January 21 Sunday – In Harrisburg, Sam inscribed a copy of IA to Jane Findlay Shunk (1792-1878)
This book is given to
Miss Jane Findlay Shunk,
With the kindest regards of
Mark Twain
Harrisburgh, Jan. 21/72 [MTPO]
Note: The Findlays and the Shunks were old Pennsylvania political families.
January 22 Monday – Sam lectured in the Old Methodist Church, Carlisle, Pa. to about 600 – “Roughing It” [MTPO].
A contract was drawn between Sam and the American Publishing Co. [MTP]. Note: Sam probably signed it shortly after his return on Jan. 25.
January 23 Tuesday – Sam lectured in Maryland Institute, Baltimore, Maryland – “Roughing It.” Lecture manager Thomas B. Pugh asked Sam to deliver a second Philadelphia lecture on Feb.
January 24 Wednesday – Sam lectured to over 2,000 in Steinway Hall, New York City – “On Governor Nye,” a benefit for the Mercantile Library. Sam telegraphed from New York to James Redpath to tell Pugh that he would not lecture again this season [MTL 5: 31]. Though Sam had been in New York many times over the past few years, this was his first lecture there since May 1867, when he first spoke before an Eastern audience prior to leaving on the Quaker City excursion. The reviews praised the lectures. Sam stayed at the St. Nicholas Hotel.
January 25 Thursday – Sam returned home to Hartford and family to spend three or four days resting [MTL 5: 33].
January 26 Friday – F.W. Farwell wrote from NYC advertising the Babcock Fire Extinguisher [MTP].
Thomas B. Pugh wrote from Phila. to Sam, regretting Sam could not lecture in Phila again this season [MTP].
January 27 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to James Redpath, nixing lectures in New York, Englewood, New Jersey, Danbury, Conn., but agreeing to Amherst, Mass.
“Thank God it is nearly over. I haven’t a cent to show for all this long campaign. Squandered it thoughtlessly paying debts” [MTL 5: 36]. Note: Sam did lecture in Danbury on Feb. 21.
January 28 Sunday – The Jubilee Singers, touring for Fisk University in Nashville, performed at the Asylum Hill Church in Hartford to a nearly full house. It’s likely that Sam attended [MTL 5: 37, p316n2]. Note: the church had 186 pews, seating 930 people [Strong 49].
January 29 Monday – Sam lectured in Klein’s Opera House, Scranton, Pa. – “Roughing It” [MTPO].
January 30 Tuesday – Sam lectured in The Tabernacle, Jersey City, New Jersey – “Roughing It.” Sam had become used to introducing himself, and played it up for all the humor it offered. He often related the true story about a man out West who’d been forced to introduce him: “I don’t know anything about this man except two things, one is, he has never been in the penitentiary, and the other is, I don’t know the reason why” [MTL 5: 38].
January 31 Wednesday – Sam again took a ferry and lectured in Opera House, Paterson, New Jersey – “Roughing It” [MTPO]. Sam probably spent the night at Paterson’s Franklin House Hotel [MTL 5: 39].
Bill paid to Whiton & Gilletto $15 for 1&1/2 cord oak wood [MTP].
February – Sam’s article “Dollinger the Age[d] Pilot Man” ran in American Publishing Co.’s in-house promotional monthly, American Publisher [Camfield, bibliog.]. See Roughing It, Ch. 51.
February 1 Thursday – Sam lectured to a “jammed” house in Rand’s Hall, Troy, New York – “Roughing It.” George Routledge paid Sam a token amount ($185) for the right to publish Roughing It simultaneously in England [MTL 5: 73n3].
Sam left for Hartford.
February 2 Friday – Sam and Livy celebrated their second wedding anniversary.
Bill from Whittlesey & Bliss, grocers, terms net cash, marked paid $19.38 for tubs of butter [MTP].
February 3 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Alvin J. Johnson (1827-1884), who had invited him to the 61st birthday celebration that evening for Horace Greeley in New York City. Johnson was a publisher and a close friend of Greeley’s.
February 4 Sunday – Greeley’s birthday party ended at around midnight. Sam stayed in New York overnight at the St. Nicholas Hotel. Sam probably returned to Hartford after a day or two, but his whereabouts and activities aren’t known until Feb. 10, when he was in Hartford.
February 5–10 Saturday – Before he left New York Sam may have met the medium James Vincent Mansfield, seeking contact with his dead brother Henry Clemens. Sam wrote about the visit some ten years later in chapter 48 of Life on the Mississippi. Sam’s sometimes interest in spiritualism often resulted in lampoons of them [MTL 5: 41-3].
February 6 Tuesday – Bill paid to W.B. Willard, flour & grain merchant $8.50 for grain & oats [MTP].
February 10 Saturday – Sam had returned to Hartford and purchased a pair of “patent Congress Gaiters” from Caspar Kreuzer, a boot maker there [MTL 5: 41].
February 13 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Mary Mason Fairbanks, apologizing for not being able to visit during his “most detestable lecture campaign that ever was—a campaign which was one eternal worry with contriving new lectures & being dissatisfied with them.” Sam liked yanking the chains of his favorite females. “I killed a man this morning.
February 19 Monday – Two copies of Roughing It were placed with the Copyright Office, Library of Congress [MTL 5: 45n4; Hirst, “A Note on the Text” Oxford edition, 1996].
February 21 Wednesday – Sam lectured in Opera House, Danbury, Conn. – “Roughing It.” He probably stayed the night and returned to Hartford the next day [MTL 5: 46].
February 23 Friday – James Redpath was in Hartford at the Allyn House and Sam sent him a note. They probably had breakfast together. By noon Sam had left for New York City [MTL 5: 47n1].
February 26 Monday – Sam telegraphed from Hartford to Redpath & Fall asking “How in the name of God does a man find his way from here to Amherst.” Fall answered with times and places for connections from Hartford to Amherst, which would take Sam five hours though Amherst is only 40 miles north of Hartford. Sam also canceled a trip to Boston, the purpose of which is unknown [MTL 5: 48].
February 27 Tuesday – Sam lectured at College Hall, Amherst, Mass., his last lecture of the season – “Roughing It.” Afterward Sam attended an oyster dinner and told stories of his piloting days and of spirit mediums in New York. The reviews were poor, but the dinner was a great hit [MTL 5: 49n3].