August 4 Wednesday – Sam and the Langdons took a three day trip to Niagara Falls and stayed at the Cataract House Hotel. Also along were Charles J. Langdon and his fiancée Ida Clark, he parents, as well as Livy’s friend Fidele Brooks and husband Henry Brooks and son of New York, and neighbors of the Langdons, Dr. Henry Sayles and wife Emma Sayles. Cousin A. Langdon was also in the hotel. The trip allowed Jervis to inspect the finances of the nearby Buffalo Express.
Pilgrims and Vandals: Day By Day
August 5 Thursday – At Niagara Falls, NY. Sometime during the 3 day stay Jervis Langdon and Sam made a side trip to Buffalo, where Jervis likely visited the branch of his coal company at 221 Main Street, as well as a waterfront coal-yard operation. The pair also searched records in the Buffalo Express office to “confirm the soundness of their upcoming investment.” A few days later (Aug. 14), Twain complained about ‘the bore of wading through the books & getting up balance sheets’” [Reigstad 60-61]. Note: the Aug. 14 letter was to Mary Mason and Abel W. Fairbanks: “As soon as Mr.
August 6 Friday – The last day of the business/pleasure trip to Niagara Falls.
August 7 Saturday – Sam accompanied the Langdon family on a return trip to Elmira. By Sunday AM he was back in Buffalo [Reigstad 62].
The San Francisco Evening Bulletin, p.1, ran a positive review of IA, observing that “America has, within the past few years, developed a new type of humor.”
August 8 Sunday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Livy, apologizing for hurting her and finishing the letter at 9 PM. During this period, Sam was shuttling between Elmira and Buffalo, scrutinizing the books and balance sheets of the Express. Sam wrote “my obligations to him [Jervis] almost overshadow my obligations to Charley, now…” Jervis Langdon had advanced half of the purchase price for the Express and guaranteed the balance [MTL 3: 289-91]. Following this letter, ten letters (Livy’s numbers 91-100), probably daily from Aug. 9 to 18, are lost [MTL 3: 290n1].
Key West – New York – Charles Webb Published The Jumping Frog
52 hours to St. Louis – Artemus Ward Dead – Lectures in Hannibal, Keokuk & Quincy
Back in New York – A Night in Jail – Three Lectures in the Big Apple
Quaker City Five-month Excursion– Miniature Portrait in the Bay of Smyrna
A Post in Washington – Elisha Bliss – Sam Met Livy
Washington Letters – Deal with Elisha Bliss – New York to Panama to San Francisco - More Lectures & Goodbye to Virginia City – Goodbye to San Francisco - Panama, New York & Hartford – Elmira, Rejected Proposal and the Courtship Began - Sam met Joe Twichell – “Vandals” Lectures - Hither and Yon
1868 – Camfield lists a story printed posthumously in Mark Twain’s Satires and Burlesques (1967): “The Story of Mamie Grant, Child Missionary” [bibliog.].
Midwest Lecture Tour – Visits to Elmira & Hartford – Sam & Livy Engaged - Sam Met William Dean Howells – Innocents Abroad a Great Success - Buffalo Newspaper Purchased with Jervis Langdon’s help – Grueling Lecture Schedule
1869 – Sometime during the year Clemens took out a $10,000 life insurance policy with Continental Life Ins. Co of Hartford [MTP]. Note: see June 16, 1877.
December 1 Sunday – Sam wrote from Washington, D.C. to John Russell Young about payment and questioned the amount of a $65 check he’d received. He also received a letter from Elisha P. Bliss, which he responded to the next day.
December 1 Tuesday – Mary Mason Fairbanks wrote from Cleveland, replying to Sam’s of Nov. 26-27. It survives in part in Sam’s letter to Livy of Dec. 4. He quotes: “Of course you must live in Cleveland. That is what I want to do. Don’t you? Now say you do, Livy, there’s a dear good girl” [MTP].
December 10 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Washington to his mother and family about political prospects and about Mrs. Fairbanks.
December 10 Thursday – Sam wrote from the Everett House in New York City to his mother and family.
December 11 Friday – The Newark Daily Advertiser:
In the humorous parts the speaker resembled Artemus Ward in his slow and quaint way of saying very amusing things. The audience was constantly convulsed with laughter, and was continued in its happy humor by quiet touches of wit and sentiment. Altogether it was a most enjoyable evening’s entertainment.
In Norwich, New York, Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture.
December 12 Thursday – Sam wrote from Washington to Mary Mason Fairbanks. About Mary’s advice to get married, Sam gave the famous reply:
December 12 Saturday – Sam wrote from Norwich, New York to tease Mary Mason Fairbanks.
December 13 Friday – Sam wrote from Washington to Frank Fuller:
“I believe I have made a mistake in not lecturing this winter…I am already dead tired of being in one place so long. I have received 2 or 3 calls lately from N.Y. & Indiana towns. When are you coming down? I might take a ‘disgust’ any moment & sail for Cal” [MTL 2: 136].
December 14 Saturday – Sam dated an article this day, “Colonel Burke and the Fenians,” a humorous article for the Washington Evening Star, which was reprinted in many newspapers, including the Territorial Enterprise. The article suggested using a barrel of gunpowder to remove Edwin M. Stanton from office [Fatout, MT Speaks 50].
December 14 Monday – Sam left Norwich to New York City and on to Scranton, Pa.
December 15 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Thirty” dated Sept. at “Banias” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 193-8].
Sam’s article, “Letter from Mark Twain. The Facts in the Case of the Senate Door Keeper” dated Dec. 15, ran in the New York Citizen [Camfield, bibliog.].
December 16 Monday – Sam announced to his Territorial Enterprise readers that he had resigned his secretaryship, and that “E.A. Pretois, formerly of Virginia and Sacramento, is Senator Stewart’s private secretary, now” [MTL 2: 139n4]. Note: Sam and Senator Stewart did not hit it off, and the position had not kept Sam’s interest. Once again the vagabond itch came over Sam.
December 16 Wednesday – Scranton, Pennsylvania: Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture, then left again for Elmira.
December 17 Thursday – Sam arrived in Elmira at 7 PM and spent the night at the Langdon house [A. Hoffman 147]. See also letter of Dec. 12.
December 18 Wednesday – Sam’s article “Information Wanted” dated Dec. 10, ran in the New York Tribune [Camfield, bibliog.; The Twainian, Nov-Dec 1946 p.1-2]. Note: There is no connection with George Francis Train on this entry as mistakenly shown in the first edition.
December 18 Friday – Sam left the Langdon house at 7 PM [MTL 2: 348].
December 19 Saturday – Fort Plain, New York: Sam arrived here in the afternoon and gave his “Vandals” lecture in the evening.
December 19 and 20 Sunday – Sam was the guest of his poet-friend, George W. Elliott (1830-1898) and wife in Fort Plain, New York. Sam wrote to Livy.
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