Pilgrims and Vandals: Day By Day

May 12 Wednesday – Sam wrote in the evening from the Bliss home in Hartford to Livy. Sam had taken a long walk on dark streets and was reflective [MTL 3: 219-23].

May 13 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Livy, more of the same sort of romantic “bosh.”

“Now I have nothing henceforth to do but write newspaper letters, read proof, & scribble letters to Livy” [MTL 3: 225-6].

In the evening Sam wrote “Private Habits of the Siamese Twins,” which later appeared in Packard’s Monthly as “Personal Habits of the Siamese Twins” [MTL 3: 228 & n3].

 May 14 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Livy:

“Twichell & I, & another preacher or two, & the editor of the ‘Post’ are to take tea—with Mr. Henry Clay Trumbull, this evening, but you can’t go, on account of that sarcasm.”

May 15 Saturday – Sam wrote just after midnight from Hartford to Livy about the “tea” at the Trumbull’s with Twichell and Gov. Hawley. “I have laughed till I feel all tired out” [MTL 3: 231-2]. Sam wrote another letter to Livy later that day. He started a third letter which he finished May 16.

May 16 Sunday – In Hartford Sam finished his last letter of the previous day to Livy.

May 17 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Fifty-one” dated Sept. 1867 at “Jerusalem” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 296-301].

May 17 Monday – Sam was in a Livy habit. He started another letter to her from Hartford, finishing the following day [MTL 3: 239-44]. 

May 18 Tuesday – Silas S. Packard paid Sam $25 for “Personal Habits of the Siamese Twins,“ which was published in Packard’s Monthly in August [MTL 3: 230n3]. Sam finished the letter of May 17 to Livy, expressing concern for her health [MTL 3: 243].

May 18-23 Saturday – Sam wrote a sketch unpublished until 2009: “Happy Memories of the Dental Chair” [Who Is Mark Twain? xxiv].

May – Sam’s hilarious article, “My Late Senatorial Secretaryship,” was printed in the Galaxy Magazine for May 1868 [Budd, “Collected” 1008].

May 19 and 20 Thursday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Livy. It rained steadily and Sam was in a depressed state, feeling prisoner of a bad cold and being away from his ladylove [MTL 3: 245-9].

May 19 Tuesday – Sam’s fourth LETTER FROM MARK TWAIN, dated May 1 from Virginia City, Nevada ran in the Chicago Republican and included: “Bad Jokes,” “LITERARY DEBAUCH,” “HONOR TO WHOM, &C.,” “PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL,” “MAY DAY – A CONTRAST,” and:

AT SEA.

Special Correspondence of the Chicago Republican.

May 21 Thursday – Barton W. Stone Bowen died in Hannibal from a steamboat accident. Bart was a good friend of Sam’s and a fellow pilot; he befriended Sam and offered financial assistance at the time of Henry Clemens’ death. [MTL 4: 119n6].

May 23 Sunday – Sam was in New York City, where he received fifty dollars from a cash account that Charles Langdon was keeping for him [MTL 3: 253n7]. The next day Sam was back in Connecticut.

May 24 Monday – Sam wrote from South Windsor, Conn. to Livy. He was visiting the Roe family at East Winsdor Hill, about eight miles from Hartford. Sam had known Azel Stevens Roe Jr., from his days out West. Roe Sr. (1798-1886) was a novelist. Roe Jr. had been a voice and music teacher in Virginia City in 1867, and a tutor in San Francisco in 1863.

May 28 Thursday – Sam wrote from San Francisco to Elisha Bliss about Bancroft & Co. Publishing handling book sales on the West Coast and in Japan and China.

“I shall have the MSS finished in twenty days & shall start east in the steamer of the 1 of July” [MTL 2: 217-8].

May 29 Saturday – In Elmira late, Sam wrote a short note to Livy. This letter was hand delivered. It’s possible the late hour prevented a visit.

May 3 Sunday – Sam left Virginia City for the trip over the Sierra Nevada, which, due to the late spring snows and railroad repairs, was one of train plus stagecoach for a 30-hour trip to San Francisco [MTL 2: 213n3-4].

May 30 Sunday – Sam’s piece titled “Soundings,” possibly an extract from some earlier article, ran in the Chicago Republican [The Twainian, Sept-Oct 1949 p.5].

May 31 Sunday – Sam’s fifth LETTER FROM MARK TWAIN, dated May 2 from Virginia City ran in the Chicago Republican and included: “CURIOUS CHANGES,” “BRIEF MENTION OF A FRIEND,” “NOVEL ENTERTAINMENT,” “UP AMONG THE CLOUDS,” and “AMEN” [Schmidt].

May 4 Monday – Sam was in transit to San Francisco, by stage and by train. He spent the night in Sacramento [MTL 2: 215n8].

May 5 Tuesday – Sam departed Sacramento at 2 PM on the California Steam Navigation Company’s Capital, with his friend Edward A. Poole as captain. Sam arrived back in San Francisco and stayed at the Occidental Hotel again, and finished his letter of May 1 to Mary Mason Fairbanks.

May 5 Wednesday – Sam left Elmira in the evening with Charles Langdon, who went to New York for medical attention. Mary Mason Fairbanks, Mrs. Langdon and Sam’s mother all had questioned the propriety of Sam staying so long at the home of his betrothed. Sam saw the need to work on his book directly with his publisher, and to soothe the females as well [MTL 3: 205n1].

May 6 Thursday – Sam and Charles Langdon took rooms at the St. Nicholas Hotel in New York City.

May 7 Friday – Sam and Charles Langdon went to Dan Slote’s blank book and stationery store, then the Tribune office until 2 PM. In the evening Sam and Charley attended a production of Othello (whom Sam called “the great miscegenationist”) at Booth’s Theater at 23rd Street between 5th and 6th Avenues [MTL 3: 204].