February 6 Friday – In the afternoon, Sam wrote from Layfayette, Indiana to Livy:

We rose at 5.45 this morning & took a train which ought to have had us here at 10.30, but it lost 2 hours on the road. I slept a couple of hours on the way, & I feel rusty & seedy, now. I have not eaten for 12 hours & it will doubtless be another 12 before I do eat; for I got up with a sour stomach. Pond has just been in, mad. He went in to dinner with Cable, who was shown to a table where some children sat; & he whirled on his heel & marched out before everybody in grandiose style & told Pond to have his dinner sent to his room. Pond was deeply mortified at this fantastic exhibition of petty magnificence [MTP].

Sam and Cable gave a reading at the Plymouth Church, Indianapolis, Indiana [Schmidt lists this, Railton does not]. Sam’s black coffee again helped him through the evening reading, according to a Feb. 7 letter to Livy. Sam also mentioned enjoying a reading in Ft. Wayne on Feb. 5 in this letter. At 10:30 In the evening, Maurice Thompson, the poet, came by and visited until midnight.

The Lafayette Courier, p. 1: “Mark Twain Interviewed / His Views upon Subjects of Interest.” Sam joked about the local canal, the courthouse, and George Cable’s effect on audiences [Scharnhorst, Interviews 81-2].