Day By Day Dates

January 19 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Cleveland to Livy.
“I haven’t shaved for three days—& when Mrs. Fairbanks kissed me this morning, she said I looked like the moss-covered bucket…. They are hurrying me—Fairbanks called up stairs to know what part of the chicken I wanted—told him to give me the port side, for’ard of the wheel” [MTL 3: 50].

January 20 Wednesday – Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture in White’s Hall (Young Men’s Hall), Toledo, Ohio, then stayed the night in Toledo at the home of John B. Carson and family.

January 22 Friday – Sam returned to Cleveland, staying with the Fairbankses. He gave his “Vandals” lecture for the Protestant Orphan Asylum Benefit, Case Hall, Cleveland, Ohio.
The Cleveland Leader reported Sam’s remarks that prefaced his lecture:

January 23 Saturday – Sam wrote from Cleveland to Joseph and Harmony Twichell congratulating them on the birth of their second child, Julia Curtis Twichell on Jan. 9. Sam was upbeat about Livy, describing her picture that had arrived, and her letters that came:
“Every other day, without fail, & sometimes every day…those darling 8-page commercial miracles; & I bless the girl, & bow my grateful head before the throne of God & let the unspoken thanks flow out that never human speech could fetter into words” [MTL 3: 67].

January 24 Sunday – Sam wrote from Cleveland to Livy. He was relieved that Livy still had “faith in me.” Livy’s parents had expressed doubts about Sam, that he was a wanderer by nature. Sam answered the accusation:
“Does a man, five years a galley-slave, get in a habit of it & yearn to be a galley-slave always?…And being pushed from pillar to post & compelled so long to roam, against my will, is it reasonable to think that I am really fond if it & wedded to it? I think not” [MTL 3: 75].

January 25 Monday – Sam lecture his “Vandals” in Academy of Music, Marshall, Michigan [MTPO].

January 26 Tuesday – Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture in Batavia, Illinois. Sam spent the night in Batavia and wrote another long love letter to Livy [MTL 3: 76].

January 27 Wednesday – Sam left early in the morning for Freeport, Illinois, where Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture in Fry’s Hall.

January 28 Thursday – Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture at Russell Hall, Waterloo, Iowa [MTPO].

January 29 Friday – Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture at the Bench Street Methodist Church in Galena, Illinois. Afterwards, Sam wrote from Galena to Livy:

February 1 Monday – Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture at Strawn’s Hall in Jacksonville, Illinois [MTPO].
Afterwards he wrote Francis Bliss a short note, saying he would be in Elmira from Feb. 3 till Feb. 11 and asking for proofs of Innocents Abroad to be sent there if ready. Proofs were not sent until early March, when Sam was in Hartford [MTP].

February 2 Tuesday – Sam left Cleveland for Elmira and Livy. He’d received some interest from George A. Benedict, who was ill, in the sale of part interest in the Cleveland Herald for $25,000.

February 4 Thursday – Sam arrived in Elmira. Jervis Langdon gave his approval for Sam and Livy’s engagement.

February 5 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to his mother and family, informing them that he was:
“…duly & solemnly & irrevocably engaged to be married to Miss Olivia L. Langdon, aged 23 ½, only daughter of Jervis and Olivia Langdon of Elmira, New York. Amen.”
Sam told the family of his possible purchase of a part interest in the Cleveland Herald, that the marriage with Livy might take a “good while” as he was not yet “rich enough,” and of Livy setting:

February 10 Wednesday – Elisha Bliss wrote from Hartford to Sam about the proofs for Innocents Abroad. He had none to send but was “pushing things now very rapidly however” [MTL 3: 98-9]. Sam most likely received the letter on Feb. 11 or 12.

February 12 Friday – Sam left Elmira “at the last minute” that evening and slept overnight on the train back to Cleveland.

February 13 Saturday – Sam wrote from Cleveland to Livy. “(10AM) I have been here two hours in a splendid state of exasperation. I went to bed in the cars at half past nine, last night & slept like a log until 7 this morning, & woke up thoroughly refreshed” [MTL 3: 88].
He discovered that he’d missed a lecture date in Alliance, Ohio made by Abel Fairbanks, a date unknown to Sam. That evening Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture in Ravenna, Ohio.
Sam wrote letters from Ravenna that evening including this to Livy:

February 14 Sunday – Sam responded from Ravenna, Ohio to Elisha Bliss’ letter of Feb. 10, which he’d received while in Elmira. Sam wanted to handle all details of revision on the proofs, having learned the lesson of neglecting this step with his Jumping Frog book. He wrote Bliss that he expected to be in Hartford two or three weeks starting the last week of February. Sam also wrote Twichell and answered General Joseph R. Hawley’s (1826-1905) letter of Feb. 10 about Sam’s desire to buy into the Hartford Courant. Hawley and Charles Dudley Warner (1829- 1900) ran the Courant.

February 15 Monday – Sam wrote in the morning from Ravenna, Ohio to Livy about having her engagement ring made. He left Ravenna “about noon” and that evening gave his “Vandals” lecture in Alliance, Ohio.

February 16 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Titusville, Pennsylvania to Livy the next day that he had:
…sat up until 2 in the morning (because no porter at hotel to call me,) & returned on a coal train to Ravenna—went to bed for one hour & a half & then got up half asleep & started in the early train for this Titusville section of country—had to wait from 1 P.M. till 5, at Corry, Pa., & so found an excellent hotel & went to bed… [MTL 3: 103-4].
Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture at Corinthian Hall in Titusville, Pennsylvania [MTPO].

February 17 Wednesday – In Titusville, late after the lecture, Sam wrote letters to Livy, Joe Goodman, and Mary Mason Fairbanks. To Mary, Sam wrote teasingly:
“I haven’t got nothing more to write, I believe, because there ain’t no topics of interest here to write about, except that Beech was here & the angel of the coal mine went down in an oil well. No damage to either. Oils well that ends well” [MTL 3: 107-8].

February 18 Thursday – Sam telegraphed from Franklin, Pa. to the Young Men’s Association of Genesco Academy to say he would not be able to make the lecture planned there. Sam headed for Elmira again, to see Livy. For a good account of the cancellation and subsequent Mar. 1 lecture, see The Twainian, Nov.-Dec. 1961 p1-4.

The Genesco Academy of Young Men wrote to acknowledge Sam’s telegram [MTP].

February 19 Friday – The Genesco Academy of Young Men wrote again to Sam trying to pin down when Twain could come and lecture [MTP].

February 19–22 Monday – Sam spent four days visiting the Langdons in Elmira. Sam sent three telegrams from Elmira to the Genesco Academy, promising to lecture there Mar. 1 [MTL 3: 110- 111]. Sam left Elmira on Feb.22 with Jervis Langdon, who was headed to New York City on business. Sam stayed with him a day or two [Sanborn 422].

February 23 Tuesday – Sam reached Trenton early in the day. That evening he gave his “Vandals” lecture in Trenton, New Jersey and then returned to New York, where he waited “all day” for a room at the St. Nicholas Hotel. That evening Sam and Jervis tried without success to visit Fidele (Mrs. Henry) Brooks. The Brooks were family friends of the Langdons. Sam probably wrote Livy a letter, which has been lost [MTL 3: 113n2].