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 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.].