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 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.