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].

(See Sept.29–Oct. 3, 1872 entry for Sam’s first visit to Magdalen College). Note: this publication wasn’t found in any bibliographies.