July 24 Wednesday – In Minneapolis, Minn., before going to the other Twin City, Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers, rather upset at the attorneys working his case.
I have Mr. Colby’s letter [not extant] in which he suggests that a settlement with the creditors be arranged as soon as possible — and I heartily agree with that idea, (Privately, he thinks my lack of fighting-stuff makes this course necessary). I like the serenity and complacency of this idiot and his associate-idiot Rushmore. What cheap, cheap material one can make a New York lawyer of. This jack-rabbit has made blunder after blunder, and one worthless prophecy after another, until he got me into a scrape which his youth and obscurity disenable him to appreciate; then he blandly intimates that settlement is the correct course for a client who lacks nerve. …I’ve told him how he can get the $15,000 he thinks he can settle for. He will tell you [MTHHR 173-4].
The Clemens party took rooms in the Hotel Ryan, in St. Paul, Minn. prior to his evening lecture at St. Paul’s People’s Congregational Church. The St. Paul Dispatch, p.3 ran “Talk with Mark Twain,” cited in [Scharnhorst, Interviews 159-60]:
Mark Twain, the American humorist who has charmed and delighted two hemispheres, administered the tonic of laughter to a large audience in Minneapolis last night, and this evening he will do the same by a representative audience of St. Paul people at the People’s Church.
Not that he is feeling humorous. Not a bit of it. His health is not what it once was, and his luck has not been of the best; but even these would be bearable were it not for the carbuncle that insists upon being his compagnon de voyage. A man does not fully realize what trouble is until he has entertained a carbuncle or a boil, and at present Mark is having a good deal of experience. Nevertheless, he is in trim to amuse and he is able to do it as few men can. This will be evident when he appears tonight and drawls out his inimitable yarns about the jumping frog and other things.
“I am now on my way around the world,” he said, “putting a girdle around the earth as it were. After belting this country, I shall sail for the Sandwich Islands, where I shall appear briefly, en route to Australia, the principal cities of which country I shall visit. Tasmania, New Zealand, and Ceylon will be visited in turn and then India, along to Bombay. Then I shall proceed to England, where I shall remain quite awhile. Finally, when my tour is completed, I shall return to my home in Hartford, there to settle down for a rest.”
Mr. Clemens chats in a desultory fashion, steering away from himself. His carbuncle and his health keep him quiet and necessitates as much rest as possible.
His program tonight will be the same as that which has been used by him thus far during the present tour, as he does not intend to change his program until he reaches Australia. The features are all favorites, told in his best style and calculated to keep the most solemn man in an ecstasy of merriment.
The Minneapolis and St. Paul Daily Pioneer Press on July 25 reported of this lecture: “His delivery is not so animated as it used to be, but it lacks none of the former charm on that account” [Fatout, Lecture Circuit 246].
The Minneapolis Times also interviewed Sam on p.4 , quoting his praise of James Whitcomb Riley [Gribben 581].
Sam inscribed a used copy of IA to Will T. Chute: Truly Yours / Mark Twain / July 24/95 [Liveauctioneers.com/item/4632851]. Note: the owner of the book signed with his name and “Minneapolis, Minn. / Paris Sept. Boston Oct. 1889.” Of course, the name in the book may not have been the owner at the time Sam inscribed it.