January 16 Thursday – Sam began his new position on Orion’s newspaper; he wrote a comic piece, “A Gallant Fireman,” lampooning Jim Wolfe, their new apprentice and his dim-witted reaction to a minor fire at a shop next door to the Western Union [ET&S 1: 61]. (Note: Dempsey cites this article as the first known authored by Sam [158].) Sam tried to add vigor to the paper by using local color and frontier language, while Orion filled the paper with moralistic pieces, dull compositions and summaries of national news.

January 9 Thursday – A fire broke out one door from the print shop where Sam worked with brothers Orion, Henry, and a newcomer who was the butt of many of Sam’s practical jokes, Jim Wolfe. This episode was the basis for a humorous sketch printed a week later [Wecter 236].

January – Sam ended his commitment to Joseph Ament of the Missouri Courier and went to work with brother Henry for Orion, who promised him a salary of $3.50 a week. Orion was never able to pay Sam a penny. Orion secured cousin Dr. Jim Lampton and uncle John Quarles as sales agents [A. Hoffman 28]. Sam served Orion daily as a printer and editorial assistant. Sam’s attitude toward his older brother was established in the period of his work on the Courier.

November 30 Saturday – Sam’s fifteenth birthday.

November 29 Friday – Sam had his picture taken holding the typestick containing “SAM” on the eve of his fifteenth birthday [MTP].

November 14 Thursday – The Hannibal Western Union printed an article, “Humorous Content Upon the Excellence of a Wedding Cake,” byline “Devil,” attributed by Branch to Sam Clemens [Branch, “Chronological” 113].

September 6 Friday – Orion began printing the Hannibal Western Union, a weekly Whig newspaper. Sam probably continued working for Joseph Ament the first few months Orion established the newspaper [Wecter 225]. Note: Dempsey gives the date as Sept. 5 [158].

July 23 Tuesday – Aunt Martha Ann (Patsy) Quarles died. She was Jane Lampton Clemens’ sister. Less than two years later, John Quarles sold his farm [Wecter 290n20].

July 4 Thursday – Sam marched in the parade with the Cadets of Temperance, and later recollected that he picked up a cigar butt from the street, smoked it, and quit the group [Wecter 153].

June 27 Thursday – “Doing’ a Dandy,” a sketch of Sam’s ran in Ament’s Courier under the pseudonym of “Fred Ballard” [Wecter 247].