England to Home Again – Sketches No. 1 Flop – Orion the Chicken-Rancher - Colonel Sellers Stars on Broadway – Clara “Bay” Clemens Born – Elmira Summer - Dream House Built – Fredonia Visit – Hike to Boston with Twichell - “Old Times on the Mississippi” – Atlantic Monthly Breakthrough - Typewriter for Genius – Reformed Lecturer
1873 – Gribben sites Tom Hood’s Comic Annual for 1873 as running Sam’s “How I Escaped Being Killed in a Duel” [707].
George Dolby (d. 1900) wrote to Sam sometime during the year, exact date unknown. Goodspeed’s at MTP gives: “Dickens’ Manager on his American Tour. Amusing letter to Mark Twain about the theft of a duck which they were to have had for dinner” [MTP].
Orion Accuses Bliss – Olivia Susan “Susy” Clemens Born – Langdon Clemens Dies
John Henry Riley Dead from Cancer – Visit to Fairbanks Clan – Vacation in Saybrook
Sam Sails Solo to England – Banquets Galore – Batavia Heroes
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].