October 19 Wednesday – In Buffalo, Clemens wrote to Francis P. Church:

      I am so stupid. I forgot that it will be two or three weeks before I can see whether you are going to want that portrait & burlesque or not—so you must sit right down & write me even if you have to delay your dinner a minute or two. Will you?

      2d article of this “Memoranda” (expressed last night per U.S. Ex. Co.) is headed “History Repeats Itself.” Please change that heading to / “Moral Anecdote for the Young” / Unattractive headings is bad wisdom [MTP]. Note: this misdated in MTP’s files as 1871; but Sam was in Pennsylvania on Oct. 19, 1871.

“On Riley—Newspaper Correspondent” was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 238]. This humorous article about John Henry Riley, a drinking pal from Sam’s Washoe and Washington days, was reprinted in the Nov. issue of the Galaxy [McCullough 243]. In the article Sam used a figure of speech that he’d use again in a Brooklyn lecture (Feb. 7, 1873):

“Riley has a ready wit, a quickness and aptness at selecting and applying quotations, and a countenance that is as solemn and as blank as the backside of a tombstone” [The Twainian, Jan-Feb 1946, p4]. Note: this source and Camfield’s bibliography report the article as Oct. 29, 1870.