January 30 Thursday – Sam returned to Washington, D.C. (See Mar. 3 entry), where he wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks.

“I confess, humbly, that I deserve all you have said, & promise that I will rigidly eschew slang & vulgarity in future, even in foolish dinner speeches, when on my guard” [MTL 2: 170].

Sam’s MARK TWAIN’S LETTERS FROM WASHINGTON, NUMBER IV dated Jan. 10 ran in the Enterprise. Sections included: “Public Stealing,” “The Worrell Sisters,” “The Town-Site Bill,” and:

Old Curry

Is here—old Abe Curry. And he is gotten up “regardless.” He is the observed of all observers. I think Curry is the best dressed man in Washington. He has a plug hat with a bell crown to it—it is of the latest Paris style, and has a rim that is curled up at the sides. It is the shiest hat in Washington. And he wears black broadcloth pants, with straps to them, while Marseilles vest, and a blue claw-hammer coat with a double row of brass buttons on it, like a Major General. His cravat is perfectly stunning; it looks like it might have come off the end of a rainbow. His moustache is turning out handsomely, and he swings a rattan stick and wears lemon-colored kid gloves. He also has a superb set of false teeth, but he has to carry them in his pocket most of the time, because he can’t swear good when he has them in. He goes browsing around the President’s and the departments trying to talk French—because he is playing himself for a foreign Duke, you know. N.B.—I may have exaggerated my old friend’s costume and performances a little, but then this is the man that detained my baggage in Carson once and gave me that infamous account of the Hopkins massacre, and I can never, never forgive him for it. He says he is here to get seeds from the Patent Office for Tredway and Jim Sturtevant. A likely story. He wants to get another appropriation to put another layer of stone on that Mint, I guess. I expect I had better find out what Curry is about and keep an eye on him—he will be wanting to run this Government next [MTP].

Note: Abraham Curry, one who promoted Carson City as Nevada’s capitol and whom Sam credited with saving Nevada’s new government (Roughing It, Ch. 25), was cited in the 1863 massacre article as the source.

Clemens wrote “Home Again,” which was published March 3 in the Alta California. See entry.