buyer for the Tennessee Land. Rice had incurred expenses in the grand total of $11.70 and four years later was asking for his money. Sam hoped that the Tennessee Land was “now in hell,” didn’t “care a cent whether his demand is just or not,” and just wanted it “paid” [MTL 6: 396]. Note: One wonders if Orion didn’t sometimes, at least subconsciously, keep the land pot stirring as a way to aggravate his successful brother. The check was sold on eBay, June, 2009. It is check #52 drawn on the First National Bank of Hartford to Clinton Rice for $12 [eBay # 120435892109]. Sam rounded up the amount owed of $11.70. 

Sam also wrote to John Gibbon,  the military commander of Montana district, who’d sent compliments on reading The Gilded Age. Sam replied

“I naturally value [private commendations] more than I do the opinions of the mass of newspaper men…”

Not all the newspaper comment was positive when the book first came out [MTL 6: 398-9].

Sam was in a letter-writing mood. He also wrote to Howells who had written suggesting he and his wife could visit on Mar. 11. “All dates suit,” Sam replied [MTL 6: 400].

March 2 Tuesday – Nearly a foot of snow fell on Hartford, bringing the town to a halt and causing train delays to Boston and Albany.

Sam wrote to Howells, enclosing a favorable critique of ministers that Joe Twichell had clipped from a newspaper. Sam wrote that when Twichell heard Howells would be coming on Mar. 11 for a stay, he changed his schedule and canceled an exchange of pulpits with a New Jersey preacher.

“Howells, didn’t I tell you that this Jo Twichell couldn’t be kept out?” [MTL 6: 401]. [ page 640 ]

March 5 Friday – Sam gave his promised “Roughing It” lecture for “Father” David Hawley in the Hartford Opera House. Livy, Joe and Harmony Twichell were in Sam’s private box. Sam wrote of it the next day to William Seaver [MTL 6: 402]. Joe’s journal:

“The subject was ‘Nevada’—a pretty fair performance for a lecture, but not at all equal to what he commonly does in private talk” [MTP: Yale 63; MTL 6: 403]. Note: this was the second and last lecture Clemens gave in support of Hawley’s work for Hartford’s poor; see Jan. 28 and 31, 1873 entries.

March 6 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote to William Seaver that the lecture had “snugly filled every seat” and gained $1,233 for the cause. “Thus gratifyingly endeth the earthly lecturing career of yours truly.” John Hay had not answered Sam’s letter, written sometime between Feb. 12 and Feb. 20, so Sam ended the letter to Seaver with “Is John Hay living? Love to him” [MTL 6: 402-3]. The Hartford Courant reported:

No lecture that we have ever heard has been more provocative of mirth. The audience were kept the whole evening in genuine and wholesome laughter…The lecture is without doubt the best Mr. Clemens has yet delivered in this city.

Clemens also wrote thanks to E.R. Hoar, Ralph Waldo Emerson and George Heywood. Transcript, Proceedings of the Centennial Celebration of Concord Fight. April 19, 1875 [MTP].

March 8 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Theodore F. Seward (1835-1902), current musical director for the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University. Sam requested that the group sing “John Brown’s Body,” a song he’d heard a “volcanic eruption of applause” for while in England in the summer of 1873. In the evening Sam and Livy attended the performance at the Hartford Opera House. Sam wrote that it would be his fifth time hearing the singers [MTL 6: 406].

Sam also wrote to Robert Watt of Copenhagen, Denmark, who had replied to Sam’s letter of Jan. 26. Watt mentioned the lack of a good biography of Sam.

I haven’t any biographical facts—gave them all to Routledge, who put them in “Men of the Time.” There’s nothing else that I would like to see in print until I am dead—& then I shan’t be reading much of the time. I could find more enjoyment in other ways where I hope to go hereafter; & if I should make a mistake & get to the other place, printed matter wouldn’t stand the climate there [MTL 6: 408-9]. Note: Sam enclosed an acknowledgement from “Father” David Hawley for the monies raised by Sam’s lecture.

“Mark Twain on Copyright” ran on page 2 of the Hartford Courant [Courant.com].

March 11 Thursday – William and Elinor Howells arrived at Sam and Livy’s at noon for a two-day stay. It was the first meeting of the wives. Livy invited “Mr and Mrs Perkins, and Mammie [dau. Mary Russell Perkins, age 18]—Mr and Mrs Twichell, and Mr and Mrs G. Warner” for dinner [MTL 6: 411-2].

Twichell’s journal: “A most delightful evening with some of the best people in the world” [Yale 66, copy at MTP].

March 12 Friday – In the morning, Joe Twichell brought his children to meet the Howellses. In the evening, the gang went to see Charles Perkins and family on Woodland Street (which joined with Farmington Avenue near the Clemens house) [MTL 6: 411-2].

Twichell’s journal: “…the children behaved well” [Yale 66, copy at MTP].

March 13 Saturday – The Howellses departed at noon [MTL 6: 411-2]. Joe Twichell dropped in on Sam, hoping the Howellses were still there [MTL 6: 415]. [ page 641 ]

March 14 Sunday – In Hartford, Livy and Sam wrote to Olivia Lewis Langdon. Livy wrote a page or two and Sam added a few short lines about wishing that Howells had seen the silver set for baby Clara. Each of their children received such a set from Grandmother Langdon [MTL 6: 411-12].

March 15 Monday – William Dean Howells wrote a short note:

My dear Clemens: /Your own feelings will give you no clew to our enjoyment of the little visit we made you. There never was anything more unalloyed in the way of pleasure—I was even spared the pang of bidding the ladies goodbye.

I’m sorry you’re not coming up to the Aldrich lunch, to which I found myself invited.— Don’t say anything to anybody about the Longfellow book till you hear from me.

Yours ever, / W. D. Howells [MTPO]. Note: Aldrich was leaving for Europe so the lunch was a sendoff. Sam replied on Mar. 16.

John M. Hay wrote to Sam.

Dear Clemens / After thinking about it an hour or so I believe I did not answer your letter about going down the river. If I did I can tell you now why I did not accept. She is three days old and a voice beyond any sane price….

The ladies of the house discern in her the rudiments of great beauty. I am old and my vision is impaired.

She is well and hearty. So is her mother. Of the two the mother is the handsomer and makes less row.

Give my compliments to Mrs. Clemens.

Yours sincerely / John Hay [MTPO].

Stephen Percival Moorhouse (1858-1928) wrote from Boston to Clemens:

Mr. Saml Clemens / Dear Sir:

      A few young people in town are about forming a literary club, and as we cannot decide upon a name, it was proposed that I should write to you and ask your advice.

      The object of the club is improvement combined with pleasure.

      At our meetings we have an entertainment about an hour long, consisting of declamations, readings, music, &c., and then the rest of the evening is spent in social amusements.

      Several names have been proposed, but we cannot find an appropriate one.

      If you will help us out, provided it does not inconvenience you too much, we shall feel greatly indebted to you. / Very truly yours, / S.P. Moorhouse / Sec. [MTP]. Note: for some reason, Clemens thought this request over the line: he wrote on the letter: “This is the worst piece of cheek of all.”

John Gibbon wrote again Sam in mid-March, exact date missing, but file says this is a reply to Clemens’ Mar. 1. Only bottom half of two torn pages are in file. What is there is complimentary of the stage play of GA [MTP].

March 16 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells, responding to William’s Mar. 15 note of thanks for the visit. Sam related Livy’s remark that “Nothing could have been added to that visit to make it more charming, except days

Sam discovered that baby Clara’s wet nurse, Maria McLaughlin (her fifth and last), had raided his beer closet and “drank 200 bottles of the 252…. My beer will be respected,” Sam wrote, “now, I hope, for I do not wish to resort to bloodshed.” In later years Sam described Maria McLaughlin with his muscular pen:

No. 5 was apparently Irish, with a powerful strain of Egyptian in her….She stood six feet in her stockings, she was perfect in form & contour, raven-haired, dark as an Indian, stately, carrying her head like an empress, she had the martial port & stride of a grenadier, & the pluck & strength of a battalion of them. In professional capacity the cow was a poor thing compared to her, & not even the pump was qualified to take [ page 642 ] on airs where she was. She was as independent as the flag, she was indifferent to morals & principles, she disdained company, & marched in a procession by herself. She was as healthy as iron, she had the appetite of a crocodile, the stomach of a cellar, & the digestion of a quartz-mill. Scorning the adamantine law that a wet-nurse must partake of delicate things only, she devoured anything & everything she could get her hands on, shoveling into her person fiendish combinations of fresh pork, lemon pie, boiled cabbage, ice cream, green apples, pickled tripe, raw turnips, & washing the cargo down with freshets of coffee, tea, brandy, whisky, turpentine, kerosene—anything that was liquid; she smoked pipes, cigars, cigarettes, she whooped like a Pawnee & swore like a demon; & then she would go up stairs loaded as described & perfectly delight the baby with a boquet which ought to have killed it at thirty yards, but which only made it happy & fat & contented & boozy. No child but this one ever had such grand & wholesome service. The giantess raided my tobacco & cigar department every day; no drinkable thing was safe from her if you turned your back a moment [MTL 6: 415-6n6].

March 17 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Charles Warren Stoddard, the day after receiving a reply to his letter of Feb. 1. Stoddard dislocated and broken his left arm in a riding accident. Sam answered that he’d never before been:

“…bodily hurt…But I had 8 cousins in one family [Lamptons] every devil of whom had enjoyed from one to two broken arms before reaching puberty. Think of it!”

Sam also asked what had become of Prentice Mulford (“Dogberry”) [MTL 6: 417-8].

Sam wrote a $15 check to John Watson [MTP].

Miss Clara Marshall wrote from Shreveport, La. to ask Sam’s help publishing [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Wants a literary contract”

March 18 Thursday – Sam had a large maple cut down in the yard, “five steps from the house,” thinking it was dead. He wrote in a letter to David Gray ten days later that only one limb was dead and that he found “himself keeping away from the windows on that side because that stump is such a reproach…” [MTL 6: 429].

James Martin wrote from Boston to ask Sam if he would send a letter puffing their typewriters (Densmore, Yost & Co.). [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “About the Type-Writer. / New invention. I bought one six months ago. Never had heard of it before. Refused to let my name be used because it would breed correspondence from idle, question-asking people. S.L.C.”

Royal Hill Milleson (1849-1936) wrote from Indianapolis, Ind. to ask, “will you please become a kind patron to a young man, and send him to the Art School at Munich for a season?” [MTP]. Note: no answer to the letter exists and it is assumed Clemens ignored the request. Milleson’s career led him through journalism, studying art in Chicago, illustration and then painting, in which he earned some success as a landscape painter. He was the author of The Artist’s Point of View (1912), which contains a brief mention of Mark Twain.

March 19 Friday – Susy Clemens’ third birthday; in a letter to her mother, Livy told of the presents that Susy shared with her baby sister “Bay” (Clara): dolls, candy, a silver setting, a gold ring, silver thimble, a Bible from the servants, and from her father a Noah’s ark with 200 wooden animals [Willis 97].

Sam replied to the Mar. 18 from James Martin, and typed a letter to Densmore, Yost & Co., typewriter manufacturer of his machine:

GENTLEMEN,—Please do not use my name in any way. Please do not even divulge the fact that I own a machine. I have entirely stopped using the TYPE-WRITER, for the reason that I could never write a letter with it to anybody without receiving a request by return mail that I would not only describe the machine, but [ page 643 ] state what progress I had made in the use of it, etc., etc. I don’t like to write letters, and so I don’t want people to know I own this curiosity-breeding little joker. Yours truly, SAML. L. CLEMENS [MTL 6: 419].

Sam also wrote to Charley Langdon about the morning family fun and Susy’s gifts, which included:

“a ranting mob of Sunday-clad dolls from Livy & Annie [Moffett], & a Noah’s Ark from me containing 200 wooden animals such as only a human being could create & only God call by name without referring to the passenger list” [MTL 6: 420-1].

March 20 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote to his old childhood friend, Will Bowen, who returned the $20 check Sam sent on or about Feb. 6 for Sam Bowen. Will felt his brother would never repay the loan. Sam insisted that it was for Sam Bowen to say whether or not he needed the check and to accept or return it. So Sam asked Will simply to give it to his brother and explain. Sam Bowen ultimately cashed the check, then claimed later to have repaid it and asked for another loan. Clemens noted on the envelope: “Keep this precious letter from a precious liar.” Sam was still talking about a river trip, though having put it off for the present. He asked Will to verify a few steamboat speed records he gave, wanting this information for his Atlantic series of pilot articles [MTL 6: 422-3].

Charles Casey for The Mark Twain Club, Carlow, Ireland wrote to inquire of Sam the meaning of this from IA: “The women of Syria are so sinfully ugly that they cannot smile after 10 o’c on Saturday night without breaking the Sabbath” [MTP].

March 22 Monday – Reginald Cholmondeley wrote from Funchal, Madiera.

I am sorry that you cannot come. I hear what you say of Bret Harte, but I think you are quite right to tell me & have not sent an invite by any one else. … I think your house looks charming in the photo. / I have been on the West Coast of Africa collecting live birds & plants & returned here on the 17th & hope to be at home by April the 24th. My opinion certainly is that if I had two properties the West Coast of Africa or Hell, that I should conclude to lease the West Coast & live in Hell. Kind regards to Mrs. Clemens & Susie… [MTP].

Mike M. Brannan (“Doc Adams” Georgia Press, agent) wrote from Hartford enclosing a playbill and ticket for the Clemens family to the “Katie Putnam Comedy Company” (still in file, so never used). [MTP].

March 23 Tuesday – Phineas T. Barnum wrote to Sam.

My dear Clemens / Yours recd. It is a shame I have wasted so much good stuff for your collection. I hope at a proper time you will publish many of the letters. They will form almost a new page in the volume of human nature.” He testified he and his wife were “delighted” with Twain’s books. “You must not creep and crawl and sweat out of giving us at least a week’s visit with your wife when the weather is warmer” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Concerning the ‘B’ letters”

 March 24 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Elisha Bliss, recommending Bliss write Dan De Quille (William Wright) about a possible book on the story of the Comstock Lode. Sam claimed:

“The first big compliment I ever received was that I was ‘almost worthy to write in the same column with Dan de Quille’ ” [MTL 6: 424-5].

Sam then wrote to Dan De Quille about his efforts with Bliss, and how to reply about royalties and the process once Bliss queried.

“If you should write a book will you come & stay in my house while you read your proofs, Dan?” [MTL 6: 425-6]. [ page 644 ]

Phineas T. Barnum wrote “a thousand thanks” to Sam for books that arrived this day [MTP].

March 26 Friday – “The most notable feature of the furniture” for Sam’s study arrived, “& the place looked almost complete.” Sam planned on moving his “inkstand permanently into a corner of the billiard room,” as the noise from the nursery in the room adjoining his study made it difficult to write [MTL 6: 430 letter to Gray]. Note: He did his best writing in quiet surroundings, which is why he did most of the writing for HF at Quarry Farm, not at the Hartford house, as the tour guides there would have you believe.

March 27 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Orion, who again had asked that his brother buy the farm that he and Mollie lived in. Sam declined, suggesting “Mr. Stotts sell Mollie a life interest in the place for an annual sum…”. Responding to Orion’s switching political allegiance to the democrats, Sam wrote:

If you will let me make a suggestion, it is this: the present era of incredible rottenness is not democratic, it is not republican, it is national. This nation is not reflected in Charles Sumner, but in Henry Ward Beecher, Benjamin Butler, Whitelaw Reid, Wm. M. Tweed. Politics are not going to cure moral ulcers like these, nor the decaying body they fester upon.

Notes: Sam’s inclusion of Reid with those tainted with scandal reflected personal hard feelings from Reid’s refusal to allow Edward House to write a Gilded Age book review for the New York Tribune. Charles Sumner, highly revered senator from Massachusetts during 1851-1874; Beecher was involved in an adultery scandal and trial for alienation of affection; Butler and Tweed were corrupt political bosses [MTL 6: 427-8].

March 28 Sunday – In Hartford Sam wrote to David Gray, his old friend and editor from Buffalo Courier, sorry that the Grays had been forced to sell their home due to financial difficulties. He related the visit of the Howellses and asked David to come visit in the spring. Sam had to move his writing desk into a bedroom to escape the nursery noise next to his study, and said that he’d started a novel (unidentified) the day before but would complete his “other books” first (Sketches, New and Old; The Adventures of Tom Sawyer) [MTL 6: 429-30].

Sam also wrote to Dean Sage (1841-1902), a Brooklyn writer, sportsman, and contributor to the Atlantic and the Nation, among other magazines, as well as a Yale classmate of Twichell’s. Sam and Twichell had planned to visit Sage and wife in mid-April.

“The cheerful jug, the contemplative cigar, holy conversation, & isolation from the world—these are the things that are precious to us; & all things else hold we to be valueless” [MTL 6: 431].

March 29 Monday – In the morning Sam received a letter from William Wright (Dan De Quille), and recognized the handwriting on the envelope, knowing before opening that it sought advice about a “book concerning the Comstock lead…” He telegraphed advice on dealing with publishers. “Make bargains of no kind until you get my letters” [MTL 6: 432].

Sam also replied to Wright, beginning a letter he completed on Apr. 4. Sam wanted the book for the American Publishing Co., of which he was now a major stockholder. Sam advised to “nail a man’s interest with Chapter 1, & never let up on him for an instant…” He urged Dan to get money from Joe Goodman or telegraph him for some, so that he might travel to Hartford and work on the book under Sam’s tutelage, and bring Goodman along too, if he’d come [MTL 6: 433-441]. Sam was clearly enthused about the idea, and wrote about the process as an idyllic mix of luxury, play, and interesting work. As the publisher Sam would advance money as Dan needed it.

Will Bowen wrote from St. Louis, returning a check Sam had sent for Sam Bowen. Will didn’t think his younger brother would replay the loan.  [ page 645 ]

Dear Sam /  Your letter 20th to hand this A M—having just returned from Jeff City where I have been for past week securing legislation of gen’l insurance interest.

Confound the check I wish it had stayed lost. em spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceI have told you about Sam and the value of his promises. em spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceYou say “tender it to him” which you will understand, removes my Agency in the matter, and the Twenty Dollars from you, I fear.

I am sorry you put me here, but as I have tried to save you, and you still insist, I obey orders hoping I may be agreeably disappointed at the end of the month.

J M White run was in 1844 3 dys 23 hours 30 min to St Louis em spaceem spaceEclipse in 1853 3 dys 21 hours to Louisville

R E Lee (not Genl) 3 dys 19 hours 20 min to St Louis, in 1870 em spaceem spaceThe river was very high at each start but meeting a fall on way up.

Those river articles are delightful, especially that last one, giving the details of a Pilot’s duties and the very many things he must know. em spaceem spaceSam I fear you are losing Capital by not making a “Roughing it” of your river life—it would sell well for its facts and be a splendid field for your fancy, to spread out over.

I take it that “Bixby” is the “Mr P” in your mind while writing these.

Dont fear my mentioning “contents to people.” Make such enquiries as I may be able to answer, relying on me for “ mum”—which I am better at, than formerly!

I am sorry you did not take that trip down the river—you told me of a proposed journey in Feb and I guessed that would be the route

You did not venture to name it, I therefore said nothing but would not have been surprised to hear of you in this vicinity at any time

I am glad to hear from you—write more—nobody likes to hear from you, as well as I.!

If my course with this check dont please you say so at once. Im worried about it—but have not the time to consider it as fully as I would like before acting em spaceem space20 Dolls wont hurt either of us so here goes, in obedience to you.! em spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceGood bye Sam, with love to your wife & babies ?

Yours ever / Will [MTPO].

March 30 Tuesday – Hartford taxes on real estate, insurance stock, bank stock, money loaned at interest and merchandise were due by Nov. 1, with the assessed valuation made public the following March. Sam’s valuation was published on this day at $84,450 (Courant, p1) [MTPO Notes with Oct.16, 1876 to Perkins].

S.S. Russel wrote to Sam asking to see him on “a matter of business” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the letter, “Wants God knows what. / Declined”

March 31 Wednesday – F.W. Mortimer wrote from Boston to Sam, mentioning the GA play with John T. Raymond, and others [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the letter, “Wants a play written. / Couldn’t”

April – 4th of seven installments of “Old Times on the Mississippi” appeared in the Atlantic Monthly.

April 1 Thursday – Twichell got a letter from a man who wished him to perform a marriage ceremony at the U.S. Hotel, but concluded it was April Fools joke: from his journal:

 

“I had suspected the trick, but on mentioning the matter to M.T. and showing him the letter, he declared his conviction that the writer was sincere and even went as far as to offer me $8 for my fee. How I wish I had taken him up” [Yale 76, copy at MTP].

Sam wrote a $31.08 check to Hastings & Baldwin [MTP].

April 2 Friday – Sam wrote a $9.08 check to D.R. Woodford, coal and hay dealer in Hartford [MTP].

Ladislaus William Madarasz (1854-1900) wrote from Poughkeepsie, N.Y. to Sam: [ page 646 ]

Dear Sir: As I am about to take a trip to Europe, where I expect to remain some two years, and will be a correspondent for a paper; I have taken the liberty of writing to you, as to whether you would object, to my using “Col. Sellers,” for an assumed name; and, also, if you could give me some advice, as you have “gone through the mill,” (excuse the expression,) and perhaps discovered some ideas, that would help one who has had but little experience. I have written before Debating Societies, (Essays) and all have been well received. Have read quite a number of Books on Travels, and, am only 20 years of age. Speak the German, Spanish, (or rather Mexican not a pure Spanish) Hungarian, (native language) and can read French but can not converse, but it would require but a very short time to acquire it in Paris. / Hoping this has not inconvenienced you any, / I beg, leave to remain / Your Most O’b’t servant / … / P.S. I took the name Col. Sellers from your “Gilded Age,” a splendid book, have read your “Roughing It,” will read “Innocence abroad” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the letter “Wants to use “Col. Sellers” as a nom de plume.” Sam gave permission and Madarasz wrote again to thank him on April 7.

April 5 Monday – Sam and Twichell’s friend, Joseph Hawley lost in his bid for Congress. Joe’s journal:

“Election. A black, disgraceful day by reason of the defeat of Gen. Jos. R. Hawley for Congress in this district. He ran a long way ahead of his ticket here in Hartford—a good many—about all of the better sort of democrats voting for him” [Yale 79]

 

Albert Jacob Sellers sent Clemens a printed autograph request, enclosing duplicate cards for the signature. Sellers wrote in hand a PS: “Please accept the accompanying p’c of Music with my compliments. A great amount of sport at my expense have you been the occasion of; but I forgive you, since there’s “millions in it” (Col. Sellers maxim from GA) [MTP]. Note: Sellers was a real Colonel, winning the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery at Gettysburg. Since the cards are no longer with the letter, it is assumed Sam signed and returned them. The music is not extant.

April 6 Tuesday – Marshall Jewell, ex-governor of Conn. wrote to Sam:

My Dear Sir: / I have seen the Secretary of the Navy about your boy [Samuel Moffett], and he said it was all right, and that his name was on the list, and that the appointment should be made—or at least I understood him to say as much.

      He requested me to leave a note with him as a reminder, which I did, and have no doubt everything will be done as you wish it. / Very truly, … [MTP]. Note: Clemens was actively trying to secure an appointment to the Naval Academy for his nephew. It was not given.

Edward T. Potter wrote from Jacksonville, Fla. to Clemens about details on the new house—awnings, mantelpiece, stairs, etc.[MTP].

April 7 Wednesday – Sam gave another “Roughing It” benefit lecture, this time for the Connecticut Retreat for the Insane, Washington Street in Hartford. He used a sheet of drawn icons as his notes [See MTL 6: 405]. Twichell was in attendance and thought Sam’s “Nevada” lecture was given “with great success” [Yale 80].

Marvin Henry Bovee (1827-1888) wrote to Sam:

 

My dear Mark: / You will look at the signature, and wonder who the audacious man is that addresses you as though he were an old friend. Well, I am an old friend, and you cant help yourself, though you never saw me.

      But you will see me, Mark, as this is the year of jubilee with me and I am around among the people.

      During the past twenty years, I have delivered over 600 public lectures in the different states of the Union upon the “improper use of hemp,” —otherwise called Capital punishment. And the capital part of the punishment was, that for six hundred lectures, I received—the applause of the people, and that is more than many lecturers can do.

      But then I made it lively for the hangman. Those professional neck-breakists have “gone from our gaze” in Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana, where they are forbidden to separate the “spinal column” of any individual [ page 647 ] unless the twelve men “good and true” (good as putty usually, and true to their stupidity) shall unanimously recommend the separation of soul and body. The good work goes on. But I am calling upon my brother lecturers with vigorous good nature. I pass the hat, I’ve got a large one. Hundred dollar bills changed, if requested—into twenties and all put in the hat. Geo. William Curtis sends $25. Frothingham won’t be outdone by Curtis and sends his cheque for $25.

      Mark: you need n’t send any thing. I had rather call and receive it. I can’t help it if I do love you. You shouldn’t be so attractive. But I have a little prejudice against you after all. When you were abroad, report has it that you played “old Sledge” on the “grave of Adam” and euchred the Pope at Rome by “dealing Jacks off the bottom of the pack” the same as we do in the West.

      But I’ll call and see you the latter part of the week. Ever thine, / Marvin H. Bovee.

I lecture in Boston the early part of next week [MTP].

 

Note: Bovee was a Wisconsin farmer who served one term as a democrat in the Wisconsin senate, where he was central to abolishing capital punishment. He then went on a nationwide crusade to abolish the death penalty and wrote at least two books on the subject. Wisconsin Historical Society page calls him “a gifted orator.” See also his note to Sam of Feb. 10, 1876. Sam wrote on this letter, “From some bore who wants to destroy the death penalty—with an eye to his own future, doubtless.” Clemens could spot ego a mile away, and was equally scornful of sham and those who tooted their own horn. Mentioned are: George William Curtis (1824-1892) and Rev. Octavius Brooks Frothingham (1822-1899), lecturers of the time. “Old Sledge” was a card game, also called “Seven-up.”

Ladislaus W. Madarasz wrote thanks for Clemens giving permission for him to use “Col. Sellers” as a pen name [MTP]. Note: see the writer’s letter of Apr. 2. Sam’s permission letter is not extant.

Charles H. Webb wrote to Sam from Brooklyn, NY.

Dear Mark,— / I don’t know whether or not I’ve ever done any favor for you, but, if I have, do one for me!

Help me out of having a disgusting legal row with Bliss. (My fondness for fight has vanished since I married a peaceable little woman) [MTPO]. Note: Sam replied on Apr. 8.

April 8 Thursday – Sam responded to a letter from Charles Henry Webb, the man who published his Jumping Frog book. Webb was in a disagreement with Elisha Bliss over a verbal agreement that was not even “definite” verbal. Sam advised him to learn from it and move on, that there was no legal case. On the envelope to Webb’s letter he noted the irony:

“The whirligig of time brings round its revenges.” He swindled me on a verbal publishing contract on my first book (Sketches), (8 years ago) & now he has got caught himself & appeals to me for help. I have advised him to do as I did—make the best of a bad bargain & be wiser next time.

Livy had been ill for a week. Sam wrote it was diphtheria [MTL 6: 441-3n1].

April 10 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Elisha Bliss about Edward House’s book on Japan’s incursion into Formosa (House had published it in Tokyo in 1875). Sam called the affair a “small & entirely uninteresting riot out there,” uninteresting to Americans, and told Bliss he’d suggested a better type of book to write. He also told Bliss to keep William F. Gill’s letter of refusal for Sam to use the story he’d done for Lotos Leaves. “That ‘whirligig of time’ will bring round another revenge by & by I suspect” [MTL 6: 444-5]. Note: Once burned, Sam would never lay himself open to abuse of his work by the offending party.

April 11 Sunday – In Hartford Sam wrote a short note to John S.H. Fogg (1826-1896), polio victim and collector of signatures and photographs of famous people. Sam wrote the only good likeness of him had appeared in the London Graphic and later in Appleton’s Journal [see MTL 6: 447].

April 12 Monday – Bridges W. Smith wrote from Atlanta to Clemens: [ page 648 ]

 

Mr. Clemens— / Dear Sir —

      As this letterhead will tell you, I am on the ragged edge of sending a book of nonsense to the nonsense reading public. Being my first, with only a few years reputation as a humorous writer to back it, it needs all the stimulus possible. I want the people to see that I am known to the literary world, and my object in writing to you is simply to give me a few words—no matter how indefinite or irrelevant to the matter in hand—with your name (Mark Twain) attached. Thus, a few scratches of your pen will cost you nothing and will help me a great deal. For instance, you might say “It ought to sell” or something similar—You see my object—

      I am a journeyman printer with a small salary, and I am striving to make a reputation as a humorous writer that will give me a position more congenial and more remunerative than keeping my nose in the space-box.

      For years I have written articles for the “fun of the thing” and I now want to reap the harvest, if harvest there be.

      If you could spare the time, give me a letter, and if you have a good word for me, oblige me by writing it. / Yours truly and sincerely… [MTP]. Note: throughout his lifetime, Clemens received literally hundreds of such letters, many pleading for “a few words.” He ignored most, convinced he should not write to strangers who would likely sell his squibs and autographs. Smith (1848-1930) was a Confederate veteran and Macon, Georgia Telegraph and Messenger editor for many years. His later column in that newspaper often mentioned Twain.

April 13 Tuesday – Sam and Joe Twichell went to Brooklyn to stay at the home of Dean Sage. On the Hartford to New Haven leg to NYC:

“Prof. Marsh of Y.C. [Yale College] was by chance our company, and entertained us rarely by some account of his late Bone Hunting Expedition to the Bad lands and of similar previous experiences” [Yale, Twichell’s diaries 87, copy at MTP]. Note: Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-1899) was the chair of Yale’s paleontology department, the first to hold such a position.

Nine-tenths of an inch of rain fell on the NYC area [NOAA.gov].

April 14 Wednesday – In Brooklyn, Sam and Twichell sat in on a session of the Henry Ward Beecher trial. Dean’s father, Henry W. Sage, had been a trustee of Beecher’s church for nearly 20 years and employed Beecher’s son in his lumber business. Dean Sage came at noon and the trio lunched at some club, then all three went back to watch the trial. Sam met the judge in the trial but wouldn’t take the seat on the bench offered to him [MTL 6: 446-8]. Joe’s journal: “Mr. Shank of the New York Tribune” saw MT and JT come in and took them to seats “in the very centre of the court…just under the judges desk” [Yale, copy at MTP].

0.11 inches of rain fell on the NYC area [NOAA.gov].

In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote Sam, hoping that when the Clemenses came “up to attend the Lexington Centennial,” they might “come to our house.” Howells wrote he had just telegraphed for Sam’s sixth installment of “Old Times,”  which was to run in the June issue of Atlantic. The Howellses had just returned from a trip to Bethlehem, Penn. [MTHL 1: 72].

April 15 Thursday – The New York Sun, “Ragged Edge in Earnest,” reported on Sam attending the Beecher trial of the previous day:

 

Mark Twain shambled in loose of coat and joints and got a seat near the plaintiff’s table. He closely resembled Mr. Moulton, and was mistaken by many for that much-watched attendant.

 

Twichell’s journal:

 

“This was a good joke on M.T. who has been greatly disappointed in Moulton’s appearance and disliked his [ page 649 ] looks exceedingly.” Note: Francis D. Moulton, Attorney for Tilton. Francis Moulton was a principal witness at Henry Ward Beecher’s trial for adultery with Elizabeth Tilton, a married parishioner. Moulton was a go-between for Beecher and Mr. Tilton during the four years between the time the charges were brought and the trial. As Mr. Tilton’s agent, Moulton received large sums of money from Beecher, who later denied it was blackmail.

 

Sam, Joe Twichell, Dean Sage, John Hay, and William Seaver went to lunch at Delmonico’s in New York [MTL 6: 449]. That evening Sam and Joe returned to Hartford. “On the way back we fell in with Prof. Fisher and had much talk about the Beecher case” [Yale, Twichell’s diaries 87].

Waiting at home for Sam was a letter and telegram from Howells, asking the Clemenses to come visit for the Lexington Centennial; the telegram requested the 6th installment of the Atlantic articles [MTL 6: 449].

April 16 Friday – Sam was in NYC, where 0.17 inch of rain fell on the NYC area [NOAA.gov].

April 17 Saturday – Sam left for Cambridge, Mass. without Livy to visit William and Elinor Howells [MTL 6: 449]. Livy wrote on Apr. 23 to Elinor Howells that her wet-nurse got drunk when Livy was away, which explained her absence [MTL 6: 451n2]. Note: Livy had been ill recently.

April 18 Sunday – Sam wrote from Cambridge to Livy and enclosed a poem from 11-year-old Winny Howells. Sam & Joe’s trip to Concord for the Apr. 19 centennial celebration was thwarted by packed trains. Sam had a bad case of indigestion, so the pair returned home and tried unsuccessfully to con Elinor Howells that the trip had been a success [MTL 6: 449].

Joe Twichell wrote from Hartford to advise he would not be in Concord the next day nor in Cambridge on Tuesday due to his return by early train for funerals for a Chinese boy and for “Old Mr. Root, A.C. Dunham’s father-in-law” He added a P.S. “Livy as in church today looking—oh my! Beautifully!! [MTP].

April 18 or 20 Tuesday – Sam met with John T. Raymond on one of these days [MTL 6: 475n2].

April 19 through May 1 Saturday – The Gilded Age play was performed at Boston’s Globe Theater, John T. Raymond in the lead role as Colonel Mayberry Sellers of Hawkeye, Missouri. Howells attended on May 1 [MTL 6: 475n2].

April 20 Tuesday – Sam returned home to Hartford.

April 21 Wednesday – Sam wrote a $23.00 check to F. Bubser [MTP].

April 22 Thursday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Dean Sage to thank him for the visit and to explain why his thanks were somewhat delayed. “Howells & I fooled around all day & never got to the Centennial at all, though we made forty idiotic attempts to accomplish it” [MTL 6: 452].

Howells sent Sam the proof of the 6th installment of “Old Times,” asking if he could return it quickly, “for we’re getting short for time.” Howells also wrote, “You left your fur cap, which I propose to keep as a hostage” [MTHL 1: 73].

April 23 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks who chided him for not writing. Sam gave it back in spades for her not visiting when she was “3 or 4 hours” by train from them. Sam was still talking about a Mississippi River trip, now he hoped in May or June, and then he’d “try to stop a night in Cleveland en route.” He told of going to Boston to see the Concord Centennial but not seeing it; and the Beecher trial. Sam also bragged of the children [MTL 6: 454-5]. [ page 650 ]

Sam also wrote to Howells, relating Twichell’s travels to the Concord Centennial. Sam felt “spring laziness” about writing and so was putting it off. He invited the Howellses to come up next Saturday, since they’d said they could visit “nearly any Saturday” [MTL 6: 457].

April 24 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells about an actor, Daniel H. Harkins, who had dropped by to ask Sam to write up a play that Harkins had thought up over the past few years. Sam thought the play a good idea but referred him to Howells [MTL 6: 458-9].

April 25 Sunday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Jane Clemens  and sister Pamela Moffett. Sam had received the announcement from his niece, Annie Moffett of an engagement to Charles Webster. Sam had also received a letter from his mother urging him to encourage Orion.

I can’t “encourage” Orion. Nobody can do that, conscientiously, for the reason that before one’s letter has time to reach him he is off on some new wild-goose chase. Would you encourage in literature a man who, the older he grows the worse he writes? Would you encourage Orion in the glaring insanity of studying law? If he were packed & crammed full of law, it would be worthless lumber to him, for his is such a capricious & ill-regulated mind that he would apply the principles of the law with no more judgment than a child of ten years. I know what I am saying. I laid one of the plainest & simplest of legal questions before Orion once, & the helpless & hopeless mess he made of it was absolutely astonishing. Nothing aggravates me so much as to have Orion mention law or literature.

Sam also wrote that Livy had diphtheria but was well again, and that the “Bay” (Clara) had one tooth, and that Susy was “hoarse a good part of the time—but the sooner she gets used to it the sooner she will like it” [MTL 6: 459-61].

April 25 or 26 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells, who had written about an ex riverboat pilot, William Lyman Fawcett’s article, “The Pillars of Hercules” in the Atlantic Monthly for Jan. 1874.

“Good for Fawcett! …All the boys [riverboat pilots] had brains, & plenty of them—but they mostly lacked education & the literary faculty” [MTL 6: 463].

April 26 Monday – Sam wrote to Louis J. Jennings (1836-1893), editor of the New York Times [MTL 6: 464]. Sam included an article he wrote entitled, “Proposed Shakespearean Memorial.” The article encouraged American subscription to the memorial. Charles Edward Flower (1830-1892), a wealthy brewer of Stratford, England, had proposed the memorial and was probably the “English friend” Sam referred to. The article was published on Apr. 29 [Fatout, MT Speaks 93-7].

Charles Chamberlain, Jr., Secretary for the NY Sunday Times, wrote, having rec’d Sam’s of Apr. 23to Mr. Welles (not extant), and acknowledged his donation for Mr. Frunde [MTP]. Note: possibly Gideon Welles (1802-1878), had been in Lincoln’s cabinet.

April 27 Tuesday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote Sam that he needed to “get fairly launched” in his story, “Private Theatricals,” before visiting Hartford again. And of the squelched trip to New Orleans:

—Now, Clemens, it really hurts me, since you seemed to wish me so much to go with you to New Orleans, to say that I can’t. It would be the ruin of my summer’s work, and though I think something literary might come of it for me, I haven’t the courage to borrow any more of the future, when I’m already in debt to it. You are very good, and I’m touched and flattered that you want my company so much as to be willing to pay vastly more for it than it’s worth [MTHL 1: 79].

N.F. Livingston wrote to Sam, praising GA [MTP].  [ page 651 ]

April 28 Wednesday – Josiah G. Holland (1819-1881) for Scribner’s Monthly wrote from NYC:

My dear Sir:— / I wish to put Hartford into a series of articles on American cities which have already been commenced in “Scribner.” I can use such pictures as I need from the Colt memorial volume, and make the rest. Can you write the article, or, rather, will you write it? If so, please let me know what buildings and scenes ought to be represented, so that I may send up a man to look after the matter. It is not often that a writer is invited into our magazine, with his place of residence. But a jewel in its appropriate setting is so much more desirable! Please let me hear from you at your earliest convenience, and, if the service I ask of you seems impracticable, tell me who the next best man is. / Yours very Truly / J. G. Holland [MTPO]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “From Dr. J. G. Holland, (‘Timothy Titcomb’) poet & editor of Scribner’s Monthly.” He replied the next day.

April 29 Thursday – Sam’s article, “Proposed Shakespearean Memorial,” was published in the New York Times [Fatout, MT Speaks 93].

In Hartford Sam replied to the Apr. 28 of Josiah G. Holland,  who had asked Sam to write an article for a series for the American cities (on Hartford) in Scribner’s Monthly. Holland was a founder of Scribner’s. Sam’s answer was clear enough:

“There is probably not another man in Connecticut who is so besottedly ignorant of Hartford as I am. I have lived here 3 or 4 years (in the fringe of the city) & I only go to town when it is necessary to abuse my publisher” [MTL 6: 470]. Note from source: “Clemens was not favorably disposed toward Holland: in 1872 he had written a scathing rebuttal—which he never published—to Holland’s attacks on platform humorists.”

Sam recommended Charles Clark of the Courant since Charles Warner was abroad [MTL 6: 470].

Sam also wrote to Dan De Quille having received Dan’s letter outlining proposed book projects on the history of the Comstock Lode. “Hang it man, you don’t want a pamphlet—you want a book—600 pages 8-vo, illustrated.” Sam pointed out there was no money in a pamphlet. Joe Goodman has advised Dan to write a pamphlet as “a quicker, easier, and surer thing than Sam proposes” [MTL 6: 472].

Josiah G. Holland for Scribner’s Monthly wrote again NYC. “Dear Sir:—/ I am really very sorry about Mrs. Twichell because he likes fishing; but of course I didn’t know about it and can’t help it now. I have a note from Yung Wing which says that the article is not correct. I presume Bowen did not state his mistakes from Mrs Twichell, or did he? I’m sure I don’t know. I shall write to Bowen. He had already furnished us an article on the Chinese at North Adams… [MTP]. Note: at the top of the letter Holland wrote, “I wrote you yesterday on another business.”

 

Thomas B.A. David (b.1836) wrote from Pittsburgh to Sam:

 

Dear Sir— / I am very much indebted to you, in round numbers I should say about $50,000, and I wish I could pay you—It all comes of “Old times on the Mississippi”—I had traveled some on the western waters, and the same propensity that always lifted me to the top of a stage coach, carried me to the Pilot house; and I have been renewing my youth in your papers—

      It will be no compliment to you to say that your reproduction of those scenes and characters is simply wonderful, but it may be when I tell you that I am laboring hard to convince my wife that it is not pure and unadulterated fiction—Wooing her was easy work in comparison— / Very Respy yours… [MTP]. Note: Note: Sam wrote on the env. “About River Sketches.” Sam’s account of his River days ran under this title serialized in the Atlantic Monthly from January to June. David, for eight years preceding the war, had been manager of the telegraph office at Wheeling, Va. During 1877 David conducted a series of tests on Edison’s and Bell’s telephones to determine their effectiveness. Letters between the men survive at Rutgers.

May – The fifth of seven installments of “Old Times on the Mississippi” ran in the Atlantic Monthly.  [ page 652 ]

“American Humor, Part II,” by the Hon. Samuel S. Cox ran in Harper’s Monthly. The article comments briefly on Sam’s lamentations at Adam’s tomb: “This is the humorous sublime! It is the lachrymosely comic magnificent! This is only equaled by the HEATHEN CHINEE of Bret Harte” [Tenney, 1980 Supplement, American Literary Realism, Autumn, 1980 p169-70].

May 1 Saturday – Sam had received De Quille’s second letter and answered from Hartford in a short paragraph—Dan had enough material for two books, Sam said. Come to Hartford and write one of them [MTL 6: 473].

May 4 Tuesday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote Sam, enclosing C.J. Dean’s letter to him. Dean was Howells’ “dear old Uncle Alec…palsied for fifteen years,” who was enjoying the serialized “Old Times on the Mississippi” articles in the Atlantic [MTHL 1: 80].

May 6 Thursday – The Gilded Age play performed an encore “before a good-sized audience” in Hartford, where it had two good productions on Jan. 11 & 12 [Cook 13]. According to Andrews, Sam was instrumental in breaking down the taboos against attending stage productions in Hartford [98].

May 7 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells, who had written two letters, one praising the Gilded Age play. Howells said he had “done some shouting” over Raymond’s portrayal of Col. Sellers at the May 1 performance at Boston’s Globe Theater. Sam wasn’t going to push the issue but felt that Raymond wasn’t able to portray the “finer points in Sellers’s character.” Sam also wrote that to criticize Raymond openly would make him look “ungracious,” since the play was a big hit [MTL 6: 473]. From Twichell’s journal about William H. Gillette (1853-1937), we see that acting had been a questionable, even sinful activity:

“He had the strongest predilection to the stage and yielded to what he felt was his ‘call’ … He seems a right true and manly Christian youth and I pray God he may prove that the pursuits of an actor may not be inconsistent with the Christian profession” [Yale 96-7].

May 8 Saturday – Fanny Frazer wrote from Lexington, Ky. to give an account of quoting Mark Twain in the company of pastors about Joshua pushing the Canaanites out of the Holy Land. Her remarks were met with “derisive smiles” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “A simply-worded, well-written letter.”

May 9 Sunday – Livy wrote from Hartford to her mother: “Mr. Clemens is reading aloud in ‘Plato’s Dialogues’—so if I write incoherently you must excuse it.” Sam’s library included the four-volume 1873 edition [Gribben 549].

May 10 Monday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote Sam that “It’s ‘most time—quite time—for your seventh number: send what you’ve got; I know it’s good” [“Old Times,” the last installment] [MTHL 1: 82].

Mary Mason Fairbanks wrote to Sam.

“Is the Kennard House a good Hotel?” Is that question intended to disparage my house? Ohio has but one Hotel suited to your needs, and that is five miles out of Cleveland on the Lake Shore. If you were coming to canvass the entire state I should insist upon your getting back here to sleep at night. Neither can you get through Cleveland in one night— It is a long city—has grown since you were here. The Mississippi will wait for you, and Livy is a dear, good, reasonable woman, and if she lets you come at all, would prefer to have you take proper rest here at this Wayside Inn. If only she would come with you, and stay while you went on to the scenes of your “former greatness,” I should be the happiest of mothers. I am unreconciled to your not coming to us this summer, like a patriarch, with your herds and flocks and little ones. Oh I should so enjoy you all!—and I would be the loveliest grandmother Susie and Clara ever saw. [in margin: Do say you’ll come & see us this summer. We all want you—all of you—It is nothing to move a caravan now-a-days.] If you could [ page 653 ] write in the inspiring atmosphere of Elmira mountain, what could you not do here in our “Sunset pavilion,” or under our whispering pines? I am in a sort of ecstacy this morning for the hand of enchantment has touched everything with a new beauty. Last night there was a heavy rain and this morning the sun is laughing through every rain-drop— Diamonds and Emeralds hang from every limb and leaf—the cherry trees have burst into flower and look like huge bridal bouquets in all this wildwood of evergreens—the willows and the alders and the silver poplar make a sort of lace-work of pale green and grey between my eyes and the farther evergreens—and beyond, the lake goes sailing by in a sheet of peacock green—and still beyond is the grey line of sky which always seems to me the threshold of the undiscovered country— Mr. Fairbanks is in N. Y. or Philadelphia— We go east on the slightest pretext of business because we have two nice children there. Mollie writes to me in her letter of Saturday, to get “English Statesmen” & “English Radical Leaders”— She has enjoyed them so much & knows I will. Think of it!—in my heart she still nestles like the little Red Riding hood of the Nursery Rhymes— She is a simple little maid yet in looks & manners. I cannot bear to have you forget her. It just occurs to me— Is Mr. Twichell coming to General Assembly? I wish he would. I am to have four delegates— Press him to come and bring you as layman, I’ll certify to your being qualified and I’ll give you my best rooms.

      Don’t burden your conscience now by neglecting to write to me. Face the undertaking as one of your duties. It is a shame for you not to let me hear of you all, at least once a month, because among all your mothers no one holds you and yours more tenderly than I— / Mary M. Fairbanks / [MTPO].

Sister Mary F. Clare wrote from Kerry, Ireland, enclosing flyers “home for destitute Irish girls” and begging for a donation [MTP].

May 12 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells, saying he’d “send along” the altered proof of No.7, the last of his Atlantic series, “Old Times on the Mississippi.” He complimented Howells’ review of the Gilded Age play and expressed some bitterness at Raymond, who’d written him asking for the rest of the season’s profits, a few week’s worth. Raymond then sent a telegram on this day and Sam answered he would lend Raymond money but not give him profits [MTL 6: 477-9].

“His letter would make a dog blush. But I guess there is some villainy under it somewhere” [MTL 6: 478].

That evening Sam took place in a spelling match and festival at Twichell’s Asylum Hill Church in Hartford. Sam and Joe were on opposing teams. Sam introduced the match with a speech about the “orthological solemnities” [Fatout, MT Speaking 94-6]. Sam and Livy furnished the first prize for the match: “Guizot’s exquisitely illustrated History of France, 900 wood engravings, 40 fine steel engravings, published by Estes & Lauriat, Boston, in 50 monthly parts,” The “London Art Journal, Appleton, American publisher, in monthly parts,” and “A Nosegay, daintily painted upon slate, on a finely polished surface, the invention and handiwork of a New England Lady” [Hartford Courant, May 13, 1875 p2; also in Andrews 50, and MTL 6: 659-63].

Here are the spelling teams listed:

 

Miss Blythe

Mr Twichell

 

The Rev. Dr. Burton

Miss M. Bartlett

 

Miss Keep

Robert Buell

 

Mr. Clemens

Miss Stone

 

Miss Trumbull

General Hawley

 

Charles H. Clark

Miss Julia Burbank

 

J S Tryon

JG Rathbun

 

Miss Childs

Mr Bartlett

 

Judge Carpenter

Charles E Perkins

 

Miss Lucy Smith

Miss Hammond

 

JS Ives

Mr. Baldwin

 

Miss Crane

Miss Darrow  [ page 654 ]

 

Miss Abbot

W Roberts

 

Abel Clark

Miss Carpenter

 

SF Jones

Andrew Hammond

 

W. I. Fletcher

Miss Howard

J S Tryon Sen[ior]

JG Rathbun

 

Note: William I. Fletcher (b. 1844) listed as asst. librarian; John S. Ives dry-goods merchant; Abel S. Clark teacher; Samuel F. Jones, attorney (or Samuel F. Jones Jr., law student); Robert Buell, stock broker. Elisha Carpenter (1824-1897) State Supreme Court judge. Theodore Lyman and Miss Kate Burbank were referees.

Sam also wrote Edward T. Potter, architect, concerning house details; letter not extant but referred to in Potter’s of May 13.

John T. Raymond sent a telegram from Utica, N.Y. asking for a $1,500 loan until Oct. at one per cent a month, and that the money be sent to Elmira [MTP; MTL 6: 479].

May 13 Thursday – Sam sent John T. Raymond $1,500 at seven per cent interest. John’s approach may have been brazen, but Sam generously offered a lower rate and made the loan [MTL 6: 479].

Sam and Joe Twichell went to New Haven to shop and to visit Othniel Charles Marsh “America’s first professor of paleontology, holding that chair at Yale from 1866 until his death [in 1899].” Sam and Joe “talked Evolution” and returned to Hartford by train. They ran into Elisha Bliss on the return trip, who gave a “full and funny account of all he had suffered from Bret Harte” in publishing Gabriel Conroy [MTL 6: 483-4n3].

Edward T. Potter wrote to Sam having rec’d his May 12 (not extant). More details about the new house: fireplace slabs, blinds, landscaping, etc.[MTP].

John Raymond sent a telegram: “What answer to my letter am anxious to know so as to make my arrangements have you heard from Gillette / JT Raymond” [MTP]. Note: file says MAY 12 but that telegram asked for the loan.

May 14 Friday – Rebecca Gibbons Beach (Mrs. John Sheldon Beach; 1823-1893) wrote to Sam:

Dear Sir /Altho’ I have not the honor of yr acquaintance, I, take the liberty of remonstrating against yr refusal to contribute to the “Spirit of 76.”

      You sent me word that you are called upon “every day” for similar purposes. I reply that you cannot be aware of the nature of this application—for you have never been so called upon and never will be again. In fact you are called upon thus but Once in a hundred years!

      I know not if Conn. be yr native state—(it is not mine)—yet being yr adopted home you should be as jealous of its honor and credit as if you were the ‘child of the soil.’ It is to this sentiment that our Journal must appeal, and I ask you to remember that it can be sustained only by the free will offerings of our literary and scientific men. If all these were to follow yr example—where wd the paper be. (I omit, from politeness, the adjective ‘selfish’ which I was going to put in before example!)

      Of course you are busy!—what literary man is not?—If you were not busy you wd not be asked to write for this Journal.

      I think, however, that you magnify the favor asked of you, and the time & labor it wd involve. There are to be but 12 numbers of the S of 76, and but two will be issued this summer. Then it will be regularly sent out from Feb to May 76, and the remaining numbers in July and Oct of that year.

      If you cannot find 10 min for each number then do us the favor of finding it for the first number (June 1st) and afterward give us what you can, and allow me to put yr name upon the list of contributors.

      Trusting that you will consent and give me a favorable answer—I am / Very respy / Mrs. John S. Beach [MTP]. Note: she listed six men “already secured,” most with Yale connections. Clemens didn’t take well this [ page 655 ] sort of upbraiding, especially by a female. He wrote on the letter, “From a coarse, impertinent woman with a patriotic mission.” No evidence has been found for this publication. Her earlier request and Clemens’ earlier decline are not extant.

Louise Stone wrote from Hartford to thank Clemens for a painting she won at the spelling bee [MTP].

May 15 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote to George Cumming, a Western Union Telegraph operator who had written an article in the Telegrapher, a union publication. George observed how ancient jokes are, tracing one back to the Greeks. Sam had read the article and it had made him think.

“It never occurred to me before, but I would give something to know what they are going to do with the petrified people at the general resurrection. It seems to me I would polish them” [MTL 6: 480].

Will Bowen telegrammed from St. Louis: “Eighteen fourty four J.M. White three days six hours forty four minutes in fifty two Eclipse three six four Same A.L. Shotwell three three forty Same reindeer three twelve forty five sixty nine dexter three six twenty” [MTP]. See MTL 6: 424.

H.W. Bergen sent dates of Raymond’s appearances for May 14 in Auburn, 15th in Elmira, 21st in New Brunswick, with amounts rec’d at Auburn and N.B. [MTP].

Nathaniel J. Burton wrote a postcard from Hartford that he would not be at the Club on Monday as he was “compelled to be out of the city” [MTP].

May 18 Tuesday – Sam and Joe Twichell were on the way to a baseball game between the “Hartfords” and the “Bostons” (Hartford Dark Blues and the Boston Red Stockings) when they met Elisha Bliss and Bret Harte on their way to look at a house for Harte to rent [MTL 6: 483n3]. At the baseball game, Sam’s umbrella was stolen, leading him to write an announcement to the Hartford Courant that “a small boy walked off with an English-made brown silk UMBRELLA.” Sam offered a reward of $5 for the return of the umbrella and added, “I do not want the boy (in an active state) but will pay two hundred dollars for his remains.” The notice was reprinted in the New York World, and paraphrased in Harper’s Weekly for June 19. A rumor even went around that someone had left a dead boy on Sam’s property [MTL 6: 481-2]. Sam may have been further irritated that Boston won the game, 10-5. Other events of the day are noted in Twichell’s journal:

Attended the theological anniversary at New Haven. M.T. went down with me and I spent considerable time (about the whole afternoon, in fact) with him. First we went carriage shopping and then to Prof. Marsh’s museum where he showed us bones and talked evolution as long as we could stay. ‘Twas very entertaining indeed. / Returning home by the midnight train I fell in with Elisha Bliss, who gave me a full and funny account of all he had suffered, as publisher from Bret Harte in the process of getting out of him a book he had contracted to write [Yale, copy at MTP].

May 19 Wednesday – Back in Hartford, Twichell came by Sam’s house and met Bret Harte. Twichell wrote in his journal he “…was a little disappointed in his looks” [Yale, copy at MTP].

Benjamin B. Bunker of Bricksburgh, New Jersey wrote to thank Sam for his letter and pictures. He then discussed $500 and asked if Mark could “go it” on his “own hook” within 2 or 3 weeks, then the Lord be praised. He then asked when Orion would be done with the Tennessee Land [MTP].

May 20 Thursday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote Sam, praising the seventh and last installment of “Old Times”: “This is capital—I shall hate to have you stop!” [MTHL 1: 84].  [ page 656 ]

William James Lampton (1851?-1917) wrote from St. Louis.

Dear Sir / Honors like misfortunes never come singly, and I am another star (?) to add to your crown of glory—I am your cousin—at least, Jas Lampton Esq of this city says so, and I’m sure, Jas may be relied upon in matters genealogic. I am from Kentucky, and have lived west of the Mississippi about a year and a half & have known Cousin James since 3 weeks ago. I am book-keeper for the firm whose name stands at the head of this sheet, and the longer I keep books the more I feel that I have missed my calling and that “newspaper man” was inscribed upon the package of dust from which I was evolved. I’ve tried to get on some paper here, as reporter but have no influential acquaintances among the editors; when I heard that you were of like blood with myself I thought, “try again,” and your influence might be gained in my favor, with some of your publishing friends. I’m young & healthy, and not afraid of the disagreeable duties incidental to a first appearance as quill driver; besides my education & reading give me some confidence in the less unpleasant portions of the work. Don’t think because I ante this that I’m impecunious, dead broke short of money or friends, & seeking to curry favor or funds for it is not so, but from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaketh & I’d like to hear from you. East, West, North, South, any-where; daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly anything.

I am very &c Yours / —W. J. Lampton—

[MTPO]. (See May 22 entry.) Note: William James Lampton, grandson of James Lampton (1787–1865), one of Jane Clemens’s seven paternal uncles. He was therefore Clemens’s second cousin.

May 21 Friday – F.B. C. “a young man” (no fuller name given) wrote from Hartford begging for $125. “Please don’t blame me for wishing to conceal my name” [MTP].

Fred McIntosh wrote from Phila. to ask who “Gilderoy” was in Ch. 25 of IA [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Bid for autograph letter. ‘Too thin.’ ”

Joe Twichell wrote (May 18 letter Dean Sage to Twichell enclosed). “Here is a letter from Dean Sage. What do you say? Harmony is ailing and if she keeps it up I can’t leave home next week of course.” If Tom Beecher was at Sam’s house would he ask him to preach for Joe Sunday morning. “By the way won’t his visit interfere with your trial going? My love to Livy…” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “About closing speeches in the Great Beecher Scandal Trial.”

May 22 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells about deletions of songs and a proper ending to the Atlantic articles.

“There is a world of river stuff to write about, but I find it won’t cut up into chapters, worth a cent. It needs to run right along, with no breaks but imaginary ones” [MTL 6: 482].

Also, about this day, Sam replied to the May 20 from William J. Lampton, Sam’s second cousin and grandson of James A.H. Lampton, one of Jane Lampton Clemens’ seven paternal uncles. William had written Sam for advice to break into the journalism field. Sam replied that William should serve an apprenticeship for nothing & when he was worth wages, he would get them. Lampton later accepted a position with the Louisville Courier-Journal, the same paper edited by Sam’s other cousin (second, by marriage), Henry Watterson [MTL 6: 484-5]. Note: it may be Sam made the recommendation to Watterson.

H.W. Bergen wrote with Raymond’s appearances: May 14 Auburn, 15 Elmira, 21 N.B. as before [MTP].

Daniel H. Harkins wrote from Wilmington, De. Having rec’d Sam’s letter. Harkins had been on the move but would gladly call on Howells, evidently a request Sam made, on the first leisure day Harkins would have on his return home [MTP]. [ page 657 ]

May 23 Sunday – The St. Louis Republican reprinted Sam’s remarks before the May 12 spelling match at Asylum Hill Congregational Church [Tenney 7].

May 24 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to P.T. Barnum, to thank him for another batch of “queer letters.” Sam had heard that Barnum was in the Hartford Library, but when he got there he discovered a man named Bernard was there. “I ought to have killed him, but as it was Sunday I let him go” [MTL 6: 486].

Sam wrote a $100 check to Patrick McAleer, family coachman, designating it as “house money” [MTP].

May 25 Tuesday – In Elmira, Sam wrote to James Redpath:

      TK Beecher is splendid in the pulpit—splendid is the word but I have never seen him on the platform at all—never have heard him lecture.

      Our people all like his lecturing, but you ask me for my opinion, & individually, & so I have to confess ignorance [MTP, drop-in letters].

 

Phineas T. Barnum wrote to Sam that he would “drop in on” him someday, “but of course not till you have been here, which I hope will be soon.” He sent another package of queer letters [MTP].

 

May 25? Tuesday – On or about this date, Thomas K. Beecher, still pastor of the Elmira church where the Langdons attended, arrived for a week’s visit and to exchange pulpits with Twichell [MTL 6: 487].

May 27 Thursday – Joaquin Miller visited Sam and Livy in Hartford. Miller had traveled in the East after a trip abroad, and stopped in Hartford on the way from Boston to New York. Dan De Quille (William Wright) also arrived in Hartford and took a room at the Union Hall Hotel [Powers, MT A Life 377]. That evening, Miller, Thomas K. Beecher, and De Quille shared dinner with the Clemens family [MTL 6: 488]. On or about this day, Sam took Miller and De Quille to Elisha Bliss’ Hartford office. De Quille came to an agreement with Bliss to publish the book that became well known as The Big Bonanza [Powers, MT A Life 377].

May 28 Friday – Joaquin Miller may have stayed a day or two at Sam’s, but wrote John Hay on this day that he was with Clemens but would be at the Windsor Hotel in New York that evening.

May 30 Sunday – Thomas K. Beecher gave two sermons at Twichell’s Asylum Hill Congregational Church, and wrote a letter to his wife Julia on Sam’s typewriter [MTL 6: 487].

Sister M. Juliana wrote from Providence, R.I. to thank him for the autograph [MTP].

Edward T. Potter wrote more new house details: ombra furniture, chairs, stools, marble floors, hammock, etc. [MTP]. Note: Sam hated this sort of detail but Potter kept sending it to him likely because Livy was ailing.

May 31 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to William F. Gill, telling him not to announce Mark Twain as a future contributor to Gill’s “Treasure Trove” series. Sam demanded that Gill give notice in writing that future offerings would not include Sam’s sketches. It was Gill who had “burnt” Sam by denial to use “Encounter with an Interviewer,” as sketch which had appeared in Lotos Leaves [MTL 6: 488-9].

June – The sixth of seven installments of “Old Times on the Mississippi” ran in the Atlantic Monthly. Also, the “Drama” editor of that magazine praised the stage version of Gilded Age, especially complimenting John T. Raymond in the role of Colonel Mayberry Sellers [Wells 22]. [ page 658 ]

June 2 Wednesday – Thomas K. Beecher ended his visit at the Clemens’ home. De Quille stayed on to work on what became The Big Bonanza; he would send occasional letters to the Virginia City Enterprise, describing eastern cities, his three-day New York stay, and his cross-country trip in a Pullman car [MTL 6: 488].

Sam wrote a $96.75 check to Caswell Bros., Hartford Meat market [MTP].

June 4 Friday – Phineas T. Barnum invited the Clemenses to spend the 5th of July with them to celebrate his 45th birthday. He added: “P.S. The ‘queer letters’ are accumulating” [MTP]. Note: Clemens had asked several people to save strange letters sent to them.

June 7 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Cornelius R. Agnew, a New York specialist of the eye and ear, in behalf of a neighbor, Nell Kinearney. Sam mentioned Dr. Starr and Dr. Bowen on the case [MTL 6: 490].

Sam also wrote a short note to Phineas T. Barnum, declining an invitation to visit Barnum’s summer home in Bridgeport, Conn., where Barnum had been elected as mayor. Sam and Livy had plans to spend the summer in Newport, R. I. [MTL 6: 491-2].

Sam also wrote to Howells about coming to Hartford for a visit and about the last segment of the Atlantic articles [MTL 6: 492].

George Taylor wrote from Salt Lake City to enlist Sam in an effort to publish “a text book for humorists” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “No!”

June 8 Tuesday – Clara Clemens’ first birthday. In Hartford Sam wrote to William F. Gill, warning him again against printing “a single line” of his in one of Gill’s books [MTL 6: 494-5].

June 9 Wednesday – Bill paid to Amos Larned & Co. for $2.50 [MTP].

Orion Clemens wrote to Sam, having arrived in St. Charles, Mo. from Louisville the night before.

…. The Ford matter is in such a confused tangle that it is a pleasure to work with it. This reminded me that you said love of the work itself was the thing. As I really like to work with law matters I have decided if you are willing, to endeavor to push myself into the practice of law in Keokuk…to open a law office there. …

I spoke to Hauser on the cars yesterday about an editorial situation on the Globe-Democrat, and he invited me to call and see him today. I thought I would tell him if I called that I merely wish to know the chances in case of a contingency, and then wait till I hear from you. I expect to be in Keokuk by Friday afternoon—start down to St. Louis in about 3 1/2 hours—next train. I am not going to spend my money on this land here….

It looks like startling impudence to expect you to help me into the practice of law when you and the other heirs [to the Tennessee Land] have lost so much in the very direction that a lawyer’s talent if he had any should have been specially available. If you think so maybe you would let me go back on the Hartford Post if I can get there, and perhaps help me to get a thousand dollars interest with a prospect for more if I show that I have maked up enough to work mentally, and take bodily exercise sufficient to keep me from paralysis with the blues. …

      I left Ma well, but far more anxious to see me settled than to have me bother with Tennessee land. She feels safe in you, and is willing to let troubles cease to trouble.

      Uncle Saunders is the same cheerful, smiling man as of old.

      Aunt Polly is as good as ever was made, and so is dear good Aunt Pamela, a maiden of 57.

      Tip (Xantippe) is an artist, and teaches painting. A picture of Simon Kenton by her is in the Kentucky library. She has painted life size from a photograph an excellent likeness of yourself.

 [MTP]. Note: Orion told of other relatives & then related a long tale about Xantippe (“Tip”) Saunders fighting off attackers with a dull knife some dozen years before.  [ page 659 ]

June 10 Thursday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells sent Sam a postcard saying he would take the three o’clock train on Saturday and was sorry that he must come alone [MTHL 1: 87].

June 12 Saturday – In the late afternoon, William Dean Howells arrived in Hartford for a visit. Joe Twichell joined the pair in the evening. Howells later wrote to his father that he’d done “a month’s worth of laughing” at Clemens’ house [MTL 6: 497n1]. Howells read parts of Tom Sawyer, offering to run it in a serial in the Atlantic.

June 13 Sunday – Sam and Howells attended the Asylum Hill Church and took in Twichell’s sermon. Afterwards the trio walked to Sam’s and had dinner. Twichell was impressed with Howells, who departed this day or the next morning for his Boston home [MTL 6: 497]. From Twichell’s journal:

M.T. & W.D.H. walked home from church with me, and subsequently I went to Mark’s and dined with them—just for love. Upon leaving H.[owells] followed me to the door and we had on the threshold quite a talk on religious subjects and I was sorry we couldn’t have more. He seemed very humble and earnest, and very loveable [Yale, copy at MTP].

June 14 Monday – William Dean Howells likely ended the visit with Sam and returned to Cambridge this a.m. It’s possible he may have left late the night before, but this a.m. seems more likely. Judging from Sam’s of June 21 to Howells, a train was missed causing Sam to recall their misadventures on “Lexington Centennial Day” (see Apr. 18, 1875 to Livy) [MTP].

June 21 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to an unidentified Mr. Gwynn, inviting him to “come up & play billiards the first evening you are in town” [MTL 6: 496].

In a letter from Lilly Gillette Warner (1838-1915) to her husband George H. Warner, she mentioned that Livy had recently suffered a miscarriage [MTL 6: 498n4].

Sam wrote to the editor of the Hartford Courant about a copyright infringement matter:

Sir: A respectable Boston publisher informs me that one Greer has offered to sell to him & to one or more Hartford publishing firms certain literary rubbish of mine which the said Greer fancies is unprotected. This paragraph is to inform all interested parties that all of my rubbish is amply protected. Neither Mr. Greer nor anyone else is authorized to trade in it / Respectfully / Mark Twain [MTP, drop-in letters].

Sam also wrote to an unknown “respectable Boston publisher” about Greer:

      Gentlemen: / I thank you very much for exposing this man Greer’s projects to me. He is a common thief. He is the same chap who gets up the notorious black-mailing biographies of leather-headed nobodies. All of my stuff is amply protected, & none of it for sale—as Mr. Greer shall find to his serious cost the first time he closes a trade for any of it.

      I am exposing this filthy thief in to-morrow’s Courant. If he will only carry out his word & call upon me he shall need assistance to get off the premises again.

Thankfully Yours

     Saml. L. Clemens

[Susan Jaffe Tane Collection online, Cornell University]. Note: Frederick H. Greer (Sketches of Men of Progress 1870-1) of the “notorious blackmailing biographies” was also a passenger on the 1867 Quaker City excursion, though Sam either did not make the connection at this time or thought it unimportant. In his Jan. 7, 1870 letter to Mary Mason Fairbanks, Sam identified his character “Blucher” in IA as Greer (though some scholars have judged Blucher to be a composite character). Thanks to JoDee Benussi.  [ page 660 ]

Clemens also wrote to William Dean Howells, who had visited Sam on June 12 and stayed until late June 13 or early June 14.

My Dear Howells: / O, the visit was just jolly! It couldn’t be improved on. And after the reputation we gained on Lexington Centennial Day it would have been a pity to become commonplace again by catching trains & being on time like the general scum of the earth. Since the walk to Boston Twichell & I invariably descend in the public estimation when discovered in a vehicle of any kind.

      Thank you ever so much for the praises you give the story. I am going to take into serious consideration all you have said, & then make up my mind by & by. Since there is no plot to the thing, it is likely to follow its own drift, & so is as likely to drift into manhood as anywhere—I won’t interpose. If I only had the Mississippi book written, I would surely venture this story in the Atlantic. But I’ll see—I’ll think the whole thing over.

      I don’t think Bliss wants that type-writer, because he don’t send for it. I’ll sell it to you for the twelve dollars I’ve got to pay him for his saddle—or I’ll gladly send it to you for nothing if you choose (for, plainly to be honest, I think $12 is too much for it.) Anyway, I’ll send it. Mrs. Clemens is sick abed & likely to remain so some days, poor thing. I’m just going to her, now.

      Yrs Ever [MTP]. Note: during his visit, Howells read some of the nearly finished MS of TS and offered to serialize it in the Atlantic Monthly.

 

June 22 Tuesday – Sam purchased a set of his books from Elisha Bliss for Dr. Cornelius R. Agnew,  the New York eye & ear specialist [MTL 6: 498n1]. Note: Sam had paid for the doctor to consult with his neighbor on an eye problem. (See June 7, 23 entry.)

June 23 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Dr. Cornelius R. Agnew that he’d shipped the books. After Agnew came up and examined Nell Kinearney’s eyes, Sam was the one to break the news that nothing could be done [MTL 6: 498].

In Cambridge, Mass., Howells sent Sam a postcard:

“Please send the machine [typewriter], and if I cannot afford to receive it for nothing, I will pay the extortionate sum you name. W.D.H.” [MTHL 1: 88].

June 25 Friday – In Hartford Sam replied to Howells about the typewriter that Howells wanted to borrow. Sam had traded the machine to Bliss for “a twelve-dollar saddle worth $25.”

“…the machine is at Bliss’s, grimly pursuing its appointed mission, slowly & implacably rotting away another man’s chance for salvation” [MTL 6: 499].

June 26 Saturday – Rev. Dr. Charles E. Tisdall (1820-1905),  Chancellor of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. wrote to Sam. He asked Sam to procure the autographs of Bret Harte, Charlotte Saunders Cushman (1816–1876) actress, and Joseph Jefferson. He added he had Twain’s and Oliver Wendell Holmes’ signatures, and mentioned meeting Twain in London “when poor Bellew gave a dinner in honor of your coming to England…” [MTPO]. Note: John Chippendall Montesquieu Bellew (1823–1874), noted orator, died the year before which likely explains Tisdall’s use of “poor” for him.

June 28 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Pamela Moffett. Only part of the letter exists. Sam wrote that Livy had been sick for a week but now was up and around again and that they would go to Newport, R.I., for August and part of September, taking the kids and two nurses. Baby Clara’s finger got caught in the baby carriage and the tip nearly cut off, but the doctor sewed it on [MTL 6: 501].

June 29 Tuesday – Jack Van Nostrand, Quaker City friend, wrote from Manitou, Colo.  [ page 661 ]

Do you know Sam, I think next to the Bible, the “Innocents Abroad” has been in America, more universally read than any other book ever published. It don’t make any difference where I go, and I am always particular not to say any thing about it; people are always sure to find out that I am the “Jack” of the Innocents, and from that time forth…I have to spin more yarns and get off more stories than is expected of any old salt…the trip to me looking back at it through seven years of time was a grand success [MTMF xviii].

June 30 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Dr. Cornelius Agnew, asking if a summer at the seaside for Nell Kinearney would be a good thing. Nell was a neighbor with the diseased eye that doctors had recommended removing [MTL 6: 502]. Note: The Clemenses may have paid some of the medical expenses for the operation done in the fall.

July – Sam inscribed a copy of Queen Mary, A Drama. Author’s Edition (1875): “Saml. L. Clemens, Hartford, July, 1875” [Gribben 695].

July 2 Friday – In Hartford Clemens wrote a check to the Evening Post Association for $4; a subscription [JG Autographs eBay item # 370952848214; February 2014].

July 3 Saturday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote Sam not to “waste it on a boy”—that is, his “chief work,” The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which Howells thought should be carried on into Tom’s adult years [MTHL 1: 90]. Note: even Howells got it wrong now and then.

July 5 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells that he’d finished The Adventures of Tom Sawyer but “didn’t take the chap beyond boyhood,” a development that Howells had recommended. Sam doubted that any magazine could pay him enough to publish the book, and used figures Harte had received from Scribner’s for comparison.

“You see I take a vile, mercenary view of things—but then my household expenses are something almost ghastly.”

Also, Sam had won an ally in James R. Osgood to legally challenge William F. Gill’s unauthorized use of names [MTL 6: 503-4]. Note: AMT 2: 552 also gives this as the finish date for TS.

July 6 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Mr. Gerard (unknown), referring him to Edward T. Potter Sam’s architect, for pictures and drawings on his Farmington Avenue home [MTL 6: 506].

In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote Sam a short letter about submissions for the Atlantic, a music item, and his sympathies for “poor little Susy,” who evidently was ill [MTHL 1: 94].

July 8 Thursday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote Sam that he’d be unable to visit. Sam’s invitation, probably written on July 6-7, has been lost. The Howellses were going to the country at Shirley Village, Mass. and wouldn’t be home from Aug. 1 till Oct. 1 [MTHL 1: 94].

July 13 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Bret Harte asking for his autograph for a collector friend he’d met in London, Charles E. Tisdall, Chancellor of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. Sam wrote Tisdall was “a mighty good fellow—for a Christian” [MTL 6: 507-8].

Sam also wrote to Howells. He offered half of the first $6,000 profits from a stage play of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer that Howells might write. Sam had his “eye upon two young girls who can play ‘Tom’ & ‘Huck’.” Howells wisely declined, both from lack of time and understanding that only Sam could write such a play and do it justice [MTL 6: 509]. Note: see July 19 entry for Howells’ answer. [ page 662 ]

Sam also wrote to James R. Osgood about William F. Gill using his name either on the cover or the inside of his announced “Treasure-Trove” series. Gill had also used some of Osgood’s writers without permission. Sam claimed that the use of “Mark Twain” without permission was trademark violation, a claim he’d first made in 1873 [MTL 6: 511].

July 14 Wednesday – Sam wrote a short note from Hartford to George E. Waring, Jr. (1833-1898), whom he may have met at the Dec. 15, 1874 Atlantic Monthly contributors’ dinner. Waring had called at Sam’s home, but Sam was away. Sam wrote that he and family would be at Bateman’s Point, Newport, Rhode Island on July 31, and hoped to see Waring there [MTL 6: 512].

Sam also wrote to his sister, Pamela Moffett, about money sent to their mother and Sam’s lack of a current steady income. He added:

My Dear Sister:

Livy is getting along tolerably well; Susie is well; the baby’s finger is healing first rate.

We are glad to know that Annie & Ma & Sammy are having such satisfactory holidays. If Ma had said “send $100” I would send it; but as she says “$50 or 100,” I take advantage & split the difference; therefore please send her the enclosed draft for $75—& tell her to draw again when she wants money. I shall have no income till the end of August, & now am simply paying out money & taking none in. However, if our household expenses do not exceed $50 a day I shall go through all right without having to borrow.

With love to all. / Yr Bro—
em spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceSam. / [MTP, drop-in letters].

July 16? Friday – Sam sent the title page of Mark Twain’s Sketches, New and Old to Elisha Bliss, and asked him to print and mail the page to Washington for copyright [MTL 6: 513]. Duckett gives July 21 as the copyright date [104].

July 19 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Mary F. Foster, sending copies of his books for a library project [MTL 6: 514].

In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote Sam and declined to collaborate on writing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as a play:

“But I couldn’t do it, and if I could, it wouldn’t be a favor to dramatize your story. In fact I don’t see how anybody can do that but yourself” [MTHL 1: 96].

Sam wrote check #173 to N.W. Hunter for $171.05 drawn on the First National Bank of Hartford [www.liveauctioneers.com].

July 20 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to James R. Osgood on the William F. Gill matter, that stopping legal action now was perhaps the best result they might obtain. Still,

“It seems a shame that a thief can go on & print 2000 copies of stolen goods & escape punishment through the weakness of the law” [MTL 6: 514].

July 21 Wednesday –Sam submitted a synopsis of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, A Drama to the Library of Congress for copyright. Norton concludes that since the synopsis includes all of what would make up the published book that the “essential work had been done ten months earlier” [Writing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 21].

July 23 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Pamela Moffett. Sam had utter disdain for the temperance activists, who he said blamed the maker of rum and not the drinker of it.  [ page 663 ]

One could with as much sense say that God is the personage who should shoulder the blame for the sin that is in the world (& suffer punishment) because He made sin attractive….There is no estimating the harm that a few Goughs in temperance & a few Beechers in religion are able to do. Both causes would be much better off if both these persons had died in infancy….I hate the very name of total abstinence. I have taught Livy at last to drink a bottle of beer every night; & all in good time I shall teach the children to do the same. If it is wrong, then, (as the Arabs say,) “On my head be it!” [MTL 6: 515].

Sam also wrote James R. Osgood again about allowing Gill to sell the 2,000 books of the “Treasure-Trove” series already printed, enclosing a card Sam suggested be shown to Gill & Co. by his attorney [MTL 6: 516-8].

July 26 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Orion, enclosing $82 requested as a loan. Orion was sending monthly detailed accounts of his chicken farm income and expenses and borrowing another $100 each time. Sam eyeballed a $25 expense for the rental of a pew in church and made a point of “principle” in this reply. “You might as well borrow money to sport diamonds with,” Sam admonished [MTL 6: 519].

July 29? Thursday – In Hartford Sam wrote to James Redpath who had sent “customary annual lecture temptations!” Sam still did not want to lecture—at any price.

“All last winter I sat at home drunk with joy over every storm that howled along, because I knew that some dog of a lecturer was out in it” [MTL 6: 520-1].

July 31 Saturday – The Clemens family left Hartford to vacation at Bateman’s Point near Newport, Rhode Island. They stayed at Ridge Road and Castle Hill Avenue in an old farm on the well-used resort. Dan De Quille, who had been staying in the Union Hall Hotel in Hartford and writing his book with Sam’s help, also accompanied the family and stayed a week. He then returned to the same hotel in Hartford, where Sam wrote him from Newport on Aug. 31 [MTL 6: 530]. Sam referred to Newport as:

“…that breeding place—that stud farm, so to speak—of aristocracy; aristocracy of the American type; that auction mart where the English nobilities come to trade hereditary titles for American girls and cash” [Neider 295].

August – The last of seven installments of “Old Times on the Mississippi” appeared in the Atlantic Monthly.

Sam inscribed a copy of Augustus John Hare’s Walks in Rome (1874): Saml. L. Clemens, Bateman’s Point, Newport, R.I, Aug., 1875. [Gribben 293].

August 2 Monday – Sam’s letter of July 29? to Redpath found its way into the Boston Herald, appearing on Monday, Aug. 2 [MTL 6: 530].

August 3 Tuesday – Sam’s short piece “Mark Twain to Stay at Home” ran in the Hartford Courant [Courant.com].

Clara L. Kellogg (1842-1916) wrote from Clarehurst, Hudson River. “I am truly obliged to you, Mr. Clemens, for giving me the desired information. / Through your kindness I am now in possession of two photographs of your charming house” [MTP].

August 9 Monday – Dan De Quille wrote to the Enterprise that Bateman’s point had water on three sides and was foggy and breezy. Sam “is very indolent and after reading about a thousand pages [MS pages] said it was all right—he did not want to read any more” [MTL 6: 521]. Dan left sometime between this day and Aug. 12; he took a steamboat trip to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket [531n1].  [ page 664 ]

August 12 Thursday – Sam and Livy attended a lecture on natural history given by Alexander Agassiz. They’d been invited by pastor and writer Thomas Wentworth Higginson [MTL 6: 522].

Thomas W. Higginson wrote to invite Sam and Livy to the Town and Country function on Saturday [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Col. Higginson”

August, mid – Sam gave a picnic speech at Castle Hill Town and Country Club, Newport, R.I. [Roche 23-27].

August 16 Monday – In Shirley Village, Mass., William Dean Howells sent Sam proofs on “The Curious Republic of Gondour,” which would run anonymously in the Oct. Atlantic Monthly [MTL 6: 523]. “I like Gondour greatly, and wish we could keep your name,” Howells wrote, “Send me some more accounts of the same country” [MTHL 1: 97].

Note: The sketch parallels some of Sam’s later writings, and was a serious, if ironic proposal that the more propertied and educated should have more votes than the masses—a somewhat English and aristocratic idea, which he felt best not to risk his reputation on. There are also similarities to Connecticut Yankee [Rasmussen 103]. Sam’s experiences in England no doubt led to some of this thinking, but it was wise to leave this piece unsigned, even though Howells wanted it signed.

Sam wrote from Newport to sister Pamela Moffett. He sent congratulations to Annie Moffett and Charles Webb, who had set a date of Sept. 28 to be wed. Sam wrote that he and Livy were “miserably homesick” but would stay in Newport until Sept. 8 or 10 [MTL 6: 524].

Sam also wrote a one-liner to James R. Osgood, enclosing an advertisement of William F. Gill’s “Treasure Trove” series that still included the name Mark Twain. The agreement reached with Osgood’s attorneys stated that Gill could sell 2,000 copies already printed, but could not advertise Sam’s alter-ego name [MTL 6: 524-5].

August 18 Wednesday – David Gray wrote from Buffalo to call Sam “a perfect unadulterated saint,” referring to his recent letters as “long, kind & welcome.” He found Twain’s Mississippi Sketches “delicious.” A long and friendly letter [MTP].

August 20 Friday – Julia Ward Howe invited Sam and Livy to a “Blue Tea,” where guests brought a few lines of verse or a paragraph of prose [MTL 6: 522].

August 23 Monday – Sam gave a reading from his sketches at the Bellevue Dramatic Club, Opera House, Newport. He was a great hit. Sam read: “How I Edited an Agriculture Paper” and from Roughing It. The reading was written up in the Providence Journal on Aug. 26. De Quille returned to Hartford and wrote about the reading to the Enterprise, even though he was not in attendance [MTL 6: 531n; Roche 25].

John T. Raymond wrote two notes to Sam, itemizing the take and shares for various performances in several cities with the following letter:

My dear Clemens— / The first week is over & the business has been very good, in spite of the excessive heat. I will try & meet your desires as regards your money: Mr Bergen delivered the message contained in your telegram this morning[.] To save expense I have done away with an agent for this ensuing season, all his work devolves upon me together with Stage Management. I have closed for 46 weeks[.] My motive in saying this [is] to submit a proposition to take the usual agents percentage of our receipts for the time & labor in negotiating the engagements for next season[.] That is business. You are saved Messrs Daly & Glens expenses & it is but fair that I should have some extra recompense [ page 665 ]

Understand me I dont make it as a demand, but merely submit it for your consideration having five percent as a figure that I dont think you in justice can object to.

The piece is beautifully done here. I engaged Mrs Raymond for Laura[.] She has made an unqualified hit & has added wonderfully to its success. Come & see the play if you can spare the time.

Your friend

Jno T. Raymond /

[MTPO]. Note: Sam’s telegram is not extant.

August 24 Tuesday – Thomas W. Higginson wrote inviting the Clemenses to a reading he was giving from his old journals “describing Newport society during the Revolution, especially while the French officers” were there [MTL 6: 522].

During their Newport stay Sam and Higginson used an old bowling alley. In 1907 Sam recalled the fun:

It was a single alley, and it was estimated that it had been out of repair for sixty years….The surface of that alley consisted of a rolling stretch of elevations and depressions, and neither of us could by any art known to us persuade a ball to stay on the alley until it should accomplish something….We examined the alley, noted and located a lot of its peculiarities, and little by little we learned how to deliver a ball in such a way that it would travel home and knock down a pin or two [MTL 6: 522]. Note: This was not the first time Sam played tenpins. See The Twainian, Mar-Apr 1956, p. 3-4 for an account of a game between Sam and Steve Gillis sometime during their San Francisco days.

 

Sam wrote to his brother Orion:

 

My Dear Bro: / Please write this lady & remind her that you are the person she should appeal to, & not me; & do try to make her comprehend that my hands are entirely full with efforts to assist people who have done me favors in bygone days. / Yr Bro / Sam [MTP Drop-in letters].

August 24 or 25? Wednesday – Sam had received the Aug. 23 from John T. Raymond asking for five percent agent fee, since he’d foregone using an agent for the upcoming season. Raymond has also used his wife for the part of Laura, and claimed she had made an “unqualified hit,” inviting Sam to come see the play.

Since Raymond was taking it upon himself to contract theater rental and supporting cast, Sam wrote from Newport to his attorney, Charles E. Perkins, enclosing the play bookings for the upcoming season and asking if it would be better to have copies of all of Raymond’s contracts. Sam was leery of being “Blissed.”

Sam also telegraphed H.W. Bergen, his agent, to forward all of Raymond’s contracts [MTL 6: 525-8]. Sam had hired Bergen once the Gilded Age play toured the country. Duckett explains Bergen’s duties:

“When the play went on tour, he [Sam] hired an agent to follow the company, count the gate receipts, and see to it that the author’s share was duly paid. The agent was to report every day by postcard the amount of Twain’s half of the intake, and when these cards arrived at the Hartford house at dinnertime, Mark read aloud the figures and pranced around the table waving the cards in triumph” [122].

August 26 Thursday – H.W. Bergen showed Sam’s telegraph request to John T. Raymond, who was angry about Sam requesting copies of the contracts made for staffing and theater rental, angry enough to fire off a caustic paragraph to Sam, who was questioning the high expenses [MTL 6: 528]. Sam was still making money off the play, and probably didn’t want to kill the goose, even to the extent of Raymond making off with more than half the profits. Raymond’s note:  [ page 666 ]

Dr Sir / Mr Bergen showed me your telegrams this evening[.] To say they made me angry is to put a mild form to it and if you had been here I would have expressed to you personally my opinion of one whose dealings through life must have been of a very singular kind to cause him to suspect mankind as you do— I have delivered to Mr Bergen my ultimatum & also sent a postscript to his letter[.] My contract [illegible word] is simple enough to understand by any right meaning man & if you express any doubt again I will enforce my rights / Jno. T. Raymond [MTPO].

August 27 Friday – Sam wrote from Newport, R.I. to Elisha Bliss, asking for an “official statement of the royalties you have paid me upon Canadian sales of my 3 books.” The only book Bliss was authorized to sell in Canada was Innocents Abroad, and his books did not distinguish those from books sold in the U.S. For the others, only Routledge had Imperial copyright, a fact Sam should have known. Bliss had denied permission for a Canadian firm to issue a cheaper edition of Sketches, New & Old [MTL 6: 529].

August 31 Tuesday – In Newport, R.I. Sam sent a postcard to Dan De Quille, who was back at the Union Hall Hotel in Hartford working on his book. The Clemens family would be back home “about 7th or 8th” Sam wrote [MTL 6: 530].

September 1 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Newport to Richard M. Milnes (Lord Houghton), who Sam had met in England in June 1873. Houghton was at Niagara Falls on a four-month tour of Canada, and the Eastern and Midwestern U.S. with his son. Sam hoped Houghton would be able to visit him at Hartford after Sept. 8 [MTL 6: 531].

September 8 Wednesday – The Clemens family returned home to Hartford, as reported by the Hartford Courant the next day [MTL 6: 532n2].

At least three newspapers reviewed Sketches, New and Old prior to the first copies being received from the bindery on Sept. 25. These papers, the Hartford Times, Hartford Courant, and the New York Tribune, were likely fed proofs or knew which sketches would be published. Here are remarks from each paper respectively:

Here we have fun alive…..The “Jumping Frog” is rehabilitated, and done up in a new and very droll shape…It is a beautiful volume—full of fine illustrations, and printed on thick calendared paper. Mr. Bliss, the agent, will soon be around with it, and we shall all want this book, if no other (Sept. 8 “Mark Twain’s Sketches,” p.2 )

It will be a better antidote for dyspepsia than the drug story can furnish (Sept. 9: “Mark Twain’s Sketches,” p.2 )

“Mark Twain” is to be honored by a complete edition of his sketches, new and old. It will be issued in a subscription volume of the usual size, but with more noteworthy illustrations and better typography than in the common subscription volumes. The American Publishing Co, Hartford, announce the volume as “the ‘Big Bonanza’ of the literary world” (Sept. 21 “Literary Notes” p.6) [Budd, Reviews 149-50].

September 11 Saturday – In Chesterfield, N.H., Howells wrote, again complimenting Sam on his “Gondour” piece, saying it moved “that eminent political economist,” Mrs. Howells. He also wrote:

“In comment on Charles Reade’s letters (I wish the man wasn’t such a gas-bag), don’t you wish to air your notions of copyright in the Atlantic?” [MTHL 1: 97-8]. Note: Reade had sent thirteen letters to the London Pall Mall Gazette opining on international copyright issues.

September 12 Sunday – Richard M. Milnes (Lord Houghton) wrote from St. Louis: “I recvd to-day your kind note to Niagara & hasten to thank you for it. I go to-night to Cincinnati & expect to arrive in New York about the [ page 667 ] 24th. …I fear therefore that I have no chance of being able to bring my son to see you.” He remarked about St. Louis being more like a European manufacturing city [MTP]. Note: his handwriting is abysmal, but some brave soul has transcribed it, likely through supernatural means.

September 13 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to the Staff of the Hartford Courant asking for his paper delivery to be changed from Newport to Hartford [MTL 6: 532].

Sam also wrote to W.D. McJilton, a clerk in the Dept. of the Interior, whom he’d met on vacation in Rhode Island. In jest, McJilton had forwarded a letter from S.W. Clements asking for an increase in a government pension, as he could not wear an artificial leg. Sam responded:

My Dear Mr. McJilton: / I have examined my legs & find that no part of Mr. C’.s communication fits me except the closing remark—to wit: “i never could war an artificial leg.” Evidently I am not the man. Therefore please give the pension to the other fellow—if you can find out where he lives [MTL 6: 532-3].

September 14 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells about copyright issues. Howells had written about the letters by Charles Reade on the subject printed by the New York Tribune. Sam calculated more might get done with a petition personally carried to Congress. The first copies of Sketches, New and Old were soon to arrive, and Sam related he’d told Bliss to send a copy to Howells before anyone else. Sam noted that he’d:

“destroyed a mass of Sketches, & now heartily wish I had destroyed some more of them—but it is too late to grieve now” [MTL 6: 534].

September 16 Thursday – William H. Barttell wrote from Yonkers, NY that he was making good on the promise he’d made to Sam at Bateman’s and was sending a “little work” on Modern English literature [MTP]. Note: the work is unidentified.

September 17 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Dan De Quille, still at the Union Hall Hotel nearby. Sam liked collecting “queer letters.” He asked Dan to:

“…write Fair, Mackey & O’Brien [Comstock Lode Millionaires], & ask them if they won’t save all the begging letters that come to them & send them to me from time to time” [MTL 6: 535]. Note: John William Mackey (Mackay) (1831-1902).

September 18 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells about the petition to lengthen copyrights. Sam wanted the country to make a stand to European thieves with “Thou shalt not steal.”

“If we only had some God in the country’s laws, instead of being in such a sweat to get Him into the Constitution, it would be better all around.”

Sam also wrote of possibly lecturing in Boston and New York to help out James Redpath, who’d been put in a tight spot by the withdrawal of Henry Ward Beecher and Thomas Nast [MTL 6: 536-9].

Sam sent an autograph-letter to an unidentified person, likely an autograph seeker.

 

“Will you please excuse the delay? / Yrs Truly / Samℓ. L. Clemens /em spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceMark Twain” [eBay Nov. 6, 2008 item 360096514257].

 

Phineas T. Barnum wrote to Sam: “Your recd. I am off 5 Oct to give 3 lectures down east—have again 10th & 11th but visit David Clarke in Hartford 12th Oct for a day with my wife—if I can get away…we shall call for 5 minutes at your house” [MTP]. [ page 668 ]

 

September 21 Tuesday – From Prospect House in Chesterfield, N.H., Howells wrote to Sam, saying he would be welcome at his house “in November, or any other month of the year.” After announcing his plans to travel on to Quebec to see his father, Howells wrote:

“Then, please the pigs, I shall stick to Cambridge for one while. I can’t tell you how sick I am of enjoying myself—that’s what it is called” [MTHL 1: 102].

September 22 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to James Redpath, explaining why lecturing would cost him money and interrupt his book (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer).

“I never HAVE lectured without losing a great deal of money by it (no matter what the fee,) & so you can understand my reluctance to meddle with fire that has burnt me so often. And, besides I absolutely loathe lecturing, for its own sake!” [MTL 6: 540].

September 22 and 27 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells that he wasn’t going to lecture this year. Sam wrote about seeing the first copy of Sketches, and ordering out “an entirely gratuitous addition by Mr. Bliss,” an extract from “Hospital Days” (which Sam did not write). Sam had Bliss send Howells early sheets on the book [MTL 6: 541-2]. Note: this editor’s copy has the listing in the table of contents, but not on p. 299.)

September 24 Friday – Phineas T. Barnum wrote two letters to Sam. The first informed that they had changed the date of their Hartford visit to the 29th, and that “the tribe of Barnum will number 6.” The second: “Yours recd—since I mailed a letter to David Clarke for you. We are to be in Hartford Wednesday next as that letter will inform you” [MTP].

September 25 Saturday – The first 100 copies of Sketches, New and Old arrived at the publishers from the bindery [MTL 6: 535n2].

September 26 Sunday – Sam saw the first copy of Sketches, New and Old [MTL 6: 541].

September 27 Monday – Phineas T. Barnum wrote, repeating his aim to bring his daughters to meet them for only 10 minutes on the 29th [MTP].

Jesse Madison Leathers (1846-1887), third cousin of Sam’s, wrote from Louisville, Ky.

Dear Sir:——I am here on a visit to the Lampton family, of which you are a member. My object is to bring about concert of action in referrence to this English, or Lampton Estate due us in England. What do you think of it—can we recover the estate, or is it a mith? Col Henry Waterson, Editor of the “Courier Journal” tells me that he is one of the heirs, or that he is a descendent of the Lamptons through his Mother. Answer at your convenience. / Yours Truly. / Jesse M. Leathers.

P. S. It seems that the Lampton family, from the accounts of the descendents, produced a Monroe, a Madison and a Jefferson, in the good old days, and now that it has produced a “Mark Twain” and a Henry Waterson it certainly has claims to a Nobility of mind & Brain that the titled families of England might be proud of. / J. M. Leathers.

P. S. This morning I received a letter from a first cousin of yours, living at San Luis Obispo, California. His name is Jerome Settle, and he state[s] that his Mother Caroline is a sister to your Mother, and that his Father is living at Glasgow, Ky.

You may have noticed an article going the rounds, of the Press, coppied from the Owensboro Ky. Monitor, relative to the Lambton Family and their relation to the Earl of Durham of England. / Jesse M. Leathers. [ page 669 ]

P. S. I am a great grandson of Samuel Lambton of Culpeper Co. Va., while you are a great grandson of his Brother Wm Lampton / [MTPO]. Note: Leathers’ delusions of grandeur were the basis for American Claimant [MTNJ 2: 49-51]. His revelation here would make him Clemens’ 3rd cousin.

September 28 Sunday – Charles L. Webster married Annie Moffett in Fredonia by Rev. A.L. Benton.

September 29 Wednesday – The Hartford Courant published a letter from Sam wrote (probably on Sept. 27) about a man who had knocked on his door with documents of petition “so conspicuously dirty that it would be only fair & right to tax them as real estate.” The documents claimed that other Hartford notables had contributed to the “professor…a late candidate for the legislature,” for the purpose of establishing “a school in a southern state…” Sam thought the man a fraud and sent him on his way, then wrote the letter to the Courant [MTL 6: 543]. The article ran under the title “Information Wanted” [Courant.com]

October – Sam’s unsigned sketch, “The Curious Republic of Gondour,” attacked suffrage and suggested weighted votes based on property and education. The piece ran in the October Atlantic Monthly. Sam sometimes preferred his more serious pieces to be published anonymously, so that readers would not suspect hidden humor connected with his trademark name, Mark Twain.

 

October 2 Saturday – Phineas T. Barnum wrote to Sam that conflicts wouldn’t allow Sam’s visit the next Saturday [MTP].

October 5 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Jesse Madison Leathers, a distant relative who had inquired about the feasibility of claiming part of the English Durham estate. Citing the cost that the Tichborne claimants spent unsuccessfully, and the 600 plus years the present heirs had held the lands, Sam wrote “It would be too much like taking Gibraltar with blank cartridges” [MTL 6: 545-6].

Sam also wrote a letter to an unidentified person to raise funds for the Massachusetts Infant Asylum’s December fair. The letter was used to make a book of autographs valued in excess of one thousand dollars, and was reprinted in several newspapers. Sam agreed:

“…to be one of a thousand citizens who shall agree to contribute two or more of their children to this enterprise” [MTL 6: 549].

Reginald Cholmondeley wrote from Shrewsbury, England to ask if the Clemens family might visit him the week of Aug. 2, 1876 [MTP].

October 6 Wednesday – Sam and Livy attended “Our Big Wedding,” the marriage of Governor Jewell’s daughter Josephine to Arthur M. Dodge of New York. Joe Twichell pasted a clipping by that title from the Hartford Courant into his journal. The wedding was at Asylum Hill Congregational [Yale 126]. Andrews gives details:

“The wedding…was an elaborate ceremony that exemplifies the social level of a class richer than the residents of Nook Farm. The Asylum Hill Church was like a hothouse—filled with a trainload of the most exotic flowers procurable in New York. The costumes, of fabrics gathered all round the world by the Cheneys (silk manufacturers), were richly elegant. Mrs. Jewell wore a robe of velvet the color of crushed strawberries and trimmed with wide Venetian point lace. Her ornaments were plain diamonds; her headdress, white and garnet feathers. The bride’s dress was of very heavy white silk. The Jewell mansion, decorated for the reception with festoons of smilax, and the grounds, lighted with innumerable Japanese lanterns, were thronged by such crowds that it was hard for the Courant reporters to see the costumes of their guests, though they noted glimpses of long trains, velvet fluting, much silk, and many diamonds. The bridal cake was topped by a pyramidal superstructure two feet high; the wedding presents were insured for $10,000; the bride and groom left for New York on a special train. All the Nook Farm group, [ page 670 ] Mark and Livy included, were present at this most brilliant social event of the year. President Grant sent his regrets” [101].

October 7 Thursday – In Hartford Sam wrote to John C. Underwood. Sam identified the “professor” who’d fraudulently solicited funds for a “southern school” as George Vaughan, and asked Underwood to endorse him. Unfortunately, Underwood, a district court judge, was deceased, as was another on Vaughan’s list he showed to Sam [MTL 6: 550].

Sam telegraphed P.T. Barnum suggesting a visit on Oct. 11 after Barnum had desired to postpone a planned visit on Oct. 9 [MTL 6: 555].

Phineas T. Barnum wrote “many thanks for your telegram” but he had to go to Boston Tuesday [MTP].

Samuel R. Glenn wrote “Herald Office” at the top of the page and not postmarking this until Oct. 20. “I send the enclosed [not in file] for a double purpose, to wit, first, for the reason that it may not have come athwart your boughs in your suburban retreat, and secondly to let you know that I am still an occupant of these lowlands of the Heavenly Kingdom. / With kindest regards to Mrs. C…” [MTP].

October 8 Friday – Phineas T. Barnum wrote to Sam: “I recd your telegram yesterday & write you that even one day would be beter than nothing. I hoped you would come early next Monday…” [MTP].

October 9 Saturday – James G. Blaine (1830-1893) replied to Clemens, who had written asking Blaine to verity his endorsement of George Vaughn (“a fraud”)

Jubes renovare infandum dolorem / O Clementia!!

After the late cruel war was over Washington was for several years the resort of those suffering patriots from the South who through all Rebel persecutions had been true to the Union—and the number was so great that the wonder often was where the Richmond Government found soldiers enough to fill its armies—of these Union heroes & devotees was Vaughan—He appeared there about 1868 or 1869—He had fled from oppression in the land of his birth only to find still more gr[i]evous tyranny in the land of his adoption. He looked as though he had been at once the victim of kingly vengeance & the object of concentrated Rebel malignity. His mug was like that of Oliver Twist and he evoked your pity even if its first of kin, contempt, went along with it—He obtained some very small place in one of the Departments & held it I think for a year or two. He fastened on me as his last hope & continually brought me notes of commendation, letters of introduction & rewards of merit. But he never insulted me with a reference to his being a candidate for anything. He uses that card only with green people in the country for in Washington candidate[s] go for nothing. It’s only the chaps that are elected that count.

The idea finally occurred to Vaughan that a good way to be avenged at once on all his enemies, to make Queen Victoria & Jeff Davis both feel bad at the same time would be to have a commiss[ion] as bearer of dispatches to England—As carry[ing] a mail bag across the Atlantic on a Cunar[d] steamer seemed a cheap & convenient way of exhibiting triumph over the dead Confeder[acy] & hurling defiance at England at the same time[.] I gave Vaughan a letter to the Sec’y of State—though I had no idea that I wrote quite so gushingly as the quotations you send me imply. But it is quite possible that seeing Vaughan before me the impersonation of fidelity to the Union & honest hatred of the Britishers I was carried beyond the bounds of discretion & indulged in some eccentricities of speech—But alas! my real convictions are that Vaughan in all his pitiful poverty belongs to that innumerable caravan of deadbeats whose headquarters are in Washington—It does my very soul good to know that Hartford is getting its share—Your evident impatience under the affliction, your lack of sympathy & compassion for the harmless swindler show how ill fitted you would be for the stern duties of a Representative in Congress—And if the advent of Vaughan teaches you Hartford saints no other lesson, let it deeply impress on your minds a newer, keener, fresher, appreciation of the trials & the troubles, the beggars, the bores, the swindlers, and the scalawags wherewith the average c Congressman is evermore afflicted—

Excuse my brief note— If I had time I would give you a full account of Vaughan [MTPO]. Note: Sam’s letter is not extant. Blaine’s intro Latin phrase = “O Queen, you ask me to recall unspeakable sorrow.” [ page 671 ]

October 10–31 Sunday 1875? – Sam wrote a short note to Samuel H. Church about twins “born at the same time but of different mothers” [MTL 6: 551].

October 11 Monday – In Hartford Sam replied to the Oct. 9 from James G. Blaine about the fraud, George Vaughan. Sam was now impassioned; the fact that Vaughan had written a “marvelously foul & scurrilous letter to the Courant in reply” set Sam off [MTL 6: 552].

Dr. John Brown wrote from Edinburgh, Scotland:

My dear Mrs Clemens. You must indeed wonder at my silence— I got your kind note & the photo of the newcomer—& I ought at once to have thanked you for both—but I was ill in mind—hopeless—heartless & I tried to write to you cheerfully as I ought—but could not—neither can I now—my mind has lost all caring for anything or any one & it is a dreadful thing to say—My sister & John are well—but it is sad for them to live with me— I fight against it—but feebly—& I must not say more—as the very expressing it is wrong— I am happy that you & the triumphant Mark are well—& my darling & the little one—

You & the good hub. have still some heart I am sure & you will not give up your old friend—even though he behaves heartlessly to you—

I hope the new house is finished & pleases you both— Tell Mr. Clemens that the gigantic Sheriff is well & writing papers on his beloved Skye[.] Though I was not well when you were at Veitch’s, I wish from my heart I was half as well now— Are you careful of your self—& getting stronger & not less comely & is Megalopis as wonderful as ever? I feel such a longing at this moment to see & hear you all[.] My best regards & affection such as they are to you & to the father & children[.] John & my sister send their love / Ever yrs & his truly & much / J. B.

Is that good nurse still with you? She is more ladylike in mind & body than many ladies—is Clara queer & wistful & commanding like my Susie—whom I see every day on the drawing room mantel piece & you too— That large one of you is in my study—it is not so good as you—& I have the inevitable Mark eyeing the universe in that historical group of Moffat[.] Ah me— You cannot know the misery of looking back on a wasted life— God bless you & all yours, with his peace & blessedness— / Your old & broken friend—J. B. / Kiss Susie for me & make her kiss Clara for me—& Mark may kiss you— [MTPO].

Sam and Livy left the children with nursemaids and went to “Waldemere,” P.T. Barnum’s estate in Bridgeport, Conn.. Since Barnum had a commitment to lecture in Boston on the evening of Oct. 12, the Clemens family stayed only one night. Barnum was lecturing for Redpath’s Lyceum Bureau [MTL 6: 555-7].

Sam inscribed a copy of IA: To Mrs. P.T. Barnum / from / Your Friend / Saml L. Clemens / Mark Twain / Oct 1875 [www.liveauctioneers.com/sothebys/item/589972; Dec. 11, 2006]. Note: Nancy Fish Barnum. This was the only day Sam could have given IA to Mrs. Barnum, so it is moved from Oct. listings to Oct. 11.

October 12 Tuesday – Sam and Livy continued on to New York, staying at the St. James Hotel [MTL 6: 555-7]. They spent the next few days shopping [560].

October 13 Wednesday – Bill paid to Arnold, Constable Co., of New York, importers of silks, linens, etc. for $177.50 [MTP].

October 16 Saturday – Sam and Livy returned home to Hartford [MTL 6: 555-7].

October 17 Sunday – Thomas Bailey Aldrich wrote to Sam.

My dear Clemens: / I hope you have been behaving yourself wisely and not too well during these past six months, while I have been fraternizing with your old boon companions in Italy, the St. Sebastians,—“a werry [ page 672 ] nice little family”, as Sam Weller would say, “with a good many werry nice points in ’em.” I trust you and the little ones—which include Mrs Clemens, to whom we send our love—are flourishing. How, when, and where shall you be seen in the flesh by / Your faithful friend, / ’Ebare Gordong, /de la Ville de Ponkapog, / Amerique? / I enclose you the petal of a flower plucked from Mike St. Sebastian’s grave. I know it will draw tears from your eyes [MTPO].

October 18 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Moncure D. Conway, who was on a four-month lecture tour of the Eastern and Midwestern United States. Sam asked that if Moncure received this letter, would he promise to run up to Hartford and stay with them a few days? [MTL 6: 557].

Sam also wrote to Richard M. Milnes (Lord Houghton) who had been visiting in New York and staying at the Brevoort House. Sam learned of Houghton’s presence in the city, Friday Oct. 15, but was delayed until it was too late to visit. Evidently Sam did not attend the Saturday breakfast at the Century Club, where Houghton and Moncure and other authors, publishers and artists met [MTL 6: 558].

October 19 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells who had sent him a review of Sketches. (Strangely, both Howells letter and Sam’s reply are given this date.) Howells wrote that reviewing a collection of stories was like “noticing a library.” Sam thought it was “a superb notice.” He talked of Livy planning a visit to Cambridge to see the Howells.

“I want her to get started, now, before children’s diseases get fashionable again, because they always play such hob with visiting arrangements” [MTL 6: 560].

Sam also wrote to the staff of the Hartford Courant, asking for any letters the paper might have received regarding “the fraud Geo. Vaughan”  [MTL 6: 561].

William Dean Howells wrote enclosing news clippings mentioning “The Curious Republic of Gondour”:  

      The poor fellow who wrote this notice thinks I had better show it to you before I put it in type. He says he’s afraid it’s awful rot; but he hopes you may look mercifully on it. Please return it to me (with objections) at once. You can imagine the difficulty of noticing a book of short sketches; it’s like noticing a library.

      I spoke to Longfellow about the international copyright petition. He will gladly sign it—if it doesn’t entail any cares upon him. I’ll see Lowell soon.

      How much will Bliss take for your type-writer now? [MTHL 1: 106].

October 20 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam replied to Thomas Bailey Aldrich, who wrote Oct. 17 after returning with his wife from a trip abroad. Sam and Thomas teased each other in their letters about Howells, dinner with Osgood; and a flower petal that was really an onion Aldrich had “plucked from Mike St. Sebastian’s grave” (relating to ch. 23 of IA, where Sam had written as part of his attack on the “old masters”); and a bit about St. Sebastian being recognizable by “his body…shot through and through with arrows” [MTL 6: 561-3].

October 21 Thursday – Phineas T. Barnum, wrote, clipping enclosed of a glowing review of Barnum’s show in the Boston Globe of Oct. 13.

My dear Clemens / We are glad to get your letter with the assurance that you have all got home safely although tired out. Hope & believe you’ll find the gas stove just the thing. It worked famously in London.

Your visit here was all too short—no chance to see our surroundings—. Better luck next time.

My Nancy & I will be right glad to visit you for a day when opportunity offers. We are busy till New Years.

We start next Monday for Kansas City & Omaha & then wend our way back—lecturing at our leisure. . . . [ page 673 ]

We hope that the little glimpse you got of Waldemere life will tempt you & your wife to try it again with babies, nurses & as much retinue as you like to bring.

Your big envelope of queer letters keeps swelling.

With kindest regards to Mrs Clemens and sweet sister Susie I am as ever / Truly yours / P. T. Barnum [MTPO].

Jesse Madison Leathers wrote from Louisville, Ky. “Your favor of the 5 inst. is at hand. While I take the same view of this ‘Durham Estate’ and the limited chance of the American heirs to recover it…yet I think it is worth looking into.” He also speculated about the Lambton who first came to Virginia [MTP].

October 23 Saturday – Clemens inscribed a copy of Sketches New & Old to Thomas Nast [MS, inscription, NN-BGC (New York Public Library, Albert A. and Henry W. Berg Collection, New York, N.Y.)].

October 25 Monday – Sam’s second letter to the editor of the Hartford Courant regarding George Vaughan was published under the headline “Information from Professor A.B.” Sam may have written the letter on Oct. 22. No “endorser” for Vaughan had been found, and Sam used Vaughan’s letters against him in this article [MTL 6: 563]. See Sept. 29 entry.

October 25–28 Thursday – Livy and Sam wrote from Hartford to Dr. John Brown, answering his letter with news about the babies and Sam’s new book, but mostly urging Brown to travel to the U.S. for a visit and to bring his son Jock Brown [MTL 6: 570].

October 25–November 7 Sunday – Sometime between these dates Sam wrote from Hartford to John. W. Stancliff, a marine painter with a studio in Hartford. On Nov. 8 the Women’s Centennial Association of Hartford held an exhibition of loaned art and antiques. Sam and Livy loaned four paintings. Sam’s letter describing prints in a book made by a young lady in London was printed in the Hartford Courant [MTL 6: 573-4].

October 26 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Jane T. Bigelow who had requested an autograph but Sam forgot and had to be reminded. Jane was the wife of John Bigelow (1817-1911), a prominent journalist, author, and diplomat.

“…business drove the matter clear out of my otherwise empty head, where it was reposing companionless in the midst of a vast & howling solitude” [MTL 6: 574].

Clemens also wrote to William Cullen Bryant. “Honored Sir: / If it is not asking too much, will you kindly inform me if you did ever meet this person?—& if you authorized him to use your name? The names in his list are a far more efficient diary than his feeble ‘endorsements’ ” [MTP]. Note: Clemens was trying to verify the claims of George Vaughan,  who had given Bryant and others as testimonials.

A devastating fire swept through the business district of Virginia City, also destroying the office of the Enterprise. From Alfred Doten’s journal:

“…by special invitation, the entire Enterprise force, printers, editors and all came to Gold Hill News office, were furnished all facilities, and the Enterprise was published next morning, as usual—never lost an issue” [Clark 2222]. (See Oct. 27 entry)

October 27 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Charles E. Flower, who was building a Shakespeare Memorial in England. America was still suffering from the Panic of 1873, and Sam wrote of business being “utterly prostrate…money is distressingly scarce.” Sam enclosed his picture for Edward Fordham Flower, Charles’ father [MTL 6: 575]. [ page 674 ]

Sam also wrote to Howells that he was persuading Livy to accompany him to visit Cambridge, and that Lucy Perkins, neighbor and wife of Sam’s lawyer, would look in on the children daily [MTL 6: 576].

The Virginia City Enterprise ran the story on the fire of Oct. 26:

VIRGINIA CITY IN RUINS.

A Fearful and Uncontrollable Conflagration—The Heart of the City Swept Away—Several Thousand Persons Homeless—The Immediate Loss Probably About $7,000,000—Consolidated Virginia Hoisting Works and Mill, the Ophir Works and the New California Stamp Mill Destroyed—But Little Property Saved Anywhere in the City.

 [For complete article, see: <https://www.territorial-enterprise.com/ruins.htm>].

Richard M. Milnes (Lord Houghton) wrote a short invitation: “Dear Mr Clemens, / I leave N.Y. on Wedy inst. If by chance you are in town, will you kindly breakfast with me on Tuesy the 2d at 9.30” [MTPO]. Note: Sam did breakfast with Milnes on Nov. 2.

October 28 Thursday – In Hartford Sam wrote to H.O. Houghton & Co., thanking them for a proof copy of Longfellow’s portrait [MTL 6: 578].

October 29 Friday – Sam received an invitation from Lord Houghton to breakfast at the Brevoort House in New York on Tuesday, Nov. 2 at 9:30. Sam wrote back that he was leaving that day for Boston and would be there until Nov. 1, but would “gladly run down to New York & breakfast with you the next day” [MTL 6: 579]. Sam and Livy went to Cambridge and stayed with the Howellses.

October 29–31 Sunday – Sometime during his Boston visit with Howells, Sam probably met Oliver Wendell Holmes regarding the copyright petition. Sam promised Holmes a copy of Sketches, New and Old, which he sent about Nov. 3 [MTL 6: 580].

October 30 Saturday – Mrs. E. H. Bonner wrote to Sam (envelope only survives) [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Mrs. Bonner / The fraud”

October 31 Sunday – Sam and Livy called on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow at his Cambridge home, Craigie House. Sam previously met Longfellow at the Feb. 16, 1874 Boston dinner for English author Wilkie Collins [MTL 6: 582n4].

November 1 Monday – Sam and Livy went to New York [MTL 6: 579]. A bill was paid to Farmington Creamery Co. for deliveries the prior month [MTP].

November 2 Tuesday – Sam breakfasted with Lord Houghton at the Brevoort House at 9:30 AM [MTL 6: 579]. That day or the next morning, Sam and Livy returned home to Hartford.

November 3? Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Oliver Wendell Holmes, sending an inscribed cloth copy of Sketches, New and Old. Sam wrote: “The author of this book will take it as a real compliment if Mr Holmes will allow it to lumber one of his shelves” [MTL 6: 580]. Note: Holmes wrote thanks on Nov. 4.

November 4 Thursday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells that they’d had a “royal good time” on their visit. Sam related how once back in Hartford, he’d “caught it” from Livy, for several social faux pas, including “personating that drunken Col. James,” (unidentified.) Sam claimed Livy ran into George, the [ page 675 ] butler, in the hall and took it out on him [MTL 6: 581]. (For a sketch of George Griffin from the 1906 “A Family Sketch,” see MTL 6: 583.)

Oliver W. Holmes wrote his thanks for the copy of Sketches, claiming the old saw about laughing and growing fat had gained him several pounds since he began to read the book [MTL 6: 580].

November 5 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Elisha Bliss with several requests. Sam approved of True Williams receiving the manuscript to draw the pictures for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as he had done for Innocents and Sketches, New and Old. Howells had been given a security copy. Sam wanted Dan De Quille’s book “rushed into print by New Year’s, if possible, & give Tom Sawyer the early sprint market.” (The Big Bonanza wasn’t published until July 1876, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer until Dec. 1876.) Sam had received an offer from Routledge for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which he would turn down in favor of Chatto & Windus, who printed The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in June 1876, six months ahead of the U.S. version. Sam also followed up on the “smouched” paragraph from “Hospital Days” which was taken from “Miss Woolsey’s charming book,” and not Sam’s authorship. Sam also wanted the stories not used in Sketches, so as not to lose them.

“Frank [Elisha’s son] said he would send the infernal Type-Writer to Howells. I hope he won’t forget to inflict Howells with it” [MTL 6: 585-6].

In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam, enclosing a clipping (see cited source for text):

“The type-writer came Wednesday night, and is already being to have its effect on me. Of course it doesn’t work: if I can persuade some of the letters to get up against the ribbon they wont get down again without digital assistance….I hope to get at the story [The Adventures of Tom Sawyer] on Sunday” [MTHL 1: 109-10].

November 6 Saturday – William A. Seaver wrote to Sam:

Clemens, dear:— / Are you coming to N.Y. next week? If so make it Wednesday. I’m going to do a little breakfast at the Union Club at 9½ a.m. sharp, on that day, to Frederick Lehmann, who bears to me stationery from Wilkie Collins. It’s not to be a gorge of joints, gin, gush and spout, but simply hash, mackerel, a shrimp, and a feeble cup of go’long tea. The bill of company will be Harte, Hay, Brady, Cox, you, and your little friend the host. / Youll come? / “Thanks!” / Cordially, / Wm. A. Seaver [MTPO].

November 9 Tuesday – Thomas Nast wrote to Sam, complimenting him on Sketches, and in what may or may not have been intentional humor, Nast poked at Clemens by praising the piece inserted by Bliss to fill a rather empty page, a sketch that Sam had not written!

“I think that the short piece ‘from hospital days’ is the best thing it contains, and am so sorry that the publishers will commit the error of leaving it out next time. Yours Truly, Th Nast” [MTP]. Note: later states of the book are without the sketch, although some still list it in the contents.

 

November 10 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford a receipt of $355.86 to Routledge & Sons for royalties up to June 30, 1875 for The Gilded Age. The book did not sell well in England [MTL 6: 586n4].

 

Sam also replied to the Nov. 6 of William A. Seaver. Sam had failed to show at a breakfast at the Union Club in New York, hosted by Seaver that morning, though he was thought to have accepted an invitation of Seaver’s on Nov. 6. Also invited were Bret Harte, John Hay, Brady (unidentified), and Samuel Cox.  

“I was careful to let you go on & provide my share of the meal, though, because I knew Hay would need it. The sort of belly he is sporting, these days, can’t be conducted on single rations, my boy” [MTL 6: 588]. Note: John Hay was a very thin man.  [ page 676 ]

November 11 Thursday – Charles M. Gall wrote from Ottawa, flyer enclosed announcing John Blaisdell as imitating Mark Twain. “Some time ago I was in Montreal where I saw a play produced, entitled ‘Mark Twain or the Innocents Abroad’. I do not know whether you have ever heard or seen the play….you would have been highly amused at the broad absurdity of the whole affair” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “About that piratical play”.

November 12 Friday – Sam delivered a “prologue” to the recently formed Hartford Dramatic Association’s presentation of the play Our Best Society, by Irving Browne (1835-1899). Sam’s remarks included the “whistling story” about a stammerer curing himself by whistling; and parts of “Roughing It” lectures. Sam’s remarks took five or six minutes and set the house in a humorous mood [For an account of Sam’s speech from the Hartford Courant, See MTL 6: 590].

November 13 Saturday – James G. Bennett, Jr., owner of the NY Herald, wrote, “My dear Sir, / I understand that you have a copy of the reprint of Mr House’s letters to the N.Y. Herald upon the war between Japan and Formosa. If you would kindly let me have the book I should feel much obliged to you” [MTPO].

November 17 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam replied to James G. Bennett, Jr., owner-editor of the New York Herald, who requested a copy of Edward House’s book on the war between Japan and Formosa (Taiwan). Sam answered he couldn’t let go of the book because House had not so instructed him to do so, but that one George Simmons in New York had a copy, and was known by John Russell Young of the Herald [MTL 6: 591-2].

Thomas Shivers Hubert (1860-1953) wrote from Warrenton, Ga. to Sam:

Dear Sir: / Excuse the liberty I take in writing to you but I must give way to my “whim” and write.

      I have read two of your works viz, “Innocents Abroad” and “Roughing It.” I am pleased with both and often have cried while reading it. For instance, In the latter book when yourself & companions were lost in a snow storm and asked each other to meet you in Paradise, I could not refrain from giving vent to my tears. In your quaint style of writing one moment I would be in tears while the next in laughter[.]

      Now, Mr. Clemens, I hope you do not think me a “non est” or “non compos mentis” but I must ask you to write to me. Tis true we are unknown to each other yet when I intend making a tour around the world I will pay your expenses to have the felicity derived from you as a companion.

      I have not yet finished my college course yet can find sufficient time to devote to you and your letters.

      Let me hear from you soon stating I can claim you as a correspondent / Truly yours… [MTP]. Note: Hubert later obtained a degree from Vanderbilt University and became a Baptist minister in several Southern states. Of all the offers and pleas Clemens received, Hubert’s offer to pay Sam’s way on a world trip for his companionship is an unusual one, but given to the idealism of a fifteen-year-old boy.

November 18 Thursday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Mary A. Cord, inscribing his Sketches, New and Old book as a gift. Sam half apologized for the “libelous portrait” of Aunty Cord on p. 202, which portrayed Mary as scowling. Mary was the source of “A True Story,” which ran prior in the Atlantic [MTL 6: 593].

November 21 Sunday – William Wright wrote from Virginia City, Nev. “Dear Mark, —We have had a terrible scorching here but will come out all right in a few months. The Ophir company will resume handling on in three or four days and a few days thereafter the Consolidated Virginia will begin blasting. The works of both companies are larger and better than before the fire.” He added, “Every day men say to me: ‘you wrote your book too soon. You should have had the fire in it’ ” [MTP].

In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam, sending proof sheets of the “Literary Nightmare” article, which Howells wanted to run in the January Atlantic.  [ page 677 ]

“I finished reading Tom Sawyer a week ago, sitting up till one A.M., to get to the end, simply because it was impossible to leave off. It’s altogether the best boy’s story I ever read. It will be an immense success” [MTHL 1: 110].

Louise Rutherford wrote to from Union Springs, Ala. Sam

Sir: / I have written a book and can’t get it published. What, do you suppose, is the cause of my failure? It is a novel—the book I mean—and is sensationally perfect. … How did you manage to get your first work before the public? It is a “dark and bloody mystery” to me; and I would like you to explain. …

      Where are Dan and Jack? Are they married? If not, I will send them a valentine if you will tell me where and how to direct, and keep the secret. I don’t want to get up a flirtation. I am not sweet sixteen. I am practical twenty-six; but I like a little innocent fun; and a valentine from this far-a-way place would puzzle them. Moreover, I am sorry for Dan; he’s so awful ugly; and there is a bond of sympathy between Jack and I, on account of that turtle. I found him a fraud, too. Why didn’t you favor (?) the public with a likeness of yourself? My cousin’s baby cries sometimes, and I always make the nurse get Dan’s picture, and show her. It scares her into silence. I often wish I had yours.—

…

      Are you going to the Centennial? Then, come to see us. We are only forty miles from Montgomery. An amusing incident occurred while you were in the latter city; and as it relates to yourself, you might like to hear it; but my letter is already too long.

      I shall be glad to have you reply, if not too much trouble. I am quite considerate. I do not want to give any one trouble. / Respectfully / Louise Rutherford. / P.S. Direct in care W.C. Bower, or in care “Bower and Pitts.” [MTP]. Note: Rutherford (b. 1850?) refers to Dan and Jack often mentioned in IA: Dan Slote, and Jack Van Nostrand. See ch 47 where Jack throws clods at a mud turtle for not singing. No doubt Clemens felt the use of Slote’s picture (engraved in IA) to quiet a baby, to be humorous. Clemens was never in Montgomery, so the lady must have confused him with someone else.

November 21–December 6 Monday – Sam wrote a paragraph from Hartford to the Public for inclusion in a charity book for the Hebrew Charity Fair and Mt. Sinai Hospital held in New York’s Hippodrome, Dec. 6 to 22. The book was compiled and valued at two thousand dollars and given as a prize [MTL 6: 593-4].

November 22 Monday – Unidentified “company interfered” with Sam and Livy’s reading of Howells’ “Private Theatricals,” the first part of which appeared in the November Atlantic Monthly [MTL 6: 595-7n6].

November 23 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells, answering his Nov. 21 letter, which praised The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Howells had made a few pencil suggestions and corrections, mostly in the first third of the book, and recommended Sam cut the last chapter. Howells, like Sam, grew up in the Midwest, and the book undoubtedly stirred boyhood memories, although Howells’ boyhood was not as idyllic as Sam’s. Howells wished he’d been on that island and loved the treasure hunting, the loss in the cave, etc. Sam responded that Howells opinion was “glorious news,” and agreed that it was a “book for boys, pure & simple,” but one that adults might also enjoy. Sam wrote some revealing lines about his writing:

“In spite of myself, how awkwardly I do jumble words together; & how often I do use three words where one would answer—a thing I am always trying to guard against” [MTL 6: 594].

November 27 Saturday – On Livy’s 30th birthday, Sam wrote her a love letter, although both were home in Hartford.

Let us look forward to the coming anniversaries, with their age & their gray hairs without fear & without depression, trusting & believing that the love we bear each other will be sufficient to make them blessed. So, [ page 678 ] with abounding affection for you & our babies, I hail this day that brings you the matronly grace & dignity of three decades! [MTL 6: 597].

November 30 Tuesday – Sam’s 40th birthday.

December – Sometime during the month Sam wrote from Hartford to John D. Kinney, his Lake Bigler forest fire buddy.

My Dear Kinney:

      Upon receipt of this note the American Publishing Co. will furnish to you a cloth copy of Innocents, Roughing It, & Sketches, charging the same to my account, & will send the books to you or to such address as you may name

      Merry Christmas! [MTP, drop-in letters].

December 2 Thursday – William A. Seaver wrote from NYC.

Clemens, dear:— / Whenever I can find the baldest pretence for introducing your name among the “Personals” of the Weekly or Bazar, I do it. You miss a great deal of this good reading, which I’m sorry for.

And this reminds me that you have n’t sent me your last big thing, which I want, with your autograph.

I still think I am yours truly, / Wm. A. Seaver.

I’m satisfied that you are no longer fond of me. You avoid me [MTPO].

** Robert Watt wrote an inscription in the Danish translation of RI and sent it to Clemens: “With the compliments of his Danish translator / Robert Watt / Copenhagen 2d Dcbr 1875” [MTP].

December 5 Sunday – Sam responded to a Dec. 2 tongue-in-cheek note from William A. Seaver asking for a copy of his new Sketches book, and including sentiments of a scorned lover. Sam responded by sending an inscribed copy of Sketches, New and Old: “To the aged & virtuous Wm. A. Seaver with the imperishable love of Mark Twain.” In a separate note Sam put Seaver’s success to the prayers Sam had offered [MTL 6: 598].

December 6 Monday – Robert Watt wrote to thank Sam for “the two splendid copies of your New and Old Sketches” [MTP].

December 7 and 9 Thursday – Sam’s letter to the Hartford Courant, “The Infant Asylum Fair,” was reprinted in the New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Boston Evening Journal, and the Boston Morning Journal [Camfield, bibliog.].

December 9 Thursday – J. Ross Browne died in San Francisco, possibly of appendicitis. He was 54 [Browne 407].

John W. Hart wrote to Sam from State Prison awash in over-the-top prose. It all boils down to what Sam wrote on the envelope [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “From the burglar Hart describing the ship.” Hart had sent Sam a model ship made in prison.

December 12 Sunday – Frank D. Finlay wrote from Edinburgh to Sam. “The papers—and they never lie—say that you are coming over in spring. Are you? I shall be so dreadful glad if you are! I am living in Edinburgh until May….I have a spare room , and can put you up: and I have nothing to do, and we could have long ‘cam’ jaws and loaves together” [MTP].

December 15 Wednesday – Moncure Conway wrote from NYC. [ page 679 ]

My dear Clemens, / I have been doneing my level best to see a day when I could promise myself the great pleasure of visiting you and your wife at Hartford; but only this morning it dawns on me that towards the last of this year—say about 28th–9th, I should be able to stop for a little if you shd be at home. Still I know it is Xmas time, and it may not be convenient, and of course you will let me know if such is the case.

I have had a charming little visit at the Howellses in Cambridge. Said I to them, says I, “Do you know and adore the Clemenses?” Says they “We do!!” Then, says I, Let us embrace! We did. / Ever yours / Moncure D Conway [MTPO].

Reginald Cholmondeley: “They say you cannot come next year but if all be well come first Monday in August 77 / Yours truly”  [MTP].

December 16 Thursday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Moncure Conway, who had written advising that he’d be able to visit Hartford on Dec. 28-29. Conway had been visiting the Howellses in Cambridge. Sam replied: “Good! Give us both days—can’t you do that?” [MTL 6: 599]. Conway came and stayed four days, leaving on Dec. 31 [MTL 6: 600n2].

December 20 Monday – Twichell noted in his journal: “M.T. being sick with …dysentery” [Yale, copy at MTP].

December 21 Tuesday – Sam gave a reading at Twichell’s Asylum Hill Church, Hartford. The Hartford Courant of Thursday, Dec. 16, 1875, p.1 in an article titled “Christ Church Choir and Mark Twain” reported that Clemens had agreed to give some readings for benevolence on the following Tuesday [MTPO]. (Sam’s letter of Dec. 22 puts this in dispute, so the reading is conjectural.)

Edwin Pond Parker wrote from Hartford to Sam to “most heartily thank” for the book and inscription [MTP]. Note: likely Sketches, New and Old.

December 22 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to his mother-in-law, Olivia Lewis Langdon, thanking her for her gift of the ninth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Sam had been “confined to the house & in the doctor’s clutches for about 3 weeks….” And that this was his first day out to shop and “selected some birds to send you for our Christmas” [MTL 6: 602].

Sam also wrote to sister Pamela Moffett and a separate letter to his mother (letter now lost). Pamela was still trying to win an appointment to the Naval Academy for her son, Samuel Moffett; Sam wrote that he’d tried everybody but the President, “& all to no purpose” [MTL 6: 603].

Fidelia Bridges (1834-1923) wrote from Brooklyn “…will forward by express tomorrow the two water-colors you commissioned me to paint and have framed.” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “From the water-color artist, Miss Bridges”. Many of Bridges’ paintings can be seen on Artnet.com.

December 23 Thursday – Joe Twichell wrote to Sam: “Andy Hammond (West Point cadet) is coming home Christmas bringing some fellows with him. I have invited him and them to dinner Monday. I don’t know yet that they will come, but if they do I want you to come over—you and Charley Warner—and dine with us also. It will be such a treat to the boys if you can” [MTP].

December 24 Friday – In New York, Bret Harte wrote to Sam, asking a favor—to use his influence with Elisha Bliss to gain an additional $1,000 advance on his book, Gabriel Conroy. Harte reminded Sam of a day when their roles had been reversed, but believed that good times for him were coming.

So I ask you, in the common interest of our trade to help me—and to do the best you can to persuade our common enemy—the publisher to make this advance. You know Bliss better than I do—you are, I think one of his stockholders. You will of course satisfy yourself that the company runs no risk in an advance—but you, as a brother author, will appreciate my anxiety to get the best I can for my work…[Duckett 97]. [ page 680 ]

December 25 Saturday – Christmas – Sam wrote a delightful letter he signed “Santa Claus” to Susy Clemens.

“I had trouble with those letters which you dictated through your mother & the nurses, for I am a foreigner & cannot read English well” [MTL 6: 604].

Sam inscribed a copy of Sketches, New and Old to Lilly Warner (Mrs. George Warner): “A Merry Christmas to Mrs. Lilly Warner With warm regards of Sml L. Clemens Hartford, Dec 25 1875” [McBride36].

December 26 Sunday – John W. Hart wrote from State Prison (“Sarcophogas 14 State Catacomb”) to wish Sam “A most obesely jocund Christmas.” Hart must have swallowed a dictionary, as his prose is a felony [MTP]. Note: Clemens wrote on the env. “From John W. Hart, who made the ship in prison”; a model ship was sent to Clemens.

December 28 Tuesday – Fidelia Bridges sent a receipt for $220 paid for watercolors [MTP].

December 28 to 31 Friday – Moncure Conway arrived for a visit and stayed until Dec. 31. Sam and Conway played billiards (Sam won, 11 games to 4). Sam further entertained his guest by singing “old boatmen’s songs which he heard when on a Mississippi steamboat.” He posed an idea to Conway, who’d been a Southern Minister in the Unitarian church before going to England and meeting Sam there in 1872. “The ease with which I perceive other peoples religion to be folly, makes me suspect that my religion may be folly also.” Conway took a MS of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer to England and arranged for Chatto & Windus to publish it. Sam gave Conway an inscribed Sketches book. Conway noted that Sam had a touch of dysentery [MTL 6: 599-601]. Note: Conway left his overshoes; he sent a postcard on Jan. 4 asking Sam to ship them.

December 29 or 30 Thursday – Sam wrote a “Religious conundrum suggested by my present disease” to Twichell: “Question: If a Congress of Presbyterians is a PRESBYtery, what is a Congress of dissenters? Answer: A Dysentery” [MTL 6: 606].

December 30 Thursday – Sam wrote in a gift copy of Sketches, New and Old, for Moncure Conway:

To Friend Conway: / Who will kindly remember that the billiard-odds lay with him, & Victory with his gratified friend & servant, Mark Twain. Hartford, New Year’s 1876 [MTL 6: 607].

John W. Hart wrote from Middleton, Conn. to thank Sam for his “kind letter of Dec. 21…it was quite unexpected.” He thanked him for his interest in his son’s work (likely the ship model sent) [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “From Hart the prisoner’s father”

December 30 or 31 Friday – Sam wrote a card to Howells, which is now lost. MTP’s online annotation for Jan. 1, 1876 to Howells gives this as “his first known communication with them [Howellses] since 23 November…” [MTPO].

December 31 Friday – Moncure Conway ended his visit with Sam and left for New York, where he was to deliver another lecture [MTL 6: 600-1].


 [ page 681 ]
The Nation’s Centennial Year

1601 – Started on Huck Finn – Ah Sin & Bret Harte – West Point – Tom Sawyer Praised Skeleton Stories – Conway as Agent – John Marshall & Henry Disinterred – Sam on Stage Centennial in Philly – Advice to American Publishing Co. – Hayes & Torchlight Parades Political Speeches – Tauchnitz – Belford Pirates – Readings in New England

 Jabberwock Auctioneer – Crazy Isabella

1876 – Sometime during the year, Sam and Livy founded the Saturday Morning Club, a group of sixteen to twenty young Hartford ladies. They met and read essays and discussed various subjects. Sam, the only male member, often asked his well-known male friends to speak before the group [Willis 105]. Sam listed Boyesen, Harte, Fields, Charles Dudley Warner and himself as past speakers to the Club, and he had also asked Bayard Taylor (1825-1878) [MTLE 2: 11].

 

Asylum Hill Church, Hartford, Conn. – Sometime during the year, Sam gave a reading from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer [Schmidt]. Note: the church had 186 pews, seating 930 people [Strong 49].

Though the date is unknown, Sam first visited the U.S. Military Academy at West Point during 1876. Cadet Oberlin M. Carter (USMA 1880) claimed Sam visited West Point at least three times between 1876 and 1880. Carter also reported visiting the Clemens’ residence in Hartford [Leon 36].

January – Possibly this month Sam wrote from Hartford to Isaac H. Bromley, who had originated the popular expression, “Punch, brothers! Punch with care!” To Sam’s consternation, the line was often attributed to him. He advised Bromley,

“The next time you write anything like that for God’s sake sign your name to it…” [MTLE 1: 27].

Sam wrote a story (“Punch Brothers! Punch with Care,” which later became “Literary Nightmare” ) based on the narrator, Mark Twain, seeing a catchy jingle in the morning newspaper. Like a virus, the jingle damaged Mark’s memory until it passed into the head of his friend the Reverend during a walk. The friend returns to Twain in a frantic state, his life upset by the jingle. Twain solves the problem by taking the Reverend to some university students, where the jingle-virus passes into their heads. See Feb. 1876.

Conductor, when you receive a fare,
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
A blue trip slip for an eight-cent fare,
A buff trip slip for a six-cent fare,
A pink trip slip for a three-cent fare,
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!

CHORUS

Punch brothers! Punch with care!
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!

January 1 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote a postcard to William Dean Howells, asking to write a few articles for the Atlantic in a “new & popular low-comedy vein”—and Sam wrote “SCOFULOUS HUMOR” inside of a box [MTLE 1: 28]. Sam’s postcard suggestion for “Scrofulous Humor” and a pasting of a newspaper clipping is revealed by the following ad, which is typical of many that ran for this product in the [ page 682 ] Hartford Courant (27 times in 1875) and other papers. Use of a standard advertising phrase with double meaning, using the old physiology definition of “humor.”

 

Webster’s on Scrofula: “A disorder of a tuberculosis nature”; Scrofulous: “pertaining to or affected with scrofula”; 2nd meaning (which both men undoubtedly were aware of): “morally tainted.”

 

Sam also had cards printed up, pink against a black background with a facsimile of his Mark Twain signature underneath “1876 A HAPPY NEW YEAR” next to a jumping frog sketch by Thomas Nast [MTLE 1: 29].

January 2 Sunday – In New York, Bret Harte wrote to Sam about the dramatization of Gabriel Conroy. John T. Raymond had not agreed to Harte’s terms for the play, and another actor had pocketed Harte’s first play without performing it:

I have been such a tremendous fool in disposing of my first play as I did—that I feel wary. To think that Stuart Robson has it in his pocket while he is quietly drawing a good salary from his manager for not playing it…is exasperating.

Try and make Bliss do something for me. You can if you choose make him think it is the proper and in the end the profitable thing—certainly it is no risk to him [Duckett 98].

Lilly Warner stopped in at the Clemens’ home and the next day (Jan. 3) wrote her husband, George:

Mr. Clemens is still miserable—wasn’t dressed yesterday [Jan.2] when I ran in at noon. I really think it might run into some serious trouble.” The next day, however, she reported he was “better & out again” [MTPO]. Note: Sam often stayed in bed to read and write and smoke. Perhaps his state of dress fooled Lilly.

January 4 Tuesday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam, thanking him for a copy of the Jumping Frog book sent after not hearing from Sam for awhile. “The more I think over your boy-book [The Adventures of Tom Sawyer] the more I like it.” Was it true that Sam was going to Europe in the spring? [MTHL 1: 118].

Moncure Conway wrote a postcard to ask Sam if he’d express Conway’s overshoes to Boston [MTP].

January 5 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Francis D. Clark, secretary for the Associated Pioneers of the Territorial Days of California, to decline an invitation to their first annual meeting and banquet. Sam was not well enough, he wrote, to come, and his illness had put “his work back to such a degree” that he’d have to stay home for some time to catch up [MTLE 1: 30]. Note: Sam suffered from dysentery as noted in his bad pun to Twichell, Dec. 29 or 30.

Sam also wrote another postcard to Moncure Conway in care of James T. Fields in Boston, answering his of Jan. 4 and agreeing to allow Conway to be his agent in England for publication of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by a company of Conway’s choice. The two had evidently discussed having the book published in England prior to Bliss publishing it in the U.S. Sam invited Conway back to Hartford before Conway sailed [MTLE 1: 31]. [ page 683 ]

Sam also dictated a letter through an unidentified stenographer to William Wright (Dan De Quille), who wrote Sam on Nov. 21 to ask if he’d seen Bliss on the matter of Wright’s book, The Big Bonanza. Sam wrote about Bliss’ “slow ways” and advised Wright to keep on him about publication dates. True Williams was nearly finished with the Tom Sawyer drawings, and he’d told Sam that he was going to draw for Wright’s book next. Sam also wrote about Joe Goodman, Steve and Billy Gillis and advised Wright to retire to California “and be content to be comfortable.”

“If I had Joe Goodman’s money and his brains I don’t think I would fool away the one and rack the other running an evening paper—or any other kind. But I suppose it is hard to get over old habits” [MTLE 1: 32].

Moncure Conway wrote from Boston of his plans to be in Hartford for three lecture dates, Jan 18, 22 and 23, with possibly others in nearby cities like New Haven.

 

We will talk over the book when we meet in the intervals of b-ll-r-ds. By the way, we think b — ds a good Sunday pastime in London — especially holy (perhaps because our tables have holes) — but I suppose that at Farmington we should make the old Puritan gods turn over in their graves by the click of anything that did not give pain [MTPO].

January 9 Sunday – William Wright (Dan De Quille) wrote to Sam. In part:

Dear Mark.— I am utterly in the dark in regard to what is being done in Hartford. I wrote to Mr Bliss last Sunday and requested him to let me know how he is getting on. I sent him three prefaces, but don’t know that any one among them is worth a cent. However, he may be able to make one out of the three. I have also thought it might be well enough to have a dedication in it, so inclose one [MTP].

January 11 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Frank Bliss on an accounting of monies owed, including his debt of a loan to Charles Dudley Warner [MTLE 1: 34]. Note: See list of those who had received books from Sam in the notes online for this letter at MTPO. It includes the fourteen books he sent sister Pamela for the WCTU reading room in Fredonia.

Sam also wrote to Howells, responding to his Jan. 4 letter and saying he hadn’t forgot about him, but had been sick “four weeks on a stretch.” He wrote that he’d sent for a “short-hand writer & dictated answers to a bushel or so of letters that had been accumulating.” Sam had been working on an Atlantic article, which he planned to read to the Monday Evening Club at his house on Jan. 24.The article was “The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut,” and Sam hoped it would generate much discussion at the club. Sam asked Howells and his wife to visit Saturday Jan. 22 and stay over for the Monday Evening Club. Sam also wrote that his Sketches book had sold 20,000 copies [MTLE 1: 35].

January 12 Wednesday – Moncure Conway wrote a postcard from Concord, Mass: “Thanks!! / I shall arrive in Hartford by train leaving New York at 10 a.m. on the 18th & come straight / M.D. Conway” [MTP].

January 13 Thursday – Miss C.C. Ranstead for the New York Infant Asylum wrote to ask Sam for a testimonial for Maria McLaughlin who had been a wet-nurse for one of the Clemens children. “She represents herself as a deserted wife and is here waiting for her confinement. / A paper of fine-cut tobacco was found in her pocket and a bottle of liquor in [word torn away]. The managers of this institution are ready to dismiss her, but I begged them to wait a little” [MTP]. Note See Mar. 16, 1875 entry for Twain’s humorous account of Maria.

January 16 Sunday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam, sorry to hear he’d been sick. He declined an invitation from Sam for him and the wife to visit; Howells had company coming and was behind the eight ball on finishing “Private Theatricals,” a serialized article for the Atlantic. He added: [ page 684 ]

“I’m glad to hear that the Sketches have done so well. Get Bliss to hurry out Tom Sawyer. That boy is going to make a prodigious hit” [MTHL 1: 121].

January 17 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to James R. Osgood. He wanted a piece of William F. Gill’s hide this time, and told Osgood to pay the lawyers and go after him in court. Sam would go it alone if he had to, and wanted from Gill at least:

“$1,000—& a written confession from Gill that he is a liar and a thief—& a promise to take my article & name out of his book at once…Sue for $1,000 to $10,000 damages, & permanent injunction” [MTLE 1: 37].

In this letter Sam refers to a book that might prove as evidence of Gill’s transgression; he directs Osgood to “Keep the book you mention & don’t mislay it.” In MTP’s “Explanatory Notes” to this letter, the unspecified book, “if not a Copy of Burlesque, has not been identified.” For the record: Burlesque (1875), along with Travesty (1875) was reissued by Gill under the title Half-Hours with the Humorists; Or, Treasure-Trove. Both books available online at Google Books. See p. 177-84 for “An Encounter with an Interviewer” by Mark Twain.

Moncure Conway wrote a postcard from NY: “Unless there should be a bluff trip slip ‘twixt the cup and the lip I shall be with you tomorrow by the train leaving here at 10 a.m.” [MTP].

Sam’s check # 21 was made payable to Mrs. Fairbanks for ten dollars, as a donation for the bazaar for the city of Cleveland, Ohio [The Twainian, July-Aug. 1949 p1].

January 18 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells, answering his Jan. 16 letter:

Thanks, & ever so many, for the good opinion on Tom Sawyer. Williams has made about 200 rattling pictures for it—some of them very dainty. Poor devil, what a genius he has, & how he does murder it with rum. He takes a book of mine, & without suggestion from anybody builds no end of pictures just from his reading of it.

Truman “True” Williams did the drawings for several of Sam’s books, and contributed 159 drawings for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer [Powers, MT A Life 383]. Sam pointed out a line that got past the censorship of Livy and Howells: “and they comb me all to hell.” The word was changed to “thunder” [MTLE 1: 12].

Moncure Conway arrived in Hartford to pick up a copy of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer manuscript to carry to England for publication there [Norton, Writing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 30]. Conway had also received three lecture dates in Hartford and wanted to stay with the Clemenses, at least part of the time. He wrote Sam from Boston on Jan. 5 of the lecture dates and in anticipation of billiards at the Clemens home. From the recently added 1876 annotations on MTPO:

Sponsored by Hartford’s Unitarian Society, Conway lectured at Allyn Hall on “Demonology, or the Natural History of the Devil,” “Science and Religion in England,” and “Oriental Religions; Their Origin and Progress” on 18, 22, and 23 January, respectively, staying with the Clemenses while he was in Hartford. The book Clemens wanted Conway to offer to an English publisher was The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, the American edition of which was in production at the American Publishing Company in Hartford. For Conway’s own gloss of “Dissenters’ trouble,” see L6, 600–1. The famous diary that Samuel Pepys (1633–1703) began keeping in shorthand in 1659 was first deciphered and published in part in 1825 (Hartford Courant: “Amusements,” 17 Jan 76, 2; “The Devil: Mr. Conway’s Lecture on Demonology,” 19 Jan 76, 1, 4; “Mr. Conway’s Lectures,” 24 Jan 76, 1; L6, 585–86; Pepys 1825).

Sam’s article “Recollections of a Storm at Sea” ran in the Cleveland Bazaar Record [Camfield, Bibliog.; The Twainian, July-Aug. 1949 p1]. [ page 685 ]

Sam’s letter of Jan. 5, declining to attend the 28th anniversary of the discovery of gold in California was read aloud. The Associated Pioneers met at the Sturtevant House in New York. John A. Sutter could not attend, but Joaquin Miller was the “honored guest” [Jan. 5 to Clark MTPO].

George F. Leavis for the Dartmouth College Smoker’s Club wrote to inform Clemens of his honorary membership and enclosed a journal (not in file) “devoted to the interests of smokers” [MTP].

January 19 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Jerome B. Stillson, former correspondent for the New York World, who had written from Denver, where he was now in the real estate business, asking Sam for an autograph. In 1877 Stillson would move back to New York and join the staff of the New York Herald, where he stayed until his death in 1880 [MTLE 1: 14].

In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam:

“There is one chance in a thousand that I may run down alone on Saturday afternoon; Mrs. Howells is quite out of the question, and I’d rather come some time soon when you haven’t your Club” [MTHL 1: 124]. Note: Howells did not visit on Jan. 22, as he was still hoping to come in his Jan. 27 letter.

January 20 Thursday – Clemens wrote from Hartford to an unidentified person:

      I have examined the wonderful watch made by M. Matile, & indeed it comes nearer to being a human being than any piece of mechanism I ever saw before. In fact, it knows considerably more than the average voter. It knows the movements of the moon & keeps exact record of them; it tells the days of the week, the date of the month & month of the year, & will do this perpetually; it tells the hour of the day & the minute & the second, & even splits the seconds into fifths & marks the divisions by “stop” hands; having two stop hands, it can take accurate care of two race horses that start, not together, but one after the other; it is a repeater, wherein the voter is suggested again, & musically chimes the hour, the quarter, the half, the three-quarter, & also the minutes that have passed of an uncompleted quarter-hour—so that a blind man can tell the time of day by it to the exact minute.

      Such is this extraordinary watch. It ciphers to admiration; I should think one could add another wheel & make it read & write; still another & make it talk; & I think one might take out several of the wheels that are already in it & it would still be a more intelligent citizen than some that help to govern the country. On the whole I think it is entitled to vote—that is if its sex is the right kind [MTP]. Note: this had been under 1877 with a ? This ran in the Middletown, Conn. Constitution for Jan. 31, 1877, which likely led the earlier surmise it was 1877.

January 21 Friday – Orion Clemens wrote to Sam.

Keokuk, January 21, 1876.

My Dear Brother:—

      Are you willing to lend me five hundred dollars a year for two years, while I try to get into the practice of law?

Your Brother,

Orion.

P. S. I can succeed [MTPO].

January 22 Saturday – Sam’s article “A Literary Nightmare”  ran in the Hartford Courant on page one:

Will the reader please to cast his eye over the following verses, and see if he can discover anything harmful in them? [Courant.com]. (See Jan? entry for verse)

January 24 Monday – Sam read his newly drafted story, “Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut” to the Monday Evening Club at his home. This was his third presentation to the club [Monday Evening Club] [ page 686 ] Twichell remembered the story as “serious in its intent though vastly funny and splendidly, brilliantly read.” The tale was a surreal and dark treatment that questioned the origin and function of the conscience. It appeared in the June 1876 Atlantic Monthly [Wilson 101]. Kaplan suggests that the story was a way for Sam “to express concern with multiplicity and remorse, with inner conflicts as well as conflicts with the community” [194]. Note: readers can work up a sweat viewing this story anticipating Freudian terms of ego, superego, id, sin, guilt and liberation. (See entry for Mar. 13; also notes for this letter online at MTPO for a list of the current members of the Monday Evening Club.)

Sam also repeated his invitation for Howells to come for a short visit. This note does not survive [marktwainproject.com, notes for Jan. 18 to Howells].

Moncure Conway ended his stay in Hartford. He would sail to England on Mar. 11 taking the Tom Sawyer MS in search of an English publisher.

Moncure Conway wrote a postcard from NY to ask Sam to forward any letters for him to C.S. Annuel, Columbus, Ohio [MTP].

Jesse Madison Leathers wrote from Louisville, Ky., “unable to raise the means to go to England…It may be that I shall have to abandon this Earldom” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “From the Earl of Durham”

January 25 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to James R. Osgood, again about the legal matter of watching William Gill, who had made a habit of plagiarizing and exploiting authors. Sam’s intention was to sue Gill for trademark infringement for using the name “Mark Twain,” a rather novel legal strategy at that time. But Gill had removed Sam’s nom de plume from his book, leaving the article in, which thwarted Sam’s suit. Sam offered his opinion of lawyers:

The more I see of lawyers, the more I despise them. They seem to be natural, born, cowards, & on top of that they are God damned idiots. I suppose our law firm are above average; & yet it would be base flattery to say that their heads contain any thing more valuable than can be found in a new tripe [MTLE 1: 15]. Note: The MTP’s “Explanatory Notes” for this letter corrects Sam’s conclusion: “1 Ultimately Gill did not make good on his promise to remove Clemens’s pen name from Burlesque (see 17 Jan 76 to Osgood, n. 1, and L6, 511–12). The lawyer who had made the ineffectual compromise has not been identified.”

Charles Carroll Hubbard (1832-1898), Mayor of Middletown, Conn. wrote to Sam:

Dear Sir / I have taken the liberty to forward you by mail, a little book, not as a sample, nor for review exactly, but to do as you please with. I do, however, desire to say a word on business. I have spent several winters in Florida, and have seen the tourist and native elements in all their phases, and am confirmed in the opinion that the pen that produced the “Innocents Abroad” should write up Florida. It is the richest field now open to such a pen, and the harvest is ripe for the sickle,—or thereabouts.

      What I would like to propose is, to be brief, that you take a tour down there this winter—3 or 4 weeks will do if you do not wish to stay longer—and write a book on Florida, and I should like to assist and take a certain share in the sale of the book. There is plenty of material and a large market, and the assistance I could give would be to furnish information of incidents and localities to be put into shape by you. You will very naturally think this proposition presumptuous, but I simply wish to say that I am willing to take the risk of the sale of the book for my remuneration, and have no doubt of a satisfactory adjustment of what that share should be. I can give you plenty of crude material. I would undertake the publishing of the book, or have it published by any house you choose.

      I am not a literary man, as you see, but could be of assistance in the way indicated.

      It is a good thing. Messrs. Burr Bros. of the Hartford Times, and especially Mr. Frank L. Burr, can tell you all about me.

      Will you be kind enough to answer; and if you should entertain the subject I can come to Hartford at any time to see you farther about it. Would like to come anyway, but do not wish to bore you uselessly. If you [ page 687 ] wish to go to Florida, and are willing to go by water, and can go within say a fortnight (just in time for the heighth of the season) I could furnish you with a ticket from N.Y. to Palatka & return, free; but I have no doubt you could go by either route on the same terms, if you chose. An early answer will greatly oblige / Yours very truly / C.C. Hubbard / Middletown, Conn. [MTP]. Note: Alfred E. Burr and Frank L. Burr were co-owners and editors of the Hartford Courant. Clemens was in Florida twice: see Jan. 6, 1867 in Key West, and Mar. 15-18, 1902 (Vol. III). No reply by Clemens is extant. The few collaborations Sam engaged in did not go smoothly: the play Ah Sin with Bret Harte, and GA with Charles Dudley Warner.

January 26 Wednesday – M.M.B. wrote to Sam, clippings enclosed: “A friend sends me the inclosed slip-cut from ‘The Tennessean Observer,’ published at Fernandina, Florida. I thought you could appreciate it is an illustration that truth is stranger than fiction” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “ ‘Tenneseean’ Journalism”

January 27 Thursday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam, still unable to come down for a quick visit on Saturday, but he was “getting the better” of his “literary misery.” Howells reported praise of Sam’s article in the Feb. Atlantic, “Literary Nightmare” :

The day the number came out, I dined at Ernest Longfellow’s [artist, son of the poet (1845-1921)], and before I got into the parlor, I heard him and Tom Appleton [(1812-1884) brother-in-law of Henry W. Longfellow] urging each other to punch with care. They said the Longfellow ladies all had it by heart, and last night at the Fieldses they told me that Boston was simply devastated by it [MTHL 1: 124-5].

A.R. Stover wrote to Sam asking for his conception of the character of Scotty in Buck Fanshaw’s Funeral—in writing [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “From a Boston ass”. Twain usually resented such questions into his craft.

January 28 Friday – Sam wrote a post card from Hartford to Thomas Bailey Aldrich, who had been “captured” and confessed his love for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Sam was “delighted!” so much so that he felt healthy again, after being “in the doctor’s hands for 2 months…” [MTLE 1: 16].

Sam also wrote a short note to Miss Higgins (unknown). Sam added a PS:

“Will you kindly make my peace with Mr. J. Lawrence Kearny, & tell him I have truly repented & now take nothing but sack-cloth & ashes for dinner?” [MTLE 1: 17]. Note: James Lawrence Kearny, journalist and author (1846-1921). Sam “repented” from the “Punch, brothers! Punch” jingle quoted in his article “A Literary Nightmare,” in the Feb. 1876 Atlantic.

Sam also wrote a one-liner to an unidentified person: “I repent me in sack cloth & ashes?” [MTLE 1: 19].

Sam also wrote to William Wright (Dan De Quille), telling him to “keep his shirt on” about The Big Bonanza coming out. Dan had written Sam asking if he knew when the book would be out.

“Bliss never yet came within 4 months of getting a book out at the time he said he would. On the Innocents he overstepped his word & his contract 13 months—& I suffered questioning all that time” [MTLE 1: 18].

January 29 Saturday – Sam’s notes in Hyppolyte Taine’s The Ancient Regime (1876) state that he finished reading the book on this day [Slotta 32]. This was a major sourcebook for both P&P and CY (See also Sept. 10 entry).

A.R. Stover wrote to explain that “the information asked for in my last was for one about to read the piece before the public” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “From that same Boston ass”. See Jan. 27. [ page 688 ]

January 31 Monday – Frank Fuller wrote from NYC to Sam [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Ex-gov of Utah Territory”—a joke about Fuller being acting Governor for a day.

February – William Dean Howells published a review of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in the Atlantic. Howells gave Sam high praise for the boy-mind presentation “with a fidelity to circumstance which loses no charm by being realistic in the highest degree.” Howells called The Adventures of Tom Sawyer a book “full of entertaining character, and of the greatest artistic sincerity.” The only thing off about the review was the unintended timing, caused by the long delay in the book’s publication. A nine-month gap between Howells’ review and U.S. publication allowed demand to grow that could only be satisfied by the purchase of Canadian knock-offs.

“Literary Nightmare” or “Punch, Brothers, Punch” ran in the February issue of the Atlantic [Camfield, bibliog.]. It also ran in the Hartford Courant on Jan. 22; see entry.

February 2 Wednesday – Sam inscribed a copy of Franz Ahn’s (1796-1865) Ahn’s First German Book (1873): “S.L. Clemens, Hartford, Feb. 2, ’76” [Gribben 13].

Mary Mason Fairbanks wrote from Camden, N.J.

My Dear Samuel / “A blue trip slip for a six cent fare”—you see I have caught the infection. The last Atlantic brought it into our family and since then it has spread throughout the house.

      Mollie and I are trying to get away from it, but the little demon follows us. We go up and down the streets of Philadelphia in the cars, ringing the changes on that persistent doggerel which will not let go its hold upon our brains.

      We are going to New-York on Friday for a week or two.

      Are you coming there during that time? I have n’t whispered it aloud, but I have had the thought that perhaps (if I was assured that you were all well and at home without company) we would slip off to Hartford for a day or a night. I am not sure until I reach New-York that I can carry out this little plot, but I had rather have the day in your house than the two weeks in New-York. Write to me if I should find you & Livy at home in case I found the little expedition practicable. Address me in care of “Charles M. Fairbanks—Office of The World—Park Row N.Y.” I shall be at the Brevoort some of the time, but am to make several visits from there.

      I write this morning from Cousin Hattie (Mason) Pancoast’s where I have been spending the night.

      We are just setting off for Philadelphia and I only stop now to send love and kisses to the household and to write myself as always

Your loving Mother Fairbanks

P. S. I must add that Mollie is rejoicing to-day in her first long black silk. She is going out to dine. Can you realize that she has come to the years of actual young ladyhood? In my eyes she is a very dainty little pattern [MTPO].

February 3 Thursday – Joe Twichell wrote from Hartford.

Dear Mark, / I have just refused to ask you to lecture or read in a case in which I would have hardly refused anything I could do but that. Mrs. G. F. Davis of Washington St, representing the Orphan Asylum now caught in a pecuniary crisis, is the party I turned away, not without regret and, I confess, considerable compunction. But I have sworn not to let my personal relations to you be utilized in that way. I had to do it in self defense, and in decency.

      BUT, if this most excellent lady gets at you through any other channel, I advise you to grant her at least an audience. I almost wish I had excepted orphans when I made my vow.

      There is no trick in this note i.e. I did not tell Mrs Davis I would write it.

      I shall be vastly grieved to miss dear Howells’ visit if he is here over Monday. I am going out of town.

To Father Hawley’s funeral, now, with a sorrowful heart. How glad you must be, how very glad to think of the comfort you gave him. To-day it is worth to you ten thousand times more than all the trouble it cost.

Yours aff  [ page 689 ]

Joe [MTPO].

Charles Reade wrote from London about combining in England to protect the rights of authors [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Chas. Reade the novelist”

February 4 Friday – Sam wrote to Cashier of the First National Bank, Hartford, asking for a New York draft of $1,500 payable to William Wright (Dan De Quille) and to charge his “Personal” account. The bank’s cashier at this time was Charles S. Gillette [MTPO]. (See Feb. 8 entry.)

February 7 Monday – William Wright (Dan De Quille) wrote to Sam, increasingly impatient with Bliss for taking his time publishing The Big Bonanza:

Make Bliss understand that the sooner that book is out the better for us all. I get more confounded letters about it than a few and lots from fellows that want to “work the thing,” you know. Regards to Mrs. Clemens and the Blisses. I hear from Joe almost every week. I am posting Mrs. G. a little on stocks. There is not likely to be any big rise before April. If it goes much beyond that there will be no big market till late next fall; you see the big grain crop will soon be calling for the money [MTPO].

February 8 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to William Wright (Dan De Quille), sending him $1,500 to invest in:

“California or Con. Virginia at such time as John Mackey thinks is best, & when he says sell, sell, whether at a loss or a profit, without waiting to swap knives” [California and Consolidated Virginia were Comstock silver mine stocks]

A. Hoffman writes that Sam anticipated Dan’s book being a success and advanced him this money [240]. Sam told Dan to get good advice, and if John Mackey (Mackay) wouldn’t offer it, not to “buy on time, but only buy what you can pay cash down for.” Sam wrote he’d invested all the money he had “a month ago, in Illinois” (a Comstock silver mine.) He also hadn’t been able to catch Bliss at home in Dan’s behalf, but offered that the engravings were no doubt holding things up on Dan’s book [MTLE 1: 20]. Mackey was the silver baron of the Comstock Lode in Virginia City.

James R. Osgood wrote from Boston: “My dear Clemens / Certainly—you shall have the 20% discount. We shall render you a bill once a month but you can pay when you like. I have given such orders, and you may now fling your postals recklessly. / Songs of our Youth will go today” [MTP]. Note: Songs of our Youth, by Mrs. Dina Maria Craik (Muloch) (1826-1887); a collection of songs & poems. Gribben lists others by Craik inscribed to Livy as a girl.

Joe Twichell wrote to Sam: “I have chosen the 28th for our visit to West Point and written to Andy Hammond accordingly….What do you mean about one of Patrick’s children? Do you mean that it has scarlet fever?” [MTP].

Mary Mapes Dodge wrote to Sam from St. Nicholas editorial rooms, NYC.

My dear Mr Clemens— / It was a delight to see your name at the end of a letter in new handwriting the other day, for I very much wish an article from you for our magazine—a Mark Twain article—but I fear that this particular MS. can’t be made available for St. Nicholas—The idea is a good one, but the skeleton story you give, though just as full of fun as can be, & capital for grown-ups, is not one that I like to ask the children to fill out—The absurdity & humor of the thing would not be recognized by them—but they would set to work by hundreds to write a bloody & sensational novellette that would out-do the dime novels—They would spend days & days upon it, concentrating their young minds upon dreadful details of & feel that they were doing a great & serious work for St. Nicholas. As I know by experience, they would take the idea literally, quite overlooking the comico-burlesque undercurrent—and we should be really putting a premium upon the producing of just such stuff in the way of child-reading as we are straining every nerve to suppress & crowd out of existence—I write my idea plainly because I believe you’ll see its force and understand me— [ page 690 ]

      BUT, we must have something from you! I look upon this kind offer as a sort of lien—Can’t you tell the boys of some supposed personal experience in the manly sports—yachting, boating, skating, ball playing, firing at a mark—pic-nic-ing—private theatricals & high tragedy—horsemanship—breaking a colt or anything that has fun in it? St Nicholas has girl and boy readers of from 8 yrs to 18—We try to give them good & refined reading & to put in all the fun we can—Should you send a paper for the young folk I need not say that we can carry out your ideas in regard to illustration—Wouldn’t there be good material in “A Boys Vacation,” supposed to be your personal experience in trying to enjoy to the utmost a month’s or a week’s holiday in the summer under difficulties? It could be anywhere from 1 page to five in length We could illustrate it with humorous pictures & put it in our August number. In that case the Mss should be at hand by middle of March or April—

      You see I’m not willing to let you go, now that you have walked into my parlor—With thanks for your remembrance and “a lively sense of favors to come,” I am / Yours Truly Mary Mapes Dodge [MTPO].

Francis Wayland wrote to ask Sam “what Saturday Evening in March you would prefer for your lecture to our Kent Club?” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Lt. Gov. Wayland”

February 9 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Mollie Fairbanks, daughter of Mary Mason Fairbanks. Sam idealized girlhood, as his later treatment of “Angel Fish” would show. Mollie had just had her “coming out” to society party, and Sam reflected:

I wanted you to remain always just as you were when I saw you last, the dearest bud of maidenhood in all the land. I feel about it as we feel about our youngest child, “the Bay;” every time she discontinues a mispronounciation, & enters upon the correct form of pronouncing that word, never to retreat from it again, & never again to charm our ears with the music that was in the old lame sound of it, we feel that something that was precious has gone from us to return no more; a subtle, elusive, but nevertheless real sense of loss…Now you see, my Mollie is lost to me, my darling old pet & playfellow is gone, my little dainty maid has passed from under my caressing hands, & in her place they have put that stately & reserve-compelling creation, a Woman!

Sam asked what sorts of things Mollie was reading, and recommended “an old book by” Thomas Fuller, title forgotten, which Sam said contained what he called “pemmican sentences,” that is, sentences that boil “an elaborate thought down & compresses it in to a single crisp & meaty sentence,” something that Sam was adept at in his writing [MTLE 1: 21]. Note: Lamb’s essay “Specimens from the Writings of Fuller, the Church Historian,” originally published in the Reflector in 1811, extracts Thomas Fuller’s History of the Worthies of England, which appeared in 1662 [MTPO].

Moncure Conway wrote to Sam.

My dear Clemens, /I have been for some days haunted by paragraphs in the papers saying that Mark Twain is about to take a blue trip ship—alas, what am I writing, that you mean to go to England, to “lecture in London in May and June,” etc. Is there real substance in this rumour?

—Have you not an influential acquaintance in Elmira, New York, who would find it convenient in passing the imposing and imposturing rooms of the Young Men’s Christian Association and find out whether they really do mean to defraud me out of the $25 which they owe me? The contract was to lecture for $125; it is not denied; but they said they had embarrassments, and being one to three I could not get out of them more than $100. They are now coming the dodge of not answering letters. If they do not pay I shall certainly sue them if only to publish their meanness.

Heartiness to Mrs Clemens & the young ones. / Ever yours / M D Conway

This will reach you on Sat., and if you will write then or next day to me, care of Rev. Jno F. Effinger St Paul, Minn, I shall get it. If you write on Monday or Tuesday address Care Rev Robt Collyer 500 La Salle Chicago [MTPO].

February 10 Thursday – Marvin Henry Bovee wrote to Sam, flyer enclosed, once again (see Bovee’s Apr. 7, 1875) appealing for a visit and contribution by Clemens to the cause of ending capital punishment. Sam [ page 691 ] wrote on the letter, “From that inextinguishable dead beat who has infested legislatures for 20 years trying to put an end to capital punishment” [MTP].

Eighteen year old Isabella Bowman wrote from Williamsport to Clemens, begging for $5 [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “No Answer”

Mrs. Charles F. Deihm wrote to “Frank Clements” asking for a writing sample for her paper [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Not Answered”

February 13 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Mary Mason Fairbanks, calling his letter only a “Postscript” to the one he’d sent Mollie Fairbanks.

I’m always writing you in spirit—ain’t that enough? I write all my other letters by hand (& brain) of an amanuensis—but yours I think out myself though I do not set them down on paper. I have wholly lost the habit of letter-writing, & you know I never did have it in a largely developed way. My correspondence grew upon me to such an extent that it stopped all of my labor, nearly, & so was destructive to our bread & butter. I have been emancipated, for a good while, but I am soon to lose my private secretary, now, & don’t know what I shall do, for there are few people whom Livy will allow in the house [MTLE 1: 24].

Sam invited Mary and her daughter to visit in April or May, before the Clemens family made their “June exodus,” referring to their plans to reside in Elmira at Quarry Farm.

February 15 Tuesday – Edward Hastings for the National Soldier’s Home wrote from Elizabeth City, Va. to ask Sam for copies of his books. Sam complied, asking Bliss on Feb. 17 [MTP].

February 17 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Elisha Bliss asking that copies of his four books plus, Everybody’s Friend, Life Amongst the Modocs (by Joaquin Miller), My Captivity Amongst the Sioux (by Fanny Kelly), Beyond the Mississippi (by Richardson), The Secret Service: The Field Dungeon, and the Escape (by Richardson) be sent to Edward Hastings, librarian at the National Soldier’s Home in Elizabeth City County, Virginia [MTLE 1: 25]. Gribben adds Albert Deane Richardson’s The Secret Service, the Field, the Dungeon, and the Escape [577].

Sam also wrote to Edward Hastings, confirming his gift of books being sent.

 

Twichell, who had been in Brooklyn attending a grand council of ministers who were pondering a final verdict on Henry Ward Beecher’s guilt, rushed home with Edwin Pond Parker (1836-1925) pastor of the Second Church of Christ, Hartford, upon hearing of the passing of Horace Bushnell. Bushnell had been pastor of the North Congregational church in Hartford for many years until 1859, when due to extended poor health he resigned his pastorate. Thereafter he held no appointed office, but was a prolific author and occasionally preached. Bushnell was instrumental in the installation of Twichell as pastor when the Asylum Hill Congregational Church was built [Andrews 41].

February 18 Friday – William A. Seaver wrote : “Fine Old Man:— / The March No. of the Drawer opens with your ‘Riley – Newspaper Correspondent.’ It tickled me awfully. / When are you coming to York?” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Old Seaver of Harpers Weekly”

February 19 Saturday – Joe Twichell wrote : “Dear Mark, / Home last night at midnight. / Here is a letter from Kojima. The news concerning House (if it be news) concerns you or his friend. / as for Kojima…we shall have yet to consider…raising the means of keeping him here till he is through college. Love to Livy. I suppose I shall see you Sunday eve” [MTP]. Note: Noriyuji Kojima, along with Kakichi Mitsukuri, Japanese students brought to America by Edward “Ned” House and put under Twichell’s care [Courtney 182].  [ page 692 ]

February 20 Sunday – Edward Hastings for the National Soldier’s Home wrote to thank Sam for books rec’d [MTP].

February 21 Monday – Charles W. Stayner wrote to Sam enclosing papers that announced his new lecture “American Humor,” in which he included “a biographical sketch” of Sam [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “No Answer”

February 22 Tuesday – Moncure Conway wrote from Cincinnati, Ohio:

My dear Clemens, / Having just come from the great Fancy-Martha-Washington-Costume-Centennial ball at the Opera House, wherewith the Queen City is tonight doing homage to G. W. and the Eagle,—I sit down simply to put in an envelope the enclosed letter received by my wife from Chatto & Windus, & forwarded by her to me. If there be anything further that pressing time suggests shd be done before we meet (on March 9th a.m.) you had better write to me to care of W P Conway Esq Fredericksburg Virginia.

I shall leave Fredericksburg in time to give a lecture in Hartford on March 8. That night I shall have to pass with the Cornwalls, but next morning I propose, if you will allow me, to come to your house

I sail on the 11th

Remember me heartily to your wife. / Ever yours / M D Conway [MTPO].

February 23 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Frank Marx Etting (1833-1890), accepting his invitation of Feb. 19 to attend the Congress of Authors at Independence Hall, Phila. on July 2. Sam wrote he would bring “a brief biographical Sketch of Francis Lightfoot Lee of Virginia” [MTLE 1: 26].

February 25 Friday – Sam’s uncle John Adams Quarles, once a prominent and well-to-do man of Monroe County, Missouri, died a poor man [The Twainian, March 1942 p5].

Mary Mapes Dodge wrote from NYC asking for a piece of writing [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Mrs. M.M. Dodge Editor St Nicholas”

February 26 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Moncure Conway, answering his Feb. 22 and confirming Conway’s visit for Mar. 9. Conway had finished a fall and winter lecture tour on “London,” [MTL 6: 600n1] and would leave for England on Mar. 11 to make a deal with a publisher for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Sam was “entirely recovered” from his bout with dysentery, though Susy had “a tilt with diphtheria.” Sam had also gone to bat for Conway on a lecture pay dispute with the Elmira YMCA [MTLE 1: 27].

February 28 Monday – George Barclay wrote from Edinburgh to inform Sam of the “precarious” nature of Dr. John Brown’s health. It was doubtful the good doctor could ever resume practice [MTP].

March – Harper’s Monthly printed “The First Century of the Republic,” by Edwin P. Whipple. This article described popular humorists like Artemus Ward, John Phoenix, and Mark Twain, who was said to be:

“the most widely popular of this class of humorists, is a man of wide experience, keen intellect, and literary culture. The serious portions of his writings indicate that he could win a reputation in literature even if he had not been blessed with a humorous faculty inexhaustible in resource” [Tenney 8].

March 3 Friday – Francis Wayland wrote to Sam to pin down which evening he would “bask in your smile”—either March 22nd or 29th [MTP]. [ page 693 ]

March 4 Saturday – Mary Mapes Dodge wrote to Sam: “People who do promise are so very uncertain that I eagerly pin my faith upon a man who doesn’t promise. Don’t promise—but please do write me a midsummer story for the boys” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Mrs. M.E. Dodge, editor St Nicholas”

March 5 Sunday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam, declining Livy’s invitation for a visit [MTHL 1: 126].

March 6 Monday – Sam went to the American Publishing Co. to see Elisha Bliss and check on De Quille’s The Big Bonanza, and no doubt on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as well. Bliss showed Sam a lot of the pictures that were going into De Quille’s book and told him that the compositors were ready to go to work. Sam may have learned at this point that the book could not be published by summer [MTLE 1: 28].

Sam telegraphed Howells, okaying a visit accompanied by his son John Howells (1868-1959) [MTHL 1: 126n1].

March 7 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to William Wright (Dan De Quille), beating him up some for waiting Mackey’s advice while the “California” stock rose from 81 to 92 dollars a share. Sam insisted Dan telegraph him; that he liked “that sort of expense, for it saves money

Sam had been to see Elisha Bliss the day before. He noted seeing a lot of Dan’s sketches “floating around in the newspapers,” and complimented him on “not wasting words.” Sam ended with “Lovely spring weather here” [MTLE 1: 28].

In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam, announcing his telegram received, and that he and his son expected to leave Boston at 3 o’clock Saturday, reaching Hartford at 7 [MTHL 1: 126]. Note: This source shows this note as Mar. 6 or 7; the MTP online listing shows it as Mar. 6 and 7, less likely for a two-line note.

March 10 Friday – T.J. Mackay wrote from Boston to Sam. He was a stranger asking where he might find more of Twain’s stories, having given a public reading of “The Beef Contract” [MTP].

March 11 Saturday – William Dean Howells and son John Howells arrived at the Clemenses for an overnight stay [MTHL 1: 127n1].

Moncure Conway sailed for England with Tom Sawyer MS in hand [Norton 31].

William A. Seaver wrote to Sam:

Fiend! / You probably remember Gilman: he was one of our dinner friends at the feed to the Bishops. His wife is one of the best men I know in New York—full of fun and feeling, —and anxious to do something for the country. My advice is that you conciliate her. She’s a power. Don’t make an ass of yourself by refusing. Mrs. Gen. Cullum, whos name is signed to the “circ.” Is a granddaughter of Alick Hamilton (You remember Alick? Sec. of Treas under Wash.) Hope you’ll come ‘cause then I can have a shot at you. / Truly yours, / Aristophanes Bird [MTP]. Note: General George Washington Cullum (1809-1892). He married the widow of General Hallock.

Edward Cenley wrote from Cincinnati to Sam, relating the Eschol Sellers controversy and wishing “to get at the facts in…the matter” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “From an ass”. Again, this label was the one Sam often gave to those inquiring into the inside story of his works or characters. He clearly thought such inquiries were impudent and intrusive, no one’s business but his own. [ page 694 ]

March 12 Sunday – The Clemenses entertained William Dean Howells and son John. In a letter to his father, Howells described his son’s reaction to the Clemens’ home:

I took John with me, and as his mother had prepared his mind for the splendors of the Twain mansion, he came to everything with the most exalted fairy-palace expectations. He found some red soap in the bathroom. “Why, they’ve even got their soap painted!” says he; and the next morning [Mar. 12] when he found the black serving-man getting ready for breakfast, he came and woke me. “Better get up, papa. The slave is setting the table.” I suppose he thought Clemens could have that darkey’s head off whenever he liked. He was delightful through the whole visit [MTHL 1: 127n2].

March 13 Monday – Back home in Cambridge Howells wrote thanking Sam for the visit [MTHL 1: 127].

Sam, still in Hartford, sent Howells his surreal sketch, “The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut.” The dark story of a dwarf-conscience reflected Sam’s fixation with conscience and guilt. Sam had read the sketch at the Monday Evening Club On Jan. 24 [Wilson 101]. Sam told Howells to “correct it mercilessly.” Howells published the piece in the June edition of the Atlantic Monthly [MTLE 1: 29; Powers, MT A Life 386-7].

March 15 Wednesday ca. – Around this time Sam began a “skeleton story”—a novelette he called A Murder, a Mystery, and a Marriage, which remained unpublished until the Atlantic re-discovered it and ran it in their July/Aug. issue of 2001!

March 16 Thursday – In Hartford, Sam wrote to Richard McCloud, attorney and president of the Hartford Knights of St. Patrick. (See Mar. 17 entry, as well as notes on this letter at MTPO on the political machinations alluded to.)

George Vaughan (whom Clemens had called “a fraud”) wrote a postcard to “Arthur Clemens (Mark Twain)”:

Do not suppose I have forgotten you, or your past conduct toward me. It is being daily demonstrated that—not the ragged & the poor—but the rich & influential are the genuine rascals. You took advantage of a poor but honest man, & like a genuine coward dealt him a blow through a disreputable Journal, which absolutely refused to allow the assailed a chance to reply. I find you are not by any means considered a Gentleman even in Conn. & there is a glimmering of the ludicrous in the fact that you thought I was an ignorant man, easily scared. You are a liar a Coward & a rascal, & as such I will leave your conduct to its sure reward. / George Vaughan [MTL 6: 570n9]. Note: see Oct. 7, 11, 19, 25 of 1875 on Vaughan.

**Mrs. Jennie Cheever Wilmot wrote from Adrian, Mich, having “contemplated a drama” and wanting his opinion of the idea [MTP].

March 17 Friday – Sam’s letter of Mar. 16 to Richard McCloud was read aloud at the Hartford Knights of St. Patrick’s third annual banquet. It also ran Mar. 18 in the Hartford Courant and was in the New York Times on Mar. 19.

DEAR SIR: I am very sorry that I cannot be with the Knights of St. Patrick tomorrow evening. In this Centennial year we ought all to find a peculiar pleasure in doing honor to the memory of a man whose good name has endured through fourteen centuries. We ought to find pleasure in it for the reason that at this time we naturally have a fellow-feeling for such a man. He wrought a great work in his day. He found Ireland a prosperous republic, and looked about him to see if he might find some useful thing to turn his hand to. He observed that the President of that republic was in the habit of sheltering his great officials from deserved punishment, so he lifted up his staff and smote him, and he died. He found that the Secretary of War had been so unbecomingly economical as to have laid up $12,000 a year out of a salary of $8,000, and he killed [ page 695 ] him. He found that the Secretary of the Interior always prayed over every separate and distinct barrel of salt beef that was intended for the unconverted savage, and then kept that beef himself, so he killed him also. He found that the Secretary of the Navy knew more about handling suspicious claims than he did about handling a ship, and he at once made an end of him. He found that a very foul Private Secretary had been engineered through a sham trial, so he destroyed him. He discovered that the congress which pretended to prodigious virtue was very anxious to investigate an ambassador who had dishonored the country abroad, but was equally anxious to prevent the appointment of any spotless man to a similar post; that this Congress had no God but party, no system of morals but party policy; no vision but a bat’s vision, and no reason or excuse for existing anyhow. Therefore he massacred that Congress to the last man.

When he finished his great work he said, in his figuratively way, “Lo, I have destroyed all the reptiles in Ireland.”

St. Patrick had no politics; his sympathies lay with the right — that was politics enough. When he came across a reptile he forgot to inquire whether he was a Democrat or a Republican, but simply exalted his staff and “let him have it.” Honored be his name — I wish we had him here to trim us up for the Centennial. But that cannot be. His staff, which was the symbol of real, not sham, reform is idle. However, we still have with us the symbol of Truth — George Washington’s little hatchet — for I know they’ve buried it [MTLE 1: 30-31].

Sam also wrote to James Redpath wanting to give his “Roughing It” lecture in New York sometime in the next three weeks, pretty short notice for a New York talk. Sam preferred Chickering Hall. He did not mention Dr. John Brown by name, but the money from the lecture was meant for him, so that he might retire. Sam wrote he was to give the lecture “next Wednesday” (Mar.22) in New Haven [MTLE 1: 32].

March 18 Saturday – James B. Adams wrote from St. Marys, Wyo. to Sam asking for writerly advice—which publications are best to start with? [MTP].

March 18? Saturday – In Hartford, Sam wrote to James T. Fields regarding his upcoming Hartford lecture [MTPO].

March 19 Sunday – Susy Clemens’ fourth birthday. Sometime during this next year, Sam wrote in The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay, by Trevelyan: “Susie’s aphorism (age 4) ‘How easy it is to break things.’ Her first remark in the morning sitting up in bed” [Slotta 35].

Sam wrote from Hartford to Elisha Bliss. He was still unaware that Bliss had fallen significantly behind schedule on publishing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, due to the many other books he was putting out, including De Quille’s. Sam asked if it would rush Bliss to canvass sales in mid-April. He was concerned about whether or not to delay Howells’ Atlantic review, which ended up being published many months in advance of the book’s availability. The book did come out until year’s end, which played a large role in Sam’s ultimate decision to publish his own books [MTLE 1: 33]. Note: the delay also afforded Belford to push pirated editions into the U.S.

March 20 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles D. Scully, who wrote Sam a month earlier. Sam had misplaced the letter, more than once. He made a mock-apology for “turning that article upon an unoffending people” and thanked Scully for a reading-circle naming their society after him. Which article Sam meant isn’t clear, nor is the identity of Scully, beyond being the member or leader of some reading-circle of Mark Twain fans.

“It was not the kind of compliment which that article of mine usually produced—just the reverse. If I had taken all the tar & feathers that were offered me, I would be a rich man, now, & able to retire” [MTLE 1: 34]. [ page 696 ]

In Cambridge, Mass., Howells sent a postcard to Sam saying he had the proof of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but needed the title of the book in a hurry—he was writing a review [MTHL 1: 127].

Phineas T. Barnum wrote to Sam, letter from Buck to Barnum enclosed. “I shall send you a small package of queer letters this week.” He wrote of the circus goings-on and enclosed flyers [MTP].

James T. Fields wrote from Boston, Mass. to Sam.

My dear Clemens. / On Wednesday, I hear, the subscriber is to speak a lecture in your city. Your welcome missive is just here telling me I am to stop at your mansion of Hospitalities on that occasion. Thank you, sir. I will. My time to leave here is in the 10 A M. train that day, arriving in Hartford about ½ past one, & I will proceed to “Mark Twain’s House” at once. We read your Saint Patrick letter at our Breakfast table this morning, & we all agreed that no such hitting of nails on heads had been printed for a long time. / always yours, / James T. Fields [MTPO].

March 22 Wednesday – Sam gave the “Roughing It in the Silver Regions” lecture, and “brilliantly inaugurated” the 1876 season of Kent Club lectures at Yale University. Tickets were “entirely by invitation” and “the Law School lecture room” was “filled to its utmost capacity by a delighted audience” [New Haven Morning Journal and Courier Mar. 22 and 23 p2 “Entertainments”].

Hartford taxes on real estate, insurance stock, bank stock, money loaned at interest and merchandise were due by Nov. 1, with the assessed valuation made public the following March. Sam’s valuation was published on this day at $63,360 [MTPO notes with Oct.16, 1876 to Perkins]. (See prior year’s assessment Mar. 30, 1875.)

Phineas T. Barnum wrote to Sam, letter from Rev. Powers to Barnum enclosed. Barnum had lent the last bunch of queer letters to the pastor who would then forward them to Sam, as Powers wished to use them for an article for the press, withholding names, dates or locations [MTP].

March 24 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Mary Mason Fairbanks, who had just left his home for a visit. Sam ended the letter saying he was to lecture three times in New York “for a benevolent object next week,” and hoped “to go to [Thomas] Nast with Charlie [Langdon[MTP].

Sam also wrote to Maurice Weidenthal, secretary of the Davenport Club of Cleveland. Sam was complimented to accept a membership in the Club. Weidenthal became a leading Cleveland journalist. On May 8 Weidenthal wrote confirming Sam “was unanimously elected honorary member” [MTPO].

Moncure Conway telegraphed and also wrote a long letter about selling TS there, including this excerpt:

I have had two long sessions with the Routledges, father and son; found them very much opposed to publishing on 10 per cent commission, but finally willing to undertake it in a spirit that did not impress me as enthusiastic enough. I am disinclined to let them have Tom Sawyer. I read the MS of the book on shipboard and feel persuaded that it is the best thing you have done. With an earnest man to take hold of it I feel sure that there is money in it, if not millions. The cave scenes are written with the highest dramatic force. I don’t think it would be doing justice to call it a boy’s book, and think it had better be left [to] people to form their own conclusions whether it is for young or old. I have had several hours interview with Chatto (of the firm Chatto & Windus) and they are so anxious to get the book, so plainly determined to make it their leading card, that I have resolved that they are the men for our work. Routledge’s ten per cent on the book if sold for five shillings would leave us for each copy 2s7d; Chatto’s ditto leaves us 2s9d. Chatto offers proportionally more on the 2s6d edition. So it seems to me plain which should be selected. There are several other things which incline me to Chatto,—mainly, that I have freedom to examine all of his books & printers accounts. [MTPO]. [ page 697 ]

March 25 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Moncure Conway, now his official agent for literary works in England. Sam had just received Conway’s telegram from England. Conway asked for electrotypes of the pictures True Williams made for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Sam replied they were delayed till the first of May and advised Conway “to at once get a CHEAP edition (without pictures) printed & bound & be ready to issue with that the moment I telegraph you our positive date of publication” [MTLE 1: 36].

March 26 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to William Wright (Dan De Quille). He gave Dan some advice on selling stock and his plans to lecture in New York:

….If you sell at a loss, jam the remnant into stocks again & sail on, O ship of State, sail on, sail on! You needn’t take the trouble to ask me, when you think it best to sell, but just bang away.

      I go to New York an hour from now, to lecture 4 afternoons on my own hook & on my own risk & expense. Be gone a week. Can’t see Bliss till I get back, but have just written him to send you written authority & price of books [Walker 37].

Note: Sam’s note about lecturing four afternoons on his own hook would suggest that Redpath was not able to set up lectures on such short notice. Nevertheless, Sam’s Mar. 24 letter to Fairbanks stated he would lecture three times in New York. Sam did lecture from Mar. 28 to 31 on his “own hook,” and on short notice, and made little from the effort, or so Annie Fields wrote in her diary on Apr. 6 [MTPO notes with Mar. 16 to Redpath; New York Times Mar. 26, p7 “Amusements – Brief Mention”].

Mar. 27 NYC temperatures ranged from 35-42 degrees F. with no rain [NOAA.gov].

March 28 Tuesday – In the afternoon, Sam gave the “Roughing It” lecture at Chickering Hall in New York, to raise money for Dr. John Brown of Scotland [MTPO notes with Mar. 16 to Redpath; New York Times Mar. 26, p7 “Amusements – Brief Mention”].

Heavy rains flooded parts of Hartford. (See Sam’s Apr. 5 & 6 letters to the Courant.) NYC temperatures ranged from 51-31 degrees F. with 0.35 inches of rain [NOAA.gov].

March 29 Wednesday – In the afternoon, Sam gave the “Roughing It” lecture at Chickering Hall in New York, to raise money for Dr. John Brown of Scotland [MTPO notes with Mar. 16 to Redpath; New York Times Mar. 26, p7 “Amusements – Brief Mention”].

NYC temperatures ranged from 52-35 degrees F. with 0.22 inches of rain [NOAA.gov].

March 30 Thursday – Sam gave a lecture titled, “Roughing It in the Land of the Big Bonanza” at the Academy of Music, in Brooklyn, New York [Brooklyn Eagle, Mar. 31, 1876, p3]. The newspaper stated the lecture was at 1:30 PM and the audience was small. Agent Redpath came out before Twain appeared and asked the audience to move closer to the better seats in the parquette.

Later that night, Sam spoke at the New York Press Club, probably giving the “Roughing It” lecture again [New York Times, Mar.31, 1876, p6 “New York Press Club Reception”].

NYC temperatures ranged from 33-39 degrees F. with no rain [NOAA.gov].

March 31 Friday – In the afternoon, Sam gave the “Roughing It” lecture at Chickering Hall in New York, to raise money for Dr. John Brown of Scotland [MTPO notes with Mar. 16 to Redpath; New York Times Mar. 26, p7 “Amusements – Brief Mention”].

NYC temperatures ranged from 46-33 degrees F. with no rain [NOAA.gov]. [ page 698 ]

April – Matthew Freke Turner wrote “Artemus Ward and the Humourists of America,” for New Quarterly Magazine. Turner didn’t care much for Sam, thought he and Harte deserved public criticism; that Sam’s was a “low humor, ridiculing sacred things, forced, long-winded, tedious in his parodies,” [Tenney 7].

Robert Underwood Johnson (1853-1937) wrote a tongue-in-cheek review of Mark Twain’s Adhesive Scrap-Book for the April issue of Scribner’s Monthly [Tenney 8].

April 2 Sunday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote a short note to Sam, sending a song (now unidentified) from Francis Boott (1813-1904), written “in a key suitable for your voice” [MTHL 1: 128]. Note: Boott composed at times under the pseudonym “Telford.”

April 3 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells about his proposed Atlantic review of Tom Sawyer:

“It is a splendid notice, & will embolden weak-kneed journalistic admirers to speak out, & will modify or shut up the unfriendly. To ‘fear God & dread the Sunday school’ exactly describes that old feeling which I use to have but I couldn’t have formulated it.”

Sam praised the illustrations for the book, “considerably above the American average,” he wrote. He closed by saying that Livy had returned from New York with “dreadful sore throat, & bones racked with rheumatism. She keeps her bed” [MTLE 1: 38].

Note: MTHL 1: 128n2 claims Sam enclosed a note of thanks to Francis Boott for the song (see Apr. 2 entry) in his Apr. 3 letter to Howells, also Apr. 15 from Boott.

April 4 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to an unidentified person, answering that he did not know Charles Webb’s date of birth [MTLE 1: 39].

April 5 Wednesday – Sam wrote to the editor of the Hartford Courant about heavy rains and a bad road, which had “disappeared.” The letter ran the next day.

A shocking state of affairs exists in that part of our beautiful city where Niles street used to be. This street is now no more. For some weeks past it has been gradually sinking. Here & there large openings appeared. Gutter stones disappeared, hitching posts unearthed floated in the mire. About a week ago the road became impassable, & since that time the residents not being able to get fresh meat & groceries, have subsisted on codfish, ham, & such salt victuals as they might have had on hand. Some are now out of the necessities of life, & unless a way is found to reach them soon, dreadful results are to be feared. During the great rain on Tuesday matters grew much worse, & Tuesday night the street disappeared entirely. Nothing now remains but a broad muddy canal. It is feared that the houses will soon begin to crumble & fall in also. Many accidents are said to have occurred. On Saturday last a charcoal man attempted to go to No. 31. When within a few rods of his destination he disappeared, horse, wagon & all. His basket floated ashore near Gillette street. On Sunday morning a newsboy attempted to cross the street near the school house, the ground gave way & he would have been lost had it not been for a hitching post floating close by. On Monday the orange man was lost; horse & wagon disappeared entirely. Fragments of wagon, baskets, barrels, &c., indicate that many more accidents may have occurred. The scene of horror may be reached from Gillette or Sigourney streets.

I am yours very truly, A Resident out of Coal.

April 6 Thursday – Annie A. Fields (Mrs. James T. Fields; 1834-1915) wrote in her diary of a visit by her and her husband to Hartford and of Sam:  [ page 699 ]

He was very interesting and told James the whole story of his life….He described the hunger of his childhood for books, how the Fortunes of Nigel [by Sir Walter Scott] was one of the first stories which came to him while he was learning to be a pilot on a Mississippi boat. He hid himself with it behind a barrel, where he was found by the Master, who read him a lecture upon the ruinous effects of reading [Gribben 615].

Sam wrote a 2nd letter to the editor of the Hartford Courant about Niles Street sinking. It ran on Apr. 7.

April 7 Friday – Sam’s second letter to the Courant editor:

Your Niles street correspondent of yesterday gave you but a part of our calamities. The losses of life & limb & of property, by the sinking of Niles street, & the subsequent drownings in the canal that has taken its place, in whose now placid waters school children sail back & forth with plumb & line, trying in vain to sound its depths, are only equal to the destruction of human life that is going on there from another source. On the north side of the street, in a lot donated by a deceased friend to one of our religious societies, is a lake, beautiful to behold—to the passer by—but its waters—why the Dead sea is nothing to it. A horse stable on one side of it furnishes a part of the material that goes to make up the death-dealing odors that exhale from it, & that with a liberality characteristic of all religious institutions, are distributed gratuitously to the nostrils of those that live near by. Moreover, the water itself is also generously furnished to the nearest neighbors, being supplied to them in their very cellars, where morning, noon & night they can enjoy the luxury of a foot-bath as they go to & return from their furnaces, or go after coal. You will not be surprised then to learn that for every death occasioned, as you were told, by the collapse of the street, another has occurred from excessive indulgence either in the bath or in exhaling the vapors from the lake, nor that the physicians in this part of the town, worn out with constant labors to keep alive the few that remain in the street, are now collapsing themselves. One of two things is therefore inevitable—either we must have less of the lake or a new supply of physicians. And will you, as our strength is failing & we cannot go out to hunt them up, say this to the health commissioners. / A Sufferer.

“Laugh” wrote from Branford, Conn. to praise Mark Twain books but to ask “why have you given up the Lecturing Field. You have never I think given Canadians a chance to see & hear you” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Anonymous”

April 8 Saturday – Sam received a letter from Moncure Conway, which asked if Sam preferred to invest funds and take a percentage of the profits from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer or go with a normal royalty payment. Clemens answered with a telegram and followed with a letter the next day [MTLE 1: 40].

April 9 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Moncure Conway answering Conway’s letter. Conway had negotiated with Chatto & Windus, the firm taken over by Andrew Chatto after John Camden Hotten’s death in 1873. W.E. Windus was a poet and a junior partner [Rasmussen 67]. Sam sought Livy’s advice and gave her answer to Conway:

“Take the royalty; it simplifies everything; removes all risk; requires no outlay of capital; makes the labor easy for Mr. Conway; a gain of 25 per cent profit is hardly worth the trouble & risk of publishing on your own account” [Sam, quoting Livy].

Sam was beginning to understand the delays that his book would suffer, but was still optimistic that it might be out four weeks after Howells’ Atlantic review one week hence. He talked up the review and also agreed to giving Conway a five per cent commission on sales.

“We all shake hands with you-all across the briny” [MTLE 1: 40-1].

April 11 Tuesday – Frank Bliss wrote to Sam, with statement showing $1,196.96 “paid to your credit” [ page 700 ]

Dr Clemens / I enclose statement of copyright to 1st Apl—if all correct will hand you ch for same when you come in send it to you if you prefer—

      Father says that he had an estimate all ready for the electros of “Tom Sawyer”, but as you changed the size it involves making a new estimate all through, & he is fearful that reducing the size so much, of many of the cuts, will interfere with their printing nicely, he is making inquiries about it however & will report the result in about two days / Yrs Truly / F E Bliss [MTPO].

Moncure Conway wrote again to Sam about the publishing of TS in England.

Dear Clemens, / I take it that my letter made that clear which my telegram did not—namely that we needed the pictures only & not letter press; and so am living in the hope that the plates of the pictures will have started about last Friday or Sat. & be here by the 20th. We all consider here that the cheap edition coming first would ruin the costly one, & the latter must come out first. But as the pictures cannot (unless you came to a different conclusion from your letter of 25th March) reach us before the 20th, we cannot get the book out here in time for you to publish it May 1st. So please delay, and I will telegraph you a date thus: “sixth” or “seventh” &c which will mean the date in May of publication here. You shd issue at least 24 hours later (a difference for which there may be technical reasons[).]

      With warm remembrances to Mrs Clemens & no time to say more / Ever yours / M D Conway

Nothing could be gained by using your type plates over here [MTPO].

April 12 Wednesday – Sam wrote a postcard from Hartford to Bliss. He’d received Bliss’ statement but not the check. Sam also wanted the price estimates on the “Full set, of full plates, full size” for those cuts that would go “into that English size without cutting. Please hurry it up” [MTLE 1: 42].

Phineas T. Barnum wrote to Sam asking what he should change on an enclosure (not in file) [MTP].

April 14 Friday – O.C. Greene wrote from Duluth, Minn. to relate a story found in the diary of a late friend in 1864—an old pepperbox and the head of a buffalo strung dangling from an old tree somewhere 10 miles west of the South Platte. Greene felt this did “justice to the aspersed reputation of Mr. Bemis” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Old ‘pepper-box’ and “Man claims to have found it among Buffalo bones.” The old pepperbox was a revolver; one was fired in the courtroom of John Marshall Clemens forcing him to gavel on the head of the chief offender.

April 15 Saturday – Ainsworth R. Spofford confirmed copyright for Mark Twain’s Sketches New & Old entered July 21, 1875.

Francis Boott wrote from Cambridge, Mass apologizing for not sooner answering Sam’s note of Apr. 3, which reached him through Howells. “I was glad to learn that the little trifle I sent had given pleasure…” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Boott Composer”

April 16 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Moncure Conway. Evidently Bliss had given it to Sam straight about progress on the pictures, for Sam told Conway:

Just as I feared, Tom Sawyer is not yet ready to issue. Would not be ready for 2 weeks or longer, yet. Therefore the spring trade is lost beyond redemption. Consequently I have told Bliss to issue in the autumn & make a Boy’s Holiday Book of it.

Sam furnished the prices for the full set of plates at $2 per page, a total of about $600. Sam advised Conway to get the May Atlantic when it hit London; that he might be able to use Howells’ review of the book in his marketing [MTLE 1: 43].

William Wright (Dan De Quille) wrote to Sam about advising Bliss that he’d sent “a picture of Old Comstock” and others to Clemens. He added other details about his book in progress, and also told of [ page 701 ] “Joe” arriving there on May 5. “They say he is worth at least $1,000,000. It seems he lost nothing in stocks. Mr. Coker, our book-keeper came up from San Francisco today…and he says Joe is ‘rich, very rich’ ” [MTP].

April 17 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to John L. RoBards, now an attorney in Hannibal, responding to an old offer to move the coffins of his brother Henry and his father, John Marshall Clemens, from the Old Baptist Cemetery, a mile and a half from Hannibal, to the newer Mount Olivet Cemetery, southwest of town, which RoBards had founded. Sam sent RoBards $100 for the service:

If Henry & my father feel as I would feel under their circumstances, they want no prominent or expensive lot, or luxurious entertainment in the new cemetery. As for the monument—well, if you remember my father, you are aware that he would rise up & demolish it the first night. He was a modest man & would not be able to sleep under a monument.

RoBards was one of the Marion Rangers, the Confederate rag-tags that marched around the Hannibal countryside when the Civil War began. In his letter, Sam expressed a desire to get back to Hannibal and even to give a lecture there for the benefit of the cemetery [MTLE 1: 44].

Sam also sent a note asking Bliss to forward the copyright requirement of sending two copies to the Library of Congress, Ainsworth R. Spofford librarian to secure the copyright [MTLE 1: 45].

Ainsworth R. Spofford, Librarian of Congress, telegraphed to answer Sam: “No the first publication in England is essential to Copyright there but previous entry here will secure you in the United States” [MTPO].

April 18 Tuesday – The Hartford Courant announced:

Amateur Theatricals.

The “Loan of a Lover,” one of the plays to be performed by amateurs at Dramatic Hall on the 25th inst., has been in part rewritten by Mr. Clemens, who takes the character of Peter. The quaint simplicity of the honest Dutch farmer is well preserved, and at the same time the character is enlarged and enriched by unconscious witticisms; a great deal of humor is introduced in Mr. Clemens’s own style. The actors are all musical, and the songs which intersperse the play, are a strikingly interesting feature. [Note: Loan of a Lover was an old melodrama first performed as early as 1847].

Moncure Conway wrote a postcard to Sam; “Just recd. yr. telegram announcing delay on yr. side until Fall. All right. We shall come out here just so soon as we can get hold of the electroes of pictures which we are anxiously expecting…Shall notify you when pictures arrive—Everybody here frantic with curiosity, and threatening a mob if there be any delay.—Conway” [MTP].

Adam Miller & Co. Toronto, wrote to Sam, mentioning his letter of Feb. 5 (not extant) and offering to distribute his books [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Answered NO”

April 19 Wednesday – Lemuel H. Wilson wrote to Sam, thanking him again for the picture rec’d a year before and enclosing sample “articles” which he’d just acquired the patent on [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the letter, “Lot of toilet articles named for me

April 22 Saturday – Sam wrote a short note from Hartford to Howells.

“You’ll see per enclosed slip that I appear for the first time on the stage [in a play] next Wednesday. You & Mrs. H. come down & you shall skip in free” [MTLE 1: 46]. Note: the play, The Loan of a Lover, on Wednesday, 26 April, and Thursday, 27 April. [ page 702 ]

From Lilly Warner’s diary:

“Susy Clemens was taken with diptheria, this morning—but does not seem very sick…she has had several touches of it” [Salsbury 53].

April 24 Monday – Sam wrote to Orion and Mollie Clemens, sending a check for three months.

“Livy is only about customarily well—that is to say, in rather indifferent strength. As I don’t enjoy letter writing there being such an awful lot of it to do, I will try to make up with a photograph” [MTPO].

Sam also wrote to an unidentified person who had sent him and Livy wedding invitations.

“I wish to be cordially remembered to your father & mother, whom I knew a good while before you were born—a fact which reminds me that I am not as young as I am in the habit of imagining myself to be” [MTLE 1: 47].

In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote a short note to Sam, letter to H.O. Houghton from Frank Moore Apr. 21 enclosed. Moore, editor of Record of the Year, a short-lived New York publication by G.W. Carleton & Co., had wished to print one of Sam’s Atlantic articles [MTHL 1: 131].

James T. Fields wrote a brief note: “Dear C. / Wouldn’t I like to, but I cant do it. Lecture engagements here choke up Wedy. & Thursday” [MTPO]. Note: source notes reveal this was reply: “Clemens had sent two invitations (both unrecovered) to Annie and James T. Fields to attend either of the performances of The Loan of a Lover, on Wednesday, 26 April, or Thursday, 27 April. The first probably was a telegram on Monday, 24 April, which Fields answered with a postcard not mailed until 25 April.”

John L. RoBards wrote from Hannibal Mo.

Friend Clemens, / I drop you a brief note to say, that, “Mark twain,” has a heart, as well as a head, & to add that I am just in receipt of yours of the 17th inst inclosing to me a check on the Nat’l Butcher & Drover Bank for One Hundred dollars to be applied touching your Fathers & Brother’s graves. The matter shall receive prompt & kind attention and when consumated I will write you again in detail with statement of expenditure— In the meanwhile accept my hearty good wishes / very Truly Yours— / J. L RoBards [MTPO].

April 24? Monday – Sam wrote to Mrs. Sidney J. Cowen, president of the Union for Home Work, declining to continue acting in the play beyond two performances, even for charity [MTPO].

On or about this day Sam also wrote to Mary B. (Mollie) Shoot (Florence Wood). Only a fragment of the letter survives. This from MTPO notes for the letter:

“Mary B. (Mollie) Shoot (1863?–1954), who had a long career as a character actress under the stage name Florence Wood, ‘made her debut in the Augustine [sic] Daly Stock Company. She came to the troupe with a letter of introduction from Mark Twain, a neighbor and friend of her family in Hannibal, Mo., where she was born’ (‘Mrs. Felix Morris, A Former Actress,’ New York Times, 19 Apr 1954, 23; see also Inds, 347–48).”

April 25 Tuesday – From the Hartford Courant, page two:

Mark Twain’s new book, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” is ready to issue, but the publication has been put off for the present in order that copyright may be secured in England by simultaneous publication there and here. The English edition has suffered unavoidable delay. [Note: On Apr. 27 the Boston Globe ran the identical article, without credit to the Courant (“Table Gossip,” p3)]. [ page 703 ]

James T. Fields wrote from Boston, a note to “Dear Peter” that he would be coming down [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Fields—coming down to see my debut as Peter Spyk n the ‘Loan of a Lover.’ ”

Edward Hastings for the National Soldier’s Home, Elizabeth, Va. wrote “The frank cordiality and sincerity of your letter to me, dated February 17, assures me that you will not deem me presumptuous in asking you to gratify the eager expectations of our men to read your new book ‘Tom Sawyer’ ” [MTP].

April 26 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to George Bentley, London publisher of the Temple Bar, who had asked for sketches when Sam met him with Joaquin Miller. Sam sent a sketch, “Carnival of Crime” that missed the deadline for the May issue of the Atlantic [MTLE 1: 48].

Sam also wrote to Howells, thanking him for “the place of honor” in the May’s Atlantic review of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Sam confessed that he’d learned the electrotypes would not be done for a month, and, worse, that no canvassing had been done:

“Because a subscription harvest is before publication, (not after, when people have discovered how bad one’s book is).”

Sam asked Howells’ forgiveness if he’d done the Atlantic wrong but it was “the best laid schemes of mice & men, &c.” Sam and Livy planned on traveling to Boston to see Anna Dickinson debut there May 8.

Also, Howells appeared to be the middleman for the use of Sam’s “Literary Nightmare” in one of Carleton’s magazines. Sam’s response showed he was consistent in his dislike for those who had abused him:

As to that “Literary Nightmare” proposition, I’m obliged to withhold consent, for what seems a good reason—to-wit: a single page of horse-car poetry is all that the average reader can stand, without nausea; now, to stake together all of it that has been written, & then add to it my article would be to enrage & disgust each & every reader & win the deathless enmity of the lot.

Even if that reason were insufficient, there would still be a sufficient reason left, in the fact that Mr. Carleton seems to be the publisher of the magazine in which it is proposed to publish this horse-car matter. Carleton insulted me in Feb, 1867; & so when the day arrives that sees me doing him a civility, I shall feel that I am ready for Paradise, since my list of possible & impossible forgivenesses will then be complete [MTHL 1: 131-3].

Sam played his first part in a play at Dramatic Hall, Hartford, in the role of Peter Spuyk (Spyk) in James Robinson Planche’s play, Loan of a Lover. Miss Helen Smith played the part of Gertrude. [MTL 6: 10n1; MTB 570].

Sam’s letters from this period claim he “rewrote” the part. William Webster Ellsworth (1855-1936), whose future wife was Miss Smith, was in the audience and wrote this about Sam’s extemporaneous lines:

…our star [Sam Clemens] developed, early in the performance, a propensity to go on with his talk after the other person’s cue came. He would put in lines, which, while very funny to those on the other side of the footlights, were decidedly embarrassing to his fellow actors. At one point I remember he began to tell the audience about the tin roof which he had just put on an ell of his new house and rambled on for a while, ending up that particular gag by asking Gertrude [the future wife], very much to her embarrassment, if she had ever put a tin roof on her house [Ellsworth 223].

The Hartford Courant for Apr. 27, page 2 under “Amateur Theatricals” reviewed the play favorably:  [ page 704 ]

It may safely be said that there has never been given in Hartford a more thoroughly satisfactory amateur entertainment than that last evening at the Dramatic hall. It was in every way a success… The whole entertainment was heartily enjoyed throughout. The audience was as large as the hall could hold, and was select and enthusiastically appreciative.

A hack was used this day from E.C. Wheaton, livery. Bill of $3 dated Sept. 1, paid Sept. 12 [MTP].

Edmund Routledge wrote from London: “A Canadian Publisher is offering for sale in this country stereo. plates of a new book by you of 160 pages post 8vo size, wh. seems to be your papers on Pilot Life…that appeared in the Atlantic Monthly. My firm has declined to republish them through the Canadian publisher, and will be glad to hear from you if such publication is authorized by you…if it is, whether or not you will treat with George Routledge and Sons for their republication” [MTP].

Samuel A. Bowen wrote from St. Louis: “Frend [sic] Sam / I wrote you one letter since I saw you in St. Louis. And asked you for twenty doll $20. which you sent to Wm. and I caught the Dickens from him for asking you for money. … Now I want and if you can send me $15 or $20 and can pay you in May about the 12th…Do Not Send to the Care of William” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Keep this precious letter from a precious liar”

April 27 Thursday – The play of Apr. 26 was repeated. James T. Fields and wife came from Boston to see Sam play the slow Dutchman, Peter Spuyk in Loan of a Lover  [Clemens to Howells, Apr. 26]. The Fieldses went straight from the train station to the theater. From Annie A. Fields’ diary:

It was a pretty play, and the girl’s part, Gertrude, was well done by Miss Helen Smith; but Mr. Clemens’s part was a creation. I see no reason why, if he chose to adopt the profession of actor, he should not be as successful as [Joseph] Jefferson in whatever he might conclude to undertake. It is really amazing to see what a man of genius can do besides what is usually considered his legitimate sphere [Salsbury 50].

After the play the Fieldses, Sam and William J. Hamersley (1838-1920) went to the Hartford Club for a late supper. The Fieldses stayed at the Clemens’ home from Apr. 27 to 29. It was after midnight when they arrived. Livy was waiting up for them. More from Mrs. Fields:

He believed his wife would have retired, as she is very delicate in health; but there she was, expecting us, with a pretty supper-table laid. When her husband discovered this, he fell down on his knees in mock desire for forgiveness. His mind was so full of the play, and with the poor figure he felt he had made in it, that he had entirely forgotten all her directions and injunctions. She is very small, sweet-looking, simple finished creature, charming in her ways and evidently deeply beloved by him….

Although we had already eaten supper, the gentlemen took a glass of lager beer to keep Mrs. Clemens company while she ate a bit of bread after her long anxiety and waiting [Salsbury 50].

Moncure Conway wrote from London to relate reading the fence whitewashing scene in TS to an enthusiastic crowd. “They laughed till eyes streamed—floors were pounded—and such a gust of cheers was raised to fill the sails (& I hope sales) of that book…” He added a P.S. that “Chatto was charmed and says no book could have a better send-off, he is getting it out as quick as may be” [MTP].

H.B. Langdon wrote from Hartford, objecting to Sam using the word “damned” in the play The Loan of a Lover, which was to be repeated tonight [MTP]. Note: see Sam’s reply Apr. 28

April 28 Friday – The Fieldses, guests at the Clemens’ home, spent most of the day with Sam and Livy. Susy was ill again, with a touch of diphtheria. From Annie Fields’ diary: [ page 705 ]

      Their two beautiful baby girls came to pass an hour with us after breakfast—exquisite, affectionate children, the very fountain of joy to their interesting parents.

      When I did get to the drawing room, however, I found Mr. Clemens alone. He greeted me apparently as cheerfully as ever, and it was not until some moments had passed that he told me they had a very sick child upstairs. From that instant I saw, especially after his wife came in, that they could think of nothing else. They were half-distracted with anxiety. Their messenger could not find the doctor, which made matters worse. However, the little girl did not really seem very sick, so I could not help thinking they were unnecessarily excited. The effect on them, however, was just as bad as if the child were really very ill.

      The messenger was hardly dispatched the second time before Jamie [James Fields] and Mrs. Clemens began to talk of our getting away in the next train, whereat he (Mr. C.) said to his wife, “Why didn’t you tell me of that?” etc., etc. …He was always bringing blood to his wife’s face by his bad behavior, and here this morning had said such things about that carriage! [Salsbury 51-3].

Sam wrote from Hartford to William B. Franklin (1823-1903), enclosing a letter from H.B. Langdon (no relation to his wife’s family) objecting to Sam’s use of the word “damned” in the play, The Loan of a Lover. Franklin, a Civil War general in the Union Army, had since been general manager of the Colt Firearms Manufacturing Company and vice president of a Hartford insurance company.

Dear General: —They say that this pilgrim (who is a stranger to me,) works for you in your insurance Company. Do you know him? Is he in earnest?—or is he merely ill-bred enough to venture upon facetious impertinences with people who have not the humiliation of his acquaintance, under the delusion that he is conveying a gratification? This mess of pious “rot” was handed to Dr. Wainwright early yesterday evening with the earnest request that I should read it before going on the stage—a request which I didn’t comply with, I being too wise for that [MTLE 1: 51]. Note: Dr. W.A.M. Wainwright.

In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam, thanking him for pictures sent. “Never mind about Tom Sawyer,” Howells said, referring to Sam’s upset about the review long preceding the issuance of the book. “I rather like the fun of the thing; besides I know I shall do you an injury some day, and I want a grievance to square accounts with” [MTHL 1: 134].

April 29 Saturday – The Fieldses ended their visit with the Clemens family. Sam wrote in the morning from Hartford to Isaac White, a Hartford photographer and sculptor, about ordering photographs that White had taken of the Clemens family (two survive). Sam was waiting for “relatives” to leave Tuesday [MTLE 1: 53; MTPO & notes].

Charles Casey for The Mark Twain Club wrote from Carlow, Ireland.

My Dear Sir / Subscribed you have resumé (necessarily “cut down”) of the Meeting called to receive your letter of 17th inst / Comment by me is unnecessary— / By you—is a favour to be desired / faithfully yours / Charles Casey [MTPO].

May – “Mark Twain and the Cats” ran in the May issue of the women’s magazine, The Globe. A New Musical Journal, Vol. V. No. 5, New York: Charles A. Atkinson & Co. p. 101-24. The article included an engraving of Sam and one of three cats [eBay June 6, 2009, # 200347763614].

Howells’ review of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer appeared in the May edition of the Atlantic Monthly [MTLE 1: 43]. Sam wrote a glowing “Introductory” for Dan De Quille’s The Big Bonanza [Berkove 14].

Sometime this month in Hartford Clemens inscribed his photo to Alice E. Kingsbury. “See vague portrait of the father in right hand corner. I was behind the curtain holding the Children’s heads & not purposing to be a part of the group” [MTP].

May 1 Monday – The Hartford Courant ran this notice on page two: [ page 706 ]

Mr. Isaac White 

made some fine portraits of Mark Twain last week, cabinet size, which he has for sale at his place of business, 15 Pratt street.

Note: “Cabinet”—“a popular sized professional portrait, with mount measuring 6⅝ in. by 4¼ in. Copies of two of White’s portraits of Clemens survive, with the sealskin coat he purchased in Buffalo in Sept. 1871.

May 2 Tuesday – Augustin Daly wrote from NYC: “Why don’t you come down here & play ‘Peter Spyk’ some Saturday night for one of my ‘Benefit’ occasions. / Would you— Will you—?—” [MTPO].

Moncure Conway wrote a postcard from Boston to Clemens about the release of TS.

April 18.— Just recd yr telegram announcing delay on yr side until Fall. All right. We shall come out here just so soon as we can get hold of the electroes of pictures which we are anxiously expecting. They wd naturally have been sent after my first long letter to you.— I am consulting people that know to find if any way is discoverable for protecting that other thing (Sellers), & shall let you know.— I am reading yr proof with care.— Good argument drawn up in black and white adapted to all prospects & contingencies. We shall do our best.— Shall notify you when pictures arrive.— Everybody here frantic with curiosity, and threatening a mob if there be any delay.— Conway [MTPO].

May 4 Thursday – In Hartford, Sam replied to the May 2 from Augustin Daly, playwright and theatre promoter. Daly had invited Sam to play Peter Spyk in a New York production. Sam answered that he was modest enough to serve a decent apprenticeship before trying Broadway. By changing the language and the character of Peter Spyk, Sam felt that he’d succeeded in the role but knew he wasn’t ready to put his reputation on the line in one of Daly’s productions [MTLE 1: 54].

Sam also wrote to Howells that Susy’s recent danger with diphtheria would keep Livy at home for the May 8 debut of Anna Dickinson in Boston, but that he would come, and hopefully Twichell would come with him. Sam asked if Howells and wife would like to invite the Aldriches. Sam closed with:

“Hang that Anna Dickinson, a body never can depend upon her debuts! She has made five or six false starts already. If she fails to debut this time, I will never bet on her again” [MTLE 1: 55-6].

William B. Franklin replied to the Apr. 28 from Clemens.

My dear Clemens / I learn from enquiry at the office of the Natl Insurance Co, that the author of the production of Apl. 27 is a clerk in that office, a very methodical one, who takes great pains to have papers exactly right, has a queer use of language, is a great Sunday School, Warburton Chapel man, but the Secy of the Company, who gives me the information, told me that he had no notion that he would inject his views into people as his letter shows that he will. His father is or was a clergyman, and further about him I cannot learn. The Secy above mentioned said that he would deliver him a lecture. My theory of the letter is this. Mr H. B. Langdon heard you say in the piece that your conduct in reference to Gertrude convinced you that you were the prize jackass. Now that remark excited Mr. Langdon’s jealousy, and he wrote you that letter to convince you that he is entitled to that prize, not you. If that was his object, I do not know that he has attained his point so far as convincing you is concerned, but he has certainly achieved a success in convincing me.

      It is queer how people may be surrounded by first class fools, and only find them out accidentally after a long time, as in this case.

      I think Mrs Clemens only endorses this man’s bosh because she with a womans intuition & mercy first saw what a goose the man was, and then pitied him. I confess that I am effeminate enough myself to be sorry for him. / Truly your friend / W B. Franklin [MTPO]. [ page 707 ]

May 5 Friday – In Hartford, Sam wrote to Moncure Conway (answering his May 2 postcard) about Bliss sending The Adventures of Tom Sawyer pictures to Chatto by the end of May. Sam enclosed the new picture of the children and told of Susy’s brush with death from diphtheria. Sam closed with the news that James T. Fields would drop by for a visit before his evening lecture [MTLE 1: 57].

Fields lectured in Hartford’s Seminary Hall on “Literary and Artistic Life in London Twenty-Five Years Ago.” The May 6 page two the Hartford Courant reported:

At the close of the lecture an informal reception was held in the south hall. Mr. Samuel L. Clemens made one of his happy speeches

William Dean Howells wrote from Cambridge, Mass. that he’d meet Clemens and Twichell at Parker House at 5 o’clock on May 7. He wasn’t sure the wife would be well enough. He added he didn’t ask “A” (Aldrich) to the dinner [MTHL 1: 137].

George Barclay wrote from Edinburgh to reassure Sam that now Dr. Brown “was all right again” [MTP].

May 6 Saturday – Moncure Conway wrote from London, England that TS was close to publication there: “The last revise of the last proof of ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, By Mark Twain’, passed out of my hands three days ago and it cannot be long before that hero walks into my study in a dress neat enough to excite the Huckleberrian disgust” [MTP].

Augustin Daly wrote to Sam: “My invitation was seriously & earnestly meant—and I am ready to repeat it whenever you are willing to let me. Not for one night but for many” [MTP]. Note: for Sam to play the role of Peter Spyk.

May 7 Sunday – Sam traveled to Boston along with Joe Twichell; Livy stayed home to nurse Susy, who was recovering from “about the savagest assault of diphtheria a child ever did recover from” [MTHL 1: 117; 133; 136]. They probably met at the Parker House as planned and enjoyed dinner.

May 8 Monday – Sam invited the Howellses and the Aldriches to join the Clemenses and Joe Twichell to share his box for Anna Dickinson’s “disastrous performance” of A Crown of Thorns, or Ann Boyleyn in Boston [MTHL 1: 134]. Neither Livy nor Twichell made the trip, the latter canceling due to arriving house guests, Dean and Sarah Sage. It is not known if the other wives attended [MTPO].

Howells wrote Augustin Daly the day after: “It was sorrowfully bad, the acting, and the heaps of cut flowers for the funeral only made the gloom heavier” [137n1]. Note: Reviews were bad in Boston, mixed in N.Y.

Maurice Weidenthal for the Davenport Club, Cleveland, Ohio wrote to honor Clemens with membership in their club, and to ask for a photograph [MTP].

Joe Twichell wrote: “Dean and Sarah [Sage] are coming tomorrow and to our house. As they will arrive quite early …(coming by boat) and as Sarah is sick, and as Harmony is in such a plight, I must give up going to Boston with you” [MTP].

May 9 Tuesday – No further Boston activities were found.

Mary (Mollie) B. Shoot  (stage name: Florence Wood) wrote from NYC, enclosing a playbill for her upcoming appearance there. She’d noticed Sam’s recent stage role:

      I saw in the “Herald” that you were a grand success as “Peter Spyk”. Pray accept my congratulations (though it is late in the day to offer them.) [ page 708 ]

      I suppose you will be adopting the stage for a profession ere long?

      I trust Mrs Clemens has recovered from her attack of “all the different kinds of ralgias”. … [MTPO]. Note: she also asked for a photo of Twain, who had written her but the letter is not extant.

Joe Twichell wrote, embarrassed by being handed a MS. by Dean Sage to read. Having no expertise in such matters he asked Twain to read “the thing through when you have a chance—today or tomorrow—so that you can tell me when I call what I’d better do” [MTP].

May 10 Wednesday – Sam returned home at midday [Twichell to Sam May 8; Lilly Warner to George Warner May 9 and 10; cited MTPO].

Sam wrote to E.B. Hewes, warden at the Conn. State Prison at Wethersfield, inquiring about one Ira Gladding, whom he’d been encouraged to underwrite with a second chance. Sam’s letter is not extant but referred to by Hewe’s reply of May 12. See Hewe’s reply and also A.H. Mead’s request of May 12 and reply of May 15.

May 11 Thursday – James R. Osgood wrote, having missed Sam when he was in Boston on Monday. He’d just read Sam’s “conscience article” [Carnival of Crime; see May 16] and, like everything he wrote, seemed to be the best. “Why don’t you let me put some of your short articles into our Vest Pocket Series? It would do us both good” His “object” was to invite for an excursion by rail where they “can play euchre all night Friday!” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on top of the letter, “Request granted for Vest Pocket Series”

I.J. Montgomery wrote from St. Louis; a begging letter for $500 [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “From a distant relative who is always boring for help. He is also a relative of ‘Col. Sellers’ (otherwise James Lampton)”.

May 12 Friday – Reginald Cholmondeley wrote on the S.S. Argo. “When you come to England next year I wish you would be kind enough to bring me a collection of live North American birds & you had better on your arrival come on straight to me in March or April” [MTP]. Note: evidently Reginald was serious; see July 2 letter.

E.B. Hewes Warden, Conn. State Prison, Wethersfield, wrote: “Yours of the 10th inst is at hand in regard to Ira Gladding he is a discharged the 2nd inst. He has been confined in this prison four different times and we regard him as a man that will steal or defraud people before he will work” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Prisoner Ira Gladding”

A.H. Mead wrote for The Prisoners Friends’ Corp., Hartford, a letter of recommendation for Ira Gladding, who wanted to go west to Cleveland, Ohio, and asked if Sam would buy him a ticket [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Ira Gladding case / a jail-bird”

May 12 and 14 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells about his “Shaker article.” Sam praised it. In 1880 one of Howell’s best novels, The Undiscovered Country, contrasted false spiritualists with the genuine faith of the Shakers. Sam gleefully caught Howells in a “bit of bad English construction!”

Sam also wrote that Dean Sage had been visiting Twichell and left a sketch which Livy and he had enjoyed. Sage wrote mainly hunting and fishing articles. Sam forwarded the sketch to Howells, praising Sage’s narrative-writing abilities and comparing them to Thoreau. Sam ended with: “After 30 days I go to Elmira, 1,000,000 miles from New York” [MTLE 1: 58-9].

May 15 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Casey in Ireland. Casey was the supposed president of the “Mark Twain Club” of Pollerton Castle, Carlow, in Ireland. Casey had even sent detailed “official proceedings.” Sam saw through Casey’s “club” and guessed that he was the only member. In Sam’s hand on one of Casey’s envelopes: “from an unknown idiot in Ireland.” Years later, a [ page 709 ] man in Sydney, Australia introduced himself as the president of the Mark Twain Club and admitted to being the only member.

“Either way will satisfy me, for I propose to come over next year & drink with the Club, in any case—& I can’t lose a glass, even if you be the Club all by yourself, because in that case I should insist upon drinking with all the imaginary member” [MTLE 1: 60]. Note: see Fall 1993 Mark Twain Journal volume 31 p. 28-30 for a discussion of “Mr. Blank” and the Mark Twain Club.

Sam also wrote to Howells (Gribben gives this date; MTHL gives this or May 8) about Dean Sage’s writing:

“He has an artlessness, an absence of self-consciousness, a ditto of striving after effect, & a pauseless canter, that make the reader forget the writer & become himself the actor in the adventures” [MTHL 1: 138].

A.G. Chester wrote from Chicago to urge Sam to lecture there [MTP].

A.H. Mead wrote again for The Prisoners Friends’ Corp., Hartford, to say Sam’s letter had been rec’d and to inform him that Ira Gladding had been re-arrested for stealing boots [MTP].

May 16 Tuesday – Sam sent a postcard from Hartford to Elisha Bliss, asking if the pictures were ready to ship and giving Moncure Conway’s London address. Sam received a postal card reply, sometime shortly thereafter as mentioned in his next letter to Conway [MTLE 1: 61-62].

The front page of the New York Evening Post of May 16, 1876:

The Atlantic Monthly.

Under the title “The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut,” Mark Twain tells, in the first article in the Atlantic Monthly for June, of a personal interview he had not long ago with his conscience. The article is notable chiefly because it shows a decided advance upon Mr. Clemens’s part as a literary artist. Mark Twain has never been a mere fun maker. In the midst of his most exaggeratedly humorous outbursts he has often grown serious for a moment, with a seriousness which indicated deep earnestness as well as profound convictions; and even when he has “stuck to his text” and continued a consistent humorist to the end, his humor has always carried with it at least a suggestion of a deeper purpose than its apparent one. Occasionally, too, Mr. Clemens has written with scarcely any thought of making his readers smile, and with a distinct purpose to do a bit of genuine literary art work, as he did, for example, in the sketch of a negro woman’s life story which he printed about a year ago. In the present paper the purpose is both more manifest and more fully attained, and if readers will forget that its author has been in the habit of saying and writing amusing things, they cannot well help discovering here an unexpected power upon his part to write something better worth remembering than any of his amusingly extravagant stories ever were. The task he has set himself is not an easy one by any means. His conscience, dwarfed and deformed by his indulgence in what he once regarded as sins, appears in bodily shape, and in the conversation which follows it was by no means easy to preserve the verisimilitude, while regarding the conscience as a distinct, personal existence, independent in every thing of its possessor. It is greatly to Mr. Clemens’s credit as a literary artist that he has in the main succeeded in this singularly difficult task, and if we might have been spared the outbreak of the old demon of wild exaggeration which marks and mars the end of the article, his triumph would have been complete. As it is, we have a new Mark Twain who promises to be even better than the old one.

Phineas T. Barnum wrote to advise he’d sent Sam admission to his show last year which Sam could not use, so enclosed more tickets. Barnum & wife would be in Hartford until Thursday night at their friends, the David Clarke family. “If you come to the show Wednesday P.M. we shall see you” [MTP]. Note: Barnum tried repeatedly to visit or to get Clemens to visit him; engagements of either usually precluded meeting. [ page 710 ]

 May 17 Wednesday – Eighteen-year-old Charles S. Babcock wrote from Cambridge, Mass:

Mr. Clemens / Dear Sir, / I am going to make bold to ask of you a great favor. I wish to publish a small sheet, say, about 16×22 inches—divided into four pages of three columns each.

      And I wish your permission to use the title (Mark Twain) as editor. I want you to furnish such matter as would in your own opinion, be suitable, for such a paper, as I wish to have this filled with your fun and sentiment. I, shall, if you oblige me, sell them at Philadelphia, this summer, and I assure you that everything shall be conducted in such a manner as you would agree to. There shall be no advertisements in the paper—but all space shall be filled with reading matter. Paragraphs can be selected from other Authors, which will lessen your labors, somewhat. The matter need not of necessity, all be fresh, but of course you will use your own judgment in that matter.

      I am aware that in presuming to ask such a favor of you, since your time must be so completely occupied that I am rather audacious, and perhaps, impertinent. But if you can possibly find it in your power to grant me the request—I shall consider it a great—and lasting favor, for which you will have my sincere thanks.

      I will allow you what remuneration you consider just and right, either paying you a certain sum at the start or allowing you a percentage on the sales—

      If you think it best and necessary I will come to Hartford to see you, about the plan. I hope and trust that you will grant me this favor, and greatly oblige, / Your Obedient Servant / Charles S. Babcock [MTP]. Note: Babcock was the son of John Martin Luther Babcock (1822-1894), publisher of The New Age, which aimed at social reforms. The younger Babcock wrote again on May 22 after Clemens had replied by postcard (not extant). Charles made the mistake of pressing his request in his next letter. See entry.

May 18 Thursday – A.H. Mead wrote from New Haven to say he was going to “let the law take its course in Gladding’s case.” He theorized that Ira Gladding had intercepted Sam’s letter and took the money [MTP].

May 20 Saturday – A.H. Mead wrote for The Prisoners Friends’ Corp., Hartford, to Sam.

Yours received. All is clear to me now. On Friday 12 I sent Gladding to you with that letter. He came to me immediately and reported that he did not see you that you had gone to New York, but he left the letter for you. All that sometime he had your letter to me and the $5 in his pocket. Your letter entitled “Later – Thursday,” was written later on Friday after Gladding’s visit and the sending of the $5, for the envelope enclosing it—I have and it is postmarked 12th which was Friday—you wrote both letters the same day, posted the last to me and it was stamped in the P.O the same day …that Gladding has been guilty of breach of trust in opening the letter and of stealing in taking the money and of lying to me is all clear [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Gladding – Hammersley & Mead”

May 22 Monday – Charles S. Babcock wrote again (see his of May 17), pressing his request for to use Mark Twain’s name in a publication [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the letter, “This is the Orion style of ass.” No record of a publication by young Babcock was found. See May 17 from Babcock.

May 23 Tuesday – William Hamersley wrote to Sam: “Gladding’s case will not come up for trial before July—possibly not till August…the court may give him 15 or 20 years…” [MTP].

May 27 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Moncure Conway who had written Sam of an early publication date by Chatto of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Sam asked for prospective newspaper reviews from England and mentioned a postal card he’d received from Bliss over a week ago. Sam asked for two or three early copies of the book. In a teasing barb to Conway, Sam ended by saying the family would:

“…take up summer quarters at Elmira, N.Y. It is not in order that we may be under the protecting wings of a Young Men’s Christian Association, but merely that we may roost on the summit of the neighboring range of [ page 711 ] highlands & be safe from the heats of the season” [MTLE 1: 62]. Note: Moncure had been involved with a dispute over lecture payment from the Elmira YMCA.

Genen I. Pietz wrote to Sam [MTP].

May 29 Monday – Miss Ave Nick wrote from Chicago to Sam, clipping enclosed. She asked for an autographed photo of Twain. The clippings were unusual events around the various states [MTP].

May 31 Wednesday – Sam gave a reading at the Asylum Hill Congregational Church [Andrews 50]. Also, Twichell’s parish scrapbook, described by Messent, contains a notice of “Concert and Readings by the Park Church Quintette and ‘Mark Twain’ at the chapel of the Asylum Hill Congregational Church,” scheduled for this day [386]. Note: the church had 186 pews, seating 930 people [Strong 49].

On or about this day Sam sent a proposed introductory page for The Big Bonanza to Elisha Bliss, with a one-line note asking of it would do [MTPO].

June – Sam’s sketch, “The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut”” ran in the June issue of the Atlantic [Wells 22].

June 1 Thursday – Mary Mason Fairbanks wrote from Cleveland, Ohio to Sam.

My Dear Samuel / Can’t you and Livy come over to our house this fine morning, and bring the children? It is very funny to me, how much you have all been in my mind of late—how I have wanted your companionship—have really longed for you, and yet some mysterious grip (slow fires I think) has held my hand from writing. I believe I brought home with me your disorder, for through these many weeks I have had not mind or force enough to indite a letter. I tried to take up my pen after reading the June Atlantic, to tell you how you pleased me. Do you realize how you have improved? How time and study and conscience have developed the fineness of your nature? I just sit back in my complacence complacence & mentally pat you on the head——not that your well-doing is for me or my approval but because I knew it would be as it is, and I am pleased with my own sagacity. Your late article has some most delicate, metaphysical touches and I never was so sure of your having a live conscience, as since you have proclaimed its death.

….

      I see by the papers that Mark Twain will be at the Centennial the 15th. Do you come from thence to Elmira and when will you come to Cleveland? Mollie is away for a week. If she were here she would join me in urging your early coming. If there is one thing more than another that stirs her it is the mention of a Clemens. I think she loves you to-day with the same intensity that she did in the years gone by when you held her and her kitten in your arms. The honest worship of child or woman is precious.

      Now send me a letter real soon. Don’t break things to do it, nor banish Livy to her bed-room. What are the latest bon-mots of Susie & Clara? I have loving thoughts of you all— / Mother Fairbanks [MTPO].

June 1? Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford, sending Bliss a proposed INTRODUCTORY to Dan De Quille’s The Big Bonanza. It ran as proposed [MTLE 1: 63].

June 3 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Mary Mason Fairbanks that he had decided to “remain away from the Centennial [in Philadelphia] altogether, for an interruption of my work is disastrous to it.”

Sam had received copies of the Cleveland Herald and read about the death of George A. Benedict, partner to Abel Fairbanks on the Herald. Sam waxed philosophical:

 

What a curious thing life is. We delve away, through years of hardship, wasting toil, despondency; then comes a little butterfly season of wealth, ease, & clustering honors. Presto! the wife dies, a daughter marries a spendthrift villain, the heir & hope of the house commits suicide, the laurels fade & fall away. Grand result of [ page 712 ] a hard-fought, successful career & a blameless life: Piles of money, tottering age, & a broken heart [MTLE 1: 64].

 

June 4 Sunday – Information Wanted and Other Sketches by Mark Twain was published by George Routledge and Sons, London during the year. [Johnson 41-2]. Note: He gives June 4, 1876 as the earliest presentation copy found.

 

June 7 Wednesday – Eugene Holby wrote from Springfield to invite Sam to lecture there [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “NO”

 

June 8 Thursday – Clara Clemens’ second birthday.

Sam wrote from Hartford to Frank M. Etting, asking what responsibilities authors would have at the Philadelphia Centennial celebrations. Sam had written a sketch of Francis Lightfoot Lee to bring there the first week of July [MTLE 1: 66]. Note: on June 3, Sam wrote Mrs. Fairbanks that he planned to stay home for the Centennial. He often changed his mind, even more than once, about attending events.

In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam about his summer plans, and various submissions to the Atlantic. He asked at the end of the letter, “What about your novel? Or is it two of them? If it’s two, why can’t you let us print one in The Atlantic next year?” [MTHL 1: 141]. Note: In his Aug. 9 letter, Sam wrote he put away his “double-barreled novel” a month before, and began Huckleberry Finn (see n.4).

Dr. John Brown wrote from Edinburgh, Scotland.

My dear friends—far too good & forgiving— I have got the photos of the two, my one & the new one— We are delighted with them & Mrs Barclay hungers for a copy— She has the historical photo of small Susie in its ormoulu frame on her mantel piece to astonish & bewitch & charm all beholders— Why have I never all this long time written one word of thanks & love? I cannot tell—except that I am unworthy of all your regard & constancy & that I have been & am in a strange—wild, miserable state of mind—so that they whom I care most for, suffer most from my indifference & misery—this is no excuse— I hope you are both well— I am sure you are happy— John is well—& his [illegible word] I hope flourishing & he is good & steady & sensible & fortunately very different in much from me.

      My sister is oldering a bit—but full of devotedness & affectionate activity My daughter & her little April & her huge Captain are well— The good Barclays are well & often speak of you & Judge Nicolson always asks for “Mark” & his ——eyed wife—

      If I can I’ll write soon & longer— Try to forgive your old friend who is in some things better than he knows himself— With much regard Yrs (both) & the two’s / ever Affecty J.B. [MTPO].

J.A. Durkee wrote from NYC to enlist Sam to “lend your influence and pen” to the opening of a new two-penny morning paper similar, but in opposition to, the NY Sun. Durkee claimed to be the “Dry Goods” man in Keokuk from 1854 to 1866 and knew Orion [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “From an ass”.

R.E. Haliburton wrote from Prescott, Ontario. What’s legible thanks for “information you favored me with” and copyright in Canada references [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Son of ‘Sam Slick’ ”

June 9 Friday – Chatto & Windus, London issued the English edition of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, a full six months ahead of the U.S. release [MTPO Notes with Nov. 2, 1876 to Conway].

Sam wrote a short note “To Whom It May Concern” introducing his mother, Jane Clemens, and his sister Pamela Moffett, who would be traveling [MTLE 1: 67]. [ page 713 ]

June 10 Saturday – Sam must have heard from John RoBards, the boyhood friend he’d contracted to move his brother and father’s remains to the newer cemetery. He wrote from Hartford to RoBards, thanking him and asking to send any left over money to his mother in Fredonia, New York [MTLE 1: 68].

Duckett gives this as the date the English version of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was ready [106].

June 13 Tuesday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote a postcard to Sam. Howells was going to Philadelphia on July 3, so he couldn’t attend the Congress of Authors there on July 1. Did Sam get the long letter he’d written that week? “We go into the country this week: Shirley Village, Mass.” [MTHL 1:141].

Ira C. Cartwright for the Davenport Club, Cleveland, Ohio wrote belated thanks for two pictures of Clemens [MTP].

June 14 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to “Miss Harriet” responding to an autograph request. Even in a knock-off line, Sam could be hilariously brilliant:

“I am a long time answering your letter, my dear Miss Harriet, but then you must remember that it is an equally long time since I received it—so that makes us even, & nobody to blame on either side” [MTLE 1: 69].

Sam also sent a check and note to his Hartford attorney, Charles E. Perkins; letter not extant but referred to in the acknowledgment of June 17. See entry.

 

Gilbert Holland Stewart, Sr.  (1847-1912) attorney in Columbus, Ohio wrote:

 

Sir: / I trust you will pardon an entire stranger for intruding upon your attention but I cannot send you the enclosed paper without an explanation.

      I am the fortunate possessor of a copy of your book called “Roughing It” in my library; and having within a year moved into a new neighborhood, have had the privilege of loaning the most of my books to my neighbors. Among others I loaned “Roughing It” and in due course of time it was returned. I may here state that I am living in a portion of the city which is mostly inhabited by Quakers. Last Sunday was the first time I had looked at the book since it had been returned, and I opened it to the find upon the fly leaf the enclosed commentary upon the book. Knowing that as an author you would appreciate honest criticism upon your writings I tore out the fly leave and take the liberty of herewith presenting it to you. The names signed to it are those of the principal Quakers in my neighborhood, who are doubtless very much concerned for my welfare, since reading “those lies.” Again hoping that you will pardon me for thus addressing you / I remain / Yours / Gilbert H. Stewart

 

P.S. Supposing that up to this time the fly leaf is mine you have my full permission to print it in any future edition of “Roughing It” among the recommendations [MTP]. Note: the fly leaf: “Columbus Marek. 30th. 1876 Dear Lord deliver the reader of this work from sining against thee and reading those lies writen in this Book / Samuel Jones /Joseph Miller / John Watson / Samuel Williams / William Fagg”. The date of Mar. 30 and the names all written in the same hand suggest an April Fool’s joke—which Stewart seems oblivious to.

June, before the 15th – Sam wrote from Hartford to James Hammond Trumbull, enclosing Frank Etting’s reply to Sam’s questions about the Centennial event in Philadelphia. Etting had urged Sam and Trumbull to come; that there would be 150 authors and that not every one could read every piece but many would read part. Trumbull had provided the multilingual chapter epigraphs for The Gilded Age. Sam thought now he should go and hoped Trumbull would also [MTLE 1: 71]. Note: this source questions the date as June 20 from Hartford; the family had left for Elmira on June 15, so either the date or the place is in error.  [ page 714 ]

June 15 Thursday – The Clemens family left Hartford for Elmira, where they would spend the summer [Sam to Fairbanks, June 3]. They stopped in New York and stayed at the St. James Hotel a day or more, as was their custom [N.Y. Times, June 16, 1876 p3 “Arrivals at the Hotels”].

June 16 Friday – George Bentley wrote from London, England

Dear Sir / I enclose a cheque … with many thanks.

      Your article came very late, & only by displacing one, & making a slight curtailment of the commencement could I get it in time. You will therefore forgive this curtailment em spaceIt is a quaint article & I shall hope to hear from you again, especially when gd fun runs riot with you.

Yours very truly / em spaceem spaceem spaceem space& obliged / George Bentley [MTPO]. Note from source: Bentley had responded to Clemens’s 26 April submission of Atlantic Monthly proofs of “The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut.”

June 16-17 Saturday – The Clemens family left New York for the ten-hour train ride to Elmira. They stayed with the Langdons until June 29 [The Twainian, Nov-Dec.1956 p.3, June 2, 1911 letter from Susan Crane to Paine].

June 17 Saturday – Moncure Conway’s review of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ran in the London Examiner:

…Mark Twain is pre-eminent in our time. Every movement of boy, beetle, and poodle, is described not merely with precision, but with a subtle sense of meaning in every movement. Everything is alive, and every face physiognomical. From a novel so replete with good things, and one so full of significance, as it brings before us what we can feel is the real spirit of home life in the far West, there is no possibility of obtaining extracts which will convey to the reader any idea of the purport of the book. The scenes and characters cannot be really seen apart from their grouping and environment. The book will no doubt be a great favourite with boys, for whom it must in good part have been intended; but next to boys we should say that it might be most prized by philosophers and poets. The interior life, the everyday experiences, of a small village on the confines of civilisation and in the direction of its advance, may appear, antecedently, to supply but thin material for a romance; but still it is at just that same little pioneer point that humanity is growing with the greatest freedom, and unfolding some of its unprescribed tendencies. We can, indeed, hardly imagine a more felicitous task for a man of genius to have accomplished than to have seized the salient, picturesque, droll, and at the same time most significant features of human life, as he has himself lived it and witnessed it, in a region where it is continually modified in relation to new circumstances. The chief fault of the story is its brevity, and it will, we doubt not, be widely and thoroughly enjoyed by young and old for its fun and its philosophy [Railton].

Charles E. Perkins, Sam’s Hartford attorney, wrote to acknowledge Sam’s note of the 14th and the $3,000 check on the First National Bank. He sent the check “on to Burnham & al as requested” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “$3000 invested”.

June 18 Sunday – Frank M. Etting wrote from Philadelphia to Sam.

Dear Sir / I have been so overwhelmed by the details of our celebration of 7th June & of 2d July as to be unable to attend to the duty of correspondence at all— You must therefore make due allowance for my delay in replying to your favor of 8th inst—

      I do hope that you will carry out your intention of coming to Phila with others of your “guild” for 1st July—You will ’ere this have recd I presume the official cards— A large part of the sentiment is dependent upon the personal presence of the men specially fitted for the purpose & who have prepared a stone to build up a cenotaph of letters to the Founders of the Republic in the very chamber which gave birth to the republic—

      Your own relationship to our revolutionary sires is nearer than to Adam & you will not need to come so far—in the former case either to deplore their loss or to give (as it is hoped we may thus do) renewed vitality to the real principles for which they struggled— Yes two thirds of the authors antiquaries c[o]unted have [ page 715 ] accepted & I expect them to be present—about 150 in number—thus while the sketches cannot be read entire each may be expected to say a few words in laying his biographical sketch upon the table upon which the Decn of Indce was signed— Saturday the 1st has been selected to celebrate the 2d, the several days following—as well—will be variously celebrated publicly & socially— My list of authors has been put into requisition to enable them to participate in every event or celebration of interest— Tell Mr Trumbull he must come too—we cannot spare either of you— / very truly yours— / Frank M. Etting / [MTPO].

June 20 Tuesday – Sam wrote to James Hammond Trumbull on Etting’s June 18 letter: “I think I’ll go, Trumbull, & I hope you will stick to your intention of going, too” [MTPO].

June 21 Wednesday – Frank Soulé wrote from San Francisco to ask Clemens’ help in publishing his poem in 5 cantos, nearly 4,000 lines; he complained of working at the Alta where he was just a “machine not well oiled” and being unable to make a living after 17 years in SF [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Frank Soule Poet”. See Sept. 3, 1880 to Howells for more on Soulé.

June 22 Thursday – Sam and Livy wrote from Elmira to John Brown in Scotland. Sam made efforts to cheer Brown up, to urge him to travel and visit, and to bring others with him. Livy wrote hope for Brown’s health to improve and gave news of her children.

“The children are grown fat and hearty feeding chickens & ducks twice a day, and are keenly alive to all the farm interests. / Mr. J.T. Fields was with us with his wife a short time ago and you may be sure we talked most affectionately of you…”[MTLE 1: 72-3].

Sam also wrote to his mother and sister:

I got the tribe here all safe, Ma, & only lost my temper once—for 2 minutes[.] I found they had provided a very nice parlor, bath-room & one bedroom for us—so I was as mad as possible till another bedroom was added.

We are at Mother’s yet—shan’t go to the farm for a week or more. I celebrated your birthday by going to church the day before, Ma. I mean to go again on your next birthday. This is much better than making presents, I guess [MTPO].

June 24 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss. He was ready for the proofs to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but would be “better ready a week or ten days hence.” Sam suggested that American Publishing Co. could show better profits if it tried to do less, print fewer books (meaning more of his as well):

“If the directors will cut the business down two-thirds, & the expenses one half, I think it will be an advantage to all concerned, & I feel persuaded that I shall sell more books” [MTLE 1: 74].

After writing Bliss, Sam wrote a formal proposal to the Board of Directors of the American Publishing Co., asking why the company had not done better and suggesting retrenchment with an eye to a better bottom line. Sam was open about his “selfish interest”:

Tom Sawyer is a new line of writing for me, & I would like to have every possible advantage in favor of that venture. When it issues, I would like to have a clear field, & the whole energies of the company put upon it; & not only this, but I would like the canvassers to distinctly understand that no new book will issue till Tom Sawyer had run 6, or even 9 months. In that case we should all be better off.

Sam wanted only a “fair hearing and a wise verdict” from the board, but had come to some conclusions which would lead him to self-publishing in the future [MTLE 1: 76]. From MTPO a list of the Directors:  [ page 716 ]

“In addition to Clemens and Elisha and Frank Bliss, the directors of the American Publishing Company at this time were: Newton Case [1807-1890], president of Case, [James] Lockwood and [L.] Brainard Company, printers and blank-book manufacturers; Sidney L. Clark, secretary of the Weed Sewing Machine Company; Sidney Drake [1811-1898], of Drake and [James G.] Parsons, bookbinders; and James S. Tryon, of [William E.] Baker and Tryon, insurance agents.” See also AMT 2: 486 for more on Drake; 488 for more on Newton Case.

Sam also wrote to William S. Stokley (1823-1902), mayor of Philadelphia, accepting an invitation to be at Independence Hall on July 1 [MTLE 1: 77].

James H. Trumbull wrote from Hartford.

Dear Clemens: / I have backed out of not going, and wrote Col. Etting, the other day, to count me in. I have n’t yet so much as a rough ashlar to shape into my contribution to his “cenotaph,”—but today & tomorrow I intend to dig up my old revolutionary friend Col. Dyer and see if I can make him presentable. / Yours, / J. H. Trumbull [MTPO]. Note: Frank M. Etting.

June 26 Monday – The Cincinnati Commercial printed Moncure Conway’s “London Letter,” which contained several quotations, extracts and bits of plot summary for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. It also contained the entire fence-painting scene. From this publication many other newspapers picked up the article. Sam liked this method of publicity, of giving the public teasers before the book was issued [MTPO, notes on Sam’s July 24 to Conway].

Orion Clemens wrote from Keokuk, several pages of detail about the Daily Evening Constitution paper being up for sale for $5,000 with half down. Would Sam telegraph him if he was disposed to help him buy the paper? Orion was sure there was enough in it to live on [MTP].

William J. Lampton wrote from St. Louis, expecting to take in the Centennial in the east and wanted to visit [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Declined to suffer the affliction of his visit”

June 28 Wednesday – Orion Clemens wrote more plans about buying the newspaper; he proposed going partnership with one Reese [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Proposition to buy the ‘Constitution’ ”

Charles E. Perkins wrote Clemens, enclosing the Hartford town tax bill for schools. Due: $1,277.41. the receipt dated July 3 is in the file for check made to John Franey. Also, “Some of Mrs Clemens coupons on Western bond investments are due July 1st what shall I do with them?” [MTP].

June 29 Thursday – The Clemens family arrived at Quarry Farm [The Twainian, Nov-Dec. 1956 p3, June 2, 1911 letter from Susan Crane to Paine].

June 29? Thursday – Sam wrote a note from Elmira to his Hartford banker, George P. Bissell, forwarding a property tax statement and asking that a check be made for the amount ($1,277.41) and for both to be sent to Charles Perkins, his attorney and financial agent [MTLE 1: 78].

June 30 Friday – Sam left Elmira and traveled to Philadelphia for the Centennial event, Congress of Authors.

July 1 Saturday – Sam gave a reading of his sketch “Francis Lightfoot Lee of Virginia” at the Congress of Authors, Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania [Schmidt; Etting’s letter of June 18 forwarded by Sam to Trumbull]. Sam was impressed by the West Point Cadets who also participated in the Centennial [ page 717 ] Exhibition [MTNJ 2: 126n24]. Lorch says Sam received $300 for a fifteen minute reading given in the “midst of a concert” [153].

Sam paid school and city taxes to the City of Hartford for $1,277.41 [MTP].

Sam and Livy’s neighbors, Susan and Charles Dudley Warner, returned from 21 months in Europe and the Near East [MTPO].

G. Robertson wrote from Hartford to ask about “Poi prepared from the Taro plant” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Bid for Autograph letter. / Too thin”

Frank Bliss sent a statement of Sam’s account Apr 1 to July 1, total to his credit $759.69 [MTP].

July 2 Sunday – In a letter to Mary Mason Fairbanks on Sept. 14, Sam wrote that he “staid nearly a whole day” in Philadelphia, which means he traveled back to Elmira through the night, arriving early in the morning of July 2 [MTLE 1: 79, 110].

Reginald Cholmondeley wrote to Sam, strangely addressing him as “Sir William.” He wrote details of his aviary and how to feed various birds. Had Clemens requested such information? No. [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “This contained a list of 205 species of American birds (from 4 to 10 of each species) for me to gather up & bring over to England with me! I returned the list, as it might be valuable. The price to be paid for each bird was set opposite its name. S.L.C.”

July 3 Monday – Charles E. Perkins wrote to Sam: “Yours of the 1st inst is recd with check for taxes. I enclose tax bill receipted—also check for my half yearly charge of $150…The check for coupons for Mrs Clemens a/c is $404.25 and is deposited…” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Tax receipt for July ’76 / Recpt for Perkins to July ‘76”

July 4 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Moncure Conway, worried that the book and newspaper notice Conway had sent were lost. Communication with Bliss had become difficult at this point, with Sam having to ask Conway if the pictures from Bliss had arrived. They were needed for the English publication of TS. “I can’t find out from him,” Sam complained. Sam was also concerned by extracts of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer which “keep appearing in the N.Y. Evening Post—don’t know where they get them.” Sam ended by nixing the idea of printing a cheap edition in the U.S. “Our money lies wholly in the high-priced edition.” Canadian pirates would cut deeply into his sales [MTLE 1: 79].

Sam inscribed a copy of Horse-Car Poetry. Republished from the New Monthly Magazine “Record of the Year.” (1876): “A Centennial gift—from my beloved nephew, W. H. Marsh, July 4th 1876” [Gribben 324]. Note: Charles Langdon had a cousin named Edward L. Marsh. W.H. may have been related. This magazine contained Sam’s jingle, “Punch, Brothers, Punch!”

July 4-6 Thursday – Sometime during this period Sam traveled to Hartford, probably by way of New York. Explanatory notes on MTPO for the July 6 to Bentley read:

“Clemens was in Hartford to inquire at the American Publishing Company about the shipping of the Tom Sawyer illustrations to Moncure Conway and about the delay in the typesetting of the American edition of the book. Bliss did not have first proofs ready for him until 18 July (see 22 July 76 to Bliss, n. 1).”

July 6 Thursday – In Hartford, Sam wrote a short note of thanks to George Bentley of the Temple Bar in London, for money received for an article sent on Apr. 26 [MTLE 1: 80]. Note: It’s not known when Sam left Hartford and returned to Elmira, though Bliss wrote him on July 18.  [ page 718 ]

July 18 Tuesday – Elisha Bliss wrote from Hartford to Sam.

Friend Clemens— / Two weeks sickness this hot weather has nearly used me up, but I am out again; I should have replied to you before had I been able to do it! Your proofs have also been delayed on a/c of my indisposition—

      I send you by mail to night 2 chapters proofs, & original copy, which please return as soon as convenient, be sure & return copy with proofs.— Shall send 2 chapters more tomorrow, & so on & put it through rapidly— You may look for proofs rapidly—

      Your duplicate cuts went to England next day after you was in the office.

      And now as respects the company business you mention— I would say, I shall certainly offer no personal objection or use any personal influence to prevent the adoption of any plan deemed proper by the other directors— I do not know as you knew are aware of the condition of the Co or not, you have never been present at any of the meetings & have never asked for information of me—

      I am not ashamed to show my business up, for the past 10, or the past single year— It will compare well with anyone else’ business, be it who it may. Still I think it might be even better & I thought so last spring & I therefore preferred to give up my seat to some one more capable & also less costly— I urged this plan upon the Co. By this means the expenses can be cut down no doubt.

      I will be pleased to lay any proposition you have to make before the directors[.] I am sorry you found it necessary to talk against my management outside of our board as I have several times heard you have— Even the poor drunken Williams—comes & boastingly taunts me with what you tell him—while another of my help gets letters from N.Y. stating what he says you told there— For myself I care nothing, but it seems poor policy to injure the stock this way, & our stock is too valuable to be made to suffer. As long as I stay in the Co. I will do my best for it & its authors as I have done—but when dissatisfaction arises, my usefulness here is over! Other Avenues are open to me & I rather desire to tread them, as this business has its vexations & annoyances, & I hardly care to endure them much longer. The business can be cut down, & with a cheaper man at the helm, expenses can be made low, & possibly larger profits made. The experiment can be tried & I will most cheerfully assist with all my might—

      The 2 chapters sent of proofs, I think you will find tolerably correct.

      My orders are as I received them from you to follow copy, exactly, & I hope it has been done—

      What time do you wish Tom Sawyer to appear. We will bring him out when you say. Let us know.

      Hope you are not in as warm a place as it is here— Thermometer 97. / Truly— / E Bliss Jr [MTPO].

July 20 Thursday – Elisha Bliss wrote enclosing proofs of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer [MTP].

Henry H. Halterman wrote from Jackson, Ohio asking for a $500 loan [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “$500 wanted.”

Frank Bliss wrote that he didn’t send the check because he “fancied” Sam would want the money deposited in the bank there as he’d sometimes done. “I enclose bill of items chg’d to you since Apl 1. 13.31 which deducted from the amt of copyright 759.69 leaves 746.38 for which I enclose check” [MTP]. Note: the amounts charged for books Sam gave: Apr. 10: books to NY Press Club 4.95; Apr 18 Books (Sketches) to Lib Congress 3.12; Apr. 19 Books to Erie RR Temperance Assoc. 3.60; June 5 books to W.W. West 1.64.

July 21 Friday – The American Publishing Co.’s edition of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was copyrighted by title page this day, even though it wasn’t offered for sale until Dec. 1876 [Duckett 106, citing Blanck].

J.W. Langdon wrote from NYC to solicit writing for his autograph album… “something original” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Unutterable cheek”

July 22 Saturday – In Elmira, Sam wrote a long conciliatory letter he marked PRIVATE to Elisha Bliss. In a July 20 letter Bliss answered Sam’s concerns and sent a few more chapters of proofs of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Bliss also had been sick, and objected to some of Sam’s suggestions. Sam’s wrote that his suggestions about shrinking the company were just that, and:  [ page 719 ]

“With the suggestion I stop. My duty as a director & stockholder ends there. I shall not lose any sleep about it one way or the other.”

Sam suggested $500 rewards for the two canvassers who sold the most copies of Sawyer, hoping the sales could be done in September and October, with an issue date of Nov. 1. Sam added that he had a business proposition for Bliss “individually,” meaning outside of the company, and that he would discuss it with him in the fall when he returned to Hartford. Sam also wisely noted that many of the things they needed to discuss were better not to write about. He praised the chapter proofs as “nice clean proof” [MTLE 1: 82].

Sam also wrote to the editors of the New York Evening Post, no doubt intended for publication, about the irony of costs connected with postage due letters being sent to the Dead Letter Office [MTLE 1: 83].

July 23 Sunday – The Philadelphia Sunday Republic published part of the fence-whitewashing episode of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer [The Twainian, Mar. 1944 p.4].

Charles Dudley Warner wrote from Hartford to Sam, sorry he hadn’t been able to get to Phila. soon enough to see him. He’d read TS “and greatly enjoyed” it. Much of his small scrawl is illegible [MTP].

July 24 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Moncure Conway. He’d discovered where The Adventures of Tom Sawyer excerpts in the newspapers were originating from—Moncure’s marketing letters to a Cincinnati paper. Sam wrote that Charles Dudley Warner had just arrived back from a trip to Europe and had told Sam he’d read and greatly enjoyed it and that Conway was reading it to his congregation on Sundays! Sam inquired about rates paid to actors because he was “on terms with Raymond again” and wanted to arrange an English tour for him. Sam asked about getting Tom Sawyer dramatized in a stage play, for which he would pay Conway fifty pounds, and suggested possible promoters for it. Sam wrote that the Sellers play had cleared him $23,000 for the season [MTLE 1: 85-7].

Walter F. Brown wrote from Paris, France:

My dear Mr Clemens— / I have just received your check for £92.16.0 for which many thanks. I enclose receipted account in full. You may depend on me to see Mr. St. Gaudens probably today. / I will send the remaining drawings very shortly. With compliments of the ladies, I am yours truly… P.S. The three faulty drawings will be duly corrected [MTP]. Note: Brown was an artist who supplied Clemens with artwork for some of his books; see May 10, 1879 to Bliss.

July 25 Tuesday – Sam’s article “The Secret Out” ran in the NY Evening Post [Camfield, bibliog.].

Montgomery Schuyler (1843-1914) of the NY World, wrote to Sam, enclosing a World galley proof reprinting his July 22 letter from the Evening Post. On it Schuyler wrote: “I don’t see why, when you have a grievance, you shouldn’t make it known thro’ these ponderous columns—What’s the Evening Post to you, or you to the Evening Post? When you have a post office trouble why go to the Post office—Come weep on this bosom—Who ran to puff you when you wrote a play” [MTPO]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Squib about P.M. General’s Removal”

July 26 Wednesday – The Hartford Courant printed “The Boy, the Beetle and the Dog. A Sketch from Mark Twain’s ‘Tom Sawyer,’ in Press.” This was taken from chapter 5 and was independent of Conway’s “London Letter” first sent to the Cincinnati Commercial (See June 26 entry.) It was reprinted Aug. 28 in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch [MTPO notes on July 24 to Conway].

July 27 Thursday – Sam wrote to Charles E. Perkins, sending $3,000 to be invested for Livy. This letter not extant but referred to in the July 31 acknowledgment from Perkins.  [ page 720 ]

July 29 Saturday – Abraham Reeves Jackson wrote from Chicago, transcript of July 22 Evening Post editorial enclosed. Jackson passed on a letter from J.H. Dowling who wanted Sam to lecture there [MTP].

July 29 Saturday ca. – On or shortly before this day, the Belford Brothers of Toronto published an unauthorized edition of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, based on the English edition, published June 9. The Belford edition was initially priced at $2.25, and later as a $1.00 hardback or a $.75 paperback. [MTPO Notes with Nov. 2, 1876 to Conway].

July 30 Sunday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Montgomery Schuyler, journalist and architectural critic for the New York World, answering his letter of July 25. Sam had done a squib for the World but burned it, and would write another “in coming months.” No doubt he was responding to a request for an article [MTLE 1: 88].

July 31 Monday – Charles E. Perkins wrote to Sam acknowledging his of the 27th with the $3,000 to be invested for Livy. He complained of “infernal hot weather” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “The 21st Thousand invested.”

July 31-August 7 Monday – Sam and Bliss wrote proof notes for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer [MTPO].

August – Sometime during the month at Quarry Farm, Sam began “A Record of the Small Foolishnesses of Susie & ‘Bay’ Clemens (Infants)”. The document would grow for nine years [MTNJ 2: 365n32]. (See July 1880 entry.)

“Political Views of a Humorist” ran in the New York Herald. In it Sam wrote of Charles Francis Adams (1807-1886) as “a pure man, a proved statesman” [Gribben 8]. Adams was a past Congressman from Mass. (1859-61), and minister to England (1861-68); the grandson of John Adams, son of John Quincy Adams.

August 1 Tuesday – In Elmira, Sam sent a post card to the American Publishing Co. requesting two cloth copies of Charles Dudley Warner’s book, Mummies or Moslems [MTLE 1: 89; Aug. 8 to Bliss].

Sam also wrote a short response to Lewis Jacob Cist (1818-1885), Cincinnati banker, poet and collector of autographs and portraits. Sam didn’t recall:

“…ever writing anything for the St. Louis Republican; & I used the nom de plume first in Nevada Territory” [MTLE 1: 90].

Sam also wrote to Moncure Conway after just receiving his letter. Chatto got the electrotypes but had already gone to press with an edition, and didn’t like Bliss’ price. Chatto or Conway had asked Sam to get Bliss to lower his price but Sam answered that Bliss had no motivation to do so. Sam was clearly stressed by the coordination and machinations of the book between Bliss, Conway and Chatto. Sam called this a “triangle” and suggested that Chatto simply send the electros back to Bliss and let Bliss use them, or charge them to Sam’s account.

Sam loved Quarry Farm’s idyllic setting and encouraged Conway to bring the wife and visit.

“We are in the air, overhanging the valley 700 feet, & my study is 100 yards from the house. This is not my vacation, mind you—I take that in winter. I am booming along with my new book [Huckleberry Finn]—have written 1/3 of it & shall finish it in 6 working weeks” [MTLE 1: 91]

Note: Sam would not finish the book until 1883. After the first 16 chapters, Sam put the book away until 1879. Between 1879 and 1880 Sam wrote Chapters 17 and 18; between 1880 and 1883, Chapters 19-21. In 1883 he wrote the last chapters [Blair, MT and Huck Finn 199]. [ page 721 ]

Sam read chapter 8 in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer proofs [MTLE 1: 92].

August 2 Wednesday – Thomas C. Noble, Jr. wrote from Cumberland Centre, Maine to offer his services as an “old and experienced hand” of a playwright who would “be most happy to give…all the instruction” he needed. He’d been a teacher, and added, “If you do not answer me I shall write you twice a day for the next three months” [MTP]. Note: any answer is not extant.

August 4 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Mary Mason Fairbanks urging her to visit. He claimed his “pet book, which lies at home one-third done & never more to be touched…Destroyed by a vacation,” so that he could not leave Quarry Farm to visit anyone since he was “tearing along on a new book” and that each time Livy took a trip down the hill it laid her up for two days [MTLE 1: 93].

August 5 Saturday – In Townsend Harbor, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam. After some playful recriminations about sending a long letter and receiving back only a postcard, Howells told of their vacation, his writing, and his beginning of the life of Rutherford B. Hayes (1822-1893) for the campaign. He also asked about Sam’s “double-barrel novel” and would he sell it to the Atlantic for next year? [MTHL 1: 142].

Hugh F. McDermott for Tilden & Hendricks Club, Jersey City wrote to invite Sam to the “raising of a banner on Wednesday evening, Aug. 16” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Flag-raising. Declined”

August 6 or 7 Monday – Sam responded from Elmira to a request by Hugh F. McDermott that he attend a flag raising for political candidates Samuel J. Tilden (1814-1886) and Thomas A. Hendricks (1819-1885) at a Jersey City, New Jersey club. Sam and Howells were Republicans, and Sam confessed for the first time in his life he was interested in the outcome of the 1876 election, announcing his support for Rutherford B. Hayes. His answer to the Tilden Club:

“You have asked me for some political counsel or advice: In view of Mr. Tilden’s Civil War record my advice is not to raise the flag” [MTLE 1: 94]. Note: during the war, Tilden opposed several of the Lincoln Administration’s war measures.

Charles Reade wrote from London (Aug. 6) acknowledging Sam’s plot. “It is full of brains” though he didn’t think it would work on the stage [MTP]. Note: just which work was suggested is not clear, but likely TS.

August 7 Monday – Elisha Bliss wrote proof notes on TS to Sam: “Richardson made more trouble over every page than you do in a whole book. Your model MS is my standard to gauge others by, & must not be much better & cant be really” [MTP].

August 8 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Bliss. Sam had received a response from Bliss to his last letter and denied making propositions to Dustin, Gilman & Co. or any other publisher. Sam agreed to make The Adventures of Tom Sawyer a holiday book. Sam also wanted Howells’ Atlantic review to be put into the prospectus that went to editors. Sam enclosed an English notice of the Chatto & Windus publication [MTLE 1: 95-6].

In the evening, Sam started “a record of our children’s sayings,” and wrote Susie’s inability, with a certain pair of shoes on, to think of God [Aug. 9 to Howells]. Sam later titled these notes, “A Record of the Small Foolishnesses of Susie & ‘Bay’ Clemens (Infants)” and continued to log them through June 7, 1885. Note: Sam often wrote these cute sayings in his notebook as well.  [ page 722 ]

August 9 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to William Dean Howells after receiving his letter. Sam mentioned the Tilden club invitation and his answer, Susy’s larger shoes (which she used as an excuse not to be able to pray), the idyllic setting of Quarry Farm and this noteworthy item:

“I have written 400 pages on it—therefore it is very nearly half done. It is Huck Finn’s Autobiography. I like it only tolerably well, as far as I have got, & may possibly pigeon-hole or burn the MS when it is done” [MTLE 1: 98]. Thank God Sam didn’t burn it, but pigeonhole it he did, not to be completed until 1883 and printed first in England in 1884, in the U.S. in 1885. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is considered Sam’s masterpiece.

August 10 Thursday – Helen M. Chapin (Mrs. Thomas E. Chapin) wrote from Newton Centre, Mass. “Please do me the favor to accept the contents of a box which I send by the same mail, with the hope that they will amuse you. They are four ‘Illuminated Silhouettes’ …If you will hold them between your eye and the light you will be able to see through them, and perhaps read a moral lesson!” [MTP]. Note: sent to Hartford, not Elmira.

Moncure Conway wrote from Ostend, Belgium.

My dear Mark, / Your letter [Elmira July 24] has followed me over here, & alas, finds me in a condition of profound ignorance as to the gains which Toole and Sothern make per week. And this is not the worst of it: the only persons in London to whom I could write about it are absent. So unless I can cudgel my brains into performing a miracle I fear you will not get your telegram. However, as you will know that before this reaches you I say no more about it.

      I have written immediately to H. J. Byron, & if he is at home shall hear from him immediately. I shall do my best.

      I have given William Black the novelist a letter of introduction to you. You will get any amount of information from him. He is a charming fellow.

      That letter of mine in the Cincinnati Commercial about Tom Sawyer was not so shrewd as it seems. It was written under the full impression that the book would be in many American hands before it could appear in the West. But the other day I found a part of my letter with an extract from Tom in a Paris newspaper! But what is to keep it out of the American press? I confess to having felt somewhat guilty when your revelations & marvels came, but it never occurred to me that my letter was responsible for all the floating extracts. Nor do I quite believe it yet, for I think I saw an extract in a Western paper which I never sent over. However, as the benevolent robber said, ‘I hope Monsieur feels grateful to me for not taking his life.’ And another robber said “Sir, allow me to relieve you of this your purse, for this forest is infested with highwaymen, and it will be impossible for you to retain it.” / Ever yours / M D Conway / I shall be at home by Aug. 26 [MTPO].

August 11 Friday – George W. Smalley wrote from Watertown, Mass. having just rec’d Sam’s telegram forwarded from NYC. They hadn’t made plans yet but hoped they might accept his “friendly and kind invitation” though Mrs. S. had been “very ill with bronchitis & fever.” They’d been out of the country [MTP].

David Gray wrote from Buffalo.

My Dear Mark: / I will make for your shanty, if nothing occurs to prevent, a week from tonight, & arrange things so I can spend Saturday & Sunday with you. Got back last Saturday & expect my family to stay the month out at Block Island. Hope you & yours are getting safely through the heated term. Will telegraph you on what train I shall get away / Ever Yours / David Gray [MTPO].

August 12 Saturday – Bill paid to D.S. Brooks & Sons, Hartford dealer in “hot air furnaces, cooking ranges, stoves and tin ware, low down grates and Marbelized slate mantles” $9.65 [MTP].

August 13 Sunday – Louis E. Cooke of The Martino Troupe wrote from Buffalo to send Twain a circular for Yankee Robinson’s lecture tour—could he be induced to write a lecture for him? [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “From an ass about ‘Yankee Robinson’ .” [ page 723 ]

August 14 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Eustace D. Conway, Moncure’s seventeen-year-old son, who evidently had been working for his father and attempting to interest a play promoter named Taylor in producing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer on the stage. Sam agreed, as the story stood it was not dramatizable and explained:

“…but by turning & twisting some of the incidents, discarding others & adding new ones, that sort of difficulty is overcome by these ingenious dramatists. But I haven’t the head to do it…I hope Mr. Byron can & will do the play” [MTLE 1: 100]. Note: H.J. Byron was Sam’s first choice; he is mentioned in Conway’s Aug.10. The episodic structure of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer perhaps made it difficult to dramatize.

August 16 Wednesday –James H. Dowland wrote from Chicago, “adding a few words” to Dr. Jackson’s letter about Dowland’s lecture. “He has handed me your reply, and I thank you cordially for the encouragement contained in it.” He asked Sam to give him “a helping hand toward success,” as he’d done with Raymond [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Ass”

Gertrude Kellogg wrote from Brooklyn asking Sam to “say a good word” to the chairman of the Lecture Assoc. of Hartford for her. She enclosed a flyer praising her recitations [MTP].

August 18 Friday – Ross R. Winans wrote to Sam; evidently Winans was at Newport when Sam and Livy vacationed there in 1875 and had been witnessed to Sam’s bowling prowess on an impossibly warped single lane with Higginson.  

[on Union League Club stationery, Madison ave & 26th St., N.Y.]

My Dear Mr. Clemens,

      I received your letter enclosing the photographs of your babies & handed them over to my sister. She was delighted with them & desired me to thank you.

      We miss you very much at Newport this summer. We have not so much as entered that bowling alley yet. I doubt very much whether your champion score has been beaten by anyone. From your description I should think you have lit up on a very pleasant summer residence [MTP]. Note: Winans was the son of Thomas DeKay Winans, and grandson of Ross Winan. See Aug 24, 1875 entry.

August 19 & 20 Sunday – David Gray from Buffalo visited with Sam and Livy [MTLE 1: 105, 101-2; MTPO notes Aug. 4 to Fairbanks].

August 20 Sunday – From Townsend Harbor, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam, mostly about family matters and fun. He began by asking, however:

“Why don’t you come out with a letter, or speech, or something, for Hayes? I honestly believe that there isn’t another man in the country who could help him so much as you. Do think the matter seriously over” [MTHL 1: 146].

August 21 Monday – Valentine Hammann, secretary of the Executive Committee for the New York Press Club wrote to Sam, inviting Sam to join 200 other members of the Club [MTP]. Note: Sam accepted but his letter confirming has been lost [MTPO notes with Sept. 11 – Oct. 15 to Bladen].

Christian Bernard Tauchnitz (1816-1895) wrote to Sam, c/o Bret Harte, who enclosed it in his Sept. 5 to Clemens.

 

Mr Sam. Clemens / gott lenke ihn / My dear Sir,

      I hope my last lines of March 29 reached you safely and also the payment.

      Being desirous to include also the name of your friend Mr. Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) in my series, I take the liberty, not knowing his address, to ask you whether you would have the great kindness, to [ page 724 ] communicate my wish to Mr. Clemens. I think I might begin with his last book “Tom Sawyer,” which would just fill one of my volumes.

      I hope, these lines may find you quite well. Pardon me the liberty I have taken.

      Believe me always / Yours faithfully / Tauchnitz / Leipzig / Aug 21, 76 [MTP].

August 22 Tuesday – J.M. Drill wrote from Baltimore. Redpath had offered him an evening of Twain on Nov. 21 but “times are so dreadfully hard” that he couldn’t pay the $300 asked [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “No Answer”

August 23 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Howells, who had encouraged Sam to speak or write in support of Hayes in the coming election. Sam realized he’d have to do it in a:

“…natural, justifiable & unlugged way; & shall not then do anything unless I’ve got it all digested & worded just right. In which case I might do some good—in any other I should do harm. When a humorist ventures upon the grave concerns of life he must do his job better than another man or he works harm to his cause” [MTLE 1: 101].

Sam wrote that both the girls were developing whooping cough and that it was getting cold at Quarry Farm and “we want to get away homeward Sept. 5.” Besides working on Huckleberry Finn and preparing to write Prince and the Pauper, Sam wrote only one sketch during the summer, “The Canvasser’s Tale,” which he enclosed in this letter, under the title “The Echo That Didn’t Answer.” It ran in the December Atlantic. Sam planned to read it in Boston on Nov.13 or 14. He asked Howells to send him 3 proofs if he wanted to use it, and he’d send one to the Temple Bar in London. Sam added a note what was probably his most shocking tale: “1601: Conversation, as it was the Social Fireside, in the Time of the Tudors,” or simply 1601. The piece would have been considered pornographic in those days. 

“When we exchange visits I’ll show you an unfinished sketch of Elizabeth’s time which shook David Gray’s system up pretty exhaustively” [MTLE 1: 101-2].

August 25 Friday – Will Bowen wrote to Sam. In part:

Dear Sam / It has been a long time since I have heard from you, and I believe mine, was the last letter, but that is a small matter, since in these seriously dull times, the ordinary, little matters do not get their customary attention. When I wrote you last, the old world was wheeling along very smoothly with me, and my business prospects were very flattering, but I regret to confess that such is not now, the case.

….

      I was to have been married this month that they might have a Home and I, a companion, but then circumstances force a delay of that now. Sister Mary is in trouble with her property in Hannibal & needs my assistance, and a thousand things are depressing me. I feel that a letter from my old time friend would be a sweet morsel and when you have the leisure I hope you will recall some of the old feeling, that distance & time & other duties have perhaps dimmed a little & write me a word or two. We have both been through the mill before, “Hard up,” but we were younger then. Hopes were stronger, and the days brighter. I cannot feel that I have come to the end of my happy life—yet strange things overtake men nowadays & mayhap I have. I shall continue the struggle though—bearing along my good name & a brave heart with willing hands.

      I am glad that fortune smiles with you—but more so, that you have forced her, so to do.

      My Mother & family often speak of you—they are quite well—I believe I told you of Elizas death, in the Asylum.

      Where is your Mother & Sister? I hope the good wife & babies are well as also yourself. Sam is here doing nothing

      Write me, Sam when you have time. I shall be glad to hear from you ever. Tell me something of the new Book & when we will see it / Yours ever … [MTPO]. [ page 725 ]

August 26 Saturday – The following ran in the New York Herald:

“History has tried hard to teach us that we can’t have good government under politicians. Now, to go and stick one at the very head of the government couldn’t be wise.”

August 28 Monday – Bret Harte’s play, Two Men of Sandy Bar, premiered at the Union Square Theatre in New York. The character of Hop Sing, a California Chinaman, played by Charles T. Parsloe, was used as the centerpiece of Sam and Bret’s Ah Sin [Walker, Phillip 187].

The New York Herald ran a “planned interview” with Sam, where he gave his reasons for supporting Hayes for the presidency. The article ran on page 3 and was titled, “Political Views of a Humorist / Interview with Mark Twain in his Mountain Studio in Chemung—Remarkable Declarations” [Scharnhorst, Interviews 4-7].

Helen M. Chapin (Mrs. Thomas E. Chapin)  wrote from Boston to Sam, not knowing that he was in Elmira; she’d sent her box of silhouettes to Hartford [MTP]. See Aug 10.

August 31 Thursday – Sam replied from Elmira to the Aug. 25 from his childhood friend and fellow pilot, Will Bowen. Sam had just read a letter of sentiment tinged with self-pity from his old friend, and let Will have it with a “humble 15-cent dose of salts,” comparing Will’s pie-in-the-sky dreams with those of his brother Orion’s:

It is the strangest, the most incomprehensible thing to me, that you are still 16, while I have aged to 41. What is the secret of your eternal youth? —not that I want to try it; far from it—I only ask out of curiosity. I can see by your manner of speech, that for more than twenty years you have stood dead still in the midst of the dreaminess, the melancholy, the romance, the heroics, of sweet but sappy sixteen. Man, do you know that this is simply mental & moral masturbation? It belongs eminently to the period usually devoted to physical masturbation, & should be left there & outgrown [MTLE 1: 104].

September – Sometime during the month, Sam set aside the manuscript he called “Huck Finn’s Autobiography” after completing about one third of the story. He received so many inquiries about a sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, that he had a response form letter printed [MTLE 2: .iv]. Note: He would not complete HF until 1883.

September 1 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to his niece, Annie Moffett Webster. Sam explained why he could not visit Buffalo, and that they would soon be traveling to Hartford and New York, putting off their planned trip to Fredonia. He recommended a gas stove over a coal for his mother, then added that Livy was “utterly & bitterly opposed to the gas stove. She says it is not a fire, but the mere chilly pretense of one. She says you must buy one of those beautiful [tile Stoves].” Livy supplied the words “tile Stoves” [MTLE 1: 105].

September 2 Saturday – Sherrard Clemens (1820-1880) wrote to Sam, clippings enclosed.

      Dear Sir: / I regret, very deeply, to see, that you have announced your adhesion to that inflated bladder, from the bowels of Sarah Burchard, Rutherford Burchard Hayes. You come, with myself, from Gregory Clemens, the regicide, who voted for the death of Charles and who was beheaded, disembolled, and drawn in a hurdle. It is good, for us, to have an ancestor, who escaped the ignominy of being hung. But, I would rather have, such an ancestor, than adhere, to such a pitiful ninnyhammer, as Hayes, who is the mere, representative, of wall street brokers, three ball men, Lombardy Jews, European Sioux, class legislation, special privileges to the few, and denial of equality of taxation, to the many—the most convenient pimp, of the bondholders and office holders, about 150 thousand people, against over 40.000.000.  [ page 726 ]

      If you have any more opinions for newspaper scalpers, it might be well, for your literary reputation, if you, should keep them to yourself, unless you desire to be considered a “Political Innocent Abroad.” / Your relative, in nubibus, / Sherrard Clemens [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “From a Fool”

September 4 Monday – Helen M. Chapin wrote to Sam: “You have made me very happy by enjoying my small joke” [MTP]. Note: see Aug 10, 28 from Helen.

September 5 Tuesday – The Clemens family left Quarry Farm for Hartford by way of New York City [The Twainian, Nov-Dec. 1956 p.3, June 2, 1911 letter from Susan Crane to Paine].

In New York, Bret Harte wrote to Sam, enclosing the Aug. 21 note from Baron Christian B. Tauchnitz offering to take Sam’s work into his European series, beginning with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

[Harte:] I have received the enclosed note to-day. / The Baron is a good fellow. Considering the fact that we have no copyright on the Continent, and that he could steal but wont, and that his editions are the perfection of letter press, and that to be on his list is a kind of guarantee to the English reading people there I’d advise you to accept his offer. He will send you from £50 to £100 according to the size of the book—as a gratuity. Of course his books are contraband in England, it doesn’t interfere with your rights there [Duckett 99].

Harte asked again about Bliss, who had promised to bring out Gabriel Conroy by Sept. 1, yet Harte had heard nothing. “You are a stockholder in the Concern. Shore him up,” Harte wrote.

September 6 Wednesday – The Clemenses registered at the St. James Hotel in New York, where they spent the next few days, arriving back in Hartford on Sept. 11 [MTPO Notes with Sept. 1 to Moffett from the N.Y. Herald and the N.Y. Tribune].

NYC temperatures ranged from 73-52 degrees F. with no rain [NOAA.gov].

September 7-11 Monday – In either New York or Hartford sometime during this period, Sam wrote a short note to Bret Harte, after taking in Harte’s play, Two Men of Sandy Bar at the Union Square Theatre in New York. Harte had sold the play to actor Stuart Robson for $3,000 plus $50 for each performance during its first season, a price Harte came to regret [MTPO].

“I saw your piece last night, my dear Bret, for the first time, & did not laugh once, for the simple reason that you have sold that piece for a sum you should have received for three months’ performance of it.”

Sept. 7 NYC temperatures ranged from 65-62 degrees F. with no rain [NOAA.gov].

September 8 Friday – The Clemenses were still in New York.

In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam. He’d received and would print “The Canvasser’s Tale,” about a man who collects echoes. Howells suffered from dysentery after returning home from Townsend Harbor, but finished the campaign bio for Hayes in twenty-two days. Once again Howells asked Sam, “Do you intend to speak or write any politics? I hope you do…” [MTHL 1: 149]. Note: Howells’ hasty bio of Rutherford B. Hayes sold fewer than 3,000 copies [n3].

NYC temperatures ranged from 74-62; 0.06 inches of rain fell [NOAA.gov].

September 9 Saturday – NYC temperatures ranged from 72-61 degrees F. with no rain [NOAA.gov]. [ page 727 ]

September 10 Sunday – The Clemenses were still in New York. Sam’s notes in Hyppolyte Taine’s The Ancient Regime (1876) state that he finished reading the book on this day, a second reading during the year [Slotta 32]. This was a major sourcebook for both P&P and CY (See also Jan. 29 entry).

NYC temperatures ranged from 66-77 degrees F. with no rain [NOAA.gov].

In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam, forwarding a story that his sister, Anne Thomas Howells, had sent. “See if you can make something of it,” he wrote. Howells agreed that they “must try the Blindfold Novelettes for next year,” that is, stories made from segments done by various authors [MTHL 1: 149].

September 11 Monday – The Clemens family returned home to Hartford [Sept 14 to Fairbanks]. The train trip from Elmira to Hartford took ten hours, and always exhausted Livy. On this trip Sam first hired a sleeping car, which gave the family privacy and lessened the stress for Livy. Their German nursemaid, Rosina Hay, was able to keep the girls occupied and Sam wasn’t bothered by other passengers’ talk and autograph requests. Sam promised that the luxury of a private car would be a permanent one for the family [Willis 103].

September 11 or 18 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Daniel Slote, his old Quaker City excursion buddy, proposing that Dan’s firm of Slote, Woodman & Co. publish his Scrap Book invention.

You see by the above paragraph [describing the Scrap Book] that it is a sound moral work, & this will commend it to editors & clergymen, & in fact to all right feeling people. If you want testimonials I can get them, & of the best sort, & from the best people. One of the most refined & cultivated young ladies in Hartford (daughter of a clergyman) told me herself, with grateful tears standing in her eyes, that since she began using my Scrap Book she has not sworn a single oath [MTLE 1: 108]. Note: Webster Woodman (b. ca 1828) ; Daniel Slote.

September 11-15 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford during this time to Charles H. Bladen (1841-1899), member of the New York Press Club. Sam had received a notice that he’d been elected a member of the club and was invited to their Fall Reception. Sam expressed regret that he would not be able to attend [MTLE 1: 107]. Note: Bladen was a vet of the Civil War and on the NY Times staff from 1870 to 1885.

September 12 Tuesday – Paid, a Sept. 1 bill for a hack used Apr. 26 from E.C. Wheaton, livery, $3 [MTP].

September 12 or 13 Wednesday – Sam made a quick trip to New York City, where he saw Bret Harte who handed him a letter from Christian Bernard Tauchnitz about including one of Sam’s book in Tauchnitz’s series. (See Sept.14 letter) [MTLE 1: 114]. Notes: Tauchnitz was a Leipzig printer from an old German family of publishers. He founded the Library of British and American Authors, a reprint series familiar to anglophone travelers on the continent of Europe. This series consisted of inexpensive, paperbound editions, anticipating modern mass-market paperbacks. Started in 1841, the series eventually ran to over 5,000 volumes.

September 14 Thursday – Sam wrote a note from Hartford to Elisha Bliss reminding him to put a dedication to Livy in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer [MTLE 1: 109].

Sam also wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks, explaining why they could not travel to Cleveland. Livy was frail, and Sam claimed she was still not over the trip to Fredonia and Canandaigua from two years before. And it seemed that both children were never well at the same time. So Sam did the hard sell for the Fairbanks family to come to Hartford for a visit [MTLE 1: 110]. [ page 728 ]

Sam also wrote to Howells, explaining that details in the sketch, “The Canvasser’s Tale,” or “The Echo That Didn’t Answer,” came from his travels to Italy in 1867. Sam suggested a sarcastic small book about Tilden in the upcoming presidential election (Sam was a Hayes man) and then observed:

“It seems odd to find myself interested in an election. I never was before. And I can’t seem to get over my repugnance to reading or thinking about politics, yet. But in truth I care little about any party’s politics—the man behind it is the important thing” [MTLE 1: 112].

Sam remarked on articles in Atlantic, and a play Howells was working on. He also said he was enjoying Howells’ biography of Rutherford B. Hayes, which had just been released by Hurd & Houghton; it sold fewer than 3,000 copies [MTHL 1: 149].

Sam also wrote to Christian Bernard Tauchnitz. He pointed out the delay in the U.S. edition of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but supposed from the letter that Tauchnitz possessed an English version. Sam confirmed that save for the dedication to Livy, which he’d forgotten to add in the English edition, the U.S. edition would be without alteration. Sam complimented Tauchnitz on his recognition of the author’s “moral right” to his books [MTLE 1: 114]. Note: Sam claimed to have met Bret Harte in New York on his last trip, but Harte had enclosed Tauchnitz’s letter in one of his own [MTPO Notes].

September 15 Friday – William A. Seaver wrote from NYC.

My dear old man:— / Usually there is a great breeze amongst the snobs of N.Y. who do the briny in yachts, on the occasion of the Annual Yacht race of the N.Y.Y.C. on the third Tuesday of Sept. I am and have been since the 24th of July, a jolly tar, living on board the yacht Petrel avec my wife, and generally one or two gosling girls or tough old matrons as guests. Next Tuesday I shall take the hel-lum, and have invited Judge Brady, Bret Harte, Bromley and Brooks to come and see me do it. Should you have any business in N.Y. on that day, or could make any nefarious pretext to get away from the horrors of home, come down to me. I have bunks on board adapted to any beam, and can make you as jolly as an old sand-boy. / I think the idea has merit. / Yours, / Wm. A. Seaver [MTPO].

“Slang, Slander & Co wrote a postcard from Manchester, England to ask:

Do you think that any people, ancient or modern (except the noble Greeks, to whom the Yankees resemble in so many respects) ever accomplished such feats in true art, literature and all higher pursuits of the human mind, which distinguish man from the beast of the field (I forgot: cocktail drinking, chewing and spitting) than the North Americans? / Would you not undertake to read a lecture on his subject to your countrymen in order to make fools wiser and knaves better? [MTP].

September 16 Saturday – Sam declined another invitation, the Sept. 15 from William A. Seaver, who wrote the “Editor’s Drawer” and the “Personal” column for Harper’s. Seaver was “one of the New York boys.”

“My Dear Boy, I can’t. You know me; you know I travel with none but the salt of the earth—never with old salts of the sea, like you. Besides, these parties drink, whom you mention. Therefore there might not be enough for me” [MTLE 1: 115].

Wendell Phillips wrote to Sam: “I ventured to open Smalley telegram from yourself (16 Sept). / In reply am sorry to say I cannot send it to him as I do not know where he is…he shall have your message the moment I happen to reach him” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Wendell Phillips the Orator Sept 76”. Phillips (1811-1884), Boston native, abolitionist, orator and advocate for American Indians.  [ page 729 ]

September 20 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Warren Stoddard, his personal secretary on the first trip to England. Stoddard had written to ask if Sam or his publisher could publish a book of his. Sam advised Stoddard to write to him or Howells and say he wanted a consulship somewhere. Sam reasoned that Hayes would win the election, and since Mrs. Howells was a cousin of Hayes, there might be a connection to use with an “early application.” Where did Stoddard prefer a consulship? [MTLE 1: 116]. Note: Stoddard never received such a post.

Sam also sent a letter and contracts (both now lost) for the Colonel Sellers play to John T. Raymond, who answered on Sept. 25 (see entry) [MTPO Notes with Oct. 27 to Raymond].

September 21 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells, promoting Charles Warren Stoddard for a consulship, something Sam expressed was the only thing the man was good for. Sam knew that Hayes would win because of Orion’s “desertion” of the Republican Party. Orion’s choice made:

“…Mr. Tilden’s coming defeat so inflexibly & implacably & absolutely certain. I can always tell which party’s funeral is appointed if I can find out how my brother has made up his mind to vote. For some inscrutable reason God never allows him to vote right” [MTLE 1: 117].

September 22 Friday – In Pepperell, Mass., Howells wrote, agreeing to Sam’s idea of promoting Stoddard, adding, “C.W.S. shall be inspector of consulates. He’s in too good repair for a resident consul. Epilepsy or softening of the brain is requisite: a game arm will not do.” (Stoddard had badly broken his arm falling from a horse in Feb. 1875.) Howells wrote he had a “long letter to write you from Cambridge” [MTHL 1: 155].

September 22? Friday – About this date Sam wrote to Gertrude Kellogg, the actress who won acclaim as Laura Hawkins in the original New York production of Sam’s Gilded Age play, or Colonel Sellers. Sam evidently advised her about dealing with Major Pond of the Boston Lyceum Bureau, since she wrote on Sept. 24 and agreed that his “ideas of moderate prices, to start with,” were right [MTPO].

September 24 Sunday – Gertrude Kellogg wrote to thank Sam for his help “in speaking a good word for me to the Bureau people in Boston, as I have heard you did” [MTPO]. Notes from source: Kellogg had won critical praise in 1874 as Laura Hawkins in the original New York production of Clemens’s Gilded Age play, Colonel Sellers and was returning to the stage.

September 25 Monday – Henry W. Shaw (Josh Billings) wrote a note from NYC. He advised sending Sam one of his books: Josh Billings: His Works, Complete. If Sam should “be seized with a longing to say something tender” then Shaw would be very much pleased. In the book he wrote this inscription:

“To my very good friend Mark Twain, from his very good friend, Josh Billings, with the affection of the author. New York Sept. 25, 1876” [Gribben 639]. Note: illustrated by Thomas Nast.

John T. Raymond wrote to Sam answering his (now lost) letter of Sept. 20 and enclosing contracts. Raymond suggested a clause inserted to limit his liability in case of suits against unauthorized performances of the Colonel Sellers play. Raymond suggested the language of such a clause [MTPO Notes with Oct. 27 to Raymond].

September 27 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to John and Alice Hooker Day that he and Livy would be happy to see them on “Friday evening from 7 till 11” [MTLE 1: 119]. Note: Sam & Livy had attended the 1869 Hooker-Day wedding in New York. This note from MTPO: [ page 730 ]

“This invitation to the Days is the only one known to survive of those sent to an undetermined number of Hartford friends. Susan Warner, wife of Charles Dudley Warner, helped Olivia Clemens write some of the others. Another neighbor, Lilly Warner, informed her husband, George, who was away on business, that the occasion was the Clemenses’ ‘big long talked of party’ and that it ‘went off well.’ Unable to attend herself, she went over beforehand on Friday, 29 September, ‘to see the house’ and the following day described the decorations: ‘No hot-house flowers—except on the sup. table (billiard room.) but wreaths & masses of wild things—clematis maple branches—golden rod— It was a dream of delight’ (Lilly Warner to George Warner, 26 Sept 76, 30 Sept 76, both in CU-MARK).”

Sam also wrote to James B. Pond (1838-1903), who had bought out James Redpath’s Lyceum Bureau the year before. Evidently Sam had agreed to lecture in unspecified “southern engagements,” and had asked his attorney (Perkins) to “work & buy a compromise” out of them. Sam wanted Pond to gain him a release from the engagements if the compromise failed [MTLE 1: 120]. Notes with MTPO state that Perkins advised Sam to exclude this part of the East due to “legal entanglements with an old Baltimore adversary” (Henry C. Lockwood over that old vest-strap patent dispute).

September 29 Friday – In the evening, Sam and Livy entertained Hartford friends in their “big, long talked of party,” that “went off well.” (See Sept. 27 entry.)

Peter Henderson, Seedsman and Florist, New York City receipted $2.50 [MTP].

An unauthorized production of “Mark Twain’s Gilded Age” was performed at the Opera House, Warsaw, Indiana, by the married couple James A. Lord and Louie Lord as Sellers and Laura Hawkins [MTPO Notes with Oct. 27 to Raymond].

September 30 Saturday – Following a noisy torchlight parade with a band and Civil War veteran marchers, Sam gave his first political speech. He spoke for Rutherford B. Hayes at Allyn Hall in Hartford. Though the city was Republican, there was some mud-slinging by supporters of Tilden. Years later Sam would call the vote manipulation in the close election “one of the Republican party’s most cold-blooded swindles.” Sam’s remarks were short, explaining why literary men were lining up behind Hayes. He also put in a plug for General Joseph R. Hawley, who was running for Congress. Sam joked that Hawley had achieved something “incredible”—that is, raising:

“…as high as $121,000 gate money at the Centennial in a single day—and never stole a cent of it!” [Fatout, MT Speaking 97-9, with text of speech].

October – The German edition of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was published in Leipzig by F.W. Grunow [Norton, Writing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 90].

October 2 Monday – The Hartford Evening Post ran Sam’s speech of Sept. 30 on page two, “Just Before the Battle.”

Ladies and Gentlemen:—I feel very greatly honored in being chosen to preside at this meeting. This employment is new to me. I never have taken any part in a political canvass before, except to vote. The tribe of which I am the humblest member—the literary tribe—is one which is not given to bothering about politics; but there are times when the strangest departures are justifiable—and such a season, I take it, is the present canvass. Some one asked me the other day, why it was that nearly all the people who write books and magazines had lately come to the front and proclaimed their political preference, since such a thing had probably never occurred before in America; and why it was that almost all of this strange, new band of volunteers marched under the banner of Hayes and Wheeler. I think these people have come to the front mainly because they think they see at last a chance to make this government a good government; because they think they see a chance to institute an honest and sensible system of civil service, which shall so amply prove [ page 731 ] its worth and worthiness that no succeeding president can ever venture to put his foot upon it. Our present civil system, born of General Jackson and the democratic party, is so idiotic, so contemptible, so grotesque, that it would make the very savages of Dahomey jeer and the very god of solemnity laugh.

 

We will not hire a blacksmith who never lifted a sledge; we will not hire a school teacher who does not know the alphabet; we will not have a man about us in our business life—in any walk of it, low or high—unless he has served an apprenticeship, and can prove that he is capable of doing the work he offers to do; we even require a plumber to know something (Laughter, and a pause by the speaker) about his business (More laughter); that he shall at least know which side of a gas pipe is the inside (Shouts); but when you come to our civil service we serenely fill great numbers of our minor public offices with ignoramuses; we put the vast business of a custom house in the hands of a flathead who does not know a bill of lading from a transit of Venus (laughter and a pause)—never having heard of either of them before (laughter); under a treasury appointment we pour out oceans of money, and accompanying statistics, through the hands and brain of an ignorant villager who never before could wrestle with a two-weeks’ wash-bill without getting thrown. (Laughter.) Under our consular system we send creatures all over the world who speak no language but their own, and even when it comes to that go wading all their days through the blood of murdered tenses, and flourishing the scalps of mutilated parts of speech. When forced to it we order home a foreign ambassador who is frescoed all over with—with—indiscreetnesses, but we immediately send one in his place whose moral ceiling has a perceptible shady tint to it. And then he brays when we supposed he was going to roar.

 

We carefully train and educate our naval officers and military men, and we ripen and perfect their capacities through long service and experience, and keep hold of these excellent servants through a just system of promotion. This is exactly what we hope to do with our civil service under Mr. Hayes. (Applause.) We hope and expect to sever that service as utterly from politics as is the naval and military service. And we hope to make it as respectable, too. We hope to make worth and capacity the sole requirements in the civil service, in place of the amount of party dirty work the candidate has done.

 

By the time General Hawley has finished his speech I think you will know why we, in this matter, put our trust in Hayes, in preference to any other man.

 

I am not going to say anything about our candidates for state offices, because you know them, honor them, and will vote for them. But General Hawley (applause) being comparatively a stranger, I will say a single word in commendation of him, and it will furnish one of the many reasons why I am going to vote for him for Congress. I ask you to look seriously and thoughtfully at just one almost incredible fact. General Hawley in his official capacity as President of the Centennial commission, has done one thing which you may not have heard commented on, and yet it is one of the most astounding performances of this decade—an act almost impossible, perhaps, to any other public officer in this nation. General Hawley has taken as high as a hundred and twenty-one thousand dollars gate-money at the Centennial in a single day—(Pause and applause)—and never stole a cent of it! (Laughter and loud cheers.)

October 4 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam responded with a short note to William Seaver’s request for a miscellaneous article, probably for Harper’s. Sam wrote, “I can’t, old man—am too busy” [MTLE 1: 122]. Sam began collaborating with Bret Harte for a stage play, Ah Sin [MTLE 1: 124].

October 5 Thursday – In Hartford Sam wrote a short letter to his attorney, Charles E. Perkins, enclosing a piece of plagiarism that was:

“…made up of paragraphs taken bodily from my various books, & idiotically strung together upon the thin thread of a silly love tale.” Should Sam go to the expense of an injunction? [MTLE 1: 123].

October 7 Saturday – Bill paid to Paul Thompson for straw, etc. delivered Sept. 30. $14.60 [MTP].

October 8 Sunday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam. He liked the idea of the “blind novelettes,” (see Oct. 12 entry) and his owners were “crazy over it,” though he saw difficulties in [ page 732 ] persuading people to write them. He confessed the failure of the bio he’d done on Hayes, and “bills continue to come in with unabated fierceness.” He also praised Sam’s Sept. 30 speech, which he felt was “civil service reform in a nutshell” [MTHL 1: 155-6].

October 10 Tuesday – Sam completed the plot for his contribution to Ah Sin, a collaboration with Bret Harte for a stage play [MTLE 1: 124].

In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote a short note to Sam, asking for “at least a spitting your spite at somebody or something” for the “Contributors’ Club,” a new feature of pieces published anonymously [MTHL 1: 156]. Note: Howells added this feature as a way to prop up declining circulation of Atlantic. The feature was fun for contributors and readers alike, who would guess who wrote the articles.

October 11 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells, covering a lot of ground. First, Sam didn’t think he’d be able to do anything for the January Atlantic issue. He’d spent the whole day “clearing off a fortnight’s accumulating correspondence,” and would take it out on Howells. Sam wrote about the collaboration with Bret Harte in writing a play. He was to contribute the character of Scotty Briggs from Buck Fanshaw’s funeral in Roughing It, and Harte was to put in a Chinaman from his Sandy Bar play, which was adapted by Harte from one of his short stories, “Mrs. Thompson’s Prodigal.” Sandy Bar was “neither an artistic nor a commercial success,” [Walker, Phillip 187] but a minor character, Charles T. Parsloe, in the role of Hop Sing, a California Chinaman, was the bright spot in the play. Harte was then encouraged to write a play around Parsloe and Hop Sing, which became Ah Sin, the stage play.

Sam wrote he’d just finished his plot contribution, working “8 or 9 hours a day” for six days, “& [it] has nearly killed me.” Sam asked Howells to have the words, “Ah Sin, a Drama” printed in the middle of a note-paper page and send it to him to use in the copyright application. Sam didn’t want anyone to know the play was being written.

The rest of the letter dealt with giving a song away that Sam had evidently composed; the servants and how he’d taught his man George to lie to unwelcome visitors; and his condolences that Howell’s biography of Hayes wasn’t selling well. Sam asked for three proofs of his December article, “The Canvasser’s Tale” [MTLE 1: 126].

Sam also wrote a one-liner to James B. Pond; he seemed to “be in a tolerable fair way to compromise with that Baltimore man,” but wasn’t sure yet [MTLE 1: 127].

Arthur Cooper wrote from London to Sam, re: Clews, Habicht & Co. “I beg to inform you that, acting under the Authority of your proxy dated 3rd August 1876, I have this day paid Mr. A. Lidington the sums of £31.15.3 and £9.10.7 respectively, on £254.2.3 amount of your admitted proof in this matter.” [MTP].

October 12 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells about his “blind novelette” idea. His scheme was to write a plot of his own design and hand it out to other noted writers, each writing his own version of the story. Howells would publish all of the versions in the Atlantic. The other writers resisted the idea, and Sam concluded that they were intimidated to follow his lead. Sam suggested anonymously presenting a story to them, repeating the suggestion made by Charles Dudley Warner that the story came from an estate. Sam suggested others to start the ball rolling:

Won’t Mr. Holmes? Won’t Henry James? Won’t Mr. Lowell, & some more of the big literary fish? If we could ring in one or two towering names beside your own, we wouldn’t have to beg the lesser fry very hard. Holmes, Howells, Harte, James, Aldrich, Warner, Trobridge, Twain—now there’s a good & godly gang—team, I mean—everything’s a team, now.  [ page 733 ]

If we fail to connect, here, I’ll start it anonymously in Temple Bar & see if I can’t get the English Authors to do it up handsomely. It would make a stunning book to sell on railway trains [MTLE 1: 128]. Note: James Russell Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes.

October 14 Saturday – Twichell’s journal:

“Walked to Farmington and back with M.T. and C.D.W. [Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner] —a most delightful day. The delicious grapes at Mrs Whitmore’s, lunched at Mr. Gray’s and called on Miss Mary Perkins at Miss Porter’s school” [Yale, copy at MTP].

This entry of Twichell’s fits the day Sam went to hear Georgia Cayvan speak, though Twichell does not mention her. In his Nov. 20, 1906 A.D. Sam recalled Miss Cayvan after reading of her death:

I knew Georgia Cayvan thirty years ago. She was so young then, and so innocent and ignorant. that life was a joy to her. She did not need to say so in words; it beamed from her eyes and expressed itself—almost shouted itself—in her attitudes, her carriage, the tones of her voice, and in all her movements. It was a refreshment to a jaded spirit to look at her. She was a handsome creature….She was just starting in life; just making tentative beginnings toward earning her bread. She had taken lessons in the Delsarte elocution methods, and was seeking pupils, with the idea of teaching that art. She came to our house in Hartford every day, during a month or two, and her class came there to learn. Presently she tried her hand as a public reader. Once, when she was to read to the young ladies in Miss Porter’s celebrated school in Farmington, eight miles back in the country, I went out there and heard her. She was not yet familiar enough with the arbitrary Delsarte gestures to make them seem easy and natural, and so they were rather machine-like, and marred her performance; but her voice and her personality saved the day and won the praises of the house [AMT 2: 278, 581]. Note: Georgia Cayvan had a meteoric career on stage (1887-1894) and died of syphilis. Miss Sarah Porter’s boarding school for girls in Farmington, Conn., established in 1843. Sarah Porter (1813-1900); today the school has been called the top US boarding school for girls.

October 16 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote a short note to his attorney, Charles E. Perkins about the preparation of a list of taxable items for the Hartford tax assessors [MTLE 1: 129].

October 17 Tuesday ca. – Xantippe (“Tip”) Saunders wrote to Sam (not extant) but referred to by Sam in his Oct. 19 reply [Oct. 19 to Saunders].

October 18 Wednesday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam about “putting the Atlantic people up to a little enterprise,” –the publication of “one-number stories from the Atlantic” [MTHL 1: 161].

October 19 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to his cousin Mary Ann Pamelia Xantippe “Tip” Saunders (1838-1922), who was born in Kentucky and studied art in New York. She was the first listing for “artist” in the 1874 Louisville phone book, and later ran an art school there. Tip had written asking to visit. Tip was the daughter of Ann Hancock Saunders, half-sister of John Marshall Clemens. Sam replied they would very much like her to come, but that he was:

“…getting ready for a brief reading-tour which begins Nov. 10 & ends Nov. 23, & so I couldn’t see as much of you as I would like to, until after the latter date…can you come next Wednesday or Thursday?”

 Sam offered to meet her at the Hartford train depot, white handkerchief tied around one of his arms.

“…when you step from the train, don’t hesitate to put yourself in charge of the first man you meet who bears that sign” [MTLE 1: 130].

Note: The name “Pamela” is found as “Pamelia” or “Parmelia,” perhaps accounting for accent-spellings or dialect. Sam’s sister Pamela was named “Pamelia” but was always referred to as Pamela.  [ page 734 ]

Genealogy Note

Pamelia (Goggin) Clemens (1775-1844) was married first to Samuel Clemens (d. 1805) and, after his death, to Simon Hancock of Adair County, Kentucky. Her son by her first marriage, John Marshall Clemens (1798-1847), was the father of American author Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain). Her children by her second marriage were: Ann Hill Hancock, Mary G. Hancock, Pamelia G. Hancock, and a son whose name is unknown. Ann Hill Hancock married William H. Saunders of England; they had a daughter, Mary Ann Pamela Xantippe (Tippy) and a son, James Saunders.

When Ann died (ca. 1841) William Saunders married her sister, Mary G. Hancock. Mary Hancock Saunders is said to be the inspiration for her nephew Mark Twain’s “Aunt Polly” in The Adventures of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. <https://oasis.harvard.edu:10080/oasis/deliver/~hou00117>

Sam also wrote to an unidentified person:

The book has come & I promise myself much pleasure in reading it. So I offer you my thanks in advance.

I was going to see Mrs. [Mary] Shoot & Miss Mollie [Shoot] when I was last in N Y, but the business I was on kept me clear up to train time. Can’t write to Daly; I don’t know him well enough; but I had talked with him once, & shall sieze the first opportunity to do it again [MTLE 1: 131]. Note: Mollie’s mother was Mary J. Shoot (b. 1822), dealer in millinery items in Hannibal, at this time living with her daughter Mollie in NYC.

October 20 Friday – Sam sent his attorney, Charles E. Perkins, a postcard advising him of the receipt of “the Philadelphia checks for $1000 & $514” [MTLE 1: 132].

October 22 Sunday – The NY Sun, p. 4, ran what Budd calls “A comic, spurious interview” with Sam titled, “Mark Twain / An Extract from a Private Letter to a Gentleman of This City” [Interviews 1].

October 23 Monday – Sam had received the printed page back from Howells, naming the Ah Sin drama, himself and Bret Harte and the year—for copyright. He wrote to A. Spofford, Librarian of Congress for copyright application. The letter was stamped COPYRIGHT OCT 25 1876 [MTLE 1: 133].

October 25 Wednesday – Sam answered a letter from an unidentified woman (perhaps Miss Wood) who had been in Memphis to help the injured and dying from the Pennsylvania boiler explosion that killed Sam’s brother Henry. Sam could not recall the person and answered that he didn’t like to think about that week in Memphis for the horror of it. He remembered and was forever thankful for the help that the city gave to his brother and to the victims of the tragedy.

What I do remember, without the least trouble in the world, is, that when those sixty scalded & mutilated people were thrown upon her hands, Memphis came forward with a perfectly lavish outpouring of money & sympathy, & that this did not fail & die out, but lasted through to the end.

Do you remember how the physicians worked?—& the students—the ladies—& everybody? I do. If the rest of my wretched memory was taken away, I should still remember that. And I remember the names (& vaguely the faces) of the friends with whom I lodged, & two who watched with me—& you may well believe that I remember Dr. Peyton. What a magnificent man he was! What healing it was just to look at him & hear his voice! [MTLE 1: 134].

Sam added that he planned a trip down the river for the spring of 1878 and hoped to see the woman again, possibly as his guest in Hartford, to “break bread & eat salt with me.”  [ page 735 ]

October 26 Thursday – Sam wrote to William Cullen Bryant. This is another letter soliciting feedback on one George Vaughan, a Virginia writer who authored Progressive Religious and Social Poems (see Oct. 25, 1875 to the editor of the Hartford Courant). Vaughan professed to be engaged in establishing a normal school for colored people in Virginia and that many prominent people, Bryant among them, had contributed to his fund. Sam discovered that Vaughan’s claim of Secretary of State Blaine was bogus and began a letter writing campaign to expose the fraud.

“Honored Sir: / If it is not asking too much will you kindly inform me if you did ever meet this person?—& if you authorized him to use your name? The names in his list are a far more efficient decoy than his feeble ‘endorsements.’ / Very Truly Yrs / Saml L. Clemens (Mark Twain)” [eBay item 280342636289; May 6, 2009].

Frank Fuller wrote to Sam, enclosing a NY Herald clipping from Sat. Oct. 21, “A Petroleum Plot” which is what Twain wrote on the env. Fuller was into some scheme involving a new kind of still [MTP].

October 27 Friday – Sam dictated a letter from Hartford to John T. Raymond, who was in Toronto, Canada and who evidently had made objections to terms in their agreement to continue in his role of Col. Sellers in the play Gilded Age, which was eventually called Colonel Sellers. Sam wrote that he had supposed they might meet but he was going to Europe “for a year or two” with his family in April. Sam agreed to “Leave the Laura clause out & trust it to your honesty,” and to prosecute no more than five cases of piracy of the play during the next three years, provided such cases were east of the western boundary of Missouri. Litigating cases in the far west was too expensive, Sam said, and not worth the trouble anyway. Sam felt these conditions would remove Raymond’s objections. Sam had his attorney, Charles E. Perkins, copy the letter [MTLE 1: 135].

October 28 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Ellen D. Conway, Moncure’s wife, apologizing for thinking he had answered her letter of two months before, but discovering that he had not. Ellen’s letter concerned the electrotypes, cost and disposition of which Sam had offered to absorb. Since the Clemens family would be sailing for England in April, Sam offered to ship the plates back then, with no hard feelings toward Andrew Chatto, who hadn’t liked what Elisha Bliss charged and had not used them [MTLE 1: 136].

November 1 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Jacob H. Burrough, Sam’s St. Louis roommate at the Pavey’s in 1854, who had written about Will Bowen being remarried. Burrough had recently traveled through New York, and his letter to Sam recalled a young Sam Clemens. Sam responded:

As you describe me I can picture myself as I was, 22 years ago. The portrait is correct. You think I have grown some; upon my word there was room for it. You have described a callow fool, a self-sufficient ass, a mere human tumble-bug, stern in the air, heaving at his bit of dung & imagining he is re-modeling the world & is entirely capable of doing it right….That is what I was at 19-20 [MTB: 103].

Note: Paine misidentifies this Burrough as Frank E. Burrough, Frank was Jacob’s son, who Sam wrote to in 1900 (see Aug. 7, 1854 entry).

Sam confessed he had scalded Will Bowen in his last letter and had not received a reply, but had done it for Will’s sake, to shake him out of his “sham sentimentality” which gave Sam “the bowel complaint” [MTLE 1: 139].

Sam also sent a correspondence card to Charles J. Langdon, explaining why he had not granted the favor requested; he also extended family greetings. The writing was not Sam’s but the signature was, so Sam no doubt dictated it to a secretary [MTLE 1: 140]. [ page 736 ]

November 2 Thursday – Sam wrote a correspondence card of alarm from Hartford to Moncure Conway:

“Belford Bros., Canadian thieves, are flooding America with a cheap pirated edition of Tom Sawyer. I have just telegraphed Chatto to assign Canadian copyright to me, but I suppose it is too late to do any good. We cannot issue for 6 weeks yet, & by that time Belford will have sold 100,000 over the frontier & killed my book dead.” Sam estimated it might cost him as much as $10,000 and that he would spend that much to “choke off those pirates.” Sam asked, did Chatto give Belford permission to publish? [MTLE 1: 141].

Phineas T. Barnum wrote to Sam: “I really thought election day would be next Wednesday—but find out it is Tuesday—so my wife & self must leave Hartford Tuesday by the 12-25 or 12-54 train. You would have been stuck for two nights if I did not want to vote for Hayes & Wheeler.” [MTP].

November 4 Saturday – Moncure Conway wrote from London to Sam.

You will, dear Clemens, receive by this mail my assignment of that copyright of Tom S which you asked for—both in this country & Canada. It went to my heart to part with copyright in Tom. There seemed to me millions in it. Much goods laid up for many years. Alas—Richness hath wings—Tempus fugit—i.e. Tom flies. I am happy to say that our edition of 2000 has nearly gone & I shall be able to send the wife & bairns a snug Xmas turkey! For a 7s6d edition this is not bad—our illustrated book has yet to come—and in the far distance shoals of railway Toms. Goodbye, Mark. Be happy and you will be virtuous (not however by too much intimacy with Ben Butler)/ Thine / Conway / In the assignment fill up the L in your name—which I ridiculously forgot—if I ever knew [MTPO].

November 5 Sunday – Bret Harte attended services at Twichell’s Asylum Hill Congregational Church. From Twichell’s journal:

“After evening service went over with H. to M.T.’s and had a very pleasant hour with Bret Harte” [Yale 114].

November 6 Monday – Joe Twichell and Charles Warner were walking to the Tower and stopped at Sam’s to see if he’d like to go. From Twichell’s journal:

“…there found Bret Harte and had some little talk with him. I had seen him and been introduced to him before but this was the first time I ever had a chance to taste his personal flavor. Well, I don’t know what I did think of him” [Yale 114]. Note: in 1907 Sam recalled uncertainly that it was Nov. 7 when Harte “suddenly appeared at my house in Hartford and remained there during the following day—election day.” It must have been Nov. 5 or 6.

Mary Mason Fairbanks wrote from Cleveland, “tender and tortured” that her recent eastern trip did not include “my little Hartford heaven.” She wrote of her and husband going to the Centennial—a long, folksy, verbose letter [MTP].

November 7 Tuesday – The day Clemens recalled Bret Harte “suddenly” appearing at his house “and remaining there during the following day” [AMT 2: 424]. However, Twichell’s journal shows Sam did not correctly recall the date, since Twichell and Harte visited the Clemenses on Sunday, Nov. 5 (see entry). Clemens also recalled the claim of Harte, that he did not wish to vote on election day as he’d obtain the promise of a consulship from both candidates, Samuel J. Tilden and Rutherford B. Hayes. Sam made light of Harte’s claim and of his character.

November 8 Wednesday – Election day – Sam telegraphed Howells that he’d “love to steal a while away from every cumbering care and while returns come in today lift up my voice & swear” [MTLE 1: 142]. Note: Sam parodied the first verse of a popular hymn by Phoebe Hinsdale Brown (1783-1861), one included in Henry Ward [ page 737 ] Beecher’s Plymouth Collection of Hymns: “I love to steal, awhile, away / From every cumbering care, / And spend the hours of setting day / In humble, grateful prayer.”

Bill paid $20.25 to Hydel & Cullen, Hartford mfg tin, copper, sheet-iron ware, stoves, gutters, &c. for stove and labor [MTP].

November 9 Thursday – Rutherford B. Hayes won the election and Sam sent Howells a telegram of that old hymn: “Praise God from whom all blessings flow praise him all creatures here below…” etc. [MTLE 1: 143].

November 13 Monday – Sam read “The McWilliamses and the Membranous Croup,” “My Late Senatorial Secretaryship,” and “Encounter With an Interviewer” at the Academy of Music in Brooklyn, New York. Also on the program were Emma Thursby, a well-known operatic soprano, and a group of singers called the Young Apollo Glee Club [Brooklyn Eagle, Nov. 9 & 11, 1876 p1].

November 14 Tuesday – Sam gave a reading at the Academy of Music, Philadelphia, for the Star Course of Lectures under Thomas B. Pugh. This reading was similar to his Nov. 13 performance in Brooklyn [MTPO: See advertisements in Philadelphia Public Ledger, Nov. 13 & 14, p1].

November 15 Wednesday – Andrew Chatto wrote from England, likely enclosed in Conway’s of the following day. “The telegram to Belford Bros. that Tom Sawyer is English copyright must strengthen Mark Twain’s hands….But I imagine the serious injury to Twain is their flooding the American market with copies—against this no one can stand so well as Mark Twain himself” [MTP].

November 16 Thursday – Moncure Conway wrote from England, responding to Sam’s Nov. 2 alarm of the Belford piracy of Tom Sawyer. Conway wrote:

“I immediately held a council of war with Chatto, and…I send you the result of our cogitations….We considered it best to telegraph Belford yesterday with these words:—‘Tom Sawyer is English copyright. Chatto’” [MTPO Notes with Nov. 2, 1876 to Conway].

Reginald Cholmondeley wrote that Clemens, Lady Jones and Miss Jones “are positively engaged to home to Condover on the first Monday in August 77 at 4.30 PM” [MTP].

November 18 Saturday – Bill paid to A.K. Talcott for a Nov. 14 purchase, $4.80 [MTP].

November 21 Tuesday – Sam gave a reading at the Music Hall in Boston, similar to his Nov. 13 performance in Brooklyn [Schmidt: See Boston Daily Globe, “The Mark Twain Combination,” November 20, 1876, p.5; Boston Daily Globe, “On the Platform,” November 22, 1876, p.8].

While in Boston, Sam stayed with Howells, who recalled the visits in My Mark Twain:

He would come to stay at the Parker House, in Boston, and take a room, where he would light the gas and leave it burning, after dressing, while he drove out to Cambridge and stayed two or three days with us. Once, I suppose it was after a lecture, he came in evening dress and passed twenty-four hours with us in that guise, wearing an overcoat to hide it when we went for a walk. Sometimes he wore the slippers which he preferred to shoes at home, and if it was muddy, as it was wont to be in Cambridge, he would put a pair of rubbers over them for our rambles. He liked the lawlessness and our delight in allowing it, and he rejoiced in the confession of his hostess, after we had once almost worn ourselves out in our pleasure with the intense talk, with the stories and the laughing, that his coming almost killed her, but it was worth it [38]. [ page 738 ]

November 22 Wednesday – Sam gave a reading at the Academy of Music in Chelsea, Mass., similar to his Nov. 13 performance in Brooklyn [Schmidt]. Note: MTHL 1: 166n5 lists this lecture as Nov. 23. Also notes with Oct. 19 to Tip Saunders MTPO.

November 24 Friday – Sam gave a reading in Providence, R. I., and then returned home to Hartford. The reading was similar to his Nov. 13 performance in Brooklyn. Sam and Livy entertained Charles and Susan Warner for dinner. Joe and Harmony Twichell dropped by [Schmidt; MTLE 1: 144].

November 25 Saturday – In the evening Sam and Livy dined with Charles and Susan Warner. The Twichells “dropped in” as well. Sam read Winny Howells’ letter and poem, “and they were received with great & honest applause” [Nov. 26 to Howells].

November 26 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells while the rest of the family went to church, even Fanny Hesse, his personal secretary (Charles Dudley Warner’s sister-in-law). The letter touches a half-dozen topics, from Dean Sage trying to persuade Twichell to travel in Europe with him, to a sideboard Livy wanted, to Sam’s impulse shopping at D.P. Ives & Co., to the entertainment of the prior evening [MTLE 1: 144].

November 27 Monday – Livy’s 31st birthday. Sam gave her a copy of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s (1772-1834) The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1876): “To Livy L. Clemens / Nov. 27, 1876. / From S. L. Clemens” [Gribben 152].

November 28 Tuesday – In London, Moncure Conway wrote to Sam:

“Chatto writes in some anxiety about your new book on the North Pole. I told him you would naturally let him have it. He has done admirably by Tom Sawyer; we shall soon send you the money for 2000…” [MTPO Notes with Dec. 13 to Conway]. Note: the “North Pole” book was a rumor published on Nov. 25 in the London Athenæum .

November 29Wednesday – Sam, upset that he had not received a response from De Quille, wrote from Hartford:

“Please sell me that confounded stock & send me the remains…This makes ten letters I have written you without getting an answer….you only write when you want me to run your darned publisher, Dan” [MTLE 1: 145]. Note: The Big Bonanza book, Sam’s relative success, and Dan’s problems with alcohol and his reactions to Sam’s paternalism over the stocks—all caused a rift between the two that would never be completely healed.

Phineas T. Barnum wrote to Sam, enclosing another “queer letter.” He wrote, “As you are the only ‘travelling gentleman’ whom I know—and as you are fond of literary companions, especially if ‘American by berth’ I would suggest that you consult Mrs Clemens in regard to your engaging my interesting correspondent whose letter I enclose and who must ‘lavish’ her ‘afectons’ somewhere very soon for she is in ‘despare!’ ” [MTP].

November 30 Thursday – Sam’s 41st birthday was also Thanksgiving Day. From Twichell’s journal:

“Called on M.T.’s and found Bret Harte there again (He and M. are writing a play together) and had some talk with him” [Yale 126].

In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam and enclosed Millet’s letter (about painting Sam’s portrait). Howells also challenged Sam to write something better than “Helen’s Babies,” to “write what you said at dinner the other day about it.” Howells added about Sam’s recent visit for his Boston lectures,  [ page 739 ]

Your visit was a perfect ovation for us; we never enjoy anything so much as those visits of yours. The smoke and the Scotch and the late hours almost kill us; but we look each other in the eyes when [you] are gone, and say what a glorious time it was, and air the library, and begin sleeping and dieting, and longing to have you back again [MTHL 1: 165].

December – Sam’s story, “The Canvasser’s Tale,” was published in the December issue of Atlantic Monthly. Wilson calls the story “an extravagant burlesque of human eccentricities that depends upon hyperbole for its comic effect” [Wilson 21; Wells 22].

December 1 Friday – Isabella Beecher Hooker took a friend to see the Clemens’ home. Andrews observes that “the whole neighborhood felt free to show it to those who had not seen it” [86]. Isabella also ran into Bret Harte there, and “felt almost a dislike of him….” She had “an uncomfortable interview” during her visit with Sam that Andrews says “grew in importance as she thought about it, despite her realization that she might be oversensitively magnifying its significance.” From Isabella’s diary:

I joked him about not caring for a pretty lamp shade after he found it so very cheap—& he was vexed and said something about things going round the neighborhood & explained that he had no knowledge or taste himself & so when an established house said a thing was good & charged a good price for it he felt sure that it was worthy of Livy & and that was all he cared for. I said oh that was handsomely said but really as a matter of fact I thought one often paid a high price for a homely article under such circumstances—which he didn’t seem to like & again spoke of being talked about. When I said why it was all a joke as I heard it & retailed it—& one so given to joking as himself musnt mind it etc—but his eyes flashed & he looked really angry… [86].

December 1 or 2 Saturday – Sam went alone to New York City, where he stayed at the St. James Hotel [MTLE 1: 149]. The nature of his business there is unknown. NYC temperatures ranged from 19-14 degrees F. with no precipitation [NOAA.gov].

December 2 Saturday – In the evening Sam dined with “those leddy-hets till 12, then went to bed” [MTLE 1: 149]. Note: The “leddy-hets” (Clara Clemens’ pronunciation of “leatherheads”) are unidentified.

NYC temperatures ranged from 24-15 degrees F. with no precipitation [NOAA.gov].

December 3 Sunday – Sam wrote from the St. James Hotel in New York to Livy. James R. Osgood visited Sam at his hotel around noon. Mrs. T. B. Aldrich had also called and he would soon return her call. He wrote that he’d “used no whisky or other liquor to sleep on [but] was utterly tired out.” NYC temperatures ranged from 35-24 degrees F. with no precipitation [NOAA.gov].

December 4 Monday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam, enclosing a letter from Belford Brothers to Howells Nov. 29. The Belfords wanted the right to publish Sam’s future contributions to the Atlantic. “We would be willing to pay liberally for the right to publish them in the magazine, although the law allows us to pirate them.” “What answer?” Howells asked [MTHL 1: 166]. (See Dec. 5 for Sam’s answer.)

NYC temperatures ranged from 35-25 degrees F. with no precipitation [NOAA.gov].

December 5 Tuesday – Sam was back in Hartford. He dictated a letter through Fanny C. Hesse to George Bentley of the London literary magazine, Temple Bar. Sam sent a “charming little love story” by Bret Harte asking that Bentley “pay him whatever was fair for such use of it” [MTLE 1: 150]. Note: the story was “Thankful Blossom: A Romance of the Jerseys, 1779,” and the Temple Bar did not publish it. In his 1904 autobiographical dictations Sam referred to the writing and sale of the story to Charles A. Dana of the New York Sun. See MTPO notes with this letter.  [ page 740 ]

Sam also sent a short letter to Dr. John Brown of Scotland, recommending Dean Sage to call upon them. Sam sent Christmas wishes from the family [MTLE 1: 151].

Sam also sent a post card to Howells, asking if there was another magazine in Toronto or Montreal he could give advanced sheets to, because Belford Brothers: “…the miserable thieves couldn’t buy a sentence from me for any money” [MTLE 1: 152].

December 6 Wednesday – Christian Bernard Tauchnitz wrote from Leipzig, Germany to Sam.

My dear Sir, / In consequence of your kind letter of Sept 14 I have added your “Tom Sawyer” to my series. It filled one of my little volumes. I have printed it from the London edition, in adding the dedication you wished.

      I take the liberty of ordering my bankers in London, Messrs Fruhling & Goschen, that the amount of Five Hundred German Mark[s] (Gold) shall be paid to you at Hartford, which please to accept for your authorization.

      I shall be happy to send you copies of my edition, if you will kindly name me the number you wish and if you will take the necessary steps at the Custom House of the U.S.

      Hoping to see our relations continued I am / Yours very truly / Tauchnitz [MTPO].

December 8 Friday – The release date for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer [Camfield, bibliog.]. Hirst gives this as the date “the earliest copies of the first edition came from the bindery” [“A Note on the Text” Oxford edition, 1996]. Only 23,638 copies were sold the first year, and less than 29,000 by the end of 1879, providing only half the income of The Gilded Age [Emerson 95].

Sam ordered a copy of Albert Deane Richardson’s Beyond the Mississippi (1867) from American Publishing Co. Sam had also ordered a copy of the book in Oct. 1870. It was briefly mentioned in Roughing It. Sam later credited Richardson for advising him on publishing Innocents Abroad. He was billed for the book on Feb. 1, 1877 [Gribben 577].

December 9 Saturday – Moncure Conway wrote to Sam offering followup in the Belford piracy matter for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Belford was doubtful Sam’s copyright was valid in Canada, but Chatto would continue the fight. Legal remedies open to Sam and Chatto would only led to a Pyrrhic victory, since penalties for violation of the 1875 Canadian copyright act were small, and the damage done to U.S. sales of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer were a fait accompli. Therefore, no injunction to restrain Belford’s acts was sought. [MTPO Notes with Nov. 2, 1876 to Conway].

December 11 Monday – Charles Perkins, Sam’s attorney, had advised that John T. Raymond was still waiting for a contract for the next season. Sam asked if Perkins would draw it and let him see it first; also that he had another contract to be drawn and a deed for Perkins to squint at [MTLE 1: 153].

Elisha Bliss wrote to Sam: “The difficulty is that we have to prove that the news dealer knew it was a copyrighted book, to sustain our case. Such has been the construction put upon the law by lawyers. It is hard doing this. Everyone will claim they did not know ….I send Orion some of our notices to serve on any one he has opportunity to…” [MTP].

December 12 Tuesday – William Borden, president of the New England Society in the City of New York, wrote to Sam, confirming his agreement to speak at their annual dinner on Dec. 22, and waiving their normal ten-minute rule: “…for I am quite sure that we cant get too much of the author of Innocents Abroad” [MTPO Notes with Dec. 20 to Perkins]. [ page 741 ]

December 13 Wednesday – Sam dictated a letter in Hartford through Fanny Hesse to Moncure Conway. Sam had discovered that English copyright in Canada needed to be recorded in Canada within 60 days after publication in England. So, his English copyright was worthless in Canada.

Its a mistake, I am not writing any new book. Belford has taken the profits all out of “Tom Sawyer.” We find our copywright law here to be nearly worthless, and if I can make a living out of plays, I shall never write another book. For the present I have placed the three books in mind, in the waste basket, but if I should write one of them, Chatto shall have a say in it.

Sam hoped to see Conway in London in April. Sam closed with:

P.S. Have just written a new play with Bret Harte, which we expect great things from, tho’ of course we may be disappointed [MTLE 1: 154].

December 14Thursday – Sam acted as auctioneer at the Union’s Fair in Hartford.  

“The Sale of the Jabberwocks”

The remarkable collection of subterranean creatures, known as the Jabberwocks, now on exhibition at the Union’s fair, are to be sold at auction this evening by Mark Twain as auctioneer. They were found underground and recognized almost by accident, it must have been, at first, but now that their identity is made known, they are evidently what they are. Mr. Clemens will explain the history of the “Beamish Boy Galumping Home,” afford an opportunity to secure the “Momerath Outgrubing,” and the “Slithy Tove upon a Tumtum Tree,” and suggest points in the biography of the “Freemious Bandersnatch,” and so forth. The Mud March Hare and the Mock Turtle that wept to think it was not a real turtle may also be had for a price. — Hartford Courant, December 14, 1876 [Schmidt].

December 15 Friday – Moncure Conway wrote to Sam. In part:

My dear Clemens / A paragraph in the Cin. Commercial says “Mark Twain and Bret Harte are said to be writing a play together.” If ever you write a play again be sure to arrange to have it copyrighted here and brought out on the same night that it is brought out in America. For it was yesterday decided in the Courts against Dion Boucicault that his copyright to the Shaugran in England was worthless because the play was first brought out in America. This decision ends your hope, I fear, of protecting Col. Sellers here—though I do not yet absolutely know whether the English copyright of the Gilded Age could protect it. I am pretty sure not [MTPO].

December 16 Saturday – Bret Harte wrote from New York to Sam about Parsloe showing up for a 10:30 A.M. appointment at 3 P.M. Bret read Parsloe “those portions of the 1st & 2d acts that indicated his role, and he expressed himself satisfied with it, and competent to take it in hand.” Harte was conciliatory, knowing he had ruffled feathers while staying with the Clemens family:

Remember me kindly to your wife, Mrs. Langdon and Miss Hess [Fanny Hesse, Sam’s secretary]. Tell Mrs. Clemens that she must forgive me for my heterodoxy—that until she does I shall wear sackcloth (fashionably cut,) and that I would put ashes on my head but that Nature has anticipated me, and that I feel her gentle protests to my awful opinions all the more remorsefully that I am away; say to Miss Hess she is n’t from Boston, and that I always agreed with her about the infamy of Man; tell Mrs. Langdon I forgive her for liking you so much, and her general disposition to weakly defer to your horrible egotism and stubbornness; and then kiss Susie for me and implor “the Ba” [Clara] on your bended knees, to add me to the Holy Family [Duckett 124-5].

Sam also wrote to Xantippe Saunders, inviting her to visit over the holidays. This note is lost [Notes with Dec. 20 to Perkins MTPO]. [ page 742 ]

December 18 Monday – Xantippe (“Tip”) Saunders wrote and accepted Sam’s invitation to stay with the family over the holidays. She agreed to meet him “at the appointed time & place,” which MTPO (Notes with Dec. 20 to Perkins) says was “probably Grand Central Station, in order to take the 11 A.M. train.” Note: It’s unknown which day Sam met her there, but he went to New York on Dec. 21 and returned Dec. 24, so it’s likely she accompanied him on Dec. 24. She did spend Christmas with the family and stayed about a week [Same source, Notes with Oct. 19 to Saunders].

December 20 Wednesday – Upon receipt of Harte’s Dec. 16 letter about Parsloe’s interest, Sam wrote a postcard from Hartford to his attorney, Charles E. Perkins. Sam was going to New York the next day and return Saturday. He hoped the Charles Parsloe contracts would be ready then and would try to bring Parsloe back to Hartford. Parsloe was a popular actor who would play the part of a Chinese laundryman, Hop Sing [MTLE 1: 155]. Note: television fans of the old Western series, “Bonanza” may recall the name—“Hop Sing,” the cook at the ranch.

December 21 Thursday – This is the day Sam planned on going to New York, where he likely conferred with Parsloe and Harte on the pending contract for Ah Sin (see Dec. 20 entry). NYC temperatures ranged from 19-12 degrees F. with 0.06 inches of precipitation [NOAA.gov].

Bill paid to Adams Express Co. $4.65; lists Pamela Moffett in Fredonia and T.W. Crane in Elmira [MTP]. Probably books or gifts shipped.

December 22 Friday – Sam gave a speech he called, “The Weather” at New England Society‘s Seventy-First Annual Dinner in New York City [Fatout, MT Speaking 100-3]. Budd calls this speech “The Oldest Inhabitant—The Weather of New England” [“Collected” 1017].

NYC temperatures ranged from 31-15 degrees F. with 0.20 inches of precipitation [NOAA.gov].

December 24 Sunday – Sam returned to Hartford, accompanied by Xantippe (Tip) Saunders (see Dec. 18 and 20 entries).

The New York World ran a page two interview with Sam titled, “A Connecticut Carpet-bag.” Sam sidestepped a reporter’s questions in a humorous way [Scharnhorst, Interviews 7-9].

In the evening Sam went to a caroling party at the Twichell home, and presented him with an inscribed copy of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer:  “To Joseph H. Twichell / from his true friend / S. L. Clemens/ Christmas 1876” [MTLE 1: 156; MTPO Notes with Dec. 25 to Twichell].

December 25 Monday – Christmas – The Clemens family celebrated Christmas in their Hartford home, with Xantippe (Tip) Saunders as a house guest for a week (see Dec. 18 and 20 entries; Saunders to Sam Dec. 23, 1877).

Moncure Conway wrote to Sam: “ ‘Peace on earth and good will to all’ except the Belfords! / I have received your lugubrious letter in which you rest your belief that it is hopeless to pursue those literary Bashi Bazouks because an English copyright must be registered sixty days before publication, in Canada.” He gave more details on the mess [MTP].

December 27 Wednesday – The Hartford Courant reviewed The Adventures of Tom Sawyer [Hirst, “A Note on the Text” Oxford edition, 1996].

Mark Twain’s Adventures of Tom Sawyer was published in England last June, and immediately many of the most easily detached and quotable portions of it found their way into the American press, and a wide [ page 743 ] circulation. The COURANT printed at the time two or three extracts from the book—Tom’s adventure with the beetle in church, a most delightful study…

December 29 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford per Fanny C. Hesse to Moncure Conway.

“Hart and I have written a play, the chief character in which, is a Chinaman, and we have leased it for life to a man who will play that part. We give him the sole right for the entire world.”

Sam added that he always intended to simultaneously publish a sketch or article in both the Atlantic and in Temple Bar, but had always forgotten to do it, save for one time [MTLE 1: 157].

December 30 Saturday – Sam signed a contract in Hartford for the play Ah Sin. Bret Harte and Charles Thomas Parsloe signed on Jan. 5, 1877 in New York [Duckett 127-8]. The three men were to share equally in the gross profits after deductions for certain expenses, such as printing and agency contracts with stage managers [See Duckett, p 128-9 for the main details].

Xantippe (Tip) Saunders probably left the Clemens home about this day.

December 31 to January 1, 1877 Monday – New Year’s Eve. Sam and Livy attended a party at Isabella Beecher Hooker’s Nook Farm home, packed with neighbors and friends. Reflective of 19th Century obsession with paranormal and spiritual pursuits, plus Isabella’s megalomania, several mediums waited in an upstairs room for the new year to reveal Isabella’s vision, that she was to usher in a new order of government. “Spirits” had told her that she would rule the world. Sam mistook one of the mediums for a coachman. Isabella’s daughter, Alice Hooker Day, was a close friend of Livy’s, and let the secret out about the “queerest looking lot” upstairs trying to conjure up the new order [Willis 107-8]. (See Jan. 1, 1877 entry; also Andrews 59-62 for a fuller account of this bizarre evening.)

 


 [ page 744 ]
Sam’s Portrait – Bayard Taylor – Nephew Sammy – Duncan’s Lawsuit

 Lobbying for Appointments – Alexandroffsky Marvels – Ah Sin Opened

Bermuda! with Twichell – Rambling Notes – John T. Lewis, Hero – Tramp of the Sea

 The “First Home” Telephone – Whittier Birthday Debacle – Written Apologies

 

1877 – Paine gives this year for an additional excerpt written for Mark Twain’s Autobiography, “Early Years in Florida, Missouri” [7-10].

Sam’s sketch on Francis Lightfoot Lee ran in Pennsylvania Magazine, 1, No. 3 [Gribben 539].

The Parlor Table Companion. A Home Treasury of Biography, Romance, Poetry, History, etc. was published in New York by G.W. Carleton & Co. and included the following items on Mark Twain: A short tidbit about Twain being proposed for Mayor of Hartford; the first printing of Sam’s letter “On St. Patrick”; Horse car poetry, and a few paragraphs “Mark Twain Buys a Horse” [eBay by Cornelius Brand, Nov. 11, 2009 Item # 140356814730].

January – Sam’s unsigned and untitled piece on Anna Dickinson ran in the January issue of the Atlantic Monthly, the Contributors’ Club [Camfield, bibliog.].

Sam’s poem, “The Curious House that Mark Built,” was published in The Traveler’s Record, an in-house insurance trade monthly of the Travelers Insurance Co. [Willis 95]. Note: in a conversation with Robert Hirst in July, 2007, he opined that he didn’t think Sam wrote this, and showed me a copy on a 1960s era booklet about Sam’s Hartford house. Budd puts this to January [Our MT 49].

January 1 Monday – After leaving Isabella Hooker’s failed medium party (see Dec. 31, 1876 entry), Sam and Livy went after midnight to the George Warner residence, where they finished festivities and learned of Isabella’s wacky, megalomaniac scheme [Willis 108]. Twichell, evidently did not go to the Hookers on New Year’s Eve, but stopped by the Warners after midnight. From his journal: “led the company in prayer all uniting at the close in the Lord’s Prayer” [Yale 133, copy at MTP].

Sam wrote from Hartford per Fanny Hesse to Victor Wolff, a short note of acceptance as an honorary member of the “Cluster Literary Union” of New York [MTLE 2: 5].

Charles E. Perkins wrote to acknowledge Sam’s check for $752 and credited him $45 to Bissells [MTP].

January 2 Tuesday – Two copies of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer were placed with the Copyright Office, Library of Congress [Hirst, “A Note on the Text” Oxford edition, 1996].

January 3 Wednesday – Twichell’s journal:

“Mr B.[oyesen]  concludes not to go on to Boston for several days yet, but to accept M.T’s invitation to spend a season with him. / M.T. was in during the former’s asked of Charles Warren Stoddard’s [?illegible word] as actor on the stage in a manner that beggars description – so very funny” [Yale, copy at MTP]

January 5 Friday – Bret Harte and Charles Thomas Parsloe signed the contract for Ah Sin in New York. Sam signed on Dec. 30, 1876 [Duckett 127-8; MTP].

January 6 Saturday –Twichell’s journal:  [ page 745 ]

“Attended by invitation the ‘Saturday (girl’s) Club’ at M.T’s, at 10 o’clock am—a company to be much delighted in. Boyesen read an unpublished story with great applause” [Yale, copy at MTP].

January 10 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford per Fanny Hesse to Moncure Conway. Sam wanted Andrew Chatto to prosecute the Belford Co., since the copyright belonged to Chatto and not to Sam.

“Toronto is twice as far from Hartford as it is from London, & you & Chatto can prosecute Belford more conveniently than I can. The lawyer that won that other decision is the very lawyer to conduct this suit for my royalties. Therefore I wish Chatto & you would go ahead …& send the bill to me. Can you do it?” [MTLE 2: 6].

On or about this day, the artist Francis Davis Millet (1846-1912) came to stay for a week and paint Sam’s portrait. Millet was a successful journalist and war correspondent, but perhaps an even better artist. His technique was one of almost photographic precision rather than impressionism. Millet’s 1877 portrait of Samuel L. Clemens was later donated to the Hannibal, Missouri Free Public Library. It shows a serious Clemens at the height of his mental and literary powers glaring out of a dark background. Millet gave the Clemens family “a week of social enjoyment, for his company is a high pleasure. We have to lose him tomorrow” [MTLE 2: 7].

Clemens inscribed a copy of TS to Francis Davis Millet: “To F.W. Millet from his sincere friend Samuel L. Clemens, Hartford, Jan. 1877” [ABE Books; Argosy Book Store, NYC; 12/14/2011]. Note: the difference in initials with Millet’s name is unexplained.

January 11 Thursday – H.W. Bergen wrote from NYC wanting to confer with Sam one day next week [MTP]. Note: Bergen was Sam’s road agent for Colonel Sellers play.

January 13 Saturday – The first substantial review following the American Publishing Co.’s release of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer on Dec. 8, 1876 ran in the New York Times. Unsigned and cursory, it noted:

 

…a truly clever child’s book is one in which both man and boy can find pleasure. No child’s book can be perfectly acceptable otherwise.

January 14 Sunday – Clemens, Twichell, Charles and Susan Warner, Dr.’s Nathaniel J. Burton and Edwin P. Parker all went to hear a lecture by Joseph Cook of Boston. Twichell didn’t think much of the presentation [Yale, copy at MTP].

January 17 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Hjalmar H. Boyesen (1848-1895), Norwegian born American writer and literary critic. Boyesen had visited the Clemens family over the holidays. Sam wrote how much they had all enjoyed the visit, extending an open invitation to return. Sam shipped Boyesen’s overshoes and some pamphlets left behind to Boyesen’s home in Ithaca, New York.

Note: Boyesen came to the United States in 1869 and became editor of Fremad, a Norwegian weekly published in Chicago. Later he was a professor at Cornell and Columbia universities; his scholarly works include Goethe and Schiller (1879) and Essays on Scandinavian Literature (1895). Boyesen is best remembered for his fiction, including Gunnar (1874), a romance of Norwegian life, and such realistic urban novels as The Mammon of Unrighteousness (1891) and The Social Strugglers (1893).

Sam wrote Boyesen that he’d asked Bayard Taylor (1825-1878) to be his guest. Taylor was one of the best-known poets, adventurer, and travel writer of his day, soon to lecture in Hartford.  [ page 746 ]

I have asked him to talk to our Young Girls, & I hope he will do it. Warner will talk to them next Saturday, & Gen. Hawley will entertain them soon. I shall make Howells talk to them when I get him here. Gen Franklin is going to instruct them in military matters, or Gatling guns, or something.

      Hart hasn’t come yet—so the play isn’t yet licked into shape—consequently I haven’t demanded Howell’s presence. (He is to come when the play is ready to be read & criticised.)

Sam also mentioned that Francis Millet made “an excellent portrait of me” [MTLE 2: 7].

January 19 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford per Fanny Hesse to his sister Pamela Moffett recommending St. Paul’s, a preparatory school in Concord, New Hampshire for his nephew Samuel Moffett. Sam anticipated the visit of his nephew, now seventeen [MTLE 2: 8].

January 21 Sunday – Sam purchased books from the Osgood & Co., including Bayard Taylor’s The National Ode: The Memorial Freedom Poem (1877), and Centennial Ode (Author, year unidentified), and Richard Irving Dodge’s The Plains of the Great West and Their Inhabitants [Gribben 687; 134; 197].

January 22 Monday – Sam wrote a postcard from Hartford to his attorney, Charles Perkins, asking if “that document” had been sent to “R” for his signature. If not, Sam wanted to make an important alteration. “R” may have been Routledge, in the matter of suing Belford Brothers; or John T. Raymond [MTLE 2: 9].

Receipted for $537.18 from W. Haete, “1,534.18 being the proceeds of £104 to play the sale of M.D. [illegible word] Jan 1st 1877. Hartford, Jany 22, 1877” [MTP].

January 24 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Frank Bliss, acknowledging receipt of a statement and check for $83. Sam asked for a paper that would document Bret Harte’s indebtedness, and wanted a statement for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Feb. 1. Sales of the book would be disappointing. Powers claims, “by summer’s end, some hundred thousand [pirate] copies at seventy-five cents each had crossed the border and reached American bookstores, a devastating strain on the novel’s tardy legitimate sales” [Powers, MT A Life 385].

Sam added: “Lockwood the Baltimore tailor has arrived with his suit not his suite” [MTLE 2: 10]. Note: Henry C. Lockwood.

Sam had heard from Bayard Taylor, who agreed to stay at the Clemens’ home when he lectured in Hartford on Jan. 31. Sam asked if Taylor could stay over till Thursday or Saturday (Feb. 3) and speak to “our Young Girls’ Club,” (Saturday Morning Club) over a dozen “charming lasses of 16 to 20 yrs. old.” Sam listed Boyesen, Harte, Fields, Warner and himself as past speakers to the Club [MTLE 2: 11].

Frank Bliss wrote to Sam enclosing statement of “sales of the old books to Jan. 1. 77. check enclosed for 83.52” [MTP].

James Wells Champney (1843-1903) for Scribner & Co. wrote, hoping Sam could see him on Friday, as he’d been commissioned by the editor of Appleton’s Journal “to confer with you apropos a series of illustrated articles” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Champney the artist”; American portrait painter.

January 25 Thursday – Plock & Co. NYC wrote to Sam, sending him $125 from Bernard Tauchnitz [MTP].

January 26 Friday – Sam acted as auctioneer and read stories for the Mission Circle, Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford [The Hartford Daily Courant of January 25, 1877, p. 2 in an article titled “A [ page 747 ] Package Party” reported the entertainment would depend upon the auctioneer and that Mark Twain was scheduled to officiate in that capacity].

Frank Bliss wrote to Sam, enclosing “the Bret Harte dft as you wish—have written on the back of it that it was charged to you, so as to make Harte’s indebtedness to you clearer—” he’d soon make up sales numbers for TS [MTP].

February 2 and 4 Sunday – Livy and Sam wrote from Hartford to Olivia Lewis Langdon, who sent them a set of spirits glassware and a finger bowl for their seventh wedding anniversary (Feb. 2). Livy noted that it had been eight years since her engagement to Sam.

Your lovely, exquisite gift came today! I never was more surprised or more delighted in my life—Mother, how did you come to do it? I never dreamed of your giving me a gift on my wedding day…Mr Clemens and I drank a little wine out of the glasses for diner, he using the claret glass, I the sherry—Then I had the finger bowl and Susy and Clara both had their dear little fingers washed in it too…

I am wonderfully happy, but these days are sad because I am so full of Father—Seven years ago today you left the Buffalo house and all returned to Elmira—[after the gift of the Buffalo house].

Sam added his thanks for the “lovliest glassware I ever saw.”

Long may we continue to deserve & receive! Long may we receive more than we deserve! And long may it be left to us to estimate our deserving, & to you the ability & the inclination to square the rewards with it! [MTLE 2: 13].

Willis writes that the anniversaries of Livy’s engagement always depressed her, “for they made her think of her father” [108].

Sam and Livy discussed a trip to Germany. Sam wanted to go that summer, Livy the next [Willis 108]. Livy won out; they went in 1878.

About this time Sam paid a Feb. 1 bill from American Publishing Co. for books of Warner’s ordered on Aug. 1, 1876 [Gribben 746].

February 3 Saturday – Sam’s nephew, Samuel Moffett, arrived at the Clemens house for a visit of “two or three weeks” [MTLE 2: 13].

February 5 Monday – Elisha Bliss wrote to Sam, enclosing bill & letter from Orion for services performed in serving notice on D.G. Lowry, bookseller and seizing unauthorized copies of TS. An experienced lawyer in Keokuk advised Orion to charge $50 [MTP].

February 6 Tuesday – Sam traveled to New York City, where he gave readings at Steinway Hall from his sketches, “Encounter with an Interviewer” and “Dueling Experiences” for the NY Press Club [MTPO].

February 7 Wednesday – The NY Times, p.5, reported on the Feb. 6 reading that Sam kept the audience in constant laughter. The NY Tribune of the same date, p.8, also reported on the speech.

February 8 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford per Fanny Hesse to George S. Merrill, a short note of regret, unable to attend the annual reunion of the Massachusetts Press Association [MTLE 2: 14]. [ page 748 ]

February 12 Monday – Sam wrote to George Bentley, head of London publishers Richard Bentley & Son, thanking him for “taking so much pains with Mr. Harte’s matter.” Sam promised to send magazine articles that he might write, ahead of U.S. Publication [MTLE 2: 15].

February 14 and 16 Friday – Sam wrote a letter to the editor of the New York World concerning the lecture given in New York by Charles C. Duncan, who had captained the Quaker City. Sam derided Duncan by continually referring to him as the “head-waiter.” (It ran in the paper Feb. 18.)

The “captain” says that when I came to engage passage in the Quaker City I “seemed to be full of whiskey, or something,” & filled his office with the “fumes of bad whiskey.” I hope this is true, but I cannot say, because it is so long ago; at the same time I am not depraved enough to deny that for a ceaseless, tireless, forty-year public advocate of total abstinence the “captain” is a mighty good judge of whiskey at second-hand.

Sam added a PS about charges that Duncan had misappropriated funds from the Ship-owner’s Association [MTLE 2: 16-19].

February 15 Thursday ca. – Susy Clemens dictated a letter to Frank Millet, who stayed with the family a week and painted Sam’s portrait in mid-January. Millet may have sent the girls’ valentines.

Dear Mr. Millet Bay and I has both got valentines, I have a sun fan and a German book and bay’s got a new carriage—Papa teached me that tick, tick—my Grandfather’s clock was too large for the shelf so it stood 90 years on the floor. Mr. Millet is that the same clock what is in your picture—Dear Mr Millet I give you my love. I put it on my heart to get the love out. The little Kittye is in Bays Carriage my love and Susy Clemens Write me a little note [Salsbury 59].

February 15 or 16 Friday – Sam wrote a follow-up letter to the editor of the New York World concerning Captain Duncan, whom he called a “glittering & majestic embezzler!” [MTLE 2: 20-23]. Note: Sam’s wordy and extreme reaction seem out of proportion to Duncan’s lecture remarks.

February 18 Sunday – The New York World printed Sam’s Feb. 16 letter to the editor on page five [MTLE 2: 16].

February 19 Monday – John C. Merritt sent Sam a check dated Feb. 19 for 40 cents (see Feb. 22 entry) with a suggestion Sam buy a toddy with it [MTLE 2: 30].

February 22 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford, again to the editor of the New York World, with another lengthy diatribe against Charles C. Duncan. This letter ran on page five of the World for Feb. 25 [MTLE 2: 24-28].

Sam also wrote to Howells. After some political hurrahs for newly elected Rutherford B. Hayes, Sam dictated that Howells should (they often used the imperative with each other):

“…send postal to say you & the madam will be here 2d or 3d of March—do, now, please. The play is done. We [Sam & Harte] are plotting out another one” [MTLE 2: 29].

Note: Duckett makes the following observations concerning this letter:

“This letter fairly definitely sets the time of the open break between Mark Twain and Bret Harte as occurring within the eight-day period following Twain’s letter to Howells on February 22. Harte’s letter [See Mar. 1 entry] suggests that shortly after Mark wrote Howells that he and Harte were beginning a new play, Bret left Hartford for New York, where he received from Mark a letter which made him extremely angry” [134]. [ page 749 ]

Sam also wrote two notes to John C. Meritt about the 40-cent check he’d received from Merritt to buy a toddy. Sam endorsed on the front of the check:

“Dr. This shall be religiously devoted to the purpose specified & I shall drink your health. S.L.C.”

Sam also wrote on the back of the check to Fanny Hesse, his secretary, to bank the check with Bissell and put it in his “personal” account [MTLE 2: 31].

L.J. Brillant wrote from Switzerland offering to translate The Adventures of Tom Sawyer into French [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “From French translator Neuchatil Switzerland”

February 25 Sunday – The New York World published Sam’s last letter on Charles Duncan on page five [MTLE 2: 24]. Sam ended his blistering attack on a so-called “law for the protection of seamen,” which gave Duncan his position as Shipping Commissioner of New York:

“Perhaps no more infamous law than this has ever defiled the code of any Christian land in any age. And yet it is the work of a man whose stock in trade is sham temperance, sham benevolence, religious hypocrisy, & a ceaseless, unctuous drip of buttery prayers” [MTLE 2: 28].

February 26 Monday – Howells had agreed to come for a visit, but his wife could not make the trip. Sam wrote a postcard that he’d meet him “at the station about 2.30, PM, March 3.” Sam mentioned a “project” he had in mind for a “summer’s holiday” if Howells could go with him, and a “little short Atlantic article” which he didn’t think Howells dared to print, but would “send it for inspection by & by” [MTLE 2: 33]. Note: It’s not clear whether Howells made the trip, since Sam traveled to Boston where he wrote Livy on Feb. 11 after being there at least since Feb. 9. (See Mar. 11 entry.)

Jane Clemens wrote to thank Sam and Livy for two drafts which she’d cashed. A cold winter with lots of snow, a scrap book Livy sent, interesting things from Annie’s baby, love to all and a PS that Col. Smith of Buffalo “is coming here to live. Write when you can” [MTP].

February 27 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to George W. McCrary (1835-1890), Secretary of War under Hayes from Mar. 12, 1877 to Dec. 11, 1879, enclosing a letter of Sam’s outlining reasons why the Seaman Support Law should be ended.

When Duncan got up his commissionership & Seaman Association projects, all of us who knew him, knew he was purposing to rob somebody; but what is everybody’s business is nobody’s business—so nobody interfered. This Duncan is one of the vilest men that exits to-day; & I am exceedingly sorry that I have numbered myself with the silent ones all these years [MTLE 2: 3].

Notes: It’s not clear why Sam felt McCrary was someone who should be made aware of the hated law and of Duncan’s thievery, but it’s probable that Sam had met McCrary, who practiced law in Keokuk, Iowa from 1856, was elected as a Republican to the Forty-first and to the three succeeding Congresses (Mar. 4, 1869 to Mar. 3, 1877); was chairman, Committee on Elections (Forty-second Congress), and Committee on Railways and Canals (Forty-third Congress). McCrary’s Washington experience suggests that Sam felt he was the man to get the word to the right people.

Sam also wrote to sister Pamela Moffett about her son’s visit to Hartford, and more importantly, the issues that had been center stage in Sam’s mind.

“We greatly enjoyed Sam’s visit, but it must have [been] intolerably stupid to him. I was in a smouldering rage, the whole time, over the precious days & weeks of time which Bret Harte was losing for me—so I was in no company for Sam or anybody else” [MTLE 2: 35]. [ page 750 ]

Sam ordered Alfred Rimmer’s Ancient Streets and Homesteads of England (1877) from Osgood & Co. and was billed $7.50 in Nov. 1877 [Gribben 581].

February 27–March 9 Friday – Sometime between these dates, probably closer to Mar. 9, Sam traveled to Boston and stayed with the Howellses and also at the Parker House [MTLE 2: 36].

March 1 Thursday – In New York, Bret Harte wrote a long argument to Sam, asserting his position with respect to Bliss and the American Publishing Co., Sam’s letter and the sending of Parsloe to San Francisco to study the Chinese character (which Harte called “simply preposterous”); and Sam’s offer of $25 per week to write another play with him—obviously an offer which Harte found insulting. The break between the two men was now final.

No, Mark, I do not think it advisable for us to write another play together. Your offer of “$25 per week and board” —is flattering I admit—but I think that if I accepted it, even you would despise me for it. I can make about $100 per week for a few weeks here at my desk—my only idea of asking you for an advance was to save me from the importunity of my creditors, and give me that quiet, which as a nervous man yourself, you ought to know is essential to composition. I had not the slightest idea of your speculating out of my poverty, but as a shrewd man, a careful man, a provident man, I think you will admit that in my circumstances the writing of plays with you is not profitable [Duckett 136].

Text Box: March 5, 1877 – Rutherford B. Hayes was sworn in as the 19th President of the United StatesMarch 3 Saturday – Edward P. Wilder, attorney, wrote a postcard from NYC to Sam that “absence from city has necessitated postponement of matter referred to in your last note” (not extant) [MTP].

 

 

 

March 8 Thursday – Edward P. Wilder, attorney wrote again to Sam, referring him to James J. Ferris, “a shipping master who has for five years led the fight agst. Duncan, & who is the author of the bill now before Congress…to repeal the Shipping Commissioner’s Act.” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Duncan’s rascalities”. Ferris was U.S. Shipping Commissioner for many years prior to 1897.

March 9 Friday – Charles Thomas Parsloe of Simmonds & Wall, Dramatic Agents, NYC, wrote to Sam:

Yours of yesterday recd. sorry to inform you that it will be impossible for me to call on you as promised as I have made engagement to go to Philadelphia for two week commencing the 12th.…. I have just left Mr. Harte. Met him on B’way, he was very anxious to know if anything had been done so I promised to let him know when anything occurred that he ought to know…. Then he got red in the face and we parted [MTP].

March 10 Saturday – Sam and Howells “…perplexed ourselves all day…over plots & counter plots, & dreamed over them all night. Unsatisfactory” [MTLE 2: 36].

March 11 Sunday – Sam wrote from Boston to Livy while staying with Howells trying to collaborate on a play.

“We drop back, now to the original proposition—Howells to write the play, dropping in the skeleton of Orm’s speeches, I to take him, later, & fill him out. I expect to remain at Parker’s in Boston, tomorrow and return home Tuesday” [MTLE 2: 36]. [ page 751 ]

March 12 Monday – Hartford taxes on real estate, insurance stock, bank stock, money loaned at interest and merchandise were due by Nov. 1, with the assessed valuation made public the following March. Sam’s valuation was published on this day at $66,650 [MTPO notes with Oct.16, 1876 to Perkins].

Chandos Fulton (1839-1904), Co-manager of the Park Theatre and Broadway Theatre (later Daly’s Theatre), wrote to Sam, having rec’d his card and “looked into matters, without any result as yet.” He asked about a plot Sam had discussed with him “one autumn afternoon last year at the St. James Hotel”—“Was that a fanciful carriage of your imagination”? Fulton encouraged Sam to come down for a matinee and he’d save him a box [MTP]. Note: Fulton also contributed to newspapers and magazines, and wrote plays and a history of the Democratic Party. He died after an operation.

March 13 Tuesday – Sam probably returned home to Hartford [MTLE 2: 36]. He purchased back 1876 issues of The American Architect and Building News, a Boston weekly published by Osgood & Co. The weekly began January 1, 1876. Sam was billed $6 [Gribben 22].

March 19 Monday – Susy Clemens’ fifth birthday.

The Boston Globe ran an interview on page 3 titled, “Mark Twain’s Tenets”—Sam’s remarks on politics and religion [Scharnhorst, Interviews 9-11].

Henry M. Alden (1836-1919) for Harper’s Magazine wrote “at the request of Mr. Moncure D. Conway” sending a check in U.S. currency the equivalent of £39..6s..6d sterling [MTP].

March 20 Tuesday – Sam purchased a copy of Fridthjof’s Saga, A Norse Romance by Esaias Tegnér from Osgood & Co. [Gribben 690]. See Nov. 13 entry for payment. Sam also purchased Bjorn Anderson’s translated Viking Tales of the North (1877) from Osgood [Gribben 24].

March 22 Thursday – Sam purchased a copy of William Morris’ (1834-1896) The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of Niblungs (1877), for a discount price of $2.40 from Osgood & Co. [Gribben 487].

March 23? Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells, praising his effort on the play dialogue, and updating information on a lawsuit where the “villain got only $300 out of me instead of $10,000.” Sam wrote about beginning Orion’s biography the day before:

“I have started him at 18, printer’s apprentice, soft & sappy, full of fine intentions & shifting religions & not aware that he is a shining ass. Like Tom Sawyer he will stop where I start him, no doubt—20, 21 or along there; can’t tell; am driving along without plot, plan, or purpose—& enjoying it” [MTLE 2: 37].

Sam later wrote about Orion’s biography in his autobiography [Neider Ch 43].

March 26 Monday – Sam read “Advantages of Travel” at the Monday Evening Club in Hartford, This was Sam’s fourth presentation to the Club [Monday Evening Club].

April – Sam inscribed a copy of George Ticknor’s (1791-1871) Life, Letters, and Journals of George Ticknor (1876): “S.L. Clemens. / Hartford, / Conn. / April, 1877” [Gribben 704].

April 2 Monday – In Washington, D.C, Bret Harte wrote to Sam. Duckett calls the salutation “extremely formal.” Harte had received an offer from John Thomson Ford (1829-1894) who owned theatres in Washington, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, about the play Ah Sin. Harte outlined the offer and asked Sam to telegram him his answer. He emphasized to Sam that the play was “ours” [Duckett 141-2]. Note: Sam accepted the offer. Ford managed Ford’s Theater at the time Lincoln was assassinated there.  [ page 752 ]

 

April 6 Friday – Sam went to see the popular actor Edwin Booth in a play and called upon him backstage. Evidently, Booth did not appreciate such spontaneous unannounced contacts, as evidenced by Sam’s apology note on Apr. 7 [MTLE 2: 38].

April 7 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to the actor Edwin Booth, for whom Sam had originally written Gilded Age play. Sam apologized for calling backstage uninvited to pay his respects the night before [MTLE 2: 38]. Note: Booth was the brother of the man who killed Abraham Lincoln.

April 8 Sunday – Sam inscribed a copy of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer to Edwina Booth (1861-1938), daughter of the popular actor, Edwin Booth [MTLE 2: 39].

April 10 Tuesday – H.W. Bergen wrote from Buffalo having rec’d Sam’s of Apr. 5. He thought Sam’s idea of using a hack a good one. “I telegraphed you last evening with ref. to the check so that I may receive it while here” [MTP]. Note: Bergen was Sam’s road agent, reporting on play performances in various cities.

April 13 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Miss Holmes, who evidently requested Sam send her an autograph and a drawing. Sam claimed “figure-drawing as my specialty,” but admitted that some thought he was good at landscapes and still life, though the persons who thought so couldn’t tell the difference. Sam sent her a picture of the President and a caption [MTLE 2: 40].

April 14 Saturday – Sam wrote a letter of condolence to Nancy Fish Barnum (Mrs. P.T. Barnum) on the loss of her youngest daughter, Pauline Barnum Seeley:

“My wife and I are greatly pained to learn of the decease of Mrs. Seeley, whom we remember so well & so pleasantly. Words are of but little value at such a time, but still we are moved to tender our deep sympathy to you and your household in your great bereavement . / Truly Yours / Samuel L. Clemens” [Sotheby’s Dec. 11, 2006 auction Sale No 8251; lot 38].

April 14 and 17 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Mary Mason Fairbanks, congratulating Mary’s son on his wedding plans. Charles Mason Fairbanks married Pauline St Armont Merrill on Apr. 25 1877 in Hudson, Summit, Ohio. Sam could not attend as he wrote he’d “either be in the neighborhood of New Orleans, then, or hard at work on a book.” He then corrected himself to say he’d be in Washington on Apr. 25 supervising the rehearsals for the play, Ah Sin. Mary had evidently asked Sam where he wrote.

“In the billiard room—the very most satisfactory study that ever was. Open fire, register, & plenty of light” [MTLE 2: 42]. See insert; Sam’s writing desk at far right with lamp. Photo taken by this editor in 2009.

April 17 Tuesday – Sam wrote a postcard from Hartford to the American Publishing Co., requesting that a copy of Tom Sawyer and Sketches be sent to Absalom C. Grimes [MTLE 2: 43]. Grimes and Sam [ page 753 ] were both steamboat pilots and members of the Marion Rangers, along with Ed Stevens, Sam Bowen and nine or ten other Hannibal youths. Grimes smuggled mail during the war and was shot and imprisoned for his efforts. (See Ch. 30 of MTB.)

April 19 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells, who had sent Sam a letter to present to President Hayes when Sam went to Washington. This letter may have been part of the effort to secure a consulship for Charles Warren Stoddard that the two men had discussed [MTLE 2: 44].

April 23 Monday – Sam wrote a card from Hartford to Susan Crane, asking if she would stay in Hartford with Livy while he went May 10 “off on a sea voyage, to be gone till toward the end of that month” [MTLE 2: 45].

Sam then left for New York. He arrived at 6 PM and stayed at the St. James Hotel. Dating a note “Early Bedtime” he wrote to Livy:

…I have been talking with people all the time—Charley, Dan, Kingman, Fuller & others—& now at 9 oclock, am dreadfully sleepy. I am ashamed that a trifling little railway trip should have so much effect on me. But I had a delightful afternoon. I left behind me those 2 men who have not been absent an instant from my thoughts (& my hate) for months—Raymond & Harte—so I read Dumas & was serene & content. I move on in the morning. I love you darling—I love you all the time [MTLE 2: 46].

April 24 Tuesday – Sam left New York and arrived in Baltimore [MTLE 2: 47].

April 25? Wednesday – This is the date Sam wrote in his Apr. 17 letter to Mary Fairbanks that he would be in Washington to oversee rehearsals for Ah Sin. He had hoped to take Livy and “remain in Washington & Baltimore till the middle of May…” but Sam went alone [MTLE 2: 41].

April 26 Thursday – Sam wrote a very long and extraordinary letter (32 pages MS.) from Guy’s Hotel in Baltimore to Livy, describing his visit to the automated and palatial estate (“Alexandroffsky”) of Thomas DeKay Winans (1820-1878), an important and wealthy railroad pioneer who had made his money building a railroad with his brother William, and Major George Washington Whistler for Czar Nicholas I of Russia. Winans devoted his later years to creating a series of ingenious inventions, including improvements in organs, pianos, ventilation, and plumbing, most of which, it seems, fascinated Sam no end. He drew sketches of various Winans inventions within his letter [MTLE 2: 47-56]. The visit to the house entranced Clemens.

Sam also sent a one-liner to his attorney, Charles Perkins, asking him to tell Bergen that Perkins was awaiting instructions. The purpose or context of the note is unknown [MTLE 2: 57].

April 27 Friday – Sam had just received another letter from Livy and responded again from Baltimore.

“Livy My Darling, I had a jolly adventure last night with a chap from the ‘Eastern Shore’—you must remind me to tell you about it when I get home. I spent 4 hours in the State Prison to-day, after rehearsal, but it would take a book to hold all I saw & heard” [MTLE 2: 58].

Sam also wrote to William Dean Howells “(On the stage of Ford’s Theatre, 11 in the morning.)” Sam wished his best friend were there, watching rehearsals of Ah Sin [MTLE 2: 59].

On or about this day the Baltimore Gazette ran “Mark Twain’s Opinion,” Sam’s comments on the Russian Czar; and California gold mining [Scharnhorst, Interviews 11-13]. [ page 754 ]

May 1 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Baltimore to Howells.

Found I was not absolutely needed in Washington, so I only staid 24 hours, & am on my way home, now. I called at the White House, & got admission to Col. Rodgers, because I wanted to inquire what was the right hour to go & infest the President….I perceived that Mr. Rodgers took me for George Francis Train & had made up his mind not to let me get at the President…It was a great pity all around, & a loss to the nation, for I was brim full of the Eastern question [MTLE 2: 61].

Sam left for Hartford. A. Hoffman claims it was Bret Harte’s presence in Washington that “drove” Sam home [256].

Charles E. Perkins wrote a one-liner: “This check contains one hundred dollars on the $700 note so Bergen says” [MTP].

Clara Spaulding wrote a short note to Clemens in German [MTP].

May 2 Wednesday – Based on his May 1 note to Howells, Sam arrived back in Hartford. Donald Hoffman, however, puts May 1 as the day Sam arrived home, with a cold and bronchitis [25].

Orion Clemens wrote from Keokuk, Ia.

My Dear Brother:— / I enclose a picture of the leech that draws the blood that Col. Sellers makes.

      I went to all the job offices in town this morning, and meant to go to the Gate City (morning paper) but found that three or four subs were watching the Constitution—an evening paper—for a chance, and became discouraged. I left my address to be sent for if there should be a spurt. anywhere. It seemed like Sunday all round.

      In your absorption preparing your new play I suppose you forgot me this quarter. If you can spare me the usual checks I will get Judge Newman at the August term to appoint me to assist in defending some scoundrel for misdemeanor or felony (the latter penitentiary, the former under that degree) [OC’s parenthetical remark underlined by SLC, with accompanying comment in margin: “the legal instinct to explain.” ] and see what luck I can have in criminal practice. I see bigger fools than I am sit to be prosecuting or district attorneys and get good wages. It seems improbable, but it is so. / Love to all, /em spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceem spaceYour Brother, / Orion.

      When the papers say anything about your play can’t you send it to me? I hear of things here, vaguely. I never see anything [MTPO].

May 3 Thursday – The New York Daily Graphic ran “Mark Twain and His Chairman,” by “Gath,” (George Alfred Townsend) Sam’s comments on the actor Charles Parsloe [Scharnhorst, Interviews 13-14].

May 4–16 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles E. Perkins, his attorney and financial manager, asking for an accounting of interest on his various investments totaling $31,000. Sam complained that Fanny C. Hesse’s  “accounts are so intolerably mixed,” that he couldn’t figure them out [MTLE 2: 62].

May 5 Saturday – Sam wrote a short note from Hartford to his brother Orion in Keokuk about his private secretary’s carelessness at forgetting to send “the usual checks” for Orion. Sam enclosed them. He had a “very bad cold in the head” and couldn’t send details. “…the time is needed for swearing” [MTLE 2: 64, 65].

Sam also wrote a short note to Howells, enclosing Orion’s letter of May 2, which asked for checks not sent and mentioned trying to take on a criminal case. There is weeping ridicule, irritated pathos in Sam’s references to his brother: “2 ½ years civil ‘practice’ has yielded him just one case. He will try criminal law, now, poor fellow” [MTLE 2: 64]. [ page 755 ]

May 6 Sunday – From Livy’s diary:

We are having a wonderfully restful Sunday morning. We neither of us went to church….

The children have been out gathering wild flowers and have brought me such a beautiful lot. I am going down now pretty soon to arrange them.

Mr. Clemens and I are sitting on the west balcony out of the billiard room, it is warm and pleasant, but Mr. Clemens has a terrible cold in the head—As I look down to the stream I see our four ducks—we have also six little ducks…[Salsbury 62].

May 7 Monday – Ah Sin opened in Washington for a week long trial before a New York premier. Sam sent Charles Parsloe a telegram, saying he’d been laid up sick but had prepared two speeches in case he’d been able to make the opening—“one to bewail a failure, the other to glorify a success.” Sam wanted to know which one he should use the next day [MTLE 2: 66]. Note: Parsloe answered Sam on May 11 that the presence of Bret Harte was “an added annoyance” [Duckett 143].

Charles T. Parsloe sent a telegram to Sam: “Telegram read from stage at close of performance. The audience unanimously pronounced in favor of glorifying speech” [MTP].

May 8 Tuesday – Sam’s May 7 telegram to Parsloe ran on page one of the Washington National Republican [MTLE 2: 66]. Also in the Washington Evening Star (4-1) [MTP].

John Thomson Ford wrote Sam of the opening of Ah Sin and enclosed notices. His letter is on letterhead for the Treasurer’s Office of the National Theatre and Opera House:

      Before going to Baltimore I write hurriedly to you. I came here to see “Ah Sin” [illegible word] out, and was fully satisfied with the performance. The audience was forced, house crowded, cash receipts near $500. The play was well acted and the applause was liberal and sincere. The female parts were—especially the Plunketts’—very good. Parsloe was himself not strong but well individualized in the character, nervous to timidity and evidently greatly missed you as he needed backing up—advice—bolstering.

      With help the play can be made an assured success. You ought to be here to be its wet nurse until it can do for itself….I have urged the President to come tonight. Yours hurriedly J.T. Ford [MTP]. Note: Harte had read his signature J.I. Ford, and it does take some squinting. It’s not known if President Hayes so attended.

May 9 Wednesday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote about Sam’s frustration at trying to see the President, of Orion’s letter and photograph, and of Sam’s play, Ah Sin [MTHL 1: 177].

May 10 Thursday – Sam purchased John Liptrott Hatton’s The Songs of England from the Osgood & Co [Gribben 300].

Orion Clemens wrote to thank Sam for the 3 drafts of $42 each, and added his cure for the common cold:

“Abstain from eating, drinking and profanity 24 hours (except water); then bathe in hot water half an hour to the knees, keeping the water as hot as you can bear by expedients that will readily suggest themselves to a person of your mental resources; then put on woolen socks and go to bed. In the early stages, warranted” [MTP]. Note: see Sam’s reply on May 14.

May 11 Friday – Charles T. Parsloe wrote from Wash DC to Sam, not recalling whether he’d acknowledged receipt of check by telegram.  [ page 756 ]

“Harte has been here since Monday last and done little or nothing, yet, but promises to have something fixed by tomorrow morning. We have been making improvements among ourselves. The last act is weak at the end and do hope Mr Harte will have something for a good finish….The other acts are all right” [MTP]. Note: Only 35 performances took place of Ah Sin because the writers could not agree on changes.

May 12 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to the American Publishing Co., asking that cloth copies of Sketches and Tom Sawyer be sent to Hon. J.R. Goodpasture of Nashville, Tenn. (unidentified). Sam also wanted a statement of earnings for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer to Apr. 1 [MTLE 2: 67].

May 13 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to William B. Franklin, former Union General who led Ulysses Grant’s West Point class. Sam usually addressed Franklin as “General.” Sam recommended interior decorators, Marcotte of New York and the Household Art Company in Boston to bid some project of Franklin’s. “New York is full of bastard furniture-constructors & decorators,” he wrote [MTLE 2: 68].

Sam had another form postal card printed stating that he’d “gone away on a sea voyage of uncertain duration” [MTLE 2: 69].

May 14 Monday – Sam sent his voyage postcard (form letter) to Orion’s suggestions for cold cures, adding a note that death would be “easily preferable” to Orion’s remedy.

“Profanity is more necessary to me than is immunity from colds” [MTLE 2: 70].

May 15 Tuesday – Sam, still in Hartford and preparing to leave on his 10-day trip to Bermuda with Twichell, sent a note to George F. Bissell & Co. for Charles Perkins, authorizing the latter, Sam’s attorney, to endorse checks payable to Sam for deposit [MTLE 2: 71].

Sam also wrote Charles E. Perkins, asking him to drop a line to Harte to say Sam had “gone off on a sea voyage,” leaving all of Sam’s business in Perkins’ hands [MTLE 2: 72].

In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote Sam, answering a letter, now lost, about Howells’ translator in Switzerland. Sam had received an offer from one L.J. Brillant to translate The Adventures of Tom Sawyer into French. Howells answered that his translator in Switzerland was “an American woman” who had translated A Foregone Conclusion into Italian but couldn’t find a publisher there for it. Sam’s lost letter evidently announced he was making a trip to Bermuda with Twichell:

“I suppose you’re going to sea for your health. You’re an enviable man to be able to go. I know one set of shaky nerves that can’t” [MTHL 1: 178].

Charles E. Perkins wrote asking for a power of attorney from Clemens to be able to deposit checks for him in Bissell’s bank. Also H.W. Bergen had sent back the contract [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Power atty to endorse checks for deposit”

Frank Fuller wrote hoping Sam could drop in at his Health Food Co. 74 & 4th Ave. before leaving town. He hated to see Sam continue to spend money on H.C. Bowers’ inventions [MTP]. See also AMT 2: 490.

Bret Harte sent a telegram: “Send my draft if any to Mrs. Knauft forty five fifth ave” [MTP].

May 16 Wednesday – Sam and Joe Twichell left Hartford and traveled to New Haven, Conn., where they took a night boat just before midnight to New York City and spent the night, [Powers, MT A Life 404; D. Hoffman 27] probably at the St. James Hotel, which he wrote in his notebook [2: 12]. (See Sam’s note to Livy of May 17) [MTLE 2: 73]. Sam wrote, “First actual pleasure trip I ever took” [MTNJ 2: 12]. [ page 757 ]

May 17 Thursday –Sam wrote from New York to Livy.

“Livy darling, it is 8.30 AM & Joe & I have been wandering about for half an hour with satchels & overcoats, asking questions of policemen; at last we have found the eating house I was after. Joe’s country aspect & the seal-skin coat caused one policeman to follow us a few blocks” [MTLE 2: 73].

The desired café was on William St. near Fulton [D. Hoffman 27]. Sam mentioned the thunderstorm in the night, causing him to worry about her (this mention shows that the pair went to the city on May 16.) The two men planned to “loaf around to Mr. Sage’s business place after breakfast.” Dean Sage, Brooklyn writer, sportsman, was contributor to the Atlantic and The Nation, among other magazines [MTLE 2: 73].

Clemens and Twichell had a New York breakfast, and in the hot mid-afternoon boarded the mail steamer Bermuda in first class. The boat carried thirteen other passengers for a four-day journey [D. Hoffman 27]. From Sam’s notebook:

Left at 330. Blazing hot till we got outside—then cold rain; put on seal skin coat & tied up the collar with silk handkercf. Steamer came out with us, went ahead. Hearty supper at 6. Chat in smoking cabin till 830. Then whisky & to bed. Had a lantern hung at my head & read self to sleep with Motley’s Netherlands. Kept waking up with nightmares all night—coffee for supper—finally fell to reading at 2 or 3 & read till sunrise [MTNJ 2: 16]. Note: the literary reference is to John Lothrop Motley’s Motley’s The Rise of the Dutch Nation (1856) [Gribben 489].

By nightfall we were far out at sea, with no land in sight. No telegrams could come here, no letters, no news. This was an uplifting thought. It was still more uplifting to reflect that the millions of harassed people on shore behind us were suffering as usual [“Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion”].

May 17 to 21 Monday – The voyage on the Bermuda took four days to reach St. George’s Harbor. During the trip, Sam read John Lothrop Motley’s The Rise of the Dutch Republic, and later (Aug. 6) wrote Mollie Fairbanks he “would have thrown the book into the sea if I had owned it” [MTLE 2: 126]. Note: Motley (1814-1877).

Powers writes that away from Hartford and his pulpit, Twichell’s naiveté to unfamiliar surroundings surfaced, and Sam kindheartedly referred to him as “fool” in his notes [MT A Life 404]. According to the 1871 Census, Bermuda had a population of 12,121: 7,396 colored, 4,725 whites [D. Hoffman 33].

May 18 Friday – From Sam’s notebook:

Bright, sunny, mild—put on light overcoat for the deck. Mother Cary’s chicks very beautiful; bronze, shiny, metallic, broad stripe across tail; —built & carry themselves much like swallows. After luncheon I commenced feeding crumbs to a few over the stern, & in 15 minutes had a thousand collected from nobody knows where. We are very far from land, of course. They never rested a moment. This stormy Petrel is supposed to sleep on the water at night.

On deck, before supper. Very fine & sunny, but a breeze has sprung up—we have up a fore & main spencer, a staysail & fore-topsail. Shall have a sea to-morrow which will retard us. Have been making great speed up to this time.

Engine stopped—everybody interested, I indifferent, caring not a dam [MTNJ 2: 16-7].

May 20 Sunday – Sam’s notebook entry: “6 AM Making land.” From “Idle Excursion”:

Away across the sunny waves one saw a faint dark stripe stretched along under the horizon,—or pretended to see it, for the credit of his eyesight. Even the Reverend [Twichell] said he saw it, a thing which was manifestly [ page 758 ] not so. But I never have seen anyone who was morally strong enough to confess that he could not see land when others claimed that they could.

The steamer Bermuda did not anchor up north at St. George’s where the Quaker City had a decade before. It went down the North Shore to Grassy Bay and entered the Great Sound, approaching Hamilton Harbor by way of the Timlins’ Narrows [D. Hoffman 30]. From Sam’s notebook:

So the Reverend and I had at last arrived at Hamilton, the principal town in the Bermuda Islands. A wonderfully white town; white as snow itself. White as marble; white as flour. Yet looking like none of these, exactly. Never mind, we said; we shall hit upon a figure by and by that will describe this peculiar white [“Idle Excursion”].

Hotel Closed [The season was over]. No vehicle to take us or baggage to Mrs. Kirkham’s [boarding house]. Hired little darkey boy to show us. He had seat of pants like a township map chromolithographed. He wound us in & out & here & there—once through very narrow lane. Charged double.

Houses painfully white—town & houses & verandahs all Spanish style.

Got two large cool, well lighted rooms, & now the calm Sabbath is being profaned by the crowing & clucking of chickens, the wauling of cats & the clanging of a metallic neighboring piano & people singing “Only an Armor Bearer” &c with power.

Couldn’t sleep—got to feeling low & far from home—went into next room to find a cheerful book—got on in the dark—“Meditations on Death & Eternity.” Looked again & found books better suited to my mood [MTNJ 2: 19-20].                                                                          

At the boarding house Sam read “The Broken Vow,” a poem in the Feb. 1834 issue of Godey’s Lady’s Book. He noted: “They were a sad & sentimental lot in those days” [Gribben 510].

May 21 Monday – Bermuda. In the morning Sam and Twichell hiked again; they took a carriage ride in the afternoon [D. Hoffman 45]. Sam’s notebook:

Was awakened at 6AM Monday by our ambitious young rooster—looked out saw him swelling around a yellow cat asleep on ground. Birds, a bugle & various noises. Then a piano over the way…

Bought white shoes & pipe-clay. Walked till hurt heel. After noonday dinner

Drove along shore—one horse & intelligent colored man. The sea-view always enchanting…

That fool [Twichell] with us sees “Onions Wanted” & innocently gets out to tell man plenty along the road.

Living is very cheap & there’s potatoes & onions for all. Nobody can starve. Plenty of schools—everybody can read [MTNJ 2: 21].

Sam noted the quarry blocks used for construction, cheap prices of houses, a myriad of flowers and plants, animals of all sorts out grazing, and everywhere white. The whitest and shabbiest town in the northeast would be shabby next to Bermuda, he wrote [MTNJ 2: 23-5].

May 22 Tuesday – Sam and Joe crossed the Causeway and arrived at St. George, Bermuda. They checked into the Globe Hotel at 32 Duke of York Street. The Globe was a “ponderous stone structure with huge chimneys” built in 1699-1700 as a governor’s house. The travelers registered under the names “S. Langhorne” and “JH Twichell USA” [D. Hoffman 50-1]. From “Idle Excursions”:

At the principal hotel in St. George’s, a young girl, with a sweet, serious face, said we could not be furnished with dinner, because we had not been expected, and no preparation had been made….I said we were not very hungry; a fish would do. My little maid answered, it was not the market-day for fish. Things began to look serious; but presently the boarder who sustained the hotel came in, and when the case was laid before him he [ page 759 ] was cheerfully willing to divide. So we had much pleasant chat at table about St. George’s chief industry, the repairing of damaged ships; and in between we had a soup that had something in it that seemed to taste like the hereafter, but it proved to be only pepper of a particular vivacious kind. And we had iron-clad chicken that was deliciously cooked, but not in the right way. Baking was not the thing to convince his sort….No matter; we had potatoes and a pie and a sociable good time. Then a ramble across town, which is a quaint one, with interesting, crooked streets, and narrow, crooked lanes, with here and there a grain of dust.

May 23 Wednesday – Sam and Joe spent their four days on the island walking and talking, observing people, flora and fauna and the countryside. [Powers, MT A Life 405]. From Oct. to Jan. 1878, a serial publication of Sam’s about the trip ran in the Atlantic: “Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion” [Wells 22]. In this four-parter, the “fool” becomes the “Ass,” but it was all in fun—the men never lost mutual respect for the other. The weather made the men cancel a planned sailboat outing [D. Hoffman 54]. From Sam’s notebook:

That piano & that tune & that rooster were silent this morning. Somebody’s been telling.

Flags at ½ mast for a citizen

Rained like everything. Couldn’t go sailing. Dined aboard the ship.

Rained all day—came home middle of afternoon—bright moonlight at night. We started at 8 & walked to North Shore & then around west & across to town, Joe stepping in an occasional puddle, to my intense enjoyment. Got caught in rain. Walked 5 or 6 miles in new shoes. They were 7s when I started & 5s when I got back [MTNJ 2: 31].

May 24 Thursday – Sam and Joe returned to Hamilton and boarded the Bermuda, preparing to leave. Charles M. Allen, the U.S. consul, came aboard to say goodbye to Charles Langdon and ask about his mother [MJNJ 2: 32].

At 4 PM the steamship Bermuda, Captain Angrove, sailed from Hamilton, Bermuda “on the Queen’s birthday”. Sam noted that at 7 PM “All the ladies are sea-sick & gone to bed except a Scotchman’s wife.” Then, “7.30. The Scotchman’s wife has caved.” Sam related these events in his notebook and in a September letter to the Hartford Courant [MTLE 2: 154]

Sam reflected on Bermuda in his notebook:

There are several “sights” in the Bermudas, of course, but they re easily avoided. This is a great advantage,—one cannot have it in Europe. Bermuda is the right country for a jaded man to “loaf” in. There are no harassments; the deep peace and quiet of the country sink into one’s body and bones and give his conscience a rest, and chloroform the legion of invisible small devils that are always trying to whitewash his hair…[MTNJ 2: 54-5].

Thomas Bailey Aldrich wrote to invite Sam and Livy for a couple of days in Ponkapog, since Edwin Booth & wife were coming next week; he’d also invited the Howellses [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Aldrich the Poet”

May 25 Friday – From Sam’s letter cited above:

At 4 p.m., May 25, twenty-four hours out, our position was 250 miles northwest from Bermuda…[Sam made] a rude pencil sketch of a disabled vessel, & this note concerning it:—

“Friday, 25.—Jonas Smith, ten days out from Bermuda, 250 miles. Signal of distress flying (flag in the main rigging with the Union down.) Went out of our course to see her. Heavy ground swell on the sea, but no wind. They launched their boat, stern first, from the deck amidships…The vessel had an absurdly large crew—we could see as many as a dozen colored men lying around taking it easy on her deck.”  [ page 760 ]

The Jonas Smith schooner turned out to be a strange pleasure cruise of Negro beggars.

May 27 Sunday – Sam and Twichell arrived home in Hartford [Powers, MT A Life 405].

May 28 Monday – Twichell wrote of the Bermuda trip in his journal upon his return, that he’d gone “with M.T. who paid all my expenses” [Yale 174].

May 29 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells, revealing that he had traveled to Bermuda under an assumed name, and lamenting the fact that Howells had not been on the trip:

Confound you, Joe Twichell & I roamed about Bermuda day & night & never ceased to gabble & enjoy. About half the talk was—“It is a burning shame that Howells isn’t here,” “Nobody could get at the very meat & marrow of this pervading charm & deliciousness like Howells,” “How Howells would revel in the quaintness, & the simplicity of this people & the Sabbath repose of this land!” “What an imperishable sketch Howells would make of Capt. West the whaler, & Capt. Hope with the patient, pathetic face, wanderer in all the oceans for 43 years, lucky in none; coming home defeated once more, now minus his ship—resigned, uncomplaining, being used to this,” “What a rattling chapter Howells would make out of the small boy Alfred, with his alert eye & military brevity & exactness of speech; & out of the old landlady; & her sacred onions; & her daughter; & the visiting clergymen; & the ancient pianos of Hamilton & the venerable music in vogue there—& forty other things which we shall leave untouched or touch but lightly upon, we not being worth,” “Dam Howells for not being here!” (this usually from me, not Twichell) [MTLE 2: 74].

Sam also wrote a note to John A. McPherson, who evidently had inquired as to the source of Sam’s pen name, “Mark Twain” [MTLE 2: 75].

May 31 Thursday – A.P. Hodgkins of Chelsea, Mass. wrote a fan letter from Rome, Italy [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “From an admirer”

June – An unsigned article “An Overrated Book” ran without title in the “Contributors’ Club,” June issue of the Atlantic Monthly. Attributed to Twain, it was later titled in an index for the period. A reading online revealed the writer’s home was Ponkapog, Mass., that of Thomas Bailey Aldrich. The review was of Rev. Edward Payson Hammond’s Sketches of Palestine [Eppard 430-1]. (See entries for June 6, 1877, Oct. 27, 1879 and Jan. 12, 1883.) Note: further evidence that this review of Hammond’s poetry was not Twain’s is his opinion often expressed but never better than his Aug. 10, 1881 to Robert Green Ingersoll: “I am not bold enough to express an opinion about it, for I never read poetry, & a criticism from me would be a thing which I should laugh at, myself.” See entry.

Earlier in the year Candace Wheeler (1827-1923) founded the New York Society of Decorative Arts as an outgrowth of the excitement caused by the 1876 Centennial celebration and exhibits in Philadelphia. Wheeler and Louis Comfort Tiffany did the interior decorating on the Clemens home. Wheeler encouraged women in other cities to establish auxiliary societies. Hartford was among the first six cities to form a group of their own.

Upon receiving Wheeler’s circular, Hartford’s female civic leaders came together, and during this month about 50 of the city’s “public spirited ladies” gathered at the home of Lucy Perkins. Among this group was the widow Elizabeth A. Colt, then owner of Colt Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Co., who would become the Hartford Society’s first president. Included were author Harriet Beecher Stowe, Olivia Clemens, Susan Warner, and Mary Bushnell Cheney (1806-1894), wife of Frank W. Cheney (1822-1909) of Cheney Silk Mills. Many of these women were already active in Hartford charity work. The group decided to focus on art education and open a school toward that aim (See Jan. 16, 1878 entry). [ page 761 ]

June 3 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Thomas Bailey Aldrich, poet, novelist and editor who would succeed Howells as editor of the Atlantic in 1881. The Clemens family would leave for Quarry Farm on June 5 and Sam hoped to write a book there:

“…similar to your new one in the Atlantic…though I have not heard what the nature of that one is. Howells says he is going to make his next book indelicate. He says he thinks there is money in it” [MTLE 2: 76].

June 4 Monday – Sam wrote an almost reverent letter from Hartford to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, soliciting his help to obtain the Swiss mission for Howells. Sam couldn’t help but think that if Longfellow, Lowell, Whittier and Holmes wrote President Hayes, the appointment might be more likely [MTLE 2: 77]. Sam purchased a copy of Samuel Breck’s Recollection of Samuel Breck (1877) from Osgood & Co for a discounted price of $1.60 [Gribben 82].

June 5 Tuesday – In Hartford in the evening, Sam attended William H. Gillette’s performance at Seminary Hall. The Courant of June 6, p.2 reported the event:

      Mr. W.H. Gillette was greeted last night with a crowded house. Seminary Hall was full, and many stood during the whole entertainment. It was Mr. Gillette’s first appearance in his native city (except in some minor state part), and great curiosity was felt to see how he had fulfilled his early promise of becoming an actor. We may say in a general way that his friends were entirely satisfied, and those who knew nothing of his capabilities were surprised at his talent.

      The audience being judge, his performance was a marked success. They were thoroughly entertained from beginning to end, and testified their enjoyment by frequent, hearty applause and more frequent laughter. The programme was mainly one of imitations of well-known actors, partly in costume, with recitations from dramas and humorous sketches. It was exceedingly varied, running from tragedy to comedy and farce; and it was not the least part of the surprise of the audience that the actor was so facile and perfectly at home in such a wide selection of characters. One of the most purely comical performances was the address of a somewhat bashful and conceited young man to a Sunday school. The composition was Mr. Gillette’s own, and it succeeded in being as flat as such addresses often are, and was at the same time amusing from its affectation of inane wit. In contrast to this, but equally well done was the imitation of Mark Twain in the “Jumping Frog.” It was so well done that Mr. Clemens, who was present, might have fancied that he was on the stage.

June 6 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells. The move to Elmira had been delayed a day, but Sam wrote they were leaving that day. Sam wished Howells well with “[Lawrence] Barrett & the play,” encouraging Howells to write a contract “from the standpoint that he is the blackest-livered scoundrel on earth.” Sam also mentioned the Bermuda article proofs for the Atlantic [MTLE 2: 78]. Sam included a cryptic line about his review of Rev. Edward Payson Hammond’s book, Sketches of Palestine: “The debt was discharged when you sent the Hammond pamphlet—& so I considered it” [78]. (See entries for Oct. 27, 1879 and Jan. 12, 1883.)

The Clemens family went to New York, where they spent the night.

June 7 Thursday – The Clemenses rode the train ten hours and arrived at the Langdon home in Elmira.

Henry Whitney Cleveland (1836-1907) wrote from N.Y.C. the first of six letters to Clemens, who became irritated with him to the point of calling him the “Reverend D—d tramp.”

Dear Sir: / I have a book, like and unlike, the Pilgrims Progress, and call it, “Entranced a Romance of Immortality.” I am a poor Presbyterian minister, for whom you once brought a watch from George MacDonald. [ page 762 ]

      I recently read aloud the story in your last book, of the boy who took a whipping for a girl at school, and it was Sabbath Evening, in the family of Mr Wiles up the Hudson River, where I was preaching, and we all cried over it, before prayers.

      I thought you might like mine, and get that great Am. Publ. Co. to like it too.

      Very. Rev. A.P. Stanley, of Westminster, wrote me a good letter about it, when he read it, and so did Dr Loyden of Bradford.

      P.W. Zeigler of Pa, agreed to take it, but is not able to do so now. If you just would read it, it might make me almost as famed as you are. Yes, on a postcard, and I will tell Dr Rand, of Am. Tract Society to send it to you. / Respectfully / Henry W. Cleveland [MTP]. Note: see Cleveland’s Aug. 9 letter. The whipping tale is in Ch 20 of TS. Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1815-1881); William W. Rand (1816-1909) sec. Am. Tract Soc.

June 8 Friday – Clara Clemens’ third birthday.

June 9 Saturday –William Dean Howells, on vacation in Conanicut, R.I., and “in a white fog that carries desolation to the soul,” wrote to ask Clemens for parts one and three of “Some Rambling Notes,” to put in type “at once.”

“The wretch who sold you that type-writer has not yet come to a cruel death. In the meantime he offers me $20.00 for it. I never could regard it as more than a loan, so I ask you whether I shall sell it at that price, or pass it along to you at Elmira” [MTHL 1: 181-2].

Francis D. Millet wrote to Sam from Bucharest, Romania to explain how he became a war correspondent (Russo-Turkish War 1877-78) for the New York Herald.

We are very busy of course and I only seize this opportunity of writing you because I don’t know but I may get into the mess any day and then I shant have time to write. I wanted to thank you for the very good letter (not extant) you sent me at Paris…. Charlie Stoddard who spent a few days there and who is soon to come to America will see you and tell you just how well we are situated in Paris and all about our establishment….This war will make people as familiar with the Danubian provinces as they are with Spain I suppose. The most surprising characteristic of the country is its great likeness to our South & West. You would feel quite at home here—with the exception of the language which is peculiar. I am wrestling with that and Russian and scarcely get time to eat. I can only now stop to send many kind regards to all your family whom I remember as if I had acquired new relatives—why don’t people recognize the famille de coeur even if there be no drop of blood of the same blood in its members? I never think of those evenings in Hartford but I feel a great glow come over me” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Answered”; See Jan. 17, and ca. Feb. 15 from Susy Clemens; it’s possible that he thanked Sam for a letter now lost that accompanied Susy’s.

June 11 Monday – Frank Fuller wrote (Bowers to Fuller June 9 & 10 enclosed),wanting Sam to tell him what to do about H.C. Bowers, and enclosing Bowers’ bill for $31.65 [MTP]. Note: “In 1877 Clemens’s old friend Frank Fuller persuaded him to invest in a company that he managed, the New York Vaporizing Company, which was financing H.C. Bowers to develop a new type of steam generator. Bowers’s machine was built, but did not run, and by early 1878 Clemens had lost $5,000” [AMT 2: 490].

June 12 Tuesday – Sam wrote from the Langdon home in Elmira to Charles Perkins, his attorney and business consultant. Sam enclosed $20 and asked, “When is the dramatic vacation coming! It will be a relief to get Bergen down to $15 a week.” H.W. Bergen was the agent hired to handle and report receipts from stage plays.

Clara had a “raging fever” and Sam wanted a doctor’s permission to take the family to Quarry Farm. He also included a note about John T. Raymond’s wife, who had taken a part in the Gilded Age play.

“Whenever receipts fail to pay Raymond’s wife, you need not pay her out of my pocket. I suppose you notified Raymond to stop her salary” [MTLE 2: 79]. [ page 763 ]

Henry W. Longfellow wrote from Cambridge, Mass. to Sam

Dear Mr Clemens, / I have seen Lowell, and talked with him on the subject of your letter. We are both of us willing to do anything and everything to advance the interests of Howells, but what is to be done is not so clear to us.

      We do not believe that any written paper has the slightest influence. It is only filed away and forgotten.

      We have tried this method of proceeding with a friend of ours, who asks for a much humbler place and without perceptible result. … / Howells himself I have been unable to see, as he has gone to Newport for the summer [MTP]. Note: James Russell Lowell. Twain was trying to get Howells a consulship.

June 13 Wednesday – Little Clara’s fever had run its course, so Sam took the family up to Quarry Farm, a place “always cool, & still, & reposeful & bewitching” [MTLE 2: 80].

Mike M. Brannan wrote from Dallas, Tex. on The Mail letterhead to send a copy of the “first daily” Brannan had an interest in. Only 24 he claimed he was called “the Mark Twain of the South” and claimed the title “quite repulsed my literary ambitions.” He asked for an autograph [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env “Disgusting”

June 14 Thursday – Sam wrote from Quarry Farm to Howells, responding to a letter received. Sam thought Howells had made good terms for his new play. He consented to publishing the Bermuda travel article in the October issue of the Atlantic. He had revised the first two articles and began the third this day. Wasn’t there “some Montreal magazine I can sell or give them to, & thus beat Belford Bros., thieves, of Toronto?” Sam also agreed to Howells selling the typewriter for $20:

“I didn’t lend you that thing; I gave it to you because you had been doing me some offense or other, & there seemed no other way to avenge myself…” [MTLE 2: 80].

June 16 Saturday – Robert E. Beecher of Continental Life Ins. Co of Hartford wrote, pointing out that $335 plus interest was due on a $10,000 policy Sam had taken out in 1869 [MTP].

June 18 Monday – Frank Fuller wrote to Sam about his recent excursion to the north part of Long Island and of yacht sailing there. He wrote of H.C. Bowers again and was awaiting “the advent of the E.B. Grubb. We are not to be left without grub for 3 months it seems. I could stand that, but to have Bowers for the same period will drive me wild. Let us send him off to some remote isle of the sea, to try the sailing qualities of his thing” [MTP].

June 19 Tuesday – Sam answered an inquiry from James B. Pond about lecturing—couldn’t until “the reverses come. They haven’t arrived yet” [MTLE 2: 81]. Note: when money was abundant, Sam seldom wanted to lecture, unless occasionally for a charity he supported.

June 20 Wednesday – Frank Fuller wrote a postcard from NYC. “I don’t know ‘Pitkins,’ but I have written Bowers to send me the bill for payment. Who overcharged? Pitkins? I’ll warrant it! ‘Tis true ‘tis Pitkins: Pitkins ‘tis, ‘tis true. If I am seem to see an overcharge in that bill when it comes, I’ll render Pitkins sad at heart” [MTP].

J.B. Berry (“Timothy Titus”) wrote from Otterville, Mo. “The connection here have selected me & placed money in my hands to investigate the claim of the Lampton heirs.” He was asking “a few of the best informed” how to best proceed. He asked for $75 [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env “Curiosity”

June 21 Thursday – Sam wrote two letters from Elmira to Howells. Sam had read in the newspapers that Bret Harte was trying to get a consulship. Sam tried to convince Howells to write President Hayes to squelch such an appointment, which Sam claimed would be a “disgrace of literature & the country.” [ page 764 ] Sam listed Harte’s faults, from not paying his debts to lying to being “steeped in whisky & brandy.” Sam claimed that Harte even “gets up in the night to drink it cold.”

With second thoughts, Sam wrote a follow-up letter to Howells at 10 PM:

“Never mind about Harte—I mean never mind about being bothered with the letter [to President Hayes]. I had to have an outlet to my feelings—I saw none but through you—but of course the thing would be disagreeable to you.” Sam urged Howells and wife to “visit any time in the summer and stay a week” [MTLE 2: 82-3].

June 25 Monday – Joe Twichell wrote to Sam that he was sending a novel by Sabine Baring Gould (1824-1924), “In Exitu Issail.” (In Exitu Israel; 1870). He thanked for the Bermuda trip and valued it, a “splendid time,” enjoyed as “few things in all my life….more like a boy in my feelings than I remember being for many a year” [MTP].

June 27 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Howells about finishing part four of the Bermuda travelogue article, “Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion.” As always, Sam deferred to Howells on matters of editing or appropriateness:  

“Do not hesitate to squelch them, even with derision & insult.”

Sam was working on a new comedy play, Cap’n Simon Wheeler, The Amateur Detective. He claimed to have written 55 pages at one sitting [MTLE 2: 85]. Emerson writes, “The play was a satire of Alan Pinkerton’s methods and a burlesque of his books…” [107].

Sam also wrote to Joe Twichell, thanking him for the trip to Bermuda and wishing they might have “had ten days of those walks & talks instead of four!” Sam wrote particulars and revisions for “Rambling Notes.” Twichell had confided bad news about Dean Sage, probably the illness with which he was afflicted, though he lived till 1902. Sam responded, “There are so many we could spare!—& that he should be singled out!” [MTLE 2: 85].

June 28 Thursday – Charles T. Parsloe wrote to ask for a $50 check, and to say, “I am afraid nothing can be done with Mr Abby, Park Theatre So I am trying what can be done with Mr. O.R. Thorne of the Lyceum” [MTP].

Charles E. Perkins sent Clemens a list of insurances on his house and furniture [MTP].

June 29 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Howells. Only the envelope survives [MTLE 2: 86].

June 30 Saturday – In Conanicut, R.I., Howells wrote to Sam, perhaps answering his of June 29. Howells wrote of his recent trip to Quebec and of breakfasting with President Hayes during his recent to Boston and Newport. Howells loved Sam’s pieces about the Bermuda trip:

I’ve just been reading aloud to my wife your Bermuda papers. That they’re delightfully entertaining goes without saying; but we also found that you gave us the only realizing sense of Bermuda that we’ve ever had. I know that they will be a great success. —The fog has cleared off, and we’re in raptures with Conanicut. Would that we could bring your hill-top to our shore!—That joke you put in Twichell’s mouth advising you to make the most of a place that was like Heaven, about killed us [MTHL 1: 185].

Frank Fuller began a note to Sam that he finished on July 3, clipping enclosed: “the tug-boat Herbert, belonging to Staples & Phillips of Taunton, blew up Tuesday and killed William Farrell and William Paull.” Fuller added that Sam erred “in stating that Bowers & Johnny were the parties”  [MTP]. [ page 765 ]

July – To an unidentified person:

“Always acknowledge a fault frankly. This will throw those in authority off their guard & give you opportunity to commit more” [MTLE 2: 87].

Sam made an entry in his notebook to purchase a second-hand copy of Arabian Nights [Gribben 26]. He also wrote “get Froude & notes,” referring to James Anthony Froude’s (1818-1894) History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 12 vols. These books aided Sam in the writing of P&P [247]. He also wrote a reminder to “get full Harper Monthly for Sue” (Crane) at a second-hand bookstore in New York [293]. He also wrote a reminder to “Bring Hume’s Henry VIII & Henry VII,” referring to David Hume’s (1711-1776) The History of England (6 vols. 1854) [340].

July 3 Tuesday – Frank Fuller finished his June 30: “Bowers sent his regular little dft for 3100 yestrdy, a proof that he still survives.” Fuller intended to leave town should Bowers show up, lying around, “stunning me with steam pressures & tables of expansion” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env “No answer”; H.C. Bowers; see June 11 listing.

July 4 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to his attorney Charles Perkins, restating the value of his house and goods for insurance purposes. Sam’s brother-in-law, Theodore Crane, suffered loss of a building insured for $12,000 that the “consultation-gang of insurance-thieves” had said was only worth $8,000 [MTLE 2: 88].

Sam began a letter to Howells that he finished on July 6. He was still bothered by a second reading of Parts one and two of his Bermuda travelogue piece, and told Howells to not print it should he have any doubts. Sam had “piled up 151 MS pages” on his amateur detective play. “Never had so much fun over anything in my life—never such consuming interest & delight.”

Sam wrote about not being able to see President Hayes, due to “that old ass of a private secretary” taking him for George Francis Train. He’d go and call on Hayes again, he said.

“I shall go in my war paint; & if I am obstructed, the nation will have the unusual spectacle of a private secretary with a pen over one ear & a tomahawk over the other” [MTLE 2: 89]. Note: William K. Rogers (d. 1893), the former partner of President Hayes,  was the “old ass” secretary.

After reading all of the Atlantic he also wrote of a prolific New England writer, Rose Terry Cooke:

“Mrs. Rose Terry Cooke’s story was a ten-strike. I wish she would write 12 old-time New England tales a year” [MTP; Gribben 158]. Note: see Cooke’s of Aug. 18, 1880 and others indexed.

July 6 Friday – Sam finished the letter to Howells he began on July 4. He’d completed the play, a four-act comedy with fourteen characters—all done in “6 ½ days working 6 ½ hours per day.”

I go to New York Monday (St. James Hotel,) & take MS with me. Shall visit theatres for a week or ten days & see if I can find a man who can play the detective as well as Sol Smith Russell could doubtless have done it—though I have never seem him. If the play’s a success it is worth $50,000 or more—if it fails it is worth nothing—& yet even the worst of failures can’t rob one of the 6 ½ days of booming pleasure I have had in writing it [MTLE 2: 90]. Note: Sam was not only stage-struck, but counting his chickens quite large.

Charles T. Parsloe wrote to Sam that O.R. Thorne of the Lyceum had “read the piece and offers to get it up with everything new and share after Twenty two hundred dollars per week. Terms are a little steep I think but it is the only place in the city to be had.” Parsloe had another offer in St. Louis and gave details, though “the company is sure to be bad because Ben DeBar is the manager” [MTP]. Note: Benedict (“Ben”) DeBar (1812-1877), connected by [ page 766 ] marriage to the Booth actors, and a prominent stage manager in St. Louis. As an actor, DeBar was best known for portraying Shakespeare’s character John Falstaff in Henry IV.

Charles E. Perkins wrote a notice of interest and his fee [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env “Interest ac/ Send him $100 Livy”

July 7 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Perkins. He sent a check of $1,110.38 for property taxes on his Farmington Road House. He had discovered that Hartford property purchased with Livy’s money was still in his name, so directed Perkins to draft the necessary documents to deed back to Livy, and to send them to the St. James Hotel in New York [MTLE 2: 91]. Later in the day Sam telegraphed Perkins to send “Bergen’s address” [93].

July 11 Wednesday – Sam had not yet left Elmira, probably delayed by Livy’s health. Sam wrote to Howells about the Cap’n Simon Wheeler play, which Sam wanted to name “Balaam Ass” but Livy “wouldn’t have it.” Sam planned to leave for New York on Friday or Saturday [MTLE 2: 94].

July 12 Thursday – Still in Conanicut, R.I. on vacation, Howells wrote a short note to Sam, exclaiming that part four of Sam’s notes about Bermuda was “glorious. I nearly killed Mrs. Howells with it.”  [MTHL 1: 190].

July 13 or 14 Saturday – Sam traveled to New York [MTLE 2: 94].

July 15 Sunday – In New York Sam wrote to Livy . He was sorry she’d been “low” when he’d left home. He was expecting Frank Fuller to arrive as he wrote the note. He would go to “Hartford in the morning, but I loathe the trip.” A baggage car fire on the way to New York nearly destroyed his play manuscript [MTLE 2: 95]. Sam planned to haunt theatres for a week or ten days, but was forced to take a side-trip to Hartford after a burglar alarm went off at the Farmington Avenue house.

July 16 Monday – From New York, Sam sent separate letters to his daughters, Clara and Susy Clemens. Only the envelope survives to Clara’s letter. To Susy he wrote:

“I saw a cat yesterday, with 4 legs—& yet it was only a yellow cat, & rather small, too, for its size. They were not all fore legs—several of them were hind legs; indeed almost a majority of them were. Write me. Papa” [MTLE 2: 97].

Sam also wrote per Livy to Richard Edwards, giving permission to use three pages from his Mississippi Sketches in a reader [MTLE 2: 98].

Sam went to Hartford. In the evening he had a “pleasant short visit” with at the home of Charles Perkins and a “rattling time” at Twichell’s [MTLE 2: 100]. Twichell’s journal includes an entry for the evening about Sam reading Act I of the Simon Wheeler play:

“…he being the best reader I know…I couldn’t judge the merits of the comedy for stage presentation, but as a reading by the author for an audience of one it was an [?illegible] success” [Yale 4, copy at MTP].

Charles E. Perkins wrote that he’d rec’d Sam’s $100 check for H.W. Bergen. “George has been frightened at what he thinks was an attempt at burglary at your house—am not inclined to take much stock in it” [MTP]. Note: George Griffin, the family butler.

July 17 Tuesday – Sam wrote two letters from Hartford to Livy at Quarry Farm in Elmira. The burglar alarm had been tripped. Sam got to question everyone and play detective. Sam discovered that Lizzy the servant girl’s sweetheart had stayed overnight and left early in the morning, setting off the [ page 767 ] alarm. Sam thought it best to discharge Lizzy after a few weeks. In another development, a small gang of three “ruffians” had been yelling insults from the street on July 4, and the butler, George Griffin, took a couple of shots at them and ran them off. Sam wrote that he supposed he’d return to New York the next day, July 18[MTLE 2: 100-102]. Sam started another note to Livy that he finished the next day.

From Twichell’s journal:

“In the evening M.T. read us the remaining two acts of the Comedy a fitting way to quiet our nerves after the day’s excitement occasioned as follows: [Yale, copy at MTP]. Joe then describes the burglar episode where Sam cross-examined the servants.

 

July 18 Wednesday – Sam wrote from a Hartford horse-car to Livy (apologizing for the shaky writing) finishing the last letter of the previous day. He had gained the approval of Mrs. Perkins about disposition of the servants and sent one servant, Mary, to her friends till the family returned from Elmira, and left George Griffin in the house. Lizzy had lied about her man friend spending the night. Sam wrote he’d “been detective Simon Wheeler for 24 hours, now.” Sam ran a ruse to interview Lizzy’s man friend back at the house, “a tall, muscular, handsome fellow of 35” introduced by Lizzy as Willie Taylor. After some half-hour of sleuth-filled conversation, Taylor reluctantly agreed to marry Lizzy. Sam immediately rang a bell, whereupon Mary and George appeared with Pastor Twichell. Sam presented a marriage license he’d procured earlier in the day in a walk to town and Twichell promptly married the couple! Champagne was served in spite of tears from the bride, and Sam drank to their health, gave them each $100, and retired to Twichell’s house for dinner. Sam later wrote the details of the false burglary and the shotgun wedding into a story he called “Wapping Alice” [Willis 110].

 

Sam read his detective farce play to Joe and Harmony Twichell. He spent the night in the Farmington Avenue house [MTLE 2: 103-5].

Sam sent a dollar, a printed copy of the title-page of the Simon Wheeler play and a note applying for a copyright to Ainsworth R. Spofford, Library of Congress [MTLE 2: 132]. Afterward, he left Hartford for New York.

July 19 Thursday – Sam wrote from New York to Clara “Bay” Clemens, telling her that he’d purchased two dolls and two bath tubs and sent them by express for her and her sister Susy. Clara’s doll (Sam named “Hosannah Maria”) was in “quite delicate health,” and had caught a “very severe cold.”

“She was out driving & got rained on….It settled on her mind…paralyzed the sounding-board of her ears & the wobbling nerve of her tongue…I have consulted the best physicians. They say constant & complicated bathing will fetch her. Papa” [MTLE 2: 107].

Sam wrote a corresponding letter to Susy Clemens.

“Susie dear, Your doll is named Hallelujah Jennings. She early suffered a stroke of some sort, & since that day all efforts of the best physicians have failed to take the stiffening out of her legs. They say incessant bathing is the only thing that can give her eventual relief.”

It seems each daughter’s doll also had a child doll; Sam named them “Glory Ann Jennings” and “Whoop-Jamboree” [MTLE 2: 108].

July 20 Friday – Frank Fuller wrote a postcard from NYC: “I can’t find that old rip[?] so I go alone. I will sound the uttermost depths of the concern & see you or write you” [MTP]. [ page 768 ]

Charles E. Perkins wrote more of Sam’s financials, this on a tax bill [MTP].

July 20 to 30 Monday – Sam spent the days in New York attending rehearsals and helping Augustin Daly for the play Ah Sin to open on July 31. He purchased a white linen swallowtail coat for the opening and prepared a short speech. He also probably tried to sell Daly and others on producing the Simon Wheeler play, and visited friends in the city [MTLE 2: 109]. Note: When in NY, Sam rarely wanted for company.

July 24 Tuesday – Frank Fuller wrote another postcard from NYC: “I am a sick person. I go, hence. I will write Woodruff tomorrow. I have buzzed the old man till I can build that thing at Colt’s & run it. He brings a proposition from petroleum fellows to erect on for that purpose. I have not discharged him because I thought he might be worked off on them & the warm friendship which now exists between all of us be maintained” [MTP]. Note: William N. Woodruff, Hartford machinist. The “old man” was inventor H.C. Bowers. This pertains to the $5,000 Clemens had invested through Fuller’s solicitations for a new type of steam engine and other inventions of Bowers’.

July 25 Wednesday – Maze Edwards wrote from the St. James Hotel, NYC.  “Please consent to be here Friday Aug. 31, and either ‘speak a piece’ or say a few words between acts, and let us know your decision in a few days…” [MTP]. Note: Edwards was a theater manager who would become a road agent for Clemens.

Joe Twichell wrote from Hartford after hearing “that a full and circumstantial account of last weeks affair at your house has appeared in the Boston Herald. I want you to understand that it has not been through me that it has attained this publicity. Charley W. says it was written by young Richardson (son of A.D.R)…He must have got his particulars from the police” [MTP]. Note: Richardson boy likely son of Albert Deane Richardson; see Jan. 22, 1868.

July 26 Thursday – Frank Fuller wrote to Sam: “You must go to the sea side with me today or tomorrow or someday & be saved by good things…. I’ve been awful sick & haven’t had strength to frame a suitable letter to Woodruff yet, but I will”[MTP].

July 27 Friday – Sam wrote from New York to Livy, mostly about the rehearsals for Ah Sin and his optimism about the play. He added:

“I am very much obliged to your for marrying me, & I love you, love you, love you!” [MTLE 2: 110].

Stephen Fiske of Daly’s Fifth Ave. Theater wrote:

My Dear Author: / Please send by bearer (& as soon as you come in) FIFTY of the orchestras for Tuesday and you shall have that number for some other night. The orders for seats are so heavy that we cannot spare so many for Tuesday / Yours / Fiske (Plunkett[)]

July 28 Saturday – “Mark Twain’s Hotel” ran in the Downieville, California Mountain Messenger, and Fatout attributes it to Sam, possibly an “Enterprise refugee.”

None but the brave deserve the fare. Persons owing bills for board will be bored for bills. Sheets will be nightly changed, once in six months, or more if necessary. Beds with or without bugs [Fatout, MT Speaks 102].

July 29 Sunday – Livy wrote to Sam [LLMT 203-4] receiving two letters from him, because he offered no excuse for the delay in writing save the hours he’d spent and:

“…worked like a dog through this blistering weather & come home, whether early or late with the feeling that I couldn’t write”

Livy cautioned him not to talk against Harte, who Sam wrote had not “put in an appearance” [MTLE 2: 112]. [ page 769 ]

The Brooklyn Eagle ran a column titled “DUAL DRAMATIC AUTHORSHIP” on page 2 about Sam and Bret Harte’s upcoming opening of the stage play, not mentioned here by name. The unsigned article pointed out that “some of the most successful of French plays have been the joint production of different minds,” but then explained why Sam and Harte’s humor was too different.

The essence of a comedy written by these two men must necessarily be the survival of Mark Twain and suppression of Bret Harte. Such was “Colonel Sellers.” …It would give more encouragement to believers in the American drama if the two humorists wrote apart.

M. Fagan wrote from the office, chief of Hartford police, reporting on absences of Sam’s servants, George Griffin and Mary [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env “George’s remissness”

July 30 Monday – Charles E. Perkins notified Sam that he’d had all the insurance renewed for 3 years [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env “All paid / Aug 3/77”

July 31 Tuesday – The play Ah Sin was presented by Augustin Daly and opened at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, NYC. The cast of main characters included: Miss Dora Goldthwaite as SHIREY TEMPEST, Miss Mary Wells as MRS. TEMPEST, Mrs. G.H. Gilbert as MRS. PLUNKETT, Miss Edith Blande as CAROLINE ANASTASIA PLUNKETT, and Mr. Henry Crisp as HENRY YORK [Duckett 151].

Bret Harte was unable to attend, and Sam made remarks at the conclusion of the third act that would cause a permanent split between himself and Harte, that is, if it had not already taken place.

This is a very remarkable play. You may not have noticed it, but I assure you that it is so. The construction of this play was a work of great labor and research—and plagiarism.

When this play was originally completed, it was so long, and so wide, and so deep (in places), and so comprehensive, that it would have taken two weeks to play it…. the manager said no, that wouldn’t do; to play a play two weeks long would be sure to get us in trouble with the government because the Constitution of the United States says you shan’t inflict cruel and inhuman punishments. So he set to work to cut it down, and cart the refuse to the paper mill…The more he cut out of it, the better it got, right along. He cut out, and cut out, and cut out, and I do believe this would be one of the best plays in the world today if his strength had held out, and he could have gone on and cut out the rest of it [Fatout, MT Speaking 104-5].

Harte reacted heatedly to Sam’s statements, putting them to a personal animus and jealousy, since Harte felt he’d done the lion’s share of the work. The critics, however, were more in line with Sam’s opinion than Bret’s [Walker, P. 188].

After the first performance, The New York Times wrote:

The representation of the play called “Ah Sin” at the Fifth Avenue Theatre yesterday evening afforded frequent gratification to a very large audience. The fact that a good many spectators grew perceptibly weary as the performance approached an end, and the still more significant fact that the audience left the house without making the slightest demonstration of pleasure when the curtain fell upon the last scene, may imply that the piece, as a whole, is scarcely likely to secure a really strong hold upon the favor of the public…Humorists, romance writers, and poets are never born and seldom become dramatists, and both authors of “Ah Sin”, are now truing their ’prentice hand in seeking fame and fortune through the medium of the stage [Railton].

Sam wrote to the night editor of the New York World, asking if they’d be so kind to forward a copy of his curtain speech to the Boston Post [MTLE 2: 113]. The play ran five weeks in New York and then went on the road [Willis 106]. [ page 770 ]

August 1 Wednesday – Sam met with Andrew Chatto at the Lotos Club [MTLE 2: 124] In a letter of Aug. 3 to Howells, Sam said he saw the first two performances of Ah Sin, but “came away” after that, which would suggest Sam left New York on Aug. 2 [119].

August 2 Thursday –Sam returned to the Hartford house, probably to wrap up issues connected with security and to check with the police.

In Conanicut, R.I., Howells wrote that the last installment of “Some Rambling Notes” was “first-rate.”  Howells had received Sam’s invitation to Ah Sin, but did not go.

“…if it had been The Amateur Detective,  I think you would have had me on your hands. I’m very curious to read that play. Haven’t you a duplicate that you could send me? Why don’t you run up from New York, and see a fellow? There are six ferryboats a day from Newport to Jamestown, on Conanicut” [MTHL 1: 191].

Sam wrote from Hartford to George M. Fenn (1831-1909), London writer and editor, declining to send a miscellaneous article, using the excuse that he was “under contract for all such things that I do write.” Sam asked to be remembered to:

“…friends in the Savage & Whitefriars—especially Henry Lee, if he will only be good & not so lazy & tell me what amount of money it was I once borrowed of him in Paris & told Dolby to repay him & Dolby writes that he forgot it…I never will borrow money from such a lazy man again!” [MTLE 2: 115].

August 2? Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford and complied with the request of Paul Apfelstedt for an autograph with “great pleasure” [MTLE 2: 116].

August 3 Friday – Sam had returned to Elmira, where he wrote George Bentley, publisher of Temple Bar, enclosing the first of the series of four articles of the Bermuda travelogue for simultaneous publication. If Bentley did not want the articles, Sam asked that they might be sent to Andrew Chatto for “one of his two magazines…” [MTLE 2: 117].

Sam telegraphed Augustin Daly, suggesting an addition to a scene (ending of the 2nd act?; see Parsloe’s Aug. 5) in Ah Sin [MTLE 2: 118].

Sam also wrote to Howells about sending one of the proofs of the Bermuda travelogue to Bentley in London. In his opinion the Ah Sin opening was better received than the Gilded Age play had been. Sam asked Howells if he would print a disclaimer of a misquote that had appeared in some newspapers to the effect that Sam felt the New York newspaper criticisms weren’t just. Sam had never said such a thing, and believed the opposite, so would Howells print a suggested paragraph? Sam took another swipe at Harte, claiming again that many plagiarisms in the play had to be cut [MTLE 2: 119-20].

Sam also wrote two notes to Charles Perkins about financial matters and deposits from the new play. Sam stipulated that Harte was not to receive any funds until the loans made him were repaid [MTLE 2: 121-2].

William Jermyn Florence, stage name for Bernard Conlen, leading American comic actor, specialty being dialect roles, wrote to Sam. “Have read the play—the idea of The Old Detective is a capital one, but the balance of the characters are ‘sketchy’ ” [MTP].

August 4 Saturday – Sam wrote to Charles E. Perkins, letter not extant but referred to in Perkins’ Aug. 8; Sam likely directed him to deposit a draft from Maze Edwards.  [ page 771 ]

August 5 Sunday – Charles T. Parsloe wrote to Sam that the new ending to the second act was tried and :

Edwards, Chapman and Fiske say it is an improvement but it can be improved still further. Business has dropped since the second night but I am in hopes it will pick up again the coming week, still I believe we are doing the best business of any theatre in the city….I like your idea about buying Harte out. Nothing would please me better than to be able to cut loose from him and shall try my very level best to do it [MTP]. Note: Maze Edwards, Stephen Fiske

August 6 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss about copyright law, Canadian piracy, Andrew Chatto visiting Canada, and the requirement for a work to be registered in Canada 60 days before publication, something Moncure Conway did not do with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and likely was unaware of [MTLE 2: 123].

Sam then wrote to Conway, asking a favor to find a certain kind of watch. Sam told of his feud with Harte and his meeting with Andrew Chatto at the Lotos Club on Aug. 2, the day after the Ah Sin opening. Sam enclosed a New York Evening Post article that was a “fair sample” of the Bermuda articles Sam was offering to “simultane” to Temple Bar.

“I have left precious little of Harte in ‘Ah Sin,’ & what there is he stole from other people. He is an incorrigible literary thief—& always was [MTLE 2: 124].

Sam then wrote a fairly long letter to Mary (Mollie) Fairbanks (now Gaylord). Sam perhaps tried to make up for being unable to attend Mollie’s wedding. Sam wrote that the family would “run over to Ithaca tomorrow for a 2-day visit.” (Ithaca, N.Y. was the home of Hjalmar H. Boyesen, who had visited the Clemens family over the last holiday season.) He told of his three weeks in New York working on the Ah Sin play. He hadn’t been able to find a producer for his Simon Wheeler play, but wrote:

“I have a vast opinion of the chief character in it. I want to play it myself, in New York or London, but the madam won’t allow it. She puts her 2 ½ down with considerable weight on a good many of my projects” [MTLE 2: 125]

Besides the startling revelation of Livy’s Lilliputian shoe size (another exaggeration?), Sam asked what Mollie was reading, and launched into a long philosophical discussion of how a person shouldn’t have a “single interest in the world outside of his work,” should “work for 3 months on a stretch, dead to everything but his work; then loaf diligently 3 months & go at it again.”

Sam wrote he had read half of Les Miserables, “two or three minor works of” Victor Hugo, and also “that marvelous being’s biography by his wife”; Carlyle’s History of the French Revolution, and Yonge’s Life of Marie Antoinette, which Sam was highly critical of; In Exitu Isreal, by Baring-Gould (loaned by Twichell); The Taking of the Bastille, by Dumas; “a small history of France” by Madame de Genlis, in French; and some chapters in Taine’s, Ancient Regime; John Motley’s Rise of the Dutch Republic (1856) (Sam read it on the voyage to Bermuda and said he “would have thrown the book into the sea if I had owned it.” ); Charles Reade’s, Woman Hater—Sam had just finished reading it (“a handful of diamonds scattered over every page”) and had just begun Picciola in French, by Xavier Boniface Saintine (1798–1865).

Sam threw in a few lines about his hatred for Republican forms of government and universal suffrage [MTLE 2: 126-7]. [ page 772 ]

Sam also wrote to Henry O. Houghton, inquiring about the Canadian Monthly; letter not extant but referred to in Houghton’s Aug. 9 reply.

Sam also wrote to Charles T. Parsloe, letter not extant but referred to in Parsloe’s reply of Aug. 10.

Charles E. Perkins wrote financial information to Sam, including his $150 bill for the past 6 months [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env “Perkins salary & insurance paid. Aug 77”

August 7 Tuesday – In Elmira Sam wrote to Frank Millet, responding to a recent letter. “All the world’s a stage & everybody is writing plays for it,” Sam wrote, reshaping a line from Shakespeare. Sam thought Ah Sin was going well; Joaquin Miller had a play opening at Wood’s Museum in New York on Aug. 27, but Sam couldn’t recall the name of it (The Danites, or, the Heart of the Sierras opened in NYC on Aug. 22); Howells had written a play for the matinee idol Lawrence Barrett and made good “pecuniary terms with him & Barrett is vastly pleased”; Petroleum Nasby wanted to write a play with Sam, but it wasn’t pursued—Sam saw in the papers that Nasby found another collaborator. Sam wrote he never heard about Prentice Mulford; Ambrose Bierce was in San Francisco, and Charley Stoddard hadn’t turned up yet, but Sam supposed he was still on “the other side”—all responses to probable questions by Millet [MTLE 2: 128].

Assuming Sam’s letter of Aug. 6 was acted upon, the Clemens family went to Ithaca, New York for a two-day visit to Hjalmar H. Boyesen and family. They were back in Elmira by Aug. 11.

August 8 Wednesday – Charles E. Perkins wrote to Sam: “Yours of the 4th inst is recd. I have recd from Mr Maze Edwards $259.36 & placed it to your credit as directed by you—” [MTP].

E. Kirkham wrote a friendly fan letter from Hamilton, Bermuda to Clemens, in which he mentioned reading and laughing over Helen’s Babies by John Habberton (1876) [MTP].

August 9 Thursday – Sam purchased a copy of Alexandre Dumas’ (1824-1895) play, Le Demi-Monde (1855) from James R. Osgood & Co. [Gribben 207].

Henry Whitney Cleveland wrote again to Sam (see June 7). He offered “to be the Slave of the Lamp…to only be your clerk and humble helper, with only such pay as you please.” Cleveland also suggested that Sam publish a play Cleveland had written, “if you will write some fun in it.” [MTP]. Note: Cleveland became a well known autograph collector.

Henry O. Houghton wrote to Clemens: “I am receipt of your favor of the 6th inst. / The Canadian Monthly published in Toronto by Hart & Rawlingson, is as far as we know, a first class journal, and if you desire to have arrangements made with them & I can be of service, looking to their publishing our articles, please command me” [MTP].

August 10 Friday – Sam wrote to M. Fagan, Hartford police investigator of the goings on with Sam’s house. Letter not extant but referred to in Fagan’s Aug. 14 reply. From this reply it seems likely Sam inquired as to the cost of Fagan’s investigations.

Charles T. Parsloe wrote to Sam: “Yours of the 6th received—Mr. Hutchings has not called yet, when he does I will do as you desire. / I have written to Mr Bret Harte about buying him out, but there is no telling when to expect answer…. What do you think of Pennoyer’s letter. I think the terms are too steep….” He included a schedule of performances in various cities from Sept. 3 to Dec. 17. Letter to Parsloe from A.S. Pennoyer (dramatic agent) Aug. 8 enclosed [MTP]. [ page 773 ]

August 11 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Perkins, his attorney, sending Charles T. Parsloe’s address to contact an agent, name not known by Sam [MTLE 2: 130].

Bissell & Co. Hartford bankers & brokers wrote to Sam: “Rec’d your dispatch that you will take $4000 S. Johnson Bonds. We expect them very soon…” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env “About $4000 bonds / Aug. 77”

August 11–14 Tuesday – Sam went to New York, business unknown, and stayed at the St. James Hotel [MTLE 2: 133].

August 14 Tuesday – Frank Fuller wrote to Sam on a long strip of 2& ½” paper, (Warren to Fuller July 20, Aug. 7 & 8 enclosed). “Dear Mark: / I will send you Mr. Warren’s letters & you shall decide. He is able & a miller. Beyond a doubt he can build up a big business & a highly profitable one at Lockport with some small help.” Fuller wanted to send the man $50 followed by more. He asked if Sam had rec’d “& mailed my letter to Woodruff.” [MTP].

M. Fagan  wrote to Sam having rec’d his of Aug. 10. His investigation of a possible burglary “was never intended to beg any expense” from Clemens. “I believe it my duty to find out if possible who they were and aid any future investigations. Fagan added, “My duties last from 7 P.M. until I awake George in the morning from 5 to 6 A M” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env “No expense for detective investigations”

Bryan, Brand & Co. Book publishers, St. Louis, wrote, flyer enclosed. They were planning to publish a history of Missouri and asked for “a sketch” of Twain’s life [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Impertinent”

August 15 Wednesday – Sam sent a postcard from New York to Augustin Daly, writing that he was:

“this moment leaving for that bourne from whence no traveler returns when sober (Elmira, N.Y.)” [MTLE 2: 131].

Why and when Sam went to New York is not known, but it may have involved business with Daly and the Ah Sin production, or a continued effort to secure a producer for the Simon Wheeler play.  

August 16 Thursday – Sam wrote Charles E. Perkins on financial matters; letter not extant but referred to in the Aug. 21 reply.

August 17 Friday – Sam wrote to Charles T. Parsloe; letter not extant but referred to in Parsloe’s Aug. 20 reply; evidently Sam asked how Ah Sin was going.

Bissell & Co. wrote to Sam, crediting $372.37 rec’d and billing $4000 for S. Johnson Bonds [MTP].

August 18? Saturday – In Elmira Sam sent Charles Perkins an annotated bank statement concerning S. Johnson bonds valuing $4,003.52 [MTLE 2: 132].

August 20 Monday – Sam wrote a short note from Elmira to Francis D. Clark, declining to attend an invitation for an event of the Society of Pioneers, pleading other engagements. Clark’s invitation had been forwarded from the St. James Hotel in New York [MTLE 2: 133]. Sam also turned down an invitation to the group’s annual banquet back in Jan. 1876 [MTLE 1: 30].

Sam also wrote Charles E. Perkins on financial matters; letter not extant but referred to in the Aug. 21 reply. [ page 774 ]

Sam also wrote H.O. Houghton asking them to contact Hart & Rawlinson publishers of the Canadian Monthly. Letter not extant but referred to in Houghton’s Aug. 30 reply.

Charles T. Parsloe wrote details and income from the play, having rec’d Sam’s letter of Aug 17. He closed with: “If you get time, look at Sunday’s ‘Herald’ and see how Fiske and Daly—Disgustin D—manipulate items for their own purpose. Didn’t I tell you he’d do something dirty before I left? Please reply as early as possible” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Put in scrap book”

August 21 Tuesday – Charles E. Perkins wrote financial details to Sam, having rec’d his of Aug 16 and 20. “I leave tonight for two weeks vacation” [MTP].

August 22 Wednesday – William C. Hutchings wrote to Sam, offering to dispose of the “Sketches” pamphlets and make $300 by selling them to Aetna Life Ins. Co. who would print their ad on the back [MTP].

Woodruff Iron Works per Edward F. Smith wrote to ask if Clemens could send them the balance of his account, as they had “very small capital,” and had “made a set of patterns and castings according to instructions from Mr Bower[s], as you directed us to do…” Bower and Woodruff disagreed about the castings being acceptable. [MTP]. Note: this may be a continuation of the new form of steam engine H.C. Bower was working on, or another of his inventions; Frank Fields had led Clemens into investing in these inventions to the tune of $5,000.

M. Fagan detective, wrote to Sam: “I would respectfully inform you that Mary returned alone, and slept in your house last night. George’s wife visited your house last evening…” He further reported that local horse races had produced “a great number of stragglers of all kinds” into Hartford [MTP].

August 23 Thursday – In Elmira, sharecropper John T. Lewis (1835-1906) stopped a runaway horse-carriage and saved the lives of Ida Clark Langdon (1849-1934), wife of Charles, little daughter Julia (1871-1948), and the nursemaid Norah.

August 24 Friday – Sam inscribed a copy of Mark Twain’s Sketches, New and Old, to John T. Lewis, who saved Ida Langdon’s life from a runaway horse carriage the day before [McBride 36].

Charles T. Parsloe wrote to Sam: “Have secured Edwards. Business light this week. Daly gets it all. Houses average $200—only. / Will you please send me check for $50. and oblige” [MTP].

August 25 Saturday – Maze Edwards & Charles T. Parsloe wrote to Sam about Ah Sin business, enclosing a contract of this date between Clemens, Edwards and Parsloe. Edwards also wrote: “The item you speak of did appear in all the New York papers, and Mr. Fiske was the instigator of it. He now endeavors to evade it by saying it was Bret Harte who said such an event would take place. Parsloe informs me he has agreed with you for my services. I herewith enclose copies of Agreement, signed by myself and Parsloe, which if satisfactory, please sign and return to me. / Business is quiet / Very truly &c…” [MTP]. Note: Stephen Fiske

The Aug. 25 contract between Maze Edwards Charles Parsloe, and Clemens, as Edwards an agent for Ah Sin at $40 per week to go on the road with the play and furnish accounts to the authors [Duckett 157]. Note: an agreement is in the MTP file for Aug. 25 specifies that Edwards would furnish “his services for the transactions of all business connected with the performances” of the play from Sept. 1, 1877 to Dec. 22 [MTP].

Sam replied with $50 check to the Aug. 24 of Charles T. Parsloe, letter not extant but referred to in Parsloe’s Aug. 28 reply.  [ page 775 ]

Sol Smith Russell wrote to Sam: “Both Mr Daly & Harry Wall have spoken to me of your new play “Clues” Mr Daly thinking the star part will suit me advised this letter. / I shall be please, indeed to hear from you concerning this piece” [MTP]. Note: Horace (Harry) Wall, theatrical agent. Simon Wheeler, Detective.

Sam replied to Sol Smith Russell, letter not extant but referred to in Russell’s Aug. 28 reply.

H.W. Bergen wrote to ask Clemens for an extra $20 since Perkins was on vacation and the “fare alone” for the long trip was $27 or $29 [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env “Bergen / Sent $20 / Aug 26/77”

** Frank Fuller wrote to Woodruff Iron Works and sent Sam a copy that enclosed $250 [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env “Bowers—Woodruff Aug. 77”; in MTP File: “See 4 Oct 1877 letter from Fuller with enclosure of 3 Oct letter from Woodruff replying to 25 Aug letter.”

August 25 and 27 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Dr. John Brown in Edinburgh, Scotland, about the thrilling rescue made by John T. Lewis on Aug. 23 [MTLE 2: 135-9].

It has been known, during some years, that it was Lewis’s purpose to buy a thirty-dollar silver watch some day, if he ever got where he could afford it. Today Ida has given him a new sumptuous gold Swiss stem-winding stopwatch; & if any scoffer shall say “Behold this thing is out of character,” there is an inscription within, which will silence him; for it will teach him that this wearer aggrandizes the watch, not the watch the wearer [MTLE 2: 138].

The Cranes forgave Lewis his indebtedness of some $700. Charles Langdon gave Lewis the watch [Willis 112]. Sam called Lewis “our great black hero,” and became a life-long friend. Lewis certainly influenced the character of Jim in Huckleberry Finn.

Also on these same two days, Sam wrote to William Dean and Elinor Howells, telling them essentially the same account of the rescue he’d written to Dr. John Brown. Sam expressed the wish that the Cranes did not wish the story to appear in the newspapers, and he knew that the Howellses could keep it in confidence [MTLE 2: 140-4].

August 27 Monday – Sarah T. Crowell and Emma Gayle, Cape Cod neighbors, wrote to Clemens:

Dear Sir / We are two sin twisters (we meant to write twin sisters) of Cape Cod, have lived here all our lives with a few interruptions; we never went to a big city, never saw a publisher, are afraid of big cities and publishers. But something happened in this locality a while ago that we have written into a book and want dreadfully to publish. So we want to know if you will let us send you the M.S.S. and read it and approve it and send it to that unknown animal the publisher and tell him to put it in print. We should not know what to say to one, we should feel as scared as you did the night of your first lecture as described in “Roughing it.” Now we haven’t any one to laugh for us unless you will laugh, and we haven’t anyone to pound our genius into the publisher’s brain, unless you will pound. Will you laugh? Will you pound? (Tears of entreaty fall at this point) and will you answer this brassy epistle? (We acknowledge it is brassy “should not have written in this style to Mark Twain one of the Authors of Ah Sin—and lots of other sins” I hear you say.[)] however we humbly implore your pardon and on bended knees and awful big tears beseech you to answer by return mail.

      We read “Roughing it” all last Winter and wept each time we came to the end—if you had only kept on writing more of it, it would have been the best book in the World it beats Dickens works all “holler.”

      Will you have the kindheartedness and disinterestedness to ask Mr Bret Harte if you will send us his parody on the May Queen as we lent our copy to Aunty Carber and she’s lost it—it is so tremendously pathetic we cannot possibly live without it, and we should admire a copy of the “Gilded Age” but I dont know as the publishers give you an extra one? do they?

      Our Book is not very long but remarkable like your play Oh! that we could see that play. We cant write any more for we’ve both got the “Epic-zootic.” Don’t forget to answer.

      The ardent admirers of “Roughing it” — “Innocents Abroad” &c &c. / S.T. Crowell, / E. Gayle [MTP].  [ page 776 ]

August 28 Tuesday – Sol Smith Russell wrote to Sam wishing an interview. He’d rec’d Sam’s of Aug. 25 and reported his “engagements are closed to Feb. 1st—nothing beyond—I leave New York Sunday 2nd for the south” [MTP].

Charles Thomas Parsloe wrote: “Your of 25th with check enclosed just received.” Mrs. P had lost her pocketbook so the money arrived “in the nick of time.” Also, “Wall & Edwards have read your letter and say all right, your instructions shall be obeyed to the letter. We open in Elmira Sept. 14th with ‘Ah Sin’ / Business still very light” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env “Check from me for $50 rec’d”

August 29 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to William Dean Howells. Sam had received Howells’ letter the day before and didn’t care for one of his Bermuda articles in proof. Sam wrote that Boucicault said his new play (Simon Wheeler) was “ever so much better than Ah Sin,” and that an actor (unnamed) was “chawing over the play in New York.” Sam expected to leave Quarry Farm and Elmira on Sept. 4, reaching their Hartford home on Sept. 8, but admitted they might be delayed a week. Sam had been reading Ticknor’s Diary, about a man traveling through the mountains of Spain, rife with outlaws [MTLE 2: 146].

 [ page 777 ]
August 30 Thursday
– Sam wrote to Mollie Clemens and his mother, Jane Clemens, who was visiting Orion and Mollie in Keokuk. Sam sent Livy’s advice that Mollie’s health would be a “bar” to her trying to run a boarding house. To his mother Sam wrote:

“If you don’t quit tearing around with the other young people you will make yourself sick, sure. However, we are glad you are having such a good time, & hope it will continue. Why don’t you want to go to George Hawes’s?” [MTLE 2: 147]

H.O. Houghton & Co. wrote to Clemens having rec’d his of Aug. 20. They had written Hart & Rawlinson publishers of the Canadian Monthly as requested. “Their reply, which we inclose, came to-day, and the proof of your article in the Oct Atlantic has been sent to them” [MTP].

August 31 Friday – Maze Edwards for Wall’s Dramatic Bureau wrote from NY to Sam; not found at MTP but catalogued as UCLC # 32556.

September –Elisha M. Van Aken (1828-1904) wrote to Sam [MTP].

September 3 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Mary Mason Fairbanks. Sam encouraged Mary to visit, and wrote about his desire to travel to Germany next May 1,  “& settled down in some good old city…& never stir again for 6 months. Then come home.” Sam’s mother was visiting Quarry Farm, and the Clemens family would go home to Hartford the next day [MTLE 2: 148].

Also possibly on this day, Livy and Sam wrote from Elmira to the Howlands, Robert and Louise. Robert Howland was a buddy from Sam’s Nevada days, the man responsible for gathering a list of Carson City dignitaries to encourage Sam to lecture there on his first Nevada circuit. Livy thanked them for a picture they’d sent of their daughter and invited them to visit Hartford. Sam wrote that the Howland girl was “a marvel of grace & beauty” [MTLE 2: 149].

September 4 Tuesday – If the intentions in the two letters of Sept. 3 to Mary Fairbanks and the Howlands were carried out, the Clemens family left Elmira and returned to their home in Hartford.

September 10 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Etta Booth, a girl of eight when Sam first saw her in Virginia City in 1863. Etta had written to Sam from New York. Sam responded:

“Your letter has almost made a grandfather of me, it carried me so far back into the wasted centuries…I have reached the age where one puts such things out of his mind & keeps them out—for they remind him not that he is growing old, but that he is old” [MTLE 2: 150].

Note: See MTL 2: 72n2, which claims Etta “was probably the daughter of Lucius A. Booth of Virginia City, proprietor of the Winfield Mill and Mining Company.” Sam later ran into Etta by accident in New York in Apr. 1906 and recalled having first met her at a ball in Virginia City at “the beginning of the winter of 1862” and estimating her age then at thirteen. See more about Etta in Jan. 7, 1863 entry, and in MTA 2: 24.

Sam also wrote to Charles Warren Stoddard, who had sought advice to publish a travel book. Sam discouraged Stoddard about the possibility of a subscription house publishing a travel book at that time, but invited Charles to come for a visit, when Sam would fill him up with “good advice & Scotch whisky” [MTLE 2: 151].

Maze Edwards wrote from Cincinnati to Sam: “Parsloe and I are on our way back from St. Louis, to join the Rochester Co. with whom we commence Thursday….The business in St. Louis was not favorable, hence I have not [ page 778 ] been able to send Mr. Perkins, anything other than a statement for the past week “ [MTP]. Note: Sam’s new road agent for Ah Sin.

September 11 Tuesday – Samuel C. Upham sent Sam a printed poem, “The Land We Adore” handwriting on the bottom, “Mr. Samuel L. Clemens with compliments of The Author” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env “ ‘Poetry’ by the man who said that if Prentice Mulford would put his mind to it he could easily cast Twain & Harte’s literature far into the shade.”

September 12 Wednesday – Joe Twichell wrote from Keene Valley, NY to quote a paragraph from Charles Kingsley’s Life, Am. Edition p. 407 which contained the botanical word “Oreodoxa” which he thought Sam should have used in his article “to take off the flavor of the cabbage.” He hoped Sam was “up for a long walk this fall” [MTP].

September 15 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to George Bentley, publisher of the London Temple Bar. Sam sent Bentley the first of four articles he’d written for Howells and the Atlantic on his Bermuda trip, and now sent the second. Sam conveyed Andrew Chatto’s desire for the advance sheets of the articles if Bentley did not want them. Sam did not hear back from Bentley on the matter and had told Chatto to contact Bentley [MTLE 2: 152]. He wished to “simultane” publish the articles in England and the U.S. in order to subvert pirate publishers in either country and Canada.

On or about this day Sam wrote a short note to his mother and enclosed $100 [MTLE 2: 153]. It is interesting to compare Sam’s letters to his mother with those to close friends and family members. Since he’d been a young man away from home in the 1850s and 60s, Sam’s letters to Jane were mostly short, abrupt even, if cordial, and did not openly display affection that is seen in many of his other letters. This may be due to the sometimes-scolding nature of his mother’s letters, and Sam’s feelings of begrudging duty to Orion. He signed this letter “Affly Sam.” To be fair, most of Sam’s letters to his mother were destroyed by his request.

September 16 Sunday – H.J. Mettenheimer wrote from Cincy to Sam, clipping enclosed that claimed Clemens had written a St. Louis insurance man asking for “a full history of the rise and fall of life insurance in the West.” H.J. volunteered such information [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env “A lie probably started by Raymond”

September 17 Monday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam, advising him not to give “that story about the captain” to “those fellows” in some unidentified club, as “They’d be sure to slap it into print.” Howells wanted to use Sam’s story about John T. Lewis from Sam’s Aug. 25 letter, calling Lewis the “Elmira life-preserver” [MTHL 1: 202].

September 18 Tuesday – John Brougham (1810-1880) wrote to Sam, criticizing the detective character in a possible play (Simon Wheeler) [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env “Jhn Brougham Sept 77 About Detective”

September 19 Wednesday – From Hartford, Sam wrote a letter to the editor of the Hartford Courant, which ran on page 2 on Sept. 20 as, “A Tramp of the Sea.” Sam threw some light upon the mystery of a “schooner with a black crew of thirteen and only one white man,” (the Jonas Smith). On return from Bermuda Sam’s ship had come in contact with the mystery vessel [MTLE 2: 154-7]. (See listings of May 24-5, 1877.)

Sam also wrote to Howells, pasting an obituary in the middle of his text for Mary Langdon (1790-1877), who died Sept. 12. No, he had not written the obit, Sam answered, but she was a relative. Sam wanted to talk to Howells about the story of the runaway horse and John T. Lewis’ heroism when Howells came for a planned visit.  [ page 779 ]

“Delicacy—a sad, sad false delicacy—robs literature of the two best things among its belongings: Family-circle narratives & obscene stories.”

Sam also wrote of the adventure at sea returning from Bermuda that left out of his articles for the Atlantic, and that “the press dispatches bring the sequel to-day, & now there’s plenty to it.”

A sailless, mastless, chartless, compassless, grubless old condemned tub that has been drifting helpless about the ocean for 4 months & a half, begging bread & water like any other tramp, flying a signal of distress permanently, & with 13 innocent, marveling, chuckle-headed Bermuda niggers on board, taking a Pleasure Excursion! Our ship fed the poor devils on the 25 of last May, far out at sea & left them to bullyrag their way to New York—& now they ain’t as near New York as they were then by 250 miles! They have drifted south & west 750 miles & are still drifting south in the relentless Gulf Stream! What a delicious magazine chapter it would make—but I had to deny myself. I had to come right out in the papers at once, with my details…[MTLE 2: 159].

Dr. John Brown wrote a friendly letter of goings on and thoughts, some of which are illegible due to overwriting and leak-through. Enclosed is a letter from George Barclay, mentioned by name here [MTP].

George Barclay wrote a letter of fan appreciation from N.B. to Sam, enclosed in above [MTP].

September 20 Thursday – Sam’s letter about contacting the mystery vessel, the schooner Jonas Smith, with a large black crew not being mutineers as first reported, ran in the Hartford Courant under the headline “Tramp of the Sea” [MTLE 2: 154-7].

Bill arrived from Doré Gallery, London; Fairless & Beeforth £16 for artists proof of Dore’s “Christ Leaving the Praetorium” [MTP]. Note: Routledge & Co. had refused to pay this bill; Sam recalled that the agreement was he was to pay only if the engraving could be completed “in 2 1/2 years, or at the outside 3.” On about Oct. 3 he solicited Charles E. Perkins’ legal opinion whether to pay.

Sam telegraphed President Rutherford B. Hayes about the plight of the schooner Jonas Smith and the suffering crew [MTLE 2: 160]. Hayes directed Sam to forward a copy of the telegram with letter to John Sherman (1823-1900) Secretary of the Treasury, which he did [MTLE 2: 161-2].

Sam also wrote to Charles Perkins, his attorney and financial advisor, telling H.W. Bergen to add two dollars to his wages after Oct. 2 [MTLE 2: 163].

Sam wrote to an unidentified man on Sept. 20 and added a conclusion on Sept. 22. The man was likely either a clock dealer or repairman:

 

Dear Sir: The clock refuses to strike, but I am not particular about that. She runs faster than necessary, but I can regulate that. She doesn’t change the day of the week and the month until noon; but if she will stick to that, so that I can depend on her, she will not perplex me by giving her yesterdays an extra 12 hours. I always did think the yesterdays were too short any way. I inclose check. / S.L. Clemens.

      Sept. 22—Clock is all right now [MTPO: “Recent Changes,” Jan. 20, 2009: NY Times Oct. 14, 1877].

Rutherford B. Hayes sent a telegram: “Despatch received Please communicate with Secy. of Treasy at Washington & the proper course will be taken” [MTPO].

Minnie L. Wakeman-Curtis wrote from East Oakland, Calif. to announce she was “arranging for publication the ‘log’ or life written by” her father, Capt. Ned Wakeman. She asked for any remembrance of the Capt. that Clemens might have [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Captain Wakeman’s daughter” [ page 780 ]

September 21 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Perkins. Sam informed Perkins that he’d told H.W. Bergen  to report once a year or so, that dramatics weren’t worth the effort to do it oftener [MTLE 2: 164]. An agreement with this date temporarily transferred Sam’s interest in the Colonel Sellers play to Bergen [MTPO Notes with Oct. 27, 1876 to Raymond].

The Doré Gallery (Fairless & Beeforth) wrote to Sam.

Sir, / Agreeably to your instructions we duly forwarded the engraving “Xt. leaving the Prætorium” to the care of Messrs Routledge & Co; but they declined to honor the your draft on them for amt. of our a/c—

      We have therefore sent the Proof out to you direct by Messrs Davies Turner & Co., whose local Agents will present the order for payment on delivery of the case—which we shall be obliged by your duly honoring.     We are, Sir / Yours obedtly / for Fairless & Beeforth [MTPO].

September 22 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to John Sherman, Secretary of the Treasury, enclosing an excerpt from an article regarding the schooner Jonas Smith not being in trouble. Sam apologized for having caused Sherman any trouble connected with the “shameful” crew [MTLE 2: 165].

U.S. Treasury per John Sherman wrote to Sam replying to his of Sept. 20 (to President Hayes) and another on 22nd. The schooner had been boarded but no problem was found; the passengers & crew did not need assistance [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env “The Sec’y of the Treasury about the ‘Jonas Smith’ “

September 23 Sunday – Isaiah Weston wrote a postcard from St. Louis: “Friend Sam = Have just returned from the Black Hills, Rusty & Seedy = Save old Judge Morgan = also, & nearly all the old broken Pioneers , of the few who are left = If you wish to write me, — Direct to Sherman, Texas, the next 40 days = your absent friend of 11 years…” [MTP]. Note: nothing further found on Weston. 11 years would = 1866, when Clemens was in Hawaii.

September 24 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote a postcard to Charles Perkins, asking if money from Edwards (unidentified) had been received [MTLE 2: 167].

H.W. Bergen wrote to Sam: “Yours of he 21st enclosing chk for $100—reached me this A.M all OK. Also the contract which I enclose signed.” He promised to hold down expenses and had hope the business would pay them both [MTP].

September 25 Tuesday – Frederick Wicks wrote on Glascow News notepaper to tell Sam about G.C. Clemens, a man people kept thinking was Mark Twain, even though his hair was jet black. Even reporters of the Evening News published the man was Twain [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env “Rather amusing & a trifle discomforting”

September 27 Thursday – O.W. Bromwell wrote from Jacksonville, Tenn. to Sam, clippings enclosed. “Thinking that perhaps the fate of the ‘Ocean Tramp’ described in your letter to the Hartford Courant Sept. 19 would be of some interest to you, I take the liberty to send you the enclosed clippings” [MTP]. Note: clippings about the schooner Jonas Smith, from NY Herald Sept. 20, “Mark Twain Solves the Mystery of the Bark Jonas Smith”

September 30 Sunday – Sol Smith Russell wrote to Sam: “Yours to Norfolk Va – was sent to me. Thank you kindly for your letter as I had about despaired of hearing from you—Depend on it I shall run up and see you as soon as possible” [MTP].

October – The first of a four-part, 15,000 word article on Sam and Joe Twichell’s trip to Bermuda, ran in the Atlantic Monthly: “Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion” [Wells 22].

Curiously, in the magazine Belgravia, Chatto & Windus published a piece of Clemens’ titled “Some Random Thoughts of an Idle Excursion,” no explanation for the title change. The piece ran only seven [ page 781 ] pages [AntiQbook.com]. Note: see Jan. 1, 1878 entry, which shows Chatto and Conway thought this a better title; also used is “Random Notes of an Idle Excursion.”

Sam inscribed copies of Innocents Abroad and Sketches, New and Old, to Matthew H. Bartlett, a Boston shipping agent [MTLE 2: 168]. “To Mr. Bartlett, who has robbed the historical command ‘Away with him to the Tower!’ of all its terrors—this, with the grateful acknowledgements of Mark Twain Hartford, Oct. 1877” [McBride 9].

October 2 Tuesday – Sam gave a dinner speech at the Putnam Phalanx Dinner, Allyn House in Hartford for the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts. “If you fight as well as you feed, God protect the enemy” [Fatout, MT Speaking 106-9]. Budd identifies the title as “My Military History” [“Collected” 1017].

Maze Edwards, the agent Sam had hired to follow Ah Sin on the road, wrote feedback to Sam on the performances. Disappointing audiences showed the play needed rewriting. He offered that Parsloe knew someone who could rewrite the play if Sam chose not to; that the “vulgarities of the Plunkett women must somehow be removed” [MTP].

October 3? Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Perkins, enclosing a bill from a London merchant that Routledge refused to pay. The bill was for an engraving, “Christ leaving the Praetorium,” which Sam had purchased in London in 1872, under the understanding that he would pay for the picture only if it were completed in two and a half years [MTLE 2:172]. Sam didn’t want to pay the bill either, but sought his attorney’s advice—should he pay or refuse? [MTLE 2: 170].

October 4 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford, again to Charles Perkins, asking him to “re-mail that letter to me. I believe I will not concede the ‘dramatic’ year yet” [MTLE 2: 171].

Frank Fuller wrote to Sam (Woodruff Iron Works to Fuller Oct. 3 enclosed). “Poor old Bower never uttered a word when I told him I had no money for him & never expected to have any. He quietly but firmly walked away & has not reappeared. I have felt lighter & happier ever since” [MTP].

October 5 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Minnie L. Wakeman-Curtis, daughter of Edgar “Ned” Wakeman (1813-1875). Minnie would aid in publishing her father’s memoirs, The Log of An Ancient Mariner in 1878. Minnie sought biographical anecdotes about her father, and had written to Sam for anything he might supply. Sam answered that the yarns Wakeman spun were not best captured on paper, that they were so dramatic as to best be talked, and that Wakeman could make the listener cry and laugh at the same time, something very hard to do [MTLE 2:172].

Charles E. Perkins wrote to Sam about the disputed bill on the picture ordered in England. Perkins asked how many years before had Sam ordered it? [MTP].

October 5 or 6 Saturday – Sam wrote to Charles Perkins on his letter of Oct. 5, answering that it had been “more than 5 years ago” he ordered the engraving in England [MTLE 2:173]. (See Oct. 5 entry.)

October 7 Sunday – Howells inscribed a copy of Frederica Sophia Wilhemina, Margravine of Bayrueth’s memoirs, in two volumes: “S.L. Clemens, / from his friend / W.D. Howells / Cambridge, / Oct. 7, 1877” [Gribben 771].

Maze Edwards wrote to Sam reporting such low receipts on Ah Sin that an infusion of $400 would be needed to keep it going till the end of the season [Duckett 158].  [ page 782 ]

October 8 Monday – J.L. Goodloe wrote from Memphis to ask Sam to look over 400 pages of MS for him [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env “An absurd request”

October 10 Wednesday – Phineas T. Barnum wrote to Sam, clipping from the Denver Post pasted at top: “Barnum seems to be quite an admirer of Pope and quotes him more than any other writer except Mark Twain”. “My dear Mark / You cant well have more begging letters than I do ….but here is a peculiar case.” He seems to have asked Twain for tips for his “lecture or talk” to a poor church on some specific case [MTP].

October 12 Friday – Davies & Co. NYC wrote to advise Sam that “a box said to contain engraving has arrived from London”; they asked him to remit $112.31 [MTP]. Note: engraving, “Christ leaving the Praetorium.”

October 14 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Perkins, offering to take the tardy engraving and pay no more than fifty dollars [MTLE 2:174]. (See Oct. 3 to 5 entries.)

Minnie L. Wakeman-Curtis wrote to thank Sam for his of Oct. 5; she understood his reply and that her father’s stories could never be the same in print as he told them [MTP].

William Dean Howells wrote a postcard from Boston: “Barrett has given my play twice in Cincinnati with what he calls a grand success: the first time to a fair house; the second to a house in which every seat was sold. W.D.H.” [MTP].

October 15 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells, whose Oct. 14 letter carried good news about his play starring Lawrence Barrett, a matinee idol. Sam had seen the reviews in the papers and answered:

I’ve got some good news too—(but keep it to yourself for the present)—“Ah Sin” is a most abject & incurable failure! It will leave the stage permanently, within a week, & then I shall be a cheerful being again. I’m sorry for poor Parsloe, but for nobody else concerned [MTLE 2:175].

Evidently, after thinking about the feedback Maze Edwards had sent, Sam neither wished to invest more or do a rewrite of the play, and had decided by the time he wrote Howells, to abandon the effort. Howells was soon to visit and Sam also wanted him to read his “Undertaker’s Tale,” and tell him “what is the trouble with it.”

October 17 Wednesday – Kate Cowan, Chicago schoolteacher, wrote to ask Sam “for a few interesting facts” of his life for her literary group [MTP].

October 18 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Perkins, another communication on the engraving purchased five years before in London. Sam wanted Mr. D. Vorce to sell the engraving in New York [MTLE 2:176]. Note: engraving, “Christ leaving the Praetorium.”

Phineas T. Barnum wrote to Sam still trying to wrangle a visit. “Go ahead with your book. May it be as usual a …success.” He looked to Feb. for a visit [MTP].

Francis D. Millet wrote from Brestovec, Bulgaria: “One of my couriers brought me your letter a few days ago and handed it to me in the tent where, by a strange coincidence, I was occupied in wrestling with the Russian translation of your ‘Salt Beef Contract’ which together with ‘Journalism in Tennessee’ I discovered in a Russian magazine of late date.” He wrote of his struggles there as reporter for various papers, calling himself a “corpse” but eating all he could find. He asked about Stoddard.  A long, interesting and legible letter [MTP].

October 19 Friday – Davies & Co. wrote to Sam. “We have since writing on 12th received draft endorsed to our order drawn by you in London 4th Oct 1872 for sixteen pounds, in payment for the engraving ‘Christ leaving the [ page 783 ] Prætorium.’ The note is drawn on Mess Geo Routledge & Sons, London” [MTP]. Note: they denied ever doing a commission on a time schedule, as Twain had claimed.

Frank Fuller wrote to Sam (Woodruff Iron Works to Fuller Oct. 18. enclosed): “You see how W. feels. He don’t want me to come to Hartford. I wrote him I would, if he could lift the thing into the tug & build a fire under it” [MTP].

October 20 Saturday – Twichell’s journal:

“Saw Charles Warren Stoddard the author at M.T’s” [Yale, copy at MTP].

Livy started a “visitor’s book” for the many callers to write in. Eight years later, on June 7, 1885, she turned it into a diary, “as we always forget to ask visitors to write in it.” Stoddard was the first to sign the visitor’s book:  “Livy: First—the most” / yours always / Chas. Warren Stoddard”

October 20? Saturday – Sam sent a letter he’d received to Charles Perkins from agents Davies, Turner & Co., New York, concerning the engraving “Christ leaving the Prætorium.” The agent had received payment from Sam through Routledge for sixteen pounds for the picture. The suppliers of the engraving, Fairless and Beeforth, claimed to these agents previously that they never promise engravings by any specified time. It’s likely that the man who sold Sam the engraving made the promise, though unauthorized to do so. Sam wrote back to Perkins on the Davies letter,

“I suppose they ought to give up the order on Routledge now. SLC” [MTLE 2:177].

October 20–22 Monday – Sam inscribed five of his books to Charles Warren Stoddard, during a two-day visit: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Gilded Age, Innocents Abroad, Mark Twain’s Sketches, New and Old, and Roughing It [MTLE 2:178-82].

Sam included a letter dated Oct. 22, apologizing for not accompanying Stoddard to the train station (Livy scolded Sam for sending “anybody away alone.”) Sam invited Stoddard to “give me one more chance” and visit again.

October 23 Tuesday – Davies & Co. wrote to Sam that they’d received the $112.06 and forwarded the engraving this day by express by A. Vorce, dealer in fine arts, as his instructions [MTP].

October 24 Wednesday – Sam purchased books from James R. Osgood & Co., including: Early Travels in Palestine, etc. (1848), by Thomas Wright, Chronicles of the Crusades (1876), Abbot Ingulf of Crowland’s (d. 1109) Ingulph’s Chronicle of the Abbey of Croyland (trans. 1854), and Huntington’s History of England (1853) [Gribben 789; 142; 308].

Charles E. Perkins wrote to ask for a $75 check for Maze Edwards [MTP].

October 25 Thursday – Andrew Chatto wrote of publishing business to Sam, sorry he’d sent the wrong edition of Arabian Nights, and pleased to have rec’d his “Idle Notes” [MTP].

A. Vorce, fine arts, Hartford wrote “Upon the receipt of your postal card, respecting the “Dori Eng,’ we thought it best to have it sent direct to us here as it might be slaughtered if left to Davis & Co. to dispose of. We think of putting it up in good style & expose it for sale at a moderate price. We trust this will meet with your approval” [MTP]. Note: engraving, “Christ leaving the Praetorium.”  [ page 784 ]

October 26 Friday – The Howellses traveled to Hartford and dined with the Charles Warners, then attended a reception for Yung Wing and his wife at the Clemens home [Twichell’s Journal, Yale; MTHL 1: 207n1]. (See Oct. 31 Howells to Sam entry)

Twichell’s journal: “thence to M.T’s after a trip to Yale” [Yale, copy at MTP].

From Livy’s visitor’s book (later her diary): “Not last, but least. / W.D. Howells / Oct 26,1877” [MTP].

October? 26 Friday – Sam inscribed one of his Mark Twain’s Adhesive Scrap Books for Elinor Howells, calling the scrapbook his “last & least objectionable work” [MTLE 2:184].

October 27 Saturday – Based on his Oct. 31 letter, Howells and wife probably returned home to Cambridge after an overnight stay.

October 29 Monday – Orion Clemens wrote from Keokuk to thank his brother for 3 checks, $42 each. He sent news of their mother heading home with R.F. Bower this afternoon [MTP].

October 30 Tuesday – Livy’s visitor’s book was signed by H. Watie Gridley, a coal dealer [MTP].

October 31 Wednesday – In Hartford, Sam wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks, who was considering publishing a book (probably on the Quaker City excursion) and asked Sam’s advice. He answered that it was not “absurd” to offer a “best effort…to the public for trial & judgment.” Sam offered to write the introduction, and recommended Osgood if she was considering an eastern publisher. Then he dropped this jewel of writing wisdom:

But there’s a good safe rule to follow—considering that Providence always makes it a point to find out what you are after, so as to see that you don’t get it: Publish for fame, & you may get money; publish for money & you may get fame: but the true trick is, publish for love, & then you don’t care a (I can’t seem to get hold of the word I’m after) whether you get anything or not [MTLE 2:185]. Note: Sam often teased Mary about swearing.

In Cambridge, Mass., William Dean Howells wrote to Sam:

“The glimpse I had of you last week was such an aggravation that I almost wish I hadn’t seen you at all. I want a good old three-dayser, next time.”

Howells also wrote of Sam’s last “Rambling Notes” segment, and of wanting the amateur detective play story for the Atlantic [MTHL 1: 206-7].  

Charles W. Stoddard wrote from Perth Amboy, NJ to Sam:

“It was not necessary for you to see me to the Station that rainy day; I’m used to going alone in all sorts of weather and environs had you gone with me I should have felt as if I was taking you from your work and that would have made me wretched.” He thanked Sam for the signed books, and told a tale of a young man about to commit suicide who started reading IA and then “postponed his suicide indeffinitely”[MTP].

November – The second of a four-part, 15,000 word article on Sam and Joe Twichell’s trip to Bermuda, ran in the Atlantic Monthly: “Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion”  [Wells 22]. Note: Budd notes that “The Captain’s Story,” which was a part of “Rambling Notes,” was later printed separately in several collections; and that “The Invalid’s Story” was excluded by Howells from the piece for being “too offensive” for the magazine. It later appeared in The Stolen White Elephant (1882) [“Collected” 1017]. [ page 785 ]

Sam wrote to an unidentified person, enclosing a drawing he’d made of a sleeping cat and a drawing of a cat with arched back by Thomas Nast labeled: “This is a dog. Th. Nast” [MTLE 2:187].

Sam’s notebook included tirades against Whitelaw Reid for a planned biography which was never written [MTNJ 2: 49]. Osgood & Co. billed Sam for a set of George Mogridge’s (1787-1854) Learning to Think (1846) [Gribben, 479].

November 1 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells. Sam also felt Howells’ visit was too short, and hoped when he returned in December it would be a longer stay. Sam enclosed a piece that Joe Twichell got from a “Cleveland clergyman, who said it was very recent” for Howells consideration. Evidently Sam had marked a place to insert the piece in the proof of one of his current Atlantic articles on his Bermuda trip, and asked if Howells printed the insertion to “send a proof to Canada & forward one to me for London” [MTLE 2:188].

Sam ended with a reference to “Mrs. Gilman” having “fitful glimmerings of reason, in which she straightway plunges into schemes for paying the swindled creditors, & is soon a frantic maniac again.” This reference is to an unidentified Mrs. Gilman (possibly Mrs. George Shepard Gilman), not Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935), Hartford-born grandniece of Harriet Beecher Stowe, who did not become a Gilman until 1900. See AMT 2: 488-9 for more on Mr. George Shepard Gilman.

Mollie Clemens wrote to Sam and Livy. The weather was “simply horrible.” They missed “Ma more than I had any idea we would; she was here three & a half months. She made a great many friends and was admired by all and told to her face she was beautiful” [MTP].

Moncure Conway wrote to Sam having just rec’d his first copy of TS from Chatto & Windus. “They are just bringing out the cheap edition on which it is hoped the money is to be made. / Your speech to the Boston soldiers was about as good as it could be, except that it nearly broke one of my blood-vessels….You must—you really must—come over next Spring” [MTP].

Charles E. Perkins wrote to Sam of credits to his acct at Bissell’s bank and a request for $46.45 for Maze Edwards [MTP].

November 6 Tuesday – H.W. Bergen wrote from Toronto to thank Sam for the $60 check but returned it as he had gotten a “little ahead in money matters” and had “good cities and towns to visit yet” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env “Bergen enclosing ‘not used’ check for $60”

**W.D. Wells wrote from Jesup, Iowa to ask for a “short sketch” of Twain’s life [MTP].

November 7 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford per Fanny Hess to Andrew Chatto. Sam repeated that he only wanted to confirm Moncure Conway’s receipt of commissions for work placed with Chatto. Sam also had received two checks, one for over seven English pounds.

“The larger a check is, the more I like it; & the more I honor & glorify the sender, & the more it stirs me up to high literary achievement in that man’s behoof” [MTLE 2:189].

November 8 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford per Fanny Hesse to Moncure Conway. Sam had found an old letter of Conway’s about the cost of telegrams sent, and thought he may have forgotten to reimburse their cost. Sam wanted Conway to “take that £3.11.s out of the next Sawyer money due me from Chatto” [MTLE 2:190].  [ page 786 ]

November 9 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to E.S. Sykes (Hartford druggist) evidently about some carping on a recent event to raise money for charity, which Sam had volunteered for but wished only a lesser role in, and his name kept out of the newspapers. Relating the complaints about the shortcomings of the fundraiser to a sermon by Twichell, Sam quoted:

“He that waiteth for all men to be satisfied with his plan, let him seek eternal life, for he shall need it.” This portion of Mr. Twichell’s sermon made a great impression upon me, & I was grieved that some one had not wakened me earlier so that I might have heard what went before [MTLE 2:191-2].

Henry Watterson wrote to Sam: “Can’t you run over to New York about the 20th and give me some lessons in the fine arts?” [MTP].

November 12 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Thomas Nast, proposing the same plan that he had turned down in Nov. 1867—that is, to lecture together, Sam talking while Nast drew pictures. Sam listed the 75 cities they would tour, and estimated a net profit from $60,000 to $75,000 to split. Sam explained that he had declined the many lecture offers in the past year or so, not because of the money or that he minded talking to an audience, but because “(1.) traveling alone is so heart-breakingly dreary, & (2), shouldering the whole show is such a cheer-killing responsibility” [MTLE 2: 193-5]. Note: this time, Nast turned him down. See full text in the recently released AMT: 2, p.10.

November 13 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Orion in Keokuk. Only the envelope survives [MTLE 2: 196]. Sam paid a bill from Osgood & Co. for a copy of Fridthjof’s Saga that he’d ordered on Mar. 20 and for Bayard Taylor’s The National Ode: The Memorial Freedom Poem (1877) purchased on Jan. 21 [Gribben 687,690].

November 17 Saturday – Orion Clemens wrote of his change of offices, his being made Secretary of Republicans to publish the proceedings of the primary, thanking Livy for her account of Hall’s death, and of reading extracts of Sam’s Bermuda letters in the Atlantic Monthly [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Preserve”

A.F. Higgs wrote from Chicago admiring Twain’s article in the Dec. Atlantic (“Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion”), and recalling his own Union Army career [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Curiosity”

November 17? Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Thomas Bailey Aldrich, who had sent Sam his book (probably The Queen of Sheba and My Cousin the Colonel (1877). “I have read every line of the bewitching thing & have lost my day’s work & am not in the least sorry” [MTLE 2: 197].

November 18 Sunday – Edward Fordham Flower wrote from London: “I send you some notices of two pamphlets in one which are now published in New York by Cassells & Co. Can you do or say anything to make them known[?]” [MTP]. Note: father of Charles Edward Flower.

November 20 Tuesday – Dean Sage visited Twichell from Nov. 19 to 21. Twichell’s journal entry notes they went “to lunch at Mark Twain’s at noon” [Yale, copy at MTP].

November 21 Wednesday – E.S. Sykes, Hartford druggists wrote to Sam: “I return herewith your letter as requested. I read it to the Board as proposed. And it certainly set you right with those gentlemen who knew of yr. connection with the matter. / Feeling sure that if others were as ready to do their part as you have shown yourself to do yours that our poor would not want assistance, I remain… [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env “The performance that didn’t come off” [ page 787 ]

November? 22 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles E. Flower, advising that since receiving his letter about the Shakespeare Memorial, he had corresponded with some New York newspaper men. Sam and Livy stayed with the Flower family on their first trip to London together and Sam had used his influence to help Flower raise funds in the U.S. [MTLE 2: 198].

November 23 Friday – Sam dated several story and book ideas in his notebook, including one “in which the telephone plays a principal part (the germ of the story “The Loves of Alonzo Fitz Clarence and Rosannah Ethelton” published in the Atlantic for Mar. 1878). He wrote notes for Prince and the Pauper, which he’d worked on in the summer of 1877. Also noted were several ideas in a single line that would lead to future works, such as “Leathers, Earl of Dunham”—a distant relative’s delusions of grandeur as the basis for American Claimant [MTNJ 2: 49-51].

Livy’s visitor book was signed by Frank Hall, J.D. Slee, and Olivia Langdon “The Mother” [MTP]. Note: Hall was the American reporter who in Aug. 1867 wrote about the public burial ground at Naples, Italy which Sam noted was “damnable” [MTNJ 1: 385n10].

In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote Sam a short note that he and Winny [his daughter] expected,

“To be with you in the evening of Dec. 11. We should like to stay till the morning of the 13th, if it doesn’t seem too hard on you” [MTHL 1: 209].

Andrew Chatto wrote to Sam: “I have much pleasure in enclosing cheque for 15£ for the 3rd & 4th instalments of your ‘Random Notes’ ” [MTP].

November 26 Monday – Eighteen year old William (“Will”) M. Clemens (1860-1931) wrote to Sam, the first of over a dozen he would write by 1909.

 

To “That Uncle of mine”

Dear Mark; / I have just finished the “Gilded age,” for the second time, and I am determined to write you, not, for the sake of the book but to form an acquaintance with yourself.

      I am a young man of 18, or a boy in his teens, just as you like it.

      As you will perceive I belong to the band of rising young journalists that infest this land of wine and women. I am also an author just budding you know, and my favorite style is the humorous, but this I cannot help for “They all duet,” the Clemens’ I mean.

      I have published a miniature journal for boys & girls but it has gone where the potato vine sprouteth. But of all this nonsense I am through, and I earnestly wish you will answer one who bears your name. / Very truly Yours / Will Clemens, Akron, Ohio [MTP]. Note: Twain wrote on the env. “curiosity / No answer required.” See also Jan. 7, 1881 entry; May 22, 1900 from Will with Sam’s objection on June 6, 1900. In a letter to H.H. Rogers of June 12, 1900, Twain called Will Clemens “a mere maggot” and “this troublesome cuss,” after Will published Twain’s bio information without permission. Will Clemens was not a relative. See indexes other volumes.

November 27 Tuesday – Livy’s 32nd birthday. Sam gave her Pottery and Porcelain of All Times and Nations (1878) by William Cowper Prime (1825-1905). Sam inscribed it: “Livy Clemens from S.L.C./ November 27, 1877/ Hartford” [Gribben 560].

November 29 Thursday – An unidentified “young girl” sent Clemens a poem aiming at his soul: “I gave my life for thee, / My precious blood I shed, / That thou might’st ransomed be, / and quickened from the dead; / I gave my life for thee; / What hast thou done for me?” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env “From a young girl whom I do not know, but who has been trying for 7 years to save me—ever since she was 14”

November 30 Friday – Sam’s 42nd birthday.  [ page 788 ]

December – The third of a four-part, 15,000 word article on Sam and Joe Twichell’s trip to Bermuda, ran in the Atlantic Monthly: “Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion” [Wells 22].

December 1 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to an unidentified person who solicited an autograph. Sam responded that the “great question of the day” didn’t disturb him because he believed there wouldn’t be any eternal punishment, “except for the man who invented steel pens” [MTLE 2: 199].

 

December 1-15 Saturday –During this period Sam wrote to the Chicago Union Veteran Club:

“I am tied to the treadmill, hand & foot, hard at work, on what seems an interminable book, so I must not think of lecturing,—though I assure you that I would be considerable gladder to have talked for the Veterans than for any other institution in the country, if I were still on the lecturing war path” [MTPO: “Recent Changes,” Jan. 20, 2009: Chicago Tribune, Jan. 6, 1878].

December 3 Monday – Orion Clemens wrote from Keokuk to congratulate Sam on his recent birthday, to make suggestions how he might purchase the Post with a thousand down and a mortgage for ten thousand. “If I got into the printing business again I should subordinate my whims to my business.” He then wrote about “how lawyers get into business,” and ended with a PS thanking for the Atlantic Monthly [MTP].

 

December 4 Tuesday – John Napton (1843-1917) and brothers wrote from Elkhill, Mo. to Sam.

 

“Mark Twain” / Dear Sir,

      Is there the slightest probability of your writing and publishing any other books. “Innocents Abroad” “Roughing It” & “The Gilded Age” have about up-set our youngest brother Frank (the youngest of nine)—a youth of seventeen, now six feet two in his stocking-feet, and like yourself, a “Missouri puke,” “and to the manner born.”

      If you contemplate issuing any more books like those above mentioned please let us know in due time in order that we may get him out of the way—send him to Patagonia—or some other region where access to them will be impossible. Some time since—the Judge—pater familias—gave him ten dollars to invest in books to suit his own fancy. At first he thought of buying an illustrated copy of Bunyons [sic] Pilgrims Progress, but on reflection, being religiously inclined, gave your works the preference. He has since read them forty times, and then re-read them backwards and cross-ways. He has literally read them to pieces. It would, or ought to, do your heart good to see them,—the books, He is so chuck full of them, that no matter what may be under discussion in our family after-supper controversies,—whether, law, politics, literature, or divinity, the Holy land, the life of Christ, or the silver bill,—five minutes cannot elapse without his putting in, “Mark Twain says so & so &c &c,”—a delightful grin immediately enlightening his countenance. He is worse than old Claude Halcro, and his immortal John Dryden.

      To cap the climax he has begun writing a book of his own, and takes yours for his models. Can’t you wean him from his folly, “We feel hot.”

      Let us hear from you. / Yours excitedly / John Napton. / H.P. Napton. / C. Mc Napton. / L.W. Napton.

N.B.

Seriously,—we all read and like your books almost as much as Frank [MTP].

 

Notes: the senders were the sons of the Missouri state supreme court judge William Barclay Napton Sr. (1808-1883) who had Napton, Mo. named after him. The judge had nine children, seven boys. Claud Halcro was a character in Sir Walter Scott’s novel The Pirate. Twain wrote on the letter, “Curiosity / answered Dec 9th, 1877” (not extant).

December 5 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to D.F. Appleton, head of the New England Society (see Dec. 22 entry). The society had invited Sam to attend their 72nd anniversary at Delmonico’s in New York on Dec. 22. Sam begged “an offensive business engagement that day in Hartford,” and so declined to attend. Sam announced he intended to have his private telephone connected with the banquet hall and, with a few friends:  [ page 789 ]

“will smoke our pipes and sip our lemonade, applaud your speeches judiciously, and refresh ourselves with a fragrant sniff of each of your course as it comes on your table” [MTLE 2: 200].

Sam revealed that if any of the speakers went over their allotted ten minutes, “we will shut down the lid on him and wait for the next speaker,” using an invention of Sam’s he called the Olfactorium.

Sam also wrote to his mother-in-law, Olivia Lewis Langdon, saying the family was well and thanking her for the shaving stand, a birthday gift. Sam said he had not missed a day shaving since he’d received it, and that Livy was thus thankful too. Sam mentioned a visit by John Slee (Jervis Langdon’s past business partner) that they had enjoyed [MTLE 2: 201].

December 9 Sunday – Orion Clemens wrote from Keokuk to Sam, enclosing a short article “A Snide Book Agent,” which perpetrated a fraud selling a book “Elbow Room,” by Max Adeler as one by Twain. Orion is mentioned in the article and his letter describes his investigations into the matter [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Dec. 9/77 – Orion’s story about Sir John Franklin,” one of Orion’s literary efforts also enclosed.

December 10 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford per Fanny Hesse to Andrew Chatto, thanking him for the royalty check of £15 and for “the other half of the Arabian Nights.” Sam wrote he might have an article soon [MTLE 2: 202].

December 11 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford per Fanny Hesse to an unidentified person:

To the Editor of —— [Sam may have sent several letters to western papers, or specifically the paper that Orion clipped the article from, unknown]

Sir, A fraudulent concern calling itself “the Franklin Publishing Co” of New York is canvassing the West for a book entitled “Elbow Room, or the Innocents at Home by Mark Twain.” I have never written any such book [MTLE 2: 204]. Note: Innocents at Home was the title Routledge gave to an authorized 1872 edition of Roughing It, not to be confused with this work. Note Orion’s Dec. 15 reply.

 

Sam also wrote to Orion, asking him to discreetly determine an address for a company called “Franklin Publishing” that was canvassing a future book of Sam’s without authorization. The culprits got their books from out West somewhere, Sam thought, not New York [MTLE 2: 203]. (Misdated as Dec. 10; see above to unidentified.)

An Unidentified person wrote from Cloversville, NY. Only the env. is extant; Note: Sam wrote on the env.,
”From that same old Irish ass”; and “Dec 11/79 Poetry”

December 12 Wednesday – William Dean Howells arrived and stayed at the Clemens home (see Nov. 23 entry). Howells appeared on the Seminary Hall Lecture Course, Seminary Hall, Hartford, where Sam introduced him. The Hartford Times, Dec. 13, gave a fragment:

“The gentleman who is now to address you is the editor of the Atlantic Monthly. He has a reputation in the literary world which I need not say anything about. I am only here to back up his moral character” [Fatout, MT Speaking 652-3].

December 13 Thursday – Howells spoke on Venice at the Clemens house to an “extra” meeting of the Saturday Morning Girls’ Club. Twichell also attended [Twichell’s journal, Yale].

From Twichell’s journal, of the events of Dec. 12 and 13 (written Dec. 14):

To M.T.’s to dinner with H[armony]. The special occasion was the presence of W.D. Howells the author, who came to town two days since to lecture. We heard the lecture on Gibbon and the next morning I [ page 790 ] attended an extra meeting of the (girls) Sat. morning Club at M.T.’s where Mr. Howells talked most charmingly about Venice.

I had to leave the dinner table to go abut my Thursday evening duties and returned only in time to take H. home. W.D.H. is the most pleasing personality of all the literary folks I have met. He seems to be a downright and simple good man. There are certain Christian flavors about him that one perceives yet can hardly describe [Yale, copy at MTP].

December 15 Saturday – Orion wrote from Keokuk: “Your letter of 11th with the notices for the papers received. You will see from my last letter that they are not necessary, as the case was probably that of a book agent stuck with some of Max Adeler’s books and trying to work them off.” He suggested that Sam take his “Kingdom of Sir John Franklin” sketch and “use it as a skeleton or as memoranda, expand it into a book…” [MTP].

December 17 Monday – Sam gave his infamous dinner speech at John Greenleaf Whittier’s birthday dinner, Hotel Brunswick, Boston, Mass. [Fatout, MT Speaking 110-4]. The speech was a rambling burlesque about three tramps in the mining country foothills of the Sierras pretending to be Holmes, Emerson and Longfellow. The sketch fell flat and cold on the august assembly. But it was Sam who experienced the greatest pain and mortification for the speech. Howells, writing to Charles Eliot Norton on Dec. 19, referred to the speech as “that hideous mistake of poor Clemens.”

“As you have more than once expressed a kindness for him, you will like to know that before he had fairly touched his point, he felt the awfulness of what he was doing, but was fatally helpless to stop….The worst of it was, I couldn’t see any retrieval for him” [MTHL 2: 214].

Stephen A. Hubbard wrote from the Hartford Courant to Sam with the costs of his telephone project—to install a phone at their offices, and houses of Hubbard, Joseph R. Hawley, Charles E. Perkins and Clemens at a cost of $225 with rental of the phone instrument at $10 per person per year [MTP]. Note: news of the connection to the Clemens residence led to rumors that Sam was now a Courant editor.

December 18Tuesday – Sam was still in Boston. (See Dec. 20 entry to Starbird.) Sam and William Dean Howells did some window-shopping. Howells sent Sam a one-liner, addressed to the Parker House: “All right, you poor soul!” Sam returned to Hartford either this day or Dec. 19, when he wrote Orion.

Charles E. Perkins wrote to advise Sam he’d credited him $360 interest from Burnham [MTP].

December 19 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Orion, who had given Sam an idea for a book (see Dec. 15 from Orion). Sam’s answer sounded more like a put-upon father than a brother, which is the way he often answered Orion. But then, Sam did not suffer fools lightly.

“Dr Bro—If I write all the books that lie planned in my head, I shall see the middle of the next century. I can’t add another, until after that. I couldn’t write from another man’s ideas, anyway. But go ahead & write it yourself—that is, if you can drop other things” [MTLE 2: 205].

An unsigned article, “Celebrities at Home,” ran in the London World apparently from a visit to Sam’s Hartford home, which was the subject of a lengthy description, together with Sam’s thinking and his work [Tenney, Mark Twain Journal, Spring 2004 p.3].

Charles Follen Adams (1842-1918) wrote from Boston to send Sam his book of poetry [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Adams the new humorist”; [ page 791 ] Adams began writing humorous verses in Penn. German dialect in 1872. See insert.

Washington Irving Gilbert (1821-1898) wrote from Phila. to ask Sam’s help publishing his poem “Whittier” enclosed [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Curiosity rubbish from an ass”.

December 20 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Follen Adams (1842-1918) in Boston. Sam thanked Adams and wrote that “several of the pieces are familiar to me, & I shall be glad to make the acquaintance of the rest” [MTLE 2: 206]. Adams had sent his Leedle Yawcob Strauss, and Other Poems (1878; preface dated 1877) [Gribben 7].

Sam also wrote to Nathaniel W. Starbird, Jr., ordering a “brass fender (54 ½ inches long,) which you showed to me & Mr. Howells, editor of the ‘Atlantic Monthly’ Tuesday morning.” Sam enclosed a $60 check and asked Starbird to ship it at once to give as a Christmas present [MTLE 2: 207]. (See Dec. 28 entry.)

An unspecified sketch of Sam’s ran in the London World [The Twainian, vol. 6 no. 4, July-Aug. 1947].

Below, letter from Frank Finlay in London to Sam of the same date.

My dear Clemens. / A wellmeant but imperfect sketch of one Mark Twain in the World of today (for which I have no responsibility) pricks one in the conscience. I look back to your last letter, and I find it was written A.D. 1647, and is still without answer. I am contrite. If your ears be good, you may hear groans of repentance and sighs of anguish. NB. They are my groans, and my sighs. I have brought out & placed before me certain counterfeit presentments of a man in white garments in a cabin-of-a-ship-looking study, working a miracle by writing without a pen. The windows contain landscapes: a china doggie sits upon sheets of M.S.: volumes of The Gilded Age and other theological works are piled on a round table with an ostentatious knob. The gifted author has filled his wastebasket and not crowded his table with copy. It is The Interior of Mark Twain’s Summer Study at Quarry Farm. Slow music. The scene changes. It is a London particular fog. Gas lighted. A back room in a London street. Over the door a bust of Pallas, with a Raven perched upon it, and a gilt tablet on which is written “NEVERMORE!” On one wall a large shield of crimson with a trophy of old arms and curios, the spoils of foreign travel: on the opposite wall, an old Queen Anne wall-mirror with a shelf full of old china. Over the mantelpiece a large illuminated text—

“The First Of All Gospels Is This—That a Lie Cannot Endure For Ever”

from Carlyle’s Revolution. Beneath, a frame surrounding a block of old Mosaic brought from Carthage, with “Delenda Est Carthago” on it. On the mantel a marble bust of the Young Augustus, a photo of Dickens with a piece of his writing: photos. of two female busts by Hiram Powers, a gift from the sculptor: more old china & curios. On brackets more old china. A big carve oak bookcase, crammed. Some water colours & engravings on the walls. Photos of Garibaldi, Edward Whitty, Gad’s Hill with Dickens & his family on the lawn. A square legged Eastlake table of dark oak, and a carved oak writing table, very much littered, complete the picture. Stay—I forgot myself. I am at the writing table, and this is my little den, into which I have settled at last & where I have found rest for the sole of my foot.

      Since I wrote last we have had great troubles and great relief. My poor wife had all her distress over again: another tumour & another operation. But she bore it like a herd of Trojan heroes. We didn’t get into our home till 21st. Augt. Then she took bad again, & after the second operation I took her to Scarboro’ for 5 weeks, & that set her up completely. She is now very much better, but needing much care still. We like our house very much. I have all my old crockery out & displayed, and all we want now is a mad bull: we have the China shop. How pleased I should be to see you here, Sir and Brother! And when–when when. Here I am, a loafer and an idle vagabond, and able to go round London with you day & night [MTP]

December 21 Friday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote Sam a note announcing he’d sent him a present of several books. No mention was made of the Whittier birthday dinner [MTHL 1: 211].

Sam wrote from Hartford to Moncure Conway. Sam had received a letter from Routledge & Sons, asking for his Bermuda and “Old Times on the Mississippi” articles. Sam wanted to clarify that Conway was his agent to negotiate with Routledge and Chatto for the same commission paid him for The [ page 792 ] Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Sam wanted to confirm that Conway still wanted to act as his agent before he answered Routledge [MTLE 2: 208].

December 22 Saturday – Sam’s “Letter of Regret” was read to the Seventy-Second Anniversary Celebration of the New England Society in the City of New York at Delmonico’s. Sam dated the letter Dec. 5 from Hartford (see Dec. 5 entry) [Fatout, MT Speaks 109].

December 23 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells.

My sense of disgrace does not abate. It grows. I see that it is going to add itself to my list of permanencies—a list of humiliations that extends back to when I was seven years old, & which keep on persecuting me regardless of my repentancies.

It seems as if I must have been insane when I wrote that speech & saw no harm in it, no disrespect toward those men whom I reverenced so much. And what shame I brought upon you, after what you said in introducing me! It burns me like fire to think of it [MTLE 2: 209].

Sam, from a sense of deep shame and humiliation, but also from the knowledge that his speech had embarrassed Howells, asked that his recent short story, “The Loves of Alonzo Fitz Clarence and Rosannah Ethelton,” scheduled to run in the Atlantic, be pulled. Sam felt he’d been “injured…all over the country,” and wished to “retire from before the public at present. It will hurt the Atlantic for me to appear in its pages, now” [MTLE 2: 209].

Xantippe (“Tip”) Saunders wrote to Sam: “…as the holidays approach it reminds me of the pleasant week I spent at your house one year ago” [MTPO Notes with Dec. 20, 1876 to Perkins].

Dr. Asa Millet (1813-1893; father of Francis Davis Millett) wrote to Sam: “Dear Sir / Thinking that perhaps a look at the boy in his army rig might not be [illegible word] to you & Mrs Clemens I enclose a copy of a photo sent me by Frank in five days ago” [MTP].

December 24 Monday – This is the date Sam gave as having returned Bret Harte’s I.O.U.’s totaling $3,000, only to receive an indignant reply that “permanently annulled the existing friendship.” As Duckett explains, “If Mark Twain’s date is correct, the return of the notes occurred within a week after Mark’s humiliation at the Whittier Birthday Dinner. During this period, Mark Twain felt increasingly penitent and friendless” [168].

Sam Bernard wrote to Sam; not found at MTP, but catalogued as UCLC 48597.

H. Ulrich wrote from Louisville, Ky. enclosing a small play bill of the Young Ladies Social Society, with Katie Ulrich in the lead role in Elvira Slimmons’s Millinery Shop. “I am very sorry that I could not get that Dramma called Tom Sawyer. I would like to have it so much.” She/He asked him to compose one on the same order or “one on two sharp boys” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Curiosity Dec. 27th 1877”

December 25 Tuesday – Christmas –­ William Dean Howells wrote to Charles Dudley Warner about Sam’s letter of Dec. 23: “This morning I got a letter from poor Clemens that almost breaks my heart. I hope I shall be able to answer it in just the right way” [MTHL 2: 212n3].

He then wrote to Sam that being in the Atlantic would “…help and not hurt us many a year yet…” He then began to repair Sam’s wounds:

…while I think your regret does you honor and does you good, I don’t want you to dwell too morbidly on the matter….One of the most fastidious men here [Francis J. Child] who read the speech, saw no offense in it. But I don’t pretend not to agree with you about it. All I want you to do is not to exaggerate the damage. You [ page 793 ] are not going to be floored by it; there is more justice than that even in this world. And especially as regards me, just call the sore spot well.

Howells suggested a way Sam might help himself:

—A man isn’t hurt by any honest effort at reparation. Why shouldn’t you write to each of those men and say frankly that at such and such an hour on the 17th of December you did so and so? They would take it in the right spirit, I’m sure. If they didn’t the right would be yours [MTHL 2: 213].

Sam wrote from Hartford to Olivia Lewis Langdon, thanking her for Christmas gifts of Satsuma ware, two quilts, and a “dainty Japanese fish.” Sam and family had a “pretty booming sort of a Christmas” and sent their love [MTLE 2: 210].

Sam inscribed a copy of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer to Harriet L. Lewis, Livy’s cousin who was with Livy and Sam on that first day the two had spent together in 1869, later pretending to be Sam’s sweetheart to avoid gossip. “Hattie L. Lewis, Merry Christmas, 1877.”

Sam received a copy of Harriet Martineau’s Retrospect of Western Travel, 2 vols (1838) from Theodore Crane [Gribben 454].

T.C. Marsh, “Stogies, Tips and Fine Cigars” wrote from Cambridge, Ohio, advising he was sending 600 stogies [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Asking to name cigar after me. Agreed to. SLC”

December 27 Thursday – In Hartford, Sam wrote individual apologies to Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Oliver Wendell Holmes for his embarrassing speech at Whittier’s Dec. 17 birthday party. He claimed he’d given the speech “innocently & unwarned,” and spoke of his mortification. He wrote of Livy’s “distress”; that:

“…yours were sacred names to her. We do not talk about this misfortune—it scorches; so we only think—and think. [Sam pleaded that he was] only heedlessly a savage, not premeditatedly, [and that he was] under as severe punishment as even you could adjudge to me if you were required to appoint my penalty” [MTLE 2: 212]. Note: years later he would insist the sketch had been funny.

December 28 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells, thanking him for his letter of Dec. 25 which “was a godsend.” Sam was particularly grateful for Howells:

“…consent that I write to those gentlemen; for you discouraged my hints in that direction that morning in Boston—rightly, too, for my offense was yet too new, then”

Sam surprised Livy with the “brass fender” he’d ordered on Dec. 20, writing, “…how perfectly naturally it takes its place under the carved oak [mantel]”

“I haven’t done a stroke of work since the Atlantic dinner; have only moped around. But I’m going to try to-morrow. How could I ever have—Ah, well, I am a great & sublime fool. But then I am God’s fool, & all His works must be contemplated with respect” [MTLE 2: 213].

Sam also wrote a postcard to Charles Perkins, with the note that he’d heard “Nothing from Bergen since Dec 8—3 weeks” [MTLE 2: 214]. H.W. Bergen was an agent hired to furnish reports of income from plays on the road.

December 29 Saturday – Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote to reassure Sam he hadn’t taken offense to his remarks at Whittier’s birthday dinner [MTP]. Note: on the env., “Publ. In part in Paine Biog, II pp 607-8.” [ page 794 ]

December 31 Monday – Charles E. Perkins wrote to advise of a credit to Sam’s account for $450 as “interest on your western loan.” He lists: W.S. Bland, M T Burwell, R Miller, and N Wethersby [MTP].

 


 [ page 795 ]
Aftermath of Disgrace – Orion Apes Jules Verne – Bliss Contract for Europe Travel Book Quick Jaunts to Fredonia & Elmira – Family Sails for Europe

Frankfort, Hamburg to Heidelberg – Mannheim Operas – Speech at Heidelberg University Twichell Joined in Baden Baden – Excursions by Foot, Boat, Rail, and Cart – The Alps Twichell Departs – Italy – Munich for the Winter

 

January – The last of a four-part, 15,000 word article on Sam and Joe Twichell’s trip to Bermuda, ran in the Atlantic Monthly: “Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion” [Wells 22].

January 1 Tuesday – Livy’s visitor book was signed by Carrie L. Brown, Frank T. Brown, and Ella F. Brown [MTP].

Moncure Conway wrote to wish Sam a happy new year and to say:

Your note came today & here I am. Chatto & I have consulted & bargained; and he proposes to bring out your new all-inclusive book, so soon as our two shilling Tom Sawyer (just out) is a little out ot the way. On each copy of the “Random Notes of an Idle Excursion”—which we both think would be the best label,—you will get 4d per copy. That is the biggest available royalty (about 17 per cent of two shillings) which can be got in a cheap book [MTP]. See Oct. 1877 entry for publication of this by Chatto. Also see “Random Thoughts…etc.”

January 2 Wednesday – Sam and Livy went to the Hartford Opera House with Lilly Warner to see Howells’ play, A Counterfeit Presentment. Charles Dudley Warner’s unsigned review of the play in the Hartford Courant was positive, comparing Howells’ writing with Goldoni’s “pure comedy of unexaggerated real life” [MTHL 2: 217n2].

January 4 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells that his play, A Counterfeit Presentment, was “enchanting. I laughed & cried all the way through it” [MTLE 3: 1]. The play ended in Boston. Howells wrote more than 30 works for the theater and this was his best, though only moderately successful.

Eustace Conway (son of Moncure Conway) wrote from Hamlet House Hammersmith, West London to Sam concerning Chatto offering the “Random Notes” as a book for 4d. “Mr. Chatto also writes that ‘there is some danger of an unauthorized edition of the Mississippi Pilot being brought out in this country as that book has already been reprinted in Canada against Mark twain’s wish’ ” [MTP]. Note: in 1858 Moncure Daniel Conway married Ellen Davis Dana, and had three sons and a daughter.

January 6 Sunday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote to thank Sam for his Jan. 4 letter praising the play. Howells was discouraged by the play’s draw in New England and didn’t suppose it paid expenses in Worcester, Providence, Springfield or Hartford; and he didn’t blame Lawrence Barrett for withdrawing. Howells supplied some feedback from the Brahmins to whom Sam had written apologies for Whittier’s birthday debacle:

“—I was with Mr. Longfellow the morning he got your letter. He spoke of it as ‘most pathetic,’ and said everyone seemed to care more for that affair than he did. I know you had the right sort of answer from him” [MTHL 2: 217].

Longfellow answered Sam’s letter:

I am a little troubled, that you should be so much troubled about a matter of such slight importance. The newspapers have made all the mischief…/ I do not believe that anybody was much hurt. Certainly I was not, [ page 796 ] and Holmes tells me that he was not…./ It was a very pleasant dinner, and I think Whittier enjoyed it very much [MTP].

January 7 Monday – The New York Sun, on page 2, ran a spurious interview titled, “Mark Twain’s Enterprise / The Celebrated Humorist Takes Editorial Charge of the Hartford COURANT.” This was a false report that Sam had become editor of the Courant based on the fact of the telephone line connected to his home from the newspaper’s offices (See Jan. 24 entry to Daggett.) [Budd, “Interviews” 1].

Charles J. Langdon wrote to Sam about George H. Selkirk and the money he owed Twain. John D. Slee tried to get a note securing the loan but Selkirk only promised to contact Sam about the matter. Was stock in the Buffalo Express worthless? Charles asked [MTP].

January 10 Thursday – Phineas T. Barnum wrote from Bridgeport to Sam: “This is a begging letter! Awful!! … Now my dear boy I come to you for a character!” he hoped it was not in vain [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Answered Jany 13th/78”. Phineas wanted Sam to create a character useable for Barnum’s shows. Sam’s reply is not extant, but evidently he declined; see Barnum’s Jan. 14 follow up.

George P. Lathrop wrote from Cambridge, Mass. to reply to the card from Sam’s “secretary” asking who wrote the “Open Letters from N.Y. in Jan’y Atlantic.” He’d retired from the magazine but referred Sam to Howells for the answer [MTP].

January 11 Friday – The New York Times reported on:

THE ONE THOUSANDTH PERFORMANCE OF

MARK TWAIN’S DRAMA—AN EXCEPTIONALLY INTELLIGENT JURY

Mark Twain’s “Colonel Sellers” was played at the Park Theatre, last night [Jan. 11], for the one thousandth time, with John T. Raymond as the inimitable speculator in imaginary town-lots and eye-water. The theatre was crowded in every part with an audience whose hearty bursts of laughter were almost as entertaining as the vagaries of the ex-Colonel in the Confederate Army, who goes in for the old flag and an appropriation….The 12 jurors who play such important parts in the trial of Laura Hawkins, which constitutes the last act of “Colonel Sellers,” Were supported admirably last evening by “Uncle” Daniel Bixby, Henry Mason, Louis Hargous, Dudley Waring, C. Murray, J. Keene, Chandos Fulton, Charles Shaw, M. Hendrick, G.P. Hiltman, James Stearn, and C.H. Chapin [Jan. 12, 1878 p.5].

Joseph R. Hawley wrote a short note to advise the Monday Evening Club would meet at his home on Monday eve. Jan 14 at 7.30 [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Gen. J.R. Hawley onto graft.”

Sol Teverbaugh sent a form begging letter asking for some writing from Twain [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Curiosity”

January 12 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Kate V. Austin of Richmond, Indiana, who was trying to verify a rumor that Sam would gain ownership of another newspaper. Sam wrote that this rumor was “not only untrue but absolutely & permanently impossible” [MTLE 3: 2]. Note: it’s uncertain why Sam was in Elmira at this time.

Slote, Woodman & Co. wrote to Sam with a breakdown on amounts due him for Scrap Book sales, totaling $1,071.57 [MTP].

January 13 Sunday – Sam wrote to Phineas T. Barnum, answering Barnum’s request that Sam create a character for his use. Sam’s letter is not extant but referred to in Barnum’s Jan. 14 reply.  [ page 797 ]

January 14 Monday – Phineas T. Barnum wrote a scrawled letter to Sam, “All right …It’s only a matter of taste anyhow—& I am content” [MTP]. Note: see Barnum’s request, Jan. 10.

January 16 Wednesday – The Hartford Society of Decorative Arts, in which Livy was active, opened the doors to their new art school in the Cheney Building (See June, 1877 entry, and Elizabeth Normen’s article on the web at https://www.hogriver.org/issues/v01n04/art_school.htm)

January 17 Thursday – George H. Selkirk wrote to Sam:

Friend Mark. / I am now in hope of commencing soon to pay on my indebtedness to you. I have been unfortunate in my newspaper experience, and part of what I have already paid you I had to borrow from my father. I am now giving all my attention to the job printing business, which opens and promises well. Let me pay on your claim against me as I can at the coal office here… [MTP].

January 18 Friday – Edward Lauterbach (1844-1923) NY attorney telegrammed asking Clemens to lecture for a private club in NY for $150 on Saturday evening Jan. 26. He followed it up with a letter the following day [MTP]. Note: evidently Sam telegraphed an answer, judging from Lauterbach’s reply on Jan. 19; on Jan. 26 Sam spoke at Geselischaft Harmonic in NYC.

January 19 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Heber Clark (Max Adeler or John Quill, 1847-1915), a humorous journalist who had evidently asked if Sam was a millionaire.

“My Dear Clark—The only true millionaire in the Clemens family is just dead—which brings forth the following from Sherrard Clemens, who was a conspicuous Member of Congress from Virginia in the opening of the war, because he was a Unionist…” [MTLE 3: 3]. Note: Sherrard Clemens was not fictional, but probably unrelated.

Edward Lauterbach wrote to Sam. “I am delighted at the receipt of your telegram informing me that you will accede to the request embodied in my telegram to you.” The club members were of German birth. [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Answered Jan 20” Note: on Jan. 26 Sam spoke at Geselischaft Harmonic in NYC.

January 20 Sunday – Joseph G. Hickman (b. 1838) wrote from Florida, Mo. to Sam.

Mr Saml Clemens—

      At the solicitation of my two little girls I send you a picture of your birthplace cut by them from my county map. They say they are certain you will send them, each one a nice Chromo & also a photograph of yourself, in return. I knew you when you were a boy & remember hunting with you at your uncle’s John A. Quarles’—The old man is, as I suppose you have probably heard, dead,—has been dead about a year. He failed in business & lived for many years in a state of poverty. None of his family ever did very much in business, Ben & Polk are still living Jim is dead. Tabitha or Pap [“Puss”] youngest daughter is living—

      Florida boasts greatly of being your birth-place & there has been of late quite a little discussion in the Co papers as to what part had that honor. Your letter to Mr Holliday of St Louis of course settled the question—It was published in the papers.

      Florida jogs along after the same old style & sits like Rome on her hills,—always the same. The picture of your old house is true to nature & it is to this day the same as you see in the picture to the minutest particular. It is now occupied by the village shoe maker—there is no telling what other great man may go forth from beneath its eaves—The man in the street is intended to represent you off on your pilgrimage after style of your speech at meeting in honor of poet Whittier. The little girls say don’t forget those pretty Chromos for they will wait with patience to hear from you. I live at & own the mill owned by Boyle Goodwin on the north fork of Salt River. / Yours truly / Joseph G. Hickman.

 [MTP]. Note: Sam was only 4 when the Clemens family left Florida, so if he had memories of the place they were not many. He often rec’d notes from people claiming to have known him as a boy. His uncle John Quarles (1802-1876) had a farm near Florida where Clemens spent many summers in his boyhood; Tabitha [ page 798 ] “Puss” Quarles was a close playmate and received Sam’s financial help for many years. See also July 24, 1881 to Hickman. Mr. Holliday is unidentified.

January 21 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Chatto & Windus, his English publishers, with corrections for Punch Brothers, Punch! And Other Sketches; that the article would be in the March issue of Atlantic, released Feb. 15 [MTLE 3: 4].

Sam also wrote Moncure Conway about the several articles he’d instructed Atlantic to send to Chatto for publication in England. He informed Conway that he was writing to Routledge & Sons giving Conway the “sole power over there to make book contracts” [MTLE 3: 5]. Note: Sam was lining up his ducks before leaving for Europe.

John Wentworth Sanborn (1848-1922), Methodist Episcopal minister, Indian culture expert, wrote from Gowanda, NY.

 

Mark Twain, / Dear Sir;

      I got hold of a Circular which advertised your Scrap Book, and by it I was enveigled into sending for one; It arrived today. I’ve used it. I am a plain minister of the gospel, and I wish to say, I never swore any more in my life than I have today. I am as fond of fun as you are, but when it comes to be so serious a matter—this Scrap Book affair—I must pause. Certainly your Scrap Book with nothing but gummed lines is a very funny book—probably the funniest book you ever made, but, my dear Twain, why didn’t you tell folks not to moisten your gummed lines with their fingers. I got stuck to those gummed lines.—I cant help emphasizing gummed—I have about three hundred sympathizing parishioners, counting men, women and babies, and they’ve all been in—every one of them, with lots of their neighbors, to get me away from your awful Scrap Book; but I am stuck fast. For fruitlessly endeavoring to get loose from your gummed lines.

      Already your Scrap Book is advertised all over this town and my greatest fear is that somebody else will get fast!

      Why did n’t you tell people how to handle the dangerous thing? I’ve an engagement to lecture to-morrow night, and, unless I break loose, I shall have to carry this product of your wicked brain to the very platform. If I must, I must, but be assured I shall flutter this horrid leech of a Scrap Book in the face and eyes of my audience, and say, “This, my friends, is Mark Twain’s Patent Scrap Book.” / Yours, etc. [MTP]. Note: see Twain’s reply on Jan. 24. See insert of Scrapbook. Sanborn would write at least five more letters to Sam through 1882.

January 23 Wednesday – Frank E. Bliss sent a statement wth a balance due Sam of $844 [MTP].

January 24 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Frank Bliss, sending his compliments that he’d done “exceedingly well. Looks like a decided improvement in business…” [MTLE 3: 6]. Since Sam usually wrote to Frank for accounts of royalties, evidently Sam had received reports and checks that showed an improvement of book sales.

Sam also wrote to an old friend, Rollin M. Daggett (1831-1901) of the Virginia City Enterprise. Daggett is the “Mr. D” in Ch. 51 of Roughing It. He also founded the Golden Era in San Francisco in 1852. From [ page 799 ] 1879 to 1881 he would represent Nevada in Congress. Daggett wrote a Jan. 15th editorial about Sam becoming an editor of the Hartford Courant, “In the Harness Again,” a story which the New York Sun had printed that Sam said was “foundationless.” Sam thanked Daggett for his compliments, and said the rumor had probably started because he had a telephone line connected from his Farmington Avenue home to the Courant office a mile and a half away [MTLE 3: 7]. Note: Sam must have received copies of the Enterprise to keep up with his old stomping grounds.

Sam also replied to the Jan. 21 from John Wentworth Sanborn, who was “stuck” on Sam’s scrapbook.

‘Sh! Don’t say a word—let the others get “stuck.” I’ll tell you privately, to use a wet rag or brush—but let us leave the others to get into trouble with their fingers. Then they will abuse the Scrap Book everywhere, & straightway everybody will buy one to give to his enemy, & that will make a great sale for the inventor, who will go to Europe & have a good time [MTLE 3: 9].

Orion Clemens wrote to Sam: “My Dear Brother: — / The two years I asked for have expired, and I am satisfied that I am an idiot. I was an idiot to leave Hartford. I am told you are editor in chief of the Courant. Can’t you try me again?” the long letter contains several anecdotes [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Jan. 24/78 Orion’s Story”

Julius G. Rathbun wrote from Buffalo to invite Sam to buy some old wine vintages that his gentleman friend was unloading [MTP].

January 25 Friday – O.S. Chamberlain wrote from NYC to ask Sam to lecture [MTP].

January 26 Saturday – Sam gave a speech at the Geselischaft Harmonic in New York City. The text is not available [Schmidt]. Note: see Jan. 18 & 19 from Edward Lauterbach.

The New York Sun ran a comic piece correcting its Jan. 7 article. The new piece was titled, “Not Quite an Editor / The Story of Mark Twain’s Connection with the HARTFORD COURANT” [Budd, “Interviews” 1].

January 27 Sunday – Sam returned this day or the next from New York to Hartford [MTLE 3: 10].

Henry Watterson wrote from Davenport, Ia., having “just laid down ‘Tom Sawyer,’ and can not resist the pressure. It is immense!” He also asked for Twain’s autograph [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Watterson, editor Louisville Courier Journal / Autograph”.

January 28 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Orion, that he was “just back from New York tired to death” but cleared up the “joke” about being connected with the Hartford Courant [MTLE 3: 10].

Charles M. Pulham wrote as chairman of the entertainment committee for the NY Press Club. He hoped Sam would help them out again on Feb. 25th [MTP].

James Redpath wrote from NYC to Sam, enclosing two tickets (still in fille) for Robert Ingersoll’s lecture on this night. Evidently Sam did not use the tickets on such short notice [MTP].

January 30 Wednesday – T.C. Marsh, cigar merchant, Cambridge, Ohio, wrote to ask if he might use Twain’s picture cut in his advertisements. He enclosed two small flyers on green paper done for the “Nasby” Cigar, showing his intent [MTP].

January 31 Thursday – C.A. Patterson wrote from Vernon Junction, Ohio to beg for a job as his wife was dying. He was currently working as a telegraph operator [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env.,“Curiosity”

 [ page 800 ]

About this day Clemens wrote to Daniel Slote, inclosing MS. for publication. The note, if any, is not extant, but the MS. is referred to by Slote’s Feb. 1 reply.

 

February – In Hartford Sam wrote to an unidentified “friend in Detroit denying the charge that he is lazy. Instead of being lazy, he says, he has no less than four books under way, with the title of each nicely written out in a plain hand and the first chapters headed off” [MTPO: “Recent Changes,” Jan. 20, 2009: Washington Post, Feb. 26, 1878].

Sam signed an identification card that was either some sort of template, or for some sort of whimsy [Live auctioneers, Sept. 28, 2004, lot 0162]. See insert.

 

February 1 Friday – Dan Slote for Slote, Woodman & Co. wrote to Sam. “Yours containing manuscripts &c received. / Woodman is away to day, but will be on hand to morrow, when I will confer with him relative to publishing— / Did you conclude the terms on which you desire we should publish as you say nothing about them in yours just at hand—” [MTP].

 

February 2 Saturday – Dan Slote for Slote, Woodman & Co. wrote again to Sam.

 

Dear Sam, / Have procured numbers of Atlantic Monthly for new Sketches of Bermuda and only await two proof copies of March number to complete volume suggested—

      Send me at once Two copies of St Patrick’s Dinner speech, or one for printer. One extra copy of each—Rogers Paper & Literary Nightmare…

      I don’t wish to raise a religious question in your family, but would like to publish in the new book, your article on ‘Joseph’ published in London by Routledge’s and entirely new to American Readers, which I know would be highly appreciated by everybody in America.

      My idea in the new book would be to make it without profit to either of us at the low price of Ten Cents per book in paper Covers with plenty of advertising pages for the Scrap Book.

      We can sell a Million of books at (over) that price, and should the Amer Publishing Co ever let go their grip we can get ‘good and even’ on your future writings…[MTP].

February 3 Sunday – Clemens replied to Dan’s Slote’s request for terms on publishing some of his sketches. Letter not extant but referred to in Slote’s Feb. 4 reply.

February 4 Monday – Dan Slote for Slote, Woodman & Co. wrote to Sam having rec’d his “kind favor.” (est Feb. 3 not extant) “We shall get at work on the Sketches at once on the terms agreed…” so asked for article copies [MTP].

February 4 and 5 Tuesday – Jane Clemens wrote to Sam and Livy

“My dear children / All gone to church that is all that belong up stairs. Livy I have got on my new dress.” And on Feb. 5 a small slip of paper: “Dear Sam I thank you very much indeed for the money, but I don’t thank you for your letter as I received none. [over] Are Livy & the children all dead, or are you dead. I received not a word. Not well enough to write more. / Mother” [MTP].

February 5 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Mary Mason Fairbanks after receiving her letter. Evidently the New York Sun’s article about Sam being “connected” with the Hartford Courant had reached as far as Cleveland, because Sam had to explain again that the “article was manufactured out of [ page 801 ] whole cloth.” The rumor stemmed from the telephone connection between the Courant and the Clemens home. Sam also had to answer Mary’s questions about the Whittier birthday dinner debacle, and by now Sam had moved away from a shamed, humble-pie perspective.

But nobody has ever convinced me that that speech was not a good one—for me; above my average, considerably. I could as easily have substituted the names of Shakespeare, Beaumont & Ben Jonson, (since the absurd situation was where the humor lay,) & all these critics would have discovered the merit of it, then. But my purpose was clean, my conscience clear, & I saw no need of it. Why anybody should think three poets insulted because three fantastic tramps choose to personate them & use their language, passes my comprehension. Nast says it is very much the best speech & the most humorous situation I have contrived [MTLE 3: 11].

Sam related his failed attempts to convince Thomas Nast to collaborate on a lecture tour. He discussed his current writing projects: “a historical tale, of 300 years ago, simply for the love of it,” (Prince and the Pauper) that the Young Girls Club, Livy and Susan Warner were “very much fascinated with”; a “novel of the present day—about half finished,” and two other books started, “but am not going to continue them until summer.” Sam also related the success of the Scrap-Book through Dan Slote.

“It seems funny that an invention which cost me five-minutes thought, in a railway car one day, should in this little while be paying me an income as large as any salary I ever received on a newspaper. My royalty on each book is very trifling—so the sales are already very great” [MTLE 3: 13]

Dan Slote for Slote, Woodman & Co. wrote to Sam, more details on the planned Sketches book [MTP].

 Orion Clemens wrote to Sam thanking for $42 sent in 3 drafts. “I have an itching palm to pitch into religion, because hell is raging in our pulpits, Keokuk having caught the epsoatic inaugurated by Beecher, but forbear, on your suggestion, and I am on bill to deliver something at the Red Ribbon Club, but I forbear again.” He noted that Bloodgood H. Cutter, of “poet lariat” fame had been in Keokuk last weekend [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Preserve” and “Orion’s Gorilla Story”

February 6 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford per an unknown secretary to Andrew Chatto, letting him know that a “…member of our scrap-book firm (Mr. Wilde) is about to establish himself permanently in London…to attend personally to the proper scrap booking of the eastern hemisphere” [MTLE 3: 14].

February 7 Thursday – Charles J. Langdon wrote to Sam on behalf of Towner, a writer he knew. “I am greatly obliged to you for your letter of Feby 5th / It contains valuable information & I shall at once proceed to offer poor Towner some advice…” [MTP].

February 7 and 8 Friday – Orion Clemens wrote to Sam, Orion stories & clipping enclosed from the Keokuk Constitution, which claimed Twain trained a dog named Jo Cook. The article continued the misinformation that Sam was now editor of the Courant, due to the news that the newspaper office was connected to Sam’s house by telephone [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Preserve” and “Orion story”

February 10 Sunday – Sam wrote a burlesque “Certificate” from Hartford to Slote, Woodman and Co., stating that after using his “Self-Pasting Scrap Book,” all his rheumatism had disappeared [MTLE 3: 15].

February 14 Thursday, after – John P. Jones send his published speech, “Coinage of Silver Dollars” to Sam, no letter [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Speeches. ‘78”

February 16 Saturday – Sam’s short story, “The Loves of Alonzo Fitz Clarence and Rosannah Ethelton,” ran on the front page of the Hartford Courant [Courant.com]. It also ran in the March edition of Atlantic Monthly [Wells, 22].  [ page 802 ]

February 17 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to his mother, Jane Clemens. After admitting “My conscience blisters me for not writing you,” Sam wrote of the burdens causing him to seek solace out of the country:

Life has come to be a very serious matter with me. I have a badgered, harassed feeling, a good part of the time. It comes mainly of business responsibilities & annoyances, & the persecution of kindly letters from well-meaning strangers—to whom I must be rudely silent or else put in the biggest half of my time bothering over answers. There are other things, also, that help to consume my time & defeat my projects. Well, the consequence is, I cannot write a book at home. This cuts my income down. Therefore, I have about made up my mind to take my tribe & fly to some little corner of Europe & budge no more until I shall have completed one of the half dozen books that lie begun, up stairs. Please say nothing about this at present. We propose to sail the 10th April. I shall go to Fredonia to see you, but it will not be well for Livy to make that trip…[MTLE 3: 16].

Joe Twichell walked in, so Sam ended the letter to his mother.

Frank M. Pixley (1825-1895) wrote from San Francisco asking for a writing contribution for The Argonaut (founded by Pixley and Frank Somers in Apr. 1877) [MTP]. In a PS to his Feb. 26 to Howells, Sam wrote, “Have written Frank Pixley that I would speak to you when I see you, & if you were willing to simultane with the Argonaut, all right I would write him so; if you were unwilling I would indicate it by not writing. I didn’t tell him you wouldn’t, because I’m not authorized to speak for you—but told him to write you himself if he preferred. He is a good fellow, but Dam the Argonaut.” Note: Sam’s to Pixley is not extant., written likely on Feb. 26 or the day before.

February 20 Wednesday – Sayles, Dick & Fitzgerald’s Publishing House, NYC wrote to ask Sam’s permission to “insert a sketch called ‘Membranous Croup’ in our next issue of ‘Dick’s Recitations.” They listed those articles of Twain’s that had already been published in their periodical, mostly through the Atlantic Monthly [MTP].

February 21 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Orion in Keokuk, who had sent “random snatches” of a story he was writing. Sam judged the story to be “poaching upon [Jules] Verne’s peculiar preserve,” something Sam found distasteful and unwise. The story was about a descent into the middle of the earth. “Why don’t you find Verne himself down there?” Sam asked, thinking it a good idea to “let the reader discover that” the gorilla “is Verne in disguise.” “I think the world has suffered so much from that French idiot that they could enjoy seeing him burlesqued—but I doubt if they want to see him imitated” [MTLE 3: 17].

February 23 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to his mother, Jane Clemens about Orion’s “wandering, motiveless imitation of the rampaging French lunatic, Jules Verne.” Sam’s letter revealed some anxiety over Orion embarrassing the “family name,” meaning the name of Mark Twain, which he’d spent a lifetime building. It wasn’t decent to imitate an entire book, he wrote. At the end of the letter, Sam added: “…we expect to sail 11th April; in which case I shall expect to see you in Fredonia a week or so before that—I don’t know just what date” [MTLE 3: 19].

February 24 Sunday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam.

“I must see you somehow, before you go. I’m in dreadfully low spirits about it….I was afraid your silence meant something wicked” [MTHL 1: 218].

Sam wrote from Hartford to Frank W. Cheney (1832-1909) successful Hartford businessman from a long-time Hartford family. Wesley Hart, who had served a six-month sentence for burglary in 1873 at Wethersfield State Prison, some five miles from Sam’s Farmington Avenue home, sent Sam a model ship delivered at night by two men, saying it was a present.  [ page 803 ]

I couldn’t hurl the man’s present at his head, neither could I accept it from a prisoner. I wrote & said I would sell the ship for him if he would set a price; or buy it myself at $50. He said send the $50 to his aged father at Middletown, which I did…/ I have never seen Wesley Hart; but from what I have heard he must be a criminal whose crimes are modified, softened, almost neutralized, by his native chuckle-headedness. He entered Mrs. Henry Perkins’s house, once, to rob it, collected the silver together, then lay down on a sofa to take a nap, & didn’t wake up any more till Mrs. Perkins called him to breakfast [MTLE 3: 20].

February 25 Monday – Sam gave a speech at the New York Press Club. The text is not available [Schmidt].

Dan Slote for Slote, Woodman & Co. wrote to Sam. He’d been down with a cold but was better and had called at the Hamburg line office to secure passage on the Holsatia—the costs made him “unusually short” and wondered if Sam might help [MTP].

February 26 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to William Dean and Elinor Howells. Sam wanted to see his good friend before leaving for Europe. He asked if they could “run down here before March 25—any time…” Sam told of plans to leave for Elmira Mar. 25, and to sail for Hamburg Apr. 11. He added a PS with news that Bayard Taylor and family would also be on the Holsatia [MTLE 3: 21-2].

Sam also wrote notes for Livy to Annie Franklin and Mary C. Shipman, sending her hopes that the ladies would be able to make the Mar. 4 Monday Evening Club. These notes may have been written anytime from Feb. 26 to Mar. 2 [MTLE 3: 23-4]. Other similar notes may have been written.

February 26 and 27 Wednesday – Orion Clemens wrote to Sam about his story writing. “I have written a hundred and sixty pages, and the number may run up to 200.” He was cutting out some and hoped to send it soon. “I shall strike out where I am anticipated by Jules Verne” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Preserve” and “Orion’s Apostasy”

February 27 Wednesday – Frank Fuller wrote to Sam on Woodruff Iron Works to Fuller Feb. 27 :

Read this now! I would not send it, only old man Woodruff will be here, & if I can’t help him, he’ll weep, & I can’t stand it. Old Bowers has succeeded, in killng off the Syndicate, I think, & has now disappeared himself. He borrowed & borrowed from them, pending a decision, & disgusted them all. I only lately found out the cause of their lack of interest [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Answered / Preserve”; H.C. Bowers was an inventor of a still and a different sort of steam engine, both invested in by Clemens after Fuller’s promotions.

February 28 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Bayard Taylor, who had recently been appointed as the new U.S. minister to Germany. Sam had learned that they would be shipmates on the Holsatia. Sam told him not to: “change your mind & leave us poor German-ignorant people to cross the ocean with nobody to talk to” [MTLE 3: 25].

March – Sam’s short story, “The Loves of Alonzo Fitz Clarence and Rosannah Ethelton,” ran in the Atlantic Monthly [Wells, 22]. It also ran on the front page of the Hartford Courant on Feb. 16 [Courant.com]

Most of the month was occupied with packing, making quick visits to the Langdons and the Cranes in Elmira and to Sam’s mother, and sister in Fredonia. Livy began making lists of purchases commissioned by family and friends. She wrote measurements of the Hartford house with ideas for furniture and frou frou to bring back. Her memoranda book was set up as a ledger, with totals on each page [MTNJ 2: 42-3].

Sam’s notebook: “The First German Principia /—A First German Course” referred to A First German Course (1856) which was part of a series “on the plan of Dr. William Smith’s ‘Principia Latina’” –one of the books Sam used to study German [MTNJ 2: 54n22]. [ page 804 ]

March 1 Friday – Sayles, Dick & Fitzgerald’s Publishing House wrote to Sam, agreeing to take his “Speech on Women” out of the book in which it appeared. They thanked him for his conditional permission to use “Membranous Croup” [MTP].

March 2 Saturday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells sent Sam a postcard asking if “Saturday of next week” would “do for that projected visit?” [MTHL 1: 221].

Bayard Taylor wrote on a small note card: “Hearty thanks for your kind congratulations! I mean to go by the Holsatia, if the Govt will allow me that much time at home. The Captain is an old friend of mine and would be unhappy if I did not sail with him. I saw your name in the book, which is another inducement. But I daren’t positively engage passage until after the Senate has acted. Always…” [MTP].

March 3 Sunday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells sent Sam a note revising his Mar. 2 suggestion.

“Mrs. Howells starts to New York on Wednesday [Mar. 6], and I propose to go with her as far as Hartford, where if convenient we will both stop off till one o’clock the next day. We shall leave Boston on the 3 p.m. train….Don’t bother to meet us at the station. We know the way” [MTHL 1: 222].

March 4 Monday – Dan Slote for Slote, Woodman & Co. wrote . “I send you today more signatures of new Book, all that our printer had completed thus far. / Our Mr Wilde leaves on the 23rd of this month & if that little affair takes place it will occur say two or three nights previous—Can you come & what notice do you need?” He suggested a second volume of Sketches [MTP].

March 5 Tuesday – Dan Slote for Slote, Woodman & Co. wrote to Sam.

Postal received—The dummy sent you yesterday of Punch as printed on paper to be used in the Edition of the thickness sent say 144 pages…Its bound to be popular & of extensive sale. / Think well of the proposition made yesterday of publishing your best incidents of each of your books—It will sell most extensively & prove the best advertisement for Bliss (whose canvassing days are played out)—together for our Scrap Book [MTP]. Note: Sam must have answered Slote’s Mar. 4 here, though it is not extant.

A.E. Ford wrote from Brooklyn on Irish World notepaper to ask for a letter of Sam’s “sentiments” about the Irish [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Curiosity / Preserve / Don’t answer it.”

Frank Fuller wrote to Sam. “Woodruff now writes that the iron in that monster is worth $175. & this would leave, he says, $592.17 due him. Since the death of French, such beating of the bush as I have been able to do, has not scared up another bird. / I shall keep on till my luck changes” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Answered with check for $592.17 on Bissell / This closes up that business for all / Preserve.” The inventor H.C. Bowers had used equipment and materials at the Woodruff Iron Works while building a different sort of steam engine.  

March 6 Wednesday – The Howellses arrived in Hartford as planned earlier in the week (see Mar. 3 entry) and spent the night [MTHL 1: 221-2n1].

Dan Slote for Slote, Woodman & Co. wrote to Sam that he was sending the “last signatures & completion of new book, then I don’t wish to annoy you about reading proofs…Have printed our first edition 5000 copies only” [MTP].

Sam wrote to Dan Slote, letter not extant but referred to in Slote’s of Mar. 8.

March 7 Thursday – Elinor Howells left the Clemenses and continued on alone to New York to visit relatives in New Jersey; William Dean Howells continued his visit, most likely returning home to Cambridge by Mar. 12 or thereabouts, as Sam then left for New York [MTHL 1: 222n1]. [ page 805 ]

March 8 Friday – Sam secretly signed a contract for the new travel book with Frank Bliss, son of Elisha. Sam had been somewhat dissatisfied with Elisha Bliss and the American Publishing Co. since Orion reported misgivings. Frank wanted to break away from his father and start his own company. The new contract was Sam’s way of increasing his control over publication [MTJ&N 2: 42]. (See Nov. 1879 entry.)

Dan Slote for Slote, Woodman & Co. wrote to Sam: “Yours of the 6th inst answered this a.m./ I send to day by mail the first complete copy that has been issued. It is simply beautiful…” [MTP]. Note: Sams of 6th not extant.

March 9 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Mary Mason Fairbanks, who had written again asking why Sam would go to Germany.

Because the only chance I get here to work is the 3 months we spend at the farm [Quarry farm] in the summer….I want to find a German village where nobody knows my name or speaks any English, & shut myself up in a closet 2 miles from the hotel, & work every day without interruption until I shall have satisfied my consuming desire in that direction [MTLE 3: 14].

Bill and receipt, Hamburg-American Packet Co. $227.80 for passage for four adults, two children from N.Y. to Hamburg [MTP].

 

Dan Slote for Slote, Woodman & Co. wrote to Sam: “Enclosed please find receipt of passage engaged for 4 adults & two children, on the Holsatia of April 11/78…Rooms marked are accompanying plan, No 19 & 20 are the ones engaged…” [MTP].

 

March 11 Monday – Before this date Sam earned a half-interest after expenses for the Colonel Sellers play. A contract of this date reduced his share to twenty percent [MTPO Notes with Oct. 27, 1876 to Raymond].

 

March 12 Tuesday – Committee for Bayard Taylor farewell dinner sent an engraved invitation for Apr. 4 [MTP]. Note: Included: Elliot C. Cowdin (1819-1880), Charles Watrous, Algernon S. Sullivan, George Haven Putnam (1844-1930), and Edmund C. Stedman (1833-1908). A program & menu, too large for the env.was likely returned by Clemens.

 

An unidentified Hartford resident sent Clemens a poem bemoaning the Clemens family’s departure to Europe for a long sojourn [MTP].

 

March 12 to 15 Friday – Sam spent two days in New York during this time [MTLE 3: 28].

 

March 13 Wednesday – An entry in Sam’s notebook placed this as the possible date he met with George Lester at the Rossmore Hotel in New York about recovering $23,000 he’d invested in the failed Hartford Accident Insurance Co.. Lester and Sam had been directors, and Senator John P. Jones president of the company. John D. Slee of the Langdon Coal Co. arranged a meeting with Jones, acting as Sam’s agent (see Mar. 26 entry). Sam noted that Lester “made promises” [MTNJ 2: 54].

March 15 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells. He sent a piece for the Atlantic and also simultane-sheets to go to the Canadian Monthly and to Chatto & Windus. He doubted he would go to the Taylor banquet (though he did go) as he would be in Elmira. Sam said he wanted to see Howells before he sailed, but couldn’t travel to Boston and leave Livy alone to lose “another nights rest,” after being away two days in New York. It’s likely the two decided to attend the Bayard Taylor Banquet on Apr. 4 to say goodbye, yet Howells was also at the dock when they left (see Apr. 11 entry). The Farmington house goods had been packed up and Sam wrote that the: [ page 806 ]

“drawing & pink rooms have a melancholy look, to-day—uncarpeted & wholly stripped & empty. This work of desolation is to go right on, day after day” [MTLE 3: 28].

March 16 Saturday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam, answering his Mar. 15 letter and submission:

“The new thing you send me is perfectly delicious. It went right home every time. What a fancy you have got! And what sense!….It’s sickening to have you going away” [MTHL 1: 224].

Howells wasn’t certain he would attend the Bayard Taylor banquet on Apr. 4, though he did go. Note: Sam’s submission was “About Magnanimous-Incident Literature.”

Sam wrote from Hartford, accepting the invitation of George Haven Putnam to attend the Bayard Taylor Banquet on Apr. 4 [MTLE 3: 29].

Sam also wrote to John T. Raymond, per Charles Perkins, naming Perkins as his agent to receive the twenty per cent proceeds from the continuing Gilded Age play [MTLE 3: 30].

March 17 and 18 Monday – Orion Clemens wrote to Sam.

I feel lonesome and disappointed. I have had a longing to get back to Hartford, and be with you. In yesterday evening’s paper I see that you and family are going to Germany to be gone two years, starting 11th April. I could not sleep. So I got up at 2 o’clock this morning, and finished my story. I will not take time to read it over. I feel that I have suffered the hell I have for forty or more years, in consequence of the infernal doctrine of government by fear. I have been trained a coward, and I mean to put out the fires of hell, and this is the gist of the Kingdom of Sir John Franklin [MTP].

March 19 Tuesday – Susy Clemens’ sixth birthday was noted in Sam’s notebook [MTNJ 2: 54].

Sam’s notebook: “Lester writes (from Washington) one of the regular Jones-Lester non-committal half-promising for the 26th” [MTNJ 2: 55]. (See Mar. 13 & 26 entries.)

Sam’s Mar. 20 notebook entry for Mar. 19:

Twichell, at the farewell [George L.] Pentecost meeting yesterday [Mar. 19] urged people to keep on going to church—we can’t give you such preaching, “but you come nevertheless & take what God can give you through us (the local preachers), remembering that ½ a loaf is better than no bread. You know that the ravens brought food to Elijah, & when he got it it was as nutritious as if it had been brought by a finer bird” [MTNJ 2: 55]

March 20 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Warren Stoddard of the empty Farmington Avenue house. Sam thought the family would be gone “two or three years.” Although Livy had written a loose itinerary, Sam purposely wanted to escape and not plan too much after that except to get some writing done. “We are packing trunks to-day,” Sam wrote [MTLE 3: 31].

Sam’s notebook entry included revision notes for “Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven” [MTNJ 2: 55].

March 23 Saturday – Sam had received Orion’s manuscript, and responded from Hartford with mild scolding about learning the trade (“God requires that he learn it by slow & painful processes”) and a sort of line-by-line critique. Sam was upset that Orion had imitated Jules Verne, and not burlesqued him [MTLE 3: 32-5]. One interesting point—Sam offered that he hated what had now become conventional language: [ page 807 ]

“Next came 100 people who looked like they had just been, &c”

      That wretched Missourianism occurs in every chapter. You mean, “as IF”.

Sam also wrote to Howells about Houghton transferring Canadian copyright to himself or someone he knew. Sam mentioned Orion’s manuscript and the “manifest apprentice hand!” He wanted to thank Howells for helping him become a better writer, something he felt he’d never mentioned [MTLE 3: 36].

J.D. Slee for Langdon & Co. wrote to Sam (letter & telegram from John P. Jones enclosed, arranging to meet Slee in NYC) [MTP].

March 25 Monday – Still in Hartford, Sam and Livy wrote a note of thanks to the young ladies of the Saturday Morning Club for sending flowers to wish them a bon voyage [MTLE 3: 37].

March 26 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford, again to George Haven Putnam, organizer for the Bayard Taylor farewell banquet. Sam agreed to “talk four or five minutes, or rise in my place & excuse myself…” Sam argued he got more gratitude for an excuse than a speech, which he preferred over applause [MTLE 3: 38].

John Slee, in behalf of Clemens, met with Senator Jones in New York about the $23,000 from the failed insurance investment. Jones made full restitution to Sam at that meeting, which Sam may have attended [MTNJ 2: 54-5n23]. Note: If he did go to the meeting, it was a quick, one-day, round trip, because Sam wrote letters from Hartford on Mar. 26 and 27.

March 27 Wednesday – The Clemens family and their nurse, Rosa, left Hartford for New York, where they spent the night and all of the next day [MTLE 3: 34]. From Twichell’s journal:

“Our friends Mr & Mrs Mark Twain depart to-day to go to Europe, expecting to be about a year at least. The Lord prosper them. The last time I called on them Mark invited me to visit them in Germany next summer for two or three months at his expense. I mean to go” [Yale, copy at MTP].

March 28 Thursday – The Clemens family spent the day in New York City [Susan Crane to Paine, June 14, 1911, The Twainian, Nov.-Dec.1956 p4].

March 29 Friday – Sam and Livy, the children and their nurse, Rosa, left New York and took the ten-hour train trip to Elmira, arriving at Mrs. Langdon’s [MTLE 3: 34; Susan Crane to Paine, June 14, 1911, The Twainian, Nov.-Dec.1956 p4].

Clemens began a letter to Denis McCarthy, which he finished Apr. 7. Sam had received a letter from Denis in Virginia City about putting up $190 for the Nevada Bank to keep some stock speculation. Sam wrote: “Not any more speculations for this financial mud-turtle” [MTLE 3: 39].

March 29–April 4 Thursday – Sometime between these days Sam made a quick trip to Fredonia to see his mother and family. He also briefly visited David Gray and wife in Buffalo [MTLE 3: 44]. He wrote David Gray on Apr. 10 that he’d had a:

“…perfectly enchanting time at your house [and a] delightful visit in Fredonia, & a horrid night-trip to New York” [MTLE 3: 44; Susan Crane to Paine, June 14, 1911, The Twainian, Nov.-Dec.1956 p4].

April 4 Thursday – Sam went to New York and checked into the St. James Hotel. He was to give a dinner speech at the Bayard Taylor Farewell Dinner in New York City, but “…was so jaded & worn…that I found I could not remember 3 sentences of the speech I had memorized, & therefore got up & said so & excused myself from speaking” [MTLE 3: 43].  [ page 808 ]

The dinner was to honor Taylor shortly before he sailed for Europe as the United States minister to Germany. William Cullen Bryant presided over a party of 200 gentlemen. Other speakers were Howells, Charles Dudley Warner, Mayor Smith Ely Jr. (1825-1911), Edwards Pierrepont (1817-1892) and W.W. Phelps (1839-1894) [Fatout, MT Speaking 116-18]. Taylor also sailed on the Holsatia with the Clemens family [MTLE 3: 25].

April 5 Friday – Sam wrote a note at noon from New York to Frank Fuller, who was staying at the Sturtevant House. The note was not postmarked, so was likely delivered by courier. In an unidentified business matter, Sam wrote to give “him (unidentified) any interest that will fetch him.” He wrote that he’d been to the Sturtevant House to call on Mrs. Fuller, but had to rush off to meet an appointment, which hinged on one with Howells. Then he intended to meet Fuller and catch an evening train back to Elmira, but evidently did not finish his business because he was still in NY the next day [MTLE 3: 41].

April 6 Saturday – Sam left New York for Elmira [MTLE 3: 39].

April 7 Sunday – Sam arrived in Elmira at 3 AM [MTLE 3: 43]. Later that day he finished the Mar. 29 letter to Denis McCarthy; Sam wrote he’d been in NY the day before, where he’d heard the “common talk in Virginia [City] that I had persuaded Dan [De Quille] to adopt a plan in the writing of his book which I knew would kill it!” Sam responded that once such a claim might have upset him, but since he knew it wasn’t so and Dan wouldn’t say such a thing, it didn’t upset him; all he’d advised was to cut down a bit of the opening history [MTLE 3: 39-40].

He also wrote to his mother, Jane Clemens, and sister, Pamela Moffett, relating that he’d told Livy about his visit to the family in Fredonia [MTLE 3: 42-3].

April 10 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to David Gray, his old friend and editor from Buffalo. Sam thanked Gray for the visit to his house. The Clemens family would sail at 2 PM the next day.

Sam also wrote a goodbye note to Joe Twichell. Joe had agreed to let Sam pay his way to Germany after the family had been there some time, and Sam promised to write from Germany and advise him when to come [MTLE 3: 45].

In responding to a query by Harper & Brothers sent Jan. 29, 1905, Sam gives this date as the one he read proofs of his sketch, “About Magnanimous-Incident Literature,” which ran in the May 1878 issue of the Atlantic Monthly. His recollection 27 years after the fact may have been off a day, since the Clemens party stayed that night at the Gilsey House in New York and sailed for Germany the next day, April 11. Still, Sam may have gone on board the night prior to sailing in order to be alone while reading the proofs [MTP]. Note: See Budd, Collected I for the sketch.

The Clemens family and entourage left Elmira. They arrived in New York late in the evening, in order to sail the next day, and stayed the night at the Gilsey House [MTLE 3: 41; Powers, MT A Life 415-6]. Charles Langdon left for New York a few hours later [Susan Crane to Paine, June 14, 1911, The Twainian, Nov.-Dec.1956 p4].

April 11 Thursday – Before sailing, Sam wrote from New York to Moncure Conway, sending a letter of introduction for his nephew, Samuel Moffett, who would also travel to England. From the New York Times of Apr. 12:

THE HOLSATIA CARRIES AWAY THE NEW MINISTER, ACCOMPANIED BY MARK TWAIN AND HIS FAMILY, AND THE WIFE AND CHILDREN OF MR. MURAT HALSTEAD.

The first name on the passenger list of the Holsatia, that sailed yesterday, was “Hon. Bayard Taylor, United States Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary;” then followed Mrs. Bayard Taylor and Miss Lillian [ page 809 ] Taylor, Mrs. Murat Halstead, Miss Jenny Halstead, Master Robert Halstead, Mr. Samuel L. Clemens and family. [Note: Murat Halstead (1829-1908).]

At 2 PM on a dismal day with frequent downpours, William Dean Howells saw the Clemens family off from New York, bound for Europe on the steamship Holsatia commanded by Captain C.L. Brandt. The Times article also mentioned Dan Slote was in the send-off party. It was a two-week voyage. Susy, six, and Clara, going on four, were accompanied by their German nursemaid, Rosa Hay. Also along was George, who would handle baggage and valet duties. Clara Spaulding, who went with the family five years before was also in the group, which occupied two staterooms. Also, a young lady, probably Miss Sophia J. Olivier, was traveling to Hamburg; Livy reluctantly agreed to take charge of her [MTLE 3:43; MTNJ 2: 110n127]. Although Sam had told friends he might be gone between two and three years, they would return in just over sixteen months [Kaplan 212]. The Clemens family had staterooms #19 and 20 [Slote to Clemens Mar. 8].

April 12 Friday – The New York Times, on page 8, ran an interview titled, “The Start for Germany,” where Sam said his new travel book would not imitate Innocents Abroad [Scharnhorst, Interviews 14-16].

April 13 Saturday – Bill & receipt from Arnold, Constable & Co., New York of $113.70 for various clothing items [MTP]. (Likely purchases made on Apr. 11.)

April 14 Sunday – From Sam’s notebook:

3d day out, Bayard Taylors’ colored man, being constipated, applied to the ship’s doctor for relief, who sent him 6 large rhubarb pills, to be taken one every 4 hours; the pills came by a German steward, who delivered the directions in German, the darkey not understanding a word of it. Result: the darkey took all the pills at once & appeared no more on deck for 6 days [MTNJ 2: 68].

April 17 Wednesday – From Sam’s en route letter of Apr. 20 to his mother-in-law, Olivia Lewis Langdon:

“On the 17th we had heavy seas, then easy ones, then rough again; then brilliant skies, with thick driving storms of rain, hail, sleet & snow—sunshine again, followed by more snow, hail, rain & sleet—& so on, all day long; we sighted an ice-berg in the morning & a water-spout in the afternoon” [MTLE 3: 47-8].

April 20 Saturday – Sam wrote a letter, en route on the SS Holsatia from New York to Hamburg, to Olivia Lewis Langdon. He wrote the letter on a ship’s menu.

It has been all kinds of a voyage—calm, smooth seas, then rough seas, then middling—& so on…To-day a lurch of the ship threw a passenger against an iron railing & they think he has a rib broken. The girls are worn out with the rolling & tumbling of the ship, & starved out too, since they eat nothing. But they’ll be all right, 2 days hence, when we reach Plymouth. The children get along splendidly, though the Bay swears at the weather sometimes [MTLE 3: 48].

April 22 Monday – From Sam’s notebook:

“It breaks out hearts, this sunny magnificent morning, to sail along the lovely shores of England & can’t go ashore. Inviting” [MTNJ 2: 68].

Sam reflected on “Lying story-books which make boys fall in love with the sea.” He referred to more realistic stories, such as Richard Henry Dana’s Two Years Before the Mast (1840). Sam wrote: [ page 810 ]

“…that a common sailor’s life is often a hell; & that there are probably more brutes in command of little ships than in any other occupation in life” [MTNJ 2: 69].

April 24 Wednesday – The Holsatia stopped at Cherbourg and/or Le Havre, France. The American-Hamburg line went through Havre and normally took twelve days from New York to Havre, then an additional day from Havre to Hamburg, a deep-water port in Germany. However, Sam’s notebook mentions passengers getting off at Cherbourg [MTNJ 2: 69].

April 25 Thursday – The Clemens family arrived at Hamburg and took rooms at the Crown Prince Hotel [MTLE 1: vii; MTNJ 2: 46, 71].

April 25 to 30 Tuesday – Sam insisted that the family rest in Hamburg a week [Rodney 98]. They stayed five days [MTNJ 2: 46]. Livy wrote her mother on Apr. 26 that Hamburg “was the finest city I was ever in” [Rodney 79], which suggests she was well enough to do some sight seeing. Some sights Sam registered in his notebook:

Church St. Nicholai, very beautiful open-work stone spire (said to be next to the highest in the world) set upon a huge brick edifice. One account says this spire is the highest in the world. Well, no matter, the Church can claim one pre-eminence, I think, which cannot safely (successfully) be disputed—that inside it is the dismalest, barrenest, ugliest barn that exists in the boundless universe of God. Grumbler.

Haven’t seen or been accosted by a beggar. Haven’t seen a tramp—what luxury this is!

Watched a man on spire of St. Petri 400 ft above ground to see him fall, as he was handling a heavy rope & wind blowing—but was disappointed.

Got lost yesterday, wandered many miles & returned by water through the Alster.

View of Alsterbassin from front window.

The hackman lifted his hat when we left.—A perfectly astounding & gratifying piece of politeness [MTNJ 2: 71-2].

Note: Sam assigned certain statements in his notebook to “G” or “Gr” for “Grumbler,” a preparing of character for “Harris” (Twichell) in A Tramp Abroad. He had signed Grumbler in 1853 articles for his brother’s paper, the Hannibal Daily Journal.

April 25 to May 1, 1878 – Hamburg, Germany.  Sam and daughter Susy were walking on the street and met Miss Marie Corelli (born Mary Mackay; 1855-1924; see insert). On Apr. 6, 1897 Sam replied to an invitation by John Y. MacAlister to some gathering with Corelli. Sam replied, “…it would move me too deeply to see Miss Corelli. When I saw her last it was on the street in Hamburg, & Susy was walking with me.” [MTP].

 

Note: The family was only in Hamburg one known time–these five days in 1878, though Sam and Joe Twichell were there for two days Aug. 20 to 21, 1892; and Sam went again (alone?) on Aug. 25 and 26 to meet the Prince of Wales (see entries Vol. 2). Corelli, British novelist, would luncheon with Sam in 1907. She would become the best-selling UK female novelist of the early 20th century, though critics ripped her books.

 

Dilemmas are often noted when using Sam’s Autobiographical dictations recalling events of many years prior. Sam’s dictation of Aug. 16, 1907 suggests 1892 as the first meeting with Corelli. [ page 811 ]

 

“I met Marie Corelli at a small dinner party in Germany fifteen years ago [ ca. 1892], and took a dislike to her at once, a dislike which expanded and hardened with each successive dinner course until when we parted at last, the original mere dislike had grown into a very strong aversion” [MTFWE 73]

 

Note: the dilemma here is that no other time spent in Hamburg (Homburg) was found besides these 3 periods, though it’s possible there were other visits there in 1892 while the Clemens family was staying at Bad Nauheim. In the 1878 period, Susy was only six; Corelli 23, and had not yet switched her career from music to writing (her first book, A Romance of Two Worlds (1886). The Clemens family was in Berlin in 1891-2, and it’s possible that they made a short visit to Homburg, a few hours away by train, though there is no record of such a trip—and, that Sam and Susy met Corelli on the street there in 1892. More research on Corelli’s whereabouts in 1878 and 1892 may prove to settle this question.

May – Sam’s short story, “About Magnanimous-Incident Literature” ran in the Atlantic Monthly [Wells, 22]. During this month, Sam pinned a clipping from a James Payn essay, “An Adventure in a Forest; or, Dickens’s Maypole Inn,” to his Notebook 14. “Payn describes his futile search for Epping Forest and the famous Maypole Inn of Barnaby Rudge” [Gribben 536]

An entry following one dated May 25 in Sam’s notebook decries the censorship of his age:

“By far the very funniest things that ever happened or were ever said, are unprintable (in our day). A great pity. It was not so in the freer age of Boccacio & Rableais” [MTNJ 2: 87].

May 1 Wednesday – From Hamburg, the Clemens family traveled south by rail to Hanover and Göttingen. They took an excursion to Wilhelmshöhe [MTNJ 2: 46]. MTNJ says they “stopped briefly” at these places [73n65]. From Sam’s notebook:

“Woman at Napoleon’s prison-palace at Wilhelmshöhe–Heinrich said ‘If she look at you, if she say something, if she do anything, she all time look like a cat which is unwell’” [MTNJ 2: 74].

May 2 Thursday – The Clemens family traveled by rail through the Harz Mountains, to Cassel (Kassel) [MTLE 3: 49-50]. They took rooms at the Hotel du Nord in Cassel [MTNJ 2: 73]. From Sam’s notebook: 

 

Who is buried here?

Nobody.

Then why the monument?

It is not a monument. It is a stove.

We had reverently removed our hats. We now put them on again.

 

In Europe they use safety matches & then entrust candles to drunken men, children, idiots, &c., & yet suffer little from fires, apparently. The idea of an open light in one of our houses makes us shudder.

 

The hatefulest thing in the world is a cuckoo clock [73-4].

 

May 3 Friday – The Clemens family traveled to Frankfort where they rested a day or so [MTNJ 2: 46]. “The prettiest effect is a cloud-ceiling in fresco in our parlor at Frankfort” [74].

May 4 Saturday – Sam wrote from Frankfort on the Main, Germany to Howells. Sam felt a relaxing sense of escape, described as only he might:

“Ah, I have such a deep, grateful, unutterable sense of being ‘out of it all.’ I think I foretaste some of the advantage of being dead. Some of the joy of it. I don’t read any newspapers or care for them.” [ page 812 ]

Sam was complimentary about Bayard Taylor (“a really lovable man” who had been on the Holsatia). He wrote that they were traveling from Hamburg to Heidelberg (a distance of about 359 miles) only four hours a day and taking six days to do it because Livy had “picked up a dreadful cold & sore throat on board ship.” They would be in Heidelberg the next day. Sam gave a “permanent address” care of bankers there. He was impressed with the “clean clothes…good faces, tranquil contentment…prosperity…genuine freedom…superb government!” of the Germans. Sam later wrote of Frankfort:

We made a short halt at Frankfort-on-the-Main, and found it an interesting city. I would have liked to visit the birthplace of Gutenburg, but it could not be done, as no memorandum of the site of the house has been kept. So we spent an hour in the Goethe mansion instead. The city permits this house to belong to private parties, instead of gracing and dignifying herself with the honor of possessing and protecting it [A Tramp Abroad, Ch. 1].

Goethe’s house—the courier had the effrontery to propose we visit birthplace of Rothschild. My dear sir, 2 or 300 years ago, they’d have skinned this Jew in old Frankfort, instead of paying homage to his birthplace—but it is an advance—we have quit loathing Jews & gone to worshipping their money.—Come, let us exhibit the birthplaces of Vanderbilt & Stewart to admiring foreigners [MTNJ 2: 75].

Sam and Livy had directed their nursemaid to only speak German to Susy and Clara; Susy wished “Rosa was made in English” [MTLE 3: 49-50].

Sam inscribed: “S. L. Clemens, Frankfort-a-M. / May 4, 1878.” – on the flyleaf of Johann Philipp Benkard’s Geschichte der Deutschen Kaiser und Konige (1869) [Gribben 59].

May 5 or May 6 Monday – The Clemens family arrived in Heidelberg, Germany and stayed at the beautiful Schloss Hotel, which overlooked the old castle with its forest setting, the flowing Neckar River, and the distant valley of the Rhine [MTLE 3: 50]. Rodney notes that the hotel’s “family-style accommodations suited the needs of the party. Their situation so delighted Mark Twain that he expended three pages of detailed descriptions of the hotel and its environs in A Tramp Abroad” [98].

Note: Sam’s May 4 letter to Howells stated they would go to Heidelberg “the next day” (May 5), as Rodney also cites [98]; [MTNJ 2: 46] gives the arrival as May 6. They may have arrived late on the night of May 5.

May 6 Monday – Livy wrote on May 7:

Yesterday Rosa was in the castle grounds with the children, two ladies one English the other German sitting on a seat spoke to them, after a little asked their name, where they were from etc., etc. then she said “Clemens, why could that be Mark Twain?”—Rosa told them that it was, then the lady said to Susy, “I wish you would tell your papa that I have enjoyed his books very much”—No one in the hotel knows who Mr. Clemens is—we are having as quiet a life as we could possibly desire—The ladies asked the children if they could not sing some English songs, so they sang “Grandfather’s Clock,” “I have a Savior,” “Ring the Bells of Heaven” and Rosa said she saw tears in one of the ladies eyes…[Salsbury 77].

Bill paid for 184.25 marks to Rechnung, a Frankfurt merchant [MTP].

May 7 Tuesday – Sam wrote from the Schloss Hotel in Heidelberg, Germany to Bayard Taylor. Sam wrote in German [MTLE 3: 51].

From Livy’s pen:

“As I write Mr. Clemens is writing Mr. Howells—Rosa is talking German as fast as she can to the children—She is very faithful in the matter talks no English to them and Susy is picking up a great deal of German—I [ page 813 ] shall try next week to get them a teacher” [Salsbury 77]. Note: The letter from Sam to Howells that Livy referred to is most likely lost.

May 7 to May 23 Thursday – Rodney calls this period “two weeks of sheer indolence” [98]. Livy made their suite more comfortable and set a routine. Sam noticed everything and jotted in his notebook.

May 8 Wednesday – Edmond About (1828-1885), French novelist and journalist wrote from Paris in French [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the margin., “Autograph of Edmond About. Preserve it.”

May 11 Saturday – Bayard Taylor wrote from Berlin, Germany to Sam.

I have succeeded, by the aid of 4 Dictionaries, in deciphering your letter. The personal description, however, is not quite correct, and I doubt whether you are able to do it properly yourself. I recognize neither the gleaming eyes nor the bomb-proof moral character. I find that there is a certain official routine to be followed, and I can’t get outside of it. I inclose you the circular which is always sent by the Legation, in answer to applications for passports. The nearest Consul, in your case, is in Mannheim…His name is E.C. Smith, and he will attend to the whole business for you—especially the fees! [MTP].

May 17 Friday – Sam’s notebook about the traditional dueling (“How I Escaped Being Killed in a Duel”) of Heidelberg college students:

One knows a college bred man by his scars.

This morning 8 couples fought—2 spectators fainted. One student had a piece of his scalp taken. The others faces so gashed up & floor all covered with blood. They only wear protecting spectacles [MTNJ 2: 82] (See chapter 7 of A Tramp Abroad.)

May 21 Tuesday – From Sam’s notebook:

“At breakfast we saw the fields & villages or landslides (whichever they were) on the great sides of the Haard Mts, 35 or 40 miles away—the first time these mountains have shown anything but dark blue distance…Pink sunset through haze—black cloud with fringe circling over end of ridge at that town” [MTNJ 2: 84].

From Livy’s May 26 letter, referring to this day:

The children went on Tuesday of this week to the fair in the town, there were booths built each side of the street and everything sold in them, then there were places where they had little carriages and wooden horses on a large round platform, and the children got in these carriages or on these horses and then the entire platform went round and round, the children enjoyed it immensely….They brought home a rabbit that cost. 25 cts. that was their most expensive purchase. The rabbit was Clara’s—Susy had a horse…the children are so happy and we are all so happy [Salsbury 79].

May 22 Wednesday – Sam read and commented on an incident in the Frankfurter Journal of this morning. He practiced entering observations in German [MTNJ 2: 84-5].

May 23 Thursday – Sam wrote from the Schloss Hotel in Heidelberg to Joe Twichell, enclosing a note to George P. Bissell & Co., Hartford to pay Joseph H. Twichell three hundred dollars and charge it to Sam’s account [MTLE 3: 52].

May 24 Friday – Sam, Livy and Clara Spaulding went to the opera (King Lear) at nearby Mannheim, some 30 minutes by rail [MTNJ 2: 46, 85n82]. Rodney concludes that Sam “reluctantly” accompanied the ladies, bearing a dislike for opera that stemmed “from his earliest exposure in America” [99]. From Sam’s notebook:  [ page 814 ]

May 24—Theatre, Mannheim —Lear—performance began at 6

Sharp. Never understood a word—Gr grumbling—by & by terrific

& perfectly natural peal of thunder & vivid lightning. Gr—

“Thank heaven it thunders in English, anyway.”

At home—Sat 3 hours & never understood a word but the

Thunder & lightning.” [MTNJ 2: 85]

May 25 Saturday – From Sam’s notebook:

How we miss our big wood fires, these raw cold days in the end of May. In all this region I suppose they’ve nothing but their close stoves, which warm gradually up & then stink & swelter for hours. It is the same vile atmosphere which a furnace has which has no cold-air box & so heats & reheats the same air [MTNJ 2: 86].

The thunder generally preceded the lightning last night at theatre, which was wrong [88].

The Grand Duchess of Baden passed through to-day—streets & bahnhoff decked with bunting & cannon fired. She is the Emperor’s daughter & was in the carriage with him last week when that communist fired on him [88].

May 26 Sunday – Sam wrote from the Schloss Hotel in Heidelberg to Howells. He loved the setting, the view of the Neckar River, the old castle and the Rhine Valley. He also enjoyed the glass-enclosed porches, which extended from the bedrooms, where he could read, rest and smoke. He sent compliments on Charley Warner’s latest Atlantic article. Sam had been resting and waiting for “the call” to write, which came a week before.

…my note-book comes out more & more frequently every day…3 days ago I concluded to move my manuscripts over to my den. Now the call is loud & decided, at last. So, tomorrow I shall begin regular, steady work, & stick to it till middle of July or 1st August, when I look for Twichell; we will then walk about Germany 2 or 3 weeks & then I’ll go to work again—(perhaps in Munich) [MTLE 3: 54-5].

Bought 2 cigars & 4 boxes fancy matches—gave 48 cent piece and got 42 ½ cents change. Shant import any more cheap cigars into Germany for economy’s sake [MTNJ 2: 89].

Prof. Ihne, Mrs. Ihne & daughter called—a very pleasant call, indeed [89].

From Livy’s pen:

Clara [Spaulding] sits by me writing her Mother and Mr. Clemens sits the other side of the table reading Mr. Warner’s Adirondack Sketch, he is perfectly convulsed with laughter—This evening Clara and I will read it—Tomorrow Mr. Clemens goes to work he has been making notes ever since we left home, so he has a good deal of material to work from….I have secured a young lady to be with them, the children—three hours a day. She begins tomorrow morning—She has taught in an English School….I liked her appearance very much indeed [Salsbury 78].

May 27 Monday – Sam wandered through the Heidelberg Castle grounds, then to his den and began work [MTNJ 2: 89].

May 28 Tuesday – Sam described another “curious sunset” in his notebook, and the Lohengrin opera program at Mannheim. “Opera is not a fashion, but a passion & it isn’t dependent upon the swells, but upon every body.” Sam remarked on getting the Frankfort daily the day it was printed, but the Heidelberg paper the day after [MTNJ 2: 91].  [ page 815 ]

Bought a couple of gorgeously dressed ancient horrors in Castle museum, to start a portrait gallery of my ancestors with. Paid a dollar & a quarter for the male portrait & $2.50 for the lady. The gentleman a most self-satisfied smirk—but if he had known he would be sold to a base untitled republican 100 yrs later for a dollar & a half, would it have taken some of the tuck out of that smirk [MTNJ 2: 92].

May 30 Thursday – Sam again accompanied Livy and Clara Spaulding to Mannheim for an opera, this time Lohengrin [MTNJ 2: 46; 92]. From Sam’s notebook:

May 30— Mannheim—Went to a shivaree—(this is John) polite name, Opera.

In midst of it John who had not moved or spoken from the beginning, but looked the picture of patient suffering, was asked how he was getting along. He said in a tremulous voice that he had not had such a good time since he had his teeth fixed.

I have attended Operas whenever I could not help it, for fourteen years, now, & I am sure I know of no agony comparable to the listening to an unfamiliar Opera…what long, arid, heart-breaking & head-aching between-times expanses of that sort of intense but incoherent noise which so reminds me of the time the orphan asylum burned down [ 93].

June – Sam wrote “The Lost Ear-ring,” which was not published in his lifetime [Fables of Man 145-148]. Note: source notes: “The tale begins with the date 6 June 1878, and the verso of manuscript page 13 bears the heading ‘Schloss Hotel Heidelberg, June 5’…The title was supplied at the time Bernard DeVoto was the Editor of the Mark Twain Papers.”

On board the Holsatia in Apr. 1878, Bayard Taylor introduced Sam to the popular German song, “Die Lorelei,” which Sam had never heard. This month he copied its lyrics into his notebook in both German and English [MTNJ 2: 100]. It became one of Sam’s favorites.

Also in his notebook, “English swore (Misses Berry?) up to end of last century,” referring to Harriet Martineau’s Autobiography, which carried an anecdote on page 278 about “feminine oaths of a hundred years ago,” by Mary and Agnes Berry [Gribben 454].

June 1 Saturday – Francis D. Millet wrote from Paris to Sam. “What good fortune that you are over here. I certainly appreciate your suggestion that I meet you in Germany—it will be no trifle that deters me from coming where you are if it be agreeable to you all. I want to see you all very much for I feel as if you owned a part of me.” He was hard at work on a book [MTP]. Note in file: “Note SLC’s reference to this letter in ‘Mental Telegraphy’ (Harper’s, Dec. 1891).”

June 2 Sunday – Sam wrote from the Schloss Hotel, Heidelberg to Moncure Conway. Sam had misgivings about giving his 17-year-old nephew, Samuel Moffett, a letter of introduction to the Conways, which he had done while visiting Fredonia. Sam asked them not to let the Moffett boy inconvenience them and suggested they simply give him a card of admission to the British Museum. Sam had seen some things in his nephew, no doubt, which caused him to feel the young man needed to “paddle his own canoe” while traveling abroad [MTLE 3: 56].

 

Sam also wrote to David Gray, describing again their hotel view and balconies. Sam had hired a den at the “not exhorbitant sum of $5 a month, on the opposite side of the Neckar, in an upper story of a dwelling-house.” He needed to write away from the demands and clatter of family. He intended to learn German but saw now that it would interrupt his writing too much. Sam walked daily at 4 PM through the town and castle grounds. He told Gray of writing a book about Germany, “in the sort of narrative form which I used in Innocents, Roughing It & Bermuda stuff.” The book would be A Tramp Abroad. Sam also injected a jab at Bret Harte, after reading an article in a German paper that Harte would have a consulate with $3,000 a year. “I suppose the government’s idea is to get up a contrast with Bayard Taylor, who is a gentleman” [ page 816 ] [MTLE 3: 57-8]. Harte became the commercial agent of the U.S. at Crefeld, near Düsseldorf, Germany [Duckett 163].

 

Sam also wrote to Susan Crane about the family; Livy added a few lines:

 

Dear Susie—Livy is not pretty well this afternoon, so I thought I would write you in her place—represent her, in a lame & inefficient manner. We have a governess, now; a very capable, diligent & pleasing girl of about 21. She is German, but has taught in a school in England for a year & a half. She comes every day from 9 till 12—wages $15 a month. She interests the children in all sorts of work & play, & they have fallen in love with her. She speaks nothing but German to them. She also requires German answers—which she dictates & which they forget as soon as uttered. Susie is honestly trying to learn, & uses a number of German words, but Bay detests the language, & will have but little to [do] with it. I thrashed the Bay today, for tramping on the grass in a gentleman’s grounds. But I only had my trouble for my pains; she was thinking about something else & did not know when I was through.

Livy feels mighty conscience-stricken for having bundled poor Catherine Beecher out of her house so unceremoniously—but doubtless she has plenty of company in that feeling, now.

Clara Spaulding is working herself to death with her German—never loses an instant while she is awake—or asleep, either, for that matter—dreams of enormous serpents, who poke their heads up under her arms, & glare upon her with red-hot eyes & inquire about the Genitive Case & the declensions of the Definite Article. Livy is bully-ragging herself about as hard; pesters over her grammar & her Reader & her Dictionary all day—then in the evening these two students stretch themselves out on sofas & sigh & say, “O there’s no use—we never can learn it in the world!” Then Livy takes a sentence to go to bed on: goes gaping and stretching to her pillow, murmuring, “Ich bin Ihnen sehr Verbunden—Ich bin Ihnen sehr Verbunden—Ich bin Ihnen sehr Verbunden— I wonder if I can get that packed away so it will stay till morning”—& about an hour after midnight she wakes me up & says, “I do so hate to disturb you, but is it Ich Ben Johnson sehr befinden?”

As for me, I’ve shook the language & gone to work. I cannot afford to throw away time, now that I am old, over such an outrageous & impossible grammar. I said I would study two weeks, & I did. If I had said I would study four, I might have broken my word. I scorn that grammar; & it gratifies me to know that the few sentences I am obliged to utter daily, in the course of trade, always break all the laws of the German grammar at a sweep. To be able to read easily & translate shall be sufficient for me.

There are three great handsome dogs here, & a litter of puppies. The mother-dog is very cross, but the father-dog isn’t. I said there was nothing strange about this difference of disposition, as the dogs were not kin to each other. But Bay spoke up and said, “O yes they are, papa—the Mother-dog is the father-dog’s brother

Lately Livy has whipped Bay with the heavy stem of one of my pipes. The other day she had occasion to discipline Susie—had her weapon ready. Poor Susie observed it, & said with simple pathos that she wished we had brought the paper cutter from home, “because she was better acquainted with it.”

Good bye, Susie dear—we all send a world of love to you, & our dear old Mother—& each & all of you.

Lovingly

    Saml.

 

Sue dear I feel all the time apprehensive about you and Mother I do hope you will keep well until we return.

I pine to send you some of the wild flowers there are such quantities & such varieties. I will send in this one piece of grass & one wild flower—they are both so lovely—

I love you all—

    Your Livy

[MTP]. Note: “Bay” was Clara’s nickname.

 

In his notebook, Sam wrote an entry about the Emperor being fired upon by a socialist. He added:

 

“60,000 communists drilling in Cin. Chic. & St. Louis” [MTNJ 2: 94].

 

In Boston, Howells wrote to Sam (see June 27 entry).

 [ page 817 ]

June 3 Monday – Sam wrote a one-liner from the Schloss Hotel in Heidelberg to Andrew Chatto, asking him to send a copy of Innocents Abroad and Roughing It [MTLE 3: 59].

 

June 4 Tuesday – Sam moved his den to “the very pinnacle of the Kaiserstuhl 1400 or 1500 feet up in the air above the Schloss Hotel, & 1700 above the Rhine Valley—which it overlooks” [MTLE 3: 64]. (See entry of June 16; letter to Warner).

 

From Sam’s notebook: “Rented & paid for a room for a month at the pretty little Wirtschaft under the Königstuhl” [MTNJ 2: 94].

 

Bayard Taylor wrote to Sam, having just rec’d his letter. “I take it for granted that you are still at the Schloss-Hotel, enjoying the Aussicht. I have your Ersuch wegen dem Pass noch nicht durch den Manheimer Consul empfangen…” [MTP]. Note: Google translation: “Not yet received beseech because of the pass through the Consul Manheimer.”

 

June 5 and 6, 1878 addition – Fables of Man, p.144 gives this for “The Lost Ear-ring”: “The tale begins with the date 6 June 1878, and the verso of manuscript page 13 bears the heading ‘Schloss Hotel Heidelberg, June 5’”.

 

June 8 Saturday – Clara Clemens and family celebrated her fourth birthday. The family custom was to give both girls presents on either’s birthday. They received dolls, books, cups, and flowers. In the afternoon they rode donkeys up a hill and enjoyed a picnic of bread, butter, and strawberries [Willis 119; Salsbury 79].

 

Sam received an invitation to the Author’s Congress, Victor Hugo (1802-1885) presiding. The invite had been sent to America and the Congress met on June 11. Sam elected not to go. He noted the invitation was signed by Edmond About, French novelist and journalist [MTNJ 2: 97]. (See June 10 entry.)

 

Twichell replied to Sam’s May 23 dispatch to fund his trip.

 

Do you realize, Mark, what a symposium it is to be?…Nothing replentishes me as travel does. Most of all I am to have my fill, or a big feed anyway, of your company—and under such circumstances! To walk with you, and talk with you, and sleep with you, and say my prayers with you, and see things with you, for weeks together,—why it’s my dream of luxury [MTNJ 2: 113].

June 9 Sunday – Sam wrote in his notebook that there was a big crowd at dinner for Whitsunday, or the seventh week after Easter. Since arriving in Germany, Sam gathered material to make fun of the German language. He wrote “Fruendschaftsbezeigungen—24 [letters]” in his notebook, then some examples of how little sense gender made when applied to some words [MTNJ 2: 97].

“Shipped from Heidelberg June 9, Case M.C. 346 gross 204 pounds, containing 1 table and carved works” [291].

Lucy A. Perkins wrote from Hartford to thank Sam for his letter and photos of Heidelberg Castle [MTP].

June 10 Monday – Sam wrote from the Königsstuhl in Heidelberg (near his rented den) to Bayard Taylor. His letter revealed his new daily routine: He only ate and slept at the hotel; in the mornings he walked to the…

“…second story of a little Wirthschaft which stands at the base of the Tower on the summit of the Königsstuhl. I walk up there every morning at 10, write until 3, talk the most hopeless & unimprovable German with the family until 5, then tramp down to the Hotel for the night” [MTLE 3: 60]. [ page 818 ]

Sam also wrote regrets to the Paris Literary Convention (Congress), which had invited him to attend, in conjunction with the 1878 Exposition Universelle. French writer Victor Hugo led the Congress for the Protection of Literary Property, which led to the eventual formulation of international copright laws. (Hugo would suffer a mild stroke this month.) Sam expressed to Gray that if he went it would take a fortnight there and another fortnight to “get settled down into the harness again” [MTLE 3: 60]. Sam put in his notebook that the Emperor was ready to leave his bed again after being shot [MTNJ 2: 97].

“Stadtverordnetenversammlung.—27 [letters] tape-worm” [MTNJ 2: 98].

June 11 Tuesday – From Sam’s notebook:

30 or 40 little school girls at the Wirthschaft to-day when I left, all drinking beer at the tables in the open air. What an atrocious sight to the total abstinent eye!

I think that only God can read a German newspaper.

The chief German characteristic seems to be kindness, good will to men.

The best English characteristic is its plucky & persistent & individual standing up for its rights.

France seems to interest herself mainly in high art & seduction.

June 14 Friday – Sam wrote in his notebook the price of a “suit of clothes—$18—cheaper than stealing.” He wondered if half the country was near-sighted, or did they wear glasses for style? [MJNJ 2: 102].

June 16 Sunday – Sam wrote from the Schloss Hotel in Heidelberg to Frank Bliss. Sam noted progress on the new book, hoping to be about half finished with the draft by the middle of July, 250 or 300 pages. He would send the manuscript:

“…as soon as our touring around will permit, & let you issue it in the winter or hold it till Spring, as shall seem best” [MTLE 3: 62].

Sam also wrote to Charles Dudley Warner, with Livy adding a line about Sam’s joke, ribbing her for mistaking “wonderful” in German for “windowshade.” Sam expressed frustration with the German language,  but all he needed to use it for was to tell the little boys “who infest my way that I do not wish to buy any flowers today…since all the rest of the German nation speak English.”

Sam wrote about moving to a new den:

I have the only room in the little Wirthshaft there not lived in by the family. I start to climb the mountain every morning about 10 or a little after; I loaf along its steep sides, cogitating & smoking; rest occasionally & peer out through ragged windows in the dense foliage upon the fair world far below; then trudge further, to another resting-place, with an attentive ear to the pleasant woodland sounds, the manifold music of the birds—& finally I reach my den about noon, feeling pretty gorgeous & at peace with the world. I treat myself to a blast of the summit-breeze & a five minutes’ contemplation of the great Rhine-plain’s slumbering sea of mottled tints & shades, & then shut myself up tight & fast in my noiseless den & go to work. About 4 p.m. I take beer & listen to the family’s domestic news, or get one of the young girls to pilot me through some conjugations & declensions, or hold the book while I curse the Dative Case—then, about 5 or 5.15 I go loafing down the mountain again, find Livy & Clara in the Castle park, & listen to the band in the shadow of the ruin [MTLE 3: 64].

While Clemens wrote, Livy, Clara Spaulding, the girls, and their caretakers explored the castle on the grounds of the hotel. Similar to Quarry Farm summers, they picked flowers and played with the pets and farm animals—donkeys, goats, pigs, and chickens…Livy was pleased their money bought more in Europe. She recorded with pride that their rent and meals were a little less than $250 a month [Willis 118].  [ page 819 ]

Text Box: June 18, 1878 
End of Federal Enforcement in the South (Posse Comitatus)

 

 

June 20 Thursday – From Sam’s notebook:

“Shipped from Frankfort June 20, case marked B & C, containing crockery” [MTNJ 2: 291].

June 22 Saturday – From Sam’s notebook:

Man hanging to boat in Neckar—people rescued him.

From a German paper:

“What constitutes official disgrace in America?”

Ans—God knows.

 

There is only one thing which is worse than H[eidelberg] coffee: that is H cream.

Superstitions lasting from old mythology

Must not climb a tree on St John’s Day (22d June?)—nor go on the water 8 days before up to 8 days after. [MTNJ 2: 103]

June 26 Wednesday – Livy was “startled” to discover passages in Sam’s notebook where Captain Wakeman would visit “various heavens.” Duckett writes:

“this may have been the earliest appearance of a protagonist cast down from his high estate which Bernard De Voto traced as it developed from a dream sequence and reappeared obsessively….in the determinism of ‘What is Man?’ privately published in 1904” [179].

June 27 Thursday – Sam had received Howells’ June 2 reply to his May 4 Frankfort letter, in which Howells wrote: “Tell me about Capt. Wakeman in Heaven, and all your other enterprises”  [MTHL 1: 233]. Howells’ letter included news about Hay, Osgood, Waring, and Aldrich, briefly mentioning those traveling overseas. He included one sentence about Bret Harte gaining “a consular appointment somewhere in Germany,” and it set Sam off, calling Harte every name in the book and asking where in Germany Harte would be. “…to send this nasty creature to puke upon the American name in a foreign land is too much.” Sam felt his letter to President Rutherford B. Hayes had been ignored and he admitted he felt “personally snubbed” [MTLE 3: 66] Sam’s best news was saved till last—Livy’s income from the coal business had recovered; Sam wrote “we’ve quit feeling poor!” [MTLE 3: 67].

June 28 Friday – Sam wrote from Heidelberg to William Seaver, one of the old New York journalism bunch Sam met in 1872.

Dear Old Seaver: / There be humorists in Germany. With infinite difficulty I have translated the following from a Mannheim paper:

      A thirsty man called for beer. Just as the foaming mug was placed before him, some one sent in for him. The place was crowded. Could he trust his beer there? A bright idea flashes through his brain. He writes on a card, “I have expectorated in this beer”—fastens the card to the mug & retires with triumph in his eye to see what is wanted. He returns presently & finds his card reversed & this written on it: “Ich auch,” (I also!”) [MTLE 3: 69].

June 29 Saturday – In Sam’s notebook:

“We usually spend from 5 to 7 pm in the grounds, knitting, embroidering, smoking, & hearing the music. Pretty warm now” [MTNJ 2: 104]. [ page 820 ]

July 1 Monday – Sam wrote from the Schloss Hotel in Heidelberg to his mother, Jane Clemens, and sister, Pamela Moffett, after receiving their letter with news of Samuel Moffett’s departure for Europe. Sam wrote of cheap prices for rent, a suit of clothes and language instruction. He confided that he’d need “a couple of centuries” to learn “this bloody language.” Sam also wrote that Livy had to use Susy to give the chambermaid a proper order in German. Also, Clara Clemens had a high fever [MTLE 3: 70].

July 2 Tuesday – From Sam’s notebook:

“Heard Prof. Fisher at University, on Leibnitz—plenty names & dates, from birth 1646 to death, 1717” [MTNJ 2: 105]. Note: Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, German mathematician and philosopher, who wrote so widely in journals and articles in several languages that no one has dared to publish a complete works.

On or shortly before this day, Frank Harris, a student in Heidelberg came to the hotel and invited Sam to speak to the Anglo-American Club on the Fourth of July. Harris was accompanied by a brother of Sir Charles Waldstein, probably Martin Waldstein [MTNJ 2: 112].

July 4 Thursday – Sam gave a short talk at the Anglo-American Club of Students, Heidelberg using both German and English.

Gentlemen: Since I arrived, a month ago, in this old wonderland, this vast garden of Germany, my English tongue has so often proved a useless piece of baggage to me, and so troublesome to carry around, in a country where they haven’t the checking system for luggage, that I finally set to work and learned the German language Also! Es freut mich dass dies so ist…[Fatout, MT Speaking 120]

 

Note: During a meeting with Frank Harris, Sam spouted violent criticism of Bret Harte; Harris was offended and vowed never to see or talk to Sam again [Fatout, Circuit 199].  

Text Box: July 8, 1878  
Adolph Sutro completed his tunnel 
begun on October 19, 1865

 

 

July 8 Monday – Mr. Jewel wrote to Sam: “for exchange cows / 45 dollars” [MTP]. (No first name given, nor is any context.)

July 9 Tuesday – Mack in Nevada, a history of the state on Adolph H. Sutro’s completion of the tunnel, which took nearly thirteen years:

“A few years later [after the initial drilling] he obtained $2,100,000 from subscriptions in the United States and in Europe. The work on the tunnel was then pushed with all possible speed. In 1878 Sutro’s dream was nearing realization—the men working in the tunnel could hear the miners at work with their drills in the Savage mine, the shaft nearest the tunnel. Finally, on July 8, 1878, a round of powder broke the last remaining wall between the tunnel and the shaft. Sutro himself was there when the last shot was fired. He was the first to crawl through the opening. It was said the rush of air from the shaft into the tunnel was so great that it sucked Sutro through the hole with such a terrific force that he was hurled to the other side of the shaft. He was picked up bruised, bleeding, and almost unconscious. Although he was almost overcome with excitement and with the extreme heat of the tunnel he was able to shout for joy. The main tunnel measured 20,480 feet in length and cost $2,096,556.41, exclusive of the expenses incurred by Sutro in the carrying out of his plan” [448-9]. Note: In 1871 Sam sought information from Sutro, a friend of John Henry Riley’s, about mining conditions for Roughing It.  [ page 821 ]

July 10 Wednesday – One line noted Sam’s excursion to the nearby historic city of Worms on this day [MTNJ 2: 108]. It’s unknown if Sam went alone or with others.

July 13 Saturday – Sam wrote from Heidelberg to Frank Bliss. Sam had received Frank’s letter in “the usual time, 14 days.” Evidently Frank had asked for Sam’s power of attorney, as he was ready to break away from his father’s publishing company to start his own business. Sam answered that even if he sent the documents that day, Frank wouldn’t have them until July 27, which was “ten days too late,” for whatever Frank had in mind. Sam confessed he was making “fair progress, but of course it isn’t great progress” on the new book. He was at about 45 or 50,000 words, or about a quarter of what was needed. He would work on intermediate chapters when “we are settled down for the fall & winter in Munich” [MTLE 3: 71].

Sam’s notebook: “51 Americans arrived & made less noise than 10 Germans” [MTNJ 2: 108].

July, mid to end – During the last week in Heidelberg, Sam was in bed with attacks of rheumatism. Livy wrote her brother, Charles Langdon on July 21 about the treatment:

“He had perfectly terrible pain in his foot and leg—the ankle was very much swollen & the cords & veins all distended—We sent for the Dr. & he put on a plaster of paris bandage that made in a few minutes a boot as hard as stone, in a few hours the pain was better” [MTNJ 2: 109n124].

July 17 Wednesday – Joe Twichell left for Europe to join the Clemens family. From Joe’s journal:

Sailed from New York by the Cunard S.S. Abyssinia, with my dear friend Rev. Dr. Parker for a companion. Met Mark Twain and his family at Baden-Baden Germany, with whom I spent six weeks in Germany and Switzerland most happily. M.T. and I made a number of pedestrian excursions and enjoyed a world of pleasure together [Yale, copy at MTP].

One of the editors of the Hartford Courant sent Twichell clippings before he embarked. Joe noted the different stances that various newspapers took about Sam paying Joe’s way. The New York Mail merely announced that “‘Mark’ will foot the bills.” The New York Sun printed this rather snide piece:

Mark Twain has sent for his pastor, the Rev. Mr. Twichell of Hartford, to join him in a tour through Switzerland and Germany at Mark’s expense, and this pastor, the Rev. Mr.Twichell, will go. This is the reward held out to the rising generation of American humorists—the successful comic man will not only be able to afford a pastor, but to take him around Europe, and hang the expense. The pastor must, however, be careful that his humorous friend does not use him as material for some new ”Innocents Abroad,” because it might then turn out that the trip was at the pastor’s expense after all [In Twichell’s notebook, undated, Yale]

July 22 Monday – Sam’s notebook:

“Day before leaving Heidl. Where is that, this & the other thing? It is packed—& so we live without a convenience” [2: 109].

July 23 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Heidelberg to Chatto & Windus, publishers, about money matters. He also requested a copy of Ouida’s Friendship, bound in full dark blue morocco [MTLE 3: 72].

The Clemens family traveled by rail to Baden Baden, Germany, staying in the Hotel de France [MTNJ 2: 47, 109n123]. Sam remembered the hotel as a “plain, simple, unpretending, good hotel” in chapter 21 of A Tramp Abroad. The medicinal baths in Baden Baden were probably an inducement for the move.

Sam’s notebook:

“Only 18. M.[arks] for large parlor & 2 large chambers on 1st floor, Hotel de France  [ page 822 ]

Music at 7 AM & from 4 PM till late toward about 10 or 11. Very fine” [MTNJ 2: 118].

 

July 24 Wednesday – The Clemens party started out on a three-day carriage trip through the Black Forest. They stayed at inns along the route. From Sam’s notebook:

 

“Stopped at Forbach at noon—trout under a grape arbor, & 3 Germans eating in general room.

The village assembled to see a tinker mend a tin boiler.

School where they sang—something like our singing geography—one monotonous tune of ½ doz. notes.”

 

Note: “The Clemens party followed the scenic carriage route, from Baden-Baden to Allerheiligen via Forbach, Schönmünzach and Ottenhöfen, described by Baedeker”…etc. [MTNJ 2: 116n4].

July 25 Thursday – The second day of the carriage trip over country that Sam and Joe would tramp in early August. Eclectic entries from Sam’s notebook:

Hotel with nobody visible—one (very nice) room-girl for 3 floors—

& an awful bell to call folks to supper.

I wish I could hear myself talk German.

Superb view from Teufelstein, Luisaruhe & Englekanzel.

C[lara] when down & visited the waterfalls.

Beautiful bright green grass everywhere.

Lovely valley & quaint thatched houses in Thal befor[e] Seeberg or some such name.

Drenching rain all down the Schlectes Weg which approaches Alln. Bright holly bushes.

Sometimes the cows occupy the first floor, sometimes the family

Saw a cow’s rump projecting from what should have been the drawing room.

If they had Schwarzwald bread, the feeding the 5,000 was hardly a miracle [MTNJ 2: 117-8].

July 26 or July 27 Saturday –The Clemens party returned by rail to the Hotel de France in Baden Baden [MTNJ 2: 116n3]. Sometime during their stay in Baden Baden, Rosina Hay saved Clara Clemens, age four, from crawling outside the balusters of a hotel corridor six-stories up [MTNJ 2: 367]. Note: See Harnsberger p.31.

July 28 Sunday – Sam went to the “English Church” and sat behind the Empress of Germany. From his notebook:

She contributed 20 marks & snapped her smelling bottle a good deal & curtsied at the name of the Savior instead of merely inclining the head, as others did….Church not crowded—the Empress does not “draw” well for an Em[press.] [MTNJ 2: 119].

Sat from 8 till 10…hearing the music & watching the crowds drift by. Pretty girls & beautiful women hardly exist in Germany, but many have beautiful forms [121].

July 29 Monday – From Sam’s notebook:

Lot of loud Americans at breakfast this morning—loud talking & coarse laughter. Talking at everybody else.

Took a nasty glass of hot mineral water at 7 AM, with teaspoon of Carlsbad salt dissolvd in it.

Never knew before what Eternity was made for. It is to give some of us a chance to learn German.

The fact that we have but 1200 soldiers to meet 6,000 Indians is well utilized here to discourage immigration to America. The common people think the Indians are in New Jersey.

Nothing can stop the Irish from coming, alas!

July 30 Tuesday –Sam wrote to Mr. Tyler (a merchant) about a “sorry old table” from the Heidelberg College prison he hoped to purchase. Sam had been unable to attend to the errand. He wrote that he [ page 823 ] expected to be at Lang’s Hotel on Aug. 6 with “a jolly preacher [Twichell] who will arrive here day after tomorrow” [MTLE 3: 73].

August 1 Thursday – Joe Twichell arrived in Baden Baden, Germany [MTNJ 2: 113]. Joe was prepared to spend six weeks hiking with Sam. On or about this day Sam wrote to Charles Dudley Warner. Sam had heard that his subsidy of Twichell’s trip was in the newspapers, and it upset him.

 

I bullyrag Joe into coming over here, —perfectly aware that nineteen-twentieths of the pecuniary profit & advantage are on my side, to say nothing of the social advantage, —& by jings, one would imagine, from the newspapers that Joe is the party receiving a favor. I could live a whole year in Europe out of the clean cash I have made out of Joe Twichell [MTLE 3: 74].

 

August 2 Friday – Sam and Joe took a short excursion (6 miles) to the popular Altes Schloss (Favorita Schloss), a conspicuous ruin on the summit of a hill outside town. Sam’s notebook holds an entry paraphrasing a guide book, that:

 

“…no tourist should fail to climb the mountain & enjoy the view. Hired boy to climb the Mt & examine (or enjoy?) the view. He felt well repaid for all his trouble.”

 

Later in the day they walked back through the woods to Baden Baden. Sam noted that “G P R James’s ‘Heidelberg’ is rot,” referring to George Payne Rainsford James’ (1799-1860) 1846 melodramatic novel about 17th Century Heidelberg [MTNJ 2: 47, 126].

 

August 4 Sunday – Sam and Joe took another one-day excursion from Baden Baden to Ebersteinburg to Nuehaus to Gernsbach, where they drank beer. Sam sent a telegram to Livy at the Hotel de France [MTNJ 2: 129]. The pair returned to Baden Baden in the evening.

 

August 5 Monday – Sam and Joe left by rail for a week-long tramp. Sam wrote at 8:30 PM from Allerheiligen, Germany to Livy in Heidelberg. Sam wrote of almost being left at Baden Baden that morning, having waited on the wrong side of the train tracks. After having their day “mapped out” by a schoolmaster named Scheiding, the rest of the day was full:

We took a post carriage from Achern to Otterhöfen for 7 marks—stopped at the “Pflug” to drink beer…It was intensely Black-foresty…/ We walked the carriage road till we came to that place where one sees the footpath on the other side of a ravine, then we crossed over & took that. For a good while we were in a dense forest & judged we were lost, but met 2 native women who said we were all right. We fooled along & got here at 6 P.M—ate supper, then followed down the ravine to the foot of the falls, then struck into a blind path to see where it would go, & just about dark we fetched up at the Devil’s Pulpit (where you & I were,) on top of the hills. Then home. And now to bed, pretty sleepy & requiring no whisky. Joe sends his love & I send a thousand times as much, my darling [MTLE 3: 75].

Bill paid to the Hotel de France for room #’s 1, 2 and 3 for Aug. 1 to 5, totaling 75.90 and 322.30 marks [MTP].

 

August 6 Tuesday – Clemens and Twichell walked from Allerheiligen to Oppenau, Germany, ten miles [MTNJ 2: 47, 129]. They then took a train from Oppenau to Heidelberg “through clouds of dust” [129].

 

August 7 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Lang’s Hotel in Heidelberg to Livy. He’d received her note and thanked her.

 

“We have had a long & most enjoyable day in a carriage up to Hirschhorn & back with Smith” [MTLE 3: 76].

 [ page 824 ]

(Edward Meigs Smith) is the full name given in the Aug. 20 letter to Frank Bliss.) The travelers spent the day in Heidelberg, with Sam noting a church there with a partition—one side Catholic, the other Protestant [MTNJ 2: 130].

 

Theodore W. Crane for Langdon & Co. wrote to Sam on Charles E. Perkins to Crane Aug. 4 letter: “Will you advise Mr Perkins what your wishes are—nothing new—all well except Andrew’s Mother who is very sick. Yours…”  [MTP]. Note: Perkins did not want to “take the responsibility of acting” for Clemens in the matter of Slote & Co. owing.

 

August 8 Thursday – Joe and Sam took the train up the river valley to Wimpfen. They started out on foot, and took a peasant’s cart seven more miles to Heilbronn [Rodney 103]. They browsed around the town and admired the old buildings. They ordered red wine at the Hotel zum Falkan but got something different. They discovered the label was wet and had just been applied. Sam wrote in his notebook “2000 labels sent to one American firm so they can furnish any wine desired.” He also noted an unusual ornate clock on Heilbronn’s Rathhaus, built in 1550, which he later put in Chapter 12 of A Tramp Abroad [MTNJ 2: 130]. Sam didn’t sleep well, as he:

 

…heard the ¼ hours struck & the sweet trumpet blow, from 10.15 to 4.30. Got up in night to get my feather bed & barked my brow on an ornament of the tall stove. I could not do it justice, so said absolutely nothing.

 

The hotel about 300 years old is a comparatively modern building—but some of the stenches were quite old—they were antiques, I should say [131].

 

August 9 Friday – Twichell and Sam took a boat from Heilbronn for a trip down the Neckar River, stopping for beer and chicken at Jagtfeldt, then continuing toward Hirschhorn in a new and smaller boat [MTNJ 2: 132].

 

Powers: “Sam maintained his near-preternatural gift for spotting undraped females while traveling: ‘dozen naked little girls bathing’ just below Jagtfeldt, and, a little later on a ‘[s]lender naked girl’ who ‘snatched a leafy bow of a bush across her front & then stood satisfied gazing out upon us as we floated by—a very pretty picture’” [419-20].

 

Sam’s notebook:

 

“Hasshersheim (?) town where we tarried & took beer & H [Twichell] went swimming above where 25 girls were & was warned away. Below this town on right bank, 200 ft up on top of the steep bank, castle of Hornberg, high old vine clad walls enclosing trees, & one peaked tall tower 75 ft high” [2: 132-3].

 

Sam, Joe, Edward Meigs Smith and “young Smith” spent the night at the Hotel Zum Naturalisten in Hirschorn. The Smith boy slept on the floor under a stuffed “great gray cat with staring, intelligent glass eyes.” The boy couldn’t sleep until he got up and turned the cat’s head away [MTNJ 2: 136n50].

 

August 10 Saturday – In the morning the men explored Dilsburg Castle [Rodney 103]. Sam and Joe started back to Baden Baden by train. They took a swift raft ride of the lower river to Heidelberg, plowing the raft into a bridge [103]. “Blazing hot in train.” They stopped at Friedrich. From Sam’s notebook:

 

“Took a bath at Friedrich. In Evening to bed early, with the new home magazines [July Harper’s, and Atlantic] which I had saved all day & wouldn’t cut a leaf. Twichell the ass, writes & goes to the music. I lie & smoke & am wise” [MTNJ 2: 134].

 

In Heidelberg, Sam purchased George Eliot’s (1819-1880) Ramola (1863) [Gribben 218].

 [ page 825 ]

An unsigned article titled, “Mark Twain at Home” ran in Leisure Hour. It was a brief description of an interview with Mark Twain, noting “the excellency of his literary taste” and calls him “a constitutional humorist,” in his perspective on any topic [Tenney 8].

 

August 11 Sunday – Sam and Twichell returned to Baden Baden. Livy, the children and the rest of the Clemens party had already gone on to Lucerne, Switzerland [Rodney 103]. From Sam’s notebook:

 

Been reading Romola yesterday afternoon, last night, & this morning; at last I came upon the only passage which has thus far hit me with force—Tito compromising with his conscience & resolving to do, not a bad thing, but not the best thing.

 

Feeling religious this morning I sent a scout to church. He saw the Empress & heard a poor sermon.

 

Sunday Night, 11th. Huge crowd out to-night to hear the band play the Fremersberg. I suppose it is very low grade music—I know it must be low grade music—because it so delighted me….I have never heard enough classic music to be able to enjoy it; & the simple truth is, I detest it. Not mildly, but with all my heart [MTNJ 2: 138].

 

Sam used notebook entries from this date discussing “high and low grade” music and art in Ch. 24 of TA.

 

“What a red rag is to a bull, Turner’s “Slave Ship” is to me…A Boston critic said the “Slave Ship” reminded him of a cat having a fit in a platter of tomatoes” [MTNJ 2: 139].

 

Sam’s notebook: “When they play Martha, the liars applaud all along—but when The Last Rose of Summer drops in, they forget & the applause is something tremendous” [MTNJ 2: 140].

 

August 12 Monday – The men left Baden Baden by rail and arrived at Lucerne, Switzerland where they joined Livy, the children and the rest of the party who had been there a few days [MTNJ 2: 47].

August 13 to 14 Wednesday – Sam and Twichell rested and visited with Livy, Clara, and the children.

August 15 Thursday – The entire Clemens party took a two-day excursion to the Rigi-Kulm. They spent the night in a hotel on the Rigi to watch the sunset and sunrise.

In a letter of Aug. 20, Sam described the ascent and descent to his mother:

Twichell & I took a stroll of a couple of days in the Black Forest, & another up the Neckar to Heilbron, & another to the summit of Rigi, where the rheumatism captured me once more & we had to come down with the others by rail. It was a good deal like coming down a ladder by rail. I did not like it [MTLE 3: 78]. (See Aug 20 entry.)

In a Aug. 18 letter to her mother, Livy described the excursion:

Thursday about two o’clock we started on our trip to the top of the Rigi, we went for nearly an hour in a boat then took an open car in which we were pushed by a steam engine up the mountain.…Mr. Clemens and Mr. Twichell walked up….When we reached the top the rain was pouring and the wind blowing a perfect gale….We went to our rooms took a glass of wine, lay down and I had a nap before the gentlemen came….

After the gentlemen had gotten on dry clothes (Mr. Clemens lay in bed while his pants were dried) we had our supper—The hotel is a beautiful one way up there on the top of the mountains…after supper we tried to get warm at the stove but there were too many people…so after a little while we went to our room. Mr. Clemens got in bed to get warm, we brought all the candles into one room, so that we might have a little [ page 826 ] cheerful look to things—Mr. Twichell wrote, Mr. Clemens read, Clara sewed. I held a book and pretended to read but most of the time talked to Clara….

The wind blew very very hard all night, about four in the morning the trumpet blew for us all to get up and see the sun rise. Such a spectacle as it is to see the people get up and come out frozen to death to watch for the sun [Salsbury 82].

August 16 Friday – The Clemens party completed their two-day excursion and returned to Lucerne.

August 17 Saturday – While Sam rested, smoked and wrote letters in Lucerne, Joe Twichell went solo on a three-day trip in the Alps, to St. Gottard Pass [MTNJ 2: 140n55].

August 19 Monday – From Sam’s notebook: “The Yale cub who asked so many idiotic questions on the lake steamer” [MTNJ 2: 140]. Sam thought Lucerne “a charming place” but didn’t care for the “horde” of tourists that flocked there in the summer. Rodney concludes that, to Sam, “the antiquity of the Swiss city was more impressive than that of Heidelberg, its local color and natural beauty more appealing” [104].

August 20 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Lucerne to Frank Bliss about Twichell inspiring him for a “better plan” for the book. Sam wouldn’t go to work “in earnest until…Munich in November.” The plan and title of the book were a secret, Sam wrote. He’d had rheumatism for two months, but had gotten the better of it. For a few months mail could be sent in care of Edward Meigs Smith, Lang’s Hotel, Heidelberg [MTLE 3: 77].

Sam also wrote his mother, and sister about travels with Joe (see Aug. 10 entry). The “tribe” was well, but they had all been sick at one time or another since leaving home. He also wrote that Livy and Clara Spaulding had:

…gone excursioning around the lake in a steamboat, to-day, with the Courier, & Twichell is away on a 3-days trip in the neighboring Alps by himself. I begged off from these dissipations; I had a good many letters to write [MTLE 3: 78].

…came into Switzerland a week or ten days ago…I loathe all travel except on foot—& rheumatism has barred that to a considerable extent. [MTLE 3: 78].

Sam also wrote to Frank Fuller, asking him to attend the creditors’ meeting for the failure of Slote, Woodman & Co, if Sam’s attorney, Charles Perkins wanted it. Only three days before the failure Sam loaned Slote $5,000 [MTNJ 2: 392n119]. Still, Sam had no hard feelings or negative judgments at this time about Dan Slote, because he wrote that Slote wanted to take the scrapbook “& run it by himself. I should prefer that.” Sam also revealed that the family had been there a couple of weeks but would leave the next day “for a wide flight” and expected to “winter in Munich” [MTLE 3: 79].

August 21 Wednesday – Sam hired a carriage and the group continued on to Interlaken, Switzerland. From Sam’s notebook: “Left in 4-horse ambulance. Proprietor gave children box” [MTNJ 2: 141].

Rodney observes it was a “rugged journey” with “primitive roads past mountain chalets, through enticing villages, up and over the Brünig Pass, and down to Lake Brienz and Interlacken at the foot of the High Alps.” The sixty mile trip took ten hours [105]. (Emphasis added.) They took rooms at the Jungfrau Hotel [MTNJ 2: 141].

August 22 Thursday – From Sam’s notebook:

At Jungfrau Hotel, Interlaken—Superb view of the Jungfrau.

Confounded crow woke us all up at daylight.  [ page 827 ]

Set your umbrellas up on these polished wood floors, down it goes. Step suddenly on them, down you go. The lowest snow on the Jf seems but little above the valley level [drawing inserted] [MTNJ 2: 141].

 

Young woman after table d’hote tackled an old rattle trap piano with such vigor & absence of expression with Battle of Prague & favorites of same age that she soon cleaned out the great reading room—but I staid, at first to watch the grimaces & unconscious squirms of people when she fetched a particularly lacerating chord—& afterwards I staid because the exquisitely bad is as satisfying to the soul as the exquisitely good—only the mediocre is unendurable. The pun is like mediocre music, neither wit nor humor—& yet now & then one sees a pun which comes so near being wit that it is funny [142].

 

Sam and Joe prepared for a hike over to the Matterhorn. Livy, the children and servants would meet them in Geneva, some nine days later [Rodney 106].

August 23 Friday – Sam and Twichell said goodbye to the family and left Interlaken. They ate lunch at an inn in the village of Frutigen [Rodney 106], then reached Kandersteg, Switzerland about sundown, where Sam wrote Livy about his walks with Joe and the custom of bowing to German families, though he had a backache [MTLE 3: 80]. Livy, the children and servants continued on to Geneva  [Rodney 106]. The trip for the men would start with a five-day tour. From Sam’s notebook: “Drove in rain around Lake Thun[er] to Kandersteg.” The two stayed in a Kandersteg inn [MTNJ 2: 143; Rodney 106].

August 24 Saturday – From Sam’s notebook:

“…up, shaved breakfasted, before 8—everybody gone but us…visited Gasternthal—gushing waterspout from rock. Sun shining on green ice & blazing snow…Chased a chunk down stream” [MTNJ 2: 143]. (See this source for Twichell’s description of Sam boyishly and joyously chasing a stick downstream.)

The pair set off with an old guide and climbed on foot up through the pass, coming down a precipitous trail to the village of Leuk (a short distance from Leukerbad) [Rodney 106]. In his notebook Sam put the time at 3:30, a hike of seven hours. It was a “raw and rainy night”; Sam missed “our library fire” [2: 144].

The pair rested from their hike in Leuk, then drove a buggy a few miles to Leukerbad. There they observed the strange but civil display of bathing customs at Leukerbad: bathers sat in baths up to their necks, dressed in full flannel outfits, and bathed for hours. Each bather used a small floating table to read or take coffee. Others were permitted to watch the bathers [MTNJ 2: 144n64].

Sam wrote from Leukerbad, Switzerland to Livy, that he and Joe had “a most noble day,” hiking and climbing seven hours. Coming down the last two hours on a “path as steep as a ladder…taxed” the knees. Sam observed that at each altitude level, the weather was like going back a month into the past season. Joe lost his hat over a precipice but found an opera glass [MTLE 3: 107; MTNJ 2: 145].

Bill paid for 750 (marks?) to C.H.H. Schuh, Interlaken merchant of art, for carved picture scene of Shakespeare’s Storm and a black carved table [MTP].

August 25 Sunday – From Sam’s notebook:

…visted the King of the World’s palace [a natural cliff formation] & drew its outline, seated on a grassy bench (a precipice) 2 or 300 ft high,) with 2 or 3 trees projecting above its edge.

Gigantic French Countess—did wish I might venture to ask her for her dimensions. The fatlings bathe 3 hours in AM & 2 in PM [MTNJ 2: 145-6].

In the evening, Sam sent Livy a “safety-match box full of flowers” from Leukerbad [MTLE 3: 82]. [ page 828 ]

August 26 Monday – Sam and Joe took a train to Locchi-Suste (Visp). They met John Dawson and wife, an English family going their way. From Visp the two hiked “6 hours through mud & rain” the ten miles to St. Nicklaus, Switzerland [MTNJ 2: 148]. Rodney: “Ensconsed in a new hotel, they changed into dry clothes and revived with a good dinner” [107].

Sam wrote from St. Nicklaus to Livy. He included a line drawing of “the great mountain profile,” and mentioned they’d made “some nice English friends, [unnamed, but may have been the Rev. Robert Eden (1804-1886) mentioned in the inscription dated Sept. 1–4; or the John Dawson family] and shall see them at Zermat tomorrow.”

“Livy darling, we came through a-whooping, to-day, 6 hours tramp up steep hills & down steep hills, in mud & water shoe-deep, & in a steady pouring rain which never moderated a moment. I was as chipper & fresh as a lark all the way & arrived without the slightest sense of fatigue” [MTLE 3: 82].

Sam did not dump his dismal opinions about the area on Livy, but fully noted the “alleys run liquid dung,” the villages, “the shackliest & vilest we have seen anywhere,” and the roads and bridges that “must have made themselves” [MTNJ 2: 148-9].

August 27 Tuesday – Sam wrote in his notebook that the hotel was a pleasant contrast to the villages and roads. But it was close to a village church which messed with their sleep:

St. Nicklaus Aug. 27—Awakened at 4:30 by the clang & jangle of a church bell wh rang 15 min. Went to sleep no more. At 7 it rang again 15.

It is an ugly little whitewashed church with a queer tin dome like a turnip growing with its root in the air.

Damn all ch bells! At 7.25 they rang again!

Still that ringing goes on. I wish to God that church wd would burn down.

At 8 the bell rang again. Let us hope there is a hell.

Left St. Nicholas at 9.15, 27th.

Sam and Joe tramped twelve miles up the gorge to Zermatt. It was a nine hour hike with changing views of the Matterhorn and inspiring scenery pulling them on [Rodney 108]. From Sam’s notebook:

“About half way to Zermat we saw on top of a near mountain a perpendicular wall of ice (pale green) & were forced to reflect that if Strasburg Cathedral, stood at its base, a man on top of the wall could reach out & hang his hat on top of the spire—& he could look down on St Pauls or St Peters or Capitol of W[ashington]” [MTNJ 2: 150].

They “reached Zermatt at 3 PM and did not feel like trying the 3 hours to Riffle” that night [MTNJ 2: 161]. They checked into a comfortable hotel at the base of the Matterhorn, uplifted by making their goal.

August 28 Wednesday – Sam and Joe walked six hours from Zermatt to Riffle and took rooms in a hotel there. Sam noted that

“The guide-book calls it 7 miles…but we found by the Pedometer it was only 800 yards. So in everything but distances the G.B. [guidebook] is to be depended on. It took us 6 hours to go the 800 yds, though” [MTNJ 2: 165].

Sam’s entries concerning Joe’s pedometer humorously show distances from it were widely inaccurate. His notebook for this date also contain references to get Rev. A.G. Girdlestone’s and Edward Whymper’s books on the Alps and Matterhorn climbing. (See Apr. 25, 1879 entry.) Note: Edward Whymper (1840-1911).

August 29 Thursday – Sam’s notebook:  [ page 829 ]

“…we climbed up on the end of Gorner glacier which is joined in its course by 10 glaciers. The Visp issues from it” [MTNJ 2: 167].

Sam and Joe spent time observing the Matterhorn, the Riffleberg, the Gorner Grat and the adjacent mountains. They walked back to Zermatt either late this day or on the morning of the next day.

August 30 Friday – The two tramps “left Zermatt about 10 A.M in a wagon & a shower, for St. Nicholas”  [MTNJ 2: 167].

After a time they reached St. Nicklaus, where they lunched, then continued on foot ten miles to Visp, where they spent the night [Rodney 108].

August 31 Saturday – Sam and Twichell took the train at 10:51 AM to Breveret (Bouveret), accompanied by the Dawsons (see Aug. 26 entry). At Breveret they took a boat to Ouchy on Lake Geneva, arriving at 5 PM to the waiting family, staying at the Hotel Beau Rivage [MTNJ 2: 169; Rodney 108]. Sam noted that a band played in front of the hotel in the evenings, as at Lucerne [170].

September – Sam’s notebook referred to Thomas Woodbine Hinchliff’s Summer Months Among the Alps (1857) [Gribben 314] Ch 34 of TA has a long extract from Hinchliff’s story of the Monte Rosa climb.

September 1 Sunday – In the morning Sam went to the:

“English church… At 5 PM Rev. Mr. [Robert] Eden called & in the evening our friends the Dawsons took coffee with us in our room in the Hotel Beau Rivage. A pleasant evening” [MTNJ 2: 169].

September 2 Monday – Sam’s notebook: –

“To Chillon—humbug—no chamois—hired Bonneval for his role. Enterprise of the canton in building a castle around the living rock to fit Byron’s poem. This dungeon is much cleaner & pleasanter than Visp or any of those places” [MTNJ 2: 169].

September 1–4 Wednesday – Sam, in Ouchy, Switzerland, inscribed a blank notebook to Robert Eden: “To Rev. Robert Eden with the kindest remembrances of the author (i.e., inventor) of this book…This is my latest & most innocent work” [MTLE 3: 83].

September 4 Wednesday – From Sam’s notebook at the Beau Rivage Hotel, Ouchy:

Furious at breakfast…have read French 25 years & now could not say “breakfast” —could think of nothing but aujourdhui—then demain!—then—& so on, tearing my hair (figuratively) and raging inwardly while outwardly calm—one idiot french word after another while waiter stood bewildered.

There were indications wh[ich] showed that this egg was an antique [MTNJ 2: 170].

Sam and Joe set off on their last Alpine tramp. Bound for Chamonix, France, they took the train to Martigny, Switzerland, where they arrived at 9 PM and took rooms at the Hotel Clerc [MTNJ 2: 153-4, 170].

September 4? and 8 Sunday – Sam and Livy were now together in Geneva, Switzerland, at the Hotel de l’Ecu de Genève. They wrote a joint letter to Jane Clemens. Livy had just received a letter from Jane, with an enclosed letter from Orion and Mollie Clemens. Livy began the letter when Sam was “off on a walking trip…for nearly a week.” Evidently, Orion had written of another scheme to teach English in Europe or German in Keokuk, it’s unclear which. Livy outlined the obstacles, since Orion did not know German.  [ page 830 ]

On Sept. 8 Sam returned from a “long walking tramp to Mont Blanc,” and finished the letter, agreeing with Livy that at age 53 it would be “simply an impossibility” for Orion to learn German well enough to teach it.

I seemed to have walked the rheumatism out of myself at last, but it was a slow remedy. Twichell & I started from Martigny at 8 AM & reached Chamouny at 6 P.M.—a frightfully hot day. There was an abundance of snow within pistol shot sometimes, but it did not cool the air any. Next day we walked again about 10 hours. We never got tired but the heat roasted us. / We remain here a few days longer, then go to Venice [MTLE 3: 85].

September 5 Thursday – The two “tramps” left Martigny on foot at 8 AM, bound for Chamonix, nineteen uphill miles in the hot sun. They skirted the Tête Noir Mountain. Sam noted the beauty of Argientiere as they approached [MTNJ 2: 171, 173]. They dined at Argientiere and hired a wagon for the last six miles into Chamonix [Rodney 109; MTNJ 2: 172]. In his notebook, Sam wrote:

Driver very drunk but a good driver—went like the wind—said in French he was the King of drivers. The other chap, very drunk too (both good-natured) called himself the Captain of Mont Blanc—had made more ascents than any man–48 & his brother 37. He spoke German. Driver invited a nurse & baby in as we approached Chamounix [MTNJ 2: 172].

The men took rooms at the Hotel d’Angleterre. Sam went to the post office and telegraphed Rev. Eden to see if Sam left his letter of credit at the bank. When he left it was dark and Sam included description of the beautiful moon-set scenes in his notebook.

Sam, in Chamonix, France, inscribed a copy of Punch Brothers Punch to Robert Eden [MTLE 3: 86].

September 6 Friday – Sam and Joe took the one-day excursion recommended by the Baedecker travel guide, and climbed the Montanvert. From there they “crossed the Mer de Glace & ascended the confounded moraine.” Sam noted that the most delicious water he had in Europe was from the glacier [MTNJ 2: 185]. Sam’s smooth shoes made him uncomfortable on the ice and had a touch of acrophobia 70 feet above the glacier. It was an easy descent except for one trouble spot, the Mauvais Pas [154]. By evening the men returned to their hotel. Sam “Looked at Jupiter & his moons thro’ telescope” [175].

September 7 Saturday – Sam and Joe returned by rail to Geneva, where the family waited [MTNJ 2: 154]

September 8 Sunday – Joe Twichell left Switzerland to return home. Sam saw him off at the station [MTLE 3: 85, 89]. He arranged for Joe to pick up expense money for the trip home, writing from Geneva, Switzerland to Chatto & Windus, asking them to pay ten pounds to Joseph H. Twichell. Sam wrote: “I am compelled to trouble you because the hotel has no English money & the banks are not open here on Sunday” [MTLE 3: 87].

Sam also wrote to Bayard Taylor, asking him to forward Slote’s letter. Sam said the family was “booked for Munich Nov. 10 (for the winter)” [MTLE 3: 88].

September 9 Monday – Sam and Livy wrote from Geneva to Joe Twichell, thanking him for his visit, bemoaning the fact that “the pleasant tramping & talking” were “at an end.” It had been a “rich holiday” for Sam; the Clemens even missed having Joe knock on their door to wake them in the mornings [MTLE 3: 89]. The letter may have beaten Joe home to Hartford. Sam wrote in his notebook that he purchased a “wonderful music box” from a “Pleasant gentleman—An Englishman,” Mr. George Baker [MTNJ 2: 176].  [ page 831 ]

September 10 Tuesday – Sam wanted to show Livy some of the best scenery of his latest excursion with Joe. His notebook: “Started to Chamonix with 2 horse-wagon, 9.30 [AM]” [MTNJ 2: 177]. They may have stopped in Chambéry, France. “As soon as you strike French territory out of Geneva you find the road strewn with crosses & beggars” [177].

September 11 Wednesday – Sam and Livy spent a day in Chamonix at the foot of Mont Blanc, a recent goal of Sam and Joe’s tramps.

September 12 Thursday – Sam’s notebook: “Saw 3 people far up on the forhead of M B [Mont Blanc] through the glass waved hdkf [handkerchief]” [MTNJ 2: 179]. “Started back to Geneva at 9” [180]. Sam and Livy returned to Geneva. Sam wrote on Sept. 13 that it was nine hours each way [MTLE 3: 90].

September 13 Friday – Sam wrote from Geneva, Switzerland to Olivia Lewis Langdon. This is a delightful letter to Sam’s mother-in-law, with notes about the children. Sam wrote about Clara Spaulding watching the children while he and Livy traveled to Chamonix and Mont Blanc. The children “entertained” Clara, he wrote,

…sometimes with philosophical remarks & sometimes with questions which only the Almighty could answer. Susie said, “Aunt Clara, if the horses should run away & mamma be killed, would you be my mamma?” “Yes, for a little while, Susie, till we got to Elmira—but you wouldn’t want your mamma to be killed by the horses, of course?”——“Well,—I wouldn’t want her to go in that WAY, but I would like to have you for my mamma.”

Susie persecuted Clara with questions as to how God could build all these people out of dust “and make them stick together.”

You must understand that Susie’s thinkings run nearly altogether on the heavenly & the supernatural; but Bay’s mind is essentially worldly. Bay says she does not want to go to heaven—prefers Hartford [MTLE 3: 90-1].

Joe Twichell, en route home, wrote to Sam with a heavy heart, thinking of leaving him at Geneva. He related a pretty girl sitting across from him on the train, who told him “it was not allowed to smoke here.” He wrote, “In an instant she was transformed into a hag” [MTP].

September 14 Saturday – Sam was awakened at 3 AM by a braying jackass in front of the hotel. The party left Geneva for Italy, stopping at Chambéry, France for a break. More from his notebook:

One dreads going into Italy because of its reputation.

What small & frivolous countries there are over here.

Italy the home of art & swindling; home of religion & moral rottenness…

We were four hours going from Geneva to Chambery, & had infinite difficulty to get seats with 1er class tickets.–

Changed cars once, were herded like cattle through a douain & had a long wait & as much trouble as ever to secure seats.

On arrival I felt like the man whose oxen ran away over a stumpy road—if I ever have to go to h— I want to go by the Chambery railway, I’ll be so glad to get there [MTNJ 2: 182-3].

September 15 Sunday – Sam’s notebook:

Chambery, the quaintest old town of of Heilbron.

The soldiers’ uniforms are not soiled, but are awkward, clumsy & ugly.

Some of these quaint streets, buildings, doors, windows & stairways seem to have wandered out of old engravings of towns in the middle ages.

There seem to be rather more soldiers than citizens here.

There is a great deal of hallooing & racket at night.  [ page 832 ]

We staid a day or two in Chambery & Turin, a week in Milan, several days at Bellagio on the lake of Como, three weeks in Venice…[MTLE 3: 101].

Livy and Clara Spaulding complained of the poor accommodations and food in Chambéry; they spent a good part of the day looking for food to satisfy their yearnings for home cooking [MTNJ 2: 156].

September 16 Monday – The Clemens family left Chambéry for Turin by the fast express train, which Sam noted “makes 4 miles an hour—the other trains make only 3 1/4 . By 11 we were out of sight of Chambery.” Three hours from Turin, the train barely won a race with a team of oxen, Sam wrote [MTNJ 2: 185]. It took eight more hours to arrive in Turin, at about 7 PM. They took rooms in the Hotel d’Europe, which Sam noted had “wonderful rooms” [186]. They went to supper and drank Barolo wine.

Settled into their rooms, Sam took a stroll down through an arcade a half-mile, noticing everything. There were more books for sale in Turin than he’d seen anywhere in Europe; the city was beautiful with “vast squares enclosed with Yellowstone huge blocks of palaces”; an open-air concert drew people to a “yard full of chairs & tables where people drank & smoked”; “pretty shops all around”; “Punchinello show—watched it—.” Sam thought Turin was the “very livest town we have seen since Hamburg” even if it was “but a copy (inferior) of Milan”  [MTNJ 2: 87].

September 17 Tuesday – The family spent the day in Turin, shopping and enjoying the sights [MTLE 3: 101].

September 18 Wednesday – The family left Turin at 9:15 AM and arrived at Milan at 1:30 PM [MTNJ 2: 188]. Sam’s notebook is full of things they saw in Milan, and observations on a host of items and situations. Some favorites:

I think the arcade system is borrowed from Turin.

Saw a starchy suit of clothes marked $9—doorway full of dummies dressed—stepped in to order one like the $9—nothing inside! The old man hauled in the dummy, stripped him & I ordered the clothes sent to the hotel.

Omnibuses have a sign “Completo” when they are full.—I wish we had such laws.

Saw 6 Italians go into a furious quarrel, with terrific gesticulations. Turned back my sleeves & prepared to cord up the dead. By & by they embraced & all was over.

The same old door frame of the Cathedral still fascinates me…It must be very bad art.

Saw a vast pyramid of furniture on two almost invisible wheels—went around to hunt for the moving impulse & found a donkey the size of a rabbit—the driver was riding [MTNJ 2: 189-90].

September 19 Thursday – The Clemens party spent the day looking around Milan. They would spend five days in the city.

September 20 Friday – Sam (and probably the ladies) went to see Da Vinci’s “Last Supper” in the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. “If there is anything worse than the original, it is the 15 or 20 copies in oil & water” [MTNJ 2: 190]. They also visited the “great picture gallery” (Brera).

“There are artists in Arkansas to-day who would not have had to paint signs for a living if they had had the luck to live in the time of the old masters” [191].

September 21 Saturday – Sam’s notebook: [ page 833 ]

The Italians all seem to go to work before daylight—& all in couples, singing tenor & bass or alto duet—all got strong voices & many good ones—don’t sing simple airs but starchy opera stuff—they wake you up and keep you awake.

The Milan clocks are not useful. This morning one struck 2, another 3, another 1, another 2, two others 3—all this occupied 10 minutes—so I got up & looked at my watch—correct time 4.15. 15 minutes later, the procession of striking began again.

September 24 Tuesday – The Clemens party left Milan and traveled north to Bellagio on Lake Como [MTNJ 2: 156]. They stayed at the Grand Bretagne Hotel. Sam’s notebook:

“Rainy, sour, cold, dreary. Removed a screen in our room & discovered a regular fire-place—for wood. Right away we had the first wood fire we had seen since we left our own house. This made the day cheery” [2: 193].

Also noted was praise for Karl Baedeker’s (1801-1859) Italy, Handbook for Travellers: “curious & useful details” about Lake Como [2: 193]

Sam enjoyed some valipolicella wine; he observed blind musicians at Bellagio with a little Russian girl passing the plate [2: 194-5].

September 25 Wednesday – The Clemens party left Bellagio at 10 AM. They met G.K. Mayer and wife [MTNJ 2: 159n6] who helped them take the lake boat down to Lecco, Italy, where they boarded the train. They suffered another ten-hour trip and arrived at Venice at 7:30 PM. [Rodney 112; MTNJ 2: 194]. The family had looked forward to Venice as a “relaxing interlude in their long journey.” Livy’s itinerary called for a three-week stay [Rodney 112].

Joe Twichell arrived home from England on Cunard’s S.S. Bothnia. From his journal for the period July 17 to Sept. 25:

 

“M.T. treated me with the utmost liberality and friendliness in every respect. I came back refreshed in body mind and spirit and ready for work” [Yale, copy at MTP].

September 26 Thursday – Sam’s notebook this day in Venice.

These Italian thieves have charged me $8 duty on $4 worth (100) of cigars & $1 worth of tobacco–

I must stop smoking, for no right Christian can smoke an Italian cigar. Only the wrappers are grown—the insides are of stubs collected on the pavements by the younger sons of the nobility—stubs from Switzerland—bad enough.

The charming singing of the men at night in Venice.

The bronze man on the clock tower once killed a workman with his hammer. It is said he was tried—& acquitted because he did it without premeditation. Not so—he had been getting ready an hour [MTNJ 2: 195-6].

September 27 Friday – Sam wrote from Venice, Italy to William Dean Howells. Since his tirade letter about Bret Harte, Sam had not heard from Howells, who had recommended to President Hayes that Harte be given a chance. Wisely, Howells had not told Sam of his recommendation or answered Sam’s venom, and Sam had noticed.  [ page 834 ]

“Have I offended you in some way? The Lord knows it is my disposition, my infirmaty, to do such things; but if I have done it in your case…I am sorry. / I wish you were Consul here, for we want to stay a year, & would do so in that case—but as it is, I suppose we shall only stay 3 or 4 weeks” [MTLE 3: 92].

In July, 1878 the Howells family had moved into “Redtop,” their new Belmont (Mass.) house, so this may partly explain the dearth of letters. Their new house was designed by Elinor Howells’ brother, William Rutherford Mead [MTNJ 2: 359n9].

September 29 Sunday – Livy wrote from Venice to her mother about the city:

“It is so fascinating, so thoroughly charming—I sit now before a window that opens on to a little piazza; where I can look right on to the Grand Canal…We have the morning sun in our rooms and the weather for three days has been perfect” [MTNJ 2: 157].

The pace of acquisition increased considerably here with purchases of furniture, dishes, glass, and brassware for the Clemens home. In addition to visits with Livy to well-known commercial establishments like Besarel and Salviati, Sam frequented old shops, rummaging through ‘many small rooms crowded with images, armor, pots, lanterns, &c,” motley storehouses which seemed the hallmark of Venice [MTNJ 2: 157].

Livy wrote to her mother, with Clara Clemens adding about riding in a “Gondoler”:

…Mr. [Gedney] Bunce, a cousin of Mr. Ned Bunce, an artist called and he staid until after eleven…

I love Grandmamma very much and I like to see her— Clara Langdon Lews O’Day Bocketer Placklick Lewis Bay Clemens—that is really my name [Salsbury 85].

Gustavo Sarfatti wrote to Sam (enclosed in Sarfatti Oct. 30). “I duly received yr. Esteemed letter of the 18th inst. Mr. [illegible word] case being ready I forwarded it to [illegible word] by the S.S. Cemerana (?)” 2 copies of a shipping receipt dated 22 Oct 1878 enclosed for 5 cases of furniture [MTP].

September 30 Monday – William Gedney Bunce (1840-1916) visited again. From Livy’s pen:

“…calls again last night [Monday] until nearly eleven” [Salsbury 85].

October – A notation in Sam’s notebook listed The Bible for Young People, translated by Wicksteed in six volumes [MTNJ 2: 209]. Evidently this was a reminder to send these books to Orion upon returning home, as Orion was writing a biblical refutation. Orion had recently been excommunicated from the First Westminster Presbyterian Church of Keokuk [209n95].

Sam read William Wetmore Story’s (1819-1895) 2 volume Roba di Roma (1863) and entered in his notebook:

“Roba di Roma. Rome seems to be a great fair of shams, humbugs & frauds….Read the chapter ‘Christmas’ [actually titled “Holidays”]–& think of this Bambino rot existing in 19th century” [Gribben 667].

Sam also noted “Benvenuto Cellini (what an interesting autobiography is his!” referring to The Life of Benvenuto Cellini, adding to “send to Chatto” for the book, “It will last as long as his beautiful Perseus” [MTNJ 2: 234].

Sam inscribed a copy of Adelbert Chamisso’s The Shadowless Man; or, The Wonderful History of Peter Schlemihl: “S.L. Clemens, Venice, Oct. 1878.” (Also signed: “Olivia L. Clemens”) [Gribben 138]. [ page 835 ]

October 1 Tuesday – In his letter of Nov. 20 to Twichell, Sam wrote that he had “discharged George [Burk] at Venice—the worthless idiot—& have developed into a pretty fair sort of courier myself since then” [MTLE 3: 101]. Sam fired Burk on Oct. 1 [MTNJ 2: 197] Note: George Burk had been the portier at the Schloss Hotel in Heidelberg when Sam hired him. Sam gave Burk 100 franks extra and let him go.

Also, Sam’s notebook recorded purchases of furniture, including the carved bedstead with cherubs which appeared in later photographs of Sam. He paid 1,000 francs for the bed ($200).

Livy wrote of being harassed by visitors: “…out tonight and calls until after eleven—three appointments for tomorrow—we are worse pushed than [in] Hartford” [Salsbury 85].

October 4 Friday – Sam’s notebook:

Great Council Chamber, Ducal Palace. Immediately at right of the door as you enter, in the big picture over the book shelves, is a fisherman in the foreground in a green dress holding one basket of fish against his body & resting another basket of fish on a woman’s head. This Fisherman has but one leg—but that is not the singularity, but the fact that it is the port leg, attached to the starboard side of his body [MTNJ 2: 199-200]. Note: Sam evaluated several other paintings in like manner.

October 8 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Began with Dittura [Agostino] Oct 8 by the day at 5 f a day & 50c pour-boir—we have to have him day & evening both” [MTNJ 2: 205] Agostino was the second gondolier employed by the Clemens family [205n89].

George Burk wrote from Venice, Italy asking for additional severance pay of 175 francs and sending his address [MTP; MTNJ 2: 208].

October 9 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Venice, Italy to J. Langdon & Co. Only the envelope survives [MTLE 3: 93].

Sam included descriptions of a “swell big gondola” and a funeral procession in his notebook [MTNJ 2: 204].

October 10 Thursday – From Sam’s notebook:

Today received an impudent letter from George Burk asking for 175 francs more—but it furnishes me with his address, which I want.

Afternoon—3 of the very worst & most dismal solo singers in the world have been on the masonry platform ½ hour apart—never heard anything worse in the opera [MTNJ 2: 208].

October 12 Saturday – D. & C. Mac Iver wrote from Liverpool to advise “by the request of Mr. George C. Wild we write to say that we shall be glad to receive any articles, personal effects or otherwise & store & ship them as you may instruct us” [MTP].

October 13 Sunday – From Sam’s notebook:

Took Dittura & Graham’s gondolier & started for the mainland at a point (Fusina) 2 hours away. A steady, heavy rain. Had the casa on & the windows closed. Lit my best cigar, put on my slippers, propped my feet on the little starboard bench which brought them within a foot of the ½ glass door—wonderfully snug & cosy. Looked out on the ruffled & rainy seas a while after I was beyond the shipping & fairly away from Venice—then recognizing that I could never be so cosy again, got out Marryatt’s Pacha of Many Tales & read.

But the seas grew very rough. [ page 836 ]

Made the trip in 34 minutes, having a strong wind on our beam & the tide with us—went mainly sideways. Arrived at 10.45

Tide changed & I started back at 12.30 in a driving storm of rain & a strong head wind & heavy sea.

Arrived home at 2.30—went in 34 minutes—returned in 2 hours [MTNJ 2: 209-10].

Note: the reference is to Frederick Marryat’s (1792-1848) The Pacha of Many Tales (1847) [Gribben 452].

Sam then wrote a list of grievances about Burk as a courier, and a list of songs he was considering for the music box he’d purchased in Geneva [211-12].

From Livy’s pen to her mother:

We find altogether too much social life in Venice for our comfort….We have had a most delightful week going about among the pictures, and some of them have been such a great delight to us that we shall leave them with real regret. This week too I have done a good deal of shopping…several most beautiful pieces of wood carving…a carved chest that I have bought for our hall…shipped to Liverpool…Then we found a most wonderful old carved bedstead that was a great beauty—that we got for our room [Salsbury 86].

October 14 Monday – Sam wrote from Venice, Italy to Chatto & Windus, asking them to send copies of Innocents Abroad and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer to William Mayer, care of G.K. Mayer, Vienna Austria [MTLE 3: 94]. Following the establishment of a Linotype factory in 1890 in England, the publisher William Mayer and his son Jacques traveled to Germany in 1894 to find business partners there.

In his notebook Sam wrote a glowing testimonial for Dittura Agostino, his gondolier [2: 220]. Sam discovered “Venetian oysters the size of beans—half dollar a dozen—tasted 4 dozen” [220].

October 15 Tuesday – The Clemenses visited Padre Giacomo Issaverdenz, a friend of Howells, on the island of San Lazzaro, two miles southeast of Venice. At the Armenian monastery the Padre gave them preserved rose-leaves to eat, showed them photographs and talked about the Howellses [MTHL 1: 241].

Sam’s notebook:

“Very magnificent sunset & lamp effects (Piazza) coming from San Lazzaro… Dittura—Boom! (finger to temple.) –Morte—Signor Bismark—to-day–(laying head in palm of hand)” [MTNJ 2: 222-3]. (See Oct. 16 entry for explanation.)

October 16 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook:

 

For two days we have been doubting Dittura’s reliability as a news gatherer—but to-night I heard a news-man crying a paper—understood “Count Bismark” & bought a copy—spelled out the fact that 2 days ago, Carlo Conti di Bismark, a citizen of Venice, committed suicide by shooting himself through the head with a revolver. So D.[ittura] was 2 days ahead of the newspaper [MTNJ 2: 223].

 

Stabilimento Salviati, Venice, sent a statement for items purchased/shipped [MTP].

 

October 17 Thursday – Sam’s notebook:

 

Belli Arti—It is not possible that anybody could take more solid comfort in martydom that St. Sebastian did….The Old Master’s horses always rear after the fashion of the kangaroo….500 Last Suppers—they all have new table cloths with the fold wrinkles sharply defined.  [ page 837 ]

 

The fig leaf & private members of statues are handled so much that they are black & polished while the rest of the figure is white & unpolished. Which sex does this handling?

 

Left for Florence. Good by, Dittura Agostino! [MTNJ 2: 223-5].

 

In Venice, the Clemens family had increasingly been pressed by visitors who discovered Mark Twain was in the city. After three weeks of this, they left Venice for Florence, a ten hour train ride [Rodney 114]. They stayed at the Hotel de New York [MTNJ 2: 229].

 

October 21 Monday – Livy wrote from Florence to her mother:

 

This evening Mr & Mrs Chamberlain were in for an hour & we sat about a wood fire & chatted—then Mr Clemens read to us—then to bed—where I am now—Florence is much more restful than Venice, because we have no social demands—and one ought to know no one when they are visiting picture galleries—The Chamberlains are a perfect delight, they never tax us in the least they are helpful to us and are bright beyond expression [MTNJ 2: 226n19].

 

Mr. & Mrs. Augustus P. Chamberlaine were friends of Ralph Waldo Emerson. The Clemens met them in Venice [220n10]

 

October 22 Tuesday – Joe Twichell wrote to Sam.

 

I have been thinking of you all the morning. This is one of those golden, perfect autumn days when ones desire to off somewhere among trees, mounts to a passion… Now, Mark, let’s make a vow, that when we are once more together we will use these heavenly days as they were meant to be used and as we shall wish we had when we come to look back on life [MTP]. Note: there is much more and more depth to this letter, but space here does not allow it all.

 

October 23 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook:

 

In Santa Croce to-day a well dressed young woman followed us, begging for centimes.

An old frowsy woman watched where I laid my cigar, then approached us with it as Chamberlain & I came out & said she rescued it from some boys (who had found it in the dark!) & wantd 5 cents for her trouble. She followed us into the street & finally cursed us & called down sudden death upon us [MTNJ 2: 229].

 

October 25 Friday – Sam wrote to Valentine Besarel, letter not extant but mentioned in Besarel’s Oct. 27.

 

October 27 Sunday – Sam’s notebook:

 

Uffizzi Gallery, Sunday (free day,)

What a shamed look people have who go along with a guide—they nod annoyedly at every statement he makes, & they scarcely look at the object he points at; often not at all; neither look they to one side or the other, or at anybody; they seem to have but one desire: to get through with this painful trial & go free again [MTNJ 2: 234].

 

 Valentine Besarel wrote from his sculptor studio in Venice to answer Sam’s of Oct. 25. He was sorry but could not make changes to the table ordered as it was advanced in work. Though unable to do lions on the table as massive as ordered, he was certain the work would be satisfactory [MTP].

 

October 28 Monday – The Clemens family left Florence for Rome. The trip took 8 hours and they arrived at 4:30 PM [MTNJ 2: 235]. The party stayed at the Hotel d’Allemania. Sam noted the cost of the [ page 838 ] rooms, three coffees, one beefsteak and three “table d’hotes” (communal table, full-course meal) totaling 48.25 francs, paid at 5 PM [281].

 

October 29 Tuesday – In his notebook, Sam concluded that the “Immaculate Conception has ceased to be a wearying & worrisome question.” What the Ecumenical Council should “decide once & forever” was, “who was it that struck Billy Patterson?” (From Wm. Porter’s collection, The Big Bear of Arkansas and Other Sketches) [MTNJ 2: 235]. More from Sam’s notebook:

 

It is the more ridiculous spectacle to see a Virgin or a copper Aristotle stuck on top of every stately monument of the grand old “pagan” days of Rome.

 

Bought about a peck of wonderfully big & luscious grapes for 2.50 f. (50 cents)

 

Visited the Church of St. Peter’s & the Pantheon. Bay & the mottled cat & little gray [Clara played with a cat] [236].

 

October 30 Wednesday – Sam visited the Sistine Chapel, commenting on work by Raphael. He counted 25 courtyards in the Vatican. He noted the Tom of the Virgin and wrote “How she would draw in N.Y.” [MTNJ 2: 237].

 

Gustavo Sarfatti wrote to Sam (Sept. 29 from Sarfatti enclosed) [MTP].

 

October 31 Thursday – Sam received letters from Will Sage and Joe Twichell about payments required and red tape needed to get the “two boxes of Clocks” through customs. He made a note to do a chapter in his book about “this most scoundrelly & infernal custom house system” [MTNJ 2: 237].

 

Sam’s notebook:

Castellini to-day showed us a bracelet took a man 16 months to engrave. allowed us to walk off with jewelry worth 1500 f & never even asked our names or hotel—insisted on our taking it home & examining it at our leisure—Said “To-morrow is a festa—no shops open—bring it back Saturday—no hurry.”

Italians & Swiss seem to trust to the honesty strangers readily. We have noticed this very often.

 

[Augusto Castellani was a renowned Roman goldsmith and dealer in antiquities.]

 

Evening—Wood fire in Mr. Chamberlain’s room—C[hamberlaine] sketched, Mrs. C darned, Livy & Clara [Spaulding] crotched, & I read Julius Caesar aloud [238-9].

 

November – In Sam’s notebook there’s an entry “Little Pedlington” which refers to John Poole’s 1839 book, Little Pedlington and the Pedlingtonians. Gribben quotes E. Cobham Brewer, calling this “an imaginary place, the village of quackery and can’t, egotism and humbug, affectation and flatter” [553].

 

Sam noted “Turganieff’s Visions” and “Visions, a Phantasy, by Tourganieff—in the Galaxy” in his notebook [MTNJ 2: 244, 247].

 

Sam also wrote the title and author of Samuel Butler’s Life and Habit (1877), a rebuttal of Darwin’s Theory [Gribben 120].

 

Another notebook entry in Munich: “the old masters never dreamed of women as beautiful as those of Kaulbach,” referring to Wilhelm von Kaulbach’s (1805-1874) Female Characters of Goethe (1868) [363].

 

Sam made a reminder to “Return ‘Silverland,’” referring to George Alfred Lawrence’s (1827-1876) Silverland, which he may have borrowed, Gribben thinks from Mr. & Mrs. August Chamberlaine [398]. [ page 839 ]

 

November 1 Friday – Sam’s notebook:

 

“Great festa-day—shops all closed. Attended High Mass in a chapel of St. Peters. Heaps of people of all ages sexes & professions kissing (& scrubbing) St Peter Jupiter’s toe. He looks like a black negro & has short crisp hair” [MTNJ 2: 239].

 

November 3 Sunday – Sam wrote from Rome, Italy to Joe Twichell. After discussing the matter of a clock Sam had purchased, sending it home through Will Sage, which caused all sorts of red tape, Sam sent compliments on Joe’s letters.

 

How I do admire a man who can sit down & whale away with a pen just the same as if it was fishing—or something else as full of pleasure & as void of labor…if I can make a book out of the matter gathered in your company over here, the book is safe; but I don’t think I have gathered any matter before or since your visit worth writing up. I do wish you were in Rome to do my sight-seeing for me. Rome interests me as much as East Hartford could & no more. That is, the Rome which the average tourist feels an interest in; but there are other things there which stir me enough to make life worth the living. Livy & Clara [Spaulding] are having a royal time worshipping the old Masters, & I as good a time gritting my ineffectual teeth over them [MTLE 3: 95].  

 

Sam also wrote to an unidentified person, regarding a certificate needed for a clock he wished to ship home. He enclosed Will Sage’s letter to Twichell for reference and asked that the needed document be forwarded care of Fraülein Caroline Dahlweiner (1818-1897), No. 1A, Carlstrasse, Munich, where he would be about Nov. 20 [MTLE 3: 96]. Sam’s notebook for this day is full of commentary on various artwork.

 

Went to Barberini Palace to-day & saw my pet detestation, Beatrice Cenci, by Guido.

…

In good art, a correct complexion is the color of a lobster, or of a bleached tripe or of a chimney sweep—there are no intermediates or modifications [MTNJ 2: 240-1].

 

November 5 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook:   “…spent all day in Vedder’s lofty studio & the evening with him & another artist spinning yarns & drinking beer in a quiet saloon. Big row in the street but no bloodshed.”    Elihu Vedder was an American artist who kept a studio in Rome. Sam visited the studio several times [MTNJ 2: 242]. (See Nov. 9 entry.)   November 6 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook:

 

“Visited the Catacombs. One mummy (shapeless) & one slender young girl’s long hair & decaying bones—both in stone coffins & both between 15 & 1600 years old.”

 

Notes suggest Sam was reading Alexander Gilchrist’s Life of William Blake (1863) [MTNJ 2: 243-4]. He also reminded himself to “See death of Alexander VI in vol. 3 of History of Popes. 1st chap Appen” [244]. The section one in the appendix of volume three told the story of a cardinal escaping murder, who then poisoned the man who tried to murder him [Gribben 569].

 

Olivia Lewis Langdon finished a letter to Sam which she began Oct. 15 [MTP]. [ page 840 ]

  November 7 Thursday – U.S. Consulate sent Venetian Bills of Lading for things purchased [MTP].   November 8 Friday – Sam viewed the painting “Bambino” at Ara Coeli.

 

It is always safe to say a thing was mentioned by Pliny. He was the father of reporters—he mentioned everything.

Suit of clothes in Heidelberg, $18; in Milan (slop-shop) $9; in Rome (fancy tailor, $25 & $38—both very fine—the latter half dress. At home, $65 to 90 [MTNJ 2: 246].

  November 9 Saturday – “Cooks agent gone off junketing—for a few days—can’t get any tickets” [MTNJ 2: 245].   In a letter dated Nov. 10, Livy wrote to her mother:

We have enjoyed Rome immensely & wish so very much that we were going to spend three months here.

…

Yesterday morning [Nov 9] we went to Mr. Vedder’s studio, he certainly has immense genius, he had such a large amount of pictures and such an infinate variety of subjects—we did enjoy the morning so very much—I felt as if I could spend two thousand dollars there if I had it to spend.

 

Livy’s reaction to Rome contrasted with Sam’s note to Twichell on Nov. 3 that it interested him about as much as East Hartford. Before leaving Rome (probably this day) Sam and Livy bought Vedder’s “Head of Medusa” for $250 [245n60]. See insert.

 

November 10 Sunday – Livy wrote from Rome to her mother (see Nov. 9 entry).   November 11Monday – The Clemens family left Rome at 10:50 AM, and returned to Florence, Italy at 6:50 PM, where they spent the night at the Hotel de New York [MTLE 3: 97; MTNJ 2: 248]. They were headed north to spend the winter in Munich, a 600 mile trip with 36 hours on slow trains, and four overnight hotel stops to make the journey more bearable for Livy [Rodney 115]. Sam’s notebook:

 

“… saw splendid torchlight processions crossing the 2 Arno bridges to see the King, at the Pitti palace.

Saw the [Edward M.] Smiths & Launt Thompson.” [MTNJ 2: 248n68]. Notes: Edward Meigs Smith was the U.S. consul at Mannheim, vacationing in Italy. The Clemenses had met the Smiths during their stay at Heidelberg. Launt Thompson was an American sculptor residing in Florence. He had called on the Clemenses there in October

 

November 12 Tuesday – The Clemens family stayed a day and another night in Florence [MTLE 3: 97].

 

November 13 Wednesday – The Clemens family left Florence at 10:45 AM and reached Bologna, Italy at 4:15 PM [MTLE 3: 97; MTNJ 2: 249]. Sam made a notebook entry that he stopped here to see Guiseppe Mezzofanti (d.1849), “because he knew 111 languages, but he was dead” [MTNJ 2: 266].

  November 14 Thursday – The Clemens family left Bologna at noon and traveled until 10:30 PM to reach Trent in the Austrian Tyrol, by way of “Modena, Mantua, & Verona.” Sam was acting as the courier for the group and thought himself “a shining success…so far” [MTNJ 2: 249; MTLE 3: 97].

 

November 15 Friday – The Clemens family was up at 6 AM and traveled all day. After twelve hours they arrived in Munich, Germany. At 7 PM they arrived, in “drizzle & fog at the domicil which had been engaged for us ten months before” [MTLE 3: 94].

 [ page 841 ]

November 17 Sunday – Sam wrote from Munich, Germany to Howells, giving him the itinerary of the trip from Rome. At first they did not much like the place:

 

Munich did seem the horriblest place, the most desolate place, the most unendurable place!—& the rooms were so small, the conveniences so meager, & the porcelain stoves so grim, ghastly, dismal, intolerable! So Livy & Clara sat down forlorn, & cried, & I retired to a private place to pray. By & by we all retired to our narrow German beds; & when Livy & I finished talking across the room, it was all decided we would rest 24 hours, then pay whatever damages were required, & straightway fly to the south of France. But you see, that was simply fatigue. Next morning the tribe fell in love with the rooms, with the weather, with Munich, & head over heels in love with Fraülein Dahlweiner.

 

Sam also wrote about a friend of Howells coming by to visit, and of Sam reading one of Howells’ stories aloud to the children [MTLE 3: 97-100].

 

November 19 Tuesday – Sam “took a workroom at 45 Nymphenstrasse—Frau Kraze.” He made a purchase on the “Tobacco shop on corner under Hotel Bellevue, opp. Karls Thor” and noted amounts spent [MTNJ 2: 283].

 

November 20 Wednesday – In Munich, Sam wrote letters to Joe Twichell and Susan Warner. Sam had lost his Switzerland notebook and wrote that if it remained lost he wouldn’t try to write the volume of travels he’d planned. He’d rented another work room a mile from their quarters and would “tackle some other subject.” He had nothing but great things to say about the Fraülein and her “very best cookery.” They had tried and failed to see the Boyesens, who had been in Munich for ten days and were leaving. He asked Susie Warner’s help in choosing ten tunes for a music box he had ordered. He’d chosen four: The Lorelei, the Miserère from Trovatore, the Wedding March from Lohengrin, & the Russian National Anthem, but was stuck for any others.  

 

Sam also wrote to an unidentified person in Geneva, sending thirteen francs on the matter of “trying to get those clocks into the United States without the loss of life.” Sam had forgotten the name of the clock merchant and requested that the person furnish the required paperwork, evidently for customs [MTLE 3: 93].

 

From Livy’s pen:

 

The children have gone out with Rosa and their governess to try on their little dark dresses. Susy’s is to be dark brown and Clara’s dark blue trimmed with red….I like the way that the children’s teacher begins and I hope she will prove to be just what we desire—they have begun their reading lessons this morning. I hope by Spring they will read German as well as they speak it [Salsbury 90].

November 27 Wednesday – Livy’s 33rd birthday.

November 30 Saturday – Sam’s 43rd birthday. Sam told a story or gave a speech (often there was very little difference) at the American Artists Club in Munich. Just what Sam said has been lost. Sam’s notebook:

Farewell blow-out…to Toby Rosenthal who sails for California. Horstmann, (consul,) read a mighty bright speech, with new & exceedingly funny feature of dropping frequently into rhyming doggerel—every line rhyming with tall & every stanza ending with “Toby Rosenthal.” I mean to borrow & use that happy idea someday [MTNJ 2: 250].

In his Sept. 5, 1906 A.D., Sam puts the following episode to this date:

      November 30, 1878. Clara four years old, Susy six. This morning when Clara discovered that this is my birthday, she was greatly troubled because she had provided no gift for me, and repeated her sorrow several [ page 842 ] times. Finally she went musing to the nursery and presently returned with her newest and dearest treasure, a large toy horse, and said “You shall have this horse for your birthday, papa.”

      I accepted it with many thanks. After an hour she was racing up and down the room with the horse, when Susy said,

      “Why Clara, you gave that horse to papa, and now you’ve tooken it again.”

      Clara. “I never give it to him for always; I give it to him for his birthday” [AMT 2: 225].

December – Sam inscribed in a copy of Joseph Norman Lockyer’s (1836-1920) Elementary Lessons in Astronomy (1877): “S.L. Clemens, Munich, Dec. 1878” [Gribben 415].

December 1 Sunday – Sam wrote from Munich to his mother, and sister Pamela:

I broke the back of life yesterday & started down-hill toward old age. This fact has not produced any effect upon me that I can detect.

 

I suppose we are located here for the winter. I have a pleasant work-room a mile from here where I do my writing. The walk to & from that place gives me what exercise I need, & all I take…Livy & Miss Spaulding are studying drawing & German, & the children have a German day-governess [MTLE 3: 103].

  Sam and Livy wrote to Susan Crane. Livy wrote about being in a room with six Germans who couldn’t speak a word of English and her being at the end of the three sentences she knew in German, then having to tell Clara what she wanted to say. Sam had activities, too, he wrote:

 

One of them consists in lying abed, mornings, until I am shoveled out. After breakfast I lie slippered & comfortable on the sofa, with a pipe, & read the meager telegrams in the German paper & the general news in Galignani’s Messenger; & about 11 o’clock bundle up in furs & tramp a mile to my den, which is in the 3d story of a dwelling. The pleasant old German Frau, comes in & builds a fire & talks admiringly about the weather,—no matter how villainous it may be,—because the Creator made it. I find my rubbish of the yesterday all cleaned away, & everything in apple-pie order. The Frau gives me a good roasting, occasionally, & occasionally she freezes me,—but in all cases she means well [MTLE 3: 130].

 

December 2 Monday – Sam wrote from Munich to Olivia Lewis Langdon, thanking her for a birthday gift (a “covered Krug of beaten brass”). Sam wrote about the many noises that began at 5 AM and were added to by 7, and how many of the things they disliked upon arrival had now been fixed, cleaned, attended to.

 

The fact is, there was but one thing we took solid & healing comfort in, & that was our gentle young colored girl who waits on our table. But alas, day before yesterday she fell in the cistern & the color all came off. / We require her to fall in every day, now [MTLE 3: 106].

 

December 8 Sunday – Livy, Susy and Sam wrote from Munich to Olivia Lewis Langdon. Most of the letter is from Livy to her mother, whom she’d only received one letter from since they left home. Livy wrote of sore throats and ear aches, Clara Spaulding and Christmas gifts. What her mother had sent was too much, Livy wrote (several times during the trip her mother sent money). Sam wrote about Santa Claus and the girls “Susie thinks her teacher is so pretty because ‘her face is so becoming to her.’” [MTLE 3: 108-111].

 

December 14 Saturday – Sam wrote from Munich to Bayard Taylor. Sam had heard in Italy a few weeks back that Taylor was ill, but then saw it contradicted in a newspaper. This day he read that the contradiction was in error. Sam ended by saying they would try to “run over to Berlin in the spring.” [MTLE 3: 112]. Bayard Taylor, the “father of American travel literature,” died five days after Sam wrote him, on Dec. 19, 1878. It is not known if Taylor ever saw Sam’s letter.

 

December 18 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook: [ page 843 ]

 

“On some of the large ocean steamers the old-fashioned settees have been replaced by revolving arm chairs—Harper’s Weekly gravely makes this preposterous statement. Who could stay in one in a storm?” [MTNJ 2: 252].

 

December 20 Friday – Sam’s notebook:

 

“To-day, by telegraph in the papers, comes the sad news of Bayard Taylor’s death yesterday afternoon in Berlin, from Dropsy. I wrote him 3 or 4 days ago congratulating him on his recovery. He was a very lovable man” [MTNJ 2: 254].

 

December 21 Saturday – Sam’s notebook:

 

“Munich, Dec 21—On scores of street corners, in the snow, are groves of Xmas trees for sale—and the toy & other shops are crowded and driving a tremendous trade” [MTNJ 2: 255].

 

December 23 Monday – Joe Twichell wrote to Sam; not found at MTP though catalogued as UCLC 32703.

 

December 25 Wednesday – Christmas –­ Sam’s notebook:

 

Christmas in Germany.

In the week, a prodigious audience of parents & children in the big theatre. A curtain hung across middle of stage from right to left. In front, a lady with a lot of eager children around her on stools. She asks what familiar story from folk lore she shall read. They clap their eager hands & name a story. She reads, they applaud, or laugh or are grieved—all well drilled & natural—& as she finishes the curtain slowly rises & displays in tableau an exquisite picture from the story. The children in the audience get so carried away that they applaud, shout, cry & make comments aloud [MTNJ 2: 255].

 

December 26? Thursday – Sam wrote from Munich to Olivia Lewis Langdon, thanking her for “the magnificent ‘Faust’” [book] she sent for Christmas. “Livy gave me a noble great copy of ‘Reinicke Fuchs,’ nearly as big as the Faust, & containing the original Kaulbach illustrations.” Sam also thanked Susan Crane for her gift [MTLE 3: 113].

 

December 28 Saturday Baron Tauchnitz wrote from Leipzig.

 

My dear Sir, / Some time ago I had the pleasure of publishing your work “Tom Sawyer” and I shall be glad to add to my Series another of your books. / Will you be kind enough therefore to send me at your earliest convenience a copy of one or two of your books which you think most popular, that I may print my edition from them [MTP].

 

December 31 Tuesday – Clemens gave a reading which included “The Invalid’s Story,” to the American Artists Club, Munich Germany [MTPO].

 

 

 [ page 844 ]
Paris Balloon Ride, Horse Races, French Morality & Fires all Summer

 Onanism at the Stomach Club – Crowded by Visitors Dirty Brussells, Antwerp & Dinner on the Admiral’s Flagship Rotterdam, Amsterdam & London – Orion Excommunicated  Spurgeon Preaches, Great Darwin Seen – Gallia for Home – Howells Sleepeth  Writing Tramp – Grant “Fetched up”– Patriotic Frenzy – Ingersoll, Freethinker Lavish Colt “Blowout” – Holmes’ 70th Redemption     January – Sam wrote a long, newsy letter sometime during the month from Munich, Germany to an unidentified person. He was working on A Tramp Abroad and mentioned that a big octavo book, “requires a long pull and an almighty steady one.” Sam missed New England weather:   “I ache for a good honest all day, all night snowstorm, with a wind-up gale of 150 miles an hour and 35 degrees below zero. That is the only kind of weather that is fit and right for January” [MTLE 4: 1].   In his Jan. 26 letter to Twichell, Sam wrote of telling “the yarn about the Limburger cheese & the box of guns, too” to the American Artists Club in Munich, and also to guests at their house [MTLE 4: 9]. Fatout identifies this story as first published for part of “Some Rambling Notes,” in The Stolen White Elephant (1882), and later appearing as “The Invalid’s Story,” In Defense of Harriet Shelley and Other Essays (1892) [Fatout, MT Speaking 124].

Sam inscribed a copy of Hans Hendrick’s (1834-1889) Memoirs of Hans Hendrik, The Arctic Traveller (1878): “S.L. Clemens / Munich, Bavaria, / January, 1879. / A very valuable book / —& unique” [Gribben 307].

Sam referred in his notebook to Freidrich Max Muller (1823-1900) as an eminent philologist, who, along with Prof. William D. Whitney and James H. Trumbull responded only with ”offensive answers or silence” to Sam’s inquiries [MTNJ 2: 266].

 

January 4 Saturday – Sam’s notebook:

 

Went to Grossen Kirschof & saw 15 or 20 dead [Southern Cemetery of Munich]

 

[Edward Meigs] Smith took me to 3 antiquarian shops—my pet detestation—& examined 3 brass beer mugs (crippled) & 5 ancient & hideously ugly & elaborately figured & ornamented (noseless) Nuremberg earthen ware ones. Price, brass, from 250 to 650 M each—the others from 550 to 1100 marks each. I wouldn’t have such rubbish in the house. I do hate this antiquarian rot, sham, humbug; cannot keep my temper in such a place—& never voluntarily enter one [MTNJ 2: 256].

  January 5 Sunday – Susan & Charles Dudley Warner wrote to Sam and Livy, expressing that they missed them and urging them to come home—all in a nearly illegible hand [MTP].   January 12 Sunday – The Clemenses loved to entertain, something expected of many Nook Farm residents. According to Twichell’s journal, a dinner was given at Sam’s for Louis Fréchette, poet laureate of Canada:

 

“M.T. never was so funny as this time. The perfect art of a certain kind of story telling will die with him. No one beside can ever equal him, I am sure” [Andrews 92].

 [ page 845 ]

January 13 Monday – Sam had an unwelcome American visitor who, in effect, was a beggar. The visit, along with a Jan. 4 article from the Hartford Courant, led Sam to write a long letter to the Courant editor on the problem of beggars [MTNJ 2: 260]. (See Feb. 2 entry.)   January 14 Tuesday – The Clemenses saw a Munich production of François Adrien Boieldieu’s La dame blanche, a popular light opera, partly based on Sir Walter Scott’s novels The Monastery and Guy Mannering. Sam noted: “Not noise, but music” [MTNJ 2: 261].     January 17 Friday – William Roling Romoli wrote from his gallery in Florence, Italy to advise that the “two frames you ordered of me the 26th October 1878 are now quite ready to deliver to my Expeditioners…to forward to Liverpool according to the directions you left me” [MTP].   January 19 Sunday – Livy and Sam wrote from Munich to Olivia Lewis Langdon. Livy wrote of her homesickness, of spending too much money in Italy, of buying furniture in Florence and of the children. Sam wrote:

 

I have written 900 pages of manuscript on my book, therefore it is half-done; Livy & Clara have learned half of the German language together, so they are half done; the children have learned how to speak German, drink beer, & break the Sabbath like the natives, so they are half done. We are all a half-way lot, like the rest of the world, but we are progressing toward the great goal, Completion, Perfection,—which has also another name, the Unattainable [MTLE 4: 1].

  January 21 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Munich to Howells. He praised Howells’ The Lady of Aroostook., and made this observation:

 

If your literature has not struck perfection now we are not able to see what is lacking. It is all such truth—truth to the life; everywhere your pen falls it leaves a photograph. I did imagine that everything had been said about life at sea that could be said….Possibly you will not be a fully accepted classic until you have been dead a hundred years,—it is the fate of the Shakespeares & of all genuine prophets,—but then your books will be as common as Bibles, I believe. You ain’t a weed, but an oak; you ain’t a summer-house, but a cathedral. In that day I shall still be in the Cyclopedias, too,—thus: “Mark Twain; history & occupation unknown—but he was personally acquainted with Howells” [MTLE 4: 4; see also MTHL 1: 247n1].

 

In his notebook, Sam wrote that the only man who might be well remembered a hundred years hence was Henry M. Stanley, the explorer/journalist [MTNJ 2: 304]. He wanted Howells to hang on to a play they’d begun together, one that included Orion as a character. Sam wrote they thought they “were going to lose our little Clara yesterday, but the danger is gone, to-day, apparently.” The family planned on remaining in Munich till the middle of March [MTLE 4: 5].

 

Sam’s article “The Recent Great French Duel” ran in the Hartford Courant, page one [Courant.com]. It also ran in the February issue of the Atlantic Monthly [Wells 22].

 

January 23 Thursday – Sam wrote from Munich to Joe Twichell. He had lost the address for Frank and Elisha Bliss, so asked Joe to communicate with them about the delays in his book. He didn’t want to “attempt any more prophesies as to the date of completion of the book.” Sam had found his lost notebook, and worked daily when no one in the family was sick. He calculated that he’d torn up 400 pages and had about 900 that he liked, so was half done. Sam had drawn a few sketches he wanted to include in the book but it gave him “the belly-ache to look at them” [MTLE 4: 6]. Sam noted writing the letter to Frank Bliss at the same time Bliss was writing him, another example of what he called “mental telegraphy” [MTNJ 2: 273].  [ page 846 ]

  January 25 Saturday – Sam’s notebook:   The mother of the King, 55 or 60, was out walking in the street, to-day, a maid of honor walking beside her, the two talking zealously, 2 vast footmen in blue liveries walking behind them—everybody, who came along, either in the street or on the sidewalk, took off hats & bowed—little boys, gentlemen, ladies, soldiers, cabmen—everybody—& the queen saw every bow & bowed in return, & still kept her end of the conversation [MTNJ 2: 263].

January, after 25th– Sam’s notebook carries an entry noting the number of words in newspapers:

A column of an average city paper in America contains from 1800 to 2500 words. Can’t average the whole contents because so many sizes; but Times usually contains about 200,000 words in its reading matter. Have counted the reading matter in Munchener Tages-Anzeiger of Jan 25, ’79 & find it is just 1900 words altogether [MTNJ 2: 262].

  January 26 Sunday – Sam wrote from Munich to Joe Twichell after receiving his letter at breakfast (evidently there was Sunday mail delivery in Germany). Sam wrote of not being able to sleep the night before. So he dressed in the dark and then crawled around trying to find a missing sock.

 

I believed I could find that sock in silence if the night lasted long enough. So I started again & softly pawed all over the place,—& sure enough at the end of half an hour I laid my hand on the missing article. I rose joyfully up & butted the wash-bowl & pitcher off the stand & simply raised —— so to speak. Livy screamed, then said, “Who is that?” what is the matter?” I said “There ain’t anything the matter—I’m hunting for my sock.” She said, “Are you hunting for it with a club?”

 

Sam went into the parlor and wrote up the sock adventure. Sam also wrote that they must return to Switzerland some day [MTLE 4: 7-10].

 

January 30 Thursday – Sam wrote from Munich to Howells. He received a letter from Howells in the morning and discovered the two articles (possible chapters for his current book) he’d sent had not been lost in transit. Sam couldn’t write the “sharp satires on European life” that Howells had mentioned, for he wasn’t in a “calm, judicial good-humor” mood he felt was required.

 

…whereas I hate travel, & I hate hotels, & I hate the opera, & I hate the Old Masters—in truth I don’t ever seem to be in a good enough humor with ANYthing to satirize it; no, I want to stand up before it and curse it, & foam at the mouth,—or take a club & pound it to rags & pulp. I have got in two or three chapters about Wagner’s Operas, & managed to do it without showing temper…[MTLE 4: 13].

 

February – Sam’s article “The Recent Great French Duel” ran in the February issue of the Atlantic Monthly [Wells 22]. It also ran in the Hartford Courant, Jan. 21, page one [Courant.com]. Sam read Arthur Sedgwick’s article “International Copyright by Judicial Decision,” and Richard Grant White’s article “London Streets” in the Feb. issue of the Atlantic. The former subject was always of great interest to Sam; the latter praised London for its lack of shop signs, beggars and streets named with numbers. Sam wrote in his notebook:

 

“England gives us copyright in books, we give her copyright or rather absolute protection in plays” [MTNJ 2: 270-1; Gribben 619, 762].

  February 2 Sunday – Sam wrote from Munich to the Editor of the Hartford Courant, enclosing a Jan. 11 article of that paper that he’d just received. The article was about tramps who had been jailed in [ page 847 ] Hartford. Sam was gratified that Hartford had “at last ceased to be the Tramp’s heaven.” He wrote of the positive Munich experience with beggars after giving them work and denying handouts.   For the past two months, Sam wrote, he’d walked daily “through a densely populated part of the city, yet” he had “never once been accosted by a beggar.” He hadn’t once seen a beggar. But his landlord, Madame B., as he called her, had received over 450 tramps in that time! Hartford has had 250 Madame B’s, Sam concluded, and that was the problem. Sam then told of a humorous story of a Frenchman coming to see Mrs. B. for a handout [MTLE 4:14-18]. The letter was not mailed [MTNJ 2: 260n92].   Sam also wrote to William Dean Howells and told a cute story about eavesdropping on his daughter’s introduction to a visiting little girl who bragged [MTLE 4:19].

 

Livy inscribed a copy of Paul von Heyse’s (1830-1914) 3 volume In Paradiese. Roman in Sieben Buchern (1876): “Saml. L. Clemens / Feb. 2nd 1879 / Munich / Bavaria”; also inscribed identically were 3 volumes of Heyse’s Kinder der Wel, and Gottfried Keller’s 3 volume Die Leute vol Seldwyla [Gribben 312; 365].

  February 7 Friday – William Roling Romoli wrote from his gallery in Florence to note receipt of Sam’s payment of 235 Lire for the gilt Florentine carved frames, and had sent them away as per directions. He did not send the glass for “Three Fates of Michelangelo” since the frames had a long way to go [MTP].   February 9 Sunday – Sam wrote from Munich to Frank Bliss of progress on the book, even though he was still tearing up some of it. He sent Frank an address in Paris where they might go at any time; they planned to return to Elmira next August; to Hartford in October [MTLE 4: 20].  

Sam also wrote to Orion, enclosing a draft for $25 on his Hartford bank. Orion was going to lecture attacking the rising tide of Darwinism. Sam cautioned Orion what to tell reporters when they asked him: “I have not one single word of any sort to say about Sam or Sam’s matters.” Sam asked him to be steadfast in that because he could not “abide those newspaper references” about him and his matters. He wrote that it was one reason he had stopped writing friends & relatives so much. Sam’s frankness on the question was perhaps more pointed for Orion than it would have been for Mary Fairbanks and others, but he wanted his private letters to be private.

 

Orion was planning to travel so Sam knew he might be approached, even hounded. Sam then proceeded to lecture his older brother about spending, “idiotic vanities” like a church pew and the like—basically, living within his means. He also increased his monthly donation to Orion eight dollars to $50. Sam closed by emphasizing he had not “written ill-naturedly or with an unkind feeling” [MTLE 4: 22].

 

Sam also wrote to Howells and enclosed the letter from Orion. In his answer to Orion, Sam wrote he’d done nine pages, but Livy had “shut down on it, & said it was cruel, & made me send the money & simply wish his lectures success.” Sam often felt the need to share Orion’s ineptitude with Howells.

 

Observe Orion’s career—that is, a little of it:

He has belonged to as many as five different religious denominations; last March he withdrew from deaconship in a Congregational Church & the superintendency of its Sunday School, in a speech in which he said that for many months (it runs in my mind that he said 13 years,) he had been a confirmed infidel, & so felt it to be his duty to retire from the flock.

 

Sam also expounded on Orion’s fickle voting habits, his schemes for writing, his offense at a New York Evening Post foreman swearing at him; his grand plans for a chicken farm; his debts and prepayment of interest; his conviction that he could be a successful lawyer; his idea of lecturing as “Mark Twain’s brother”; his copying Jules Verne; and his “vain, proud fool” of a wife.  [ page 848 ]

 

If Orion ever goes to hell, he will be likely to say, “I don’t think this place is much of an invention.” And if she [Mollie Clemens] ever goes to heaven, she will be likely to say, “I am disappointed; I did not think so many would be saved” [MTLE 4: 23-6].

 

February 13 Thursday – Elisha Bliss wrote to Sam. “Occasionally I hear from you through some friend of yours. You seem to have been skipping about like a grass-hopper in haying time.” Bliss had conferred with Perkins about Sam’s business interests. He was unclear as to which book Sam agreed would take the place of the Riley book on diamond mining, this to fulfill his agreement. The sale of Twain’s book through autumn was “quite large” [MTP].   February 17 Monday – Sam obtained a Letter of Credit from Drexel, Morgan & Co. for £2,000 [MTP].   February 18 Tuesday – Bissell & Co. replied to Sam’s Jan. 29 request for a letter of credit as obtained above on Feb. 17 [MTP].   February 19 Wednesday – Christian Tauchnitz wrote from Leipzig to thank Sam for his “kind lines of Jan 20” and for the two volumes of the “Routledge edition.” He wished to republish IA [MTP].   February 21 Friday – Sam wrote to Christian Tauchnitz, letter not extant but mentioned in Tauchnitz’s Mar. 1 reply.   February 23 Sunday – Sam wrote at 1:30 PM on a snowy day from Munich to Olivia Lewis Langdon. After describing the snowstorm, Sam wrote that he’d finally picked all ten tunes for his $400 music box. Samuel E. Moffett had been with them for a week or more and Sam Clemens said the “manly boy” had “won the esteem, admiration & affection of the tribe.” His nephew had a:   “…capacious mind; & to his great & varied accumulation of knowledge he has added wisdom—& that is rare for a lad of 18.”Note: Moffett would stay several months to study German.   Sam sent thanks to Charley Langdon for taking care of Livy’s interest in the coal company and approved of his investing in 4% government bonds. Sam revealed their travel plans:

 

“We are packing. Our plan is to leave for Paris next Thursday at 6.40 AM, arriving at Strasburg at 5.30PM & going on to Paris the next day…We send a power of love to you all—& thank goodness it doesn’t have to go through the custom house. They would charge duty on it, & break it all to pieces in the bargain” [MTLE 4: 29-30].

 

February 23–25 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Munich to his mother, and sister, Pamela Moffett. He praised the Baroness Freundenberg (1822-1905) (who would board his nephew) and the character of Samuel Moffett, and said he was sorry they’d have to say their goodbyes soon [MTLE 4: 31].

 

February 24 Monday – Sam wrote from Munich a short note to Joe Twichell after receiving his letter. Sam wrote how he discovered the trick to sharpening a razor. They were leaving Thursday. Send mail to Monroe & Co., Bankers in Paris [MTLE 4: 31].

 

February 27 Thursday – The Clemens family left Munich by rail for Paris, France. Sam had planned to leave at 6:40 AM and travel to Strasburg (at that time in Germany) by 5:30 PM and spend the night there, continuing on to Paris on Feb. 28 [MTLE 4: 29]. Sam noted “Feb 27, at Strasburg” in his notebook [2: 292].

 

February 28 Friday – The Clemens family arrived in Paris with five trunks and took rooms at the Grand Hotel St. James in the rue Saint-Honoré, where they stayed until Mar. 4 [MTNJ 2: 292n7].

From Sam’s notebook: [ page 849 ]

 

Feb. 29/79—Arrived at Paris at 5 P.M.

In ungraciousness of stranger to stranger we are exactly like the French—mannerless.

The cabman of Paris is exactly like the Irish hackman of New York—mannerless.

O how cold, & raw & unwarmable it was!

 

Sam had been reading Tom Jones by Henry Fielding and thought it “disgusting” [MTNJ 2: 292-4].

March – Sam’s article “The Great Revolution in Pitcairn” ran in the March issue of the Atlantic Monthly [Wells 22].

March 1 Saturday – Christian Tauchnitz wrote from Leipzig to Sam.

“I am most obliged for your kind lines of Feby 21 and for the very nice preface. / Hoping that you are now safely arrived in Paris through snow and ice—for we are living here like in Siberia—I have the pleasure of enclosing the 300 Marks in a draft at sight on (Mefers.) Credit Lyonnaise at frances 375…” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Funny letter”.

March 2 Sunday – From Livy’s pen:

Mr. Clemens and I went to call this afternoon on Mr. Millet, the young lady that he is to marry and her mother and sister—we had a perfectly charming time. I liked the young lady that he is to marry very much indeed and he is just as lovable as ever—his house is so very artistic and his studio was filled with interesting things that he had brought from the East with him…it was such an interesting visit—he has been doing such fine work lately—it was altogether a most restful visit—Paris and the world seemed brighter and happier after we came away from there. They are to be married the eleventh of this month—Mr. Clemens is to be one of the witnesses to sign the marriage paper—and then we both go to the wedding breakfast—they sail that same day for England—Mr. Millet takes some of his pictures for exhibition in London, he has a studio and will work there for two months….Mr. Clemens is to have his studio to work in—so he will get to work again next Wednesday—he will be nearly and I hope, quite through his book in that time [Salsbury 97].

March 4 Tuesday – The Clemens family moved to the Normandy Hotel on Rue de l’Echelle. In his letter of Mar. 6, Sam related, “Tauchnitz bought of me the right to put the Innocents Abroad in his series, day before yesterday” [MTLE 4: 36]. Verlag Bernard Tauchnitz imprinted many popular authors, and by law at that time did not have to pay Sam a royalty, but did.

March 6 Thursday – Sam wrote from the Normandy Hotel in Paris to Elisha Bliss after receiving his letter. The “old dead” contract signed years before about the Riley book was not canceled and Sam wanted the matter resolved. Bliss reported that the subscription sales for the new book (A Tramp Abroad) were going well, and Sam was gratified since the family’s expenses in Paris were “something perfectly gaudy.” Sam also wrote:

“…six days hence an artist a mile from here on top of the hill of Montmartre will yield up his studio to me until my book shall be finished—& on that day I will buckle in on my book again” [MTLE 4: 34]. Note: The artist in question was Francis Davis Millet, who was getting married on Mar. 11(See entry).

Sam also wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks, who evidently had recently related difficulties her husband faced. Sam apologized for not writing. He had written from Munich to his “Fredonia mother & began a letter to” his “Elmira mother,” but had only “got the steam going for an intended letter to” Mary. He expected to “work six days in the week here, uninterruptedly for the next 2 or 2½ months.” Sam told Mary about discovering in Munich he was only a third done with the book instead of half, and of spending his last Sunday there for a holiday, writing 60 pages of letters. He encouraged Mary’s son Charley to compete in the illustrations for the new [ page 850 ] book, and to send them directly to Bliss. Sam wrote his children “glibly” spoke German, and of the high price of wood ($5 a basket) and of his guests for the evening:

“We’re expecting Frank D. Millet, a very dear young artist friend of ours here, every moment, to dinner, with the lovely girl he is to marry next Tuesday—with I & 3 friends as witnesses, & Livy & Clara S. & I & 6 or 8 more will eat the wedding breakfast in his studio” [MTLE 4: 37].

Christian Tauchnitz wrote to Sam. “I shall of course, agree with your wishes,” putting IA in two volumes so as not to compete with the Routledge edition, also in two [MTP].

March 8 Saturday – Caroline Dahlweiner wrote from France, proud that Clemens had been in her house. “I received your kind letter and thank you very much…I am so sorry that you do not find so comfortable in the Hotel as you hopped” [MTP]. Her spelling.

Sam wrote to Christian Tauchnitz, letter not extant but mentioned in Tauchnitz’s Mar. 12 reply.

March 10 Monday – Orion Clemens received the formal notice that he had been excommunicated from the Presbyterian church for publicly espousing what they considered heresy. He’d been called before the church elders on Mar. 8 to answer the charges [Fanning 176-7]. Orion repeated his lecture, “Man the Architect of Our Religion” on May 19 but had a sparse audience [178].

March 11 Tuesday – Sam stood up at Francis Davis Millet’s wedding to Elizabeth (“Lil”) Greeley Merrill in Montmartre, an art colony in Paris. Also in attendance was Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907), artist and good friend of Millet [The Twainian, June 1939 quoting from The Reminiscences of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1913)]. Note: Augustus later designed some of the most beautiful U.S. coins ever made.

In a Dec. 7, 1893 letter to Sam, Francis Davis Millet referred to the time in Paris Sam stood up for him at his wedding and the wedding breakfast, revealing that he’d not been at the breakfast: “…as I have a telegram…and can’t be here myself you’ll have to speak for me as you did at the wedding breakfast” [MTP].

Millet had painted Sam’s portrait in 1876 and was “adopted” by the Clemens family at that time. Now 33 years old, and living in Paris since Jan. 1877, he had a studio in Montmartre that would become a hideout for Sam and Livy when they felt too much pressure of visitors. Since the end of May, 1877 Millet was a war correspondent (Russo-Turkish War) for the New York Herald and the London Daily News. He also served as special artist for the London Graphic. After the wedding the newlyweds traveled to London where Millet had a first showing at The Royal Academy [Weinberg 4-5]. (See Mar. 3 by Livy). Sam and Livy went to Millet’s wedding breakfast (this may have been on Mar. 12).

March 12 Wednesday – Livy wrote on Mar. 2 and 3 that Sam would gain occupancy of Millet’s studio on this day.

Christian Tauchnitz wrote to Sam. “In accordance with your kind lines of March 8, I have much pleasure in handing you enclosed the additional M. 200—in a draft at sight of Frs. 250” [MTP].

March 16 Sunday – Bill and receipt from Munroe & Co., Paris for Normandy Hotel5,285 Francs [MTP].

March 18 Tuesday – Sam wrote from the Normandy Hotel, Paris to Edward F. Noyes (1832-1890) accepting an invitation for President Grevy’s reception on Thursday evening. Sam mentioned Moncure Conway, who was in Paris at the time [MTLE 4: 39]. Note: Noyes lost a leg in the Civil War and was promoted to brigadier general. Sam used the “General” title in addressing him. Noyes was governor of Ohio in 1871 and [ page 851 ] served as Rutherford B. Hayes’ Minister to France from 1877–81, a patronage reward for his strong support of his fellow Buckeye soldier during Hayes’ presidential campaign. (See Apr. 30 entry for notation on Noyes’ dinner with Clemens.)

March 19 Wednesday – Susy Clemens’ seventh birthday.

March 21 and March 22 Saturday – Sam was working hard most evenings on A Tramp Abroad. But on Mardigras at 10 PM Sam went with Moncure Conway and General Edward Noyes to a reception for Jules Grévy, the newly elected president of France. They looked in on some fancy balls. Robert R. Hitt, first secretary of the American legation at Paris, drove Sam and Conway in a carriage to the New Opera House at 11:30 PM. They “waited outside till the doors opened at midnight” and once inside were in a “vaste horde of maskers.”

Sam’s notebook lists guests at Grevy’s reception: Leon Gambetta, president of the Chamber of Deputies; Prince Chlodwic of Hohenlohe-Schillings-fürst, German ambassador to France; and William H. Waddington, the French minister of foreign affairs, along with “the brother of Grevy’s mistress.”

“At 1 a.m. left the Opera & went to a mask ball at the American circus, to another at the Tivoli—to the Opera till 4 a.m. then saw wind-up dance at another mask ball & got home at 5 or 5.30” [MTNJ 2: 299-300].

March 23 Sunday – Valentine Besarel, and John Harris sent a “Triplicate Invoice of Goods Despatched” Liverpool to NYC for furniture [MTP]. Note: this letter was not concluded until Apr. 10.

March 24 Monday – Sam wrote from the Normandy Hotel, Paris to Andrew Chatto, making a “special request” for “that box of first-class quill-nibs which I asked you for some time ago.” He also asked for a copy of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer [MTLE 4: 40]. Sam was not well enough to go out, suffering again from dysentery [41].

March 25 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Paris to famous American artist, George Peter Alexander Healy (1813-1894), who did masterpiece portraits of Lincoln, Buchanan, Tyler and other great Americans. Healy had called on the Clemenses but they were out visiting at the time. Evidently Healy was interested in doing a portrait of Twain.

I’ve thought the portrait matter all over, & I see that it won’t do for me to attempt it. I take all my Saturdays & Sundays to rest in, when I am at work, & I shall have to continue that custom here in order to keep myself in working trim. As I do my resting in bed, it wouldn’t be a good position for the portrait of a professedly live man [MTLE 4: 41].

Mary Catlin in Hartford sent Clemens her signature on a souvenir folder 1829-1879 with the tune Auld Lang Syne [MTP].

George Peter Alexander Healy wrote from Paris to Clemens, after missing them at home the day before. Could Sam spare an hour the next day? “I will try to make a fine work from your hand in three sittings of two hours each” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Healy / artist”.

March 26 Wednesday – Gustavo Sarfatti sent Sam a bill of lading for goods shipped [MTP].

Frank Bliss wrote to Clemens about taking his time with a MS. “It is beginning to be noised about that I am to publish your book.” Frank wanted it kept quiet [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Answered”. [ page 852 ]

March 26? Wednesday – Sam wrote from Paris to his sister, Pamela Moffett. Sam wrote he’d heard that her son, Samuel Moffett was leaving the good Baroness Freundenberg in Munich and coming to Paris about a month hence. Sam judged that his nephew wouldn’t have a better opportunity to learn the German language than from the Baroness, who had written that Sam Moffett liked to read the language but not write it, and that he had made “great progress” in four weeks. Uncle Sam counseled:

“To speak it, & write it, & never read it, is the right course, to read it is more an injury than a benefit” [MTLE 4: 42].

March 28 Friday – Sam’s notebook:

Went to see pictures rushed into Palais d’ Industrie end of afternoon—last chance to see them in. Stair ways crowded—street full of vans & the vans full of pictures. Every time a poor picture came in, everybody groaned. Perfect howl went up, sometimes when particularly poor one came—it was snatched & passed from hand to hand. Picture of wood-sawing—everybody made a sound like sawing. Picture of St Jerome & skull—lot of students followed it weeping on each other’s shoulders. Was a row last year, so it was announced that this year only people bearing pictures would be admitted—so there came 50 students, each carrying a 10-cent chromo very carefully. —There were acres of pictures. Any artist may send two or three but not more. I think they said 2 was the limit. A jury of the first artists of France (elected by exhibitors) will examine these 6 or 7000 pictures between now & May 11, & retain about 2000 & reject the rest. They can tell a good picture or a bad one at a single glance—these are at once set aside & the real work begins, the culling the best from among those that lie somewhere between the perfectly good & the perfectly bad. And a tough job it is.—An artist can’t vote for the jury till he has exhibited more than twice…sometimes a fine picture is applauded [MTNJ 2: 304-5].

—-Dined with the Earl of Dunraven. D.D. Home (pronounced Hume,) the spiritualist miracle-worker, was present. An Austrian prince Wrede, brother of the great diplomatist, came in—a fascinating man, simple-hearted, unpretending, & a fine mind—more than 6 feet high & exceedingly handsome—about 30 yrs old. Home is 45, but looks 35. Resembles me in the face. He is a very fine fellow & makes warm & everlasting friendships with all sorts of people [306].

March 30 Sunday – Sam and Livy (and Susy per her father) wrote from Paris to Olivia Lewis Langdon.

Things go along just the same, mother dear. There is no change. I still catch cold & am pestered with rheumatism, & as a consequence my work lags & drags & mostly stands still. Livy has pains in the back of her neck, & the old ones in her spine, but she keeps up her studies & other activities with spirit. The children have French colds which can’t be told from German ones by people ignorant of the language. Rosa has a horrible cold. Clara Spaulding has the twin to it. She studies hard & has got into the new language so deeply now that the French can’t understand her French & we can’t understand her English.

Sam and daughter Clara wrote to Jane Lampton Clemens and Pamela A. Moffett, this a similar letter written to Olivia Lewis Langdon the same day. Clara’s letter is noteworthy:

 

Well, that I’ve got a dress, & a new one, & is silk & got gold buttons, & that I’m bigger’n thicker’n I was before, & that I got a great big doll, & that t’isn’t broken yet; & that I got a horse, & its broken; the car came off it, & that its car is broken, & that I know how to take it (the ear) out; & two legs is broken, & his tail is come out.

      I had a hard pinch in my finger: that I was looking in the looking-glass door & Rosa closed the looking glass; & sometimes Susie plays with my things & I get a-fighting at her. That’s all, now, that I can write.

      And that all my names is Clara Lewis O’Day Botheker McAleer McLachlin Bay Clemens. (Her wet-nurses) [MTPO]. [ page 853 ]

Sam then dictated for Susy about playing ball and “bind man’s puff”; and the elevator boy and Queen Victoria being in the city. Livy added the rest of the letter, about Clara Spaulding having lunch with the artist, William Gedney Bunce (1840-1916), cousin of Edward (Ned) Bunce of Hartford; and about her dislike of Mr. Healy (who seemed like “one of Dickens characters a kind of made up man”) and his “most uninteresting” wife and daughters serving tea so bad she couldn’t drink it [MTLE 4: 43-4].

March 31 Monday – Clemens gave a reading which included “The Invalid’s Story,” for the Stanley Club Dinner, Paris, France [MTPO].

April – Sam wrote in his notebook:

“Religion consists in a set of things which the average man thinks he believes, & wishes he was certain” [MTNJ 2: 305].

Right below this entry, Sam wrote:

“White, now of Berlin—Yes, G is a d—d old nepot

This refers to an anecdote told by Andrew Dickson White, who succeeded Bayard Taylor as U.S. minister to Germany. Sam wrote Apr. 15 his approval of White’s appointment to Howells [305]. Note: Sam’s private views of religion and established churches were frankly sacrilegious, even though he made efforts to keep such views from tarnishing his image.

Francis D. Millet wrote to Sam on a Thursday describing his day, his hectic social life and giving his schedule [MTP].

April 1 Tuesday – Elisha Bliss wrote to Sam after receiving his letter. He’d discussed copyright matters with Sam’s attorney, Charles E. Perkins. His handwriting degraded some here. There was some confusion about TS being a book to fulfill the Riley contract [MTP].

April 2 Wednesday – The Rose Library, a semi-monthly containing a “complete novel by the best Authors,” ran The Adventures of Tom Sawyer [Alan C. Fox Rare Books, Item 133. no date].

April 6 Sunday – John Hanlon wrote from Paris to Sam. “I am busy writing out the interesting interview of this afternoon, which you will have at the earliest possible moment. / I take the liberty of giving you some further details about the new paper the Boulevard, to be published immediately.” He enclosed the frontispiece, and advised he was going to publish Sam’s biography if he’d supply a few details [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the reverse of the printed frontispiece, “Letter from that thief John Hanlon”

April 7 Monday – Valentine Besarel wrote to Sam about goods shipped and reminded of amounts due. He’d rec’d Sam’s of Mar. 30 [MTP].

April 10 Thursday – Valentine Besarel, and John Harris wrote to Sam [MTP]. Note: this letter began Mar. 23.

April 12 Saturday – Sam’s notebook:

Paris—While writing an “interview” for Mr. Richard Whiteing, representative of the N.Y. World, I was about to say something about International Copyright, when it occurred to me that a trade-mark case decided in my favor by Judge Lawrence in New York (about 1873) really established international copyright with need of [ page 854 ] new legislation. I altered the interview to that complexion. I make this note while waiting to see what the upshot will be [MTNJ 2: 307]. Note: Richard Whiteing (1840-1928).

Samuel Troll, Fils, Manufactory Of Musical Boxes wrote from Geneva. “I am happy to say your Box is completed & to my satisfaction; a telling but mellow tone, & all the airs have been arranged in accordance with your Inst[ructions].” Where and when he might forward it? [MTP].

April 13 Sunday – From Livy to her mother:

“Susy grows sweet and womanly all the time and Clara is the same rowdy as ever—sweet tempered, but very hard to make any impression on” [Salsbury 101].

April 14 Monday – Leon Mead, contributor to Harper’s Weekly, called on Sam as he was leaving for business in the “neighborhood of the Triumphas Arch.” They walked “to the rue de Rivoli and the Champs Elysee half way to the Arch” and talked about Howells and his “disappointment in the matter of the Pacific excursion” [MTLE 4: 48]. Note: Leon Mead was to call on Sam again in the evening. In 1902 Mead published Word-Coinage, after soliciting Sam and many others about word and phrases they might have coined. For an interesting treatment of words and phrases Sam coined or gave currency to, see “The Background of Mark Twain’s Vocabulary,” American Speech, Vol. 22, No.2 (Apr. 1947), p88-98.

April 15 Tuesday – Sam wrote from the Hotel Normandy in Paris to Frank Bliss. Dysentery and rheumatism had laid Sam up “four-fifths of” his “six weeks’ residence in Paris in bed.” Sam wrote about being interviewed by the “World” representative (probably New York World), who told him that he “may have possibly solved the problem of International Copyright.” Sam wanted Frank’s father Elisha Bliss to sell of all but five or ten shares of Sam’s stock in American Publishing Co. [MTLE 4: 48].

Sam also wrote to Howells:

Have just got Livy L. Clemens & Miss Spaulding off to the Opera in charge of an old friend—(for I cannot stand anything that is in the nature of an Opera)—& here I find a letter from Susie Warner to Mrs. Clemens—I open it & my goodness, how she raves over the exquisiteness of Belmont; & the wonderful view; & Mrs. Howells’s brilliancy, & her deadly accuracy in the matter of detecting & driving the bulls-eye of a sham; & the attractiveness of the children; & your own “sweetness” (why, do they call you that?—that is what they generally call me); & the indescribably good time which she & Charley had; & my old pipe dressed up in ribbons & holding a candle, & making an unique & graceful ornament of itself…

Sam threw a few more arrows in Bret Harte’s direction but had read his new book of sketches, including “An Heiress of Red Dog,” and admitted that he’d seen “decided brightness on every page of it” though he also criticized it thoroughly. He also suggested getting up “a plot for a ‘skeleton novelette’…” which he’d tried before without success or enthusiasm from other writers [MTLE 4: 48-50].

Sam also wrote to Valentine Besarel, letter not extant but referred to in Besarel’s Apr. 22 reply.

Sam also wrote a short note to Samuel Troll, asking him to ship the “large box to Cunard S.S. Co,…marked like the music box…” to Liverpool [MTLE 4: 51].

John Harris U.S. Consul, sent “Certificate of the value of Currency” the value of the “Lira of Italy being taken at dollars 0.1930” [MTP].

April 19 Saturday – Dr. John Brown wrote from Edinburgh, Scotland to Sam, remembering Susy and the earlier happy visit [MTP]. [ page 855 ]

April 22 Tuesday – Valentine Besarel wrote to Sam. “I have been favored with your letter of the 15th inst, by which I perceive , that you have not yet receive, from Mrs Harris the invoice that I had sent to you. Inclosed you will find a copy of it” [MTP].

April 24 Thursday – Samuel Troll, Fils wrote from Geneva to detail a 2,000 franc invoice for Sam’s music box [MTP].

April 25 Friday – Sam wrote from the Hotel Normandy in Paris to Andrew Chatto.

“While we wait for Mr. Girdlestone’s book, can’t you send me immediately, Mr Whymper’s book? It contains his ascent of the Matterhorn (about 1865,) when young Lord Douglas & a guide or two lost their lives. I don’t know who published it” [MTLE 4: 52]. Note: Arthur Gilbert Girdlestone: The High Alps Without Guides, etc. (1870); see Gribben 262.

Sam liberally borrowed illustrations and paraphrased from Edward Whymper’s book, Scrambles Amongst the Alps, for chapter 41 of A Tramp Abroad. (For an interesting analysis of the two books, see Beverly David’s “Tragedy and Travesty, etc.” Mark Twain Journal, Vol 27.1, Spring 1989.)

Spring – Though Sam hated the dismal weather, he enjoyed congenial company in Paris. Besides Frank Millet and his new bride Lil, Thomas Bailey Aldrich was in the city, and dinner parties included Hjalmar Boyesen and wife, and the artists Sam had met in Italy, Mr. and Mrs. Chamberlaine. Others came to call: Turgenieff (Turgenev), Baron Tauchnitz (who had published Innocents and paid royalties though not required to by law), Richard Whiteing and other young American artists as well [MTB 643]. Other visitors from home also stopped by [MTNJ 2: 487n188].

The American consul to Paris at this time was Lucius Fairchild (1831-1896), a Civil War veteran who lost an arm at Gettysburg, and a former governor of Wisconsin (1866-1872). Afterward, he was the consult at Liverpool for six years, then at Paris for a two-year stint. Sam met Fairchild at this time. The two would maintain a long friendship. Fairchild left diary entries that included times with Sam [Rees 8].

One evening Sam gave a talk, “Some Thoughts on the Science of Onanism” (masturbation) at the Stomach Club in Paris. The master illustrator Edwin Austin Abbey (1852-1911) was at this meeting, as was Charles Edward Dubois, American painter [MTNJ 2: 350n107]. The talk was not published in Sam’s lifetime. Fatout describes the Club as “an unpublicized group that relished the belly laughs of bawdy humor…. [that a few of Sam’s] notebook entries imply that he was more than once a guest at these sub rosa sessions, one item observing that the funniest things are the forbidden ones” [MT Speaking 125].

April 30 Wednesday – From Lucius Fairchild’s diary:

“Genl Noyes dinner.  Accepted. Sarah & us. Ministers Stoughton & Maynard, Job Stevenson, Mark Twain present” [Rees 8]

May 3 Saturday – One of the greatest attractions of the 1878 Paris Exposition was Henry Giffard’s captive balloon in the Tuileries of Paris. Lucius Fairchild invited the Clemens family to go up in the balloon. Sam wrote and declined due to a previous engagement.  

O, dear, we should like it of all things,—it commends itself to us both as just the excursion to make—but unhappily there is a breakfast engagement in the way, for 12.30 tomorrow in Paris. So we can only thank you cordially for offering us this pleasant opportunity & dam the fates for robbing us of it. (That word is not profane, as you will observe by the spelling) …Mrs. Clemens objects to that word—but she has no poetic feeling [MTLE 4: 53]. [ page 856 ]

Sam would get another invite and go aloft on June 23. See entry.

May 4 Sunday – Sam and Livy enjoyed a breakfast invitation at 12:30 with unknown party or parties [MTLE 4: 53].

May 5 Monday – Valentine Besarel sent a receipt to Sam for 2,246 Lire [MTP].

May 6 Tuesday – Joe Twichell wrote to Clemens “on this sweetest May morning…I greet you. I have no news to tell, but you are in my thoughts.” Joe warned against being fooled by rum and repeated that he was to teach at Cornell next week [MTP]. Note: clipping enclosed from the Hartford Times ca. late April, 1879, “Julia Smith’s Wedding Reception.” Twichell attached a sheet above the article and wrote, “Read this—the whole of it. It is full of dainty bits. It is Miss Frances Ellen Burr’s work, and Charley W. says that it is a masterpiece of reporting…”

Ivan Turgenev wrote to Clemens: He could not meet him this evening so asked if he’d “allow me to come to morrow instead of to day. –In the mean time I beg you to accept the books I send you herewith” [MTP]. Note: see Gribben p. 719; he does not identify the books Turgenev sent.

May 7 Wednesday – From Sam’s notebook:

“I wish this eternal winter would come to an end. Snow flakes fell to-day, & also about a week ago. Have had rain almost without intermission for 2 months & one week. Have had a fire every day since Sept. 10, & have now just lighted one” [MTNJ 2: 308].

May 8 Thursday – Sam’s notebook:

“Called on Tourgènieff [Turgenev] with Boyesen & had cup of tea out of his Samovar” [MTNJ 2: 308].

May 10 Saturday – Sam wrote from the Normandy Hotel in Paris to Frank Bliss.

I am making good progress, & hope to have the book done before the end of July. Now as to illustrations. I remember your father telling me the artist’s work & engraver’s work for Innocents Abroad cost $7,000. Of course we can knock down a deal of that expense, now, by using the new photo-processes. I’ve got an artist, here, to my mind,—young Walter F. Brown; you have seen pictures of his occasionally in St. Nicholas & Harper’s Weekly.

Sam asked for $1,100 in gold and he would have the plates made in Paris; He sent a detailed list. Walter F. Brown had engraved a few of the pictures for Edward Whymper’s book [MTLE 4: 54-6].

May 11 Sunday – The New York World published Sam’s “interview” with Richard Whiteing, (1840-1928), English author and correspondent for the World. Sam discussed copyright laws and British society [MTNJ 2: 307n31;Scharnhorst, Interviews 14-16] (see Apr. 12 entry).

May 12 Monday – Sam wrote from Paris to Robert M. Hooper:

…previous engagement debars us the pleasure of accepting Mr. & Mrs. Heuston’s kind invitation, but we shall hold the 17th open, so as not to miss the entertainment at your house.

I’m as sorry as you are that you were not on the Tribune, because toward the last I began to get my hand in, & if you had been there I would have won all of your money & part of your clothes [MTLE 4: 57].

Hooper, evidently a card player, was also the U.S. vice-consul-general to Paris; his wife, Lucy Hamilton Hooper was a correspondent for several newspapers, a poet and author. [ page 857 ]

From Sam’s notebook:

“Tourgènieff called & spent evening. Brought me one of his books. Gave him Tom Sawyer” [MTNJ 2: 309].

Noah Brooks (1830-1903), editor and biographer of Lincoln,  wrote to Sam.

My dear Clemens: / I suppose I am partly at fault for the neglect to give you a fair understanding of your relation to the Lotos Club. When you went away, you said you wanted to resign. I dissuaded you, and told you that you could be put on half dues during your absence. This was done, and you have since been charged at the rate of $5 per quarter for part of the time, and $6.25 for the rest of the time, the dues having been meanwhile raised from $40 to $50 per year, for resident members. You will see that it would be impossible for anybody to give in your verbal resignation, even if you had authorized him. But you did not authorize me; on the other hand, you have been put on half dues, as you and I certainly did agree should be done. I ought to have explained this at length, when you wrote, on a former occasion, but I overlooked it in the multiplicity of things which I have on hand.

      Now, then—you owe $41.25 dues to July 1, 1879, and are charged with annual dues at the rate of $25. I don’t want you to resign; and I am partly to blame for your misunderstanding and I will do in the premises whatever you say is right.

      With regards to Mrs. Clemens / Yours ever… [MTP].

May 13 Tuesday – Livy wrote from Paris to her mother:

“We live in such a perfect whirl of people these days, that it seems utterly impossible to do anything, I wish that I had put down the names of the people that have been here for the last two months, but I think every day, well this will be the last we shant have as many again” [MTNJ 2: 288].

May 14 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Paris to his nephew, Samuel Moffett, confiding that he and Livy were “fleeing from these deluges of company” by using the work room (studio) Sam rented from Millet [MTLE 4: 58].

An unsigned interview by the Paris correspondent of the New York World was used in the Hartford Courant’s article, “Mark Twain on England,” by Hanley Southington. Sam commented that what can be satirized in England can also be found nearer home [Tenney 8; Courant.com].

May 15 Thursday – In Paris, Sam answered Mary Mason Fairbanks’ letter requesting a loan of $2,000. Sam sent her $1,000 and referred her to Charles Langdon for the rest. Sam confessed that having Mary’s son Charley send pictures directly to the American Publishing Co was a mistake. “It never occurred to me to remark that they should be sent here—to me, drawn on paper, not on the wood” [MTLE 4: 59].

May 17 Saturday – From Lucius Fairchild’s diary: “At home—Called on Mark Twain & walked on the Boulevard” [Rees 8].

Sam wrote from Paris to Richard Whiteing. He thanked him for writing something complimentary about him and for “saving me from those people—I had been feeling a little uneasy about them” (unidentified) [MTLE 4: 59].

May 20-25 Sunday – Sam wrote (for publication) to the editor of the New York Evening Post. His letter was printed on June 9 as “Mark Twain, a Presidential Candidate” [MTLE 4: 62]. (See June 9 entry for excerpt, and also in Budd, “Collected”.)

May 23 Friday – Bill and receipt from Munroe & Co., Paris, for stay at the Normandy Hotel, £12.4.1 London [MTP]. [ page 858 ]

Christian Tauchnitz wrote to Sam: “Many thanks for your kind lines. I will certainly write to Mr. Aldrich. / The books of Mr. Howells did not yet reach me, I therefore directed a line to him” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Answered”; file note: “See SLC to Tauchnitz 25 may 1879, SLC to Aldrich, 25 May 1879”

May 25 Sunday – Sam wrote from the Normandy Hotel in Paris to Thomas Bailey Aldrich, who had left Paris for home a few days before. The Clemens family “felt an awful vacancy here when the Aldriches left,” Sam wrote. He also passed on Tauchnitz’s promise to write Aldrich about including Aldrich’s book of sketches in his series. Sam figured six more weeks of work and he’d have enough to complete his book (A Tramp Abroad) [MTLE 4: 64].

Le Figaro, the largest daily newspaper in France, published Sam’s burlesque account of the Gambetta-Fourton Duel [MTLE 4: 64].

Sam also wrote to Christian Bernhard Tauchnitz, thanking him for books sent and glad that Tauchnitz had written Aldrich and Howells. “I greatly want to see their books in the Series,” he wrote [MTLE 4: 65].

May 28 Wednesday – From Sam’s notebook: “This is one of the coldest days of this most damnable & interminable winter” [MTNJ 2: 311].

May 29 Thursday – Sam wrote from the Normandy Hotel in Paris to Andrew Chatto, asking him to send a copy of Roughing It to Ivan Turgenev [MTLE 4: 66].

Sam also wrote to Jane Clemens and Pamela Moffett about the progress on his book, and of moving to the quiet side of the house to escape street noises, and of Samuel Moffett’s visit:

…every night, & we have a vast love & admiration of him…Sam spends all his time in the Herald reading rooms, but we don’t grumble at that; he has a level head & can be trusted to know what is best for himself; & he has a purpose: a cleanly-defined purpose is sheet-anchor, main-stay, everything. A boy who has that is all right.

Sam added:

We are to arrive at Condover Hall, Mr Cholmondeley’s country seat, in England, July 28, to stay a week—so we probably leave Paris a week earlier & loaf through Holland.

About Orion’s excommunication, Sam wrote:

It is funny to see them Excommunicating Orion—they’d better have saved themselves the trouble & Mollie the distress—he’ll be a deacon in that same church next year—& a deacon in some other church a year after. I judge Orion wrote a pretty good lecture….But he’d better look out how he prances around with that lecture—some of the godly will hang him [MTLE 4: 67-8].

Sam also wrote a rather tender letter about the matter to Orion:

My Dear Bro— / Never mind the Excommunication. If you made a square deal & told your honest thought in the lecture, I wouldn’t care a damn what people say. People won’t approve, anyway, no matter what a body says. Your heresy won’t damn anybody that doesn’t deserve it, perhaps…I judge you wrote a good lecture. I am bound to say you showed a deal of moral courage to deliver it. And your honesty in what you preach is not open to doubt, while I think the same cannot be said of Beecher and Talmage. We send love to you & Mollie. We leave here in a month. Yr Bro Sam [MTLE 4: 69]. [ page 859 ]

Frank Bliss wrote to Sam decrying the lack of copyright law between countries, and discussed the Riley book matter, about which Perkins and Elisha Bliss had discussed. “Father says he can’t fairly release you from any contract & there is no necessity that he should. The contract for a book exists in the Riley Contract for all books except “Tom Sawyer”… [MTP].

May 30 Friday – From Lucius Fairchild’s diary: “Dinner at Home…Mark Twain,…Mrs. Clemens, Miss Spaulding, Mrs. Dean, Miss Stevens –& ourselves” [Rees 8].

Frank Bliss wrote to Sam, mentioning the letter he’d written the day before and a dispatch he’d also sent. “I could not give the direct reply ‘yes’ or ‘no’ as you suggested because neither of these seemed to fit the case.” He then addressed the idea of having the process work on his current book done in England, as Sam had suggested [MTP].

June – From Sam’s notebook:

“Presbyterian Young clergyman who sat among catholic worshippers & examined Baedecker’s map—said he forgot himself. These acts of brutality make religion pleasant and give people confidence in it, because they see how it builds up the humanities in the devotee” [MTNJ 2: 314].

From Livy’s pen we learn that Miss Mary Dunham of Hartford…

“…stopped here with us for two days on her way to Switzerland where she was to join her cousins…It was so delightful to have a visit with her it was like a bit of Hartford—She is so lovely…” [Salsbury 105].

June 1 Sunday – From Sam’s notebook:

Still this vindictive winter continues. Had a raw, cold rain to-day; to-night we sit around a rousing wood fire [MTNJ 2: 312].

Drove to Nanterre (about an hour from Paris) & saw the Rosiere crowned. The last year’s Rosiere led the procession (the sweetest face in France,) the new Rosiere, (with a pretty maid of honor in blue sash) followed—then came a double file of wee girls, then bigger ones, all in white & blue—future Rosieres? The band banged, the trumpets blared, the strong choir sang, the packed church watched the crowing & enthroning of the Rosiere—then the ex-Rosiere took of her crown & wore it on her arm the rest of the time. The new R is an orphan & supports 3 brothers taking in washing. She gets 300 fr now—& 200 by & by, or if she marries, gets wedding apparel in place of it. It once prevailed all around France; but one marked effect of the leveling work of a republic is to destroy aristocratic exclusiveness by making everybody aristocrats [MTNJ 2: 313].

Sam wrote to Ph. Zimmerman requesting shipment of the table he’d had made. His letter not extant but referred to in Zimmerman’s June 9 reply.

June 5 Thursday – Sam wrote a short note from Paris to the J. Langdon Co., advising them of his drawing £200 on a letter of credit that day.

“March—April—May—3 months & $4,000 gone, in Paris—but we have had considerable to eat for it, & a basket or so of wood to burn” [MTLE 4: 70].

Bill and receipt from Munroe & Co, Paris for Normandy Hotel [MTP].

June 8 Sunday – Clara Clemens’ fifth birthday.

From Sam’s notebook: [ page 860 ]

“We went with Clara & Gen. Fairchild to the Grand Prix & saw Nubienne win the $20,000 given half by City Govt & ½ by RR’s –12 horses in that race” [MTNJ 2: 315].

June 9 Monday – Sam’s article, “Mark Twain, a Presidential Candidate” ran in the New York Evening Post, and was reprinted in several newspapers [Camfield, bibliog.].

I have pretty much made up my mind to run for president. What the country wants is a candidate who can not be injured by investigation of his past history, so that the enemies of the party will be unable to rake up anything against him that nobody ever heard of before. If you know the worst about a candidate, to begin with, every attempt to spring things on him will be checkmated. Now I am going to enter the field with an open record. I am going to own up in advance to all the wickedness I have done, and if any Congressional committee is disposed to prowl around my biography in the hope of discovering any dark and deadly deed that I have secreted, why—let it prowl.

In the first place I admit that I treed a rheumatic grandfather of mine in the winter of 1850. He was old and inexpert in climbing trees, but with the heartless brutality that is characteristic of me, I ran him out of the front door in his night-shirt, at the point of a shotgun, and caused him to bowl up a maple tree, where he remained all night, while I emptied shot into his legs. I did this because he snored. I will do it again if I ever have another grandfather. I am as inhuman now as I was in 1850. I candidly acknowledge that I ran away at the battle of Gettysburg. My friends have tried to smooth over this fact by asserting that I did so for the purpose of imitating Washington, who went into the woods at Valley Forge for the purpose of saying his prayers. It was a miserable subterfuge. I struck out in a straight line for the Tropic of Cancer because I was scared. I wanted my country saved, but I preferred to have somebody else save it. I entertain that preference yet. If the bubble reputation can be obtained only at the cannon’s mouth, I am willing to go there for it, provided the cannon is empty. If it is loaded my immortal and inflexible purpose is to get over the fence and go home. My invariable practice in war has been to bring out of every fight two-thirds more men than when I went in. This seems to me to be Napoleonic in its grandeur.

My financial views are of the most decided character, but they are not likely, perhaps, to increase my popularity with the advocates of inflation. I do not insist upon the special supremacy of rag money or hard money. The great fundamental principle of my life is to take any kind I can get.

The rumor that I buried a dead aunt under my grapevine was correct. The vine needed fertilizing, my aunt had to be buried, and I dedicated her to this high purpose. Does that unfit me for the Presidency? The Constitution of our country does not say so. No other citizen was ever considered unworthy of this office because he enriched his grapevines with his dead relatives. Why should I be selected as the first victim of an absurd prejudice?

I admit also that I am not a friend of the poor man. I regard the poor man, in his present condition, as so much wasted raw material. Cut up and properly canned, he might be made useful to fatten the natives of the cannibal islands and to improve our export trade with that region. I shall recommend legislation upon the subject in my first message. My campaign cry will be: “Desiccate the poor workingman; stuff him into sausages”

These are about the worst parts of my record. On them I come before the country. If my country don’t want me, I will go back again. But I recommend myself as a safe man—a man who starts from the basis of total depravity and proposes to be fiendish to the last [Budd, “Collected” 725-6].

Ph. Zimmerman wrote from Heidelberg confirming receipt of Sam’s June 1 request, and that he had forwarded his order to Cunard Steamship Co. for 204 pound table and carved works [MTP].

June 10 Tuesday – Sam wrote two notes from Paris to Frank Bliss on contract and illustration matters for the new book, TA [MTLE 4: 71-2]. [ page 861 ]

Sam also wrote to Charles E. Perkins, letter not extant but referred to in Perkins’ June 26 reply.

Sam also wrote to Joe Twichell, writing “gossip” while a woman in the next room stopped coughing.

We are mighty hungry—we want to get home & get something to eat. I can’t quite make out how Americans live on this flat infernal European food several years at a time without a run home now & then to fill in with something wholesome & satisfying [MTLE 4: 74].

June 11 Wednesday – Thomas Bailey Aldrich wrote from Ponkapog, Mass. to advise he received Sam’s note just before a letter from Tauchnitz, offering to add Aldrich’s book Marjorie Daw to his series. He thanked Sam “heartily.” He expressed what a “charming time” they’d had in Paris with the Clemenses [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “unpublished, I believe / From T.B. Aldrich”

Hjalmar Boyesen wrote a long letter to Clemens, about a harrowing accident on board a ship with a Norwegian brig being cut in two [MTP].

June 12 Thursday – Sam wrote from Paris to Elizabeth S. Stevens, probably a fan, who asked if Sam had any poetry he might send. “My pen is bad, my ink is pale, / But my affection for you will / never fail / Yours/ S.L. Clemens” [MTLE 4: 75].

Frank Bliss wrote to Sam. “I enclose new proofs of two of the pictures which you sent over, the other two have not come yet, the Matterhorn picture I had made to nearly the size of the book page.” He added other details of pictures and cuts [MTP]. Note: for TA.

June 13 Friday – In Paris, France Sam wrote a short note of suggestion to Frank Bliss about the pictures for the new book [MTLE 4: 76].

Sam also wrote an autograph card to reply to the May 12 from friend and journalist Noah Brooks: “All right, my dear Brooks; just have it copied for me & send bills for the same & I’ll be very much obliged. / Ys Ever, / Mark” [MTPO: “Recent Changes,” Jan. 20, 2009: Quill and Brush catalog 174, Dec. 18, 2007, Item 41432].

June 14 Saturday – Sam wrote a short note from Paris to Frank Bliss, this time about the reduction of pictures sent [MTLE 4: 77].

Sam also wrote Lucius Fairchild about tickets for the upcoming balloon trip:

I preferred to draw the line for Sabbath-outrages at horse-racing. I imagined a conversation like this—& it made me shudder.

      St. Peter. How did you come?

      You & I. By balloon, your Reverence.

      St. Peter. When did you leave?

      I know my weakness; I should be sure to say, “Early Saturday morning, your Reverence.” Then the verdict would be fatal: “Guilty of ballooning on the Sabbath—in questionable company—& then lying about it” [MTLE 4: 78].

June 15 Sunday – Sam wrote from Paris to Frank Bliss. “I think I wouldn’t use the picture which represents me lying on my back drinking from a bottle” [MTLE 4: 79].

June 17 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Paris to Frank Bliss.  [ page 862 ]

“Please ‘process’ that waiter with the bottle, & a few other of the pictures & send proofs for Brown to judge by” [MTLE 4: 80].

Sam also wrote to his brother-in-law, Charles Langdon, encouraging him to come to Paris. Evidently, Charley wrote he could not come. Sam added that their “present plan is to leave her for London in the first fortnight of July…” [MTLE 4: 81].

June 23 Monday – From Lucius Fairchild’s diary:

“Up in the balloon with Mark Twain – Mrs. Twain, Miss Spaulding & Guilwoodford” [Rees 8].

Mr. & Mrs. Fairchild were also in the balloon, which could accommodate 38 people [MTJ&N 2: 315n50]. See also May 3 entry.

In a letter of April 28, 1880 to Fairchild, Sam referred to the balloon ride at St. Cloud. Did Sam think of “that lunatic” Jules Verne while he was aloft? [MTLE 5: 88].

June 24 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Paris to an unidentified person saying that “engagements” prevented “his attendance at a reunion” [MTLE 4: 82].

June 26 Thursday – Francis D. Millet wrote on the yacht Sea Belle to Clemens about past good intentions by himself and Lily to write. They were on a “lark” for two weeks as there’d been “too many dinners and late hours.” He praised the yacht and the crew, and discussed their travel plans [MTP].

Charles E. Perkins wrote to Clemens: “My dear Sir—Your favor of the 10th inst is received and in conformity therewith I have had the Am Pub Co. indorse on all the contracts with you that your part thereof has been performed. & July 1st when they render their a/c – I will settle the $2000 matter. We are all well and looking forward with pleasure to your coming back in the fall…” [MTP].

Sterne, Hudson & Straus per Simon Sterne wrote to Sam and Slote, Woodman & Co. [MTP].

June 27 Friday – Frank Bliss wrote to Sam, more details on pictures for the book.

My dear Clemens / I was unable to send you any money last week, as funds which I expected in did not come, $300 came along a day or two since & I enclose a draft for that amt. … / Browns package of 35 drawings just arrived this a.m. all safe; will have them right in the works. … / Perkins was in to see Father a day or two ago & I believe they fixed up everything all O.K. Mr. Drake was inquiring the other day how long it took for a letter to go to Paris & an answer to get back, he is getting anxious I guess. The Annual Meeting of the A. P. Co comes off again the 3rd Wednesday in July. I intended to have sent a “proxy” in my last letter so you could send it back here & let me represent your stock at the meeting….I guess I’ll enclose a proxy in this letter & if you have no objections to the idea & start it right back to me perhaps it will get here in time…. [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Enclosing $300”. Bliss also expressed the desire for the pictures to avoid any “deformities” for humor, such as Max Adeler, Josh Billings, etc. used. He added, “one of the charms of ‘Innocents’ pictures was that people could see how MT looked in an awkward situation & acted. I take it that the subjects of these pictures are people that you have seen &c have a few of your own mishaps depicted to make variety…”

June 28 Saturday – Lucius Fairchild’s diary: “engaged to Mark Twain” [Rees 8]

Bill and receipt from Munroe & Co, Paris for Normandy Hotel, 5,025 francs [MTP]. [ page 863 ]

July – Sometime during July Sam wrote from an unknown place to Charles Perkins, his attorney and financial advisor, asking him to “pile in some securities at Bissell’s—enough to run us till we return home, Oct. 25th ” [MTLE 4: 84]. He wrote in his notebook “Get copy of L’Assomoir [sic] illustrated— ” [MTNJ 2: 326] referring to Emile Zola’s L’Assommoir (187?) [Gribben 796].

July 1–9 Wednesday – Between these dates Sam wrote from Paris sending a copy of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer to Lucius Fairchild, inscribed: ”Read this book, General Fairchild, & learn how to be a good boy” [MTLE 4: 83].

July 8 Tuesday – The Clemenses hired Joseph Verey at $2 per day to be their courier from “Paris through Holland to London.” Sam wrote in his notebook that Verey’s wages “to begin July 8” [MTNJ 2: 327]. Verey was the “young Polander” who “spoke eight languages and seemed to be equally at home in all of them; he was very shrewd, bright, and punctual” [A Tramp Abroad, ch 32].

July 10 Thursday – The Clemens family left Paris at 7:20 AM for Brussels, which Sam called “a dirty, beautiful (architecturally), interesting town” [MTNJ 2: 328].

July 10 to 12 Saturday – The Clemens family spent two days in Brussels, then left in the afternoon of July 12 [MTNJ 2: 328]. Sam’s notebook:

“In Brussels Cathedral heard the most majestic organ music & men’s voices, ever listened to. Never have heard anything that rose to the sublimity of those sounds” [328].

July 12 Saturday – In the afternoon, the Clemens family went to Antwerp [MTNJ 2: 328].

July 13 Sunday – In the morning, Sam and the ladies attended high mass at the Cathedral of Antwerp. “There is nothing solemn or impressive about this exasperating mummery. Rubens masterpiece, the Ascent of the Cross—Christ seems to be an acrobat” [MTNJ 2: 328-9].

In the evening Sam dined on the flagship Trenton with U.S. consul John H. Stewart and some officers of the Trenton and the Alliance, under the command of Vice-Admiral Stephen Clegg Rowan (1808-1890) hero of the Mexican and Civil Wars [328].

July 14 Monday – Sam took the family aboard the Trenton and breakfasted.

“Admiral Rowan arrived during the meal. I smoked on the Admiral’s side of the deck, not knowing it was sacred by naval etiquette” [MTNJ 2: 328].

The Clemens family traveled on to Rotterdam. They stayed at the Victoria Hotel. Sam liked the middle-class Dutch girls, thought them “very pretty & fresh & amiable & intelligent” and wished “they would come over to us instead of Irish” [MTNJ 2: 329].

July 15 Tuesday – The Clemens family left Rotterdam in the afternoon and went to Amsterdam, where they took rooms at the Hotel Doelen. From Sam’s notebook:

“Went to Museum & saw Rembrandt’s Night Watch & his portraits of some burghers, or burglars, have forgotten which. A Gaye’s tribe of 72 Americans arrived” [MTNJ 2: 330]. Note: Gay & Son were tour directors headquartered in London. They employed Joseph N. Verey, the Clemenses’ new courier.

July 16 Wednesday – The Clemens family saw the sights in Amsterdam.  [ page 864 ]

July 17 and 18 Friday – The Clemens family left Amsterdam in the afternoon and went to The Hague, “stopping off 2 or 3 hours at Harlaam & visiting farm house, dairy, & beautiful country seat.”

Livy wrote about the farm to her mother on July 20, mentioning young Fraulein Korthals:

“She was a wholesome hearty girl of fifteen. She rolled the children in the hay, talked German with them, English with us, Dutch with the dairy woman and also spoke French and a little Italian” [MTNJ 2: 330n73].

 

Sam also was enthralled by the country and did more art gazing:

 

Drove through Blumen-something [Bloemendaal] & saw lovely country seats.

No wonder Wm III pined for Holland, the country is so green & lovely, & quiet & pastoral & homelike. Boats sailing through the prairies, & fat cows & quaint windmills everywhere

 

At the Hague visited Museum & saw Rembrandt’s School of Anatomy & [Paul] Potter’s The Young bull (flies visible under the hairs.) This is absolute nature—in some other pictures too close a copy of nature is called a fault.

 

Drove out to a country palace were Motley used to visit long at a time with the royal family.

Good portrait of him there. Also some frescos which can’t be told from stone, high–reliefs, across the room. Drove there through the noblest woods I ever saw. [MTNJ 2: 331].

July 19 Saturday – The Clemens family left The Hague at 6 PM For Flushing. In the late evening they crossed the channel by night boat (see July 20 entry). [MTNJ 2: 331, 333].

July 20 Sunday – The Clemens family arrived in London in the morning. Sam wrote in his notebook that the family arrived in London at 8 AM; that it was rainy and cold. They stayed at the Brunswick House Hotel, Hanover Square. “Have had a rousing big cannel-coal fire blazing away in the grate all day. A remarkable summer, truly.” Sam added notes to send the “girl near Haarlem” [Fraulein Korthals] a book, and to “Ask Chatto what terms he gives for new book;” and about Harte’s copyright on Ah Sin play “to be turned over” to him. He then wrote a list of things to do and get. To do:

“Ask if Conway’s in town…Am engaged to dine (but not on set days,) till go to Condover. Go tailor shop…Bank. Write Dr Jno Brown. Note to Bierstadt (Langham). Go to Conway’s [To get:] Cigars. Whiskey. Umbrella” [MTNJ 2: 333-4]. Note: Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902).

Livy wrote to her mother:

“Doesn’t that address sound (or look) as if we were nearing home? We reached here this morning having crossed the channel in the night” [MTNJ 2: 289].

July 24 Thursday – Walter F. Brown, illustrator, wrote from Paris. “I have just received your check for £92.16.0 for which many thanks. I enclose receipted account in full. / You may depend on me to see Mr. St. Gaudens probably today. / I will send the remaining drawings very shortly…P.S. the three faulty drawings will be duly corrected” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Walter F. Brown receipts in full—about $700”.

July 26 Saturday – Sam met Lewis Carroll, who later wrote in his diary, “Met Mr. Clemens (Mark Twain), with whom I was pleased and interested” [Green 382]. Paine incorrectly indicates the meeting was in 1873, and uses Sam’s 1906 Autobiography for the recollection of the meeting:

We met a great many other interesting people, among them Lewis Carroll, author of the immortal Alice— but he was only interesting to look at, for he was the stillest and shyest full-grown man I have ever met except “Uncle Remus.” Doctor MacDonald and several other lively talkers were present, and the talk went [ page 865 ] briskly along for a couple of hours, but Carroll sat still all the while except that now and then he answered a question. His answers were brief. I do not remember that he elaborated any of them [MTA 2: 232]. Note: Paine incorrectly puts the family’s arrival London at July 29 instead of July 20, which led him to believe the meeting with Lewis Carroll took place in 1873. MTNJ corrects this date by Livy’s letter to her mother of July 20, which verifies the July 26 meeting noted in Carroll’s diary as correct.

July 28 Monday – The Clemens family traveled just over 70 miles to spend a week in Condover Hall, in North Shropshire on the west English coast. Paine: “For more than two years they had had an invitation from Reginald Cholmondeley to pay him another visit” [MTB 646]. From Sam’s notebook:

…went to Condover Hall, near Shrewsbury, to visit Mr. Reginald Cholmondeley. Present, visitors: Hon. Mr. Egerton, & Hon. Miss Egerton; Col. Cholmondeley, young Tom Cholmondeley (heir to Condover Hall) Mr. & Mrs. Drummond & two children; Millais the artist, wife & 2 daughters & one remarkable son aged 13 (Jack); 2 Misses Wade, etc, etc. [MTNJ 2: 336].

August – Sam’s notebook entry “New Pepys Diary,” shows he was reading Samuel Pepys’ Diary and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys, Esq., in 6 volumes (1875-79) [Gribben 539]. Paine writes that “Pepys’ Diary was one of the few books that [Sam] read regularly every year or two” [MTLP 489]. Sam jotted “Our Old Nobility” from articles in the Echo by Howard Evans which attacked hereditary aristocracy and also criticized the Church of England [Gribben 224]. Such books were grist for Sam’s creation of Connecticut Yankee.

August 1 Friday – Duckett cites Walter Blair’s Mark Twain & Huck Finn, p.114 for a notebook entry not found in MTNJ 2. Sam’s chief criticism of Bret Harte’s fiction at the time was that it “aroused in the ‘upper classes’ too much sympathy for ‘whore’ and ‘burglars.’ ” Blair cites Notebook #14, 18, MTP: “Harte’s saintly wh’s and self-sacrificing sons of b’s” [Duckett 191].

August 3 Sunday – The Clemens family ended their visit at Condover Hall and went to Oxford, arriving at about 6 PM. There they sent the children on to Brunswick House Hotel, London with Rosa and were shown the colleges by Edward Wyndham [MTNJ 2: 337&n93].

August 4 Monday – Sam and Livy traveled on to London.

August 6 Wednesday – Sam inscribed a copy of the National Gallery of London’s A Complete Illustrated Catalogue (1879): “S.L. Clemens / London, Aug. 6 ’79” [Gribben 417].

Clemens also inscribed a copy of Mark Twain. The Choice Humorous Works of Mark Twain (London 1878) to Edward Wyndham: “To Mr. Edward Wyndham. With pleasant recollections of a memorable day in Oxford. Truly yours, Mark Twain. London, Aug. 6/79” [The Autograph 1.1 (Nov. 1911): 16].

August 10 Sunday – Sam’s notebook:

“We still have to have fires every few days—had one to-night. We have had fires almost all the time, in Rome, Munich, Paris, Belgium, Holland, Condover Hall & London, from the 1st of last September (Florence) till the present time—nearly 12 months” [MTNJ 2: 337].

August 13 Wednesday – Henry Lee inscribed a copy of his book, The Octopus (1875) “To / Saml. L. Clemens / from his friend / The Author. / Henry Lee / Augt 13th 1879” [MTP].

August 14 Thursday – Sam went to the Royal Aquarium “with Rosa, J[ohn] & the ch[ildren]” and made notes of what he’d paid John the courier.  [ page 866 ]

August 15 Friday – Bill paid to M. Fentum, wood turner and carver £5.12.6 for misc. [illegible items] [MTP].

August 17 Sunday – From Sam’s notebook about hearing the great Baptist preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892):

Raw & cold, & a drenching rain. Went over to the Tabernacle & heard Mr. Spurgeon. House ¾ full—say 3000 people. 1st hour, lacking 1 minute, taken up with two prayers, two ugly hymns, & Scripture-reading. Sermon ¾ of an hour long. A fluent talk. Good sonorous voice. Topic treated in the unpleasant old fashion—man a mighty bad child, God working at him in forty ways & having a world of trouble about him.

A wooden-faced congregation—just the sort to see no incongruity in the Majesty of Heaven stooping to beg & plead & sentimentalize over such, & see in their salvation an important matter [MTNJ 2: 338].

August 18 Monday – “Left London at 10.30 AM for Windermere—changed cars all day. Too much variety” [MTNJ 2: 339].

August 19 Tuesday – From Sam’s notebook:

Went up Windermere Lake in the steamer.—Talked with the great Darwin [MTNJ 2: 339]. Note: Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882). Windermere is over 80 miles north of Liverpool; Condover some 70 miles south of Liverpool.

Sam wrote in the morning from Windermere, England to Andrew Chatto, asking a favor. He’d seen an etching, and possibly Clara Spaulding had admired it, in a picture-shop next to the Haymarket Theatre by James Abbot McNeil Whistler (1834-1903), of a view from his window on the Thames in Chelsea. Sam asked if Chatto would purchase it and send it to Clara at the Washington Hotel in Liverpool by the day after next. Sam added that their ship would sail Saturday morning [MTLE 4: 85].

August 21 Thursday – The Clemens party arrived in Liverpool. An hour later, Sam wrote from the Washington Hotel to Dr. John Brown, a letter of apologies for not being able to make the trip to Edinburgh to see him.

“It is a great disappointment, for we wanted to show you how much ‘Megalopis’ has grown, (she is 7 now) & what a fine creature her sister (aged 5) is, & how prettily they both speak German. There are six persons in my party, & they are as difficult to cart around as nearly any other menagerie would be” [MTLE 4: 86].

August 22 Friday – The Clemens family moved from the Washington Hotel to another, unknown Liverpool hotel, as referenced by his Aug. 21 letter to Brown [MTLE 4: 86].

D. & C. Mac Iver, Liverpool, sent Clemens six portage receipts for good shipped on the S.S. Gallia, totaling £451 [MTP].

August 23 Saturday – The Clemens family sailed from Liverpool on the S.S.Gallia, bound for New York. Sam noted “about 9 PM brilliant moon, a calm sea, & a magnificent lunar rainbow.”  He noted the last time he’d seen one was in California [MTNJ 2: 340].

August 23 to September 2 Tuesday – The Clemens family was en route to New York on the S.S.Gallia. Sam’s noted the Colorado miner on board who hated Englishmen and wouldn’t pass things to them at the table; a dead passenger packed in ice in a hanging lifeboat and unknowing passengers singing and laughing under it as the melting ice dripped on them; a sailor who had an apoplectic fit and nearly fell from the rigging; and an announcement of Aug. 28 in Nation about an appointment of Henry Hurlbert to study European educational systems [MTNJ 2: 340-1]. [ page 867 ]

August 28 Thursday – Sam’s entry in his notebook objected to a long title in the Nation—what he called “compounding-disease” [MTNJ 2: 341].

September 1 Monday – Sam, en route on the S.S.Gallia, dictated an inscription and signed a book for an unidentified person. The book: The New Republic by William H. Mallock (1878). The inscription is pure Twain:

“THE NEW REPUBLIC, a book which treats of light things seriously, of serious things, lightly; of all things wittily,—which destroys without remaking, suggests without satisfying, inquires without answering, stops without ending” [MTLE 4: 88].

September 2 Tuesday – The Cunard liner S.S.Gallia steamed into New York. Fatout:

“At Quarantine on September 2, 1879, reporters swarmed aboard and crowded around him in the main saloon. They observed that he had aged somewhat, his hair having become gray, but that the drawl was unchanged….Newsmen fired many questions, although Mark Twain, as usual in his encounters with the press, did not need much priming to keep him talking” [Fatout, Mark Twain Speaks 118]. Journalists from the New York Times and the New York Sun were among those on board.

Powers gives Sept. 3 as the date the Clemens family arrived in New York: “They brought twenty-two freight packages—not counting the crockery, carved furniture, and other goods they’d shipped to America” [MT A Life 426]. Sam was the last passenger to clear customs, at 8 PM [MTLE 4: 89]. Livy was expecting. The press was quite interested in Sam’s return:

The New York Herald, on page 4, ran an article where Sam discussed his ideas about the British aristocracy [Scharnhorst, Interviews 28].

The New York World, on page 1, ran “Mr. Twain Again with Us / A Wonderful Book in His Luggage and Much Wonderful Sea-Lore in His Head” [Scharnhorst, Interviews 29-31].

The New York Sun ran “Mark Twain Back Again / Freely Expresses His Opinion about Various Things / His Views on the English Language, the Danger of the Elevated Railroads, Prunes as a Sea-Going Diet, and Lord Dunraven” on page one [Scharnhorst, Interviews 22-24].

The New York Times ran “Mark Twain Home Again / What He Says about the New Book He Has Written” page 8. [Scharnhorst, Interviews 25-27].

Fatout in Mark Twain Speaks [118-22] offers a composite of these last two interviews:

On Bayard Taylor:

“He got out at Plymouth, and I never saw him again. While he was at Berlin I corresponded with him, and we made an appointment to meet in the fall. His death was a great surprise to me.”

On Murat Halstead (boarding late from a party and not packing properly)—did Sam loan him any clothes?

“He could not get into mine; and, besides, I didn’t have any more than I wanted for myself.”

How far have you got in Ollendorf? (A method of learning languages without a teacher): [ page 868 ]

“Oh, I don’t speak German. It’s enough that I’ve endured the agony of learning to read it.”

Sam confessed his book from the trip was only half done. He was anxious to ride on the new elevated trains, and told a tale about Dan Slote being grazed by a woman who fell to her death from washing windows. He had good things to say about the Cunard line and the improved food. A Times reporter asked whether a cocktail left standing on the shelf at night would be there in the morning. Sam answered that the ship was hardly steady enough for that. He ended the interview with good things to say about Lord Dunraven.

September 3 Wednesday – After spending one night in New York, the Clemens family took the train for the ten-hour trip to Elmira. As was their habit, they took a hotel car.

September 4 Thursday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Dan Slote, asking that a scrapbook be sent to Welch (unknown, perhaps a passenger on the voyage). Sam made no mention of the failure of Slote’s company, but evidently Dan was still handling the scrapbooks as Sam had approved [MTLE 4: 89].

September 6 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Frank Bliss. Sam sent the manuscript of A Tramp Abroad and asked when Bliss would be done with it as he was planning to visit his mother, and sister in Fredonia and wanted to know if he should wait to go or go soon. He asked that Frank telegraph him [MTLE 4: 90].

September 8 Monday – Sam wrote a short note from Elmira to Mary H. Beale, who evidently was seeking employment. “…my correspondence is not voluminous enough to make a short-hand amanuensis necessary, & in my other work I am obliged to use the pen myself” [MTLE 4: 91].

Sam also wrote to Frank Bliss, who had been trying to break away from his father’s American Publishing Co. and had been encouraged by Sam. Now it seemed Frank was unable to do this, so Sam wanted to make it clear that if he returned to American Publishing “they shall not canvas any books but mine between this present date & a date 9 months after the actual publication & issue of my forthcoming book.” Sam was gradually taking more and more control of the publishing end of the business. Sam added that the manuscript he’d sent was not finished, but that he’d finish it in Elmira. He mentioned the violation of contract on Innocents Abroad, putting it off a “whole year…in order to run in two new books.” He added after his signature: “This letter is not dictated by malice, but only in the interest of ‘business’ ” [MTLE 4: 92].

Sam also wrote to the Hartford Flag Committee and E.S. Cleveland, sending them $25 for the “good cause” they represented.

“There is nothing nobler than for religion to support patriotism; & nothing wiser than for both to uphold & encourage domestic economy—therefore I subtract this sum from the pew rent” [MTLE 4: 93].

At “about noon” [MTNJ 2: 342] Sam also wrote a short note to William Dean Howells.

“Are you dead—or only sleepeth?” [MTLE 4: 94]

Susan & Charles Dudley Warner wrote to Sam and Livy in Elmira, thanking Livy for her dress and asking when they would come to Hartford, among other things. Charles added one small paragraph [MTP].

September 9 Tuesday – In Boston, Howells wrote answering Clemens’ “sleepeth?” note:

Sleepeth is the matter—the sleep of a torpid conscience. I will feign that I didn’t know where to write you; but I love you and all yours, and I am tremendously glad that you are at home again. When and where shall [ page 869 ] we meet? I want to see you and talk with you. Have you come home with your pockets full of Atlanticable papers? How about the two books? [MTHL 1: 268].

Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Perkins, telling him to “Keep the key, till we come.” Sam may have sent a key or simply told Perkins to hang on to one he had [MTLE 4: 95].

September 10 Wednesday – Sam and Livy made a quick trip to Fredonia to visit Sam’s mother, and sister Pamela Moffett. They left the children at Quarry Farm with the Cranes. (Referenced by Sam’s letter to Pamela of Sept. 15) [MTLE 4: 98]. Susan Crane gave the exact date in a June 14, 1911 letter to Paine [The Twainian, Nov.-Dec.1956 p4]. They stopped in Buffalo and called on David Gray, who wasn’t home [Sept. 13 from Gray].

September 11 Thursday – Sam’s article “Battle Flag Day” ran in the Hartford Courant [Camfield, bibliog.].  

Orion Clemens wrote from Keokuk to Sam and Livy.

Mollie being sick cannot write today; but she joins me in welcoming you home; in congratulations on your health and the enjoyment of your trip; and on the fact that Sam’s book is going to be the best he has ever issued.” He also thanked Sam for the “liberality and punctuality of your remittances. At the same time I feel inexpressibly mean and empty, and anxious to get out of this fix.” He was sending more MS. and hoped he could make a living from it. “After receiving your prohibitory letter I stopped talking or thinking of lecturing here or elsewhere…” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “1879 / Orion sends a sample in MS”

September 12 Friday – Charles E. Perkins wrote to Sam, complimenting them on their safe arrival, and advising that his “mizzen needs painting.” Did they wish anything done in the way of carpets or furniture before they arrived in Hartford? [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Answered”

September 13 Saturday – David Gray wrote to Sam. “Imagine my disappointment & mortification, on getting home yesterday from Syracuse, to find your telegraph, & that I had missed you!…Did you ever write ‘The Prince & the Pauper’? How often that story has haunted me!” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Refers to ‘Prince & Pauper’ / David Gray / Answered /1879”

September 15 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to George S. Gilman, publisher, evidently responding to his inquiry about Sam’s connection with American Publishing Co.: “Under certain (not difficult nor unreasonable) conditions, I am to remain with the old Co., I believe” [MTLE 4: 96].

Sam also wrote to Howells, who had responded Sept. 9 to Sam’s “Are you dead—or only sleepeth?” note asking about “the two books.”( A Tramp Abroad and The Stolen White Elephant). Sam answered:

When & where? Here on the farm would be an elegant place to meet, but of course you cannot come so far. So we will say Hartford or Belmont, about the beginning of November. The date of our return to Hartford is uncertain, but will be three or four weeks hence, I judge. I hope to finish my book here before migrating. / I think maybe I’ve got some Atlanticable stuff in my head, but there’s not in MS I believe.

Sam also suggested again doing a play together, and the desirability of Orion as a character.

I see Orion on the state, always gentle, always melancholy, always changing his politics & religion, & trying to reform the world, always inventing something, & losing a limb by a new kind of explosion at the end of each of the four acts [MTLE 4: 97].

Sam also wrote to his sister, Pamela Moffett: [ page 870 ]

I have no check-book here—at least I can’t find it. I will tell Charley Langdon to send you a draft for $175—$100 of it to buy the lot with…

The lot was near Van Buren Point, a Lake Erie resort area near Fredonia. Sam wanted to build a cottage there sometime in the future.

      We had a charming visit with you all, & achieved a higher opinion than ever of Charley, & his energy, capacity & industry. But mind I tell you, in all affection, Sam had better look out or he’ll be another Orion. This may be a false alarm & I hope it is—but isn’t it really time Sam was getting at something? He has got a mighty good head—he ought by all means to go into the law with that young Woodford. They would make a success of it, sure.

      I was going to write a few lines to Ma, but this is the sixteenth letter I have written since I sat down, & I am getting tired. Besides, there’s a pile to answer [MTLE 4: 98].

Burt Tempest “a young authoress” wrote from Phila. to Sam, having just finished a novel, which she had tried to find a publisher for. Would Sam help or advise her? [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “A curiosity—for humility, insolence, ignorance, vanity, self-sufficiency, sham, humbug, & general loathsomeness. But the mixed metaphors—oh, they are sublime!”

September 16 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Frank Bliss, asking if the “Moses” wood-cut by Walter Brown had been received [MTLE 4: 100].

Miss H.R. Fitch wrote from New London, Conn. “Mr Clemens, / I feel much complimented by your courteous response to my letter, and evident willingness to comply with my request.” Enclosed is a clipping “Breaking the Will” (newspaper unknown), which concerned Captain Jim Smith’s will, Mr. Thomas Fitch “one of those who are particularly interested in proving the old ruler non compos.” She asked Sam for an affidavit to be used in the trial on Sept. 23 [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “The Admiral’s Will / 1879”. The Cap’n made 5 wills: 1850, 1873, 1874, 1875, and 1877. In the 1850 he made the children of Thomas Fitch, his sister’s husband, his heirs.

September 17 Wednesday – In Belmont, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam about possible visits ahead. Howells was sensitive about “helping to put your brother [Orion] into drama,” as Sam had repeatedly suggested. He offered, “the alien hand might inflict an incurable hurt to his tender heart.” Howells also mentioned seeing George Waring, who had recently seen Sam, thus bringing “us very near” [MTHL 1: 270].

Orion Clemens wrote to Sam, Orion stories enclosed. “Ma has written me of your and her consultation. I shall be very glad to stride forth in search of work, if my writing fails. I enclose my preface, and will forward my introduction and the first chapter to-morrow or next day. If I can write a book, that might be 28 years of protection against paralysis and other incidents of humanity” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Orion’s preface to religious book / 1879”; Preface in file.

September 18 Thursday – Sam wrote from Elmira to David Gray, old friend and editor in Buffalo. On Sept. 10 Sam and family had gone through Buffalo on their latest trip to Fredonia, but Gray wasn’t home, so missed a visit. Sam pointed out that the Clemenses were owed a visit anyway, counting “several visits & two or three attempts.” He wrote of writing Prince and the Pauper, which to him was a joy that offset the labors of A Tramp Abroad. Sam stopped about half way through and wrote “I shall take it up again with a powerful interest if I ever get another chance” [MTLE 4: 101].

September 23 Tuesday – In Elmira, Sam wrote to the editors of the Berkshire County Eagle (Pittsfield, Mass.) to decline an invitation for a supper and social meeting by the journalists. He went a long way around to enlighten the editors on the meaning of “circumstances over which I have no control” [MTLE 4: 101].

Sam also wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks. [ page 871 ]

We have been to Fredonia; we have finished our visit here in the valley with Mother Langdon; today we depart with bag & baggage to the serene hill-top. Consequently, this is a busy day. Livy is viewing designed & instructing the artist who is making ready to fresco the Hartford house, Rosa is packing trunks, & I am bracing myself for the serious work of answering some thirty letters. During some hours, now, I shall be steadily declining—I always decline, & keep on declining, on these correspondence-clearing occasions. I have to decline to lecture; & to furnish autographic “sentiments;” & to write articles for periodicals; & to read & give a “candid opinion” upon manuscripts submitted by strangers—& so on, & so on.

Sam praised her son’s drawing but added: “Talent is useless without training…” [MTLE 4: 104].

Sam and family moved from the Langdon home to Quarry Farm.

Gustavo Sarfatti receipted Clemens for shipping “One Case glasses” [MTP].

Richard Whiteing wrote from Paris to Clemens enclosing a letter from Mr. de Mussy about payment made. “I have been to Russia since I saw you, on business connected with the forthcoming life of Peter the Great in Scribner’s Magazine. Consul Schuyler is writing it, & I am superintending the illustrations” [MTP].

September 26 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Ainsworth Spofford, librarian of Congress for a copyright for A Tramp Abroad [MTLE 4: 105].

September 29 Monday – John Wentworth Sanborn wrote to Clemens, thanking him for help in getting “unstuck” with the Scrap Book [MTP]. Note: letter exists in Sanborn’s 1920 book, Distinguished Authors Whom I have known, etc; See Jan. 24, 1878 from Sanborn.

Rev. Nathaniel J. Burton wrote from Hartford to Clemens recommending a “colored man” to take the place of George Griffin [MTP].

October 1 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to John W. Sanborn, Indian culture expert. He complimented Sanborn on his “little book” which contained Indian ideas of creation, heaven and what Sam called the “odd coincidence” of immaculate conception [MTLE 4: 107] The book was likely Legends, customs and social life of the Seneca Indians, of western New York, by John Wentworth Sanborn, (“O-yo-ga-weh,”) (Clear Sky.) 1878.

Carl Jensen, customs officer in Stubbekjobing, Denmark, wrote asking, in tortured syntax, for “two words” or an autograph [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the letter, “Preserve this remarkable letter.”

On or about this day Sam also wrote to Howells, sending him a piece for possible publication (unidentified) [MTLE 4: 108].

October 2 Thursday – Sam wrote from Quarry Farm to Joe Twichell, who had recommended a Negro cook for the Clemens family. George Griffin was back in their employ, Sam wrote. Could Harmony Twichell recommend the candidate as a good cook? “Never mind her morals, is she a good cook?” Sam liked his new book (A Tramp Abroad) after much revision and cutting. “I cannot see that it lacks anything but information.”

Sam also wrote to Orion, letter not extant but referred to in Orion’s Oct. 6 reply.

A fire started on the hillside below the farm, and Sam gathered up his manuscripts, tied strings around them and “prepared for a speedy desertion,” but the fire was soon put out. Sam invited Joe to visit [MTLE 4: 110]. [ page 872 ]

October 3 Friday – Orion Clemens wrote to Sam, “The Fierce Yazoos” doggerel that he’d sent to several newspapers enclosed. He was again in financial straits and turned around about how to proceed [MTP].

October 6 Monday – In Toronto, Canada, Howells wrote to Sam. Howells was on a “very nice trip” to see his father.

Next week we are going on for a day at John Hay’s. Hay is deep in politics, and will probably go to Congress next year. I wish we could stop at Elmira, but we must go home the other way. We left the chicks at Belmont, and we’re in a hurry to get back to ‘em [MTHL 1: 272].

Orion Clemens wrote to thank Sam for his “kind letter of Octo. 2…I had squared off my rent account, and taken down my attorney’s sign. It is well enough. It was only creaking and catching no flies. I shall write at home, and use the rent money to pay installments on some books I wish to buy.” He added after his signature, “I am grateful to you for continuing to send me the cheques. One for fifty dollars came Saturday. Mr. Perkins had been sending them so they arrive before the 1st; and when the 1st came without the cheque, with my usual sanguine hopefulness, I never expected to see it or another” [MTP].

October 9 Thursday – Sam had received Howells’ letter of Sept. 17, which called writing about Orion by “an alien hand” as heartless. Howells planned on traveling “northward and westward…either the first of October or the first of November” [MTHL 1: 270]. Sam responded that he’d intended to mark the religious squib “Private,” but forgot to. He then wrote a litany of Orion’s schemes and intentions he’d received in the past month.

Sam wanted to go to Chicago with Howells and John Hay to a reunion of the

…great Commanders of the Western army Corps on the 9th of next month. My sluggish soul needs a fierce upstirring, & if it would not get it when Grant enters the meeting place I must doubtless “lay” for the final resurrection.

Sam disclosed their plans to leave Quarry Farm for New York Oct. 21 and reach Hartford Oct. 24or 25. He encouraged the Howellses to visit [MTLE 4: 111].

October 10 Friday – Susan Crane gave this as the date the Clemens family left Quarry Farm. If so, they must have stayed with the Langdons in Elmira until Oct. 21 [Susan Crane to Paine, June 14, 1911, The Twainian, Nov.-Dec.1956 p.4].

October 13 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Frederick Schweppe, an Elmira decorator, a draft for $250 [MTLE 4: 113]. Livy had engaged Schweppe to redo the walls and ceilings in the Hartford, Farmington Avenue house [Willis 129].

October 14 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Pierre D. Peltier, declining an invite to dine with the Gate City Guard of Atlanta, Georgia, invited by the Putnam Phalanx, a Hartford military company. Fatout [MT Speaks 122] points out: “In postwar years, when sectional feelings ran high and oppressive reconstruction engendered bitter animosities, Sam preached on the theme of amity between North and South.” Sam requested that the food he did not eat be “distributed among the public charities of our several States and Territories…” [MTLE 4: 114].

October 15 Wednesday – C.H. Brainard wrote from Boston to Sam, enclosing a photo of a bust of Whittier by Preston Powers, Florence, Italy. Brainard solicited Sam for a contribution to place the bust (cost $900) in the Boston Public Library [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Whittier photo”. [ page 873 ]

October 16 Thursday – Sam was drafted as a speaker for a Republican Meeting in Elmira to introduce General Joseph R. Hawley, at that time a Connecticut congressman [Fatout, MT Speaking 128]. The Elmira Daily Advertiser reported on the 8 o’clock speech, including emendations for applause, laugher and interruption, as when Sam insisted Hawley had “been president of the convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln.” Hawley corrected Sam that it was Grant, not Lincoln. Sam insisted it was Lincoln. The Advertiser:

We report him just as he said it, but the type founders do not make characters that can drawl and intone on paper [Jerome & Wisbey 75].

October 17 Friday – Sam’s article “Our Georgia Visitors” ran in the Hartford Courant [Camfield, bibliog.].

C. Jensen, custom officer wrote from Stubbekøbing, Denmark to ask for an autograph [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Preserve this remarkable letter”; though English is clearly not the writer’s first language, nothing explains Twain’s envelope comment.

October 21 Tuesday – The Clemens family left Elmira and Quarry Farm and went to New York, staying a day or two before leaving for Hartford [MTLE 4: 111]. Note: Susan Crane in a 1911 letter to Paine gave the date the Clemens family left Quarry Farm as Oct. 10, but several letters from Elmira by Sam after that date show they stayed with the Langdons in town from Oct. 10 to 21, as they often did upon arriving or before leaving the area [The Twainian, Nov.-Dec.1956 p4].

October 21 to 24 Friday – The Clemens family spent these days in New York.

October 23 Thursday – G.E. Hutchingson, Newspaper Advertising Agent wrote Sam a note of recommendation for Jesse M. Leathers [MTP].

October 24 Friday – After a seventeen month absence, the Clemens family returned home to Hartford and their Farmington Avenue house [MTLE 4: 111, 115]. From Twichell’s journal:

“Dear Mark Twain and his family are home again. We called on them in the evening. It seems only yesterday that we parted in Switzerland” [Yale, copy at MTP].

In Belmont, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam, inviting him to the Holmes breakfast on Dec. 3. Also:

We got home last Saturday, and though we had a glorious time in Cleveland and elsewhere, we were glad to get home. John Hay lives in superb style, and a lovely house, and the only thing in which I had the better of him was your letter which came there. “Why don’t somebody write me such letters?” he sang out [MTHL 1: 276].

October 25 Saturday – Richard Stanley Tuthill (1841-1920) wrote from Chicago, on The Illinois Club notepaper to invite Sam to the annual meeting of the Army of Tennessee Nov. 12-13. Would Sam agree to be on the program? [MTP]. Note: he did agree and gave the famous “Babies” speech.

October 27 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to George Baker, the merchant who had sold Sam the music box in Geneva Switzerland. The wrong box arrived, damaged. He’d wanted the one shown to him that only used violin sounds and vox humana tones; what arrived had drums and bells and “tinklings.” The damage was slight and repairable. Sam “suffered a grievous disappointment” and asked to ship the box back and get the right one in return. Who would pay duties on the right box? [MTLE 4: 115-6]. [ page 874 ]

Sam also wrote to Howells, agreeing to come to Belmont “a day or two before the 3d (if Mrs. Clemens will permit), & stay a day or two after it anyway.” Sam mentioned John Hay, General Hawley, and David Gray. He complimented Orion on a “readable book” he was writing about religion under an assumed name. He ended with “Warner says your new book is your best yet, according to Mrs. Howells’s judgment” [MTLE 4: 117]. Note: the “new book” was most likely The Lady of the Aroostook (1879).

Sam also wrote to Robert Howland in San Francisco, an old Carson City friend from his mining days, who had sent Sam pictures of his children. “They are the sweetest little rascals!” Sam wrote. Sam added they were planning to come to San Francisco “some time next year” [MTLE 4: 118]. But, of course, Sam never returned.

 Sam also wrote (he often wrote dozens of letters at one sitting) to Albert J. Scott, a correspondent from an unnamed newspaper [Eppard 430] who evidently inquired as to Sam’s first publications. Sam answered that he “began to write for a local public in the fall of 1862—& for the general American public in 1865 or ‘66 (‘Jumping Frog’ &c).” He also listed, “3. I wrote the review of the poet Hammond’s works. An admirable singer” [!?] [MTLE 4: 119].

The review was an unsigned satirical treatment in the Contributors’ Club of the Atlantic Monthly for June 1877 of Rev. Edward Payson Hammond’s (1831-1910) Sketches of Palestine. Eppard calls this work “a curious mixture of piety and travel sketch cast into verse” [430]. Although Sam’s review was untitled in the text of the magazine, in the semi-annual index it was listed as “An Overrated Book” [431] Eppard cites Alan Gribben’s “review of the lame literary productions which attracted Mark Twain’s attention” Among these was Sketches of Palestine, “…apparently one of Clemens’s favorites, for, according to Gribben, his copy of the book bears prolific annotations…uniformly derisive” [431]. Eppard considers Sam’s “playful” review to be a parody of “the kind of critical essay which was regularly appearing in the Contributors’ Club” [433]. In the review the writer reveals he was a resident of Ponkapog, Mass., home of Thomas Bailey Aldrich. So, did Twain really write this? The writing style suggests not. See entries for June 6, 1877 and Jan. 12, 1883.)

Sam wrote checks drawn on George P. Bissell & Co, Bankers, Hartford, to Mr. James H. Breslin totaling $166.51 [MTP].

October 27–30 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Orion, with advice any good writer needs. Sam liked the manuscript his brother had sent about religion. He penciled thoughts and suggestions in the work and said:

And put the bread & butter idea clear out of your head. Write your treatise for the love of it, not for what it will bring. The bread & butter thought is simply fatal to literary work. Write with the idea that you are on a salary, that the salary is secure & that you need not bother about it; consider & remember that Livy & I never bother about it, Perkins don’t bother about it, nobody bothers about it. Therefore why should you? [MTLE 4: 120].

Sam added that he would be at the Grant banquet & festivities in Chicago on Nov. 12 and 13, and “would run over to Keokuk but shall have to rush home immediately” to finish proof-reading A Tramp Abroad [120].

October 28 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to William E. Strong (1808-1895), who invited him to speak at the Army Reunion in Chicago. The invite was sent to Elmira, and so was received late. Sam declined the invitation, at least initially.

“I wanted to see the General [Grant] again, anyway, and renew the acquaintance. He would remember me, because I was the person who did not ask him for an office” [MTLE 4: 121].

October 29 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to L.T. Adams, enclosing the draft of a letter he’d written to George Baker, regarding the music-box shipment from Geneva, Switzerland [MTLE 4: 122].  [ page 875 ]

Sam received a letter from Colonel Richard Stanley Tuthill, chairman of the banquet committee, about his attendance at the Chigago Army Reunion [123]. The letter caused Sam to reevaluate his invitation—the idea of using the “Babies” speech instead of the toast to “Women” intrigued him after “working out a few notes.” Sam telegraphed Colonel Tuttle and General Strong to accept the Banquet invitation for Nov. 13 [123].

Sam wrote checks drawn on George P. Bissell & Co., Bankers, Hartford, to Mssrs. Arnold, Constable Co., $37.15; Adams Express, $50.55; and to himself $100 [MTP].

October 30 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Joseph Blackburn Jones. Sam related his decline of the invitation to the Army Reunion in Chicago, the letter from Colonel Tuttle and his desire to give a different toast to Grant. He had telegraphed Colonel Tuttle again. Sam was waffling about coming—the distance, the weather, the time it would involve, etc. [MTLE 4: 123].

October 31 Friday – Sam wrote a check drawn on George P. Bissell & Co., Bankers, Hartford, to Water Commissioner, $22.50 [MTP].

November – Sam sent a correspondence card to an unidentified person with this maxim, altering “the great & good Franklin”:

“Never put off till tomorrow what can be put off till day after tomorrow just as well” [MTLE 4: 123].

November to December 15, 1879 – Clemens wrote to unidentified. Cue: “I consider it slander…”; not found at MTP though catalogued as UCCL 13217.

November 1 Saturday – Sam wrote a check drawn on George P. Bissell & Co, Bankers, Hartford, to Patrick McAleer, the family coachman, for $52.45 [MTP].

November 4 Tuesday – Thomas Bailey Aldrich wrote from Ponkapog to Sam.

I am a broken down old man, who from week to week puts off doing the thing that lies nearest his heart. In this imbecile fashion I have neglected to tell you how glad I am to have you on this side of the water—when I am not on the other. I always like to have you within interruption distance. I never enjoyed anything more in my life than I did the way I broke in on your working mood at Paris in that jolly street of the ladder [here Sam writes “(rue de l’Echelle. /SLC)”] When you get deep in another book, let me know… [Aldrich then invited Sam to visit; MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Preserve”

November 5 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to U.D. at the W.K. Carson Co., Baltimore, Maryland. U.D. had evidently asked for a biographical sketch. Sam referred him to the listing in Men of the Time, by Routledge, or Allibone’s Dictionary of Authors  [MTLE 4: 125].

Sam also wrote to his old guide, Joseph Very, letter not extant but referred to in Verey’s Dec. 16 reply.

Sam also wrote to James W. McDaniel of Hannibal, boyhood friend, congratulating him on some 25th anniversary [MTLE 4: 126]. “Jimmy McDaniel, Sam’s own age, was envied because his father kept the candy store…‘He was the first human being to whom I ever told a humorous story’ ” [Wecter 142].

November 6 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Hjalmar Boyesen of Ithaca, New York. Boyesen and family had been in Paris at the same time as the Clemens family. Sam listed the letters he had written Boyesen after being informed by a “fine young fellow” named Bacon that he hadn’t answered Boyesen’s letters. Sam wrote that their “unpacking room looks like a furniture hospital” [MTLE 4: 127]. [ page 876 ]

Sam also wrote again, two notes, to William E. Strong, organizer of the Army Reunion in Chicago, accepting, “with great pleasure” the invitation to speak at the reunion banquet. Sam wrote he had “secured a room…at the Palmer house, & shall arrive there next Monday morning” [MTLE 4: 129].

November 7 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Thomas Bailey Aldrich. After some playful prose and jabbing at Aldrich, Sam wrote of the impending trip to Chicago:

I jumped into that Chicago business without sufficient reflection, & now that formidable winter-trip is before me & has to be taken; moreover, I have to start tomorrow, in order to be ahead of the prodigious railway crowds. Charley Clark is just from there & says the hotels & boarding houses have already received 50,000 more applications than they can possibly accommodate. Yes, it’s a good deal of a journey, but I would rather make two like it than miss the excitement there’s going to be, there [MTLE 4: 130].

Sam also sent a note to Charles Perkins enclosing a copy of the contract with Frank Bliss, transferring to the American Publishing Co. [MTLE 4: 133].

Sam also wrote to Joseph Blackburn Jones, of his engaging a room at Chicago’s Palmer House and his “8 or 9 o’clock” arrival the following Monday. “You drop in & see me.” Sam insisted on speaking sixth or seventh on the program, regardless of printing already made.

“Darn it, I want to have a good time; & how can I have a good time if I have to sit there two or three hours in the family way with my Babies & not knowing whether I’m going to miscarry or not?” [MTLE 4: 132]. [Meaning, his “Babies” toast.]

November 8 Saturday – Sam left Hartford with George Warner, both bound for Chicago [MTLE 4: 130]. He stopped in New York, where Dan Slote told him that the scrapbook business was “booming—can’t fill the orders” [134].

November 9 Sunday – Sam wrote en route (“In a hotel-car, 300 miles west of Philadelphia, 11.30 Sunday morning”) from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, to Livy. He would telegraph her from Pittsburgh, he wrote. He liked the sleeping car and his breakfast, and hoped she had slept well, but was afraid she didn’t. “You must have Emily Perkins or some other quiet body with you.” George wrote on the note: “He is a jolly travelling companion” [MTLE 4: 134].

Dr. John Brown wrote from Edinburgh, Scotland to apologize for not thanking Sam at Liverpool on Aug. 21. He had just read “Membranous Croup” with relish, and wished the Clemenses enjoyable holidays [MTP].

November 10 Monday – Sam and George Warner arrived in Chicago and took rooms at the Palmer House [MTLE 4: 129]. The pair:

…walked over 76 miles…round about the town, inspecting the outsides of beautiful & costly dwellings, the water-works machinery, the street-decorations for the Grant reception, & so forth, & had a good time. He [George] went west last night [Nov 10], & I went to three beautiful theatres with a lot of newspaper men; staid but a few minutes at two of them, but saw a whole act at the third. It was the first act of Pinafore, admirably done by children—little children, like ours….I was home & in bed at 10 o’clock. Drank 11 gallons of Appolinaris water & 1 glass of lager during the evening; drank one Scotch whisky in bed, read 2 hours, & went to sleep without needing the other punch [MTLE 4: 135] (From letter to Livy of Nov 11).

November 11 Tuesday – Sam wrote two letters from the Palmer House in Chicago to Livy. The first letter recounted activities of the prior day (Nov. 10). The second letter told of meeting…  [ page 877 ]

“…an elderly German gentleman named Raster, who said his wife owed her life to me—hurt in the Chicago fire & lay menaced with death a long time, but the Innocents Abroad kept her mind in a cheerful attitude.”

Sam visited the woman for a “cordial fifteen-minute visit” with “a pipe & a bottle of Rhein wine.” Then he was driven to Dr. A. Reeves Jackson’s and had an hour visit with Mrs. Jackson.

As Sam walked down Michigan Avenue, a “soldierly looking young gentleman” offered his hand, the son of Ulysses S. Grant, Colonel Frederick Dent Grant (1850-1912) Sam accompanied Fred to his home and met his family.

His wife is very gentle & intelligent & pretty, & they have a cunning little girl nearly as big as Bay but only 3 years old. They wanted me to come in & spend an evening, after the banquet, with them & Gen. Grant after this grand pow-wow is over, but I said I was going home Friday. Then they asked me to come Friday afternoon, when they & the General will receive a few friends, & I said I would. Col. Grant said he & Gen. Sherman used the Innocents Abroad as their guide book when they were on their travels.

I stepped in next door & took Dr Jackson to the hotel & we played billiards from 7 till 11.30 PM & then went to a beer mill to meet some twenty Chicago journalists—talked, sang songs & made speeches till 6 o’clock this morning. Nobody got in the least degree “under the influence,” & we had a pleasant time. Read a while in bed, slept till 11, shaved, went to breakfast at noon, & by mistake got into the servants’ hall. However, I remained there & breakfasted with twenty or thirty male & female servants, though I had a table to myself [MTLE 4: 136-7].

Fred Grant secured Sam a ticket to join him and fifteen others on a canopied structure covered with flags and bunting in front of the hotel, where General Grant would stand and review the procession. After meeting Grant on the platform, being joined by General Sherman, and listening to the cheers of the crowd below, Sam borrowed General Deems’ overcoat until 5:45 PM, after which he borrowed General Willard’s overcoat.

“I have a seat on the stage at Haverley’s Theatre, to-night, where the Army of the Tennessee will receive Gen. Grant, & where Gen. Sherman will make a speech. At midnight I am to attend a meeting of the Owl Club” [MTLE 4: 137].

November 12 Wednesday – Sam was on the stage at Haverly’s Theatre in Chicago. Fatout’s description of the scene where Sam offered impromptu remarks:

“A reunion of the Army of Tennessee in Chicago was a two-day outpouring of patriotic frenzy: clamourous bands, roaring cheers, dazzling gold braid, and thousands of Union veterans marching down Michigan Avenue. Mark Twain, the quasi-Confederate, was a favored visitor. For the meeting at Haverly’s Theater, attended by an overflow audience of two thousand, the stage was set to represent a fort at Vicksburg. Mark Twain had a prominent place on the stage, along with two or three dozen Union generals and political bigwigs. When the house shouted for a speech from him, somebody yelled, ‘Tell us about Adam!’ Caught off guard for once, he responded briefly”

“‘I never was happy, never could make a good impromptu speech without several hours to prepare it,’ Sam said” [Fatout, MT Speaking, 130].

After the meeting, Sam wrote Livy that he:

“…only staid at the Owl Club till 3 this morning & drank little or nothing. Went to sleep without whisky” [MTLE 4: 140].  [ page 878 ]

November 13 Thursday – Sam delivered a “snapper” in his speech, “The Babies” (See Fatout, MT Speaking 131-3) for the Army of the Tennessee Reunion Banquet, Palmer House, Chicago, Illinois—the snapper that finally broke Grant’s cast-iron expression into waves of laughter. For Sam it was a complete and devastating triumphal victory, as high as the debacle on Whittier’s birthday had been low. In a letter written at 5 AM the next morning (Nov. 14), Sam called it “the memorable night of my life.” [MTLE 4: 141] He did not qualify the judgment with anything like “beside our wedding night.”  

A reception was held at McVicker’s theater for many distinguished guests. There Sam met Melville E. Stone of the Chicago Daily News and Franc B. Wilkie of the Chicago Times [The Twainian, Mar. 1945 p.1].

Sam also met and spent time with Robert Green Ingersoll during banquet and festivities for the U.S. Grant tribute; this was the only time the two men met [Austin, MT Encyc. 395].

Dr. A. Reeves Jackson of the Quaker City excursion and several other journalists later gathered at Wilkie’s home for breakfast, possibly on Nov. 13 [MTNJ 2: 357 citing Chicago Times of Nov. 15]. An entry in Sam’s notebook for 1880 reminded to send two books to Wilkie. Sometime during the evening Sam asked why they did not have a press club for Chicago newsmen as they did in New York. From that question the Press Club of Chicago was born, though Sam did not directly support the effort beyond inspiration and encouragement from afar [The Twainian, Mar. 1945 p.1].

The Atlantic Monthly sent an invitation to the 70th birthday reception and breakfast of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Dec. 3 at 12 at the Hotel Brunswick, Boston. The printed calligraphied invite featured a large oval picture of Holmes [MTP].

November 14 Friday – In Chicago, Sam wrote from the Palmer House to Livy at 5 AM.

“I heard four speeches which I can never forget. One by Emory Storrs, one by Gen. Vilas (O, wasn’t it wonderful!) one by Gen. Logan (mighty stirring), one by somebody whose name escapes me, & one by that splendid old soul, Col. Bob Ingersoll” [MTLE 4: 141]. Note: Emory Storrs (1834-1885), well known lawyer, orator and republican politician of Chicago. William Freeman Villas (1840-1908), Democrat, at this time Postmaster General under Cleveland; US Senator from Wisconsin 1891-7. General John A. Logan (1826-1886), an unsuccessful candidate for Vice President with James G. Blaine in 1884. As the 3rd Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, he is regarded as the most important figure to make Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) an official holiday.

Orion Clemens wrote to Sam. “I send you to-day 58 pages by express…Once settled down again, I will commence in a week or so thereafter to continue sending you periodical batches of MSS.” What did Sam think of Orion reading some of the MS to a temperance society there? [MTP].

The friendship with Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) began Nov. 13. Schwartz argues that Sam:

“…greatly admired Robert Ingersoll, whom he…regarded as an evangel of a new gospel—the gospel of free thought…Ingersoll’s philosophy, a form of anticlerical rationalism, can be traced back through Thomas Paine to Voltaire and the French encyclopaedists…Ingersoll led a lecture crusade against Christianity and what he described as the gloomy spirit of Calvinism” [183].

Sam then wrote about his triumph with the “Babies” speech, which was given last on the program, number fifteen. When he rose to speak after 2 AM, he had to follow “the flattest, insipidest, silliest of all responses to ‘Woman’ that ever a weary multitude listened to.” Sam recounted how he got the audience in his hand and worked them to the snapper, a line about a baby trying to get a toe in the mouth, which was then [ page 879 ] projected to Grant, some decades before: “And if the child is but the prophesy of the man, there are mighty few will doubt that he succeeded.” Sam thought the “house came down with a crash.” Ulysses S. Grant cracked up.

For two hours & a half, now, I’ve been shaking hands & listening to congratulations. Gen. Sherman said, “Lord bless you, my boy, I don’t know how you do it—it’s a secret that’s beyond me—but it was great—give me your hand again.”

And do you know, Gen. Grant sat through fourteen speeches like a graven image, but I fetched him! I broke him up, utterly! He told me he laughed till the tears came & every bone in his body ached. (And do you know, the biggest part of the success of the speech lay in the fact that the audience saw that for once in his life he had been knocked out of his iron serenity) [MTLE 4: 141-3].

Fatout, in Mark Twain Speaking [653]:

“A letter from A. L. Hardy to Mark Twain, MTP, says that after the reunion banquet at the Palmer House, about fifty men gathered in the underground cafe of Captain Jim Simms on Clark Street. There were sandwiches, wurst, pretzels, beer, ale, Scotch, and a great deal of talk, Mark Twain acting as a sort of chairman at the head of the table. By dawn only seven remained. A note scrawled on the letter by Mark Twain, evidently one of the stayers, says that the Chicago Press Club was founded that night about seven in the morning.”

7 AM: Sam wrote a short letter of his triumph to Orion, along with apologies for not being able to go to Keokuk, “but I must rush home right away” [MTLE 4: 144].

Noon: “Breakfast for Mark Twain”; according to Paul Fatout, the menu, MTP, says that this breakfast was tendered “By a few Chicago journalists,” that the time was 12 noon, and that the bill of fare was: Fruit, Oysters on shell, Broiled Salmon Chateaubriand, with Champignons; French Fried Potatoes, Calves’ Sweetbreads with French Peas, Spanish Omelette, Cutlets of Chicken, cream sauce; Broiled Quail on Toast, French Coffee, Cognac. Undoubtedly there were speeches by Mark Twain and others, but they were not reported [Fatout, MT Speaking 654].

Afternoon: Sam went to Colonel Fred Grant’s home as invited, to meet some friends and talk again with General Grant [MTLE 4: 136].

Evening: Sam boarded a train bound for home [136].

In Belmont, Mass., Howells wrote a short request for Sam to speak before the Young Ladies’ Saturday Morning Club of Boston on Dec. 20 [MTHL 1: 278].

Martin Beem, atty. wrote from Chicago with an invite to meet General and Mrs. Grant on Nov. 14 [MTP]. Note: clearly sent prior to the 14th.

November 14 to 16 Sunday – Sam was en route to Hartford.

November 15 Saturday – The Chicago Times, on page 3, ran an article mainly on Sam’s activities during the Grant reunion.

November 16 Sunday – Orion and Mollie Clemens wrote to Sam and Livy, Orion stories enclosed.

“Every where one goes in the cars, street cars and on the street in the amateur theatrical plays—we hear ‘As Mark Twain says.’ / I was in St Louis three weeks saw a good many of Sam’s old acquaintances, and friends. Zeb Leavenworth and John are dead—their mother has lost her mind and is a miserable looking old [ page 880 ] creature. Essie Pepper is the widow Goodwin, lives at home. Ellis Pepper is married had one remarkably fine boy that walked at eight months of age, talked plain & had all his teeth—but died at 17 months of age.” Other Peppers were mentioned as well as other folks, who all asked about Sam [MTP].

Eben Pearson Door wrote from Buffalo, NY:

Dear Mr Clemens I have been waiting for you to come home from Europe to write to you for your autograph I am ten years old I have a Colection of stones shells and autographs and I would like yours very much I have just been looking at one of your books I think the pictures are very funny My Grandpa just came home from California and brought me some more Curiosities one of them is a square piece of white stone with a fish petrified on it. and he brought me a lump of salt from the mines I have just got over the measeals I have not been to school for nine days. / PLEASE WRITE SOON / Eben P. Door / 314 Niagara Street / Buffalo New York [MTP]. Note: Eban was from a distinguished New England family, his grandfather was Captain Ebenezer Pearson Dorr (1817-1881), Great Lakes captain and insurance magnate. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “A boy’s letter”

November 17 Monday – Sam arrived home at 2:30 A.M. Later in the day he wrote from Hartford to Howells. He hadn’t had much sleep in Chicago and somehow didn’t feel tired, but knew fatigue would come. He waxed eloquent about the Chicago event and especially Robert Green Ingersoll’s speech. “…none but the master can make them get up on their feet,” Sam wrote of Ingersoll, a freethinker whose public pronouncements were close to Sam’s private ones. Sam wrote of Grant’s breaking down with laughter at Sam’s speech, and of the men rising to their feet to sing “Marching through Georgia” with tears streaming down their faces. It was “grand times” Sam reflected. The proofs of his book were stacked up and he wanted to delay a visit so he might make headway on them. He thought at this point that the work he faced would “bar him out of the Holmes breakfast & my visit” to Howells (Dec. 3) [MTLE 4: 146].

November 18 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to William (Will) M. Clemens, a genealogist and distant relative (see note below) who evidently had asked for information for a book he was writing (published 1913 The Clemens Family Chronology, and 1926 American Marriages Before 1699.) Sam responded, “…am afraid that I should not find time to write my own epitaph in case I was suddenly called for,” and wished him well with the book [MTLE 4: 148]. Note: In a 1908 letter to his daughter Clara, Sam called Will M. Clemens “that bogus relative” [MTP].

Sam also wrote to his brother-in-law, Theodore Crane, suggesting a cure for drunkenness for someone named Perry (unknown), recommended by Dr. D’Unger, whom he’d met in Chicago. Sam enclosed a pamphlet on the elixir given to him by the doctor [MTLE 4: 149].

Sam also wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks, with apologies and excuses for not stopping on his way to or from Chicago. He added that the main reason he didn’t have the time to stop was that Livy “hardly” slept when he was away. Sam ended with:

“And you tell John & Mrs. John Hay not to venture to Washington without coming up here & seeing how bad a cook a body can get here for only three or four dollars a week. They already have my political support—what they need out of me, now, is a moral lift” [MTLE 4: 150].

Sam also wrote to Frank Fuller, addressed to him at the Windsor Hotel, New York. Sam added a note to Thomas L. James, New York Postmaster, asking if he needed to also include the address of the Windsor, and if this one time the letter might go through as addressed.

Sam had been invited to another “blowout” but did not know if it was worth his time. [ page 881 ]

“Look into this, Frank, will you? I can’t afford to attend any but the very biggest kind of blow-outs—neither can I afford to miss the biggest kind of blow-outs….Work this secretly—but you know how” [MTLE 4: 151].

Sam also wrote a short note to his sister, Pamela Moffett.

I am such an entire & absolute unbeliever that I have no compunctions as to Orion or any other full grown person; “The Bible for Learners” may cure him or kill him—a body can’t tell which—but I’ve ordered the publishers to send it to him—let’s await the result. You can get the audiphone & send bill to me if Ma wants to try it [MTLE 4: 152]. (The Bible For Learners 1878 was a record of historical biblical events.)

Orion Clemens wrote to Sam, praising his Chicago speech as “another Ten Strike for the family!” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Orion—after the Chicago speech / 1879”

November 20 Thursday – Charles B. Campbell wrote from Newark, NJ to ask Sam for the late William L. Garrison’s autograph, should Sam have one to spare [MTP].

William W. Kellett wrote from Boston to offer Sam a tardy (by 3 years) thanks for his writing which lifted him while suffering cold in England [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Good letter”

November 21 Friday – “Twain’s Best Joke,” a story purportedly published the first time in this edition of the Hartford Courant, ran on page 2. This was the tale of Sam applauding himself by mistake at the Lord Mayor’s banquet. (See Nov. 9, 1872 entry.)

H.W. Bergen wrote from Newark, NJ to ask for a $400 loan from Sam, since the recent death of his wife and the illness of his child had left him bereft. Bergen was a road agent for Sam [MTP].

November 22 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to the editor of the Hartford Courant. After a long harangue against new postal regulations, which required street addresses, Sam concluded:

For many years it has been England’s boast that her postal system is so admirable that you can’t so cripple the direction of a letter that the Post office Department won’t manage some way to find the person the missive is intended for. We could say that too, once. But we have retired a hundred years, within the last two months, & now it is our boast that only the brightest & thoughtfulest & knowingest men’s letters will ever be permitted to reach their destinations, & that those of the mighty majority of the American people,—the heedless, the unthinking, the illiterate,—will be rudely shot by the shortest route to the Dead Letter office & destruction. It seems to me that this new decree is very decidedly un-American. Mark Twain [MTLE 4: 155].

Sam also wrote to Frank Fuller, about the invitation from Andrew H.H. Dawson to some event, the date being up in the air (see Nov. 26 entry). Evidently, Fuller had a new baby boy, and Sam sent congratulations. He concluded:

“I’m just about to start in on another ten thousand dollar venture—a patent. Want to come in?—in case it continues to look good? Slote is to run it” [MTLE 4: 156]. Note: Slote’s patent was likely the new engraving process called Kaolatype, which Sam eventually bought 80 per cent interest in [A. Hoffman 275]. Note: see also AMT 2: 489 for more on Sam’s Kaolatype venture.

Lilly Warner came with her husband George to billiards night, and spent the last half of the evening visiting with Livy. “How lovely their house is now” [Salsbury 113]. Note: Friday night was the usual billiards night but this was sometimes changed to Thursday or Saturday, depending on other events in town. There is mention in these sources of the wives gathering downstairs on such nights.

November 23 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells. A Tramp Abroad was:  [ page 882 ]

“…really finished at last—every care is off my mind, everything is out of my way—so I have accepted the invitation to be at the Holmes breakfast” (Oliver Wendell Holmes’ 70th birthday celebration).

Sam asked if he might come and stay on Dec. 2 at Howells’ home for the Dec. 3 breakfast for Holmes [MTLE 4: 157].

Orion and Mollie Clemens began a letter to Sam and Livy, Orion stories enclosed. “I am greatly obliged to you for the 3 volumes of “The Bible for Learners,” which came yesterday…I have read over 40 pages of the first volume consecutively, and glanced over other parts. It is going to be of inestimable value to me, if there is any value in my work” [MTP]. Mollie added to the letter, to Livy, on Nov. 24.

November 24 Monday – Sam sent a postcard from Hartford to James B. Pond, the lecture circuit manager of the Boston Literary Bureau, who evidently had asked if he would lecture for charity. Sam responded he was “busy head over heels, & it’s just a solid impossibility” [MTLE 4: 158].

In the evening Sam and Livy attended a lavish banquet at Armsmear, the Colt Mansion, given by Mrs. Elizabeth H. Jarvis Colt (1826-1905), widow of Samuel Colt (1814-1862), inventor of the revolving-breech pistol [Powers, MT A Life 433]. The party was in honor of the only child’s twenty-first birthday, Caldwell H. Colt. The shindig rivaled the Mayor of London banquet for numbers of guests and elegance. The New York Times of Nov. 24, page five, previewed the party at:

…her elegant mansion on Wethersfield avenue….Over 1,000 invitations have been issued, and it will be the greatest society affair which Hartford has seen in many years.

On Nov. 25, the Times again ran a column on page five about the party.

So great was the demand for carriages that the entire public livery of the city had its hacks in service. Guests began to arrive at 8:30 o’clock, and were coming and going until near mid-night. The house all the while was thronged. There were magnificent floral decorations; the parlor mantels were banked with choice flowers. Festoons were hung from the center chandeliers to different points of the sides of the room, and there were groups of tropical and foliage plants. The large conservatory, filled with tropical plants, was brilliantly illuminated. The tables were elegantly spread…There was fine music by Colt’s Armory Band and Adkins’s Quadrille Orchestra.

Also on Nov. 25, the Hartford Courant called the ball “one of the most brilliant parties which has ever been given in Hartford.” Livy wrote to her mother saying, “I enjoyed it and Mr. Clemens enjoyed it immensely.” Livy described dances in fancy dress costumes to the music of Mother Goose. Moncure Conway was also there. In his notebook, Sam listed the characters and later added the names of those who played the roles [MTNJ 2: 378n66].

Many guests were listed in the Times report, including Charles Dudley Warner, ex-governor Joseph R. Hawley, and General William B. Franklin. Samuel Clemens was not listed in the New York papers. The Colt estate left to young Caldwell Colt was stated at between five and six million dollars.

Jahu DeWitt Miller (1857-1911), journalist, wrote to Sam

My dear Sir / Will you have the goodness to send me as fully as you may be able the history of y’r pseudonym—“Mark Twain.” How it was originated when you first used it, & in what connection on all these points I sh. be exceedingly glad to be informed.

      I am preparing a handy book on pseudonyms—to include the history of the more important ones—wh. the Harpers are to publish—and it is extremely desirable th. I have the information for wh. I ask. [ page 883 ]

            With the hope th. I am putting you to no great incovenience / Believe me Dear Sir / to be faithfully: Rev. J. Dewitt Miller. / 34 West —24th St / New York City [MTP]. Note: Clemens wrote on the letter, “From an ass—Not answered.” His note begs the question why such a response to an innocent request? Was it Miller’s approach, his style of abbreviation, did Clemens consider the request impertinent? or did Clemens have some former contact with Miller? See Dec. 2? 1874 entry for more on Miller.

November 25 Tuesday – Sam wrote another postcard from Hartford to James Pond, saying he couldn’t take part in the “20 nights’ Entertainments,” but if he could spare the time he would “willingly do it for $7,000 a night” [MTLE 4: 159].

Sam’s letter of Nov. 22, “Mark Twain on the New Postal Barbarism” ran in the Hartford Courant [MTLE 4: 153; Camfield bibliog.].

In Belmont, Howells sent Sam a postcard, glad he was coming to the Holmes breakfast [MTHL 1: 282].

Jesse Madison Leathers wrote from NYC to congratulate Sam on his return and hope that his new book would “excell anything you have yet written,” though he thought IA would never be equaled. Did Sam meet any of the Lambton family while in England? He wanted a “short visit” over the holidays [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “From the American Earl of Dunham / 1879”

Richard S. Tuthill, atty. wrote from Chicago to Sam, wishing to reimburse him for expenses in coming to Chicago [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “From Col. Tuthill / 1879 Grant speech”.

November 26 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Andrew H.H. Dawson, declining to come to another banquet and citing the Dec. 3 banquet, and also more time than anticipated on getting his book ready. If Dawson didn’t hear from Sam by Dec. 20, “cross me off & consider that my book as got me ‘in the door’ & I can’t come.” [MTLE 4: 160].

Sam also wrote to Jesse M. Leathers, letter not extant but referred to in Leathers’ Nov. 29 reply.

Sam also wrote to Frank Fuller with the same information he wrote to Dawson. He added that Dan Slote could tell Fuller about the patent, which Sam thought was “not sound & strong” [MTLE 4: 161].

November 27 Thursday – Livy’s 34th birthday – Sam wrote her a love note.

“I love you, my darling, & this my love will increase step by step as tooth by tooth falls out, milestoning my way down to the great mystery & the Sweet Bye & Bye” [MTLE 4: 162].

Sam also wrote from Hartford to Howells that he would be leaving Hartford on Dec. 2 with Charles Warner, who would go to “friends in the Highlands.” They would reach “Boston about 6 PM” [MTLE 4: 163]

November 28 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells. Sam knew he would face the Boston Brahmins Longfellow, Emerson, and Holmes, across tables once more, and have a chance to further redeem himself from the Whittier debacle. He asked Howells if he might “be heard among the very earliest…” and wanted Holmes to read what he might say prior to the event, “& strike out whatever you choose.” Sam took no chances this time.

Evidently, Howells had written of his son’s ambition to become an outlaw. Sam responded that this reminded him of “Susie’s newest & very earnest longing—to have crooked teeth & glasses—‘like mamma’,” Sam wrote: “I would like to look into a child’s head, once, & see what its processes are” [MTLE 4: 164]. [ page 884 ]

Hjalmar Boyesen wrote to Sam, noting he had not rec’d a reply from a second letter he’d sent about the arrival of their new baby. He apologized for missing them in Elmira, but the Mrs. had “not really been herself” since the baby was born. He thanked him for “sending me that little item from the Courant” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Boyesen / had a baby, or thought he did / 1879”

November 29 Saturday – Jesse Madison Leathers wrote to Sam after receiving his of Nov. 26 (not extant); he thanked Sam for a Feb. invite. He noted the recent death of the Earl of Durham and considered sending a cable, but thought better since “they do not know us.” He speculated the son would be easier to deal with (Leathers intended to be a claimant of the estate) than the father [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “From the rightful Earl of Durham. / Tell Warner at the breakfast if he is going to give him proof or MS of [illegible word] he reads at New Haven.”

November 29? Saturday – Sam received a letter from Richard S. Tuthill, notifying him that the Army of Tennessee veterans had voted him a “ ‘Oner’—a sort of prince in disguise—a nobleman who derives his title to nobility directly from Almighty God,” etc., in appreciation for his contributions to their Chicago reunion. Sam embedded a few remarks in the letter and returned it [MTLE 4: 165].

November 30 Sunday – Sam’s 44th birthday. He read a piece called “Plagiarism” to the Saturday Morning Club in Hartford [MTPO].

He also gave a reading at the home of Mrs. Samuel Colt for the Decorative Art Society [MTPO].

He wrote a short note to his sister, Pamela Moffett, who evidently had received thanks from a committee he’d donated books to. Livy was “doing tolerably—only. The children are hearty” [MTLE 4: 167].

Thomas B. Kirby, private secretary to the Postmaster General of the U.S. wrote to Sam.

Dear Sir: / Noticing your letter to The HARTFORD COURANT upon the recent order of the Postmaster General, I take the liberty of enclosing a few copies of a tract which the Department has prepared in order to meet such hardened cases as yours. After reading the tract and the enclosed clipping (from the Cincinnati Enquirer), which latter I wish you would return to me as it is the only copy I have, you will see that the “unnecessary labor” of which you complain was really as unnecessary as the complaint, the only utility of which was to add to the already surplus stock of misinformation in the world, and to enable some needy compositors to increase their strings by several thousand, which latter end might have been just as well attained by the use of bogus.

      I send you by this mail a copy of the Postal Laws and Regulations to explain the allusions in the tract, and hope you will take the trouble to look into the matter thoroughly. The Department is a unit in regarding the order as the greatest step towards perfecting the postal service that has been taken for years, and its officers are confident that when the public understand it they will sustain it. / Yours Truly, /Thos. B. Kirby [MTPO]. Note: file says, “Printed in New York Times 14 December 1879 & Hartford Courant, 9 Dec. 1879”

December, before the 20th – Livy and Sam had enjoyed the Mother Goose performance at the Colt Party on Nov. 24. Livy wrote of it in her diary on Nov. 30 and soon planned her own such performance using James Elliott’s Mother Goose Set to Music. Sam’s notebook lists Piper’s Son as Mr. Carter; Dame Trot as Anne Trumbull; Emily as Mother Goose; Miss Barnard as Miss Muffett, Mr. Carpenter as Little Boy Blue; Adams & Miss Trobridge as Blue Beard & wife; and others. Moncure Conway wrote on Dec. 20: “Nor shall I forget the Mother Goose Party” [Gribben 219; MTNJ 2: 378; Salsbury 112].

December 1 Monday – From Park & Tilford, New York, a long list of grocery items $136.01 tot, incl 2 dz Glen Whisky for $28 total [MTP].

 

William A. Seaver wrote from Mt. Vernon, NY to Sam. [ page 885 ]

 

Noble young Man:— / A young friend called at my house last evening, just as the bells were gonging for church, and asked me, in a perfectly serious manner, if you were the author of

“Jim Dobbs and the Tom Cats.”

He had bottled beer on the affirmative of that propagicion. I answered in a sloppy, evasive way, that I was not cock sure as to whether Jim was one of your gets, or not. I pumped him as to whether it was St. James-The-Less Dobbs, or whether the brute had a front name of another and more profance character. (I had him there by reason of his unfamiliarity with the Sacred Vol.)

      My man is in a family way about this, and if you would pay out a truthful statement of the basement facts, and ship to me as soon as the tide will serve, it will do him tubs of good, and at the same cheer the heart of

      Your old, but still staggering friend … [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “From old Seaver”.

December 2 Tuesday – Sam left Hartford and traveled to Boston, then on to Howells’ residence in Belmont, Mass. Charles Dudley Warner had lobbied for Sam to attend and accompanied him to Boston, where he then went on to visit friends [MTLE 4: 157].

December 3 Wednesday – In Boston Sam spoke at the Atlantic Monthly Breakfast for Oliver Wendell Holmes’ 70th birthday [Fatout, MT Speaking 134]. This time there was no embarrassment, as Sam delivered a Howells-approved speech. Sam met Francis Parkman (1823-1893) at this breakfast [MTNJ 2: 359n11]. Parkman, an American historian, is best known as the author of The Oregon Trail.

Sam’s speech ran in the Boston Daily Advertiser on Dec. 4 [Camfield, bibliog.]. Another article ran in the Brooklyn Eagle, page 2, describing the Holmes breakfast:

That inexhaustible post prandial speaker, Mr. Samuel L. Clemens, whom it is so hard to think of as having any other name than Mark Twain, well expressed this universal familiarity with Dr. Holmes’ productions when he narrated his unconscious plagiarism of the dedication of his “Innocents Abroad” from one of the Doctor’s early volumes of poems.

December 4 Thursday – Sam probably returned to Hartford late on Dec. 3 or this day. He described the visit as “intolerably short” in a Dec. 9 letter.

December 5 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Frank Fuller, asking if he could get someone up to Hartford right away to fix the music box he’d ordered in Geneva.

Sam confided that he’d backed out of Slote’s speculation because his “lawyer insisted that it was risky” [MTLE 4: 168].

Sam also wrote to the poet, William Winter (1836-1917), complimenting him on a poem he felt was perfect, a “master-work.” [MTLE 4: 169]. Note: The poem that Sam rhapsodized about was, “The Chieftain,” later collected in The Poems of William Winter (1881) [MTP].

December 8 Monday – In Hartford, Sam responded to the Nov. 30 insulting letter from Thomas B. Kirby, private secretary to the Postmaster General, about Sam’s objections to the new postal regulations, which ran in the Hartford Courant. Sam’s hilarious response to Kirby was also sent to the editor of the Courant, and was printed there Dec. 9 [MTLE 4: 170].

Livy wrote to her mother:

It has been a rainy day here, this morning I taught the children for nearly two hours…They are so delightful to teach for they enjoy it so very much…First we have a reading lesson in German…then Geography…then [ page 886 ] mental arithmetic…in the middle of the lessons somewhere we have bean bags or gymnastics, and one day they sewed a little—I do enjoy my forenoons with them so very much [Salsbury 112].

Frank Fuller wrote from NYC to Sam: “Just came from Paillard’s. [Musical box Co.] He says he can’t possibly send his music box sharp up to you till sometime after New Years as they are all busy with holiday work. He has only one thorough expert, & knows of no other” [MTP]. Note: a card for M.J. Paillard & Co., NYC is in the file.

December 9 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to James Cowan (1839-1884), declining to “write something for the ‘Knapsack’ as his time was “so wholly occupied on the closing chapters of a book…” [MTLE 4: 175].

Sam’s response to Thomas B. Kirby ran under the heading “Mark Twain and Postal Matters” in the Hartford Courant [MTLE 4: 170; Camfield, bibliog.].

Sam also wrote to Howells, thanking him for the “intolerably short” time he had at Belmont staying with the Howellses. Sam wrote that his letter to Kirby was in this morning’s Courant. “I make an effort to blast the Post Master General’s private secretary from his lucrative position. I think I’ve rather got him” [MTLE 4: 176]

Sam also wrote to Robert Green Ingersoll asking for a perfect copy of his Chicago speech. Sam had “imperfect copies” and he wanted a good one for his scrapbook. He wrote he was going to read the speech to the Saturday Morning Club, his group of young girls [MTLE 4: 177].

Martin Beem, atty. wrote from Chicago, whole page enclosed from the Chicago Daily Tribune of Dec. 2, which included a speech by Gen. Beem under “Unhappy Ireland.” “My Dear Twain: / Do you know I’m awful glad I met you while here.” He complimented the “Babies” speech [MTP]. 

William Winter wrote from Staten Island about Holmes and the poem he’d written for the dinner [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Willie Winter / Poet / Holmes Dinner / 1879”

December 10 Wednesday – Sam wrote a short note to Howells, asking to:

“…place this cuss’s name & address alongside Chatto’s, & order ‘simultane’ sheets to be sent to him & Chatto at the same time—when there are any?” Sam wanted to keep his word “for the novelty of it” [MTLE 4: 178].

December 11 Thursday – Robert Green Ingersoll sent Sam a copy of his The Ghosts and Other Lectures (1879) inscribed: “Saml Clemens Esq / from his friend / R.G. Ingersoll / Dec 11, 79” [Gribben 344]. (See Dec. 13 entry). Note: Sam had asked for a good copy of Ingersoll’s recent Chicago speech, and read the speech to the young ladies at the Saturday Morning Club on Dec. 13, so this book must have included the speech.

Dr. I. DeZouche for the Mark Twain Club, Carlow Ireland wrote from Gloversville, NY, enclosing a MS by the secretary, Charles Casey (the only member as it turns out), “expressing a hope that through the instrumentality of your influence it may be disposed of to the benefit of the funds of the society” [MTP].

Thomas B. Kirby replied to Clemens in an “Open Letter to Mark Twain” which appeared in the Dec. 9 Courant and the Dec. 11 Hartford Evening Post—pertaining to Twain’s upset at the post office and Kirby’s reply [MTP].

December 12 Friday – Charles W. Sackville wrote from Wash. D.C. to thank Sam for his “killing” letter to Thomas B. Kirby about the post office mess. He sketched a “monument” of Sam killing Kirby. “…you are his destroyer, but while he shall rot and perish in oblivion, you shall have a monument, erected by a grateful [ page 887 ] country, before which the Pyramids of Egypt will appear as molehills.” See insert [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Picture of Monument”. Sackville is listed in an 1883 Masonic roster for D.C.

December 13 Saturday – Sam read Robert Green Ingersoll’s Chicago speech to the young ladies at the Saturday Morning Club of Hartford [MTLE 4: 180].

Irving S. Upson wrote from Rutgers College to honor Sam with membership in their Literary Society [MTP].

December 14 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Robert Howland in San Francisco, old friend from Carson City days, thanking him for the pictures and reminding him to “put in an appearance here when you come east” [MTLE 4: 179].

Sam also wrote to Gen. William E. Strong, letter not extant but referred to in Strong’s Dec. 19 reply.

Sam also wrote to Robert Green Ingersoll [MTLE 4: 180], who had sent him copies of his books on religion and philosophy, including Ghosts and Other Lectures [Schwartz 185]. Sam wrote Howells on Nov. 17: “Bob Ingersoll’s speech…will sing through my memory always as the divinest that ever enchanted my ears.” Schwartz writes that Sam “found in Ingersoll’s ‘splendid chapters’ ammunition for his own battle with orthodox Christianity” [185]. Note: This “battle” would remain mostly undercover for many years.

James Redpath wrote from NYC asking if he might do a sketch of his life for the San Francisco Chronicle. “Can you write for me an unbelievable description of your home?” [MTP].

December 15 Monday – William Gray Thomas wrote from Oakland, Calif. to ask Sam if he’d read a novel Thomas had written. Thomas grew up in Florida, Mo., Sam’s birthplace and was known then as “Willie Gray Thomas,” and remembered Sam well. “…you have made such a noise in the world that I could not well help it” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the back of the letter., “Can’t do it.”

December 16 Tuesday – Joseph N. Verey wrote from London to Sam, answering his of Nov. 5, which he’d rec’d at Florence. Verey was grateful for Sam’s recommendations, as it had made a great difference in being able to support his invalid mother by hiring as a guide [MTP]. Note: Sam’s Nov. 5 to Very not extant.

December 18 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Frank B. Earnest (suspected pseudonym of a journalist, probably from the Knoxville Tribune, where this reply was first printed, then reprinted in the New York Times on Jan. 2, 1880.)

Dear Sir: I thank you very much for that pleasant article. Of course, it is not for me to judge between Artemus & myself or trade merits, but when it comes to speaking of matters personal, I am a good witness. Artemus was one of the kindest & gentlest men in the world, & the hold which he took on the Londoners surpasses imagination. To this day one of the first questions which a Londoner asks me is if I knew Artemus Ward; the answer, “yes,” makes that man my friend on the spot. Artemus seems to have been on the warmest terms with [ page 888 ] thousands of those people. Well, he seems never to have written a harsh thing against anybody — neither have I, for that matter — at least nothing harsh enough for a body to fret about — & I think he never felt bitter toward people. There may have been three or four other people like that in the world at one time or another, but they probably died a good while ago. I think his lecture on the “Babes in the Wood” was the funniest thing I ever listened to. Artemus once said to me gravely, almost sadly, “Clemens, I have done too much fooling, too much trifling; I am going to write something that will live.”

      “Well, what, for instance?”

      In the same grave way, he said:

      “A lie

      It was an admirable surprise; I was just getting ready to cry, he was becoming so pathetic. This has never been in print — you should give it to your friend of the American, for I judge by what he writes on Artemus that he will appreciate it. I think it’s mighty bright — as well for its quiet sarcasm as for its happy suddenness & unexpectedness [MTLE 4: 181].

December 19 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Frank Fuller at the Windsor Hotel in New York. Sam wrote he would drop having the music box fixed until he was “out of this awful press of work.” Elisha Bliss had regained control after his son Frank Bliss had confessed his ambition was beyond his ability. Elisha imposed a 2,600-page count (MS pages) on Sam for A Tramp Abroad, and so the work dragged on [Powers, MT A Life 433]. The Dawson invitation matter was still bugging Sam, as Dawson replied back that he “should give out that.” Sam was coming, “& would shoot me if I made him lie, & so on. So much for ever having anything to do with a stranger” [MTLE 4: 182].

William E. Strong wrote from Chicago to Sam: “Yours of the 14th inst. rec’d. The letter of the 6th Nov. is just what I wanted. I thank you very much for it. There is no letter among my 300 which I prize more highly.” Strong advised he’d sent a box “containing a full set of cards, programmes & printed matter” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Gen. Strong ’79 / Army Tennessee”; Sam’s Dec. 14 not extant but see Nov. 6 for his other to Strong.

December 20 Saturday – John Munro wrote from Bathurst, N. Brunswick to Sam. “I note by the papers that you are troubled with twins and I now enclose you how to raise them successfully this like Mr Toodles…Wishing you the compliments of the season..” [MTP]. File note: see Fuller to SLC 23 Feb 80 & SLC to Fuller 24 80

December 21 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Mary Mason Fairbanks. Sam gave the usual excuses and apologies for not writing. Evidently, Mary’s last letter said that her financial crisis was over. Sam blamed “confound speculation, anyway!” Sam was beginning his days by writing and ending it the same way, and had “to be dragged to dinner by the hair” [MTLE 4: 183]. 

 

Robert S. Critchell wrote to Sam after sending him some prairie chickens. The letter is not extant but referred to in Sam’s Dec. 26-31 reply. See entry.

 

December 21 and 23 Tuesday – Orion and Mollie Clemens wrote to Sam and Livy (Mollie to Livy, Orion to Sam). Orion wrote of his struggles with writing, his gratitude for Sam’s aid, their 25th anniversary, and Christmas wishes [MTP].

December 22 Monday – Andrew H.H. Dawson wrote to Sam, enclosing a printed invitation to a festival and banquet at Delmonico’s on Jan 26, 1880 [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “I didn’t answer or go to his banquet. S.L.C.”

Lem. C. Salisbury (“Salty”) wrote from NY to Sam. “Dear Old Friend: / For such I can address you without assuming too much. But after you read this letter you may say, ‘What a cheek!’…” This was a begging letter for a loan of “a few dollars” from a typesetter at the Territorial Enterprise [MTP]. [ page 889 ]

December 23 Tuesday – Sam ordered the Nov. 1879 St. Nicholas: A Magazine for Boys and Girls and a Jan. to Dec. 1880 subscription to Scribner’s Monthly, both  from Scribner & Co. of New York [Gribben 599, 619; Receipt at MTP dated Dec. 29].

Richard S. Tuthill wrote after Sam refused to be reimbursed for travel expenses to Chicago. A fan letter praising Sam and his works [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “From Col. Tuthill, Army of the Tennessee”

December 24 Wednesday – Livy recited “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” for Susy and Clara.  Sam, wearing a Santa Claus beard, rushed into the room and told the girls stories about his old times and travels [Powers, MT A Life 433].

James J. Lampton wrote a three-page letter to Sam, postmarked St. Louis, Dec. 26. Lampton invited Sam and his “wee bairns” to the wedding of his daughter, Katie B. Lampton on Dec. 31 at 9PM to Mr. Corey E. Paxon, of St. Louis. Sam wrote on the envelope: “From ‘Col. Sellers’.” Lampton claimed that Katie was the “image of Sam’s mother at that age.” [MTP]. Note: Since the wedding was only five days after the invitation was mailed and but a couple after Sam received the letter, the Clemens family could hardly have put a trip together on that short notice.

December 25 Thursday – Christmas ­– Susy Clemens received a copy of Alvan Bond’s Young People’s Illustrated Bible History (1878) from her grandmother, Olivia Lewis Langdon [Gribben 77]. Sam received a copy of Moritz Busch’s Bismark in the Franco-German War 1870-1871 from his nephew, Samuel Moffett [Gribben 119].

Sam replied to the Dec. 20 of John Munro, of New Brunswick, Canada. Munro wrote that he’d heard Sam was “troubled with twins,” and enclosed something on how to raise them successfully [https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/]. Sam answered:

“My twins (born three years apart) are happily past that stage, but I thank you all the same for your receipt, as does one of our neighbors, who is in a position to take advantage of it” [MTLE 4: 184]. Note: sold on eBay 310090576701 Oct 2008.

December 26 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to his nephew, Samuel Moffett, who was in Atlanta and had sent his uncle “the very book” he had “been wanting & intending to buy, ever since it was published.” (The title of the book is unknown.)

Livy was “by no means well,” Sam wrote [MTLE 4: 185]. Livy, not a strong woman, had been worn down by the travels, supervising every detail of the redecorating, and by her usual festooning of the house with Christmas décor.

     

December 26-31, 1879 addition – In Hartford Sam replied to the Dec. 21 from Robert S. Critchell:

      Dear Sir: / Here’s fun & more of it. I received your letter of Dec. 21. It got here after the chickens did, & as our mutual friend, Robert Law, had been in the habit of sending me a Christmas present of prairie chickens for a great many years I jumped to the conclusion he had done it again, & so I went to the telegraph office & wired him my thanks for your chickens. I want you to see Law & tell him I don’t take back any of the thanks I wired. I want him to add those to the old account, but I want to say to you that those chickens were fine & came just in time for Christmas dinner, & I am glad you got that agency [MTPO: “Recent Changes,” Jan. 20, 2009: Chicago Tribune, May 11, 1902].  [ page 890 ]

December 27 Saturday – Andrew H.H. Dawson wrote from NYC to advise Sam he was glad Sam would attend a dinner he’d been working on but if he didn’t show Dawson would be in “a fix.” The more he wrote the more illegible his hand became [MTP]. See Dec. 22 from Dawson.

December 29 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Robert Howland, trying to arrange a planned visit for “the early part of next week,” because Livy “succumbed this afternoon & took to her bed…” [MTLE 4: 186].

Scribner’s & Sons receipted Sam for subscriptions purchased Dec. 23 (see entry).

 

 


 

 

 [ page 891 ]
Hartford & Elmira – Investments: Kaolatype, Paige – Tile Club – A Tramp Abroad

 Jane Lampton Clemens (Jean) born – “Wattie” – Boston Getaway

Frederick Douglass Speech – Grant Speaks in Hartford

Elisha Bliss Dead – Political Speeches for Garfield – Slote & Sneider

Grant Saves Chinese Mission – 1880 Income $250,000

1880 – Sam began using more facsimile correspondence cards of his handwriting to decline lecture invitations [MTLE 5: 6]

A piece of sheet music titled, “The Mark Twain Waltz,” composed for piano, was published in Milwaukee, Wisc., by Wm. Rohlfing & Co. “The following melodies having been composed while smoking one of your celebrated MARK TWAIN CIGARS. Allow me to dedicate the same to you, X.Y.Z”. [The Twainian, Feb 1940 p7; image online at the Library of Congress].

Sometime during the year, Lilly Gillette Foote (1860-1932) became governess for the Clemens children. She came to Nook Farm to live with relatives; her cousin was Lilly Warner (Mrs. George Warner); Foote’s sister lived with the Charles Dudley Warners. Lilly was responsible for the children’s formal education [Salsbury 127-8].

Possibly during 1880, Sam wrote this question to the Murphy O’Mulligan Club:

“We know there is Unrestricted Suffrage, we think there is a Hell: but the question is, which do we PREFER?” [MTLE 5: 1].

In another note to an unidentified person, Sam called this the “Murphy O’Mulligan New York Sixth Ward Democratic Club,” and wrote that the sentiment he’d sent “was declined for some reason…”[MTLE 5: 3].

Another probable 1880 is the letter Sam wrote to George Alfred Townsend:

“I read it more than half through the first evening, picking out the plums, such as ‘The Big Idiot,’ & greatly enjoyed the entertainment” [MTLE 5: 2]

George Alfred Townsend was a famous Civil War journalist for the New York Herald, New York World, and later a ghostwriter for the New York Times. He was also a prolific poet and novelist. The book Sam offered feedback on was Tales of the Chesapeake (1880), which has a chapter titled “The Big Idiot.” Tales was a collection of poems and stories about Delaware and the Maryland shore. (Available online at: https://www.gutenberg.org/).

Sam inscribed the first volume in Edward Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-1788). “S.L. Clemens / Hartford 1880” [MTP].

Another possible 1880 entry is an envelope only addressed to Franklin Gray Whitmore (1846-1926) of 116 Main Street, Hartford [MTLE 5: 4].

This extract from an online site by Gribben sheds light on Whitmore, but suggests the business relationship may have been much later:

“By at least 1887 he [Sam] had also begun to employ Franklin G. Whitmore (1846–1926), a Hartford real estate and insurance agent, to take care of everything from magazine subscriptions to the sale of the Hartford house in 1903.” [Editorial emphasis]. <https://www.compedit.com/mark_twain,_business.htm> [ page 892 ]

Powers calls Whitmore “an old Hartford billiards-playing pal” [MT A Life 506] and details Whitmore’s advice later on the Paige typesetter.

Kaplan lays Sam’s first stock purchase in the Paige machine at the feet of Dwight Buell, Hartford jeweler, who “cornered Clemens in the billiard room, describing a typesetting machine that was being built at the Colt arms factory, and persuaded him to buy two thousand dollars’ worth of stock” [282]. See MTA 1: 70 for Sam’s account of how his greatest investment loss began.

Sometime during 1880 Sam gave a reading at Decorative Art Society, at the home of Mrs. Samuel Colt in Hartford. (See Jan. 13, 1881 entry.)

Gribben conjectures that Sam began an undated manuscript during 1880, “The Walt Whitman Controversy,” which argued that Whitman’s poetry was innocuous compared to Rabelais [566]. As to the “Walt Whitman Controversy,” which Gribben states was begun sometime this year, Ed Folsom and Jerome Loving’s article in the Virginia Quarterly Review, “The Walt Whitman Controversy,” gives 1882. Robert Hirst also dated this as 1882. It may simply be that Sam began the piece in 1880 and did not finish it until 1882. [https://www.vqronline.org/articles/2007/spring/folsom-loving-whitman/].

Budd lists “A Cat Tale” as being written this year; not published during Sam’s lifetime [“Collected”, 1019]. Note: first appeared in Concerning Cats: Two Tales of Mark Twain (1959). A version was printed in 1962 in Letters from the Earth, ed. Bernard DeVoto. See insert, which Clemens drew as an illustration for the story.

January – Sam was reading Robert Green Ingersoll’s Ghosts and Other Lectures, which the writer had sent him in Dec. 1879. Sam used an incident from Ingersoll’s book in The Prince and the Pauper about a woman and her nine-year-old daughter “selling their souls to the Devil” and “raising a storm by pulling off their stockings” [Schwartz 187].

Sam inscribed Memoirs of Madame de Remusat, 1802-1808 (1880) for his library [Gribben 574].

January 1-7? Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Andrew Dawson about being interrupted from attending “at the honors of the 26th.” This is the same “stranger” whose invites Sam had expressed frustration with late in 1879. Sam intended to “attack one position of that poet [Burns]—though not in an irreverent way.” Man wasn’t made to mourn, Sam said, and ended his letter abruptly with talk of his interruption [MTLE 5: 7]. Note: this was dated Jan. 24, but by then Sam and Livy were in Elmira, so Sam must have post-dated it to send right before the event of Jan. 26.

January 7 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to his mother, Jane Clemens, who had not been well. This was a serious, comforting letter. He wrote that Livy had “been running down & getting weak, in consequence of overwork in re-arranging the house.” Sam planned to take Livy to Elmira to let Livy’s mother nurse her back to health. They would leave the next day, and leave the children behind with the staff, hoping to return in two weeks [MTLE 5: 8].

January 8 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells.

Am waiting for Patrick to come with the carriage—Mrs. Clemens & I are starting (without the children!) to stay indefinitely in Elmira. The wear & tear of settling the house broke her down, & she has been growing weaker & weaker for a fortnight. All that time—in fact ever since I saw you—I have been fighting a life-&-death battle with this infernal book & hoping to get done some day. I required 300 pages of MS, & I have [ page 893 ] written near 600 since I saw you—& tore it all up except 288. This I was about to tear up yesterday & begin again, when Mrs. Perkins came up to the billiard room & said, “You will never get any woman to do the thing necessary to save her life by mere persuasion; you see you have wasted your words for 3 weeks; it is time to use force; she must have a change; take her home & leave the children here” [MTLE 5: 9].

Sam also wrote a short note to Thomas Bailey Aldrich, advising of their removal to Elmira [MTLE 5: 10].

Sam and Livy left Hartford for Elmira. (See Jan. 7 entry).

January 9 Friday – William Hooker Gillette (1853-1937) was back in Hartford in a play he’d written, which Andrews calls “miserable” [99]. The play was “The Professor” and Gillette lost all the money that Sam had lent him [257n56]. Though by 1880 it was no longer considered shameful to attend the theater in Hartford, Joe Twichell retained reservations about acting and faith mixing. From his journal:

“We shall see how the experiment of yoking religious principle with life on the stage works” [Andrews 99; Yale, copy at MTP].

January 13 Tuesday – William Mackay Laffan (1848-1909) wrote to invite Sam to dine with the NYC Tile Club on the 24th, at 3.30 in the studio of Mr. Chase, 51 West 10th. Laffan had tiny handwriting [MTP].

January 15 Thursday – William Mackay Laffan wrote again to ask Sam if he’d not just attend but “participate” in the Tile Club dinner on the 24th [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote the date, place & time on the env.

January 18 Sunday – Robert Green Ingersoll, whom Sam had met at the Chicago banquet of Nov. 14, 1879, wrote to Sam about attendance at a festival for Robert Burns:

My Dear Clemens, I never agreed to attend the Burns festival. Dawson wrote me that you were to be there, and that was the principal inducement held out for me to be on hand. I love Burns, but I hate to see a lot of common d—d Presbyterian Scotch pretending that they appreciate that great and tender soul….The truth is, Scotland was unworthy of Robert Burns….If you are, after all, going to the festival telegraph me. I shall be at Brockport, N.Y. on the 19th, and at Albion on the 20th [MTBus 141].

January 19 Monday – In Elmira, Sam wrote to Moncure Conway. He acknowledged receipt of funds from Chatto. “Dod-rot the new book—as John the Baptist would say—it hangs along drearily.”

Sam had proofread to the middle of A Tramp Abroad. Sales by subscription were big, and so popular was the name Mark Twain that Sam figured he’d be “twelve or fifteen thousand dollars better off” though he noted he didn’t have the money yet. Evidently, Conway included news of their new home they named “Inglewood,” and Sam hoped to visit when they traveled again. He told of Livy’s slow recovery and their need to stay perhaps another fortnight. Sam ended with a note that Elmira would be the site for the “Adam monument” [MTLE 5: 12].

January 24 Saturday – In Elmira, Sam wrote to Howells. Sam asked if he went to the Tile Club dinner in New York.

Notes: The Tile Club was founded in 1877, at the behest of a British architect, Edward Wimbridge, who suggested painting on 8 x 8 inch ceramic tiles (as a reaction to the decorative craze which cut into their painting sales). Twelve artists and writers joined more for the fellowship, exchange of ideas, and conviviality of like-minded souls than for tile painting, as the media in which the artists actually worked was not limited. The club met until about 1887. The original members included the illustrator, Edwin Abbey (present at the Stomach Club in Paris, where Sam read his piece on Onanism), and the painters, J. Alden Weir and Winslow Homer.  [ page 894 ]

Over time, about 30 men joined the Club but the core group usually stayed at about a dozen members. Later members included the architect, Stanford White the sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens (also in Paris at Millet’s wedding with Sam); the painters, William Merritt Chase (1849-1916), John Henry Twachtman (1853-1902), Elihu Vedder, Francis Millet, the painter and photographer, Napoleon Sarony (1821-1896), and the Japanese art director, Heromichi Shugio. There were also four honorary musician members. The Club met on Wednesdays, usually near the Tenth Street Studio Building, where they critiqued each other’s work. They also had dinner parties in each other’s studios with musical accompaniment from their honorary members, went on sketching excursions to the seaside and countryside, or visited art museums. A collegial group, the artists and writers collaborated on writing and illustrating their own Tile Club publications as well as on articles published in Harper’s Weekly, Scribner’s or Century magazines. Their final publication was A Book of the Tile Club in 1886 which described the easy camaraderie of the Club and included anecdotes about members.

For more on the Tile Club and their famous outings, see Mahonri Sharp Young’s essay, “The Tile Club Revisited,” American Art Journal Vol. 2, No. 2 (Autumn, 1970) p. 81-91. Young claims the artists often threw tiles at each other, and broke up shortly after the 1886 book—the rumored cause was Hopkinson Smith’s personality [or, perhaps too many tiles found their mark].

Sam ended the letter with:

“We reach Hartford next Saturday—leave here Tuesday & take 2 days to go to New York, & stay there a day or two” [MTLE 5: 13].

January 25 Sunday – Sam wrote from Elmira to his sister, Pamela Moffett. He told of their plans to return to Hartford, and of his mother-in-law’s stomach ache.

…Susie Crane stepped into the closet where the district-telegraph machine is, to call the doctor, but made a mistake & called the fire-department! In two minutes the yard & adjacent streets were swarming with shouting men & shrieking steam fire engines. None of us knew what it meant, as Sue did not know she had made any mistake. It was the biggest audience that a stomach ache ever called together in this State, I judge [MTLE 5: 14].

January 27 Tuesday – Sam wrote a one-liner from Elmira to an unidentified female: “Well, my dear, I won’t forget you if you don’t forget me. That is fair” [MTLE 5: 15].

January 29 Thursday – Mary Keily in Lancaster, Penn. Insane asylum, finished a letter to Sam begun on Jan. 27, asking again for $5 [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “From lunatic”. Note: Mary’s several letters in the files are extremely long, rambling and non-sensical. For the most part they have not been quoted in this volume out of respect for the mentally disturbed.

February – Sam wrote to Frank Fuller, responding to a proposal (not extant).

 

That has a very pleasant sound, my boy. Go you ahead & do as you have proposed to do. We will make the said assignments. Old Bowers has been haunting Dan Slote, (121 Wm. st.,) every day, lately. I told Dan I will never see him, & to tell him to go to you for the talk which he desired to have [MTPO]. Note: H.C. Bowers. See June 11, 1877 and Feb. 24, 1880 for more on what Bowers was up to. When it came to Fuller, a variety of investments were usually involved.

Clemens purchased four-fifths of the stock in the Kaolatype Engraving Co. and became president. The cost, $20,000. See AMT 2: 489.

February 3 Tuesday – In Boston, Howells wrote to Sam of health of the wives, a sketch sent by Sam and a recent event: “That Tile Club Dinner, I’m told, was great affair: darkies in fezes and yataghans waiting on the guests, and narghiles ad libitum” [MTHL 1: 289]. [ page 895 ]

February 4 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Frank and Elizabeth (“Lil”) Millet, congratulating them on the birth of their first child. “The Clemenses congratulate you heartily, notwithstanding their irritating disappointment—they were hoping it was going to be triplets” [MTLE 5: 17].

February 6 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Mary Mason Fairbanks, enclosing a picture of their house made by Dan Slote’s engraving process. Sam denied the rumor that he “coveted a seat in Congress.” Livy was “an invalid again in a small way”; the girls were “well & hearty” [MTLE 5: 18].

Rev. Thomas A. Davis wrote to Clemens. In part:

Dear Sir / It is well known among the colored People throughout the country that you have always spoken a word of kindness for them[.] A few weeks ago I called upon you to secure if—Possible your cooperation with other men of Standing in the work of missions which we as a religious denominations are engage in thoughout New-England States we have 24 places called mission fields. they afford religious instruction to our race, for in many places where there is but few or not more than a half dozen persons the access to white churches is easy and Desirable But if there be more than this number they are Timid—and the most of them will imagine thay are not wanting now. Sir the uneducated State of our people and there peculiar religious notions warrant us to secure places of worship, of our own, for the present. Again our People could not get all that they might demand in white Churches more especially where there rented pews—

      Under this Plane truth regarding my race, we call upon Christian friends and all others of the Amarican People throughout good Old New-England to help us bear this burden [MTP]. Note: Davis went on to claim the state Governor and “a large number of your Influenchel Citizens.” Clemens sent this letter on to the Governor the following day to confirm his recommendation of Davis. See entries. File note: “See SLC to Charles B. Andrews, 7 February 1880 & Andrews to SLC 11 February 1880”.

“Colonel” Alexander Curran Walker wrote from McBean, Ga. to Clemens unable to “conceive that Mark Twain can edit a republican paper” [MTP]. Note: see also Aug. 23, 1870 from Walker. Sam wrote on the env., “From an ass”.

February 7 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles B. Andrews (1836-1902), Governor of Conn. Sam enclosed the Feb. 6 letter from “Rev. Mr. Davis” that mentioned the Governor; Sam wished to verify the Governor’s recommendation [MTLE 5: 19]. Note: See Feb. 11 reply from Andrews.

Sam also wrote to Orion.

“Glass received, all right. Been waiting to see whether Livy would be well enough to have a visit. Things look well; so if you & Mollie could come right along, now, & stay with us a few days or a week, you could then go back & finish your visit at Fredonia” [MTLE 5: 20].

Sam wrote to the Papyrus Club declining an invitation to dinner [MTLE 5: 21]. Aldrich and Howells were members of John Boyle O’Reilly’s Papyrus Club in Boston, the “headquarters of Bohemia” in that city in the early 1870s. The club was composed mostly of literary men and journalists. Sam would give a speech there Feb. 24, 1881.

February 9 Monday – R.P. Sawyers wrote from St. Louis to ask Sam about the claim made in RI that the govt. paid $50,000 “as a royalty” for the perforating machine for postage stamps; he’d also read the govt. lost five million a year from people washing and reusing stamps. Could Sam verify these claims? [MTP]. Note: a self-addressed (no stamp) env. is in the file, suggesting Sam did not reply.

February 10 Tuesday – William Gedney Bunce wrote to advise Sam that “Your picture starts today”—evidently a picture ordered [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Wm Gedney Bunch, Artist”. [ page 896 ]

February 11 Wednesday – Charles B. Andrews replied to Sam’s inquiry and forward of Thomas A. Davis’ letter. Andrews answered that he did not know Davis [MTP]. See Feb. 6 from Davis and Feb. 7 from Sam.

Ellen (Mary) Keily (ca.1816-1901), resident of the Lancaster, Penn. county alms house and insane asylum, began a rambling, sometimes incoherent letter to Clemens that she finished on Feb. 12. In part:

 

Dear Mark. / I sit down to write to you once more.

      In the Name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, this is the third time I have written to you, and dont know whether you have received any or not. … I must tell you first Dear Mark, the substance of the first and second. The first I wrote some seven years ago and nailed it on the court house door. In said letter I beged of you to send me five dollars to use it in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

      And in my second letter I asked you to send me five dollars to buy a turkey and other eatables to make up a Plain dinner that I would cook, myself. Now Please dont laught sir. Although I am from the starving country, I don’t want to eat myself God forgive me for laughing over this. Mark, I told you in my last letter that I want to cook a Plain dinner and invite the Rev. Bishop Shanna, the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, the Rev. Father Hickey and the Rev. Doctor Green Wald, to take dinner together. … So Mr Twain, I want you if you have no objection to head the table and carve the Turkey [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “From my lunatic. (Sent her the $5 Feb. 21/80.)”

 

February 12 Thursday – Ellen (Mary) Keily finished her Feb. 11 to Sam.

     

      Feb. 12th. It is now about 3 o.clock in the after noon, and I hear shooting which brings my mind Easter Monday sixty five I heard the sound of a cannot at four o.clock in the morning and my brain was that far gone that I felt if I heard the sound the third time I couldn’t live and I said oh stop that. … Now Mark, I am scribbling too much. I wish some Person, would take my case in hand and give me chance to Prove that I did see Jesus not for my own good but for the benefit of the People. Ah Mark, how different the People would live if they did see the sad face of Jesus, in sixty five when the North and South were in their glory acting the fool, or how different the People would live if they did see the Picture of Jesus, taken along with the Picture of Abraham Lincoln, in the manner in which both did appear in St. Louis in sixty five & Mark, how the little room I am writing this in brings to my mind the room Jesus did appear 12th of January 1868. [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “From my lunatic. (Sent her the $5 / Feb. 21/80.)”; see Sam’s Feb. 21 reply. Keily sent Sam more letters, twelve survive. This was the only one found so far that he answered.

February 14 Saturday – C.S. Jackson wrote to thank Sam for his advice [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “From the youth whom I advised against using a nom de plume.”

February 17 Tuesday – Jesse Madison Leathers wrote from NYC to Sam, unable to visit before the 21st. “This is all the better, as we shall have the pleasure of celebrating the anniversary of the Father of our country together on Monday, the 23d inst” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “From the Earl”.

February 18 Wednesday – Sam wrote to Frank Fuller, responding to a proposal (not extant).

 

“That has a very pleasant sound, my boy. Go you ahead & do as you have proposed to do. We will make the said assignments. Old Bowers has been haunting Dan Slote, (121 Wm. st.,) every day, lately. I told Dan I will never see him, & to tell him to go to you for the talk which he desired to have” [MTPO]. Note: See Feb. 24, 1880 for more on what Bowers was up to. When it came to Fuller, a variety of investments were usually involved.

Lawrence Barrett (aft. Feb. 18 to Laffan enclosed) wrote to invite Sam & Livy: “A few Friends are to join with me in celebrating the 50th anniversary of Mr J. R. Osgood, at Delmonico’s Feb 28th 7 P. M. The circle will be complete if you will enter therein” [MTPO].

February 20? Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to William Mackay Laffan. He enclosed an invitation from Lawrence Barrett for the 50th anniversary celebration of J.R. Osgood at Delmonico’s, [ page 897 ] Feb. 28, 7 PM. Sam wrote “(Private.)/Dear Laffan: /Who is this? Neither Mrs. Clemens nor I can” [MTLE 5: 22]. In Sam’s hand on the reverse side he wrote “Lawrence Barrett / tragedian”. Notes: Laffan was Irish-born, a journalist on the New York Sun and its eventual owner. Budd calls Laffan “a rare mixture of bon vivant, fixer, and sophisticate” [Studies in Am. Humor online – https://www.compedit.com/] A member of the Tile Club (see Jan. 24 entry), Laffan probably met Sam there in Jan. 1880. They became friends.

February 21 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Orion, sending a card for him to mail in case he no longer received the Atlantic Monthly. He had a cold “as heavy as ever” but the children were well. Sam related having a “pleasant dream about Molly last night, but an unpleasant one about myself—I thought I was baptized” [MTLE 5: 23].

Sam also replied with a humorous letter to the Feb. 11 from Ellen (Mary) Keily, enclosing a check for five dollars (not extant), probably a donation for Mary’s idea of getting various clergymen together for a turkey dinner.

Well, Mary, my friend, you must think I am a slow sort of correspondent, & the truth is, I am. You must forgive this fault; it is one which I have never been able to correct. I am a pretty busy person, & a very lazy one; therefore I am apt to let letters lie a long time before I answer them. However, once a year, on or about Washington’s Birthday, I rake together all the unanswered letters & reply to them. I meant to answer the letter you sent me some weeks ago, but waited for Washington’s Birthday to come. Write to me when you feel like it, Mary, but don’t you feel hurt if I keep you waiting till the next Washington’s Birthday for an answer. I do not feel half so much hurried & bothered when I have a year to answer a letter in as I do when people expect an answer right away. I only send money to people once a year, too, & that is on Washington’s Birthday, so you see if I had answered you earlier I could have not sent you the five dollars until now.

Take this check which I enclose, & go to the bank with Mr. Miller, & he will tell the banker you are the person named in it, & will give you the money, or if you choose, you can mail the check (after writing your name on the back of it), to Messrs. George P. Bissell & Co., Hartford, Conn., telling them to send you a postal order, & they will send it by return mail. I think your idea of getting those clergymen together at a dinner table is a very good one. They will have to put up with each other’s society a good long time in heaven, so they may as well begin to get used to it here. Besides, I think, as you do, that their coming together in a friendly spirit will have good influence on other people. I am much obliged to you for asking me to be present & carve the turkey, but I must not go. Always when I carve a turkey I swear a little. (All people do to themselves—but I swear right out. I never could help it, though it has cost me many a pang). I think a person ought not to swear where clergymen are, unless they provoke him. Well, I couldn’t be there, anyway, because I have to stay at home & stick close to my work, else this nation would become so ignorant in a little while that it would break one’s heart to look at it. No, you & I have our separate duties in this world, Mary—your line is to humanize the clergy, & mine is to instruct the public. Let us not interfere with each other’s functions. I have a most kindly sympathy towards you & your work, & perhaps that is a better contribution than mine would be. You say “Pity me”—indeed I do, & that is a true word. I wish I could tell you whether those are genuine visions & inspirations you have written me about, but I cannot be absolutely certain. They seem to me to be just like all the visions & inspirations I have ever heard of, & so I think you may rest assured that yours are as perfect & true & genuine & trustworthy as any that have ever happened in the world. Now let that comfort you, Mary, let that give peace to your troubled spirit, & believe me your friend.

S. L. Clemens, (Mark Twain.) [MTLE 5: 24; MTPO].

Jesse Madison Leathers wrote to Sam: “All right—April or May will do for that fraternal visit and social confab.” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “From the Earl of Durham”

February 23 Monday – Frank Fuller wrote from NYC to Sam.

“Dear Mark: we shall carry out that plan, & you will get your stock, say $2, for $1 spent. What was spent? About $5,000, I said, Shall I bump it at that? They anticipate big dividends on the whisky still, & are going to [ page 898 ] make whisky, not sell machines. / See here! Send me the recipe for this food that they are making you endorse. Make your neighbor copy it for me. I’m the food-sharp, not that fellow at ‘Bathurst.’ ” Fuller attached a small clipping that quoted Clemens and read: “Recommended by Massachusetts Board of Health—Infants’ Food. The best in use. Cheap, easily made, equals mothers’ milk. Recipe $1. John Munro, Bathurst Village, N.B. “My twins (born three years apart) are happily past that stage, but I thank you all the same for your receipt, as does also one of our neighbors, who is in a position to take advantage of it.” – MARK TWAIN” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “From Gov. Fuller, about that foolish & ruinous patent, for steam engine”.

February 24 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Frank Fuller.

      Enclosed please find the original draft of recipe for infants’ food.

      Yes, it was $5,000 that I inserted in the Bowers experiments, & I’m pretty glad to hear it has been drawing 100 per cent interest—or promises to do that happy thing…let us hope for luck in the forthcoming whisky. Both you & I tried to get the old fool to make the still, in the first place, & leave the steam engine for a later effort, but he wouldn’t [MTLE 5: 26]. Note: see June 11, 1877 entry. These speculations involved a whisky still and a new kind of steam engine; an inventor H.C. Bowers, and Woodruff Iron Works. Fuller promoted such pursuits to Sam’s financial loss. In this case $5,000.

February 26 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Orion. He was “grinding away” on The Prince and the Pauper. He needed to get other things off his mind so challenged Orion to write two books, works that Sam would never have time to do but which he’d thought of years before. Clearly, Sam used a subtle form of psychology on his hapless brother, because the two books he suggested were: “The Autobiography of a Coward,” and “Confessions of a Life that was a Failure.” He likened such a work to Casanova’s Memoires (not yet in English) and Rosseau’s writings. The “Failure” was not to realize he was a failure [MTLE 5: 27-8]. What did Orion realize?

February 28 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Orion, asking him to return the 1601 manuscript (Or, Conversation As it Was by the Social Fireside, in the time of the Tudors) “& keep no copy of it.”  Evidently, Sam had given the risqué sketch to his brother during his and Mollie’s recent visit to Hartford, and later thought better of it. Sam added that they “got the new telephone up—private wire to Western Union telegraph office” [MTLE 5: 29]. Erica Jong, in the Introduction to the Oxford edition of 1601 writes that the piece enabled Sam to “transport himself to a world that existed before the invention of sexual hypocrisy. The Elizabethans were openly bawdy” [xxiv-xxv]. Jong reads 1601 as a “warm up [no pun] for his creative processes.” So much for psychobabble—Sam purely and simply did not trust Orion to keep the manuscript quiet.

Sam also wrote to his sister, Pamela Moffett, that he’d told Orion to…

“…return that thing & keep no copy. Doubtless you were right. It should only be shown to people who are learned enough to appreciate it as a very able piece of literary art.”

Sam enclosed $200. He wrote of his new telephone wire, of an invention that he’d considered, and of Livy “ailing, a trifle” [MTLE 5: 30].

February 29 Sunday – Orion Clemens wrote from Keokuk to Sam, adding to it on Mar. 1. “We left Fredonia Wednesday, and arrived here Thursday—26 hours from Dunkirk…Yesterday I wrote 20 pages with great satisfaction…We received your welcome letter Friday, and were glad to hear the little ones are well” [MTP].

February, late–March, early – The earliest copies of the first edition of A Tramp Abroad came from the bindery [Hirst, “A Note on the Text” Oxford edition, 1996].

March – From Livy’s diary:  [ page 899 ]

“George brought them [the children] a beautiful great maltese cat, about a year old that his wife raised—it is a splendid creature and is getting wonted already” [Salsbury 117].

George Stronach performed misc. house repairs and chair repairs, billing $7.80 and dating it simply “March.” The bill was marked paid on May 15 [MTP].

Jesse Madison Leathers wrote to Sam; not found at MTP though catalogued as UCLC 40741.

March 1 Monday – Orion finished his Feb. 29 to Sam. “Yours of the 26th just received…‘The Autobiography of a Coward’ will be commenced within an hour and the first chapter sent to you within a week. The writing will be according to your suggestions. / I congratulate you on your invention. / I am glad you are going to finish Prince and Pauper” [MTP].

March 3 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Frank Bliss about particulars in the publishing of A Tramp Abroad [MTLE 5: 31].

Orion Clemens wrote to Sam. “What is the process in your patent? I have been looking again at the pictures you gave us. They are very pretty. Can you send us a circular? Is it engraving that your application of the invention will supercede? Is there any way about it that I could make money—selling patent rights, or otherwise?” He also asked if Sam would mark his criticisms on his MS & return. He advised not to let any of the family see his MS, and that he hadn’t shown a line to Mollie [MTP].

Rev. Dr. Charles E. Tisdall wrote to Sam, flyer enclosed soliciting funds for Mr. C.W. Granby [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “This is a man of perfectly indestructible cheek.” Another paragraph is half torn away & begins with “I made the acquaintance”.

March 5 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Orion agreeing to look at Orion’s manuscript. He answered questions about Kaolatype patent, rights, etc. He ended the short letter by saying he’d:

“…added 114 pages to Prince & Pauper. I thought that might almost complete it, but it doesn’t bring it to the middle, I judge” [MTLE 5: 32].

Sam also wrote to Howells in Belmont, Mass.

I reckon you are dead again, but no matter, I will heave a line at the corpse. I have really nothing to say, though, except that Mrs. C. & I are going to spend a week secretly in a Boston hotel, by & by, & hope you & Mrs. Howells will not be sorry to hear it—for, upon the honor of a man & a scribe, we shall not be incensed if you do nothing more than drop in & say howdy-do, for we know what it is to be busy & have a wife whose health requires peace, & rest from social taxing.

Sam was glad that the “troublesome book” (Tramp) was at last out of his sight, even if Belford threatened to “glut the market at half-a-dollar within ten days after” issue. 25,000 orders had been received, a start Sam considered “not very satisfactory” [MTLE 5: 33].

March 6 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles H. Clark (John Quill or Max Adeler) of the Hartford Courant, denying he hadn’t ever killed any Indians, nor had Dan De Quille. Such a rumor had been “gotten up by the Indians” he wrote.

“Years ago, I was accused of loading an Indian up with beans lubricated with nitro-glycerin & sending him in an ox wagon over a stumpy road. This was impossible, on its face, for no one would risk oxen in that way” [MTLE 5: 34]. [ page 900 ]

Rev. Dr. J.C. Eccleston (b. 1837) wrote from Stapleton, NY to Sam. “I am indebted to the enterprise of my young friend—Mr. Edward D. Appleton of Trinity College for the honour of your name to the public letter—inviting me to deliver my illustrated lecture ‘Westminster Abbey’ in Hartford next Monday evening” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Dr Eccleston.”

Dr. C.C. Moore wrote to Sam, 7 clippings of testimonials enclosed. Moore sent “a sample of Moore’s Throat & Lung Lozenges,” a remedy for colds [MTP].

March 8 Monday – Sam inscribed this date and his signature in a copy of Sketches, New and Old to an unidentified person [MTLE 5: 35].

R.P. Sawyers wrote to Sam. “I wrote to you from St Louis Mo 9th Feb last—but have nothing from you in reply you would oblige me greatly if you would answer that letter [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Damn Mr. Sawyers / Mch 8/80 / Circular”; enclosed “Advantages of Savings of R.P. Sawyers” about “effectually canceling Postage and Revenue Stamps.”

March 8 or 15 Monday – Sam wrote a short letter from Hartford to sister Pamela Moffett, having received her check for $25 for some unspecified items, probably from his European stay. He said he hadn’t received an invitation to lecture from a certain gentleman in Louisville, but “declined one from there to-day (from a Mr. Norton,) which came through [Miss] Tip Saunders.”  Sam’s mother was now doing well [MTLE 5: 36]. (For the genealogy on Tip Saunders see Oct. 19, 1876 entry.)

March 9 Tuesday – C.E. Goodspeed wrote from Newton Centre, Mass. to ask for an autograph [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Auto fiend / 1880 / Cheek”

Sam wrote to W.A. May in Scranton Pa. Letter not extant but referred to in May’s Mar. 11 reply.

March 10 Wednesday – Sam and Livy went to the theater to see William Dean Howells’ play, Yorick’s Love, by a leading Spanish author, Estebanez, with Lawrence Barrett. Sam loved it and wrote: “The language beautiful, the passion so fine, the plot so ingenious, the whole thing so stirring, so charming, so pathetic.” It was “the language of the Prince & the Pauper,” he wrote Howells on Mar. 11, including a favorable review from the Hartford Courant. Sam invited the Howellses to visit before he and Livy went to Boston in April [MTLE 5: 37-40].

March 11 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells, sharing the plot of Prince and the Pauper, and noting:

“Imagine this fact—I have even fascinated Mrs. Clemens with this yarn for youth. My stuff generally gets considerable damning with faint praise out of her, but this time it is all the other way. She is becoming the horse-leech’s daughter & my mill doesn’t grind fast enough to suit her. This is no mean triumph, my dear sir” [MTLE 5: 37]. Note: Sam’s two daughters were now nearly eight and six, the perfect ages to enjoy such a tale and act as clear-eyed mini-critics.

Sam also wrote to his nephew, Samuel Moffett, now in Atlanta planning to go to Washington. Sam enclosed a couple of notes for Moffett to use, but couldn’t think of anyone in Washington for him to “knock around with,” noting “everything is changed since my time there” [MTLE 5: 41]. He wrote to Ainsworth R. Spofford, Librarian of Congress, in Moffett’s behalf, saying his nephew “would like to burrow a little into our grand literary storehouse” [42].

W.A. May wrote from Scranton, Pa. to Sam.

Your letter with its unexpected accompaniment was received today. It created a great deal of pleasurable excitement amongst us, and we heartily appreciate your interest. There was the inevitable alloy with it [ page 901 ] however—we would not have an article from you written for us. Good as your money is your words are better and we seek after the best.

      Were I not afraid of Mr. Charles Dudley Warner, I would write to him for an article. Thanking you very sincerely for your kindly interest and donation, and begging the favor of sending you copies of The Cartridge Box when issued, I am… [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Edition of Cartridge Box / 1880”; Sam’s to May is not extant.

March 13 Saturday – Two copies of A Tramp Abroad were placed with the Copyright Office, Library of Congress [Hirst, “A Note on the Text” Oxford edition, 1996].

March 14 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to an unidentified person about responses to distressed nation appeals.

“…it is only when she [a nation] asks for bread, that creed & party are forgotten & the whole world rises to respond” [MTLE 5: 43].

March 15 Monday – Sam wrote to Christian Tauchnitz in Leipzig, Germany; the letter not extant but mentioned in Tauchnitz’s May 3 reply.

March 16 Tuesday – In Hartford, Sam wrote a long inscription to Twichell in a copy of A Tramp Abroad, marking various pages where things happened, pointing out how imagination had “preposterously expanded” some things.

“We had a mighty good time, Joe, & the 6 weeks I would dearly like to repeat, any time—but the rest of the 14 months, never. With love, Yours, Mark” [MTLE 5: 45].

David Watt Bowser (b.1868?) wrote to Sam, enclosing a composition he’d written for school on Mark Twain. He added a PS bombshell for Twain: “I forgot to tell you that our principal used to know you when you were a little boy and she was a little girl, but I expect you have forgotten her, it was so long ago” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “A Boy’s Composition. / Answered / Mch 20, 1880”; Bowser’s teacher was none other than Sam’s old sweetheart, Laura Hawkins Dake.

March 18 Thursday – Emma J. Stafford wrote to Sam asking for a letter for their church “Evening with Mark Twain” as they’d done with several other famous men [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “No. A heavy curse fall on the particular devil who invented this most offensive form of persecution. / SLC”

March 19 Friday – Susy Clemens’ eighth birthday.

Sam’s Mar. 19 letter to Texas schoolboy, David Watt Bowser, includes the sentence, “I wrote all day yesterday…on the fifteenth chapter of a story for boys entitled ‘The Little Prince & the Little Pauper,’ —laid in the time of Edward VI of England…” [MTP].

March 20 Saturday – This was the approximate issue date for A Tramp Abroad. Sam wrote from Hartford to Elisha Bliss. Sam liked the look of the book, but noted that both Roughing It and Gilded Age sold “nearly double as many copies, in this length of time, so I imagine the Canadians have been working us heavy harm.” He was also glad the newspapers hadn’t knocked the book. Sam confirmed receipt of a check for $977.23, noting the old books were decreasing in sales. He closed with a discussion of Bliss joining the Kaolatype investment of which he owned a four-fifths interest with Charles Perkins and Dan Slote [MTLE 5: 46].  [ page 902 ]

Sam also answered a letter from a Texas schoolboy, David Watt Bowser, who signed his letter “Wattie.” The boy was fulfilling a school assignment and wrote to Sam, who may never have answered without what Powers calls “the thunderclap of a postcript”:

“O! I forgot to tell you that our principal used to know you, when you were a little boy and she was a little girl, but I expect you have forgotten her, it was so long ago.”

The teacher was Laura Wright Dake, Sam’s first love (well, one of them at least). Sam wrote a long response, answering the boy’s questions, then added:

No indeed, I have not forgotten your principal at all. She was a very little girl, with a very large spirit, a long memory, a wise head, a great appetite for books, a good mental digestion, with grave ways, & inclined to introspection—an unusual girl. How long ago it was! Another flight backward like this, & I shall begin to realize that I am cheating the cemetery [MTLE 5: 47-50]. Powers writes that Sam and Wattie exchanged ten letters over the next few months [MT A Life 440].

Orion Clemens wrote one page to Sam asking him to return his MS. “If you have not read it, please don’t.” Also, “The diagram in the Atlantic gives you a good seat at the banquet, flanked by ladies” [MTP].

March 21 Sunday – An unknown boy wrote from Chicago to Sam; only the envelope survives [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “A Boy’s Request”

March 22 Monday – In Boston, Howells wrote to Sam about the “charm and the solid delightfulness” of A Tramp Abroad.

Well, you are a blessing. You ought to believe in God’s goodness, since he has bestowed upon the world such a delightful genius as yours to lighten its troubles [MTHL 1: 293].

William Haskell Simpson (1858-1933) wrote on Univ. of Kansas Chancellor’s Office, Lawrence, Kansas letterhead.

 

Dear Sir: / The “Sticks”—an organization that meets once a fortnight to discuss American authors—have placed your name upon the list for the 19th of April. We would be pleased to hear from you in any manner that you see fit. Were it not that modesty forbids I would ask whether it is true that you never went to a circus, nor fell in love with some other fellows girl, nor played “hookey,” nor wrote poetry. Delicacy also forbids my asking whether the rumor that you are investing your surplus funds in raising a new species of tadpole for the Boston market, is a true one or not.

      I enclose a stamp for reply, partly because Postmaster General Keys clerk recommends it and partly because it is a good custom; one handed down from antiquity. / Respectfully … [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “And a curse on him.” Sam often thought such inquiries to be impertinent and had a general dislike of such “literary” groups. His curse, however, did not take, as Simpson became a big shot with the Santa Fe Railroad.

Kate W. Fay,  “One of Miss Porter’s scholars” wrote from Farmington, Conn. asking for Mark Twain’s autograph [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Funny”

Mary Keily finished her Mar. 16 to Clemens [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “From my friend the lunatic”

March 23 Tuesday – Orion Clemens wrote to Sam, clipping enclosed from the Keokuk Gate City from Mar. 23 about a gold strike in Silver Cliff, Colo. The Bible For Learners publishers had turned down Orion’s article; he wrote of his search for work with a loan from Ma; his desire to start a newspaper, or working for several newspapers around the country, but his eyes were dim and his motions “something of [ page 903 ] the snail order” and his struggles with writing, which “fails when I am not interested” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Orion’s plans & dreams / Always the same …childish projects, the same vacillations / 1880”.

March 24 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells, thanking him for his complementary letter of Mar. 22. Howells’ letter and Sam’s response:

I have been feebly trying to give the Atlantic readers some notion of the charm and the solid delightfulness of your book [See May, 1880 entry]; and now I must tell you privately what a joy it has been to Mrs. Howells and me. Since I have read it, I feel sorry for I shall not be able to read it again for a week, and in what else shall I lose myself so wholly? Mrs. Howells declares it the wittiest book she has ever read, and I say there is sense enough in it for ten books. That is the idea which my review will try to fracture the average numbskull with. Well, you are a blessing. You ought to believe in God’s goodness, since he has bestowed upon the world such a delightful genius as yours to lighten its troubles.

Love from both of us to Mrs. Clemens. We wish we could come to see you, but we are many promises deep to the Warners, and our first visit must be to them. We shall hope for you here by mid-April. Yours ever W.D. Howells [MTHL 1: 293].

[Sam’s response:] My Dear Howells—

“Your & Mrs. Howell’s praises have been the greatest uplifting I ever had…a check for untold cash could not have made our hearts sing as your letter has done.”

Sam suggested the “debt” to the Warners was too old to collect; that the Howellses should visit them when they’re sick, in order to travel on and see the Clemens family [MTLE 5: 52].

Sam also sent Howells’ letter of Mar. 22 to Joe Twichell, asking him to return it [53].

C.P. Sullivan wrote from Line Creek S.C. sending his MS and asking for Sam’s help in the form of editing, etc. [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Man with a book.”

March 25 Thursday – Sam’s letter to Mary Keily of Feb. 21 ran in the Towanda Pennsylvania Reporter, page one [MTLE 5: 24]. Note: why it was published is not clear, except that Mark Twain was now so famous and well known, that nearly any letter from him made news.

Joe Twichell wrote to thank Sam for showing him Howells’ letter about A Tramp Abroad. “I have a considerable modesty about the book, because it was so much mine (so I have been pleased to view it) i.e., I was so personally involved in it.” He was pleased about Howells’ approval of it. “Next week Friday night (Apr. 2nd) I want you at the chapel. Do you hear? / Mine ever aff.” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Howells’s letter about ‘A Tramp Abroad’”

March 26 Friday – David Watt Bowser wrote from Dallas to thank Sam for answering his letter. Laura Hawkins Dake, his teacher, was “so glad that you are such a famous man, and that you remember her so kindly, for she remembers you as the best friend of her youth” [MTP].

Orion Clemens wrote to Sam. “I turned to my other truck because as soon as I sent the MS. I concluded it was a failure. / Yes. I have Ma’s word for it that Pa really pitched me out to the floor, as stated. / I will send you homor-pathetic daily instalments of MS. Is it too much to ask you to pencil suggestions and return MS. every day?” [MTP]. Note: Orion’s autobiography.

March 27 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Andrew Chatto after receiving his message that he’d not received the final batch of copy for Tramp. Evidently, Elisha Bliss had dropped the ball on [ page 904 ] coordinating materials and cabling the date of publication to Chatto. Sam responded that they had issued the book a week before, and that he would hurry Chatto’s note to Bliss as it was too late to telephone [MTLE 5: 54]. Sam was forever spurring and prodding Bliss to make schedules and to coordinate materials to “simultane.”

Orion Clemens wrote to Sam. “No, Bliss has not obeyed your order to send the book [TA]—blast him!….Your Koalatype works wonderfully. We have the copy you sent on our center-table” [MTP].

Ella L. Cretass and Nancy A. Kelly  “Nice spinsters” wrote from Coldwater, Mich. to send Sam an Easter card (“Now is Christ Risen”) and to compliment him on RI [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “A fraud, I guess”. Does this reflect Sam’s secret opinion of Christ’s resurrection, or of the spinsters?

Mary Keily wrote from the Asylum in Lancaster Penn, but did not finish/mail the long rambling letter until Apr. 14 [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “The lunatic Mary Keily / clipping”; no clipping in file.

March 30 Tuesday – William Dean Howells wrote to Sam.

“Thanks for your Club Contribution. It’s good, and powerfully true but you wont be allowed to get your adverbs wrong in this magazine. John is reading Tom Sawyer, and [illegible].” Note: see MS notes in source. [MTHL 2: 880, 890].

Edson Q. Beebe wrote from Montrose, Penn. to ask Sam his opinion of boys [MTP].

Lyman Abbott for the Christian Union wrote to ask Sam for 1,500 words for 25$ [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “The immortal cheek of it! Christian Union offers 2500 for art.”

March 31 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Moncure Conway about the mix-up and mess between Elisha Bliss and Andrew Chatto over engravings for TA. Sam asked Conway to intercede and clear things up [MTLE 5: 56].

Charles E. Chapin wrote a postcard to advise Sam of new rates for Hartford Ice Co. [MTP].

April – Sam, in Hartford, inscribed a copy of A Tramp Abroad to Clara L. Spaulding [MTLE 5: 57].

April? – Sam wrote a short note from Hartford to Frank Fuller.

“Does the whisky mill need a new man who knows how to boss men? I know the right man, in case a boss should be wanted—diligent, honest and plucky, never drinks, but can be taught” [MTLE 5: 58]. Note: “New man” identity unknown. The whisky still was an invention of H.C. Bowers that Clemens had invested in.

April 1 Thursday – Sam and Livy wrote from Hartford to William Dean Howells. Sam wrote a laundry list of Orion’s attempts at finding an editorial position, placing his manuscript which was an attack on Christianity, his ideas to travel to Colorado and speculate on silver mines, to set up a New York correspondence bureau—all these things being only half the list Sam received. Livy added thanks for the review of Tramp (which would appear in the May Atlantic), and expressed their desire to see the Howells for a visit in Hartford [MTLE 5: 60].

On or about this day Sam wrote another letter to David Watt Bowser Wattie”), enclosing a note from Howells for the boy’s autograph collection [61].

April 2 Friday – In his letter of Apr. 4 to Orion, Sam wrote: [ page 905 ]

“I read before a large audience here, Friday night, but not until all the newspaper men had sworn that they would say not a single word about it, either before or after the performance” [MTLE 5: 65].

Sam gave a reading, likely from his new book, A Tramp Abroad. He referred to this reading, given at Twichell’s church in his Apr. 23 letter to Boyesen. (See Apr. 23 entry.)

Orion Clemens wrote from Keokuk to Sam. “I am very sorry I did anything to interrupt you in your work. I have stopped on my writing, not from anger, for it was not reasonable to ask you to direct your mind every day from your work.” He thought his writing was dull, “a fatal fault”. Orion asked for $1,500 to go to Silver Cliff, Colo. with Charley Higham who offered to show him mining. He’d also asked Ma for $50 to go to Chicago to find work [MTP].

April 2? Friday – Sam wrote invitations to the Monday Evening Club announcing a meeting at his home for Apr. 5, adding the subject, “On the Decay of the Art of Lying” [MTLE 5: 62].

April 3 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Melville E. Stone (1848-1929), founder of the first penny newspaper in Chicago, the Chicago Daily News. Evidently Stone inquired about a controversy between a “Mr. Wakeman” and “the Club”—(probably the Press Club of Chicago). Sam offered five corrections to an article, which ran about the Army Reunion [MTLE 5: 63].

Rev. Cyril F. Knight (b. 1831) wrote on St. James Rectory, Lancaster, Penn. notepaper. “We heard of you not long ago through “Mary the Banner Woman”, & the kind letter wh’ came to her. / Mary is a character! “A leetle off” as you Yankees say—like most of the members of the Monday Club” [MTP]. File Note: “Knight was a member of Monday Evening Club 1872-91”; reference is to Mary Keily, patient at the Lancaster Insane Asylum. Knight was an Episcopal minister who tended to the needs of some of the patients.

Ella L. Cretors and Nancy Adelia Kelly wrote from Coldwater, Mich. to wheedle a picture of Mark Twain, and respond to his earlier reply that he didn’t have any left [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Impudent / Two school marms want his picture / 1880”.

April 4 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Orion, expressing some distress:

Please don’t put anything on exhibition that can even remotely suggest me or my affairs or belongings. How could you conceive of such an idea? God knows my privacy is sufficiently invaded without the family helping in the hellish trade. Keep the cursed portraits at home—keep everything at home that hints at me in any possible way [MTLE 5: 65]. Sam briefly mentioned giving a reading the prior Friday night in Hartford.

April 5 Monday – Sam held the Monday Evening Club in his home and gave a reading “On the Decay of the Art of Lying” [MTLE 5: 62]. This was Sam’s fifth presentation to the club since being elected as a member in 1873 [Monday Evening Club]. There are several references to Francis Parkman’s works, including:

“The principle of truth may itself be carried into an absurdity, [and] The saying is old that truth should not be spoken at all times; and those whom a sick conscience worries into habitual violation of the maxim are imbeciles and nuisances” [Gribben 527]. Sam met Parkman in Dec. 1879 at the breakfast honoring Holmes [MTNJ 2: 359n11].

Edgar L. Wakeman wrote to Sam having rec’d his “favor of the 3rd” and apologized for some item appearing about Twain [MTP]. Note: this is not Edgar M. Wakeman; this Edgar L. was the Chicago correspondent for the Louisville Courier-Journal, and the financial secretary for the Press Club of Chicago. Sam wrote on the env., “Edgar L. Wakeman / 1880 / apology &c”; Wakeman may have answered Twain’s Apr. 3 to Melville Stone. [ page 906 ]

April 6 Tuesday – James Redpath wrote from NYC to Sam, having just returned home. When would Sam be strong enough to “endure a preferential interview?” [MTP].

William A. Talcott wrote to ask Sam if he would participate in “The Round Table,” a discussion group of English and American literature of some six years in NYC. He enclosed a program [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Another of those fiends. / 1880 / Wants something”.

April 7 Wednesday – Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen wrote from Ithaca, NY to thank Sam for sending TA. “It has occupied me steadily luring the last three days & I have laughed until my voice is husky.” His wife was also reading it and laughing. He sent news of their new baby and their resolve to move to NYC [MTP].

April 8 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles H. Phelps, editor of the Californian, in San Francisco. Sam inquired about a quote in the April issue of the magazine. Who was the “album-owner,” he asked. Was it “Charley Stoddard?” [MTLE 5: 66].

Sam also wrote to an unidentified person he addressed as “My Dear ‘Jo’— ” saying he’d ordered the Tramp book to be sent and to “Give old Bob my love” [67]. Note: Sam often wrote Joe as “Jo.”; Possibly this was to Joe Goodman, referring to Robert Howland.

Orion Clemens wrote from Keokuk to Sam, promising not to put anything on exhibition as they knew how he felt about privacy. The book TA had come and he praised it. He was still struggling with his writing [MTP].

James Redpath wrote to Sam (only the envelope survives) [MTP]. Note: likely a follow up to his Apr. 6 asking for an interview.

Laura M. Griffing wrote from Rochester, NY to send Sam a copy of his Chicago “Babies” speech, edited into poetry [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “O the devil!”

April 10 Saturday – The Chicago Tribune was among the first to review A Tramp Abroad:

Mark Twain has finished another book. As he has been silent for some time possibly the book also finished him….A Tramp Abroad, while interesting reading, and in parts exhibiting much of the humor which gave fame to its author in The Innocents Abroad, is inferior to the latter in some of the qualifications which made that book so unusually successful (“Literature” p9) [Budd, Reviews 183].

April 11 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to his mother, and sister. He and Livy were taking Rosa and the children on a week’s “rest & change of aggravations” to Boston the next day.

“Orion’s head is as full of projects as ever, but there is one merciful provision—he will never stick to one of them long enough to injure himself” [MTLE 5: 68].

Sam also inscribed a leather copy of A Tramp Abroad to Harriet E. Whitmore (Mrs. Franklin G. Whitmore) “To Mrs. F.G. Whitmore / With kindest regards of / The Author. / Hartford, April 11 1880” (see entry, begin 1880) [MTLE 5: 69; McBride 61].

John T. Lewis wrote to Sam (after Apr. 12 to Howells enclosed).

Mr Samual L Clemens, honerd Sir i receved a coppy of your splended work ef tramp Abroad whitch i suppose to be a gift from your ever bountyful hand

for witch i am at a loss for words to exprss my gratefulness [ page 907 ]

but i will say that i except it as a grate treasure from noble generous heart and benevolent hand

for wich pleas to except my most humble an sinceier thanks for it and the past unmerited presants you have kindly gave me

pleas except

my best wishes for your worthy self and family hopeing that you are all well and enjoying the fullest blesings life can a ford

most respectfully yours,

John. T. Lewis

we are all quite well [MTPO].

April 12? Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells, including a note from John T. Lewis, the “sable hero” of the runaway carriage incident. Sam sent it as an addition to the story [MTLE 5: 70].

About this date (given as a “fortnight ago” on Apr. 29—see entry), Sam purchased an additional 25 foot strip of property to their southern boundary, and the “very next day, just within the bounds of that strip…struck a spring of cold, sweet, limpid & abundant water” [MTLE 5: 90].

April 12 or 13 Tuesday – The Clemens family with nursemaid Rosa left Hartford and traveled to Boston to stay a week. On Apr. 13 Sam inscribed a copy of A Tramp Abroad for Mrs. Lilly G. Warner with Hartford and the date. Sam wrote his family on Sunday that he was leaving the next day (Apr. 12), however, so they may have been delayed a day or Sam may have postdated the inscription [MTLE 5: 71].

April 13 Tuesday – Frederick J. Boesse (1844-1914) wrote from Americus, Ga. to criticize TA, and Sam’s “blunders” in German, as well as to criticize American habits [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “From a Jewish swine.” Paine later wrote under this “Amen. / A.B.P.”; Boesse was the head of F.J. Bosse & Co, NYC importers of jeweler’s materials. He was born in Germany and lived in Brooklyn for 50 years [NY Times obit Sept. 19, 1914)].

April 13 to 19 Monday – Sam and Livy enjoyed a getaway to Boston, where they spent “a day and night with” the Howellses (Howells’ Apr. 17 letter to his father) [MTHL 1: 301n3]. The two couples visited James T. Fields and wife, where they enjoyed a performance by Norwegian violinist and composer Ole Bull (Bornemann) (1810-1880), who was living with his wife at J.R. Lowell’s home in Cambridge Mass. Bull was considered one of the greatest violin virtuosos of his time, a soloist of international repute.

“…if Ole Bull had been born without arms, what a rank he would have taken among poets—because it is in him, & if he couldn’t violin it out, he would talk it out, since of course it would have to come out” [MTLE 5: 72; MTHL 1: 299-300].

April 14 Wednesday – Mary Keily finished her Mar. 27 letter to Sam [MTP].

April 17 Saturday – The Saturday Review ran a long, mixed critique of TA, finding praise and fault [Budd, Reviews 183-6].

Pamela Moffett wrote to Sam (postmarked Apr. 17), complimenting him on TA; noting that “Ma can’t read as it made her head hurt and they couldn’t read to her since she was hard of hearing.” Also, “Charley has had the clock fever,” buying and restoring old clocks to sell. Did Sam recall the clock at the Quarles farm? [MTP].

Orion Clemens wrote to his brother. “I send MS. by express to-day. I would be glad if you could soon find leisure to read and return with comments. I will send more next Saturday.” They’d read 190 pages in TA and thought it “very interesting” and that it would “take well among the Germans” [MTP]. [ page 908 ]

Frederick Alexander Stokes (1857-1939) wrote thanks for Sam’s help on his book College Tramps: A Narrative of the Adventures of a Party of Yale Students during a Summer Vacation in Europe (1880). Neither Stokes’ initial request, mentioned below, or Twain’s reply, are extant.

Mr. S.L. Clemens, / Dear Sir. / It is possible that you may remember that you received, some time ago, a letter requesting your advice upon the subject of publishing a little book to be entitled “College Tramps.” You were so condescending as to notice the request, and to write quite a lengthy letter in return; but, before the kind advice contained in it could be acted upon, it had already been placed in the publishers’ hands, and has since been published. You have, doubtless, ere this, discovered that there is such a thing existing in this world as ingratitude; and I fear that you will consider yourself as having met with another instance of the same in my inflicting upon you, in return for your kindness and courtesy, a copy of my first-born, “College Tramps.” It has thus far met with an amount of success not yet great enough to enable me to decide that the literary world is my oyster, and that I must open it with my pen; but, for the present, I consider this book as but a fresh-water clam opened by the wayside. It has however made me very desirous of entering one of the New York publishing houses, and I am going to storm them soon. With many thanks for your kindness, and hoping that you may find time and inclination for the perusal of a few pages of the accompanying crude literary effort, I remain / Respectfully yours… [MTP]. Note: Sam did not often reply to requests for literary or publishing efforts, but was selective. Stokes is not in Gribben.

Juliet A.L. Toppan wrote from Chicago on Illinois Industrial School For Girls, to ask Clemens “for one or more of your works with autograph” for their grand Bazaar [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Good gracious! / Not answered”

April 18 Sunday – Ola A. Smith (b. ca. 1854) wrote from Haverhill, Mass:

 

Mr. Clemens, / Gracious Sir;–

      You are rich. To lose $10.00 would not make you miserable.

      I am poor. To gain $10.00 would not make me miserable.

      Please send me $10.00 (ten dollars). / Very respectfully yours / Ola A. Smith [MTP]. Note: Sam received all sorts of begging letters, from pithy to verbose. He ignored most of these. This letter bore a drawing of a young boy peering into a butterfly net while butterflies few over him. Smith was from a family of artists. Sam wrote on the env., “O my !”

 

E.A. Whiting, Hartford billed Sam $2 for some arborvitae trees; bill marked paid [MTP].

 

April 19 and 20 Tuesday – In Hartford, Sam wrote to William Dean Howells.

 

I have just “wrotened” this stuff to-day—as Bay [Clara] says—may-be you may need it to fill up with.

      We had a most elegant good time in Boston, & Mrs. Clemens has two imperishable topics, now, the museum of andirons which she collected, & your dinner. It is hard to tell which she admires the most. Sometimes she leans one way, & sometimes the other; but I lean pretty steadily toward the dinner, because I can appreciate that, whereas I am no prophet in andirons.

      Well what a good time we had at old Mr. Fields’s. And what lovable people the Bulls are—both of them. Did you notice her dress?—what a piece of perfection that ws.—And what a master-hand she is with a piano. And if Ole Bull had been born without arms, what a rank he would have taken among the poets—because it is in him, & if he couldn’t violin it out, he would talk it out, since of course it would have to come out [MTHL 1: 299-301]. Note: whatever “stuff” Sam wrote it was suppressed by Livy; James T. Fields’ home; Ole Bull, Norwegian composer and violinist.

 

April 20 Tuesday – Sam and Livy purchased a brass fender from C. McCarthy of Boston for $15, showing that they did not leave Boston earlier. The item was billed to Sam on May 13 and paid on May 17 [MTP]. Note: Invoicing and payment were often made long after purchase. Afterward the Clemenses returned home to Hartford. [ page 909 ]

Sam wrote from Hartford to the Press Club of Chicago that he had “reformed & quitted the lecture field permanently.” He sent “the boys” his new book, TA [MTLE 5: 74].

Sam began an angry letter to Moncure Conway about Chatto & Windus, enclosing them a separate letter. Sam finished the letter the next day [MTLE 5: 75].

My Dear Conway, I started to write the enclosed to Chatto & Windus, but I saw I was too angry, & so it would be better for you to convey to them in inoffensive language that I am not in the publishing business, & that as long as you are in London & Bliss in Hartford I will have nothing whatever to do with electros, dates of issue, or any other matter of that sort. Jesus Christ, how mad I am! This man is forever ignoring Bliss & writing me about electros & matters strictly within Bliss’s province [MTLE 5: 75].

William A. Seaver wrote from NY to Clemens.

My charming old Ruffian:– / I’m going to Yurup in two or three weeks, and unless you send me your Tramp, which purports to be inaccessible to anyone but subscribers, I shall positively be without any intellectual hash, cod, or anything else lovely and nourishing. It would be a great and good thing if I could steal a few sweet jokes from it for the Drawer.

Ain’t you coming down here within a couple of weeks? I would cherfully spend the price of a tramp in salooning you at the Union or Lotos,—and never shed a tear. / Essentially Yours, / Wm. A. Seaver [MTPO].

Orion Clemens wrote from Keokuk: “The Atlantic came yesterday. It is the finest criticism that has done you justice.” He enclosed a letter from T.T. Woodruff of the Trinidad, Colo. Enterprise and Chronicle, offering the paper for sale at $750 [MTP].

April 21 Wednesday – Sam finished the letter to Moncure Conway. Sam enclosed Howells’ review of TA. Elisha Bliss was too ill to work so Sam dealt with his son, Frank Bliss, and took it upon himself to order the electros for Chatto, and then wrote Conway [MTLE 5: 75-7].

Sam also wrote from Hartford to Elisha Bliss. William Seaver had written asking if he could get a copy of TA for review. Seaver wanted to “saloon” Sam “at the Union or Lotos” should Sam come to New York. Would Bliss please send Seaver a copy of the book? [MTLE 5: 80].

Sam also wrote to his mother and sister, probably in response to a letter asking for news of the family. Sam didn’t know of any news except the “very pleasant week in Boston” and the andirons they “laid in a stock.” He enclosed a toy truck for “Annie’s babies” [MTLE 5: 81].

Sam also wrote to Howells, thanking him for the good time they enjoyed at dinner while in Boston. Sam wrote of missing the Fairchilds on their visit and of Joe Twichell visiting the evening of Apr. 20 [MTLE 5: 73]. Note: MTHL 1: 299 puts this letter as Apr. 19-20; the purchase of the brass fender in Boston shows the Clemenses were there as late as Apr. 20, however, so that Twichell’s visit must have been in the evening of the day they returned to Hartford.

Jesse Madison Leathers wrote to Sam (long envelope only survives) [MTP].

Leo C. Evans  (New York humorist) wrote to Sam, clipping enclosed from the Kokomo Tribune of Apr. 17. “I sent you some time ago a reply to your speech on the New England weather. I do not know whether or not you ever received it. Please acknowledge enclosure…” The article was “Society for the Propagation of Truth” and was about a society supposedly formed by Twain, Eli Perkins, Josh Billings, Nasby and Max Adeler [MTP]. [ page 910 ]

April 22 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Frank Fuller. He talked of a “vaporizer” investment (“Mr. Furbish’s stimulant”). “About a fortnight hence,” Sam planned to “run down to Washington for a few days, on a sort of copyright-law project.” Would Frank like to go with him? [MTLE 5: 82].

Sam also wrote to William Dean Howells, sending a piece to consider for the “Contributors’ Club” of the Atlantic. The piece as revealed by Howells’ answer of Apr. 25, was “Conversation by Telephone” [MTLE 5: 84; MTHL 1: 303]. (See entry.)

William H. Gillette wrote from Cincinnati to give the results of their season and to ask if Sam knew any man who might make a good agent “with a name and reputation” [MTP].

April 23 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Hjalmar Boyesen. He thanked Boyesen for “those pleasant praises” of A Tramp Abroad, and expressed surprise that the first quarter sales were going “as great as that of any previous book of mine.” Sam told of giving a reading at Twichell’s church. He’d planned to use his older books until letters from Howells and Boyesen arrived on the same day praising Tramp, so that he changed the reading to that work. Boyesen had been teaching German at Cornell since 1874 and left the school this year. He would teach at Columbia for fourteen years beginning in 1881.

Well, it is a great pity to lose you out of the educational department of the country, but at the same time I can’t see how a man who can write can ever reconcile himself to busying himself with anything else. There is a fascination about writing, even for my waste-basket, which is bread & meat & almost whisky to me—& I know it is the same with all our craft [MTLE 5: 84].

Sam also wrote to Howells again about the “Telephone” article, requesting an extra proof to send to Chatto, should Howells want the piece [MTLE 5: 85].

April 24 Saturday – Sam received an “unillustrated edition” of A Tramp Abroad from Chatto & Windus. He wrote the next day that it was “very handsome, & the proofs were well read” [MTLE 5: 86].

Walter L. Milliken wrote from Boston to ask for Mark Twain’s autograph [MTP].

April 25 Sunday – Howells answered Sam’s letter and submission of Apr. 22:

“My dear Clemens, I sent the Conversation by Telephone to the printers at once, with orders to set it and send you proofs instantly. It is one of the best things you have done and we both think it shows great skill in the treatment of female character. It’s delicious” [MTHL 1: 303].

Howells wrote the piece would go in the July issue of the Atlantic; it was in the June, 1880 issue [Wells 23; Cornell University’s Making of America website].

Sam then responded to a note from Chatto & Windus about the mix-up with the illustrations for TA. Bliss had not received letters from Chatto, so the process had been stalled. Sam advised that he’d told Bliss (Frank) to “go right to work on making pictures” for Chatto “& inform…by cable” [MTLE 5: 86].

Also, on or about this day, Sam wrote to Orion about the autobiography Orion was writing [MTLE 5: 87].

April 26 Monday – Sam gave a reading “at a private house” of “A Telephonic Conversation” in Hartford. (See Apr. 23 entry) [MTLE 5: 85; MTPO]. The piece ran in the June 1880 issue of the Atlantic [Budd, “Collected” 1018].  [ page 911 ]

Jesse Madison Leathers wrote to Sam, offering to “skip aboard the train and run up to Hartford whenever it meets your convenience to telegraph or write me” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Rightful Earl”.

April 27 Tuesday – Evelyn S. Allen, “plain cook” wrote from Buffalo, NY.

Dear Mr Twain / I’ve read right along for two days & nearly reached the Appendix ‘till I came, (at 4.30 P.M.) to “; dusted with fragrant pepper;” So I just put a hairpin in the book for a minute, while I ask you where you get yours, the pepper I mean. I broil my steak on a gridiron, its better than frying on a griddle, stew the mushrooms separately & pour over. The archipelagoe’d be just as geographically delineated & taste better. / Please answer about the pepper … [MTP].

April 28 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Lucius Fairchild, congratulating him on being named U.S. minister to Spain [Rees 8; MTLE 5: 88]. Sam related missing a visit with Fairchild’s brother Charles in Boston during their recent weeklong stay there. Sam enclosed a photograph of himself and recalled the “good times we had that day at St. Cloud & what a lively gang of young people we were!” during the balloon ride. Sam recalled Paris:

“Paris the cold, Paris the drizzly, Paris the rainy, Paris the Damnable. More than a hundred years ago, somebody asked Quin, ‘Did you ever see such a winter in all your life before?’ ‘Yes,’ said he, ‘last summer.’ I judge he spent his summer in Paris” [88].

Charles H. Phelps wrote to Sam, asking for some “real history” in his life [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Again——O my!—& from an editor, too. / Answered, no”

April 29 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells about sending a copy of the proposed Atlantic piece “A Telephonic Conversation” to an English magazine. Sam enclosed a copy “enveloped & stamped for transmission at the proper time”. Publication of an article first in America and soon after in England would cover copyright considerations. Sam wrote about the fortunate discovery of a spring struck on the strip of land they had added to their property “a fortnight” before, which allowed a new water supply in place of the damaged spring they’d been using [MTLE 5: 90].

William A. Seaver wrote to Sam. “When my wife opened the package from Hartford addressed to Mrs. H. Seaver,” and found it was your book, and bore the legend: ‘From Purity to Pity,’ she said she knew there could be no doubt but that the volume was intended for her, because all the Pity that there is in the family is concentrated in her.” He encouraged Sam to come to NY [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “From Old Seaver, editor ‘Harper’s Drawer.’”

April 30 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Miss Mary Russell Perkins, confirming the identity of the “poet lariat,” a label first heard in his Nevada days, but which he later applied to Bloodgood H. Cutter (1817-1906), a passenger on the Quaker City excursion, because Dr. Edward Andrews “distorted the phrase ‘Poet Laureate’ into Poet Lariat” [MTNJ 1: 334n77]:

Yes, it is the same mildewed idiot. His friends call him a lunatic—but that is pretty fulsome flattery; one cannot become a lunatic without first having brains. Yes, he is the “Poet Lariat” [MTLE 5: 91].

 

From Sam’s notebook on the Quaker City:

 

He is 50 years old, & small for his age. He dresses in homespun, & is a simple-minded, honest, old-fashioned farmer, with a strange proclivity for writing rhymes. He writes them on all possible subjects, & gets them printed on slips of paper, with his portrait at the head. These he will give to any man that comes along, whether he has anything against him or not [MTNJ 1: 334].

 

In Boston, Howells wrote to Sam, praising the piece on John T. Lewis[ page 912 ]

 

“I don’t think I told you how very good I found that letter of your black hero’s. Isnt the incident old enough to let you let me Club it? And this letter of his—it’s beautiful” [MTHL 1: 305].

May – William Dean Howells ran a very favorable review of A Tramp Abroad in the May issue of the Atlantic Monthly. Also, Sam’s “Speech at the Holmes Breakfast” ran in a supplement.

His opinions are no longer the opinions of the Western American newly amused and disgusted at the European difference, but the Western American’s impressions on being a second time confronted with the things he has had time to think over. This is the serious undercurrent of the book… [Wells 23].

During May, Sam ordered 100 “Rosa Concha” cigars for $12 from James Lidgerwood & Co., a New York outfit specializing in imported delicacies. In spite of Sam’s outspoken preference for cheap cigars, Sam apparently liked these at a price not cheap for the times [MTNJ 2: 373n56].

May 1 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Chatto & Windus. Sam reaffirmed that he left the business end of publishing to others, to Bliss and his lawyer. He sadly explained how if he’d ordered the electrotypes in the beginning he couldn’t recall it. The TS bungle allowed Canadian pirates to bring out a cheap version two months ahead of the U.S. version and flood the market, costing Sam “ten thousand dollars” [MTLE 5: 93].

The Hartford Courant on page five, ran an excerpt from TA, “Mark Twain on German.”

Brown, Thomson & Co., dry goods, Hartford, billed for 56 yards of cotton, paid May 8 [MTP].

Sam also wrote to Moncure Conway, who was planning to return from England. George Warner was lecturing out of town, and Sam was going to talk with him upon his return as he supposed he needed “the information that is in the lectures, too.” The family would be in Elmira when Conway’s ship arrived, but “no matter, we shall be in Hartford by the time the lecture-season opens.” Sam still didn’t know where the fault laid with the lack of coordination between Bliss and Chatto [MTLE 5: 94].

Sam also wrote to Rollin M. Daggett (see Jan. 24, 1878 entry for bio info.) about a copyright bill before Congress.

I want to go to Washington, but it ain’t any use, business-wise, for Congress won’t bother with anything but President-making….You just get that letter from Blaine, & cast your eye over it, & try to arrive at a realizing sense of what a silly & son-of-a-bitch of a law the present law against book-piracy is. I believe it was framed by an idiot, & passed by a Congress of muttonheads.

Now you come up here—that is the thing to do. I, also have Scotch whisky, certain lemons, & hot water, & struggle with the same every night [MTLE 5: 95].

May 2 Sunday – In Hartford, Sam inscribed a copy of A Tramp Abroad to Robert Howland: “With the affectionate remembrances of his ancient friend” [MTLE 5: 96].

May 3 Monday – Christian Tauchnitz wrote from Leipzig. “Many thanks for your kind lines of March 15 and for the proofs of ‘The Tramps Abroad’ ” for which he agreed to pay 700 Marks [MTP].

Chatto & Windus wrote from London. In part: [ page 913 ]

“Dear Sir / We are on tenterhooks of anxiety for fear of a threatened unauthorised reprint of your ‘Tramp Abroad’ at a shilling, which we shall be powerless to oppose; but by keeping a bold front we hope to scare off intruders and so escape the danger” [MTPO].

Rollin M. Daggett wrote from the US House of Representatives: “Dear Mark: / I now know about what you are driving at. Now, you and other book fiends draw up such an amendment to section 4964 as you think you want, and the country will stand, and I will introduce it. This is the advice of the Librarian. Blaine is too busy to attend to anything but his fences / Ever yours…[MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Daggett / Copyright”

Jesse M. Leathers wrote to suggest his visit might happen on May 11 [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “The Earl”

May 4 Tuesday – Charles Howard Young wrote from Hartford, Mercier to Young Apr. 4 enclosed from Paris, thanking Sam for his autograph [MTP].

Moncure Conway wrote to Sam. After referring to some back and forth about letters between himself, Chatto and Bliss, he wrote: “Your book is making an excellent impression here and I am in hope its account of dueling in Germany will raise a first class controversy and agitation” [MTP]. File note: “Conway refers to Chatto & Windus, 20 Apr. 1880, enclosed with SLC to Conway 20-21 April 1880.”

The May 31 bill from Western Union shows a telegram sent to New York, recipient unspecified (see May 31 entry).

May 5 Wednesday – Sam was invoiced $16.10 by the Put-In-Bay Island Wine Co., in Ohio for a half-barrel (24 & ½ gallons) of red wine. This company advertised N. American native varieties on their invoices: Catawba, Delaware, Norton’s Virginia, Ives, and Concord Grapes. Bill marked paid. Sam had this shipped to Cleveland, probably for the Fairbanks family [MTP].

The May 31 bill from Western Union shows a telegram sent to New York, recipient unspecified (see entry).

Edward J. Wyman wrote from Chicago to ask Sam for a note encouraging a young lady who was successfully gaining subscribers for his book, a lady he described as “of much refinement and beauty.” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Excuse me from answering”.

May 6 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Orion, helping him with his “autobiography.” Sam added “…the elder Bliss has heart disease badly, & henceforth his life hangs upon a thread” [MTLE 5: 97].

Sam began a letter to William Dean Howells he finished May 7. Sam was planning to go to Washington for a few days to speak to Congressmen about a new copyright law. His trip meant he would miss Howells’ trip to Hartford. Sam wanted to “astonish” Howells with a recent chapter of Orion’s book. He wrote a litany of recent ills:

Brisk times here. Saturday, [May 1] these things happened: Our neighbor Chas. Smith was stricken with heart disease, & came near joining the majority; my publisher, Bliss, ditto ditto; a neighbor’s child died; neighbor Whitmore’s sixth child added to his five other cases of measles; neighbor Niles sent for, & responded; Susie Warner down, abed; Mrs. George Warner threatened with death during several hours; her son Frank, whilst imitating the marvels in Barnum’s circus bills, thrown from his aged horse & brought home insensible; Warner’s friend Max Yortzburgh, shot in the back by a locomotive & broken into 32 distinct pieces & his life threatened; & Mrs. Clemens, after writing all these cheerful things to Clara Spaulding, taken at midnight, & if the doctor had not been pretty prompt the contemplated Clemens would have called before his apartments were ready. / However, everybody is all right, now, except Yortzburg, & he is mending—that is, he is being [ page 914 ] mended [MTLE 5: 90]. Sam also related a story of letting Abner the cat out of the conservatory. Livy suggested perhaps he needed Howells there to help him avoid such blunders. Or, so Sam claimed.

Jesse Madison Leathers wrote to Sam (Leathers to Whitney Apr. 26 enclosed) . “Your card canceling engagement is just received. I am indeed pained to learn of your wife’s prolonged illness…” he then begged for $300 for medical treatment for his 3 daughters [MTP].

May 7 Friday – Sam finished the May 6 letter to Howells. He’d had a telephone call from Warner that Howells could not come to Hartford due to his own trip to Washington, and Sam told him that he was “doing the right thing; when one is short for time, he should be free to alter arrangements with friends, without prejudice or cussedness” –language he claimed, humorously, that Livy used (he often ascribed his language to Livy). Sam had given up the trip to Washington, as he had a “letter from a Congressman this morning” (probably Daggett (see May 1 entry) dissuading him. Sam ask Howells to offer his “most sincere & respectful approval to the President” [MTLE 5: 99].

D.S. Brooks & Sons, Hartford dealer in “hot air furnaces, cooking ranges, stoves and tin ware, low down grates and Marbelized slate mantles,” invoiced Sam $4 for a soup digester; paid July 7 [MTP].

Plimpton Mfg. Co., Hartford paper dealer invoiced Sam $12 for envelopes, blue cloth, to order; payment May 8 [MTP].

May 8 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Frank Bliss, denying ever having offered a free book to a man named Wood. “The book to Watson is all right. Wood is apparently a bloody fool” [MTLE 5: 100].

Thomas H. Murray wrote from McKinney, Tex. to Sam

Sam’l L. Clements, / Dear Sir: I remember a young man, (and often have I thought of him,) bearing your honored name. I met him at Warsaw, Mo., before the war, “fighting for his Wright’s.” I was then chief clerk of the Missouri Legislature—he, a sailor on the Father of Waters. We met at Judge Wright’s: he, courting Laura; I, eating Brandy peaches with the Mother.

      “Art thou the man?” If yes, then I rejoice that my boy-hood friend has kept his light burning on top of the bushel-measure, and mankind have had pleasure thereat.

      I was 44 years old last Sunday, May 2. That’s a long road to travel, but it has, I must say, been a pleasant one to me. But enough, just now. Laura lives at Dallas, near me. (32 miles.)

      Excuse me for intruding on your busy presence,—but I have often threatened to myself the pleasure of making this inquiry, and have now so done. / Respectfully… [MTP;MTL 1: 114n7]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Warsaw, Mo.”

May 9 Sunday – Orion wrote from Keokuk, announcing he obtained a position as local news editor on the Keokuk Gate City. He would earn $13 a week to $15 if his work proved satisfactory, and hoped he might get to where he would not need Sam to send any more money. He would still work on his autobiography and send what he could every Monday [MTP].

May 10 Monday – Sam bought a copy of Sir Gibbie, by his British friend, George MacDonald [Gribben 442]. Lindskoog compares Sir Gibbie and Huckleberry Finn, identifying twenty plot elements in common [28]. Sam also purchased Jane Austen’s (1831-1894) Mrs. Beauchamp Brown (1880) from the same bookseller, J.R. Barlow of Hartford for $1.00. He paid the bill on July 5 [Gribben 35].

May 12 Wednesday – Sam wrote a short note from Hartford to Orion, who landed an editor position at the Keokuk Gate City newspaper (see May 14 entry). Sam encouraged him in that direction, probably feeling the book would never be publishable, advising him to: “Drop the book & give your entire mind to the newspaper. Concentrate—concentrate. One thing at a time” [MTLE 5: 101].  [ page 915 ]

Orion Clemens wrote to Sam. “I am much obliged to you for the suggestions and comments accompanying the last two batches of MS., and will heed them. I am sorry for Bliss, and would like to have him know that I feel for him now both sympathy and friendship…” [MTP]. File note: “Seems to reply to SLC to anon, 6 May 1880—at least the comment about Bliss does.”

 

Paid to Madame Fogarty, New York clothier, $100 [MTP].

May 13 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Thomas H. Murray, responding to his May 8 letter. Murray had written about Sam courting Laura Wright. Sam did not mention Laura Wright. He told a story about being approached by an old man in Germany, who claimed he’d once saved Sam and Thomas’ lives on a runaway stage over a precipice. The geezer hit Sam up for ten dollars, which he paid, probably amused. Sam asked Thomas, did he recall any such event? [MTLE 5: 102].

C. McCarthy of Boston, “antiques, furniture & porcelain,” invoiced Sam $15 for a brass fender, paid May 17 [MTP].

Pamela Moffett and Jane Clemens wrote from Fredonia to Sam and Livy. Jane confided advice she’d given Orion about working until July or August then coming to Fredonia and rooming with them in a leave of absence for a few weeks, so he might “avail himself of all the reminiscences ma and the rest of us could furnish him.” This for Orion’s autobiography [MTP].

May 14 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to his mother and sister. He related the advice he’d given to Orion. No holiday planning, Sam further advised, otherwise the Gate City might prefer his “successor” [MTLE 5: 103].

The May 31 bill from Western Union shows a telegram sent to New York, recipient unspecified (see May 31 entry).

James C. Young, atty. wrote from Dayton, O. to Sam. Young was b. in 1837 near Hannibal and wondered if Sam was the “Mr. Clemens” who often visited his father about newspaper matters. He also disclosed he was raised by James A.H. Lampton of St. Louis who was a relative of his wife’s and of Sam’s. He as also a great fan of Mark Twain books [MTP].

May 15 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Edwin Pond Parker (1836-1925). Parker became Pastor of the Second Church of Christ, Hartford, in Jan. 1860. He was Chief Editor of the Book of Praise (Congregational, 1874) and wrote hymns and poetry. Sam wrote that he’d been “taken suddenly sick” and since the doctor considered it serious, Sam had considered donating $150, “but thanks to a kind Providence am wholly out of danger this morning, & recovering quite fast.” Sam complimented the Rev. Parker on a “fine poem in your column today” [MTLE 5: 104].

“Mark Twain on Plagiarism” ran in Leisure Hour, and quotes Sam’s account of unconsciously borrowing a dedication from Oliver Wendell Holmes [Tenney 9].

Wellington & Burrage, Boston, invoiced Sam $88.00 for “old Spanish screen, 68 tiles and panels”; dates of purchase and payment not listed [MTP].

Orion Clemens wrote to Sam with a scheme to bid on the Hannibal Courier at the May 22 auction. He would send more auto. MS. the next day [MTP].

May 16 Sunday – Franklin G. Whitmore wrote from Branford, Conn. to explain about a box sent a few days before—some sort of food to be “broiled over a slow fire” [MTP]. [ page 916 ]

May 17 Monday – The May 31 bill from Western Union shows a telegram sent to New York on this day, recipient unspecified (see May 31 entry) [MTP].

May 18 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells, enclosing certain bylaws for a club he wanted to start, the “Modest Club,” which only required modesty to be a member. He was the only member so far, and would Howells like to join? He suggested others for members:

“Hay, Warner, Twichell, Aldrich, Osgood, Fields, Higginson, & a few more—together with Mrs. Howells, Mrs. Clemens, & certain others of the sex…I have long felt that there ought to be an organized gang of our kind” [MTLE 5: 105].

Sam also wrote to Franklin Whitmore in Branford, Conn., thanking him for some sort of wild game he’d sent. Livy was evidently down again, as Sam wrote,

“She is sitting up three hours a day, now, but is not allowed to quit her room yet—& won’t be, for some days longer” [MTLE 5: 107].

Frank E. Bliss, treasurer of American Publishing Co. wrote a check drawn on the First Nastional Bank, Hartford, for $536.27 for royalties of A Tramp Abroad. [Check for sale on eBay, Oct. 3, 2007, Item 280159464667].

Orion Clemens wrote to Sam with the bad news he didn’t “give satisfaction as local editor,” but that if they needed an asst. editor he could do that better. A headache prevented him from working on his autobiography [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Orion loses a situation”

A.G. Newman, NY mfr. Of burglar alarms, wrote it would cost $35 to have Sam’s alarm “Rearranged and a clock attachment added thereunto” [MTP].

William Wood, atty. wrote from Kingston, Mo. that he had never rec’d IA as promised and Bliss replied he had no order from Sam to send the book [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Not opened”; Wood wrote several times about a so-called promise and evidently when Sam saw another letter from him he did not open.

May 19 Wednesday – Orion Clemens wrote to Sam. “My Dear Brother: — / Mollie is agitated by my loss of place, and anxious to go away from where we have been subjected to so much humiliation. If you felt willing to extend to me the same aid as here I would like to go to some city where the chances of getting an editorial situation would be multiplied…” Mollie had no faith in his autobiography—would it be published? [MTP].

May 20 Thursday – Sam rented a hack from Wm. P. Woolley, Hartford livery, to ride to the circus. The Grand London Circus, then played in Hartford. It’s not known if the whole family went or just Sam and the children, but Livy was seven months pregnant, so likely she stayed home (see Oct. 17 for livery bill details). The Hartford Courant reviewed the circus May 21, page 2, and reported:

The opening performance in the afternoon [May 20] tested the capacity of the tents to their utmost, and when the horses pranced in for the opening cavalcade not a seat was to be had…the baby elephant was, of course, the center of attraction, but the cages of animals, plump fine-conditioned beasts, also held their knots of observers….The equestrian exercises were at times thrilling, Charles W. Fish’s bareback riding sharing the plaudits with Madame Cordona’s four-horse trick act with Linda Jeal’s pretty riding terminating with her leaps through rings of flame. Note: Can you picture Sam with 8-year-old Susy and nearly 6-year-old Clara being wowed? See https://www.circushistory.org/History/PTB1881.htm

Sam wrote from Hartford to Frank Bliss. A letter of May 3 had arrived from Chatto & Windus objecting to the $450 charged for the electrotypes for A Tramp Abroad. Sam enclosed their letter to Bliss: [ page 917 ]

“Evidently this should have been written to the Am. Pub. Co., Frank, & not to me. How could I have had an ‘understanding’ about what the Co. would charge for electros, when I could by no possibility know?” [MTLE 5: 108].

Sam also wrote to Moncure Conway, again about the electrotype cuts. He’d made Bliss cable the price of the cuts just so Chatto could stop the process if not satisfied. “Now at this late day he writes & complains of the price,” Sam wrote. He couldn’t dictate to Bliss what to charge; had no “understanding” with Chatto.

“However, it seems to me I am writing a dam sight of letters on other folks’s business—so I’ll stop, & get a fan” [MTLE 5: 110].

Sam sent an inscription for E.S. Bowen to Charles Langdon, using a page from TA [MTLE 5: 111].

Park & Tilford billed Sam for “2 doz Glen Whisky” total $28 [MTP].

May 21 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Fanny C. Hesse, his former secretary, sending “Livy’s & mother’s annual $10 fee for S.” Sam related Livy’s confinement to her room and his need to send payment. [MTLE 5: 112].

Sam also responded to an unidentified person’s request for an autograph [113].

May 23 Sunday – In Boston, Howells wrote to Sam about the “Modest Club,” his stay in Washington and the effort for international copyright protections.

The only reason I have for not joining the Modest Club is that I am too modest: that is, I am afraid that I am not modest enough….Mrs. Howells applauded the notion of the Club from the very first. She said she knew one thing: that she was modest enough, any way….I have sent your letter and the rules to Hay. But I doubt his modesty…[MTHL 1: 310].

Orion Clemens wrote to Sam. “I know Voorhies and Wallace—both of this city—the latter a geologist, who went there for some company; the former struck it rich. His partner is Charlie Higham, ex-auctioneer of Keokuk—brother of your old friend Dick. By the way, did you ever hear that Dick Higham was shot through the middle of the forehead at Donelson?” [MTP]. Note: see mid-July entry 1855 for Clemens’ recollection of Dick Higham.

May 24 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Congressman Rollin M. Daggett, outlining what steps of punishment a copyright law should take. If not both imprisonment and a fine, the fine ought to be doubled. Ignorance should not be a shield. Sam cited several writers who had been robbed by Canadian publishers, including five editions of Howells’ Lady of the Aroostook. “Now old man, let’s see if Congress will listen to the wail of the distressed” [MTLE 5: 115].

Sam wrote an I.O.U. to George H. Warner, borrowing $900.00 at six percent interest [MTP]. Note: Clemens was not in any financial difficulty at this time so it seems strange that he borrowed 900, but Perkins reported on July 31 that he’d paid Warner back.

Invoiced by Arnold, Constable & Co., New York $8.25 for blankets; paid May 27. The May 31 bill from Western Union shows a telegram sent to Elmira, recipient unspecified (see May 31 entry).

Hills Archimedean Lawn Mower Co., Hartford billed $1.75 for repair of mower; paid May 26 [MTP].

In the evening Sam attended an amateur performance of the play, The Field of the Cloth of Gold, the last by students from Trinity College. He purchased one ticket earlier in the day, as well as one to a May 28 production of a comic opera, Fatinitza. Evidently Livy was not up to attending either. Hawley, Goodrich [ page 918 ] & Co. of Hartford charged Sam for the stage extravaganza; the bill was paid Oct. 4 [MTP; Hartford Courant ad May 24, 1880 p.1].

May 25 Tuesday – City of Hartford, John E. Higgins town clerk, receipted Sam $2.15 for dog license for “male dog name Jifi [?]” [MTP].

The Hartford Courant ran a short advertisement for Fatinitza, tickets to be sold May 27 for the comic opera to be performed May 28. See Sam’s purchase of one ticket on May 27 for the May 28 performance.

M.E. Harmon wrote from Oshkosh, Wis. to Sam, clipping of his poem “The Lorley” enclosed. He’d read Sam’s rendering of Die Lorelei in TA [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “O dreadful!”

May 26 Wednesday – Invoiced by James Lidgerwood & Co., fine groceries, New York, 200 Concha cigars $21.70; Bill paid May 29 [MTP]. Sam would have had credit at this and other N.Y. establishments. W.H. Daggett billed Sam $2 to put awnings up; paid May 28 [MTP]. The May 31 bill from Western Union shows a telegram sent to Elmira, recipient unspecified (see May 31 entry).

Osborn H. Oldroyd wrote from Springfield, Ill. to ask if Sam would write his “sentiments” about Lincoln on the enclosed sheet bearing Lincoln’s likeness on one side and the tomb on the other [MTP].

David Watt Bowser wrote from Dallas to Sam with the good news that he’d won the gold medal he’d been after for some time; in mental arithmetic. He was trying for awards in composition and general excellence [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “a boy’s letter”

May 26? Wednesday – William Dean Howells’s letter of May 23 reached Sam on or about this day. Howells reported that on his visit to Washington he conferred with President Hayes about copyright issues. Hayes responded that his administration would support a joint proposal of authors and publishers. Howells wrote he would ask Harper & Brothers to sponsor a plan giving Englishmen copyright if they had American publishers and vice versa [MTHL 2: 310].

May 27 Thursday – Sam purchased one ticket for a local production of the operetta Fatinitza [MTP receipt from Goodrich & Hawley in 1880 financial file] by Camillo Wälzel (1829-1895), Genée Richard Franz, with music by Franz von Suppé. The first American production took place at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on Apr. 14, 1879 and starred Jennie Winston [Gribben 741]. Note: A New York Times advertisement of Apr. 13, 1879 shows Apr. 21 as the opening date. Tickets for the Hartford production went on sale on this date; Sam attended the Hartford one-night performance on May 28 (see entry).

The May 31 bill from Western Union shows a telegram sent to New York, recipient unspecified (see May 31 entry).

May 28 Friday – Sam attended the operetta Fatinitza at the Hartford Opera House, put on by the Boston Ideal Opera Company. It was a one-night performance unconnected with the New York production cited by Gribben above, as the tickets were not sold until May 27 (the day Sam purchased one), and no further performance is mentioned [Hartford Courant, May 25, 1880 p.2]. From a short review of May 29, page 1, the same paper:

“Fatinitza”

That sterling combination, the Boston Ideal Opera company, repeated Suppe’s opera of “Fatinitza” at the opera house last evening before one of the largest and most fashionable audiences of the season. That the opera was presented by this company is all that need be said as to the merits of its production. Applause was [ page 919 ] bestowed again and again for popular numbers, and cordial responses were given. Miss Phillips, Miss Beebe, Messrs. Frothingham, Barnabee and Fessenden were excellent throughout. The company may well come here again; Hartford will patronize such a combination, and patronize it liberally.

May 29 Saturday – From Twichell’s journal:

“M.T. and I go on a walk to the Tower—the first of the season. A splendid day and lots of talk” [Yale, copy at MTP].

Sam paid Frank M. Wilson & Co., Bridgeport Conn., Tailors and Gents Furnishers, $120.50 for two suits, vest and alterations; He purchased what appears as “flannels” on a bill this date from Arnold, Constable, New York, which was paid June 2 [MTP].

Thomas Farrell billed Sam $7.50 for three hanging baskets on May 27; 50 mixed plants May 28; and three more baskets May 29 when the bill was paid [MTP].

May 30 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Julia Jones Beecher (Mrs. Thomas K. Beecher 1826-1905), about her “jabberwocks” (creative arrangements of roots, flowers and other natural items into images of creatures.) Sam agreed to be the auctioneer for the June 5 auction at the Grand Bazar for Union Home Work. [MTLE 5: 116; Eastman 61]. “I have arranged your jabberwocks, and other devils, in procession according to number and rank.”

The Boston Daily Globe ran an article “The Telephone / Mark Twain’s Reflections on the Great Invention. How it Seems to Hear Only One End of a Conversation”—this was a reprint of Sam’s June, 1880 Atlantic Monthly article, “A Telephonic Conversation.”

I consider that a conversation by telephone when you are simply sitting by and not taking any part in that conversation—is one of the solemnest curiosities of this modern life. Yesterday I was writing a deep article a sublime philosophical subject while such a conversation was going on in the room. I notice that someone can always write best when somebody is talking through a telephone close by.

May 31 Monday – Western Union Telegraph Co. of Hartford billed Sam by the month. For May, the following: May 1 for delivery; May 4, 5, 14, 17, 27, 31 to New York; May 24, 26 to Elmira. Bills contain number of words written for each message sent, but did not specify the recipient [MTP]. Note: perhaps none of these telegrams has survived or can be identified. The Elmira messages were most likely either to the Langdons or the Cranes. Sam was sent an additional $4.20 bill for April and May telegrams [MTP].

J.P. Newton, Hartford merchant in “meat, poultry, game, fish & vegetables” billed $4.78 for purchases made Apr. 23, 30, May 5, 6, 7, 14, 21, 25, 28 for fish, lobster, crabs; paid June 2 [MTP]. This amount would hardly buy a guppy today.

June The Atlantic Monthly, “Contributors’ Club” ran Sam’s unsigned reply to a letter from “A Boston Girl,” criticizing his grammar [Wells 23]. (See Aug. 9 entry to Howells.) Also in this issue Sam’s “A Telephonic Conversation.” [23].

June 1 Tuesday – Sam wrote to Orion in Keokuk. Only the envelope survives [MTLE 5: 118].

Hartford merchants billed Sam: Wm. Roberts, dealer in harnesses and saddles, billed Sam $4.50 for horse blankets; paid June 2. Patrick Burke, horse-shoer, billed for May 26 and May 31 for four new [ page 920 ] shoes each time; paid. Fox & Co., “fine groceries, teas, wines & segars,” billed monthly statement $51.59; paid June 3. Seyms & Co. $ 4.90 for butter delivered May 7 and 21 [all MTP, 1880 financial file].

June 1–11 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to the Saturday Morning Club, accepting an invitation for June 12 [MTLE 5: 119].

June 2 Wednesday – Fred. Kingsley, Hartford dealer in “meat, poultry, game, fish & vegetables” billed a monthly statement for $62.56; paid June 4 [MTP].

June 3 Thursday – G.S. Whiting, Hartford hardware, cutlery, guns, billed $6.50 for one wringer [MTP].

Orion Clemens wrote to Sam, “deeply touched by the generosity of yourself and Livy…Mollie …is grateful and happy.” He discussed aspects of his autobiography, including his excommunication from the church, and affirmed his desire to work. He wasn’t tired of Keokuk but had friends in Chicago and St. Louis [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “The Swearing Child” which may relate to one of the persons Orion recalled.

Edwin Booth wrote from the Hotel Brunswick, NYC to ask Sam for “a line on Twain” for his wife’s autograph book [Vassar; copy MTP].

June 4 Friday – Sam paid a $4.37 bill to Solomon & DeLeeuw, Hartford tobacco dealers for two dozen corn cob pipes and tobacco [MTP]. Was Sam really smoking this many corn cob pipes? They do burn out after a time; he may have been passing them to friends at such gatherings as his Friday Evening Club.

“A Boy’s Adventure,” which Sam and Howells referred to as the “whipping boy story,” ran in the number four issue of the Hartford Bazar Budget (Paine called this “a little special-edition sheet printed in Hartford” [MTB 719].

Note: only 100 copies were printed: www.libraries.wvu.edu/exhibits/twain/boys/index.htm). This piece was in the original manuscript of P&P, but Sam removed it upon the advice of Howells, who did not find it amusing and felt it did not fit the tone of the book. Some scholars have argued Sam should not have removed it, and have pointed to its thematic connection to the rest of the work. The June 5 Hartford Courant, in reporting on the last day of the four-day Bazar commented on this work:

Number four of the Bazar Budget proved fully up to the average excellence of the former numbers. It contained a poem “Without a Word,” by Francis Louise Bushnell; “A Boy’s Adventure,” by Mark Twain, in his peculiar style; “A Jewell of Inconsistency,” a war reminiscence, by the Rev. Joseph H. Twichell; an instructive New York letter on bric-a-brac and art stories, and an interesting short sketch of “Hartford, Old and New,” by the Rev. N.J. Burton. The number is full of news and gossip about the bazaar…

June 5 Saturday – Sam acted as auctioneer for the Grand Bazar for Union for Home Work, Hartford. The Hartford Daily Courant of June 7, 1880, p2, in a story titled “The Bazar,” reported:

Mr. George G. Sill acted in the capacity of auctioneer at the south end of the hall and Mr. Samuel L. Clemens at the north. The latter gentleman, after successfully disposing of a number of articles in Booth J, generously offered to dispose of the booth itself and all the people in it, including himself, but as no satisfactory offers were made, the lot was withdrawn. The audience remained to a somewhat later hour than usual on account of the auctions, although the band was dismissed early in the evening so as not to interfere with the anticipated brisk bidding.

Moses S. Beach wrote to Sam. [ page 921 ]

Friend Clemens; / Compulsion to read your telephonic reverie has prompted the remark that, with my experience during the last few weeks, you would possible have given an inside as well as an outside view of the indescribable. But before I go into that subject let me say what comes uppermost, now and here.

      You have been to Alexandria and Arcadia, to Bagdad and Burpaw—pootah—all over the world in fact but this little paper house, with its breezy verandah, which tempts other men has given you no shelter. Now I want you to shine the light of your—cigar—on it; and Emma who overhears my thought, as she lies in her hammock by my side, shouts “yes, and we all want him to bring his charming wife too—they would like it, I am sure.” And from her strolling place out in the woods I am quite sure I hear the echo of my wife’s “Amen” [MTP]. Beach then told a story of his brother’s experience with the telephone. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Beach. / Answered”.

June 7 Monday – Orion Clemens wrote to Sam. “It will remind you of the fable of the mountain and the mouse, when I tell you I have worked hard all week on my book. Edgar A. Poe said he wrote the last verse of the Raven first, and that books should be written backwards…Tell me what you think? This doesn’t look like writing for money, does it? / Love to all” [MTP].

June 8 Tuesday – Clara Clemens’ sixth birthday.

Sam wrote from Hartford to Moses S. Beach, who had sent Sam an unnamed “text” and an invitation to visit. Sam thanked him and “Miss Emma” (Emma Beach) but since they were about to start to Elmira for “a long summer vacation” they couldn’t accept [MTLE 5: 120].

Sylvester Baxter (1850-1927) visited and stayed at the Clemens home for at least one night on or before this date to interview Sam. Baxter was on the editorial staffs of several newspapers and magazines, and author of several books. Howells sent him. (See June 9 entry.)

June 9 Wednesday – Sam wrote two letters from Hartford to William Dean Howells. The first was about the visit of Sylvester Baxter (“Mr. B.”) who stayed at Sam’s a day or two (Sam wrote “during 24 hours”) to gather information for an interview (see June 8 entry).

“A kind-hearted, well-meaning corpse was this Boston young man, but lawsy bless me, horribly dull company. Now old man, unless you have great confidence in Mr.B.s judgment, you ought to make him submit his article to you before he prints it” [MTLE 5: 121].

The second letter dealt again with Orion’s autobiographical manuscript. Sam thought the result was “killingly entertaining; in parts absolutely delicious.” Sam was going to send Howells a hundred pages of the manuscript to consider at ordinary rates and print anonymously [MTLE 5: 122].

June 10 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to his old editor friend in Buffalo, David Gray. Sam feared negative newspaper reviews of A Tramp Abroad might limit sales, as he had his other books. So, he sent Tramp to only Gray and Howells, knowing that if they didn’t care for it he would receive kind silence. Instead they praised it, so Sam was thankful. Sales were now at 50,000—more, Sam claimed, than any previous book sales for the same length of time.

He wrote that the family would arrive in Elmira for the summer “next Wednesday evening [June 16] (via New York–Erie road.)” Livy would be confined until mid-July. After that time Sam hoped the Grays would visit Quarry Farm [MTLE 5: 123].

Howells wrote to Sylvester Baxter, having received Sam’s letter of June 9, and asked if he might see what Baxter had written about Warner and Clemens before it went into print. “They are particularly sensitive, and as you went from me to them, I am anxious to know what report you give” [MTHL 2: 311-12]. [ page 922 ]

 Also, on or about this date, Sam wrote again to Howells, suggesting that Orion’s manuscript might be “culled & reduced 50 per cent” to be “worth printing.” Sam added that they would leave for Elmira on June 15 [124].

Francis Kenney, Hartford roofer, billed Sam for work done, pots, pails, misc for: Oct. 14, 23, Nov 25, 29 1879; Apr. 17, May 29, 1880; paid June 10 [MTP].

June 11 Friday – Sam wrote two pages from Hartford to Mary M. Booth (Mrs. Edwin Booth) in response to her request for his autograph:

I think yours is likely to be a unique autograph book, my dear Mrs. Booth, because it will mainly contain people’s very best Sunday-go-to-meeting hands. I imagine so, for this reason: Without previous thought, & making up one’s mind to it, one can’t snatch up a pen & slash away at such a snowy, vast & sumptuous sheet as this, with his unthinking every-day dash & freedom. No, he will be under a kind of drawing-room constraint which will make him anxious to write nicely, & will also make him leave out his customary blots, erasures, interlineations, & such other things as go to make up his ordinary autograph—his work-day autograph, his Tom-Dick-&-Harry autograph, so to speak.

                                                                                                                                  But I am taking “previous thought;” I have consequently got my powers under control; consequently, also, I am writing in my work-a-day hand, with my every-day pen.—Otherwise this handsome page would have tricked me into doing my very carefulest & nicest—with a brand-new pen—thus:

With great Respect I remain

Yours Very Truly

Samuel L. Clemens,

Mark Twain

 

—instead of dashing the thing off in my loose & reckless every-day style —thus:

Truly Yours

S.L. Clemens

Mark Twain.

Hartford, June 11, 1880.                                                                                                    

[MTLE 5: 125; “Leaves from the Autograph Album of Mrs. Edwin Booth,” The Golden Magazine 10.57 (September 1929): 39-42]. Note: Sam gave a thinner and careful autograph in the first instance.

June 12 Saturday – Howells wrote from Boston to Sam about Sylvester Baxter’s interview of Sam. He acknowledged receipt of Orion’s manuscript, as well as Sam’s sketch, “Edward Mills and George Benton: A Tale,” which Howells thought “wunderbar” [MTHL 1: 314].

Sam met with the young ladies of the Saturday Morning Club.

June 14 Monday – Howells wrote from Boston to Sam about Orion’s autobiographical manuscript.

…the writer’s soul is laid too bare: it is shocking. I can’t risk the paper in the Atlantic; and if you print it anywhere, I hope you wont let your love of the naked truth prevent you from striking out some of the most intimate passages. Don’t let any one else even see those passages about the autopsy [of John Marshall Clemens]. The light on your father’s character is most pathetic [MTHL 1: 315].

Fanning supposes that Howell’s reaction was based on the revelation of syphilis contracted by John Marshall Clemens, possibly revealed in the post-mortem examination, probably by Dr. Orville Grant [12-16]. In 1903 Sam wrote in his notebook, “1847. Witnessed post mortem of my uncle through the keyhole,” yet no uncle died that year.  [ page 923 ]

Saloman & DeLeeuw, Hartford dealers in tobacco, invoiced Sam for two dozen corn cob pipes & tobacco; paid June 15 [MTP]. Fox & Co., Hartford grocers $14.69, “Amt of bill to date pass book”; paid [MTP].

June 15 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Franklin Whitmore in Branford, Conn.

Your letter is come, & we thank you heartily for that alluring invitation, but we are leaving to-day for New York; & we leave New York tomorrow morning at 9.15, in a special sleeping-car, which I hired & have caused to be attached to the train because Mrs. Clemens needs to lie down a good deal, & the children need to spread around for comfort’s sake on so long a trip. We reach Elmira at half past 6 p.m. [MTLE 5: 127]. Note: Sam first used such “hotel cars” in 1876.

Sam also wrote from Hartford to Howells after receiving his letter of June 12, which conveyed the judgment that Sylvester Baxter’s article on Sam was “a most blameless and pretty account…with appreciation which he got out of my review [of Tramp]” [MTHL 2: 316].

“The family are assembling at the front door for immediate flight to Elmira. Your letter just received. Well, I’m mighty glad the grave Baxter didn’t ‘give me away.’ I breathe freer, now” [MTLE 5: 126].

Sam added that Patrick McAleer on his staff would send Howells “four little roots” to plant against a wall. He also professed that James A. Garfield (1831-1881) “suits me thoroughly & exactly” and preferred him to “Grant(’s friends)” [126]. The family left Hartford for Elmira, by way of New York to spend the summer.

 

In the evening in New York, Sam and Livy went to Madison Square Theater, where they saw James Morrison Steele Mackaye’s play Hazel Kirke. Sam admired Miss Georgia Cayvan’s (1858-1906) acting. Sam noted that the play had succeeded elsewhere [MTLE 5: 129]. Note: Sam did write two days after about seeing “one act at Madison Square [Theatre]” and did discuss the chances of William Gillette’s play, The Professor, but it was not the play he and Livy saw on this night [N.Y. Times, June 15, 1880 “Amusements This Evening,” p.4]. Gillette’s play opened on June 1, 1881. The actress Sam misspelled as “Miss Cavan” was Georgia Cayvan. In his Nov. 20, 1906 A.D. Sam recalled knowing Cayvan in the 1870s—see Oct. 14, 1876 entry.

 

Orion Clemens wrote from Keokuk to Sam:

 

I send some more truck. It is an attempt at improving by re-writing the bosh you have in hand, which please burn. / Give our love to the “sex” as I see she is called in the Atlantic—also to the children. I hope Livy is much better. Do you still suffer with the sciatica? / Judge McCrary’s wife says you had better not come within her jurisdiction, as she thinks you deserve prosecution and imprisonment for life in the penitentiary. She has nearly killed herself and children with laughing over A Tramp Abroad [MTP].

June 16 Wednesday – After spending the night in New York City, the Clemens family left in their special “sleeping-car” for Elmira. It was a ten-hour trip. Sam’s letter of the previous day gave planned departure and arrival times of 9:15 AM and 6:30 PM [MTLE 5: 127]. They initially stayed at the Langdon home, as was their custom [131].

An article titled “Mark Twain, speaking of a new mosquito-netting….” Ran in Puck, p. 275 [Budd’s list furnished by Thomas Tenney and citing Baetzhold].

June 17 Thursday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Warren Stoddard, who evidently had asked if Sam’s inquiry about where an article appeared meant that he was angry.  [ page 924 ]

“Now what the hell should I get mad about? Am I become an ass in mine old age? Don’t talk such nonsense. I had a curiosity to know whose album it was—not a solitary damn did I care else about the matter” [MTLE 5: 128].

Sam added: “Lord, but I would like to see San Francisco once more!” (Of course, he never did.)

Sam also wrote to Susan Warner and Lilly Warner about the ease of having “an entire car to ourselves.” He told of the play they’d seen the night they arrived in New York (Hazel Kirke–see June 15 entry) and also speculated about the good chances of William Hooker Gillette’s (1853-1937) play, The Professor [MTLE 5: 129]. The play opened June 1, 1881 and had a run of 151 performances in New York. Gillette’s theatrical career started in 1874 when Sam loaned him $3,000 and arranged for him to have a small part in the 1875 Hartford production of Colonel Sellers [MTNJ 2: 380n72]. See June 26, 1881 letter to the Gerhardts. Note: William Gillette was Francis Gillette’s youngest son; he became one of America’s great actors.

June 18 Friday – Howells sent Sam a copy of his book, The Undiscovered Country (1880) inscribed: “S.L. Clemens / with ever so much affection, / W. D. Howells. / Belmont, / June 18, 1880” [Gribben 336].

June 19 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Miss Simon, who evidently requested an autograph [MTLE 5: 130].

June 20 Sunday – Sylvester Baxter’s profile article of Sam Clemens ran on p. 10 of the Boston Herald. The piece only mentioned Charles Dudley Warner in passing, and focused on Sam’s writing habits, his home surroundings and biography, with a few comments on his main works [MTHL 2: 314n1].

From Boston, Howells wrote a short note to Sam about meeting Captain Mouland, late of the Batavia. “He thinks you’re mad at him. Going to quit the water and take to milk—cow farm in Colorado.” Howells thought Sam’s sketch, “Mrs. McWilliams and the Lightning,” was “uncommon good” [MTHL 1: 317].

June 22 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Orion, asking him not to send any more of his manuscript until he’d finished. Evidently Orion had sworn to complete the book, even though Sam had advised him to concentrate on his new job at the Keokuk Gate City (see May 12 entry). Sam wrote the family was well and would go to Quarry Farm “in a week or two” [MTLE 5: 131].

June 23 Wednesday – Charles Perkins wrote from Hartford explaining the contract for quarterly payments on Tramp Abroad to Sam, which called for an annual adjustment to half of the profits [MTLTP 138n1; MTP].

Sam wrote to James C. Thomson in Manchester, England, letter not extant but referred to in Thomson’s July 4 reply.

June 25 Friday – Harriet W. Hawley (Mrs. Joseph R. Hawley) wrote to Sam (letter now so faded as nearly illegible), petition enclosed for the support of a monument to Adam. Signatures plus a typed list of signers in the file [MTP].

June 26 Saturday – Orion Clemens wrote to Sam. “All right. I will finish my MS. and then send it to you in one batch. I am glad you are still at work—I suppose on the Last Prince. I should be very sorry to interfere…Mollie’s agent sold 19 Tramps in two days, last week, and 12 since. She pays her 30 p.ct. to make her active” [MTP]. Note: Mollie Clemens was acting as if she were an agent; no documentation found that would say authorized agent.  [ page 925 ]

Tiffany & Co. wrote to Sam. We enclose designs for your approval. In 3 colors of gold as No. 1, the price will be $13, or same in enamel $16 & No. 2 $22 [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Their contract for the Badges”; these were for the Saturday Morning Club; see July 14 from Tiffany & Co.

E. Metzger wrote from Stuttgart Germany to ask Sam’s consent to translate TA into German; she got his address from Baron Tauchnitz [MTP].

June 29 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Dan Slote, sending the last thousand dollars of three pledged to invest in the Kaolatype process [MTLE 5: 132].

June 30 Wednesday – Frank Bliss of the American Publishing Co. made out a check to Sam for $10,000. Endorsed by Sam and Charles E. Perkins for deposit [MTP].

July–August – Sam’s manuscript, “A Record of the Small Foolishnesses of Susie & ‘Bay’ Clemens” was added to especially in these months. “No mama I did not miss you—I had Aunt Sue & Rosa & Papa—& Papa read to me—no I did not miss you” [MTNJ 2: 365].

In July, Sam entered “Bierce’s Fables” into his notebook [2: 366], referring to Ambrose Bierce’s Fables of Zambri the Parsee, humorous sketches in the English journal Fun from July 1872 to Mar. 1873. Six fables would be included in Mark Twain’s Library of Humor in 1888 [Gribben 69].

Sam’s notebook: a list of humorists for the projected “Library of Humor,” including Max Adeler (Charles Heber Clark), Simon Suggs, Bill Arp, Prentice Mulford, and others [MTNJ 2: 361].

July 1–18 Sunday – Sam wrote sometime between these dates from Elmira to Charles Eliot Norton (1827–1908). Norton was an American educator, writer, and editor who founded the Nation (1865). Sam declined an invitation to some event for the arts and sciences. He wrote,

“…just about the middle of August (if we have luck) I shall be called upon to take upon myself the office of superintending a wet nurse, or of preparing condensed milk for a nursing-bottle” [MTLE 5: 133].

Livy was due to deliver in mid-August.

July 1 Thursday – Sam listed book sales from July 1, 1879 to July 1 1880 in his notebook:

Innocents Abroad 3,182 – Roughing It 2,466 – Gilded Age 1,700 – Tom Sawyer 3,186 – Sketches – 1,518 – Tramp Abroad from March 1, 1880 to July 1, same year – 47, 563 [MTNJ 2: 428]. Note: Items listed down the page, not as shown.

Bills/receipts/invoices from Hartford merchants:

William H. Bulkeley, dry goods, $148.81 for Clemens purchases on: Apr. 9, 22, 26, 28, 31, June 4, 10, 11, 12; sent a corrected bill forwarding $148.81 adding purchases June 12, 14 for gloves, hose, misc. paid July 7; Seyms & Co. $2.55 for butter on June 4, paid July 7; John D. Fisk & Co., boots & shoes, $2.05 for child’s goods on Feb. 25; McNary & Co., importing chemists & druggists, for Apr. 11, ½ doz. Champagne $14, Henry’s magnesia $1.25, paid Oct. 4; J.G. Rathbun & Co., druggists & chemists, $21.55 for purchases Apr. 3, 9, 15, 23, May 5, 21, June 7, 10, 14: various salad oils, camphor, bottles & corks, linseed oil, ammonia, oxalic acid, etc., paid July 7; James Ahern,  “practical plumber and gas fitter” $6.97 for Mar. 23, 29, May 20, June 1, 3; paid July 7; Dr. C.A. Taft $64 for professional services from Jan. 1, 1880 to July 1, 1880; Fred B. Edwards, “drugs, medicines, fancy goods” $1.50 for camphor & castor oil, paid July 7; Haynes & Simmons, “fine boots, shoes & rubbers” $18.55 for May 5, June 1, 10, 11, 12, 23 — Sam wrote across bill:  [ page 926 ]

“Gentlemen: you have made a mistake. This bill is paid but is not receipted. Yrs truly, SL Clemens”

D.H. Buell, jeweler $13.90, Apr. 2 “gong in clock $8.50, one 8 day clock $5.00; repl. pins, brush .40” paid; Note: Dwight Buell is the man said to have initially interested Sam in the Paige typesetter. Ellen F. Hammond, MD for professional services Dec. 1879 to July 1, 1880 [MTP].

July 2? Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Haynes & Simmons, boot and shoe merchants, about a paid bill not receipted for [MTLE 5: 134].

July 4 Sunday – James C. Thomson wrote from Manchester, England. He wanted “a few hints” with his “production” and thanked Sam for prior reply of June 23 [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Drat this bore”; Sam’s of June 23 not extant.

July 5 Monday – Sam paid an undated bill of $1.20 to J.R. Barlow, books, stationer, magazines for “May 10 to Mrs. Brown (no name series); 1 Sir Gibbie”; paid.

July 6 Tuesday – Sam paid an I.O.U. to George H. Warner for $900.00 borrowed on May 24, at six percent interest; paid $906.00 [MTP]. A bill from a Parisian merchant, A. Dusuzeau of 380 [francs?] for a Mar. 9 purchase of goods [illegible – MTP].

The Lotos Club in New York receipted Sam for dues, $6.25 [MTP].

July 10 Saturday – Sam ordered 100 Cortina Mora R. Chic cigars from James Lidgerwood & Co., fine groceries, New York; bill paid Aug. 11 [MTP].

July 13 Tuesday – Sam wrote to his attorney, Charles E. Perkins; the letter not extant but referred to in Perkins’ July 14 reply.

Elihu Vedder (1836-1923) painter/illustrator wrote from NY to Sam that he was leaving the country and would return in two years. He sent a package containing a “silver comic mask. Hang it on your watch chain and think of me” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the letter, “Vedder the artist”

July 14 Wednesday – Sam purchased books from Estes & Lauriat of Boston, including James Freeman Clarke’s Memorial and Biographical Sketches (1878), and Sara Coleridge’s Memoirs and Letters (1874) [Gribben 145; 153]. A bill in MTP shows a total of $50.55 for a list of 21 books.

Charles E. Perkins wrote to Sam “Yours of 13th inst recd—I should think the investments you mention would be first rate…I got $4000 more from Bliss today and deposited it at G.P.B.” [Bissel’s] [MTP].

Tiffany & Co. wrote to Sam. “We have your list of 18 names—numbered consecutively as far as 9, and commencing again at 11, omitting No. 10. If you wish 19 pins please let us know the name for it” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “About badges”; for the Saturday Morning Club young ladies; see Sept. 1.

Frank Fuller wrote to Sam from NY on his healthfood co. letterhead. “Yes sir! The paragraph especially marked by you, sounds exactly like old Bowers’ talk of a few years ago. The machine is on the identical plan of one which a man down town was anxious to make after the … cast iron edifice of the Woodruff concern was condemned by the undersigned as having…only a magnified copy of the Brooklyn thing.” He added hope that Twain would finish the Prince & the Pauper [MTP]. [ page 927 ]

Willard Fiske (1831-1904), librarian and scholar, sent engraved invitations to his son’s wedding in Berlin [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Marriage of Prof. William Fisk & Miss Jenny McGraw” 13th or 14th?. See also AMT 2: 477 on Fiske.

George Gebbie wrote to Sam with plans to publish a Library of Humor [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Proposition for Cyclopedia of Humor”

July 14–17 Saturday – Sam telegraphed from Elmira to George Gebbie. Paraphrased: “Gebbie’s answer to mine in which I said I might possibly entertain his proposition next January, 1881” [MTLE 5: 135].

Note: Gebbie was a subscription book publisher in Philadelphia who’d written Sam proposing an anthology of American humor, with Sam as the editor. Sam liked the idea and would involve Howells [Powers, MT A Life 445]. The outcome became Mark Twain’s Library of Humor (1888) edited by Samuel Clemens, William Dean Howells, and Charles Hopkins Clark (1848-1926) , managing editor of the Hartford Courant.

July 15 Thursday – The Hartford Courant, on page one, ran an excerpt from Sam’s sketch, “Edward Mills and George Benton: A Tale” from the August issue of the Atlantic Monthly.

The new Atlantic contains the tale of Edward Mills and George Benton by Mark Twain, which is as clever a satire on the sentimentality over crime as that sort of gush has ever received.

Sam purchased Frank M. Wilson & Co., Bridgeport, Conn. tailors and Gents Furnishers $15.00 each for two white linen suits, bill paid on July 20.

A. Homann wrote from Hamburg to offer to translate TA [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Translator / Tramp /1880”

Edwin Herbert Walcott (1846-1913) wrote from Natick, Mass.

 Mr Clemens / Dear Sir / Have just read your “Edward Mills & Geo Benton” in Augst Atlantic. I am a church member, a deacon, ex-S.S. Supt., ex-Y.M.C.A. Prest &c &c(!) but I want to thank you for the story, all the same. It is capital, perfect. You have builded better than you knew. I only wish it might have been written by a man “inside the fold,” with a little different motive than a desire to get off a good joke, but whatever the motive the story is true, my only fear is that the officers & members of the “Prisoners Friend Society” will not read it. I am a hearty & sincere believer in the church, its work & above all its Master & only regret that there should be facts in existence to sustain such a “Tale” but it is a success. / Yrs. E.H. Walcott [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the letter, “About ‘Mills & Benton – a Tale.’”

July 16 Friday – John Milton Hay wrote to thank Sam for TA and also for 1601 [MTP]. A reply is not extant.

July 17 Saturday – Sam paid $5.62 for Young’s History from Estes & Lauriat, booksellers, Boston [MTP].

Joe Twichell wrote a folksy fun letter to Sam about being left alone when his wife and children went off to the Adirondacks; about Dean Sage’s latest adventures, fishing and camping; and gave a hooray for Willard Fiske, whose son was recently married [MTP].

George Gebbie wrote to Sam, informing that he was sailing for Europe on the Scythia Wednesday and would return in Oct. He asked that his plans be kept confidential and also mentioned he was an old friend of James R. Osgood [MTP]. Note: Gebbie also started a 2nd letter from Phila. that he finished on July 19. [ page 928 ]

July 18 Sunday – Howells wrote from Boston, chiding Clemens for not writing and urging him to visit Charles Eliot Norton at his summer home in Ashfield, Mass.

“Better do so. Warner is going, and so are Winny and I; and Curtis will be there. We shall have a famous time, and you will enjoy yourself, and make every body else happy. I hope Mrs. Clemens is well—I know you are” [MTHL 1: 317].

July 19 Monday – Clemens wrote from Quarry Farm, Elmira to Joe Twichell.

Dear old Joe:

We have been up here 10 days, now, & I have been on the sick list pretty much all that time, with lumbago. Mrs. Gleason was here a few days ago & told us your sisters were at the Cure, but neither Livy nor I have fairly been in condition to go down there since then. I have spent part of my time in bed; but yesterday evening Livy & I determined to get to the Cure this morning—but there’s another failure: I’m bedridden again—a decided case of rheumatism; I shall not be out again for some days I guess. We have twice sent verbal messages to Olive, begging her to waive ceremony & run up here, but she don’t waive worth a cent. It is cold & stormy to-day; but Livy & Sue will go to the Cure as soon as the weather moderates.

Have just finished the Scholar of the 12th Cent. & am delighted with the amusing & pathetic story. Suppose Giraldus had been politic; he might have reached the primacy; then imagine poor Henry II saddled with the second Beckett! I wish I could read the original; those marvels charm me—such as the spring running with milk, the man breached like a bull, & that soldier’s immaculate conception of a calf. I will remail the pamphlet to you to-day or to-morrow.

I am writing with a stylographic pen. It takes a royal amount of cussing to make the thing go, the first few days or weeks; but by that time the dullest ass gets the hang of the thing, & after that no enrichments of expression are required & said ass finds the stylographic a genuine God’s blessing. I carry one in each breeches pocket, & both loaded. I’d give you one of them if I had you where I could teach you how to use it—not otherwise; for the average ass flings the thing out of the window in disgust, the second day, believing it hath no virtue nor merit of any sort, whereas the lack lieth in himself, God of his mercy damn him.

I have writ one or two magazine articles & about 100 pages on one of my books, since we left Hartford—been idle the rest of the time.

“1601” is on its travels again; John Hay has been handing it around, in Washington, & took it out & left it in Cleveland, the other day, in the hands of an antiquary who will memorize it & then return it.

(I hear the mellow German tongue out yonder: “Clara, where art thou?” “Here above. We wait for thee, Susie.”

It seems to me our tongue lost a good deal when the gentle thee & thou departed out of it.)

Tom Beecher & family are up in the woods at Jim Beecher’s; Mrs. Langdon is at Avon Springs; Charley Langdon, with his family, is at Waukesha, Wisconsin, suffering horribly with dyspepsia. This household is well & flourishing, except me. I think we are growing doubtful about the son & heir. Sometimes we say, “He cometh not at all, & is a delusion & a fraud;” at other times we be dimly hopeful, & say, “Mayhap this is not so; peradventure he cometh by slow freight.”

Well, old man, we all send a power of love to you & Harmony & the kids—& I am

Yours Ever

Mark [MTPO].

Frank Fuller wrote a postcard from NYC to Sam:

No, Mark the White people are not the ones to ferret out the mystery of the Perkins affair because they have the thing only for the one, special purpose for which they were organized. All other rights reserved. But, it occurs to me right here that I’ll tell them of this new phase, & offer that concern the reserved rights if they’ll fight it through. It certainly does look as if they were using our device & doing wonders with it. I’ll try Mr. White on the subject. / yours…” [MTP]. Note: this likely has to do with the Bowers’ inventions.

George Gebbie finished his July 17 to Sam. “Thanks for your telegram and especially for the possible enterprise indicated…as I am a stranger to you I would suggest that you make reference to any of the Boston, Phila or New York [ page 929 ] publishers… [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Gebbie’s answer to mine in which I said I might possibly entertain his proposition next January, 1881”

July 20 Tuesday – Sam paid a bill to Estes & Lauriat of Boston for 21 books in all, including $3.85 for a three-volume set of Plutarch’s Lives, Marie Sevigne’s Letters of (1878) [Gribben 550, 621-2] three volumes of “Popular Fiction,” two volumes of Adolphe Taine’s History of English Literature (1871); Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen and Epithalamion; Amicis’ Studies of Paris; The Fables of Aesop; Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, which Sam had read as a boy and again in 1869; an eleven-volume set of Thackeray’s Lectures (1868); James Boswell’s The Life of Samuel Johnson [554, 684, 679, 697, 78].

Sam paid Frank M. Wilson & Co., Bridgeport, Conn. tailors and Gents Furnishers $15.00 each for two white linen suits, billed on July 15 [MTP]. Note: Clemens wore white in season long before he adopted it for winter wear in 1906.

July 23 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to his sister, Pamela Moffett. Sam had lumbago (general lower back pain). Evidently a clergyman named Adams had done something outside the bounds of his church rules and Sam offered that the man would be “worsted in his fight” [MTLE 5: 136].

Sam made a $75 loan to Patrick Francis of Bloomfield Conn., who made his “X” mark on the agreement [MTP, 1880 financial file].

July 24 Saturday – Sophie Degen billed Sam $36.00 for June and July daily milk? Deliveries. Bill marked paid [MTP].

July 26 Monday – Livy gave birth to a seven pound baby girl. They named her Jane Lampton Clemens, after Sam’s mother, but from the first she was called Jean. She was the last child Sam and Livy would have. The delivery was without complications; Livy began to recover in a few days [Powers, MT A Life 444]. Sam wrote to Howells about the new baby:

“I have been up all night helping to receive Miss Clemens, who arrived perfectly sound but with no more baggage than I had when I was on the river” [MTLE 5: 137].

Orion Clemens wrote to Sam about progress on his autobiography and of his relief that a letter from Sam was not bad news about Livy, since Mollie had experienced a foreboding dream [MTP].

Mary Mason Fairbanks wrote to Sam. After a long and folksy letter, she added she liked TA and “felt at home in Heidelberg,” but pressed him to write another book in a “wholly different style” [MTP].

July 27 Tuesday – Sam paid a July 17 bill from Estes & Lauriat, Boston publishers and book dealers for a five-volume set of Young Folks’ History of England (1879?) [Gribben 793].

Pamela Moffett wrote to Sam.

My dear Brother: / We all send warmest congratulations to you & Livy:—hope Mother and child will continue to do well. Dear Livy we have all felt so anxious about her. Ma was quite ill for two or three days…She and Sam and I are rusticating at Van Buren. Charley came out yesterday and brought your telegram.” She added a page or more about church conflicts there [MTP]. Note: Van Buren on Lake Erie.

Hartford City Guard per William C. Barber sent an engraved sheet informing him of honorary membership [MTP]. [ page 930 ]

July 28 Wednesday – Helen Buckingham Mathews (“H.B. Mathers”) wrote to Sam, so “delighted” with TA that she asked if he might “see your way to giving us poor Britishers a mouthful at a time, say in a series of papers or letters …over a few months?” [Vassar]. Note: Mathews (Mathers) was an author in her own right.

July 28 or 29 Thursday – Sam wrote for baby Jean Clemens to his mother Jane Clemens  and signed it “Lovingly your grand-daughter and / Name child / Jane Clemens” [MTLE 5: 138].

July 29 Thursday – Susan L. Warner (Mrs. Charles Dudley Warner) (1831?-1921) sent congratulations on the birth of Jean [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Mrs. Warner re Jean’s birth”.

Roger Marvin Griswold, M.D. (1852-1935) wrote from North Manchester, Conn.

Samuel L. Clements [sic], / Hartford, Conn, / Dear Sir:

      I wish to tender you my sincere thanks for your article in the last Atlantic, “Edward Mills & George Benton.” the article should be printed for distribution in every temperance, benevolent, and church organization in the land. / Very Truly Yrs, / R.M. Griswold [MTP]. Note: Griswold held a medical practice in New England for half a century and contributed many articles to medical journals.

July 30 Friday – Mary Keily wrote from the Lancaster Insane Asylum, Penn. “I have written to you at one time by the influence of the stars & now I am writing to you by the influence of the thunder.” Another very long, rambling, often incoherent letter from “the lunatic” as Twain called her [MTP].

July 31 Saturday – Charles E. Perkins wrote an accounting of Sam’s bank account having deposited $18,392.12 from American Publishing Co. and $386.66 from interest. He paid out $906 to Geo. Warner’s note & interest, 619.54 to Taxes for city town & school; church debt subscription 101.50; Insurance on home 234.25; Mrs. Jane Clemens $50 and Orion $50, for total outgoing of $2,961.29 [MTP].

August – Sam’s sketch, “Edward Mills and George Benton: A Tale” ran in the August issue of the Atlantic Monthly [Wells 23]. Wilson calls this “a humorless moral tale that satirizes several aspects of nineteenth-century American culture” [68]. $50 check from Houghton, Mifflin & Co. dated Aug. 2 and deposited Aug. 6 for this article is in the MTP, 1880 financial file.

August 1 Sunday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Howells asking him to locate a book at a Boston store for him. He added a short paragraph on the new baby’s progress, saying they’d hoped for twins [MTLE 5: 139].

 

Sam also wrote to Frank E. Bliss, forwarding a letter and enclosures intended for the American Publishing Co.

 

“The article headed ‘Stupendous Sell’ is not badly done; but the rest of his matter grows monotonous before one gets through — no breaks in it — too guide-booky — don’t seem to be any episodes” [MTPO]. Note: the letter is a fragment, recently added to the Project. The author of the forwarded letter is not identified.

 

August 2 Monday – Jane Clemens wrote from Van Buren to baby Jean.

 

“My dear little grand child. / I received your letter & rejoice to hear such good news from you. If you are small now I think you must be as large as your papa was at your age. But good judges could not say much about papa’s beauty at that age. Your grandma is very sorry to hear your mamma has been so sick – hope she is better …Your grandma feels very happy over her namesake if it is very small” [MTP]. Note: Jane also wrote a short note to Sam & Livy about her health and the stay at Van Buren, a small resort on Lake Erie. [ page 931 ]

August 3 Tuesday – What Fishkin calls “noisy hoopla that engulfed Elmira” was the arrival and speech of Frederick Douglass. “The event drew delegations from virtually every city and town within a hundred miles. Sixty-three guns were fired at 11 A.M. Well before the parade began, the ‘excitement reached the white folks, and the streets were thronged with expectant people.’” At least four bands provided music. The parade route went around the Langdon home. Even if Sam were up on Quarry Farm, he would have heard the commotion [Lighting Out 95-6].

August 5 Thursday – Lucy Adams Perkins wrote to Sam with congratulations and concern for Livy. She related their house being burgled “again…at the same parlor window.” A policeman heard the window slide and came to find the burglar in the parlor; he fired a shot at him as he fled into the bushes, but missed him [MTP].

August 6 Friday – Lilly G. Warner wrote to Sam, thanking him for his letter from baby Jean, and very concerned after hearing Livy was worse [MTP].

August 7 Saturday – Robert Thornton Lowery (1859-1921) wrote from Petreola, Ontario to Sam:

“Dear Sir,—What will you charge to write me a lecture. One that will take about 1 1/4 hours to deliver it. Humorous and stirring, but not too pathetic. An early answer will very much oblige…” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Ass.” Although he received dozens, perhaps hundreds, of written requests to lecture, this is the only letter found which requested Clemens to write a lecture for another humorist. “Colonel” Lowery wrote on Western subjects and was favorably compared to Twain. He would later edit British Columbia newspapers.

August 9 Monday – Sam wrote to the editors of the River Record about articles they’d referred to which he intended to publish in book form after visiting the Mississippi again. These would become Life on the Mississippi. Sam realized that since he’d left the river, new boats had come and gone. “Yours is a very good paper,” he wrote, “but it makes a person baldheaded to read it” [MTLE 5: 140].

Sam also wrote to Howells [MTLE 5: 141], thanking him for the hair-restorer sent by Elinor Howells to Livy, whose naturally fine hair had thinned during pregnancy [Willis 134]. “The baby was born well fixed on top,” Sam added. He’d decided it wasn’t bad to be copied by papers like the New York Times.

..it keeps a body more alive & known to the broad & general public, for the Atlantic goes to only (dam that ‘Boston Girl’) the select high few….I never really expected you to print that article [“Boston Girl” in the June issue of Atlantic ]; so when I came to, after you accepted it, I said to myself, “All right, if he wants all the pious people after his scalp, let him go ahead—it will be a spectacle not without interest.”…By-the-way, these praiseful letters have usually come from strong church members—think of that!—& they take me to be one—think also of that! Blame it, they are the very people I expected to make skip around & cuss [MTLE 5: 141].

Sam added that the girls adored the new baby, that he’d written some 60 pages of “burlesque foreign travel,” and that Bliss had sent him a check for the first quarter sales of A Tramp Abroad—“nearly $19,000–very good” [141].

August 11 Wednesday – John Milton Hay wrote from Wash. D.C. “I sent you my speech the other day. / Please let me know where you are at this moment. I have something to send you which ought to go into your own lily-white hands. Yours…” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Col. John Hay, author of the ‘Pike County Ballads.” See Gribben p. 303 listing this work as 1871.

W.E. Landers wrote to Sam, asking if a clipping enclosed was true: “Ere Mark Twain: ‘Y mae hogiau drwg yn bur chwanog i edrych yn debyg i’w mamau ac ymddwyn yn debyg i’w tadau’ ”[MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Welsh”; Google translation: “The bad guys are pretty chwanog to look the same and behave like their mothers and fathers.” [ page 932 ]

August 12 Thursday – Moncure Conway wrote from Easton, Pa. to Sam. “Love and greeting to you and your dear lady!” he asked where Sam was as they would be in Newport and Boston next week, then sail for Liverpool Nov. 27 [MTP].

August 14 and 15 Sunday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Dr. John Brown. The butler, Sam’s “black George” had taken a card from Dr. Stearns, who was on his way to Scotland, and forgotten to tell Sam. Sam wrote of new baby Jean Clemens and of his hope to “cross the ocean on purpose to show” Brown the baby if they were “well two years hence.” Susy was “a wise & slender maid of 8 & upwards, now, is very good & lovely, & an able student of the dreadful German tongue.” Sam added a note on the sales of Tramp, and on a:

…new plan for international copyright—that of deftly turning the flank of Congress & achieving the thing through the Department of State, in the form of a treaty with foreign powers.

He added a note about the Stylographic pen, that carried its own supply of ink [MTLE 5: 143].

On Aug. 15 Sam added that Livy objected to him not mentioning Clara: 

“(aged 6 ½ —or 5 ½, I forget which) & her many & unusual gifts mental & physical; but I said I left the child out purposely; because you did not know her. Then I was commanded to put her in—which I have done” [MTLE 5: 144].

About this weekend, Sam received a letter from Moncure Conway dated Aug. 12. Sam wrote Conway’s temporary address in his notebook. Conway was visiting his sister, who had married Francis A. Marsh, professor of philology at LaFayette College in Easton, Penn. [MTNJ 2: 358n8].

August 15 Sunday – Mollie & Orion Clemens wrote to Sam and Livy. Mollie wrote about attending Judge Joseph Montgomery Casey’s silver wedding anniversary. Orion didn’t go due to the expense. Orion wrote on the letter a paragraph about writing the 454th page of his auto MS. [MTP].

August 16 Monday – John M. Hay wrote from Wash. D.C. “Here is the Meisterstück. It got into such appreciative hands among the Campfire Club that it was read into rags…it is returned with thanks and laud [1601?]. I would I might see you one day. But I have no hopes until after 4th March week, when I quit the livery of office. / I congratulate you on your new baby” [MTP].

August 17 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Moncure Conway that the new baby was “3 weeks old, & neither she nor her mother is able to sit up yet.”  Sam wasn’t certain of the date the family would return to Hartford but it would be “several weeks before” Conway sailed, and they could coordinate dates for the Conways to visit [MTLE 5: 145].

Sam also wrote to Elinor Howells, who had written Sam after he’d sent a check for Livy’s hair restorer. Livy was unable to write yet, so Sam wrote about baby Jean and who she looked like (no one could agree); and recommended a doctor for spinal diseases for Elinor. He added another note about the Stylographic pen that carried its own supply of ink—that William Dean should use one [MTLE 5: 147].

August 18 Wednesday – Rose Terry Cooke (1827-1892), poet and prose writer, whose stories Sam admired, wrote from Winsted, Conn.

Horrid man! how did you know the way I behave in a thunderstorm? Have you been secreted in the closet? or lurking on the shed roof? I hope you got thoroughly rained on!—And worst of all is that you made me laugh at myself: my real terrors turned around and grimaced at me: they were sublime, and you have made them ridiculous. Just come out here another year and have four houses within a few rods of you struck, and then see if you’ll write an article of such exasperating levity. I really hate you, but you are funny. How I should [ page 933 ] love to see you in a real hail and lightning jamboree just for once,—only I should never dare to look on! / I am not Mrs McWilliams, only / Rose Terry Cooke.

P.S. My husband says, “Tell him—‘Bully for you! it’s so, every bit of it.’” but he’s a man, too!

P.P.S. Don’t do so any more please! [MTP]. Note: see also Dec. 10, 1880; Jan. 10, 1880; Feb. 27, 1884; Gribben 158. In his July 4, 1877 to Wm. Dean Howells, Sam wrote of reading all of the Atlantic¸ and that “Mrs. Rose Terry Cooke’s story was a ten-strike. I wish she would write 12 old-time New England tales a year.”

August 19 Thursday – Sam wrote a letter from Elmira for baby Jean Clemens to Olivia Lewis Langdon for grandma’s birthday. He attached a lock of the baby’s hair.

Dear Grandma— / I arrived pretty short, & have not had a chance to make anything yet, over & above a most scanty & inadequate living; so I am not able to send anything to testify my love for you & do homage to your birthday, but a mere lock of my hair—heaven knows I wish it were more, but I am short even in hair [MTLE 5: 148].

Charles Dudley Warner wrote to Sam that Miss Lee, his wife’s sister died at his house the morning before, cause of death the bursting of an internal abscess. He also sent congratulations to Livy [MTP].

August 20 Friday – Sophie Degen billed Sam $37.50 for July and Aug. daily milk? deliveries. Bill marked paid [MTP].

August 22 Sunday – Frank Soulé wrote from San Francisco to Sam, enclosed in Howells’ Oct. 31, asking for publishing help with a 200 page vol. of his poetry [MTP].

August 25 Wednesday – Estes & Lauriat of Boston billed Sam $150 for John James Audubon’s The Birds of America from Drawings made in the United States and Their Territories (1860) [Gribben 31]. The bill at MTP shows the plates in 1 volume folio, text in 4 volumes.

Joe Twichell wrote from Keene Valley, NY to Sam, “Aug 23rd, 24th, 25th somewhere along there”. He was sending a California journal and a “male book” which he “carried away from Charley Warner’s on account of its title ‘Adirondack Stories.’ I have found it so interesting that I feel the impulse to pass it on to you.” He didn’t know the author, but thought a tale “John’s Trial” was equal to anything Bret Harte wrot