May 4 Wednesday – Now a full pilot, Sam left St. Louis on the Alfred T. Lacey, copiloted by Bart Bowen (brother of Sam and Will Bowen), under Captain John P. Rodney, for New Orleans. “A pilot, in those days, was the only unfettered and entirely independent human being that lived in the earth” [LM; MTL 1: 14].
February 27 Sunday – The Aleck Scott arrived in St. Louis
April 9 Saturday – Sam was granted a license as a full steamboat pilot from the Department of Commerce in St. Louis. Until May 1861, Sam had the “best job in the world.” Note: Until copies of Sam’s pilot license surfaced in the late 1930s, it was thought by Paine, DeVoto and others (from Sam’s autobiographical estimates of eighteen months from his apprenticeship under Bixby,) that the date was Sept. 9, 1858. Sam may have recollected being allowed to pilot crafts without passengers prior to the issuance of his license, which would have been lawful at that time [The Twainian, Nov. 1939].
April 8 Friday – The Aleck Scott arrived in St. Louis
March 31 Thursday – The Aleck Scott left for St. Louis
March 27 Sunday – The Aleck Scott arrived in New Orleans
March 21 Monday – The Aleck Scott left for New Orleans.
March 19 Saturday – The Aleck Scott arrived in St. Louis
March 11 Friday – In New Orleans, Clemens finished the Mar. 9 letter to his sister:
New Orleans, Friday 11th.
March 9 and 11 Friday – In New Orleans, Sam began a long letter to sister Pamela Moffett, that he finished on Mar. 11. He wrote of the Mardi Gras, and Maria Piccolomini, an Italian “princess” singer
Here, in part:
. . . . [first part not extant]