The Buffalo Express

scott 14 October 2021

August 15 Sunday – Sam officially became a writing editor of the Express, offering sketches and editorials. This began a period of eighteen months in Buffalo that marked a transition from sometime journalist to celebrated author. (DBD)

Crossing the Peninsula - Summer of 1868

scott 14 October 2021

July 6 - July 29, 1868:  Return to New York.  Departed San Francisco aboard the Montana.  July 11 at 12:30 am, Cabo San Lucas.  Twain arrived in New York July 29, 1868.
Cabo San Lucas - July 11
Acapulco - July 13
Panama City - July 20:  Met with Ned Wakeman
Aspinall - Boarded the Henry Chauncey
Arrived in New York July 29 and checked into the Westminster Hotel.  Mark Twain would never again return to California or Nevada.
August 4: Hartford

Pilgrim Life Tour

scott 14 October 2021

Despite the heavy burden of work that faced him, it is nevertheless clear that Mark Twain had determined, even before his arrival, to lecture in California and Nevada, covering, in general, the same itinerary as his 1866 tour.  He needed money, and he knew that no other activity promised so lucrative and quick a financial return as the platform.  He lost no time in making his plans known.  In reporting his arrival in San Francisco, the Alta California announced on April 3 that the genial and jolly humorist proposed to lecture in a few days.  (Lorch, p.

Crossing the Peninsula, Westward - Spring 1868

scott 14 October 2021

March 11 - April 2, 1868: From New York to San Francisco. Departed New York, March 11 on board the Henry Chauncy. A wooden-hulled sidewheeler of 2,656 tons built in New York in 1865, it was owned and operated by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. At 25⁰ latitude, the Henry Chauncey was just below the tip of Florida. The Pacific Mail Steamship Company’s “upward bound” steamer, bound from Aspinwall (now Colón) on 15 March, “met and communicated with” the Henry Chauncey on 16 March, and arrived in New York on 22 March.

After the Excursion: New York and Washington D.C.

scott 14 October 2021

During the period from November of 1867 and March of 1868, Mark Twain spent most of his time in Washington D.C. and New York City.  He had initially accepted the post of Private Secretary for Senator William Stewart, an acquaintance from Nevada.  This did not work out so well and he spent much of his time writing correspondence and in arranging to produce his book on the Quaker City excursion.

Innocents in Egypt

scott 14 October 2021
When we reached the pier we found an army of Egyptian boys with donkeys no larger than themselves, waiting for passengers—for donkeys are the omnibuses of Egypt. We preferred to walk, but we could not have our own way. The boys crowded about us, clamored around us, and slewed their donkeys exactly across our path, no matter which way we turned. They were good-natured rascals, and so were the donkeys. We mounted, and the boys ran behind us and kept the donkeys in a furious gallop, as is the fashion at Damascus. I believe I would rather ride a donkey than any beast in the world. He goes briskly, he puts on no airs, he is docile, though opinionated. Satan himself could not scare him, and he is convenient—very convenient. When you are tired riding you can rest your feet on the ground and let him gallop from under you.

Innocents in the Holy Land

scott 14 October 2021
The Quaker City has arrived in Beirout, Lebanon. The touristswere broken up into groups, Mark Twain's group was to take 'the long trip". Well, out of our eight, three were selected to attend to all business connected with the expedition. The rest of us had nothing to do but look at the beautiful city of Beirout, with its bright, new houses nestled among a wilderness of green shrubbery spread abroad over an upland that sloped gently down to the sea; and also at the mountains of Lebanon that environ it; and likewise to bathe in the transparent blue water that rolled its billows about the ship (we did not know there were sharks there.) We had also to range up and down through the town and look at the costumes. These are picturesque and fanciful, but not so varied as at Constantinople and Smyrna; the women of Beirout add an agony—in the two former cities the sex wear a thin veil which one can see through (and they often expose their ancles,) but at Beirout they cover their entire faces with dark-colored or black veils, so that they look like mummies, and then expose their breasts to the public.
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