Mark Twain - Reporter: Day By Day

December 12 Friday – Another of Sam’s Weekly, “Letter from Carson City” was dated this day and printed sometime in December in the Enterprise [Smith 38]. The ladies have not smiled much on this Legislature, so far. Thirty-two of our loveliest visited the halls night before last, though, which is an encouraging symptom. I cannot conscientiously say they smiled, however, for the Revenue bill was before the House…The ladies were well pleased with the night session, though—they enjoyed it exceedingly—in many respects it was much superior to a funeral [Smith 41].

December 12 Saturday – Another “Letter From Mark Twain,” dated this date from Carson City ran on Dec. 15 in the Enterprise.

December 12 Tuesday – Sam took on the police for a “Shameful Attack on a Chinaman” in the article “Our Active Police” which ran in the San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle [ET&S 2: 511].

December 13 Tuesday – Sam and Dan De Quille (Wright) were rooming in the Daggett & Myers building at 25 North B Street, one of the large buildings that had escaped fire. They were given a rent bill and receipt for the period of Oct. 28, 1863 to Nov. 28, 1864 at the rate of $30 per month, or $390 total. The document has four line items crediting Sam or Dan for payments, leaving an amount due of $190 [Mack 246].

December 13 Wednesday – Sam wrote from San Francisco to Orion and Mollie. Another hope and plan to sell the Tennessee Land came to naught. This time Sam had entertained an offer to sell the land for $200,000 to Herman Camp, an early locator on the Comstock Lode, who wanted to turn it into a vineyard and make wine. Orion’s “temperance virtue was suddenly on him in strong force.” The deal fell through and caused great friction between the Clemens brothers [MTL 1: 326].

December 13–15 Friday – Sam’s article, “Christian Spectator,” taken from Sam’s San Francisco Letter, dated Dec. 11, was printed in the Enterprise. Sam commented indirectly on the “incendiary religious matter about hell-fire, and brimstone, and wicked young men knocked endways by a streak of lightening while in the act of going fishing on Sunday,” as espoused by Rev. Fitzgerald of the Minna Street Methodist Church in a publication by the same name as the article. Other segments from Sam’s S.F.

December 13–19 Friday – Sam’s article “The Pah-Utes” is published sometime between these dates in the Enterprise, and reprinted in the Marysville, California Appeal for Dec. 21.
THE PAH-UTES

December 15 Tuesday – “Letter from Mark Twain” (dated Dec. 12) ran in the Enterprise [Camfield bibliog.]. Sections: Logan Hotel; No More Mines; State Printer; School Fund; Hank Monk; The Old Pah-Utah; Carson City; and, Final Report. Sam continued to poke fun at the Pi-Utes, a pioneer association of early Nevada settlers.
“THE OLD PAH-UTAH”

December 16 Tuesday ca. – An article attributed to Sam that was reprinted Dec. 18 in the Sacramento Daily Bee ran in the Enterprise. Sam was in Carson City and reported on the excitement of the hotly debated “corporation bill” which prohibited that “the majority of stock in all Nevada mining companies be owned by residents of the Territory, that company offices be established there, and that corporations formed under the laws of other states and territories be prohibited from doing business in Nevada” [Fatout, MT in VC 24].

December 16 Saturday – “Jim Smiley and the Jumping Frog,” was reprinted by Bret Harte in the Californian. Uncertain about the fate of the story he’d sent George W. Carleton, Sam showed Bret Harte (editor of the Californian) a version that renamed the central character Greeley instead of Smiley and also used Angels camp, the real name, instead of Noomerang. Harte liked the story. Along with the changes, the story got a new title: “The Celebrated Jumping Frog Of Calaveras County” [Schmidt].

December 16–17 Sunday – Sam’s San Francisco Letter dated Dec. 13 ran in the Enterprise: “Managerial” (about Edwin Forrest,) and “Not a Suicide” [ET&S 2: 209].

December 18 Friday – Artemus Ward (Charles Farrar Browne) visited Virginia City, and looked up kindred bohemian spirits at the office of the Territorial Enterprise. His visit lasted until Dec. 29. Sam returned to Virginia City sometime before this period [MTL 1: 266].

December 1865–January 1866 – Sometime this month, or at least before Jan. 20, 1866, Sam recalled years later:
“I put the pistol to my head but wasn’t man enough to pull the trigger. Many times I have been sorry I did not succeed, but I was never ashamed of having tried” [MTL 1: 325].
Fanning claims this act was a “direct result, evidently, of something his elder brother [Orion] had done [p. xv]. There is nothing “evident” however, about Orion’s influence creating suicidal thoughts in Sam, rather those of the murderous variety.
Portion of San Francisco Letter: Those Oysters.

December 19 Friday – By legislative act, Sam was made recording secretary of the Washoe Agricultural, Mining and Mechanical Society. The position paid $300 per year. He served until the completion of the society’s fair in Oct. 1863 [MTL 1: 266].

December 19 Saturday – The Enterprise ran Sam’s Dec. 13 dispatch from Carson City reporting the burlesque proceedings of the “Third House” on the Constitutional Convention [Camfield biblio.; Smith 102-110].

December 19 Tuesday – Sam’s San Francisco Letter with this date ran sometime later in the month in the Enterprise. Sections: “Thief Catching,” “Caustic,” “I Knew It,” “Macdougall vs. Maguire,” “Louis Aldrich,” and “Gould and Curry” [Schmidt: The last four items are known to have existed but no text is available].

THIEF-CATCHING

December 19–21 Thursday – Sam’s sketch, “Grand Fete-Day at the Cliff House,” was printed in the Enterprise and reprinted on Dec. 23 in the San Francisco Examiner [ET&S 2: 399].
The following celebrated artistes have been engaged at a ruinous expense, and will perform the following truly marvelous feats:

December 2 Wednesday – “Mark Twain on Murders” ran in the Morning Call [Camfield bibliog.]. This most likely was another reprint of an Enterprise article from a few days before. A teamster was murdered and robbed on the public highway between Carson and Virginia, to-day. Our sprightly and efficient officers are on the alert. They calculate to inquire into this thing next week. They are tired of these daily outrages in sight of town, you know [Fatout, MT in VC 114-5].

December 2 Saturday – The Napa County Reporter published another of Sam’s letters, which included “Webb’s Benefit” [MTL 1: 325; ET&S 2: 380]. Sam’s article, “Mark Twain Overpowered” was printed in the Californian [reprinting of “Uncle Lige” from the Territorial Enterprise]. [Schmidt].

December 22 Tuesday – The nationally acclaimed Artemus Ward gave the “Babes in the Woods” lecture at Maguire’s Opera House in Virginia City. Most likely, Sam was in attendance and was greatly influenced by Ward’s acclaim and style. Ward’s lecture was a great success [Powers, MT A Life 132].

December 22–23 Saturday –Sam’s San Francisco Letter, included “Macdougall vs. Maguire” was datelined the 20 and printed in the Enterprise [ET&S 2: 402]. Also included: “The New Swimming Bath,” “Buckingham,” “The ‘Eccentrics’,” – and the following texts not available: “Mining Operations,” “Major Farren,” and “Sam Brannan” [Schmidt].

December 23 Tuesday – Sam’s article dated Dec. 23 ran in the Enterprise sometime later in the month. It was republished in the Placer Weekly Courier of Forest Hill, Placer County on Jan. 17, 1863.
A BIG THING IN WASHOE CITY OR THE GRAND BULL DRIVERS’ CONVENTION
Carson, Midnight December 23d. Eds., Enterprise:

December 23 Saturday – Sam’s original sketches, “The Christmas Fireside. For Good Little Boys and Girls. By Grandfather Twain,” and “The Story of the Bad Little Boy That Bore a Charmed Life” and “Enigma” were printed in the Californian [Budd, “Collected” 1006]. These stories were the germ for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Once there was a bad little boy, whose name was Jim—though, if you will notice, you will find that bad little boys are nearly always called James in your Sunday-school books. It was very strange, but still it was true, that this one was called Jim.

December 24 or 26 Tuesday – (the Enterprise did not publish on Mondays) – Sam’s San Francisco Letter, dated Dec. 20, included, EDITORIAL POEM, FACETIOUS, MAYO AND ALDRICH, FINANCIAL, PERSONAL, MOCK DUEL—ALMOST, AND “MORE WISDOM!.” The letter contained more scattered attacks on Albert Evans [ET&S 2: 336].

December 24 and 25 Friday – Christmas – Artemus Ward hung around the Enterprise office during his stay in town. Sam and Dan De Quille showed Ward around during his visit. Joe Goodman described the raucous evening that unfolded at Chaumond’s after Ward’s lecture at Silver City, where Ward proposed his well-known toast, “ I give you Upper Canada.” Why? “Because I don’t want it myself” [Fatout, MT in VC 128]: