Bored with Buffalo – Bret Harte on Top – Elmira Stay – Joe Goodman Boost - New York & Washington – Hartford House Hunting – Nook Farm Rental - Eastern Lecture Tour – Thomas Bailey Aldrich –Elastic Garment Strap - “Sociable Jimmy”— Roughing It Published
Sam Sues Webb – Finishes Lecture Tour – Sam & Livy Married “Sammy in Fairy Land” - Buffalo Express – Jervis Falls to Cancer – Galaxy Articles – Langdon Clemens Born - Emma Nye Dies at Clemens’ Home – Diamond Plans
1870 – Paine says that “as early as 1870 he [Sam] had jotted down an occasional reminiscent chapter” for what would become his autobiography [MTA 1: vi n1]. Of these, Paine includes “The Tennessee Land,” written this year [3-7].
November 2 Tuesday – Sam lectured in Brookville, Pennsylvania – As reported by the Pittsburgh Gazette [MTL 3: 385].
November 1 1869 to January 21, 1870 Lecture Tour: At least 49 engagements under the management of James Redpath (All but Brookville and Johnstown are listed courtesy of Barbara Schmidt’s TwainQuotes website, designated as [Schmidt].)
Sometime during this period Clemens wrote to an unidentified man, his photo enclosed:
“All right—will smoke with you, if Redpath can arrange a night that will suit all around. Confound that ferry!” [MTPO: Sales catalog, Thomas R. Madigan, 1935, item 67].
October – The text of an interview with ex-Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton and Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, and Attorney General Brown. The supposed discussion was the Alabama uestion, but Sam was present and wrote the real discussion was about the most effective way to remove warts. Attributed to Twain in the Oct. 1869 issue of Wood’s Household Magazine [Tenney 162; Neider, MT Life as I Find It 36-7; Gale 409].
September – Sam wrote an untitled burlesque letter from Lord Byron to Mark Twain, which was published posthumously [Camfield, bibliog.]. The impetus for the letter was no doubt Harriet Beecher Stowe’s bombshell article in the Atlantic, “The True Story of Lady Byron’s Life,” which exposed an affair by Lord Byron with his half sister, Augusta Leigh. Significantly, the article ran during James T. Fields’ (1817-1881) European vacation, with Howells in charge. This was a clear blunder, one of the few by Howells, and probably an attempt to placate Stowe.
August 1 Sunday – Sam, apologetic for his letter of July 22, wrote again from Elmira to Elisha Bliss. “I have been out of humor for a week. I had a bargain about concluded for the purchase of an interest in a daily paper & when everything seemed to be going smoothly, the owner raised on me” [MTL 3: 287]. Note: the owner referred to was Abel W. Fairbanks; the paper the Cleveland Herald.
LETTER FROM “MARK TWAIN” dated Hartford, July 1869, ran in the San Francisco Alta California. Subtitles: Romance in Real Life; the “Overland Monthly”; Blind Tom; How is your Avitor? [Schmidt].
August – “Personal Habits of the Siamese Twins” was published in Packard’s Monthly [Camfield, bibliog.]. Sam inscribed a copy of Innocents Abroad: Miss Ida Clark/ August 1869/ Compliments of The Author [McBride 7].
James Redpath’s journal, The Lyceum, listed Mark Twain at a $100 price among dozens of other speakers [Lorch 101].
July – Sam’s article, “Mark Twain’s Eulogy on the Reliable Contraband” ran in the July issue of Packard’s Monthly [Camfield, bibliog.].
May 19 Tuesday – The Fresno Mining Co. issued ten shares of stock to “Samuel L. Clemmens” [sic] in Aurora, Esmeralda mining district. The company was incorporated on Jan. 22, 1863 [Spink Shreves Galleries Sale 121 Lot 487, 2010]. Note: see insert.
