Day By Day Dates

Day by Day entries are from Mark Twain, Day By Day, four volumes of books compiled by David Fears and made available on-line by the Center for Mark Twain Studies.  The entries presented here are from conversions of the PDFs provided by the Center for Mark Twain Studies and are subject to the vagaries of that process.    The PDFs, themselves, have problems with formatting and some difficulties with indexing for searching.  These are the inevitable problems resulting from converting a printed book into PDFs.  Consequently, what is provided here are copies of copies.  

I have made attempts at providing a time-line for Twain's Geography and have been dissatisfied with the results.  Fears' work provides a comprehensive solution to that problem.  Each entry from the books is titled with the full date of the entry, solving a major problem I have with the On-line site - what year is the entry for.  The entries are certainly not perfect reproductions from Fears' books, however.  Converting PDFs to text frequently results in characters, and sometimes entire sections of text,  relocating.  In the later case I have tried to amend the problem where it occurs but more often than not the relocated characters are simply omitted.  Also, I cannot vouch for the paragraph structure.  Correcting these problems would require access to the printed copies of Fears' books.  Alas, but this is beyond my reach.

This page allows the reader to search for entries based on a range of dates.  The entries are also accessible from each of the primary sections (Epochs, Episodes and Chapters) of Twain's Geography.  

Entry Date (field_entry_date)

December 4, 1869 Saturday

December 4 Saturday  Sam telegraphed from New York to James Redpath about the “infernal mite society, a pure charity speculation” and the mix-up for the second Brooklyn lecture [MTL 3: 418]. Note: this in reply to the following Redpath telegram sent to the home of Henry and Fidele Brooks:

“Please see Miss Wason, Brooklyn.

December 6, 1869 Monday

December 6 Monday  Sam’s article “MARK TWAIN’S IDEA OF A GOOD LETTER” was reprinted in the Grass Valley, California, Daily National. Sam’s niece, Annie Moffett’s letter was the object of Sam’s admiration [Fatout, MT Speaks 58-9].

William F. West, Horatio C. King & Lorin Palmer wrote:

Dear Sir,

December 11, 1869 Saturday

December 11 Saturday  Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Town Hall, West Meriden, Conn. [MTL 3: 415].

“Around the World Letter No. 4” was printed in the Buffalo Express. The article included humorous sketches on the early days in California [McCullough 108].

December 15, 1869 Wednesday 

December 15 Wednesday  Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Armory Hall, Pawtucket, R.I. [MTL 3: 415].

He wrote a short note from Boston to his mother and family about his lecturing, Livy’s trousseau, which Jervis Langdon called her “trowsers,” and his contracting a cold; he was feeling too low to answer Pamela’s letter [MTL 3: 425].

December 17, 1869 Friday

December 17 Friday  Sam wrote from Boston to his sister, Pamela Moffett. Sam was “killed up with a cold, & shall not lecture to-night—so there goes a few weeks board.” The canceled lecture was for Abington, Mass. Sam related that Livy’s “heart is thoroughly set upon” Pamela and Annie coming for the wedding.

December 18 and 19, 1869 Sunday

December 18 and 19 Sunday  The lecture planned for Lynn, Mass. was also canceled due to Sam’s cold [MTL 3: 485n16]. Sam wrote from Boston to Livy about Joe Goodman coming to Elmira for the wedding and other matters. Sam went with Joseph R. Hawley to a dinner in honor of Francis W.

December 24, 1869 Friday 

December 24 Friday  Sam lectured (“Savages”)  in New Hall, Slatersville, Rhode Island. Sam had been scheduled to lecture in Salem on this Christmas Eve, but changed to Slatersville to fill in for his sick friend, Josh Billings [MTL 3: 438n3].

December 25, 1869 Saturday

December 25 Saturday  Christmas  Sam wrote from Boston to Livy wishing her a happy Christmas.

“I shall expect a letter in the loved & familiar hand in New Haven day after tomorrow, though—& a month after that, we shall close our long correspondence, & tell each other what our minds suggest, by word of mouth. Speed the day!” [MTL 3: 435].

December 27, 1869 Monday 

December 27 Monday  Sam lectured (“Savages”)  in Music Hall, New Haven, Conn. [MTL 3: 416].

Sam wrote from New Haven to Livy just before the lecture.

“I stopped two hours in Hartford today & Twichell & I bummed around together…Twelve thousand copies of the book sold this month. This is perfectly enormous. Nothing like it since Uncle Tom’s Cabin, I guess” [MTL 3: 440].

December 28, 1869 Tuesday 

December 28 Tuesday  Sam wrote from New York to Joseph Twichell sending him a rail ticket he didn’t need. He also wrote to Elisha Bliss, about sending Dan Slote more books at a discount to sell to his friends.

In the evening, Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Taylor Hall, Trenton, New Jersey [MTL 3: 441-3].

December 29, 1869 Wednesday 

December 29 Wednesday  Sam lectured (“Savages”)  in Opera House, Newark, N.J. [MTL 3: 416].

 “An Indignant Rebuke,” an unsigned article attributed to Sam, was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 120].

The Boston Evening Transcript ran a letter by Sam about pretentious Americans, returning from Europe:

December 31, 1869 Friday

December 31 Friday  Sam telegraphed Whitelaw Reid on or about this day. The dispatch is not extant but mentioned in Reid’s letter of Jan. 1, 1870.

Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Opera House, Williamsport, Pennsylvania [MTL 3: 416].

Day By Day: 1870

Sam Sues Webb – Finishes Lecture Tour – Sam & Livy Married “Sammy in Fairy Land”  - Buffalo Express – Jervis Falls to Cancer – Galaxy Articles – Langdon Clemens Born - Emma Nye Dies at Clemens’ Home – Diamond Plans

1870 – Paine says that “as early as 1870 he [Sam] had jotted down an occasional reminiscent chapter” for what would become his autobiography [MTA 1: vi n1]. Of these, Paine includes “The Tennessee Land,” written this year [3-7].