Sam’s Portrait – Bayard Taylor – Nephew Sammy – Duncan’s Lawsuit
Lobbying for Appointments – Alexandroffsky Marvels – Ah Sin Opened
Bermuda! with Twichell – Rambling Notes – John T. Lewis, Hero – Tramp of the Sea
The “First Home” Telephone – Whittier Birthday Debacle – Written Apologies

1877 – Paine gives this year for an additional excerpt written for Mark Twain’s Autobiography, “Early Years in Florida, Missouri” [7-10].

Sam’s sketch on Francis Lightfoot Lee ran in Pennsylvania Magazine, 1, No. 3 [Gribben 539].

The Nation’s Centennial Year
1601 – Started on Huck Finn – Ah Sin & Bret Harte – West Point – Tom Sawyer Praised Skeleton
Stories – Conway as Agent – John Marshall & Henry Disinterred – Sam on Stage Centennial in Philly
– Advice to American Publishing Co. – Hayes & Torchlight Parades Political Speeches – Tauchnitz –
Belford Pirates – Readings in New England
Jabberwock Auctioneer – Crazy Isabella

Hartford Life – Pirates of Sellers Play – Queer Letters – Beecher Trial –Tom Sawyer - Sketches New & Old – Gondour – De Quille’s Bonanza Book – Dreaming of a River Trip - Drunk Wet Nurse – Baseball, Umbrellas & a Boy’s Body – Chasing Down Gill - Bateman’s Point & Bowling History – Moncure Conway

1875 – Actor John Drew (1853-1927) remembered that Sam first saw him in the 1875 play, The Taming of the Shrew in New York City [Gribben 631]. The exact date has proven elusive.

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].