May 24 Wednesday – On entering Philadelphia, Sam and Osgood observed a crowd had formed to gaze at an Italian laborer whose foot had been severed by a train.
“Our tracks ought to be fenced—on the principle that the majority of human beings being fools, the laws ought to be made in the interest of the majority” [MTNJ 2: 481].
May 23 Tuesday – Judge Caleb F. Davis, President of Keokuk Savings Bank & Trust, wrote to Clemens:
I write to remind you of my request, and your promise to send me your photograph, and the published sketch you mentioned. … /
May 22 Monday – “Snowed a few flakes. We left at 1.45 east” [MTNJ 2: 480].
Sam and James Osgood left St. Paul, Minn. by train, bound for home [Powers, MT A Life 462].
The St. Paul and Minneapolis Pioneer Press ran a brief article on page 7 paraphrasing Sam’s mistrust of interviewers and the reasons for his current trip. There were no direct quotations [Budd, “Interview” 3].
May 21 Sunday – The Minneapolis arrived at St. Paul, Minn. at 7 AM after a “hideous trip” where Sam and Osgood spent the night at the Metropolitan Hotel. It was cold and snowing [Kaplan 246].
May 20 Saturday – The Minneapolis arrived at Lake Pepin, Minn. Sam and Osgood saw a “wretched poor family on boat going to the frontier—man on deck with wagon; woman & several little children allowed in cabin for charity’s sake. The slept on sofas & floor in glare of lamps without covering. Must have frozen last night.” Sam told how he and Osgood took pity on the family and got them hot meals and blankets [MTNJ 2: 480n164].
May 19 Friday – The Minneapolis arrived at Dubuque, Iowa.
We noticed that above Dubuque the water of the Mississippi was olive-green—rich and beautiful and semitransparent, with the sun on it….The majestic bluffs that overlook the river, along through this region, charm one with the grace and variety of their forms, and the soft beauty of their adornment…And it is all as tranquil and reposeful as dreamland, and has nothing this-worldly about it—nothing to hang a fret or a worry upon [Ch 58 LM].
May 18 Thursday – The Minneapolis arrived at Muscatine, Iowa. Osgood rejoined Sam at Davenport, Iowa.
“We had not time to go ashore in Muscatine, but had a daylight view of it from the boat. I lived there awhile, many years ago, but the place, now, had a rather unfamiliar look; so I suppose it has clear outgrown the town which I used to know” [Ch 57 LM].
May 17 Wednesday – Roswell H. Phelps left Hannibal and returned to Hartford. Sam left Hannibal alone aboard the Minneapolis, which stopped at Quincy, Ill. and stopped at Keokuk, Iowa. Sam wrote from Quincy to Livy:
May 15 Monday – Sam was the guest at the summer home (“Woodside”) of John Garth, “A popular schoolmate of Sam’s, beginning at Mrs. Horr’s…son of a tobacconist who taught the boys at Sunday school in the Presbyterian church” [Wecter 144]. Garth had married another childhood friend, Helen Kercheval and made his fortune in New York [Rasmussen 163]. He returned in 1871 to live in Hannibal, now a town of 15,000.
May 14 Sunday – The Gem City arrived in Hannibal, Mo. at 7 AM [Ch 53 LM]. Kaplan writes it was “a still Sunday morning. The town seemed deserted.” Sam later wrote Livy that “Everything was changed, but when I reached Third or Fourth street the tears burst forth, for I recognized the mud” [Kaplan 246].
Sam registered at the Park Hotel.