February 27 Thursday – The Clemens family left Kanpur and traveled 45 miles to Agra, staying at the Government House occupied by Colonel P.L. Loch.
(Fears: Day By Day)
Robert Cooper, Around the World with Mark Twain, reports the distance as 150 miles, taking seven and one half hours to travel. (page 246). He writes that Colonel Loch oversaw the local rulers of three states. "Nine months ago there was a Rajah deposed, and it has brought much extra work upon him."
Twain visited Kanpur because of his "growing fascination with the Sepoy Uprising and especially what he saw as the heroic stand of his British hosts. Certainly Smythe would not have been too pleased with the receipts, for Twain’s performance was more an after-dinner speech in the officers’ mess than the usual Talk in a town hall or theatre.
"Lucknow was the epicenter of the highly evolved Indo-Islamic civilization, a unique post-Moghul center of fine art, poetry, high Urdu and gracious manners. This first disaster, the Sepoy Uprising, was primarily caused by the greed of the East India Company, which after many years snipping away at the edges of the Kingdom of Oudh decided to annex it all, including of course its capital Lucknow.
Twain devotes chapter 48 of Following the Equator to the "Great Mutiny". "It seems to be settled, now, that among the many causes from which the Great Mutiny sprang, the main one was the annexation of the kingdom of Oudh by the East India Company—characterized by Sir Henry Lawrence as "the most unrighteous act that was ever committed." That is the extent of his sympathy for the mutineers, most is expressed for the British.
February 20 Thursday – A travel day. Sam and Smythe left Muzaffarpur at 1 a.m. on the train. At 5 a.m. they took a boat and landed near Dinapur, then traveled on to Benares. Sam’s notebook suggests Livy and Clara took a train from Calcutta to meet the pair, as they had not left with them on Feb. 18.
Up at 5 & soon on boat — landed between Dinapore & [illegible] — ran down to [illegible] found Livy & Clara on up-train at 7; all went to Benares, arriving about noon, to stay 24 hours [NB 36 TS 50]. (Day By Day)
There is little mention of Muzaffarpur in Twain's book but he did, apparently, make notes on it. Ian Strathcarron does go into quite a bit of detail on this location.
TO SAY THAT Muzaffarpur is the back of beyond is to give beyond slightly more recognition than it deserves. It’s not at all certain why Mark Twain chose to lecture here at all, apart from the fact that Smythe must have rounded up a good fee from the local planters. A lonely old life it must have been for them stuck out here too.
February 18 Tuesday – Sam and Carlyle Smythe arrived back in Calcutta at 11 a.m. (Day By Day) from Darjeeling.
Sam and Carlyle G. Smythe left Calcutta at 9:30 p.m. for Muzaffarpur, some 354 miles, on a private
rail car. Parsons: “In a partly backtracking lecture itinerary, the Clemenses were soon traveling northwest
through fields of poppies to Muzaffarpur,... (Day By Day)
February 19 Wednesday – The Clemens party arrived in Muzaffarpur at noon. He gave his lecture at
9:30 p.m. (Day By Day)
Mark Twain and his party arrived in Darjeeling Saturday, February 15, 1896. He lectured at the Darjeeling Town Hall that evening and slept in Sunday morning while Livy and Clara went to see the mountains. Later that day he socialized at the Planter's Club and did some site seeing. Livy and Clara started on their return to Calcutta. Twain followed the next day, Monday, February 17.
Ian Strathcarron's visit to Darjeeling stands in stark contrast to Twain's:
In chapter 48 Twain wrote about the inability to secure one's sleeping sofa on Indian trains. His agent, Smythe, had been waiting for an opportunity to exact some revenge for his own loss of a berth on a previous journey. This trip provided him with just such an opportunity.
We were leaving on a 24-hour journey to Darjeeling. Mr. Barclay, the general superintendent, has made special provision for our accommodation, Mr. Smythe said; so there was no need to hurry about getting to the train; consequently, we were a little late.
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