September – The first appearance of “A Californian Abroad – Three Italian Cities” ran in the Overland Monthly. This piece was later collected in IA [Slotta 15].
Sometime during the month Sam inscribed a copy of The Celebrated Frog of Calaveras County to I.N. Higgins: “To I. N. Higgins, Esq./ With best wishes / & friendly regards of / Mark Twain / Otherwise Samℓ L. Clemens./ Sept. 1868” [MTPO]
September 21 Monday – Sam wrote from St. Louis to Livy. After expressing his gratitude at receiving her letter and picture (which she had refused to give him in Elmira):
September 24 Thursday – Sam wrote from St. Louis to Mary Mason Fairbanks.
I shall start day after to-morrow (Saturday) at 8 A.M., which will bring me to Cleveland Sunday morning. Then I will leave Cleveland Monday morning. I have some idea of spending Tuesday in Elmira—will talk with you [MTL 2: 252].
September 26 Saturday – Sam left Cleveland by train for Elmira [MTL 2: 252n1].
September 27 Sunday – Sam wrote on Buffalo Express letterhead to unknown gentlemen:
Gentlemen:—
I am going to lecture only a little over half the season, & my present engagements render it impossible for me to go further west than Pittsburgh. Otherwise I would be most happy to profit by your kind invitation.
Very Truly Yours / Samℓ. L. Clemens
Sam arrived in Elmira where he was to stay with the Langdons for a day and a night.
September 28 Monday – As Charles Langdon and Sam started for the train depot they were thrown from the wagon. Charles suffered head cuts and Sam was stunned. The accident delayed Sam’s departure. (Willis claims 3 additional days, but Sam left on Sept. 29 [MTL 2: 256 n2]. (See Sept. 29 entry, also a full account of Sam playing possum in MTA 2: 107-110.)
September 29 Tuesday – Sam left Elmira for New York. Livy wrote to Alice Hooker: “Mr Clemens spent two days here on the way to Hartford from St. Louis; he intended to remain one day” [Stowe-Day collection per Tenney].
September 3 Thursday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss, enclosing an Excelsior Monthly Magazine reprint of his toast to “Woman” made on Jan.
September 30, 1868 Wednesday ca.
September 30 Wednesday ca. – Sam arrived in New York, where he stayed a day, then left for Hartford, probably arriving there about Oct. 2.
September 6 Sunday – Sam wrote the Alta California about Hartford: “Of all the beautiful towns it has been my fortune to see this is the chief. I never saw any place before where morality and huckleberries flourished as they do here” [MTNJ 1: 498].
September 7 and 8, 1868 Tuesday
September 7 and 8 Tuesday – Sam had fallen in love with Olivia Louise Langdon and evidently had expressed this openly to her, asking for marriage. The “rules” of Victorian society required her to refuse such a sudden and precipitous proposal, but Olivia allowed Sam to write her “as a brother to a sister,” which he did before leaving Elmira. In the early hours of this day Sam wrote her the first of many love letters. Olivia numbered each of Sam’s letters until their marriage in Feb.
September 9 Wednesday – Sam and Charles Langdon arrived in Cleveland and stayed with the Fairbanks family. Mary Fairbanks gave the pair a reception during their short stay. Sam and Charles had formal photographs made by James F. Ryder sometime between this day and Sept. 20 [MTP].