January 15 Monday – Sam’s lecture in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania was “backed” (canceled) by the committee there, so Sam spent a long weekend in Pittsburgh [MTL 5: 28].
Bill marked paid from Tracy & Co., Importers for “1 polished standard for Fire irons” $4 [MTP].
January 13 Saturday – Sam had an open weekend and wrote a short note from Pittsburgh to Livy, sending clippings of favorable reviews. In the note he wrote that he’d just sent a “long dispatch,” which has been lost [MTL 5: 22].
Sam also sent a check and note to James Redpath for $124.69. The Lyceum charged speakers a 10% commission, and Sam owed back fees [26].
January 12 Friday – Sam lectured in Kittanning, Pennsylvania – “Roughing It.” Sam wrote from Kittanning to Livy before the lecture:
“Livy darling, this is a filthy, stupid, hateful Dutch village, like all Pennsylvania—& I have got to lecture to these leatherheads tonight, but shall leave for Pittsburgh at 3 in the morning, & spend Sunday in that black but delightful town” [MTL 5: 21-2].
January 11 Thursday – Sam left Wheeling in the afternoon and traveled to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he lectured in Mercantile Library Hall – “Roughing It.”
Afterward he finished his Jan. 10 to Redpath and also wrote Livy:
January 10 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Steubenville to Livy about his visit after the lecture to the Steubenville Female Seminary; the winning of passenger business by the railroads from steamboats; and novels he’d read and sent home.
Moravian University is a private university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The institution traces its founding to 1742 by Moravians, descendants of followers of the Bohemian Reformation under John Amos Comenius.
January 9 Tuesday – Sam lectured in Gray and Garrett’s Hall, Steubenville, Ohio – “Roughing It” [MTPO].
January 8 Monday – Sam gave the “Roughing It” lecture in Concert Hall, Salem, Ohio [MTPO].
He wrote from Salem to Livy.
“Well, slowly this lecturing penance drags toward the end. Heaven knows I shall be glad when I get far away from these country communities of wooden-heads. Whenever I want to go away from New England again, lecturing, please show these letters to me & bring me to my senses” [MTL 5: 14].
January 7 Sunday – Sam telegraphed from Wooster, Ohio to William Dean Howells to solicit Bret Harte and “the other boys” to get up a fund for William Andrew Kendall (1831?-1876), a poet who was ill in New York, to gain his passage back to California. Sam claimed he didn’t know Kendall, but Harte did, having published several of his poems while editor of the Overland.