From page 438 The Life of Mark Twain - The Middle Years 1871-1891:
The post-Christmas leg of Sam's reading tour with Cable, complicated by severe weather, was even more arduous than the fall road show. They rendezvoused at the upscale Monongahela House in Pittsburgh and resumed their readings at the Cumberland Presbyterian Church on December 29. Over the holiday Sam struck on another tactic to limit Cable’s platform time: he introduced a forty-five-minute recitation from the final chapters of Huck Finn that he declaimed in two parts with an intermission of Creole songs performed by his partner. “It’s the biggest card I've got in my whole repertoire,” Sam boasted to Livy. “It went a-booming. . . . This is merely the episode where Tom & Huck stock Jim's cabin with reptiles, & then set him free, in the night, with the crowd of farmers after them with guns.” Ever accommodating, Cable agreed that the new feature on the program was “fine—& great.” The praise he received from reviewers over the next weeks for the so-called evasion scene, often disparaged in modern criticism of the novel, helps to explain Sam's own fondness for it, The Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette reported that the two men “met with unrestrained levity” despite Sam's departure from the announced program, which “was one of the jokes of the evening.” The Pittsburgh Times found the change refreshing, “as thoroughly enjoyable as it was completely different,” Cable assured Louise that they “had a good time in Pittsburgh,” though he added that some of the papers “must have taken some grudge against us; for they made offensive reports of the affair.” The Pittsburgh Dispatch was particularly disparaging, suggesting that Sam and Cable resembled a pair of cartoon characters.
Pittsburgh did not like the show, at least not the reviewers:
"S.L. Clemens, better known as "Mark Twain," and Mr. George W. Cable recited selections from their own writings last night at the Cumberland Presbyterian church. The congregation was large, and there was an air of intellectuality about the people that betokened keen appreciation and accurate comprehension. One thing was noticeable among the listeners: Nearly everyone had a long nose. If those who were there will glance at each other's companion, this exceptional gathering of long and well-shaped noses will be easily discerned. The occasion was supposed to be a humorous one. Long noses indicate serious intelligence. It may be because the entertainment was a church performance, the true character of it was not suspected."
The Pittsburg Dispatch 1884: December 30 Touring with Cable and Huck
Clemens included “Tragic Tale of the Fishwife,” and “Infestation of Phelps’ cabin with snakes and rats” [MTPO].
Later, Sam wrote from Pittsburgh to Livy. Besides adding that he’d “Heard a wonderful banjo-player to-day,” named “Cable—but no kin,” [Dec. 30 to Livy] he wrote of the performance:
"Well, mamma, dear, the child is born. To-night I read the new piece—the piece which Clara Spaulding’s impassibility dashed & destroyed months ago—& it’s the biggest card I’ve got in my whole repertoire. I always thought so; It went a-booming; & Cable’s praises are not merely loud, they are boisterous. Says its literary quality is high & fine—& great; its truth to boy nature unchallengeable; its humor constant & delightful....It took me 45 minutes to recite it (didn’t use any notes) & it hadn’t a doubtful place in it, or a silent spot" [MTP].
The map of the route may be incorrect as there are many possible routes from New York to Pittsburgh. The two maps from the Library of Congress are not in agreement in that the New York Central map of 1900 does not contain the Pennsylvania, Reading and Lehigh Valley routes of 1884. The KML files that I have found so convenient are incomplete - they contain only those routes in existence by 1870. The subsequent fourteen years saw a great deal of activity in the building of railroads. Google Earth, the platform I use to create KML files shows current lines. It is likely that many routes have been re-routed if not eliminated in the last hundred and twenty years.
Sam's letter of 28 December, 1884 to Livy implies he did not change trains on this trip but followed a single railway. "...it has been a very nice comfortable easy trip today... We had a hotel car -- and consequently three meals."