November 16 Monday – Twichell returned to Boston and with Sam and Frederick B. Allen, a Boston friend of Twichell’s. They attended an 11 AM meeting of the Radical Club. Walter Allen of the Boston Daily Advertiser probably invited the men [MTL 6: 284n3].

The Radical Club was an informal group of Unitarian and Transcendental ministers and laymen, and they met at the home of Rev. John T. Sargent. It was founded in the spring of 1867 to encourage larger liberty in matters of religious expression. On this occasion, Edward S. Morse (1838-1925), a professor of zoology and comparative anatomy at Bowdoin College, gave a talk on evolution. Twichell recorded Sam’s reactions after leaving the lecture early:

As we passed out, Mr. A. joined the party, and while the rest of us were chatting briskly about the incidents of the meeting, Mr. Clemens was silent until we got up into Beacon Street, when he spoke out in a serious way, saying, as nearly as I can recall his language: “Well, that was an extraordinary meeting! How that chap did draw on the blackboard! I never saw anything like that. I’m sorry we had to come away, for I was mightily interested in the talk going on, and wanted to say something myself. When Mrs. Sargent asked me if I would speak, I didn’t want to do it at all, but I thought it wouldn’t be polite to decline. I didn’t care much about evolution, but when they struck the doctrine of metempsychosis, I got interested. That doctrine accounts for me: I knew there was something the matter, but never knew what it was before. It’s the passing off on a man of an old, damaged, second-hand soul that makes all the trouble” [Sketches and Reminiscences of the Radical Club, by Mrs. J. T. Sargent, James R. Osgood & Co., 1880, p186-7]. Note: metempsychosis is a Greek term for transmigration of the soul; reincarnation.

Afterwards, Sam and Twichell arrived late and lunched at Howells’ at 2 PM. Later in the afternoon the three men called on Professor James Russell Lowell, visiting a half hour, mostly talking about the Beecher scandal. Sam and Twichell went back to Howells’ and left there at 6 PM. They then looked in at Harvard Memorial Hall and returned to Boston, taking the 9 PM train to Hartford [MTL 6: 284n3].